Virtual Insanity (standard:science fiction, 6726 words)
Author: Cucicu	Added: Feb 22 2002	Views/Reads: 3554/2502	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
Sometimes the boundaries between sanity and insanity are blurred. Sometimes it is difficult to know who is sane and who is insane. This story is about a young mental patient who visists the future. Or does he?

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story


"Another planet? Oh no, this is still the good old planet earth. It just
looks different to you because we're in the 26th century. Don’t worry. 
You'll get used to it after a while." 

"Apollo, I don't understand why we were travelling for so long if we're
still on earth. Besides, I don't remember travelling at all." 

"That's because you were suspended. It's a little difficult to explain.
I'll tell you more about it in a few days. Anyway, I have to go get my 
Cock. I'll be back in a minute." 

It seemed like it was only a few hours ago that was that Charlie was
checking my vitals. I really liked him. He was the day-shift aide 
assigned to me. This wasn’t the first time I had been committed to a 
mental hospital so I was used to the routine. You wake up every morning 
at six, get cleaned up and have breakfast. Every day is pretty much the 
same so it’s hard to keep track of time. We do laundry every Friday so 
I learned to remember what day it is by counting my dirty socks. When I 
was first committed, a young psychiatrist told me I was a paranoid 
schizophrenic with dissociative tendencies. She put me on some 
medicine, but as far as I could tell it wasn't doing anything for me 
except making me stiff and sleepy. 

One of the basic rules in an institution is that if you do what the
staff tell you to do and follow the schedule, you can earn free time 
off the ward. That’s how I met Marsha. She was a manic-depressive but 
when she was high, she was the friendliest person I had ever met. The 
first time she saw me, she walked right up and started talking. 

"Hey! When are you going to get rid of the rats?" she said. 

"Rats? What rats?" I asked. 

"I tried to get them to kill me but they wouldn't," she said staring
into space. 

"Are you going to marry me?" 

“Marry you?” I asked somewhat astonished. 

“Yeah. My husband divorced me because of a lack of accommodation," she
said laughing. 

That’s the way most of our conversations went, but we instantly became
best friends. Later on we were on the same ward together so I got to 
see her every day. One time I took her into the woods and tried to 
sleep with her, but I couldn't ejaculate. When I got back to the ward, 
I asked one of the other patients about my problem. He said the aides 
come around at night while we sleep and pump out our sperm. 

"Why would they do that?" I asked. 

"They sell it to the sperm banks to make money.” 

Wow! I thought about that for a while and decided it made sense. For a
long time after that I stayed awake at night so that no one could juice 
me. One day I asked Charlie about my condition. He said it was the side 
effects from the medication. 

That was the last day I took any of my pills. From then on I cheeked
them and spit them out in the toilet. As it turns out, I wasn’t the 
only patient doing this. Once I overheard a male psychiatrist telling 
Nancy a joke. 

"Hey, Nancy what's the most expensive water in the world?" 

"I don't know, what?" she said. 

"The toilet water in a mental hospital." 

Nancy was the head nurse on our ward. I don’t know why, but all the
patients called her Nikkie. I thought she was beautiful. Whenever she 
wore her white slacks, I would try to make out her panties under her 
clothes. She would just smile at me as if she could read my mind. 

Being the charge nurse, Nikkie controlled virtually every activity on
the ward. I had a strange relationship with her. Sometimes I thought I 
loved her and other times I knew I hated her. One time I was really mad 
at her and tried to attack her. The aides must have been watching us 
because before I knew it, two of them tackled me to the ground. I 
started struggling with them and I heard the loudspeaker call for "Dr. 
Armstrong." That was a code the staff used when they needed help. All 
of a sudden it seemed like a dozen guys came on the ward and started to 
hold me down. I saw Nikkie from the corner of my eye as she was 
starting to come towards me. She had a syringe in her hand and was 
about to give me a shot. The aides turned me over on my stomach and 
started to pull my pants down. 

