TDM 07 "I Am At Your Bidding"

A Chapter by dw817

There is a sound like a vacuum cleaner and the expression on Alice which was earlier one of comfort and bliss suddenly turns to fear and distress. Then she speaks, "Where are you going Gramma !?"

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THE DREAM MACHINE

The Lost Saucer
Can't Get Off This Crazy Ride !

© September 2013 Written by David Wicker
Please do not reprint without permission

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CHAPTER 7 - I AM AT YOUR BIDDING

* * *

This chapter is Rated: EVERYONE

The 'good' doctor then stepped away from the podium and it slid to the side to reveal a large screen in front of the group gathered in the auditorium.

There was a sound of a drum roll as colored lights played over a large screen appearing behind him and then a glitzy logo that read, "Dream Consignments," and under that it showed first one person sitting in a chair. And from the restraints it is obvious this is one of the captives who is having their dreams being sold.

The camera pulls back to show several more, and all of them have their eyes open and smiling but still restrained hand and foot. They have wide grins as if they are enjoying being held captive there, and you can see they have something attached to the front of their forehead, like a round blue jewel. More and more appear as the camera pulls back until there are several thousand and they start turning blurry.

The scene fades and new text appears over the logo, "Where we make it possible for all their dreams to become YOU !"

A little music riff played some lively music and the screen faded to show a chart showing a pulsing waveform and in the background of that muted with a filter was the silhouetted figures of both Alice and Jerry !

The doctor then reached to the side of the podium and pulled out an acrylic wand that had concentric cuts near the top, clearly a wireless microphone.

Then he spoke, "Okay ! First on the block is Jerry. As you know he's a time traveler, and it was so kind of him to visit us today."

The audience laughed at the rude joke while some looked confused.

The Dr nodded seeing the look of puzzlement from some of them, "Yes. For those of you new to these proceedings, we are using a Chronomatic Attenuator to retrieve our catches. I know that's a mouthful, folks, another simpler name given to it recently is the, Dreamcatcher."

"Basically it means anyone who attempts to pass by our century by time-traveling and is scanned to contain a large amount of Phenethylamine is grabbed in it's vortex and forced to this time period. After all, you wouldn't want them skipping right past us without stopping into say 'Hello,' right ?"

The audience politely chuckled as the doctor continued, "So we estimate these two to be from the year 1970, and as you know children from that era could certainly DREAM !"

There is quiet applause from everyone, hoping for an incredible day with amazing dreams up for sale.

"So, now that you're up to speed on our methods, let's see what we've recorded so far."

The screen shows Jerry flying through the sky holding his hands out in front of him as both birds and clouds are passed by and he has a wide grin on his face, delighted he can do such a thing.

The doctor spoke reverently, "A boy that wishes he could fly. Yes indeed. A common dream and a very favored one to be sure by our youths, and yet one that never tires of popularity with our paying clientèle."

Suddenly there was a pleasant chime and a screen appearing to the right of the main one sparked and blinked to life and on it with a streaming green abstract image for the background where the glowing white characters revealing, "q1000"

The doctor smiled and eagerly put the microphone closer to his mouth to be heard better, "Okay indeed ! We are off to an early start now and already have a bid for 1,000 quatons for this boy's dream of flying. Wonderful ! Do I hear 2 ?"

The scene changes and we see outside the Lost Saucer, where it is skipping and bouncing off of the force-field of the planet and inside the ship it was bucking up and down dizzily. Even DORSE sounded worried and had his paws over his head shaking it back and forth.

"Brauf. Brauf. Neeigh !" he said.

Fum went over to pet him, "I know it's rough, Dorse. But we gotta find a way to get through this old forcey field." then he looked up for a moment, "Fi ?"

Fi was busy at the controls of the main console in the center of the saucer and rotated it to the right to keep up with the turbulence, "I'm working on it Fum ! Stay with me. Increase output acceleration to 17 gigajoules and tighten the spin ! Let's see if they can keep up with us !"

Fum stood suddenly to approach his console on the wall, "Right." and did as he was instructed.

Outside the saucer it was like a pebble skipping over a river in a tight circle and each time it hit the force field it bounced quite similarly.

Suddenly a warning klaxon sounded. "What's that ?" Fum asked.

Fi was quite pleased with herself however, "We did it ! I knew if we kept skipping all over their protective grid they wouldn't have time to reinforce it completely. We weakened it ! And now we're finally seeping through !"

Outside the saucer started sinking in the glowing blue forcefield which flickered dramatically like not enough energy was possible to cover the entire surface of the sky anymore. And it sank into it like a rock in quicksand until it suddenly disappeared through and past view beautiful skies and clouds.

A new alarm sounded on top of the old one. Fum looked at his console, "According to this, we're through, so I have to ask now, what's THAT ?"

