Eric awoke to the sounds of static coming from an old black and white television set. Sitting up, he realized he was in his grandparents' living room, and as he took the room in, everything appeared to be the way he remembered seeing it the last time he had been there. Everything except for the television set.
As Eric stood up, the static faded into a picture of a little boy sitting on a couch playing with a four-inch high Indian figurine. The couch looked as dated as the TV Eric was viewing it on, and just as Eric recognized the room being the very one he stood in, a young voice cried distantly from the TV, "Mom? Have you seen my red Indian?"
The little boy jerked, accidentally knocking the figurine off the arm of the couch where it fell into the floor register beside the couch with a clank. The little boy became very alarmed, scrambled off the couch and peered down the register.
Eric immediately recognized his dad when an older boy entered the room and asked, "Eric, do you do have my red Indian?"
"No," the little boy said without looking away from the register.
"Are you still trying to see the mouse?" little Steven Roberts asked, kneeling beside his little brother.
"I though I heard it again," the little boy made up.
The two boys listened quietly for over a minute before little Steven sighed and said, "You want to watch Flash Gordon?"
"Yeah, okay."
The two boys got up, then as little Eric sat back down on the couch, little Steven walked up beside the camera's view. With a click, the TV's picture flashed and went back to static.
Eric walked up to the TV and changed the channel a few times, but every channel was the same static, so he flipped it off.
When he turned away from the TV, a painted wooden ray gun toy sitting on the coffee table caught his eye. He picked it up and looked at it, and was about to set it back down when the crayon marking on the side caught his eye.
"Shrink ray?" Eric said out loud. "You want me to shrink myself?"
"Yes," the whisper answered.
"Hello again," Eric said. "I was wondering if you were going to come back. I take it you want me to shrink myself and go down the vent?"
"Yes."
Eric shrugged his shoulders, then pointed the toy at himself and pulled the trigger.
"Nothing is happening," Eric said after a few moments.
"Wind it up."
Eric took another look at the gun, found the winder on the side and gave it a good couple turns. He pointed it at himself again and was about to pull the trigger when he thought better of it and stepped over to the register.
"Here goes nothing," Eric said as he pointed the toy at himself again and pressed the trigger.
A flash of blue light shot out and a moment later Eric was falling through the vent.
The slope of the duct was beneath him before he knew what was happening, and within a few seconds he was sliding to a stop.
Eric stood up and dusted some of the large clumps of dust from his legs and shirt while staring into the dark duct immediately ahead of him. Just beyond where the register grill above him stopped, the duct went straight down.
"I don't see it," Eric said. "There's a penny, a couple of ball bearings, and other stuff, but no Indian here."
"Down."
"I knew you were going to say that," Eric sighed as he looked over the edge into the blackness. "I can't see a thing down there. Any chance of getting a light?"
When no answer came, Eric rolled one of the bowling ball sized ball bearings over the edge and listened for it to hit. It bounced off the side wall twice before hitting bottom, apparently making a soft landing from the sound.
"Geronimo, I guess," Eric mused before walking right off the edge.
Eric had a little trouble standing up from the cushion of dust and, strangely enough, ashes, but once he had, he spotted a dusty object a full sized foot away and rushed over to it.
To his horror, it wasn't the red Indian, but the skeletal remains of a rodent. Eric continued walking down the black passage until he couldn't see anything, then turned and doubled back to make sure he hadn't missed anything. He hadn't.
"Well I can't see how it could be down here," Eric finally announced after returning to where the blackness was complete. "It couldn't have bounce this far."
"Keep going."
"Look, are you going to tell me who you are?" Eric asked after taking a few careful steps.
"Soon."
"Are you grandma?" Eric asked as he started walking at a normal pace. "Or grandpa?"
When he didn't get an answer, Eric stopped and said, "I'm not going another step unless you tell me who you are."
Silence was met with more silence.
"You know I can always just lie down and go to sleep," Eric said honestly.
More silence.
"Fine," Eric sighed as he bent over to lie down.
After lying on his back for several minutes, Eric rolled over onto his side and felt his breath hitting something. He opened his eyes and vaguely made out a pair of blank eyes, which startled him so much that he jerked and kicked something hard.
"Shit," Eric exclaimed as he calmed down, realizing he had finally found the figurine.
"Okay, I found the Indian. Now what?"
"Keep going."
Eric sighed again, but got up and started walking again.
"Feels like we're going back up," Eric commented a moment later. "How much farther?"
After not getting an answer, Eric picked up his pace. After twenty or so paces, he felt the floor level out, before he tripped over a metal lip and slammed into the ground, hard.
Echoes of spraying water filled his ears as the sight of wet grey and white tile filled his eyes.
"Are you okay?" an unfamiliar voice asked behind him.
