[ WP ] Humans have found a way to record and replay dreams . Recently you found a collection of recorded dreams that focused on you .

Right then and there I made it my mission in life to somehow find a way to make Arthur Maxwell, HR ass extraordinaire, die a slow, painful death. 
 
 If he hadn ’ t been such a jerk in the interview, perhaps it wouldn ’ t be so bad now. He ’ d been looking over my resume and had come to the section of “ Honors and Awards ”. 
 
 “ Youngest Academy Award winning screenwriter in 2075? ” he ’ d laughed, the world ’ s largest Adam ’ s apple jiggling in his throat. “ How ’ s that working out for you? ” 
 
 I ’ d kept my cool because I needed the job. Sure, Dream Scout wasn ’ t ideal for a writer like me, but it came with insurance, and God knew I needed it. Or at least, Sara and the baby needed it. But it amounted to the same thing. 
 
 In the end I got the job. Scout is mostly a field position, interviewing candidates over the course of a few months to see if they ’ d be good matches for the studios. Watching their records, giving them creativity tests, none of it really involved going into the office too much. Which suited me fine. I hadn ’ t needed to see Asswell. Until today, that is. 
 
 The dreams were up on the TV for all to see—my supervisor, Cheryl, the head of programming, Leon, and, of course, Asswell. They were all laughing. 
 
 “ Can we just all agree this is inappropriate, ” I started, looking away from the screen showing a candidate ’ s version of me making an absolute idiot of myself trying to convince her that we were soul mates from another time or something stupid like that. The candidate, like most people, looked like the idealized version of herself in the dream—clearer skin, lighter weight, without the unfortunate resting bitch face she had in real life. I, on the other hand, was portrayed as a scruffy, wide-eyed, dirty fool. In the last dream record at least, she ’ d given me a makeover. In this one though, she decided that the new and improved me was worth going to bed with. 
 
 “ This is great TV, that ’ s what this is, ” Leon laughed, pointing to the monitor. “ There ’ s no way we can just ignore this. The ratings would be through the roof. You ’ ll be famous. ” 
 
 “ Look, I don ’ t want to be famous, ” I looked over to Cheryl pleadingly. “ I just came to you to request that someone else be assigned to this candidate. I wasn ’ t even looking for the full review. This candidate is still at the start of the vetting process. She ’ s nowhere near air time yet. ” 
 
 Cheryl looked at me as if I were crazy. “ Are you kidding? This is exactly what Dream Scouts do—they find candidates who produce creative content, and nurture that content until it ’ s ready for air time. You ’ ve done your job. This is creative content that ’ s ready for air time. Why would assign someone else when this is ready to go? ” 
 
 I started to protest, but the sounds of moaning from the television drowned me out. Turning down the volume, I cursed myself for ever thinking that working for cable would be a good idea. They ’ d never get away with showing this stuff on network TV. 
 
 Desperate, I appealed to my last hope—Asswell. “ This has got to be some sort of breach of privacy. Don ’ t I have rights or something about my likeness being portrayed? ” 
 
 “ Oh yes, ” Asswell nodded, greasy hair flopping back and forth. My spirits rose and for a split second I considered calling him Arthur. But only for a split second. 
 
 “ As a private citizen, you certainly have those rights. ” Asswell continued. “ But, Leon, Cheryl, you ’ ll recall last year I designed those new waivers for Dream Scouts so we don ’ t miss out on the chance to air content like this. You waived those rights the moment you joined the studio. ” 
 
 The others smiled, victorious. “ I don ’ t think there ’ s anything left to talk about here, ” Leon announced, getting up. “ Keep nurturing the candidate kid—this could be primetime when we air out next season ’ s shows. ” 
 
 Cheryl left too. “ Good work kid, ” she said, patting me on the back. 
 
 It was just me and Asswell. He leered at me, rewinding the record. “ Maybe I should just watch one more time, just to make sure this is covered by our contract, of course. ” 
 
 That was when I made it my mission in life to somehow find a way to make Arthur Asswell, HR pervert extraordinaire, die a slow, painful death. In the interim though, I exited the room, wondering how exactly I was going to tell Sara that I was now the star of a soft-core porno.
