“Okay then, what’s next?” Beth asked.
“We can show you some of the housing we have here, the entertainment and some of the natural points of interest.”
“Can we start with this building?” James said. “What are all these floors used for?”
“I’ll tell you all about that when past me reaches the ground.” Future Victor said. “Let’s go to the elevator portal.”
“Do I need to know anything before I do this?” Victor asked.
“Nope, just jump, the drone will do the rest.” his future counterpart replied.
Everyone filed through the portal reappeared at ground level then looked up to the roof, barely able to see Victor, but they had a better view of the portal drone from down here. The underside looked like any other drone, just a plastic circle, the portal was only viewable from the upper side.
Victor could just make out his ant-sized friends on the ground and decided there was no time like the present. He carefully climbed over the railing and stood on the small ledge that was protruding from the other side. He felt a dizzy rush when looking at the ground, catching sight of the drone, he noticed it was moving to a suitable position for meeting him far below.
“If this is one huge practical joke from my future self, I’m going to be really pissed off.” he breathlessly muttered to himself as he launched from the roof.
Victor tried his best to enter a skydiving position, but he’d only ever seen it in the movies and had never been given the opportunity to practice. It was harder than it looked, he couldn’t get his body to stay in that one speak-eagled position. The air rushing past him took his breath away. During the seconds he experienced in free fall, he managed to turn himself to face the ground, just in time to be startled by the portal drone coming directly at him at speed. Soon after, he was on his feet for a fraction of a second, before crumpling to the ground and into a faceplant.
When he regained his bearings, he could hear the laughter of his colleagues, doubled. They say it’s good to be able to laugh at yourself, but in this instance, it felt strange to hear the distinct sound of his own amusement, skipping his own mouth.
“I’m sorry, I forgot how the laughter made the pain feel worse after the first time.” Future Victor admitted.
“Yeah, that hurt. It was kind of a rush, though, regardless of the fact I had no idea what was going on. I just saw a blur, then the portal, then the floor. Might have been a lot more fun if I’d trained for it.”
“There’s an indoor skydiving wind tunnel on the one hundred and twenty-first floor.” Future Simon informed him.
“Well, that’s one floor down. What’s on the rest?” James asked.
“Well, there were plenty of bored scientists available once the world turned away from capitalism. Science is now a hobby and much more fun without the grey cloud of deadlines and grant applications, many of the scientific community chose to come and join us here. A lot of the floors here are dedicated to different aspects of science, obviously. Botany and zoology played a huge part in the beginning, they still do but, at first, they were essential for cataloguing every new species on this planet, of which there are millions. Not one is the same as any of Earth’s species, though most have similarities. Our nuclear physics floor is where we first discovered julesium.” Simon enlightened the past group.
Future Jules smiled as her past self looked back and forth between Future Simon and herself, mouth agape.
“Yeah, I-slash-we just found the island of stability and created a synthetic element that’s five times the density of Osmium. No biggie," she told herself. “We ran quantum computer simulations until we found the island, then synthesised the new element. I didn’t get to name this place Julestonia, but since I found a way to keep dense elements stable, they couldn’t argue when I chose the name. I’ll send the composition over to your QC, it makes unpiped portals more efficient.”
Jules’ jaw continued to drop.
“We have an expert in every field imaginable in this building.” Future Sarah moved on, leaving Jules to bring her state of self-amazement under control. “They’re not obligated, but their thirst for knowledge keeps them here. Knowing that they’ll never have a problem with funding and the sky was the limit, they can’t get bored. Outside of the science floors, we have all the indoor entertainment you could need. We have bowling, communal eating areas, gyms, theatres, movie theatres, whatever you can think of, it’s here.”
“Furry orgies?” Victor asked.
“I can’t remember that ever being a kink of mine, maybe my memory needs a checkup.” Future Victor replied.
“Oh, it’s not, just seeing how true that statement was. I’ll take from your reaction that the building doesn’t quite have everything.”
“I stand corrected,” Future Sarah said. “We don’t have that in this building, you’d need to portal to that one over there.” She pointed to another skyscraper, a mile or so to the left. “You wouldn’t believe what goes on in there.”
“Yeah,” Future Victor said. “Most of the SARA and androids in that building are assigned to biological waste cleanup. Enter at your own peril.”
“Seriously? This really is a perfect world for all people.” Victor said with a grin.
“Absolutely, I’ve lost track of all the niche stuff that goes on in that building over there. Guys that want to dress up as babies, weird stuff with cheese graters, one floor is for people who want to be given a cold or something even nastier. I suppose it’s a weird kind of nostalgic fulfilment. Fight clubs, kill clubs, a floor where it’s always Christmas…”
“Wait, what?” James said. “Go back one, Dad.” It felt strange for both he and Victor that he was calling someone else Dad, despite the situation.
“Oh, yeah, I forget what it’s like to be surprised by this stuff. Kill clubs? Well, that was a horrific one at first.”
“I was hoping you were about to tell me it’s some kind of wildlife hunting group, that would be bad enough in a place like this, but that’s not what you’re about to tell me is it?”
