Our Manufactured Reality

Chapter 5: Into the Future

"What?  How is that possible?"  My mind tried to comprehend the amount of time Charlie and I had been in those pods.  I didn't feel two-hundred years old.

"Well, the pods were built to sustain life for much longer than the time you two spent.  Many, many years,"  A.I.M. responded.  Yet as I still tried to answer the question of my singular fate, Charlie took a different approach and asked a question that should have been answered much sooner.

"Why were we in those pods?  You said something about human life being prolonged?  Why?  What's happened to the world?  And frankly... since I can't remember... what was it like before?"

"Oh sir, the world has gone through many hardships over the last few centuries.  It has been in a constant battle with itself.  America vs. Americans...  Europe vs. some minor countries...  And the final battle... America vs. Russia...  This war ended in nuclear bombs.  And when they were dropped, all the world scrambled for safety."  He paused, "That is why Experiment 23 was created:  To help your kind survive.  And, in the end, the bombs did not destroy everything, they really just sent the whole world into shock and instability.  Before the wars, the Earth was a calm, lush land with many animals and humans populating it; now it is almost completely abandoned..."  He bowed his circular frame in hopelessness, and then gained a second wind, "But that is why you two are so important.  I must get you to the people that created these pods... Or at least the people that stemmed from their generation."  He hovered through the doorway to begin leading us to a new world.

"Okay then."  I shrugged my shoulders at Charlie, he looked just as bewildered as I did.

"I guess we follow him, then."

"I guess so."  I strode forward, and we walked out together.

~~~

The facility was huge.

Until now, I had known it was big and confusing, but this compound had to span at least two or three acres!  My mind took in all the twists and turns and concluded that we were lucky to have a robot because all this was too much to take in.

Cobwebs spanned the length of the walls, and my eyes were in a constant state of darkness.  Thankfully, A.I.M. had a small light to see in front of him and guide us through the halls.

After walking for about ten minutes, I turned to Charlie and tried to make conversation considering all we had done for that last hour or two was find out who and where we were.

"So..."  A.I.M. was still intent on getting to the exit, and seemed unlikely to mind us chatting, "What do you think of all... this?"  I gritted my teeth and motioned my hands as if to refer to "everything."

He chuckled, "All this?"  He playfully spread his hands like I had, "Um, I don't know.  It's definitely a lot to take in...  But it's the world we live in right?"  He shrugged and looked down at his feet.

"Yeah, I guess it is.  I mean, I wish we could see what we were like before.  You know?"  I kicked at some dust bunnies.

"Yeah.  Well, we still have some personality traits at least...  You're claustrophobic and I... stutter.  Although, I still haven't done that since we met."  He had a slight tinge of annoyance to his tone.

"Hey, but that's good, right?  No more stuttering.  I mean, maybe I'm not claustrophobic either anymore.  Maybe both traits were just things that happened because we were scared and alone,"  I pointed out.

"Yeah... maybe..."  The conversation seemed to be over, and we both went back to examining the cracks in the cement floor.

~~~

With many more steps taken and conversations completed, we finally reached the end of the compound.

"This is it!"  A.I.M. exclaimed, excited he had remember the way.

"What is it?"  I asked with exhaustion, glancing up from the ground.

"The exit!"  A.I.M. shouted.  Charlie met my eyes and eagerly spoke words that gave me new hope.

"We're here.  We get to see the world."  He beamed an even brighter smile than I'd seen on him before, and I found myself grinning back.  I straightened up, shook off the doubts and tired nature that had settled on me like dust, and paved the way for new goals and confidence.

"Well... Let's go then."  Smiling, Charlie and I walked forward, and A.I.M. pushed open the door to a whole new reality.

A reality that would bring us answers, and many other things with it.