I became lucidly aware of myself at some kind of console. It was a mechanical interface, with big switches and gearshifts. Anxiously I surveyed the readout out loud. There was a big "EXECUTE" button which I pressed, and it didn't do anything...and I realized that I must have to push some other buttons first.
Hastily I started flipping things kind of at random, and I found one setting for species. It was set to rat, but I flipped it through various modes. At one point it stopped and I moved on, but then I paused to look at it and realized I'd set it to "spider". Since I didn't know what I was doing I might as well not pick something creepy and crawly, so I changed it to "human" and pushed "EXECUTE".
There was a big alarm, and at this point I turned around to see the greater context of where I was. It was like some kind of mission control center, and there were monitoring systems of remote locations. A woman in front was in charge, and barking orders.
(Note: The monitoring stations reminded me of the ones from A Scanner Darkly:
...although there was a very greenish tint to the room, it was dark.)
woman: "Quickly. Turn off the alarm, it will be okay. We're just going to have to catch it at the proper checkpoint."I was somewhat frozen in place, but she picked me up and set me on the ground in front of her—it seemed like she had robotic strength augmentation.
woman: "That servo unit is going to cost a lot to replace..."(Note: servo is a contraction for servomechanism—something that uses feedback to control or balance a motor or other system.)
There was a feeling of genuine fear, which I rarely have. Somehow I thought she was going to harm me in a way that was actually going to actually harm me in waking life. Rather than stay and find out, I shook myself awake.
