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Sam wasn’t sure how he was supposed to feel about his new familiar, and the physical sensations he felt reflected that. He hadn’t had a worm squirming around inside of him before, and he was sure most tapeworms couldn’t crawl up and down his esophagus freely. As for how it stayed alive inside of his stomach instead of his intestines, well, it was a higher-dimensional creature, so the regular rules—like his stomach acid breaking things down inside his stomach—didn’t really apply to it. Either way, it was unsettling, and Sam was disturbed.
“Any price for power,” the tapeworm said. “Do you remember that? When you wished to change your life, you were willing to give up anything, so what does it matter if you rent out your innards to me?”
Sam sighed through his nose. The wish he had made was really coming back to bite him in the butt, huh? He might’ve wished for that when he was younger, but now that he was older, he realized there were some things he shouldn’t have put up for grabs. He might’ve been the boss—at least, in name—of higher-dimensional beings who had reality-warping powers, but he couldn’t see, speak, walk, tilt his head too far in any direction, or even breathe properly through his nose. He couldn’t lie down on his stomach either—his favorite sleeping position—lest he squish a sloth. Well, those sacrifices were worth it…, right?
“Alright,” Sam said, communicating with the tapeworm through his mind. “I’m renting out my innards to you, so how are you paying me back? What power do you bring to the table?”
“Getting straight to the point, huh?” the tapeworm asked. “You’re not even going to ask me for my name nor treat me to dinner first?”
Sam’s vision was blocked once again as Werchbite shifted back into place. “Sorry,” Sam said. “I forgot my manners. My name is Sam. Who are you, and what exactly can you do?”
“That’s better. My name is Nwaps, and I can proliferate,” the tapeworm said. “Once I’m inside another host, I can travel to their command center—in your case, it’d be your brain—and take over their body. It’s very easy for me to spread too. As long as you make skin-to-skin contact with another person, I can send a portion of myself into them and propagate myself from there.”
Sam used his All-Seeing Gaze to make sure there were no tapeworm parts located within his brain. Although his head was clear for now, who knew when that would change in the future?
“Don’t worry,” Nwaps said. “As long as you listen to me, I won’t take control of your body.” The worm retreated back inside of Sam, receding from his nostril, slinking down his esophagus, and squirming through his stomach down to his intestines. He did not like the feeling of such a large worm moving inside of him, but it wasn’t like he could do anything about it. The only thing he could do was change his mindset and convince himself the tapeworm’s wriggling was simply a normal experience not worth reacting to. “I don’t have many demands, but you should keep in mind I’m still growing, and I’m going to need a lot of food.”
“Great,” Sam said to the worm with his mind. “You’re going to grow even larger?”
“That is what still growing means,” Nwaps said. “By the way, my favorite food is bacon, so if you could stock up on that and eat it every day, I’d appreciate it.”
“Bacon,” Sam said, “sure.” With his All-Seeing Gaze, he took a quick look around. Considering the ground was made of crystal with no plants able to grow on its surface, the lack of pigs nearby wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was the lack of Venusians; apparently, while Sam was having his conversation with his newest familiar, the Venusians made up their mind and entered Big Fish’s mouth. None of the Venusians had chosen to go against Sam; after all, with their home gone, it wasn’t like they had anywhere else to go. “Raindu? Do you have any bacon with you?”
The ferret poked its head out of Sam’s shirt, but upon seeing Sam’s eyes covered by Werchbite, Raindu went back inside. “No more,” the ferret said, communicating with Sam through his mind. “You ate it all.”
Sam nodded. Since he had been trapped in Big Fish’s mouth for a decade, the ferret’s stolen food supplies were running low. “Should we head back to Et Serpentium?”
“Why Et Serpentium?” Vercedei asked. “You’ve seen more reptilian culture than human culture, and you’re a human. Let’s go back to your home. Didn’t a bunch of humans go missing? That sounds like a situation we can exploit.”
“Alright, we’ll go back to the city,” Sam said. It wasn’t like he was the one in charge of decision making anyway; all he had to do was agree with his familiars because they weren’t going to give him a choice. Manga was his only form of transportation since the koala hugging his leg was weighing him down, making it impossible for him to move on his own. Well, Sam supposed the koala could transport him through tunnels by rolling like before, but that was still one of his familiars moving him.
“It’s great that you agree,” Vercedei said. “Sam, get in Big Fish’s mouth. Big Fish, stay on Manga. Manga, bring us to the city.”
Sam wondered when the twin-headed snake’s blue head had become the leader of the group. It probably had something to do with how talkative it was. His other familiars didn’t yap as much. Sam stared at Big Fish as the whale opened its mouth. He couldn’t walk inside, so the whale came forward and swallowed him instead. The interior of the whale had changed into a green city with towering buildings; despite the material—Big Fish’s flesh—not being made of gold, the Venusians within could still move around freely.
