Jenny blinked her eyes and found herself lying face down on a cold, cobblestone street. As if she'd just tripped over.
When she looked around, she saw a dark city with no visible sky. The buildings around her looked old and nothing like the modern architecture of her home. She looked up just to find a distant rock ceiling. Was this city located underground? How and when did she get here?
Meanwhile, her alarm had gone off, too. Blinking red and spinning around, like it did in the dark woods when she was surrounded by shadows.
Jenny got up and brushed the dirt off her knees. The next thing she noticed was the intermittent screaming all around her. It came from all directions, but only few people screamed at the same time. She didn't spot anybody out on the streets. Couldn't tell if it was day or night, either, but the lack of people outside and the lights coming from some of the houses suggested it was nighttime.
Another scream came from a nearby house, and she approached it to investigate. When she came close enough, her hair-antenna stopped spinning and pointed straight at the house. There were no lights on. Though it might've been an invasion of privacy, she used her x-ray vision to see who was screaming and why. One person inside, in bed, looking asleep. What exactly was her antenna pointing at? Did this person just scream in their sleep? Was the same thing happening to everyone else? How could everybody be having nightmares at the same time?
Jenny looked around her and felt creeped out. The mystery of it all was unsettling, and she felt powerless. Was she even supposed to help these people? This many of them? How?
The next thing to catch her attention: a light show in the distance.
Jenny levitated into the air, high enough to get a good look at the entire city. As she rose, Jenny could tell that the city was indeed located inside an enormous cavern, and there was no visible light coming from anything other than the city itself. Even when looking down from here, and with Jenny's incredible eyesight, she couldn't spot a single person out on the street. Floating in the sky like this made her feel less creeped out, because it made the strange city smaller.
Now, her antenna was spinning again, but in a smaller radius, pointing generally at the city.
As for the light show. It came from a building that looked like theater, or maybe an opera house. Jenny-
…
…blinked her eyes…
…and saw the ceiling of her bedroom.
She stared some more as she got to grips with what just happened. Or rather, she had no idea what that was. She remembered going into hibernation. The next thing after that was waking up on the cobblestone streets in that strange city. Jenny turned to her nightstand. Still plugged into the charger, not finished yet.
Did she just have a dream? Impossible… Jenny couldn't dream. She had the ability to run simulations in her head, like how people had the power of imagination, but that was something she had full control over. Whatever this was just now, was completely out of her control. Was she broken? Was there something wrong with her? Jenny felt a pressure in her chest as she considered the idea. She had no way of fixing any problems that might occur to her body or programming. Logically, it would happen eventually, but she always assumed she'd at least outlive the average person before then.
Jenny unplugged herself and got out of bed. No point in dwelling over it, maybe she was overreacting. A moody Jenny walked over to her oversized bedroom window and draped herself over the windowsill. In the middle of the night, though, the streets were deserted. But Jenny watched regardless.
And eventually, somebody did show up. A familiar blond girl in a black cape appeared on one of the rooftops in the distance. What was she doing out at this hour? Her arm was still in a cast, so she moved slower than Jenny remembered. The girl was making her way downtown across the rooftops but stopped every now and then to stare at the shadows for some reason.
Jenny hadn't had a proper conversation with Tatters at all since… maybe ever. The thought of going out there right now and talking to her made Jenny shudder. Why was that? She didn't feel that way talking to anybody else…
No matter. Jenny pinched her eyes shut and got to her feet. Her curiosity got the better of her. One may have all sorts of opinions on Jenny's people-watching hobby, but she couldn't pass up the chance to see what Tatters was up to, so out she went.