Foray to the Future: Chapter 3

3

            Nathan was awake- well, if you could call it that. His eyelids felt weighed down by several metric tons, his muscles wouldn’t respond, and he still could not talk, but he was conscious, somewhat. He was aware of what happened to paralyze him, but he could not understand how. He had never seen that level of technology before, and the language that the men spoke sounded like nothing he had ever heard before. And that building, that majestic, glowing building, what was it? Something of that magnitude would have cost the state the entirety of its budget plus all the revenue the state could possibly make by selling all of its citizens into servitude. And the pod, the way the pod seemed to appear out of thin air behind Nathan, noiselessly and without alerting him with external lights, how was any of this possible? Theories upon theories began formulating within Nathan’s mind, every one seemingly more implausible than the next.

            Nathan was unsure as to whether or not he was asleep due to the effects of that forceful light. He could see himself in a setting, or landscape, and suddenly, it would change. He went in and out of dreams, re-living the past day in a million different forms. His father cried and understood why Nathan didn’t want to inherit the farm, and so Nathan went about his normal work, but began researching various employments outside of Montana; his father struck him, making Nathan strike back; a random, kind citizen lent Nathan a car; Mr. Gene gave Nathan a bottle of whiskey and a can of pineapple; Nathan rode a tractor through town with a sign saying “just emancipated” on the back; going through the blue oval caused Nathan to freeze in a giant block of ice; a rather attractive actress happened to drive by Nathan on the highway, stopping to give him a lift, ending with them getting married two years later; instead of a blue oval, Nathan tried to walk through his own mother, who disappointedly smacked him on the back of his head, took him by the ear, and brought him home.

            All at once, Nathan’s dreams faded as the weight on his eyelids vanished. He found himself blinking in the whitest room he had ever seen, his eyes attempting to acclimate themselves to the light that seemed to come from the ceiling itself. If not for the shadows cast by the room’s objects, he would have had a hard time telling anything apart. Nathan raised his head a bit; his neck muscles were sore. He was in a rectangular room on a white bed several feet above the ground. He looked around at the five other beds; they were all occupied and none of them had floor supports. They all appeared to be hovering over a spot marked by a glowing, blue circle. Opposite the exit of the room was a large window without any noticeable curtains; apparently it was later (or early) in the day. His clothes had been replaced by a spotless, white robe, which felt almost nonexistent against his skin. Looking behind him, several screens appeared to monitor his vital signs, though they weren’t actually screens; what Nathan at first thought were multiple computer screens were instead projections of light. They had no supporting frame or cables attached, so what else could they be? And how were they actually monitoring him without the typical assortment of cables?

            Nathan attempted to raise his hand to get someone’s attention, but he couldn’t; it felt physically restrained, though there appeared to be nothing stopping him. A man wearing (or painted in) a white skin-suit with a facemask (Nathan thought it was a facemask, though it just looked like everything on his face below his eyes was white) entered Nathan’s small ward. Nathan raised his head as high as he could.

“Hey!” he shouted at the man. The man turned his attention on Nathan, his thin frame walking slowly towards Nathan’s bed. About five feet away, the man seemed to pass through some kind of electrical disturbance; when he walked through whatever it was, it  crackled around his skin like a million tiny bolts of lightning. The man made no notice of it, as if he felt nothing when he walked through. He reached towards Nathan’s head and Nathan instinctively jerked away, though there was no place he could go. The man, with strangely fast reflexes, grabbed Nathan’s head, lifted his eyelids, looked into his eyes, and muttered something into some kind of elongated wrist bracelet. He turned his attention back to Nathan.

“Benum meern! Teco est istas?” he asked with an implied smile. Nathan simply looked at him with a befuddled grin. His slicked back white hair and almost wrinkle-free forehead contrasted strangely, one indicating more age than the other. The man’s facemask even covered the inside of his mouth, so that when he talked, all Nathan saw was the outline of lips covered in white. The man blinked his green eyes a few times emphatically.

“Bingle bongle, dingle dangle, zippity doo-da,” replied Nathan sardonically, the corners of his mouth extending into a big, sardonic smile. The man stared at him.

“Bingle bongle?” the man asked curiously.

