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by Jason Wetter
The captain was pissed off. "Simley, you know I hate traversing the Bermuda Triangle." The young and arrogant first mate Simley did not care about the likes and dislikes of his captain.
"I thought the passengers would enjoy a stop at Miami. Just trying to give them their money's worth, Captain," answered Simley.
The captain was well aware that this was a privately chartered pleasure cruise, but he still did not tolerate insubordination from his crew. "Simley, turn this yacht around immediately and follow steadfastly my original course to New Orleans. Oh, and by the way, you have now volunteered your services to the passengers on this three-week cruise.
"Aye, aye, Sir," and now the first mate was pissed off.
This was one of three significant events on this pleasure cruise. The other two included childbirth and a mass discrepancy. Two affluent passengers were married and prominent scientists. Samuel Thomas held a doctorate in astrophysics; and his wife, Veronica Thomas, was a master in genetics. When first mate Simley steered the ship into and backtracked it out of the Bermuda Triangle, Veronica gave birth to her only child, Seth Thomas, two months premature. The yacht raced to the nearest port close to a hospital. Because of the hectic environment brought upon the yacht due to Seth's premature birth, the crew and passengers did not notice the date right away. When Samuel filled out several hospital record forms, however, the discrepancy came into full view. The hospital officials told Samuel he had the date wrong. Samuel was one day into the future relative to the rest of the world. After some resistance, Samuel conformed to the date given by the officials. He was mentally fatigued from the stress of his son's precarious birth. He also remembered that no watches, clocks, calendars, radios (with the exception of an emergency one), or televisions had been allowed on the yacht. The policy was supposed to reduce stress for all passengers. So he could be mistaken, although he was positive he was correct. Besides, the whole of civilization was against him.
The rest of the passengers came to realize individually that they did not agree with what day it was. Some conformed because they were not as sure of themselves as Samuel. Others let themselves be persuaded. The main reason, however, that they all gave little resistance was that they had all become aware of their discrepancy on their own instead of collectively. During the race to save Seth's life, the yacht's engines became damaged from rough use. So the cruise ended at the port close to the hospital, and the passengers dispersed. The crew of five (captain, first mate, chef, and two waiters) stayed together for a short period longer. Most of the crew during that time, under the guidance of the captain, came to blame the whole date issue on the Bermuda Triangle and Simley.
Seth was now 12 years old.
"Aww, come on, Seth. You never want to play," whined Jimmy.
"Naww. You guys go ahead. I got some other stuff to do," answered Seth. Jimmy was right. He never did want to play with other kids his age. "It's probably my unique education that alienates me from others," thought Seth as he walked away.
"Fine, Seth. Have it your way. I'm tired of being a one-way friend to you. We're finished, Seth. I won't bother you any more."
Seth didn't even hesitate or respond to Jimmy. It wasn't that Seth was mean or haughty. He just didn't hear Jimmy. He had fallen into deep thought, as he often did. Self-reflection was as common to Seth as dirt was to most boys his age. Seth often wondered why his parents took such an interest in furthering his education at home. In his few conversations with peers, he had found that they learned only in a formal manner during school. Seth attended public school, but he also received lessons from his parents as well as intense physical training. Seth could run five kilometers in 15 minutes and seven seconds as well as lift 170% of his 92-pound body weight. His father had told him that, even when he was in his mother's womb, they would take turns reading and solving mathematical equations to him. Education was important to Seth, but he felt cheated out of a childhood he saw all his counterparts enjoying.
"Seth, what have you been doing?" asked his mother.
"Not much. Just went for a walk," Seth replied. He hadn't even realized he had walked into his own home, so he was startled. It amazed him how he didn't run into things and was able to navigate despite being in a daze. He continued up the stairs to the refuge of his room. Once there, Seth stretched out on his bed. "Why am I so tired? I did not overexert myself mentally or physically today ... Ahh, I remember now, I am experiencing depression."
"Son, your mother just told me you entered the house in a stupor again. Tell me what is bothering you."
"Why is he so annoyed with me? He should have knocked before coming in ... Or did I leave the door open?" thought Seth. "Father, I am trying to find the reason why you and Mom decided to educate me so intensely from the moment of my conception. I question your mutual decision, for I have not seen this behavior exhibited by any other parent I know."
"You don't seem pleased by our decision. We only wanted you to have the opportunities that your mother and I didn't have--mainly a comprehensive education at a time in our lives that our brains would have been most receptive to knowledge. This optimal time is childhood, Seth. If you were taught all the things you now know in high school and college for the first time, it would have taken more effort on your part. This was the disadvantage that your mom and I had to overcome. We did not want you to have this handicap."
"But Father, the advantage you have given me has cost me my childhood. I consider myself an outcast among my peers. It is difficult for me to get interested in their irrational or superficial conversations. They seem offended at the larger vocabulary I use in my speech. They are threatened by my perfect grades and by the fact that I do not have to work hard for my equally excellent performance in school sports. I do not like to be around people who are uncomfortable being near me. I am depressed because my only social outlet is my immediate family. I have no friends."