"Don't rape me! Don't rape me!" I yelled. 

Nikkie came over and started talking to me. "Calm down Michael! Nobody's
going to hurt you. You'll feel better in a minute." 

I could sense the sting of the needle going as it was going into my
butt. The next thing I remembered was that they carried me to the 
seclusion room. They left me there all night in my underwear and a 
blanket. That’s when the voices began. The Doctor said they were 
hallucinations, but I knew they were real. Sometimes it was a male 
voice. Sometimes it was a female voice. Sometimes the voices carried on 
a conversation. Sometimes they just called my name. 

“Michael” 

“Michael?” 

The next day, I was in the Day Room waiting for lunch when I heard
someone screaming frantically, "DON'T DRINK THE WATER! DON'T DRINK THE 
WATER!" The patient who was yelling was a short weird looking guy named 
Mark. His claim to fame was that he had met President Bush at a nearby 
motorcycle factory. The President had given him and everybody else at 
the event a signed autographed picture. Ever since then, he spent most 
of his time at the door, waiting for someone to come in so he could 
show it. Everyone just pushed by and ignored him. 

Mark was so excited about the water that one of the nurses tried to calm
him down. He started yelling and screaming at her and called her a 
'fuckin cock-sucker.' She turned around and looked at me and smirked "I 
can’t understand how all you patients find out about my private sex 
life.” She laughed and walked away. 

I finally figured out why Mark was so excited about the drinking water.
One of the other patients kept peeing in the water fountain. As I stood 
there watching him pee, Marsha passed by. I was starting to worry about 
her. She was really depressed now and spent most of the time in her 
room sleeping. I tried to talk to her, but she just ignored me and 
walked off the ward. I went out to see if I could find her, but I 
couldn’t. When I came back without her, one of the aides went out to 
look for her. As soon as he returned, I knew something was wrong. His 
face was all white and his hands were trembling. For some reason Marsha 
had lain down behind the wheels of a tractor-trailer that was 
delivering food to the hospital. The truck driver didn't see her and 
ran her over as he was backing out. Her body was splattered all over 
the driveway. That was the worst day of my life. I don’t think I was 
ever the same again. 

The mental hospital was surrounded by a huge section of woods. That’s
where all the patients went to have sex or just get away from 
everything. One day I was in the woods walking around when I ran into 
Apollo. When I first saw him I thought he was another patient because 
he looked kind of strange and was wearing some weird looking clothes. 

“Hi! Are you a patient here?” he asked. 

"No. Actually, I’m on a secret mission for the president of the United
States,” I said half-jokingly. 

“What’s your name?” he asked. 

“Michael. Why? What do you want?” I asked. 

“Hi Michael. My name is Apollo. Listen. How would you like to get out of
this place and never have to come back again," he said. "All you have 
to do is come with me for what will seem like a few hours to you." 

He had a funny accent. It really wasn't like any one I had heard before.


"I promise that no harm will come to you, and when we return, you will
be completely cured of your mental disorder. If you agree, just put on 
these glasses and I'll take care of all the rest. Well, what do you 
say, Michael?” 

"Michael?" 

“Michael!” 

"What?" 

"Michael, are you Ok?” 

“Yeah. I'm fine." 

Apollo was back and holding what looked like a fancy cell phone in his
hand. 

"What's that?" I asked. 

"Oh, that's my Cock. It's a combination of about one hundred different
machines. We can use it as a computer, a wireless TV, a cell phone, and 
many other things. It does just about everything you can ask for." 

“It’s so small,” I said. 

“Yes, but just like the real thing, size is not important,” he said with
a wide grin. 

"Why do you call it a cock?" 

"Regulations say that government agents must have it on hand at all
times, so the men call it a Cock." 

I guess some words are immortal. 

"What do the women call it?" 

"A Comb." 

It was reassuring to hear that men and women hadn't changed much after
all these years. 

