TIMOTHY ZAHN “The Dreamsender.” First appeared in Analog SF, July 1980. Collected in Cascade Point and Other Stories (Blue Jay Books, hardcover, 1986).

   One of Timothy Zahn’s earliest stories, its leading character a fellow named Jefferson Morgan who has the rare ability to contact people through their dreams. He has been using this talent in a career he has built for himself as something in the nature of  a private eye. In this tale which falls on the border of science fiction and just a tinge of fantasy, he is hired by a woman trying to find her husband, who has in essence, disappeared.

   The task, as it happens, is easy. The husband is on the moon. That she knows, but in one short phone call (or the equivalent) she has had with him, he was very evasive, and in a followup conversation she has had with his superior officer, she is told that he is on a secret expedition, and that while he is fine, she should not try to contact him again.

   This is not enough information for her, certainly, and Morgan allows himself the opportunity to go to the moon to learn more. (Most of his cases do not lend themselves to his actually leaving his home or office.) What follows from here is a bit of puzzle, one that’s equally clever. straight forward and easily solved, told in an easy to read style that sucks the reader in from page one on.

   You might think that Zahn could have used the character several times over – his ability is actually more interesting than this story itself – but he did not. This makes sense, though. Once he’s cracked the case, he’s set up for life.