Dream Stealing and Truman (Part 2)

"If someone dreamed that they had fallen asleep and had another dream, what would happen?"

The people beside Schiller all fell into thought. He continued, "When this happens, most people simply jump from one dream to another, like moving from one point to another on a flat plane."

"But in a very small number of cases, they can begin at one point and descend vertically, breaking through that plane and reaching a deeper layer of consciousness."

"Then if Hugo wanted to enter someone else’s dream while inside the dream you created for him, where would he go?" Victor muttered.

"That is exactly what I want to study."

"Let’s review it from the beginning. Earlier, I used Mad Wine to pull all of your consciousnesses into my consciousness space, right?"

"Then I pulled Hugo’s consciousness into my consciousness space as well. Although he isn’t on the same floor as you, you are all currently within my consciousness space."

"And now, this situation has arisen: while both you and Hugo are in my consciousness space, he wants to use his consciousness to connect with yours. He enters your dreams within a dream—would that directly open a passage to your deeper consciousness?"

"This is the subject I’ve been focusing on lately: how to maintain a stable dream-within-a-dream state and establish a stable passage to deeper consciousness. If we can achieve that, we can solve many psychological problems at their root."

"I don’t know if I fully understand your plan, but as I see it, you brought Hugo into your dream, then used his identity as a psychologist to have him infiltrate other people’s dreams within that dream. You think this method can open a passage to deeper consciousness. Is that right?"

"Exactly. The Consciousness World is an extremely complex concept. Everything is possible there, and nothing is possible there. There may be ten thousand keys for one door, or one key that can open ten thousand doors."

"So all research related to consciousness space sounds like fantasy, yet it all truly exists. That’s fascinating, isn’t it?"

"How boring." Jack picked at his ear.

"Yes, it really is boring for you, because your surface consciousness and deep consciousness are all mixed together like a lump of paste. You can slide down from your surface consciousness to your deep consciousness like on a slide, then bounce back up on a spring…"

As he said this, they saw a bubble suddenly emerge above the consultation room where Cobblepot and Hugo were. Inside was another space, with an Iceberg Lounge standing within it. Schiller said with some regret, "This should be surface consciousness too… It didn’t work. Why?"

"Deep consciousness space wouldn’t be so concrete and orderly. Surface consciousness space is usually more stable, because you’re still a normal person, not a complete lunatic. Those most terrifying memories should be hidden in deep consciousness space."

"Let’s put a few actors in first…" Schiller arranged things as he said, "I suspect Hugo’s desire to explore isn’t strong enough. The ‘belief’ behind his belief-becomes-reality isn’t firm enough…"

Thus, one of Cobblepot’s duplicates walked out of the Iceberg Lounge first and invited Hugo inside. Then Victor entered the lounge, followed by Schiller. Everything played out like a fast-forwarded movie, until it suddenly froze on Hugo’s finger pressing the button.

"What does that represent?" Victor asked from the audience seats. "What does that button represent?"

Looking at the yellow button, Schiller said, "It should represent confidence in his own theories, and the desire to manipulate other people’s minds…"

The instant he pressed the button, the globe atop Schiller’s head began spinning rapidly. He said, "The passage to deep consciousness space has opened… What is that? Fear?"

"It seems it really is fear."

Schiller looked at the image on the screen: a gigantic old woman, covered in blood and brandishing a dagger. He turned and saw Cobblepot’s figure flicker.

Schiller’s body suddenly became incomparably huge. He leaned into the screen and crushed the bubble above the consultation room with a sharp pop.

Then he withdrew and said, "It seems that was something that escaped from deep consciousness space. This method works, but it’s unstable…"

"Am I next?"

"That’s right."

A few minutes later, Schiller crushed the bubble filled with storms once more, then said, "The situation is exactly the same. The passage can open, but it isn’t stable."

Evans raised his hand. "I’m next, right?"

"I feel like his consciousness can’t withstand another expenditure. If we do it again, he might wake up, just like when someone jumps from a high building in a dream."