Apollo explained that they were going to run me through a special
imaging machine so they can see how my brain worked and figure out how 
to cure me. They must have zoned me out again, because I didn’t 
remember any of it. After we were finished for the day, Apollo took me 
back to my room. I wasn't allowed to leave there by myself, but Apollo 
had arranged for someone to be with me. She came over later that 
afternoon. 

"Hi!" she said. "My name is Luna. Apollo said I should stay with you for
a while so you won't be lonely." 

Luna was tall and thin. She had curly, reddish-blond hair and greenish
blue eyes. The color of her eyes was very unusual and didn't look real. 
She hardly had any breasts and her little girl figure made her look as 
if she was about 13 years old. Little did I know how old she really 
was. 

"So, what do you think about your future so far?" she asked. 

"I don't know. It's a little hard to process." 

I was still looking at her eyes and trying to figure her out. 

"I don't want to offend you," I said hesitantly "but, you're not a robot
or something like that are you?" 

"A robot?" she asked with a puzzled look on her face. "What's that?" 

"Never mind. What else are we supposed to do today?" 

"Well, Apollo said they won't be running anymore tests so we're free to
do whatever we want. Do you want to go out for a walk?” 

“Sure,” I said. 

It was already dark by the time we left my apartment, but as soon as we
were outside, it hit me. 

“What the hell is that!” I said. 

“What?” she said. 

“That,” I said, pointing to the sky. 

“That? That’s the moon!” she said. 

“Yeah, I know that but what are all those pictures doing on the
surface?” I asked. 

“Oh, we’ve been doing that for decades. The moon’s the most expensive
form of advertisement we have these days. I’m sorry. I keep forgetting 
that you’re from a different century,” she said. 

“That’s OK. I’m just not used to all this.” 

“So, what else have you noticed that’s different from your time period?”
she asked. 

I scratched my head for a second and then started talking. 

“Well, the moon is quite a sight, but I would have to say that the
biggest change I’ve seen so far are your machines. They’re so small!” I 
said. 

“Yeah, I guess they are. I don’t pay much attention to them,” she said,
and started playing with her hair. 

“Luna, would you mind if I asked how old you are?” 

“Not at all. I’m thirty-three.” 

“Thirty-three?” I said with amazement. “Wow! Did you guys finally
discover the fountain of youth?” 

Luna looked at me with her strange eyes, and hesitated a minute. She
finally said, “Well, in some ways, but I’ll let Apollo tell you more 
about that.” 

It was then that I first noticed that Luna had a Cock. Well, I should
say a Comb. I didn’t let on that I saw it, and she didn’t seem to 
notice. 

“Luna, why doesn’t anyone here have a last name anymore?” 

“A last name?” she said. 

“Yeah. You know a family name.” 

"Oh! Well, when we're born, we’re assigned a code that we use as our
official credentials. It’s based on the sequence of our brain waves. It 
turns out that each of us has a different pattern so we don’t really 
need a family name anymore. You probably saw. . .” 

"Wait! Wait, you're going too fast. Who assigns you a code? The
Government?” 

“No. ADAM, does.” she said. “I’m not sure if Apollo wants me to tell you
all of this, but we don’t have a formal government anymore. All of the 
major decisions are made by a huge computer complex we call ADAM.” 

“ADAM?” I asked. “What about politicians and elections?” 

“We don’t have any anymore. We simply don’t need them.” 

“Hmmm,” I said, somewhat in shock. “Is there an Eve too?” 

“Funny that you ask. Actually there is. EVE takes care of all of our
legal issues,” she said, “so we don’t have any courts or lawyers or 
judges anymore either.” 

Wow, I thought. No more politics. No more lawyers. Adam and Eve? This
couldn’t be real, could it? It suddenly hit me. We were living in a 
virtual paradise. 

