It was midday at a quiet horse ranch in the Galatean countryside. The property was modest but well-kept: a small stately house, broad green pastures, and stables with everything needed to tend to the animals. A few horses grazed lazily in the fields. One, a striking gelding, cropped at the grass while balancing easily on three natural legs and a gleaming prosthetic of polished metal.
Elias Kallioras sat on the porch with his legs stretched out and a steaming mug in hand. The retired kentauros jockey watched the pastures in silence, letting the stillness of the afternoon settle around him like a familiar blanket.
A tone broke the quiet. A frown creased the wrinkles of Elias' weathered face as he lowered his mug. Normally, his phone was kept muted — only family and a few close friends ever got through. But recently, he'd made one more exception:
Messages from the Galatean Coast Guard's bulletin board for Reclaimed.
He reached into his pocket and drew out the phone. On the screen, his alias glowed back at him: delta.eel.
Elias logged in and saw the notification was about a new post, and it already had a half-dozen replies. And as Elias read the post, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
[latchkey.meridian wrote: I think I might have pulled someone into a dream with me but it's an animal, so I'm not sure. Has anyone else done that?]
After reading the initial post, Elias's eyes wandered from his phone to find the horse with the prosthetic leg. As if sensing his gaze, the proud beast halted his grazing and lifted his head to meet Elias' eyes. But then the animal quickly lost interest and returned to the delicious grass.
Elias snorted at the horse's impertinence but allowed his stare to linger for a few more contemplative minutes. Then he returned his attention to the screen of his phone.
"Hmm," Elias hummed thoughtfully as he sipped his drink and scrolled through the replies to latchkey.meridian's post. "Maybe it wasn't wishful thinking after all…"
\ - / - \ - /
Meanwhile, Junior was back at his condo unit. He sat at his piano and alternated between playing a few chords and dictating responses for Athena to post online. Achilles lounged on the floor nearby, relaxed but ears twitching briefly in response to the music.
The small community of anonymous Reclaimed was fairly diverse. Junior imagined that the randomized usernames masked women and men of different ages and backgrounds from all over Galatea. Like him, most kept personal details to themselves; some more so, some less.
Still, Junior was getting a vague feel for some of the personalities behind the pseudonyms. It was harder because everything was read aloud by Athena in her same smooth, artificial tones. But word choice, pacing, and even sentence structure still gave his trained ears something to listen to.
"chaff13signal replies: haven't done it but sounds very cool what made you try," Athena stated in one sentence, without pause or inflection for what probably should have been a question.
"Typical of Chaff," Junior chuckled, half to Achilles and half to himself. "Athena, reply with the following," he directed to the AI. Then he dictated a condensed summary of some of Millie's 'brain exercises' he'd been trying to promote lucid dreaming.
By the time he'd finished, Athena had already pinged again, indicating another reply was waiting.
"opal.cryptid37 replies: Does it only work on animals? What if it happens to a real person? What's the range? Can you control it?"
Athena read the series of questions with her usual calm, but hearing between the lines, Junior could practically feel the frantic, rapid-fire pace which Opal had likely originally intended.
"Opal doesn't post much, but when they do, it's usually about safety or caution," Junior frowned to himself. "The concerns are valid, and I don't know the answers." Junior projected his voice a little louder as if speaking to Achilles. "What do you say, boy? Did I pull you in against your wishes?" The dog just whined, and Junior lifted one shoulder in a helpless shrug.
He responded to Opal's post as honestly as he could. He knew it wasn't all that reassuring, but what else could he do? He'd only done it once so far and wasn't even sure what had really happened, a point he made sure to emphasize.
Another notification pinged before he'd even finished.
"delta.eel replies: Those lucid dreaming exercises sound interesting and highly appropriate training for our circumstances. Thank you for sharing, latchkey.meridian."
Junior couldn't help the relieved smile that touched his lips. Delta's reply was more in line with what he'd been hoping for when he made his post. He worked on framing an appropriate thank you, but Athena pinged again.
"opal.cryptid37 replies: Highly appropriate? You mean highly reckless! We need to control this disease or whatever it is, before it gets worse. Not help spread it to others!"
A knot tightened in Junior's chest. Opal's antagonistic words were in stark contrast when read with Athena's even tones. But they affected him nonetheless.
Most of the Reclaimed on the GSC board were fairly neutral or cautiously optimistic about what happened to them. Yet some, led by Opal and others like them, were concerned about the strangeness of the System. They were frightened about the possibility of more unusual, or even dangerous, events happening.
Before he could finish contemplating his own thoughts, another ping. Junior listened to Athena with dismay as she read the comment aloud.
