1Sleep doesn't have the conventional purpose for him. It's not to recharge, like it is for a human being. After all he doesn't need to sleep like his friends do. They sleep every night, for the whole night. He honestly can't imagine doing that. He'd never get any work done. He's the most productive late at night when everyone is asleep and he can be alone. Now he does need to sleep, just every so often and not even for the whole night. When he does take these "long naps" as he likes to call them, they are to actually recharge. But even with such naps, he's left with a lot of time to work on his inventions, most of which are critical to the safety of the universe. Of course having all that time to be productive is just one of the perks of being like him.
And his friends know all this to some extent. They know that he doesn't sleep like the rest of them. That he works a lot, a lot more than any biological being should. And that when he does disappear into his room, it's usually to sleep and that he must be left alone. (They found out the hard way once that when he doesn't get to take his "naps" he behaves like a kid with ADHD. He made a proton gun that when used on a mission imploded and nearly killed everyone within the vicinity.) So his friends tend not to bother him when he's in his quarters.
But they really don't know the half of it. He's calculated that fifty percent of the time when he sleeps, he sees what any person sees. Darkness at first and then whatever dream his subconscious decides on. And that goes on normally until he wakes up, just like for anyone else. But the other fifty percent of the time he's sent to a unique place. Or really the place isn't so unique, anyone like him is required to go there, but because he isn't actually home he shouldn't be able to go. He's secretly baffled by the fact he can.
This special place is actually a bit uncomfortable for him. It's like someone liquified his mind and dumped it into a big bin with thousands of other people's slushy consciousnesses. But he doesn't have much of choice as to if he's to go or not. It's fifty-fifty every time he sleeps. He's not sure what it depends on exactly, but it seems like he isn't able to go there when he's sick or injured. Which is probably for the better because if he could the strain would kill him, he's sure of that.
As far as looks go, it's a rather boring looking place. It's big and white with traces of green. Sometimes it feels more empty than others. He can only guess that thats due to how many other people's minds are floating around there with his. Sometimes he can feel millions of people, other times only a few dozens. When he's in that space, he knows he exists on a more astral level. He's well aware that this place is inside his mind and yet it's not. It's an astral conglomeration of all the sleeping minds like his. So his people can communicate and exchange information whenever they rest.
When he was home, coming to this place every other night was a requirement. And it didn't hurt him like it does now. Which he figures is probably because he hasn't gone to the place in ages. He just simply never thought to because he shouldn't be able to. After all he left his home to be away from his people, the last thing he wanted was to be forced to see them in that place. But he's okay with the notion now, because well, his friends aren't exactly wealths of information and if he's to keep inventing helpful things, he needs to communicate with someone who can inspire him. So being able to go to this place has been rather convenient for him right now. He only wishes he could control when he went.
Then he wouldn't have to hide in his room to gain more information. He wouldn't have to worry his friends with the ever increasing amount of time he's been spending alone in his room. But he can't risk letting his friends see him when he's accessing that place. They would assume he's sleeping, and become worried when they saw him in pain. They don't understand that the discomfort he feels from being sent there is necessary, and so they would try to wake him. But that he fears that would prove to be very dangerous.
He's discovered, that when he is in that place of mixed consciousness, he's impossible to wake. His vital signs decrease to the point where they are almost undetectable, or would be undetectable to his friends. He knows all too well, that his worried comrades would be confused and scared for him. That they would try anything and everything to help him, but they would only cause harm. He's learned from communing with others during his "nap times" that when he is exchanging information in that place, his body becomes more vulnerable than when he is awake. That if he is moved, or even touched his body will be damaged and there is a possibility that his astral form will be unable to find his body again. He didn't need to be told that if that happened, he would probably be...well...not the same person he is now. He couldn't risk his friends finding him when he went to that place, and he certainly couldn't tell them.
Though they were becoming more and more concerned with how much he was working and sleeping and how scarcely he was actually interacting with them. A few of them had confronted him individually asking small questions, being careful not to prye. He appreciated their concern, but felt a bit guilty about it. Even though he cared deeply for and did trust his friends, he didn't feel that telling them about this place that was only for people like him, would prove to be a good idea. First of all, they wouldn't understand no matter how he explained it, why it was so important he go there when it hurt enough to jolt him awake screaming, like he was waking from some terrible recurring nightmare. They would ask questions that had answers they weren't capable of understanding, and then they would insist on monitoring him when he slept. And finally, he knew they would demand that he return home to have his family help him. That they make it more comfortable for him to go to that place.
