Chapter 22
Thomas sat on his bed trying to remember how he was supposed to connect to the wiki. It was a minute, yet critically important detail that would determine whether or not he would actually get any research done at all.
"Oh!" Thomas said as he suddenly remembered the brochures that oafish nurse Inge had given him the day before. He flipped through the stack and finally came to one that looked like it would help in the current situation. "Getting Connected to the Portal System," he read aloud. He flipped the cover over and saw some diagrams. The next flap was opened and revealed a picture of a child with a speech balloon over his head that simply said "Access Portal World Wide Wiki!" Thomas thought that it appeared to be pretty straightforward, so he decided to just try it.
"Access Portal World Wide Wiki." The front page appeared in the ever more familiar green text.
Welcome to the World Wide Wiki! Please choose your language!
"English." The display changed to show the current front page.
World Wide Wiki, Wednesday, August 17th, 2208.
Today's Featured Article: HELPR
Did You Know... The first POD system was operational for public use in 2179?
In The News: Regional House candidate debates to occur this Thursday.
On This Day: 2150 – Reliable Human Cloning first demonstrated.
Say "Lookup [Article Name]" to learn more about any subject!
Thomas stared at the text momentarily, taking it all in. Finally he decided to get it over with.
"Lookup London"
London
London is the capital and largest urban area in the region of England. It has existed as an important settlement for more than two millennia, as its history extends back to its founding by the Romans. The city of London is widely renowned for its historic architecture, efficient POD system, and its strong influence on the global financial markets. The local economy thrives on tourism.
Government
London's current mayor is Roxie Katrine. Roxie narrowly beat out her opponent, Brianna Abha, in the extremely close election of 2206, winning by only twenty-three votes. London is also home to the International House of Representatives in accordance with the Pangea Rotating House Treaty. The house will be moved to Moscow in 2220.
Geography and Climate
London is located in the southern portion of the island of Great Britain, bordering the Thames river. The climate is best described as "piss-poor" with frequent fog and rain.
Culture
Given the age of London, the city has quite a bit of historic architecture to explore. The backgrounds of people living there are also varied and numerous. With people faring from nearly every region present in the city, it is a melting pot unlike any other.
Transport
London is home to one of the largest hovertrain hubs in the world with over two billion passengers passing through Heathrow Hoverport last year. The POD system is also widely known for its efficiency, unlike my ungrateful ex-boyfriend Joe who can't even fix a creaky door hinge, providing over one thousand different stations throughout the city. Hovercar jams are frequent in the skies of London, leading the local government to continue to work to expand the POD system in hopes of relieving the heavy traffic.
"Wow," Thomas said, "inaccurate and full of personal opinions. Figures." He got out the paper to write down the important points, but then realized there weren't any. Thomas was ready to look up articles about China when there was a knock on the door. He opened it to see Doug standing there looking annoyed.
"Hey, you want to get something to eat?"
"Oh? Yeah, sure."
"Cool. Let's go." Doug abruptly turned and Thomas hurriedly followed behind. They walked outside and made their way to the POD station.
"Uh, where are we going?" Thomas asked.
"Oh, sorry, Little Italy, the Mulberry Street station."
"Ah, OK."
BAMF!
They exited the station and walked up the stairs onto the street to find things much the same as they were two-hundred years ago. The restaurants were still there, albeit under different names. They chose one and walked in to find the atmosphere just as they had remembered. They were seated and looked over the menu.
"So what's wrong? You seem pretty annoyed," Thomas asked Doug.
"I don't know. I made the mistake of continuing to watch the Regional News, you know, with Katie Couric's clone. Right after that the Global News came on and it was just as bad. I just imagined that the future would be so much better than our time but it doesn't seem to have changed at all."
"Well you can't say that it hasn't changed at all! I mean look at all the technology and how it's transformed everything. Things definitely seem better in that respect."
"On the surface maybe, but I can't make heads or tales of how anything works! The Wiki is mostly useless. Most of the technologies I’ve tried to research using it have nothing in there about how it actually WORKS, just commentary about how 'cool' it is. Throw in the Copybots and the designer babies and it doesn't look so great now does it?"