“Yeah, bingle bongle. Do you speak English? Please tell me you speak English. Or do you know someone who speaks English? I really don’t want to start being that guy who speaks really loudly, as if that will help you understand what I’m saying, but I’m really close to doing so.”

The man stared at Nathan some more, and then raised an eyebrow.

“Yuvot ensin terra?” the man asked, leaning his face closer to Nathan’s.

“Oh! That guy who shot me with the thing asked me that! Or was it the other guy? I can’t remember.” The man got closer, peering into Nathan’s eye very strangely. Nathan looked back at him, slightly worried.

“Are you trying to kiss me?” Nathan pulled his head back as far as possible. The man finally stood up straight, pressing some buttons on the monitor that both was and wasn’t above Nathan. A new screen display wiped away the old one, showing a diagram of a brain. The diagram was oddly vivid, and the man continually pressed buttons until a giant, illuminated, spinning diagram of a brain appeared hovering over Nathan’s bed. Nathan let out a small yelp.

“What the hell? Whose brain is that?” Nathan yelled, looking at the man frantically. The man pressed some more buttons on the monitor, causing the giant, floating brain to stop spinning and focus on the stem. Suddenly, the area enlarged itself and the rest of the brain disappeared as if it went off-screen, if there were one. Several tags with words unknown to Nathan appeared, labeling themselves to different portions of the stem; this process continued as the stem moved up and around and even through the different portions of the brain, with labels popping up everywhere as the man continually said “hm.” Nathan felt like he was on the most disgusting and fascinating rollercoaster ride of his life, going through the different sections, seeing the internal structure, until finally the entire brain was again floating above Nathan’s bed. The man pressed a few buttons and the brain disappeared. He gave Nathan a quick look, then walked through the electrical field and out of the ward very hastily.

“What the hell was that all about?” said Nathan aloud.

            Several hours passed as Nathan lay there staring at the ceiling. It, too, was pure white, no imperfections, no breaking for ceiling tiles, nothing but white and light. The man finally returned with another man, dressed similarly, in tow. They both passed through the electrical barrier, talking to each other heatedly as the first man pressed buttons on Nathan’s monitor to bring up, once again, the giant brain diagram.

“Encreb tempor remitte en joral. Corpo delt cull manest pinar,” said the first man as he pointed to various sections of the brain. The second man looked on, perplexed and, from what Nathan could surmise, somewhat surprised.

“Yeah, it’s the great big brain. I think it’s mine, right? It makes sense.” The two men looked at Nathan for a second, then disregarded him and continued to look at the brain.

“Corpo delt cull iner tempor gratuer! Seram quisto zera,” said the second man, the sound of amazement in his voice. He was much younger than the first man, his hair a light shade of brown. It was slicked back like the first man’s, but several hairs wiggled their way onto his forehead. He also was not as thin or as tall as the first man.

“Requis dez nintoberats. Utir pex en corpo vir lang, pengato entidoner,” the first man told the second. The second nodded and walked through the electrical barrier, out of the ward. He returned a few moments later with a small, cylindrical, silver tube, about the size of Nathan’s thumb. Nathan noticed that one end of the tube had small black dots, almost like a peppershaker. The second man gave the first man the tube, and the first placed the dotted end against Nathan’s neck. Nathan looked around for a second awkwardly, wondering what was supposed to happen. Without warning, a stabbing pain shot through Nathan’s head as his brain felt as if it were going to explode. He closed his eyes and began screaming in agony, feeling as if his head were being split open with an axe. Tears formed and began to fall as he jerked his head to and fro, almost wanting to break his own neck to stop the insidious sensation. The men looked at each other, and when they looked back at Nathan a moment later, the pain had subsided. It was only a few seconds, but Nathan wouldn’t have been surprised if that feeling had gone on for days, months, years; it certainly felt like forever. He opened his eyes, the last of his tears running down his face. He looked at the first man.

“Why did you do that? I thought you liked me,” he said half-jokingly, breathing heavily. The man leaned in.

“Vuzet redion yourself, I did not understand you.”

Nathan looked at him, wide-eyed and surprised.

“You just spoke English. What happened to Italian?” The man gave Nathan a strange, white smile.

