Donna: The Dream Corporation

By Michael TT Williams

"Donna" is a chronicle derived from the epic "Dream Corporation Trilogy", set in the near future.. The adventure begins when Donna is taken into a "Dream-suite" and shares a dream with her best friend Millie and the young technician, Geoff. Sharing minds is an intimate experience and following dream-paths through a multitude of dream-worlds is the ultimate shared journey.

 

Being in dream-worlds is the closest thing to Paradise. But mankind was not destined to live in paradise. Things start to go wrong. Millie falls into a coma and Donna and Geoff commit to finding her.  But there is so much more going on and Donna finds herself entangled in a sinister adventure. in the world of the wide-awake. As time goes on, questions start to form in her mind: Is anybody realy awake? Are we all dreaming? Is that why the world is so weird?

 

On her eighteenth birthday, Donna and Geoff  take the ultimate step in zero gravity. It turns out that there is nothing ordinary about Donna at all. And not everyone is in her corner. In fact her opponent could hardly be more fightening because, all joking aside, he seems no less capable than the Devil himself!    

• Language: English
• Publisher: Michael TT Williams
• Release date: Jun 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9798201508029

Book preview

About the Author

Michael TT Williams was born in South London, United Kingdom.

He is a full-time author, specializing in Science Fiction and Fantasy, but also writes other fiction, and non-fiction.

He has lived, and managed businesses, in a number of Countries, and travelled extensively in more than one hundred others including Africa, South America and Asia. He holds post-graduate degrees in economics and law, and is a sociologist and historian.

He is passionate about animals, music, and film, and promoting compassion for all living things.

Books by Michael TT Williams:-

The Dream Corporation Trilogy:

Dark Forces

Shadow of Omega

Reality Rebooted

Other fiction

What the Devil!

Tales from Two Square Metres

The Miner

Global #1 Bestseller: Star Trek, James T Kirk

The Man who lived Backwards

Non-fiction

The Happiness Index

Our Future with the Virus

Turned Upside Down

Unbelievable True Stories

The small Bodyguard

Young Nero

Donna

A Dream Corporation Chronicle

Michael TT Williams

The Apartment

FREDDY FOX PULLED HIMSELF out of bed, ran his hands through his thick brown hair, and took a deep breath.  He drew the curtains, and looked out over Central Park. He shouted out for Millie. He went and made a cup of tea.

As Freddy removed his teabag from its cup, Millie appeared. Probably she had heard the kettle, like a cat anticipating something in her bowl.  At seventeen Millie was petite for her age, and favoured the tom-boy look, with a chunky wisp of light brown hair that always needed to be swept back out of her eyes.

'Hey Freddy,' she said, as she took his teabag and dropped it into her mug.

Freddy said, 'We can afford for you to have a teabag of your own you know!'

But Millie was already halfway back to her bedroom.  She called back, 'I like yours.'

Millie’s mother had died when Millie was very young. After that, her father had just seemed to have given up on life. He had put food on the table, and kept a roof over their heads.  Then about a year after his wife’s death, Roy had volunteered to be one of the first in the Dream Corporation trials. He had been one of the first people who had gone into a dream-coma. That was how Freddy had entered the picture.  Freddy was a professional that had become known as Seekers – private detectives that track people in their own dreams, and persuade them to return to consciousness.  Freddy had retrieved her father and, having shared a dream with him, they had become close. Unfortunately Millie’s father had disappeared a second time; this time without trace. That made it a matter for the police; not a Seeker.

Nowadays Millie had a notional address with her Aunt, who lived in Greenwich Village. Aunt Phoebe had problems of her own and, in fact, Millie stayed mostly with Freddy in a series of sleepovers. He was more of a parent to her than anyone had really been. 

Millie reappeared, and sprang negligently onto the sofa. Freddy was about to reproach her, when the telephone rang.  The caller said,  'Is that Mr Frederick Fox?'

'Yes.'

'Ah, good. My name is Gladstone Parks. I work for Dreamcorp. Actually we met in January, fleetingly, after your talk in Maitland. I hope ...'

'Yes, Mr Parks,' Freddy cut in, 'I remember you well. How are you?  How can I be of help?  I'm going to hazard a guess that you are looking for a Seeker.'

'Not just any Seeker, Mr Fox, but one with your tact and discretion. This case is rather sensitive and we would like to keep it out of the press.'

Freddy’s interest increased. 'This is press-worthy? This is hardly the first case where a Dreamer has stayed under surely!'

'Well, not normally press-worthy no,' continued Parks. 'There are two reasons for someone of your experience, really.  First, this man was having a free trial session - you know, one of the new High Street shops open to the public. This was his first time in, and there was not enough time to for him to lose himself in there.'  Freddy made no comment.

Parks continued. 'Second, whether he wanted to leave his dream or not, is not the issue.  You know that, at our HQ, we have complete control over all our outlets and, given that this was just of one hour duration, we should have been able to master-switch him out of there easily. The point is, we haven’t been able to.’

Freddy remained silent, while he contemplated various scenarios.

'Are you there Mr Fox?'

'Yes, I'm with you.’ He paused.  ‘But there's more, isn't there? What is it?'

Parks said, 'You haven't lost your touch, Mr Fox.  Look, we are not sure. This is really more of a paranoid fear, but some of our people think the virus might have re-emerged.  There have been rather a lot of technical anomalies lately.  I mean, we may be wrong but, to be honest, we are running out of other explanations. Look, would you come downtown and see us? We would be willing to pay double normal rates and a bonus for a discreet and speedy recovery of our errant dreamer. And perhaps some help with trying to find out what is going wrong, and why.' 

