Looking Through a Keyhole

I am walking down the street, the scenery is a little unfamiliar to me, where am I? I am suddenly in a state of confusion, uncertainly. Am I on holidays and have forgotten where I am? The street seems to end and I am in an enclosed area, a wall, sort of circular, it has many doors all with signs on them.

I approach to read what the signs say, I turn and look back, there is no back, just more doors with signs. The sign on the door in front of me is "Your Memories", the next one is "Your Family Stories" and then "History of Your Country". What is this? I walk the other way back past "Your Family Stories" and "Your Memories" and there is "Return to the Real World" and then "What the Future Holds"

I try opening the door "Back to the Real World" only to find it locked. I think, I know my own memories and all the family stories and although interesting, history was never my strong suit. How do I move on from here, I try "What the Future Holds", that door is locked too. I notice now that all the doors have keyholes. How do I obtain a key? There is no one here but me, there are no places I can see that might hold a key so I approach a door looking closely at the keyhole.

The keyhole I choose to look through is on the door "What the Future Holds". This must be a philosophical one looking into the future. We all wonder what the future will bring. We all know of two certainties of life, taxes and death, the third as certain as the former two and generally as unwelcome is change. Unwelcomed but inevitable and necessary.

I am peering through my keyhole, pressing closer to see more and all of a sudden the view becomes unrestricted, I am 10 years in the future. I look around, I want to pick up a newspaper. I am told that very few are produced and am asked haven't I a communication pad to receive the news. Cars in the street look a little different, smaller, quieter, perhaps they are all electric. I conclude that the changes, although they will take a little getting accustomed to, are in fact good.

That was pretty easy, “ there is another door with a keyhole". What is through there? Again I press close to get more in my field of view, and wow! I am another 100 years ahead, now in 2111 and the surrounding are quite changed. There are few cars in the street, buildings look different with a mirror like facade that seems to change as the sunlight conditions change. Do the facades produce electricity or just adjust the internal temperature? People wear clothes that look quite different. Most people are wearing glasses with curious lenses, I discover the glasses contain a display for written communication and telephonic communication. The display and audio is controlled completely by voice recognition.

I find myself searching for the next keyhole, I think I am enjoying this journey albeit a bit challenging. I am now through the third keyhole, year is 3111. What 1000 years further ahead, I no longer understand the language, yet there are some words that sound familiar, is it English that they speak? The whole landscape is quite different. Buildings no longer stand tall, there is a gently undulating surface covered in vegetation, quite rich looking with plants that look unfamiliar. There are doors blended into the undulating landscape that people move through, their clothes are like a body suit of some curious material. There are no cars and there seems to be some transport system that moves people along narrow corridors between the curious vegetation. Where is the next keyhole, by now I have worked it out, these keyhole time shifts are logarithmic, the next one will take me 10,000 years ahead and then 100,000 years.

My mind is racing, there is so much excitement, will there still be people? Is it possible that all the resources of the earth will have been consumed? I dive through the next keyhole and stand up in anticipation. 10,000 years on. Is it really 13111, 10 millennia! I reel with what I see, little beings are they really Homo sapiens or has the world been overtaken by aliens, it is early in the morning, the sun is rising and the sky is clear. These people, I call them people even though I am not sure, all seem to be basking in the sunlight. Are they naked? They are a strange light green colour. Are they selectively absorbing light from only the red and blue bands of the spectrum.

The day progresses and the "people" disappear. As they disappear I notice their colour has changed and they are a more appealing light tan colour. Have they donned a body suit? The sky has become overcast, heavily overcast and it rains, not heavy rain but enough that everything is wetted and some water is running to drains. I notice a slight hum and realise that pumps have started and the runoff water is being pumped, there is a huge reservoir at the top of every undulation. There is neatly arranged cultivation but I cannot see any bovine or ovine like creatures. Could it be that meat is no longer consumed.

Late in the afternoon the sky has cleared and the "people" emerge, they are green, sort of darkish green much darker than in the morning. Again they seem to bask in the late afternoon sunlight.

By now I have found another keyhole, dare I venture through it? Do I have the courage or the interpretive ability to subject myself to such a time shift? It is now 113111 (AD that is) or so I assume. I look around me and don't recognise anything. There is obviously some form a life, the landscape is barren or is it just that everything is covered? Suddenly I feel I am sinking being swallowed, it is a painless experience. Is this the end for me? I seem to have lost consciousness, I am not sure what has happened to time. I am in a new environment, totally enclosed, there are beings here moving around going about some type of business, communicating. Everything seems so unstructured yet highly structured. I look at the structural items, do I recall what carbon fibre looks like? Yes everything that is not living is made from carbon fibre. While I can breathe and am not physically distressed at all, the atmosphere it has a strangeness about it.

I must try and communicate with these beings, they do not seem to have noticed me. I approach one and speak. The being is startled but just stands there for what seems a long time, it is not obvious that it sees me as I cannot make out any eyes, it obviously heard me. And then a series of sounds which I assume is speech but cannot decipher any of it. I decide to reiterate my initial attempt at communication and say "hello, I seem to have been on a journey through time and I do not know where I am can you help me." This time I get a much faster response and some recognisable language.

"You appear human, your speech is language from many millennium ago, how is it that you are here?" I am excited or is it afraid and rattle off a quick description of what I have been through. My friendly being responds by first saying " you must speak slowly and form your words completely as I have to process each word and review the sentence to understand what you say" "now tell me, what is the date of your birth, it is best for me if you can give it to me in the Sexagesimal form. I will then be able to set my references to better understand you"

I am confused, I have never heard of "Sexagesimal" so I say "I was born in Australia in 1944 AD". A pause and then "are you Homo sapiens?" This makes sense to me as I perceive that my friendly being is not. "Yes homo sapiens, I am actually of the Caucasian variety". My friendly alien, or is it a robot, now responds "Oh Caucasian then you will be referring to the Christian calendar" and pauses "You see the Sexagesimal calendar was adopted about the year 11000 AD in the Christian calendar. At that time the date became zero and days were the relevant measure. After the major crisis that beset the earth on 498 765 and the resettlement completed we adopted the Yerm Lunar calendar and it is now 63.53 Kilo Yerm"

I look at the entity in front of me, it has created more questions than answers. I have no idea of the elapsed time and I am concerned about the strangeness of the atmosphere. While thinking of what to say next "Enty", that's what I will call it, calmly says "Your well being concerns me, you should move to a shielded location, you cannot remain exposed to our energy source being transmitted through the atmosphere" and directs that I should follow.

"Sexagesimal calendar", "major crisis" "resettlement" "Yerm Lunar calendar" entities that are clearly not Homo sapiens, an atmosphere completely enclosed and so highly charged that I would not survive. The enclosure is of an osmotic material that allowed me in. Can I get out and continue my journey? I cannot see a keyhole anywhere.

Lindsay Threadgate March 2011