A Timeless Journey (4 page)

The story of my arrival was the main event worldwide and with it there was a concern among the general public, that the time sheet fabric may have been further damaged in this area. The reappearance of the anomaly was blamed to the time travel experiments conducted in the 20
th
century in one of the small islands nearby. It explained in a way, the reason why the wormhole had appeared on the beach the night I decided to go for a walk. Knowing the real reason why the anomaly appeared, made me feel more confident that maybe one day it will reappear again and I would be able to return back home.

My brain felt the need to shut down after being unable to cope with the storm of new information it had received on the first day. I think it was around lunch time when my eyes felt the weight of sleep. At first, I thought to use one of the sleeping spaces, but since I was too tired to figure out how the bed worked, I preferred to remain inside the chair. My body gave up and I fell asleep immediately.

6

The Link’s voice inside my head gently disturbed my sleep by calling my name and letting me know it was time to wake up.

“Scott, you no longer need rest, time to prepare for therapy.”

I opened my eyes and the chair released me onto my feet. I never felt as good as I felt that morning. It was the longest and the best sleep of my life. I had slept for twenty hours straight without the slightest discomfort or disturbance. My body and brain felt relaxed and full of energy. All I needed now was a hot shower and some new clothes and I would be ready to face the unknown.

Reading my thoughts about getting a shower, Link directed me to the personal needs room and once inside, it started to explain what I needed to do. I took my clothes off and stepped inside an egg-shaped chamber, which closed fully once I had entered. I expected this to be a shower, but I was wrong.

Some kind of wet vapour like a dense fog was released and I felt the moisture spread across my skin. My hair and my body as by magic dampened. A nice aroma of carnations mixed with the smell of chocolate, spread around the chamber. Although it was more of a feminine aroma due to the randomness of the machine choice, it was an experience that my nose would never achieve in this primitive reality and furthermore, it left my brain feeling high with excitement.

A few minutes later, the wet steam disappeared and a warm circular air was released, leaving me dry in no time. Those five minutes in the steam wash were the best washing experience I have ever had and the way my body and mind felt afterwards, was something near to a miracle.

As I stood in the middle of the washroom wondering what to do next, a square box appeared out of the wall opposite the personal room entrance at chest height and inside was a tap-like transparent pipe facing upwards with a small sink space around it. Link explained what it was and asked me to stand in front of it and let the pipe reach into my mouth to place the mouthwash solution inside. Not that I was scared, as nothing had seemed harmful in this reality so far and, from what I understood, it was some kind of advanced mouth washing device however, not knowing exactly what to expect made me feel slightly insecure.

The pipe started to rise up towards my face, bending slightly once it was in front of my mouth. I opened my mouth to allow the unknown cleaning product inside. It dropped an olive size jelly texture ball into my mouth and then the pipe retreated. I was given instructions to close my mouth and within three seconds the substance started to expand, rotate and vibrate just like quicksilver, while a nice fresh sensation took over my entire mouth and gums, leaving my mouth feeling fresher and fresher as it continued to clean.

A couple of minutes later the fizz and the movement of this substance started to fade together with its size and I was asked to let it go inside the small sink in the box. I did as requested and from a mass covering the whole of my mouth, it shrank to less than the size of a coffee bean. The box returned to where it came from inside the wall without giving me a chance to see what happened to it. The Link as usual, explained that the used substance was rinsed and discharged together with the remains from the steam wash into the facility's core in the centre of the building.

I stood naked in the middle of the room with the dilemma of whether I should wear what I had from my reality, or wait for something more contemporary to appear as if by magic, as most things seemed to do in this reality so far. The Link, as usual, was always in my head and enabled the wall on my left to move forward. The surface slid open sideways and there was a wardrobe full of high-tech blue suits and paper-thin footwear, which I presumed to be shoes, all the same style and size. Since it all was one size and one design, I took a suit and put it on and, as if by magic, the suit automatically adjusted to my size and the same happened with the footwear.

Once I had dressed, the temperature between my body and the suit changed and I felt a refreshing feeling on the surface of my skin. It was an amazing experience, and with this kind of suit, it didn’t matter how hot or cold was outside, the body temperature would remain exactly the same. All the suits had the facility’s logo stamped on the chest and on the side of one arm. The logo was a yellow circle with the initials IEF printed inside and a triangle over the circle. The footwear was even more astonishing as it wrapped around my feet perfectly and a soft cushioning underneath aroused, making every step feel very comfortable.

I searched for a mirror to see how I looked in the high-tech suit and straightaway, the four walls, the ceiling and the floor turned into a mirror. I could see myself in 3D standing handsomely in the middle. My experience in this reality so far had been one made of dreams, apart the fact that I was locked up and not allowed to leave the premises.

Already on my second day here and I was considering staying. How could I not consider staying with the facilities they had here? The only thought opposing my wishes was the absence of Sophie and my family. I was worried they might think I had mysteriously vanished and were probably presuming I had drowned in the ocean or been kidnaped by someone. The thought of my family and friends suffering due to my disappearance, pained me. I wished I could find a way to let them know I was fine and actually enjoying a better life. However, at that moment, I had neither knowledge nor the means of how to reach them.

I thought of having breakfast just to take my mind away and the feeding box popped out of the floor together with the water box. I took the suggested pills needed for breakfast from the breakfast section of the box and had some morning spring flavoured water. I experienced the smell of a fresh morning spring air after a light rain infused with the smell of different flowers blossoming in the spring as I drank from the glass. In all, it was the best morning experience I have ever had and, not only was I in a good humour, but I was ready to face any challenge brought before me. People in this future must be very happy and relaxed thanks to this kind of advance technology.

