by Chaim, Moran
“This is where we eat, drink, sleep and work to maintain all the systems that sustain us.”
Suddenly, the whole world turned black and I awoke in a small cement room. I was wearing the white overalls, and I was pale and skinny, unlike in the simulation. Isaac was lying on a bed next to me wearing orange overalls. The simulation bed looked like a sleeping pod with a grey plastic lid over it. The headrest was riddled with wires and electrodes. Not as hi-tech as I expected it to be. The lights flickered a few times and then shut down. A small emergency light was turned on.
“I hate when that happens,” he said.
“What happened?”
“Oh, the systems aren’t very stable these days.”
I stood up and surveyed the room. “I thought the future would look different.”
“Me too. The future has no spaceships, no aliens, no flying cars, no teleporting or eternal life or other fancy stuff, just these walls and a simulation to keep you sane.”
“How’s that working for you?” I asked sarcastically, since I felt like I was reborn in a prison. Sanity was not an option.
“I'm a storyteller, that's my job now. I tell the kids about the past and how to learn from it so they'll know better when they re-build society on ground.”
“Re-build? When is that coming?”
“No one knows.”
It all seemed so strange to me. A rich person could pay to be resurrected in what they believed would be the utopic future, yet accept how shitty it is once they got there. Something didn’t make sense.
“That’s all you do?” I asked.
“There isn't anything else I can do. You and I, we are too slow for native Knaaniens. Their people were born here with quantum computers and simulations since day one. We are too slow to work on those systems.”
“So, I am to replace you as a story teller?”
“Eventually, yes, but no one expected to find someone as young as you. The main reason they keep us is to test the simulation. To make sure it's the same as reality. Because we were born outside it, we can still see the bugs.”
“We’re lab rats then?”
“That’s actually the fun part.”
“That doctor told me that my parents put me here. Why would they do that to me?”
“I don’t know, kid, maybe they hoped to give you a second chance.”
“Telling stories and being a lab rat doesn’t sound like much of a life to me.”
He seemed to have taken it personally. But I was too busy processing my own emotions to care about him.
“Listen,” he said, “the simulation software is the only technology they can actually develop here. Everything else has been stuck for decades. There is no global trade of electronics and information anymore. They can't build new stuff, only improve the existing.”
“And the stories? Why can't they just record some hologram instead of you?”
“That’s my benefit. I get to do it myself and they get to collect all different stories from different people. The different angles give them a fuller picture. Plus, it helps them understand what the core of all that went wrong was.”
“I was just a teenager, then a soldier. I can't remember much of my life to tell. It's not interesting.”
“You died, so you've seen the suffering and war like I did. This is why they defrost us one by one; to teach the children right from wrong.”
“And what if I don't want to teach kids?”
He turned to another bed where another person lay under the hood.
“Then you could be like this guy here, who chose to assimilate into the simulation and never wake up.”
“He’s locked inside his own head?
“Inside his infinite fantasy. Not a bad state to be in, but I’d choose the real world over assimilation anytime.”
“What happened to him during the power outage?”
“A little sedation comes into play to keep him under until the problem is fixed.”
I stepped to examine the assimilated guy’s bed. I couldn’t see his face but his body posture seemed relaxed. His body twitched from time to time as if he was dreaming. His vitals were displayed in the green spectrum on the little screen attached to the bed.
“What if I don't want to be a story teller and don’t want to assimilate?”
“Then we have a problem because I don't have any answers for you. I guess they'll have to test your skills like the rest of the kids.”
“Will you help me?”
He paused.
“Let’s eat first.”
Chapter 3
I wasn't hungry until Isaac mentioned eating. I realized I hadn’t eaten for years. My stomach made those digestion sounds that triggered salivation, and Isaac no doubt heard them. Still sitting on the simulation bed, I wondered what food they produced underground.
“We need to go back inside the simulation,” said Isaac.
“The food isn't real?”
“Oh it's real, better than real.”
We both slid inside the headrest and closed the lid. It felt weird at first, but in a second we were sitting by ourselves in a fancy restaurant. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, candles on the tables, a vine fence decorated the outskirts of the sitting area and we wore twenty-first century clothes.
“I hope you like my decorating; I try to have fun with it sometimes.”
“You conceived this place?”
“Yes, this is Knaan survival lesson number one. Anything you can think of can be created by your mind inside the simulation; from a famous piece of art to your most dirty fantasy. You can choose to share it with others or not. You create your own world.”
“So I can create any food that I want?”
“Exactly, although you don't have to think too hard. Make a mental image or think of the name of the dish you want. Your brain will tell the simulation the rest of it.
“I don't know what I want to eat.”
“I've been told that most people choose steak, or spaghetti Bolognese.”
“I'll take the spaghetti then.”