“I know, I know, it sounds terrifying, but it’s actually quite therapeutic for them.” The junior gang waited in stunned silence for Future Victor to continue. “It’s just the way some people sort out their grievances. No one really dies here anymore, not permanently. The fight club came first, it’s mostly guys, of course, some men just wanted to knock ten bells out of each other to get it out of their system, which works for most of them, but some took it even further. Weapons were allowed, guns samurai swords, whatever you chose. If both parties agreed to it, they’d enter a deathmatch, last man standing wins.”
“Oh. My. God.” Beth uttered. “I knew there had to be a hidden dark side. It’s always the way for Utopian societies, for every Woodbury there’s a wall of decapitated heads.”
“Relax.” her future self said in a calming tone. “They walk in there mad as hell at each other and walk out in a bear hug laughing their asses off. I guess we have to have something to feed the lizard brain, some mental states are genetic, even this beautiful place can’t calm their inner demons.”
“Holy shit!” Beth exclaimed at her own apparent nonchalance. “It’s sadistic.”
“Well, some people are sadists I suppose, there’s a Fifty Shades club in there too. It wouldn’t be Utopia for them if they didn’t have that outlet. Some just find it hilarious, it’s like a really extreme version of Jackass, they bond over it, the more pain, the funnier they find it. Some turn off their pain receptors using their cranial implants, some don’t. As long as everyone’s okay afterwards, I have no problem with it. Not anymore, better in there than out here. Both parties go in there of their own free will, they’re happier when they come out.”
“Okay,” Future Sarah said. “That’s about as bad as it gets here and it’s not even half a percent of what we have, let’s move on from the specialist stuff we don’t understand and onto the broader improvements that we all love. Which sight would you like to see first? It’
s not a natural display, but one of my favourites is the solar farm in the western desert, it really shows what we’ve accomplished here. There are panels for miles, the reflections they catch are awe-inspiring. It’s like someone dug a huge hole in the earth and filled it with the sky.”
“Great, ladies choice, let’s head there first.”
They were making their way back inside — kill clubs already forgotten — to a portal connected to the planet’s travel network, when they heard a loud pop. Victor was about to ask himself a question regarding skydiving when his double evaporated right before his eyes.
Chapter 63
Isaac was incapable of anxiety, but if the sum of the binary processes that he was currently undertaking could be translated into emotions, it was as close as a machine would get. Not one of his human masters had returned to his time, and the logical conclusion he arrived at was that something unexpected had caused an error in their home-return function. Since his primary directive was to serve and protect his human masters, his processors were running through the facts to find a possible solution to their predicament.
Isaac did not know the exact nature of his human master's dilemma, they could be physically well, just unable to return to his time, so creating a duplicate from their last known portal digitisation was not permitted by his programming, proof of death would be required for that. His processor came to the conclusion that he would need human help to find the right solution. He also lacked the necessary permissions to access any of the time travel procedures, it wasn’t required for butling, so contacting any alternate versions of the group was also out of the question.
He ran the list of technologies that he did have access to through his processor, searching for the best to utilise in a rescue attempt. The kettle and toaster were first to be disregarded.
Isaac did find one solution which he wasn’t directly programmed for, but neither was he constrained from its execution, so he put it aside in his digital brain until all other possibilities were exhausted. Once they were, he doubled back to the lone implementable course of action. The only solution available to him turned out to be an option that would fulfil his primary directive in more ways than one.
Chapter 64
“All of you, stay exactly where you are.” a voice called from beyond the nearest trees.
The remaining, non-vaporised members of both PRE-Innovations teams froze, mostly in confusion. A trio of men revealed themselves from the wooded area, each carried a weighty looking device at their hip, hanging from a strap on the shoulder. The apparatus didn’t appear to be designed for use as a weapon, Victor surmised that applications for the device involved excavation or demolition, judging by its effect on his future self. The tool had emitted a beam — which he assumed to be a stream of particles similar to the pool in a teleportation hoop — that had broken Future Victor into particles which were pulled back towards the device, like a subatomic conveyor belt. Then he noticed that the closest of the three assailants stood beside a pile of four or five ten-inch cubes and deduced that what had previously been the body Future Victor now existed in the form of the new julesium element — judging by the size ratio — and had been ejected from the back of the device. Despite the initial shock, Victor had managed to interpret the science of the occurrence in the first fraction of a second following Future Victor’s disappearance. He knew that his future self could be reintegrated at any time using the data from his last teleportation, and that took the edge off what could easily have been a traumatic event.
“What the hell, arseholes?” Victor shouted, despite the probable danger in antagonising the strangers. “Why would you do that?”
The words felt ridiculous as he said them, what possible explanation might anyone have in this new perfect world?
“You have the audacity to ask us that?” The man leading the charge asked. “Look at what you’ve done here.”
Victor looked around. “We created paradise? You’re welcome. You have a really shitty way of showing gratitude.”
