Foray to the Future: Chapter 5

I think 5 chapters is enough. It's not like you want to read them anyway.

5

            Nathan awoke with a start several hours later, covered in sweat and panting. He wiped his brow with his gown, trying to slow his rapid breathing. What had he dreamed? Garbled images flashed before his eyes, but he could not discern any clear, coherent sequence that made any sense. He rubbed his face and, seeing the dark ward, dropped his head back into the pillow.

The next day came uneventfully. No questioning, no exams, no painful injections; just Nathan relaxing on his bed as the window went from an opaque wall to transparent, filling the room with fresh sunlight. Nathan was continually amazed by the technology; the wall faded away as the sun rose, though it was still solid. Nathan tried thinking of explanations for this, but in the end, his mind simply reverted to eh, it’s the future.

            He was allowed out of the ward, though he mostly used this time to look at himself in the mirror in the bathroom. Since he had arrived, Nathan had not showered, though one could not tell by smelling him. It seemed that the hospital gown collected all the dead skin that would normally cause a stench and had somehow removed it. He also had neither shaved nor brushed his teeth, and his patchy blonde beard was very apparent, though it seemed that the food he had been eating had taken care of any pungent breath he might have had.

            Doctor Baker, his facemask off, strode into the ward. He had his hands held behind his back. He walked straight to Nathan with a pleasant smile.

“Good morning! I have a surprise for you.” He pulled the book Mrs. Gene gave him out from behind his back and handed it to Nathan. Nathan took it eagerly, his mood taking leaps and bounds over what it was before. He ran his hands over the cover, feeling, if just for a brief second, the comfort of home.

“All of your belongings were delivered here this morning. I assume that the Acclimation Officer will be here relatively soon too.” Doctor Baker paused for a second. “Have you had breakfast yet?”

“If I knew how the work the magical dispensary over there, I most certainly would.”

Doctor Baker sighed. “One of the other doctors here should have offered, but they always seem reluctant to be in here…”

“How come there are hardly any doctors for the other patients?” asked Nathan. “I mean, it’s kind of noticeable, this being a hospital and all.” Doctor Baker’s voice softened.

“They are all members of Silens Terra, deemed terrorists. They all received some kind of injury when they clashed with members of the Defense Forces. They’re recovering here until they are well enough to be imprisoned.” Doctor Baker then headed to the small alcove, returning with another bowl of mush.

“What is Silens Terra, exactly? I mean, the two officers mentioned it when they were questioning me,” asked Nathan. Doctor Baker’s demeanor hardened a bit, his face displaying an odd wrinkle or two.

“They’re a group of people who believe that humans should remain separate from non-terrestrials. They use rather…unconventional means to get their message across.” Doctor Baker then went silent. Nathan thought of probing deeper, but Doctor Baker seemed rather sensitive on the subject.

“Anyway, I adjusted the ingredients slightly, so the taste should be different, hopefully a bit better.” He handed the silver bowl and spoon to Nathan. It still looked like moulding clay. Nathan sat up in his bed and crossed his legs. He put the book down at the foot of his bed. For a moment, Nathan thought he saw a bit of the food move on its own; undeterred, however, Nathan grabbed a spoonful and ate it with delight. It now tasted a bit like cinnamon and had no sickly aftertastes or embarrassing side effects.

“How is it?” asked Doctor Baker.

“Pretty damn good, actually. It tastes like real food,” said Nathan through a mouthful. Doctor Baker went to get himself a bowl and returned.

“So how does that thingy make this stuff?” said Nathan, who then realized how ridiculous his sentence sounded. “I meant-”

“It’s called the synthesizer,” said Doctor Baker, nodding towards the small alcove. “It can create basically anything as long as you know the atomic composition. Granted, to the layman such as yourself, that might be a little intense, and oh, you’re right, this is good, but since most objects such as food, clothing, and devices have been atomically mapped and catalogued, there is very little that the synthesizer can’t make.”

“Can it make living things?” asked Nathan, quickly finishing off his mush.

“Depends what you mean by living,” replied Doctor Baker. “It can make seeds for a plant, it can replicate animal proteins for food, but it can’t make a fetus. The human cerebral cortex, immune system, and nervous system are too complex for the synthesizer to replicate, though there are researchers attempting to do so even now. If they succeed, there will certainly be a revolution in treating diseases that will be surpassed by, well, probably nothing.”

“Amazing. How does it create things?” asked Nathan, rapt in attention.

“Haha, well, to put it simply, everything no longer needed is recycled. By recycled, I mean that it is broken down into its core atoms which are then stored, and those atoms are re-assembled into whatever you need them to be. Empty bowls, tattered clothing, even human waste, they are all recycled. There are a whole bunch of processes underlying that, but I’m sure that it wouldn’t make much sense if I tried to explain it to you.”