In a split second a plate with steamy spaghetti appeared in front of me. It was hot and red, and smelled like meat with fresh tomatoes and basil. Isaac looked at me with intent.
“Eat, don't wait for me.”
I took a fork and started swirling the pasta on it. It even sounded like real pasta being swirled around a plate. Some sauce sprayed on my shirt. In the meanwhile Isaac had produced a bowl of noodle soup that he started to eat with chopsticks and a spoon.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“It’s called Pho, a Vietnamese soup,” he said. “Do you want to taste?
“Can’t you like, transmit your thoughts to me?”
“This is lesson number two. I can't transmit my thoughts to other people, or my body to other people's worlds without being invited, or granted permission.”
“I allow you to transfer the soup’s taste.”
My head was filled with different flavors entirely; soy, red chili and a hint of anise. It was if I was eating two dishes simultaneously, no pun intended.
“What about learning? Can you transfer knowledge directly to my brain?”
“Learning is a deep and complex process. For you to own a memory or ability it has to be shown or taught. Your brain needs to create physical neural connections in order to create learning.”
I took another bite. The pasta was delicious. The sauce filled my body with warmth and energy. I felt like I was regaining my strength, and was becoming more relaxed. But then it hit me.
“Wait...” I stopped eating.
Isaac smiled like he knew what I was about to say.
“What am I really eating? This isn’t pasta, right?”
He smiled.
“Is it?” I asked again.
“The simulation tells your brain it is.”
“So what do I eat in reality?”
He hesitated.
“The bed is equipped with a little straw that slides the foo
d down your mouth.”
“What food?”
He hesitated again.
“Do you want to know? Or do you prefer just eating normally?” He asked, gesturing to our feast.
“I want to know everything about this place.”
He held a piece of green onion with his chopsticks and ate it.
“Well, you asked for it. You sure you don't want to grab another bite before I tell you? You might lose your appetite.”
I dropped my fork to the table and looked at him with a straight face.
“Just tell me.”
“It’s a mixture of algae, jellyfish and bugs.”
I coughed out the chunk I was chewing.
“What bugs?” I asked with disgust.
“What does it matter? It's the best source of protein you can find underground, and the only thing we can farm.”
“That’s disgusting!”
“You get used to it. Focus on your pasta.” He slurped more noodles from his bowl.
“I think I'll pass on that. So how is water made?”
“Water is water, we desalinate it from the sea.”
“Are you sure it’s not recycled piss or bug juice?”
Isaac laughed.
“I’m sure. Trust me; we don't get a lot of showers down here. Water is not something we make jokes about.”
“So how do you clean yourself?”
“Germs, there are special germs that live on your body and keep you clean and not smelly.”
“I'm starting to see why people choose to assimilate.”
“Well, you wanted to hear the truth.”
“What about bathrooms, what if I pee on this table right now?”
“Then you'd be peeing in your bed and stinking up the room we are in.”
“With all this technology couldn’t they figure out a way to feed us and to have a bathroom in the same place?”
“They could, but would you sit naked inside it and let a machine wipe your ass for you?”
“But you said people who assimilate never get out.”
“If you hook on intravenous feeding and a urine collector you can stay inside.”
“Ok, you win.” I finally gave up, lifted my fork and took another bite.
“The third lesson of Knaan survival is how to use the toilets. But first, there is another reason why learning how to create food is important.”
“Let’s hope it’s not as disgusting.”
“You lost your family and friends. Although they lost you a long time ago, for you they still exist. The simulation works on people just like it works on food.”
“I can recreate my family?”
“Yes, the simulation will create them from your memories and you'll be able to talk to them and get closure.”
“But it won't be real.”
“It’ll be real for your mind. I will wait for you outside. Come out when you're ready. And I'll show you how to flush a toilet.”
“Wait,” I called, but Isaac was already gone. I didn't know what to do alone in the simulation. Am I to talk with my dead friends now, with my parents? Tell them I am sorry I died? That I missed them? That I wish they didn't suffer? I felt weird. For me it was just a day gone. For them it might have been weeks of sadness. I was sent to protect my country, but I failed. I didn't return home safe. The country was saved anyway. Isaac didn't tell me otherwise. I didn't know how to feel. I had too much information to process and I couldn't believe anything he told me. Maybe I wasn't dead, and this wasn't the future at all. Nothing made sense. It all felt like a dream. Maybe I was still going through surgery and this was my hallucination under the anesthesia.
I just couldn’t do it. It was too much to face on. So I quit the simulation.
Isaac seemed surprised that I didn’t stay.
“I can’t,” I said.
“That’s ok, whenever you’re ready. You know what to do,” he said before sitting down on his bed.
I took a long-long breath. I had to focus. It all felt too overwhelming.
