I'm in a nondescript room, which is apparently where you go to buy cigarettes in the future. I'm interacting with this machine, and it's giving me some strange signs. This familiar woman, full grown but small in stature, and with a rough complexion but cute, is helping me. She seems unusually affectionate, touching my shoulders and wrapping herself around me. She explains that there's been a class-action lawsuit, so people are getting free packs of cigarettes. The machine says, in terse language like on a store receipt, that I am due 10 packs of Marlboros and 10 packs of American Spirit. I don't think I want all those cigarettes, I don't even smoke any more, but I guess I can sell them or something. So I'm trying to use the machine, but I can't see it; I'm having some trouble with my glasses, putting them on and off and squinting at the screen.

Then my girl is replaced with someone else who is familiar, with an east Asian look, and a little overweight. "I remember you," I say, "but I don't remember where you're from."

She answers but for some reason her answer is interrupted by some other noise and I can't hear her. "Pakistan?" I ask. No, apparently that wasn't it.

The room turns into a van, and we're being transported somewhere. It's hot in here, someone says, maybe we can ask them to crack a window. I move up to the front and ask the driver for some fresh air, but my talk is interrupted by a loud intentional noise, like a horn honking. In the front of the van are three people, and none of them looks back at me. From behind I can see that they are dressed in military garb.

They take us to a compound and start leading us up this hallway, but then there is some yellow goop spilled, right at the intersection of two hallways, so our handler leaves to get somebody to clean it up, and we are left standing around. I walk in small circles with my head down, just trying to be as passive and unthreatening as possible.

But Amber is also with us, and she saw some toys and a play area, so she took off down one of the halls. It opens up into a courtyard. I start to go that way, and she sees me and runs toward at full toddler tilt, and I'm aware that this might be the last time I see her do that.

I hug her and she tells me there's a dog here, and he also comes running over to us. He is a tiny, frail little thing, that seems to have some sort of birth defect that makes him walk crookedly.