The Dark and Shining Future

by P. F. White

  “Well you said it, not me!” laughed the old man, “Not that you aren't very beautiful ma'am. And here you said you weren't famous! Just give me a moment and I will let you in. Say, who is that with you there?”

  The man was pointing and Hank turned to look at Claire.

  “That's my daughter Claire,” he said.

  The man's face turned blank for a moment before it lit up again.

  “Of course!” he said and laughed again, “What is she, fifteen now? And the youngest? I bet he wasn't even born when my nephew was in your course!”

  Hank frowned. Something about the man's tone was strange. It almost sounded as if he were already familiar with the family. Yet Claire had never visited the campus, not even once. He didn't talk about her because he both didn't want his students lusting after her (Claire was already shaping up to be a real beauty like her mother,) and he never wanted the students to try and use his own daughter as a suggestion for moral partiality on his part. Besides all that: how had the man known her age?

  “Excuse me,” said Hank, “How did you know-”

  “Be down in a minute!” said the old man, moving to turn off the receiver. The screen went blank and the family was all left standing around as the mist slowly gathered around them. Looking back they could see that the mist had already covered the tires of the car now.

  Something growled from far off. It sounded big and a lot closer than they would like.

  “Big monkey,” cooed the baby softly. Hank raised his pistol, but then spun around to see the elderly man opening the first of the two sets of doors. He hadn't expected the man to act quite so quickly, was his office just around the corner or something?

  Hank watched as the man went about his task. The fellow as large: at least six foot tall if not larger, but he hunched over to make himself look shorter. It was the same trick that Hank himself had often used in prison. He did it not to call any sort of attention to himself and to disguise how strong and effective he really was. This man was similarly well muscled to Hank, but wore puffy and shapeless clothing in an attempt to conceal it. His skin looked old and had a shiny gleam to it like he perspired a lot or perhaps wore some sort of oil. The man moved well though, smooth and efficient in everything he did. The doors were unlocked and opened in no time at all. He only had to wave a little metal wand and then push lightly upon the door with one arm. Something seemed off about that to Hank but he didn't say anything about it.

  “Welcome!” said the man with a broad smile. He held open the door for them to enter.

  “Thank you so much Mr-”

  “Smith!” said the man with a chuckle, “Believe it or not my name is John Smith! Just like the explorer! Now come on in, wouldn't want the mist to get you would we?”

  He laughed at that and so did the baby. It was almost as if the two of them were sharing some private joke between them.

  The family quickly moved in past him. He shut the door and locked it again with the small metal wand. Claire alone seemed to hesitate as she stepped inside. She always kept one eye on the man, and seemed to be sizing him up from top to bottom.

  “Darling it's rude to stare,” said Adriana softly. Claire paid no attention to her.

  “Dad, did you pack the playing cards by chance?” asked Claire. Hank was puzzled for a moment, but then nodded.

  “I think they are in your mother- Adriana's purse,” Hank said, hating that he still had to use his wife's name around his daughter. Still: he respected her desire to keep her mother and stepmother separate. Adriana smiled slightly as if to say she didn't take offense and even added: “Why do you ask honey? did you have a sudden overpowering urge to play a hand of Rummy?”

  Claire shook her head, but immediately went to dig around Adriana's purse. Hank looked around the interior of the building and was surprised to see that, while the entrance way was undeniably large in scale: there was still no trace of a company logo or insignia. The room itself was almost entirely bare, with only lights and comfortable, stylish furniture sparsely laid out to fill it. There wasn't even a reception desk. It looked as though several hallways led away in different directions, but there was no indication as to where they led to. The walls were bare and faded in color from a dull blue to tan as they approached the floor.

  “Looks kinda desolate in here,” said Hank as he looked around.

  The security guard- John Smith- just shrugged in response.

  “It's not as bad as it seems. We have the interactives turned off right now, but when they are on its really a sight to behold actually.”

  “Interactives?”

  The guard smiled all the broader.

  “You know what? What the hey, I'll turn them on for a moment just to let you see 'em. They're designed to impress so it's not exactly a waste if I use it to impress a few new arrivals eh?”

  He lifted his little wand and made a complicated motion with it. Hank's mind stuck on the phrase: “new arrivals,” but he said nothing.

  Everything seemed to blaze to light at once. A giant scrolling banner proudly displaying the words: “Nodencorp Research and Development, Jacksonville Florida Branch” rushed across the walls. Somehow it seemed to scroll across each wall in turn as if the entire room were some giant computer screen. Other corporate logos, charts, maps, and miscellaneous information began to scroll around as well. The floor beneath them lit up like a giant fish tank and the baby squealed in delight as sharks, squid, and tiny fishes darted seemingly underneath their feet. Directly ahead of them a bright light began to shine as though a hole were being burned in the wall. As the hole grew, a brilliant and shining future city could be glimpsed behind the light. This bustling city spread until it appeared as though the entire wall were one giant window into another world. Some sort of plane appeared in the sky above this city, a banner displaying the same “Nodencorp Research and Development, Jacksonville Florida Branch” trailed behind it.

