When I Dream . .

When I dream, I visit some place I have yet to figure out where it is. I do know that it somewhere in the future and on another world. I am not a ghostly figure there, just wandering around watching the world go by. I was just as solid as any living body, yet, when my dreamtime was up, I would suddenly blink out of the sight of anyone I was with. In the passage between the real world and my dream world, I often had the sense of great blank spaces, blue lights, and yellow stars. I instinctively knew I was traveling through deep space between great multitudes of galaxies.

My friends are a little different from me in looks and in how they think. Yet, at the same time, we are very much alike. Humanoid aliens are not that different from humans from Earth and DNA and genetics had already proven this. Even Earth now hosted several alien species that lived amicably with each other. There was a wide range of differences in appearances and in some abilities, but we were more alike than not. Let me explain.

I am a human. You know the species. Bipedal with two legs, two arms, one head, and walk upright. Practically hairless except for the hair on our heads and hair where most of our parts meet. Of course, female humans always try to keep the hair under their arms shaved and most males let the hair on their faces grow and call it a beard or a mustache or any other number of names, depending on where and how much hair they allow to grow. Females usually let the hair grow long on their heads, but they are not able to grow a beard or other facial hair. Just ordinary humans, like you and I.

My friends, here in my dream world, are a little different. They are also bipedal and humanoid in feature and design, but shorter with very few that reach the height of five and a half feet, which is fine with me since I am only five foot tall myself. Most are fawn colored due to the short, soft hair that grows over their entire body. However, I have seen Loki that were white, black, and even a mixture of all colors. Their ears are folded and lie close to their heads and their hearing is sharper than any human. I teased Galianna that she resembled a puppy. Their noses are long on the center of their face, rounded and with a flesh colored patch at the end. The women are very pretty and use little bells to ornament their hair, which, on their head, is kept very long. The men, although slender, are wiry, strong, and very handsome.

The Loki put me in the mind of the cowardly lion in the old Earth classic, "The Wizard of Oz"; only these people are not cowardly or afraid of anything. Yes, they were a gentle species and would fight only if they were forced to do so. They are called Lokiadella or Loki for short. It says in their history that they were great warriors and won every battle pitched against them, but that they were sickened by meaningless deaths and a few generations later, decided to no longer fight unless it meant the safety of their world was at risk or the lives of the people who lived there.

My best friend is a female Loki and her name is Galianna. I am known as Alettia in this world. My name in the real world is both unimportant and not worth mentioning. Galianna and I are the same age and height and both of us work at the same place where we manufacture parts for flying vehicles known as "flitters". "Fritters! exclaims Galianna, referring to how they sometimes resemble large pancakes if one crashes. They are similar to what was called automobiles on Earth except these vehicles are powered by solar batteries and they have no wheels. Instead, they seem to just glide on a cushion of air underneath and only a foot from the ground. To this day, it amazes me how I had to work full time in a dream, when I never had to work in the real world. Nonetheless, the work suited me and I enjoyed it.

I live alone, though I am not sure why except that it is a dream world and many things in my dream world closely matched my real life when I was awake. My Loki friends all live in family groups and Galianna has both a mother and father, a number of little sisters and brothers. She has one older brother who is called Lutic. Since they are not a brawny bunch, even Lutic is slender and gentle in nature.

He is always fun to be around and he seems to take special care to treat me as one of his family. I am sure he would be happy if I stayed with the family all the time and we have talked sometimes when no one else is around. I have caught him staring at me on several occasions, but he will turn away quickly saying, "Impossible". I don't think he realizes that he is telepathing his thoughts so loudly, but I always respond, "Nothing is impossible!" Once, when this had occurred, Lutic turned swiftly around and stared at me, but I only meekly smiled back, a look of innocence on my face.

Even so, he and his father are very protective towards their family and no one would dare to harm a single one of them unless they incur the wrath of a male Loki. They can kill with a literal thought to the offender; however, that is used only when there is no other choice. I hope never to see that as I am told the body of the enemy explodes into a million pieces of blood and gore.

The one thing that sets them apart from humans more than anything else besides their ability to not only speak and hear telepathically, but they have other powers such as being able to change the air in front of them to a shimmering mass that no one can penetrate. I know because I have tried.

