Meeting with Urik

I wait on the corner of Little Collins Street and Gurners Lane. At 20:45 exactly a man approaches. He's slim with disheveled brown hair and a slightly odd gait in his stride. He's wearing an tattered overcoat and scuffed leather shoes.

"Xul" he says, "I'm Urik, come quickly". He swiftly turns on his heel and strides off into the night. I launch off after him. We cross Queen Street and turn left into Mackillop Street and then right down a dingy laneway, past a dilapidated van, and up to a doorway even more dubious than the one Furriskey lead me to. I quickly manage to take a photo before Urik is pulling at my sleeve.



Inside is a small, dark bar, with alcoves all over, people talking by candlelight, Antonio Carlos Jobim playing on the soundsystem. Urik leads me to an empty booth and then heads to the bar. He returns and hands me a gin and tonic. Just as I'm wondering how he knew what I wanted, I look up at the bar and see the same Herman Munster-esque barman from my night with Furriskey. He releases a slight smile my way. Urik has bought himself a Campari and soda.

"This is a great bar" I tell him, "I can't believe I've never heard of it - what's it called?"

He replies that it's not exactly open to the public. It's a private venue for a particular group of people, and that it will all be explained in due course. Still, I can't shrug off a feeling that I've been there before. I quickly piece it together and explain to Urik.

"A few years ago I had a dream that I visited these premises. I remember it vividly. The next morning I went looking for it in the place I'd dreamt of, and there was nothing there. Then last night I dreamt about that dream - I dreamt that I never did go looking for the location, but that it was part of the initial dream. Now, I have no idea whether I went looking for it or not. In fact, I can't be sure if I ever had the initial dream or whether I dreamt that I had it last night. A dream of a dream".

"Dreams are not to be discounted Xul." says Urik, "They offer a link to our past and our future". I ask him if he can explain a little more. "When we dream, we are in contact with future and past versions of ourselves who are also, at that time, dreaming. When you dream tonight, there will be past versions of yourself contacting you, a future version of themselves. Inadvertently you will transmit information about yourself to these past selves, just as you will receive information from future selves".

I told him that I don't understand what the messages mean, they seem abstract and irrational. "The connection isn't always clear" he says, "communication takes place in garbled signs, dreams are like convoluted chat-rooms across time, in a language of symbolism and iconography - signs deeply embedded in our subconscious".

"This may seem strange" I say, "but I once had a dream that Avery Cardoza was a sixteenth century Portuguese explorer".

"There will be a purely logical explanation for that" replied Urik, "and I'm sure it will become apparent somewhere down the track".

We discuss the golden age of Portuguese exploration for some time, before moving onto the fall of the Aviz dynasty, Salazar's Estado Novo, and the coup of 1974. Eventually Urik checks his watch and decides it's time we called it a night. "Tonight has been interesting" he says, "I'd like to catch up again, we still have much to discuss"

"But what about the warning you sent me, about avoiding John Furriskey?" I ask.

"Furriskey is away in Monaco at present" Urik replies. "He won't be back until the 21st of April. His men are too subservient to act on their own, so I doubt you'll be at risk before then. We'll catch up again soon, and there will be time to explain more about why we contacted you".