Head First Into The Future

A short story by Anna Brown, Regent Street, Treorchy.

Accepted for publication in the Cambrensis - April 1998. Published in the March 1999 issue.

Mary raised her heavy eyelids.  A blinding flash of light made her snap them shut again. “God where am I?”  she whispered.  A bolt of electricity hit her body, lifted it into the air,  then dropped it back onto a hard surface.  Her head pounded.  A million psychedelic lights flashed before her closed eyes.  She groaned and lost consciousness.

Several minutes later Mary became aware of a stream of warm air drifting over her naked body.  She tried to move.  Her limbs felt heavy and stiff.  After a few attempts she managed to sit up and open her eyes.  This time the lights were subdued and she was able to focus on her surroundings. 

“I must be in hospital,” she thought, looking around the white cubicle.  Sliding to the edge of the stainless steel trolley she eased herself onto the floor.  She turned and jumped back in horror.  Three walls of the cubicle were shiny white plastic but the fourth was transparent. 

“Hell!  I’m in a shop window,” she cried,   “And I’ve no clothes.”  She ducked behind the trolley covering herself with her hands.  Her eyes searched for a way of escape.  There was none.  Her heart pounded.  “How did I get here?  Come on Mary, think.  Try to remember.” 

Her mind was blank.  Still crouching she moved along the edge of the trolley to the window.  Outside nothing moved.  “It’s some sort of arcade,” she thought, peering out.  “More cubicles like this one.  But they don’t have trolleys.  They have pedestals with…………No.  No, can’t be.” 

Mary’s eyes grew wider and wider.  The pedestals held heads.  Real, human heads with wrinkly faces and masses of hair.  She shot to her feet and banged on the window with her fists , “Let  me out.  Let me out,” she screamed.

There was a loud whooshing sound and the window opened like a train door. Mary sprang like a wild cat out into the arcade.  “Clothes or no clothes I’m not hanging ‘round here,” she said racing down the corridor keeping her eyes glued in front.  Turning the bend she stopped dead.  An enormous red arrow the width of the corridor lay in her path,  ” Now what,” she panted.  A voice echoed down the corridor making her jump. 

Mary cocked her head and listened.

“Step onto the arrow for Clone Street,” said the female voice.

Still panting Mary put her hands together, “Thank God somebody’s out there.” Gingerly she stepped onto the arrow.  “If this isn’t a nightmare, I hope Clone street has a  clothes shop,” she muttered.

The arrow pulsated, changed from red to green and shot off like a super sonic skate board throwing Mary backwards.  “Oh!  My God.  I’m going to die,” she closed her eyes.  Her back hit the deck.  A powerful vacuum slurped and her bare skin welded to the arrow.  The pain was excruciating.  Her screams echoed along the corridor. 

Suddenly, the arrow stopped, the suction released and still screaming Mary was catapulted through the air.  She landed on a soft spongy surface.  For a while she lay there terrified to open her eyes.  Her head was spinning. 

She could hear the sound of lapping water.  She opened her eyes.  She was in a deserted square lying in the middle of a gigantic foam pad.  The centre of the square was dominated by a hundred foot crystal fountain built like a pyramid.  Water cascaded into a pale pink marble pool.

She got to her feet.  Keeping her eyes peeled she made her way to the fountain.  The icy cold spray made her flesh tingle.  Reaching out she scooped the water into her hands and drank. 

“Lovely,” she whispered, running her tongue over her parched lips, wincing as she poured the second scoop of water over her sore back.  She surveyed the square.  There were no signs of life.  The three story terraced houses surrounding the square looked like white plastic cut outs from a science fiction film set. 

Everything was white, trees, curtains even the railings and the road were white plastic.  Looking skywards she could see the whole of the square was covered by a gigantic opaque dome. 

Everything looked so clinical and calm but where were the people?  She walked towards the houses, putting her hands to her mouth she called out, “Hello!  Hello! Can any one hear me?”  A door opened automatically.  Mary walked towards it, then, tapped and went  inside.  “Hello” she repeated.”  She found herself in what appeared to be a control room.  She spun around as the door snapped shut behind her.   

“Welcome to the Memory Enhancement Station,” said a  voice.  “Please go to the keyboard in the centre of the room for further instructions.”