We were getting close to my apartment again. As we were talking, I
suddenly noticed Luna’s clothes. If I wasn't feeling better I would 
swear that I must be hallucinating. It seemed as if her garments were 
getting more translucent as it got darker. Now they were almost 
transparent. I don't think she was trying to seduce me because I had 
seen other people wearing the same kind of costumes. Still, she must 
have noticed me staring at her because she stiffened up all of a 
sudden. 

"Look Mike, it's getting late, and I think I should be going." 

"Luna, ah, I know we just met, but ah, I don't suppose you could stay
with me tonight?" 

"Michael, please don't get me wrong, I like you, but I'm not allowed to
get intimate with you. Anyway, I have to work tomorrow, so I have to 
go. It was nice to meet you and I’ll probably see you again soon. Good 
Bye.” 

“Good Bye,” I said. I immediately felt empty. 

I was surprised to see that Apollo was waiting for me when I got back to
the apartment. 

“Well! What do you think about Luna?” he said with a glint in his eye. 

“I was really impressed with her to say the least,” I said. 

“I bet you were. I thought you might be hungry, so I brought you some
food.” 

Actually, I couldn’t remember the last time I ate anything. As I was
watching him, Apollo pulled out what looked like a knife. 

“What’s that?” I asked. 

“It’s a laser cutter,” he said. “It’s programmed so it can’t penetrate
human flesh.” 

“Wow! I bet that cuts down on accidents,” I said. 

“Yes, and a lot of other things as well,” he said with a smile on his
face. 

“Apollo,” I said as I was eating, “I’m surprised that the English
language hasn’t changed much in all these years.” 

“Well, it has,” Apollo said, “but both Luna and I are expert linguists.
Otherwise it would be difficult for us to communicate with our 
transported guests. Actually, we keep up by watching re-runs of popular 
TV series from previous centuries.” 

“Really? So I assume that I’m not the first person to be brought in from
the past?” 

“You are correct Michael. There have been others.” 

“Apollo, I don’t understand how you have been able to keep this
operation a secret? You said you would return me to the 21th century 
when you finish your experiments. I’ve never heard of anyone else 
coming back from the future,” I said. 

“Well, the process is a bit complicated,” Apollo said. “Actually, we
will bring you back in time a day before you left. Since you can't 
remember your future, the time you spend here is oblivious." 

I thought about that for a minute, but couldn't make much sense of it.
Apollo must have noticed that I was starting to zone out. 

“Well, you must be getting tired Michael. I’ll show you to your bedroom.
Please follow me.” 

When we got to the bedroom, I didn’t see any furniture in it. 

“Where’s the bed?” I asked. 

“Oh, we don’t use beds anymore,” Apollo said. “We have a device that
suspends you in the perfect sleeping environment. I’m sure you’ll love 
it. Just lay down on the mat in the middle of the room. It works 
automatically. Pleasant dreams!” 

Apollo was right. I laid down and immediately feel asleep. It was the
best rest that I could remember having in a long time, but I kept 
dreaming that I was back in the mental hospital. It was the same 
recurring dream that I had had many times before. 

I woke up at about 5 a.m. Apollo was supposed to meet me early that
morning, but he was running late. I found myself obsessed with Luna. I 
wish I knew more about her. I was hoping that she would visit me again. 
All of sudden, Apollo appeared in the room. I didn't hear any noise so 
I'm not sure how he got in. 

"Good morning, Michael. How are you today?" he asked in a jovial mood. 

"OK, I guess. I didn't hear you come in." 

"Oh? I did knock, but you must have been preoccupied. Did you sleep well
last night?” 

"Yeah, like a baby,” I said. 

"Michael, we have to run a few more tests this morning. I hope you don't
mind." 

"No, I don’t mind. Will they take the whole day?” I asked. 

“No. The tests shouldn’t take much time at all so we have plenty of time
to talk. Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask you about your mental 
condition. Have you noticed any symptoms lately?” 

