by Charles Dean
"I think I can see what you're saying," Robert answered after Charles had finished speaking. "But, and forgive me for asking this, why does it matter?"
Charles shrugged and sipped his tea. "As I said, it's something of a hobby of mine. I've always been fascinated with how the brain works, what makes it tick. The technical aspects of dreaming just appealed to my naturally inquisitive nature, I suppose.
“For example, what purpose do dreams serve from an evolutionary standpoint? We know that every person will experience dreaming during their lives, during the natural course of being asleep. But what function does it serve? How much of a role does it really play in aiding the survival of the species? Like philosophy, they could easily be dismissed as a superfluous function of higher learning and leisure. At the most basic level, dreaming isn't going to overtly keep you alive, tell you where to find food or shelter. So from an evolutionary standpoint, dreams only really serve a few niche purposes. Yet, we know that even in the most primitive societies where every day was a fight to stay alive, they still had dreams while they were asleep at night. It has been widely hypothesized that dreams are a problem solving function of the brain as it tries to sort out information it gathered during the day and resolve unanswered questions. I’m sure you’re familiar with the phrase ‘let me sleep on it.’
“So does that mean that the ability to dream is a trait that we have learned from society? Brain scans of newborn infants and even children still in the womb have shown activity in the cortex of the brain associated with dreaming. Those areas of the brain light up and show patterns the same as the average adult. As such, we must rule out dreams as a byproduct of society. Although we can neither confirm nor deny that a newborn child is indeed dreaming, it would seem the logical conclusion based on our understanding of how the brain works that they actually do dream. Dreaming, then, cannot possibly be categorized as a learned ability.
“If it is only partially linked to evolutionary purposes as a survival mechanism, and it's not a learned ability such as speech, for example, where does it come from? We do know, however, through our studies on the subject that, despite not being a socially-learned behavior, there are several commonalities throughout every person's individual dreams. When you're dreaming, for example, you often find yourself placed in extraordinary situations that you would never likely face during your waking life. Yet, no one ever has to ever be told what's happening or what to do. How do you know, just know, that you're going to fall from a tall building and die? You never hit bottom--well, I've never heard of anyone who actually hit bottom, anyway--yet somehow, within the dream, you know that you're going to do it. Reason doesn't apply there. The rules are real and absolute. You know them with certainty and believe them with conviction.
“Why do you think it is that everyone seems to report experiencing the reoccurrence of the same common themes within dreams? Why do the same monsters haunt the dark corners of everyone's brain? How do you know that there are demons lurking in the shadows? That the boogeyman is coming for you?
“When we're awake, we can easily dismiss these ideas with simple logic and reason as fairytales. 'There's nothing in the shadows of the night that isn't there during the day.' We rationalize away our fears that haunt us during the darkest hours of the night, but does that mean that when we're dreaming that we suspend these higher brain functions all together? Are we more at one with our primitive, animalistic selves, or do we simply reject all higher learning and theory in favor of simple, more natural principles and actions? Have we allowed higher thinking and philosophy to overcome natural instinct, or have a thousand years of rationalization and logic undone thousands of years of evolution--or do those still exist somewhere within the brain?"
Robert became immediately aware of several things as soon as Charles stopped speaking. First, and perhaps foremost, he had finished his first cup and was in desperate need of more coffee. There was no way he had expected someone with Charles' reputation to go off on a philosophical tangent about the nature of dreams--much less their role within society or from an evolutionary standpoint. He had been truly caught off guard by that unexpected twist in the conversation.
Second, he was somewhat dumbfounded by how to even begin phrasing a response. This was so far outside the realm of his understanding or expertise he was lost without answers. So he said the first thing that came to mind: "Or, perhaps, they're just a product of our imagination, and there's no real purpose to them at all."
Charles laughed and poured himself a second glass of tea, pausing to refill Robert's proffered coffee cup before leaning back in his chair again. "Yes, that is entirely possible as well."
"If a tree falls in the forest, and no-one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?" Robert asked. This was about the extent of what he remembered from his college philosophy classes. "If a dream occurs and no one is around to see it, did it really happen?"
Charles' grin slowly spread across his face before he broke out into a genuine, hearty laugh. "Yes, Robert, I think you have it now."
Robert was still dumbfounded, but he was doing his best not to let the confusion show on his face. Despite Charles' obvious interest on the topic, Robert was left mildly disinterested and, at best, slightly annoyed. He had learned long before that questions of this nature didn't really appeal to him.
"I suppose I have to admit that I've never really given it much thought," Robert said. "I learned a long time ago that I was better off focusing on problems that could be attacked systematically with a clear line of thought and logic."
"Oh, I have no doubt," Charles said, sipping his tea. "Just remember, many of the things we used to write off and label as magic and superstition or curiosities of a fanciful imagination are now staples within the realm of scientific understanding. Their acceptance is now simply a foregone conclusion: refrigeration, magnetism, combustion--the list goes on. How many thousands of years did our ancestors spend gazing at the stars trying to guess at what secrets they might hold before we developed the telescope? Just because we haven't charted a logical path to the conclusion yet doesn't preclude it from existing."
