A Short Trip to Dystopia

Short Story by Bhaasita

I stood there, in line, staring at the notebook I had over-enthusiastically dedicated entirely to my final year project. 

“The Future of Third World Countries (Notes)”

The title looked more hopeless than ever.  I looked up and saw a big board on the face of the building I was waiting to get into:

“You-Topia”

It felt like the line was a solid part of the building.  Although I had inched closer and closer in the hour I had waited there so far, the entrance seemed distant.  Should I just get out of the line and leave?  Maybe I should just ditch the project.  College is for losers anyway.  But I’ve come too far to just drop out.  These are the things you think of when you’re waiting in line.  The sheer helplessness of it makes you want to change your whole personality and even life goals.  But, as you move one step further, that small ray of hope makes you go: “Oh, what was I thinking?  It’s not that bad…everyone stands in lines now and then…what am I, the prime minister?”

This tug of war finally came to an end as I entered the building and the AC hit my face.  I turned around and looked at the faces of all the people behind me, still waiting.  One of those things that make life worth living.

Before I could orient myself in this Hogwarts-like building, a salesman-type approached me.  

“So, what are you looking for this evening, sir?” he asked, sniffing violently twice within the sentence.  Cocaine…I thought to myself.

“I had actually booked a demo session for today. It’s supposed to be in…” I paused to look at my watch, “yeah, in another 20 mins.”

“Oh, you’re here pretty early…why don’t I show you around first and then I’ll guide you through your demo myself” he said, ready to move.

“Perfect.”

As we started walking towards an elevator nearby, I looked at the people walking towards the exit.  I wanted to see if their faces were lit up with awe after having experienced a godly miracle…no, didn’t seem like it.  People get used to miracles much too soon.

“Sir, if you don’t mind me asking…are you looking for a… rewind or a fast forward today, if you know what I mean?” he asked, laughing guiltily.

“Oh, uh…a fast forward actually…I’ve got a project I’m working on for school.” I replied.

“Oh, that’s nice! Most people come here just for the entertainment value; you know? This place is like an amusement park on steroids for them.  It’s nice to see that some people want to use it as an educational tool as well.” the salesman said as we entered a glass elevator.  That sounded rehearsed, I thought to myself.  He pressed the button to go up to the twelfth floor.

As the elevator went up floor by floor, he explained to me what each one was meant for and how many people worked there.  The first half of them were just office spaces and then there was a museum and library area.  But, after that, the interesting stuff started to appear.  We went past a couple of floors that were dark and abandoned. 

“What were those two floors for?” 

“Oh, so there we store our previous models of the machine that were not quite up to the safety regulations.  We can’t really dispose of them because that’s too much of a risk.  So, we just keep them here under security.” he explained.  

“Huh…” I replied as I thought about changing my research topic and instead talking about those ghost machines. We finally reached the twelfth floor and stepped out of the elevator.  Surprisingly, there were no employees on this floor.  It was just a long and narrow corridor that led to a single doorway.

“Well, we are a little early…but that’s okay, we’re good to go.” said the man and walked on ahead.  As we walked towards the doorway, he gasped and laughed as if he had remembered something.

“Oh, and sir…how much of a fast forward are we looking at for this project of yours?” he asked.  As soon as he said that I realized how ill-prepared I was for my project.  I could also see that even he could begin to tell so I just came up with a number.

“Sixty.”

He stared at me as we continued to walk as if he was waiting for more.

“Years…sixty years.”

“Alright then, sixty years.”

As we entered the room, I saw that it was entirely empty apart from two theater seats facing the wall and a computer monitor on a desk, in front of the seats.  There were no other doors or exits from this room apart from the one we had entered through.  I looked at the man seeking some sort of an explanation.  He just smiled nervously and went on to occupy one of the seats.  Just as I was about to join him, he turned around.

“Oh, can you shut the door behind you, sir? Sorry, I forgot.” So, I did and sat next to him in front of the desk, placing my notebook on it.  He turned the monitor on and a fancy “You-Topia” sign flashed on for a few seconds after which an alien language appeared to inhabit the screen.  Apparently. I was not the only one who thought this.  The man let out a short sigh.

“Just give me a minute.” he said and went towards the door, dialing a number on his phone.  I fought an impulse to say to him, I can hear you just as well from there, dummy!

“Hello...yeah. Yeah, wait a second, I called you, listen!  I’m with a customer right now and I don’t know the entire procedure…No, Mallesh is on leave today….I forgot to bring it with me! Is there a soft copy on the system? How do I…okay…okay…yeah, got it. Thanks.” He put the phone back in his pocket and sat down, apologizing.  He tapped on what looked like an icon and started going through a set of instructions.  I felt a bit of discomfort creep up inside of me.  Maybe I should leave. Nah, I’ve come this far, let’s just get it over with.  He then tweaked some settings on another app and tapped on the screen with an air of finality.  He then leaned back and cleared his throat awkwardly.

“So, are you a student at the university in town?  Or did you have to make a trip or something to get here?” he asked me.  I sensed that he was getting uncomfortable with the silence as we waited for something, so I engaged him in small talk for a few minutes.  As we were conversing, he looked at his watch and stopped what he was saying abruptly.