“It’s funny you ask. I’ve been thinking about that myself. To be honest
with you Apollo, I haven’t. Did you guys figure out a cure for me?” 

“Well, not exactly. We’ll need to discuss that issue further. Let’s just
say that we have been able to put your condition into temporary 
remission,” Apollo said. 

“Apollo, I don’t mean to change the subject, but when do you think I’ll
be going home again?” 

Before he answered, Apollo took a deep breath. He looked like he was
annoyed. 

“I would say that you’ll be with us for a while longer. Why? Are you
getting home sick?” 

“No. If you really want to know, I was going to ask you if I could stay
here for good,” I said. 

“I’m afraid that would not be possible Michael,” Apollo said. “Letting
you stay here would break several inter-planetary laws. Let’s just say 
that it would have terrible repercussions for all of us.” 

Apollo moved closer to me. 

“Michael, tell me why you don’t want to return home. Don’t you miss your
friends and family?” 

“I don’t really have any friends anymore. I do miss my family, but it’s
strange. Sometimes I imagine that I really don’t have a family at all. 
Besides, I just think that I would be happier here.” 

“Well, Michael, I wouldn’t worry about it too much. Let’s just take it
one day at a time.” 

“Apollo, tell me more about these inter-planetary laws. I don’t
understand what you mean by that,” I said. 

Apollo looked at me in a strange fashion again and then said, “Well, I
guess it won’t hurt anything by telling you. Michael, the world as you 
knew it ceased to exist in the year 2323.” 

“Really!” I said. “What happened? Did we get hit by a meteor or
something like that?” 

“No,” Apollo said. “It wasn’t anything quite as glamorous as that. What
turned our world upside down was a virus.” 

“Do you mean something like AIDS?” I asked. 

“No. We probably could have handled that. It was what your generation
called a computer virus, except that it was about one million times 
more virulent than anything you ever saw. We now call that particular 
strain a cancer virus. That was the beginning of the Great Crash. 

“Wait a minute, Apollo. You’ve lost me.” I said. 

“OK, let me try to explain. All of our modern computers are made up of
individual micro-organisms that operate similarly to the cells in our 
bodies. They reproduce or die depending on the feedback they get. We 
found that this system dramatically increases processing speed and 
efficiency. The cancer virus destroys computers in a manner similar to 
real cancer. In other words, it invades the cells and forces them to 
reproduce millions of corrupted units. All of this occurs in a matter 
of hours so the host mechanism is quickly overwhelmed. The programmers 
in the 24th century thought they had developed a fail proof system to 
prevent such an occurrence, but they were wrong,” Apollo said. 

“I guess I don’t know much about computers, Apollo. Why would a virus
cause so much havoc?” I asked. 

“Well, as you might imagine, the world’s population had become totally
dependent on technology by this time. This particular event disrupted 
every single aspect of society, including communication, 
transportation, financial institutions and the commerce system,” Apollo 
said. 

“What made it especially destructive was the extent of globalisation
that had developed by this time and the dominance of what your 
generation called the Internet. Virtually all of computers in the world 
were linked in one way or another. By the time it was all over, all of 
the developed countries were devastated. The stock markets crashed 
worldwide. In fact, they still haven't fully recovered. Most businesses 
went bankrupt. Unemployment and crime were rampant. It was almost total 
chaos. Most significantly, almost all of the governments that were in 
power at the time were destabilised." 

"Including the United States?" I asked. 

"Yes." Apollo said, without further comment. 

“Well, did we ever find out who did this?” I asked. 

“No.” Apollo said. “That has been the greatest controversy of our time.
Some people blamed our enemies. Others said it was simply the work of a 
deranged teenage hacker. We will never know for sure.” 

“Apollo, I’m not sure if you knew this, but Luna told me a little bit
about ADAM and EVE. Isn’t this system still vulnerable to attack?” 

Apollo glanced at me quickly and began to speak. 

