A Dream From The Past

Haven, short for Safe Haven, is a place set up just on the outskirts of town for the subject to awaken to. It would be a very big shock to the system if a subject was allowed to suddenly awaken in the middle of the stark white lighted room of the Time Port in a time pod, staring out at seven strange faces. Therefore, it was decided long ago—before the first time step—that if anyone was successfully brought back from the past, it would be best to place that person in familiar surroundings and gently nudge him/her into the future. Haven was created for that purpose; it was filled with furniture and the walls, floors and ceiling would be decorated with all the things most familiar to the subject. This would all be replicated so the feel was never quite right, but it at least looked familiar. For Albert Einstein the walls and windows were simply polymorphic glass with the windows showing images of the past that closely resembled what it would have looked like on the Princeton campus circa 1955 The walls would take on the proper shape, texture and colors of the walls of Albert’s office his bookshelves filled with a clutter of notebooks, stacks of folders full of notes and journal entries, student’s papers and some actual books. On the wall behind his desk was a chalk board with two erasers and a lonely piece of chalk. On his desk, a disarray of scattered student papers to be graded, some open books and some mail, in the middle and on top of it all like a crown, sat his pipe. This is where Albert would be waiting.

“Just wait outside; let’s take this slowly, ok?” Josh said.

Shivu was overly excited to meet the Albert Einstein and he had not stopped asking Josh question after question about Albert for the short trip to Haven.

“Ok, but I still don’t see the difference…” Shivu was saying, but Josh just put a finger to his mouth.

“Just wait here, please. I’ll be out to get you in a minute. Promise,” Josh said with a wink, and then he knocked on the door.

“Come in!” exclaimed a voice from behind the door.

At that, Josh opened the door, entered the room and just as he was closing the door he glanced back at Shivu and mouthed the words, “…back in a flash…”

“Hello Uncle Albert! Good to see you again.” Josh said.

“Hello ...uh…there.”

Albert was going to return the friendly greeting until he realized that he didn’t recognize the man standing before him, for this man was taller than Stan. He had strangely shaped blonde hair and was wearing very strange clothes. At least the shirt was. It seemed to glitter on its own. The pants did look like blue jeans, though. The face had soft pleasant features, sort of like that girl Max was with, and there was something familiar about those hazel eyes.

“Have we met?”

“You’re right! I suppose we haven’t formally met yet. I’m Joshua Albert Roberts.” and Josh extended his hand to Albert, a gesture for a hand shake that Josh had practiced, for it was a custom up to about twenty years ago to shake hands at formal introductions.

“Are you really? You’re taller than I remember. Yet, you do look somewhat familiar,” said Albert, while cautiously taking Josh’s hand and shaking it firmly.

“It may be that I have a little bit of Max, and little bit of Francine, in me, at least in my eyes and my hair color. I get my nose and mouth from my mom’s side of the family. Do you like your office? It certainly beats that hospital room, don’t you think?”

“I’m not sure, it seems different. Josh, can you answer me one question?”

“No.” Josh stated, in a rather sing songy way.

“What do you mean no?” Albert asked, his face gaining a quizzical look.

Normally it would be Josh asking the questions, and he really didn’t want to be on the other end of the conversation, but he conceded and decided an explanation was indeed what Albert needed. However, he was going to do this on his terms.

“I think I already know what you are going to ask. Is this heaven? My answer is, no. It’s not heaven; it’s not hell or purgatory either. Although purgatory might be a closer answer than the other two.” Josh said with a grin, and then continued, “Or, perhaps your question is, where am I? Well this place is your safe haven. It’s a rather poor replica of your office. It was hastily created to give you a place to awaken that would at least have some ring of familiarity. We couldn’t give you a real view of the Princeton campus, though, because you’re not in Princeton, New Jersey. Besides, the campus has changed a lot in the last century; you wouldn’t recognize it. However, you are actually on Earth, and we are just outside of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. It’s just a little over a hundred years in your future. Today is Saturday July 18th 2082 and it looks like,” a quick glance at his watch, “it is 12:48 in the afternoon, and I have not had a bite to eat all day. Are you hungry Uncle Albert?”