But he knew that if he ever returned home, his people who had always feared him, would insist on locking him away. If he came crawling back to his home world that would be the same as a self-declaration that he was dangerous. Just as he people had always feared. But he didn't want to have to confront that, or tell his friends about it for that matter. It would raise even more questions he wasn't into answering.
He sighed as he leaned back on his bed with his arms up near his head. He looked at the ceiling and outlined constellations in the specks. All these thoughts had been swirling around his head for an hour now. He did most things on a schedule, and this time was actually his usual "nap" time. But he knew that his friends were weary of him being in his quarters regardless. They thought they were being sneaky, but honestly it didn't take a twelfth level intellect to know they were watching him. But he didn't really blame them, usually when he deviated from his normal routine that meant something was wrong. After all he had kind of sort of lost of his mind a few times, from a few separate things. And he was detrimental to his team, if he was out of commission, his team would be significantly less organized. And the universe would be significantly less safe.
But he didn't have to worry about that, because he was fine. If anything he was even better than fine. He was learning all kinds of helpful things from that special place and as a result he was able to invent a plethora of gadgets for his team to use. The gadgets had proved extremely useful multiple times and astounded his teammates. But even so, he knew that as his friends, they would most likely be barging in on him tonight. Which was why he was lying awake in bed, rather than dreaming or exchanging information.
As he sat there waiting for the eventual knock on his door, he wondered if pretending to be asleep would work. But then he thought about it for a moment and decided that nothing would stop his friends from talking with him tonight. Which was even more so a reason for being unable to risk sleep. He couldn't afford to be caught in that place on what he guessed was the astral plane.
But he was sitting on his bed just thinking far longer than he'd calculated, and because that night was actually a scheduled night for sleeping, he ended up floating away to that place before he even realized it.
. . .
He sat up quickly to discover he couldn't feel his surroundings anymore. An overly bright white light was all around him, engulfing his body. That light belonged to the all too familiar white landscape with pale green circuit breaker patches on the murky floor, walls and ceiling. He glanced down at his body and saw that not only was he vaguely transparent, he was floating. Of course this was all expected when he was in that place.
He looked about and saw hundreds of others just like him, floating around and sharing information. Which was, in itself, a little bit of a spectacle. There were different ways to exchange information in this place. The most popular method was telepathically, after all the space was a slosh of different consciousnesses. But if for some reason that wasn't going to cut it, people would make astral physical contact. Basically they would place three fingers on each other's foreheads causing their eyes, fingers, and three white contact spots on their foreheads to glow. The information would transfer from one person to another in what he had calculated to be .5 seconds. This method was much more accurate than telepathic transport.
He was a special case though, the contact spots that only appeared on his people while they were in this place, were visible on his forehead all the time. They served as evidence of his bloodline and that alone made his people fear him. So of course, the only way he exchanged information was telepathically.
And it was quite the strange sight, to see a bunch of floating slightly transparent green people poking each other's foreheads and glowing. Somehow though, he'd gotten used to seeing it. This place was so useful to him, it was worth whatever oddness he encountered. Though as he floated around making eye contact here and there with different people, probing their minds to see if they had anything to offer him, he realized something that flooded him with panic. If he was here in this place, he must have fallen asleep back at his team's headquarters without even knowing it. That would spell disaster. He had meant to stay awake until his friends approached him. That way there'd be zero chance of them catching him on the astral plane.
He stopped floating and sat promptly on the ground to think, he had no idea as to how to leave this place or how time flowed in it. For all he knew, he could have been there for a few seconds or already a few hours. His friends may have already discovered him. He hoped with every fiber of his being that that hadn't happened. As people floated by him, he telepathically sent out calls for help. Does anyone know how to leave here without exchanging any information? Please! I can't be here right now...Anyone! But only a few people glared at him as they passed by, the others were too busy to hear his pleas. He was left with the feeling that he would be unable to leave here without first exchanging at least some information.
After all, every other night that he'd been to that place, he was only able to leave after exchanging libraries worth of information. And when he did leave and awake, it was always to the bright yellow rays of the sun. He concluded that maybe he was only able to leave when it was morning in the outside world. If that was so, then what was going to happen? Would he be unable to leave this place, and therefore unable to consciously greet his friends when they did confront him? And what would his friends do when they realized his sleep was more than that? These questions terrified him as he floated around the space, still looking for anyone who may have some sort of useful information to share with him.
