Nightmare on the Warren by John Thornton

Author:John Thornton [Thornton, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-08-18T00:00:00+00:00

8 The Triplets

Allen awoke in the dark, his mind fuzzy.

“So thirsty,” Allen muttered, and then caught himself and said no more. He wondered who was around, as nothing looked familiar. He patted his clothing, but was not wearing his RAM suit. “Weird dreams. Too bizarre.”

He licked his dry lips and tried to focus his thoughts. Was I playing a game? Really? Must find some water. The lavatory is where?

He looked about and then swung his feet down to the cold floor. He stepped quickly out of the room and walked down the hallway, looking from side to side and not sure who was around. He massaged the sides of his head and pinched his nose, then went back to rubbing his temples. His head pounded, and his neck muscles were tight. Flexing as much as he could, he tried to stretch and roll his head around, but they did not loosen up. Finding a bit of matter in the corners of his eyes, he flicked the rheum away and blinked hard.

He could make out a few things, but not much. Nothing looked familiar.

Some dim lights were ahead at a doorway and Allen licked his lips as he approached. His mouth was a dry as the sand he had recently walked across.

When was I on sand? he wondered.

Desperately, he wanted a water ration. Oh, so very badly he needed a drink.

Turning the corner, he realized he had left his shoes behind. The floor really was cold, but he was so thirsty, that he rejected going back for his shoes. In fact, his RAM suit must be back by his bunk, he did not recall taking it off, but he had been exhausted when he climbed into that bunk.

“My suit would have water, but there must be some closer,” his voice croaked out. He decided in his befuddlement, that he would just seek out a water ration somewhere else and then go back.

The cafetorium has water, and that is just ahead.

Looking to the wall at his side, he shook his head a bit. He had walked past the biological unit farms, but he wondered why they were here. The clear and sealed cubes contained the greyish-taupe colored fungi consisting of super hybridized biologicals.

“How did I get here?” Allen asked himself. “It is night. I guess I missed a corner? Dome 17? Wow, I really did have a whopper of a nightmare.”

He looked again at those biologicals which were grown, housed, and harvested for the food ration bars. They used purely botanical organisms, and not animals of any kind. That thought was somehow important to him, but his fuzzy mind could not recall why.

In Allen’s mind he heard one of his friends, Jerome, singing a song they had learned in school about the ration bars.

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