FRACTAL

by Tony Ortiz

  Ha-ha, she said sarcastically.

  I do smoke. Not often though. Sometimes when “the tension gets too thick for my sober mind to cut through”1

  Haha, ok. So then “take one more toke and then leave that weed alone, man”2.

  I’m good, I said. I’m already where I want to be, I told her as I intently looked into her eyes. Then I asked; Are you a big Jay fan?

  I dabble.

  I see that. You’re an interesting girl Mrs. Laura.

  Oh yea?

  I’m not positive yet, but yea ... so far I think so.

  Don’t worry, there’s still time to disappoint. And it’s Ms. Laura to you buster.

  The rest of the night we all just chilled. We spoke, we drank, we watched Back to the Future and debated if part 2 was better than part 1. It felt really comfortable. Like I had been part of the team for a while.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The next day I remember waking up fairly early. Around eight-ish. Everyone seemed to be into their daily routines by then. Charlie called me over.

  Yo, good morning bro. Come take a look at this.

  Hey, what’s up man? You always up this early?

  Yup, I start at 6:30am every day. I prefer the early shift. Mostly everyone else is still sleeping at that time so I have the place to myself, and I get to clock out earlier than the others. If you can even call it that. We’re always on call around here. But check it. Take a look at what I’m doing here.

  Charlie was sitting in front of an elaborate eight-screen computer setup. Most screens were divided into six different video streams.

  What is all this? I asked.

  Welcome to your first day of monitoring 101, Charlie responded. The first thing you need to know is that you shouldn’t expect these video feeds to turn into green binary code on a black screen. They’re just video. Same as you would watch on YouTube for example. Except these are active surveillance's occurring as we speak. Think live streaming, mixed with google maps.

  Eye in the sky type shit, I responded.

  Yea, exactly. The second thing to know going in, is that it is literally, and by literally I’m referring to the true definition of literally not figuratively, impossible to catch every possible occurrence.

  Occurrence of what?

  Issues, avoidable tragedy’s, other skippers to recruit, stuff like that. The whole point of what we do is for the sake of minimizing bad and maximizing good. That's the gist of it all.

  I don’t get it, I told him.

  Ok, look. Each of these screens represent a sector, or sub-sector if any are applicable. I monitor five different economic sub-sectors; mining, fishing, agriculture as well as the production of finished goods like cars, food & clothes. I have it set up so that each of these screens connects to a different server within each sector. Think of each server being a gateway to video’s and any other data that has anything to do with said sector. It could be company conferences, congressional hearings, you name it. Within each server I store research, trends, hunches, etc. Whatever you want pretty much. It’s your world. And what's the point you may be wondering? - To minimize bad and maximize good.

  Damn, that sounds like a lot of different sectors to have to focus on.

  Nah bro, I have A.D.D. I can’t keep my focus on any one thing for too long anyways so this is perfect for me. I prefer this much more than boring single sectors like Healthcare or Corporations. My mind goes numb after focusing on the same thing for too long.

  True, I guess I see your point.

  Where do the video feeds come from? Most are from archived databases of public information and some private archives, like closed congressional hearings, that anonymous hackers put up for grabs.

  But how about the live google maps like feeds you mentioned?

  Oh those are government satellites. You see how google maps can zoom into photos of anywhere on the globe? Well, that's the tip of the iceberg and has been for a long time. It's just on the hush-tip. These government satellites work the same way but you can zoom in a lot closer and in near real time.

  Wholly shit, I responded in amazement.

  Yea, it's pretty sick. There are blind spots, but for the most part it's pretty reliable. It even serves as a repository that we can go back to, rewind, cut snipers from, etc.

  You’re up early, Laura chimed in.

  Hey, good morning, I responded.

  Sup Laura, Charlie said.

  Not much. What are you boys up to?

  Just showing Hector here my sectors.

  Cool ... well, when you’re done with the kiddy stuff, come by me and I’ll show you some real shit, she said jokily as she walked away.

  Oh please, Charlie said after sucking his teeth.

  What’s her sectors? I asked.

  She has a single. Education.

  What’s her deal by the way? Do you know if she’s seeing someone?

  Damn, Romeo. You just got here.

  I don’t like to waste time when I don't have to.