. . .
"Brainy," he called as he knocked on the steel bedroom doors. "Brainy, open up," he continued to call as he knocked again. "It's me. I know it's kinda late, but I wanted to talk to you." He was greeted with silence on the other side of the door. A heavy silence, one that worried him.
"Look, I know you're trying to sleep and that you probably really don't want to see my face right now, but I stopped all the others from just running in here to bombard you with questions," he rambled as he leaned against the door. "I told them that as your friend, and team leader I wanted to talk to you first. I thought maybe if only I showed up you'd be more likely to talk," he finished.
After speaking he turned towards the bedroom door and listened. He heard an eerie nothing from the other side. He decided that the silence was to be expected as Brainy had probably fallen asleep. After all he had come knocking on his friend's door pretty late. But he couldn't afford to walk away. He'd promised everyone else that he'd speak with Brainy and make sure he was okay. This was part of his duty as the newly elected team leader. So he directed his attention to the high tech lock next to the door and spoke clearly into it, "Override lock on Brainiac 5's room. Permission Live Wire."
The steel door made several clicking sounds as the tumblers separated themselves and the large doors opened. As Live Wire walked into the dark room and the doors shut behind him, he called out, "Brainiac 5? Brainy? Geez, it's so dark in here I can hardly see anything. Where are you?" But as he groped around Brainiac 5's room, he was once again greeted with silence. Maybe he really is asleep, Live Wire thought to himself. And he's a heavy sleeper too. That would explain why he hasn't been answering me. Well, I'll just wait for my eyes to adjust and then I'll be able to see what's going on, he decided.
And it took only moments for Live Wire's eyes to spot Brainiac asleep on his bed, with his arms up near his head. Heh, just as I thought, he is asleep. He works too hard, the poor kid, Live Wire thought as he smiled and approached his friend.
"Hey. Wake up. We need to talk," Live Wire whispered to his friend as he sat down on the edge of the bed. Brainiac 5 didn't even flinch in response, but Live Wire knew full well that waking him up would be akin to nailing jello to a tree.
"Common, you have to get up Brainy," he continued to whisper as he gently shook his friend and fellow teammate. "I am sorry about waking you like this, but-" Live Wire's sentence broke off as he finally realized that Brainiac was still not responding to him at all. In fact Live Wire noticed that Brainiac 5 was behaving almost as if he were dead.
He panicked and taking Brainiac by the shoulders shouted, "This isn't funny! Brainiac 5! Answer me!" Of course, Brainiac was silent as his head lolled from side to side, almost mocking Live Wire's pleas.
Live Wire gently placed Brainiac on the bed and put his ear to his heart. He closed his eyes and silently chanted, "Common, Common. Please Brainy, you have to be alive." He listened in nervous silence for five minutes, but didn't hear one heartbeat, nor did his friend's chest ever rise.
No, he thought as his knees buckled and his legs folded in on him. This can't be, I refuse to accept this. We all knew he was acting strangely, but for me to find him dead? This doesn't make any sense...and for this to happen, what kind of leader does this make me? he demanded of himself as he stood up slowly.
He could only deny his eyes and place the blame of this horrible event on the almost pitch black darkness of Brainiac 5's room. He ran over to flick the light switch on. He figured maybe his eyes were playing tricks on him, maybe he had been holding a very lifelike, solid-feeling hologram of his friend and maybe he would be able to catch the source of the trick with the lights on. Of course this reasoning was unreasonable, but Live Wire was desperate for an explanation that wouldn't lead him to believe that Brainiac 5 was gone.
And as his eyes scanned the room, he did notice something odd. Brainiac 5's green skin looked a bit purplish where Live Wire had touched him. Anyway he looked at it that didn't seem right. No one bruised from just being touched, and it wasn't like Live Wire had super strength or anything and had accidentally hurt Brainiac as he shook him. Live Wire stepped closer to get a better look and found that anywhere he had touched Brainiac's body was now a deep violet color.
This of course, baffled him beyond words and he stood there just looking at Brainiac, trying to sort all this out. And as he did, he was rewarded with another shock: he saw the seemingly dead Brainiac 5's face contort in pain. It was only for a second though and he was sure his desire for his teammate to be alive, was making him see things. After all, Brainiac didn't seem to have any vital signs. His damn chest isn't rising or falling. He's not sprocking breathing. I must be seeing things-But a groan that escaped Brainiac 5's lips interrupted Live Wire's thoughts and changed his mind. Though he was clueless as to what was actually going on, he knew his teammate was somehow alive and he couldn't help the salty liquid that slowly ran down his cheeks as he let out a sigh of relief.
