Wake Me In The Future (28 page)

But regardless of how my personal life would eventually turn out, I had no reservations about being involved with the protesters. My resolve was clear; I’d do whatever Jon wanted of me while presenting a respectable front to everyone else in Open Society. I’d act undercover, just like the librarian.

Ankit’s return was like everything else he did, understated. He just turned up at our apartment one morning. Rachel was at work and Jane was in the education booth learning about the chemical reactions found in the primordial soup found at Earth's pre-genesis. He just stood there as if the previous weeks hadn’t happened, smiling in his normal way.

‘I’ve come to see how married life is treating you Richard.’ And despite the subject, his tone was positive and upbeat. ‘It’s not too early to call on you is it?’

‘No, no, Ankit, come in and make yourself comfortable. It’s great to see you back. I’ve missed you. In fact we all have’

Smiling, he said, ‘Thank you, I’ve missed you too.’

We took coffee in the dining room, and I ordered breakfast, which began to appear from the table as we sat basking in the virtual sun coming over the horizon in the distance beyond the walls.

So
, I thought to myself, all I had to do now was get myself invited to his apartment, where I’d never been before, and where, considering my friend’s recent domestic upheaval, I had doubts he'd ever want anyone to visit.

The holiday seemed to have had a positive effect on him though. He was more relaxed and confident and although I didn’t raise the issue of visiting his home immediately, by the time he'd left on that first visit, I was sure I’d eventually succeed. And indeed, in an effort to manoeuvre him into inviting us to his apartment I managed to persuade him to come over and join us several more times over the following days, on the pretence of hearing all about his travels through India. Although the stories he told, did turn out to be of great interest.

During each
of these
visit
s
I took every opportunity to drop some quite blatant hints in an attempt to secure a return invite, and these earned me some strange looks from Rachel and Jane. Eventually, the invite came in the casual, and I thought, polite but not serious, ‘you’ll have to come over to mine one time.’

I could barely conceal my excitement at the invitation and gave a not too convincing imitation of a casual response. ‘Yeah, that’d be great, we’ll do it this weekend then, and we can all watch some of the inter planet Olympics. You’d like that wouldn’t you Jane?’

‘Definitely,’ she
responded,
before turning to our guest and saying
,
‘that’ll be ok won’t it uncle Ankit?’

Unable to retract his invite, especially as I'd involved Jane; he had no alternative but to say, ‘Yes, I’d love you all to come over.’

Getting invited had proved to be the easy part; I still had to think of a convincing excuse to use to gain access to his information terminal. And even my other friend’s were having difficulty with that one.

But the first part of my plan had gone swimmingly, and I'd have been absolutely delighted had it not been for the growing feeling of extreme discomfort over this deception. I didn’t like keeping Ankit in the dark, but I had to weigh what was being gained against any adverse reaction my friend might have if he found out what was happening. It was either this way, or tell him the truth, and even though I thought Ankit would support us I didn’t want to draw him into this if I could possibly help it. Besides, Jon seemed adamant that he didn't want Ankit to know what was going on. No, I had to bite my tongue and just do what we'd planned.

The apartment was very similar to Earl’s, flowery and feminine, and I guessed it was probably Amira’s influence that Ankit hadn’t had chance, or the inclination, to remove.
Had he really come to terms with her leaving him, or could this actually be a reflection of his denial?

As we sat down to our meal I cursed myself for not putting any thought into the excuse I knew I needed to access Ankit’s terminal. I’d just have to spend the night racking my brains for one.

After the meal we sat in the main room relaxing and watching the ‘Stone Tossing’ competitors trying to get their round stones into the circular hole in the green that they were standing outside of. This was an ancient Muslim sport that had become incredibly popular throughout the Solar system, and although none of us knew the complex nuances of this modern version of the game, like football it was easy to tell when someone had achieved their aim. Get ball in net, Get stone in hole, simple.