  “Oh look!” said Adriana as she pointed, “There are tiny people in the city!”

  Hank looked closer, at the small forms moving around in the streets and clearings of the future city. They appeared humanoid certainly, but there was something in the way they moved that made him uncomfortable.

  “That's a hell of a simulation,” said Hank to the guard. The guard winked.

  “Sure it is,” he replied. Around the edges of the view the burning effect returned. It looked for a moment like the wall itself was on fire and Hank could swear he even smelled something like smoke. As the image shrunk he saw larger forms moving around the city. Some of these things seemed to be walking on thin spider-legs, others slithering around like snakes, and a few had the distinctive loping gait of a-

  “Monkeys!” said the baby as he clapped his hands. The image was tiny now and fading with every passing second. Hank glanced at the other banners and advertisements along the walls. Out of the corner of his eye: he could swear he saw things like ancient writing flowing alongside them, there even seemed to be a-

  “Holy shit!” said Hank as he spun around. He raised his weapon but it was only an innocent little cartoon that smiled at him. The cartoon was of some little boy, his head and dress taken directly out of a 1950's idealized America. The boy winked at Hank before holding up his sign advertising something called an “Omnicon” which it claimed “soothes the soul like old time living!”

  Hank glanced at his own boy and saw the babe staring transfixed at the cartoon. Hank tried to rationalize what he had seen, or even explain it. It resembled an eye, only not a human one. It was made up of the elements here, but not- no...that didn't make any sense. I've been through a lot, that has to be it.

  “I think that might be enough,” said Hank quietly. His voice was barely a whisper but, strangely, as suddenly as it all arrived: it all instantly vanished. There was no noise and the sudden darkness caused everyone to blink in confusion. Adriana even jumped a little, which caused Clarie to drop the cards she was doing something with. Lucky for her Adriana was holding the baby now.
>
  “Sorry bout that!” said John Smith with a chuckle.

  “You made me drop my cards,” said Claire in an accusatory tone.

  “Well then let me help you pick them up,” responded the guard cheerfully. He went over and began to help Claire pick up the dropped deck of cards which had fallen all over. “I just wanted to impress you folks a bit,” he explained, “As you could guess we don't get many visitors out here. Didn't mean to startle you though.”

  Hank smiled and went to help but surprisingly the elderly man seemed to have it well in hand. He was already handing the cards back to Claire in a neat little stack. She smiled a false smile at him, then quickly glanced at them before putting them in her pocket. She turned away, her expression unreadable.

  “You have a safety on that?” Asked the guard suddenly. Hank resisted an urge to glance at the revolver he still held.

  “Of course,” said Hank.

  “Good,” said the guard, “I wouldn't want any accidents.”

  “Neither would I,” responded Hank. There was an odd tone, but he couldn't quite catch it.

  “And sorry again about the show. It's a bit odd and it changes every time you know.”

  “Does it?”

  “Oh yeah,” the guard gave his best aw shucks expression and scratched at his scalp, “Don't know how they manage to program a thing like that but, well, it seems to change and grow and stuff just like a real place. Sometimes when I don't have anything else to do: I come and watch it. I can swear I saw a few of them little men watching me before.”

  “That's...odd,” replied Hank. He glanced at his family who had unconsciously moved closer together. Adriana was looking outside at the mist in fear. You couldn't see far into the parking-lot any more. Their car was completely vanished as if it had never even existed.

  “And sorry about the cards of course,” continued the guard, “Maybe we can play a hand later?” he addressed the last comment to Claire who only stared at him in response.

  “Don't worry about it,” said Hank as he moved closer to his family. Somehow the entire place seemed darker and more foreboding now that the lights and banners had disappeared. The guard didn't say anything and the silence didn't quite feel right for some reason.

  “I guess that you usually use those things to get around this place?” asked Hank, “The little electronic maps I mean. I don't see any signs or-”

  “Yep! The walls keep you going in the right direction easily enough, though a lot of floors don't bother with them- too distracting you know. Down here during business hours I try to keep 'em on though. What's the point of having them if you don't use them right?”

  He seemed really pleased at that notion, though no one said anything in agreement. The guard then paused a moment before he patted his belly and asked:

  “You folks hungry? We got a guest cafeteria just around the corner. My treat!'

  Hank glanced at his wife who just shrugged.

  “I could eat,” she said, “But I don't want to be by any windows...you know: for safety.”

  Hank nodded.

  “Don't worry it's got no windows,” said the guard.

