Loading ...New World Dawning
Author’s note: I wrote this story several years ago. The thrust of it is intended to be positive – that there is a place where each and every one of us can live up to our full potential, even if we have to go to great lengths to find it. Some have taken it as a negative story, even one that conjures up ghosts of the dubious moral in C.M. Kornbluth’s The Marching Morons. I would be very interested, dear reader, in your opinion. David Keating
“What seems to be the problem, Muriel?” asked Sam. Sam was the building property manager.
“The problem,” answered his secretary tightly, “is that this hoodlum wants to rent an apartment in this building.”
The “hoodlum” in question, dressed in baggy pants, T-shirt and wearing a bandana emblazoned with a gang symbol, spoke threateningly to the diminutive Muriel. “We’re gonna take over this building just like we have all the others, bitch. Don’t get in our way or you’ll get hurt.”
Sam looked up from the rental application he had picked up off of Muriel’s desk. He ignored the young man’s belligerence. “Razzor, is it?” His only response was a truculent stare. “Well, I don’t see anything wrong with your application, Razzor. And you obviously have the money for the first, last, and security deposit.” Sam gestured negligently at the pile of bills Razzor had thrown on Muriel’s desk. “1704 is available. When would you like to move in?”
Razzor’s expression made it clear that he figured he had Sam scared. “We’ll be moving in tonight old man. You just keep everyone the hell out of our way. Otherwise we’ll get ‘em out of the way ourselves. And they won’t like that. Understand?”
“Sure,” Sam answered placatingly. “I’ll leave the key in the lock. You just come in whenever. I’m sure it will work out just fine.”
“Damn right, asshole.” Razzor turned and left. He knew Sam wouldn’t call the cops. He knew his type. Muriel was another matter. But if she caused trouble, well, that would be just too bad for her.
After Razzor was gone, Muriel exploded. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Do you know who that was? He’s a member of the worst gang in the whole damn neighbourhood. Those sons of bitches have taken over everything. They’ll shove a knife into anyone who looks sideways at them. You know damn well that all they want to do is turn that apartment into a crack house. How could you? You haven’t been here long Sam, but I thought even you knew better. My god, what will we do now?”
Sam looked calmly at Muriel. “What would have happened if we hadn’t rented him an apartment Muriel? He’d have found someone who already lives here to take advantage of. You know that don’t you? Remember telling me about the handicapped man in your last building? Did he deserve what happened to him? Would you want that to happen to Johnny, or Candy? Or how about Sylvia?”
Johnny was in his thirties, on a pension after a fall at a construction site had left him with ABI, Acquired Brain Injury. He smiled a lot. Candy was a prostitute. But she was also a sweet kid determined to get her life together. She was studying at the local college. Sam and Muriel helped her out when they could. Sylvia was the building’s resident curmudgeonly recluse. She grumbled at everybody. But Muriel had seen her surreptitiously leaving food or little gifts outside the doors of the poorest tenants.
Muriel deflated, sinking back in her chair. “No, I don’t want that. But I don’t see how …”
Muriel stopped. Sam had the strangest look on his face. “Muriel, do you know the old saying ‘It takes all kinds to make a world?’ It’s not true actually. Different worlds need different people, and sometimes some people just stuck in a world where they don’t fit. In a different world, people like Razzor would have been heroes. Protecting people from predators; homesteading new country; building community. Here, they don’t know what to do, how to act. So they become the predators, tearing down the communities they could be building up. It’s a waste. It’s not their fault.”
Muriel made a rude noise. “Not their fault. Christ, I never figured you for a bleeding heart, Sam. That bullshit just gives everyone an excuse for letting things get worse and worse.”
Sam put a hand on Muriel’s shoulder and looked at her with a surprising intensity. She actually shivered. “Don’t worry Muriel. Things are not going to get worse. Trust me. And promise me that you’ll remember what I just told you.”
“What you told me?” Muriel looked confused. “But you didn’t tell me anything except a lot of bullshit.” Sam didn’t say anything more. He just looked at her in that odd way again, and walked away.
