A Timeless Journey (9 page)

12

The global law keepers Emze landed in front of a skyscraper called ‘The Dolphin Residence’, not far from where I was picked up when I arrived. It was the building where my new apartment was going to be. The building was owned by the local government of the Laguna City, where I had chosen to reside. The local government system charged rent on the daily basis for living in one of their apartments via the PBM.

Laguna City had taken its name from the lagoon nearby and it was founded by the islanders who had fled the populated areas due to the fear of nuclear and chemical attacks. Looking at how majestic the Laguna city had become, it was hard to believe it had born on the grounds of a refugee camp during the last world war.

When the last war started, the majority of the island’s population took refuge in the vast forested areas, hiding away from the cities and towns with the hope to survive exposure from atomic and biological weapons. When the war ended, the majority of inhabited cities and towns were contaminated with radioactive waste or poisonous chemicals and it was unsafe to return. Consequently, the ones that had survived by fleeing their homes settled in the improvised camps where they had taken refuge.

In 26
th
century, thanks to the white sands, all year round natural summer temperatures and its geographical position in the Caribbean, Laguna city had become a favourite living destination for those with good jobs in the megacities and cities along the east coast of what used to be the United States, but now known just as the North American continent.

The cost of an apartment in Laguna city was slightly higher than in most mainland cities. Link assured me that with the kind of salary I was going to earn from the New York job, I would be able to afford living here. Until I started earning next week, I had to use the credit I had earned for my three months of being confined up in the IEF.

I stood between the two thin monitors on both sides of the main entrance and this time, thanks to the personal bio microchip, the doors slid open sideways and I walked into the lobby. These thin sheets were there to register every visitor and make sure everyone who entered had access rights. Once I set foot inside the building I froze, amazed by the surreal surroundings. My heart started racing from excitement. I couldn’t believe I was going to live in such an amazing place.

The main entrance lobby was thirty feet high, circling around the facilities core. The huge space between the facility’s core and the outer round wall – if you could call it a wall – was made of the same white smooth material as in the place I had been locked up for months. The floor projected the ocean surface and it felt as if I was walking on water. As for the outer wall, it projected a live view from the depth of the ocean showing different species of amphibians swimming around. The whole interior gave the impression I was walking inside a massive aquarium brighten up by the white light projected from the ceiling.

The Link directed me to the main reception where I was to choose the apartment I fancied to live in. Looking confused, since there was no reception, just a six foot tall transparent virtual screen; I walked towards it and stretched my arm with the Link device on it. The screen lit blue and a 3D plan of the building appeared in front of me, showing 24 levels, a total of 1200 floors.

There were several empty apartments on different levels to choose from. I fancied something not too high, but not too low either, so I chose a sea view apartment on level 16, floor 785. A message appeared on the screen welcoming my arrival at the address:

Ocean View Strip

The Dolphin Residence

L16  Ap35G

Laguna City

Grid 51

Apartment G was the seventh apartment out of ten on floor 35 of the level 16 and Grid 51 was the space between the parallels and meridians of that area.

Once the Link synchronized with the desk screen to register the new information, I became the newest resident of the building. There were no keys or paperwork, just the usual thumbprint and the virtual access through the Link device. Once this quick process ended, I then took the cube to my new apartment.

It was when I entered the apartment that the real surprise hit me. The space I had been living in the last three months was half the size of this apartment, a very basic space and rather stupidly, I had thought all apartments were like the ones in the IEF, when in fact I had been staying in a modern prison cell. Unlike the space in the IEF, this apartment was a lot more spacious, furnished and with more options operated by modern equipment which I still had to understand.

The whole apartment space was divided in two sub-floors, with living space and dining space in the lower floor and the restrooms and personal needs room in the top half of the apartment. The architecture and the décor around and on the vertical surfaces made it look like a proper cosy modern home.

The entrance became invisible once I walked in. Since I had never been here before, I had no idea on which side was the ocean view. At this moment the top half of one of the walls started to slide from left to right and the horizon line between the sky and the ocean glazing from the sun, slowly appeared in front of me. Being this high up, made the view literally a breath-taking one. The lights in the room had dimmed gradually as the wall slid aside and a see-through blue shield impeded the outside air to penetrate the room. After fulfilling the purpose of showing me which side the ocean was, the wall slid slowly back to the previous position.

The living space was twice as big as the one I had lived in the last three months. It had a spacious U-shaped grey sofa, if you could call it a sofa, three gravity rest-chairs and several cubic-shaped tables which covered the whole surface in the middle of the sofa. The height of each table could be adjusted independently with the help of the Link depending where you were sitting.

The whole of the house had a three dimensional sound system which meant the music was played from all surfaces and gave the impression you were inside a music box. When I had a chance to listen to some modern music, I can assure you, each note sounded even better than the studio where the music was recorded.

Each square table had a ‘party mode’ where a drinks gadget would appear in the middle from the inside of the structure. The drinks pump, as it was called, wasn’t free and would charge the person who required a drink rather than the host. Protection from being financially abused by friends at a party was one of the perks of living in a just world and also controlled vigorously who drank what and how much. 