“Where am I?”  Mary asked.  “Where are my clothes?”

“Enter your full name, address and age.”  The voice demanded.

“Who are you?”  Mary asked looking around.

“Full name, address and age,” repeated the voice.

“What am I doing here?”  Mary snapped.

“Full name…………..

“Ok.  Ok.  I heard you the first time,” Mary tapped her name into the computer.  Mary Elizabeth Thomas, 1, Caesar Street, Treparc.  Age 62 years.

“Enter today’s date.”

Mary typed, January 14^th 2001.

“Good,” said the voice.  “Your memory is going to recover quickly.  Before we move on to the next stage press R.”

Mary pressed ‘R’, the walls rotated and she was surrounded by mirrors.

“Well,” asked the voice.  “What do you think?”

Mary stared at her reflection.  “Is this some sort of trick?” she asked.

The voice laughed.  “No trick Mary but it is normal at this stage to think of trickery,  don’t worry you’ll remember and understand everything in time.”

Mary looked at herself in the mirror.  She was sixty two but she only looked eighteen. “This nightmare is not so bad after all,” she thought, admiring herself.

“Please enter phase two,” said the voice.

“Right,” Mary said pressing phase two. There was a lot of whirring and clicking.  The floor began moving downwards like a lift.  It stopped in a large pink plastic hall way.  A purr of mechanism and a door slid open revealing a mirror lined bedroom.  Mary entered.  “Bit sparse,” she said gazing around. 

The room held a single bed and a chair, both covered in the palest shade of pink brocade.  The carpet too was pink and felt soft like silk beneath her feet.  The central light was diamond cut crystal.  Reflected in the mirrors, the light gave an unnerving impression of being the centre of a long tunnel with lights diminishing on all sides.   On the bed lay a white and gold patterned tunic with shimmering gold pants. 

Mary put them on. 

After admiring herself in the mirror, she sat on the edge of the bed.  “If  I could find a phone I could ring Tom,” she thought.  “Tom,” suddenly the memory of Tom her husband came flooding back.  Mary jumped up.  “He’ll be frantic with worry, I must get to a phone and tell him where I am.  But, I don’t know where I am, or what has happened to me for all I know I might have been kidnapped.” 

Rushing to where she thought the door might be she felt for a button or anything that might trigger the door open.  There was nothing.  “Damn,” she said,  “Damn, damn, damn.”  She banged her fists on the mirror and shouted,  “Let me out.  Let me out.” 

Frightened and tired she sank to her knees, tears trickled down her cheeks.  “Please somebody help me.  I’m trapped.” She sobbed. 

“Mary you are not trapped,” it was the voice again.  “You are free to go whenever you wish.  I am here to help you regain your memory.  When you are ready we will begin.”

“Please let me out,” Mary begged.  “I want my shoes and a phone to ring Tom.  He’ll be worried.

“All in good time,” said the voice.  “You can’t go forward until you remember the past.”  There was a purring sound and the mirror rotated revealing a television screen.

“Take the chair Mary and make yourself comfortable.

Mary took the chair and sat in front of the screen.  Wiping away her tears with the sleeve of her tunic.

“We’ll start by recapping,” said the voice.  The screen flashed and Mary saw Tom her husband walking up their garden path.  She smiled.  The screen blanked.

“CRYOGENICS,” flashed onto the screen.  Mary looked at it for a few seconds.  Her mouth dropped.  “Oh!” she gasped.  It all came flooding back. 

“The American Clone Company.  I signed that form.  After my death my head was to be frozen in nitrogen and kept until technology advanced enough to clone my body and bring it back to life.  Forty thousand pounds was the price in 1997, or sixty thousand American dollars.  At that time I had neither but I took out a life assurance to be paid to the Clone Company after my death.  Thirty pounds a month it cost.  Tom thought I was crazy.  But I had done so little with my life I wanted a second chance.  I was adamant.  I didn’t want to die.”

“You had your wish Mary.  You didn’t die.  It took a hundred years to perfect what had already been started with Dolly the sheep in 1997.  You have been cloned and your new body is indestructible.”

“How long was I frozen?” Mary asked

“A hundred and fifty years.”

