Lenders

by Johnson, John

  Light ahead. The moving pad approached a door on the left; a screen mounted above read WELCOME LENDERS and behind the text in the distance was a serene ocean paradise. I’ve never seen a screen that that, she thought. Below the title was a status meter, which simply denoted GREEN, aside that read ACTIVE LENDERS: 16. The town didn’t have any of this technology, nothing even comparable to the 3D screen. She noticed her mood had changed, she felt very relaxed with no fear or anxiety, but her mind still felt different, fuzzy and unfocused. She hopped from the pad and it curled away into the floor then entered the door in front of her, which opened as she approached.

  Inside was a grand round room, dimly lit in its sunken center—and beds, lots of beds. It had a high ceiling, conical in shape, peaking in the center. I’m actually inside the great wall, she thought looking about in every direction slowly, realizing now why it bulged out the way it did. She was in such a state of awe she didn’t realize her jaw had hit the floor—figuratively speaking of course.

  Filling a third of the room’s circular edge, technology set the theme of the large area to her left. Lit panels and controls adorned the wall, along with a four people at spread-out workstations, two near, two afar; and they were all looking at her, having had paused their work. The large man she had seen earlier was placing the handicapped girl on a bed, and many of the other beds already supported people, sleeping people! Thirty beds encircled the center of the room in pairs where stood a tall cylindrical beam. Around it were several vertical lines of tiny white lights flashing in a rhythmic upward motion from bottom to top. The beam, four feet thick at its base, soared upward getting thinner as it got taller, eventually connecting with the conical ceiling and merging with it. It towered, near the height of the wall itself, and the flowing lights lit the space as high as could be seen. Near eye level circular bands of color wrapped it. They seemed to indicate status; a bright green band near the top was illuminated. The bottommost band was red, above it, yellow. At the top, further apart from the green, was another unlit band the color purple. Cables were strewn outward from the center—visible through the pristine glass floor that supported the sleepers—a single cable to each pair of linked beds.

  A tall black man in a worn white lab coat stepped forward from behind her, “Hello again Amy. Welcome to the broadcast room.” He rolled his hand outward at the room. “I was hoping to be here when you arrived but you beat me. A little early I see, anxious perhaps?” She remembered him from the testing. He was tall and slender, balding with white hair on the sides. She especially remembered seeing the horrific scarring on the back of his head. But such a nice man and his gentle voice set her at ease. “The entire facility is dedicated to supporting this one room. You look quite surprised. I will say, that is to be expected.”

  “I—I was expecting—” Amy stuttered. She looked around for another door. Perhaps one that led to another bay—with some flyers, or ships. There was a supply closet; she could see it partly open on her right, some bathrooms in the back, kitchen—bah. No flying ships or anything of the sort.

  “I hope we didn’t let you down,” Ted smiled, interpreting her gaze. Amy simply shook her head. “Well I think we have a few surprises in store for you. But, we haven’t been properly introduced. My name is Theodore Newell and I work closely with the lenders here. You can call me Ted. I’m in charge of this room. I work under our head director Mr. Enrique Castillo who approved your enlistment.”

  “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Ted,” Amy said putting out her hand to meet his shake. “And yes. I do have a lot of questions. I notice I feel a little weird.”

  The door opened and he entered. Amy recognized Jim from the picture on her initiation report. It closed, then almost immediately right after opened again. A beautiful woman came in followed by another tall and athletic-looking man and they went over to the kitchen. Both gave Amy a small quick smile and returned their heads into the air. They wore the same uniform but theirs fit tighter accentuating their perfect figures.

  Jim stepped right up. He looks younger than his picture, she thought. Surely stronger too. Their eyes met, and for the first time she felt a little shy.

  “Good morning Jim,” Ted said.

  “Hey Ted. And you must be Amy,” he bowed slightly putting a hand out. “A pleasure to finally meet you.”

  “Hi—Jim,” Amy stuttered. “It’s, very nice to meet you too.”

  “Jim, please join us if you would,” Ted intervened by gently putting an arm around Amy. “Let’s take a little walk around and I’ll explain a few basics about the room. Jim will be doing a whole lot of explaining once we get you logged in. You will be working closely with him for a while. Oh, and yes the lights in that hall work in conjunction with the vitamin you took with breakfast. Also the floor pads emit a special vibration and there’s a binaural beat melody. It all helps you—get ready for work. But more on that later.”

  The good-looking couple descended to the center and went over to a pair of beds. They mounted, closed their eyes, then crossed their arms on top of their chest. A moment later a set of blue glowing orbs rose up from the sides of the beds. The light extinguished to a degree as the devices rested against their temples. Sleep? What in the…This was a thief to her focus. Amy was noticeably puzzled as both Ted and Jim watched her gaze upon—the login procedure.

  Ted managed to retrieve her attention and slowly they circled the room. Ted did all of the talking. He explained about the parts of the room but not about what Amy would be doing. The sections were divided like a huge pizza-pie. A walkway went around the entire room, a few steps beyond the sleeping area. They were already at the first section, and the largest slice: the tech center, where many large screens and a few small ones covered the walls, all lit up with information, graphs, and various images. A sign above read B.R.O.C.C. labeling the large area.

