Age of Eloi

All readings were in the green. The experiment was set to go. She was always checking, double-checking, triple-checking to make sure there were no mistakes. There was absolutely no room for error. She took a seat by her computer making some last minute calculations before throwing the switch. Everything was going according to plan.

She breathed heavily and rhythmically, nervous about all the unknowns. One last time, she entered the readings on the indicators of the machine into the computer. A few clicks of the keyboard and she would be ready. Every thing was ready. She was nervous. One more deep breath and she walked towards the red button.

“Here goes nothing,” she whispers to herself as she pushes the button. A tornado of electricity and wind swept the magnetic pad in the middle of the room. A storm of science is contained in this makeshift laboratory. Bright flashes emanated from all corners of the contraption. A silent explosion concluded the experiment. Smoke rose from the pad, now heated from the miniature thunderstorm.

As the smoke diffused into the air, a man could be seen standing where there was only thin air just a few seconds earlier. The clothes he wore were brown, practical, and were of fashion at the turn of the twentieth century though they did not look worn by time at all. By no means would anyone say he was short, but he wasn’t a tall man either. He seemed quiet and pensive. His hair was neatly combed and his face hid behind a bushy mustache. The man was disoriented as if arriving from a long distance.

“Professor Wells?” the young lady asked emerging from behind her computer, “H.G. Wells, I presume?”

“Why, yes,” he replied, “What in heavens just happened?”

“I transported you through space and time in my invention here. It’s an homage of sorts to your classic, ‘The Time Machine.’”

“So when and where am I now?”

“You’re now in the twenty-first century.”

“That’s just fantastic! But why would you bring me here from such a great distance? What purpose would my odyssey serve? ”

“I thought I’d show you our progress so far so you could see how far humanity has come. And how, thankfully, far away from the apocalyptic downfall we are from the Morlocks and Eloi.”

“Is this technology, the ability to travel through time, a marketable commodity. That is to say, does everyone have access to this machinery?”

“I’m afraid this is the first of its kind… for now.”

“Incredible. May we take a look around at how mankind has evolved as you say it has?”

“Of course! It would be my pleasure!”

She walked him to the university library and showed him the advances we had made in printing. Forests worth of paper were filled about every possible subject matter, most of which had not been imagined in Wells’ own time. From science to the arts, music and mathematics, poetry and engineering, it gladdened the author to know the legacy of man would expand beyond the boundaries it had set for itself.

He saw computers every few feet apart, strewn about the halls like candlelight. She taught him of the dawn of the personal computer and the big bang of the internet. He marveled at the invention that was able to shrink the world and connect people across oceans in flashes of light. It was able to do hundreds of thousands of millions of calculations in a single instant by the push of a button. The universe of human knowledge was continuously expanding and was ignorant of any boundaries.

“And everyone on this internet is an intellectual?” Wells asked.

“Well they would like to think so,” the scientist explained, “In a world as large as the digital one, you’re bound to run into some unruly characters.” Wells scoffed at the idea that a wealth of information would somehow let such characters have room to breathe. They came across an old transistor radio being displayed in front of the communications department office.

“Now, this was a great invention,” Wells commented, “I’m so glad to discover that it’s nowhere near the peak of our technology. And even gladder that we haven’t destroyed ourselves.”

“We have come so close too many times. For a period it seemed the only thing we were able to do was find new ways of destroying and dominating over one another. Technology and arts aside, I think humanity’s greatest triumph is surviving from itself.”

“Was there no transition between the radio and the computer?”

“There was the television,” she replied, “it helped shape our modern-day culture.”

“It’s a magic mirror of sorts,” Wells commented.

“I’m afraid it sullies the reflection of what life and society is truly like. It uses commercialism to tell us how to think, what to wear, what to eat, and how to be happy. There’s misinformation on every channel being presented as absolute truth. Reality has been altered to maximize profits, which means it is devoid of any creative soul.”

“And when did humanity grow out of such a juvenile invention.”

“We haven’t.”

“So who benefits from the breakdown of the world’s soul?”

“A select few who dress in business suits.”

“And why would they do this?”

“Profits.”

“I see,” Wells put his hand over his mouth, “I think it’s time for me to go back to my own time, to the year 1900.”

“Why? Did I say something to offend you?”

“Quite the contrary. You’ve shown me the ultimate human highs and the potential for it to skyrocket even further. All that I’ve seen has shown me that there is no limit to how far we, as a species, can go. Unfortunately, it seems that we have discovered that ‘skyrocketing’ has a speed limit.

“The culture is shaped and designed to maximize comfort and style over advancement and innovation so that the few may prey on the disadvantages of the many.” Wells stepped into the laboratory and took his place on the pad in the middle of the room.

“We’ve come a long way from what I see, but we’re willing to throw it all away because we’ve been spoiled by how much we’ve accomplished. But I assure you, the future of the Eloi and Morlocks loom much closer than you might think.” As she pushed the red button, Mr. Wells waved goodbye and he disappeared in a flash of smoke and crackle of electricity.