“A hundred and fifty years,” Mary gasped.  “I can’t believe it.  It’s a joke.

“It’s no joke Mary.  Today’s date is January the first 2151.

Mary was stunned.

“The next step Mary, is going to be the most difficult.”

The screen flashed to a terraced street.  “Remember this?” asked the voice.

Mary looked at the row of white plastic houses and shook her head

“Look carefully Mary.”

Mary looked closer.  “Yes, yes of course I remember.  It’s my street.  Look there’s my house,” she jumped off the chair.  But why is everything white?  It wasn’t a minute ago.

“The first scene was the past, Mary.  This scene is the present.  The white is a special coating to stop pollution.”

Mary sat, her eyes glued to the screen.  The door of her house opened.  Out came a man with the head of an ass.  Mary laughed.  “Fancy dress, Shakespeare’s bottom. 

Sorry, I mean Bottom, from A Midsummer  Nights Dream,” she giggled.  The camera moved slowly up the street.  A gang of men were huddled together chatting.  As they moved  Mary could see they had men’s bodies but pigs heads.

The screen moved further along towards the town hall, a large building with pillars and a flight of steps. 

“Descending,” said the voice, “Is our Mare-yor.”  (Mayor)

“Oh!  Come on,” said Mary, “That’s a horses body with the head and limbs of a man. This must be some kind of  joke and I don’t find it amusing.”

Following the Mayor was a crowd of men and women.  All had sheep heads.

 “Don’t  tell me,” Mary laughed,  “They’re politicians.  A hundred and fifty years and they haven’t changed a bit.”

The screen kept moving, revealing horses and goats with the heads of men.  Dogs walking upright with human arms.  “I know.  It’s a play on Greek Mythology,” Mary said, “Come on, voice.  I give in.  What’s going on?”

“It’s not a play Mary.  This is life as it is today.  Your generation started it and now we all have to live with cross cloning and Cryogenics.  No births.  No deaths.  Only defrosts.”

Mary felt ill.  “I don’t want to live in a world full of weirdoes,” she cried.  “I’d rather be dead.”

“Sorry, Mary but cloned people are indestructible.”

The screen rotated.  Mary looked past her horrified face in the mirror and down the corridor of diminishing lights. “God.  What have I done,” she whispered.

“It’s time to go, Mary.  Please step forward into the corridor.

Mary arched her eyebrows.  “Are you alright.  I can’t walk through the mirror.”

“Walk,” commanded the voice.

Mary obeyed.  She stepped through the mirror.  A gust of wind howled and threw her side wards.  She fought her way along the corridor staying close to the wall, her long hair flying like a golden mane behind her. 

She came to a door, summoning all her strength against the down draft, she threw herself against it and fell out into Pyramid square.  This time there was a lot of activity.  Green arrows shot up and down the road.

Sheep clones were standing around chatting and laughing.  Mary walked over to a bench and sat, “What am I going to do,” she stared blindly into the fountain..

“Hi! Sweetie.  Haven’t seen you here before.” 

Mary felt someone sidle close to her.  She turned to find a two humped camel with the head of a man on the seat next to her.  She shot up and hurried to another bench.  She sat with her head in her hands and cried.  “This isn’t what I wanted.  I wanted to live again in my world not a world full of freaks.

“Hello Mary,” said a familiar voice.

Slowly she raised her head and looked up at a handsome young man.

Don’t tell me you don’t recognise me,” he smiled.

She smoothed the hair away from her face and  wiped away her tears with her fingers.

“Tom.  Is it really you, Tom?”

“Of course it’s me.”                                                                  

They threw their arms around each other.  “But Tom, how did you get here?

“Same way as you.  Thirty pounds a month.” He laughed

“It’s so wonderful to see you,” she said.  “I thought I was going mad.”  Then she held him at arms length to make sure he hadn’t turned into something weird.  “You look so young and handsome,” she added.  “But Tom you didn’t believe in Cryogenics.”

"I didn’t at the time but after you went I changed my mind.  Wherever you were, I wanted to be.  But by some quirk of fate I got here before you.”

“Tom, are you happy here?”

“Love it,” he said.  “It’s a bit like a wooden leg.  Very strange and difficult at first. 

But when you get used to it.  It’s great”.

.........................The End

2362 words