Dream shards. Hologram

I had a very interesting dream last night, the kind that stays with you even when you have to wake up at 8 to walk the dog.

I have finally started watching Star Trek Voyager after rewatching almost every episode from The Next Generation (yes, I had been putting this off for a looong time). The character I am most impressed with is of course the holographic doctor, since he is surprisingly the roundest character around.

One of the doctor's abilities as a self-conscious hologram was to make himself solid or ethereal at will. Long introduction? Don't worry, we'll get right back to our dream.

In my dream, I was at home with my mother talking in our "blue room", when suddenly an elderly woman with white hair appeared next to us. She was smiling and friendly, however we were terrified and couldn't make any sense of it. She finally led us to believe that she was just a ghost and I was relieved when my hand went right through hers as through smoke. Knowing what she was put us at ease.

As happens with most dreams, the setting changed radically and I found myself in a venue similar to a train station, with lots of staircases leading to different levels. I was still talking to the old woman, when another figure appeared next to us. This time, it was my father, who is no longer among us. I felt a flurry of feelings - happiness, apprehension, doubt. I thought he was another ghost.

But he touched my hand and it was as solid as any other human, so we hugged and talked and talked. I must have also cried a little at seeing him again.

My dream skipped another chapter and I was walking around the stairs on my own, feeling a little uneasy. Every now and then, there were big electricity plugs with lots of cables in them.

My mind put two and two together, however I did not want to believe it. I went to a student whom I knew to have some IT knowledge and asked him "You have good knowledge of technology, right? Please tell me if there are any holographic projectors plugged in around here?"

He didn't say anything, just went to a cord and unplugged it and my father, who was looking at me smiling, disappeared in an instant. I knew then that he had been only a hologram.

I thought a bit about this and how my dreams work. It is as if two parts of my mind compete against each other, one trying to deceive the other and the second doing its best to unravel the former's hidden ploys. I have partial control of both sides, especially the latter, and I can try to turn the dream in a direction I want, but sometimes they both seem to have a mind of their own. And it is not really that bad.