The island 2289 (2)

"Did your dream have any political significance? Did you see technologies that aren’t currently available in your dream?...” Henrik answered all of the questions correctly and the “mirror” was green all the time. After this boring action he placed himself in the seat in the middle of the room and shifted into a laying position. He turned the speaker on night music and closed his eyes. The next morning Thea woke up with difficulties from the uncomfortable position she fell asleep in the evening in the seat in the centre of the room and without switching to the night regime. She looked at the touch hand and then at the clock on the wall. It was something after six, she still had some time. There was a buzzing sound at the door… they opened up and there was the magnetic food carrier. Breakfast was quite good. For the most part there were cereal with a kind of synthetic juice of a red colour. After breakfast she dressed into the yellow bodysuit and with a disgusted look gazed at the touch hand. Today she really wasn’t in the mood for these incomprehensible questions. As a doctor of psychology she knew the significance of questions of a different character, but these questions from the centre were sometimes really crazy. She placed her hand on the mirror and it turned green. There was a beep, which was a sign of activation and connection between the person and the centre. “Did you make any contact with a new person since you’ve been in the centre? Did you talk about the imperfection of the world system? Did you attempt to use your psychological tactics in order to influence the thinking of this person? Did this person tell you any information that they’re hiding from the centre? Did you urge someone in your vicinity to perform subversive activities against us?”

She answered all the questions correctly as always. The whole time there was a green light and so everything proceeded in order. Later she was wrote something down in her diary. After eight she again came up to this miracle on the wall. She placed the palm of her hand on it again… In Henrik’s room the touch hand began to shine and a voice could be heard. It was Thea’s voice. “Henrik, we’ll meet in the middle of the station like yesterday, in about ten minutes. I’ll bring some papers, we can at least try to teach someone Eureka, I can’t think of any other activity for today.” Henrik gazed intently at the wall and answered: “Okay, I’ll be there, I just have to contact the centre and ask them something.”

“Okay, do what you have to and I’ll wait for you.” Thea slowly went through the crowd that spread in this centre like ants in an ant hill. She was heading to the big screen where an “educational” documentary of the terrifying past was being played again. There were about four places free. She sat down, placed the papers on the table and looked at the boring documentary… “Eureka? Eureka?” Thea heard somewhere behind her back. She turned around and there was a young Asian girl addressing people, which meant she wanted to learn Eureka. Thea waved at her and signalled that she’ll take this activity up. The young woman, about twenty, sat opposite of her and smiled at Thea. “Eureka?” she asked and looked at the papers in front of Thea. “Well of course Eureka.”

Thea handed her a paper with pictures on it. The young Asian woman took it and gradually pointed at the pictures. The first one was a table, after that there were clothes, toys… The Asian pointed at the images and Thea said the names, which the young woman then repeated. Table-tablo, toys -igra, clothes- dresna, glass-gla, water-ner… and many others. The whole training took about 15 minutes. Occasionally some random passer-by joined. They said the names together, pointed at pictures also to the people that stopped at the table for a few seconds. This is how life is in the centre if someone thinks of an activity that doesn’t bother the centre and passes time. Henrik came to the table with a disgusted expression and sat opposite of Thea. She looked at him and asked if he didn’t like today’s questions. Henrik looked at her with surprise.

“No I didn’t. They get on my nerves, I contacted the centre and wanted to know when they were planning to let me back into Oslo. I’m not in the mood anymore to stay here even for one more day. They didn’t answer me. As always, if it’s something that doesn’t suit them, they don’t answer. It’s terrible to be somewhere like this place and not know when you’ll leave.” Thea thought deeply.

“Look, you won’t trick the system. It’s automatized for a hundred percent. Personally I think that we have never had the honour to talk to a live person. This damned system holds the whole planet in a leash.” At that moment people started to gather near the main exit. “Something’s happening, let’s go there” said Thea and they both headed towards the crowd. “What’s happening here?” Henry addressed a thin man who was leaning against the wall.

