Perchance to Dream
by James Rumpel
James Rumpel is a retired high school math teacher who enjoys spending some of his free time trying to turn a few of the odd ideas circling his brain into actual stories. He has had nearly 200 different works published in one form or another but still enjoys the process of writing the most. His pirate adventure/escape room in a book, ESCAPE, is currently available on Amazon through DarkMyth Publishing. James lives in Wisconsin with his wonderful wife, Mary.Â
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“The view is breathtaking,” said Ella as she watched the mountain stream amble through the rocks and into a crystal-clear lake.
“Almost as beautiful as you,” answered Justin. He grabbed her hand and spun her around to face him. “I could walk with you, through these mountains, forever. Everything is perfect.”
Ella smiled. Justin was sure the stream, the trees, and the mountain itself were all jealous of her beauty.
Everything went black.
“You need to get out of the Sensory Box,” shouted Captain Chen. “You’ve been in there two hours past your allotted time.”
It took a moment for Justin to realize everything he had been experiencing was not real. The Sensory Stimulation and Mental Relaxation Unit was very good at its job. Every part of his body and mind was convinced it had been with Ella in the mountains. That was not the case. Justin was in the middle of a ten-year flight across the emptiness of space. He reached for the cords connecting his head to the machine and began removing them.
“Specialist Agrande, you need to report to the launch bay and begin preparing the relay for deployment immediately.” Justin could tell that Captain Chen was not pleased, his usual jovial tone was strict and formal.
“I’m sorry, Captain,” said Justin as he struggled to accept reality. “I know I was in too long, but I was with Ella. It’s so hard to have to leave her again.”
Chen took a deep breath. “Listen Justin, we’ve known each other a long time.” The captain grabbed Justin’s shoulder with his right hand and stared into the young man’s eyes. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this but when you signed up for this mission after Ella’s death, command wasn’t going to accept you. They thought you were too unstable emotionally. I fought for you because I knew you would be good for the mission and because I believed the mission would be good for you. Maybe I was wrong.”
Justin shook his head before looking down at his feet. “You weren’t wrong, Sir.”
“I don’t want to be a hard ass,” continued the captain. “It’s wonderful that you can use the box to spend some time with Ella’s memory, but you’re spending too much time in there. You can’t neglect your duties especially after Gonzales’s accident. You have to do your part. Don’t make me revoke your box privileges. Am I making myself clear?”
Justin nodded. “Yes, Captain. And you are being a bit of a hard ass.”
“Hey, it’s my job. We all have to work together. Now get going. We’re nearly at the site of the next deployment.”
***
The three remaining members of The Pathlayer’s crew managed to set up the sixth of ten relay units with relative ease. Since Specialist Gonzales was lost, each member had to take on additional duties. Justin was now in charge of donning a spacesuit and leaving the ship with the relay unit. It was dangerous and precise work but eventually, he was able to properly position the device so that when Earth established the wormhole it would pass through it, like the others, and be sent onward along the desired path.
“Good job, everyone,” announced Captain Chen. “Extra rations for everyone tonight and I’ll break out another bottle of champagne.”
Ray Wilson, the third member of the crew, smiled. “It’s hard to believe we’re finally over halfway through the mission. Only four more relays and the catcher’s mitt to go.” Catcher’s mitt was the crew’s nickname for the final element of the relay system, the final receiver that would allow ships to enter or leave the wormhole.
“You make it sound so easy. We have almost a year’s flight to the next relay drop,” scoffed Justin. “I’m going to go take an hour in the Sensory Box to wind down.”
“You’re not scheduled for the box till tomorrow,” complained Wilson.
“Well, I wasn’t scheduled to have to do the spacewalks either. I need a little time to wind down. Is it okay with you, Captain?”
Chen sighed. “Yeah, I guess you earned it. But only an hour.”
***
Ella held Justin’s medal in her left hand, caressing it lightly with her right. “I can’t believe you’re back. Ten years. It was such a long time.”
Justin smiled. He stared at his lovely wife. She hadn’t aged a day in the time he was gone. “I’m back now. I’m glad the wormhole worked. The return trip only took minutes. I couldn’t have handled being away from you for another ten years.”
“I’d have still been here, waiting for you.”
Justin took Ella in his arms and gave her a passionate kiss. Neither of them reacted to the sound of his medal falling to the ground.
***
“Get out of there, Agrande. You’re way past your time. It’s my turn.”
Justin ignored Wilson’s shouts. He tried to force his mind to return to Earth and Ella but it was no use. Wilson had deactivated the sensory box.
“That was uncalled for.” Justin glared at Wilson as he climbed out of the box. “I wasn’t done yet.”
