Excerpt
Deanna woke from a dream. A dream so real, she wasn’t sure it was a dream. “But it had to be a dream. This is my room - in my house. I’m breathing air.”
She ran her hands down her sides and just below her breasts, assuring herself she did not have gills. “Certainly, I would remember having gills.”
Again, she ran her hand over her torso. It was smooth.
Laughing at herself, she kicked the covers away and swung her legs over the side of the bed. She drew a deep breath and reached down to pick up a T-shirt and a pair of shorts from the floor. Sliding the shorts over her long muscular legs she rose.
Deanna looked back at the empty bed. She really was quite tired and it looked so inviting, but the memory of the dream that woke her still haunted her. To go back to sleep now, would assure going back to that same dream. She sighed and turned away from the bed.
In the kitchen, she poured herself a glass of cold water. As it rolled down her throat, the dream reasserted itself.
Water surrounded her - cold water. No light from either of the planet’s two suns penetrated to this depth. The Empyrean soldiers would be fools to bring their vessels this far down. They would soon learn to fear the creatures of Nedamla’s seas, as much as they feared their Empyror. A wicked smile crossed her face at the thought of Empyrean soldiers being killed by a Nalath from the depths of Nedamla’s Utoch Sea. She knew as long as she shone no lights into the depths to disturb the Nalath, she was safe. Bright lights would bring the wrath of the large sea lizard.
Deanna shook her head to clear her mind of the disturbing images and thoughts. She started to take another swallow of water, but as the wetness touched her lips, she could feel the dream trying to dominate her consciousness. She placed the glass on the counter and spoke aloud, “No!” Instinctively, she put her hand to her lips to silence herself, fearing she might wake her mother. Then, she remembered, her mother was dead.
Deanna needed fresh air. She crossed the living room and unlocked the sliding glass door to the deck.
It was a clear night. The sky was full of stars and the sea breeze had lowered the temperature to a comfortable level. She inhaled the damp ocean air; so heavy with salt she could taste it. She closed her eyes and tried to relax. Within seconds, the disturbing dream images filled her mind: a lush tropical jungle with plants never seen on Earth, and a sky the wrong shade of blue, in which hung twin suns.
She opened her eyes to the darkness of night on Earth. Anger and fear mingled within her. She wondered if she was losing her mind or if someone was playing an elaborate hoax on her, some kind of Gaslight Treatment. But why? And how?
This was the third night in a row she’d asked these questions and she was no closer to an answer now, than she had been when the dreams first began. What she was closer to was a nervous breakdown. Even if the images weren’t so violent and disturbing, the lack of sleep alone would do her in - soon.
Pacing the deck, she thought about the images she’d been experiencing. She realized they centered around water, she decided to concentrate on drier thoughts.
Focusing her mind on the Sahara Desert, she paced the deck like the captain of a ship. The cool breeze billowed her t-shirt and her mind strayed from thoughts of the Sahara...
Swimming rapidly toward safety the water became colder as she went deeper. She was scared – but her fear was more for the child than for herself. Had she gone undetected when she slipped out of the city? Or had an Empyrean soldier seen her enter the Utoch Sea? There were lights behind her that reinforced her fear. She hid behind a large outcrop of coral-like rock and watched the Empyrean vessel pass.
Deanna slapped herself hard across the face. Damn it! She knew she had to keep her mind focused on deserts…the Gobi, the Sahara, the Kalahari – Arakis.
Of course, Arakis from Dune. That entire planet is a desert.
Deanna headed back to her bed with a plan in mind. She lay down and concentrated on remembering every detail about the book Dune by Frank Herbert. Soon she was asleep.