The next day, in spite of Sam’s words, things were worse. Much worse. Razzor and his gang had indeed moved in the same night. They screamed and swore and fought with each other until dawn. They’d punched holes in the walls all the way from the elevator to the door of apartment 1704. Before the day was over, Muriel had been bombarded with calls from terrified tenants, and the cops had been at the building at least three times.
Muriel hadn’t seen Sam all day, and she began to think that she’d been right all along. He was just a damn bleeding heart, who ran away when the world didn’t respond to his sunshine and lollipops philosophy. But she couldn’t forget that look in Sam’s eyes. There was just something about him after Razzor left. Something she’d never seen before. As if a switch had been flipped. She wasn’t sure what it meant, but since it was all she had, Muriel held on to it.
Just before she closed the office, Sam walked in. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here earlier Muriel. I had a few things to do. I take it our new tenants got here?”
“Yes damn it. And I still don’t know how you think this is all going to be okay. They’ve already scared everyone in the building, and destroyed most of the seventeenth floor. Where were you Sam? Where were you all day?” Her voice was pleading.
Sam made shushing noises and put his arm around Muriel’s shoulders. “There now, don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. Didn’t I promise you it would? Now, you go home. I’m going to check on our tenants. They just need to understand how things work. You’ll see, by morning everything will be different. In fact, I’m willing to bet it’ll be a morning you’ll never forget.”
Sam’s cryptic words worried Muriel. As she went out the door, she turned back. “Will I see you in the morning Sam?”
Sam just smiled. “Everything will be fine. Good night Muriel.”
After Muriel left, Sam made a last check of his preparations. Satisfied, he got into the elevator and punched the button for the seventeenth floor. As the elevator went up, Sam began to hum a little tune. Not many people knew the words to it anymore. In Sam’s experience, those who learned them had done so at great cost.
The first thing that Sam saw when the elevator doors opened was Candy. She was slumped against the wall with Razzor standing over her, fists clenched. Why couldn’t she have stayed away, Sam thought. As Sam moved into the hall, Razzor turned to him and yelled. “What the hell you doin’ here, old man? Get the fuck outta here before I hurt you.”
Sam ignored him, speaking instead to the girl huddled on the floor. “Are you alright Candy? You know you shouldn’t have come up here. It’s time for you to go now.” Sam held out his hand.
When Candy started to move, Razzor raised his hand to strike her. She cowered back. He yelled at Sam. “The bitch goes when I say she goes. What the fuck do you think you’re playin’ at? I oughta cut you now and be done. I can see you’re gonna be a pain in the ass, after all.”
Sam just smiled. “Why Razzor, are you really so scared of an old man like me?”
“I’ll show you scared, you son of a bitch.” Razzor went after Sam, drawing a knife as he moved. Sam waited until Razzor was almost within striking distance. Candy, watching from the floor, couldn’t see what happened next. Razzor was blocking her view; but he suddenly just slumped to the floor. Sam was still standing.
“Candy,” he called quietly. “It’s really time for you to go honey. This isn’t a good place for you to be.” Candy stood up slowly and walked to him. Sam touched her cheek gently. “I want you to get on the elevator and get out of here. Promise me?”
Candy started to speak, but Sam continued. “Take care of yourself Candy. Hug Muriel for me. Tell her … tell her it was an honor to meet her.”
Sam turned back to the crumpled Razzor, missing the smile that flickered across Candy’s face. As she entered the elevator and pressed a button, she said softly “You always were the sentimental one, you old coot. See you around.” As the door closed, Candy began to hum a tune that would have startled Sam if he’d heard it.
Sam bent down and hoisted Razzor to his shoulder, an act that seemed surprisingly easy for the old man. He walked up to the door of 1704. Leaning back, he kicked. The door flew inward amid the sound of splintering wood. Then he heaved Razzor off of his shoulder and threw him into the apartment.
There were about twenty people in the room. Sam had waited until he knew they’d all be there. He hated loose ends. Most of them were male gang members like Razzor. Big. Tough. At least they thought so now. They’d soon find out what tough really meant. There were a couple of wasted looking men who were obviously addicted to whatever it was the gang dealt. Sam felt sorry for them, in an abstract sort of way. He knew people like that seldom survived long. There were also three women, all of whom looked as tough as the gang members. Sam smiled. Good stock, they’d fare well.