  He laughed and said:

  Time you'll have in spades, I can’t blame you though brother. But no, as far as I know she’s single. I think she was with some dude for a couple years before the skipping started for her. But this life is all consuming so it’s tough making something like that work. You’ll see.

  Yea, I can imagine. How about you?

  You’re not my type bro, sorry.

  Haha. Don’t flatter yourself.

  Nah man, I have a few beneficial friendships if you know what I mean. But not looking for anything more than that right now.

  I hear you playa. Speaking of which, I’ll be back in a bit. Let me go get some educational sector insights.

  I walked over to Laura’s station and she was already deeply into ... whatever it was that she was doing.

  I think you missed a spot, I told her as I approached.

  She looked up momentarily and said “I never miss a spot,” and then dove back into her work.

  So I hear education is the most important sector.

  Huh? What was that? She said in a tone insinuating I was distracting her.

  Nothing, just that I heard you do important work around here.

  Probably one of the most important if you ask me, Brooke said as she was passing by. Here you go girly, she said as she placed a small tray down on Laura’s desk, that included tea, oatmeal, and a small bowl of seedless green grapes.

  Thanks Brooke, you’re the best, Laura responded.

  Anytime, responded Brooke as she walked away.

  Laura stood up and took a sip of her tea. She turned to me and said; So who told you this is the most important sector? Charlie?

  Nah I was just messing around, I told her.

  Figures. He swears busy work equals important work.

  Doesn’t it? I asked.

  It can, but busyness in and of itself doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, what each of us does here is important ... just some more than others, she said with a smirk on her face. There’s lots more to do. We could use some help. Think you’re up for it?

  I think so. I mean, I definitely want to help in any ways I can. I’m just not sure I get what you guys do yet.

  No worries. Everyone feels that way for the first couple weeks. It’ll all come together, I promise.

  Don’t make promises you can’t keep, I told her.

  I never do, she responded. Now go away, I’ve got work to do.

  I walked around for most of the rest of the morning and early afternoon. Asking questions when I felt it wouldn't be imposing to do so. There was so much going on that it became overwhelming. I usually find myself daydreaming and getting lost in thought when that happens, and this time was no different. I started thinking about the accident I had, before changing it in. When it did happen though, the advice my mother gave me when it originally happened, was what sliced through my psyche and seemed fitting now.

  Oh my God Hector, are you ok?

  I’m fine Mom. Look at my car though. Some idiot side-swi
ped me, knocked my bumper off and sped off.

  The car is secondary. As long as you’re alright, we’ll be able to get it fixed. Take a deep breath hun.

  Did you get the other car’s plate number? My step father asked.

  No, he was halfway gone before I knew what had happened.

  Did you veer into his lane or something? Cut him off? He asked.

  Me? You think I did this?

  It’s just a question. I’m trying to understand what happened. People don’t normally go around playing bumper cars with real cars in the street.

  I just told you what happened, aren’t you listening.

  Hey, I’m not the bad guy here kid.

  Calm down you two, my Mother chimed in. Breathe Hector. Take a deep breathe in through your nose, and out through your mouth. Breathe in understanding, and breathe out the disorienting thoughts.

  My Mom was way into yoga and meditation. Probably to an unhealthy degree if there is such a thing. But her breathing techniques have been clutch for me when going through these nerve-wracking experiences. I really miss her.

  Around this time, the mystery man, Jake called me over to his side of the place. Everyone’s station was kind of situated in the center of the room. They were privately compartmentalized with high cubicle walls but clustered together at the same time. There were two stations however, that were further apart from the others, on opposite sides of the room. One was empty, which I assumed was Miguel’s. The other was Jake’s.

  How are you doing Hector? I’m Jake.

  Yea, I remember. I’m good thanks, and you?

  No complaints, he responded in a way that made me feel that if there were actual complaints, he would’ve told me about them right then and there.

  I’m going to set you up with a station, log-in credentials and a mandatory 10 hour tutorial. You can take the rest of the week to finish it if you need to. The tutorial is done right on the PC I'm going to set you up with. It basically gives you information and background to what we do and asks you a series of questions along the way to track your progress. Based on your responses, we get a better idea of your personality, interests, aptitude and basically where the best fit for you is.

  Ok, cool. Thanks for the help.

