Wake Me In The Future (13 page)

I did as I was told as Jennifer continued with her instructions, ‘close your eyes and think of a map of the Earth, and a date - say 1920. Then imagine the date at the top of the map and try to superimpose the names of all the capital cities that you already know onto it.’

I did this with Washington, Paris, and Beijing, and some other capitals I knew, and soon I found that as I focused on different parts of the map the names had started to appear by themselves.

‘Is it working,’ I heard Earl ask.

‘Yes,’ I said as the resolution on the image began to improve and different markers began to appear on the map independently of me thinking about them; these were Capital cities that I didn’t know. I found that I could look at any part of the map and zoom into it to see the information. The system had obviously picked up what I was trying to do from my initial efforts and was now completing the picture. I smiled before opening my eyes and breaking the spell.

‘I take it I don’t have to close my eyes all the time for this to work.’

‘No, and it’s not the only thing you can do either. For example, what the librarian said about person location. It’s a simple task, as long as the subject is someone you know, and allows you to track them, all you have to do is think of the person. Close your eyes again and try thinking of Ankit and where he is, it should come to you instinctively after a while so you can do it with your eyes open.’

As I let my eyelids fall, it briefly crossed my mind that I could be presented with an image of Ankit in the bath or on the toilet. Then I shook the image away, somehow I thought it unlikely in this society. So with my eyes firmly shut, I focused on my friend’s face, the strong jaw line, hawkish nose, dazzling smile and of course his incongruous hairstyle. I forgot everything else but Ankit, I imagined speaking to him and his face began to emerge on the blank canvass that was the inside of my eyelids.

But just as I thought I was going to be successful, the face I’d constructed in my minds eye began to change. The hair disappeared back into the scalp like a nest of retreating snakes, the skin lightened, the features softened. The mouth was moving but no words were coming out, just like the people in the square, and as the image cleared I realised this new face looked familiar and was definitely speaking to me.

The sound gradually increased as I concentrated on his lips and then it came to me. This was the man I’d seen waving the banner and protesting on the vid screen the other day.

‘Richard, listen to me, this is important,’ he said ‘don’t believe everything the Manoorans tell you, some of them are different, some of them want to…..’

But the voice suddenly trailed off so I leaned forward as if this would make the words clearer but they ceased abruptly as another voice interrupted.

‘Richard, Richard… are you alright?’

The man’s face began to break up and was gradually replaced by Simon’s; who I realised was leaning over and looking at me with some concern. Still shaking my shoulder he was saying, ‘Wake up Richard, are you alright?’

‘Is everything alright?’ Repeated Jennifer, ‘You looked out of it for a while; did you find Ankit?’

I explained to them what I’d just seen and heard and Jennifer said, ‘that shouldn't have happened. I think you ought to tell Ankit about this and ask him to get it checked out. Something obviously went seriously wrong.’

‘But my intuition was niggling me at the back of my mind and telling me something completely different; not to share this episode with my Manooran friends, after all, they could be the people the warning message was telling me about. ‘Do you think I should though?’ I responded, ‘I mean, why on earth, would the leader of the protesters attempt to contact me? And what if there is something in it?’

As we travelled back to Earl's apartment they explained to me all they knew about the protesters. Apparently they were Cryogens who were thought to have been successfully revived, only to later discover fundamental defects in their core personalities. The initial manifestation of those defects was severe paranoia which caused them to flee what they considered to be a society of hostile aliens, trying to kill them.

‘But in actual fact,’ said Simon, ‘the Manoorans only want to help these people. They could all have healthy lives, or at least be reborn.’

'Well part of my reluctance comes from this,' I said, holding out the warning that was unfolding in my hand. 'I don't believe this relates to any of you, I think it means the Manoorans, just as the message I’ve just received does.'

Looks of confusion appeared on their faces until Earl pointed to the scrolling message, 'where did that come from?'

After I explained where I'd found it I expressed my belief that it didn't refer to Ankit either, ‘But I don’t want to say anything about this to him just yet, just in case. I don’t know how close he is to Ramoon and I certainly don’t trust that man.’