Everyone except the addicts had jumped to their feet when Razzor landed on the floor. Sam counted seven who had pulled knives, two with guns. He addressed the gunmen first. “Those will be useless where you’re going fellas. Why don’t we start out by getting rid of them?”
By their expressions they obviously thought that Sam was crazy. One old man standing in their doorway facing an armed gang? One of the guys holding a gun stepped forward. He had a bull’s-eye tattoo on his left breast. “what the fuck do you think you’re doing, coming in here, all Rambo-like, fool? We’re gonna take you apart a little piece at a time.” Bull’s-eye aimed at Sam’s leg and pulled the trigger. Sam moved. The bullet went into the wall behind him, and bull’s-eye fell to the floor when his neck connected with the edge of Sam’s hand.
There was a blur of action in the apartment for a minute or two, at the end of which the gang members no longer had guns or knives. Instead they had bruises and a few broken bones. Command would give him hell for that Sam knew. Oh well. What was done was done. He wasn’t going to make any changes at this point.
Sam sat on the arm of a sofa looking at the collection of humanity in front of him. “What a sorry looking lot of recruits. Christ, you guys call yourselves a gang? Shit, I’ve seen tougher turds in the toilet after I have a crap.”
Razzor had regained consciousness during the action. “Who the hell are you man? Some sort of super cop? You think you’re gonna bust us and throw us in jail? Bullshit man. You didn’t have no warrant, you didn’t have no probable cause, you didn’t have nothin’. We’re gonna sue you for breakin’ in here and bustin’ up our apartment. We got rights you know.”
Sam just looked at the man on the floor and laughed. “Sue me? Rights? Too funny. You haven’t got shit my friend. All you’ve got is one tiny slim chance to impress me so that I give you one more tiny slim chance to live past the next couple of minutes. Doubt me? Look into my eyes baby.”
Razzor tried to stare him down. But after only a second or two he dropped his eyes and looked away. “What the fuck are you?”
“I am what you just might become if you live. You are what I once was. There’s a bunch of science behind it all, but I’m no scientist and I don’t give a shit about it anyway. And you, you ignorant son of a bitch, wouldn’t know what I was talking about if I did know. So just shut the fuck up and listen.”
“This is bullshit!” This from one of the women, who jumped to her feet and lunged at Sam. Sam grabbed the front of her shirt without standing up and the woman jarred to a stop. He raised her into the air and threw her against the wall. She wasn’t unconscious, but she didn’t try to get up again and no one else moved.
“I like your enthusiasm. Don’t do that again.” Sam thought for a moment. “Now where was I? Oh yeah. Who the fuck am I. Well, I’m a recruiter of sorts. And you folks have just been recruited.”
The bull’s-eye guy snorted. “Fuck you.”
Sam looked at him and he shut up. “God, it seems so long ago. Could I really have been as butt ugly and brainless as you? They musta got the coordinates wrong.”
He looked over the group again. “Okay, they tell me I gotta give you an explanation, because I did. Seems like a waste of breath to me, ’cause we all know the outcome. But I promised no paradoxes this time, so here goes:
I come from a world that’s as close to paradise as you’re gonna get. There’s no war, no poverty, no disease, no line ups at the checkout counter. All the stuff people dream about. And you know why it’s that way? Because one night all of the fucking scum like you went away. Just poof; gone. One day here, next day not here. All over the world. All kinds of assholes. Petty gangs like you guys, murderers, rapists, dictators, lawyers. All kinds of trash.
You guys religious? Nahhh. Well, the Bible says one day all the good people would just disappear into heaven. Well, it was kinda like that, only in reverse. The good people hung around. You all went away.”
They were staring at him blankly and he spoke to the air. “See, I told you it was a waste of breath. None of us knew what the hell I was talking about.”
“But we were told, so we will be told. No paradox, remember? You promised. It screws up the paperwork. Continue.” The dispassionate voice changed tone. “But for Chrissake hurry it up. You’ve gotta be the most long winded son of a bitch I ever listened to.”
