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When the hail of bullets ended, Sam relaxed, letting his body, which was stiff from using Toughen, move again. “That was very rude of you,” Sam said to his mother, “but I can’t say that was unexpected.”
“How was that not unexpected?” Tom asked with wide eyes. “Where did you even get that, Mom?”
“The same place I got this!” Iris said and tossed aside the machine gun. She retrieved a grenade launcher from out of thin air and pointed it at Sam. “Die!”
Sam’s expression darkened, but he accepted what was happening without questioning it; after all, a dream didn’t make sense. He leapt to the side and grabbed Tom, pulling his younger brother out of the way. Not long after, an explosion happened behind him in the place he had just been standing. Sam chuckled at Tom’s flustered expression, and he released his younger brother.
“Alright,” Sam said and patted Tom’s shoulder. “It’s getting a bit dangerous now. I think I should head out before she destroys the whole neighborhood next. It was good seeing you again.”
“You’re going?” Tom asked. “Where? Back to the future?”
“Yeah, you could say that,” Sam said and glanced at Iris, who was holding a comically large bomb with a skull painted on its surface. Sam communicated with the tapeworm through his mind. “Nwaps, can you get me out of here?”
“Sure,” Nwaps said, surprisingly obedient for one of Sam’s familiars.
Sam’s vision warped, the massive bomb distorting and fading as Sam returned to the subconscious expanse. He was no longer in front of the building that represented Tom’s dream; well, Sam liked to believe it was Tom’s dream and not Iris’ or Dave’s.
“Don’t you think that was quite a fruitful trip?” Nwaps asked, poking its head out of Sam’s nostril, much to his discomfort.
“I suppose,” Sam said. Although it was just through a dream, it did feel nice to speak to his brother again. He also learned more about the subconscious expanse that the Venusians visited. Although he didn’t try taking anything out of Tom’s dream to see if he could, at least he didn’t get blown up. As for the tapeworm…. “Did you get anything out of this trip? You seem pleased.”
“Of course,” Nwaps said. “I infected another host. Why wouldn’t I be happy?”
Sam’s expression darkened as he recalled the moment he had tackled Tom out of the way. Skin-to-skin contact was the tapeworm’s method of spreading, and in that moment of carelessness, Sam had given his younger brother a mind-controlling tapeworm.
“I won’t control your brother,” Nwaps said. “At least, not immediately. I only take over a host when there’s a need; I prefer spreading whilst remaining undetected. Even if blue avians have lost their calamity detector, it’s still better for me to be safe than sorry: quarantine measures and all that, you know?”
Despite the tapeworm’s words, Sam did not feel relieved. However, what was done was done, and there wasn’t anything he could do about it but move on and correct it later. He’d have to find Tom and have Raindu remove Nwaps from his body.
“I’ll just reinfect him,” Nwaps said. “He’s bound to touch someone else before then, and in the future, he’ll eventually make contact with one of my hosts again.” The tapeworm extended out of Sam’s nostrils and whirled around to look Sam in the eye. “Well, don’t let me stop you from doing futile actions that’ll make yourself feel better.”
Sam let out a sigh. “Let’s leave this place before you infect anyone else.”
“Are you sure?” Nwaps asked. “Wouldn’t it be better for you if I infected as many people as possible? Imagine you need to get something done, but someone is barring your path. If that person happened to be one of my hosts, I could have them step out of your way. It’ll make your life truly convenient if you let me infect as many people as possible.”
“I don’t want to live in a world consisting of only you, me, and the rest of my familiars,” Sam said.
“My hosts are still themselves,” Nwaps said. “Consciousness doesn’t exist in the brain. It merely uses the brain as a transmitter for their fleshy body. All I’m doing is temporarily hijacking someone’s control when I mess with their brain. They won’t even remember a thing.”
“I’d rather you not hijack brains at all,” Sam said.
“Fine,” Nwaps said and receded inside Sam’s head. An unpleasant feeling went up the base of Sam’s neck, causing deep within his ears to tingle. The subconscious expanse whirled and swirled before another misty archway appeared in front of Sam.
“Is this the exit?” Sam asked, his face slightly pale. Although he felt nauseous, it wasn’t at a level he couldn’t deal with.
“Go through, and you’ll see,” Nwaps said. “I’m simply enabling your subconscious. If you really wanted to exit, this’ll be the exit. If not, well, it’s what you wanted.”
Sam furrowed his brow before walking through the wall of mist. The sun shining overhead told him he had, in fact, not exited the subconscious expanse, but considering all the people walking around on the streets, he had no idea whose dream he had entered. However, a head full of glossy, blonde hair caught his eye. It belonged to Mayor, and Sam noticed Toka sitting on a bench not too far away. Of course, he doubted they could recognize him since he wasn’t disguised by Werchbite, so Sam simply walked off to the side and took a seat on a bench, pretending to be one of the extras within the dream. If he observed the two Venusians long enough, he was bound to find some clues as to who this dream belonged to.
