The dream:
I’m encased in hardened battle armor, from my head to my feet, strong thick slabs of metal, and the outside is be-weaponed with lasers, slug-throwers, grapples. I’m floating just above the surface of a dead planet, shades of gray. In my sights, separated from me by the inky-black airless vacuum, is an alien, also protected by its own battle armor, also in shades of gray and black, and also studded with weapons of all kinds, low- and high-tech. The alien is a cylinder shape, no legs, tapered on the bottom, and rounded on top, with triangle-shaped eye-slits and pointy sensors on top of its rounded head. It’s buzzing menacingly.
It’s closing in, and I feel claustrophobic inside my armor. The alien shoots at me, a tangle-cord, and it wraps around my chest armor and squeeeeeezes me. It actually is stronger than my armor! The ropes constrict and begin crushing my armor against me. I’m trapped! I’m frantically firing off lasers, trying to cut the alien into shreds; they seem to hit, to score its armor, but the alien just laughs it off and keeps closing, reeling in the ropes and crushing me, closer, closer, can’t… breathe! The buzzing gets louder and louder…
The Awakening:
Smacky is laying on top of the covers, right next to me, causing them to wrap tightly around me, pinning me under them. His face is right in front of mine. He’s purring loudly, and trying to tuck his head into the nape of my neck. “Ack! Get off of me!” I cry, and I fling the covers back and grab Smacky and put him out in the hall and close my bedroom door and go back to dreamless sleep.