“In the Future of the Future”
Year - 2163. Picture perfect. Everything. But don’t ask me. Why am I the only one who looks upon this new world with mighty disgust? Pollution led to air purifiers, loss of natural life led to enclosed shelters. And worst of all, x96s, which are basically tablets, are what people LIVE by here. It’s all they ever care about. The sad thing is, so do I. My dad is one of the, what would you say, important people that run the tech government, you know, the people that run the technology around here. They are always coming up with new ideas and are improving the x96 day by day….. oh joy.
I walk from the automatically opening door onto a perfect street, every house the same, with the same pansies and tulips resting side by side on the bright window sills. The grass blades pop up between a damp layer dirt. I smell mist and rainfall and look into the puffs of cotton in the sky as they greet me. I don’t feel like going to school - I’m sick of it. Modern day eighth grade is a horror story. By the end of the day my eyes are strained from looking into so many screens. I see the bus in the distance. I would never do this, ever, but it feels right, today anyway. I don’t even have my running shoes on, but I run with swift motions and quick breaths. I turn the corner with a sharp left as my hair as black as bats falls over my pale face. About 20 minutes later, my legs give out and I collapse on the grass. I should have thought this through. I ran away and ditched school. The cameras will probably see me, but I don’t care, and besides, I know their angles, and I’m too quick for them. I look into a deep sea of greens off the side of the roads. It’s a natural habitat, I doubt they have cameras in there. I shuffle my way inside to hear that rare and beautiful song of a robin in the trees. I am not supposed to be in here, but it’s fine for now. I prop myself on a low tree branch when I notice a slab of wood, a door, cracked and streaked with mud. Vines grow surrounding the corners. I take a step from the branch and examine the door. I clear some leaves to find a knob, and without thinking, almost like my nerves are being controlled, I open the door. Before I know it, I slide myself through the opening with a push. Mosquitoes bounce on the pond in front of me, but everything else looks the same. What was that about? I look over into the pond to see the trees reflection and the thriving bushes- I see it crystal clear on the ponds surface. My face is not showing. My reflection is missing? What? I sway from left to right, trying to see it, but I stop. I skim the water with my fingertips - it’s lukewarm. I feel the urge to dive in, to find my reflection. Who wouldn’t? No one is watching, for no one is here, so I do.
I’m not swimming - kind of floating. It’s hard to open my eyes. Even when I do, I can’t see the bottom. I can’t even get to the top. Suddenly, a pang of pain my stomach begins. I’m stuck. It’s over. I can’t breathe. But cold air soon fills my lungs. I grasp my hands close to my chest. I finally can feel the ground! I open my eyes and collect the water from my face and look down. I’m dry. Then, behind me, I don’t see the trees or the door, and the pond begins to rapidly shrink into a polluted puddle. I stand planted for what feels like a century. I don’t talk. I can’t. I won’t. I take a step and another and another...I don’t know where I’m going.
My thighs hit the asphalt and my throat goes dry. It swells like a bee sting, and I think I am going to throw up. In front of me in the brightest city I have ever seen glowing and busy in every corner. Puffs of exhaust leak from roof tops and the ends of cars - wait - they look more like floating half moons putting around on the slick oily roads. Then I glance to my left and to my right, and you know what I do not see? I do not see an inch of grass, or not even a beetle. I would not expect to see a squirrel, since the government has made sure they only live in natural habitats, but this? I see no natural life - everything machine made.
This is what I get for running away just because I was angry about my life. Sure, I didn’t like my world and how technology based it was, but this just makes me sick. Still recovering from my near death experience, I stand tall with a zap of burning pain in my chest, and jog slightly to a nearby building. I see shadows, people hopefully. That’s all I need. I approach the door of the building when a tall, slim man slides down the escalator.
“Your name?” he asks, his voice as flat as a punctured tire. I pause and stare into his stone cold eyes, blue and deep, but they still seem cold. It must have been a long pause because he rolls his eyes and lets out a quiet sigh.
“Your name?” he repeats, an annoyed tone set in his voice.
“I - Ivy,” I stutter. I look down at my toes. I’ve never liked my name. He shakes his head.
“Not on my list.” I frown.
“Oh,” I reply, not that I was expecting to be on the list. He then asks, “Are you here to see Ally?”
“Of course,” I lie and bite the inside of my lip thinking it will bleed any second now.
“Up the transporter,” he says. The transporter? I’m light on my feet, only because I’m nauseous, as I strut over to a tube like device. The man gives me a shove inside and presses a puny button on a small remote attached to his wristwatch. Air that smells like a tacky coat of fresh paint on a house wall whirls from the ground. It swirls around me, lifting my feet from the ground and I struggle to maintain balance, but soon enough it shoots me right up to the desk of a young lady, but it is barely a desk. It has so many x44s, x96s, and what’s this? An x113? They aren’t supposed to come out for another four years! I begin to feel a flame in my head start to jump. Where am I? I stand as still as a frozen river as I take a look at the calendar that reads, “September, 2286.” I think I’m about to faint, and that’s exactly what I do.
“I said ‘Hello’ and she went down in the blink of an eye. She has an x96 in her pocket, and it looked ancient! Must be an old model her grandparents gave her. Anyway, I have been sitting next to her for almost and hour now. Send a message to the doctor, Nelson!” I hear a young woman cry. I suddenly am awake and review the comments in my head. My x96 is not ancient! It happens to be the newest version from Daddy’s lab, and he gave it to me just last month. Not even my friends have it! That’s when my memories flash back to the calendar. Was it really over 100 years in the future? I blink away a glaze from my eyes as the young woman, who I presume is Ally, lets out a sigh of relief.
