10 Years Later – A Commissioned Post

“Right, and how far back do you want to go?” I asked, nodding and jotting down notes.

“Not far, just ten years,” replied the man.

“So, only one passenger? Will that be aisle or window, sir?”

What did he think I was? If I could have built a time machine, I wouldn't be here; I'd have gone back in time to deliver all those esprits d'escalier.

He stared at me. Simply stared at me through glasses that were rarely seen anymore thanks to the work of my colleagues in the Opthalmology department. I sat unmoving.

He recovered, saying he'd prefer a window seat so he could see better.

I was surprised by his rejoinder, but realised he had come with an idea in mind.

“So you have an idea?”

“Yes. Simply put, I want you to trap me in a dream of ten years ago. Just create a neural loop that will channel my cognitive pathways through my memories of that time again and again.”

Sounds like a plan. I'd have done it to myself if I could, and gotten a Nobel Prize out of it too. Life must have been better ten years ago, stumbling through uni, writing about life ten years from then...

“Sure is better than suicide innit?”

“Yes, so can you do it? I get the release I want, and you'll get a Nobel Prize out of it too.”

“Of course. Is it fine if we operate right away?”

“I knew I came to the right man! You're better than I thought! Let's do it!”

While he was anaesthesised, I went back to my chair and reclined. There was no way I could do what he'd asked for, of course. Technology was still too primitive for that. Instead, I would put him in cryogenic stasis for 10 years. Maybe when he wakes up technology will be advanced enough for what he wanted. Or maybe when he wakes the world will be a better place, that he won't have to escape from.

It was a pity really. The way the world was. Famine, drought, overpopulation, poverty, pollution, war. The economy was on the brink of collapse. I don't blame the man for being the way he was. Overworked and stressed, nostalgia took over. He must have been the fifth such case I saw this week. At least there was something I could do for him.

Picking up my pen, I began to fill in the cryogenic stasis forms.

For two people.