Eric turned onto his side, finding himself in a locker room's shower he didn't recognize. The sensation of water hitting his bare skin was just registering when the voice said, "Let me help you up."
Eric's blood turned cold in shock from the sight of his Uncle Eric standing over him naked offering his hand.
"Are you alright?" the elder Eric asked with concern.
"You're just a dream," Eric said as he pulled himself together.
"Not exactly," the elder Eric said as he helped his nephew to his feet.
When his nephew's face expressed his disbelief, the uncle said, "This is dream, but I'm not."
"Okay, but you're dead," Eric said bluntly.
"I know," the uncle said. "And this wasn't my idea."
"What wasn't?"
"All of this," he said, indicating the showers before taking a bar of soap from its dish and working up a lather in his hands.
"So whose idea is it?"
"I don't know," he said with a shrug as he bent over to soap up his legs.
When Eric realized he was staring at his dead uncle's rose, he turned towards the wall, then noticing the soap in the dish in front of him, he found himself following his uncle's example.
"Your dad and I used to do this all the time," Eric senior said, drawing Eric junior's attention to the fact they were soaping each other instead of themselves.
"Randy and I started to do this once at school," Eric said as his disturbed feelings evaporated. "I chickened out though, because..."
"Because of what happened to me," Eric senior finished for him as he tugged on his trunk to get it growing. "Are you bigger than your dad?"
"No," Eric junior said, finding his trunk growing too. "You?"
"Nope," Eric senior said, offering to let his nephew hold his mammoth cock.
"Wow," Eric junior said with awe as he grasped the giant one-eyed monster. "Dad never let me touch his."
"Weird, isn't it? You don't really realize how big yours is until you hold one that's just as big."
"Yeah," Eric junior said, giving it a couple testing strokes. "I wish I had had a brother like you or my dad."
"You've done alright," Eric senior said tenderly. "I'm very proud of you, Eric. You and your dad."
Eric let go of his uncle's snake as his cheeks burned from his blush, then said, "Dad misses you a lot. He..."
"I know," Eric senior said as he rinsed himself off. "He still blames himself a little for what happened to me."
Eric was very conscious of his uncle's eyes watching him as he rinsed himself. He thought it was strange that he wasn't disturbed by it, but he admitted that he had always wished to have met his uncle, and on a few occasions even had even wished for the chance to do something sexual with him like his dad had.
So finding his uncle's body pressed up against his backside giving him a hug was a somewhat pleasant surprise.
"I need to tell you some things, but not here. Let's go to your room," Eric senior said gently as he ended the hug and took his nephew's hand. "This way."
Eric followed his uncle willingly; barely noticing the hall they were walking down was the one in his house in Atlanta. His room's door was open, but after they were both inside, the door was already shut when he turned to close it.
"I'm not going too fast for you, am I?" Eric senior said in his right ear from behind him.
Eric turned, finding himself on his back in his bed with his uncle on his side next to him.
Eric smiled and said, "No, not really."
"Good," he said with tenderness as he gently touched Eric's nose with his finger, then repeated it.
Eric couldn't help but let out a happy giggle when his uncle missed Eric's nose on the fourth touch, and gave the finger a kiss when it approached to try again.
"You remind me so much of your dad," Eric senior sighed as he moved the hand down to stroke his nephew's chest. "You're built a lot like him, and you're sweet like him. It's no wonder you're losing your interest in guys."
"What?" Eric said, losing his warm happy feelings.
Eric's uncle slid himself on top of his nephew's body, instantly relaxing Eric and bringing back the smile to his lips.
"When your dad came home from college for Christmas, he was different. He wasn't eager to mess around, and I thought at first he was mad at me. After three days of excuses, I finally cornered him in the bathroom and... I got him in the mood."
"You peed on him," Eric said with a grin.
"He told you?"
"No, Tim sort of showed me when we were... together."
"Oh... I forgot about that."
"And I know my dad started noticing girls when he started college. He did tell me about that."
"When?"
"A couple weeks ago," Eric shrugged.
"Hmm. I must have missed that while I was with Karen."
"Karen?"
"She's a lot like your mom was. She saved her virginity until she met someone who swept her off her feet."
"So Karen... Got swept?"
"About a month ago," Eric senior said, before looking Eric in the eyes and saying very gently, "She doesn't know this yet, but she's pregnant."
"Pregnant?" Eric said with concern.
"It'll be a boy," Eric senior said. "And I'm pretty sure he'll inherit the Robert's shlong."
Eric grinned, then reached up to touch his uncles lips with his right index finger. After his uncle kissed it, Eric kissed it himself before touching his uncle's nose.
"Yep, Karen takes after her mom," Eric senior said, grinding the semi erect snakes lying between them together. "But you and Jodie definitely take after me and your dad."
"We always said Jodie took after mom, the way she likes us gays."
