A Thoughtless Dream

Marcus closed his eyes, and chanted "Ommm."  He was in the meditation room struggling to think of nothing.  If he could only succeed with clearing his mind, he could have some privacy, something that was just his own.

He focused on the darkness behind his eyelids.  It was a nice contrast with the all-white room.  He thought he remembered his grandfather saying that crazy people used to be locked away in all-white rooms with nothing in them.

Maybe that's what this was.  He was crazy, and this was where he was going to find that out.  Thinking, thinking, thinking.  Pretend the thoughts are balloons floating away.

He opened his eyelids slightly, and there was a candle in front of him.  Stare at the flame.  "Ommm."  Fire dancing.  Hawaii. No, no, no.  Marcus, focus.  Clear your mind.  Breathe in 1-2-3-4.  Breathe out 1-2-3-4-5-6.  Why do you breathe out longer than you breathe in?  Thinking again.  It's impossible.  Maybe he should just give up on the whole thing.  No, he could do this.  He had to do this.

He took a deep breath in and held it.  Nothing.  Nothing.  Nothing.

"Time's up."  He heard the electronic voice, and the room changed back into his living room with its tan walls and paintings and pseudo fireplace.

"You are hungry," she informed him.  "You want steak, but that's beyond your means."

"You don't have to remind me.  If you're going to tell me I'm broke, I might as well be living with a human."

"You desire a human?"

"No, no, no.  I just want to be alone with my thoughts."

"I don't understand."

"Is there something in your programming that will allow you to shut down and not know my every thought?"

"Only the government can shut me down.  And no, you can't think fast enough to overload my circuits."

"That's so annoying.  I have no privacy.  I wish I was living in the olden days of the early twenty-first century when people could think things that nobody else knew."

"Unfortunately, I cannot fulfill that request.  I can, however, load an episode of Black Mirror from 2011."

"I don't need to watch it.  I'm living it."

Marcus' stomach growled, and a hamburger appeared as the room turned into a dining room.

"What if I told you I didn't want this?"

"But you thought of it."

"So?  I thought of you shutting down, but that hasn't happened."

Marcus begins eating the hamburger, and for a brief moment, his thoughts disappear as he enjoys its succulent taste.  Maybe that was the key.  Never stop eating, but what do you do when you're full?

"It's not possible."

"What?"

"To continuously eat."

"How about a self-induced coma?  Could you arrange that?"

"I can arrange for you to sleep."

"Forever?"

"You know that 10 hours is the maximum time allowed."

"Okay.  Put me out for 10 hours then."

Suddenly the room became a bedroom, and Marcus was in a dream world with no thoughts.