Jane was sitting on the floor in front of Ankit, Rachel and myself, eating a bowl of crisps, thoroughly engrossed in the action. As clips of a range of sports that were due to come on were being displayed, she turned round and said, ‘Are there any sports where it’s admissible to body jump uncle Ankit? There are a few I wouldn’t mind experiencing without practicing myself.’

‘Not allowed Jane,’ he said ‘there was some abuse of it in the past apparently; people giving the owner of the body advice and all that.’

I looked from Jane to Ankit, wondering what they were talking about. I’d only heard body jumping used in reference to travel. ‘I don’t understand what you mean. The only thing I understood about it was that it’s a form of travelling, and that you can’t forcibly be taken out of your body.’

‘You’ve obviously been doing some homework,’ said Ankit just as I realised I’d been given that little nugget of information by Jon.

‘Oh...Yes,’ I said defensively, trying to explain away my knowledge, ‘someone mentioned it in conversation. I haven’t asked the system about the subject yet.’ I offered that just in case they had ways of checking. After all, Jon had told me to be ultra careful about what I said.

‘Well, like all developments,’ Ankit said, ‘some people will find ways to abuse it.’

‘Do you mean that you can be forcibly taken out of your body then?’ I asked.

‘Not that I am aware of, but travel isn’t the only use for that technology, as Jane has just alluded to. When it was first developed it was found that it was possible to
‘jump’
into another body that was already occupied, as long as it was receptive to it. This effectively created two consciences in the same body, both being able to communicate with each other and share the experience and feelings of the host body.

Exhibitionists and voyeurs have found it very entertaining over the years as many people leave themselves open to be
jumped
by anyone at any time.’

‘Oh wow, that must be really weird, but doesn’t the body become confused having more than one person telling it what to do?’

‘No, only the core conscience has control of the body, the
‘passenger’
as they’re called can only communicate with the host and experience all the feelings from the body.’

‘But surely that’s not considered abuse of the technology Ankit; I’d consider that just harmless recreational fun, especially if the two people involved were consenting adults.’

‘It was the abuse of this particular way of using the technology I was referring to Richard, the worst case was that of Harold Schmitt, a tour guide in South America.’

‘Why, what did he do?’ asked Rachel.

Ankit looked at Jane, who seemed as curious as we were to find out what Harold Schmitt had done. ‘Jane, I am sorry about this but I am going to go into intimate mode while I talk to your mum and dad about something a bit sensitive.’

‘Oh, ok,’ she said slowly and looking disappointed, but pointing to the Vid-screen she murmured, ‘I’ll carry on watching till you’re finished.’

‘He was a serial rapist,’ said Ankit, happy that Jane could no longer hear what we were talking about, ‘and he was able to carry on with his despicable activities because of the help he had from some very important people in the community he lived in.’

I was intrigued now, ‘Was he blackmailing them then?’

‘Not exactly, but he did have information they all wanted keeping secret and he was also satisfying their vile fantasies.’

‘Oh,' I said with the recognition of where this was going, 'you mean he-'

‘Yes, he was letting them jump into him when he was stalking and violating his victims. The technology doesn’t just allow one person to jump into a body, and when Schmitt was finally caught the system trapped fifty eight other consciences inside him.’

‘Oh my God, that’s awful,’ said Rachel, ‘those poor women, being raped by one man must be life destroying, what must they have gone through when they found out every single disgusting second of it was being enjoyed by a whole group of sick depraved men.’

‘It wasn’t just women that were raped Rachel,’ Ankit rectified her, ‘and the Jumpers weren’t just men either. Sick minds like that don’t conform to any form of norms we might recognise.’

I wanted to wipe the images that Ankit had just painted, out of my mind for good. The idea of sharing experiences with other people that you were close to was fascinating, but it never ceased to amaze me how some people could find twisted ways to exploit new developments.

The conversation had completely distracted me from the game that was playing out on the Vid screen and just as Ankit ordered another drink I asked him if I could access my journal through his information terminal. ‘I want to record my thoughts about what you’ve just told us before I forget, is it all right if I use your study and I can leave you in peace to watch the games?’