“I’m not as dumb as…well, yeah, technically I am,” said Nathan contentedly. “So, how do I work it?” Doctor Baker ushered Nathan over to the synthesizer. It was an indented space, only about seven inches into the wall. Just above the opening on the wall was a panel with a single blinking red square light button. Doctor Baker pushed it and it immediately disappeared; it was replaced by three oval buttons: a blue one that had “FOODSTUFFS” written in black letters in the center, a green one that had “MATERIAL” written in black letters, and a yellow one that had “RECYCLE” written in black letters.

“First, Nathan, place your bowl and spoon in the synthesizer,” said Doctor Baker. Nathan did so, and Doctor Baker pressed the “RECYCLE” button. Immediately, the bowl began disintegrating, its contents turning into small blue particles that appeared to fall through the bottom of the synthesizer, almost as if the bottom were another hologram. After the particles disappeared, Nathan poked at the bottom of the synthesizer curiously. It was completely solid.

“Well, now, obviously, you press the button that reads ‘foodstuffs,’”-he pressed it- “and then this menu comes up.” Smaller buttons appeared in varying colors, except they all had abbreviations that Nathan did not understand. Many only contained one letter and one number.

“Yeah, um, sorry, this does not make any sense. We all learn from a very young age about the codes. Here,” he pressed a green unmarked button to the very right of all the coded ones, “this is the vocal command button. Watch.” He cleared his throat. “Synthesize nutritional supplement Berringer R-CHHN24.” Small blue lights began accruing together, almost the exact reverse of what happened for recycling. A new silver bowl and spoon appeared, though this bowl was full of the mush. Nathan could not help but stare in awe.

“It’s such a simple concept…” said Nathan as he trailed off. He grabbed the bowl, examining it as if it was supposed to be different from his other bowls. It was exactly the same, except it was full. He took the spoon, running it through the mush slowly, examining if it had any differences from before. He then picked up a spoonful, examined it, brought it up to each of his eyes, and finally put it in his mouth. It tasted exactly like the bowlful he had before. Doctor Baker placed his empty bowl into the synthesizer and recycled it, though Nathan didn’t notice. He was still inspecting the bowl, as if it were composed of small diamonds.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk. You have yet to look outside.” Doctor Baker tapped Nathan on the arm. Nathan finished his bowl, placed it in the synthesizer, and pressed the “recycle” button. He watched in delighted amazement as the bowl broke down into small blue glowing circles, and as soon as they all disappeared, he followed Doctor Baker out of the ward.

            The inside of the hospital looked like any normal hospital except for the abnormal amount of white. Everything, from the incalculable number of doctors, to the walls, to the floors, was the purest of pure white, and everything was completely clean. Not a spot of dirt could be seen on the ground, though Nathan did not have much time to look around as Doctor Baker led them directly outside to the back of the hospital, through the solid-glass doors that parted for them.

            Seeing the outside world felt like an epiphany to Nathan; the sky was the shade of blue reserved for the most contented day in spring, and a gentle breeze caressed Nathan’s cheek in a way that felt almost familial. The back of the hospital was not at all what Nathan had been expecting; a widened circular drive able to fit several large vehicles encompassed a circular garden of flowers arranged in the typical flow of colors in a rainbow, except where the colors might border, the flowers were mixed, giving a smooth transition from one color to the next. Surrounding the drive on both sides was an expansive lawn where many people were walking about, sitting on benches, or talking to others. It was unusually calm for the typical hospital, at least in Nathan’s experience.

“Wow. This is…different,” remarked Nathan. He and Doctor Baker began walking along the grass.

“Oh? How so?” asked Doctor Baker.

“Well, this type of set-up was usually reserved for the asylums for the, you know,” Nathan whistled and spun his finger pointing at his head, “insane. I read a pretty good book on this stuff back when I was in college. You never saw this kind of thing in a normal medical hospital. Hell, you never saw this at an asylum. They were never so nice.” Doctor Baker chuckled.

“Well, we’ve learned quite a bit about mental and cognitive conditions since your time. We certainly don’t practice eugenics the way that it was once practiced, nor do we dull the mind with narcotics. There is a greater appreciation for the mind, which is recognized as separate from the brain. A soul, if you prefer old religious parlance. The mind is the portion where creativity and self is contained; you might think of it as composed of certain portions of the brain, but not confined to the brain itself. Also, we now believe that a bit of fresh air is necessary for a recovering patient, though only for those who can make it outside, of course. Come, sit.” Doctor Baker motioned to a nearby white bench.