“I am Doctor Baker. This is my colleague, Doctor Rousseau. What is your name? And do you know where you are right now?” Doctor Baker asked Nathan. Nathan looked at the other beds, his monitors, and the two doctors.

“Nathan, Nathan Berringer, and I can’t be too sure, but I would have to say that I’m in a hospital. Never seen a hospital like this, though. Is it safe to assume that I’m in Helena?” asked Nathan.

“It is.” Doctor Baker looked at Doctor Rousseau. “Can you go get the officers, please?” Doctor Rousseau nodded and left the ward. Doctor Baker looked back at Nathan. “You must have questions. However, I believe that I have some more prudent ones; first, how old are you?” Nathan looked at him quizzically.

“I’m twenty-two. Why?” Doctor Baker touched some buttons on the monitor above Nathan’s head. The giant brain appeared once again with the labels. Doctor Baker stood upright and looked right at Nathan.

“Your chromosomal age is, indeed, twenty-two years past birth; however, the delta fluctuations in your temporal lobe were not functioning as a typical human’s would. In other words, you could not understand the Human language that I was speaking to you. I corrected for that by injecting you with a series of nanites to alter your delta wave functions. It took a few seconds, but you picked up the language.”

“But, you’re speaking English! And, nanites? What?” interrupted Nathan.

“It might sound that way, but to me, you’re speaking Human. The nanites modified the auditory and sensory receptors in your brain to coincide with the average human’s. Also, just in case, DNA scans show that you are completely human, unless you had genetic re-mod done recently?” He looked at Nathan seriously. Nathan had no idea what genetic re-mod meant. He answered with an unsure “no.” Doctor Baker continued.

“What also struck me as curious was that your entire body was bathed in neutrino energy, though it was very difficult to find at first. I’ve never seen someone so engulfed by neutrino energy. It’s, well, unprecedented. The only way that you could be so saturated with it is if you somehow traveled at the speed of light through a star, though that’s impossible, as anyone would know.” He paused and began walking slowly around Nathan’s bed. The floating brain partially blocked Doctor Baker. “What’s more, the neutrinos seem to have a decay rate of approximately three thousand years. I only took two years of verifiable quantum physics, and even I know that’s impossible. So, I decided to measure the age of your belongings. When we measured their atomic isometric age, they all registered as approximately three thousand years old. Your clothes and technology are reminiscent of those I’ve seen in museums, and your telescope is very, very myopic. I considered for a second that you might have robbed a museum, but with the items that you had, you’d be lucky to rob a cow.” Doctor Baker was still serious. He paused on the other side of Nathan’s bed, looking down at him.

“Uh…” Nathan trailed off.

“What year is this? Rather, what year are you accustomed to?”

Nathan gave him a quizzical look.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. 2012?” Nathan replied. Doctor Baker raised an eyebrow.

“Hm, 2012, old calendar. It would probably mean nothing for me to say that it’s the year 18k243.”

“No, it doesn’t mean anything. Why is there a ‘k’?”

“The modern year calendar was revised approximately two-thousand years ago during the Reformation to account for the beginnings of organized civilization. I suppose that means that, in your terms, this is the year…” Doctor Baker looked up, calculating in his head. “…5046? I think. Don’t quote me on that. As far as I know, we, in this century, do not have any kind of temporal displacement technology, seeing as research on it was banned several decades ago. Was there temporal displacement technology in your century? I don’t recall ever reading anything about that in history class. That’s the only thing I can think of that would leave behind such a strong neutrino signature with that long a decay rate.”

“No…” Nathan looked distraught. “You can’t be serious.”

“Completely.” Doctor Baker looked sternly at Nathan. The white facial mask accentuated the doctor’s green eyes. All at once, his demeanor lightened.

“That being said, you brought a host of unfamiliar bacteria and viruses, which is why we’ve had the energy field surrounding your bed. We’ve sterilized you and we’ve also inoculated you against the common sicknesses we have. We’ll have to feed you specially treated food so that you don’t get immediately sick from eating the local cuisine.” He suddenly looked around. “Well, where are those officers? You’d think they would be excited about this whole mess.” Doctor Baker exited from the energy field in a rush, leaving the ward.

