Chapter 1: The Signal

Alex pressed their palm against the cool glass of the observation deck, watching the soft blue glow emanating from the Dream Vault below. Thousands of pods lined the warehouse floor in perfect rows, each containing a dreamer connected to the Collective—humanity's greatest achievement in shared consciousness technology. The gentle hum of the neural interface systems usually brought them comfort, a technological lullaby that meant all was well in the dream world.

Today, the harmony was broken by a discordant pulse threading through the baseline frequency.

"Status report," Alex called to Maya, their assistant, without taking their eyes off the vault.

"We've got seventeen anomalous readings in Sector 7," Maya replied, her voice tight with concern. "The nightmare suppression protocols are failing. Dreams are... bleeding together."

Alex finally turned from the window, their dark eyes reflecting the blue glow. At twenty-eight, they had been architecting dreams for six years—longer than anyone else in the facility. They understood the architecture of the human subconscious better than most people understood their own homes.

"Show me the patterns."

The holographic display materialized between them, showing a three-dimensional map of the Collective's dream space. What should have been neat, separated bubbles of individual consciousness now showed tendrils of dark energy weaving between dreams, creating a web of shared terror.

Alex studied the visualization, their analytical mind parsing the chaos. "It's not random," they murmured. "There's a structure to it. Someone's deepest fears are acting as an anchor point, pulling others in."

"Can you fix it?" Maya asked.

Alex was already reaching for their neural interface headset. "I'm going in."