Sam gave the air over his head a rude gesture. He turned back to the cowering gang members. “Awright, now pay attention class. Tomorrow morning the world is going to wake up and you’re all going to be gone. The meek really are going to inherit the earth, ’cause you’re gonna go somewhere else.”
“Where?” the woman against the wall asked.
“Ah, a question. And an intelligent one at that. Why to the future of course! Where else?”
The bull’s-eye tattoo spat. “Jesus Christ man, what the fuck you take us for? So you’re some kinda supercop with fancy gadgets. I seen it all in the movies. You think some bullshit about the future is gonna make us all weak in the knees? Tell you everything so you don’t make us disappear? Fuck you man.”
The disembodied voice came again, laughing. “I’d forgotten this part Sam. You really were a dense piece of shit weren’t you?”
Sam just rolled his eyes. “‘I seen it all in the movies.’ Christ. C’mere asshole. You see this in the movies?” Sam ripped his shirt open to reveal a tattoo identical to the one on bull’s-eye’s breast.
“So what?” began the gang member. But Sam grabbed the back of his head and pulled his face down close.
“Recognize that?” The gang member grunted as he saw a short ragged scar, the result of a slip of the knife by the tattoo artist. “Yeah, you’re me asshole. And boy do I wish I could have stuck with my faded glowing memories of my youth. The truth is so much more embarrassing.” Sam shoved him away. “Now get your face outta my tit. Your breathin’ so heavy you’re turnin’ me on. And if that isn’t messed up, I don’t know what is.
“Okay, so back to our little bedtime story. Did I mention that you all disappear tonight? All over the world? Yeah, I did. Well, after a little half hearted searching, the people who are left are gonna get together and build utopia. After all, without you to distract ‘em it wasn’t all that hard. But just because they’re good, doesn’t mean they’re naïve. They knew that the human race had lost some genes it might need some day. They understood the dangers of narrowing the gene pool and all that.
“So they kept working on where you’d disappeared to. And they figured it out. Took ‘em about four hundred years, give or take. Or about fifty years ago from my point of view.”
“So you’re from four hundred years in the future?” ventured Razzor.
“See?” came the voice. “See? I was smart even then. I remember asking that.”
“Will you shut up?” roared Sam. “No one likes a show off.”
“Was that me?” asked Razzor in a hushed voice.
“Yeah, that was you, you dumb ass. Or rather, it will be you, someday. Maybe. Now let me finish this or so help me, paradox or no, I’m going to shoot somebody.
“So four hundred years from now they’ve fixed the mess you, or we, depending how you look at it, made of the planet. The grass doesn’t have landmines under it; the apartment buildings don’t have crack houses. People don’t shoot people because they don’t like the way they look. The air is clear and the water’s clean.”
“I know! I know!” interrupted the same woman sarcastically. “Earth’s being invaded and all the weak pussies who run the place are afraid to fight. They need us primitive apes to do their dirty work. Same old bullshit man. So just shoot me now and fuck it.”
The voice in the air spoke again. “Marla shut the hell up. Christ. Why didn’t I realize that you’d never lose that mouth?”
A new voice could be heard. “Aww, you wouldn’t have me any other way lover.” Then it took on an edge. “Now you two boys stop playing and get this done. We’re already behind and I’ll be damned if I’m going to time shift just to cover your asses. You’re going create a paradox just from flapping your gums. Wind it up, Sam.”
Sam spoke to the woman named Marla. “No, Earth isn’t being invaded, and if you think the people who created utopia are pussies, you oughta challenge one to go a couple of rounds. Nothing weak about ‘em. But they don’t like waste. And the way you’ve been living, throwing away your lives with shit like this, was just too much waste for them to accept.
“Once Earth was fixed, they decided it was time to go explore some other places. Spread humanity out a bit in case something happens to this little ball of rock we’re on. That was when they closed the loop to where everyone had gone four hundred years ago. They took you into the future so you could be explorers. Wasn’t that sweet of ‘em?”
