Eccentric Flower:199811/dateline the future

thirteen eleven twelve

dateline: the future

I am tired of messing with the dateline. Very few people noticed my fooling with it, which confirmed my suspicions, so now the experiment is over, and we return to the format I decided I like best.

Since it is no longer my intention to be cryptic, I will explain it: Day, month, and hour. If you're still wondering what "red satin" and other nonsense meant, never mind, forget it, it didn't happen - just a joke that fell flat.

All sorts of mail in the mailbox I could talk about, and thank you for the fascinating correspondence! But I don't really want to discuss them today - maybe tomorrow - maybe later.

Instead I'm going to do something radical. Well, for me it's radical.

Work on The Novel has all but stopped. I just don't seem to want to follow that story right now. On the other hand, there's ANOTHER story which has kept popping into my head. Late at night, or during idle moments, A.D. keeps coming back and asking me when I'm going to show the world his diary. So finally, figuring that it was better to work on a second project and split my effort than write nothing at all, I went back to his story.

I first wrote a rough of this, with all the essential elements intact, in the mid-eighties. I fleshed it out into a long and good if amateurish story - novelette, actually - in 1986. I began to rewrite it last year, and the rewrite is what I began to reexamine last night.

The radical part: I am hypersensitive, as you may know, about putting any writing on the web which may at some point earn me money. There are a number of reasons for this, some sensible, some paranoid, which are lengthy enough to discuss another day.

Anyway, this excerpt will be the first time I have ever put something in public, on any of my three web sites, that I was writing with deliberate intent to sell.

Of course I am always happy to receive comments of any sort.

- - - - - - - -

25 May.

Today the lieutenant came and Dad didn't hit me. I got home late and Mom had been drinking lately, so I figured I was in for it, but they had company. The lieutenant was sitting in the front room with them, talking about something. I'd never seen him before. I can read uniforms though. He had several ribbons. One of them was purple with thin white stripes - I guess you know that one. He couldn't have been forty, so he probably got it in one of the big riots.

I was really curious about him, but I figured it'd be better to sneak into the kitchen and look like I was doing homework. I haven't had more than fifteen minutes of homework since second grade. They like it when I look busy.

As I passed the doorway to the front room, Dad said, "Adrian. Come in here, please." I couldn't tell whether he was pissed off or not. You usually can't, until he really starts to lose it and his voice garbles and his cheeks get red. By then it's too late. "Sit down."

Nobody looked too thrilled though. When the lieutenant figured out that neither of my folks was going to say anything, he stood up and shook my hand. "Adrian? Lieutenant Andersen, Special Liaison." To what? "Pleased to meet you."

I nodded but I'm sure I looked confused. I waited. If nobody else was going to say anything, why should I? We could all sit in the front room staring at each other all night. At least Dad wouldn't do anything while this guy was here.

"Adrian," the lieutenant said, sitting back down, "you're a very smart young man. Have you given any thought to your future?"

I wanted to show that I thought this question was stupid without being a total wiseass. "Any part of my future in particular? Or are you just talking about college?"

"I mean college." If he thought I'd been obnoxious, he hid it well. "I know it's early, but do you have any particular plans?"

"Not really, sir. I mean, unless I get a scholarship, I'm out of luck."

"That's not true," Dad said. "We've discussed this before. There's the trade schools."

I felt that nasty streak and said what the hell. "Like I said, sir," to the lieutenant, "I'm pretty much out of luck. Unless I want to be one of the most overqualified line workers in the nation." Dad started to turn red.

"It's not quite that bad, Adrian," said the lieutenant. "From what I've seen of your records, you're a shoo-in for a scholarship." Oh yeah? Don't patronize me, sir, I'm only fifteen but I'm no idiot. And the guidance counselor look doesn't suit you.

"I'd like to believe that, sir," I said sincerely, "but look at the scholarship funds. In the last ten years, ninety-five percent of the scholarships have been either wiped out or the universities have had to use the money to keep themselves alive."

"A. D.!" Mom said. "I'm sure the lieutenant doesn't need a lecture."

"Do you know how many scholarships, how many in the entire country, are available that I qualify for?" I said.

The lieutenant had a great poker face. Then he smiled. Just a little, at the corners of his mouth. "Twenty-two."

I stared at him. "Most of which," he continued, "now have a up to a six year backlog of applications." He grinned at me and I had to smile. Okay, I had been being a jerk. "And I understand why you would be angry enough about the situation to give me the sermon. How about an all-expenses paid trip to college? Courtesy of the government."

"What would I have to do to get it?"

"Leave the planet." He smiled again, but he wasn't kidding. "The Sethin have decided that they're going to let us see their homeworld."

I must have looked surprised; he laughed once, softly. "Right. That's not for public consumption, and I've already explained to your parents the need for secrecy, even if you decide to decline the offer." Right, like they'll keep it a secret. "It came as a big shock to us too."

"I bet. After, what, ten years?"

"Twelve, if you count the first messages." he said. "We've had to make guesses based on the small amount we see. We know their planet must be fairly similar to ours, because they don't need atmosphere suits. We know they mostly form two-sex couples, and we assume that they are basically monogamous, because the couples always go into space together and they always seem close. And that's about all we know. We've never seen any Sethin children. We've never seen a pregnant Sethin. For all we know, maybe the man has the babies. Hell, for all we know, maybe the one we think is the male is actually the female. Maybe 'male' and 'female' don't even have any meaning here. You see how much in the dark we are?"