It is as though the "shimmering" causes the air to become as solid as glass that cannot be seen through. Galianna tells me that the Loki were not always able to do this and that there are still other unknown (as yet) powers being identified as the Loki either develop or tap into them. She herself has her own set, including one where she can hide herself by fading into whatever material is at hand. Even so, if I look closely, I can see where she is by a faint outline, but that may be because I am used to looking for her while we played hide and seek as children.

Nevertheless, there are other species on this world. Not all of them are friendly and some can be down right dangerous both to humans and to Loki alike. The Universal Federation of Planets has made agreements with them; yet, they do not always follow the rules and have been banned from visiting this central planet, the home of the Loki.

The Lokiadella planet is known by that name only. It has no other. It is very earth-like in the type of atmosphere and terrain, with many plants that are similar to the trees and grass on Earth, but with others that are hard to explain or even describe. The same goes for the domesticated animals, though I can recognize their version of our cows and fruit trees that are quite like our trees that grow oranges and apples. It is a very pretty planet with two moons that circles a white sun. That said, it could be a little disconcerting to newcomers to play in pink and yellow grass while lying under blue trees.

One day, Galianna and I were returning home from work to her house, where I had received an invitation the day before to have dinner with Galianna's family. It was always a treat to do so since they always had good food and they had an inherent humor that I enjoyed. As we approached her house, we noticed a large crowd gathered near the front and could see a body lying on the ground.

Galianna moaned, etching pain in my mind, and took off running. Since I could not move as quickly, I too ran, but it was moments later before I caught up with her. She had managed to push her way through the crowd and was sitting on the ground next to Lutic. I could see right away that he had been injured and his blood, his very life force was still seeping into the ground. Someone had stabbed him and the knife was still in his back.

****

The unfortunate thing about living in a dream world is that the real world often calls me back without any warning. Therefore, when I woke up in my bed at home, my face was still wet with tears because at the moment of seeing Lutic lying there so helpless, it made me realize how much I loved him, the very person I wanted to be with forever. The distance between his world and mine was only a moment in time and a slip into a dream and it could not be changed or rushed. All I could do was spend my time waiting until my body again required sleep before I could find out what happened and who had done this to Lutic.

When I was finally able to go back to sleep, several hours had passed in the real world; however, in the dream world, it was only a few minutes. Lutic had been carried inside the house and was lying on the table. The doctor had been called and Lutic's mother, Jiann, had stopped the bleeding.

Lutic was conscious and his eyes sought out mine, grimacing whenever his mother pressed the warm cloth to his back. As I went to stand next to him, he reached for my hand and pressed it to his cheek, but he said nothing. I caught the looks that passed between his parents, but I had no time to worry with that now. It seemed far more important to make sure Lutic knew I was there and would stay with him. Even so, I was somewhat taken aback when Tomac, Lutic's father, growled loud enough that I heard him. I was not sure if that was meant for Lutic and me or for Lutic's assailant but I was not about to ask.

Only a few more minutes passed before the doctor bustled into the room and he quickly examined the wound on Lutic's back. Shaking his head, he quickly cleaned it out and probed to make sure no other pieces of metal was still trapped inside. Then he sutured it up and wrapped a large bandage around Lutic's body. He asked Lutic a few questions and gave him a couple of pills for pain. He patted Lutic on his shoulder and told him he would be just fine.

The doctor then held a quiet conference with Jiann and Tomac at the far end of the table and I was relieved when they both began to smile. At least I knew Lutic was going to be ok. I gently squeezed his fingers and he squeezed mine back much harder. Lutic murmured, "I yeyae lahi." saying he loved me in Loki. I now knew he really did care for me and all I could do was plaster a silly grin on my face. I leaned down near his face and replied, "Forever". He too, had a smile on his face.

Galianna had cleared away all the bloody towels and dumped the basin of water her mother had been using. Then Tomac and the doctor helped Lutic sit up, carefully supporting him until he was upright. Then they half walked and half carried him to a soft chair where he was able to sit down.

