A Timeless Journey (22 page)

Every stellar body had to be self-efficient before it was certified by the global government as an inhabitable place. Since there were no other inhabited planets in our solar system apart Earth, the main global government laws and regulations applied in every inhabited stellar body where humans from Earth travelled.

We made our way to the hotel with the darkness just starting to take over that part of the planet. The ring disappeared into darkness and some of the planet’s moons made quite a spectacular view in the night sky. The weak sunlight that hit the moons gave them an amazing and unique look. I noticed that one moon had a warm dark yellow colour, another moon was completely grey and the other moons had shades of grey, white and red. The red moon had a spectacular and singular view that reminded me the sun before sunset. I would have loved to name each moon, if I knew which one was which, but even as I write these lines I’m not able to name all the moons of Saturn.

The next day, we made our way to the spaceport for the first part of our two day trip around the Saturn’s moons. The spaceship flew slowly above the planet’s ring towards one of the moons. As we enjoyed the amazing views from space of the moons and the giant planet with its rings moving slowly around, Luna and I held hands for most of the journey, content to be in such a unique point in space.

The same experience was repeated on the second trip the next day when we visited the rest of the moons. Once we returned to the hotel, we knew that in just over thirty hours we were going to fly back to our home planet.

We spent the last day, mostly in our guest space enjoying some time alone and I never felt happier. Not only because we were going back home, but also because of the romantic and the incredible two weeks spent in space with the girl I loved.

The journey back to Earth lasted two hours and ten minutes and I have never felt so happy to see the blue planet again, as the spaceship descended out of hyper drive. The spaceship landed softly on the round platform of the Sahara spaceport and we waited for the floating scanners to check the spaceship’s safety before we were allowed to disembark. Scanners were four small flying devices connected to each other through the Holo system and did a 360 degree scan of the whole ship. A voice announced that we were safe to leave the ship and the moving bridge started to extend towards the spacecraft.

When we arrived at the underground Emze parking, I took a cube and travelled up to the viewing platform on the desert surface to enjoy the warmth of the direct sunlight that I had missed during my time in space. I looked up in admiration at the blue sky as I took a lungful of the warm desert air before making my way back underground. Luna kept smiling at my simple ways of finding pleasure and appreciation in things that other people normally took for granted.

This was my first journey in space and maybe the last. Despite the fact that I had enjoyed my time in space, I felt pleased to be back to the planet where I was born. For Luna, the way I felt was hard to understand, because she had been in space a couple of times before but for me it had been a unique experience that had raised my levels of anxiety and excitement far too high.

It is one thing to travel around the globe knowing that the firm ground is not far below you and another thing to travel in space surrounded by dark matter and nowhere to fall. The latter had awakened a weird feeling of anxiety and insecurity in me and although I had my feet firmly on the ground, I still felt a little rattled.

We took off on our final stretch home in our Emze and the appreciation for my planet had grown immensely after spending two weeks in space. It had been a surreal and a wonderful two weeks, which I will never forget as long as I live, although the joy of being back to Earth was even greater.

27

After the experience of the amazing space holiday, which it was figuratively and literally something out of this world, the normal routine of everyday life returned. Together with the daily routine, returned the cold reality of being stuck in the future. The vacuum left after the disappearance of the excitement for being in space, made my daily life harder to deal. I started to think a lot more about my missed opportunity to return home. Although I had no regret on the choice I had made, somehow deep down, there was a doubt that I had made the wrong decision.

Choosing to travel in space instead of returning to my old reality and staying with Luna instead of returning to Sophie, who had most likely moved on, was without a shadow of guilt the right thing to do. Despite my conviction of doing the right thing, I had an inevitable longing feeling about my old reality. In addition, the love for my family was pushing me to regret the decision to stay. A small part of me felt guilty for not using the opportunity to return home, whilst the rest of me was so in love with Luna, creating this way a conflict between my desire to stay and the wish to return home. This conflict was fuelled even more with the help of “the space syndrome”, as I named the insecurity and anxiety feelings I experienced after travelling in space. Every time I looked at the skies, my mind went fuzzy simply by recalling the visual memories of my space trip. It reminded me how small the world we live in is.

In the days and weeks that went past, my thoughts were torn between Luna and the desire to visit my old reality. It produced a confused state of mind for me, interfering with my work. I became withdrawn as I locked my feelings deep inside my mind, unable to share them with Luna, for I wanted to avoid worrying her. Nonetheless, as time went by, somehow she figured out that something was wrong and one weekend she decided to challenge me.

