I dreamt that a modern-day President of the United States was confined to a wheelchair. He did not rely on an ever-attending aide who carried 'the football', a briefcase that gave him launch authorization for America's nuclear arsenal. No, he had that capability secretly installed on a console on his wheelchairs. I say wheelchairs 'plural' because there were several, which were maintained by about 5 good-spirited military engineers.
I was one.
I dreamt that a console unit had a communications problem that stumped me, so one afternoon (against every regulation) I took it to a hotel and continued to work on it there. While listening to news radio, I learned that hostile forces had landed in Center City Philadelphia (don't ask me why). Plugging into the phone jack (dial-up! I was using dial-up!!) I used the console's modem to tap into a surveillance satellite for a real-time picture of what was happening. It was clear that the hostiles had outmaneuvered the US troops sent to contain them and were pushing outwards.Fearing what would happen if they did, I activated a low-yield tactical nuke, targeted them and launched it. The missile successfully took-out the hostile threat - as well as nearby American troops and civilians and destroying most of the 30th Street area.
Rather than this being seen as a good thing (obviously), it sent the world into a panic. The President did not order the missile launch and every American intelligence agency was scrambling to find out how it happened.The weight of what I had done finally settled on me. I couldn't tell my colleagues without forcing them to turn me in or make them accessories if they didn't. I was a nervous wreck and the last thing that happened before I woke-up was seeing that the Secret Service had traced the modem call back to the hotel switchboard. It was just a matter of time before they learned where the call originated from, and who rented the room.
Now...that's where the dream ended...but I have an idea what happened next...I imagine that rather than face-up to what I did, I compounded my initial cowardice by 1) snatching a bargaining chip by going back into the secure network and locking-out EVERYONE, leaving me with sole access to America's nukes and 2) going on the run with the console, not realizing that this makes me a target for both friendly and hostile interests.
On one hand, I woke in a panic. On the other, I wanna write the hell outta this story :) Tom Clancy can kiss my butt.