Sci-fi Novel - The Dream Artist - Part 32

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Part 13
Part 14
Part 15
Part 16
Part 17
Part 18
Part 19
Part 20
Part 21
Part 22
Part 23
Part 24
Part 25
Part 26
Part 27
Part 28
Part 29
Part 30
Part 31

Part 32

When I got to the office, I found Peri working at her desk. “I have good news for you,” she said, lifting her head off the mobile computer. “I have arranged a holo-conference meeting with a British expert whom Galip Salik and Selim Özben has taken lessons on the techniques of dream orientation. I can start the interview in a few minutes.”

“What was the other good news?”

“Qian Chen has made the necessary adjustments to gather information about what Selim Özben has learned in the dream guidance techniques in the temple of Lukhang in Tibet. If we want to stay a few days and have in-depth knowledge, she will arrange,” said Peri. She stood up and opened her arms, stretched like a tiger preparing to attack the prey. There was no sign of fatigue on her face from the night before, and unlike the day before, she seemed hopeful about the outcome. I got up and filled a coffee from the vending machine. I said, “I think our holo-conference device is new.”

“Yes, as soon as Tunç became a minister, he sent it to show his support, and he also increased our budget,” said Peri.

A sharp light illuminated the side of the bureau on the Bosphorus side, and there appeared a clear man and woman image with no flickering of the same size as us.

“Hello Stephen, hello Sarah, you are at our office in Istanbul. I am Peri, and this is my colleague Ruhi, we are pleased to see you."

“Hello Peri,” said Stephen Godwin, who invited us to the Sleep Research Lab at Cambridge University.

Holo-conference devise not only translated Prof. Goldwin's English words into Turkish, but it also simulated his voice while presenting the translation. I said, “Hello Stephen, hello Sarah.”

With the pride of having set up the interview, Peri said: “Thank you for accepting our request for the interview. We have an hour or so, can you tell us how did you meet Selim Özben, who is missing for more than a month now, to use our time efficiently?”

Stephen Godwin straightened up in his chair: “We offer the practical applications of Sleep Research at the university through our company, DreamSoft, to the companies and individuals who need counseling. They said they wanted to get a comprehensive service from us by contacting our company. After dealing with price negotiations and contract formalities, we entered a busy pace of work together. I remember Galip and Selim because they gave me one of the greatest surprises of my career. In our first meeting, I realized that their knowledge of dreams was as deep and wide as the academics. Standard information packages containing the ABC of the work did not contain any value for them. Well, they were hard customers. Galip was anxious and ready to create polemic at any moment; Selim Özben seemed distracted and uninterested. I considered canceling the contract on the first day. As a result of the second meeting, it was revealed that they had mastered the entire package of information we had offered to them and that they knew lots of things that we did not know. Galip's dismissive and aggressive attitude was bad. My scientific curiosity precluded my commercial concerns, and we continued to work. While we offered them methods that would allow them to guide a few of their dreams, they said they could guide all the dreams they wanted. In the Sleep Lab, we saw that Selim Özben did what he said when we measured eye movements and analyzed his dreams. In his dream, Selim Özben could comfortably direct himself like the character of a computer game. He interacted with every object in the environment, and he could wake up instantly from dreams that he didn't like.”

“What they wanted from you when they had so much power over their dreams?” I asked.

“They said that they had difficulty adding an object to the dream and changing the background of the dream. They said that they had a low percentage of success in shifting a beach or ocean dream with busy streets of a metropolis. They had never reached the point of certainty when it comes to adding erotic or frightening elements like a naked woman's body or a Bengal tiger. On the other hand, Selim Özben seemed to have completely mastered the themes of his dreams. The keys that helped him understand what kind of dream he had determined the points of control."

“I want to intervene before I get lost, did it affected Selim Özben's mood bad establishing such strict control over his dreams?" Peri asked.

“I do not think, on the contrary, achieving a dream with the desired direction of satisfaction provides more positive mood. Of course, like all generalizations, there may be exceptions to this on a personal basis,” Professor Godwin said.

"How was the relationship between Galip Salik and Selim Özben? Could they get along well?” I asked.

"Galip was more focused and disciplined, and Selim Özben was more comfortable. So they could have little friction, but they were careful and controlled against each other.”

“Sarah, as another eye, did you have any observation that would shed light on your Selim Özben's disappearance?” Peri asked.

"We were doing exercises on placing objects in the dream. When Selim Özben slept, to place the object he wanted in his dream, we performed measurements by stimulating certain sounds from the outside. We aimed to determine the appropriate time and optimum sound intensity. Sometimes we used a scent instead of a sound to get the object involved in the dream. Although we were close to the end of our contract period, we were not able to experiment as many times as we wanted. They said that dream stocks were depleted and they had to go back and record new dreams in a matter of days. On the last night of our work, as well as Selim, Galip also slept to have a dream. Like Selim Özben he managed to control all his dreams. Maybe it could be considered beginner's luck, but he could change the background of the dream faster than Selim Özben,” Sarah Brown said.

“What do you have to do to have colorful dreams that might be of interest to others?” I asked.

"It is impossible to dream of a material that does not exist subconsciously. Your brain creates a model of the world that is constantly changing and updated during the dream. In the case of Selim Özben, dreams were transformed into a work of art that enjoyed the course,” said Professor Godwin.

“Finally, do you remember an irrelevant detail when you quickly visualize the times you worked with? There may be an observation that seems insignificant and irrelevant to you,” I said.

For the first time since the beginning of our meeting, the hologram image has fluctuated, Sarah Brown said, “Selim Özben's clothing style has been remarkably elegant. His clothes looked plain and ordinary at first sight. He wore jeans, t-shirts with led light, loafers shoes, velvet jackets, shirts painted by daylight, hats that illuminate the face, morphological underwear that shows the body sporty, climatic pants, things that every man wears in daily life. The colors, patterns, and light in his outfit seemed flawless.”

We thanked dream researchers and ended the holo-conference call. “If we learn the subtleties of dream art more, we can sit on the throne of dream art,” I said.

“I will try to have a dream tonight to see if the answers we're looking for are in my subconscious,” said Peri.

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