Dreamworms Book 1: The Advent of Dreamtech by Isaac Petrov (drm ebook reader TXT) 📕

“Bram and me. Me always comes last. And don’t worry about those things—they’re complicated.”

Anika sits up and puts the book to her side. “They’re not complicated, Will. Don’t be lazy.”

“Uh, well, when your mom and I, uh, meet aws Embrace—”

“Die,” Anika says, a notch louder. “When we die.”

“Come on, Ani. Not now.”

“So you die when you meet Goah?” Edda asks, large eyes swinging between Willem and Anika. “Like… a dog?”

“We are animals, girl,” Anika says, her voice softening. “All animals must pass away at some point.”

“We still have pleeenty of time,” Willem says soothingly, forcing a smile. “Don’t you worry.”

“B- But if you are dead, how are you going to…?” Edda’s voice breaks, her eyes brimming with tears.

“We will always be watching over you, girl,” Willem says, his voice soothing, his smile comforting. “No matter what.”

“Don’t tell her that!” Anika’s voice is dead serious now. “Who’s watching for us, huh?”

Ximena feels Edda’s sudden angst at her mother’s unusual reaction.

“That’s not helpful, Ani.”

“And telling lies to your children is?” She shakes her head. “They must learn to be alone. They soon will be, and life must go on.”

“Come on. It’s too early. We still got some good years in front of us.”

“I don’t want to be alone!” Edda says, her voice wavering with incipient fear.

“You are not alone, girl,” Willem says. “Listen. No one in this family will ever be alone.” He is speaking to Edda but looking at Anika. “We have each other. We have our parents and ancestors watching for us, and our children and descendants waiting for us.” He chuckles. “Sometimes I wish I had some more time for myself.”

“Oh, such beautiful horseshit,” Anika says. “Our ancestors are dead, and our descendants are unborn. I don’t know about you, but I can only hear people that are alive, yeah?”

Edda begins to weep. Willem takes her with both arms against his chest, kisses her softly on the top of her head and caresses her unruly hair. He turns his head to his sister. “Calm down, Ani, please. How long are you going to be grieving? It’s been over a month, Goah’s Mercy. Marthijn is in a better place now. His Joyousday was… beautiful.”

She scoffs and folds her arms. “You don’t know the half of it. He didn’t want it, yeah? But he was a coward! He accepted it all like a lamb taken to the slaughterhouse.”

“If that were true, that makes him very brave.”

“Oh, always so logical. It’s so easy to be logical, yeah?” She begins to speak with a mocking tone. “The heroic man that accepts his fate for the good of the many. Way to go!”

“You’re being selfish,” Willem says. “You’d rather have your lover back for your own sake.”

She stands, eyes widened in outrage. “You don’t believe that he is enjoying the oh-so-sweet Embrace of Goah, do you? You’re not that naive, are you?”

“Who am I to say? I’m just a teacher.”

“Exactly! We are teachers!” She takes Edda in one hand and Willem in the other, and pulls them up on their feet. “Come!”

She leads them out of the living room, up the stairs, and into a windowless room. She turns on the light. The walls are filled to the brim with shelves of books.

“It’s unlocked!” Willem says when he enters the room with Edda.

“It’s always unlocked. That’s how I like it now. The kids should come here anytime they like.” She laughs. “I’m not surprised you haven’t noticed yet that I unlocked the room. You spend all your time playing with those stupid tin soldiers, instead of absorbing the knowledge entrusted to us as colonial teachers.”

“But what if somebody breaks in and—”

“Not even you, a teacher, care enough to read them, and you think our fellow colonists would?” Anika scoffs. “They’re all either working their asses off in the fields or at sea, or too hooked to that trash radios are spitting at them every evening.”

“But we’ve sworn to keep the old books safe.” Willem’s voice sounds unconvinced, like he’s repeating a mantra. “They’re only for emergencies, if things really go south, that we have a semblance of guidance. These books are too dangerous to—”

“Read this,” Anika hands him one of the books lying on the only desk in the room, “and then we can discuss what forbidding books really tells us about the society that takes that step, yeah? Oh, and when you’re done, get started on this one, on myths and religions. Yeah, plural. Then we can have an actual conversation on the merits of aws Embrace, yeah? And this on the real history of the Roman Empire is… eye-opening. Did you know their entire system was fueled by slavery? That barbarians were absorbed, not cleansed? That resisting cities and civilizations were forever wiped from the face of the Earth? And this book on Napoleon,” she is pointing alternatively at the other books on the desk, “or that one on Stalin,” she shakes her head as she snorts, “those will give you quite a view into the true soul of the heroes of aws Imperia.”

Edda, wide-eyed, is looking at the shelves with fascination. “Can I read them too, Mom?”

“Of course you can, baby. That’s the whole point!” Her eyes keep scolding Willem as she speaks. “These books connect us with thousands of years of human civilization. And they’re just,” she waves her hand around the shelves in exasperation, “gathering dust in locked rooms like this one. The knowledge inside these books, that’s what really extends the reach of our ancestors into our descendants, not aws stupid Embrace. Reading these books will transform you, baby, into a true human.”

The mares are back in the pitch-black hallway. Edda—sunk head and limp shoulders—stands next to them, her anxiety hanging tight in a tense, high-pitched vibrato, like a suspect awaiting the jury’s verdict.

“Insufficient,” Yog finally says, and Ximena feels Edda’s tension burst inside her guts. “A pronounced desire for change is indeed a valid motivator for our candidates, but I do fear that