Zeitgeist: A Historical Mind Screw in Space

Space. A black, endless void. Full of possibilities, but by the same token, there is nothing emptier. Civilizations, entire galaxies of life, destroyed and created every second. But in this single moment, on this one page in the giant book that is the universe, a story is beginning. The players are ready and the curtain is drawn.

A large majestic space station of white and black floats effortlessly through the void, like a ghost. Along the side of the vessel it wears its name proudly. The Zeitgeist. Spirit of the times. There was never a name more fitting.

Not a creature is stirring within this ship. None living anyway. Halls and halls of unused technology, gathering no dust. Entire, lit corridors going unseen, but still somehow being cleaning daily. A small, somewhat adorable droid, somewhat egg-like, with a large pink mechanical lens for an eye does basic and unimportant menial tasks on this shuttle, and has done that for as long as it can remember.

This A.I. floats into a room, even if it doesn't need to, as it has vision on every single room on the station through its computer, but it still took some joy out of being as physical as possible. And this room was special. Rows and rows, probably a mile long of pods, cryogenic chambers big enough for a human each. Except that each and every one of these hundreds of pods were empty. Except for just a few, at the very very end of the hall.

In this tubes, each slept a young human. And these humans were extremely special, more than they might ever know. Each of them was from a different era of human history on Earth, and you could tell just from looking at them. They were each wearing exactly what they were wearing when they were last in their time, down to accessories. The A.I. removed each of them from their chambers, carefully having them sanitized and transported to a large room of rest on the ship, each in their own bed.

This room was meant to be made as comfortable as possible for the group. Quiet, soft colors, and no intimidating lights or technology. And no windows. They didn't need to know that they were in space as soon as they woke up. The shock might have killed them. In each of their ears was implanted a tiny universal translator, allowing them to understand anything in each of their languages, but things like voice, tone, accent and idioms would of course not carry over.

Finally, the A.I. used a tiny beep that would be designed to carefully and calm them wake them all from their sleep, at once.

Spencer Black woke up in his bed, groaning softly. His vision was blurry, but he saw the white of his sheets, and other figures in their own beds. Did he get knocked out? Was he in the nurse's office or something?

Spenser was a tall, muscular high school senior. Very handsome, but his face was too child-like and innocent. He looked too easy to manipulate. He lifted up his body, and felt woozy, looking around the room at the other figures there for any response from them.

Jorje Martin woke up, and immediately felt uncomfortable. He frowned and stared up at the ceiling. Not his. Everything was too brightly lit, and that ceiling was way too far away for home. He remained still; he could have been snatched. He'd heard that happening to kids his age, boys who'd make good toys when well-groomed.

Jorje slowly reached up and touched his hair, feeling individual black strands. That was wrong too; normally the grease and dirt in his hair made his hair into a single solid mass. There wasn't any grease or dirt or soot anywhere else on his body, either. He squirmed, feeling how sensitive his skin was without a layer of protection. Ugh.

Everything he could see from his bed was too soft, too comfortable, and it all fit together into a perfect picture, a perfect assemblage that confirmed his suspicion of kidnapping formed into a spike of alarm down his spine. But, Jorje knew that that alarm just meant he was alive, and that he shouldn't panic. So Jorje just sat up, slowly and mechanically, flicking his eyes around at everyone else there. He waved, but didn't say anything; who knew who could be listening?

The young Irishwoman awoke slowly. A glint of silver as a mechanical arm reached upwards. Elena was slowly becoming aware of her surroundings.

Like. Hell.

She hadn't even opened her eyes yet, she wasn't even aware of where she was yet, and the mechanical arm quickly gripped at the sheets and pulled them tighter around the body of the still tired Elena. Upon waking, her mind had resorted to her basest instincts.

"Five more minutes, mum."

"Hmmm... hmmg... What the..." Fei rolled a little in her bed, sleep slowly fleeing from her as she found herself in unfamiliar circumstances. She was resting on something soft, covered in something soft... She felt so very clean as if she had just left a bath.

In a single, motion she sat up on her bed, and with half open eyes due to sleepiness she looked around her... noticing the strange room... and even stranger children all around her "Where am I...?"

Shiro awoke somewhat groggily and took a brief look around the room with his good eye. It didn't take long for the young man to realize that he wasn't in the same location he'd fallen asleep in, mainly because he was indoors and on a bed. Realizing that he wasn't alone in the room, Shiro put a hand on his katana and growled "Where am I? I demand one of you tell me how I got here!"

"Thank goodness that you all were able to wake up healthily. I'm very glad."

They would not be able to see who the voice was coming from. It was the A.I., whose voice was coming from over the intercom.

"I can imagine that you are all very confused. I'm afraid to say there there is a lot that I will have to ease you into. I suppose I should start by saying that you are all safe, and out of harms way."