Toka was sitting on a bench, and Mayor was standing in front of a building, staring up at the entrance with a clueless expression on her face. As time passed, neither of them moved an inch, making Sam think the dreamlurkers were similar to spiders, simply waiting for their prey to show up instead of actively looking for them—which was fine for Sam since he could keep an eye on both Venusians this way. Sam meditated to pass the time, and after a few breathing cycles, someone he recognized walked around a street corner. It was Jimmy Park from Carbon Peak, one of the individuals Vercedei had asked the Venusians to gather information about. Considering the two Venusians had just fulfilled Vercedei’s wish of showing Sam how they entered dreams, the Venusians sure acted quickly. With social status on the line, Sam couldn’t say he was surprised.
As Jimmy walked down the street, his eyes naturally wandered onto the stunning, blonde woman who looked like a supermodel. There was a confused expression on her face, and she was looking up at a sign on the building, clearly needing help like a damsel in distress. Jimmy gulped, the crush he had on Wendy completely forgotten as he stared at Mayor. He redirected his gaze, but they inevitably drifted back onto the Venusian’s backside.
Mayor turned her head to look at Jimmy, and she shifted her weight onto a single leg, causing his hip to move in Jimmy’s direction. He blinked and raised his gaze, making eye contact with the Venusian. Jimmy’s face flushed red as he scrounged up his courage and raised his hand. “Hi,” he said, “you look like you’re lost. Do you need any help?” He glanced up at the building’s sign and realized it was a subsidiary business of Carbon Peak. As for why he didn’t recognize the building before, well, he didn’t question it, perhaps, because it was a dream.
Mayor scanned Jimmy from head to toe before a brilliant smile appeared on her face. “I could use some help,” she said and tilted her head forward while tucking her hair behind her ear. “I was supposed to have an interview here today, but the building seems to be locked. I was looking for a number I could call to have the door opened, but I can’t seem to find one.”
“Don’t worry,” Jimmy said and straightened his back. He could solve this problem easily with a few phone calls, so his confidence soared through the roof. “I actually have connections with the manager of this building. I’ll make a few calls for you.”
“Really?” Mayor asked. She clasped her hands together and smiled at Jimmy. “That’d be great!” She took a few sidesteps as Jimmy pulled out his phone, the Venusian ending up by her target’s side. “Since you know the manager of this place, can I have your number as well? Maybe, I’ll need your help in the future in case someone here bullies me.”
Jimmy was a bit thrown off by the Venusian’s forwardness, but he figured he had nothing to lose, so he smiled back and said, “Sure.” He held out his hand. “Let me put my number in your phone.”
Mayor reached behind her back and pulled a phone out of thin air, unbeknownst to Jimmy. “Here,” she said and held out her free hand as well. “I’ll put my information in yours.”
Jimmy grabbed the phone in his hand and pushed on the contacts list, but the calculator app opened up instead. A furrow appeared on his brow as the screens that popped up didn’t seem to match his button presses. When he someone managed to enter the woman’s personal photos, a flustered expression appeared on his face, and he raised his head to look at Mayor. The Venusian was busy typing away on Jimmy’s phone, and sweat beaded on his brow as he renewed his concentration. The buttons worked illogically, but somehow, he managed to fill in his contact information, fighting the phone the whole way. In that time, whilst he was distracted, Mayor took her time to browse through Jimmy’s contacts, and behind her, out of Jimmy’s view, a piece of paper with a copy of the contact information was materializing as if it were coming out of a typewriter.
Sam raised an eyebrow at the Venusian’s information-gathering technique. It wasn’t bad; it took advantage of Mayor’s looks, Jimmy’s naivety, and the dream’s illogical logic. As for what Toka was doing…, Sam turned his head to look in the other Venusian’s direction, and he couldn’t help but blink. Toka had a pair of binoculars, and he was using it to stare at the piece of paper forming behind Mayor’s back. With his free hand, the Venusian was writing on the air with his finger, but despite there being nothing there, words formed and stayed in place in front of the Venusian. After a set of contact information was created, Toka opened his mouth and inhaled, sucking in the complete set of words and numbers, erasing the evidence from view.
Jimmy and Mayor swapped their phones once more, the Venusian’s soft hand casually brushing against the back of Jimmy’s. “I’ll make that call now,” Jimmy said and avoided Mayor’s gaze, looking down at his phone screen.
Sam wondered if it was a Venusian special technique to grab things out of thin air. He held out his hand and imagined a glass of soda with ice in it. Since he was in a dream, it didn’t matter if he ate junk food, right? Unfortunately, simply by imagining it, he couldn’t materialize a cup of soda. If dreams were based on his subconscious, why was he even here in the first place? He wanted to leave, but his subconscious had brought him into Jimmy—a man he didn’t even know that well—Park’s dream. Why?
“Isn’t that obvious?” Nwaps asked. “For experience. You made it your purpose of existence, seeking new experiences. Observing Venusians in action is one way to experience their culture.”
Sam supposed that could be the case, but he had the sneaking suspicion it was the tapeworm’s fault. It could manipulate his subconscious mind to move about the subconscious expanse, so why wouldn’t it? If there was anything Sam learned from being around extradimensional beings, it’d be that they weren’t considerate individuals, and it was safe to assume they’d always act in their best interests before Sam’s. A verbal promise meant nothing to extradimensional creatures unless it was gained through a bargain. Sam needed to provide tangible benefits to the tapeworm for it to agree resisting its nature of proliferating, but he hadn’t.
