The dream began with me within my escape vessel. It was an unremarkable, metallic cylinder that gleamed blue and green in the light. Within the cylinder were more cylinders perpendicular to the main tube. Within these minor cylinders were skunks, raccoons, cabbages, potatoes and a few other odds and ends that make up the length and breadth of survivors. Spot was with me wandering around the living area and sniffing the base of the container tubes. Reckon my ship was about the size of two imperial (not metric) Volkswagen Beetles.

My vehicle was powered by my mind and with a thought I moved 500 distance units. Don't know if these were miles, astronomical units, light years or parsecs but I know they added up to five hundred. Upon our arrival, the ship was in orbit around a swampy riverworld with a small ocean. Looking down upon the planet made me think of an onyx sphere covered with cracks of lapis lazuli. The onboard computer chose a landing site in the southern hemisphere. Since the surface was so black I figured it must be full of life.

It was dark, foggy and cool in the splashdown area. Many trees lined the banks of this creek. What struck me as strange was the complete lack of insects. Now I wasn't alone as there were a few alien animals at the periphery of my vision who have gone unremembered in their details. I just know they were there in the shadows.

I crawled my way through the swamp to the shore then sloshed across the shallow northern sea. Near the beach I found a human settlement. On second glance I realized they weren't true humans, simply the products of parallel evolution who were native to this world. Right now I don't recall what kept them from being homo sapiens, the difference was so subtle but hard to miss once one knew where to look while keeping company with these beings. Appearances aside, they were friendly enough and compatible with me. Of course these indigenes spoke fluent English and understood my plight. They generously gave me the position of town librarian.

As the days passed into years I made strange discoveries in the bayou. My material possessions from Earth would mysteriously appear in the wilderness. Damp but none the worse for wear. Mostly these were old record albums and books much to my delight. Even though I had a female swampworld companion and a few friends among the natives, I still felt distanced from their culture. I'd spend my nights poring over these items for comfort. The natives didn't understand the music or the words but they understood the solace it gave to my loneliness. Another symptom of homesickness that kept me busy was nurturing and raising my garden along with tending the raccoons and skunks.

One day a true old human emerged from the forest. He greeted me and explained that there were eight other terran survivors who had been roughing it for quite some time. Only in the past day or week did they discover that they weren't alone on this distant ball of mud. In fact they were thrilled when they discovered that I was a homo sapien like them. He took me in confidence. To my horror he explained how his small tribe was going to take over the planet starting with my fellow townspeople. His argument is that they're not really humans but since they look and act enough like humans it'll be fun having new folks to fuck and kill.

Out of fear and resignation I made the worst possible choice and left those kind people. Plus I was ashamed at the betrayal which would befall them after only knowing me for so long and realizing my distant kin were terrible monsters. My alien companion, most of the skunks and raccoons along with the greater part of my garden are left behind to be pillaged by the humans. I could only leave with what I could carry in my arms. Spot followed me.

Back at my abandoned ship, I climbed in, stored what I could and concentrated on getting as far as humanly possible from the place I had adopted as my new home.

One thousand distance units away I found myself on the planet which was featured in Star Trek the original series's episode A Piece of the Action. For those of you playing along at home who never watched Star Trek, this is the episode that takes place on a mobster planet. Fortunately my dream had taken a bit of a lighter turn.

The ship disguised itself as a worn-down tenement with a barbershop and a tailor on the ground floor storefronts. Once the ship enters the atmosphere, the computer locates a suitable vacant lot for a landing area. Since the ship's transformation made the cylindre significantly larger I set about exploring its interior. Upon landing, I made my way to the roof where I admired the cityscape spread out before me. Turns out that I wasn't alone and there was an elderly janitory who was wandering around the premises jingling his ring of keys.

The keys captured my attention, piquing my curiousity about where they went and what doors they opened in the building. For the rest of the dream I spent my time trying to distract the janitor while trying to make wax impressions of the keys so I could make copies and check out every conceivable room. Eventually he gets wise to me and my unseen companion's shenanigans.

The one key that I was able to copy opened the door to a dead-end crawlspace. At the end were two facing mail slots. When I lifted the one on the right I found Ricky Schroeder (Ricky Schroeder???) fucking a riverworld female. I never got around to peeping in the other mail slot.

That dream ended and suddenly it was time for an intermission during a broadcast of WWE Raw. Bill Clinton was marching down the causeway towards a podium. Why the hell was the Democrat convention being held in an arena during a wrestling TV show? Things start to get fuzzy at this point but I do remember that no one had any good words for Vince McMahon.