Awake

Rebecca Glass as she appears in Awake

Parasaurolophus Doctor

Sardonic Doctor (Awake)

Attractive Man at Cafe

Blonde Girl With Ponytail (Awake)

Daisy Top

Hybrid Officer

Deceased Firefighter (Awake)

Mary

Specist Cashier (Awake)

Middle-Aged Woman (Awake)

Young Dilophosaurus (Awake)

Woman in Blue Blazer

Head Doctor (Awake)

Interrogator (Awake)

Bo Steel

Parker Blackstripes

Susan DeNim

Lionel's Wife

Judge (Awake)

Lionel's Children

Natalie's Mother

Conversing Dinosaur 1

Conversing Dinosaur 2

Blonde Woman on TV (Awake)

Unnamed Pachyrhinosaurus (Awake)

Awake was a short chapter story.

## Plot

Rebecca Glass, a former scientist turned pentaceratops, is being cured of her non-sentience by three doctors. They inject her with a healing serum via an I.V. cord. One of the doctors makes sarcastic comments towards her during the procedure, and his superior scolds him. He is sent out of the room after continuing this behaviour. Rebecca reacts to the serum with fear, slowly regaining consciousness. She wonders why she is naked and struggles to interpret the doctors’ words. She manages to speak. The doctors tell her she’s been unconscious for two years. She begins to remember her past, and upon suffering violent bursts of memory, flees the room and attempts to escape the hospital. She stops when she sees her reflection in a glass door. She realizes that she’s a dinosaur, and the doctor who previously dismissed her tells her it’s her own fault. The female doctor, revealed to be a human-turned-dinosaur, attempts to comfort her, but she lashes out with specist remarks. After being provoked further, she tries to attack, but is incapacitated by the hospital security guards. The parasaurolophus doctor confesses that she now feels no need to forgive Rebecca for her crimes.

After being sent away from the hospital, Rebecca is interrogated. She reflects on the value of her actions, and the unfair criticism she has received. A man arrives to interrogate her. He offers her accommodations, and she asks for prescription glasses and temporary dinosaur clothing. When she mentions that she intends to cure herself, the man insists that she will have no access to any scientific tools. He tells her she will be put on trial, and that her estate is partly under the government’s control. She asks where she was being kept for the past two years, and he informs her that she was living on Rainbow Ranch alongside other victims. She is horrified by this, and even more concerned that she will be watched by the government in the future. He reminds her of her involvement with the Triple Eleven, as well as her actions against her associate and lover, Bo Steel, whom she changed into a dinosaur in an attempt to make the transformations she staged seem random. She feels guilty about her betrayal, and asks how he’s doing. The man tells her that Bo died a year prior when doctors tried to cure him of his non-sentience. The man then informs her that none of the hybrids who confronted her about her acts of terrorism took legal action against her, and that Parker Blackstripes and Susan DeNim in particular have no quarrel with her. He gives her a box containing Parker’s phone number, but she refuses to call him. She soon loses her temper, and is restrained by two guards. They bring her to a holding room. She spends the night there, cold and afraid.

The next morning, a blonde girl with a ponytail opens Rebecca’s cell. She is shoved inside a black van and brought to the courthouse. While she waits inside for her lawyer, she tries on her new clothing and practices her debate skills. She is soon distracted when she notices her reflection. She realizes her lawyer has entered when he tells her she is a pentaceratops. She is put off by the fact that he is a hybrid. He introduces himself as Lionel Hartman. He attempts to discuss legal strategy, but the discussion becomes heated on Rebecca’s side, and she attempts to attack him, failing. He remarks that she is definitely not human.

Rebecca is taken into the court. The jury seems bored and passive. The first witness is a hybrid who had been attacked a year and a half ago. Lionel attempts to dismiss his testimony as contradictory. The next witness, named Natalie, recounts how her mother fell victim to Rebecca’s formula, becoming non-sentient for a year. The trial continues until Lionel interrogates Rebecca. She replies with an anti-dinosaur remark, going against his advice to stay civil. She continues to disobey Lionel until he brings up Bo, throwing her off. He forces her to describe her betrayal, as well as the nature of their personal relationship, and she eventually begins to cry. Finally, Lionel reveals that Bo screamed Rebecca’s name upon being injected with the cure for non-sentience. Rebecca remains deep in thought for the remainder of the trial, feeling responsible for her lover’s death. She continues to sob, but is ignored by everyone in the room.

Rebecca is led away from the court with a rope. She asks her lawyer for advice, and he tells her she’s free. She tries to ask him more questions, but she is once again loaded into a van. She is brought to a library, where she is expected to live and work. She is unable to leave the city because of a tracking implant. While searching through her old belongings, she finds a purple scarf that was a gift from Bo. When she finds a locket holding a potential cure for her dinosaur shape, she decides to avoid refining it while she is being surveilled. She begins her job as a librarian. Her first customer is a young dilophosaurus. She treats him with hostility, and he leaves, confused. She begins reading a John Steinbeck novel to pass the time, but is interrupted by a middle-aged woman, who seems dismissive of Rebecca, despite her offered warmth. When the woman is ready to check out, Rebecca has trouble using the computer. She tells the woman to take the books on the honour system, and informs her that she’s not really a dinosaur. The woman discredits her intelligence and leaves. Rebecca begins to read again, but finds she is hungry. She is nervous in public, but manages to find a nearby shop. She tries to buy a salad, but realizes she needs more than one. When the cashier tells her three salads cost thirty dollars, she asks if there are dinosaur discounts available. He belittles her, and she leaves without buying anything. She returns to the library and cries.

Five years later, Rebecca observes a man at a cafe, hoping to ask him out. She has given up on curing herself. When she attempts to approach the man, she is interrupted by a loud noise. The New World City Tower has been struck by a plane. She runs to the building and witnesses the deaths of jumpers and one fireman in their path. In shock, she wonders how she can help the victims, but a human woman begins yelling at her, provoked by nothing. She is in turn interrupted by a *Pachyrhinosaurus*. As the scene grows more chaotic, Rebecca wonders why everyone is fighting. She is beaten by the woman who shouted at her, and she flees to an alley. When she is ready to come out, the building begins to collapse. Rebecca is covered in ash. Breaking down, she retreats to the library and weeps.

Seventeen years later, Rebecca is forty-six and still a dinosaur. She has been managing to live this way, but is afraid of dying alone. She recalls a memory from her period of non-sentience. Bo had freed her from her pen one night, seemingly aware of her identity although he was also non-sentient. He led her to a weeping willow similar to one they had passed on a date years prior. Struck by nostalgia, Rebecca runs out of library and makes her way to the park where she and Bo had seen the tree. She locates the willow and finds that a rock they carved their initials into is still present. She is confronted by a hybrid cop, who assures her that he means her no harm. He suggests that she take the rock home, and she accepts his offer. On her way back to the library, she encounters Lionel. She is shocked to learn that he is married and has children, and that his boasting in the courtroom was a fabrication. She thanks him for defending her in court, and he informs her that he’s expecting his fourth child in February. He offers to keep in contact and wishes her a merry Christmas. Rebecca brings the carved rock to her library. Months pass, and she tries to overcome her bigotry. When a new customer, Blauna Blackstripes, enters her library, she attempts to be friendly, but comes off as awkward. Even so, she decides that it’s a start.

## Trivia

* The number eleven appears often in the text, referring to the letter K which is used by a prominent real-life hate group.
* It really should be spelled "speciesist."