The kitchen space together with the dining space was a feature that I had missed in the last few months at the facility and in this apartment they were in a separate space as big as the living room. The kitchen part of the room had a square cooking cube-shaped device, all made of some kind of indestructible glass, about three feet tall and divided into four equal compartments which looked like ovens.

An L-shaped counter all in black with blue and red light lines around it seemed to be attached to the walls and surrounded the cooker. The cube-shaped device wasn’t only a cooking apparatus, but appeared to be for organic food preparation as well, where one was able to wash, cut and grind anything thanks to the numerous settings of the machine without the need of making the hands dirty. This cube-shaped device was called ‘molecular cooker’ and was a technology discovered in the last two hundred years.

On the opposite end of the kitchen, was the dining area. The dining area was kept separate from the kitchen thanks to an automated sliding thin partition which came out of the side wall. This partition not only separated dining table from the kitchen area, just in case the host didn’t fancy the guests seeing the meal being prepared, but also turned it into a booth where you could choose the image and the ambiance you desired for the occasion. It was a private restaurant eating booth and very handy for a quiet romantic dinner with someone special. The wall screen technology seemed to be a popular feature in the 26
th
century.

In the upper floor of the apartment there was only one main bedroom and that too was double the size of the one I had before. This room had a bigger bed and a hidden walk-in wardrobe the size of one of four walls. The only way someone could see the wardrobe with their naked eye, was by switching off entirely the Holo projection, or asking Link to open it.

Here at this point I feel the need to explain that all the wall surfaces had virtual pictures and paintings, or live stream of some place all the time, depending on the settings. The projections I found in the apartment were part of the random general settings. The resident was able to change what to show in the apartment’s walls by accessing an application on Holo. If the Holo was switched off completely, the lights disappeared and the walls looked bare, covered simply in a white half-transparent plastic sheet and anyone was able to see the lines where most of the utility units were hidden. 

The other rest room was smaller than the main bedroom, but nevertheless spacious with plenty of space to move around. As I found out from Link, it wasn’t just a second bedroom as I had previously thought about the one in the IEF. This was a privacy room. A privacy room in a 26
th
century apartment was the place where devices such as the PBM and the Link didn’t fully function as a thought-reader, thanks to the technology applied to the walls and ceiling cover. Inside this room, Link had limited powers.

Inside the privacy room, an individual could hide from the system and enjoy its private thoughts without being registered in the database unless the thoughts were unlawful which would switch the privacy technology off and automatically trigger an official recording.

The bed in this room had some special features for the needs of consummating a carnal relationship. It had the ability to block the main system recording or using it against you, due to the various and curious settings it had. The toilet also on the upper floor was bigger and had more gadgets - which I will explain later as I go along with the story.

This apartment was the real thing compare to the standard one that I had occupied at the IEF. Once being able to live in an apartment like this, with this kind of advanced technology, anyone would find it hard to live in a 21
st
century style of house. It was an apartment made of the wildest dreams and beyond. With the easy and multiple options this place offered, the apartment felt comfortable and homely. This conclusion may sound strange coming from someone who inspired to return to the 21
st
century, but it is true. For me, coming from a far less developed world, this apartment was beyond luxury and I couldn’t hold the excitement that aroused inside my chest.

I wished that Sophie and my friends were in the Laguna city with me to share all this experience, but somehow I knew they were never going to see this place. There was a very real chance that I was never going to see them again. At some point, I had to seriously think about moving on.

Sooner or later, I was going to meeting someone and probably settle with her in this reality. However, having a 21
st
century mentality and without any idea how the dating worked in the 26
th
century, I found it hard, if not impossible to believe that one day I will find someone who understands me. I have never been someone who goes looking for a random girl to spend the night, as I always believed in casual and natural encounters driven by attraction. With the time gap in my disadvantage, I felt I had to try extra hard if I were to have a genuine relationship in this reality.

Despite my fear of heights, I requested a full view of the ocean to take my mind off those sad last thoughts. The wall turned transparent and a breath-taking view appeared in front of me. I moved close to the wall-length projection of the outside and wasted my look on the horizon. I released a deep sigh to express my loneliness, before making the mistake of looking down. When I moved close to the projection wall, I noticed the ground underneath was barely visible. The fear of heights captured me as if my muscles were hit by a tranquiliser. My apartment was so high up that my mind spun violently making me lose my equilibrium.

Attacked by a cold shiver, I moved quickly back and took deep short breaths in a desperate attempt to regain control. My heart nearly came up to my throat, as I never realised how high it was just by looking at the horizon from a distance.

The outside view gave me the idea of going out for a walk on the beach to celebrate my newfound freedom and, since I had limited funds until I started my new job, it was the least expensive way to enjoy my first day outside the facility.

I rushed into my restroom and started looking inside the wardrobe for some more fashionable clothes to wear, but it was empty. It made sense that the suits I had previously worn were part of the facility uniform. It explained the full wardrobe in my previous apartment. I still had one of the IEF suits on me and the temptation of going out wearing ‘prison’ clothes made me smile.

Eventually, I decided to wear the old clothes I had on when I arrived, regardless if they needed a wash or were out of fashion by hundreds of years. Link captured my uncertainty about washing clothes and guided me to the personal room. In one of the corners was a square object which, at first I had thought it was some kind of bench where you sit while waiting for something, but was in fact a washer/dryer machine.