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<center>From the "Crestfallen Reflection" Digital Art Collection</center>
*A rare, signed and non-watermarked version of this image is available at: https://creary.net/digital-art/@jaichai/jaichai-original-science-fictiion-jc-has-a-nightmare*
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JC awoke hyperventilating and covered in sweat.
A couple minutes later, he realized that what he'd vividly imagined was just a nightmare and slowly calmed down until his breathing was back to normal.
As he jumped in the shower, he scolded himself for getting so upset over nothing.
"But it seemed so real", he said to himself.
JC was a very private individual. After retirement from the U.S. military, he spent his days living a quiet life with his daughter, girlfriend and three dogs on one of his family's plantations in Asia.
In JC's dream-turned-nightmare, his $1 ticket held the winning lottery number for "Awesome Vision's 1st Consumer Space Flight" promotion.
At first he was elated; mainly because he'd been a space and technology hobbyist all his life. At age 6, he launched his first hobbyist rocket. It was "The Orbital Transport" model and resemble the piggy-back setup of today's space shuttles.
But then he thought about what would happen if something went wrong with the flight and he didn't make it back.
He talked it over with his girlfriend and teenage daughter. They convinced him to go for it. Besides, they knew exactly what to do if anything happened to him.
JC had told them where all the legal documents were, how to decrypt the passwords needed to access his fiat and crypto holdings, who they could trust in future emergencies, etc.
Before the flight and against his futile protests, JC appeared in several media events for Awesome Visions, Inc.
Now, instead of being just another non-descript, Asian looking man, his face seemed to be plastered all over social media and news channels.
But he tolerated it all because, unbeknownst to him when he bought the lottery ticket, but spelled out in the microscopic fine print of promotion material, the free flight into space was contingent on participating in various publicity events prior to going into orbit.
Finally, after three months of being paraded around like a trained monkey, he entered the space vehicle, strapped in and was flew into Earth's orbit.
He was elated, thinking to himself, "Hoo-Yah! This is a dream come true!"
But a few minutes later, he noticed that the whole crew was frantically pushing buttons and shouting into their comms. He couldn't hear what they were saying because they were on a secure, "crew only" channel, but it sure looked like something had them very excited.
Then a bright flash of greenish-yellow light appeared in front of the space craft, enveloping it within seconds.
The last thing JC remembers before blacking out was seeing three crew members floating around in the cockpit's anti-gravity with expressions of utter disbelief or wearing the expressionless face of death.
JC didn't know how long he was unconscious. It could've been ten minutes or ten hours.
All he knew was that now he was supine on what felt like a cold, hard surface. He tried to move, but even though he didn't see or feel any restraints, he was completely immobilized. He tried to scream, but no sound came out of his mouth.
He scanned his environment and saw nothing but darkness.
Suddenly, bright greenish-yellow lights, the same kind he'd seen outside the spacecraft before blacking out, began to illuminate him and his surroundings.
Scanning left and right, he could see reflections of himself on the translucent walls around him. He was on what seemed like an operating room gurney and above him was a gallery of observers that looked like a bunch of distorted, glowing faces suspended in mid-air.
Before he could make sense of all this, a loud, high-pitched sound shrieked from above him and a small, slowly growing opening in the walls appeared. Through it, three individuals with face masks on materialized began walking towards JC.
Infuriated, JC tried to move and shout at the approaching "people". But again, he couldn't move or make a sound. Now the anger was turning into fear; especially when the masked individuals got closer and closer.
After huddling around JC's head, one by one, they removed their face masks.
In utter horror, JC could clearly see the faces that peered down on him...THEY WERE ALL HIM!
That's when JC woke up, safe in his bed and thanking his lucky stars that it was all a silly nightmare.
Freshly showered and feeling better, JC could smell the aroma of Kona coffee brewing in the kitchen's timed, automatic drip coffee machine.
He giggled, remembering how upset he was just a half hour ago.
But then he switched on his widescreen and saw what was streaming on all channels.
IT WAS HIM DISEMBARKING FROM A CORPORATE OR PRESIDENTIAL JET...
[To be continued?]
May you and yours be well and loving life today.
In Lak'ech, JaiChai
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(JaiChai 12 JAN 2022. Simultaneous multi-site submissions posted. All rights reserved.)