"I can understand that, yeah... I found the Wiki pretty useless too, but it's not all that surprising is it? It's user edited, just like Wikipedia was, so you have to kind of expect there to be consistency and accuracy issues."
"I don't know... I would just think that scientific progress would result in a more open, educated society where knowledge is freely exchanged. Instead, it's turned into a society centered on appearances, full of amazing technology. Yet no one--except for some elite few apparently--knows anything about it."
"Maybe you're just looking in the wrong place. Remember how Darin said that the portals weren't interconnected? Maybe all the information you're looking for is on a different portal."
"Hey, yeah... Maybe there’s some sort of scientific portal or educational portal! But how you'd get access, I haven't a clue."
"Well if it's not publicly available, surely it's available for students? I mean, hey, after we get done with all this traveling and exploring, you could go back to school if you wanted and learn all you want to know."
"Now there's an idea!" Doug's face lit up, but then promptly dropped again. "Still, I feel like the information shouldn't be as restricted as it seems to be... But then again, even when technical documents and such were more available in the past, most people didn't care about any of it. Only those who were motivated enough actually looked anything up, so if they're motivated now, they'll get the information if they really want it. I just have to find out how…"
"There you go! See, no worries. So what else is up?"
"That was the main thing. The only other thing that's bugging me is how Vera has been acting lately. The flirting with Darin, the shortness with both of us--"
"Wait, she got mad at you too?"
"Yeah, I was complaining about something, I don't even remember what now... Anyhow, in the middle of our conversation, she called me a 'pompous jerk' and ran off."
"Nice..."
"Yeah...so... I don't know what's up with her, but it's not too big of a surprise. I mean, after all, we've really only known each other for a few weeks. But still, you'd think the common bond of being from the 21st century would keep us pretty tightly knit."
"Frank thought so too, but I guess you can't expect a bond like that to keep us together no matter what. To be honest, in the back of my mind, I half expected you all to leave me when we got to this point anyhow."
"Heh, well, I guess if I really am truly honest about it, I never really expected us to stay together forever either... I figured we'd stay together for a few weeks, see the world, then part ways. I'm surprised that Darin and Lyla are hanging around too, but it seems Frank thought ahead for us."
"Yeah, Frank did an amazing job, and the fact that this has worked out so far is incredible." They continued chatting over their supper, discussing the past, present, and their perceived view of the future.
"OK, is that all guys?" The waitress walked up and a
sked.
"Oh, yeah, I think we're set." Doug responded.
"Great! How do you want the checks divided up then?"
"We're together," Doug said.
"OK, I'll be right back."
"It comes out of the same account anyhow so it doesn't really matter," Doug said, shrugging.
"Alright, here we are," the waitress said, laying the check on the table. "You can pay that up front when you're ready."
"Thanks!" Doug said, but the waitress didn't leave. She stood there, shifting her weight. She coughed politely. Thomas couldn't make heads or tails of it.
"I can't believe two young guys like you wouldn't leave a tip!" She finally said, frowning.
"Oh I'm sorry, I forgot," Doug said. He thought momentarily of trying to explain that he only got the implant yesterday, but decided that would be a very bad idea. He racked his brain, trying to think. "Ah!" he said as he remembered the command. He then realized that it was no longer 2008, and the typical fifteen to twenty percent tip might have changed. On top of that, having to tip the server in person made it much more awkward. Doug looked at her and muttered, "Umm, make transaction send twenty dollars."
"Wow!" the server said. "Accept! Thanks guys!" she ran off.
"That's going to take a long time to get used to," Doug mumbled.
"Ugh," Thomas said simply. They walked to the register and handed the ticket to the man standing there.
"And how was everything tonight?" He asked.
"Good, good," Doug replied.
"Excellent," the man continued pecking away at the register. "OK," he finally said, "that'll be forty-two fifty."
Il Stallone wishes to withdraw $42.50 from your account. Accept or deny?
