Region IX

The walls were stark white, in contrast to the sterile appearance of the metal table and chairs. The coldness of the furnishings, echoed in the actual temperature of the room. It was sweltering.

As he tugged nervously at the collar of his sweat soaked shirt, the man wondered how long they would keep him here. Glancing at his watch, he noticed that already he had been detained well beyond what he knew to be the maximum amount of time they could hold one without actually charging them. He knew this, because he had taken the bar exam twice. Of course, he had also failed it twice, but he didn’t feel that this fact had any bearing whatsoever on his present situation.

They thought he was crazy. He knew it. All he had done was simply tell them the truth, which was exactly what they had asked for, and here he was being wrongly held against his will for it. It was all wrong. The whole thing. But, he also knew it was no use. No matter what happened now, he would be branded a lunatic, possibly put “Away”. Away was a frightening place. He knew that. It was a place to put people to forget . H. His own sister had been put “Away” when she was younger. Well, he certainly wouldn’t let them get away with that! He wanted, more than anything, to retract the information he had given. To forget what he knew. To tell them that he was just “under a lot of stress at work”. But, he had been there. He had seen those things. He was not crazy!

Through the rectangular two-way mirror, three men watched him. He was so nervous he looked like he might just come right out of his skin if you breathed too loud. His bright blue eyes twitched and shifted uneasily in the bright light of the small room. There was something strangely desperate, but not exactly dishonest about his demeanor. One of the men, the tallest and oldest of the three had a thought,

“What if he’s telling the truth?”

The two men stared at him. Silence for a brief moment, then,

“You’re joking? Look at him, this guy is just a few grapes shy of a fruit salad. k, Sk, Sixie, I’m as open to suggestion as the next guy, but…this is silly. No one believes in that silly alien theory. Even the government completely denies any involvement with any other galaxies. There’s the three and that’s it.”

The badge pinned to the second man’s lapel read ‘51698’. Both men looked at the third, as though looking for approval or any other ideas. He simply shrugged his shoulders. His badge was marked ‘99087’.
The first man’s badge read ‘66516’. With a deep sigh, he began again,

“But, think about it, Five. Someone must have had a reason to mention searching for the other two galaxies. Otherwise, there would still just be the one, and the alliance would not even exist. Why don’t we just talk to him again. Now that he’s had a chance to cool down a bit, and have some coffee.”

Five groaned, took a deep breath, then doggedly nodded his head in agreement. The three men made their way back through the door into the hallway, turned and opening the door leading into the rore-ere-entered the interrogation room.

“Alright, 78751. Let’s start once more from the beginning. Tell us everything, from start to finish, without interruption, so that we can accurately detail our notes, therefore making a clean report for investigation.”

Five, Six and 99087 each sank into a chair around the table. 78751’s face looked haggard, as though he had aged a decade or more in the few hours he’d been in custody. He breathed a deep sigh, then turning his gaze up to face the men, he began once more, the story which had and would continue to change his life, forever.

“I was working late. My boss had a big case, so I was researching some background info on a client. The computer was acting up, and I had a raging headache. I must have just dozed off for a moment, because I was jolted from sleep by a huge thunder clap. It had started storming. I could see it was raining cats and dogs, but the power was still on, so I decided to take advantage. The cleaning crew had gone for the night. I was completely alone in the office. Like I said, the computer was acting up. It kept flickering, then it went completely blank for about…oh, I don’t know, a minute or so. I thought it must have just shut itself down or something, until…I got…the message.”

Five rolled his eyes and looked pointedly over at Sixie, as if to say, This guy’s a nutjob! Sixie shook his head slightly and nodded mutely toward 78751, to continue.

“It was just one word. It said, ‘Hi.’ I was stunned. The computer appeared to be communicating with me. I was too afraid to respond to it, but it said again, ‘Hi.’ Then, ‘Are you there?’ I looked around me, maybe it was a joke. But, none of the computers in the office are connected to the internet. My boss thinks it’s a lazy way to work. So, no one is connected. They are all essentially dumb terminals. Finally, frightened, but intrigued, I typed back. I just said, ‘Greetings. I am here.’ They responded, ‘Nice to meet you. I am Timothy.’ This was just too weird. “Timothy”? What kind of a name is that? I asked what manner of name this was. replreplied, ‘It’s a boy’s name. What is your name?’ I gave my name, and it replied the same way I did, ‘78751? What kind of name is that?’ It then asked if that was my phone number. I replied that it was not, phone numbers are much shorter. Then, it asked where I was from. I told it that I was currently situated in Region IX of the first quadrant in the big city. It asked me, again, where that was. And, I just didn’t know exactly what response it was looking for, so I just didn’t answer.

After a few moments of silence, it suggested that we exchange information, just to get a better idea of who we were talking to. I said I thought that would be fine. This is the information I received: My name is Timothy, I am a ten year old boy from Boston. My parents are divorced and I live with my mom and my older brother, Brandon. I go to St. Anthony’s Academy, where I am in the fourth grade. I live in an old house, mom calls it Historical Victorian…but there’s just a lot of old stuff in the attic.

I was a little baffled, frankly. I had never heard of ‘Boston’, or ‘Victorian houses’. And his name was so strange…so foreign. But, keeping the deal, I delivered my information likewise. This prompted all kinds of questions from my young friend, Timothy. He had never heard of Region IX, aidn’idn’t understand why my name was a number. I told him I didn’t understand why or how his name wasn’t. It was getting more and more bizarre by the moment. But things really got strange when I asked him what a ‘divorce’ was.