“Well the centre released a new guideline that every day at 2 p.m. we’ll be able to go for a two-hour walk around the island. I guess they don’t see a threat in us.” After he finished the sentence, the door to the centre started to open. The people gladly went outside despite the fact that it was bitter cold. The yellow bodysuit enables to exist also in extreme conditions so it’s no problem to spend the two hours of walk. Today it’s minus 24 degrees and snow is rushing on this dome as if someone tried to cover it forever. The wind is howling from all sides. In these conditions it’s impossible to talk to someone, so everyone just wonders with their own thoughts in their head. Everyone will take from this walk what they want. Some went down to the shore and simply looked at the water crashing against the boulders on the coast. For sure there’s one crucial question in the mind of everyone, how did we get onto this harsh island of nothing.

“You know, when I sat on the bench in the park close to our neighbourhood, three men in back sat next to me. They didn’t say anything, just looked in front of them. I immediately knew that something was going to happen, they seemed as if they felt guilty in advance for something that they didn’t do. It was about three in the afternoon. After that I found myself in this cursed dome. I’ve been here for two months, but I don’t know why. I’m a repairer of home appliances. I have no idea what their reason could have been.”

In the evening whilst watching another documentary about nature, another old man who sat and constantly drew some schemes on paper started to talk.

“What are these maps that you are drawing?” asked Henrik. The elderly man dropped the pen and started to talk again in a monotone voice.

“They are not maps. They’re integrated circuits. My whole life I’ve been in one job and I know these circuits by heart. If it was necessary I could take apart and then bring together whatever instrument at work or at home. Completely by heart. I don’t need instructions or directions. Everything is in my head. 45 years of experience does its thing to a man. Suddenly a woman’s voice could be heard from the big screen: “The section on extinct species of our planet.” The next ten minutes were given to the documentary on extinct species. Brown bear, moose, chamois, apes of all kind… the polar bear disappeared from earth’s surface because it completely transformed into a sea creature. It lives in the sea and only rarely can be seen, for example when it hunts fishes under the surface of the ice or when it emerges from the water. A long time ago it was a specie walking on earth and today it’s a fish, big and fierce that can rarely be seen. It avoids places where people hunt or to be more precise this creature knows humans and their cruelty and that’s why it shies away into the darkest waters. The biggest problem of today are rats, that have spread so much that in some parts of the cities people have had to move out. These rats are resistant to almost anything and that which should eliminate them only makes them more resilient. But here on Barent’s Island there’s nothing. There are no rats, no birds and no animals. They seem to not like the hostility and this place offers exactly the place for the type of structure which was built here. It’s truly a country of nothing. Henrik was looking out of the window with a bored expression when he saw a flare on the shore which meant an unloading of food and supplies. Every day is the same her, it seems as if man always lived in the same, one day. The only thing that changes are the people but even they are difficult to discern because everyone is in the same bodysuit. Maybe there is also a purpose in everything being complex so people wouldn’t ask for specific names and reasons. If you happen to talk to someone, tomorrow you won’t even notice them because you wouldn’t recognise them in this ant hill. It’s a great event that the centre allowed these walks. No one would have expected it. There are some changes happening, maybe because the very governing body of the centre was bored of this system. The only thing that matters is if the governing body is an automat or a person. No one knows that. Maybe one day “he” will introduce himself in all his magnificence. Thea just came to the screen and she was obviously disgusted. This expression could often be seen on her face. The screen was showing a fourth documentary. This time it was about earthquakes and erosions that happened between 2090-2112. It was then that the appearance of the planet and the position of the continents changed. Some parts of the earth disappeared under water and some completely new parts appeared. There were lots of islands. Therefore the most frequent means of travel is on water, in magnetic vehicles that are directed from point A where they were sent from. Vehicles are no longer directed by people. They are directed by their own system and those that serve the public are directed from the point where they are sent from. Since traffic isn’t controlled by man, the human factor has been avoided and accidents have been prevented. The professions of drivers, pilots and captains stopped over a hundred years ago. Now we only find out about these things from history. Thea looked at the mass of people in the distance. She thought about something and after a while she turned to Henrik.

“Look, people from various parts of the world come here each day into this centre. They have only one thing in common, like we. They don’t know how they got here. And anyway, how many of them are Norwegians? Is it really just us two? What is it then, is it the self-discipline or are we just not considered as opponents of the whole world regime?”

“You always analyse the essence that will never be shown or explained to us. I have a single wish, to return home. I don’t care who plans what for a hundred years in advance, I have absolutely no interest.” Thea took a blank piece of paper and gazed at the people again. But after a while she changed her mind and pushed the paper away.

