Writer's Hub

2212

Here's a short story I wrote for the birthday month prompt about a year ago (that didn't make sense):

I woke up with a painful headache to be immediately blinded by the whiteness of a hospital. Once I turned my head, I found a metal mechanical sphere hovering beside me. I mentally cursed and scooted back rapidly until I fell off my bed with a yell.

"Hello, you have experienced a severe concussion. Of course, with our experience in doctoring and
nursing, you have already been treated. We have also installed a thin layer of plastiner onto the outside of your skull, making you "immune" to concussions ranging all the way to the level of ridiculous. Please play the copay."

I scoured my options. I was apparently in a new world with technology far beyond Earth's reach. Last I remembered, I was in my car driving to college. And then... and then what? I have a good IQ, why can't I remember destroying my skull? Looking at the ball, I decided it was best to ask where I was.
"Where am I?"
"Please pay the copay."
"What-"
"Please pay the copay. Please-please-pay-the-the-the-co-o-o-paa-a-y."
"Copay...." I reached into my pocket and found some money. 100 dollars to be exact. I sighed and placed the cash into the slot on the stuttering ball.
"Registered: Currency from 2012. Needed: Currency from 2212. Please insert current currency."
"What? 2212? It's supposed to be December 21, 2012!"
"Your concussion effects seem to have persisted. There is a clear drop in intelligence.
According to researchers, a person who is 200 years in the past has an IQ lower than 50.
We will send you in for an emergency gamma surgery."
"Gamma? Wouldn't that fry my brain?"
"Obviously you are not in the current era. The concept of Gamma Rays is taught in pretectory preschool."
" What?" But the sphere had already flew off. I cursed under my breath. I couldn't comprehend the
enormity of it all, let alone the fact that a hospital is idiotic enough to perform surgery with gamma radiation. And 2212? No wonder those little things are even in existence. I walked over to the window to confirm my time warping fears. To my amazement, I saw a city filled with hovercrafts and floating buildings. The sun was replaced with a mass of yellow that seemed to emit infrared waves but no light.
"Preparing patient for surgery" were the last words I heard before everything went black.
I opened my eyes to find myself submerged in blue liquid. I inspected my pale teal skin until I overheard a few robots discussing how they should perform the operation. My throat tightened. In a panicked fit, I started thrashing at the walls of my confining tank. It was until then that my doctors noticed. One of the metal spheres hovered over to my control panel and adjusted the chemicals I was submerged in. Once again, everything went black.
I woke up in the same hospital bed. The same robot flew over and demanded the same things. I, however, was in severe pain that blew me unconscious yet again.
I find myself in the same blue tank. Instead of thrashing idiotically, I pretend to be asleep. The metal doctors, assuming that I was still drugged, pulled me out of the tank and placed me on a machine that looked like an MRI scanner. This was my chance. I dashed towards the nearest window and jumped into the city. Suddenly the scene flickered into the courtyards of college. I landed with a large thud. A couple students stood there gaping at me. I immediately dunked my head into the nearest fountain to cool off. Instead, I found myself in the blue tank once again. The timeline seemed to be confused. It switched my position back and forth between the fountain and the tank until I ended up in the void in between. Time seemed to be sucking me into the tank. I desperately swam against the force into the fountain. After what seemed like hours of struggling, I managed to fight my way back into the courtyard.

20 YEARS LATER: 2032

I continue telling my story of the day I was time warped. Of course, everybody believes I am insane, but the few students who saw my teleportation argue differently. Every night, I am haunted by the little spheres that demanded my obedience.

I fear for humankind.
The future's, the technological advances seem absurd and reckless. What will become of us?
What have our own brains changed us into?

********
I wrote this like a year ago so don't judge...

-Tracy