The last statement was indeed the truth; in fact, in the year 2082, Josh hadn’t had a bite to eat in over a month.

“Are you saying I’m not dead? Then why do I look so young? I haven’t looked this young in forty plus years…”

“That’s because you left behind your old body in 1955, and we reconstructed you a new one. We couldn’t bring you back in your entirety; we could only bring your information, and reconstruct the shell of you. It was up to you to finish the job. That’s why you had to agree to come, because if you decided not to come, then we would only have an empty shell, just like the one you left behind in 1955—only we would have a younger version. Without the essence of you, we would have nothing. Are you sure you’re not hungry?”

“Are you talking about my soul?”

“Your soul, your spirit, that’s a very rudimentary way to look at it. We call it your essence or memories, because your essence defines you and all that you are. By making this new body, we reconstructed with some of the saved material from your brain from 1955. We’ve done nothing more than picked up your old name tag, dusted it off, made a new copy of it and then put it back on you. If you didn’t choose to put on this new nametag, you might still go on, we just would not be able to identify you, or talk to you. We haven’t figured out how to communicate with those entities with no ‘nametag’ out there yet. Shall we continue this conversation over lunch?”

Josh seemed to have worn him down, or perhaps Albert was beginning to feel the hunger pangs himself.

“Well ok, but what about these clothes? Would this be appropriate?” asked Albert, realizing the clothing style must have changed some by now.

“Oh yeah, those nutty technicians thought you would be more comfortable in them. I had them send you a new pair of clothes. If you go over to that closet door and step through, there will be a new set of clothes on the other side.”

Albert walked over to the closet. “Ok, but I don’t see anything in this closet.”

“That’s ok, just step through the doorway. You will see them on the other side.”

“Alright, but I…Good Heavens!” Albert exclaimed, as he had stepped through the doorway to see where in this small closet, those new clothes could be hiding.

He suddenly was wearing new clothes. He now had on a long sleeve bright white-collared shirt—if you could call it a collar. It actually resembled a low collar turtle neck as the collar hugged his neck all the way around except in the front where two triangle shaped pieces of material folded back perpendicular to his shoulders. His loose fitting blue jeans appeared to be held up by a black leather belt. His shoes also had the appearance of black leather. Although he wasn’t wearing socks, his feet felt very comfortable. Something about these clothes struck him as odd; there were no buttons, there were no zippers. There were no fasteners to be found and the material had no seams. Even the blue jeans, although it looked like they had seams, the material wasn’t really sewn together. Albert came out of the doorway with a puzzled look. Then he shot a look back to the closet doorway, looking up and down at the frame, as if trying to discern whether it had been bewitched. He could see no special feature about the doorframe that would do this amazing magic.

Noticing the curious looks, Josh explained, “All the electrical components are hidden underneath the doorframe. Do you like them, or did you want to try on something else?”

Albert had only briefly broken his train of thought as he looked up momentarily and answered, “Huh? Oh! They will do…” then turned his attention back to the doorway, “Amazing! How does this device work?” asked Albert as he began to examine the doorframe even more closely as if by closer examination he might be able to see the hidden electrical components.

“That is a very good question; one that requires a bit of a story for a background behind the …‘magic’. What do you say we discuss it over lunch? First, let me introduce you to a friend of mine. Then we can go get something to eat.”

Josh walked over and opened the door; he was used to using handles and opening doors manually by now. After making so many jumps back in to a time when most doors were opened manually it had become second nature to him. Shivu’s wide eyes and bright smile met him on the other side of the door.

“Come in Shivu, I want someone to meet you.” Josh said.

Shivu walked in cautiously as if uncertain what could possibly lie on the other side of this door, a dragon perhaps. Albert was still looking over the ‘closet’ doorframe, when he realized his manners and then straightened up and composed himself.

Josh went on with the introductions, “Uncle Albert, I would like you to meet my friend and personal assistant, Shivanand Baldev Math. Shivu, I would like you to meet Professor Albert Einstein.”