"voidharrow84 replies: The common laity need not fear the Reclaimed. The winds whisper of dissonance and strife, but there is also hope of salvation. Have faith. All will be revealed in due course."
Junior sighed. He couldn't decide whether he should feel annoyed, or amused.
Voidharrow had been a cryptic but subdued presence on the bulletin board. Now that Junior knew who he truly was, Junior realized that Voidharrow - or rather, Orestes - had likely just been biding his time all along. The man was intelligent, calculating, and always had a plan within a plan.
But above all, he was a devout believer in the old gods and testaments.
"What in the hells is he playing at?" Junior wondered as he shook his head.
As if in response to Junior's question, a series of rapid-fire pings sounded as the comments on Junior's post descended into an online forum war. Junior could only groan and shake his head as he listened to Athena read the posts one after another, barely able to keep up.
Opal laid into Orestes and Junior's original post equally. They were accused of being in collusion with some kind of religious cult bent on taking over people's dreams. Which would have sounded crazy, but considering Junior's own suspicions of Orestes, he couldn't help but feel sympathetic to their reasoning.
"But I've got nothing to do with that zealot!" Junior protested, but even as he spoke, he frowned as his thoughts darkened.
On the one hand, he wanted to distance himself from Orestes' views as much as possible. On the other hand … it wasn't technically true. Despite certain tensions, Orestes was Junior's uncle, after all. Based on his cryptic hints during his visit, it was quite possible that Junior might be involved with something, even without his knowledge, perhaps from before he was even born.
The possibility made him hesitate as much as it scared him.
So while Junior wanted to deny any involvement with cults, religious or otherwise, doubt made him second-guess and hesitate. He wanted to handle the situation carefully and thoughtfully, but the posts were continuing to spiral out of control. Voidharrow never outright denied Opal's accusations, which didn't escape Opal's notice. In fact, knowing his uncle as he did, Junior suspected the man was subtly egging Opal on.
Then delta.eel chimed in as well, telling them both to stay on the original topic. And now it was a three-way war of words as Voidharrow spouted quasi-religious platitudes, Opal accused everyone of reckless conspiracies, and Delta tried to brush both aside with firm practicality.
It all came to a head as Opal posted a comment that made Junior freeze like a deer spotting a hungry wolf.
"opal.cryptid37 replies: None of you can be trusted to restrain yourselves. Rhaskos has the right idea. You're a danger to society and anyone around you. Especially latchkey.meridian. Stealing people's dreams? Tell us where you live, so the responsible among us can do the right thing."
Athena's recitation sent chills through Junior's body. He recalled the Republic of Rhaskos and their Ministry of Civic Order. They'd finally revealed their official plans for the Reclaimed. Opponents immediately and loudly decried it as heavy-handed and inhumane, using words like forced conscription and internment camps. Rhaskans, and a surprising number of international sympathizers, called it a practical and measured approach to maintaining order and safety for all, including the Reclaimed themselves.
Even worse, what exactly did Opal mean by 'do the right thing'? Why were they demanding to know where Junior lived? To 'warn' people about him? Take him away somewhere? Or even worse? All Junior's original fears about the risks of the GSC's board came crashing down on him with renewed vengeance, made worse by Rhaskos' real-life example.
Pings were flying in at an even more frantic pace now, and Junior's heart rate rose. Before Athena could begin to read the comments, a different tone sounded, like a warning siren more than a chime.
"Priority alert: Administrator Tran has locked and muted this thread," Athena recited. "Priority alert: Administrator Tran has banned opal.cryptid37 from posting for 48 hours. Priority alert: Administrator Tran writes: Keep it respectful, Galateans. We're in this together."
When the warnings stopped and Athena finished speaking, Junior released a shaky breath he hadn't realized he was holding.
Then he startled once again as a slightly different tone sounded. Softer than the warnings, Junior recognized it as the notification of direct messages, which Athena quickly confirmed.
"Direct Message from delta.eel: Sorry about all that; I hope you don't take it to heart. Opal and Voidharrow don't speak for all of us. Would you be interested in answering some of my questions about those lucid dreaming techniques? I'm curious to learn more."
Junior took a moment to consider how to respond. The tension eased from his shoulders, and his pounding heart slowed as he slouched in his seat.
"I should probably wait for Millie before I get into an even bigger mess," he muttered.
On the ground beside him, Achilles' tail thumped once as the dog continued to relax, unconcerned about petty things like forum trolls and human politics.
/ - \ - / - \
Back on his ranch, Elias Kallioras, a.k.a. delta.eel, waited for a reply to his direct message. When none was immediately forthcoming, he took his mug - with the drink inside only half-finished and now cold - back into his house to the kitchen.