  “This is the Broadcast Room Operations Control Center,” Ted said. “We simply call it the BROCC.” Amy’s eyes widened at the technology the myriad of colorful icons.

  Several work areas filled with touch panels, all brimming with information, were managed by a total of four workers. All wore the white uniform of a tech. Everything appeared highly advanced, especially compared to the town outside which had almost no technology.

  The screens looked like you could reach inside; so clear, multidimensional-like. Two techs at the beginning smiled her way, pausing work once again to give Amy a welcoming nod as she passed by. They were standing up motioning to some screens; the information displayed would change with each hand or finger gesture. There were two others at the far end doing seated work, but occasionally reaching up to make similar gestures. One was holding a touch pad and comparing statistics.

  They neared the middle of the tech center slice. A round table at least ten feet across divided the space in two. Amy’s jaw dropped and she hustled to it and began walking around slowly. She inspected the detailed scenes it was generating, squinting to see further within; it was as detailed, more perhaps, than real life itself. Evenly spaced walls about six-foot long, curved and parallel with the room’s round shape, had partially hidden this wonder from view of the entrance door. Had she seen it first she might not have bothered with thoughts of piloting a flyer.

  “We call this the HAT. Kind of resembles one doesn’t it? An easy short for, hologram table.”

  It had a hologram emanating above it, a tropical beach paradise, encased in a glowing dome of energy. Ted explained how this table was used to monitor everyone logged into the system. He moved closer and nudged a control; there were many in grouped sections around its flat ledge, but only one set was brightly lit. A changing zoom level took the view further in. Amy took a closer look she could see people inside the detailed hologram, conversing and relaxing. She saw seagulls in the sky, and waves crashing on the beach. She wanted to reach in and touch, but managed, barely, to control herself. Two people were highlighted in bright white and relaxing on beach chairs. Something relatively small behind them was illumina
ted with a red glow. And the rest of the beach goers were highlighted in varying shades of blues and greens. Any that were closer to the two glowing white emitted a brighter green; those further away, blue, darker depending on their distance. Ted walked around to another section of grouped controls and activated them. The scene changed views; a desert canyon. “This is amazing, a whole world,” Amy said. “No one in town knows about any of this!”

  “For a reason,” Ted said. “You will soon learn a lot.”

  Ted continued to explain the various sections of the broadcast room. The next pie-sliced section of the room was a resting place. It had several comfortable recliners, a couch, a large screen 3D screen on the wall displaying harmonious scenes and sounds, a kitchen, counter-tops and tables, and a fridge. It was even more dimly lit except for the kitchen area. The next slice was a fitness room containing various stretching machines and some basic exercise equipment, a few mats, and a water dispenser. The bathroom entrance was inside of this area. They kept walking and passed a door marked with a homey-looking wood sign that read: TED; his personal office and living area. Next to it was the supply room which Amy had already seen, then back to the entrance door to complete the circle.

  All the while others had been arriving in pairs, heading to the beds, repeating the odd procedure. Contrastively others were waking, after which one couple headed to the bathrooms. Most excitedly waved to Amy; a new arrival to the team, the new gal, clearly wanting to introduce themselves—but in time, after the introduction.

  Continuing with the tour they took one of the side paths that descended downward to the dimly lit center area. Ted put a finger to his mouth gesturing for Amy to be quiet then waved his hand pointing to the many beds that encircled the center device shooting toward the ceiling. He made a number two count with his fingers, and pointed to her, then Jim. Jim looked at her with a smile, and her to him, bashfully. Then he whispered, “This is where you will log in. Welcome Amy, to the Lenders Program.”

  “What is this LENDER stuff?” Amy asked. Jim hunched his head like a turtle and Ted hushed her shaking his head with a mellow smile. Then he waved for her to follow and the three headed back up and took a stand next to the counter in the kitchen.

  Ted had explained about every section of the broadcast room, and he led her around showing her various parts of the outer circle, but he didn't explain what Amy would be doing, no one had as of yet. She wasn’t the most patient person—actually she was ready to jump up and down to get the ants out of her pants and run wild. He noticed how puzzled she was. “Sorry Amy, but we must be very quiet down there, and still somewhat quite up here. We can’t have anyone waking up unexpectedly. Now I know you want to know everything, and you will very soon. I will leave you with Jim, and he will be your guide. Jim is our top lender and you’re in very good hands. Now how about we get started right away, are you ready?”

  Ready for what? Go to sleep so you can suck out my brains! She thought. “Yeah—sure,” she said instead.

  “You’ll do just fine, nothing to worry about.” Ted smiled calmly and walked away turning right toward the tech area. She watched him leave and glimpsed the back of his head again, wondering how he had gotten the scars in such a way. Wincing in her thoughts—which were once again beginning to soar as if she was back on that moving pad in that colorful hallway—she turned to Jim.

