I had a strange dream last night, partially based on watching The Jacket last night for movie night.
The dream was:
I am King of Germany. It is a figurehead position with no real power, but it is still a prominent position. I have just been appointed King, so not many people know yet that I am the new King.
I arrive at the castle. A cute security guard stops me, putting her hand on my shoulder. “You can’t get in there,” she says, “you need security clearence.”
“Like this?” I ask, putting my hand in the slot carved into the stone wall of the castle. A confirmation beep sounds and the steel door unlocks. She gives a little gasp. “Yup,” I beam, “I’m the new king.” I stride forward, but slip and fall on my ass. The walkway up to the metal door is a slick glass surface which slants upward. She holds out her hand, and I smile weakly. “Not that impressive,” I mumble, “I should have said something like ‘oh, you mean it only opens for the king of the frickin’ country?’ and *then* put my hand in the slot.” She giggles and helps me to my feet, and guides me up to the door.
I go inside, where there is an entry area. My personal assistant, another pretty woman, is there. She is the older sister of the security guard. She welcomes me and introduces me to the staff. There are a few generals whose names I forget, and a shifty-looking man in a dark brown overcoat. I can tell right away the shifty man is plotting against me. He is tinkering with a bomb-disposal-type robot. He reminds me of Rotwang from Metropolis.
I settle in as King, and things progress well. I have a relationship with my personal assistant, and I keep an eye on the shifty man. One day I overhear him plotting with one of the generals. They plan to assassinate me, I realize that I will face three challenges to overcome their plot. But since I know what they are plotting, I have the upper hand.
Then, I am poking around in the library, and discover a long-lost secret. The woman who is my personal assistant is actually the rightful heir to the throne. And I now have all the documentation to prove it. But first I will have to defeat the plot against me, as it’s due to happen tomorrow.
The day of the assassination. I figure out the codes to get into the air ducts. The ducts are not metal, but adobe or a lighter clay. They are a series of small round rooms connected with shafts. The rooms are not large enough to stand. Ahead is a walled-off section.
I know this is where the robot will pass through. I empty my pockets and realize I didn’t bring anything useful with me.
I see the bricks moving, and the robot breaks through the wall and rolls in. It has a triangular base with triangular tank treads, and an arm atop that. There is also a tube sticking out of the top, which has a camera that can be swivelled in any direction for remote monitoring. The robot is armed with a gun. The plan was to have it shoot me from a hiding space in the ducts, but I have intercepted it.
I fight the robot. It is pretty strong but clumsy. I manage to disable it, but the shifty man has moved the camera around remotely and has seen me. He knows that I know about his plan.
He is coming to get me. He arrives at the broken wall, he has a machinegun. I raise my hands, unarmed. He is about to shoot, but at that moment, the robot shoots him. I had taken the few moments before he arrived to reprogram the robot.
I take the gun from the robot and the machinegun, and find the general, and kill him.
The plot is undone, I have succeeded. Suddenly, someone hits me from behind. I slump to the floor, unconscious.
Some of the staff have tied me up. They have put me in a straightjacket and tied me to a seat in the back of a flatbed truck. I am facing away from the cab, and they are in the soundproof cab, talking, but despite the fact they are behind me in a soundproof cab, I can see and hear them. They didn’t know about the plot against me, so they think I have gone mad and am just killing people randomly.
They discuss putting me in the box, the morgue cabinet from The Jacket. I scream “no, no!” but they can’t hear me through the glass.
While they discuss my mental health and what to do with me, figures emerge from the shadows. It is another general and a couple soldiers. They were ones I had overlooked, co-conspiritors of the shifty man that I hadn’t known about. They have my assistant with them, she is brusied and they are shoving her around roughly.
“I found out,” growls the general, “I found out about the book.” He is referring to the book explaining her lineage. “I can’t allow the balance of power to shift.” He spits on the ground. “This is your fault, for digging around.” He turns and shoots my assistant three times in the chest and stomach. “Noooooo!” I scream, but it is too late.
The staff in the cab still don’t know anything because of the soundproofing, they don’t even realize they have been locked in the cab and can’t escape.
The security guard comes running, but is stunned by the sight of her sister dead on the ground. The soldiers tackle her and strip her clothes off. “We’ll have some fun with her,” the general smiles wickedly, “and then she’ll have to go, too. But first, let’s end this.” He raises his gun. I struggle against the restraints, but can’t move. He fires thee times, shooting me in the stomach and chest. My vision gets oily and blurry, and I see the security guard being dragged off by the soliders, who are laughing. My head lolls to the side, and I see there is a bomb in the flatbed, to destroy the truck and the staff trapped inside.
My vision goes as I fall unconscious, as the bomb begins to beep.
I wake up to my alarm going off.
Despite the dark themes, the dream never had the feel of a nightmare, it was more cinematic and felt like a dark action movie.