He said, ‘Did you say you are 40?’ I confirmed that. He replied, ‘…and you don’t know what a divorce is? Have you ever been married?’ When I asked him what that was, it was very quiet for several moments. His next question was even more puzzling, ‘Are you retarded or something?’ I told him that I was not slow, if that was what he meant. We were, apparently, both quite stu. H. He asked me what is the capital of my state. I said, my state of what? But, apparently, where he is there are provincial territories that are referred to as ‘States’ and there are 50 of them, all united together. They are, in fact, called ‘The United States’. This was news to me.

Then, the power blinked off and back on again, and he was gone. I was still quite confused and not thinking clearly, obviously, so I decided to call it a night and head home. I went straight home, and to bed. When I awoke the next morning, my phone was ringing. It was my partner, 325. She’s been visiting her mother for the last few days in the third quadrant of Region IV. She was calling to confirm that I would be at the transport station to pick her up that evening. I confirmed this. Later that afternoon, I discovered that I needed to finish up some work at the office. So, I took the second hour Transport A all the way in, and left the car at home.

I had only been working a short while, when my screen went completely black again. I waited for a moment, then again, I got ‘Hello?’ I answered, ‘Greetings, Timothy. How are things this day in “Bos-ton”?’ (I figured I would play along.) However, it was not Timothy on the other end this time. It was his brother, Brandon. With these strange names, I, jokingly asked him if his father and mother were P.E. He had no idea what that was. I chided him playfully, ‘You know…PE…Pre-Event?’ He asked what event. I was getting annoyed, but I answered, ‘The joining of the three. The alliance? Come on, this happened years ago, you can’t be that young.’ He told me he was seventeen years old, would graduate from his school in a few months, and had never heard of any ‘alliance’, or ‘joining of the three’. He said, ‘Joining of the three what?’
At this point, I decided to just play along and give him another little history lesson. So, I replied, ‘Okay. About thirty years ago, the two closest planets to us offered an alliance. Our natural resources are more plentiful, and their industrial systems were better developed and more productive than ours. So, in order to create more energy with less cost out of pocket to commanding sectors, we forged an alliance. Thus began the joining of the three. After almost thirty years, we are fully integrated. They agreed to adopt our way of life, and to be rule our our governing process. Before joining with us, they were plagued with unknown diseases and famines. Their population dwindled so that it was a wonder there was anyone left to qualify.”

The boy was silent for a long moment. Then he said, ‘Tell me a bit about the climate where you are.’ I told him, the climate is the same everywhere-bright, warm, and sunny. He told me it was raining in Bos-ton! Raining! It’s not time for the rain yet. I reminded him that it was nst nst The Proclamation to waste irrigation water. Again, he didn’t know anything about a ‘Proclamation’. Even the youngest pre-qualifying students know about The Proclamation. Right? He asked me if I was allowed to download files onto my computer at work. I said that I could if I was connected to the internet. He wondered aloud that I must be connected to the internet, or else how could we be talking? I agreed, reluctantly, and he proceeded to upload a file to me. It worked! I reed ted the file and opened it.

I didn’t know what I was looking at. It appeared to be some sort of primitive township or city somewhere. But, it didn’t look like anything I’d ever seen in the archives of the Regional Council. There were large, block-like structures everywhere on the ground. Some of them stretched high up into the sky, but all were rooted to the ground. There seemed to be a thick, smoky look to the air surrounding it. And, here and there, were trees! Trees…actually growing in the middle of the populated area. There were very primitive transports above the structures, with wings, some with propellers. There were cars on the streets, but all of the roadways were rooted to the ground. It looked impossible to navigate. Cars didn’t appear to be able to travel any way except forward and backward.

I asked Brandon what I was seeing. Maybe it was a picture from a very long time ago, on one of the other planets. He said he had just taken it while standing at his window, with a webcam! Then, he asked me what I look like. I told him I stand about six feet tall, I have blonde hair and brown eyes. I asked what he looks like. He is five feet nine inches tall, with brown hair gre green eyes. He asked me what year it is. I told him it is the year of the Council Seventeen hundred and seventy-six. He was astounded. He replied that on July 4, 1776 there was some sort of declaration made and it was signed, apparently, it’s a pretty big deal. I asked him to explain ‘July’. He said it is the sixth month in the year. I told him that there was no such month. The sixth month of the year, was simply the sixth month. He said where he was, all twelve months of the year have certain names! Twelve in a year! Ridiculous. I informed him that he was mistaken, there are only eight months in a year.”

Five and Sixie glanced at each other, skeptically. They had had enough. This was all nonsense and a waste of time. The one murmured to the other,

“This man is obviously extremely stressed out, or perhaps has spent too much time in the recreation module, if you catch my drift. I think we are going to need to involve the Council. They may advise to send him Away.”
Then, slowly, discreetly sliding his hand under the lip of the table, he pressed the tiny yellow button situated there…and waited.

78751’s eyes were saucers as he observed the two men quietly conversing between themselves. He strained to catch their words, but all was lost. Suddenly, the door opened and two uniformed peace-keepers entered. They stood momentarily just inside the door, positioned for action. Five looked at 78751, shook his head sadly, then nodded at the peace-keepers. They moved forward and caught the frightened man by the wrists, and under his arms, hoisting him to his feet. He immediately began to struggle. He fought with new-found strength, flailing his legs, kicking at the table, screaming,

“WAIT! Wait, please! You have to believe me! I did communicate with these people! I’m telling the truth. There is an intelligently, yet primitively populated planet out there! They call it Earth! It is located in a milky galaxy! Check! Check it out, please! Oh, please, please don’t send me Away! It isn’t fair! H HE HELP!”

Moments later, Five and Sixie had returned to their desks. Five began entering data into his report of the last several hours. Sixie glanced over at him, when heard the man begin to chuckle and shake his head at his screen.

“What?” he asked.

Five sighed a deep sigh, then said,

“Earth. Right…who does he think he is, anyway? Carl Sagan?”