It was a hot sunny August day and we were sitting on the beach enjoying a quiet Saturday under the Caribbean sizzling sun. Luna broached a subject which made me feel uncomfortable since it was something I didn’t want to discuss with anyone, especially with her.

“Scotty, what troubles you? Your mind has been far away recently and I can’t help thinking it is because of your decision to stay here.”

I wondered how she could possibly know what I was thinking, but still, I wasn’t ready to talk.

“I can assure you my love, it’s nothing. I love you more than anything and I am happy here with you.”

“Nevertheless, how do you explain your bad mood recently? Your excitement of being with me seems to have become subdued.”

I was aware that my recent behaviour has had an impact on our relationship and if it continued on this path, I risked losing Luna altogether and losing her was not an option. The last thought scared me, so I decided to open up to her. After all, honesty was the easiest and uncomplicated way to solve problems in this reality.

“I miss my old world and my family and I… kind of regret missing the chance to return back home, that’s all!”

Somehow I felt relieved for sharing my surreptitious thoughts with her.

“Do you blame me for the missed opportunity to return home?”

“Absolutely not! I might sound conflictual right now, but I know I have made the right decision. I love you Luna and I want very much to live here. On the other hand, my decision to stay doesn’t stop me from missing my family. I just wish I could find a way to let them know I am safe, this is why I feel this way.”

Luna went quiet for a while digesting what I had said and then came up with the most bizarre idea.

“What if you sent a message in a container through the anomaly if it opened again? Someone may find it and let your parents know where you are.”

“Hmm, and say what, ‘hello my name is Scott Patterson and I have travelled way into the future and I am having the time of my life’?”

“You have a point. No one will believe it and even if someone did believe we can’t publically expose time travel in that dark era. The global government system here will consider it a crime anyway.”

“Luna, if the anomaly opened again in the near future, would you be prepared to go through it with me?”

“You mean forever?”

“I like the 26
th
century more than the 21
st
. I was thinking more in the terms of visiting my family and returning back here, if the anomaly was a regular sure thing.”

“I would love to visit your past, but we both know that the anomaly is not something that happens every time you need it. You may have another opportunity, but I will not be going through with you.”

“Are you sure, Luna?”

“You want to hear the truth? This is the truth; I will not go through any anomaly with you!”

“Looks like you have made your mind up. At least you’re honest.”

I understood from Luna’s reaction, that she was unsure of risking her present life by adventuring into the past and I decided not to ask her again if the opportunity to use the anomaly represented itself once more. It wasn’t my intention to ruin her life just for the thrill of returning home for a while and Luna didn’t deserve to get stuck in the 21
st
century, even if it would have been for a short period of time. I decided to make a U-turn on my request and assured her that no matter what her decision would be, I would always love her. 

“I’m sorry if I have unsettled you with my request Luna,” I replied with a soft tone of voice. “I promise to make it up to you. Just so that you know, I will always love you and even if one day I decide to return to my old reality, I will do everything in my power to make it back to you.”

Luna smiled. “I have no doubt and the feeling is mutual. We have been living together now for ten months and I was thinking how would you feel to create a family? Wouldn’t you love a child running around the house?”

Her proposal caught me by surprise. I asked her with a hint of doubt mixed with surprise. “Do you mean us having a child together?”

“Yes of course, what do you think?”

It was something that frankly I had never thought of before. I tried quickly to find an excuse so I could buy some time to digest her unexpected request.

“I don’t know. What if I have another opportunity to leave and don’t make it back? I would miss him or her growing up and this is something I can do without.”

Luna didn’t reply and I concluded that it was the end of our conversation. I knew by then, that every time she didn’t like where an argument was going, she would stop talking altogether. It was something I had got used to experiencing and sometimes, when I used the same technique, I found it worked perfectly in finishing politely a conversation. In this reality, if a conversation turned into an infinite argument, it was considered polite to stop talking and let it be, since reason was never going to win.

Luna had all the right to ask me for a child since we were considered as legally married. It’s not that I have forgotten to tell you this before, but I think this is the right time to explain what the law said in the future for a couple like us. Luna and I were considered by the AI government systems as a legal couple, which is equivalent to being married in the 21
st
century. In the 26
th
century, it was easy to decide having a child. The system would give both parents equal rights in case of divorce and this was reassuring.