"I guess she takes after all of us then," Eric senior said, scooting down a little and laying his head on his nephew's chest. "Remember what you where like at fifteen. She's just as horny as you were. You should talk to her before she does something stupid like you did when you were thirteen."
"What did I do?"
"You threw yourself at Tim. You really don't know how lucky you are he wasn't what I thought he was."
"And what was that?"
"It doesn't matter," he said.
"Uncle? Who am I?"
Eric's uncle looked up at Eric's stressed face and said, "I told you before. You are your mom and dad's son."
Eric shook the warm and fuzzy feeling off as he connected the dots.
"You're the one who's been helping me?"
"Eric, I won't lie to you and say everything you feel is really you," Eric senior said sliding up to his face. "Some of it is still Tim, but most of it is really you. You have to believe me when I say the feelings you felt about Candice in that dream were all yours."
"But I'm gay," Eric said, struggling against the warm happy feelings his uncle's touch was generating. "Like you."
"I'm not gay any more, Eric," he said, running his fingers through Eric's hair. "I'm dead, remember? And if I hadn't died, I probably would have ended up liking girls just like your dad did. My mom's brother and her dad did the same thing."
Eric stopped resisting the feelings his uncle's touch was giving him, but this time the uncomfortable feelings in his gut didn't leave.
So Eric asked, "Nothing says I can't stay gay, right?"
"No," Eric senior said as he slid down to lay his head on Eric's chest again. "Eric, it's your life. Gay men have a harder time finding a lover to spend the rest of their life with, and you can't have children with another man. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't force yourself to choose now. Let yourself find your own way as time goes on. Enjoy the time you have left with Randy, then let whatever happens, happen."
"What time I have left?" Eric repeated with emotion.
Eric senior sighed, slid up to his nephew's face again and said, "Randy hasn't... matured enough yet. He cares about you, but it isn't really love. You didn't really believe you and he would be together forever, did you?"
"No, but..."
"He hasn't cheated on you yet, but it's only a matter of time before he does. And don't blame yourself when it happens."
"Get off me," Eric commanded angrily. "You don't know shit about Randy!"
Eric senior did as he asked, and didn't stop him when he got out of bed.
When Eric turned to face him, his bedroom and his uncle were gone.
"Uncle?" Eric cried anxiously into the blackness. "I'm sorry! Please come back?"
"The others need you now," the whisper said. "Take them to Tim."
"I can't," Eric said, holding back tears. "Suzi's parents won't take her to Tim's."
"You don't need to take their bodies, just their minds."
"Oh," Eric said with mixed feelings. "I wish you could have told me that before."
"Go now."
"Uncle?" Eric said without having moved. "Just one more minute?"
When nothing happened, Eric asked softly, "Please?"
"I'm here," his uncle's voice said from the dark.
"Where... Oh," Eric said as he found the bed right where it had been. "No lights?"
"I'm afraid not," Eric senior said, touching his nephew's nose with his finger.
When Eric once again found himself lying on his back without having done it himself, he rolled over on his side to face his uncle, then slipped his arms around the warm body he found there and hugged it.
"I love you too," Eric senior said tenderly as he returned the hug. "Tell your dad I'm proud of him and I'll always be with him. I'm with all of you."
"Will I ever see you again?"
"I don't know," he whispered in Eric ear. "Now take your friends to Tim. I won't be able to help you any more, so don't let anything distract you until you find him."
Eric didn't move a muscle, afraid if he did his uncle would disappear. But when he sensed light hitting his closed eyelids and he opened them, he saw someone else's face attached to the body he was holding in his dresser's mirror's reflection.
"Eric? Is that you?" the body's owner asked who was also looking at their reflection in the mirror.
Eric looked up at the somewhat familiar face, and when the boy's face saw his hesitation, he said, "Randy. Randy Meyers?"
"Randy?" Eric said in shock, finally recognizing his first suck mate's features on the seventeen-year-old's face. "What are you doing here?"
"I..." he said as he looked around in confusion. "Where is here?"
"A dream of my room," Eric said, unsure whether he was talking to a real person or not.
"A dream?" Randy asked as they moved apart. "Well that explains why I'm naked, but... Are you just part of my dream?"
"That depends if you're just part of mine or not."
"Wow!" Randy exclaimed when he saw Eric's cock. "This has to be my dream. You're huge!"
"Randy, I don't have time for this," Eric said when Randy took Eric's snake into his hand and gave it a squeeze.
"Well, you're not going anywhere until I get to suck it," Randy said excitedly as he got on his hands and knees to move around. "You want to suck me too?"
"No, and you're not..." Eric began as he tried to get up, but found he couldn't get his body to move.
"Not what?" Randy asked with a crooked grin before straddling Eric in a 69 position and added, "Now open up."