"Mom and I always encouraged you to be social and play with children your age."
"And didn't I try. At first, it was easy to get along with my classmates. They enjoyed listening to what I knew. They were curious like me. Something happened, however, in the third grade. They began to form social groups. Kids that shared certain characteristics started grouping together. Well no one was like me. So no one liked me. The kids that did give me attention did it out of selfishness; they either wanted access to my brain or use my fit and talented body for sports. You can't have it both ways Father; either you can be social and be near the average level of development at a given age, or you are cut loose from society for deviating too much from the 'norm.' My fate is the latter."
"It doesn't have to be that. . . ." Samuel Thomas stopped talking because he saw a single tear leave the left eye of his only son. He had not seen Seth cry since they boy was two. He felt sick. He slowly walked over to the door, opened it, exited, and softly closed the door behind him.
Seth had never seen his father react this way and was deeply disturbed by his father's actions. He began to cry with full force. Emotions struck him with an intensity he had never known before. Even as he started to lose control of his mind, he realized what was happening to him: all of his repressed feelings were rushing into his consciousness. The second last thing Seth felt before losing consciousness was fear. He soaked his pillow with tears and he screamed so loudly in his own head that his vision became patchy. Then he felt a pop in his head. Bodily convulsions followed. . . .
Seth awoke lying in a fetal position, cold from excessive sweating. He was clear across his room from his bed. He had several lacerations on his shins, bruises on his arms, and a bump on his forehead. All around his room he saw disarray and disorder. From the look of the mess he made while obviously having gone through convulsions, he was surprised he hadn't suffered more serious injuries. Seth picked himself up from the carpet. Something else was bothering him. The devastation of his room must have made a lot of noise, so why hadn't his parents come to his aid? He made his way downstairs and into the living room. He was distraught. His parents appeared grotesque. Quickly he realized, however, that this was because their faces were frozen in intense anguish, and the rest of their bodies were immobile as well. Seth had also never seen his father's head in his mother's lap with his mother comforting his father; both had always been very strong. For some reason they were frozen.
Seth touched them. They felt cold. He found that his parents' bodies were not rigid, but very pliable. The whole situation made him very uncomfortable and sent his mind spinning trying to find answers. He left his house.
Immediately after leaving he noticed his neighbor's house smoldering through the night's darkness. A burning pick-up truck sticking out the side of the house must have started the fire. Five other auto wrecks were within view of his porch. Seth saw no emergency vehicles or evidence that any had come. Seth moved back into his house and turned on the TV. He looked at a clock for an entire minute. Then he flipped to a network that he knew should be broadcasting a live show. Static. Seth now made a conclusion, a truly horrifying conclusion. All of humanity, except for himself, was frozen by some unknown force. This meant that any people who were operating machines and/or vehicles at the time of becoming frozen were in serious danger or already dead. Thousands of airplane crashes and hundreds of thousands of car accidents came into focus. Construction site accidents and factory mishaps came to mind. People who were walking up or down stairs, crossing streets, biking, skating, downhill skiing, skydiving, etc. passed with horrifying clarity through Seth's thoughts. The destruction and vast human loss this paralysis had caused and was still causing overwhelmed Seth and brought him to the brink of a paralysis like that of the people around him.
Seth came out of his trance near midnight. "Why am I not affected? What makes me different?" questioned Seth. Seth recalled the convulsions he endured. Then he remembered the pop he had felt in his head. Did he somehow cause this condition of mankind? The story of his birth floated to the forefront of his consciousness. His parents swear to be exactly one day into the future relative to the rest of the world. How did all these facts explain the current conditions?
His parents had taught him about Einstein's theories, especially those concerning the relationship between time and space. He now called upon that knowledge to help him answer his questions. Somehow, while in the Bermuda Triangle, his parents and everyone else on board that pleasure cruise had been pushed or displaced exactly one day into the future. "And I was born being one day into the future relative to the rest of humanity," thought Seth, "This must carry a special significance. It is the only factor that I can pick out that distinguishes me form the rest of those affected."
Seth knew time itself had not stopped. Photons were still bombarding his eyes, allowing him to see. It was humanity's experience of the flow of time that had been stopped; the flow of time continued. Seth had concluded from having examined his parents that every human being's internal universe (metabolism, consciousness, and any other internal human processes had also halted. As for the mechanism that was responsible for this big step, he had no idea. He only knew that he was the epicenter of the whole event since its inception because it did not influence him. He was pretty sure that it was his sudden release of libido (Seth had studied Freud, too) after his conversation with his father that triggered this unknown human paralyzing mechanism. Somehow, this paralysis of humanity was tied to the energy of his ego or consciousness. It was the only reason he could find that explained why this effect happened now. It was 12:30 a.m. according to his living room clock. He estimated that he had felt the "pop" in his head around 5:30 p.m. the previous day. "So seven hours have already passed," Seth thought, "If my understanding of this whole situation is correct, humanity shall begin to experience the flow of time once again around 5:30 this evening. Then after the passage of 24 hours, all of humanity will (including those who had been on the yacht when he was born) experience time relative to everyone else. Everyone's present would be the same."