Shivu was so excited, he grabbed Albert’s outstretched hand and made it into a fist and balled his own hand into a fist and bumped Albert’s fist a couple times enthusiastically.

Then he backed away exclaiming, “Uncle Albert…uh… I mean Professor Albert! I mean, Oh! It is such a pleasure to meet you. I have read all your biographies and your papers. Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! I can’t believe I am standing here talking to Professor Albert Einstein!”

Shivu went on ranting for a few more minutes. Albert, for his part, just smiled and politely stood there, allowing Shivu to get it out of his system. Albert was clearly used to this kind of treatment as he was a celebrity in his own time. Josh also smiled and looked on, clearly enjoying the moment. Josh felt the same way the first time he met Prof. Albert Einstein, but at the time he couldn’t allow himself to indulge this much.

“…and I’m also such a big fan of your work with…” Shivu was saying when Josh decided it was time to get going.

“Ah, Shivu?” Josh interrupted.

“Oh! Sorry Josh, I was really going about it, wasn’t I?” Shivu stated and tried to return to a more composed posture.

“It’s ok; I just thought we might get going before its dinner time.” Josh grinned.

Shivu returned a big toothy smile, and Albert noticed he had perfectly straight and brilliantly white teeth.

“That’s right! We are going to eat!” This excited Shivu even more.

“Is there a transport waiting outside?” Josh asked.

“No, you know they would never stay put long enough to ‘wait’ for us. I’ll get one.” Shivu looked down at his watch and then spoke into it, “Transport to our coordinates, please?”

The three walked out the door of Albert’s office then down the hallway of what seemed to be a house. It was rather plain, and there appeared to be no source of light, yet the walls seemed to glow. They stepped outside and Albert noticed that the door seemed to glide open and disappear into the wall then it glided back into view as it closed. Albert stared wide eyed at everything as if he was a kid again in a bright shiny toy factory. It was a hot sunny summer day, and all three men began to perspire the moment they stepped out the door. Looking out over the scene, it looked like a suburban neighborhood innocent enough; however, on closer inspection the houses looked very bizarre. No one house was shaped like another; some were shaped like traditional houses while others resembled igloos, pyramids and castles. One, Albert could swear, even looked like a grilled cheese sandwich. Overhead there appeared to be birds, no, more like wingless planes darting here and there all over the sky with no particular order to their flight. Within seconds, one of those vehicles zipped up to the porch and stopped abruptly right in front of the three men standing there. Albert was startled by this—Josh was too. Shivu, however, seemed to be unaffected.

A seamless door facing them slid open and a cheery yet slightly mechanical voice boomed, “Hello! Did you order a transport?”

“Yes we did.” Shivu answered.

“Well then, please come aboard!” the cheery voice boomed again.

Once they stepped inside and sat down, the door slid closed and the temperature instantly became comfortable again. The vehicle had a single window that wrapped all the way around it with no seams, so that one could see clearly everything going on around the vehicle. At once Albert noticed that there were eight seats, four lining each side of this vehicle, but there was no driver’s seat in the front. Instead, there was a console in the front with no steering device, buttons or controls.

Then in the center of the console a holographic image of a male head appeared and that cheery mechanical voice came on again said, “Welcome aboard CASE Transports, I’m Johnny Q. Where can I take you today?”

This too startled Albert, and Shivu looked up at him and grinned.

“It’s ok; it’s just a machine,” then he turned to the console and said, “To the Tele Port, please.”

At that, the transport zoomed off, first climbing to a safe height above the suburban neighborhood below, and then straight off in a direction where one could just barely make out the shape of a city skyline on the horizon.

“Who’s driving this vehicle?” Albert enquired.

Before Shivu could answer, the holographic head turned to Albert and chimed in again with that cheery mechanical voice, “That would be me sir, Johnny Q, at your service. I am a top of the line transport vehicle, with a 99.99 % guarantee that I will get you to your destination, promptly and safely. Would you like to hear a joke?”