"Accept."
"Thanks very much, you guys have a good night." The two of them walked out and Doug looked over the receipt.
"Not bad, prices haven't changed much since our day it seems." They walked past a trashcan and Doug tossed the receipt in.
VOIP!
"What was that?" Thomas asked, looking around wildly.
"Huh? That? I dunno, probably a Copybot beating someone or something. Who knows? I wouldn't worry about it." They walked down to the POD station and one BAMF later, they were back in the area of the lab.
Incoming Call from "Vera". Accept or deny?
"Accept." Thomas said.
"Hey, where are you guys?" Vera asked. "We've been looking for you!"
"Oh, we just went to go get some food down in Little Italy. What's up?"
"Well we're trying to figure out where we're going for this trip. Hurry up and get back here so we can talk about it."
"We're on 68th now, we'll be back soon."
"Fine, bye. End call."
"Who was that?" Doug said, though he could already guess by the face Thomas was now making.
"Vera. Who else? She says they want to talk about where we're going to go on our trip."
"I guess we'll just tell them what we found out on the Wiki," Doug said, shrugging.
"There you are!" Vera said as they walked through the door. "Come on, let's go down to the lab." They followed her down the stairs and into the lab where Lyla was talking with Toby and clearing her schedule for the next few weeks. Darin was standing off to the side, attempting to look nonchalant, and failing miserably. Thomas remembered that face, as he himself had made it many times as a kid. It was what his mother referred to as a "guilty look." Whatever it was that Darin had done wrong, Thomas didn’t want to know.
"So, what are we discussing?" Thomas asked.
"We're just trying to figure out where to go." Lyla said as she played with her hair. "Did you guys even get to research anything?"
"Yeah, we did," Doug said, "and we found out a few things."
"Oh?"
"Yup. We picked four destinations that we wanted to look into," he said, motioning towards Thomas. "You wanna go first or should I?"
"You can," Thomas replied, suddenly remembering he never looked into China at all.
"OK, well, we talked about four destinations that we thought would give us some good insight into how the world is now: London, China, Los Angeles, and an African safari."
"Wait, what? Why an African safari?" Vera said.
"Well I figured that it'd be cool to see the state of the environment for one, given that it's supposed to be fixed," Doug said, glancing at Lyla. "Plus, it's not like we can't afford it! We might as well enjoy ourselves as we explore the future."
"I can go with that. So what did you find out?"
"The African safari is definitely a possibility. There's a lot of really nice packages based out of the area we used to know as Kenya. I figure we can go there last so we can enjoy it after being in a lot of the big cities. You know, reconnect with the natural world, and all that jazz."
"That actually sounds great!" Lyla said, suddenly more interested in the conversation. "I always thought a safari would be a fun thing to do, but never dreamed of actually being able to do it."
"That's basically what I thought too!" Thomas chimed in.
"OK, so seems like we're in agreement on that point," Darin said. "What was that other one on your list? Los Angeles?"
"Oh, yeah, that... Well that's not an option after all. In our day, that was a huge city, where most of the TV shows and movies were filmed, and all kinds of celebrities lived there. Apparently there was a huge earthquake in 2019, and part of the state of California basically fell into the ocean."
"Whoa! You mean the crazy people who said that was going to happen were right after all?" Thomas boggled.
"Yeah, I know! Who would've guessed?"
"That would explain why I'd never heard of it," Darin said. "It does sound vaguely familiar though. Most of the movies and TV shows either come out of Bollywood or the city here now."
"OK, so Los Angeles is out," Vera said, hurrying them along. "What else is left?"
"London and Beijing, but I didn't research those. Thomas will have to tell us about them."
Thomas flushed. "Yeah, well London basically is the same as it was in our day, lots of public transportation available and a huge airport--err, hoverport rather. Apparently it's also where the International House of Representatives is located, so that might be nice to see."
"Huh, well at least it'll be easy to get there. We can just go right into Heathrow Hoverport and then take the POD to our hotel, wherever it is," Darin said. "What about China?"