“Yes, I know she had talked to you about this. Well, since the Crash we
have completely reformulated our network security systems. ADAM and EVE 
are an aggregate made up of millions of root components. Although these 
individual structures can communicate with each other and share 
information, they are not directly linked so it’s impossible for a 
virus to spread. As such, these systems are completely indestructible.” 


“Apollo, I still don’t understand what all this has to do with other
planets.” 

“I was getting to that. In the 25th century, our world was in shambles.
It was almost as if we had entered another period of Dark Ages. During 
this time, we were visited by creatures from another galaxy. Their 
sciences were light years ahead of ours. In fact, most of the world’s 
current technology is based on information they were willing to share 
with us. Without their help, I’m not sure we would have been able to 
survive.” 

“Oh so that’s how you’ve been able to make most of your major advances
such as time travel,” I said. 

“That’s quite true Michael, except they never really explained how time
travel works. I don’t think they trusted us with that information. 
We’ve known for a long time that time is multi-directional, but we 
couldn’t determine how to manipulate it.” 

“So how did you finally figure it out?” I asked. 

“We didn’t. Time travel is totally controlled by our long distance
friends. For us on earth, it is limited to scientific expeditions, 
which is the reason you are here. All time travellers are put into a 
state similar to suspended animation so we are not cognisant about how 
it works. As far as we can discern, everyone is transported to their 
planet and the process is completed there, but we don’t know this for 
sure.” 

All of a sudden, Apollo glanced at his Cock and said he had to leave for
another meeting. I still had a lot of questions I wanted to ask him, 
but my head was spinning from everything I had heard so far. Suddenly 
as I was walking around my apartment, it occurred to me that the place 
was bugged. I had the feeling that I was being monitored in some way. 
Given their state of technology, they very likely had machines that 
could read peoples' minds and were probably using them on me. 
Coincidentally, while I was thinking about this, I heard someone call 
for me. 

"Michael? Michael are you here?" 

It was Luna. My heart started pounding as soon as I heard her. When she
came in, I immediately noticed something unusual about the way she 
looked. Her eyes were totally different. I had a strange sensation that 
it wasn't really Luna at all, but rather some impostor. 

"Hi," I said hesitatingly. 

"Hi! Apollo asked me to bring you down for your tests. How are you
feeling today?" 

“Well, I just had a long conversation with Apollo, so my head is full of
questions.” I said. I still wasn't sure if it was really her. 

“Luna, would you mind if I ask you a question?" 

“No. Go ahead,” she said. 

“What happened to your eyes?" 

"My eyes? Oh! I’m sorry. I changed them. I forgot to warn you. It's sort
of a new fashion these days. Well, are you ready to go?” 

"Sure," I said, still puzzled by her. 

“Luna,” I said cautiously. “I asked Apollo if I could stay in this time
zone for good.” 

“Is that right?” she asked. 

“Yeah.” 

“Luna. I think I’m falling in love with you.” 

“Oh Michael, don’t be silly. You don’t even know me. Is that why you
asked Apollo to stay here?” 

I didn’t answer her question and was silent for a few minutes. By that
time we ran into one of Luna’s friends. He was the type of guy you just 
knew you would hate the minute you met him. I could sense that he liked 
Luna and wanted to impress her. 

"Michael, I want you to meet Eric. He and I work together." 

After exchanging greetings, Eric invited both of us to get some ice
cream that they called 'Frozen Ecstasy.' 

"I think I'll pass," I said. "Anyway, we should probably be going," I
said, trying to get rid of him. 

"Oh come on, Michael, you'll love this stuff." 

"Thanks anyway, but I don't really like ice cream." 

"You don't like ice cream? Come on Michael, everyone likes ice cream.
Don't be ridiculous." 

I could tell I was going to do something that I would regret later. "You
know, Eric, in the mental hospital I had a roommate that used to eat 
shit. He would dig it out of his rectum, smear it all over his hair and 
lick his fingers. Some people like ice cream. Some people like shit. 
It's just a matter of taste." 