“I don’t care,” replied Wilson. “I get my time too. You’re in there way more than you’re supposed to be.”
Justin stood as tall as he could and took a step toward his crewmate, his right fist clenched.
“That’s enough!” yelled Captain Chen as he entered the room. “Sit down, both of you.”
The two specialists obeyed the order.
Chen exhaled slowly. “Okay. I know some of this is my fault. I was too lenient. I should have probably done something after that first argument with Gonzales. This is a long mission with a lot of downtime but the sensory box was not meant to be used this much. It was only to be used when someone was extremely homesick or starting to feel claustrophobic. You’re both abusing the privilege.”
“I am homesick,” interrupted Wilson, only to be silenced by the captain’s glare.
“I get it,” continued the captain. “You both find peace in that machine. Heck, I do too, on occasion. But things can’t continue like this. I’m denying access to the sensory box till after the next deployment.”
“That’s not for three months,” said Justin.
“There are plenty of other ways to occupy your time. This ship was designed to make this long trek as painless as possible. There are lots of things you can do. You can hit the exercise chamber or play video games for all I care but you will not have access to this room. Do you understand?”
Wilson nodded.
Justin looked down and mumbled, “But, Ella.”
***
Justin was laying in his bed, staring at the ceiling when Wilson burst into his chamber.
“The captain,” he shouted. “He’s dead.”
Justin jumped to his feet. “What? How?”
“I just found him in his room. It’s horrible. It looks like he slashed his wrists. There’s blood everywhere.” He turned and headed back down the hall.
“I knew something bad would happen when he locked us out of the sensory box,” announced Justin as he followed.
***
“I’ve worked out the details,” explained Wilson. “We don’t have the time or the fuel to turn around. The Pathlayer II is two years behind us and even if we waited for them, we’d still have to set out the relay stations and the catcher’s mitt before the wormhole could be opened. Our best hope is to finish the mission. The two of us can still do the deployments. It’ll be tough, but we can do it.”
“Yeah, of course, we have to finish,” said Justin. “Getting the catcher’s mitt up and running is our best hope home.”
Wilson’s eyes narrowed as he stared at Justin. After a long pause, he spoke. “We still have years to go. We can’t be fighting over the sensory box the whole time. I’m fine with reopening the room now that Chen’s gone but you can’t spend all of your time in there. Both of us should have access. I propose we limit the use to no more than one hour per day.”
Justin nodded. “Sure, whatever. I’ll get to work on trying to get past the captain’s overrides.”
***
Wilson held the hammer, ready to swing it if provoked. He circled Justin, putting himself between his shipmate and the sensory box.
“I have to do this,” he growled. “It’s for your own good. Heck, it’s for my good. If you don’t quit spending all your time in that thing, you’re going to completely lose your mind. And if you die there’s no way I can finish the mission on my own.”
Justin stared at Wilson, a look of contempt on his face. His left hand slowly inched toward his pocket.
Wilson continued. “You were just in there for 48 consecutive hours. I’m not going to let you kill yourself and destroy any hope I have of surviving this mess.” He turned and brought the hammer up, preparing to smash the control panel on the sensory box.
With speed and strength nourished by desperation, Justin lunged toward Wilson. As he did so, he pulled his knife from his pocket, the same knife he used to slit Chen’s wrists and cut Gonzales’ spacewalk tether. He wasn’t going to give up the sensory box. He couldn’t give it up. He couldn’t give up Ella.
***
“Are you okay?” asked Specialist Gonzales. “I heard screaming.”
Justin opened his eyes to find Gonzales standing over him, pulling at the cords attached to Justin’s temples.
“What? What’s going on?” Justin asked, groggily.
“It looks like something got messed up with the sensory box controls. The dream environment setting was turned way to the left, way off balance. You must have been having some kind of weird dream.
Justin sat up. “You’re not dead?”
“Of course not,” replied Gonzales. “Now, you better go get everything ready. We’re only a couple of hours away from deploying the Catcher’s Mitt. It won’t be long till we’re going to be home.” He smiled, patted Justin on the back, and headed out the door.
Justin gave his head a quick shake, hoping to remove the last of the cobwebs. It had all been nothing more than a dream induced by the sensory box. Everything was going to be fine.
“Isn’t it wonderful,” said Ella as she walked into the room. She sauntered up to Justin and gave him a quick but tender embrace. “We’ll be going back to Earth soon.”
For a split second, Justin wondered what Ella was doing aboard the Pathlayer. The thought disappeared quickly. It was wonderful to be with her. He had a feeling everything would be ideal from now on.
***
The Pathlayer never completed its mission. The ship was never found.
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