20. WHAT NOW?

 

I like magic! Early next morning I was dreaming. That is I believed I was dreaming. As on the previous days, some early morning birds were chirping so I am not sure. When I turned around in bed, the small box was there once again. Nothing rattled inside. I opened the box. There were some sheets of paper. I wanted to read chapter 20.

 

20.  WHAT NOW?

Nobody was around.

-          The time traveller. Where is he, John exclaimed.

-          He had Stalin’s dagger! It has to be an omen about things to happen. I think I saw someone crossing the road. Let us hurry up and ask what is going on.

The man looked like he had all the time in the world as he walked in the shade close to the houses lining the street. He wore a long black coat.

-          It might be the time traveller. But look! He is wearing a face mask, Jill said. – Why? Let us ask.

As they came close, they heard a shrill sound, and the man jolted.

-          Please keep a distance. For God’s sake keep a distance. Do you see this necklace? Whenever I come close to other people, I hear a short beep, and if I come too close, I get a small electric shock. It is disgusting.

-          Why so? What has happened? Where are we, Jill asked. – What year is it?

-          The year is 2053. I see you neither wear a face mask, nor a necklace. You will have a problem if you meet the mind police.

-          The mind police? What has happened, John asked.

-          You don’t know? Everything started with fake news more than thirty years ago. Politicians in power wanted to have control. Fact checking grew out of fake news. You see this necklace?

-          It looks quite nice.

-          The technology with electronic fences was new more than thirty years ago. Since then, it has been adapted in different ways. Farmers can control the grazing of animals. Later on, China used the technology to control people. If you were close to someone the party did not trust, you would hear a beep. Later, it was sufficient to think something that was not in line with what you should think. The so-called free world embraced the technology, and used it to control criminals. I have this necklace now, but the latest versions are implants in your body which are impossible to remove – the only way of escaping is when you die.

There was a deafening thunderbolt, and the air was burning hot. A tree nearby was on fire. The time traveller appeared, brandishing a dagger, Stalin’s dagger.

-          It is time, the time traveller roared. – Time to stop this lunacy.

He moved close to the man with the face mask. This time there was no beep. Carefully he made a small cut in the right cheek of the man. A small trickle of blood appeared on his cheek and the sharp edge of the dagger.

-          Now your destiny is to stop this madness.

The time traveller cut the necklace, and it disappeared before it reached the ground.

-          You are free, but I give you this dagger which has caused so much pain to people for centuries. The destiny of you and those to touch the dagger is to free people from the scum who has brought and bring havoc to this world.

-          What now, Jill exclaimed.

-          We will see, the time traveller said. – Touch the dagger, and you will see. Touch the dagger, and you are such stuff as dreams are made of.

Then he disappeared in a shroud of grey mist.

-          We are such stuff as dreams are made of? What did he mean, John asked.

 

End of chapter 20. To be continued in chapter 21.