Spencer looked around, trying to find where the voice was coming from. He stood up from the bed and looked around at the others.

edited 19th Jun '14 11:20:38 PM by Saturn

Jorje looked up at the klaxon, eyeing it warily. He'd seen those in factories all the time, but normally they were yelling abuse, telling everyone to work harder or for him to haul some kid out for a beating. Again, everything was too soft and gentle here and it was more frightening than if he had just woken up chained up in a cellar.

Furthermore, what kind of announcement was that? Great, great, it was—it was just absolutely fucking vital that they knew how their boss felt. Jorje was kidnapped, probably to be sold into some fucked-up sex trade, and their employer was trying to establish some kind of parental bond. No sense trying to escape from a room with one exit and no windows; he'd have to wait for an opportunity, like a keeper coming for him.

Or for one of the other children. He noticed they were... a diverse bunch, for sure. Except for the oriental shouting things and the boy who didn't even have a shirt, they were all better-dressed than him. If they had access, then, to higher-class children, Jorje reasoned, why would they take him? Unless they were all just dressed up.

Only one way to find out. He licked his lips. "Hey." He croaked out, voice growing stronger with each word. "Where are you guys from? Name's Jorje. From Great Britain. We can help each other out here, but we should start some communication for it first. Introductions. Then we can get oriented."

Jorje realized he was at a crossroads. He could either tell them exactly what he intended, in full earshot of their kidnapper, as an initial act of rebellion, or he could play it cool. Rebelling early would establish him as a powerful authority among his fellow inmates, but playing it cool would keep him under the radar from their detainer.

"Want to know my new inmates."

"Excuse me, but you are not prisone—"

"I'm from America. Los Angelos." Spencer interrupted the A.I., walking over to Jorge and giving his hand a firm shake. "...I don't know what's going on, but I don't like it."

Jacqueline groaned as she awoke, hand on her head and brushing through her hair, and was shocked to feel how smooth and silky it once again was. Last time she went to sleep she had to do the undignified thing and sleep in a barn, so logically she'd be one with the hay now.

Then she jolted up with a sense of dreading terror, had she been captured?! But they had washed her, why? And why was she not in a cell, sure, this place looked like one, but too bright and... Not-gloomy to be one, not to mention there being other kids there with her that definitely did not look like nobles.

The young French womans thoughts were interrupted however by a voice coming out of nowhere. That quite understandably surprised Jacqueline quite a lot. Then one of the boys, a quite handsome lad in her eyes, someone she might have charmed were the situation different, rose up and said that he was from Great Britain, and the other is from America, well, there went those fantasies.

She remained silent for now. The revolutionaries had started wearing weird things last she checked and some other of these, definitely strange, individuals might be in league with them.

edited 20th Jun '14 1:14:51 AM by Clawthewolf

Shiro wasn't sure what to make of the A.I.'s voice, other than figuring that it was likely in charge of whatever prison he had been thrust into. Seeing as most of the other people in the room seemed harmless, Shiro dropped his guard and said "I am from Japan myself, near Edo." After a brief pause, Shiro scornfully said "We can chat later, for now I propose we figure out what the hell is going on here."

The AI's voice started talking, then other people started talking. Alarms started to go off in Elena's head. She rose slowly as she looked around the crisp, clean room. Unlike the others, she was no stranger to being this clean. But it was a bit odd... She had no idea where she was. And while it wasn't odd that she was so clean, her arm had already gone through a morning cleaning, which means somebody obviously knew how to work with it.

She noticed the oddly dressed people around her, and responded quite reasonably one might think. "What is this? A cosplay contest?"

"Yeah...I noticed it too." Spenser and Elena were the only ones dressed pretty similarly. He looked around at the others. "They all look like they're going to a costume contest."

"....I admit that I am hesitant about how to approach this next. There are several things I have to reveal to all of you, all of them potentially shocking, and I don't want to alarm anyway too quickly. I have to tell you where you are, and who I am. Which would you like to hear first?"

Rudolph had no idea where he was. None of these people looked like the German Master Race, they were too varied, and it scared him to be among strangers for the first time in so long. "Excuse me..." He opened his mouth and then closed it in shock, the words out of his mouth were not those of his father land.

Just what was going on? He sat back away from the rest of the group, near Jacqueline. "What is going on?" He asked her tentatively, wary of the voice.

Jacqueline frowned as she looked at the one speaking to her, she didrecognize that accent though. "I do not know german... Shirtless... Boy." She said before turning back to the speaker "First of all, what are you to be able to communicate through such a thing! Answer me or I might not report you for witchcraft and Satan worshipping!"

Jorje quickly swiveled around to point at the noblewoman. "That's getting us nowhere, frog. We'll deal with why we can understand eachother later." He turned to the intercom. The intercom needed to keep him as a low-level threat... so he couldn't ask why, much as he'd want to.

"Going to take the initiative here and ask who you are."

A small drone floated up from a port in the middle of the room, with one big pink mechanical eye.

