Chapter 4: A time to learn

After a bit of experimentation, Danny realized that time seemed to pass slower while physically in the veil of dreams. In fact, the more time he spent there, the more flexible the concept of time seemed to be. Danny also learned about the medial barrier. He wasn’t sure exactly what it was for yet, but he could feel it. All he knew was that it was where all this medial energy came from. He was told that time wasn’t just flexible, but the closer you get to it, the less time seemed to exist.

However, the thing that he found most interesting was that, upon entering and then exiting someone else’s dream, there seemed to be a time dilation effect. He could stay in Emily’s dream with her all night until she had to wake up, then leave her dream to find that only an hour had passed. The dream would still be there, but he wasn’t able to go back in. Oh well, he thought to himself, I have more time to do other things. I have a feeling that I have a lot to learn.

Between working and spending some extra time with Emily, Danny used his spare time to practice what Lance had told him. He made more doors in strategic places, just in case. He also met a couple more essentials. There’s Fred, who appears as a ferret. He’s friendly but very sneaky. And then there’s Max, who has multiple personalities. Sometimes he’s a bear, sometimes he’s a lion. Danny had the feeling that there were more personalities. He saw no reason to push the issue, so he returned home.

Less than a week later, on Friday after work, Danny found himself alone in his workshop. Maybe I should experiment more with these doors, he thought. Danny started with the door that he left in his office. First, he felt the energy from it and realized that there was a lot of medial energy. But there was also something else, a physical type of energy. Then, Danny realized that this must be medial and physical energy that was sort of woven together.

He could still feel it, even when he moved away from it. There was a kind of pattern in the flow of energy. It reminded him of something, but he couldn’t quite remember what it was. He stepped into the dream veil. Outside of a dream, he could feel the energy flow. When the medial energy and physical energy came in contact, they didn’t mix. They kind of displaced each other, creating currents.

He stepped back into his office and turned around. Then he put his hand up to feel for the door. That’s strange, he thought to himself. It felt like the door moved. He felt the energy of the door and mentally pushed. The door moved! The door was now outside of his office. He could still feel it on the other side of the door. Out of curiosity, he made another door. There was that energy pattern again, only this time, it seemed to stretch and narrow a bit as the two doors connected. Part of the door’s energy attracted the other door, while the rest of the energy repulsed it, kind of like two magnets. It wasn’t a magnetic field, however. The energy flowed differently.

Then Danny remembered where he had seen this before, in one of his advanced physics classes. It was from a theoretical model of a wormhole. Danny heard Robert call his name, and without thinking about it, he stepped back through his dream doors. When Danny came out, Robert almost ran into him. Fortunately, they both stopped just in time to avoid a collision. Robert took two steps back.

“Whoa, bro!” Robert said. “That was close. When you told me that you go into dreams physically, I thought you were yanking my chain. But that was pretty cool.”

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Danny said. “I still don’t know what to think about it myself. All I can do is continue like it’s normal. What did it look like when I came out?”

“It just looked like the shadow got darker before you stepped out,” Robert said. “I guess I should be more freaked out by it, but you’re an exceptional guy. It just makes sense that you can do it.”

“I’m glad you understand,” Danny said. “I want to try another experiment.”

Danny had Robert stand in front of the door. He opened the dream door, grabbed his arm, and stepped through. Robert came with him. They were now standing inside Danny’s office.

“That was awesome!” Robert said. “I didn’t even move!”

Now Danny opened the dream door, and he had Robert try to walk through on his own. It didn’t work, so Danny wanted to see if he could give energy to other people, so he touched Robert’s arm and transferred some energy. This time Robert walked through the door and came out the other side. Danny followed to make sure that he made it.

“Thanks for your help,” Danny said. “Now I know that I can take people through dream doors. I also know that I can give them the energy to cross on their own. That could be useful.”

“No problem Bro,” Robert said. “Glad I could help.”

“So, what was it that you needed?” asked Danny.

“I just wanted to let you know that Emily and I will leave for our family vacation in a few hours,” Robert said.

“Okay,” said Danny. “I hope you have a great time.”

“You know I will,” Robert said as he walked out the door.

Danny was excited about everything that he had just discovered. He knew, however, that there was a lot more to learn. At bedtime, Danny entered the dream veil physically. He wanted to observe this energy flow that he saw while experimenting with the dream doors. So, Danny didn’t enter any dreams. He just floated around in the dream veil between dreams.

Just as he saw before, the two different energies didn’t mix. They also didn’t repel each other. They just flowed around one another, making currents. Both energies passed through him without pulling or pushing him with the current. It was as if he was a conduit for the energy to flow through. He noticed that the energy near him would even change course to flow through him. He further realized that he could collect or release as much or as little energy as he wanted to.

Danny decided to follow the medial energy to its source. The closer he got, the stronger the flow was. So, it didn’t take long for him to find it. This must be the medial barrier, he thought to himself. It wasn’t much to look at. In fact, if he couldn’t see medial energy, he wouldn’t be able to see it at all. He put his hand on the barrier. It felt smooth like glass, but it felt a little spongy on the surface, unlike glass. There was a little give when you first touched it, but pushing harder, was like pushing on polished marble. And if you hit it, it was like punching steel. This is a perfect example of Newton’s third law, Danny thought.

So, there’s another world behind this barrier, he thought. Danny was a little disappointed that he couldn’t figure out how to get through. But he felt relieved at the same time. Danny was just learning about all of this, and it was a bit overwhelming. There was one more thing that he wanted to try. Since the medial energy could flow through him, he wanted to know if he could collect energy directly from the barrier.