Schiller continued, "Forget it. Let’s try one last time."

When they saw Hugo retreat, Schiller concluded, "This may be his brain’s self-protection mechanism at work."

"Well? Do you still want to try?"

"Of course. I think this method is feasible, but the fundamental reason the passage can’t stabilize may not lie in the method itself. It may be a problem with your Consciousness Worlds."

"Then what are you planning to do?"

The globe on Schiller’s head spun faster and faster. He said, "Jack, cooperate with me. Maybe you’ll get to see something entertaining in a moment."

Without caring whether Jack agreed, he snapped his fingers. A medical file fell onto Hugo’s desk, bearing a name with no surname—"Jack."

The scene changed again. Jack sat in the consultation room chair, crying incessantly. "Doctor Hugo… You have to save me! That terrifying Dr. Rodriguez keeps abusing me. He forced me to dye my hair green, put on Joker makeup, and perform for him. He’s a devil. You have to save me…"

"Don’t cry, Jack! Don’t cry…" Hugo held Jack’s shoulders and said, "I’ve also discovered that he may secretly be abusing his patients, altering their minds. Listen, Jack…"

"I’ll call him here on official business, then you knock him out while he isn’t paying attention. He won’t be on guard against you. After all, you’re just a pitiful little victim he abused. We can…"

Schiller rubbed the globe model on his head and said, "I don’t even know whether I should praise your superb acting, or say… Forget it. It must be your superb acting."

"What are you talking about?" Jack in the audience began wiping away tears too. "You terrible psychologist, a devil who imprisoned our minds here and used us for your horrible experiments!"

"Stop crying. We’re getting to your favorite part."

Jack covered his eyes with one hand while secretly peeking through his fingers. On the screen, Schiller entered the office. Hugo stood opposite him, drawing his attention, and then a green-haired figure raised a baseball bat and viciously struck Schiller on the head…

"Hahahahahahaha!!" Jack in the audience burst into a string of laughter, tears streaming down his face.

"Did you see that? This is ordinary Schiller! Hahahahahahaha!"

"Do you know what the funniest part is? It’s that… hahahahahahaha… the way you fell down was completely wrong! Ordinary Schiller! You’ve never been knocked unconscious before—you can’t even pretend convincingly, hahahahahahaha…"

Victor turned again to look at the globe perched on Schiller’s shoulders. "Looks like Texas really was your eye roll."

The scene on the screen changed once more. Schiller sat in that interrogation chair, and Hugo turned on the light and told him, "You’re awake…"

And Jack, leaning against the wall, wore a mocking smile at the corner of his mouth in the instant before Hugo closed his eyes.

Zooming in on Jack’s expression, he was looking upward, as though he could see everyone in the upper audience seats from a stage at the very bottom. And the smile on his lips was not mocking Hugo at all. It looked more like… self-mockery.

Jack in the audience made the same motion—he raised his head, looked at the sky, and smiled.

Didn’t expect it, did you? This is how much of a crossover this Marvel/DC story is! Just mash it all together!

A lot of people previously said they couldn’t understand it. I didn’t explain before because it might have spoiled things, but this part of the plot has now been fully written. I think most Marvel/DC crossover readers should be able to understand it by now.

If you can’t understand it, you may simply have watched fewer British and American TV shows. These are all old tropes—Mind Palace, consciousness space, and so on. I don’t want to write a huge explanation for that reason. None of these are particularly novel settings.

If I really wanted to pad things out, I could spend three thousand words out of ten thousand explaining concepts, then write another four thousand words of film review, and have the protagonist play through Dream Stealing in his head for you all. Believe me, I used to do that all the time on Feilu. I’m a seasoned professional at it.

But when I search my conscience, it still hurts, so I prefer to focus on advancing the plot. If you truly, absolutely don’t understand even a little bit, you can leave your questions under this author’s note. I’ll think about how to revise the earlier parts so you can understand them… (So hard. I don’t think there’s anything here that’s especially difficult to understand?)