Last chance before the exit ...
My name is J-24, I am an experimental physicist specializing in Quantum research... and I think this is going to be our last chance... yet I fear many will choose not to take it...
The year is 2084 and our planet is struggling to survive... forget the global warming of our forefathers, our greatest sin was - and still is - pollution.
Fueled by our greed we contaminated our oceans, dumped toxins in the air, destroyed our natural habitats, and allowed most species to simply ... die ... and I fear we are next ... but again, there are not too many of us left.
You see, children are not being born healthy - the Council talked about ‘Hormone Disrupters’... but would not hold anyone accountable.
Yes, our science is able to prolong our life - but at what cost ...
Besides, I always thought that ‘Life’ was meant to be an enjoyable experience, and not some Virtual Reality intoxication ...but I digress, and I must finish this before they stop me ...
I, and a few other physicists, have been dabbling in the ‘forbidden arts’ of Quantum Gateways - for the last three years we’ve been trying to open up a portal between dimensions ... and by pure luck last month we’ve succeeded ... but there’s a catch - two actually ...
This Gate we’ve created is a one-way-ticket - at least for any living thing ... if you try to come back you just ... decay and die.
It seems to favor mechanicals, so our A.I.s have been able to cross back and forth with little danger...except that if they stay longer than a few minutes their circuits begin to fail... it just wipes out their memory... so research has been minimal.
We’ve been able to confirm that the air is breathable, that there is water, and plants seem to thrive... and that there are animal tracks - just not like any that we’ve ever seen before.
We don’t know if there are any sentient beings...nor what kind of civilization they may have created...
In fact, we have been arguing if this is our own Earth from an ancient past - or even a far future... or if this is truly a planet in an alternate universe...
We just don’t know ... and for the last three weeks we’ve been arguing about it all.
Some want to send explorers into this new world, hoping that they’ll find a way to communicate back...others want to turn it all to the Council, and let them decide ...a few have even hinted that this is a plot from our A.I.s to finally get rid of us, ‘flesh-bodies’.
I am afraid of what the Council will decide... and so I have chosen for myself - this is my first act of defiance: out of my own Free Will [and probably my last free act] I shall cross the barrier into this unknown world, and meet my fate, such as it may be ...
I may live, or I may die... I may have to survive as a primitive barbarian ... but this I know - I will choose my own destiny, whatever it may be ...for I can no longer bear this slow decay of what was once a healthy planet...
And so I write this that my colleagues will not wonder what has happened to me ...
.... .... ....
This note was found on J-24’s desk ... and because of his foolish actions the Council has been contacted, and in their wisdom have decreed that such a dangerous mechanism cannot be allowed to exist ... and it shall be destroyed immediately ...
They have labeled it “The Devil’s own”
The explosives have been set ...the building deserted.... the count-down has begun ...10 ... 9 ... 8 ... 7 ... 6 ...
Unseen by anyone, a carved wooden board stumbled out of the gate - it depicted a world with two moons, and a peaceful river bordering a small village...and a few human-like beings with arms open in welcome ...
...5 ... 4 ... 3 ... 2 ...
.... .... ....
What might have been ... what could have been ... what should have been ... was so at least for one rebellious man, who chose this for himself ...
And you, my reader, in your enlightened wisdom what would you have chosen ...
