A Future Unknown by Jc Fairchild

Jc Fairchild

“I believe in some years’ time, Mars civilians will be ahead of Terrans, and we as Mars will show the other world who runs the universe.” Doctor James Adams said as he clicked his lips into a twisted white smile, as his pale white knuckles came together in a clapping motion before tugging on his brown suit collar in a downward motion.

“Dr. Adams, do you care to make a statement about the line of C-142046? Are the rumors true?” The short yellow haired reporter asked, shoving a mic into his boney face.

Doctor Adams all but closed his mouth, letting out a low laugh that never left the corners of his lips, before leaning into the mic and lowering his gaze into the camera.

“There is nothing to worry about here folks. Mars is what we said it would be. Just. As. Planned.” He spoke into the scratchy mic slowly, before the television screen sizzled to black, leaving his blue cold lake eyes to protrude through the screen.

“Everything just as planned, yeah right . . .,” Sanders grumbled, as he plunged a screwdriver into his neck and unhooked the hinge from the flashing blue translator in his torn skin . A patch of skin and the blue chip fell to the floor, before a huge, stained sneaker slammed against it. Yellow sparks flew upwards, before he slid it across the room under a bolted down chair. Blood dribbled down onto his orange gloves, as his pink haired cousin, Parker, cowered in between the blue buckets in the janitor’s closet. Err... A scrappy sound flew by, as Sanders’s death gripped the tool’s red handle, hitching his breath.

“Never getting another one of those .” Sanders scoffed, as he plugged his neck with pieces of decayed sponge that he found on a metal shelf, filled with nothing else but spare screws, nuts, and a dented cardboard box. It held nothing inside except white trash bags.

“Ehh...” His cousin slipped his head below his green jacket and nestled in deeper, until only a strand of pink hung out like a stray piece of cotton candy someone dropped at the fairgrounds. Taking in a hard breath, Sanders’s

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eyes wandered to the heavy door, before craning his head back to his cousin .

“Be quiet...” He whisper-yelled, his hands curling into his palms .

“How are you fine with this?!” His cousin snapped his blue eyes out from under his coat .

Sanders pushed a stray red finger to his lips. It wasn’t as though fear wasn’t there, oh it was. It was drumming up his spine, knot by knot, and into his core making him bite deep into his cheek. But as he learned growing up, in any situation there needed to be strength .

Err… the strange sound whined again. He quickly plucked his cousin up by his collar, a bloody handprint staining into the fabric .

“We need to move . Grab something .” He said quietly, and before his cousin could interrupt, he dragged him to the door with a military grade bucket and they stood there, each breath matching in the silence right after each other’s.

What seemed like mere seconds and flashes, ten minutes passed before the noise disappeared again behind the big metal door . Whatever laid behind it route wise was tricky. Layouts weren’t really Sander’s thing, but it had to be. Without hesitation, Sanders flung open the door and the dazzling embers trickled to the ceiling. The dark halls swung and flickered like an old camera effect, as he scanned the vicinity. Broken lights swung above from the second floor, leaving only fuzzy yellow lights, which made their stomach’s churn. Blue popcorn machines raided the night with small orange flames and black smoke, twisting into his lungs as his back tensed. The black and rainbow carpet ripped at the seams from wheel markings, and his cousin gulped beside him .

“Look, the exit!” His cousin whispered triumphantly into his cousin’s ear. Across the way, red letters spelled out exit, sparking hope from this disaster .

Suddenly on cue, a fast blue object whirled around the corner, and started waving its metal arms into the air, as its glass eyes turned to black numbers . Dialing back from 9, like the click of a half-functioning watch that didn’t work right and unoiled gears, it raced towards them. Immediately, a strong woman’s voice interrupted the screechy wheels and declared into the smoky air- “Welcome to the Dynasty Theater-where all guests have an experience that changes their life”.