“But…” Nathan trailed off. He sank his head down onto his bed and stared into the emptiness above him. Three thousand years… thought Nathan. The words seemed to rattle around in his ears, drilling themselves into his brain. It was unbelievable; Nathan not only missed making a new life in a time when he could have been so much, but he missed the smaller moments. He never got in contact with his aunt, he never told Mr. and Mrs. Gene that he arrived safely; they must have been worried. He would never have the chance of becoming employed, possibly working in a lab somewhere, making new discoveries and learning more and more about the world. He would never have the chance to attempt to reconcile with his father after becoming successful; he would never be able to return the book Mrs. Gene gave him. He would never have kids that he could introduce to Mr. and Mrs. Gene; they would never have grandkids. Nathan’s eyes began to well up. He sniffled and wiped his eyes, trying to erase the possibilities of his past from presenting themselves.

            The two men whom Nathan met on the highway entered the ward accompanied by Doctor Baker. They were without their helmets this time and, unlike Doctor Baker, their mouths were not covered by anything. Now that Nathan could see their faces, though, he became slightly anxious. Both of the officers were around the same height, reminding Nathan of his father, though these men were not nearly as Herculean. The officer on the right had black hair with dark eyes and little less-than-square jaw, but the one on the left had, in no simpler terms, gills. A set of gills protruded from both sides of his neck, though a small apparatus containing what appeared to be water covered them. His skin was dark and seemed to be covered in navy blue scales, though if they were scales, they were not very prominent. His face, though looking slightly human, had a nose similar to a pig’s, though slightly sharper. His auburn hair and grass-green eyes, though vividly colored, retained a common human form, though the color itself was unusually strong. Nathan stared at the officer, his inhuman form, in both awe and slight terror. He had never seen anything so…different.

            The officers stood before the energy barrier, looking at Doctor Baker. The Doctor was pressing some buttons on his wrist-bracelet, though Nathan had only ever glanced at it once. It was an odd thing; it went halfway up his forearm, and it seemed to have a rounded computer display, active on all sides of the bracelet. Doctor Baker would press buttons on one side and the display on the other side would change, causing the Doctor to flip his arm over to interact with the new display. Nathan’s eyes moved back and forth from the strange inhuman to the wrist computer, unsure of which was more astounding at the moment.

“Hang on, I’m ensuring that there are no foreign contaminants within the energy barrier. You don’t want to get sick, do you?” Dr. Baker said to the officers while he worked on his wrist computer.

“No, I suppose not,” said the human officer flatly. Finally after several beeps and boops, Doctor Baker seemed relieved.

“Lowering the energy barrier now,” and with a press of a button on his wrist, the barrier fizzled out, seemingly disintegrating into the air as pure nothingness. The officers, unfazed by this, walked to Nathan’s bedside. The inhuman stood closest to Nathan.

“I am off…” started the inhuman officer before Nathan interrupted him.

“Are those gills?” he yelled out suddenly. The officer looked shocked and upset, his face frozen on his last word.

“Yes, they are. I am one-quarter Pompilian. My name is Officer Eolas Ka’arin; this is my partner, Officer Tyrian Denorus. If you do not remember, we are the ones who found you on the road. Do you remember us?” His voice resonated somewhat through his water apparatus, though only enough to make it sound like he slightly gargled when he spoke. Otherwise, his voice was as deep as the ocean.

“Gills!” Nathan yelled again, laughing slightly, staring transfixed at Officer Ka’arin’s inhuman neck. “Can I call you Gill?” asked Nathan. Officer Ka’arin simply stared at Nathan.

“Right, no forget that. This is so cool! How are you an alien? What is it like being one?”

Officer Ka’arin furrowed his brow.

“Oh, right, um… Yeah, of course I remember you, you shot me. Or you,” Nathan nodded to Officer Denorus, “you shot me. I don’t remember who it was; you guys all look the same when you’re under your big black helmets. Why did you shoot me?”

“You were unintelligible. We had no way of knowing whether or not you would be violent, so we stunned you,” replied Officer Ka’arin.

“You could have killed me!” yelled Nathan, rather uncontrollably. His head jerked up and veins seemed to erupt from his placid forehead when he yelled.