“No thank you!” Josh responded.

Up to this point, Josh hadn’t looked up from staring at the floor. His face screwed up in a mix of concern and barely contained terror and the sound of his voice matched his expression. Shivu glanced over to Josh and recognized that all too familiar look but ignored it. Albert too, who had been looking over the console and out the windows in amazement at all the wondrous things going on down below and in the sky, noticed the tone in Josh’s voice. Shivu could see the fleeting expression—Albert wore on his face—like that of a kid who had just been told he could have all the candy in the candy shop. As Albert turned to face Josh, he too took on the look of concern.

“Are you ok, son?” asked Albert in a soft tone.

“He’s afraid of flying.” Shivu chose to answer, realizing Josh preferred to sit in silence while in transports.

“I’m not afraid,” Josh quickly corrected, “Flying just makes me a little nervous.”

“I would think that you would be used to flying. It appears to be the main way of traveling today.” Albert stated looking out over the horizon at all the little dots in the sky.

“Well it’s not the main way, but it is a very popular way.” Shivu replied.

He was glad to be able to have a conversation; normally he would have to sit in silence during these trips on the transports to give Josh the space he needed. Now he had someone to converse with, and with Albert Einstein—no less.

“Josh is just skittish because he was in a plane crash once and it kil…”

At this Josh quickly shot a glance up at his friend and shouted, “SHIVU!!” realizing a little too late, as both Albert and Shivu jumped, that perhaps he had been too harsh. He softened his expression and lowered his voice to a subdued friendly tone, “My friend. Perhaps that would be a better conversation for another time.”

“Sorry boss,” Shivu replied and gave the expression of a whipped puppy.

“It’s ok,” Josh said, trying hard to sound apologetic, but he felt just a little too tense.

As if sensing the tension, Johnny Q chimed in with his cheery voice, “How about some music?”

“No Thanks!” Josh and Shivu both replied in unison.

“Some news, then?” asked Johnny Q, trying again.

“How about it, Josh?” inquired Shivu as he glanced at the console and then at Josh with a look of quiet anticipation. Yes, perhaps this would help take his mind off ‘things’.

“Well… ok.” Josh finally agreed.

Shivu grinned and then turned to the console, “Let’s have the news, then.”

The holographic face of Johnny Q smiled and queried, “An excellent choice, so what shall it be, Local News, World News or Solar News?”

“Let’s go with News Highlights.” Shivu responded.

With that, the head of Johnny Q disappeared and was replaced with a holographic bust of a woman who did not appear to be a computer generated animation like Johnny Q was. She appeared to be a real woman sitting at a desk and she was holding something in her hands as if it were a note pad, but it was more like paper thin glass or perhaps plastic. Her hair was dark brown and was perfectly styled into a curled wave like one would see off the shores of Hawaii, and her eyes were blue and appeared to be glittering. Her skin was just a shade above light brown, and she wore a blue-green blouse that glittered just like her eyes. As the woman appeared, the windows of the transport dimmed by 50%, making the woman appear clearer. She then looked around the transport and smiled at each individual, as if she could see the audience sitting in front of her.

As she slowly panned the transport a second time she began to speak in a voice that very clearly did not sound mechanical—instead her voice was smooth and soft, “Good afternoon, Oklahoma City, and welcome to News Highlights. I am Jamie Westin and I will be your host as I report the news on our Solar System Today.”

She then turned her attention to the device in her hands at this point and went right into a dialog reporting on the current events of the day; occasionally she would look up and make eye contact with one of the three passengers at random. This made the news reporting seem much more personal, as if she was reading the news just for them. Josh relaxed significantly at this point, for with the windows dimmed he could not see outside and his attention was drawn to Jamie’s lovely face.

“Our top solar story today begins with our inner planet Venus, although solar flares have plagued the Venusian scientists’ research; they have apparently still been able to conduct ‘good science’. Scientists have verified the discovery of two new species of microorganisms found in the upper atmosphere in low orbit around Venus, just edging out Mars (with only one known indigenous species), for the third place position behind Earth in first place (with millions of known species) and Europa in second place (with 27).”

