Homesick

Chapter Fifty-Four

The Disturbing Dream

4702 drank in his surroundings suspiciously at first. The sun was hot on the concrete where he stood, and the others were joyfully cleaning off bricks for their piles. It was his turn to work steel, carrying bags of it to the foundry where the Builders would cast it. As usual, however, the Builders were delaying him with the boring details of what kinds of metal they wanted for the jobs at hand. In his mind, he often felt the Brethren could run things far more efficiently without the Builders and their trivial concerns.

But today he felt more patient than usual. As good as the days usually were, he had reason to appreciate this one all the more. The nightmare he awoke from that morning made every sight and sound an incredible relief! The dream had been more disturbing than anything he could have imagined. It was the kind of nightmare that only grew worse with each recollection. In it he had been brought back to the horrible machine in the sky, where he was to remain forever. The Masters had joined him there and were trying to rescue him as they had before, but the evil beings that lived there were bent on hurting them! Those were the parts of the dream he simply couldn’t face. The mere thought of any Master in discomfort, let alone danger, threw him into such a panic that he felt physically ill. Perhaps the scariest scene had been when one of them actually threatened Mistress Obiiilion! In the dream, 4702 had not been able to save her! To watch helplessly while a Master suffered was worse than not pleasing them! It was the ultimate failure!

But he was awake now and was gratified to see her safely doing her rounds just as she had the day before. She smiled at him on her way by, making him blush with joy and gratitude.

But the dream still lingered in his mind for some reason, as if it had never really ended. Why? He was home, wasn’t he? He felt the steel in his hand and the sack on this back. He was gathering metal for the Masters and he’d turned the wheel that morning just as he always had. Moreover, he was surrounded by his brothers and sisters! He had had dreams like this before, but he usually just forgot them in all the excitement when he woke up. This one, however, affected his concentration longer than he might have expected.

But the oddest thing about this dream had been waking from it. Things looked distorted when he opened his eyes, as if he had taken a blow to the head. He also vaguely remembered things not being where they should have been. The room where he slept looked wrong and different, as if it were not his room at all. But, as his senses returned, gradually so did his vision. For a while, however, his eyes were blurry and objects surrounding him only came into focus when he stared hard at them. It was as if the everyday things he expected to see were temporarily missing, but were being replaced just as he looked for them. This happened a few times throughout the day and he assumed he was fatigued from all those questions the Builders had been asking him. It was a strange kind of blindness, but it seemed to be passing.

Happily, this day had also been a particularly joyous one! A Master he had never seen before had chosen to tour the grounds and had paid him special interest. She was not as large as Obiiilion by any means, but of course she was beautiful and he was truly honored to serve her.

Like Mistress Obiiilion, she had questions to ask him, but they were harder than the ones he had answered before. They had to do with things even more confusing than the horrible machine in the sky. She’d brought him pictures of people to look at and expected him to remember who they were. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t identify any of them and had to beg her forgiveness. He was relieved when she let him go back to the steel work. She seemed different from the other Masters, but he wasn’t sure how. Fortunately, he could put aside these matters and concentrate on the steel.

The rough, metal parts felt good in his hands and their weight was a challenge to carry. Each piece he lifted made the Masters happier and more pleased with him. The furnace was pleasantly hot, stoked constantly by his brothers and sisters. The sight of them reassured him and their smell comforted him as he emptied his load into the great melting pot under the Builders’ watchful eyes. This was his home! The memory of the nightmare was finally fading from his awareness. He eagerly ran with his empty bag for another load.