"Maybe," I said, "they don't even talk about this stuff among themselves. You know, maybe it's taboo or something."

"Could be," said the lieutenant. "But the kids who go to Seth are going to find out. The Sethin have proposed an exchange program. Human kids go to Seth and Sethin children come here."

"Why us? I mean, why kids at all?"

"The Sethin insisted. They won't do it any other way. And they won't tell us much about what you can expect. They keep saying, 'They'll find out when they get there.'"

"That sounds kinda - I dunno - scary maybe."

"Well, we have some idea what to expect from the criteria they gave us - which are rough. They want only the smartest kids, the real top brains. They insist on kids with eidetic memory. That really narrows it down! And there are other requirements relating to age and a lot of other things. Plus, we can guess from the requests they're making for the training facility. Looks like Sethin children are very early learners and smarter than Earth children of the same age."

That wasn't too hard to imagine. Half the kids in my lit class can barely read.

"They want kids they can fit in most easily, is our guess. You see, the exchange is for a long time."

"How long?" Mom asked.

The lieutenant looked at the three of us, a little bit anxiously I thought. "About six years."

"Six YEARS?" I said. "I lose the rest of high school and most of college?"

"You don't 'lose' anything. You just won't enter college until you get back, at which point the government will pay for it by way of recompensation." He paused for effect. "Any college you like."

"Sold," I said.

"Now hold on just one goddamn minute," Dad said. "You don't get a say in this. I do, and I'm sure as hell not sold."

Here it came. I felt sorry for the lieutenant.

"You want me to sell my son to the goddamn Martians," Dad continued, "so that he can go to college and get some pissant education in some useless crap, instead of learning how to earn an honest living. Bullshit!"

"They're not Martians," I said.

"Who the hell asked you?"

The lieutenant looked Dad square in the face, which isn't easy to do when Dad's pitching a fit. "Mr. Roehm," he asked quietly, "are you pleased with the way you live?"

"That's a stupid-ass question," sputtered Dad. "I'm sitting here in an apartment the size of a closet and about as comfortable. I'm barely putting food on the table with what I make. What do YOU think?"

"Yet there are many people, Mr. Roehm, who are not working. Housing is a basic right. Everyone has a place to live, such as it is. But what good is a place to live if all you're going to do is starve to death in it? Have you ever been on subsistence, Mr. Roehm?"

Dad didn't scream. I was amazed. He just shook his head.

"You will be."

Dad was speechless, but his face was turning red again. Before he could have another fit, the lieutenant added. "That's not a threat. We all may be, before long. There are too many people and not enough of just about everything else. There are two things that your son can do, two things that you can help him do, to ensure that he will not be one of the millions upon millions of people his age who starve to death before age thirty."

Yeah, but what if he WANTS me to starve to death?

"You can let him go to Seth, in hopes of getting long-distance space travel from the Sethin so we can spread to other planets. Or you can send him to college so he can learn one of the few professions which is not dying. Automated factory programming, primarily. Space engineering, perhaps, if we can get what we need from the Sethin.

"The point is, I'm offering you an opportunity - the only one of its kind - to do both."

He stood up. "You have my number and I have another interview this evening. Consider it carefully. Adrian, could you come with me for a moment?" I expected Dad to object to this but he was still digesting the lieutenant's speech.

"When you kick into high gear it's pretty amazing," I commented in the hallway.

"Thanks," said the lieutenant. He looked me square in the eye, the same way he had stared down Dad. "Answer me honestly."

"All right."

"He beats you."

"You planning to turn him in?"

"Not without your word. Since you're aware of the fact that I can have him arrested, I will assume you don't want to."

"I don't figure it would do much good."

"Probably not. Do you want to go to Seth?"

"That's a stupid question."

"And you don't suffer those well; I got that. You're a smart kid or I wouldn't be here tonight at all, so excuse me for a minute while I insult your intelligence.

"First, this trip will involve two months of hard training. Second, it's not without risks. The Sethin seem to have space down pat, but no journey is without danger, et cetera et cetera.

"Third, it'll be years before you see any humans again, and you may not see any while you're there. The Sethin are strongly hinting that you'll all be separated. No human has ever seen Seth. You won't be harmed, but if it turns out they're cannibals or something like that, you'll be expected to act with dignity befitting a representative of Earth - which you will be.

"You'll be poked, prodded, and examined. You'll be a novelty. And on top of that, you'll be in school."

"School isn't much of a threat."

"Not here, I don't imagine. But the Sethin lead us to believe that their schools are on another scale entirely. Anyway," he reached in his shirt pocket, "that's the disclosure statement. In brief." He handed me a card. "You have now been apprised of the dangers and are in a position to make an informed judgement. I didn't say this, but if he doesn't decide to let you go by tomorrow night, don't bother coming home from school the next day. Come to this address instead."

"I can't do that. I mean, I want to go, but I can't do it like THAT. Mom's in bad enough shape as is. That'd just about kill her."

"Is there any possibility that you will be able to argue them into it? Is there any position I can present that will help?"

"I doubt it."

"Hmph." He shook his head. "Just remember, you have the address if you need to use it. But after the thirtieth, it's too late."

I went back inside. Now that the lieutenant was gone, I expected Dad to give me unholy hell. But he and Mom had gone into their room and closed the door, which is just enough to keep me from being able to make out the conversation. Under the circumstances, this suited me just fine. I opened the bed and read for the rest of the night. I was not called in for dinner. In fact, I don't remember hearing them come out of the bedroom. At least not up through about midnight when I went to sleep.

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