As Jamie spoke, to her left, holographic images zoomed into view, like that of the planet Venus, the orbiting scientific space station, some scientists at work in the station and the microscopic images of the new species moving around. Then the four globes she mentioned (Earth, Venus, Mars and Europa) were placed in pecking order as to who had the most species of life. Once Jamie completed her dialog she looked again around the transport and asked, “Would you like to hear more?”

“No thanks, Next.” Shivu responded for he knew that any listener could dive into a report like that one so deep as to have Jamie naming off every new species found on other worlds. If anyone were actually that interested. He was not.

Jamie glanced in the direction of Shivu and acknowledged him. All the images from that story zipped away and a new image zoomed into view; it appeared to be an asteroid and then a bubble inside the asteroid showing living quarters and official people poking around examining the place; Jamie’s dialog continued, “Solar and Orbital Authorities are puzzled by a series of mysterious disappearances. The third episode reportedly happened just this week as family members reported to Orbital Authorities that the Zimm family living in the asteroid Xenos had not been heard from for two days. As officials went to investigate, they found that there were no signs of a struggle, and no DNA could be found of anyone inside the planetoid, leaving authorities scratching their heads. This brings the total of missing persons to 17, and now the SBI (Solar Bureau of Investigation) has been called in to investigate the incidents further.” Again Jamie looked around and asked, “Would you like to hear more?”

Shivu turned to Josh with a mildly concerned looked and asked, “Do you think they will halt Time Port activities again?”

Josh gave a look of contempt and then shrugged his shoulders and replied, “Possibly. I don’t know, but it doesn’t look that serious. Seventeen people out of billions go missing.”

Albert was so caught up with the holographic images that he almost missed the conversation, but then came back to a reality check, “Wha… What was this I heard about Time Port activities and someone stopping them?”

Shivu was about to respond, but saw that Josh was becoming more comfortable with the environment and looked poised and ready to answer the question, so Shivu leaned back in his seat.

“Police Authorities and Politicians get a little skittish when major events take place that seem mysterious at first. Sometimes their first response is to halt all Time Port activities while the authorities investigate. Teleporting people or objects with future information back in time is illegal outside of the Time Port, but there have been incidents where businesses have abused the law in an attempt to one up their competitors. Authorities in the past have been quick to blame us. However, our records clearly show all of our activities and in fact, if we do affect the timeline significantly, an alarm would sound and authorities would be notified immediately. We have been shut down three times in the past, but only once when the timeline was actually affected by one of ours, and he was found to be crazy…”

“…And he was immediately terminated and sent to an institution to be mentally stabilized; since then every one of the members of our staff has been psychologically evaluated and any new recruits are also evaluated.” Shivu added to complete Josh’s answer and reassure Albert that he wasn’t talking to a couple of escapees from the loony bin. Shivu turned to the hologram, “Next story, please.”

Now they were looking at images of a riot, and Jamie continued her dialog, “Fighting in the Middle East broke out yesterday just as officials from the Israeli and Palestinian governments were planning for the celebration of 50 years of peace. The tension began with a disagreement as to where the festivities were going to begin and end; Palestinians desiring the celebration to begin with a parade from the Israeli capitol and end at the Palestinian capitol where a large banquet would be held in the town center. The Israelis thought the parade should go from the Palestinian capitol and end at the Israeli capitol. Finally it was agreed that two parades would take place from both capitols and they would meet at the Israeli/Palestinian border and a banquet would be held there. However, as the celebration at the border began, shots could be heard as overzealous celebrators were firing their rifles into the air and lighting off fireworks. Panic ensued and a riot took place where demonstrators began throwing tables, chairs, rocks and even cakes and puddings at each other. Armed guards and riot police were pummeled with desserts as they tried to get the situation under control. Both governments are blaming the other for the incident and are demanding restitution for the damages. Would you like to hear more?”

“So much for utopia, huh Uncle Albert?” Josh sneered.