The thing was small, but as it swirled and swerved towards them, it picked up speed while knocking over big purple box smart tv’s, leaving black fabric to fly up into the air. The low hum of “Modern Love” echoed throughout the halls of the theatre . CRASH! All of a sudden metal bars slammed down onto each door of “Scream 9”, “ Halloween: A Retelling”, and “Ring 6.0”. Parker’s eyes dimmed, as little black cage doors swung open from their tiny hinges, a loud buzzer going off above them. Quickly swarms of blue marched out of the gates, all eyes turning to digits and landing on them . “Go! Go!” Sanders roared, but Parker was already ahead, as the overhead yellow lights swung and fritzed, leaving his hair to turn red . As their feet pounded against the uneven carpet, bulbs cracked open like lightning as they sprinted under each set of lights- causing darkness to slowly consume the building. Sanders squinted his eyes, while zooming through consuming spotted darkness . His left sneaker pulled apart at the strand of the lace that came loose, leaving his mind to hope he didn’t trip. Zipping past the holograms, the volume suddenly skyrocketed, making their ears feel as though they were about to bleed.

“But I try, I try/There’s no sign of life/It’s just the power to charm” The hologram swung in purple squares in swift motions, seeming as though he was levitating. The curve of his smile felt insulting to Sanders as the volume shook the walls.

“I’m lying in the rain/But I never wave… bye… bye” The last bits of the chorus bounded off the walls, glitching as his mouth popped to the side .

“Welcome to Dynasty Theater! Where all guests have an experience that changes their life!” A blue haired man in a yellow suit smiled dandy, before his blue eyebrows rested down into purple squares and a part of his face glitched. It looked as though his jaw dislocated and fell off, leaving him to be half of what he was originally as an announcer. Glass streamed down from the ceiling, blackness teared at the walls, as pictures of past customers fell down and shattered. In the on growing darkness, a new light flashed out of nowhere, leaving Sanders to swing an arm around Parker and shoved him in the opposite direction, through the old tape rooms- both now bounding towards the red grooved ladder on the wall that was too high for both of them. Colorful shapes and lines in the walls of old retro patterns cracked through blue screens like old chalk. Pentax 9946’s stood on their tall silver legs, more photos laid shattered, and past celebrities danced on a screen, moving around like they were stuck

in time. Sanders could have sworn he saw snakes slither out from a man’s black coat, black streaming down the screen like paint speckles . Another letterman jacket, a mob of yellow leather, and pencil sketching appeared on the now-shaking screen. The men continued to sing in a chorus of confused gibberish, leaving their faces to turn to black paint streaks .

“You go first... hurry!” Sanders exclaimed, before bending down and cupping his padded hands together to heave him up . His green hair fell down over his eyes, as he stared at the plugs on the floor.

“Welcome to the Dynasty Theater-where all guests have an experience that changes their life .” Hundreds of humanoid voices soared through the music . His hands laid empty. “What are you waiting for?!” Sanders screamed, throwing his head up to look at him, as his mop of green hair came up with him.

Parker’s blue eyes looked down at him keenly and in the brief second of what mess it was, the past fear that was there morphed into something different. It was like something came out of hiding for so long, and decided it was time to say hello. The bubble gum haired boy stamped his foot in between his hands and swung onto the ladder and leaned his veiny hand down for Sanders and pulled him up with this forgotten strength. In what seemed like someone took a broken flashlight and smashed their lights into four different directions, their vision was filled of blue squares with glassy cracked now glowing eyes. Numbered but each bot came decorated in costumes and swam into the room like a swarm of bees. One was covered in black stripes, while another looked like a robotic animal.

The cold bars came swiftly to both of them as they fled upstairs. Sanders quietly cursed himself out, as blood trickled from his neck . His chest ached and the movie images that they had seen previously flashed throughout his head of the silent killer . It just had to be a technology movie. The second floor grew narrow as they passed by white railing bars, scanning for some place to go . Some sort of escape . The metal bots bobbled under them swiftly, too quick now to even see the whole thing as they extended their wheels upwards and tried to fling up to the next floor. Swimming over the edge like ravenous animals, it looked like a swimming pool of technology.

