Vertigo

         Vertigo

         "What is in an idea?"

         There was a pause, and no one in the room answered. An AC fan kicked on, blowing cold air into the room. A ceiling light flickered. A guard by the door fidgeted with his gun.

         "Is it a belief? A principle? An ideology? A freedom that enhances one's truest potential? Or a law by which one uses to trap themselves in and uses as an escape?"

         Again silence hung in the room. The voice then sighed. It belonged to a man. The man got up and passed the table which a dozen or so officials sat at looking pale. The man pulled out his phone and dialed a number. As he was calling, he went to the front of the room and hit a switch. A screen slowly started to fade on. He nodded to the guard who turned out on of the lights which dimmed half of the room. The person he was calling answered.

         "What is it? I'm busy."

         The man rolled his eyes and replied "It's me."

         "Oh... I have it ready for you. Are you sure it's time to use it?"

         "Yes, it's been time since our initiation. The idea is simple." The man whispered coolly.

         "But what is in the idea isn't so simple. And you know that." His voice was plaintive.

         The man sighed "I know. But if we don't take action now then we will regret it for the rest of our lives. Even if our actions bring me down to my knees and turns the world upside down, I would rather have it happen, than see everything around me fall to the hands of those who seek power."

          He didn't say anything for a moment, but then responded amenably "Alright. I sent the file to you. Be ready. You will only have 50 seconds after you execute the command sequence. Once the 50 seconds are up, the plan will launch."

         The man hung up. He was in front of the room. He looked at the board, and then looked back at all of his employees and sighed. "Ladies, Gentlemen, it's been nice knowing you. All of you are fired. If you seriously value your health, I suggest you leave within the next ten minutes. And also, don't mention a word of this to anyone."

         All the employees got up slowly and nodded. They understood what was happening. The man then left the room and his guard followed. The two walked to the elevator. The hallway was busy with people going to and thro. He ignored them. They were unimportant. Not because he felt they were useless or worthless, but because they were already gone. They had believed lies. Lies he had woken from a year earlier. The Wi-Fi chips were in their systems. They were already under control. He wasn't. Thinking about that distant memory, he moved his hand up to his neck where his scar was. It still hurt. The Wi-Fi chip had already been removed. He reached the elevator, and turned to his guard.

         "You can leave now. Your services have been more than sufficient; it has been conducive in our plan. Go into hiding or fight, whatever you prefer. Your prize is in the location we agreed upon."

         The guard nodded and left. He watched his old friend leave, and then entered the elevator. He pulled out his phone and looked at the file that was sent to him. He waited. The high speed elevator rushed to the top floor. This elevator only had one destination. The Chair Room. He observed the outside world; the elevator had a transparent window allowing him to watch the city that expanded outwards in front of him. It was nighttime, so there was a bright glow that shone brightly. He looked up to the sky. Artificial stars flickered softly. He never felt so much hate in his life. This country once was called something. Something important, but he couldn't seem to remember right. It was in the back of his mind. But it was gone. Just like his child hood and most of his life. Gone. It was in the governments hands. Just like every other person's memories. Nothing was private anymore. It was all on the dataverse. Every single pixel of information, was no longer your own.

Several Ships flew by, and fireworks flashed off in the distance. Pat pat pat pat pat. Rain hit the elevator. It was also artificial. He looked at the monitor which displayed the floor number. He was at two hundred. There was another fifty to go. He looked at his reflection in the mirror; there was a patina on his face; evident of years of trouble and pain. He wished he could remember his past. He couldn't remember how he got into that office room, with a boring cubicle, and a horrendous job. He couldn't even remember how he got the job. Someone told him his job, and he did it, even though it was very sedentary. It wasn't until the man in a blue jacket had come and performed the surgery that he gained some form of consciousness. Then he discovered the truth of the world he was living in, and devised a plan. It was mollifying to know that the truth would soon be unveiled. The stricture and bonds held upon the people would be gone. His actions were subversive, but he KNEW that they were worth the effort. Juntas were never known to work, but he believed he could do it. The elevator jerked to a stop. He pressed the file, and the command sequence began. Fifty seconds. He walked into the room. There was a group of people all sitting at a wooden table, conversing about company profits and how to control more people and data plans. For some reason, in this intense moment of his life, he felt calm. He pulled out a small pistol and fired several shots into the ceiling. At once it was quiet. He observed everyone's faces.

One man in particular, was strange. His face was solid; he had no eyes, or a mouth, just a nose and a mop of black hair. The strange man hit a button and instantly guards came in from all directions.

With his gun still in the air, he smiled. "Say goodbye."

One of the guards grabbed him and struck him with a Taser. He felt the influx of electricity flow through his veins. It felt good. The pain should have been rigorous, but it wasn't. He counted in his head. Ten more heartbeats; Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One. An explosion rang out pounding into him. There was chaos, and the world went dark, the building began to fall, and there was a terrible scream. Fire broke out. A storm raged. A yet, there was peace.

Then there was silence.

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He blinked slowly. In front of him were two buttons. There was a blue button, and an orange button. He didn't know how he got there, or who he was, but he was able to read. The blue button read 'Regain Memory' and the orange button read 'Save all of your loved ones'.

He looked around. He was in a blue jacket and some jeans. Barefooted, and the metal floor was closed. It was pitch black, but the there was a light that shone on the two buttons. His neck hurt, for some reason he didn't know. It would be incredibly nice to remember. Remember something. But it would also be nice to save his loved ones. Loved one's... that he didn't remember. His heart ached. He wished for a third option, an option to remember and save. His head hurt from the thinking. He reached out, and hit them both at the same time.

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         "Daddy! Dad! Are you coming?"