‘Ok,' Jennifer assured me, 'we won’t say anything until you feel ready.’

Looking around at the contents and décor of Earl’s apartment I realised that my fellow Cryogens were trying to capture a sense of their own time. This whole room looked so familiar to me and a striking similarity to the home I'd shared with Helen bought on a sudden wave of déjà vu. Where Simon’s rooms had been simplistic and very masculine, with brown and beige colours covering the stark angles of the plain furniture, Earls’ was decorated with flowers and purple vases and cushions. It looked very comfortable and inviting but quite feminine really and I wondered if it was an attempt at creating something he'd shared with someone special.

I couldn’t help thinking that Helen would like this room.

Simon’s reference to being reborn had reminded me of a question I’d been meaning to ask them for some time.

‘I keep hearing this term 'reborn' being used all over the place,’ I said, ‘what does it actually mean?’

Earl passed me the coffee he’d just retrieved from the panel on his overly decorated wall. ‘Even though these artificial bodies are immortal they’re baron, so can’t reproduce, which means there are no natural children.' I was nodding at this, remembering what Ankit had told me. 'However, in some circumstances people can choose to have most of their memories removed, leaving only the core personality behind. It sometimes happens when people feel they’ve lived too long and want a fresh start. And they also do this to any Cryogen that’s not suitable for revival but who still retains a degree of their core personality.  It’s also a form of punishment for certain criminal activities.

Anyone undertaking rebirth is transferred to a child-like body so they can enjoy growing up again and experience the joys of childhood once more. Criminals who undergo this are closely monitored and are only exposed to experiences designed to influence them in a positive way.’

‘It also helps those that want it, to have children,’ added Jennifer, ‘but with so few reborns there’s a very long waiting list. Luckily, time is something these people have plenty of, so they can afford to wait.’

‘What about all the memories from their previous lives? Do they just leave it all behind then? It sounds like dying to me.’

‘That’s pretty much the case with the criminals Richard,’ Simon contributed, ‘but most of the others re-integrate their old memories when they’ve grown up and matured. It doesn’t matter how many times they do this, the previous memories just keep building up and it becomes part of that individual’s development as a person. Most people take advantage of rebirth to relieve the lethargy that inevitably comes with immortality.’

‘Of course,’ interrupted Jennifer, ‘like most things in this crazy future, it’s a bit weird, because it means everyone could eventually parent everyone else. Your own children could adopt you if you become reborn and when you re-integrate your memories you’d remember being brought up by your own kids!’

‘That’s just not right,’ I said, trying, with difficulty, to comprehend the bizarre combinations of family structure this procedure could create. ‘They don’t allow that do they?’ But I was already sensing from Jennifer’s tone that she wasn’t joking.

‘In practice they don’t,’ said Simon, smiling at my horrified expression, ‘generally people aren’t placed with anyone they’ve parented or been parented by, just like the system prevents child/parent bonding by inhibiting anyone’s attraction to people they've shared that relationship with. I think what Jennifer is referring to is the eventual need to allow it to happen. I mean there are only so many people out there and if they live forever…..well they’ll have to let it happen.’

‘We’ve all discussed this before Richard,’ said Earl, ‘I don’t think it will ever occur because the amount of memories accumulated by the time it would need to be allowed, would necessitate having to have some of those memories permanently stored, or selectively erased.’

I took a drink of my coffee as I sat enthralled at what I was being told. ‘So this is what happens to Cryogens when they’re not viable for revival?’ I asked.

‘If the core personality can be salvaged, yes, and it seems like there’s more and more of them nowadays. We’ve been told that it’s because the majority underwent Cryogenic suspension using the old procedure that allowed ice crystals to form, and consequently do irreparable damage to their brain cells.’

My heart sank and it must have shown because Jennifer reached over and touched my shoulder.

‘Helen?’ she asked, not really a question but confirmation to me that she understood.