“Welcome to the Dynasty Theater-where all guests have an experience that changes their life .” The voice shot up behind Sanders . Without a second to spare, a flash of pink ran in front of Sanders, and a blue painted box bolted back into the crowd. Peering over again as he ran, a wave of glaring white eyes now looked down at the ground as one blue metal body laid neglected on the floor, with its chest compartment dented, with bucket fragments embedded inside .

“Look!” Parker shouted, sharply pointing his index finger at an open door before another bot came over the railing side .

Swiftly, Sanders plunged his screwdriver into its chest, causing it to fall back to the ground like the one before . BAM! Both teens slammed into each other suddenly, collapsing and rolling down a scratchy slope before a loud WHOOSH! took over their ears . Poking his head up, Sanders saw the outline of the door, the room giving some light from keypads . The outer hall banged like a gunshot, letting the dark know it would win from where it came. Multiple black numbers on white like power balls pierced through the doorway like deer eyes and CLICK! Their eyes blinked and decreased to 8 . Rushing to their feet, Parker punched his fist into the number pad, leaving it to crack down the middle. Iron arms banged against the walls outside, as Sanders glanced at the glass . “ADO1 Certified”. Sanders felt himself laugh a little. ADO1 Certified never broke, no matter heat or smashing .

“What is this place?” Both of them wondered while glancing at each other, without saying anything . TV screens and computer monitors were everywhere. Every shelf had a grey screen. If it didn’t, there were black boxes that were screwed into the walls. Both teens walked in silence with red faces down the yellow taped stairs to an open black circle grated floor, before FLOOSH! Another door flew shut behind them . A large screen took over half of the one wall, but other than that, there was nothing else to exist in that room. That is, until…

“Do you find them evil yet?” a garbled voice pushed out from the circular ground beneath .

“I don’t...?” Parker replied, while pushing his heart back up from his stomach in between breaths, as the metal grate whined below him.

Below Sander’s white Adidas sneakers, speckled with black dust, popcorn butter, and shards of blue metal, flashed another set of white glossy eyes with another message in mind. But as Sanders looked closer, it was bigger. Much bigger. Wiggling its metal finger through the gray slots like a huge bug towards something, he jumped . Stale air began to close in around them as both teens kicked up their feet and leaped across the room, leaning up against the grey walls. Peering down, their eyes spotted a fraying black belt strung across a latch on the grate in some lame attempt to keep whatever it was in, but not for long. Both boys looked at each other, one shrugging in frustration as the room lacked everything and anything else to try and use .

“We’re all nothing but a number, yes?” A different voice asked again- only this time it sounded like an old news reporter. The cracked white glossy eyes made of little grids and metal rounded teeth creaked in an up and down slow motion as it stared at them. The grate wiggled up and down, wailing against age, the belt tugging and budging from all directions. Suddenly the metal fingers stopped, and the air grew still.

“I said, we’re all nothing but a number, yes?” The first voice asked, staring at them with regular black circles for eyes, now filled with something different. Neither could put a finger on it.

“I wouldn’t say?” Sanders gritted his teeth.

“Why are we answering questions from something that tried to kill us, look out from where we just came.” Parker cocked his head towards the closed door, his eyes looking like a draining lake. The air grew stiffer, and the thing below now said nothing. Minutes passed before the deep voice cut through the room .

“Will you remember this?” It asked, pushing against the grate again, each metal finger poking the grate again, but this time it was one at a time with fascination.

Both boys looked at each other in shock .

“Well yeah!” Parker yelled, the tips of his hair standing on edge .

“Congratulations boys... You played well…like I said. just. as. planned” a new and now familiar voice pierced from the slots below them, until SNAP, the leather of the frayed belt cut in two and the vision of a day out cut short and drew to blankness .

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