“Wow, girl! I seriously was worried about you! I don’t know who you are! You ok?” She explains. As she walks over to her desk, the lights flicker on and her x44 screen comes alive with a quick motion of her hand. It sounds abrupt at first, my voice lower and more forward than usual. I didn’t know if I wanted to say it or not, but I did.
“Can I trust you?” It’s too late to find out if this is a dream or not, so I decide to pretend it’s reality.
“So?” I ask. She opens her mouth the slightest bit and swallows hard.
“Yes. You can trust me. It’s, kind of my job.” I am confused at that remark, but I continue to explain my unrealistic story.
“Do you believe in time travel?”
“No!” she laughs. I just sigh.
“Well, I’m from the year 2163, and I don’t know how I got here, but I did. And I need your help to get back! I know I sound crazy, but listen - I’m not. Just help me. Please.” I blurt out. Tears gather in my eyes and she takes a step closer.
“I’m Ally,” she tells me, “and I would love to help you, even though I’m not 100% sold on the idea…” I nod. Who would be?
“I’m Ivy.”
“Well,” Ally explains. “Let’s get started.”
I explain about my time, 2163, me ditching school, the pond, the over technology based town, how I landed here without trying to. She tells me I must have come here for a reason. Ally tells me that natural habitats were taken away 50 years ago, hovercrafts replaced cars about 20 years ago, and everything in life is done by technology. She was now believing my story. Who else in this time period would know so much about the year 2163? She listens to every single word I tell her about how much I dislike the tech - government. It’s 12:30 at night, and I have fallen asleep on Ally’s hightech couch.
I was dreaming about the olden days - beautiful plains of grass piled with the brightest pastel colored sunflowers you’d ever seen when Ally violently shakes my legs.
“What is it?” I whisper.
“The robot cops have backfired- something in their computer status messed up their minds! They are rebelling against us! It’s an attack!” Ally’s cheeks are wet and her dull locks are rustled. I stand up almost immediately. This must be why I am here.
“Say it again?” I ask. I am ready to work.
“We stopped having police officers about 40 years ago and we were able to replace them with robots. They do a great job, but people have to program and control their computer based minds! Something must have gone wrong. They are piled up on the streets attacking! They are almost indestructible, because it takes special requirements from the government to stop them. As of now, we are all dead meat.” I turn to the window and outside I hear screams and the faint sound of robo cops on the run. This is exactly what I was worried about. But technology backfiring and taking over? What’s worse! This is why I did not want to live in my time, but now I’m stuck in 2286! I run back to Ally and trip on the floor. The floor is actually made up of a bunch of conveyer belts going different ways so, I guess you don’t have to walk everywhere. Ally is crying again. I get off and brush of my thin cotton dress. The lights switch on as Ally stands up and she pulls at my sleeve to follow her. She throws us in a small room and taps at her watch. An x44 slides in on a hovering tray. She pulls off the x44 and taps her fingers, sliding and pushing and she finally shows me the screen. It’s a map of the city.
“It’s an escape route I have programmed with the place I work at for my job.”
“What do you do for a job?”
“I’m a child counselor. I help them with school.”
“Why don’t you work at the school? When I went to your office, you were in that big building.”
“Duh! Children have online school. They stay at their houses.” This future surely is a mess. She begins to explain the escape route.
“And then, with the transporter, I can make it…” I cut her off. It’s not right for me to be here.
“Ally, I don’t belong here. I need to get back to my time.”
“Ivy, I need help! You can’t just... LEAVE!” I exit the room and slide on the floor to the window. I look around the city until I see it, behind the shipping store, the pond. It’s the same one I arrived in, since there aren’t any other ponds around here.
“Thanks Ally!” I yell, “I’ll make sure you won’t have to go through this again! I’ll change it! I promise!” A robo cop shoots a laser through the window at that very moment. I dodge it and fall to the ground. It melts the window and burns the wall. Ally waves, tears streaming, and I sprint for the transporter. It shoots me down and I take a glance at the lobby of the apartment building burned and sizzled to the exterior. Outside is pure chaos, and I run for the pond. A laser singes the hem of my dress and the hot ashes fall on the backs of my legs. I race and race and then I see the edge of the pond. I stare in-no reflection, again. I don’t want to feel that horrible drowning sensation again, but I need to change the future. I hear mechanical footsteps behind me, a robocop. A laser shoots through the palm of my hand, steaming my nerves, I wince and groan out of pain and without thinking, I plunge into the pond. I know what to expect, but it feels strange. I am searching for the bottom with my toes and my hands and it is like a magnetic force shoots me against the ground. I am out of the water. I can breathe! I gasp for air and my eyes open wide screaming for sunlight. I know it was a dream, but as I stand up, a small hole is bleeding on my hand, from the laser? I panic, and stand up reviewing the situation. I was really there! 2286-the time of the Robot Cop attack. It’s because of technology - everyone relied on it. Now what? I have to change it! I walk out of the natural habitat and run to the tech building, where my dad works, or course. I ride the escalator to the top door, and it opens happily when the identifiers identified me as Jerry Ruge’s daughter, my dad. I scurry down the hall. I am heading to the electrical room- the switches that control and support the entire region in there! I approach the door and kick at it several times...It creaks open…. I glide through on the balls of my feet. I spot the wires and rip at them vigorously tearing and smooshing. In order to repair any damage, it would take years. Years! Yes! I hear power surges fade and lights dim. I then walk over to the ‘Major brain” switch. My fingers shaking, I pull it down. Everything is silent - The hum of the generators and flash of lights - It stopped. The city stopped. I hear a scream from the offices. I did it. I did it!
I chose this piece as my showcase piece because it was a genre out of my comfort zone. It might not be my best piece, but I had to write a sci-fi story in only 2 weeks. I am proud of this work because it was a "risky" genre for me. It was fun creating this short story.