Robert had to admit that, when he put it like that, Charles had quite the point.
"So what does that mean, then? That one day we will be able to look into someone else's dreams and study them like we do the stars?"
"I tend to try and never rule out any possibility," Charles answered carefully. "But, can you imagine the possibilities if we could? What if we were able to somehow communicate with a coma patient? If we were able to somehow influence someone's thoughts and lead them out of wherever it is their mind retreats to? If we were somehow able to cure people of their fears and anxieties while they were asleep? I cannot even begin to fully imagine or understand the wide range of the applications."
"All that's left then, I suppose, is logically divining a scientific route through a philosophical concept," Robert answered, still skeptical despite his tepid acceptance of what Charles was trying to get at.
"Well, it's not really unlike some of the other problems we've been struggling with providing answers to recently," Charles broke off a piece of cookie and chewed on it for a moment before continuing. "These problems that keep cropping up within the world of Tiqpa, for example. Scientists have searched for years for the missing evolutionary link between primate and man. Perhaps we just need to discover our own missing link in order to make the connections amongst the strange, unexplainable events that have occurred within the game world."
Robert wasn't surprised by Charles swinging the conversation around to the topic of work. He was actually mildly curious that it had taken this long to be brought up at all. Nonetheless, he still felt the need to be somewhat defensive in answering. Despite having rather enjoyed the conversation, and definitely the wonderful meal, he had to remember that he was still sitting and talking with his boss.
"Believe me, everyone has been desperately searching for that missing link," Robert answered truthfully. "If it's out there,
we're going to find it. There are just so many inexplicable occurrences, things happening without any rhyme or reason to them, that it's been hard to get a solid foundation to even start from. If we were able to get even a little toe hold, something to grasp onto or somewhere to start from, we might be able to make progress in finding the answer."
"The tree is falling in the forest, Robert, and you're listening for the sound of the branches snapping instead of looking for the tree."
Robert raised an eyebrow and stared without answering as he tried to puzzle out what in the world Charles might be talking about. Those little warning bells were starting to tinkle in the back of Robert's head again.
"What . . . "
Charles held up a hand indicating for Robert to wait before answering. He leaned forward, setting his cup on the table in front of him, then made a 'come hither' motion with his hand to someone Robert couldn't see behind him.
The walking giant silently appear beside Robert and handed Charles a large manila envelope before silently disappearing. Robert had entirely forgotten about the man. He had disappeared as soon as they had exited onto the patio, and Robert hadn't given him another thought.
Charles carefully slid the envelope across the table to Robert, being careful to avoid the tray of coffee, tea and cookies.
Robert quickly took a large gulp of his coffee as he set his own cup down and picked up the envelope. Those little warning bells were growing louder at a rapid pace.
"You see, Robert," Charles began again as Robert opened the folder and pulled out a thick stack of pages that immediately felt like the heavy gloss of photo paper, "missing links aren't always missing."
Robert stared at the only sheet of paper that adorned the stack of photos. There was far too much written on it for him to take in at a first glance, but what was immediately obvious was the giant red ‘Confidential’ stamp hammered into the middle of the page, directly across the typed words.
The warning bells reached crescendo, filling his brain, as he carefully slid the first page off the top of the stack and laid it on the table. Robert felt his gut sink and the deafening sound inside his head stopped abruptly, leaving behind an even louder silence as he saw the first picture. Kass.
"But . . . What . . ." Robert was unable to form words as he flipped through the photos faster and faster. They were all of Kass. Some looked like they had been taken inside an office, some outside an old home that Robert didn't recognize. Some of them appeared as if they had been taken from inside the game. Although he had never seen Kass's character, the features were similar enough he could easily guess what he was looking at: her fighting mobs, her standing with a strange red-eyed bear, her riding the missing Hydra in battle. Robert quickly began to notice something else that was common in many of the pictures--a strange man with pale, white skin and red eyes that was always with her.
"Why . . . How . . . What is this?" Robert demanded in the full and angry voice of a defensive father.
"Trust me, Robert, it's nothing untoward," Charles immediately responded. He actually managed to somehow sound reassuring as he said it. "What do you notice in all the photos?"
"You mean besides the fact that it looks like you've been spying on my daughter?" Robert demanded. He was not going to be so easily placated.
Charles reached across the table and picked up the last photo Robert had discarded from the stack and held it up so that it was facing Robert. "Who is this?" Charles tapped the strange man that was present in many of the photos.
"What? I don't have any cl . . . " then it hit him. Large man. Pale skin. Red eyes. Robert looked from the picture Charles was holding up to the stack in his hand. Bathrobe. Spoons.
"This is Darwin?" Robert asked.
"So you do know him," Charles charged. The tone of his voice indicated that he had expected the answer.
Robert was busted and he knew it.
"Immediately after the game went public, you had your friend Gary and his team searching the database for instances involving the use of spoons and bathrobes," Charles explained. "You even had him searching through account information and character data for someone named 'Darwin.' While everyone else has spent all this time hunting for a mysterious 'ghost in the system,' you've known exactly where he was all along."
