I awoke with a start, the smell of stale beer heavy in my nostrils. There was also the distant sound of voices and the low thump of the bass coming from some song or another. What the hell...I thought. I raised my head and opened my eyes. It was light out and I raised my hand to shield my eyes. As I did so, raising myself onto one elbow I looked over and saw Brian lying sound asleep beside me. He looked content enough, with covers pulled up around him as he snored away. But what was going on. I felt really disoriented, and was having trouble piecing the previous night together. Wasn’t there some…hadn’t I been somewhere…Yeah, what a crazy dream…Was it a dream? I looked down and saw I was fully dressed in a thin little black dress. Right, Jennifer lent it to me. And where was I? Don’t tell me I stayed the night at a frat house, I thought. Ugh, I anticipated the walk of shame I would have to endure on my way out. But that felt like nothing really. I just felt so weird. Slowly it came back to me…I had had this amazing dream where I had saved a people from extinction, all by having sex. I laughed to myself. I must have drank a lot, because I didn’t even remember passing out. I had been at the party and then I thought Brian …that was Brian, right, I thought Brian and I had been hooking up, but that was it. Then I remembered nothing. There was probably grain alcohol in the punch. That shit was dangerous. But what a crazy dream. That guy Nimbo or Nandrew…what was his name in the dream? Well, he was sweet…and God, I had never had dream sex like that before! Man, I had to pee too. Wearily, and definitely nursing a bit of a hangover I headed toward the bathroom. As I did so I caught sight of myself in the cheap full length mirror on the back of the door. There, glowing a beautiful bright blue in the morning sun, and suspended by a silver chain from my neck, was, incredibly, a dazzling blue pendant…The moment in the chamber and Nathan’s words came back to me. “Holy fucking shit … ,”was all that escaped my lips…
Robert J. Sawyer, Stefan Bolz, Ann Christy, Samuel Peralta, Rysa Walker, Lucas Bale, Anthony Vicino, Ernie Lindsey, Carol Davis, Tracy Banghart, Michael Holden, Daniel Arthur Smith, Ernie Luis, Erik Wecks