According to the rules and regulation in the future, if two or more people, regardless of sexual orientation, shared not only their living space, but also their sexual lives together, it was considered to be a legal relationship after six consecutive months. In case of a change of taste and separation from each other, the divorce laws would come into action, prompting the system to issue a divorce note. This showed the terms of the divorce, as calculated by the system itself on the basis of information accumulated during the partners’ history together. The terms of the divorce note were final and not negotiable.

In the 26
th
century, thanks to the advanced technology, marriage, as we know it in 21
st
century, was a concept of the past. Only a few found it reasonable to spend obscene amounts of money on a wedding and a ring. Since the invention of the Link, the AI government systems, the personal bio microchip (PBM) and the Virtual Credit, the old fashioned marriage had slowly fallen out of favour and had become an unnecessary mean of life.

The integrated systems did not allow exchange of credit between partners and also kept an accurate history of each individual’s relationship. Ultimately, if the relationships came to a natural end, the main AI system would automatically work out the best way to divide everything, if there was anything worth dividing.

There were no gender restrictions and anyone sharing a living space, combined with the sex life, would be eligible for divorce if they chose different paths. In the 26
th
century, if two or more adults over sixteen agreed to enter into a mutual and consensual relationship regardless of gender, they would be considered in a legal relationship by the system. The minimum to trigger the legality of a relationship was six months and after that, you were as good as married. It was a free society that didn’t judge anyone for the way they dressed, how many times they were married, the way they thought, or the way they looked and the AI government systems made sure that everyone had their rights guaranteed.

Luna’s proposition to have a child together plunged me into deep thoughts and I couldn’t stop thinking about her idea. The more I thought of it, the more the idea of becoming a father started to warm me up. After all, we were as good as married and according to the rules we were free to make this kind of decision once we were considered married by the system. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help having doubts about her real intentions.

Had Luna thought of this spontaneously or was it an attempt to keep me here?

It was impossible and uncharacteristic of her to have a hidden agenda. Luna always spoke her mind, but for me, being from a reality where hidden agendas are a normal occurrence, I found it hard to believe her proposal was a spontaneous one. Not that I didn’t trust Luna, on the contrary, I trusted her with my life and I knew she was an honest person. However, my instincts were forged in a different environment and wasn’t easy to switch them completely off. Deep down, knowing her, I had a suspicion that Luna hadn’t thought this spontaneously, and again, I had no reason to doubt her request to start a family.

The next day, while on my work lunch break, I took some time to search on Holo information about having children in the 26
th
century. There were two ways how people conceived a child in the future, one was the old fashioned natural way and the other one was by artificial embryo growth at the fertilisation and growth institute (FGI) as it was called. Nine months later, the parents would go and collect their child without the need for the mother to go through pregnancy. Most people chose to have children through FGI and very few chose the natural way, mostly as a
must have
experience in life.

If we had to have a child, I had no idea if Luna intended to use the natural or the artificial embryo growth option. What I knew, was the fact that I had to consider carefully any decision to have a child in this future. Deciding to stay in the future and having a child with Luna would have been the icing on our perfect love cake, but if I had to leave and get stuck in the 21
st
century forever, I risked not seeing my child and Luna ever again. The last option was something I couldn’t accept easily. There was also the risk of a paradox if I had to create another family in the 21
st
century. Having children in two different timelines wasn’t something I was prepared. Imagine the old reality child would be dead for some centuries before the future child comes to life, not to mention their descendants would be in the thousands by the time the 26
th
century arrived.

A week had passed since Luna proposed to have a baby and no matter which way I looked at her proposal, the idea to have a child with Luna started to sound more and more reasonable. I had never felt so strongly for anyone and if I had to create a family, it would certainly be with Luna. Regardless of my worries in creating a paradox, I felt ready to create a family. If I had to stay in the 26
th
century, at some point I was going to create a family, a challenge that I was looking forward and if I had to return to my old reality, Luna would have someone to remind her of me and that was something I just couldn’t deny to her.

After carefully thinking this through, I came to the most important decision I had ever made up to that point of my life. In my mind, it made perfect sense to have a child with Luna and I felt a child was the missing piece in our perfect and accomplished relationship. In respect of our old proposal traditions, I decided to take Luna to a Grade A eatery and tell her in the eatery booth, about making my mind up to have a child with her.

We went to a Grade A restaurant in the megacity of New York on a Saturday night; exactly one week after Luna proposed the idea. The restaurant concierge by the main entrance who kept the Holo bookings in order, after checking our reservation on the virtual screen, showed us to our eating booth.