What do you know; 
The dream started on a steep hill; in a place that I have never been before in my entire life—but it felt like it was in Antipolo, as the rolling hills reminded me of the place called Cherry Hill, the site of a famous landslide disaster some years back and which I was able to have a glimpse of on television and newspapers. I asked in my mind what was going on since there were a lot of people outdoors watching some neighborhood event, out in the open field while the sun was shining so brightly and the wind was warm, such as the summer breeze.
Some bystanders answered my query: “A boy from Japan was showing some flying ship.”
I stretched my neck out and see for myself what the whole fuzz was all about, as I heard a whirling sound that went “whrrrrrrrrrrrr….whrrrrrrrrrrr…….whrrrrrrrrrrr……….”, like that of a motorized toy. I saw then what was to my eye was a colorful contraption the size of a small-sized passenger car, say a Kia Pride, lunging directly towards the sky like a rocketship although it didn’t look like a rocketship at all, at least not the specific way that a rocketship look like. On the one hand, the flying contraption looked like a very small version of the Columbus—-the Nasa space shuttle.
I observed the flying motion of the “thing” and the viewers could actually see a boy inside it, probably doing some navigation through some control dashboard. But with the manner it moves from one side to another, up and down, in steep trajectory and then changing directions so sharply, you wouldn’t think that it was being driven by someone, for it moves more like a haywire remote-controlled toy helicopter, so unstable and without a clear direction. I felt a lot of concern for the safety of the boy at that particular moment.
Yet, despite the queerness of the flying contraption, it actually earned my amazement and admiration. When the boy alighted from it, I was among the throng of men and women who trooped towards him like he was a hero or someone famous. I said to him in a loud voice: “ What you got there is a landmark invention!” The boy probably did not hear my declarations that he turned towards another direction without giving any hint that he had noticed me.
I was slighted by the boy’s disregard but I really felt that the thing was such an important discovery and it may be the prototype of a transport system that would change the way we travel forever. In fact, the way it was designed earned my fancy as it looked like a very huge toy that every boy or every man with a child’s heart would like to have from the toy store downtown. The color was also my favorite—-blue, yellow and red.
I will describe to you how the thing probably works. The flying contraption would lunge towards the heights by a turbo on its below, just like any rocketship, and when it is up in the air, it’s outer core would swirl so fast in circular movement that you could hear its sort of annoying, but low whirling sound. This motion of its outer core probably was the main mechanism that keeps the thing above ground, and it has a couple of protruding wings that are also attached to smaller turbo engines. These wings probably control the direction of the thing aside from helping it stay afloat. The flying contraption moves in a speed that I have never seen before and that made me a little doubtful of the thing’s design credibility, for the safety of the passenger may not be secured.
Yet again, despite its flawed functionality, I truly believed that the invention by the Japanese boy could be improve further if only he meets the right persons that could help him find some technology companies willing to put money for its development. If the thing would work, we may finally welcome age of flying cars and finally say goodbye to the monumental cruelty of traffic jams in our streets and highways.
The boy went to see some persons in a nearby building that looked like the station of the Armstrongs in the old cartoon series “Voltes V”, in short it was like a science building with an ultra-modern look and full of hi-tech facilities and with a very high-ceiling at that. Buildings in the anime world seem to all have extraordinarily high ceilings. I followed him of course and went into the building myself, which I found to be completely empty although electronic equipments were apparently on and running since the lights on them were blinking continuously and some sounds could be heard coming from them, a sign that some automated machines were on. I reckoned that the boy was inside some highly secured room, busy discussing matters with some important personalities in the technology world. So I went upstairs but I still find the place empty as a dune. I took the elevator and went down to the ground floor and as I headed towards the main exit door, I saw the Japanese boy coming out of a room that I was not able to notice before. His face was full of distraught and I could see that he was disappointed. I knew then that the talks did not go well.
I watched him tiptoed through the tiled floor and could hear the sound of his footsteps reverberating throughout the building, the heaviness of his emotions were easily felt. I approached him thinking that I might desire to shake the hands of someone who invented what perhaps may be the future of transportation. He shook my hands so briefly and went on with his heavy walk without even looking at my face. I followed this boy who was so young and yet so arrogant and said in a loud voice, “You should bring it to the attention of NASA.” At this, he turned back and I could see that he wanted to cry. He said, “I will try.” And he went on walking, now in a hurried manner, as if he wanted to get rid of me. I just reckoned that a genius boy like him could afford some bad manners so I did not took it so badly that he doesn’t respond well to my engagements towards him. I just wanted to help him.
That same afternoon, as the day approached twilight, the boy was in the field again with the onlookers still on hand. I went to see the show again. He was with his mother this time around and they were in stiff argument as to how the thing should be launched into the air. This was in stark contrast to the smooth and confident launching he had earlier in the day. After some words, both mother and son agreed on the manner the flying contraption should be placed on the ground, and the boy stepped into the thing and soon the machine hummed again in a whirling sound.
The flying contraption indeed went steeply into the air that my heart leaped a bit as I see what a wondrous thing it was and how such a small machine could actually fly into the air—-like seeing a flying car for the first time. Yet, after a while, the thing kept on lunging downward and it was a little painful to see it struggling to keep itself afloat. The boy might be horrendously dizzy by then as the flying contraption went up and down in the air. I myself became a little bit dizzy just watching the thing fly in the strangest of manner.
Soon, the boy alighted from the flying contraption and he was sweating all over. I wanted to ask him if the ship had some appropriate ventilations but I decided against it. I approached the boy again without any inhibition that he might utterly disregard me again. He did not. I meant that he finally talked to me more graciously than before.
“It was hard,” the boy said.
“Yeah. I could see that” I said meaning to console him.
I asked the boy “Why did the thing fly so bad the second time around?”
“ I was flying on a manual mode this time.” The boy said in a sad tone. It turned out that the boy ran out of hydrogen fuel and it was too costly for him to source them in a huge volume, and in order to keep the thing flying for a longer period.
As we walked together towards a more shadowy area, I could feel the sadness in his breath. He confided to me that that the scientists he was negotiating earlier wasn’t sold out about his invention mainly because they said that the thing could not retain enough fuel in order for it to reach enough distance. The scientists instead advised him to find out the solution for this major flaw of his invention.
I suggested to him to use nuclear fusion instead because this kind of fuel is light and with a small amount aboard, the thing could go far. I also advised him to go to America because in the Philippines, even our own inventors do not get much support from the government. He just nodded to my suggestions and we shook hands as we bade goodbye.
At this point, I woke up to a cloudy morning where rain was threatening. The weather made me a bit heavy inside as I remember the predicament of the boy with the swirling rocketship in my dream. I hope he would listen to all my advices and go to America where everything is possible it seems. I hope his dreams would all come true. I laughed a little inside thinking how could I wish well someone who doesn’t exist at all but only a creature of my dreams. But I remember the boy well, and if there is some sort of a police line-up, I could point to him always.
After I took my breakfast, while sipping hot chocolate, I pondered what the dream had meant to me. There were no angels in it but I felt that the dream wanted to impart something to me. As I analyze the visions I had that night in my sleep, I now believe that sometimes we all have some idea that could really fly but could not fly so high at first due to some major flaws and yet, if only we try a little harder and knowing where to go and what to find and whom to approach, this idea could go a long, long way and may even change the way we live forever.
* This is another repost from about a couple of years ago. So this dream didn’t take place last night.
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