Deep Dream State

Ding, Dong, Dagon.

The Chthonic sets sail, promising luxury, immersion, and a good time. It'll keep one of those promises.

Cruise Director Olivia runs the welcome with practiced warmth. The captain stays mostly out of sight, and the app knows where everyone is.

The bell rings every day to declare "everything is fine!"

Below decks, the crew knows better. Spa manager Mairead is broke and increasingly desperate. Engineer Fion watches and says nothing useful. Purser Selene has worked ships like this before, and she is not surprised by anything she sees. When Nikki comes back from Room 203, nobody in management wants to hear about it.

Up top, a bachelorette party is having the time of many lives. They know something's amiss, though. They can't drink away the strange sounds through the walls, or the much-too-specific dreams. The ship seems to be noticing them back, and that no longer feels like a dream anyone can write off.

Emma feels the uncanny, but her friends are already ordering another round.

By the end of the first night, someone has been identified. The machinery has a target, and the voyage has its first real purpose.