Key function (IP)

Fienndra woke up with a headache. She always did these days. Another bout of insomnia followed by a fitful sleep pestered by the dreams again. They weren't nightmares, far from it, in fact her dreams were very pleasant but still they bothered her. As the alarm chimed her eyes opened and she immediately swung her legs out onto the floor and raised herself to a standing position in one smooth flawless movement. As she dressed she thought maybe she should talk to someone about her nocturnal worries.

She left her apartment and made her way towards the Work Sector. As she walked through the grey city she thought of her dreams. Could it be true that such beautiful places existed ?, she wondered as she grew closer to the factory. As she entered the building she touched the time recorder and went to her work bench. The surface was cluttered with empty boards, boxes of components and a multi coloured spaghetti of wires. She picked up a thin green wire and stared at it. There was something familiar about it but not from here where she saw it every day. Her head was hurting even more now. She went to the office and asked for a medical release chip.

“Headache again?” said Wintheel from behind his desk.
“Yes,I think they're getting worse” Fienndra replied.
“Well you get yourself better. I don't want to see my best manuition in the infirmary” he said kindly.

Manuitions were creatures who could perform almost any task with their hands without the use of tools. Evolution had given them the gift of being able to transform their hands and fingers at will and by sheer mind power alone into whatever was needed for a particular task. For example, to write all they needed to do was to mentally transform a finger into an implement for doing so.

“So if it isn't really the headaches that are worrying you, what is it” asked Dr Skelb peering over his eyeglasses.

“Well... it's....its the dreams” Fienndra admitted.
“Nightmares eh? You're probably working too hard. Why not spend some time at the Recreation Sector, maybe have an infusion or two, might do you good”

“ Well, no, not nightmares. The dreams themselves are really nice”

“ Tell me” Dr Skelb suddenly seemed interested and leaned forward towards Fienndra.

“It's a place, a green place, I mean, the ground is green and there's these ….....structures....”

“Structures?”

“Yes but not like the buildings we have here. Some are tall, others not so tall and they're brown and green but different colours than here. The same but different, and then there's the big stone things....”
Fienndra was starting to babble.

“It's really hard to explain” she said after pausing for breath.

“If the dreams are not unpleasant what is your worry?” Dr Skelb was becoming impatient.

“Didn't we come from a place like this” she asked him. “Isn't this what we were made of?”

“ Oh now I see” laughed Dr Skelb “ You've been reading all those old legends in the Scribes Sector. It's all nonsense, nothing but mythology, entertaining, but nothing more than that. Take my advice and have some rest and stop worrying about these dreams. They're only illusions.”

“Alright, I'll do that” but she was unconvinced.

As Fienndra left Skelb's office he gently placed his fingers to his ear and cupped his palm down towards his mouth.

“Wintheel” he hissed into the telephone receiver “When she gets home tonight, cut off her key function”

It had been over a year since Fienndra's visit to Dr Skelb since which the headaches had gone and so had the dreams. She slept deeply and didn't suffer from insomnia anymore. She could hardly remember the dreams anymore but still from time to time as her needle like fingers worked with the coloured wires she would hesitate and fleetingly wonder what was missing.