         "Yes I am coming Samantha. No need to rush" he said with a laugh.

         A gentle breeze blew by, and sun began to set. His daughter was running ahead. He smiled upon seeing her. He then jogged and picked up his little girl and carried her home.

He put her in her bed, and kissed her good night. He then walked to his room and sat down. He felt his neck, for some reason, it hurt. His mother told him it was just a scar that he had gotten when he was young. He was happy though. He had his daughter, his job, his life. Everything was back, to plain old normal. He was happy with normal. It was good to be normal. He changed into pajamas, got in bed, and closed his eyes.

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"What is in an idea?"

         There was a pause, and no one in the room answered. An AC fan kicked on, blowing cold air into the room. A ceiling light flickered. A guard by the door fidgeted with his gun.

         "Is it a belief? A principle? An ideology? A freedom that enhances one's truest potential? Or a law by which one uses to trap themselves in and uses as an escape?"

         He paused again, hoping for an employee to answer. No one answered. He then began to proceed talking about ideas for the company, but his phone rang. Surprised, he answered it.

         "What is it? I'm busy"

         There was silence, then "It's me."

          Confused, he somehow found the words to say "Oh... its, its ready. Are you sure it's time to use it?"

         "Yes, it's been time since our initiation. The idea is simple." Said the man.

         He didn't respond right away. Something was wrong. "Yes, but, what's in the idea, isn't so simple... And you know that." He felt a sense of pain and sadness washed over him.

         The man replied softly "I know. But if we don't take action now then we will regret it for the rest of our lives. Even if our actions bring me down to my knees and turns the world upside down, I would rather have it happen, than see everything around me fall to the hands of those who seek power."

         He didn't say anything for a moment, but then responded amenably "Alright. I sent the file to you. Be ready. You will only have 50 seconds after you execute the command sequence. Once the 50 seconds are up, the plan will launch."

Then there was silence. He had hung up. Confused, he looked back to where his employees were sitting. They were gone. And instead, stood a tall creature. His face was melted, gone. All he had left was a nose, some hair, but for some reason, he had pale white skin. There were no signs of a burn or damage at all. The creature spoke with a deep voice

"You were the pinnacle of our research. The best we had. But here I find you under perjury."

"What? What do you mean? Im sorry, but you have the wrong man. Im not what you think I am. I can't even seem to remember anything. In fact, I don't even know how I got here."

The figure looked at him, or at least appeared to look at him. "I can tell you all the answers. For a price."

"And what might that price be?"

"That depends, on how far you can go. All I ask is this; Come back to reality."

"And how might I do that? I don't understand, if I am talking to you in person right now, then this is my reality, this is my life."

The figure got up and walked towards him "You have so much potential, if only you could see what was right in front of you. I am blind, yet I can see, I have no mouth, yet I can talk. My ears are broken, but I can still hear. You have eyes, but cannot see, you have a mouth, but cannot speak, and you have ears, but cannot hear."

"What does that even mean?"

"Sleep now and you will see."

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He woke up with a sudden pain in his neck. He looked around. There was a man in front of him, holding something small. "What is that?"

The man replied "Your Wi-Fi chip. Had to get it out fast otherwise we would have been caught."

"Caught by whom?"

The man chuckled "By the data police of course."

Confused, he got up slowly, and felt his neck. It was wet with fresh blood. It hurt, bad.

The man then looked at him "Alright, so we are going to do something about this government problem. I'll tell you what happened, a while ago, back in the fifties, the government introduced the first ever Wi-Fi chip, which was able to connect to anywhere, and access all information. At first, only a handful of people had them, but soon, they spread across the globe, and went for cheap money."

"Wait, this happened in the nineteen fifties? What?"

"Ha-ha, no brother, this happened in the twenty fifties."

"Oh, so what year am I in now?"

"I dunno man, probably something like twenty ninety five."

This surprised him. He wanted to ask more questions, but then a loud bang went off and the man who performed the surgery grabbed him and took him up stairs. Scared, he yelled "What's going on?"

"I have no idea! Hold on real quick!" the man then injected a liquid into his bleeding neck.

A sharp pain came upon him, and the man's face slowly began to fade.

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"Begin Transmission... 8806730668... End Transmission..."

He screamed in agony. His body ached. An older woman walked over to him, started talking to him. He couldn't hear what she was saying. He was lying down in a bed, there were white walls, and an I.V was hooked into his arm. A baseball game was on T.V. He looked at the woman. She looked like she cared about him. Then a little girl walked in with several balloons. She walked over, gave him a kiss, and handed him her balloons. He didn't understand. His whole body hurt, he felt so confused. He felt his face, and it was melted, gone. He started to scream. The girl and woman started to cry, and left quickly. Another lady and a man then came in. His heart stopped. They got out some strange things, and put them to his chest, and shocked him. The raw electricity pumped into him. His heart fluttered. Then he went unconscious.

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         "What is in an idea?"

         He looked down at the audience in front of him and smiled. "What's in the idea is tantamount to the idea itself."

"Without structure or support, the idea will eventually collapse. That's why I propose, a new technology, which will enable everyone's ideas, to have structure, and to have support. Its Wi-Fi chip technology, which will empower the world. I know it works, because I had it done on myself first. I can now search anything I need to and come up with a solution to any problem that faces me. With this power, the future will change."

Someone in the audience stood up and fired a gun. There was a child who began screaming, and mass of people swarmed in panic. And all went black.

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"So there are many risks to implanting this Wi-Fi microchip into your neck, but I can do it."

"Well what are you waiting for?"

"Well, if this chip does work, then everything in the world as we know it will change. Are you sure?"

"The test placebo worked, Im certain that this will work too."

"So do it?"

"Go for it."

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