“It’s Sam!” a Venusian said, causing the interior of the whale’s mouth to fall silent.
Sam scanned the region with his All-Seeing Gaze, and he noticed Toka’s group of undesirable Venusians being surrounded by a larger group of Venusian residents from the golden city. “What’s going on here?” Vercedei asked. “Bullying?”
“No,” Mayor said, speaking up for the group of Venusians from the city. “We were just questioning them.”
“They’re lying!” Toka said, speaking for the group of undesirables. “They are bullying us, and they’re doing it because they don’t like the way we look.”
“That’s not true,” Mayor said and shook her head. Of course, to Sam, all he saw was the dark mass in his All-Seeing Gaze flicker. No matter how beautiful or ugly of an illusion the Venusians casted on themselves, they all looked the same to him. “We were curious and wanted to know how they met you, but they became aggressive when we approached them.”
“You treated us like shit,” one of the undesirables said, “why should we even acknowledge your existence? Who cares if you’re curious? Why should we be responsible for your lack of knowledge?”
“But we’re all in this together now,” one of the ex-residents of the golden city said. They couldn’t really be called residents anymore now that the whole city was gone, destroyed by Sam’s talent. “We should learn to coexist with one another and put aside past differences.”
“We can start doing that when you speak more respectfully to us,” another undesirable said. “You look down on us with your perfect, snooty faces. So, you’re a little better at making illusions than we are, but that doesn’t mean you’re better than us.”
“I mean…,” the ex-resident said, about to say more before she was nudged by the Venusian beside her. It would be proving the undesirable’s point if the Venusian voiced her true thoughts. “How are you supposed to convince people into giving you stuff in their dreams if you’re not good looking?”
“There are other ways to get what you want,” the undesirable said. “What do you do when your looks fail you?”
The ex-resident scoffed. “Fail me?” she asked. “They’ve never failed me before.”
“They’re failing you now, aren’t that?” the undesirable asked in return. “You want something from us, and we’re not giving it to you, so you’re throwing a tantrum.”
Sam was glad Vercedei was doing all his talking for him. It meant he didn’t have to deal with the arguing Venusians. They could fight and make a fuss, but in the end, it didn’t affect him. If Vercedei was bothered by it, the twin-headed snake could do something about it. If Big Fish was tired of the Venusians, the whale could spit them out. Although it was like being a spectator to a movie about his own life, Sam didn’t mind; it was better than being in charge of a miserable life.
“Alright, let’s not argue, everyone,” Vercedei said. “It’s clear some of you are looking down on others, and some of you want to prove your worth, so I’ll give you all an opportunity.” An image of six people appeared on the roof of the whale’s mouth. Sam recognized all of them; they were the CEOs of the six big companies. “I want you to investigate these people and all the people who work below them. I want to know their interests, their deepest and darkest secrets, and anything I can use to gain the upper hand against them in negotiations or a physical confrontation.”
The Venusians exchanged glances with one another. Of course, they couldn’t live in a paradise for free, but the price they had to pay was less than they had expected. “Just information?” Mayor asked. “You don’t need anything physical from them like gold?”
Sam wondered how that worked. Could physical objects be extracted from a dream?
“That’s all,” Vercedei said. “Material possessions are worthless to me. If you can swindle them out of things, feel free to do so. I imagine your homes are sparsely decorated at the moment, and you’ll need some physical possessions to have a true sense of belonging.”
“So, whoever brings you the most useful information…?” Toka asked, his question trailing off as everyone turned to look at him.
“Correct,” Vercedei said. “You’ll bring the information to my Anunaki helper, and it’ll give you a rating based on the quality of information and quantity you provide. Your rating determines where you stand in society, which buildings you’ll have access to. Of course, even the worst places are swankier than the best your golden city provided, but who doesn’t want to strive for better? The best Venusian amongst you will be the representative of all Venusians when communicating with me, so try your best, alright?”
“How long do we have?” Mayor asked.
“A week,” Vercedei said. Coincidentally, that was how long it’d take Manga to run back to the capital. Of course, the wooly pig was running underground because it didn’t want to be spotted. Would it destabilize the ground above it and cause earthquakes? It probably wouldn’t, and if it did, that wasn’t something the higher-dimensional beings nor Sam cared about. If Sam were that considerate, maybe, he’d feel bad about infecting a whole population of people with a golden tapeworm that’d dig into their brains and control their every action, but he didn’t. He had to fulfill his familiars’ wishes, and he wasn’t sure if that was his own original thought or one planted by the tapeworm to control his actions.