  Hank glanced at Claire, but she wasn't paying attention to him. She was looking outside where it seemed that the mist was somehow checked at the entrance to the office building. Hank couldn't be sure, but it seemed as though it started to evaporate the moment it touched the strange metal grid set into the concrete. He didn't know what to make of that and so he just turned back to the friendly old guard and said:

  “That sounds lovely then. Please, lead the way.”

  John Smith did just that, moving with the familiar air of a man who was intimately familiar with a location. Claire glanced back out the front doors just once, but she couldn't see past the concrete walkway at all.

  The mist had now completely covered the parking-lot. It was like a seething gray wall as far as the eye could see.

  Chapter Three:

  The “Guest Cafeteria” was, surprisingly, very well lit, very bright, and actually quite cheery in it's entire composition.

  The room was gigantic. It was the sort of room that if you wanted to move all the tables and chairs out of the way and play a game of football you easily could. Or a game of Frisbee. Or a game of football and a game of Frisbee for that matter. It was really that big.

  “Good lord this is big!” said Hank when he first saw it.

  “Honey, it's not the size that counts...” joked Adriana. Hank laughed and kissed her lightly.

  There were about two dozen different little shops and eateries, all of which were shut down right now. Each restaurant had its only little counter and sign proudly proclaiming the type of food that was served. There were colorful advertisements showing many varieties of delicious looking food from all over the world. In this way it resembled a mall food court, albeit one without any recognizable corporate brands.

  Where it differed the most from a traditional mall was the reclining and comfortable looking chairs gathered around it's tables, the fully stocked massage area where a coy pond and tiny waterfall provided relaxing background noise behind glass partitions (that they were informed could be “dialed” into showing a number of relaxing scenes,) as well as tables with built in televisions that popped out of a center console, and to top it all off: a grotto of living fruit trees planted at the corners of the room. These trees must have been genetically modified because there was seemingly no source of outside light yet they also positively dripped with ripe fruit of all kinds.

  “I don't recognize that, what is it?” Asked Claire as she approached a tree with branches bending under the weight of what looked like long plump and multi-colored apples.

  “Oh that?” asked the guard, he frowned. “I think that one is an apple-berry tree. From what I understand they crossed about a dozen different berries with apples and somehow got it to produce multiple different types of crossbreeds. Give it a try: they are really juicy and seedless.”

  Claire hesitantly reached up and grabbed a fruit. It broke from the branch easily enough and seemed soft and squishy in her hand. Adriana was reminded, momentarily, of the ancient stories of Eve and the Apple. She wondered briefly if there would be a price to all of this, some horrible truth that would only become apparent as time went on.

  “It's just a fruit,” said Hank beside her. His voice was barely a whisper.

  “How do you always seem to know what I'm thinking?” asked Adriana as Claire took her first tentative bite into the fruit.

  “Because I pay attention to you,” said Hank, “And because I care. Besides: it's not exactly mind reading to realize you are probably making a comparison between this weird place and the garden of Eden right now. You were raised by wackos so, naturally, you are a little nutty too.”

  “I will have you know I'm a lot nutty, thank you very much,” said Adriana. Hank laughed. Claire was turning towards them with a look of surprise on her face.

  “Oh my god,” she said. She extended the fruit. “You have to try this. It's like a strawberry had a science baby with an apple and they both decided to keep only the good parts.”

  Hank chuckled but took the fruit and bit into it. The fruit was surprisingly soft, without the distinctive crunch of an apple and more like a mango or, judging from the taste, like a giant strawberry.

  “Wow,” he said as he chewed, “That really is good.”

  Adriana tried to grab it from him but he pulled it away to take another bite.

  “Get your own,” he teased. His eyes went to something just behind her and opened a little wider in surprise. Adriana jumped and whirled around, hitting herself in the face with a low hanging branch from the tree.

  “Ow,” she said as she batted away the fruit, “What in the-”

  “It's okay,” said John Smith as he approached the tree and held up his hands above his head, “Just watch for a moment.” He appeared to be reaching for one of the higher branches, a branch specifically much higher than he would be able to reac
h. At first no one knew what he was doing but then, ever so slowly, the branch he was reaching for began to bend lower and lower until it presented a fruit directly into his waiting hand.

  “Holy shit,” said Claire, her mouth open in amazement, “How did you do that?”

  John Smith shrugged.

  “I have no idea. Someone in one of the other towers designed it apparently. The trees respond to body heat or something and can bend to get nearer to someone wanting the fruit. It prevents us from having to get a cherry picker into here to get all the fruits off the trees. Instead, we know that if someone wants one they can just stand and reach. Pretty neat huh?”

  “And you say this is the guest cafeteria?” asked Hank in amazement.

  “Pretty cool huh?” said John Smith as he bit into his fruit and chewed it with a smile. Hank just shook his head and looked around a bit more. The floor beneath their feet was polished and smooth. The air was also crisp and nice, neither too hot nor too cold. The whole place just seemed incredibly upscale, fancy even. It was a hell of a lot better than the cafeteria on campus!