ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Ball has published novels, novellas, short stories, poetry and flash in 55 publications.

He is senior editor and co-founder of Fleas on the Dog.

You can find him at tomballbooks.com.

Future Thrills

     I, Gord, said to Tina, “This safari adventure is horrific and gruesome.” She replied, “Not every World can approach perfection.” We were on a thrill tour of Space. We were on Mars and the safari adventure was full of freak androids who grappled with one another, trying to kill one another. We were both disappointed…

     Then, still on Mars, we went to an amusement park… First, we tried, “Earthquake,” which was a shaking roller coaster. We both had whiplash. Then we tried “Ride for the Blind,” in which everyone had to wear a dark helmet. It was another roller coaster. We both agreed this ride was scary. 

     Then we went on a ride in which our minds were read by the ride master, both of us at the same time. The master asked us with mind reading, “Are you afraid to die?” And we were both given a big headache and severe body pain. I mind read, “Give us mercy.” But the pain continued for a few minutes.

      Then, still at the amusement park, we went to a fortune teller, Madam Jacqueline. She too read our minds. And she told me, “You will be killed soon by a woman.” And she told Tina, “You will fall on hard times and be forced into prostitution.” And she told the two of us, “You two will break up soon over trivial concerns.” And I wanted to kill Madam Jaqueline but held off.

     Next, we bought some cotton candy and had a couple of beers. But then we found ourselves hallucinating. I saw ghosts, all of whom looked like me, only aged to look 20 years older (I was 41). They read my mind and mind read to me, “You will become a ghostly undead being later this year.” And Tina later told me that she saw witches, whose cackling echoed in her ears for hours. Anyway, we both came to our senses lying down next to one another. Hours had passed. And we both felt it had been really scary.

     And now it was night inside the amusement park dome. And we heard wolves howling and it was cold, and we were both shivering… And there were rides going on all around us. Then we came to a disco. They had low gravity here and people were doing acrobatic maneuvers. We joined with them and felt in a much happier mood…

     And we found ourselves talking to a man who told us, “I made some thrilling movies. Would you like to see a couple of them?” We acquiesced and went back to his place. He had a woman there and she exclaimed, “Let’s have a foursome!” So, we took some sex enhancers and went at it for a few hours. The two of them were both very attractive. Then he showed us a movie, “The Underworld,” it was a place where illegal android lovers hid from the police. The androids were very attractive and very energetic. We both expressed our desire to meet such androids!

      Then he showed us, “Sex with Gods and Goddesses,” which was about people like us, loving Superhuman people who were unbelievably good looking. And flying through the air and becoming invisible. And so on. Tina and I both remarked that we would like to meet Superhumans.

     So, then we took our leave of this couple. And I told Tina, “This World was rather thrilling after all. Many people on Earth called Mars, “The Planet of Thrills…” Next, we asked around where could we find the Underground? Finally, we met a man who said he’d take us, but we’d need to be blindfolded on the way there. So, we went down some elevators and stairs, apparently deep below the surface. Then he took the blindfolds off and we saw what appeared to be androids, with glittering eyes, but they were all frozen in temporal statis. Our guide explained that we just needed to kiss them to bring them to life. So, we each picked one we fancied, and they grabbed our hands and led us to respective rooms for loving. We loved them for countless hours. And I wanted to buy my android. But she told me, they couldn’t be bought and couldn’t be seen on the surface. And Tina’s lover said the same thing to her.

       And we were exhausted and wanted to sleep, so we were blindfolded again and brought to a hotel on the surface. When I woke up, Tina was there and she said, she’d acquired some really good sex enhancers, especially for God-like experiences. And again, we asked around where we could find Superhumans? And one woman said, “The Superhumans are the de facto leaders of all Mars, but they don’t usually associate with mere humans.” And we talked with her a while and she finally agreed to take us to the Goddess Aphrodite in the palace in the center of the city. 

      The Goddess was stunningly beautiful and radiated light. And she said, “One day soon, there will be many deities.” And she read our minds and said, “Pay no attention to the fortune teller’s words. I tell you that you are both Superhuman material, if you want to become one!” And the Goddess said, “I’d like to love you both.” Tina said, “I’ve never loved a woman before but have tried to imagine it. Anyway, we could both love Gordon together!” And the Goddess was in our heads during the loving, and it was fantastic love. Better than I’d ever had before. And I mind read to the Goddess, “I’d definitely like to try and become a Superman!” And Tina mind read, “I’d like to be a Superhuman Goddess, too.” And it was a thrill to meet the Goddess.

