The Next World: The Will To Live

INTERMISSION - 17:27

Swarms of helicopters and vehicles owned by the 'Daily News' engulf the auditorium.

" Today marks one of the most significant days in the history of mankind. Renounced scientist, Professor Christian Waltz will reveal his scientific and technological breakthroughs this afternoon to the D.C public in the auditorium  at 'The Fading Sun', home to the fantastic experiments led by Waltz. The auditorium currently holds over 300,000 members of the public stemming from journalists to civilians, scientists and news teams all awaiting Waltz's presentation, ready to witness a glimpse into our future. We'll return at 17:27 for live coverage of the event, stay tuned."

Ecstasy spreads like wildfire throughout the masses formed inside the building. The auditorium brims with exuberance never to have been seen since as far back as end of the Second World War. Humanity had had to bare the brunt of existing within an ordinary world for so long that today had become a day of utmost significance, interest. In the current day and age, they'd reached a point where heaven sent wonders such as music had become ordinary, clothing had become ordinary, ordinary itself had now been ordinary. They deserved much more for their mediocre existence, year after year many would force themselves to witness such absurdities like the (ordinary) UFO sightings so as to fool themselves into believing a less ordinary world had been just within their reach. They'd reached a point where they wouldn't even need solid evidence for life outside the planet, their arguments would almost always consist of the usual 'We can't be the only ones in the universe', 'There are billions of galaxies out there and you really think we are the only form of life'. The world itself had become so ordinary that one could convince half the population with those two simple sentences.

So a man claiming to have spurred the future, that future all somehow have implanted within their heads, didn't just cause excitement, it caused hope; it allowed them to believe they were heading towards a marvellous lifestyle only envisioned in novels and films, it allowed them to accept who they were as a race, to take pride in their
accomplishments, to leave any possible entity of foreign life awestruck at their existence.

The uproar of constant chatter seems to find no end. That is until, until a soft, calming symphony begins to meticulously blossom, stroking the attention of all 300,000 members. It's volume gracefully increases along with it's tempo. Before anyone knew it, the auditorium had been sprinkled with the angelic sound of a heavenly symphony, one so enchanting it surely had to have been formed from the essence of a higher power. It melodious keys brought about a similar vision to the 300,000, the future - a fruitful one. With passing time, the symphony finds a soft end, leaving nothing but silence - sweet, beautiful, silence.

The silence lingers.

It lingers

and lingers

...

Three branching figures appear upon a stage that seemed to have ascended from the ordinary ground. All three seem to be staring at their feet. Suddenly, slowly and simultaneously, each figure begins to raise their head, to gaze upon the enormous crowd of awestruck gazes. The first figure cautiously takes his first step forward. It soon forms into two steps forward, three, four. Before long, the figure begins to run, frantically. With each increasing step its speed grows, the figure races towards the audience, behind it are the others, also dashing for the audience ahead of them. The sheer speed, the formidable strength in the run yet again left a speechless audience. In rapid succession, the second and third figure had caught up with the first, all three hurry towards the front of the stage. However, they do not stop at the front, they keep going, all three. All three beckon closer to the edge of the stage, with their stupendous speed it seems all plan to descend from the stage, to jump off. They beckon closer and closer and closer, they've reached the edge, with full force they proceed to fall from the stage, the audience begin to panic, thousands of screams and shrieks ascend from all crowds. Immediately, all three enigmas stumble, lose balance and begin to fall towards the audience. Just as soon as all three bodies reach a midsection between the edge and the ground below the stage, almost horizontal in direction towards the ground below...

They freeze

As if time itself had come to a halt and gravity had lost its grip....

They pause

Within the exact middle of the fall, yet with their feet still planted upon the stage....

They stop

Together, at exactly the same time, not a second earlier or later, the trio freeze.

The audience all simultaneously gasp in shock, horror, then amazement. It'd been almost as if they'd too felt the pause in time. The stop had been so sudden and powerful, with not one portion of the bodies of all 3 enigmas flinching or shaking half an inch. A thunder of claps and ecstatic screaming fill the auditorium, it's volume screeched, loud enough to drown out the sound of thunder itself. Had they just witnessed the impossible? The non-conceivable?

A strange spark zaps through all 300,000, a spark of the extraordinary. The world had just lit up. Immediately, as if without effort, all three enigmas on the stage begin to scan the entire audience with their heads alone whilst in the same horizontal position between the edge of the stage and the ground. Before long, all three simply lift themselves back to verticality, in a simple matter of two seconds. Wonder and curiosity could not dare escape the minds of all witnessing the sudden phenomenon. The roar of screaming and cheers are never ending.

Soon, another figure appears. The face is revealed to be none other than that of Waltz himself. He stands proud. He glows. He steps forward to the main centre of the stage, absorbing the cheers. With the mouthpiece held from his ear, he begins...

"Thank you, thank you, please, thank you. As you all know, today marks a change for mankind. As the technology we have available grow, so does the possibility of an exciting future, one I can say is quite imminent...as you've just seen, the fading sun has been able to model artificial intelligence to take on the appearance and mimic that of human beings. Except, only stronger, faster...and much more powerful. These beings are able to bend and manipulate the laws of gravity to their will. Beings like these are only going to become to ordinary for the sort of world we're about to enter. And it doesn't end there.