Strange Future: A 23rd Century Guide for the 21st Century Cynic by Josh Smith
Chapter 23
Thomas awoke the next day around eleven. He had stayed up way too long the previous night. It was worth it though. The long conversation he had didn’t make him feel all that different about the future itself. However, it left him feeling much better about their guides, especially Lyla. Thomas couldn’t help but feel the same way about her as he did about Vera when they first met. Sadly, though, Thomas was sure it would never go anywhere. What could a guy from the twenty-first century possibly have in common with a woman from the twenty-third?
He slid out of bed and got ready for the day ahead of him. They had planned on going shopping to get some new clothes and other assorted items for the trip. Thomas, however, opted out of going as one big group. He wanted to experience the future for himself. Mostly, though, it was his disdain for shopping that fueled the desire to go alone. If he went with a big group, who knows how long it would take? Going alone allowed him to get in, get what he wanted, and get out.
Thomas laid out the clothes that he planned on wearing and got cleaned up. As he walked back into his bedroom from the bathroom, he turned on the TV so he could watch the news as he got dressed. It was a fairly pointless effort. It only took him a few minutes to get dressed, but it made him feel better to hear another human’s voice. Thomas finished throwing his clothes on and sat on the bed, staring idly at the TV for a time.
"Well," he finally announced to the room, "here goes." Thomas turned off the TV, grabbed his backpack, and stepped out into the hallway. "Hey Lyla," he said as he passed her on the stairs.
"Hi Thomas," she said in response.
"Wait," Thomas said, whirling around, "you guys are back already?"
"Back? Oh, I didn’t go. I didn’t want to get up early today so I just told them to go without me. I thought you had already left?"
"No, I slept in too," Thomas replied.
"So you’re just now leaving?"
"Yeah."
"Mind if I come along?"
"Oh... Yeah, sure, I guess so."
"Great! I’ll be right back. Don’t leave without me!" Lyla dashed up the stairs and slammed the door as she entered her room. Thomas shrugged and entered the foyer below. As he stood there waiting, he thought about the fact that his shopping trip was probably going to take much longer now. But as he saw Lyla running down the stairs, he suddenly realized that he didn’t care.
"Ready?" Thomas asked with a smile.
"Always. Let’s go!" They exited the lab and Lyla locked the door behind them. "So," she said as they strolled down the sidewalk, "where were you planning on going anyhow?"
"Oh," Thomas said, "nowhere in particular. I was just going to go up to the area with all the stores we saw the first day."
"Perfect," Lyla said, "there are tons of stores there. We should be able to get you something good."
"Something good? What do you mean by that?"
"No offense Thomas, but that style you’re wearing is severely outdated."
"Well it IS a little over two-hundred years old," Thomas said with a smirk.
"You know what I mean," she laughed. "They still do sell clothes like that, but it’s certainly not the most popular thing in the world."
"Button down shirts and jeans? Not popular? Really?!" Thomas pretended to be shocked.
"Shut up!" Lyla said, laughing as she jabbed Thomas in the side with her elbow. They walked along, joking and laughing, engaging each other in a battle of wits. "Here we are," Lyla finally announced. Thomas looked up at the sign: Sputnik’s. He looked into the windows and breathed deep. He was about to enter the dangerous world of twenty-third century fashion. Thomas walked up, cracked the door, and was immediately met with blaring music. He stepped inside and Lyla followed behind.
"What do you think?" Lyla shouted.
"Let’s see here," Thomas shouted back as he looked around, "photos of unrealistic models plastered everywhere, blaring music, and tons of clothes with holes manufactured in them. Things haven’t changed much in two-hundred years."
"Oh I think you’ll be surprised," Lyla screamed. "You obviously haven’t noticed what’s missing yet."
"Well most of the models seem to be missing their shirts, but I’m guessing that’s not what I’m looking for."
"Nope, keep looking." Thomas looked around the relatively empty store. There was a counter at the front where one employee was making a sale. Shirts in all sorts of styles and colors lined the walls, and plastic mannequins were scattered throughout, sporting the various fashions. In several locations, there were mirrors, presumably to see how you looked once you tried on the clothes. Wait… Thomas looked around quickly.
"Aha, so you found out what was missing then?" Lyla shouted.
"Where are the clothes?"
"You’ll find out!" Lyla said, grinning mischievously. "Come on, let’s just go and find something you like. Pick out a shirt off the wall that you want to try on."
"OK," Thomas said, wondering what the trick could possibly be. He walked along the wall, checking out some of the graphic tees. Thomas thought that about half of the slogans were incredibly stupid, and the other half made pop culture references that he didn’t understand. Most of the shirts fell into both categories. Finally he found a simple shirt that didn’t look too bad. It was a simple, dark red t-shirt with the Sputnik’s logo placed unobtrusively on it. Normally Thomas hated any t-shirt with a logo, but he thought the Sputnik logo was kind of cool, so it was acceptable.