Both of them looked at me like I was crazy. I guess they weren’t used to
seeing people act the way I did. Luna quickly said good-bye to Eric and 
escorted me to the processing room. She didn't say much along the way. 

Apollo was waiting for us when we arrived for my tests. He looked a
little wearied. 

“Michael. I will need to sit in on your session today. I hope you don’t
mind,” Apollo said. 

“No. That’s fine.” I turned and said good bye to Luna. She still looked
a little upset. 

Apollo asked me to stand in a tall glass chamber that looked like a
giant test tube. The last thing I remembered was that I became 
weightless and started to float very slowly up and down. All of a 
sudden, I woke up. It was kind of like getting put under a general 
anaesthesia except there is no grogginess afterwards. When we were 
finished, Apollo walked me back to my apartment. The tests must have 
taken longer than I thought because it was already dark outside. 

“So, how am I doing Apollo?” 

“I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that, Michael. I’m afraid that
we will not be able to help you using our traditional methods.” 

Apollo took a deep breath. 

“After a long debate, the treatment team has decided on a new course of
action. We will need your consent to implant one of these devices in 
your brain." 

He handed me something that looked like a tiny bug. 

"What is it?" 

"It's a device that’s used to monitor neurological functions,” Apollo
said. “We’ve used it for many years so it’s perfectly safe.” 

"You mean you actually want to put that inside my head?” I asked. 

“Exactly. Don’t be afraid. We all have one,” Apollo said. 

“What?” I asked loudly. 

"Yes, Michael. As soon as a baby is born, the device is implanted in
their brain. The tissue grows around it so it's impossible to remove. 
Eventually it becomes a natural part of the nervous system." 

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. 

"Apollo, what exactly does that thing do?" 

"Well, as I said Michael, it monitors the brain. You know, like one of
those computer chips your automobiles had to monitor the engine." 

"You mean it controls your behavior?" 

"Oh, Michael, don't be so melodramatic. The device doesn't control
anything. It just evens out the edges. Whenever it senses that a person 
is about to do something extreme, it helps keep everything within 
normal bounds.” 

“But what about freedom and autonomy?” I asked. 

“Oh come on Michael. Those notions are pure myth. Look at yourself.
You’ve spent most of your life in an institution. Do you call that 
freedom?” 

I didn’t know how to respond to that. I could tell that Apollo was
passionate about this topic because I could see the veins on his temple 
pulsate. 

“Michael, we live in an almost perfect society. We hardly have any
crime. We haven’t had a war in almost a hundred years. There’s no need 
for an army or police anymore. There is virtually no mental illness. 
Why, you said yourself that we live in a para...” 

Apollo stopped talking abruptly. 

“What did you say?” I asked. 

“Nothing. I was thinking about something else. Well, here we are
Michael. I hope you don’t mind if I leave you alone. I need to take 
care of some things tonight.” 

“No, that’s okay. I have a lot to think about,” I said. 

“Michael, Please consider carefully what we talked about today. Your
whole life depends on it.” 

“Yeah, I will. Good-Bye.” 

“Good night,” he said. 

I went inside my apartment and sat down. For the first time in a long
while, I could feel that my mind was racing a mile a minute. No matter 
what happened, I couldn’t let them implant that thing in head. It was 
clear that the population of the world had become one big manipulated 
flock of sheep. Something told me that it was no accident that I was 
here. It felt like I was on some kind of mission. For some reason I was 
chosen to free the human race. But how? I had to figure that out soon. 
As I was thinking about this, I heard a knock on the door. 

“Michael. Michael are you awake?” 

It was Luna. I was surprised to see her. 

“Hello Michael. Apollo asked me to bring you some food.” 

“Hi Luna. I’m really glad to see you. I want to apologize for the way I
acted today.” 

“Oh, that’s OK. Apollo explained everything,” she said. 