“You’re probably right, it’s all a stupidity and what are we actually even doing here?! If they left us at home we would be boring and living exemplary like up till now. This whole existence in this centre is, according to me, just a waste of time and a burden of the whole system. I’m sick of it and I feel absolutely useless and I’m bored of this inactivity. Therefore I sometimes teach Eureka to these people who came from the opposite side of the globe. Otherwise I would probably go crazy. I want to go home, every day I ask the centre questions, but nobody answers. They only answer the questions that the centre has a pre-recorded answer to. It’s terrible I can’t stand it anymore.”

In the meantime in Oslo the agents got into Henrik’s house in Ekeberg. They sat at the table in the living room and threw some robotic toys onto the floor. They scrambled away like spiders in all directions and let out some electronic noises. One of the agents had a paper placed in front of him and wrote some information down on it. The others bore a numb expression on their faces and didn’t do anything at all. After a while the door opened and a young woman entered. She was tall, with a slender figure, her hair combined with a silver band and she was dressed in a red bodysuit. She quietly observed the situation in the house. The small electronic robots looked through all parts of the apartment and nothing could be heard except for the buzzing of their movement.

“So what do we have here?” she asked out of nowhere and intently gazed out of the window. The agent that finished writing the paper got up and handed it to the woman. She folded it and placed it in a small hand bag. The agents stood up without a single word and slowly excited the house. The woman in the red bodysuit had no such intention. She sat at the table and thought for a while. The door opened and six strangers entered Henrik’s house. They were three elderly men in black suits and 3 young boys in dark blue bodysuits, the same that are worn by the workers on Barent’s Island.

“We currently have three options,” said one of the elderly men.

“We can seal the house and transfer it to another name within a week. Everything that’s here will be “cleaned” and checked by the main centre here in Oslo. We’ll keep him in the centre for as long as necessary. If he starts to be a problem, which we have to suppose, then we’ll go to plan B.” The woman began to get nervous and obviously didn’t agree with this plan B. “What does plan B look like?” She nervously played with her hair and looked at the small robots, how they chased one after another in the whole house. “Plan B is very simple, we’ll erase everything in his memory that was there till now. We’ll block everything in his head which lets him into these dimensions and thus we’ll erase his past. No one will notice anything. We’ll follow precise orders from the centre and won’t try any alternatives.”

Everyone thought hard about this situation. “But we’ve dealt with this problem numerous times and we never had to engage radically or use so much time and energy to put it back together.”

The elderly man in the suit knew a bit more than the others at the table and therefore he was careful of every word that he spoke.

“I have direct orders from the centre and I can’t get into conflict with this darkness. The orders are clear. Eliminate the whole affair to a minimum and get everything under control.” The woman began to walk around the house and always watching the little robots. All out of a sudden she jumped and stamped on one of them. The beeping sound suddenly stopped and everyone around the table turned to the woman and looked at the floor in horror. “What have you done?! That’s a catastrophe. How will we explain this to the centre in case of questions?” asked the young man in the blue bodysuit. Obviously they have never come across such a situation. This action paused all thoughts around the table. All of a sudden as if everyone was stopped by some signal and they didn’t know how to orientate themselves in their own thought processes. “Damn it! Damned regulations and orders. I don’t like this at all because the whole case draws attention of the whole centre. That doesn’t seem good at all.”

The men also silently agreed because it was true that in this case the centre really started to get involved.

“And anyway! What’s the third plan? The first two are a disaster and I’m really curious about the third!”

The elderly man got up from the chair and sat on the window pane. He looked out of the window. It was snowing outside and beams of lights from snow scooters that were passing the streets of this town could be seen.

“So far a third plan doesn’t exist. We waited from instructions from the centre but nothing came. Even when we asked questions then nothing came. It’s all very strange, we’ll wait what’s next. I don’t believe it’s a mistake in the programme because everything suggests that the government is a programme. A system which controls everything. But either way someone had to install it and also someone has to govern it and check up on it. If of course the person still lives and left someone to take care of it. Otherwise I can’t find an explanation to the whole thing. We realised this when we started asking the centre questions like how to save this or that person, just to bring the whole thing into another direction. At that time no answer came.”

The woman sat down again and tiredly supported her head. She was looking at the floor and was sick of everything. She stood up to the table and pronounced the verdict.