  You look like you have a question.

  A question? I have a few actually, but don't know where to begin.

  That’s normal. Especially when you find out that going back is actually ‘a thing’. Blows most of our minds initially. Don’t worry though. Like with everything else, time has a way of helping things make sense.

  I hear ya. Let me ask you this though. What’s the point of it all?

  Of what? Life?

  No, I meant of this. Of what you guys do.

  Jake took off his glasses and said:

  Look Hector, this isn’t a Super Hero movie. I want to tell you that this is the part where you do a shit ton of training and we all join forces to defeat some ominous threat that would otherwise consume the world ... but that’s simply not the case. The fact is that we’re a group of young people that believe in making the world a better place. Outcasts that found a common ground and camaraderie amongst one another and chose to stick together to do just that. We’re not being especially altruistic and we’re not the first or last people that will choose this path. But we believe in what we do, we know that we’ve made positive impacts in the lives of many and strive to continue to do so from our little corner of the globe. At the end of it all we just want the net-footprint of our existence, to be on the positive side of the spectrum. There's not much more to it than that.

  I’m not sure if I was drinking the kool-aid or what but I bought it. He seemed sincere. They all did really. I settled into my station and powered on the computer. I used the log in credentials that Jake set me up with, and the first thing to pop up was a video of Miguel. I pressed play:

  If you’re watching this video, welcome. Thanks for choosing to be part of our team. You may still be asking yourself what you’re doing here? What’s the purpose of all of this? What’s your roll going to be and why you? Those questions along with our mission can be summed up with one maxim; ‘good over evil’. You may be thinking that ‘evil’ is too strong of a word. A dramatic or sensationalized idea. But trust me, it exists in this realm just as in any other. It's as real as the good. We categorize evil as being any approach to a situation that undermines those involved and has an ulterior motive resulting in a net negative outcome.

  We’ve mapped out several ‘big picture’ sectors that we feel have a significant impact on society. Our job is to monitor as much of them as we can and as thoroughly as we can to find inconsistencies. These inconsistencies lead us to the opportunities to right wrongs. The type of wrongs where people are using the same abilities that you yourself have, but for nefarious reasons. Along the way, if we’re able to prevent and reverse tragic events from taking place, we do so as well. There are more sectors than there are of us, so aside from interchanging sectors from time to time, a secondary effort to our cause is to find more of us. More people like you and me that are willing and able to help out on the positive side of this tug of war between good and evil. Please continue on with the rest of the course with the knowledge that you'll be making a difference in the world. We’re thankful to you for your efforts.

  The rest of the day was filled with reading through passages, and answering multiple choice questions. Whenever there was a better answer that I failed to realize, I would get a prompt that would say; “You’re not thinking big enough.” Then a different but similar passage would come up so that I could try again. I never went more than two repetitions before grasping the bigger picture. - And even that was only because I was day dreaming half the time. Towards the end of the day Jake passed by to see how things were going.

  What’s going on Hector? He asked.

  Hey, what’s up Jake? Not bad, I think. Plugging through.

  Ok cool. Don’t kill yourself though man. You’re not being timed or anything. Most of us take a couple days to get through all that stuff. Tomorrow’s another day. If you have any questions, let me know.

  I actually do have a quick question if you have a sec.

  Yea sure, shoot.

  What happens to you if you die during a skip?

  Well, when we skip our meat-body remains here at baseline. You can go back to anywhere. Any time. Any place, your mind can conceive of and your ripples will cause the physical world as it relates to you, to change accordingly in the present. If that change is your death, then it'll be as if you died in your sleep. You ever see The Matrix?

  Yea absolutely.

  You know that scene where Morpheus tells Neo that the body cannot live without the mind? - Same thing here. That's why it's imperative to not do solo skips anymore and always have a monitor staying behind that can watch your back and wake you up in baseline if need be.

  Can there ever be more than one, version of you at any one point in time? Like if you skip back to a specific moment in time, on more than one occasion.

  In theory yes, but it would take some maneuvering. It's called a redundant skip and nobody has actually ever tried it before, outside of simulation. Technically speaking you'd have to skip back to the point in time that you skipped back from, and then skip again to the specific point in time you had skipped to back then. The from and to points have to be the same. Within about a 30-minute window. Anything else?