“You think I brought you here just to gain easy access into Carbon Peak?” Nwaps asked. The tapeworm sighed, causing a fart to escape from Sam’s butthole. It was a very unpleasant feeling, but at least, it was silent. “If only you had unlocked me first…. You were so naïve back then; I could’ve spread over the whole of Oterra.”
Sam hadn’t expected the tapeworm to admit it was lying to him. Perhaps it knew he couldn’t do anything to it, so it didn’t care about the way he felt about it. Whether Sam liked or despised Nwaps, it wouldn’t affect the tapeworm’s actions of seeking out as many hosts as possible. “So, you do want to infect Jimmy,” Sam said and made a few more attempts at conjuring up a glass of cold soda. “If you conjure me up something to drink, I’ll make contact with him for you.”
A cold sensation washed over Sam’s hand, and ice-cold droplets of water rolled down his wrist and forearm. As expected, the tapeworm could navigate through dreams with ease. He wondered if it had to do with the fact Venusians held the golden city, that had summoned Nwaps into existence, in reverence. Their culture revolved entirely around the golden foundation, so it would make sense for the golden foundation to have Venusian aspects—at least, in Sam’s mind.
Sam stood up. If he didn’t fulfill his end of the bargain, terrible things would happen, so what else could he do but walk across the street while sipping on his glass of soda? He made his way down the sidewalk and casually bumped his shoulder against Jimmy’s. “Oops,” Sam said, turning his head to look at Jimmy.
“Sorry,” Sam said before mentally asking the tapeworm inside of him, “Is that enough?”
“Perfect,” Nwaps said, evidently having lied about skin-to-skin contact being necessary considering only Sam’s shirt had brushed against Jimmy’s suit. Perhaps the tiny holes in the fabric were large enough for the tapeworm to slip through, which was a terrifying thought. Did it enter people through their pores? Dig directly through their flesh? Perhaps it was more like Raindu and simply ignored physical barriers.
Jimmy turned to look at the person who had bumped into him. He was ready to get upset, but upon seeing Sam’s face, his eyes lit up. “Sam?” he asked. “It’s you? You remember me, Jimmy from Carbon Peak, right?” He opened his mouth but closed it after remembering there was a beautiful woman standing not too far away. “I’m helping someone right now, but I’ll catch up with you later, yeah?”
“Sure,” Sam said. He took a step, but his shoes transformed into a pair of roller skates, and he rolled at lightspeed off into the distance, passing Mayor and Toka in an instant. When he was gone from their range of perception, his surroundings warped, and he found himself back in the subconscious expanse whilst still flying forward at incredible speed. He kept going and passed through a misty veil. Then, everything went black, and when he tried to exhale through his mouth, his breath remained stuck.
“Welcome back to Oterra.” Vercedei’s voice greeted Sam. “How was the subconscious expanse?”
Sam activated his All-Seeing Gaze. The two Venusians were still enveloping his hand, their dark masses sagging downwards like melted spheres of ice cream. If he could see them with his physical vision, he would’ve seen two blonde people collapsed in a heap on either side of him. “It was interesting,” Sam said, wiggling his hands free from the Venusians’ grasps. “That probably won’t be my only visit there.”
“You should go more often,” Birdbrained said and let out a, obnoxious squawk that shook the two Venusians on the ground awake. The colorless eagle didn’t offer an explanation for its statement, but Sam suspected it wanted him gone more often, perhaps giving his familiars more freedom to act. Well, it wasn’t like he was capable of restricting their freedom anyway.
“Excuse me,” Mayor said and stood up. “Pardon my absence; I saw a chance to gather the information you wanted while I was in the subconscious expanse, so I took it. Did you need my assistance with anything else? I’ll do my best to fulfill any task you have.”
Toka resisted the urge to shake himself off. He always felt groggy when leaving the subconscious expanse, but if Mayor could remain composed, then so could he. As for what to say, it wasn’t like he could say he saw Mayor going somewhere, so he decided to follow her, right? “Same,” Toka said. Since Mayor had already spoken all the good words, it’d only seem extra if they came out of his mouth as well. “Whatever you want, I’ll accomplish.”
“That’s enough for now,” Vercedei said. “Both of you are dismissed. If I need anything else, I’ll have the Anunaki summon you.”
“Very well,” Mayor said and bowed, remaining bent over whilst backing out of the building. “May your endeavors be successful.”
“May your endeavors be successful,” Toka said, copying Mayor, albeit a bit awkwardly, and shuffled out as well, leaving Sam alone with his familiars.
Sam couldn’t help but think about Vercedei’s endeavors—at least, the ones twin-headed snake had communicated to the Venusians. The Venusians were wishing for the successful destruction of Oterra, huh? Well, Sam figured someone out there would care greatly if Oterra were truly in danger, and they’d put a stop to its destruction. He wasn’t going to worry about it.