"My name is Charlotte. I'm an artificial intelligence. Only some of you will know what that means...Basically, I'm a machine, with the ability to think and speak like a human. I was built by very smart people who understand how machines work. I have feelings, emotions and desires just like all of you. There is no one else here but me."

She floated around the group as she spoke.

edited 20th Jun '14 12:31:21 PM by Saturn

Elena dropped everything when she saw the AI. She leaped out of bed and quickly crossed to where it was. "Oh. You. Are. BEAUTIFUL." She started to look at it from various angles, checking closely to see if she could figure out any minute details. "Hmm... Let's see..." The Irish girl was quite frankly ecstatic.

"W-What am I doing here? And why are they all here? And... a machine that thinks? How can that even be possible? What kind of spirit possessed the object?" asks Fei, clearly quite confused as she puts her feet under her on the bed, ready to spring into action in this strange situation.

"Hey! None of that! Nothing is accomplished when you freak out like that, so stop." Jorje snapped at the girl, making a chopping motion at her. "Look, the chink—Chinese haven't caught the whole industry thing yet, but it sounds plausible. It's like... it sounds like a really advanced abacus." Jorje stood up out of bed. "Machines already just exist to do something humans already do on a higher scale. Why wouldn't that be the same for thinking? I'll buy it." He turned back to that klaxon thing. "What was the other question? You should just let us know everything you can tell us."

Jorje again considered his stance here... perhaps a little defiance would work out for him. "And lies by omission are still lies. Don't leave anything out, because if you value our trust at all you'd never do anything like that. Looking around at us, I don't think any of us are in years tender enough to make you need to censor anything either. I'd consider that a lie by omission too. However, we of course also understand that you need to protect yourself from breaking rules, so it's totally fine if a rule keeps you from telling us something."

"If I could blush, I would." Charlotte floated around Elena, enjoying the compliments. She then turned to the others. She floated over to Fei. "I'm sorry if I'm making you uncomfortable, dear. Very well, I will tell you everything I know."

Charlotte turned to the blank wall far behind the group, and a large panel slowly lowered, whizzing quietly as it revealed a window, showing the utter darkness of space.

"You are not on Earth. As far as my systems can tell, we are currently in an uncharted region of space. That is to say, we are outside of Earth's atmosphere, not on any planet or moon. This may be very difficult for some of you to comprehend. The next part will be even harder. Each of you have you unique and special cultures and regions that you come from. Fei, you are from around 700 AD, in China, and Elena, you are from much farther in the future. The year 2115. You lived in Ireland. Well, I'm sad to say that none of you are no longer in the time you once knew. You have all been asleep for a very long time. The year is currently 4263 AD."

"Well then." Jorje stared blankly into the middle distance. "Let's—let's throw aside the year, for now. It's only going to give us grief if we think about that. Mostly because I'm pretty sure she's lying, about all of that." Jorje smiled faintly. "Or the machine was designed to believe a lie. Going to be charitable here and believe the second one. Don't know about the rest of you, willing to cooperate with whatever you'll have me do." He nodded encouragingly at the rest of the kids in the room. If he'd been snatched, he'd just have to go along with whatever crazy was controlling that machine and wait for the authorities to arrive.

"4263? Even I find that hard to believe." Elena said as she plopped back down on her bed. "I may be from a time with advanced A.I.s and such, but time travel is too much. But then again..." She looked at the people around her and their odd outfits. "Some of you people do look like either they're from the past, or like I had thought, going to a costume contest. However as confused as some of you are? Though I doubt the second is the case."

"Hmmg... just... what the hell... what's with all this nonsense? I'm from the Middle Kingdom, I'm not from the year 700 hundred, I was born in the first year Xiantian and right now it's meant to be Kaiyuan 15. Year 4263...? What's that? That sounds like a headache, who could anyone but a Sage or God live so long?" says Fei, getting lightly agitated despite Charlotte's and Jorje's attempts to calm her down.

"I got lessons... I have to go back with the Master. Today is poetry lessons and I love those. I cannot miss them, they are my only chance to rise forward"

"If you're telling the truth, and you're telling the truth..." Jorje crossed his arms and pointed at both the AI and the chinese girl. "Fairly certain you are, then at some point China's calendar becomes obsolete and we all use the kind Europeans use, with it being centered at 0AD, Anno Domini. So you are..." He glanced sidelong at the contraption and made massive airquotes. "From 700 years after Jesus Christ's birth. Something happened and..." Jorje decided to probe a little, test how far he'd be allowed to go. "We were kidnapped and taken to a point 4200-something years after Christ's death. Or that is, at least, what the machine believes to be true."

"Who in the Emperor's name is Yi Su and what did he do to live and rule long enough that the years up to 4000 are counted by his era's name?" Asks Fei for a moment... before shaking her head and simply saying "Hmmg... nevermind what are we doing here then?"