The apprentice rose from her seat, shook. Fifty years ago the first antibiotic had been discovered, penicillin. Only fifty years ago. Thousands more lives were saved by the invention, and even still, before the thing was invented, the world didn’t perish because of bacteria. “Is it all meant to end up that way? If it wasn’t a problem before, why is it a problem now?”
“I warned you. You probably can’t take it. In the future, thousands more live. Life expectancy is longer. November 18th, 2045. Scientist dedicate their lives to increasing life through killing bacteria. But the bacteria is just superior.” Something almost imperceptibly shifted on the scientists face, it almost softened. The apprentice wouldn’t have noticed if she didn’t spend too much time with him. “But sometimes loss can create something wonderful. I’ll set it up.”
“How come everyone is so depressed—”
“The burden of knowledge. ‘Ignorance is bliss’, they say. It’s true. Once you’ve seen the worst of the world, and once you know about it all, there’s no going back. You are stuck with the knowledge, and you can do nothing to do to fix it because you are but an insignificant speck on the timeline.”
The apprenticed was tugged to another event.
This is almost a cult, Emily Vaughn thought to herself, chuckling a little. She and her school friends would often joke about joining or creating cults, although she never thought she would actually do it. Yet here she was, January 2097, perched elegantly on the stage in the hall housing the largest Anti Sleep-Tech Conference in the world, as people believing in her very cause. Emily stood confidently at the podium as attendees of the conference trickled in. She grinned at the turnout. This what she fought for. This is what she loved for.
“Hello everyone. I am Emily Vaughn. I’m sure all of you know why you are here. Whether you lost loved ones, are losing yourself, or know that what the sleep tech supporters are doing are unnatural. And for those of you here questioning the validity of this convention—after all, sleep technology IS still technology, still development to a supposed better future—I promise, I believe technology is good and creates better futures, but—” Emily’s eybrows furrowed, depicting her pain and seriousness. “This is no the way to go. I would know. For fifty years ago I lost my ten-year-old younger brother to sleep-tech. His premature death is why I am here now.” Her every syllable cracked with emotion, and the audience was captivated. The apprentice listened in close as the old woman began her story. Unlike the audience, she could literally visualize it, could literally imagine herself there, watching the scenes play out inside of the woman’s mind.
In year 2047, Emily crinkled her surgically perfected nose at the polluted environment. Nearby, a sort of capsule waited, hovering some six inches above the ground. Emily climbed into it and waved her hand to adjust the temperature in what the apprentice instinctively knew as a bullet car. Emily knew, so the apprentice knew, as her Now when in the machine was Emily’s Now, and Emily knew what bullet cars were in her Now. It still shocked the apprentice though, she never thought flying cars were actually feasible withing the constraints of her 1970s based mindset. It was a recent invention, according to Emily’s mind, and was only really usable in rich neighborhoods as the earth-magnet-embedded roads were extremely expensive to install. But Emily rode in one, hovering ten feet above ground, propelled at supersonic speed. Emily lifted her hand to have a glimpse at her genius-phone. Responding to this action, the chip embedded in her wrist projected a holographic image of her mailbox. She gestured through the mail, causing it to scroll. The Artificially Intelligent assistant responded to her thoughts and started to play the news in the background. “-many people afflicted by this strange sleep-related disease. Officials are not sure how to stop it but buying the new Harper Industries sleep-tech is known to slow the symptoms. This new sleeping tech will induce the REM (Rapid Eye Movement) stage faster, so the regular sleep time is reduced by 75%.” That was all old news to Emily. In fact, her brother, Jason, was using the sleep-tech, as he wanted extra time to play video games. Jason had also developed the strange sleep-related disease and was tired and sleepy all the time. He was using the sleep-tech 24/7, but nothing seemed to help. The news droned on. “On the subject of this sleep discrepancy, Harper Industries is conducting a somnology experiment to explore the effect of their machine, and to find a cure for this mysterious sleep-related disease. 3,000 crypto-currency will be offered as a reward to the participants. Come to-”.
Emily’s bullet car stopped at an expansive mansion as she continued to half-listen to the news. She climbed into an auto-walker and mentally controlled its spider-like legs to head to Jason’s room. When she scuttled into the huge room, the first thing she noticed was the large white log-like machine. She walked to its side, sucking in a breath, when she observed her brother’s pale face cushioned by the white cloth within the machine.
The apprentice personally was shocked on how reliant everything was on technology. She couldn’t help but think it was her old-time mindset to be so averse to the setup
“Hey Sis.” He muttered weekly, seeming to be in a trance of half-awake and half-asleep. When he tried to rise, with a terrified look on his face, Emily pushed him down and said, “You need to rest!”
Emily noticed that the micro-climate of the sleep-tech; blue-blocking filter, light and noise blocking, sheets designed to regulate body heat and special mattress to keep people cooler while asleep, were on; was working fine. Emily, sadly, stroked Jason’s hair hoping he would survive this strange illness. Suddenly, she remembered the news about the experiment. If she participated, a cure could be found. A nurse came in to inspect the biometrics on the screen panel attached to the machine, and muttered, “Everything is working fine, but why is Jason’s condition deteriorating so fast?”.
A few days later, Emily was walking through the gray hallways of Harper Industries. She was wearing the laboratory uniform, a bluish-gray top, and dark grayish-green pants. The hallway lights flickered on and off responding to her position and giving an ominous feel. She shivered, rethinking the decision to participate in the experiment. Too late. Her mother would be furious if she learned that Emily had once again ditched something to hang out with her friends. Besides, she would never want her friends to see her in such ugly clothes.