Freddy rested his chin on his hand and replied  'Same deal as before. I would need access to the whole works, the dream-path, full access profile, no red tape restrictions.'

Parks didn't hesitate. 'We have a deal. Shall we say Two pm?’

'Two o'clock, and you are still on 8th aren't you?’

'Yes. See you soon then Mr Fox. Many thanks.'

Millie was sitting on the couch, sewing her pocket. She said 'So, are you going to retrieve another Dreamer, Freddy?'

‘It looks that way. This one is a bit unusual though.'

Millie looked downcast when she followed up, 'Do you really think my father is in one of those dream-worlds?  I mean we don't know where he is. He disappeared. He may be awake and just not want to come home. Or he may be dead.'

Freddy said gently, 'No, he is asleep somewhere Millie. He would come back to you if he were awake. We’ll find him.’ 

Millie was not so easily consoled. ‘You say that, but you haven’t been able to find him have you? Not after all this time. Nobody has. You just say that because you know that is what I want to hear.’ She disappeared for about a minute, and returned wearing a light grey tracksuit with 'Harvard University' inscribed across the middle in yellow.  She sat back down heavily.

'What if you get lost or trapped in one of these dreams Freddy? What if you don't come back? Why do you have to be a Seeker anyway? You could have a normal job like a doctor, or accountant, or something and then you would not keep going off.’  Freddy recognised where this was leading. It was not the first time by any means.

Millie was warming up ‘Why can't you just let them stay in their dreams and rot? They don't want to come back. They don't want any responsibilities. They prefer to sleep and forget about the people who love them. Seriously Freddy, if they want to spend their lives dreaming away, why not let them?'  Millie looked downwards.

Freddy said gently ‘Millie, sometimes life is hard for people, and when they find an escape from it, they sometimes cling to it. This dream programme gives them the ability to get away from whatever problems they may have...’

But Millie burst in ‘So I am a problem to escape from then?’

‘You know I did not mean it like that, Millie.  Your father was having trouble coping with so many things. It wasn’t you. He loved you, just as he did your mother, but sometimes he was not capable of showing it after he lost her.’ Millie cut him off again

‘He was not the only one who lost her’.

‘I know that’ Freddy said gently. He wanted to reduce the emotional tension by turning the conversation away from the immediate family, back to the original question about the Dreamers.

‘The thing is Millie, that being able to be happy all the time one is dreaming, can act like a drug. People can become addicted, and not want to come out, and face up to things. On the other hand, the body was not designed to just lie still.  It needs exercise and stimulation, not to mention food and drink. If people stay in dreams too long, it is only a matter of time before they slip into a coma, and have to be supported in hospital. How much time, depends on the individual, but it can happen quite quickly. That's why this type of dreaming is officially restricted to short periods.’

Millie drew her legs in toward her and looked at Freddy as he continued.  'Being able to control dreams is great entertainment, but that is all it is. For example, you remember we talked about Vasco de Gama.  He did not spend his life dreaming, he spent it living and exploring. If you put your energies into real life Millie, you can make your life your dream; not your dream, your life.'  And while Freddy reflected on the neatness of his turn of phrase Millie asked, ‘'Do people go to the toilet in their dreams Freddy?’

Freddy smiled and said, 'Come on. Drink your tea young lady.'

But Millie was not finished. ‘What I don’t understand, Freddy, is why it should be so difficult to just wake people up. I understand that they are in a sort of computer dream simulation, but if you go into a dream after them, and tell them what is actually going on, surely they would want to come back?  Once they know that, in reality, they are sleeping and need to wake up to eat and survive, surely it should be a no-brainer?’

Freddy pointed to a bible on the bookshelf.  ‘See that book Millie? That book has persuaded millions of people, over hundreds of years, that there is a heaven for good people where they live in eternal happiness. So why do we all try so hard to stay here?’ 

‘Perhaps they are afraid of ending up in the other place.’ said Millie.

‘You might be right about some of them yes.  But I think it is more to do with the fact that our instinct to survive, and to avoid pain, is so strong. Also, there is a difference between believing something strongly, and actually knowing it, without a shadow of doubt. A Seeker can never prove by any physical means that what he is saying to the Dreamer is true. He, or she, has to try to persuade someone to give up the life they are living, on nothing but faith. Imagine if someone were to approach you, out of the blue, and tell you that your life here in Manhattan was a dream, and you had to wake up into a world you remembered nothing about. Would you trust them?’

At that moment, the doorbell sounded. Donna always came over on Saturdays. Almost a year older, and considerably taller than Millie, they were best friends. Donna looked relaxed. She was dressed in jeans and a blue top, and her dark hair and eyebrow combination betrayed her Italian heritage. As she gave Millie a friendly bump, she said 'Good morning Freddy. How are you doing?’

‘Good. How’s your Mum?’

‘Better thanks. The tablets are working, and the swelling in her ankle has gone down.’ 

Millie was already moving cereal and milk on to the table, and was halfway through her first mouthful when she said:  'Freddy has a new assignment. He is going looking for another Dreamer.' 

Donna reached for sugar and said, ‘It must be exciting being a Seeker, Freddy. You never speak much about your work, like it’s a big secret or something.  You are a sort of private detective, but every dream-world you go into is different, right?  I have a question.