“Fascinating. I feel like this pervades into some area of philosophy that I may or may not have learned about, though more likely not, but that is only because my philosophy class was composed of me staring at the incredibly cute blonde girl in front of me who sneezed whenever the professor said ‘Heidegger.’ Made for a pretty entertaining week on German philosophers,” said Nathan. Doctor Baker smiled, though he was obviously aching to say something.

“Look, Nathan, in approximately the next half-hour or so, you will be completely out of my hands. I won’t be able to protect you anymore, and even though the officers have assured me that they will no longer want you in prison, I still fear that you may be in some danger. I can only offer you my aid as a friend; if you need to contact me, simply use the wrist bracelet if you are given one, or contact me via your living quarters. You’ll have a computer terminal equipped with a communicator, so you will be able to find me if necessary. I’m sure your Acclimation Officer will show you how to use the basics of what you’re given,” Doctor Baker said reassuringly.

“Thank you, Doctor. If I sneeze, you will certainly be the first to know.”

Doctor Baker stared at Nathan dumbfounded for a second, then guffawed heartily.

“You’ve got quite the sense of humor. Come, let’s get you some better clothes than the ones you have already.” Doctor Baker stood up from the bench, and Nathan followed. It really was quite a beautiful day; Nathan could hear several birds singing happily in the distance, and somewhere near those birds were some patients, laughing heartily, while playing with what looked like a slightly oversized silver volleyball. On a bench nearby the patients sat a rather rough looking man wearing something similar to the officers, and from the distance, it looked like he was staring directly at Nathan. Nathan could almost swear that one of his eyes was unusually shiny, but Nathan turned away, disregarded the man, and entered the hospital without a word.

The Doctor led Nathan to a room in the hospital about half the size of his ward, though there was not much in the room aside from a synthesizer and what looked like an empty, silver doorframe in the center of the room. Upon closer inspection, however, this doorframe was longer than it appeared. It was more like an opened box, the beams on each side wider than Nathan. Several cables ran from the bottom of the doorframe to a standing glass control panel that looked like a podium. Doctor Baker went to the podium, the transparent display booting up at his touch. He looked up at Nathan.

“Step right into the imager right between the vertical beams.”

Nathan walked up to it and stood directly under the horizontal panel on top. He had not noticed before that, on the sides of the panels facing him, each panel was black with horizontal green lines spaced a few inches apart.

“All right, look directly forward, arms at your sides, try not to move too much, and stand up straight; your posture is sagging a bit.” Nathan stood like a soldier, looking directly forward at the wall. Doctor Baker pressed a button on the glass panel, and a low hum of electricity began to emanate from the imager. A red light emerged from the horizontal panel at the top, gradually moving down the frame until it reached the top of Nathan’s head. When it did, it paused, and then disappeared. Two new red lights emerged from either side of Nathan, moving gradually towards him until they reached his shoulders, after which they disappeared as well. Nathan looked around, wondering if the whole thing was done. A blue light, right on cue, began to make its way up his legs, scanning his entire body gradually. It felt like absolutely nothing was happening; there was not even a trace of heat from the light. Finally, when it reached the top of his head, the electrical hum stopped.

“You can step out now, Nathan.” Nathan walked out of the imager and towards Doctor Baker. On the glass control panel was a diagram of Nathan’s body, detailing his height, weight, and body classification. Nathan watched curiously as Doctor Baker tapped a few buttons, the options on the sides of the diagram changing each time.

“All right, what color do you want your clothes to be? Keep in mind that you can change it whenever you wish.” Doctor Baker looked at Nathan for an answer.

“Uh…blue?” said Nathan.

“What kind of blue?” asked Doctor Baker.

“I have to choose a kind of blue?”

“Well, yes, there are many various shades of blue. There’s navy, sky, aqua, cerulean, steel, azure, electric, royal…”

“Okay, I get it,” interrupted Nathan. He thought for a second. “Fine, just give me navy blue.”

“Navy it is!” Doctor Baker tapped one of the buttons on the side. “Matching shoes? Or black?”

“Wait, shoes? You’re wearing shoes?” Nathan looked down at Doctor Baker’s feet. He was, in fact, wearing white shoes that conformed perfectly to his feet without having individual slots for toes. The shoes themselves overlapped with Doctor Baker’s clothes, though Nathan could only tell because he was looking so closely. He couldn’t believe that he never noticed that Doctor Baker was wearing shoes. Nathan had figured that the entire skin suit covered the feet as well.

“Wow, I’m dumb. Yeah, make them blue. Wait! Can I have a stripe?” asked Nathan.

“You can have whatever you want on them,” replied Doctor Baker.