By then, Emily had reached the end of the corridor. There was a woman waiting there with five other people, dressed in the same unfashionable clothing. Emily started scrolling through SnapTok and TikChat on the holographic genius phone, implanted in her wrist, until a professionally dressed woman interrupted her.
“Hello. Welcome to Harper Industries. Performing experiments for a better tomorrow. I assume you are here to participate in somnology experiment?” she said and led them all to the test room. It was white, brightly lit, and devoid of furniture, except for neatly lined sleep-tech machines.
“You will routinely go along with your usual schedule, except for sleeping. In fact, you will come here to sleep. We will provide the best micro-climate for sleeping and strive for your utmost comfort.” The lady introduced herself as Valerie Harper, the founder and CEO of Harper Industries. Valerie told the “test subjects” what to do.
“At Harper Industries, we strive to create the best sleep-tech machines. Our machine can help produce at will melatonin, give you control over circadian rhythm, accelerate anabolic state, so the tissues will build and repair faster. You can self-induce multiple REM sleep stages and force activate glymphatic system to clean the waste from your central nervous system. All this will reduce the monophasic sleep requirements, drastically. Our machines can help with polyphasic sleep, so you will need few small naps. You can master unihemispheric slow-wave sleep (USWS), where only half of your brain will rest, and the other half will be productive. Our best sleep-scientists will monitor the progress. Lie down and sleep.” Emily had no idea of what any of that meant, but it all sounded very important and professional.
“You will come every night at 8:30 pm.” Ms. Harper informed. “In the morning you will undergo medical checkup, to see how your sleep patterns affect your health.”
So, it began. Emily had never used sleep equipment, as she never needed to. She was unsure of how this would affect her life. But, Emily was super excited to reduce her sleep requirement and find more time for SnapTok while also helping her brother.
As months passed, Emily felt lightheaded. She was more careless and absent-minded. More than once, she had gotten up just to fall again. Her mother and friends blamed her fast life and social-net etiquettes. As Emily felt more exhausted, she increased the intense use of sleep-tech machine, increased melatonin secretion, REM, USWS, and doubled down to activate both anabolic and glymphatic systems. Even though the machine did make her feel peculiar, she suspected it was more than that.
After few months, once again checking her mail in the bullet car, Emily found a government report on Harper Industries and its findings from the experiment. She started reading randomly.
The machine’s micro-climate temperature “regulation” has caused virus mutation. The mutated viruses are compromising human immune system. Most importantly, the sleep machines increase orthosomnia…. alters REM stage….
There was more information about REM.
“Come on. Come on.” Emily muttered as she quickly scanned the report; she seemed to be looking for something in particular…
The body resists these, thus altering brain plasticity and results in Somniphobia, or the fear of sleep. This causes the subject to battle sleep, even though the polysomnogram shows long resting cycles. This machine causes a vicious sequence of lack of sleep now called the “Nightmare Cycle”. Eventually, the fatigued body cannot take it anymore, and all body functions stop from the sheer exhaustion. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience…
Emily was furious as she realized that this was what had been happening to her brother. The moment the bullet car stopped, she leaped and raced towards her brother’s room, even faster than any auto-walker. Her head was spinning, legs shaking, arms pumping. She leapt and yanked the sleeping machine’s plug out of the sockets. She checked Jason’s biometrics. Everything was slowing down. Emily desperately pounded on the sleep-tech machine glass encasing Jason. A deafening beep filled the room, signaling the heartbeat had stopped.
Emily sobbed, despondently, over the lifeless body. She shook Jason, desperate for a sign that she was mistaken. But it was certain. The face was one that held youth, that seemed to have shriveled up and died far before it should have; the dull glassy eyes, the pale face and dry hair. There were heavy bags under the eyes, Jason’s ribs could be seen through the expensive cloth he wore. Emily pushed back the curls that framed Jason’s face. Finally, he would get the rest he needed. Emily swore to be a crusader against the rising development of sleep technology.
The sound of applause snapped Emily out of her story, and she ended, “There is no alternative to natural sleep. And we will fix this. Perhaps my brother has died an early and unnecessary death. But it is not in vain. Because the world now knows that we must fix this, all thanks to my brother’s sacrifice.”
The event ended
The apprentice slipped off her headset, shook, as usual, from glimpses of the future. She smacked the scientist on the back of the head, who was frozen in the same position that she had left him in.
“That was so depressing too! What is wrong with you?”
The scientist grimaced rubbing his neck which stung from her slap. “I’m going to assume that was a rhetorical question because you’ve had plenty of time to evaluate what’s wrong with me. But I thought that scene would make you happy. Its hopeful. Something will happen.”
She glared sullenly at him. “Are you really telling me that everything in the future will be death? Progress will only come from death?”
“I’ve told you before and will tell you again. Humanity as whole has peaked. It’s only downhill from here. But personally, I haven’t seen past that event. We’ll go together from now.” The scientist stuck the electroencephalography probes onto his head and settled into the a chair. “Let’s see what you’re getting so worked up about. Ooh I think space travel is next. As soon as they begin to be able to cross wide stretches of space in short amounts of time, they’re bound to get to time travel eventually.”
The apprentice eyed him strangely. It was the first time she had seen him genuinely excited about something. And also, she realized that in all the events, there was no mention of time travel. They were short and focused events, but still, in 2023, Vanessa could’ve used time travel to see the results of whatever decision she made, and in 2047 Emily and her family could’ve seen the outcomes of sleep tech on Jason before using it. The scientist had time travel, it worked, yet it was never mentioned again on the timeline.
They were snapped into another event.
