"Star Fading" part 1

[butterflydreaming]

MAKE $$$ IN YOUR SLEEP

At the diner where Zoe stopped for breakfast, the table newsscreen had been left on the employment pages. Clicking the tab to return it to headlines, she smiled at the all-to-familiar job listing. Dream donation was the easiest credit she had ever earned. She had an TF12 rating for life experience, age, and health. Because she was a daytime dreamer, she earned a little more than the regular rate for dream donation. The requirements were easy: six hours minimum of sleep, with regular REM produced, and regular screenings for physical health. Zoe had never had much of a social life anyway. She liked physical activity and the extra income made eating healthfully easy.

Besides, in the pristine dreaming beds at the collection center, she had the best sleep of her life. Afterward, she faced her graveyard shift standard employment refreshed and productive. She often wondered what her counterpart did, during her days, after a night of Zoe's dreams.

The waitress delivered an menu to Zoe's table. It had the appearance of fiber paper laminated with clear polymer, an old-fashioned look to go with the historical decor. "Can I getcha coffee?" she asked according to script. She was no more human than the prop coffee pot, but her artificial smile was still a smile.

"No, thank you. Herbal tea, please."

The waitress flipped the mug over and programmed it for hot water instead of coffee. As it filled, she keyed herbal tea into her apron, filled a small, rectangular basket, set it on the table and scooted away to greet another customer.

The necessity of dream donation peaked with the success of Accelerated Growth Clones. AGCs could not produce their own dreams, because their life experience was less than that of an infant. At best, they had a baby's nebulous REM cycle. An AGC nurtured with the dreams of a natural human donor grew cognitive abilities to match their physical growth, while ones without tended to fall into a vegetable state or grow mad, shortly after full incubation. Once they had reached adulthood, an accelerated clone fed dreams as part of a balanced psychological diet would even be capable of developing an independent personality.

Zoe's dream signals were being echoed into the mind of a colonist en route to Mars. The Martian colonists were all AGCs, augmented physically to withstand the Arien environment. Zoe had heard that donors were matched for gender to the recipient. That meant a cisgendered woman received her dreams, dreams of being loved, of being beautiful and happy.

The waitress was back. "Ready to order, sir?"

Comments

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

*loves* (also applies to pt. 2)

[shadow-and-veil.livejournal.com]

Thank you!