“Luna, what is it with you and Apollo?” I said annoyed. “Are you guys
having some kind of fling?” 

“Michael, don’t be silly. If you must know, Apollo is my father.” 

“Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry, Luna. He never told me.” 

Luna started taking some food out of a package. 

“Don’t bother with that. I’m not hungry,” I said. 

“Listen Michael. I think you should allow us to insert the Spider in
your head. You’ll feel so much better afterwards.” 

“Spider? What spider? What are you talking about?” I asked. 

“Oh I’m Sorry. That’s what we call the device that’s implanted in our
brains, because it looks like a Spider,” she said. 

I’m not sure why, but I had the feeling that I could trust her. 

“Luna, tell me the truth. Why was I brought here?” 

Luna looked at me and hesitated for a few seconds. 

“Well, I guess it won’t hurt to tell you. You are part of a large study
of naïve human brains. Virtually everyone on the planet has a Spider 
inside of them, so we needed some primitive people from other time 
periods.” 

“What do you mean primitive?” I asked. 

“Oh Michael, please don’t get upset. I didn’t mean that the way it
sounds. I just meant people who have a simple--I mean natural, brain.” 

She stared at me for a while with her artificial looking eyes. 

“Michael, there is a movement in some parts of our world to outlaw the
Spider,” she said. “We have to show them that doing so would lead us 
back into a state of chaos.” 

“Wow!” I said. “Now it makes sense. Luna, listen. It's all clear to me
now. It's no accident that I'm here. I was brought here to restore 
humanity. To make people free again.” 

Luna looked at me as like I was crazy again”. 

"Michael, please don't say things like that!” 

"Luna, you don't understand! It's fate. It's God will. Do you think you
can take me to the leaders of this movement?" 

"No Michael. That would not be a good idea. Michael, there is something
that I think you should know about me.” 

She glanced at me and then glanced away. “ 

“I am a government agent.” 

She hesitated and then spoke again. 

“Don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone about anything you said tonight.” 

“Actually, Luna, I had already figured that that you were an agent, but
thanks for keeping this a secret.” 

Suddenly I realized that Luna was wearing the same type of clothes she
had on the other night.” 

“Luna, excuse me for asking this, but do people still have sex in the
26th century.” 

Luna looked at me and rolled her eyes. 

“Of course we still have sex. How do you think babies are born.” 

“Sorry,” I said. “I wasn’t sure if you had developed a machine for that
too.” 

“Luna, listen. Please stay with me tonight. I feel so mixed up about
everything. I don’t want to be alone.” 

Luna looked at me for a minute and then started to smile. 

“Michael” she said somewhat embarrassed, “I think I need to tell you
something. The resting device in your bedroom is programmed so that you 
can only sleep on it.” 

“Oh shit, you’re kidding!” I said. “Oops. I’m sorry Luna, I didn’t mean
to curse.” 

Luna just looked at me and started laughing. 

“Oh well, that’s OK,” I said. “I didn’t really want to have sex with
you. I just wanted to lie next to you.” 

Luna took a deep breath and smiled at me. 

“Well, I guess there’s no harm in that. I just wanted to warn you so you
wouldn’t be disappointed,” she said with a grin. 

Luna and I went into my bedroom and she laid next to me on the mat. It
felt so good to be next to a warm body again. I must have dozed off for 
a few minutes because when I came to, I suddenly I realized that she 
was taking off her clothes. I guess she had figured out a way to 
re-program my bed. 

‘Luna, this feels so great!” I said. 

Charlie must have been right about my medications because all of my
plumbing seemed to be working fine. 

“Aaaah,” someone moaned. 

It was the longest climax I ever had. It felt so warm. I was in heaven. 

“Shit!” 

What was that? 

"Michael?" 

“Michael!” 

"Son-of-a-bitch!" 

I think they call it déjà vu. Charlie was yelling at me for wetting my
bed again. 


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