Place: Ligonier, Pennsylvania

Date: May 13, 2029

The weather forecast for Thursday, 13 May, 2029 was good, a high of 58 degrees with a slight breeze and partly cloudy skies. Retired Navy Commander, Adam Johnson, was doing what he did most mornings when the weather was pleasant, enjoying a cup of coffee on his patio. The predawn glow from the eastern sky was not yet bright enough to produce shadows but was sufficient for him to see everything in his back yard.

Except for birds chirping good morning to each other and fluttering down to the ground looking for worms, it was quiet and peaceful. He knew that soon the sounds of dogs barking, cows bawling for their morning feeding and roosters announcing the arrival of a new day would fill the air.

He liked his back yard. It was nothing special but it was large, almost a half-acre. He scanned the lawn. What he and his spouse Joan called grass, was whatever nature decided to grow; Ryegrass, various fescues, Crab Grass and a mixture of weeds. No matter, it was green and looked okay when mowed.

Joan was a gardener with a green thumb. She had fenced off a 50 by 100-foot section of the yard for what she called her English Tea Garden. With raised beds, Butterfly Bushes and Knock Out Roses along the fence and a Jasmine covered entrance arbor, it made a charming addition to an otherwise boring yard. The Johnson house enjoyed the fruits of her labor year around - fresh produce in season and from Mason Jars in the winter.

As he sipped his coffee, he pondered the new normal he was living. He was a super hero in a sense. Although the public was aware of REM Man's existence; his missions and specific ties to the government were classified "President's eyes only".

Adam took another sip of coffee. His thoughts drifted back in time. He remembered the power and money hungry Sam Throckmorton and Doctor Freedman, who along with his alien accomplices from the planet Zector created the Night Quest syndicate. He shivered thinking how close the syndicate came to taking control of the world. Visions of past day mares, the death of their dog Heinz, his transformation into REM Man, and the bloody battle on Syndicate Mountain in Westernport, Maryland passed through his mind's eye.

He thought about Della, a nurse, who helped him destroy the syndicate, a woman he could have easily fallen in love with but didn't. Then there was the alien female Technical Officer he made love to during a REM sleep visit to Zector. She came close to killing him. He hated what the syndicate had made him into, but the past could not be changed.

He dumped his now Luke warm coffee on the grass and headed for his truck. It was time to check materials and tools to make sure he had everything he needed for the three service calls Joan had scheduled for the day. He felt fine as he left for his 8:00 am appointment but halfway there he was overcome by a sense of fatigue.

"Maybe I'm coming down with something," he thought.

His HVAC business was generating good revenue and his family seemed to be happy. The economy in south west Pennsylvania was stable with unemployment at 4.6% and the Pittsburgh Steelers were predicted to make the playoffs. The world was at peace and there had not been a terrorist attack in two months. Everything was going well but he just couldn't settle down and was having reservations about his decision to take over his father-in-law's business.

After what he and Joan had been through in 2022 with the Night Quest Syndicate and then serving the country as REM Man, living in a small town where the excitement most weeks was going to Tony's Pizza on Friday night for a few beers was difficult.

The HVAC business was a money maker for sure. There was enough each month to give 10 percent to his in-laws, and the rest of the profit, when added to his Navy retirement, provided them a very comfortable life. Never-the-less, he was restless.

Joan on the other hand was content. She was living in the house she grew up in, the boys were finishing high school and the oldest would soon be attending Penn State. With the boys now being able to take care of themselves, she was enjoying her freedom.

On most days, the gym, a massage, shopping, working in the garden and enjoying a drink with Adam before supper was her routine. Three or four times a year she went to the beach or a casino with some of her high school girl friends or with Adam. Life was good for her.

Adam was finishing his last service call when he again felt fatigued. He looked at his watch, it was almost 4:00 pm. He pulled a small syringe filled with 2 ccs of stimulant from his breast pocket, twisted the cap off and injected himself. His doctor told him to use one of the syringes when feeling tired. He felt better almost immediately.

"I need to go to Bethesda and get more syringes from Doctor Tharman," he thought.

Adam had been wondering for a number of years why he sometimes felt fatigued, even after a good night's sleep. Being in complete control during REM allowed him to interact with the world, or just lay in bed and enjoy deep sleep. Chronic fatigue should not be an issue.

Moreover, he was not used to dealing with health issues. He grew up in the country in a house with no central heat and drinking water from a shallow well.

His teenage years were spent working on a Dairy farm. A cold house made it hard for bacteria and viruses to thrive and sandwiches eaten with manure under his fingernails washed down by well water made for a strong immune system. Being sick was not something he was familiar with.

He looked into the large side mirror of his work van. He was forty-four years old and looked thirty. He always had a baby face and a clear complexion. He stuck out his tongue. He didn't know exactly what he was looking for but didn't see anything that bothered him.

"What the hell is going on. I should call Tharman," he said to himself.

What he didn't realize was that he was an addict.

The syringes didn't contain a prescription stimulant, they contained a powerful mixture whose main ingredient was a brain altering chemical called Bersilium. His Homeland Security doctors had been studying Adam's health and performance since 2022 and had discovered a number of things.

First, they noticed the sensitivity of the synapses and neurons in his chemically altered brain slowly diminished over time. Interviews with two Night Quest Syndicate doctors, both serving 25 years in prison, revealed the main ingredient in the chemical mixture the Zectorians used to alter Adam's brain was an element called Bersilium. The only source is located in a cavern on the planet Zector in the Andromeda Galaxy.

Bersilium has the ability to create a quantum mechanical change in intelligent brains that allows reality to be generated and experienced in the sub-conscious brain during REM sleep. No one knew how this incredible transformation actually worked but it did.

However, like Marijuana, Bersilium is a fat-soluble substance with an elimination half-life of 11. Using the standard formula, 5.5 times elimination half-life, meant Adam needed booster shots every two months.

In 2022, after the syndicate was destroyed, Homeland security collected enough Zectorian brain altering chemicals and sleep drugs from Syndicate Mountain and from captured alien REM Soldiers to maintain Adam's altered brain for twenty years. They hoped twenty years would be enough...