Nodding, I remembered the explanation of the new techniques that the technicians were going to use on me when the time came. ‘She was preserved before me using those earlier techniques.’

Simon placed his hand on my other shoulder, ‘The problem is, that there’s often no previous memory to save from these Cryogens. If Helen has been reborn and you find her, she may have no recollection of you or your previous life together.’

‘I only want to find her, or what’s happened to her Simon. If she's one of these reborns and has no memories, I can try to get her to fall in love with me again and I could provide the memories for both of us. I could re-create everything we did together so she could re-build the memories. She could access her previous life through me.’ With my head bowed to the floor in submission I said, ‘I must do something to find her, or at least convince myself I am trying. This is really starting to get to me.’

It was impossible to hide my desperation from my friends and it showed on their concerned yet supporting smiles.

‘Speak to Ramoon tomorrow Richard, ask him to get you onto the Cryogen project as soon as possible. It's the only place to be if you're ever going to find out what’s happened to her.’

‘Yes,’ I nodded, ‘Ramoon…’ the rigid hard face of the administrator appeared in my mind. ‘I’ll contact him tomorrow; it’ll give me something to focus on.’

‘You can speak to him after we get back then,’ said Earl, ‘I’ve arranged something special for tomorrow. Something I think you’re going to rather like.’

‘Oh, and what’s that?’

‘You’ll have to wait until tomorrow. I want it to be a surprise.’

The degree of change I was encountering and the speed in which I had to take it all on board was having a marked effect on me; I was becoming de-sensitised to all the strangeness around me. So I showed little enthusiasm to my friend’s promise of a ‘
surprise
’; I doubted if anything could do that to me now. But I couldn’t ignore Earl’s uncharacteristic excitement and tried to muster all my own enthusiasm in my reply, ‘I’ll look forward to it then,’ I said as convincingly as I could.

As I walked back to my apartment I couldn’t help thinking about the dislike for Ramoon that I’d instinctively developed, and also about the man that had appeared in my head to deliver some sort of warning. Was this connected somehow to the message I'd received before?

What was he trying to tell me about the Manoorans? And was Ramoon one of those I should be wary of? The man had said ‘some of them are trying to……’ But trying to - what?

Chapter 16
– A Visit to the Past

The following day I woke to the sounds of birdsong and warm sunlight making their way through the heavy canopy of tall trees beyond the walls of my room. It wasn’t a real forest of course, just a very good simulation, courtesy of the vidilic covered walls around me. Vidilic was the special plastic type substance that covered surfaces and carried the virtual reality of this age. Anyone not knowing the technology would have believed the room only had the one wall, at the back of the now conventional bed I’d been sleeping on. I felt like I was surrounded by forest, and except for the lack of precipitation, the environmental controls of the room replicated almost perfectly the virtual surroundings. A gentle breeze and mottled sunshine caressed my face as I greeted the day with a stretch, and yawning, I looked into the trees and smiled. ‘I never thought I’d have an alarm clock as good as you,’ I said.

It might not have been as accurate as the shrieking timepieces of my day, but it still woke me early enough to meet my friends.

I had no idea what this place was going to throw at me next and I admitted to myself that the idea Helen and I had shared of being able to fit in really quickly, was a huge over estimation. It was going to take years to learn everything about this future and its strange new ways.

I was pleased that my apartment was close to the main square as it gave me the chance to walk instead of using one of the tubes that criss-crossed the city. Jennifer was right about certain things being psychologically important, because I welcomed the comfort that the exercise bought me, even though my new body didn’t need it.

I arrived early and sat at a table outside a small bar, watching three women at the next table enjoying their breakfast and discussing the latest fashions. Then I smiled to myself when I remembered what I’d been told, and I wondered if what I was hearing was their real conversation or something the system was producing. If their conversation’s ‘intimate mode’ was activated, they could be discussing their latest sexual encounters for all I knew; which emphasised just how useful the technology actually was, because the last thing I wanted to hear was total strangers discussing their bedroom habits.