A Christmas Tale

            It’s not so often that I wake with a glow these days. You know that feeling that you have had a rested sleep with pleasant dreams. I can even remember the plot from the dream. The first part of the dream was starting to become a nightmare before I was awakened by some mysterious force.

We were hungry and cold as vapor came from the many mouths of the shouting people now being cajoled and funneled through the opening in the massive fence. My friends and I had spent many months trying to make it to this very point.  We had seen awful sights of dying people on the way. People frozen in puddles of rain water. People who had just given up and had their few remaining belongings and food stolen. We had known another fierce Winter was on its way and after the last Winter it was painfully obvious very few would survive it. The flooded coastal cities were not a place to be if you had any ideas of surviving to see another day! Like many others we had all lost family along the way, parents, brothers and sisters, and so many innocent young children. Clean drinkable water was a thing of the distant past. You held on as long as you could then drank from any disgusting source, only just enough to quench the dire thirst.

In the beginning; before the alliance got involved, disease spread like wildfire. The, ‘free people’ as we liked to call ourselves were decimated to only a fraction of what we had once been. Here we were, the survival of the fittest, waiting for the annual, ‘hiring’.

In two thousand and twenty-five after the devastating world war three that had lasted almost five years, the (AoA) Alliance of the Americas was formed. The billionaires that had been running things for so long were getting a little nervous. The populace that they had been controlling for so long were starting to revolt. No longer could they send young men to war to fight their petty and greedy squabbles. All the necessities for life; food, water accommodation, health and even education had been squeezed to such an extent to fill their evil, deep pockets.  It seemed to start out innocently enough; building large fences and walls to keep out adjoining countries: “why should those foreigners come and take our jobs and bring with them drugs and crime.” President Trump made sure that wasn’t going to happen. Semi rich societies at the beginning built their own separate walls with enough armament to secure a small country. Shortly thereafter came the city walls then the state walls. Trillions of dollars of taxes spent on security. It was rumored that the AoA and the leader of the Russian Democratic republic shared a monopoly on the worlds complete armory.

I had finally made it to the main gate, it was my turn at long last. The heavily armed guard passed me on to a group of white clad and space suited doctors. I had had my retina scanned and a sample of blood very roughly taken from my wrist. My clothing was removed and thrown into a vacuumed trash disposer as I was put inside a clear upright cylinder to be sprayed first with hot disinfected liquid then a harsh steam spray that I inhaled which made me vomit. I was then made to lie on a cold stainless steel bench while a contraption was placed on my head. I felt a sharp pain as my memories were erased then a need to go and urinate.

I woke up and laid there for a few minutes’ wow! what a nightmare that was. It had all seemed so real that I actually reached up to feel if the contraption was still fixed on my head. The only thing real was of course, I sure still needed to go to the washroom.

The bedroom was very dark and quiet as I laid back down still ruminating about the dream and what it had meant.  I shortly fell into a discordant sleep still trying to contemplate the meaning.

I knew my eyes were closed but I could now feel a warm and loving entity. It enveloped my complete being. ‘Good morning and welcome to a beautiful new day,’ it said. It was definitely a female voice but I couldn’t really tell for sure. I had been awakened somewhat telepathically. ‘Thanks Genie and how are you this beautiful day’ I said in the same telepathic gesture. I had been practicing with my new enhancement chip that had been surgically installed a few months prior. ‘Would you like your daily schedule or would you rather have your morning coffee first,’ the soothing voice said. ‘You can give me the schedule now, while I exercise.’ I replied. I was on a return flight to Earth from the Mars Terraform base at Clarke city. ‘Your meeting with Abdul Azziz from the university of Kabul and Abraham Binyamin of Jerusalem scholarly has been set for 09:30 EST. I have taken the liberty of setting the conference room with holographic presence. Doctor Abimbola Akinyi from the Durban Zulu center for education who is presently on Lunar base Armstrong has asked to be present.’ The entity added.  ‘Yes please, message her, and tell her she would be most welcome’. I replied.

It had been our goal to find young enterprising and adventurous people to further mankind’s mission in the cosmos.

Since the terrible wars of the 19^th and 20^th century and the unspeakable events thereafter. A few very wise and charismatic people managed to turn our taste for murder around. It started slowly at first but as soon as the proof came about, there was an incredible surge to make things right once and for all. It became so obvious and simple what had to be done. One only had to look back on our history to find the clues. How many times had a single person caused such incredible amounts of death and destruction? How many times had the rules of division been used to cause one man to hate another to the point of murdering in the foulest and evil way? Why is it that a society who educates and treats fairly every individual, has the least amount of violence? A truly educated man sees absolutely no need for greed or religion in a fair society. If a person has an intelligent goal in life and is allowed to go forward with that goal. He/she not only enhances human intelligence and happiness but secures our species in the future.

The rules for the use of religion came in the early to mid-20t^h century and shortly thereafter all religions became an oddity. Still to this day a popular subject for History scholars. Spirituality however became very popular as more and more people learned how to connect; not only to each other but to other animal life forms. With the advent of new mental enhancement chips, vast areas of our brain became more available. Stress, and many mental illnesses became unheard of. A quick scan by qualified doctors would find issues that could be rectified immediately. There were people still enjoying a healthy life today in 2120 that had been born during the first moon landing.

Some of the billionaires of the early 20^th century lived out their final days in ignorance. Society looked upon them as wasteful individuals, relics from a sad past. Their children were embarrassed to even be connected. It was understood very quickly that the world and its wonders needed to be fearlessly protected. Most of the very rich had given and used their vast fortunes to help this new world be what it is today. Richness in this future was when an individual added something great to the overall gene pool. They were revered and would have their names engraved forever in the annals of time.

Even though this new world smacked of Utopia I felt connected at every level. For once in my life I didn’t feel the need to look for what, if anything was wrong. Anyone or even everyone; past, present or strangely in the future could be contacted. Contact isn’t even the correct term because they were all around me like – like this warm comforter!

Kevin Firth (the dreamer)