“Actually, no, the stun setting is perfectly harmless,” interjected Doctor Baker, “though I hesitate to wonder why you would use it on someone who looks rather innocuous.” Officer Denorus turned his black eyes to Doctor Baker, his face seemingly cut with indignation. He had been fidgeting slightly in place, as if eager to speak.

“Hesitate to wonder or not at your own behest, Doctor. What we did secured a possible biological threat, however innocuous he might be. Now, you,” he turned to Nathan, pressed some buttons on his wrist-bracelet, and began reading off of it, “Nathan Berringer, aged 22, born 12 April, 1990, old calendar, reported missing 20 August 2012, old calendar. Father, Henry Berringer; mother, Carinne Berringer; sister Dorothy Berringer. Was the aforementioned true?” Officer Denorus looked up at Nathan, his stony expression unchanging. Nathan gawked at Officer Denorus for a second.

“Yuh, yeah. Yeah, that’s me.” Nathan’s mouth suddenly felt dry. He almost envied Officer Ka’arin. Officer Denorus turned to Doctor Baker.

“I’m going to file a request to move Mr. Berringer from this ward to a secured facility in order to question him thoroughly. He presents a possible security threat. You will receive the transfer materials in the morning, I expect you to approve and sign them. If you do not approve and sign them, then I will be forced to remove Mr. Berringer from this ward as per defense law fifteen, paragraph eight, subsection two, and if you do not approve and sign off this transfer, Doctor Baker, then you shall receive a rather blunt end to your medical practice. I hope this is clear to you.” Officer Denorus took a step towards the exit of the ward, but Doctor Baker spoke up.

“Defense code of ethics, paragraph fifty-two, subsection nineteen: in cases where a possible enemy combatant has contracted any unknown illness, a condition unsafe or unprecedented, or is critically injured, the attending physician has unanimous control over the proceedings of the patient in all aspects of handling. Should the question of a military injunction to remove the patient arise due to an interest on behalf of the military, the attending physician shall, and with full support of the law, have the final word with regards to the handling of the patient. In other words, Officer Denorus, medicine reigns supreme in this case. You may question Mr. Berringer here in the ward, but at no point can you move him without my authority. If you do so, Mister Denorus, I shall bring the full weight of the law down upon you, and I am quite sure it would bring a very blunt end to your service within the Solar Confederation.” Doctor Baker, with his thin frame and white hair, seemed to radiate with the glow of fire as his eyes pierced the stony face of Officer Denorus, making small cracks in the otherwise inscrutable expression. The Officer’s left eye began to twitch for a second before he turned and walked briskly out of the ward. Doctor Baker, staring at Officer Denorus’ back until he was no longer visible, turned then to Officer Ka’arin, who remained speechless during the entire verbal boxing match. Officer Ka’arin looked back and forth from Doctor Baker to Nathan, eventually resigning himself. He gave a slight smirk.

“We’ll return tomorrow with questions. I’m sure you realize how strange your appearance here is. We have much to ask you. Good night,” he gargled. He turned and left the ward. Doctor Baker, still burning with a force one might not expect from a man of his advanced years, watched Officer Ka’arin leave before finally letting his brusqueness fade. He exhaled and seemed to relax, his eyes closing for a second.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Mr. Berringer?” he said, his eyes closed.

“Well, you can let me move my arms and legs,” replied Nathan. Doctor Baker opened his eyes, still not looking at Nathan. He pressed some buttons on his wrist-bracelet, and like the energy field that once surrounded his bed, the constraints on his limbs dissipated.

“Try not to wander off.” Doctor Baker began walking out of the ward. Nathan flexed his hands and wiggled his toes.

“Thank you,” said Nathan. Doctor Baker stopped in place, looked slightly over his shoulder, and smiled. He continued his walk and left the ward.

            Nathan looked at his hands and feet and continued wiggling them around in strange motions. He smiled in adolescent delight as he traced and painted the air with his hands and kicked imaginary pillows floating above his feet. He suddenly looked up, half-expecting his parents or Mr. and Mrs. Gene to be watching him. His smile faded as he realized how alone he was; it was just him sitting on his bed, isolated from the world that he once knew, never to return to those for whom he cared. He had never wished so strongly to be home.