REM Solutions

You work for REM Solutions. Clients come in with recurring nightmares, and you go in and repair them.

Every dream is a lattice of tiles. Some are doors, sealed against you — press E and match the sequence the door shows you, and the way opens. Some doors are wired to others: opening one seals another somewhere behind you. Some tiles are levers that move locks you can't see. Some are archives that whisper fragments of a code you'll need later.

You have three tools and no map. A radar reads the shape of the dream and tells you how close you are to its core, the frequency locks on when you're in the right column, the amplitude when you're in the right row. A heart counter that doesn't refill between dreams. And a clock that never stops, not even while you're standing still with your hands on a sequence.

In some dreams, something else is walking the lattice with you. It can't pass doors you haven't opened — but every door you open becomes its road.

Repair a dream and you're paid. Fail one and you keep the money, lose a heart, and the client is still waiting. Run out of hearts and you wake up for good.