3037 (2 page)

     “We need to take you to the implant station,” 63R said.  I had shortened their names by leaving off the common P.  The P must represent the area or sector since 42R had told me this was sector P.  So, I was on earth in sector P.  But how did I get here I kept asking myself?

     “What’s the implant station?”

    
“Why, that’s where you get the implants so you can communicate.”

     “What does it entail?”

     “They will shave your head and make incisions and implant the devices, according to what you want.  Here take the catalog and see what you want.”

     As I looked through the catalog I was horrified.  The diagrams and pictures looked like something out of a horror movie.

     “No way,” I said as I handed back the catalog.

     “Yes there is a way.  Perhaps you didn’t understand.”  She tried to hand the catalog back to me but I shook my head.

     “There’s no way in hell I’m going to let anyone do this to me.”

     “Mommy, what are we going to do?  She has to do this or they will lock her up with the deviates. I don’t want her locked up.  I like her.”

     “I like her too
sweetie
but you know the law.”

     Without thinking I embarrassed myself by saying, “I won’t let anyone shave my head.”  I put my hand over my mouth.

     Just then the outer wall disappeared again and a man walked in.  Even with the shaved head and the long robe he wore he was the best looking man I have ever seen.

     63G kissed him
on the cheek
and the three of them stood like they were talking but didn’t say anything.  They were gesturing and shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders
.

     I realized they were communicating through the implants in their brain.  I was getting worried.  I had to get away from here because I definitely didn’t want to have my head shaved and some foreign objects implanted.

     “I want to go home,” I said and realized how crazy that sounded.

     The man looked at me, “Hello, I’m P65G.  You must be as confused about us as we are about you.  Do you know how you got here and where you came from?  Maybe that would help us get you back.”

     ”I went into the hospital for a simple appendectomy and I think I died from a heart attack.
Then your little girl woke me up
here
.”

     He frowned and held up his hand and I noticed his hands were beautiful.  They looked smoother than mine.

     “I don’t know what all these things are you mentioned.  Hospital
? 
Appendectomy?
  Heart attack? 
No one has heart attacks anymore.  I’ve read about them in ancient history books, but they were done away with centuries ago.”

     He hesitated then asked, “When are you from?”

     “1973
, what year is this?”

     “But, that’s over a thousand years ago.  That’s impossible.”  He looked at the other two and they communicated silently and nodded like they all agreed on what he had said.

     He then did something that both shocked and surprised me.  Up until then he had been kind.  They had all been kind.  But now he walked over to me and grabbed a big handful of my hair and yanked so hard it brought tears to my eyes.

    
“Ouch!  Why did you pull my hair?  Oh, you thought it was a wig?  You think I’m lying?”

     “It’s real,” he told the other two.  “I don’t know how but I think she is telling the truth
.  If so, we have to hide her.  If the museum authorities see her she will be put in one of the cages and made to perform.  Unless that’s what you want,” He said as he looked at me.

     “That sounds horrible.  Can’t you just help me get back to where I was?  I have a little girl back there.  She thinks I died.”

     “You did die.  But you didn’t reincarnate like you were supposed to for some reason.  You should have been reborn as an infant and not remember any past lives.”

     “How could you possibly know this?” I asked.

     “Well, I don’t know it for sure just like you never know any belief for sure, but it is what we believe.  It is the thing that makes the most sense.

     “It was once believed that time was linear.  We now know that’s not true.  We have proven that time wraps around
on
itself.  I could die today, for example and reincarnate
in 1973
.  I would be as confused as you are if I didn’t reincarnate as a newborn.
”

     He looked at the other two and they left the building by again making the wall disappear.
 

     After they left he continued, “
T
here’s a wise old woman named Irene who we will talk to.”

     “Wait a minute, why does she have a name like me instead of a designation?”

     “Irene is unusual.  She may have come here like you did.  She keeps to herself and not many people know she exists.  I met her by accident one day while hiking in the mountains.

     “I saw a cave and went to explore it.  She was sitting on the floor with a fire burning in front of her and she was brewing some sort of tea. 
She had long white hair and
offered me tea in exchange for not telling anyone about her.

     “She didn’t tell me much but she had some interesting things to say.  Why don’t we
go see her
?”

     “Yes,” I said with excitement.  I needed to meet this woman like me very badly.

     They spent the rest of the day and evening showing me around.  This place was really beautiful.  Toward evening we went back inside and again had soup and bread with the fruit juice.

     They put the little girl to bed early and then we relaxed on the balls that melded to fit the body.  I noticed that if I grabbed a handful of the ball and squeezed it would mold to fit my hand.

     They watched in silence as I sq
u
eezed the stuff between my legs and between my armpits and everywhere else I could think of.

     “This is the most remarkable stuff,” I said, “What do you call it?”

     They looked at each other and then back at me.  “It’s not
alive,” said the man, “You don’t need to
call it.”

     I laughed and they joined in, I think out of politeness, because I don’t think they knew why I thought it was funny.  I could see we were going to have a communication problem.