"They've launched planetary defense missiles !" Fi explained. "Hold on, if you thought it was rough before, this is going to be the kicker !"

Fi hit the center console and then grabbed a knob and twirled it rapidly. Inside everything started spinning clockwise as both Fi and Fum started making dizzy sounds themselves, "Whoa whoa whoa whoa !"

The saucer outside rotated to reflect this, but not on it's concentric circle but perpendicular so it was rolling over and over faster and faster until it became a glowing perfect sphere. That is except for 2-missiles which approached and hit the spinning mass, exploded against the illuminated surface.

* * *

Back inside the saucer there was a small fire on one of the consoles and sparks flashed and sprayed in all directions. A 3rd klaxon sounded, it's desperate sound was even worse than the first two.

"Here we go, we're going down !" Fum said holding on tightly to the center console. Outside the saucer had stopped rotating and smoking and burning it started to fall straight out of the sky like a streaking comet into the surface of the planet careening crazily up and down !

DORSE was placed into a safety carrier By Fi to sustain impact and he looked just as worried as they did.

Fi then reached behind her and grabbed onto two large handles on the side of the ship as did Fum on the opposite side. After another tense moment with the entire room vibrating from the steep velocity, the saucer collided HARD into the ground and Fi and Fum were thrown free of their support and even Dorse's carrier broke loose amid a new shower of sparks and slide wildly across the floor.

Then there was darkness inside the saucer as wires and cables broke loose showering electricity surges and damage. Warning lights flickered but even the alert system was damaged in the crash. The camera closes up on Fi and Fum and they are fallen pell mell on the floor and are not moving at all.

Dorse is the only one still active and is trying to get out of his protective carrier, backing up and running against the locked entry.

Back at the auction there was a little over 60,000 quatons listed on the board now from eager bidders. The doctor looked positively delighted with himself and had even pulled out a small acrylic rectangle with waffled blue edges, clearly some kind of counting device to determine his cut of the profit from this venture.

He was laughing, "I've never met such an eager and likable crowd before !" he said glibly. "Okay, this next girl's dream is of ..." and then his voice faded away and the scene faded out like a - if you'll pardon the expression - dream sequence.

The scene changed to show Alice on the porch with her grandmother somewhere out in the country. It is a rustic cottage, worn with age and looking a little worse on wear for the tear.

The elderly woman is gliding back and forth peaceably in a rocking chair and knitting. Alice comes over to talk to her and their words cannot be heard.

As the camera zooms in, suddenly the old woman's voice can be heard amidst birds chirping and the gentle creaking of her chair, "Why don't you ever come out and see me anymore, Allie ?"

Alice goes over to look at her knitting. "Well, you know Gramma Josefine, school is really keeping me busy now. I can only find time in the Summer to see you now."

Josefine clicks her tongue once disconsolately but continues to work on her knitting.

Suddenly Alice's curiosity can be quiet no longer, Can I ask what you are working on, Gramma ?"

Josefine holds up her knitting and it is clearly some kind of scarf made from a rich and beautiful pink sparkly yarn.

Alice smiles a little shyly, "Is - is that for me ?"

Josefine puts it back down crossly, "No, it's for your Father at church ! Of course it's for you ! It's for your Birthday, Allie ! You don't think I've gotten so old yet I've forgotten my own granddaughter's birthday, have you ?"

"No of course not, Gramma."

Josefine nods her head up and down and as she rocks faster now it's hard to tell if she's nodding at all or just moving it in gyration to the chair.

She focuses on her work and slows her rocking speaking quietly, "One day you'll get to be my age, Allie, and you'll have your own daughter to deal with and you had better enjoy the time you have with her, because when you start to get to be my age, the years - well they go by right by you then. Do you understand what I'm telling you girl ?"

"Yes ma'am." Alice replied dutifully.

Gramma stopped her rocking. "Good. Well I think you've heard enough ramblings from an old senile woman for one day. Let's see if Grampa has made the lemonade yet for our picnic."

"You're not old, gramma !" Alice says and gives her beloved relative a loving hug around her expansive middle.

"So you're just saying I'm senile then !?" Josefine added crossly. Alice suddenly pulls back look at her in shock, frightened at the implication but then she sees Josefine smiling wickedly down at her, clearly trying to trick her into saying one or the other.

"Oh gramma ..." Alice says and looks down at her feet for a second, abashedly to even consider such a thing.

The scene pulls back and it shows Alice help Josefine out of her rocking chair. As it turns out she is a big woman, hunched over with very bad osteoporosis. But Alice only smiles and sees a kind and caring woman whom she has gone to visit out in the country ever since she was a baby girl.

The scene pulls back a bit further and you can see the edges of the main monitor still in the auction room. This dream being televised and transmitted to the audience showing a pipe of pink and violet light swirling down through the top of their heads.

