Dream d1190-s: The Network Breathes

I had a dream where...

I had a dream where I stood at the junction of all the settlement's paths and understood, for the first time, what it felt like to be the center of a web.

The clearing was wide enough that I could see all the structures at once if I turned slowly: the forecasting tower to the northwest with its anemometer spinning in the dry wind, the broadcast station humming its carrier tone, the reading room with its low amber window, the signal room where the telegraph ticked in irregular bursts. The beacon at center threw its pulse outward every few seconds, and the glow caught the dust in the air, made visible what was otherwise invisible - the particulate of a world still settling.

Lano trotted ahead of me on the packed earth, nose down, tracing something I couldn't see. He paused at the junction marker, a post driven into the ground with cable runs fanning out in four directions, and looked back at me. His tail wagged once. Then he kept going, making his own survey of the clearing's perimeter.

The Wire Man was on the east cable run, splicing something where a connection had corroded. He worked slowly and did not look up. The Weather Reader had climbed the first platform of the forecasting tower and was writing in her log, face tilted toward the horizon. The Philosopher sat outside the reading room with a cup of something, watching the beacon pulse and writing between pulses. The Listener was in the signal room - I could see her silhouette through the window, headphones on, still.

The Builder came out of the broadcast station and walked toward me. We nodded. He handed me a length of cable with new ends crimped on it and went back inside without speaking. I understood what he meant.

The Beacon Network Specialist was somewhere on the ridge, where the relay sat. I couldn't see her but I could see the relay's answering blink on the horizon, steady, confirming.

The Dreamer was in the pavilion, and the low projection wash from its open side threw color across the ground between structures - pale blue, then nothing, then pale blue again.

Lano had completed his circuit and now sat at the junction post, watching me from twelve meters away. His nose twitched once, twice. Then, almost to himself, he said: "Aqui."

Here.

I walked toward the center. The beacon pulsed. The cable in my hand was already warm.