"Now what genius?" Seth said out loud. He understood the phenomenon. But this understanding could do little to remedy the situation. He knew he was humanity's only hope for any kind of salvation. He was the only one not paralyzed. Yet, he was impotent. Most of the world's destruction had already taken place. Seth's frustration was mounting. Soon he could no longer sit around.
Seth knew how to drive his father's sports car and he had a valid pilot's license. His parents had urged him to learn how to drive and fly early on. Seth felt intensely guilty for having yelled at his father for cheating him out of a childhood. He was angry with himself for focusing on what he didn't have. He never fully appreciated what his parents had done for him. Seth suddenly became aware that he had parked in front of the nearest airport. He was prone to losing track of where he was going when walking, but had never before absent-mindedly operated a vehicle. . . .
Seth ignored the dozens of mauled people, some lying in cars and others crushed beneath cars around him. Seth walked around and over the frozen people who were in the terminal. Seth walked out onto the airfield. The carnage was too much. He shut the dozens of charred fuselages and bodies from his perception. His only goal was to find a small, fast, long-range jet. In the third hangar from the terminal, he reached his goal. The jet had a single seat, a single engine, a top speed of 2.3 mach, and a range of 2,000 miles. And it was fully fueled. Without hesitation, Seth jumped in , sealed the cockpit, engaged the engines, entered a flight plan into its onboard avionics, and taxied it onto the runway. Then he took off.
Seth climbed to an altitude of 50,000 feet so that he could not see the death and destruction on the surface. His destination was the capitol since it was wired in to the rest of the world. An hour after takeoff, Seth saw a huge crater where the heart of D.C. should have been. "Nuclear bomb," Seth whispered while ascending.
Seth tried Atlanta next. "Buildings. A good sign," he said cynically upon seeing the city's skyline. He landed on an empty stretch of expressway. Most cars were in the ditches. Their immobilized drivers couldn't have kept them on the road. He jumped out of the plane, and his watch showed it to be 5:30 a.m. Seth walked toward downtown Atlanta to keep moving. "Only 12 hours left. What to do? What to do?" thought Seth. A realization struck him with almost physical force. If he had been born one day into the future, and human experience was now in the process of equalizing itself, why was he still awake? By being awake, he was not being put back into the present. His parents (and the others on the pleasure cruise) had been, like him, one day into the future, but now they were being brought back to humanity's present. But Seth was still experiencing. He was not being brought back to the present. In fact, he had never been part of humanity's present. Seth did not count the seven months of his gestation before the cruise because he reasoned that this time had no relevance. During that time, he had been part of his mother and was, therefore, unable to have an individual experience of the flow of time.
"I am going to cease to exist in a little over ten hours," Seth said aloud. Seth sat down, legs crossed, right where he was, in the lobby of a fancy hotel. For three hours he just sat there unmoving but with racing thoughts. Seth contemplated finding an attractive female and having his way with her, as other self-pleasures crossed his mind, too. He had nothing to lose. But his intelligence dissuaded him because he understood the worthlessness of these activities. He knew he was only thinking these thoughts because of the tremendous frustration that he was feeling. He had witnessed the devastation of civilized humanity, and he could do nothing to alleviate it. He knew his own death was near, and he could do nothing to prevent it.
Seth stood up and looked at his watch. One thing he could do for his species was to write down all he knew about the workings of how humanity had become frozen. Then the rest of humanity would know the truth when they would begin to experience time again. This might prevent the remainder of humanity from placing blame on each other for the sudden mass global destruction and from seeking revenge on one another because of it. He found some stationery on the reception desk, and put it into the printer on the desk. The words flew through his fingers at 90 words per minute as he typed for an hour on the hotel's PC behind the reception counter. Then he printed out his explanation and made ten photocopies. He placed one copy in the hands of the frozen hotel manager in the room behind the reception desk. He left the hotel and walked down the corpse-laden avenues until he found Atlanta's city hall. The door was unlocked, so he walked in and placed the remaining copies in the hands of the frozen officials.
There was nothing more for him to do. He was happy that his parents were still intact and hoped they would stay that way until 5:30 p.m. so that they could wake up. Seth considered what his end would entail. "Will I die a normal physical death?" thought Seth, "Or will I just disappear?" Whatever the outcome would be, Seth did not want to be awake for it. To rest was Seth's final objective. Therefore, Seth strolled back to the hotel. Once there, he found an empty suite. He peered outside and saw burned out buildings, crushed cars, and mangled bodies. He lay down on a bed. Just before falling asleep, he wondered if he would wake up. He decided that he wouldn't and that he was lucky.