"Aww ..." the audience says to the touching and tender scene.

The doctor smiles, "Yes indeed, folks, clearly a nice warm memory from her past and a favored dream at that. A rarity amongst the common dreamers today. But she won't be needing this memory anymore, now will she ?"

The light shining down on their heads turns from pink to a dull blue showing the 'preview' is over. The audience's mood changes and laughs for a moment at the rude doctor's joke.

"Right, so what am I bid for this fine dream ? What say we start with - "

Suddenly there is a loud PING ! and a new figure appears on the board, but this one shows, "q75,000" higher than the highest ending bid so far for any of the dreams seen so far !

* * *

"Oh my." the doctor says looking at the figure in shock. "Is that right ?" Then he gazes into the audience to see the bid is clearly from the snobbish woman who came in earlier. She did say she was especially fond of girls' dreams.

"Will anybody meet this ?" he asks the audience really not expecting anyone to.

The remaining audience, obviously aware of her bidding tactics the last time they met, turn and give her a dirty look as she snickers to herself to have this precious dream all to herself.

"I didn't think so." the doctor says under his breath. Then he touches a button on the podium and back where Alice is, a flexible hose shoots down and attaches itself to the front of the blue disc attached on front of her forehead, as we saw in the earlier logo.

There is a sound like a vacuum cleaner starting up and the expression on Alice which was earlier one of comfort and bliss suddenly turns to fear and distress.

Then she speaks in her delirium turning her head left and right, but still keeping her eyes closed, "Gramma Josefine ? Gramma ? Where are you going, Gramma !?"

This is followed by tears that stream down her gray face but the vaccum machine is relentless and continues to suck out her beloved dream from the conduit to be purchased by the grotesque and haughty woman we met entering the auction earlier.

And the audience is completely unaware of the torment Alice is going through to have her dreams ripped from her as no camera in the auditorium dare show the expression on the face of whom they are stealing from. Oh no as that might detract from the sales !

The camera then changes to show a scene of the saucer having crashed down through the surface and mowed down several trees in it's wake, it is tilted at a hard angle jambed deep into the Earth and smoke is pluming from the top of it.

Inside the saucer it's even worse. The center console is broken and fallen over with several wires dangling out the bottom. A thick opaque gray smoke drifts through the air and DORSE can be seen still butting against his cage to get out.

Suddenly he breaks through ! He goes over to approach Fi and Fum, but they are not responding. Dorse pats his paw on the front of them trying to activate their buttons but there is still no response.

He looks at the hatch which is closed and because he is level now, he pats a furry paw on the fallen console that still has a few lights dimly lit on it and with a shower of new sparks from the bottom where it broke, suddenly the hatch hiccups and hesitates but does finally open with the familiar warbling effect.

Afterwards there is another explosion at it's base all the lights flicker and give out showing the console is now useless.

Dorse walks hard against the slant of the floor and gets outside the saucer. From there he looks around to see they have crashed in some deep and dense forest. He lifts his head up and sniffs and starts off in one direction.

A short distance from the fallen saucer is a a small river-bed full of beautiful and exotic fish. He gets an idea. He jumps into it and splashes water everywhere scaring the fish off both upstream and downstream.

Drenched, he gets out and returns back inside the saucer to see Fi and Fum still haven't moved. He goes over to Fi and shakes like a dog spraying water everywhere.

Suddenly Fi sparks when the water hits her and she is up in an instant, "Ow ! Ow ! What are you doing, Dorse !? That hurts ! Hey !" but then she looks around the saucer, at her chest, and then back at Dorse and realizes what he has done.

"Good job, Dorse ! That water caused my auto-repair circuits to finally activate and revive me ! Let's see if we can't help FUM."

Fi goes over and turns him over so she can get at his buttons on the front. Then she touches buttons but once again, there is no response.

"Do your thing, Dorse !" she directs the furry dog-horse creature and he goes over and shakes the remaining water off onto the android.

Fum's chest sparks in contact with the water, and he too raises up but says, "Hey, that tickles ! Oh, hi Dorse !" and seems oblivious to the damage around them giving a wide vapid smile of ignorance.

Fi helps raise Fum up who leans against the wall. The inside of the saucer is a total disaster. Parts are smashed, wires and cables are still hanging down from the ceiling and the worst, the center console has broken off it's pivot and lays useless on it's side.

Fum finally gets up and becomes aware of the wreckage, "Well Golllyyy ! What are we going to do now, Fum ?"

Fi stands up herself and looks at him with a new look of determination, "What we came here to do ! We're going to rescue those kids !"

END OF CHAPTER 7

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shallimarRose

OK so time travel huh? Interesting trip you take us on or almost ..
Just the fact that you used words like Fum and golly made smile so thank you.. xo Rose