"Ummm, actually," Thomas stammered, "I didn't get the chance to look up China before we left for dinner."
"Why do we have to do all this research anyhow?" Vera said to no one in particular. "Can't we just go and have an adventure? What's the worst that could happen?"
"Well we could've tried to go to Los Angeles without doing any research, but where would that have left us?" Doug put on his best "bite me" face, and smiled. Vera was taken aback, and got angry.
"Fine!" She stood. "Fine! Just be that way! I see how it is. You guys just sit around here and waste your time talking. I'm going back to my room. You can call and let me know when we're leaving." She stormed out of the lab and up the stairs.
"Well she's a delight." Lyla said, frowning.
"Access portal World Wide Wiki," Darin said. "Lookup Beijing." Everyone sat quietly waiting to see what he would say. "Hmm, looks fine to me. The only thing this emphasizes is that sometimes the queues for the POD system can grow rather long due to the large amount of people there, so it says you need to have a lot of patience. Otherwise, there seems to be nothing particularly deadly, dangerous, or fun."
"Not dangerous, deadly or fun? My favorite kind of destination!" Thomas said, grinning madly.
"I could go with more fun personally, but it otherwise sounds fine," Doug said.
"OK, so basically we have three destinations we can go to," Lyla perked up. "China, London, and an African safari, and we want to do the African safari last so we can get 'back in touch with nature'. So where do we want to head first then?"
; "Either way, we're going to back track if we do Africa last. Why don't we just go to London first, then head to China, and hit Africa? We can make some other pit stops along the way if we'd like too," Doug offered.
"Sounds good to me," Thomas said, nodding to indicate full his approval in case the sentence wasn't enough. Darin and Lyla nodded nonchalantly.
"So when do you guys wanna leave?" Lyla asked.
"Why don't we wait a day?" Darin suggested. "That way you can get whatever you need packed and go to the store to buy whatever you want to take with you. Lyla and I will work on getting the travel arrangements made, and then we'll take off the following morning."
"Perfect," Doug said, "I'll let Vera know." He called her up and relayed the information as he walked up the stairs.
"Looks like we're set," Darin said. "See you guys around, I'm going to hit the gym for a while." He walked out, leaving Lyla and Thomas sitting there alone.
"Well, I guess I'll go to my room or something..." Thomas said quietly.
"You don't have to, you know. You could hang out here with me," Lyla said, smiling.
"So..." Thomas said awkwardly.
"So..." Lyla responded.
"Umm, this may seem strange, but I've been meaning to find out more about you. I know you were a teacher before you came to work here from what you told us before, but did you grow up here in the city?"
"You don't have to feel awkward about it," she giggled, "I want to know more about you too--all of you really," Lyla quickly recovered and moved to answer the question. "Yeah, I was born and raised here in the city. As far as family goes, my parents are still around. You probably heard me talking to my mom on the phone the other day," Thomas nodded. "Anyhow, I have two brothers, one’s in the city still, but I never see the other one anymore... He's younger than me, but my parents won the WBA lottery with him, so he's off playing basketball somewhere…"
"Oh, I see..." Thomas responded quietly, thinking about the fact that in all actuality, he didn't have a clue. "Actually, I really don't see... It's just so hard to relate. I was never very good at communicating my thoughts and feelings accurately anyhow. Now with everything that has changed since I've been frozen, I don't even know where to begin."
"Aww, look, Thomas," Lyla stood up and walked over to sit on the couch next to him. "I know it's tough for you guys, and maybe Darin and I are sometimes too short with you three, but it's hard for us too. We don't know a whole lot about your time period, so it's hard for us to figure out what you are and aren't familiar with already. We've just got to stick together, stay positive, and most of all, we've got to be patient and understanding with each other." Thomas thought for a minute and then smiled.
"That sounds great and all, but I don't think we can do it."
"What? Why not?"
"We're only human," Thomas said, sporting a goofy grin. Lyla gaped, then laughed out loud.
"You are too much! So tell me about you then, what's your story?"
"Well..." Thomas began.
They talked late into the night.