Wake Me In The Future (20 page)

My
friends had rushed to
my
side as
I
hit the wall with a sickening thud and Simon reached down to
me
after the fit had passed, and knowingly said
,
quietly into
my
ear, ‘
don't worry
Richard, I think I know what just happened.’

Still shaking inside
I
nodded as
I
took Simon’s hand.

‘You’ve still got very little control over your new senses. That was a normal reaction, all be it magnified in your case, because of your inexperience. That feeling you had was what people experience when they’re looking to meet others that are compatible. She obviously has her senses tuned to seek out compatible partners, and you must have too.’

‘But I haven’t turned anything on,’
I
blurted out.

‘You just need some practice, that’s all.’ Simon gripped
my
hand tighter and
as he started to
pull
me
up said, ‘come on, we need to find her.’

‘What do you mean,’
I
said pulling back, ‘I am not looking for a partner Simon.’

‘No, you don't understand Richard,' said Jennifer picking up on what Simon must be thinking, ‘you might have subconsciously set your body to look out for anyone like Helen.’ She grabbed
my
other arm to help Simon drag
me
back to the club and said excitedly, ‘Richard, don’t you see, there’s a possibility she could be Helen, who knows, she could be a re
.....
born.’ She
'd
hesitated
on that last word,
because she was suddenly talking to space -
I
was now making
my
own way back to the club.

‘What am I supposed to say?’
I
said hurrying along the corridor.

‘Just act like you would in the old days when you were picking women up.’

‘That’s easier said than done, I was never any good at that.’

‘She knows you’re compatible Richard, she
's
not going to blow you out.’

Pausing for a moment outside the entrance
I
said, ‘OK, but what am I supposed to do if she's not Helen? I couldn’t consider ever getting involved with anyone else, and if I make an approach she might think I am looking for a partner, so how would I let her down?’

‘Deal with that if it happens,’ said Earl, ‘you can’t let this chance go by, you need to at least establish if she is a reborn.’

As
I
passed back into the club
I
was confronted by a sonorous wall of sound, accompanied this time by a very familiar voice. It was Rod Bones singing, ‘I am a Natural Lover’, and it wasn’t just a record
ing
they were playing either. People were facing the stage and there, as large as life, was a young Rod Bones, gyrating his hips and belting out the song in his iconic voice.

Jennifer shouted in
my
ear from behind
me
and answered the question
passing through my mind
, ‘yes it is him; he was revived about 50 years ago, what a hunk.’

My
eyes searched the crowd for the mysterious woman and
I
knew
my
friends were doing the same. And then
I
thought;
where would Helen be?
My
eyes immediately scanned the corners of the room and there she was next to the bar, amazingly sitting talking to friends, just as
I
’d remembered Helen at the School disco.

As
I
approached her,
I
hesitated
in an effort to control the onset of the strange feeling that was beginning to return. As it subsided I
breathed in, and then stammered slightly as
I
said, ‘H…Hello, I was wondering if
... Err...
you’d like to dance
?
’

‘I’d love to,’ she smiled back at
me
holding
out
her hand.

Then it hit
me
, and
I
remembered
I
couldn’t dance, ‘.err, but I can’t dance, I mean not in this body anyway.’ Then as if to justify
my
statement, ‘I am a Cryogen and I am not quite coordinated yet. Not that that would make any difference because I was never……… God I sound like an idiot.’

‘No,’ she said smiling with her eyes, ‘you don’t sound like an idiot. But I can guarantee you can dance. I assume no one has told you how
all
this
works then?'

'How all what works?'

Pointing to the dancing bodies in the middle of the room she said, 'do you see that row of lights in the ceiling that surrounds the dance floor?'

'Yes.'

'As you pass through them the system programs your body with the dance moves required for the music being played.'

So that's what Jennifer must have been referring to when
I
'd mentioned
I
couldn't dance.
'In that case,'
I
said holding out
my
elbow for her to join
me
, 'may I have the pleasure?'

Out on the dance floor a remix of ‘
Someone to live for’
by Jamie Smallhouse was thumping across the dance floor and as
I
stood across from her and let
my
self be taken over by the music,
I
instinctively started to rock on the balls of
my
feet.
I
matched her every move and unbelievably to
me
my
body even separated when hers did, and
I
managed not to laugh, or even be sick.

By the time
we
came off the dance floor
we
were both laughing, but not at the ridiculousness of the experience, but because of the joy of it. It had been exhilarating and
I
felt
the
now
familiar tingling sensation running up
my
arm as she held
my hand and led me
back to the seating in the corner.

I
was conscious that although
my
friends were keeping their distance, they were never far away, and it heartened
me
to know the warmth that knowing these people was
bringing
me
.
I
was definitely beginning to feel at home in this new world.

The woman told
me
her name was Rachel Karr, and this almost went straight over
my
head because
I
was so engrossed in her beauty. She was stunning and
I
had difficulty keeping
my
eyes
from
wondering over her exquisit
ely
slim body. But
I
thought of Helen and tried to keep the conversation to topics that
could
reveal if she was
Helen
reborn. And it seemed to be paying off.

