The line moved forward and he gained access to the loading platform. His train had yet to appear from the tunnel. God, he thought, this is hell. He caught the scent of brotone – an acid-based etching paint – and heard a faint hissing sound, and turned to see a dirty-clothed teenager defiantly painting words on the terminal wall. He was directly under a security monitor.
BEWARE THE ANTICHRIST AI!
THESE ARE THE LAS
Dodd pushed through the crowd toward the boy as he was finishing the last line. “What do you mean by that?” Dodd asked.
The boy jerked his head up, stared at Dodd suspiciously with wide, drugged eyes. His pupils were fully dilated. “Beware the antichrist AI!” the boy shouted at him. “Just what the fuck it says!”
“What is the antichrist AI?”
“You’ll see it on the fifteenth.”
“Well, what is it?!”
“Fuck you, man!” The boy spat on his shoes, and took off running as a police drone crowded into the terminal. The drone, a long black oblong floater, hovered above the crowd with hardly enough room to move. It merely watched as the boy ran, probably computing his path and relaying it to other drones on the surface.
It was still there when Dodd’s train came; he boarded it with relief, watched out the window as the station slid out of sight.
At work, Dodd looked around for Bob Recent during the slack time before he had to log on to his forklift. He was either in a meeting that no one knew about, or he was late. I’ll bet he’s late, Dodd thought. Maybe that’s my problem, I was never late. You can only get into management when you’re habitually late.
Otherwise you’re too valuable where you are.
Dodd climbed aboard his forklift and turned it on. The little screen came on with his morning assignment. “Okay, lets go,” he told it, tapping a few commands on the grimy keypad. Coffee in one hand, he and the forklift went racing across the yard.
Three-and-a-half hours later Dodd spotted Bob’s little white cart, and he had the forklift inform the central computer that he was taking a break to talk to his supervisor. It confirmed his request was okay, and Dodd took manual control, sending the ‘lift speeding over. Bob was looking at tags that hung from giant valves. He looked up at Dodd with a neutral expression.
“Hi, Bob. Haven’t been answering your telephone lately.”
“No, we seem to miss calls for some reason. I think our phone’s ringer is broken.”
“Oh, well. I’ve been trying to invite you and your wife over for dinner.”
“Dinner?”
“Yeah, you know. Dinner. Toby and his family are coming over tomorrow night, and I’d like to have you and Denise over. That’s if you have nothing planned.”
Bob shrugged, looking anywhere but into Dodd’s eyes. It was like he was trying to come up with a reason to say no. “What time?” he asked.
“Around seven.”
“Well … well, okay. We’ll be there.”
“Good! We’re serving up a feast, you won’t be sorry. See you later.” Dodd backed the forklift away, pointed it in the right direction and let it take over driving. Bob dwindled out of sight.
#
The hot June afternoon stretched on and on until Dodd thought the day would never end. He watched the last ten minutes of work count down with glacier-like slowness. When the whistle blew he hurried out of the plant, hoping for a seat on the subway. It was a dream, to actually be able to sit on the way home. Dodd made it to the subway in record time only to find it already jammed with people. His train came hissing in and there was no room for him to get on – he and a hundred other people were forced to wait another 20 minutes for the next train, and even then he didn’t get a seat.
Stuffed in the train, body to body, it seemed incredible to Dodd that scientists and engineers were building faster than light starships – yet no one had ever come up with an adequate ventilation system for a subway car. The wind rushed past the windows with a roar, but there wasn’t the faintest of breezes inside. At his stop Dodd emerged gasping for air, sweat soaking his clothes so that it appeared he’d just climbed out of a pond.
The walk from the station to his apartment in the open air was a vast relief.
As he reached the apartment building, he saw a man emerge from his apartment and climb into a utility truck. It was the guy from the cable company. He had come to finally disconnect Travels, and that made Dodd’s day. It hadn’t been a terribly good day, with Savina’s problem and dealing with Bob and the hellish ride in the subway, but having Travels removed from his place made things seem a whole lot brighter. Before Dodd had a chance to thank the man, the van pulled away and went speeding down the street.