He sat down on the edge of Brainiac's bed and ran his hands through his carrot colored hair. He sighed, took a deep breath, then pushed the communicator button on his Legionnaire ring and spoke into it in a firm voice, "Imra, we have a...situation. I'm bringing Brainiac 5 to the sick bay and I need you to be there. As for whats going on, I'm not sure and I was hoping your abilities could tell us."
. . .
He'd exchanged information about four or five times now and had learned nothing new about returning to the waking world. Brainiac figured that if his friends had entered his room; he had either been taken for dead and was about to be shot out the airlock, or he was on his way to the sick bay where he would most likely be poked and prodded until he was killed. Both options had him wishing that his friends would take the hint and not enter his room.
He looked down at his transparent hands and sighed, it seemed he would be stuck on the astral plane until morning. He closed his eyes as he sat down on the white patchy floor, trying to calculate the probability of all the different scenarios concerning his friends discovering him. As he concentrated he felt the light ghostly fingers of someone probing his mind gently, which was normal for the intelligence swapping place he was in. However those fingers turned into tendrils and punched what felt like a hole in his consciousness. The shock made his hands spring up to his head as he leaned forwards, and let out a scream of agony. Never before had anyone blasted his mind like that in this place. He was outraged. Such violence was strictly forbidden, but he lashed out in equal violence anyway. He sent out nasty sour screams to anyone who he felt pass him by. Was it you?! Who attacked me? Who dared to attack Brainiac 5 in this place? Do you think I'm weak here? Well, you're wrong! Wrong- His vicious attacks were interrupted by a gentle voice echoing throughout his mind.
Young Brainiac, please cease what you are doing, the relaxing voice commanded. Telepathic communication. That's what this fellow Coluan was doing in order to calm the frustrated Brainiac down. Brainiac opened his eyes and saw an elderly man with bright gold eyes and a warm smile seated beside him.
Was it you who- Brainiac began to ask the elderly man through his thoughts, but was interrupted by the man's quick yet smooth reply, It was, and I apologize Young Brainiac.
How did you know what I was going to ask? And why did you do that, don't you realize that I have a problem I'm trying to focus on here? asked Brainiac a bit frustrated with the old man.
You're an intelligent young man, I assumed you'd know my reasons, replied the old man with a true smile of glee. Of course Brainiac just continued to shoot him an ugly look.
Alright, alright. I'll explain myself a bit. As you can see I am an elder of our home world, and so my telepathy in this place far exceeds all others. There are no boundaries for me, I can see whatever I wish to in your mind, the Elder thought without his smile fading.
Then you...? asked Brainiac truly testing the Elder.
Of course! When I noticed the Brainiac child had gained access to this special place of ours again, I decided to keep an eye on you out of curiosity. And tonight when I entered your mind I saw everything. But you were too deep in thought to notice my calls, so I attacked you. Not a bad attack for an Elder, eh? inquired The Elder smiling even brighter, making the patches of wrinkles under his golden eyes more exaggerated. This Elder could easily have been seven hundred years old, Coluans were known for their long life spans and intelligence.
Yeah, what a great attack. Thank you for almost knocking me unconscious...Now you say you can help me? asked Brainiac.
Tsk, tsk so quick to get the punch. You know you won't-
Please! I don't have the time to sit here idle with you! Brainiac thought with significant force as he interrupted The Elder's thoughts. The Elder held his smile in response, as he knew the young frustrated Coulan wouldn't stand for being teased any longer, and reached towards him with three outstretched fingers.
Brainiac backed away from those fingers almost instinctively, as the rest of his race had always refused to transfer information with him in that more intimate way. However, The Elder was quick and his fingers connected with Brainiac's contact spots in seconds. Now the link between the two of them allowed their thoughts to flow instantaneously like cool running water.
Brainiac had never felt anything like it before. No one, not even his parents had dared to link with his mind in such a way. The feeling wasn't painful or soothing. He didn't have the words to describe it, but it was a rush. This kind of connection was the next level to simply feeling someone's consciousness touch his mind, he felt enlightened by all the knowledge The Elder held. In his excitement he completely forgot about the problem at hand. He was instantly busy being overwhelmed with what data to look at and transfer into his mind. The Elder of course, found Brainiac's reaction quite amusing, especially when compared to other Coulan's first times linking with another in this way. Usually the first time a Coulan child linked with an adult, their mind became so overwhelmed that the child would normally pass out right away. The Elder knew that would not be the case with a child who was descended from the Brainiac line. He expected no less from Brainiac than to instantly begin picking and choosing information from The Elder's mind to download.