She liked science fiction and was interested in science and technology, and she was bitterly disappointed over the current consensus for retaining everything from the cultures of the past above anything else. ‘Just because there is so much left over from previous times, I don’t see why we can’t create our own literature, art and music.’
So that’s why they were playing music from
my
era.

She had so much in common with Helen that
I
had to fight down the urge to actually ask her outright. All the frustrations that had been building up since
I
’d been revived were now bearing down on
me
.
Tell her about yourself
,
I
thought.

‘Since I’ve been revived I’ve been trying to get involved with the Cryogen
p
roject so I can help as many people like
myself
get a second chance. I’d like to meet as many of them as possible too, seeing as there’s only a finite amount of us left.’

I
deftly omitted any reference to Helen, and paused, hoping that if Rachel was reborn, this would be her opportunity to reveal it.
Come on,
I
thought,
take the hint.

‘Richard, there’s something I should tell you.’

Here it is,
I
thought and
my
heart
began
to soar,
please, please
.

‘Only,’ she stumbled ‘my family is pure Manooran and my parents are a bit anti-Cryogen. There are
still
some of us like that.’ she said apologetically.

My
heart, along with
my
mood, sank.

Chapter 21
- Maya and Mazood

If I'd ever had any patience at all it had long since evaporated. My frustration at not being able to do something constructive to look for Helen was beginning to ferment into anger, and pretty soon I was sure I was going to have to express it. There were barriers every way I turned and it seemed like the whole system was against me. I’d not yet learned to accept that everything in this new world seemed to move slower, at a different pace altogether. Perhaps having forever had made these people less dynamic? Whatever the reason for things not moving on at the speed I wanted, I felt one thing for sure - life was having a laugh at my expense.

I was trying my hardest not to let all of this affect my relationship with my friends, but it seemed the more reassurance they gave me the greater my tension grew; I snapped at them constantly and rejected everything they said.

Of course, when I was alone and had time to think about it I felt sad and foolish at my outbursts. But I knew it was only going to get worse until I could join the Cryogen project, gain access to their records, and begin to learn more about the revival process. I needed to feel as if I was doing something to find my wife.

The problem was compounded by the absence of Ankit and Ramoon. There was still no response from either of them, despite the many messages myself and my friends had left.

‘This is ridiculous,’ I snapped after trying to get through to Ankit yet again. I was going to have to be careful to control the violence I felt lurking beneath the surface. I’d never been a violent person but this was straining me beyond belief.

‘We all agree the situation is out of the ordinary Richard,’ said Earl later that morning, ‘but rather than winding yourself up like this, I suggest we wait for a little while longer and then try to approach someone else in authority.’

Earl’s sensible and logical approach was starting to get on my nerves.
The man always had a level head; did he never get wound up?
But, unable to think of any alternative to his suggestion, and realising deep down that he was thinking a lot clearer than I was, I nodded and accepted the advice.

‘You’ll see Richard’ Jennifer reassured me ‘they’ll be back soon and before you know it you’ll be working on the project.’

But it wasn't just these things that were playing on my mind. Fate had thrown me yet another curve ball in the form of Rachel. And I was feeling extremely guilty about the friendship that was beginning to develop between us.

After I'd found out about her Manooran roots, I hadn't wanted to pursue the friendship any further, but I wasn’t sure how to deal with it and up to now I was thoroughly convinced that she saw me as a potential partner.

There was no doubt about it, I’d definitely carried forward some of the cowardice from my previous life. I’d been putting off dealing with the issue, afraid of telling her the truth. I knew I had to, because of the feelings I was sure would develop if I had any more contact.

Never, since falling in love with Helen, had another woman affected me like this. I couldn’t forget looking into those fathomless eyes that drew me in with the promise of undiscovered secrets, and every
time she wet her lips with her tongue I had the urge to press my own against them. She was so incredibly beautiful and that beauty didn’t deserve the hurt I thought my continued contact could inflict.

But had I known her a little better and trusted in the strength that lay in her eyes; those eyes that looked old beyond their years, I wouldn’t have worried so much. Because after I’d finally found the courage to tell her about Helen, she’d not tried to cast any blame at all, instead she was considerate and caring. 

A raised eyebrow was all that displayed her surprise at my confession of the fear that I’d felt about telling her the truth.

'It doesn't mean we can't still be friends,’ she said, ‘I mean you’re friends with Jennifer aren’t you?'

I wanted to explain that I didn’t have the same feelings or the same attraction to Jennifer that I did towards her. But I didn’t want to raise any false hopes if she was harbouring any feelings for me. And because that was the very last thing I wanted to do, and unable to find any other argument against her suggestion, I just smiled and said, ‘of course we can be friends.’

Rachel worked at the central energy grid that supplied India Prime, where she commuted to every day from her parent’s house. She was interested in all fields of science but specialised in quantum energy production, and being a frustrated explorer had made her particularly scathing about the lack of interest by most of the population in space exploration.

As I began to get to know her better I wondered how much influence my new body was having on my feelings. I was trying to prevent any emotions from developing but I couldn’t control the physical reactions that occurred as a result of my attraction to her; but I’d never cheated on Helen and I wasn’t going to start now. These were conscious thoughts that I was repeating to myself because I was becoming afraid that one day my subconscious might slip in one of those inappropriate thoughts, which you could never seem to erase from your mind once they’d appeared.