It was the oddest sensation. I was floating in the air with no apparent support. Above me was a virtual artist canvas, filled with colors that seemed to change as soon as I focused on them. My eyes were drawn to these colors and though I tried to look away from them I was unable to.
I was aware of movement around me but I couldnât see what it was that moved. I could hear sounds of some type but they sounded far-off and muted. The thought that I was suspended in a dream floated into my brain but for some reason my intellect rejected the idea. No, not a dream at all, my mind told me, this is real.
But what is real and what is fantasy? After what I had been through the past few weeks I wasnât sure I knew the difference any more. A month ago I would have told you that there is a reality that never changes in the sense of its physical characteristics. Certain laws apply and never change. Everyone knew that, right? Well that had been proven to be total bullshit. In fact, everything I had accepted as truth had been turned on its head.
Well, so fucking what? The question before me now was where the hell was I? I tried to look around at my surroundings but my eyes stayed glued to the light show above me. Was I tied up or what? I couldnât move at all but I felt no physical constraints of any kind. I concentrated with all my might to move my head just a fraction of an inch to the left. No good, I seemed frozen in place. Those damn colors were giving me a headache.
All right then, think, how did you get here? What was the last thing you remember, I asked myself.
An image slowly pushed its way into my mind. I was in a confined area of some kind. Everything was kind of murky and dark. I felt trapped and tried to get out but couldnât. Something was trying to get in and I knew it would kill me. Where was the key? I had to have that damn key but it wasnât in my hand. Where the fuck was it??
Fear was real. This was at least an emotion I could get my teeth into. I tried to scream but nothing came out. Oh please, please donât let it get in. It wants to kill me, donât let it in!!
My heart was pounding in my chest and I was soaked in perspiration. I was trapped here, unable to move or defend myself. Panic, now thereâs another familiar feeling. Iâd had a lot of that lately. Oh shit, what was I going to do? Help me, help me!!
Suddenly the colors above me were gone. Sensation flowed back into my limbs and I felt as though invisible chains had been removed. While I still could not move my arms and legs, I was able to turn my neck and look around me. I almost wished I couldnât.
I seemed to be suspended in a small room or chamber of some kind. Directly in front of me was a glass partition that looked out into a vast chamber of some sort the size of which was almost beyond my comprehension. It seemed miles across to the other side where thousands of lights glowed in thousands of rooms that I guessed were much like the room I found myself in.
Between those rooms and myself, in the middle of the chamber, huge mechanical pumps of some kind worked methodically up and down reaching upwards as far as I could see and downwards who knew how far.
My God, where was I? Certainly this structure or whatever it was had not been built by human hands. Itâs scale exceeded anything man could even dream of building. And that was only the part I could see from my prone position. You know that old joke about âWell Toto, I guess weâre not in Kansas anymoreâ? Well you get the picture.
I heard a buzzing sound behind me and what I can only describe as a floating point of yellow light suddenly appeared in front of me. It seemed to hover there for a moment and then it was gone.
After a moment I became aware that my body was turning away from the glass window and into a more natural upright position. This was done automatically as I still had no bodily control except for the ability to turn my neck and look around me.
The room I was in was small and unremarkable. Its walls were bare and no furnishings of any kind were apparent. I couldnât see any door but a moment later a small section of the wall retracted and a man walked in. It seemed perfectly natural to me that the man in front of me was the same older man that I had first met in the bar that evening when he had given me the âgiftâ Everything just clicked into place if you know what I mean.
âWell Mr. Hallock, I imagine youâre as surprised to see me as I am to see you again. Frankly, I rarely meet my clients a second time. Youâre a most unusual man.â
âWhere am I and how the hell did I get here? Am I dead?â
â I imagine you have many questions, Mr. Hallock and I will try to answer them as best I can considering your human limitations. No, Mr. Hallock, you are not dead but you are not really alive at the moment either. Not in any sense that you would understand. Letâs say that you are in a place where concepts such as life and death do not really apply. A suspended organic state if you will. Your human conception of life as having a beginning and an end is really very limiting. And, I might add, totally false.
As you may have ascertained I am not one of you, what you call human. My race has no name, the need for one never occurred to us. Our time of being stretches much farther into the past than you could possibly imagine.
We are the fathers of your planet, yours and thousands of others in this universe. In the beginning of your time we seeded and grew life on your world. It is what we do. It is the reason for our existence. Some of us return to our progeny to observe what progress has occurred. Again, it is what we do.
In rarer cases we take, shall we say, a more active role. When a species does not develop in a manner to which it has been programmed, some adjustments are in order. Your species, Mr. Hallock, is in serious need of adjustments.â
I was too dumbfounded at this point to even speak. My mind reeled and attempted to reject what he was telling me. It was too much information to absorb. I wanted to go back to sleep. My head throbbed and a deep fear crept over me. If all of this was real I knew my time was short. And yet⌠he had said something about me being a most unusual man. That and the fact that he was even bothering with me was the one ray of hope that I could see.
âIs that why weâre here? Did I screw up that gift you gave me? You told me that I could use it any way I wanted.â
A small smile appeared on his face.
âThatâs one of the things I like about you Mr. Hallock, you come right to the point. Well, yes, the gift is why youâre here. Actually it may interest you to know that it was never some alien ability that I gave to you. In reality all humans already possess this ability to compress time. However you have not yet developed adequately to recognize and utilize this ability. Recent advances in biochemistry lead us to believe that your species may soon reach this threshold. This has caused us some concern as you might imagine.
Consider, Mr. Hallock, the damage that could occur if this ability were used for purposes other than sexual fulfillment. Think of the possible military applications or political abuses that this ability could promote. Human sexuality is only one of the more benign ways this power can be manifested. The potential for disaster is immense. With a culture as unsophisticated as yours the danger is quite real. Frankly Mr. Hallock, we cannot let that happen.â
âWhy did you pick me out to have this gift at all if it is so dangerous?â
âSome thousands of your people were randomly selected to be given this gift. Call it a form of testing if you will. We had many questions as to how your species would handle this ability both psychologically and physiologically.