"Found one?" Lyla asked suddenly, reappearing out of nowhere.
"Geeze, you scared me," Thomas replied. "Yeah, this one’s not bad."
"OK," Lyla said, grabbing the tag and looking at it quickly. "Let’s go."
"What?" Thomas was confused.
"Come on! Just come over here to the mirror."
"I don’t see what I’m going to be looking at. I haven’t even tried anything on yet." Thomas stood in front of the mirror feeling stupid.
"Just stand there and wait. Keep looking," Lyla grabbed something from a cubbyhole right next to the mirror and began fiddling with it. Thomas stole a look at the device before Lyla could tell him to keep looking in the mirror again. It appeared to be a touch screen remote control of some sort. Thomas could only guess what it was for. He decided just to follow orders and kept staring in the mirror in front of him. Suddenly, it did something he had never seen a mirror ever do before: it flickered. Thomas gasped and blinked. He was now wearing the very same shirt he was looking at just moments ago! He looked down quickly, but was still wearing what he came in with. Yet the mirror still showed him dressed in the dark red shirt.
"What gives?"
"Well," Lyla said, smiling, "it’s not actually a mirror. It’s a special computer with a mirror-like display built in."
"Of course it is," Thomas sighed.
"Hey, it’s a good thing! You can try on anything you want without actually having to put it on, and change sizes in an instant. Watch this," Lyla fiddled with the remote again and Thomas turned his attention to the display. It flickered once more, and suddenly the shirt he was wearing looked to be about five sizes too small, showing off every fold and crevice in his body underneath.
"Hey!" Thomas shouted. Lyla giggled and pushed another button. Now the shirt was gone entirely. "Cut that out!" Thomas said, clutching himself before again realizing that he was still wearing the clothes he came in with. Lyla was in hysterics. She finally stopped laughing enough to push a few more buttons, bringing Thomas back to the first, normal fitting red shirt.
"Oh," Lyla said, wiping away a tear, "I’m sorry, I just had to mess with you. So the computer scans your body, and then it shows you a representation of your body in that item of clothing on the display. You can change the size of the clothes to whatever you like, and--"
"Yeah yeah yeah," Thomas cut Lyla off, "some fancy new technology has revolutionized another aspect of everyday life." Lyla stared at him, unsure of what he was thinking. He was staring straight ahead, his face blank. "But," he said
"Well it does make things much easier," Lyla said. "Now let’s pick some things out for you." Lyla began pecking away at the remote control and finally seemed content with some combination. She pushed the button and Thomas found the model of himself wearing loose fitting board shorts and a snazzy looking t-shirt. "What do you think?"
"I dunno. I never really liked board shorts. Too many people in my day got them about four sizes too big, leaving them hanging off their hips and showing off their underwear. Say," Thomas suddenly said, "did that style ever die? Please tell me it did."
"Oh, the 'I wear my pants so loose I have to hold them up when I walk' thing? Yeah, mostly. There are some people who still wear that style, but most people realized how stupid it made them look and stopped."
"Good thing," Thomas said.
"Hey, that looks pretty good on you," an employee said as he walked up behind them.
"You think so?" Thomas asked.
"Oh yeah," the employee replied, "but I would swap out some normal shorts or a pair of jeans for the board shorts." Thomas smiled slightly and glanced over in Lyla's direction.
"That's just what I was saying."
"Glad I could help. If you need anymore backup, just shout. My name's Rob."
"Cool. Thanks Rob," Thomas looked back to the mirror and found that Lyla had already changed to a nice looking pair of shorts.
"Yeah," Lyla said, looking him over, "that guy was right. Normal shorts do look better."
"Well he should be right, it's his job!" Thomas and Lyla spent the next hour or so trying on different items of clothing, adding the items they liked to their virtual cart as they went. Ten new complete outfits, four new t-shirts, two pairs of pants, and a pair of pajamas later, they finally finished and went to checkout.
"All set then?" Rob asked.
"Yup, finally found everything."
"Excellent," Rob said. He punched up the transaction on the computer.
Sputnik's wishes to withdraw $645.78 from your account. Accept or deny?
"Accept," Thomas said.
"Great!" Rob said. "For this amount of clothing, though, we're going to need some time to produce it. You can come back and pick it up in about an hour."
"That's fine," Lyla replied. "Come on," she turned to Thomas, "let's go have lunch."
"Oh...OK, sure," Thomas said, slightly confused as to why they had to come back. "Why do we have to wait?" He asked once they got out of the store.
"They produce all the clothing that you buy on demand using a machine they keep in the back. Keeps costs down and they're able to make everything in your perfect size."
"Huh. Pretty nifty," Thomas said. For some reason, despite everything else he had seen thus far, this was one of the most impressive innovations. He wasn't about to let anyone on to this fact, however, because it seemed like such a silly thing to be so impressed by. "Where are we going?" Thomas said, suddenly realizing that he had no idea where they were heading.