      And the Goddess invited us to the ball that evening where all 12 of the Martian Deities would be present. At the ball, I found myself talking to a God who said, “Since becoming a God the Universe makes a lot more sense and I am planning to lead an expedition of 50 of our best Martian geniuses to Wolf Star System. Why don’t the two of you join us?” I exclaimed, “First I’d like to get my kicks in the human Worlds and then could join you!” Meanwhile Tina was talking with a God who, “Recommended you get the latest genetic therapy to make yourself into a greater genius.” She said, “I can’t imagine being cleverer than I already am. But one of these days, I’m going to go for it.” And the God said to her, “Genetic therapy has been improving quickly. It’s now totally painless and fast and can easily be permanent.” She said, “Yes, I know, but I am just not ready yet. I want to experience all thrilling human milieus.”

     And Tina asked the God, “What do you do for kicks?” He told her, “Loving women such as you and party with geniuses and also take euphoric drugs and daydream and indulge in hologram Worlds, play advanced video games and so on. And of course, help rule this city, Martian city which was becoming known for its thrills and tourist friendly parties.”

     So, Tina and I took some of the euphoric drugs and felt an overwhelming sense of thrilling ecstasy. It was better than sex, but when taken with sex was even better. I exclaimed, “Now we know why almost all tourists who came here stayed!” And we learned that the Deities here planned a thrilling new Utopia in which everyone got a chance to love a copy of the Deities and a chance to improve one’s mind, more than before. And applications to come here were in the millions, but they only accepted the top 1%, and we were in that elite group!

     And there was a carnival going on. It featured Earth wildlife like elephants and lions, and one could mind read with them and discovered they were all profoundly discontent. And one lion mind read with me that, “They had taken away my self respect and replaced it with drugs that induced calmness.” And he mind read, “I don’t want to be calm!”

      And the carnival featured artists outside the dome, building sandcastles and spraying them with glue, so they would last for a long time. And I reflected that the sandcastles proved sculpture was alive and well. And we got one of these sculptors to make a statue of each of us in bronze along with the hundreds of other statues here. And we put a copy of our brain in each of our respective statues, frozen in time that future people could mind read with and live in our times. It was called, “Living Statues Array.”               

     And another feature of the carnival was more rides. This included a “Death ride,” which was for suicidal people, and many thought it was a good way to go! Another ride, this one we tried was prolonged and featured an imaginary desert and one had to drink one’s own piss in order to stay hydrated. But finally, an oasis appeared, and one was given drugs of ecstasy there. But some didn’t make it and died for real in the desert. I exclaimed to Tina, “This is a dangerous place!” She said, “It’s not thrilling to die.”

     And the carnival featured some clowns. I talked to one of them and he said, “Life’s a joke.” I told him, “We live in dangerous times, and all life is endangered. Surely the glorious gift of life is not a joke?! He said, “Everyone lives for pleasure, but this is empty and meaningless.” I asked him, “But what about transforming ourselves into Gods? Surely that is meaningful?” He said, “I’ll bet these Gods will all be suicidal and will live on the edge of death.” I exclaimed, “I have met some Superhumans, and they are all upbeat about the future and speak of things we can only imagine!” And the clown told me, “It’s all been done, cleverer people won’t find anything new under the Suns. Human existence is wrong!”

     And the carnival also had a magician who amused us with some sleight of hand tricks and at one point disappeared into thin air, and we couldn’t find him anywhere. I told Tina, “We live in an era of magic realism.” And she said, “Life is a fantasy and a dream. And our travels feature a lot of dreams.” And we came to a professional dreamer. He said, “For a small price, I will share with you my most recent thrilling dream.” So, we gave him a couple of gold coins. And he told us that we live in a thrilling hologram Dreamworld in which all the holograms are clever. And he gave us an MRT (Mind Reading Technology) apparatus. And we found ourselves in the head of a hologram genius who said, “One day everyone will be a hologram. And enjoy cerebral sex and new art they create will give them ecstasy.” Tina remarked, “I think holograms are just an illusion.” The hologram told her, “Holograms can exist anywhere, even in empty Space and have been created by the best Superhumans. They represent humanity as it ought to be and are pure and loving.” I said, “The powers that be want to eliminate holograms, but hologram owners insist on having such Worlds.” He said, “I’ll show you one of the more thrilling hologram Worlds.” We were transported to a World of snow and ice and were bundled up in warm clothes and we came to an ice dome. Inside hologram people were skiing gracefully. Some of the skiers approached us and one male said, “Welcome to the sex dome!” And suddenly we each had a number of images in our heads of naked holograms, and they were hypnotizing us to love them, and we both had mind orgasms… But I thought I’d never escape this World. But after what seemed like days we were back where we’d been before, but the carnival was wrapping up. So, we wondered where to go next?