A Venusian raised their hand, and Vercedei pointed at them. “Yes? Do you have something you’d like to say?”
“Can we work in groups?” the Venusian asked.
“Yes,” Vercedei said. “Whatever makes you feel comfortable. You can collaborate if that’s what you wish, but the value of the information you hand in won’t be worth as much if it’s something that’s already been given.”
“That’s not fair,” one of the undesirables said. “If those snoots over there all work together, there’s no way we can compete.”
“That’s life,” Vercedei said, the illusion projected by Werchbite shrugging. “I’m giving you a chance, so make the most of it even if it’s not fair. Besides, who’s to say they’ll all work together? Only one person can be the representative.”
Toka looked around at his fellow undesirable Venusians. Even if they all joined forces, they were still greatly outnumbered by the ex-residents. In that case, they had to work quickly and efficiently to have a shot at submitting relevant information first.
“You two,” Vercedei said, Sam’s illusionary body pointing at Toka and Mayor. “Come with me.”
Mayor and Toka exchanged glances with each other before separating from the group and walking towards Vercedei. To Sam, it looked like they were floating with barely a hint of their dark masses touching the ground. The illusion of Sam walked away, separating itself from his actual body, and when he moved to follow it, the metallic koala on his leg stopped his momentum. Then, the ground underneath Sam shifted, moving him like a piece of sushi on a conveyor belt to match with his illusion’s position.
Sam was brought into a nearby building. It was green and crystalline, made of Big Fish’s flesh. The two Venusians followed Sam inside, and the door automatically shut behind them. Toka turned his head to look at Mayor, but the beautiful Venusian’s attention was fully focused on the higher-dimensional entity in front of her. Toka straightened out his mindset; it was clear Mayor didn’t see him as an equal, so why should he be looking to her to see what to do in this situation?
“Tell me,” Vercedei said once both Venusians were looking at him. “What is your process of entering one’s dream? After you’re inside, what exactly can you accomplish?”
Toka thought about how he entered dreams, and that was all the time Mayor needed to speak up. “I meditate for a few minutes to attune myself to the frequency of the subconscious expanse. Then, I search for a bright dream to enter; personally, I don’t like delving into nightmares because I don’t like watching someone suffer. When I see a dream that I like—I’m very picky, so I often search through thousands of dreams—I hop inside and enjoy myself in the background without changing the course of the dream. If I happen to see something valuable like gold, then I’ll snatch it when I’m leaving, but I’m not actively looking for it.”
Toka spoke up, “I—”
And then was instantly cut off by Mayor’s violent coughing. “If I want to, I can interact with the person inside of their dream,” Mayor said. “They’re more open to giving up information if I steer the dream in certain directions. If it’s imperative for them to tell me things or show me confidential items, they’ll do it because they’ll think it’s perfectly logical and reasonable. I can physically take things from dreams, but depending on how large and dense the object is, it uses up a certain amount of my energy, and when my energy depletes, it takes a day to recover with proper aftercare.”
Toka turned to look at Mayor despite his earlier resolution to ignore her. How could he ignore her with the way she behaved? She paid him no regard, speaking over him as if he didn’t exist. Also, her recovery time was significantly shorter than his. Did the residents of the city have special techniques or knowledge that they didn’t share with the undesirables? No undesirable would know since they were all banished at birth. If all residents could recover as quickly as Mayor, didn’t that mean the undesirables stood absolutely no chance to change their position in society?
“Does it work the other way around?” Vercedei asked. “Can you transfer an item to the owner of the dream, allowing them to awaken with it in their hands?”
“That’s possible, but it requires multiple Venusians working together to even attempt such a thing,” Mayor said. “The odds of it succeeding are low, and it’s more likely the object will remain stuck in the dream. If the dream collapses, it’ll be destroyed too.”
“What about you?” Vercedei asked, the illusion of Sam turning to look at Toka. “Are your capabilities more or less the same as hers?”
Toka hesitated before nodding. “Yes,” he said. He couldn’t transfer things into people’s dreams, and his recovery time was longer, but he could more or less do what Mayor could, no? It wasn’t a lie. Did he have anything he could do better than Mayor? It seemed like anything he could do, she could do better. “More or less the same.”
“Okay,” Vercedei said. “Both of you, show me how you attune to the frequency of the subconscious expanse. Hold my hand as you do it.”
Sam extended his hands as the two Venusians approached, and the dark masses made contact with his palms and fingers. Did Vercedei think Sam could mimic the Venusians’ ability by copying their frequency through his root chakra? It was worth a shot. Sam focused on the vibrations traveling up his arms, waiting for them to reverberate throughout his body so the chilling pulsation from his root chakra could absorb them.