"No, I . . . We tried to track him down. It's literally impossible. We can't find his character at all."
"Logic, Robert." Charles taunted him with the words. Robert knew where this was going before he had even said anything. "We may not be able to find this mystery man, but your daughter can. I'm willing to bet she knows exactly where he is right this moment even if she's not actually there with him herself. We may not be able to find him," Charles added extra emphasis on the word, "but we know exactly how to find Kass, don't we?"
"What do you plan on doing to my daughter?" Robert asked accusingly. Wild fears and imagined scenarios skated through his brain in rapid succession. Robert would do everything in his power to protect Kass, but against a man with Charles' influence, wealth, and power, he knew it would be worthless.
"Nothing," Charles said, almost assumingly. "We're not going to do anything to her."
Robert had heard Charles use phrasing very similar to that already once today.
"This is why you said we weren't going to do anything earlier when we were at the office," Robert said quietly. "You already knew how to find Darwin through Kass. You've been planning on using her all along."
"Let's just call it asking for her help. I really don't want to use your daughter for anything." Silence hung between them for a moment before Charles finished. "But, let me be clear, Robert: I have great interest in having a chat with this Darwin one way or the other."
Kass:
Kass rushed home to log on. The interview had taken way longer than she had anticipated, and between teasing poor Kerrigan and needing to be shown around by Rainer, she was already going to be late for the docking. In fact, she was going to be around an hour late at the very least. When she got into the game, she burst out of the cabin door only to find that the boat was still populated even though it was pulled up to the dock.
Great, I didn’t miss a thing. Darwin must be on this glass galleon somewhere, she thought, her eyes darting around as she looked for some sign of where he might be. She couldn’t spot him, but she did spot Alex holding up a map and talking to two of the other Demons.
“Alex!” she shouted out to him. “Where’s Darwin?”
He folded up the map neatly in an instant and looked over at her. “Lady Kass,” he said, bowing his head slightly. “I apologize, but we don’t know where he is at this moment.”
“You don’t know where he is?”
“No, it is my fault. He departed into the town by himself without giving notice as soon as we docked. He has been gone for quite some time,” Alex said, gesturing towards the large city past the docks.
Crap, I hope he didn’t go off leveling without me, she thought, ignoring the rest of the Demons moving around on the boat and heading into the town. While she was there, she found her eyes darting around constantly for the flap-fiend, and her ears listening out for any tales of a weirdo in a bathrobe. He was a distinctive enough individual that even being in the area after him often left a trail of talk regarding his appearance and which way he had gone. It took her almost ten minutes until her ears, not her eyes, caught something though.
“Did you hear about that weird, red-eyed Human, the one in the tournament?” she overheard from a group of four random beast-men in the corner.
Red-eyed Human. That has to be Darwin.
“Yeah, I heard he’s gone crazy a few times in the tournament. What’s with his outfit though?”
Why does every conversation about him have to focus on his bathrobe. Isn’t the rest of him strange too?
“I don’t know. He must be trying to copy that guy from the beach fight, the one in the YouTube videos,” the beast-men continued as she walked up to them.
“Excuse me!”
she said, “The weird outfit, was it a bathrobe?”
“Yeah. Yeah, it was,” a large, seven-foot-tall Simian, the one who she had interrupted, responded.
“Great, but what is this tournament you are talking about?”
“Lady, there isn’t more than the one,” he said, acting annoyed. “It’s the Melee Fighting Championship in East Town Square.”
“Ah, how do we get there?”
“Woman, what do you want from us? Are we supposed to hold your hand and escort you? Buy you nice things? Please. You Human women are so annoying,” the ape-man said, turning to his friends and leaving Kass just staring at his back in shock.
Human women? “What are you in real life? An ape too? How rude!” she yelled at his back as she pursed her face angrily.
“Ah, it’s okay, young one. You don’t need to be angry at those rude youths. I’ll be happy to help you in their place, if you will forgive their manners, as I am headed there myself. May I show you the way?” a giant panda-man that matched the ape-man in size said from behind her as he extended his hand.
“If you’d be so kind, good sir, my name is Kass,” she responded, finding herself caught up in his manners.
“Wonderful,” he said, “My name is Robin. Please, let me kindly be your guide.” The gentle giant of a bear release the handshake and extended an arm to show her the initial direction they’d be walking.
As they walked, he started to tell her more and more about the city’s history, about the great wars that had befallen it and about how each city square had its own unique history. Kass did her best to listen, to absorb his lectures as he gave them. He regaled Kass with the story of how the city had first begun when each of the animal nations, after a long and brutal war to decide which Kingdom was the greatest, had in a gesture of peace sent their greatest artisans to build a city that would always withstand the conflicts that separated the peoples of the land. The charming panda went on to describe how that decree had been tested several times over the following generations as time and time again a rebellion would occur with either the support of a full race like the Feline people, or a specific group within a race like the black rhino people, who acted without the other rhinos. In any case, the battle ground always tended to end up being the streets of the city.