Link interrupted my thoughts to inform that I had ten minutes to spare before my guide walked into my living space to escort me to the meeting space. I wondered what was going to happen to me once my guide arrived. I worried I wouldn’t be able to cope with their questions and the high level of intelligence. I worried that I would never be able to leave this place and I would end up being locked in here for the rest of my life.

The main entrance door slid open and a girl in her mid-twenties entered the apartment. She politely introduced herself and asked me to follow her.

“My name is global law keeper Riviera Johnson. I will be your personal guide. If you have no objections, please follow me.”

The time somehow slowed down as I observed her. Riviera was wearing a grey full-body suit with red lines on the side of her arms and legs. The suit showed her body lines perfectly. Her shiny angel face covered in an apparent smooth light-brown skin, smiled. Time hadn’t slowed down. It was just an illusion generated in my brain due to the reaction her beauty had on me. Her right hand instinctively touched her dark hair which was short in length and shaped to suit her perfectly. Clearly she felt uncomfortable of my prying eyes. How could I not look at such a beauty? She had an unbelievable sweet face with features showing a mixture of all races on earth, as did all the others I had seen so far during my short stay.

Although I was in love with Sophie, I couldn’t help being physically attracted to this girl. I don’t know what it was, but in this future the human race had evolved so much and everyone looked perfect and sexually tempting. Perhaps this beauty was due to the fact that no one ate unnecessary substances, just the vitamins and minerals the human body needed. Of course, the shower experience in the steam room, which took care of your skin in a very smooth and delicate way, would also make these good looks possible.

After realising that my pry had caused awkwardness between us, I managed to apologise and followed Riviera to the elevator or ‘the cube’ as they called it. The cube was in fact a white cube-shaped room with chairs around and had the ability to travel, not only vertically, but horizontally as well, as I found out after travelling up the building and sideways around the floor.

Riviera directed me to a medium sized room which was significantly higher than the place I stayed in the building. She asked me to take a seat as she pointed to one of the two chairs. I sat without asking any questions, feeling a little guilty for staring at her earlier. Riviera and this other guy, who was already waiting in the room, stood behind me. The wall in front of me turned into a giant screen and five people of different age and sex, who were sitting in separate rooms, appeared on the screen and introduced their presence one by one.

Not a single name registered with my brain. I was too preoccupied with worrying thoughts about my future. One of them, a man in his fifties spoke for all of them.

“We wish you a warm welcome. We are hopeful you are going to enjoy the new experience in this reality once you learned about our way of life. This is an initial interview to establish how you arrived here, what your plans are for the future and what will happen next, please tell.” His tone of voice was welcoming and demanding at the same time.

“First of all, I want to thank you for the hospitality. As for me being here, I can assure you it wasn’t my intention. I decided to go for a walk on the beach since I couldn’t sleep. At around three in the morning an anomaly appeared out of nowhere near me. Out of curiosity, accidentally I stepped in and from the year 2012 I found myself here in the future. The anomaly disappeared behind me before I had a chance to return to my time. After being stuck here I…”

The same middle aged man interrupted me. “Allow me to stop you here. We are aware what happened next. Can you confirm you didn’t purposely search for the anomaly before you arrived here?”

“No, I didn’t even know if this kind of thing was possible!” I replied sharply.

“Please tell us about your future plans.”

Their tone of voice sounded controlling and offensive to me and I started to dislike their presence, but after all, I had no choice but to answer their questions.

“My plan is to return home, to my time I mean. As much as I like being here, I have to admit I miss my family and friends.”

After my response, there was a pause and then the same man answered.

“The anomaly which brought you here is an uncontrolled event. It appears and disappears without a known pattern. This is due to a damaged space-time gravity field which keeps each parallel universe and many other past and future universes separated. The balance of time, space and gravity in this particular area has been upset for some time by irresponsible experiments of 20
th
century, consequently leading to these anomalies. I am aware most of this information is new to you. There are an infinite number of parallel universes created by a specific rearrangement of time in conjunction with space and helped by an impulse of gravitational alteration. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if you try to return to that specific reality you call home. You would only be missing in one of the realities. This kind of time travel is not a precise science.”

I found it hard to fully follow the scientific logic behind multiple realities, however, the way he explained this to me, for some reason made sense without being able to understand. I think it had to do with the way they chose the words in this reality.

To illustrate their explanation, I was shown a Holo-file put together by the board. This file, mostly made of old documents and photographs, proved that I was present in the old records of the year 2038 when I am supposed to be fifty years old. However, most of the information contained in these files was scrambled into unknown and unreadable symbols. I was unable to steal any specific information about my life in the future. I guess they were careful not to interfere with the decisions I would take along the way.

After showing me the old records, the same man continued to explain what happens next.

“The panel has officially requested the main government system to legally contain you within the IEF. You have to be kept away from society until you learn everything there is to know about the way of life in this reality. You also have to understand the concept of life in the 26
th
century. Only then, would the main system grant your release and allow your integration into the free world.”

According to the rules of this reality, I had to go through numerous tests to allow the main system create a personalized profile of me before it decided I was ready to be released into the society. I had to learn first how everything worked in this reality and how to accept it without compromise. As for my idea of returning back home, they didn’t seem keen on it. The only woman in the panel made this clear to me.

“We would suggest you should try and settle for this reality. You have to choose the benefits of living in a much better world than yours. Returning to your world may result in a messy situation given the unpredictability of the anomaly should it occur again. Nevertheless, I have to stress we will respect any decision you will make without reservation.”

“Thank you, I haven’t decided yet.” I only said this to put their mind at ease. Little did I understand at the time, it didn’t matter what I said, all it mattered was the way I thought and felt.

Since my apartment was going to be my private living space and in this reality the individual privacy was immensely valued and respected, it was decided I would spend my intellectual enhancement therapy time away from my living space. I was going to travel to this exact office on level 28 from Monday to Thursday.