Mumbai, 2075 - 11:45 PM
The rain hadn't stopped for three days. It fell in slick, oily sheets against the window of Arav's tiny apartment, distorting the neon signs that flickered across the street. On his desk, a half-eaten plate of noodles sat forgotten next to his most prized possession - the Dreamcatcher.
It wasn't much to look at - just a sleek silver headset connected to a portable console blinking with soft blue lights. But this little machine was his ticket out of this cramped life. With it, he could step into other people's dreams.
A notification buzzed on his wrist comm. He tapped it, and a message glowed in the air:
"Midnight. Dream Sequence Delta-7. Target: Rajesh Mehra. Payment: 50,000 credits. Don't be late."
Arav sighed. Rajesh Mehra - the billionaire industrialist who supposedly never dreamed. This would be... interesting.
He packed the Dreamcatcher into his worn backpack, threw on his waterproof jacket, and stepped out into the perpetual drizzle of future Mumbai. The air smelled of wet concrete and street food from the vendor downstairs who always gave him extra chutney.
12:15 AM - Mehra Towers, South Mumbai
Arav slipped through the service entrance like a ghost. Security in 2075 was all about retinal scans and DNA checks - but nobody ever watched the old stairwells. He found the maintenance closet on the 45th floor exactly where his source said it would be.
Settling between mops and cleaning bots, he powered up the Dreamcatcher. The familiar hum comforted him. He'd built this device himself, piecing it together from black market parts and outdated military tech. His hands knew every wire, every circuit.
Time to go to work, he thought, slipping the headset on.
The world dissolved into swirling colors. This was always the strangest part - the transition from reality to the dreamscape. It felt like falling through a kaleidoscope.
When his vision cleared, he stood in a library. Not just any library - this was massive, with shelves stretching up into infinity. Rajesh Mehra's dream mind.
"Okay, old man," Arav whispered to himself. "Where do you hide your secrets?"
He moved through the aisles, his footsteps making no sound. Dream libraries were tricky. The books could contain anything from childhood memories to corporate secrets. He needed to find the right section.
That's when he saw her.
A woman stood by a shelf of glowing blue books, dressed in a simple sari that seemed out of place in this grandeur. She was reading a book titled "The Day Everything Changed."
Arav froze. This wasn't part of the dreamscape architecture. Dream constructs didn't read books - they were usually background decorations. This woman felt... real.
She looked up and met his eyes. And smiled.
Before he could react, the dream library began to shake. Books tumbled from shelves. The emergency exit signal flashed in Arav's vision - the dreamer was waking up.
He had to leave. Now.
1:30 AM - Back in his apartment
Arav ripped the headset off, his heart pounding. The data chip in his console glowed green - he'd gotten the financial codes he was paid to steal. But his mind kept returning to the woman in the dream.
Who was she? And how did she see him?
His wrist comm buzzed again. This time, it was an emergency news alert:
"BREAKING: CIB appoints new Dream Crime Division head. Officer Riya Sharma, 28, to lead investigation into dream hacking incidents."
Arav enlarged the hologram. The woman in the photo had sharp, intelligent eyes and wore a CIB uniform with pride. And she looked exactly like the woman he'd just seen in Rajesh Mehra's dream.
The noodles on his desk suddenly seemed very unappetizing. He was in trouble. Deep trouble.
Because if CIB could now enter dreams, and if they already knew what he looked like...
Arav looked out at the raining city. The neon signs seemed less like pretty lights and more like warning signals now. His life as a dream thief had just gotten complicated.
And the scary part? This was only the beginning.