I find myself in a strange space with low control consoles and a huge oval window looking out on the stars. The bridge of a small starship? But... it's decorated like a sheikh's tent in the Arabian Nights, cluttered with lurid, tasseled pillows and rugs. Colors clash. What?

Curving planterboxes between rounded workspaces. Luxuriant reedlike leaves. Blue, gold and magenta flowers. Flowerbeds! In space. Whaat?

Humans and unicorns lounge around. Some of the humans seem to treat the unicorns as people, but others act as if they're just animals--pets. Whaaat?

It's ridiculous--the unicorns talk. One's piloting the damn ship, poking the console with stubby hands sporting deerlike hoof/nail/digits. They're obviously people. Just weird ones--who like to browse on the décor.

The whole scene just makes no sense. Star Trek, Arabian Nights, unicorns. Three motifs that just don't fit. Yet here I am...

NEXT DAY

The Arabian Nights motif surprises me, but unicorns in space don't; you see, I recently ordered an Ann McCaffrey book through interlibrary loan--Acorna, a science-fictional treatment of the unicorn legend, just as she (sort of) rationalized dragons in her far more famous Pern series. Maybe the dream just means the book's arrived at last.

I walk to the library. Yep, there's one book in for me--Acorna. Take it home, open it...

Far-future asteroid miners find a lifeboat with an alien baby in it. Raised in space, she turns out humanoid with unicorn features--a small horn, mobile pointed ears, hooves, and weird abilities--healing and limited telepathy. Though it's clear her species must have inspired Earth legends of unicorns, Acorna and her three fosterdads have to figure out through trial and error what she needs to thrive.

At last they find Acorna's people--who build starships with lush living spaces to remind them of their homeworld. Art Nouveau curves, elaborate decor, browsable flowerbeds in space. My dream foresaw that, but I've read a lot of McCaffrey; it could just be good extrapolation.

But why'd my dream add an Arabian Nights theme? Because... there it is in the book! One miner's rich uncle had ancestors from the Levant and fancies himself a sheikh, so he set up his zillionaire's compound in the style of the Arabian Nights. And wants Acorna to grace it--permanently. There really are scenes with a sentient unicorn lounging on pillows in a sheikh's pavilion... not that Acorna's the sort to play trophy very long.

People or pets? Predictive too. That crazy-rich uncle wants to acquire & exploit Acorna--though as a zoo animal, as a trophy wife, as a healer, or as an inventor? The old weirdo doesn't seem too clear himself. Eventually he comes to accept her as his grandchild. But some humans see Acorna and her people as exploitable animals--her horn has powerful healing powers, it's worth millions. They literally want a piece of her.

It's a weak story. But even McCaffrey's failed experiments often raise issues I relate to. Acorna's precocious (I read at age two); an empath/lowgrade telepath sensing intent (took me years to grasp that others couldn't read me; that lying was even possible); herbivorous and nonviolent (I try, a bonobo surrounded by chimps); conflict-avoidant and focused on the wellbeing of the herd (ditto; even slight telepathy blurs borders!); but wary because a lot of humans want a piece of her (yep!); she's full of uncertainty about her own nature, having no role models--literally not knowing the basics about herself--her own maturation pattern, longevity, cultural, social, sexual and dietary needs... (me too).

No wonder I dreamt of it--it's just odd I did so the night before I got the book.

Why do I identify with a mythical creature? Well, just as both book and dream showed three themes melded--Star Trek futurism, Arabian Nights décor, and unicorn lore, I'm a mutant with a trifecta of rare traits--each perhaps 1 in 10,000. Unless they're linked, three such make me one in a trillion; unlikely I'll ever meet anyone with my three. At least... not on Earth.

1. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome like writers Rebecca Yarros and Laura James: gave me autism and physical fragility, forcing me to beware humans--your food, drink, environment, society, and values can kill me. We EDS survivors call ourselves zebras--as in the med-school maxim "when you hear hoofbeats, think horse, not zebra." That bias saves time and trouble for doctors and clinics (and especially their bean-counting corporate masters). But when you deny the zebra in front of you? I went 53 years from first hospitalization to (auto!)diagnosis. Humans are blind.
2. Severe giftedness: I broke intelligence test ceilings, got skipped ahead in school, got bullied, turned to books... an extreme, classic geek. Gave me the research tools that let me live a full lifespan despite EDS--and despite authorities full of bad advice. I diagnosed my illness myself, worked out what'd kill me and what'd keep me alive, found work I could do, invested and built my own pension, started my own co-op home... a do-it-yourself life. Because human institutions failed me utterly. Humans are blind.
3. ESP: I don't live in your pentasensory world. I have at least seven. One's a birdlike magnetic sense orienting me (except, like birds, when in a Faraday cage). And I read people's moods and characters directly, in energy fields around them I can only call auras. So science's dismissal of ESP as superstitious belief is just false--I at least don't believe in auras; they're simply part of my world. Yet most spiritual believers talk up humans as special souls, unlike animals; false too! Some dogs have stronger (and nicer) auras than (some) humans. And telepathic, clairvoyant and predictive dreams mean I live in a multiverse--in dreams at least, when the cultural trance enforcing linear time eases. Not beliefs--experience! I can't endorse materialism or religious worldviews. I have data you ignore. Humans are blind.

So until spring, dreamlets like this are about all I'm likely to get--little reminders that when I'm not drowning in legal forms, I can look around and look ahead, even if you humans fuss that it can't be done. That's okay. Lots of you out there to do your thing! I don't need to. My core concerns aren't human. Whether you recognize me or not.

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