Eric did open his mouth to refuse, but found it wouldn't close back up, and then his tongue reached out to welcome the cock descending into it.
The more Eric struggled to counteract the movements his body was making, the less control he seem to have over it, so he gave up and completely shut down.
When Eric's body moved on its own to get on top, Eric found himself detached from his body, and immediately got up off the bed.
"Wow," Eric said, finding Randy's mouth and throat stretched and bulging as his dream body's cock fucked it with abandon.
Eric stood there watching them for a moment, then snapped himself out of his daze and said, "Randy, I have to go now."
Randy's eyes bulged when he glanced over to Eric and saw him, then he used his hands to free himself from the dream Eric's cock.
"Sorry," Randy said as he brushed the still sucking mouth from his cock. "I just thought..."
"It doesn't matter," Eric said, turning to leave.
"Eric, wait a sec."
Eric paused, then turned to find himself in an unfamiliar bedroom with Randy standing up from a twin bed fully clothed.
"If it's really you, and if you can remember when you wake up, could you... call me? I really need to talk."
"Uh.. Sure, I guess," Eric said, not sure if he really meant it. "I think I still have your old number."
"Thanks," he said, relieved. "I've been having these really weird dreams where I'm always wanting to suck guys off and stuff, but I when I'm awake, I'm totally turned off by them. I think that guy at camp made it so I couldn't talk to anyone about stuff like that but you."
"Sounds like something Tim would have done back then," Eric admitted. "I promise I'll call you Randy."
"Thanks," Randy said picking up a school bag. "I have to go to school now. See ya."
"But its summer and..." Eric said as the bedroom door shut.
"Randy?" Eric called down the familiar hallway. "Randy!"
"Eric?" Suzi's voice cried emotionally. "Eric, RUN!"
"Suz?" Eric called, hurrying down the hallway towards where Suzi's voice had come.
When Eric turned into the room she was in, he found two Borg creatures strapping Suzi down to a chair while another larger Borg picked up a foot long syringe containing a green liquid and approached her.
"Joey, stop, please stop," Suzi sobbed.
"Both of you stop," Eric commanded. "You're dreaming again!"
"Eric RUN!" Suzi again cried as the bigger Borg turned towards him.
"Joey?" Eric exclaimed, seeing Joey's face beneath the electro mechanical pieces attached to it.
Two more Borg suddenly grabbed Eric from behind and held Eric still with strength beyond any human as Joey approached and said, "Resistance is futile."
"Yes, it is," Eric admitted as he relaxed.
"YEOW!" he cried a moment later when Joey stuck the syringe's needle into Eric's neck.
Eric's senses exploded with pleasure as the contents of the syringe was emptied into Eric's bloodstream. His body grew distant as electronic noises began filling his head, and he suddenly felt lost and unable to think as the electronic noises took control of his mind.
"Eric?" Suzi sobbed as the Borg beside him released their grip. "Eric?"
Pity momentarily flared through Eric's brain before the electronic noises washed it away and instructed him to refill the syringe.
"Eric fight it! Please Eric, fight it!"
It took the electronic noises longer this time to flush the emotion from Eric's mind, but as Eric turned towards Suzi with the refilled syringe, he was again completely under the electronic noises' control.
"No, Eric... No, please," Suzi sobbed, shaking all over from the intensity.
This time when his emotions flared up, Eric immediately shut himself down. When his borgified body took another step forward, it left Eric behind.
Eric tapped his other body's right shoulder and said, "Excuse me. Can I see that?"
The expression on his borgified face made Eric grin before he punched it in the chest and sent it flying across the room.
Eric's double hit the far concrete wall with such force the concrete broke, and moments after it hit, sparks flew out of Eric's double before its body went limp.
"One down, five to go," Eric said to Suzi before turning around.
"Or ten more," Eric corrected himself before running head first into the horde of Borg.
Eric punched his fist through one's gut, kicked another's head off as he did a back-flip into the air, crushing two more with his feet when he landed, then tossed Joey toward a second chair saying, "Have a seat, Joey. I'll be right with you."
When Joey immediately rushed towards him again, Eric grabbed the phaser still attached to Joey's belt and stunned him.
Eric popped the remaining Borg's heads off with a couple of quick kicks, then dusted his hands and said, "Well, so much for the Borg."
"Eric, how..." Suzi said, before glancing down at Joey. "Untie me."
"We're dreaming, you know," Eric reminded her as he undid the restraints.
"I know, and I think Joey knows it too," Suzi said. "But the dream takes over and you can't stop yourself."
"Yes you can," Eric said as Suzi undid the last restraint herself and got up. "You have to let everything go and ignore everything you seem to be doing. Then you just sort of fall out."
"Come on Joey. Its over," Suzi said gently as she kneeled down beside him. "You can come out of there now."
When Joey's open eyes didn't show any signs of acknowledgement, Suzi bent forward and kissed him on the mouth.
