I'm working for an archeological team digging up a site on a futuristic campus. We make a big find--but some of the locals aren't too happy. They call it sacrilege!

The extremists organize a protest--but their speakers whip people into a mob. They chase us across campus, firing energy weapons in the air! Haven't aimed directly at us, not yet, but I'm scared.

I can almost pass for human on the ground, but I'm not--I'm an offworld species that can fly. Still, I don't want to risk unfolding my wings and soaring out of here--the rioters may see "flying figure" as "target", where "running figure" remains "person." So for now, I flee with my friends on foot.

Can I think of a way to use my gift to lure the rioters away from my earthbound friends?

The ideal thing would be a round or oval track or stadium--then I could fly up and draw the mob's fire, yet zip behind the curved convex wall, diving in and out of cover. A round structure means you don't have to reach a corner for shelter--as long as you have some lead over your hunters, there's always a bight, a bulge to hide behind. But so far, no stadium in sight. Does the future lack sports?

Or I could fight back. I have a weapon myself--local-built, high-tech, but not an energy gun. A sort of large bullet-shape with a black button on the conical end. For safety reasons it's too stiff to manually trigger--normally you stomp it. Can't do that in the air, so I guess the only way is to bite it, hard.

Though exactly what it does then, I'm not sure.

So unless and until things get truly desperate, I better not... bite the bullet.

NOTES

• Flyers may be shot = today in painting a classmate showed us a small oil I mistook for a bird in flight holding a red paintbrush. No. It was an arrow skewering the bird! Below, a tiny archer, near a straw bullseye. Not even hunting for food! Just killing for fun. I felt sick.
• Archeology team = I've been digging for buried memories and feelings lately. But also, I saw the TV show "Sliders" a few nights ago; locals complained an archeological dig was sacrilege.
• Bite the bullet, meaning "face the painful part", dates back to frontier surgery--you bit a soft lead bullet so as not to break your teeth in agony as the doc cut you open with no painkillers. So what am I not facing? Dating? Getting a job? Buried truths? No, the dream said we DID dig 'em up...
• The "bullet" looked like the tip of a ballpoint pen. Could it mean getting serious about my cartooning--inking them in, not just penciling?
• I've felt like a coward for not biting the bullet more in general... but I think this dream warns that I'm no coward; I'm uncertain. Want to know the consequences!
• Round structures are refuges = I was unsure what shape I wanted for my big new painting. My teacher assumed we'd paint nice normal rectangles, but the hell with that! My dream loves oval, so...
• ACTION: paint it oval. What else? Well.. at least don't stir up multiple inner lynch mobs. One at a time!

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