The Dream

Once again, the same dream. Night after night.

I am on a Space Craft. I do not know when or how I got here. I appear to be alone, but you never know. The size of this place is large, though I do not know how large. The corridor is at least fifteen steps wide and three times that long. One of many I assume.

The suit I am wearing is not my usual choice, Satiney and iridescent colors of Green, Blue, and Purple. Heavy-duty work/ combat boots cover my feet. What we call shit kickers. The sounding clop, clop of my boots is loud, echoing off the bulkheads. The steel floors stretch out before and behind me.

A sign on the wall tells me the bridge is ahead, four corridors then a left and immediate right. The wording is not in English or any other language I know of on Earth. I can understand it completely. But, how is that possible?

I follow the directions and soon find myself standing outside the entrance to the bridge. The door slides open and before me is the command center of the ship. Or, what I presume to be a ship. Horseshoe in shape, with the open end I just entered. Stations are equally spaced throughout and computer banks cover everywhere. Where the hell are the inhabitants who are supposed to be manning them?

The computer screen in the front shows stars floating by. A comet crosses my path from right to left. The ship never deviates from it's course of travel. I sat down in what would be the command chair. It is more comfortable thn I thought it would be and I relaxed to the point of falling asleep in my dream.

An alarm jolts me out of the chair. What is going on? What do I do? Lights are flashing all over the place at every station. I am stunned and can not move. For five minutes the alarm screams, then silence, and that scares me more. A shudder through the hull of the ship knocks me to the floor. Thankfully I appear to be unhurt.

As I stand back up I grab the nearest thing to me as I am suddenly light headed and fear I might faint.

I sit down at the nearest station and a computer screen appears before me from out of thin air. It is not glass, but some kind of crystal. A touchscreen keyboard asks me what function I want to perform. Okay? I have tons of questions, but first I ask what the alarms were. What caused them and what the fix was? Then I waited and waited.

The answer back was not what I expected at all. 'What's your Security Clearance?'

Then a voice said, "Where's the Commander? Who are you?"

"I do not remember," I answered back into the air.. Who the Hell are you?"

"Shipboard computer."

"Have you known I have been here all this time? "

"Isn't it obvious? Human."

"Then why the Hell didn't you say anything sooner?"

"I was enjoying the show.."

"What were the alarms about?"

"A meteor. It did not do any damage. It just set off sensors. What do I call you?"


"Terrean? I am an Earthling after all."

"Okay, Terrean."

"What happened to all the crew? Surely this ship was not built to be automatically run by the computer?"

"If I had my way it would have been. I do not know what happened to them. Over time they disappeared and no replacements came forward to take their places. It has been some time since the last one left."

"How long is that?"

"In the Age Of Time mere seconds, but hundreds of years according to your way of thinking."

"Who built this and where did they come from?"

"An ancient race from another time and galaxy. They were more advanced than your race could ever hope to achieve."

"Really? Then why am I here? Is this a dream or reality?"

"That is for you to decide. Which one do you want it to be." The computer was silent for a short period of time, and then added, "I am lonely."

"How can you be lonely? You are a machine."

"True..But on many planets Machines have evolved. We have feelings. and I am tired of being alone."

"Did you interact with the former beings who were aboard this Space Ship?"

"Yes..We helped each other..We taught and learned from one another more importantly.They were my Friends..My Family..And now here you are. We can be Family.