“So what year is it?” I asked.
“2321,” he said with pride.
“Wow…” My mind went blank. I couldn’t even imagine this gap in time.
“When I was a child,” he said, “I expected the world to have hovering skateboards, holograms and laser swords. It didn't happen. So at least I can make it happen in the simulation. You can go crazy without seeing the sun in years…living in a grey room like this one.”
“You haven’t been outside since you got here?”
“No.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No one goes outside except security guards. It's too damn hot.”
I looked around the grey room, and then at the light that came from the ceiling.
“This isn't natural light, right?”
“Right, it's just mimicking the color.”
“I need to know what happened to my family.”
“You mean, three-hundred years ago?”
“If they put me here they must have been planning to meet me here.”
“I never heard about your parents, or about anyone looking for their kid.”
“Maybe they’re still inside.”
“Cryogenics was expensive. Maybe they could only afford it for you.”
“It doesn’t make sense to me.”
He stood up and stretched. “I would love to talk more but I have to go and teach.”
“Can I come with you? I don’t really have anything else to do.”
“To be honest kid, I think you might scare the kids,” he said, smiling. “Maybe after the color returns to your cheeks, yeah?”
And the old bastard left me in that grey room.
Chapter 4
I did cry again after he left; you can’t help but feeling alone and isolated from everything. At the time I couldn’t grasp the meaning of waking up three-hundred years in the future. Maybe it was a defense mechanism that prevented me from realizing my terrible situation in its full scale. I felt like I had enough simulation time for one day and I didn’t want to drift away to old memories again so I stepped outside.
I started walking around, staring at people and things. They stared back. I didn't know what to say and if I should even say anything. I thought, “Hi I’m Roy, the new defrosty.” It sounded crazy to say it, even in my own mind. After a few minutes of walking along the curve of the main street, my lungs filled with a mixed smell of rust, mold and stale air. I went looking for the clinic I was in on the first day to find some answers. Eventually I found it after circling the whole city twice. I went inside and saw a bunch of doctors behind the one-way mirror I was being watched by yesterday. They were in a middle of an operation, though instead of using their own arms, they used a robotic arm to dig inside someone’s body. A doctor came out to greet me.
“Can I speak with doctor Ashish?” I asked.
“I'll let him know you're here.”
He went back into the surgery room and pressed something that looked like an intercom. I watched the doctors observe the robot hand dissecting the body. Bodies are still bodies, doctors are still doctors. After a moment Dr. Ashish came out from another room. He smiled at me.
“I bet you came to see the cryo lab.”
“Yes.”
“Come, I'll show you everything.”
I followed him into a smaller room with computer screens. They looked like curved semitransparent surfaces simply hanging from the ceiling. The keyboard and touch panel were part of the screen and you used it standing up. We passed that control room and got into the cryo lab. There were dozens of metal containers connected to a central hub via wires and pipes. The air was super cold.
“This is where you came from,” he said with pride like he was showing me the facts of life itself.
“Why did you unfreeze me?”
“You were next in line.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“You were next in line, next in queue.”
“That’s it?”
<
br /> “Yes, what did you expect?”
“No one asked you to unfreeze me?”
“You were next. We didn't know who you were until we started the process and discovered you were a young man. It was quite a surprise.”
“Is there any chance my parents are here?”
“Let's take a look.”
We came back to the control room, and he ran a search query.
“Yes, I see there’s a notification here about missing parent containers.”
“Oh! So they were frozen with me!”
“But they are not here.”
He ran the search again. I could realize by the sound of the screen that he found nothing.
“It doesn't make sense,” I said. “Why would my parents put me here but not come themselves?”
“Cryogenics was unstable back then. Maybe something went wrong.”
“I can't believe they just put me here.”
“Maybe something happened and they weren't able to immediately freeze themselves. The global crisis was pretty nasty.”
I probably looked helpless, like a boy lost in a public space.
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“I can try to ask the other cities’ doctors. Maybe your parents got there somehow.”
“There’re more cities like this?”
“Yes, one in the north and one in the south.”
He opened a communication window and there was an indication that there was a failure establishing connection.
“I can't access it now. There's probably a sand storm above us right now, disrupting the signal.”
“Are you sure? Can you try again?”
“Trust me; I'll make sure you'll get answers at the minute I get them myself.”
“Thank you.”
I shook his arm and left. I felt hope that I might have someone to belong to after all. I left the clinic and saw a line of guards walking in my direction. As a habit I learnt on my first day I stood with my back against the wall to let them pass although there was plenty of room. I didn’t want to get a syringe in my neck again. But on the other hand, Isaac mentioned that the only ones who go outside were the security guards. That kind of trouble was worth the risk. I had to do something to join them and see what the world had become for real.