“Alright, then.  Follow me sir.” he said and got up.  He opened the door and the both of us gasped in shock.  The door we had entered through just a few minutes ago, opened up to an outdoor parking lot instead of the corridor from earlier.  

“That was not supposed to happen, just give me a minute sir, I’ll fix this right away-” he said as he stumbled back into his seat and started cluelessly tapping all over the monitor.  I was too awestruck to listen to him and he got a sense of that too.  He seemed to have screwed up big time.  I stepped out of the room into the parking lot with my mouth wide open.

“Sir! Sir, here you go,” he ran towards me and handed me a device that looked like a walkie-talkie. “There seems to be some problem with the machine here, but we are where you wanted to be.  Unfortunately, I cannot accompany you, so use this to contact me.  If you walk across the parking lot and around this building, you’ll reach the front entrance of the building.  There is a narrow concrete path laid out throughout the city with the entrance of this building as the starting point.  Please do not step off the path for any reason!  Once I’m done fixing the machine, I’ll call you and we can head back.  Hopefully, you get enough info for your project by then.  Oh, and one more thing: You are not visible to anyone.  So, if it feels like you are, turn around immediately and get here as soon as you can.” 

I nodded and left the room, still unable to stomach what had just happened.  The funny thing was, I expected the ride to be way more dramatic, like a scene from a sci-fi movie.  But the sheer shock from what had just happened made it seem more extreme. 

I walked across the lot and started looking around.  I could not believe my eyes.  Skyscrapers that seemed to reach into space, gigantic faces of celebrities talking down to me from between the clouds.  It took me a few minutes to realize that these were commercials being played in the sky!  There was a massive network of snake-like figures moving in all possible directions in between the skyscrapers.  These were trains…without tracks, perpetually hovering in the sky!

I finally reached the entrance of the building.  The You-Topia building itself looked exactly the same.  It was as if the building had been placed on a different planet. I looked around to see where the path started.  There seemed to be no such path, at least with the entrance as the starting point.  So, I walked further around the building trying to look for it.  Suddenly, something caught my eye.  There was a man in the distance…an old man in a gray shirt standing by the curb, trying to kickstart an old scooter.  This struck me as odd.  But he also looked familiar.  I slowly walked towards him inconspicuously trying to see if I recognized him.  As I got closer to him, he looked up and saw me approaching him.  We looked at each other for a few seconds.  He then stepped back, letting go of his scooter, turned around and started running.  Then, all of a sudden, it hit me.  That scooter…it was parked behind mine when I arrived here, a few streets away from the You-Topia building.  I remembered: the same old man had gotten off this scooter, holding his grandson’s hand!  I immediately started running after him.  He had turned into an alley, and I followed him into it.  This alley was seemingly an endless one.  I saw two guards in front of a backdoor and yelled out to them: “Catch him!”  They instinctively started running after the old man.  

I stopped in front of the backdoor that the men were guarding to catch a breath.  The alley was more like a tunnel.  Endless in both directions with walls that touched the sky on either side.  As I was looking for a way out of this tunnel, a metal basement door creaked open on the side opposite to where I was standing.  A big bouncer-looking guy walked out and behind him followed a long line of people chained to each other by their limbs.  There were dozens of these people.  They all wore the same rugged gray clothes.  They all had the same expressionless faces.  Some of them were women and children.  There was another bouncer-type behind them who pushed the last one out and shut the basement door.  Then, from the door right next to me, a family of three walked out.  The parents were young and looked well-to-do.  They had a little boy with them who held a “Happy Birthday” balloon in his hand.  This family was led by a lofty fellow who had an apron and a chef’s hat on.  All three adults were giving the little boy all their attention.

As they walked over to the people in chains on the other side of the alley, the latter group had been made to stand in a line facing the family.  For a few seconds, the family and the chef stood there, looking at these people.  Then, the boy - who had been sucking his thumb - took his finger out of his mouth and pointed to a kid that was standing amongst the chained. As soon as he did that, a woman standing a little distance away in the line broke down and started crying.  One of the bouncers ran to her and roughly pulled her back on her feet.  By this time, the little boy that was pointed to, was unchained and taken with the family and the chef.  As they walked back into the building, I followed them into a dark hallway.  They walked up until what looked like a kitchen at a restaurant, and then the family parted ways with the chef.  The chef held the chained kid’s arm and opened the kitchen door, revealing a bloodied butcher table.  

As the kitchen door closed behind them, I started backing up, shuddering with fear and horror from what I had just seen transpire.  Not a single thought seeking an explanation crossed my mind.  I felt pure terror.  As I was backing up, I heard the sound of a dance floor faintly from somewhere around.  I looked to my right and there was a flight of stairs that led downward.  I slowly walked towards it and saw that there was a rain dance set up in a big party-hall and the stairs led right down to it.  But there was something wrong with the lighting.  It was bright red and never changed.  No…it wasn’t the lighting.  It was the rain itself that was bright red.  Could it possibly be?  I pulled out the walkie-talkie from my pocket.  But, as I was about to use it, a feeling of doom set in, as I remembered:  I was not supposed to be visible.  The rain stopped and everyone from the dance floor turned towards me and looked straight up at me in silence.  From the mob, two familiar figures emerged.  The two guards walked up the stairs towards me.  One of them held handcuffs and the other held a taser.  Behind them, the dancing mob followed.

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