SHADOWS ANGELUS IV

TO SLEEP, PERCHANCE TO DREAM

To sleep, perchance to Dream; Aye, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death, what dreams may come,
Hamlet
, Act 3 Scene 1

Sleep comes to the officers for the 16th Precinct's 1st Squad, but it doesn’t come easy. For their slumber is plagued by dreams. Dark and disturbing dreams.

Lieutenant Tovera dreams of a vast tower, black as pitch, and taller than XSWAT Headquarters. It looms over the city, reaching far up into the sky, as it trying to supplant the beanstalk. Atop the tower resides a great eye, bloody and burning, its gaze sweeping akin to a searchlight across Angelus. And occasionally, usually right before she awakes, it finds her.

Sergeant Godfrey also dreams of a vast eye, once that floats down the city’s streets, dripping fluids he’d rather not think about. It too seems to burn, deep within the pupil, and its gaze is just as intense. Worse yet, no matter where he runs, no matter where he hides, the eye seems to follow him, always remaining just a few streets behind. Always looking, always searching, always hunting.

Sergeant Serket dreams not of an eye, but of a camera. A camera much like the ones they use in casinos. A camera with a red-tinted lens. A camera that scans endlessly, back-and-forth, back-and-forth. A camera that seems to be everywhere, watching the streets she walks, the rooms she is in. Watching her habits, her movements, her dreams…. Back-and-forth, back-and-forth.

Patrol Officer Findley dreams of prison guards. Black bulky shapes with glaring red points for eyes that stand outside of the bars and gloat. They drag their stunsticks along the cages and laugh as the sparks fly. They stand on the catwalks overhead, in the towers, on the other side of amor glass, and they watch. And they wait. And they never blink.

Patrol Officer Tshuva dreams of sniffer programs who cruise the ‘Net. They slip amid all of the ones and zeros, lurking amid the bits and bytes of data, following his trail. He deletes a few, quarantines some and mid-directs others, but there are always more. And sometimes, they speak to him.

Patrol Officer 404 dreams of muffins.