"That's better," Suzi said when she leaned back and found emotion in his eyes.
Suzi huffed when the emotion faded a moment later, but then she simply climbed on top of him and attached her mouth over his and kissed him with passion.
Thirty seconds later, Joey's right arm came up to help hold her head as he kissed back with increasing energy. Eric grinned and watched them for a minute, then took a moment to look outside the room they were in, and finally recognized the décor.
"Hey, we're at Tim's south mansion," Eric announced to the two breathless humans lying on the floor.
"We know," Suzi said after she spat out one of the Joey's electronic implants she had accidentally sucked into her mouth.
"Ouch," Joey said when Suzi pulled another one off his left cheek. "Any blood?"
"Nope. Just a red spot," Suzi said as she inspected his cheek.
Joey pulled another off and examined it, then said, "Huh. They're like stickers."
Suzi took one off of Joey's forehead and stuck it to hers before scooting herself back on top of him. She then looked into his eyes and said in a robotic tone "Resistance is futile."
Eric rolled his eyes as they kissed again, and after giving them a few moments, he said, "Come on, you two. We need to find Tim."
"You called?" Eric heard Timicus's voice say behind a cloud of pink smoke which poofed beside him.
"The real Tim, not you," Eric said before snapping his own fingers and sending Timicus away in another poof of pink smoke.
Timicus poofed right back and said, "How rude", before poofing away before Eric could raise his hand to snap again.
"You're really starting to get the hang of these dreams," Suzi remarked as she and Joey stood up.
"Yeah," Joey agreed, then asked, "Eric, could you hand me that tricorder from the table behind you?"
Eric turned around and picked up the futuristic device before realizing that both the table and the tricorder had not been there a few moments before.
"Hey, how did you do that?"
"You're not the only one who's getting the hang of the place," Joey said with a smirk.
"What are you two talking about?" Suzi asked.
Before Eric could answer, Joey said, "You don't want know. It's Star Trek stuff."
"Oh," Suzi said, losing all interest as Joey flipped opened the tricorder and pressed a button.
Eric moved to see what he was doing, then when the little screen didn't show anything that made sense to him, he asked, "What are you trying to do?"
"Well, if I can remember how to work it, this thing might help us find Tim," Joey said, as he pushed another button.
"Not very many buttons," Eric noted.
Suzi's patience ran out after three minutes of waiting for the two boys to finish playing with their new toy. So after tapping her foot a few times, she said, "Well, let's just keep heading for his room while you're messing with that thing."
"Yeah, okay," Joey agreed.
"Why his room?" Eric asked as they re-entered the hall.
"Well, if he's asleep, that's probably where he's at," Joey explained.
"But we're not really at the south mansion," Eric pointed out.
"I'm not so sure about that," Joey said. "Try opening a door, or picking something up."
Eric tried the nearest door and found it locked.
"It's locked."
"Not just locked. Try rattling the handle."
"I see what you mean," Eric said after finding the knob totally immovable. "It's just like when I was outside the shuttle hanger and tried touching those kissing Borg."
"Kissing Borg?" Suzi asked. "Joey, I think I'm going to have to start watching Star Trek with you."
"Cool! Uh... why?"
"Because sometimes I don't know where you get your ideas from, but I bet it's from that stupid show."
"We're on the ground floor," Eric interrupted them. "If we can't open doors, won't we need to go back to the main hall so we can go up the grand staircase?"
"Shit, I didn't think of that," Joey said as he halted. "I'm so used to taking the elevator or the side stairs... Sorry guys."
"Well, I didn't think of it either," Suzi consoled him.
After the trio turned around and started heading back the way they had come, they soon passed one of the doors marked stairs, and it gave Eric an idea.
"Hey Joey," Eric said as he tore his eyes away from the door. "Can I try?"
"Yeah, okay," Joey said a bit reluctantly, and handed the tricorder to Eric after making it beep one more time. "I wasn't getting anywhere with it anyway."
Eric pushed a couple buttons, then pushed a couple more, not caring what they did so long as they beeped.
After a couple more satisfying beeps, Eric stopped and announced, "Hey, I think I figured out how to open the doors."
Joey frowned and moved beside him to see, then said "You can't open..."
Eric's nudge in the ribs cut him off, and after Eric held the tricorder up in front of Joey's eyes, then lowered it down revealing Suzi impatiently standing in front of them, Joey understood and said, "Oh, yeah. Why didn't I think of that."
"Think of what," Suzi said, not really believing they got anything working.
"Tricorders can open locked doors," Joey explained. "Here, I'll show you."
Seeing that Joey hadn't quite understood what he had in mind, Eric was about to object when Joey nudged him and then took the tricorder from his hand.
"Here, Suz," Joey said, holding it out to her.
