Lt. Lee dropped Rosalind off at her home, using a government-issued car. Their homes weren’t far from the base, but it was faster than hitching a ride on the shuttle. Rosalind pulled out the ID card that she had picked up earlier and used it to access her home. She was disappointed to see she had boxes of her belongings left by the movers that she was going to have to tackle. But she was too tired. ‘Just the bed,’ she thought, ‘I can sleep comfortably if I make up the bed.’ Although, it took longer than anticipated Rosalind was able to make her bed, in the process pulled out a variety of other things she was certainly going to need the next morning. When she was done, she plopped onto her inviting bed and curled up underneath the comforter clothes still on. It took barely minutes before she was asleep.

            Deep in sleep, Rosalind, who rarely remembered her dreams if she had any was experiencing a place she had never been before. It was a beach. She had never been to one having been confined to the inside of buildings most of her life. It was surreal because she could feel the sand between her toes and hear seagulls and waves crashing against the nearby rocks. Her long hair was flying past her head any which way the wind happened to be blowing. She couldn’t move her body, she was stuck standing in place perfectly positioned to see the horizon, but she saw nothing for a long time. Then for a brief moment, there were a couple of shiny objects flying in the air. They became big, fast, as they approached the land and her. Rosalind was scared, she tried to shield herself with her arms, but couldn’t, whatever had her there in this dream, was in control and it wanted her to see something.

            The objects were mechas and there were six of them. If Rosalind was conscious, she would have been able to recognize them as the six at the base, but for now, she was frozen, only capable of receiving information. The six mechas were flying in formation, separating, and coming together in sync. It wasn’t until a few flybys later that some of the mechas were getting too close to one another in the air and causing their formation to break. From that point on the mechas didn’t arrive within Rosalind’s field of vision in their original formation, rather each flyby looked more and more like a race, until the mechas revoked the pilots’ control, landed in the sea, and marched them to the beach where Rosalind stood. The mechas opened a door in their lower legs, the pilots were pushed out and dropped in line with Rosalind, and left.  Rosalind looked at the pilots. They all were lying face down, unmoving. Whatever was holding her still in this particular dream, had placed her exactly where the pilots were left, dividing the six pilots into groups of three on either side of her. The left side had one female and two males, while the right side was the same.

            Rosalind woke up with her alarm. She was panting as though she were waking from a nightmare. In a way her dream was a nightmare, she was experiencing someone else’s perspective of the events that occurred leaving the pilots in comas, but she didn’t know what caused the pilots to lose formation. Lt. Lee mentioned the pilots fighting over who would take command. These formations are probably a recent development with the military, the pilots, and the mechas. There were probably a lot of things for them to iron out, Rosalind surmised. But first, the mechas need to let the pilots go, otherwise, they’ll waste time straightening out only the pilots.

            After sitting in her bed for ten minutes thinking about the dream, she was forced to experience, Rosalind prepared for the day. She wondered if the dream meant the pilots were going to be released. The only way to find out was to get back to the base. She left with her backpack, ID, and long hair tied up neatly. Rosalind arrived early, just barely catching the shuttle that ran every thirty minutes. She was curious about the pilots but forced herself to get breakfast first. With the food giving her strength to resist blood pressure drops, she went straight towards where the pilots were. All the hallways were quiet and empty, yesterday there were people here and there. She found the door leading to the long-term sick bay that housed the pilots. When she put her hand on the doorknob a chill ran up her arm. It made her pause before opening the door and she suddenly felt like she needed someone else there for protection. But before she could leave to find someone, the door opened. 

            It was one of the male pilots. He looked crazed and as the door to the smaller glass covered room was closing behind him Rosalind could see that the other pilots were up and moving around as well. Upon seeing Rosalind, the pilot grabbed her and pulled her from the hallway into the room, throwing her onto the floor.

            Rosalind screamed, “Ow! Stop!”

            She tried fighting off the pilot, but she wasn’t even a fourth as strong as he was. He had her pinned to the ground. The other pilots wandered from their beds behind the glass wall to the main room and crowded around Rosalind and the pilot on top of her. They all stood still, glaring at her. Rosalind didn’t know what was going on or even what to do. She tried talking to them.

            “Hello? Can you hear me?” She screamed in pain.

            No verbal response came from the pilots, but some of their eyes that were glazed became more focused.

            Rosalind thought that talking to them might be working, but she didn’t know anything about the pilots. Using their names would probably, help, but she couldn’t recall them. She decided she needed to buy time so that they wouldn’t hurt her until someone who knew them better could talk them back to reality.

            “You all were in a coma. It’s been about three days. Are you all hungry? You could get some real food.”

            The things she was saying to save herself were so stupid. She didn’t know anything about the pilots’ situation. It had been ten minutes by the time she couldn’t say anything else. Her mind was going blank and her voice had been thoroughly worn away. No matter what she said they didn’t respond, it looked like all they did was attempt to interpret the information, except the pilot pinning her down. He was unmoving in his position securely holding both her arms beside her head with the entirety of his weight. Rosalind was in pain from how long he had been holding her forearms. She tried squeezing her hands into fists to encourage circulation to her hands, which were beginning to feel prickly. At this point she stayed quiet, internally hoping Major Green or Lt. Lee would walk in any moment and save her.