Of course, The Elder also wasn't very surprised when Brainiac suddenly stopped sifting through the data and telepathically demanded, Why are you doing this with me? Especially when you know full well what I am?
The Elder reached out and placed his hand on Brainiac's wrist in a comforting way as he responded, Querl, I know very well how our people have treated you. How you left because they weren't fair to you. To treat you like an maniacal machine rather than a living being with thoughts and feelings. I understand how they feared you, believed you to be dangerous because of your villainous kin and I know how foolish they were to force you away.
Brainiac opened one eye to peak at The Elder in a shocked sort of state.
You don't have time to waste being happy that I have acknowledged you as a sane equal where others have not. You can enjoy my trust in you later. You are currently in the middle of a crisis, are you not, Young Brainiac? asked The Elder in his sly way. But The Elder didn't give Brainiac a moment to reply, he immediately began sending the rare information to Brainiac explaining how a Coluan could "force quit" from the special place they were currently in.
Normal exchanges of information, even linked by contact point usually didn't cause the sender or receiver pain. What quickly made the exchanges painful, to the point of waking the parties involved, was the value of the data being shared. If the data was rare and basically unknown, exchanging it would be like having a tornado in your head for both people involved. However, if the data was more widely known exchanging it would be painless for both parties. And of course, if a Coulan awoke from the pain while sharing data, they would only retain what was successfully downloaded while asleep. However sometimes, if the sender of the data had exchanged libraries upon libraries of information over time, they would no longer feel pain from exchanging, because of how used to the whole process they had become.
The Elder fit into that category. He would feel no pain from sharing this particular valuable information with the young Brainiac. However, he knew that Brainiac would be in so much pain from downloading the rare data that he might wake before finishing with it. Or if the youngsters friends were with him, there was a chance they might become upset just as Brainiac feared. That possibility would only create more problems for Brainiac, but all those scenarios were worth the risk; he needed to know this information to prevent the chance of anything like this from happening again. The Elder just hoped he would be able to handle the pain while downloading the information. Most Coluan adults could hardly stand excruciatingly painful exchanges.
. . .
"Are you getting anything, Saturn Girl?" asked Live Wire with a worried expression on his face. He looked down at the ground then at each Legionnaire that was present. He observed the same upset look from each of them. Live Wire had brought Brainiac 5 to the sick bay in such a frenzy that all the Legionnaires currently at headquarters had abandoned their stations in concern. They had placed Brainiac on one of the clean white beds, and Triplicate Girl immediately began checking his vital signs. On Live Wire's request of course, as he had kept insisting that it would be impossible to tell if their teammate was really alive otherwise. Invisible Kid hooked him up to floating monitors that beeped and booped, plus an oxygen mask as it was obvious his breathing was erratic. Then he joined Bouncing Boy to read over the results of their initial testing. Live Wire sent the rest of the present Legionnaires to wait back at their posts.
Though Live Wire insisted everyone carry on as they had, the atmosphere in the headquarters was stale with worry over their teammate who had seemed to have fallen for no apparent reason. After all other than exhibiting some majorly antisocial behavior over the past two weeks (a little was not unusual for Brainiac, but it seemed to be getting out of hand recently) he had seemed perfectly fine.
Before they attempted anything serious though, Live Wire decided that Saturn Girl would try to read Brainiac's mind and discover what was going on that way. Saturn Girl had been inside his mind for ten minutes now, which was far longer than she should have needed. Live Wire paced the room while waiting, taking in how ugly it truly was.
The sick bay was one long rectangular room with pure white floor tiles and walls. There were about twenty small neatly made beds with blue open curtains near each one. At the far end of the pristine glowing white room was all their analytical equipment. He watched Invisible Kid, Triplicate Girl, and Bouncing Boy fuss over the results they'd acquired thus far.
Live Wire wondered why exactly they were arguing, but he realized he probably already knew the answer. He walked back over to Saturn Girl who was making a pained face as she hopelessly searched Brainiac's mind. He gently placed his hands on her shoulders and asked, "Found anything yet, Imra?"
