Silly request

InDesign's Control Panel is designed for the top filling all the way across. It has most of the same features as the docked side panels (but not all). Also, if you look on the right end of the Control panel, you will see a gear icon that allows you to customize what you wish to show on the Control panel. If you hide some unused features, it allows room to show other features. This is only limited by your monitor pixel count (and resolution setting).

You can dock panels horizontally, but they will float

For the tools, see that little icon to the left of "x" (check the screenshot, I've added), go ahead and click that a few times. Edit: the tools panel has to be undocked to give you all the options.

Definitely not a silly request in my opinion. I'm a trainer and I start every class talking about how to set up a workspace so that it supports your workflow and doesn't get in your way.

You can dock your panels on the left and right side of your screen by dragging them to the edge – your cursor needs to hover over the edge—and you'll see a blue vertical line, indicating that when you release your mouse, whatever panel you have selected will dock in that position. You won't see the blue line though, until your cursor is over the edge. 

Once you get your workspace organized the way you like it, take a moment to save it using Window > Workspace > New Workspace. Once saved if you move things around while you're working, you can just use Reset Workspace from the same menu to put everything back where you like it.

~Barb

You cannot put them across the top but you can stick them to the left and right sides of the screen.