      In the end, we decided to go to Luna for some crazy thrills. Upon arrival in Sex city, we were greeted by a score of people who sang together in a chorus. They sang: you come for thrills/and chills/with no frills/we can cure all that ills you/If only you will join us/and we will charge you no bills/so together get your fills/and try some of our pills/and other thrills. And they went on singing for 20 minutes. Then a handsome man grabbed Tina by the hand and led her away and a gorgeous girl did the same with me. And we Tina and I were separated. My woman took me to a bathhouse where we got naked and loved one another in a sauna. Then she took me to a movie theater where we were the only ones there and we watched “The Thrills of the Wicked Witch,” it was about a sexy witch who had a crowd of naked men dreaming while she was on stage dancing, and I started loving my new woman. Meanwhile Tina loved her man in an air car in orbit of Luna. She later told me, “It was so romantic!”

      And then after several days of steamy sex, Tina and I were together again. And we travelled to Mad Luna city. Many people here under the dome, were gambling on Sport video games with cash in hand. And we met “The Gamesmaster,” who gave us each some cash and gave us a headset which created many channels out in front of us. Each channel featured a different sport. The Gamesmaster explained, “You can judge the teams by how clever they look.” So, I was enjoying a game of water polo and placed a bet with a bookie and my team outfoxed their opponent with better strategy. Tina, meanwhile, who disliked sports found herself engrossed in a women’s 10 000 m swimming race, and picked the cleverest swimmer, but she didn’t win, and she lost her wager. And she was in a foul mood. And she told me let’s go elsewhere.

     So, then we went walking around the city and we presently came upon a place that was called, “The Thrill Hotel,” and the manager welcomed us, saying, “Your coming was foretold. I have a full agenda prepared for the two of you. First, you’ll eat and drink.” And we tasted exquisite unique stem cell meats and the finest champagne, and a violinist played French classics for us…    

     Then the manager appeared again and exclaimed, “Follow me to the World of dreams!” And we followed him through a long hallway and suddenly we were in a dream park with birds singing and then a man came into view and before our eyes, he turned into a bull with red eyes, and we felt that we were in the bull’s head. The bull mind read, “I want to make you love animals!” And a host of animal men appeared. They all had human bodies and animal heads, and we mind read with them too. A crocodile man mind read, “We exist all over the various Worlds, and we want the vote. We need people like you to advocate on our behalf. As you can hear, we are all very clever…” And a horse woman said, “We also want to bring the natural World to Space and feature wild animals as well as animal men who will get in the heads of the animals. Animals don’t just want to be pets but want to be good companions with humans. And using MRT on animals makes them cleverer in the long run.”

     Then the manager appeared again, and we faded away and found ourselves in a far-off World in a “thrilling war,” We were on the android side, and they were battling “evil” humans. All the androids were excited by this war and brought us out on a patrol. The humans it seemed had converted into cyborgs and they thought the androids were evil. And our patrol came under enemy fire and the androids sent out mind laser fire… We were not hurt.

     They engaged in cyber warfare and were using mind weapons like telekinesis and MRT and hacked into one another’s Supercomputer systems and the androids had bioweapons, which decimated the cyborg humans. The cyborgs seemed to be losing this war. And we wondered what this World somewhere in this Polaris System would look like under android rule. We wondered if there would be a place for humans. They said, “Most humans are kind and love loving androids and humans were our creators. We’ll always have a place for humans…”

     And we talked with some cyborg prisoners of war. One of them said, “The androids were just machines and had a vendetta against humans for not giving them the vote. And all we get from them is war!” Another said, “The only reason they fight us is they have a corrupt, power-crazed android leader.” And another one said, “For androids, war is just a game. For us it is about the survival of the genus homo. This war will have lasting implications throughout Space.”

     But it was all just a dream, on a hypothetical Polaris. After watching this World for several weeks, we found ourselves back at the Thrill hotel. And the manager asked us, “What kind of thrills do you have in mind?” I replied, “You can read our mind, you should know.” He said, “OK.” And we found ourselves as disembodied spirts, looking for our bodies. Basically, we were holograms. And we asked several other spirits where can we find our bodies? But one of them said, “Your bodies have been destroyed and you have to live as a spirit with us, for all eternity.” And then several others told us the same thing. And finally, we realized we were trapped here with no way of egress. We couldn’t believe it but there was no policing of the various Dreamworlds… And we were miserable. We tried to gain pleasure with these spirits, but there was no pleasure to be found. We were marooned and are still here today.