Tomac knelt down in front of Lutic and asked him what had happened. Lutic told him that he had just arrived home from work and was waiting for Galianna and me to arrive when a flitter came up the street. A male from the species called Conteri got out and walked over to him, asking him if he was a brave Loki. When Lutic merely looked at the Conteri, the Conteri unexpectedly grabbed him by both shoulders and spun him, sticking the knife in Lutic's back before taking off in the flitter.

Tomac frowned. The Conteri were not known to be one of the violent species that visited Lokiadella. If one of them were guilty of this, something more must be going on. He soon took his leave, with the doctor trailing behind. Everyone knew Tomac was headed to the office of the Universal Federation where he was not only a member, but also one of the 15 elite governors of all the planets. It was his job along with the other 14 to make the rules all the planets abided by and to dispense out punishment as needed. I was certain someone was going to be unhappy he had ever come to Lokiadella.

Galianna brought Lutic a cup of warm soup and a rasher of pricklepig ribs. Lutic paid little attention to the ribs and only sipped at the soup, thoughtfully looking at me. It was starting to embarrass me a bit that he was no longer making a show to anyone that I was merely the friend of his sister. I knew he would have to discuss our relationship with his parents before another word was said. I knew there would be difficulties since I could only see him while I was in a dream state. At the same time, I was adamant that I would do whatever was necessary to stay with him.

At that moment, I heard my name whispered in my mind and I turned to look at him. He beckoned me to come sit on the floor next to his chair and as I did that, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to him. Whispering in my ear, he made a comment that made me blush, but it proved he wasn't badly hurt, not as much as everyone had originally feared. I stopped moving, reached down, and ran my finger along his back, careful not to touch the bandage the doctor had wrapped around him. Not saying a word aloud because Galianna was close by, I closed my mind to every one except for Lutic, and I let him know I felt the same way he did.

I wasn't sure how I was going to be able to remain in his world, but I had an idea. I did not want to share it with him yet, because it would mean I would for all intent and purpose, die in my real world. Nevertheless, I knew there would be no choice when it came down to where I wanted to be.

****

Even if I had desired to tell him, the real world suddenly called me back. At least, when I woke up this time, I knew I had a future somewhere else. There was nothing to hold me here since my parents had died when I was a child and I had no relatives that wanted me nor did I have any interest in being with them. I just needed to figure out the means and the time to do what needed to be done. In fact, it was almost an accomplished deal.

Here in the real world, there is a facility where you can be admitted and be placed into a deep sleep. The procedure was being used to let people live long enough for certain cures to be found for different diseases. The downside was that, even with expert resuscitation procedures, there was no guarantee that you would wake up. My wishes were that, regardless of what my body did, as long as it lived, it was to be left alone.

In my case, I did not want to wake up ever again. I just wanted to remain in a state where I could dream. I had already talked with the director and he assured me that I would be able to dream while in this state of suspended animation. He never asked what my reasons were, but we both knew I was not the only one who requested this arrangement. Even I had seen other people I knew on Earth living as I did on Lokiadella and I was certain, even on other worlds.

All I knew is that the arrangement would allow me to stay with Lutic on Lokiadella for as long as my body lived. Everyone knows there is no guarantee of a long healthy life or even of being happy. However, for me, I was more than willing to take my chances and it was the perfect answer.

It would take everything my parents had left me including a sizable trust fund to pay for this; therefore, I had already completed the process of getting rid of any and all assets to pay for the perpetual care of my body. At least until it gave out from old age, I could be reasonably certain that I would have a full lifetime with Lutic and that was all that really mattered. My date for doing this was tonight, right before I would normally go to bed. Lutic and the others would never notice a difference except that I would never blink away from them again.

By the time I would return to Lutic this evening, it would be settled. I knew this would take care of any problems or doubts his parents may have and I would be able to do the same things with him as I would have done on Earth, including having children. Lutic would be pleased and as long as we loved each other, that was all I needed.

As far as the rest, it would be up to his father to find and punish the man who had harmed Lutic. Secretly, I was somewhat glad it had happened, because it made both Lutic and I realize how much we meant to each other. I was excited. My life was about to really begin and I would get to live as I was meant to - with Lutic and on the planet of Lokiadella.