Further Into The Future!

Chapter 11

I was awoken the next morning by an earsplitting buzzing sound that repeated every few seconds like an alarm clock. When I opened my eyes I thought the walls were flashing red, but after a few seconds they went back to normal and the sound was gone, so I assumed I imagined the whole thing and went back to sleep.

"Professor?"

When I awoke the second time I felt hot under my blanket because the sun was shining on me through the window. The sunlight made the hardwood floor glow like gold.

Someone poked my shoulder and when I looked over I saw Susan standing there, smiling at me.

She was already dressed in a long purple shirt of the same exposed-shoulder style she wore the day before. It was matched by purple hoop earrings and a purple bandanna above her eyes. Steam rose from a coffee mug she was holding, and soon I could smell it, the same delicious smell I enjoyed one hundred and fifty years ago.

Her bracelets rattled together as she waved at me.

"Professor! Wake up, sleepy man! Time to start your day!"

"What time is it?" I asked.

"10 AM."

"10 in the morning? I've been asleep for fifteen hours."

"Yeah, you must have been tired," Susan said, dragging the blanket off me and wrapping it around one of her arms. "You were out of it. Jack made me check to make sure you were alive."

I groaned and massaged my eyes with my fists. When I sat up on the couch I could feel the blood rush from my head to the rest of my body.

"You should thank me," Susan said. "You don't know how hard I worked to keep Jack and Dan from kicking you off the couch so they could watch Redd Rescue again."

"Thank you," I said.

"No time to thank me, buddy. We need to get going for your meeting at the Preacher."

"My meeting! I completely forgot. What time is it scheduled for?"

"Eleven. So you need to take a shower and get dressed pronto. Unless you want to go in those clothes." She laughed at my wrinkled pajamas.

I sat on the couch for a minute or two to collect my thoughts – something I consider just as vital to starting my day as taking a shower - when the fog, Molly, ran in from the bedroom to assault me with her repulsiveness. The moment I heard her claws scraping against the floor I jumped up from the couch and ran past her to the bathroom. All she could do was nip at my ankle and say "hello" before I closed the door.

After taking a shower and dressing I emerged from the bathroom smelling like the mint soap they used. Susan had set out coffee for me and, to my delight, a newspaper.

"COLD STEEL CALLS HAMMER SENILE," read the headline above another picture of the young black man in the blue military uniform standing behind a podium. In the background was a banner, slightly out of focus, that said "WELCOME COLD STEEL."

"Cold Steel raised questions about our aging dictator's health and his increasingly eccentric behavior at a recent party meeting in Dallas," the caption said.

"How can this man get away with criticizing your dictator?" I asked Susan.

"What do you mean?" She walked to the table and leaned over it to read the newspaper.

"Oh no, I hate Cold Steel," she said.

"Who is he?"

"Let me see," she said as she skimmed the article, "he's the... Chairman of State Security. He used to be Hammer's protégé, I think. Hammer himself promoted him through the ranks of government."

"So why is he saying all these bad things about Hammer?"

"Lately he's been acting really ambitious, and Hammer is getting really old. I think he's over eighty years old now. He's been having health problems lately. Some people think Cold Steel wants to overthrow Hammer before he dies."

"How old is Cold Steel?" I asked.

"In his mid-thirties, I think. That's why some people like him. They think Hammer's gotten out of touch and we need a young, energetic leader."

"Do you like Hammer?"

She smiled. "Of course. He's been dictator since well before I was born. He's done some really great things for our country. This would be a much worse place if it weren't for him.

"And anyways, I prefer anyone to Cold Steel because Cold Steel is on the Corrupt Cops' side."

I took a sip of my coffee. It was too bitter, so I added some cream.

"You mean the popular rock band? How could a politician be allied with a group of musicians?"

"The Corrupt Cops have a lot of influence over people, especially the youth. They're incredibly successful. They've sold something like twice as many albums as any other band. This year Rolling Stone named them the greatest band of all time.

"Over the years they've come to dominate the entertainment industry, especially the music industry. That's why its so hard for other bands to get far. They have a lot of power Cold Steel would want access to if he was thinking about overthrowing Hammer." She bit off some of her toast. "I'm not saying for sure he wants to do that, though. He could just really be concerned for Hammer's health."