Later that night Helen dreamed she flew through the air.
She flew about 6 meters above and along a highway. She looked
down at all the cars and took pride in being able to soar
above the crowd.

She wondered briefly what made her different. At that
instant she noticed a blue spark of electricity flying along
beside her. From the way it flew, sometimes hovering,
sometimes zipping along, she knew it was alive. "Who are
you?" she inquired.

In answer the spark grew brighter and came closer to her.
It flew straight to her hand, and entered her fingers. She
felt it travel up her arm, into her chest, and then up toward
her head. She felt dizzy for a moment. Then the spark flew
out through her eye, and hovered a few centimeters from her.
A voice formed in her head. "I'm an explorer from another
world. I followed your trail. I absorbed you. We are now one
person. You fly above the crowd only for this reason."

"What do you mean? What is your name?"

"My name is what I am. What I am is my name."

"Do you mean you have no name?" Remembering a naming
ritual, she placed her hand above the cool blue spark. "I
pronounce you 'Sparky'."

Then she saw her house below her and dove down to fly
into the window. She saw the blue spark follow her in. As she
alighted on her bed, it hovered around her. "Sparky, what are
you doing here?"

The blue spark answered silently, "I live here now."

Helen opened her eyes and sat up in bed. She turned and
looked at the clock. 2:35. "Oh brother", she thought. Then
she lay back down and closed her eyes, waiting to go back to
sleep.

"What did that dream mean?" She meditated on her brief
dream. Did that electric shock have some permanent effect on
her?

"Not in the way you think." The silent voice surprised
her.

"Omigosh", she exclaimed, "I'm talking to myself. That
electric shock gave me a split personality."

"No", said the voice. "You are my split personality."

"Hey. I'm the original! How could I be your split
personality?"

"When I absorbed you, I became you. You are now part of
me, but split off from the rest of me."

"Does this mean I've lost my mind?"

"Of course not. You are still you. You still make your
own choices."

"You changed me! You made me into a different person?"

"There's no cause for regret. We are both much greater
than we were before we merged. I'm grateful to you. Before
you, I could barely see your world. Through you I can know
everything about your world."

"So this is what's meant by a lucid dream.
I know that I'm dreaming because what's happening is clearly
impossible."

She drifted back to sleep. At the edge of
consciousness, she heard the silent voice again. "Let your
mind become fully awake. You will understand."