The Neanderthal woman shook with laughter and settled herself on the torture device that served as a sofa.

"A funny name you've given us. But we've done the same, so I guess it's allright. But, seriously, get out of this clunky thing. You don't need it, you know?"

Who are you? What are you doing here, and a whole barrage of related questions slipped through Floyd's mind, only to disappear into a black void.

His gaze slipped to the feet of the apparition. Well, she had to be that. Couldn't be anything else. An apparition born from drugs and too much stress.

"Why are you wearing high heels?"

She wriggled her feet, turning the pointy tops inward. "Hot, aren't they?"

"Not with the outfit you're wearing."

"You think so?"

"Yes."

"That's a shame, for I quite like it that way."

Another thought popped from the limbo that had taken a firm grip on his mind. "Why do you speak AA standard lingo?"

"I'm not. You only think I am."

"What?"

She flapped a lazy hand, the beads around her wrist clicking and clacking. "I talk the way I always do, but I've twisted the language part in the thing you call your brain, so you can understand what I'm saying. It took me a moment to get that sorted. I wasn't quite sure what language you're using these days."

"Took you...the glyphs on the cave wall."

She clapped. "Yes, I'm so glad we finally connected. We've been out of touch for ten thousands of years. Once I knew we had an understanding, I could check you out."

"Check us out?" Duh, now he sounded like a broken record. But his brain wasn't capable of more.

"Well, I needed to know who I was dealing with. So, I went across."

Did she? He'd seen the footprints. But no one else seemed to have done so.

"You're not real. You're a hallucination."

The Neanderthal woman—the apparition who called herself El looked hurt. "That's rather rude of you, you know? We're talking, so how can I not be there?"

"We're talking only in my head. I'm imagining things."

"You're not imagining me." El pressed the palms of her hands togeether and the insta-caf dispenser sprang into life with a steaming hiss.

"How did you do that?"

"Isn't it considered polite among your people to offer your guests a drink? We always invite visitors to the fire."

"The stuff isn't very good. And we don't invite imagined visitors for coffee."

The non-existing visitor smiled and sipped her insta-caf.

Floyd pressed his hands to his ears and pinched hi eyes shut. "Lalalala. You're not there. It's the pills. I'm hallucinating."

When there was no response, he slowly opened one eye.

Was she gone?

Nope. El was sitting on the settee, furs, high heels and all, a mug of insta-caf in her hand. "Since you didn't offer, I haven't prepared one for you."

Floyd's legs trembled. Needing to sit down in a hurry, he lurched to the closest seat.

"Please, go away."

"No, not when I finally got hold of you."

Floyd groaned. "But what do you want?"

She smiled, her strong white teeth gleaming. "Ah, I thought you'd never ask." She placed the mug on the table and steepled her strong fingers. "We knew it was only a question of time until you lot would appear in the dream."

"What?"

"You're not very eloquent, are you? Dream. This." She waved at the rusty landscape outside. Bones and Leela's white-suited figures had vanished, most likely on their way back to base. What would happen if they came in and found him talking to the wall?

What if he wasn't talking to the wall?

"Whose dream? Mine?"

"My people's, of course. Your lot has got little enough imagination. Always did."

"Oho, now you're being unfair."

"If you're referring to the literature, art, and music your people have created, my flat-faced little friend, then you should know this is owed to the genes my ancestors so kindly shared with yours."

"Bollocks."

"How would you know?"

Good question. He didn't. He didn't have an artistic bone in his body.

"Do you now want to know why I'm here or not?"

Floyd sighed. He must have hidden creative talents. The construct created by his mind was disturbingly independent. "Go ahead."

She placed the mug on the table. "You're right, this isn't good. Your people aren't only unimaginative by design, you also lack an essential sense."

"Such as?"

"Such as the dreaming."

"We do dream."

"Yes. Apart from insects and fish, all animals do. But you can't do what we do. Bridge the gap in your dreams is what I'm talking about."

"Gap? You're making this up as you go along, right?" What the heck had been in the pills Bones gave him?

El tugged at the ornaments dangling from her left ear. "You're as dense as soapstone. No, with our dreams we can make things happen. Things that aren't real. Things that are what you lot call impossible. How else do you think I got hold of these shoes?" She waggled her feet. "How else do you think I can walk around in a place that doesn't even have an atmosphere? Or make caves move, eh? Tell me that, little man."

Carefully, Floyd rose and removed his helmet. Then he fetched himself a synth-coke. It tasted just as bad as the insta-caf, but it contained more caffeine. It was high time he woke up, and somehow it wasn't happening.

In the meantime, he might as well ask more questions. "What about the bones we found?" He downed half a glass of synth-coke.

"Oh, those are mine, don't you worry. I didn't trust you not to do something silly with them, like sending them back to the cradle in a probe or however you call that. That's why I pulled them back into the dream."

Floyd spat out his coke. "You did what?"

El rolled her eyes, the blue of an unpolluted sky. He knew how that had looked, since his grandma had taken photos.

"Look what you've done. You ruined your nice floor."

They both regarded the standard-gray floor. "It's not nice," Floyd said.

"Mh. You might have a point on that one. But otherwise, I was wrong. There's something denser than soapstone and it's sitting opposite me. You don't believe me, do you? You still think it's your mind conjuring me up, correct?"

"Uh..."

"Yes, you do. I can see it. I guess I'll have to show you. Otherwise, you'll never get it. And it's important that you do."

"Uh, why?"

"As much as I hate to say it, there's something we need from you guys."

With that, she pressed her hands together.

The environment flickered, lurched, and then vanished altogether.

(1076 words/10969)

https://youtu.be/e0eTAfeH0KY

Dreams are fascinating. Insects and fish don't experience REM sleep, but some birds and all mammals do. It's too cute to see my cats catch mice in their dreams. Not sure what the mice dream of. Getting rid of the cats? Reptiles might also experience REM, and some scientists argue that our mammalian dreaming might be a holdover from our reptilian brains.