  “I’m going to be straight with you Amy and I will explain things,” Jim said. “But first I like to do a few stretches before we log in. Come on over.” He motioned for her to follow to the stretching area. Jim started doing some basic stretches. “You don’t want to get a cramp you know. If you get cramps you might want to do a—”

  “Sleep!?” Amy said interrupting him. She turned to see the people in the beds. “Are we going to sleep? All of this just to lie down and go to sleep?” Amy was perplexed, her face expressed confusion and a good bit of anger. No fun in this! Her thoughts yelled. She wanted to travel to the outside, pilot a super-duper-fast flyer, or have any type of adventure—somewhere—anywhere! She liked the science aspect of it sure (something absolutely missing from the old town outside), but she did not want to sleep, or lie down, or anything of the sort—come on. She was young and curious about the world, especially the parts she knew people had neglected to tell her for the ten odd years she had been living in the town.

  “I was hoping to explore, or have an adventure,” Amy continued, blasting him, but quieter. “Especially with the rumors I’ve heard about this job and how I was so lucky to be a part of it.” Jim just continued to stretch with plenty of patience, waiting for his turn to sneak a word in. He clicked another notch on the leg-stretcher he had himself lodged into; he was actually enjoying this, in a funny sort of way.

  Amy calmed, and with a flat smile mimicked his laid back sense. She worked herself into a machine and pretended to know what she was doing. Jim let out a small grin; she looked funny on the stretching machine, riding it backwards and trying to force it to work the wrong way.

  “Wait, like th—” Jim tried to explain the stretching machine, then gave up. Ah forget it, he thought, laughing in his mind. “I know, I have a lot of explaining to do. But, you just might get that adventure you were searching for after all—” he hesitated, letting out a breath, stopping his routine. “—Follow me, how about we get right to it then?” He exited the stretcher neglecting to finish his sets. He knew Amy was overly anxious, and his own eagerness had gotten the best of him as well. He was quite curious, and had looked forward to this day, like many others, for a long time.

  He helped her out of the machine —which she had herself almost stuck in—and with a hand out waited. She slowly gave her hand, and they walked toward a pair of beds.

  “Just lie down and relax. Watch me it’s easy,” he whispered. Amy climbed atop hers and looked over at Jim copying his every move. He laid his arms straight at his side and positioned himself, accommodating and relaxing, briefly squirming for a comfortable spot, as if ready for bed. “You should already be very relaxed after that blast of delta waves from the motion path. Take any position you want but keep your head looking straight and positioned in the center of the blue pad. The lights above you are pulsing at a frequency that will relax you even more. You can focus on them if you want. I think it will help, this being your first time.” Jim didn’t look at the lights, just simply closed his eyes. “When your comfortable repeat quietly just like this—director, Jim to log in.”

  A set of circular lights arose from each side of her bed and illuminated in a soft light blue. The glowing light faded as the devices gently touched her temples. Amy closed her eyes feeling relaxed but a good bit nervous and copied Jim, “Director—Amy to log in.” In less than five seconds; she was asleep.

  8. Beach Paradise

  She awoke at under the bright yellow sun on a reclined wooden chair. The sky was vivid blue, and unlike that of the town outside, speckled with clouds. It was comfortable under the slatted shade of several palm trees that fluttered as a gentle breeze nudged them. She felt relaxed and well rested, but glued to the chair as if meshed with it, and things were fuzzy. Pulling herself apart from the wood she sat then turned to the side, playfully working her feet into the warm white sand absorbing its gritty feel. Jim appeared behind her on another chair, barely waking. He stretched with a grunt and she turned to see him. Everything snapped into clear focus.

  “Jim! Where in the world are we?” Amy asked slowly. The beauty of her surroundings had her unable to concentrate on any one thing and her head was bobbing in every direction to take it all in. She’d never been to a place like this, an ocean alive with motion twenty feet away, blue with rolling white waves. The water oozed up the shore, then back out again, and a team of gulls flew by overhead.

  “Amy,” Jim said holding two hands flat as to tell her, take it easy. He didn’t want to stir anxiety—a real and terrible possibility. “We are inside the world of a dream, together. We call this world a map, and it’s one of many.” Amy rose to
her feet. She looked closely at her hands; she could see every single line marking her palms—just like real life! Her body was the same—except for her right arm; it had changed and she found herself enthralled by it. She reached down to grab a handful of sand and rubbed the glassy grains between her thumb and fingers then flung the rest into the breeze. She inspected every detail with wonder and amazement, entranced. Her short curly hair fluttered in the wind as the largest wave yet rushed up the shore shoving a cool breeze.

  Jim was glad, relieved. She showed no signs of anxiety or nervousness and right away took to the world, like a pro. Slowly she started testing the environment, then went all out: jumping and skipping, doing cartwheels and spins on the hard soaked sand. With a huge gleaming smile she made her way toward the ocean. She stopped to marvel at the water, stepping on a layer of crushed seashells.