‘Of course,’ he said.

It had worked, and I’d not even had to think of the excuse myself.

But any feeling of achievement was subdued by the wave of guilt that washed over me and the slight tremor that swept through my body as I entered his study. I managed to access the terminal and following the instructions given to me by Jon I tried to retrieve the schedules of the high officials. Just as I was beginning to think that this uncomfortable experience would shortly be over, a message flashed on the screen. '
You are not authorised to access this information.'

Drat!
I thought to myself, what do I do now? Jon had assured me the information would be available. I tried several more times but with the same results, before I reluctantly decided to abandon the attempt.

I left Ankit’s that night feeling like I’d failed and somehow, indirectly, let Helen down.

‘Don’t be downhearted,’ Jon told me when we spoke the following day. ‘If you’d been with us for the last few years Richard you’d be used to disappointment by now. It makes you realise that you just have to get up and carry on. Helen taught me that actually.

Your failure only points to one thing; Ramoon must have become even more suspicious than I originally thought, and removed the authorisation to that information from all Cryogens. In which case, we need to get a Manooran to access the information. The problem is that none of our sympathisers have the right access level through their own terminals or know anyone that has.’

‘Then I’ll have to risk telling Rachel,’ I offered.

‘Are you sure Richard, I wouldn’t ask you to place her in any danger if you felt uncomfortable with the idea?’

‘I know her well enough to be sure she’ll help us Jon. If it’s the only way to get the information then I’ll speak to her about it.’

And then I thought to myself,
it's going to be easy compared to telling her
that Helen may still be alive.

When I returned home it took me a little while to get the courage to speak to Rachel and it wasn’t until Jane had gone to bed that I finally approached her in the main room.

Standing directly in front of her, my face inches from hers, I said ‘I have something to tell you and something to ask you, and I hope I am right in guessing your reaction.’

She looked at me quizzically, ’This sounds serious, go on.’

‘You know I love you don’t you?’

‘Yes, but what’s this about Richard, you’re scaring me.’

I held her then, squeezed her tightly to me. And laying my forehead into her neck I said quietly, ‘I am in such a mess Rachel. I don’t know what to do. Helen-’

'I know,' she interrupted me, 'you're bound to have days like this. I understand, and I am sure Helen would. It's going to take some time.'

And as I felt the warmth of her body against mine I knew I just couldn’t tell her. How could I? If Helen wasn’t alive and none of this was true, then Rachel would have gone through all of this for nothing. Why should I hurt her for no reason? I needed to know for sure before I ruined her life. No, I just couldn’t bring myself to say anything about Helen.

So wiping my eyes I explained about Ramoon, about the protesters and the information we'd discovered at Ramoon’s office. I told her it was all getting to me and making me feel so confused and upset. After I’d finished I sat there looking at her expectantly, considering how close I'd come to possibly destroying our love.

It took a moment for her to take it all in but then she said, ‘to be honest Richard I’ve never liked Ramoon. He’s always treated me in an offhand sort of way. If your intuition was that I’d help, then you were right, I just wish you’d come to me earlier.’ This made me feel even worse about what I was concealing from her.

We knew it wasn't going to be as easy this time. We had to find a legitimate reason to get Rachel access to Ankit's terminal as it was unlikely that a situation would occur that had brought me my chance.

When we ran the idea that we came up with, past Simon, Jennifer and Earl, they all thought it was a great idea.

Simon's reaction was reflected in the great big grin that spread across his face, ‘I thought those things had gone out of fashion Richard, but I'd put money on Ankit being up for it. It’ll be a novelty and new experience for him. Who knows you might be starting a fad.
As long as
you're sure he’ll be up for us all coming along too?’

‘Leave it to me,’ I assured him.

Maybe it was because we’d already taken that first step into his inner sanctum, I wasn’t sure, but it was far easier to get an invite back when I suggested it again. Perhaps Ankit was finally starting to relax.