“You said it yourself; this isn’t Heaven—more like Purgatory.” Albert said with a smirk.

“Next story,” said Shivu.

An image of a sheep in a large tank of water zoomed up, “On a sad note, Dolly III, a replica of the very first cloned sheep, was put to sleep today. Dolly III was created three years ago in honor of the 20th anniversary of the first genetically enhanced creature to successfully survive on the surface of Mars—the Shepvarm. A Shepvarm being a cross between a sheep and an armadillo was created because the armor and the wooly fleece allowed the creature to withstand the excessive radiation that exists on the surface of Mars. Scientists, who attempted to duplicate the original experiment that created Dolly II, caught a lot of flack initially for being sloppy in their experiment as it was discovered shortly after Dolly III was born that she had gills and couldn’t survive outside of water. Dolly III had apparently inherited the lifespan of a fish as well, for she was getting increasingly sick from age related diseases and had to be kept on heavy doses of pain relievers to keep her comfortable. Would you like to hear more?”

“Oh dear me! How about the weather?” Shivu responded putting his hands to his face and shaking his head in a look of both amusement and mild disgust.

Jamie’s holographic face turned to Shivu and asked, “Solar, Global or Local?”

“Global highlights, please,” Josh responded this time, for he really didn’t want to get bored with all the reports of temperatures for every day for the month and the exact times for when it would rain each day; however, he did enjoy the distraction and wanted it to continue until they arrived at the Port.

Now Jamie’s hologram disappeared and the bust of a male popped up from the console holding a pointer, and behind him were three-dimensional maps and charts. He, too, was well groomed; he wore a light blue shirt similar in design to what Albert was wearing, and his hair was cropped very short and combed neatly back so that most of it stood up and slanted back neatly. He had light brown skin and dark brown almond eyes that also seemed to glitter, and his face was rounded—one could tell he had oriental parentage. When he smiled a big toothy smile, one could see that his teeth were perfectly straight and gleaming white. He was equally as handsome as Jamie was lovely, and when he spoke his male voice was deep and polished like one would expect from a news broadcaster, “Good Afternoon Oklahoma City, and welcome to the Global Weather. I’m Tan Li and I will be your host.”

A map of Oklahoma came out to the foreground as Tan pointed to various locations and stated which areas were likely to get rain at specific hours in the day—Oklahoma City wouldn’t get any—and then he moved on to temperatures.

“It’s going to be another scorcher in Oklahoma City today with the high reaching 102 degrees and the lows at 94 with tomorrow getting hotter still with a high of 104 degrees and the low at 95. Would you like to hear the week forecast?”

“Next story,” Shivu responded as none of them were going to remain in Oklahoma past Sunday anyway; it wouldn’t be necessary to hear the weekly forecast.

Josh and Shivu would be going back to California and Albert may wish to go back to New Jersey or possibly his homeland. Now they were looking at a spinning globe of Earth and Tan began his dialog anew.

“Global warming is expected to take a down turn as scientists have been able to successfully recreate a new ozone layer. With the combination of the ozone layer, the carbon dioxide scrubbers and the reforestation program now in place for the Amazon desert, scientists expect that average temperatures should drop a full 5 degrees over the next ten years and animals on the endangered species list that were put in stasis to preserve them may soon be released back into the wild, all but the spotted owls. Unfortunately, the last of the spotted owls were eaten by a pack of hungry wolves, which was accidentally released from stasis during a power outage. Scientists did say they would be able to genetically clone the spotted owls from preserved DNA stored on file. Let’s hope they don’t give them gills. Would you like to hear more?”

Just then the transport descended and came to a stop at the bottom of the steps leading to the Tele Port.

Josh jumped up, placed his thumb on the console and exclaimed, “Maybe next time!” as he was elated to be back on the ground again.

The reporter disappeared and Johnny Q reappeared to report, “Your fare was 342 credits, Thank you for choosing CASE transports. We hope you will join us again soon.”

The door zipped open and a warm blast of air suddenly filled the vehicle, as the three men stepped out.