"What? I don't want to play with that thing."
"I just thought you'd like the honor," Joey said, pretending to be hurt.
"Oh, alright," Suzi sighed as she took the tricorder from him.
After looking at it a moment, she asked, "What is this in, Klingon?"
"Uh, it's upside down," Eric made up.
"Oh," Suzi said turning it upside down. "Oh, I see," she then said, looking around then back down at the screen. "So to open that door, I push this?"
The tricorder beeped, then the door to their left opened by itself.
Suzi stepped over to look in the room as Joey and Eric exchanged grins, followed by Joey's offering his hand in congratulations, which Eric took and shook.
"Okay, so the nearest stairs is this way," Suzi said as she came back out of the room, pressing the buttons one after another and not looking up from the screen as she turned back down the hall.
"So Suz," Joey began as he struggled to keep his grin from returning. "Are you picking up Tim on that thing?"
"Um... Let me see," Suzi said as she backed out of the current menu and started scrolling through the list. "Topographical, radiological, electromagnetic... Biometrical?"
"Uh, yeah, I think that one would work," Joey said with surprise.
"Okay. What does it mean by active or passive?"
"You want active," Joey said, looking over her shoulder. "Passive wouldn't have as much range."
"Okay, now what?" Suzi asked when the tricorder displayed the message "waiting for scan."
Now it was Eric's turn to get a little impatient as they had stopped moving again.
"How about we just keep going," Eric suggested.
"Oh I know what it is," Joey said. "It wants us to use the little scanner thingy to scan someone's vitals and shit. Suz, back out and see if there's one that's called life signs or something."
"Um... Yes, here it is. Life signatures. Active scan..."
The tricorder made some electronic whirring noises, then beeped and flashed a message. After Suzi pushed a few more buttons, she then held it out as she slowly turned, doing a complete circle before it beeped again.
"Shit," Suzi sighed, "Nothing."
"Shit," Joey sighed himself. "I thought for sure that would work."
"Well, let's just go back to our original plan then," Eric offered.
So they headed for the stairs Eric noticed earlier, and after Suzi opened the door using the tricorder, they all got a kick out of Suzi's expertise with it as she opened the door at the second floor with only a couple of button taps.
Eric was telling Suzi of his experience on the starship Harrison when Joey interrupted him saying, "Well, that's a good sign. His door is open."
"And the lights are on," Suzi said as she hurried ahead of them.
"Timmy?" Suzi called as she entered the room, but then halted, and turned around.
"What's wrong?" Joey asked, then looked over her head into the room.
"What?" Eric asked as Joey turned around himself, his face showing his disappointment. "He isn't in there?"
"Yes and no," Joey simply said as he stepped out of Eric's way to let him see.
Eric walked up to the bed and looked at me as I slept next to Joey, knowing that they had only found our bodies and not our minds.
"Well, where to now?" Eric asked.
Suzi flipped the tricorder closed after finishing another scan and said, "Well whatever we do, this thing isn't going to help us much longer. Its batteries are getting low."
"How do you know that?" Joey asked.
"It said low battery."
"Oh."
"I wonder what time it is," Eric thought out loud.
"It's a quarter till seven," Joey announced after checking his watch. "Shit, it sure seems longer than that."
"Crap," Eric said. "My dad called the front desk to have them ring us at seven thirty. He's really going to freak if he can't wake me up."
"Alright then, let's find Tim so we can all get out of here," Joey said.
"I like it when you take charge," Suzi said, grinning. "So sexy."
"Heh, yeah, well..."
"So now what?" Eric asked, trying to keep them focused. "Do we split up?"
"Not yet," Joey said. "Let's think about this. It has to be Tim doing this, right?"
"Yeah, I think so," Eric said after a moment.
"Suz?"
"Well, I guess. But I haven't felt him watching me."
"Maybe he isn't watching us then," Joey said as he thought. "Maybe he's stuck in his own dream and was trying to connect to us for help. But instead he only trapped us in our own dreams."
"So who's dreaming this?" Eric asked.
"Maybe we all are. I don't know."
"Joey," Suzi said with a frown. "I don't think Timmy would have pulled us into a dream if he was trapped in it himself. He wouldn't have risked getting us trapped in it too."
"Well, he either did it on purpose, or by accident. Which do you think it is?"
"Hey, wait a minute," Eric said before turning to Suzi and asking, "What's the last thing you remember? While you were awake I mean."
Suzi thought a moment, then said, "Jason and I were talking about Leanne, I think."
"Do you know what time it was?"
"Around seven thirty maybe? It was after dinner."
"I was with Sarah and Terrence in the executive conference room," Joey said when Eric turned to him. "It must have been after eight, probably closer to nine when I got sucked in. We were wrapping things up, and Sarah had to leave at nine to pick up my nephew from his friend's house."