“It’s an affront to God! Only he can offer true paradise. You’re subverting his plan, and we won’t allow you to bring his wrath down upon us.” The leader shouted.
Victor’s shoulders slumped, and he sighed. “Of course. Those guys. There’s never any escaping those guys. Watch out incontrovertible proof, here come the steadfast, willfully ignorant creationists to inform us that their imaginary friend is pissed.”
“Your blasphemy is the least of your crimes against the creator, atheist.”
“Yeah, just below baby eating, right?”
“Don’t think that flaunting your sinful ways will get a rise out of me, heretic.”
“I know we just met and all, but you already seem pretty risen. Also, your grasps on sarcasm and reality are equally loose.”
“Get inside, you’re going to show us how to reverse this.”
“What? Reverse heaven on earth?” Future Simon asked.
“Quiet! This is not heaven. Don’t make such a comparison again, or you’ll end up like his twin.” He motioned to the remaining Victor “He shouldn’t have even been here, to begin with; only God creates life, these duplicates have no soul, you’re populating this place with demons and ushering in the apocalypse. Well, it’s over, get in there now.”
“They’re not duplicates, they’re ourselves from a different timeline, if there were a God and he gave us souls, that duplicate shared a soul with our Victor, so you committed murder, isn’t your God kind of down on that," Spencer asked.
“It’s number one in his top ten of no-nos," Victor agreed.
“His soul was split in two, I made it whole, so it could take its place in hell.”
“Did your invisible sky man tell you that?” Victor asked. “Did he? Or are you just making this up as you go along? You’re making it up, aren’t you? That always seems the way, just make stuff up and claim it was God speaking through you later. Okay, if your God is real, didn’t he give us this power over our destiny as an extension of free will? If he didn’t want us to do it, why would he provide us with the knowledge and the means to do it?”
“Knowledge was the devil’s part, since the time of Eden.”
“Knowledge is survival. The human race would be extinct without it, it feeds you and clothes you.” Victor ran his eyes over his attacker. “It looks like you’re wearing some of your devil’s work right now.”
“Enough! Move, heathen.” the ringleader pushed the end of his disintegration device into Victor’s rib cage.
Victor began to walk towards the entrance to HQ, shaking his head and rolling his eyes, the group followed behind, keeping a close eye on the men brandishing the would be laser cannons.
“Ignoring the holes in your logic and changing the subject, there’s a surprise,” he said.
Once inside, those remaining in the two groups of scientists gathered around the quantum computer and its stations.
“Do it!” the spokesman of the religious group insisted.
“Do what?” Future Simon asked.
“Go back in time and stop this from happening.”
“What this? You showing up here with destructo rays? Sure thing.” Victor agreed enthusiastically.
“No! Stop all of this. All of this tampering with God’s righteous plan. Stop it!”
“I can’t do that," Future Simon told him resolutely.
“You expect me to believe that you can’t, with all this heathen technology I see? You’ve been doing it for years; as you so brazenly informed us when we arrived here. If your time tampering is not the devil’s work, then why do you forbid others from using it? Stop stalling and do it!”
“I can’t. It doesn’t operate that way. If I send a message back in time to our past selves and tell them to stop their work on this, it will just create an alternate timeline that we’re not a part of, and all this will continue to be here.”
“Liar! You’re not fooling me with your...”
The assailant’s intended use of yet
another sacrilegious synonym was interrupted by a whir from a portal in the corner of the room. After successfully booting, Future Victor stepped out.
“Hey, guys. What happ...” he began to say before he was transfigured into julesium.
“What the hell?” Victor shouted at the pious lunatic who had vapourised Future Victor, once again.
“Please, stop that," Simon requested of the invading gang. “It’s a safety protocol we have installed should our implants detect a failure in our life signs. A copy is made if we come to mortal harm so another will exit the hoop in the next few minutes, please just let him join the group, or we’ll be at this all day.”
“It won’t matter once you’ve changed this, none of this will have happened, and all will be made right in the Lord’s eyes.”
“How do you think your maker is going to react to the acts of murder you’re committing once you see him," Jules asked.
“There is no murder anymore, your friend there just proved it,” he motioned to the portal that Future Victor had walked through a moment ago. “Besides, that tower of perverts are doing it all the time, and they go on to commit more sinful behaviour. You’ve created the new Sodom and Gomorrah.”
“Are you sure your creator won’t count you among them?”
“This is a holy war, we will be rewarded for putting an end to your meddling with his plan.”
“How do you know that all we’ve created here isn’t a part of his plan too?” James asked.
“He wouldn’t allow it, the power of creation is his alone.”
“But, if God exists, he gave us the power do what we’re doing, as we’re his creations if He had a problem with it, wouldn’t he use his phenomenal cosmic powers to stop it, or at least tell us to stop?”
“Enough of your atheist nonsense. Only God has dominion to shape worlds. We’re not supposed to meddle with monocles and time.”
“I’m going to assume you mean molecules, and we are shaping worlds. If it’s not part of your God’s plan, how is he allowing it to happen? Are we more powerful that he is?” Simon asked.
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