“Great, give me a black stripe perpendicular to the bottom of the heel. For once, I won’t have to pay for these.” Doctor Baker tapped another button at the side. The screen then wiped itself, completely blank. Doctor Baker walked to the synthesizer, turned it on, and tapped a few buttons. He turned around, and there in his hands were Nathan’s new clothes, his shoes on top. He handed them to Nathan who took them eagerly; the fabric was nearly weightless in his hands. He ran his hands over the clothes and the shoes; they all felt like silk, smooth and embracing.

“I’ll get you a shaver so you can get rid of that bird’s nest growing on your face.” Doctor Baker turned again to the synthesizer and came back with an item that looked like a silver butane cigarette lighter, except that there was a single blue button on it and the top was open.

“Just put the open portion on your facial hair and press the button. Move it around your face and for the love of all that is sacred, do not put it on your eye.” Nathan laughed and placed the item on top of his clothes.

“Also, go take a proper shower. While your gown might have absorbed a lot of grime from you, it certainly doesn’t cover your entire body. The showers are in the bathroom, just past the toilets on the left side. Just press the panel and set the temperature. I’ll see you back in the ward. If you have any problems in the bathrooms, please don’t call me; showering other people is not in my job description.”

“I shall return cleaner than a priest after a long Saturday night. And don’t worry, if I do happen to gouge my eyes out, I will call you. I believe something about that is in your job description.” And with a wink, Nathan turned and headed to the bathroom.

            After a very long shower, several poor renditions of an opera Nathan had once heard, a shave, getting dressed, and being amazed at how the clothes and shoes quite literally melded together, he walked into the ward a new man. His face looked young and wholesome and the clothes fit him perfectly. Nathan thought he looked almost like a super hero; the navy blue clothes matched his body shape almost to the micrometer, though it left ample room for his privates. The light blue Earth on his chest felt to him like a symbol of heroism; and I shall be called, ‘Earth-Man!’ Nathan thought to himself. He walked up to Doctor Baker, who stood next to Nathan’s bed with Nathan’s belongings.

“These clothes almost fit me too well. I feel like people are continually staring at my ass.” Nathan twisted around a bit, attempting to get a look at his behind. Doctor Baker grinned.

“Don’t worry about it. Actually, your Acclimation Officer just arrived. She should be arriving within the minute.”

“She, eh? I just hope she doesn’t find my ass too unappealing in these pants,” joked Nathan. A short silence then hung in the air, making Nathan feel a bit awkward. He felt as if he did not know how to express all the gratitude he wished to. Luckily, he didn’t have to, because Doctor Baker looked to the door of the ward a second later and remarked “ah.”

            Nathan turned, only to have the wind knocked out of him. He was sure his jaw had hit the floor and shattered upon impact. Standing there, at the entrance of the ward, was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen before, and what’s better, he knew that she was there for him. Her black security suit left just enough to Nathan’s imagination to make what was underneath extremely appealing, but that was not what made his heart rate spike. Her eyes were the color of sand mixed with a red fire, giving them a strange, vivid tinge of brown; her hair was a light brown, tied in a professional bun behind her head. Even though she was a security officer, her face glowed with a white radiance, making it appear soft. She was neither too tall nor too short, but just the right height for Nathan. He wanted to touch her face, to caress it, but he figured that would not be the best way to make a first impression.

            She finally reached him, standing up straight and looking Nathan in the eye. She gave what might be called a forced smile and extended her hand. Nathan grabbed it with his, a stupid grin across his face.

“Lieutenant Denara Stewart of the Office of Defense and Security. Mr. Nathan Berringer, correct?” she asked in what sounded like a British accent. Nathan gave what sounded like a small dog’s whimper as a reply. Doctor Baker chimed in. “Yes, he is.”

“Very good. As you know, I have been assigned to you as your Acclimation Officer, as mandated by a joint directive by both the Office of Defense and Security and the Office of Vocational Placement and Aid. Are you ready to leave?” Nathan replied with another whimper, though he quickly cleared his throat.

“Mm, yes.” He stood eyeing her, while she looked at him expectantly.

“Do you need help moving your things?” Denara asked.

“What, oh, no, I’ve got it, no problem,” replied Nathan, quickly bending over to gather his belongings, unable to wipe the foolish grin off his face. He began to walk out, but stopped suddenly. He put his things down, turned around, and walked back to Doctor Baker. Doctor Baker looked at Nathan approvingly. He extended his hand and Nathan took it, squeezing it.

“Thank you,” said Nathan.

“Any time,” replied Doctor Baker. Nathan released his hand, standing for a second; he knew there was infinitely more to say to Doctor Baker, to thank him for being supportive, for protecting Nathan, but at the moment, a simple “thank you” seemed to suffice. Nathan turned, picked up his things, and walked out of the ward with the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.