Classic Vahl Short Story from 2003: Were You On the News Today?

numbersix@dailyskew.com (Skew) — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 23:09:00 +0000

Mark woke up at 5:30 a.m., just as predicted. Mark turned on the radio and walked into the bathroom.

" ... And there's an accident about to happen on the BQE. Please avoid this road at all costs."

Good thing I take the train, Mark thought to himself as he brushed his teeth.

The E train was not crowded, but it would be. Mark lived near one of the early stops, so he was able to grab a seat and read his morning paper in relative comfort.

Mark turned immediately to the back page sports headline. Mark was shocked by what he read.

"Collins To Get Hurt Tonight, QB Okay With Fate," Mark whispered to himself.

Mark was so accustomed, as were we all, to the society he lived in. Today, however, Mark questioned the wisdom of following your routine, even if you knew something terrible would happen to you.

The general public believed in accepting your fate. We were taught to follow our routine until the bitter end. The prevailing wisdom was to confront, instead of prevent, tragedy.

Mark wondered now if this was wrong, just as predicted. How could we simply allow death and mayhem to occur, without lifting a finger to stop it? Was the future our god, and if so, why did we worship so blindly?

Mark thought these thoughts as he climbed the stairs onto 42nd street and Times Square. A news blurb from the wire services caught his eye: "148 people will die in a tragic plane crash, later this afternoon."

How can those people board that plane, Mark thought to himself, and how could the airline allow them to take off?

The real kicker to all this was that the majority of people could not see into the future. The general public did not have the third eye.

Those who did were recruited by the media and military. Prospective children as young as six years old were taken from their parents and trained in the art of future prognosticating.

Future Thought, as it was known, was big business. Advertisers used Future Thought to predict the success of ad campaigns. Human Resource officers were now required to display at least a level three awareness of Future Thought, so that potentially homicidal workers could be weeded out.

Elections were won and lost before people voted. Wars were won and lost before a gun was fired. The public was now accustomed to this foreknowledge, and treated the future like the past or present. The public saw the future as inevitable, and unchangeable.

Gamblers still gambled, even if they knew the outcome was against their bets. Their bets were usually on minor details: whether a base hit happened in the 5th or 6th inning of a ballgame, or whether someone rolled a 3 and 1 at the craps table, and not deuces. Although the predicted outcome was the same, sometimes the way the outcome happened was a little different, and this made for some interesting bets.

Mark, having grown up in a world where Future Thought teachers knew you would give the wrong answer before the question was asked in class, was struggling with what was happening. Mark did not know what to do, just as predicted.

As Mark entered the elevator that would take him to his job on the 34th floor, he began to think there was nothing he could do. Were he to prevent an incident, he would probably be fulfilling Future Thought.

But that's insane! How can a man think or act if he knows his fate is sealed, Mark thought angrily. He slammed his fist against the side of the elevator, and accidentally, but predictably, dropped his newspaper.

As he bent down to pick up the scattered pages, Mark's eyes ran across a headline on page three. So, Mark thought to himself, my fate is sealed.

"Man Who Questions Reality Dies On Elevator," read Mark out loud.

Mark Wallace looked at the ceiling panels.

"Mark Wallace, a 24-year-old investment banker with Metrogroup, dies this morning at 8:43 a.m. while riding an elevator to his office."

Mark refused to accept his fate. There has to be a way out! he thought.

"Ironically, Mark will begin to question Future Thought, the process by which news is acquired, just minutes before the accident."

Mark climbed to the top of the elevator car. Okay, Mark thought, I just have to wait for the car to drop, and then I'll grab onto something, and be okay.

"Unfortunately, Mark does not bother to read the article before escaping to the top of the elevator. If he did read this, he would know that the elevator does not plummet to the ground, as he assumes it will."

Mark looked up. The top of the elevator shaft was getting closer and closer.

"If Mark would simply read this article, he would prevent his death. Unfortunately, because Mark will not trust the media, he will pay the ultimate price with his life. Future Thought would save Mark's life, if he would follow his predetermined path."

Mark had forgotten that the 34th floor was where this elevator shaft ended. With growing horror, Mark realized the article was merely predicting his panicky actions. Future Thought had predicted that Mark would kill himself. If you attempt to save your life, you lose it. Isn't that what Jesus said?

"Those will be his final thoughts before he dies."

Eyes of the Future

numbersix@dailyskew.com (Skew) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 22:57:00 +0000

You could see it in his eyes.

You could see it in many people's eyes -- that curious, voyeuristic look ... looking at you and through you at the same time.

Inside, behind their eyes, a series of digital machinations. Synapses firing. Electric impulses going back and forth, connecting human flesh with organic machine.

Signals -- going back and forth, from within that person's skull to distant towers and satellites ... messages bouncing back and forth as people searched on face-recognition databases ... taking organic photos with their eyes ... pulling down data from the ether, learning about a stranger without even saying hello.

At times, this was ... actually, a quaint existence. People were sometimes happy to be interrupted by a perfect stranger who seemed to know them better than they knew themselves, or remembered a detail they had forgotten.

I witnessed one lady, wearing a long blue skirt and blouse, today on the subway. She said, "Excuse me?" to a younger woman wearing a black vinyl jacket. "I couldn't help but notice that your son has lymphoid hyperplasia. My son had the same condition when he was a little boy. I just wanted to let you know about the treatment we used."

The younger woman smiled and said, "Really? You know about that? I can't seem to find anyone who relates to that."

And they struck up a conversation.

SURE, it was an invasion of privacy by 20th century standards ... but we're not in the 20th century anymore, are we? It's 2051.

You have to deal with the reality that's around you.

Privacy? That's a thing of the past.

Privacy today is not getting arrested for looking like another criminal. Privacy is keeping your nose clean, staying out of trouble.

Everybody's watching you, but nobody cares.

Well, not everyone. Only the people that are around you, that's all. Searching, searching, referencing, looking up ... but not everyone does that!

Some people ignore the technology that's in their head.

Some people even opted out for awhile ... until they realized they were completely disconnected. Completely unplugged. Ostracized. Only the strongest, or craziest, depending on your point of view, could stay that way.

Hate to make it sound like a movie, but it is what it is.

Sometimes, speaking of movies, it almost feels like that classic Minority Report, except it's the people that do the enforcing. If you've committed a crime and your on the run, you will get caught. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. As soon as someone searches your face and you come up on the FBI's most wanted list, or a local wanted poster ... the local authority is immediately alerted to your presence.

By the time you get off the subway, you'll see police waiting, taking that person in handcuffs.

SURE, sometimes it goes wrong. Sometimes the wrong person is arrested, but they always sort that out at the station. They don't detain people against their wills or anything. Come on! We're human beings.

This isn't 1984. It's 2051.

It's a whole new world.

Is it brave? Not really. It's kind of L-M-E, on some level.

You would think, with all this technology, that we would be closer together ... and like I said, people do get to know each other who are perfect strangers. But for the most part, people like me? We just search, and don't say a word.

I read all about people's thoughts online. I see stuff they've highlighted, photoed, videoed, experienced. I smell it. I feel it.

All I need is a face, and I'm off.

Can you imagine if someone from the past time traveled here? Ha ha. That would be crazy. They would be totally out of their element. They wouldn't know what to do. Totally and completely crazy.

Skew Short Stories

Classic Vahl Short Story from 2003: Were You On the News Today?

Eyes of the Future