"There's a really nice cafe around the corner we can go to," Lyla replied. "It's good food, decently priced, and pretty fast, so we won't waste a lot of time."
"Cool," Thomas said, "sounds good." Lyla was right about it being around the corner. Not more than a minute had passed, and they were already standing in line at the cafe, looking over the menu. It was a fairly simple selection of food--mostly soups and sandwiches--but the selection of drinks was impressive. Endless combinations of coffee and flavorings available in hot or cold and countless sizes. Thomas wasn't sure where to begin.
"Can I help you?" the teenager behind the counter asked.
"Yeah, I'll have a Caesar salad and a low-fat mocha shake with whipped cream," Lyla said.
"Anything else?"
"Thomas, what do you want?"
"What?" Thomas asked, still undecided.
"It's on me, what do you want?"
"Oh, err, yes, well... Ummm, can I get a turkey club and ... actually, can I just get a medium black coffee?"
"What was that last thing?"
"A medium black coffee?"
"I don't understand..."
"You know," Thomas said, "get a medium cup, pour coffee into it, and don't add anything."
"Just plain coffee?"
"Yes."
"Hot or cold?"
"Hot, of course!"
"OK then... That'll be $11.26."
"Accept," Lyla said. "Come on," she said to Thomas, "let's go sit down, they'll bring it to us." They walked over and picked a table next to a window in the far corner of the restaurant. "So," she said once they were seated, "how are you coping with the future? Better I hope?"
"Yeah, I'm finally coming to terms with it I think. I just couldn't get over how different things were. But as I thought about it more, I realized that's why I came to the future to begin with. I just need to grin and bear it. Eventually, it'll all make sense."
"See, you're fine now!" Lyla said with a smile. When Thomas wasn't busy being neurotic, she found him to be quite likable. "And hey," she said after a pause, "don't mind Darin and I if we get a bit snippy with each other. In case you haven't noticed, we're not exactly one-hundred percent compatible."
"Really?" Thomas said, surprised. He had indeed overlooked this incompatibility, or at the least, hadn't noticed it.
"Don't get me wrong, he's a nice guy and everything. He just reminds me so much of my brother at times. The whole mindset of anyone who won one of the sports lotteries seems to be the same. I grew up with it and found it intolerable at times back then--thanks" she said to the woman who set down their food. "So sometimes I get frustrated with Darin now."
"What do you mean by mindset? What do lottery winners do that annoys you so much?"
"I don't know exactly, it's hard to explain..." Lyla stirred around her salad. "Come to think of it, it's probably no fault of theirs. Everyone treats lottery winners like royalty. It's no surprise that they're narcissists."
"Darin doesn't seem self-centered to me though."
"That's only because he got rejected. It brought him down quite a few notches to a more normal level. Trust me, once in a while, that self-centered attitude crops up, and that's when he annoys me."
"It's not like self-centeredness is anything new though. We had the same problem in my day, and I'm willing to bet that the same problem existed in nearly every point in human history. It's just human nature."
"That may be so, but it's certainly controllable."
"This is true."
"Yeah. Darin and I almost dated for a little while, back when we both started working at the lab, but it didn't work out. I just want someone like--well," she said quickly, catching herself, "someone who's down to Earth, you know what I mean?"
"I guess," Thomas said.
"You guess? What does that mean?"
"Well... I've never really been in a serious relationship..."
"Really? But you're in your mid-twenties aren't you?"
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean anything. It's not like I was never interested in anyone. I just never had a relationship that went anywhere."
"I see..." said Lyla. She sat in silence for a while, deep in thought. "Anyways, do you need to get anything else for the trip?"
"No, I think I'm pretty much set."
"Awesome!" Lyla said. They resumed the small talk typical of lunchtime chatter. Before long, they were done, and were returning to the lab, hands full. "Hello?" Lyla called as they entered the heavy metal door. "Huh. They're not back yet."
"I knew they'd take forever to get back here," Thomas said.
"That's OK, you got the stuff you needed. We'd better get these up to your room so you can pack your things." Lyla led the way up the stairs and opened the door to Thomas' room, setting his bags down inside.
"Thanks," Thomas said timidly.
"No problem," Lyla sa
"Hello?" Darin called from downstairs.
"Oh, they're back, I'd better go." She turned to leave.
"Hey Lyla?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks for coming with me," Thomas said. "I really enjoyed it."
"Yeah," she said, smiling, "it was fun."
"Anyone here?" Darin called again.
"I'm going to get down there, I'll see you tomorrow, if not later tonight."
"Bye," Thomas said, smiling as he watched her walk down the hall. He closed the door once she turned out of sight and leaned against it for a time, contemplating the day's events. A pleasant thought came to his mind, but once more, he quickly dismissed it as impossible. He sighed and began packing his bags for the long journey ahead of him.