     I pulled part of the ball across my body and I think they thought I was trying to cover myself.  I had quite forgotten I was naked.  The woman got up and left the room.  She came back with a robe like what they were wearing.

    
“
For a place so advanced, they sur
e like simple food and clothing” I thought.  I
wondered how they traveled.  I had not seen any roads or any kind of vehicles
,
not even bikes.

     “How do you get from one place to the other?” I asked.

     “Where do you want to go?” she asked.

     “Well, wherever,” I shrugged.

     She looked at him, “Is there such a place?  I’ve never heard of it.”

     Again I laughed and they joined in out of politeness.

     “I guess you’re tired after the day you had,” The man said.  “How long do you need to refresh?”

    
“Well I need to brush my teeth and take a shower.”

     They again looked puzzled.

     “Don’t tell me you don’t bathe or brush your teeth.”

     “You’re talking about cleansing.  When you walk into the dwelling you’re cleansed.  We were asking about refreshing.  You see, we only need a few hours to refresh because of the implants.  They give us long rest in short time.”

     “I only need about eight hours.”

     “Eight hours?  You’d better get started then.”

     But no one moved to show me where I was supposed to sleep. 
I sat looking from one to the other and they closed their eyes and leaned back.  The balls now became horizontal.  I was going to have to wake them up because I had to use the bathroom and I didn’t know where it was.

     I thought it was mighty rude of them to not even show me where the bathroom was.  I was thinking maybe I would go outside and find a bush when she opened her eyes and looked at me.

     “You have already refreshed?”

     “No, not yet, I need to find the bathroom.”

     “You are already cleansed.”

     “I have to pee.”

     She woke up the man and communicated silently and I could see when he understood what I needed.  He got up and led me outside and sure enough found me a bush to go behind.

     He stood with his back to me while I peed.  There was nothing to wipe on so I used the edge of the robe thinking that if the dwelling cleansed me when I entered then it would be cleaned anyway.

     “How could a place be so advanced and be so primitive at the same time?” I wondered.

     “You need to get some, what you call, sleep right now so we can go see Irene early in the morning.”

     I usually don’t sleep well in strange place but I slept like the dead
.

CHAPTER THREE

     Breakfast was an assortment of fruit.  I didn’t recognize it at first because the strawberries and blueberries were the size of apples.  There was something I thought was a mango but it was almost as big as the little girl.  The woman cut it up with what looked like a saw.

     The fruit was delicious.  I was thinking that if they didn’t have those foreign objects in their brains they would probably live to be over a hundred.

     The man asked if I was ready to go on our hike and I realized the other two didn’t know about Irene.

     I always enjoyed hiking and I was feeling serene
.  I looked at him and asked, “C
an I call you Joe?
I can’t remember all these letters and numbers.  How did that come about anyway?”

     He laughed, “You can call me Joe but just around my family and Irene.  It’s like a pet’s name.  It’s considered an insult.  How many Joe’s have you known in your lifetime?
  And some with the same last name
”

     “A lot, why?”

     “Didn’t it get confusing to try to explain which Joe you were talking about?’

     “Oh, so what you’re saying is that with this system of naming people there’s no two people with the same name?”

     “That’s it exactly.”

     I just had to ask what I asked next
,
even though I knew it was rude
,
because I was so attracted to him, “Why do you and your wife sleep on separate balls?”

     He laughed so hard he ended up sitting down on the ground.  He finally finished laughing and drew a deep breath, “She’s my sister.”

     Oh joy, oh joy, “Why is that so funny?”

     “It’s not the relationship that’s funny.  It’s that you called the refresh pads balls.
  Balls is what we call a man’s, well you know.”

     I could feel myself blushing.  He put his palm to my cheek and I’ve never had anything turn me on so much in my life or two lives or whatever.  I didn’t understand it.  He had only touched my cheek.

     “I know
.  M
e too,” he said and I knew he wanted me like I wanted him.  But I was married.  No I was dead, so I wasn’t married in this life.  How confusing!

     As we continued on up the mountain I realized I had never felt so at peace before in my life or ever.

     “We’re almost to the entrance of the cave.  I’ll introduce you to her then I’ll leave you two alone.  I’m going to walk some more if that’s all right with you.
”

     “Thank you,” I said and thought about putting my hand on his cheek but didn’t have the nerve.  It had felt too intimate.

    
She was sittin
g on the floor of the cave
facing the entrance.  Her eyes were closed like she was meditating but she seemed to sense us and told us to enter without opening her eyes.

     We entered and sat on the floor side by side facing her.  When she did open her eyes she looked at me and said, “You’re the one who has come.  I believe I can help you.”

     She looked at Joe, “You can go.  I will see you later.  We have much to discuss.”

     Without a word or a glance at me he left.  I studied her.  She had gray hair that went to her waist and she wore it down and parted in the middle.  She didn’t look old enough to have the gray hair because there were no lines on her face.
  She was wearing a white cotton skirt and black sleeveless tee shirt but no shoes.  She looked like she was dressed for my time.

    
“I have something for you,” she said and got up and came back with what looked like a bathing cap in my time.  But it appeared to have scars and then I understood why she was giving it to me.