Dodd went up to the front door and let himself in. As soon as the door opened Dodd was enveloped in Travels music. Sheila was sprawled across the couch, staring at the screen with glazed eyes.
She didn’t notice him come in.
“What in the hell!” he exclaimed.
Sheila blinked and pulled her eyes away from the screen. “Hi Dodd,” she said in a soft, relaxed voice. She slurred the pronunciation of his name, her tongue in between her teeth.
“What is Travels doing still hooked up?”
“What?”
“Travels! The man here, didn’t he unhook it?”
“I told them there was a mistake,” she said. “We didn’t order Travels disconnected.”
“Yes I did! I had ordered it to be disconnected!”
She stared at him, not understanding.
“You told him not to disconnected it?”
“Yes.”
“Oh God,” he said, sighing. “Sheila …”
“What’s wrong?”
“I was the one who called to have Travels disconnected! I want it disconnected!”
“It’s okay, I told him it was a mistake. It’s still connected.”
“That’s … Sheila, that’s not what I’m saying!”
“What?”
“Listen to me. I called to have Travels disconnected. It was not a mistake. I was the one who ordered that man to come here and disconnect Travels. Me. Understand? Travels is supposed to be disconnected. Okay?”
“Okay?”
“Sheila, are you awake?”
“Yes.”
“Did you understand what I just told you?”
“I’m awake.”
“Yes, but did you understand?”
“Yes, I’m awake.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” Her eyes drifted back to the screen.
“Sheila.”
“Hmmm?”
“Sheila.”
“Hmmmmm?”
Dodd turned to the television components and shut off the power. “Sheila,” he said, turning back to her. “This is not healthy. Your mind is being sucked out of your body.”
“Why did you turn off the television?”
Dodd looked up at the ceiling. “Jesus, she wants to know why I turned off the television.”
Sheila looked up at the ceiling. “Who are you talking to?”
“Jesus,” Dodd said to the ceiling, “she wants to know who I’m talking to.”
“You’re talking to Jesus?”
“He’s coming back to Earth on the 15th, right? You do remember that, don’t you?” Dodd’s voice was dry, sarcastic. He was exasperated, and felt he was losing control. “Jesus is coming back, so what’s wrong with talking to Him? I mean, He’s the Savior, right? He can hear us, right?”
“I guess so.”
“I’m turning to Him for help because nothing I do seems to work.”
Sheila nodded vaguely. She looked like she was lost in the conversation and was making a real effort to figure out what they were talking about.
“I’m going to pray to Him about you, Sheila,” Dodd told her.
“Why?”
“You know what you said to me yesterday?”
“What?”
Dodd switched to a quavering falsetto voice. “‘It’s weird, Dodd, but I could swear you just left for work and here you are coming home again.’ You said that.”
“Yeah,” Sheila said, her voice and expression brightening.
“That happens a lot! Did you notice that time passes really fast–-”
“Yes I’ve noticed! Don’t you understand, that’s what I’m trying to pound into your head! All your time is passing really fast!”
“Dodd, why are you so angry about it? I think it’s great.”
“Great? Losing entire days is great? Is that … don’t you enjoy anything else?”
“What do you mean?”
Dodd stared at her for a moment without saying anything. “I mean, isn’t there anything else you’d like to do beside watching television?”
“I like watching television.”
“You want your days to go by in a blur? Is that all you want out of life?”
“I enjoy life.”
“You enjoy television.”
“Yes.”
“Your life is television.”
“Yes.”
Dodd looked up at the ceiling again, making a silent plea for strength.
“What?” Sheila said.
“Nothing.” Dodd turned and walked back to the television components. He turned the power on, and as Travels filled the room Dodd walked down the hall to his bedroom. Sheila did not follow.