A hum seemed to be building up in the room. Razzor jumped to his feet. “Fuck you, I don’t want to be no fucking explorer. I like it fine right here.” He looked scared.
Sam laughed and spoke to the air. “Yeah, you were some hero you were.” The voice groaned. Sam turned back to Razzor. “Here’s how it works kid. You will become an explorer because you DID become an explorer. Just like ol’ bull’s-eye over here. In fact, you ‘n me are gonna be best buds. I’ll even save your life a few times.” The disembodied version of Razzor was definitely groaning. “That’s gratitude for you,” Sam muttered.
The hum was distinct now, not loud but it seemed to be everywhere. The air was shimmering. “And then one day, you’ll get the craziest assignment ever. You’ll step onto a platform and they’ll send you back four hundred fifty years to find yourself. And when you do, you’ll have this conversation, and then poof you’ll be gone. Ain’t temporal mechanics grand?”
Sam looked at bulls-eye again. “Don’t sweat it kid, you’re gonna love it. Who better’n me to know eh? You’re going to see some amazing things. Planets with three moons. Vines that try to wrap around you like snakes. Snakes that try… well, never mind, you’ll find out.
“And you want to know the best part kid?” Sam was moving, but it was getting hard to see, the shimmering light was growing more intense. “The best part is that we get to be what we were always supposed to be. Fighters, lovers, explorers. Doing something useful instead of this drugged bullshit. Trust me kid, it’s what you were born to do.” Sam was standing in the middle of the room. “Bring us home Razzor.” As the light encompassed the room and its occupants, Sam started humming that tune again.
When the light died away, two figures stepped into the room. Muriel spoke softly. “I’ll never forget Sam. I’ll keep that promise.” She turned to Candy. “I thought we’d get here and find Sam dead.”
Candy looked awestruck. “I didn’t know where else to go Muriel. I was so scared. Where did they go? What happened?”
Muriel hugged Candy to her. “They went to a place that doesn’t exist yet. But we’ll make sure it does by the time they get there. Won’t we?” Candy didn’t speak. She just hugged Muriel back. “What was that song Sam was humming Candy? Do you know it?”
“Song? No, I don’t. But I’m sure I can find out if you want.” She smiled into Muriel’s shoulder.
Muriel stepped back, took Candy’s hand and moved toward the door. “Please do. I have a feeling it’s important. Now I think we’d better start making plans. There are going to be some very confused people on this planet tomorrow.” Candy looked back into the room just once. She blew a kiss toward the place where Sam had disappeared.
Johnny and Sylvia watched the last act of the drama through the monitor in Johnny’s room. “Well,” said Johnny. As usual, he was smiling; but he didn’t sound much like someone with ABI. “So that’s why I had to give that damn speech. It wasn’t for them. It was for you.”
Sylvia nodded. “I was the only one who had any idea what had happened.”
“In any case,” Johnny/Sam continued,”it went just like I remember it. Which is the way it should go right? I mean, what other choice is there?”
Sylvia/Muriel shook her head at him. “Oh no Mr. ‘I hate temporal mechanics’. You’re not going to draw me into that argument again! I’m on to you, you old fraud. You could run rings around me when it comes to this causal loop stuff.”
Sam laughed. “Okay, okay. So are you satisfied now? It is as it was and as it will be. You’ve been told the truth about what’s happening tonight, and because you have, you can guide the world, and become the Founder of Utopia. Candy will be with you to help. It’s a big job, but that’s okay. You’ll make them listen.”
Muriel sighed. “I was so scared. Who was going to listen to a crazy old woman from the slums? But I’d made you that promise. And after hearing your pretty speech I couldn’t just ignore everything. Hell, when a billion people disappeared, no one could.” She took a last look at the empty room in the monitor. “Okay Sam, I’m satisfied. It is as it was and as it will be. Let’s go home.”
Sam shut down the monitoring equipment, and activated the recall signal. As they began to fade from sight, Muriel softly sang the words to what would become the anthem of a global society:
“There’s a new world dawning, and it’s just around the bend. There’s a new world coming, this one’s coming to an end.”
Cass would be pleased.