"Okay," Eric said slowly. "I know it was after ten when I got pulled in because the news was on most of the channels. So why did he pull us in one at a time and not all at once?"
"Well, it wasn't for the share link," Joey said. "He didn't need that until he was trying to pull you in, Eric."
"So if he didn't need us for the share link," Suzi began, "then he needed us for... What? Not company. We haven't even seen him."
"And that would rule out needing us for moral support or sympathy," Joey added.
"So what did he need us for?" Eric repeated.
"Wait a minute," Suzi said. "Timicus!"
"What are calling him for?" Joey groaned.
An antique telephone on a pedestal poofed in front of Suzi and immediately rang.
Before she picked it up, she said, "My reasons are psychological. Think of it as my Star Trek and trust me."
"Yes my Queen?" Timicus answered when Suzi picked it up.
"Timicus, why didn't you come yourself?" Suzi asked.
"I did not wish to upset my brother again with my presence."
"He won't get upset, I promise."
"Darling, tell the Queen you're busy and come back to bed," Suzi heard a female voice say.
"Err, I am also in the middle of something my Queen. May I call you back later?"
"No!" Suzi said, stomping her foot. "Get your magical ass over here before I come and kick it across..."
><poof>
"I am here, my Queen," Timicus said, hoping up and down as he finished pulling his pants on.
"Dreams. Sharing of. Explain."
"My Queen?"
"Do I have to repeat myself?"
"No, my Queen," Timicus said as he straightened up, then snapped for his book of magic.
"Dreams, dreams..." Timicus muttered as he flipped through the pages.
"Index?" Eric offered.
"Marvelous idea, my brother," Timicus exclaimed, flipping to the back. "Oh yes, here we are. Dreams. See fantasies of the night's mind. Fantasies. Fantasies."
"Any day now, Timicus," Suzi said, tapping her foot impatiently.
"Here it is... Page... Oh, I see. I need a different volume."
><poof>
"Here, let me try Suz," Joey said, stepping forward, taking the book out of the sorcerer's hand, and tossing it away.
"But I need that," Timicus said weakly as Joey stared into his eyes.
"No you don't," Joey said firmly. "You already know the answer. You're just stalling."
Timicus sighed, then said, "You know me too well, my King. The one you are looking for is in the ballroom. With... Her."
"Her?" Joey asked.
"Jennifer," Eric said with a shiver running up his spine.
"He was just floating around in dream-space when he found her," Timicus explained as they rushed towards the other end of the very long hallway. "She was dreaming of skiing with her parents and him.
"When the dream faded out, he forced himself to stay in his dream state and waited for her to come back. But then his own dreams started, and when he realized it wasn't her dream, he pulled Suzi in to run his dreams while he waited for Hers."
"Then why did he pull the rest of us in?" Joey asked.
"Suzi eventually went into a dreamless sleep which he couldn't stop without fearing he'd hurt her. So he pulled Joey in to take her place and when Joey started to tire as well, he had Joey help him bring Eric in. After that, however, She came back. He would slip back into your dreams whenever Her dream would ended, then slip back out when She started to dream again."
"I can't believe he'd be that selfish," Joey said angrily. When he saw Eric's and Suzi's disagreement on their faces, he said, "You know it must have scared the living shit out everyone when we just fell asleep and couldn't be woken up. He should have at least warned us before he did it. I love him, but he can't pull shit like this without asking first."
"You're right, Joey. He should have asked," Suzi sighed as they finally approached the ballroom doors. "But if Tim or I had just left without a word like she had, then you found us in a dream, would you have taken the chance that the answer was no?"
"Shit," Joey said guiltily. "I guess not."
"He knew we'd understand," Eric admitted. "But I need to get back to my dad before he wakes up. I've put him through a lot of shit this year. I don't want to put him through any more."
"All shall be as you wish, my friends," Timicus said, snapping his fingers to make the ballroom doors open. "But first, he invites you to enjoy the last dream with him before he lets her go."
Beyond the ballroom doors was a green hillside speckled with yellow and white daisies and outlined by a blue sky that contained only two white puffy clouds.
As the three walked inside the virtual room, a gentle breeze carried sounds of birds chirping and the faint scent of roses. The short grass waved in the wind, appearing as if the grass itself was beckoning them to follow it over the hillside.
"Come on," Suzi said, taking Eric and Joey both by the hands and giving them a gentle tug towards the hill's crest.
The three walked up the hill holding hands, then stood at the top in awe of the scene.
Below them was a burbling river of deep blue water, its banks lined with red and white roses, the red ones clustered together to form hearts of varying sizes.
And floating on this river was the Rosemary IV, an eighteenth century yacht with bright white sails and golden trim. Anchored and its gang plank down, it currently was only serving to shade its passengers as they sat on the shore amongst the roses.
"There's Timmy," Suzi said, pointing out the only solitary figure among the roses.
"And that's Jennifer," Joey said, pointing to the redhead whom I was watching from several feet away.
"Oh no," Suzi said unhappily after shielding her eyes to get a better look.
"What?" Joey asked.
Eric started to hurry down the hill towards me as Suzi said, "That's not another Timmy she's sitting with."
"Beautiful, isn't she?" I asked gently when Eric reached me.
"Are you okay?" Eric asked, putting his hand on my shoulder.
I looked up at him with a weary smile; holding my arm out, and said, "Sit down. You won't miss your boat home, I promise."
Eric hesitated, then sat down beside me.
I put my arm behind him and gave him a happy hug, then said to all three, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare anyone. It's not always clear what's really happening out there when you're in here. It won't happen again."
"That's okay, Tim," Joey said. "It was actually pretty fun, most of the time."
"Stop!" Jennifer giggled as the boy next to her nibbled her earlobe.
Her laugh was still tingling in my ears when I saw their confusion concerning my smile.
"I've seen enough here to know she still feels something for me, and that she's still determined not to have sex with anyone until she's married. She's happy, and that's all I really wanted to know."
"She's grown quite a lot," Suzi remarked. "I take it she can't see or hear us?"
"No. She's immune. I couldn't affect her dream even I wanted too. I added the scenery to our side of the dream, so she doesn't see the river, the boat, the roses, or anything else we see, including herself. Just... Him."
Suzi stepped over to her for a closer look anyway while Joey sat down on the other side of me and took interest in one of the roses.
"Huh," Joey muttered. "Roses without thorns."
"Tim," Eric said while watching Suzi dance around Jennifer and her... friend as they started wrestling, nose to nose. "Was Candice in the dream with us? Or was she just part of the dream?"
"I honestly don't know, Eric. I only brought you three here. You were all in control of your own dreams. It's possible you brought her in yourself."
"But you..."
"You'll have to ask me later," I said as my watch alarm went off. "It's time for you to go."
"Already?" Eric asked.
"Holy shit, he's right, Eric," Joey exclaimed, looking at his own watch. "It's nearly seven thirty."
"Time works differently in here," I said with a shrug.
I took one last look at Jennifer, then stood up and said, "Come on. Let's all go. If I stay much longer, I'll just try decking that fucker again. My hand can't take much more of that, real or not. It's like punching the marble statue of my dad."
"You punched your dad's statue?" Joey asked.
"A long time ago. I was still pissed at him from when he made Penny his slave and fucked her. I didn't know him doing that would save my ass later on."
"It saved Joey's and my asses too, you know," Suzi reminded me.
The ballroom doors were still open when we reached the top of the hill, so I cut the link I had with Jennifer's distant mind, startling the others when the entire room went pitch black except for the doors and the hallway beyond them.
"Eric," I began before we reached the doors. "The quickest way for you to go back is for you to stay here."
"But," Eric began, wanting strongly to come with us, but then nodded his head.
Eric stood still after I shut the doors and left him there in pitch black. He was waiting for something to happen, which of course nothing did.
"Tim, I don't think it's working."
"Tim?"
"Eric," someone whispered.
"Uncle Eric?"
"Uncle Eric?" his fathers' voice said more clearly. "Come on, sleepy head. It's getting late."
After a pillow hit him in the face, Eric flung his eyes open and exclaimed, "Dad, you won't believe what I was doing all night!"
"I listened all night to what you were doing. I know all about it."
"You do?"
Eric's dad made loud snoring sounds, then touched his son on the nose with his finger saying, "All night long."
Eric just smiled and kissed his dad's finger before saying, "I love you, Spanky."
"I love you too, squirt," his dad said, wiping the moisture from his eyes that the flash back Eric had triggered caused. "Now get your butt up and shower. We're going to be late."
"Yes, my King," Eric giggled as he scrambled out of bed.
"Timmy, any idea what Penny's up to nowadays?" Suzi asked as we approached my bedroom.
Joey and I exchanged looks, knowing exactly why she was asking.
"Last I heard, she was pregnant with her third baby," I said truthfully.
"Oh," Suzi said, losing all interest in the subject.
We entered my room and found my mom and Joey's mom both sitting on the bed talking with their backs to our bodies.
"Well, I guess I better bring this dream to a close," I said.
"It's been fun, Timmy," Suzi said, giving me a kiss on my cheek.
"Yeah, but let's not do it again," Joey said. "Or at least not..."
I snapped my fingers and ><poof>.
"Until we're together and.." Joey finished from his real lips. "Oh. Morning mom. Moms."
"You stinker," Suzi said as Joey was instantly assaulted with questions from both our mothers.
"I simply couldn't resist, my Queen," I said in my somewhat British Timicus accent before snapping my fingers two more times.