It's just a thought!

Original written somewhere early 1990 Carley was on her way home from work, although, you couldn't really call it work.! All she did was “push buttons and talk to machines” for three hours, twice a day.
Three hours in the morning, then a very long lunch break,
and another three hours in the afternoon.

She was remembering her nanny talking about, when “she” was a teenager, and how different everything was back then.

Carley couldn't begin to imagine her life without all the “mod cons” as her Nan called them. Nan said how well she remembered a time without them.

Nanny said it all began with something they called computers and laptops, and phones you had to hold in your hand and dial the numbers.
And all the food you ate, you had to cook yourself, first, after you had gone to a place called a supermarket, and decide for yourself what to have....
How did they survive?

Carley was reasonably up to date with everything, and had her “SPEAK-SEE-COMPU” with her most of the time.

She knew some of her friends often left theirs at home, which was not against the law yet, but it was forbidden.

She had not yet worked out why it was forbidden.
It was so small, there was no space for buttons,
she kept on explaining to her Nan, “See, you just talk to it, Nan, that's why it's called a “SPEAK-SEE-COMPU”! And of course it only obeys one voice, hers.

She showed nanny “See you talk to it, it won't work, only on my voice, no one else's voice is exactly like mine, so no one can copy it, it's useless to anyone else, see?”

So, nan would try it, and it wouldn't work, and Nan would be amazed!

She remembered Nan telling her how the change started. Way back, in the 1970's and 80's way before she, Carley was even born.
Now, in the middle 2030's things had gone forward in leaps and bounds.
She was lucky her nan had such a good memory, for her age, she was well into her 80's, or else, she, Carley would never have known all these things.

Nan couldn't understand a lot of things that were happening right now, for instance, when she tried to tell Nan, tried to explain how it was now possible to travel back in time.
Nan would say, “They used to show movies that made believe people could travel back in time. Those movies were called “science fiction” and they were mostly about people from the future, travelling back in time. All make believe, of course.
Then, Nan also had to explain what movies were. Fancy having to have all those long tapes to store somewhere. Everything was on compact disc now! She hd seen some of those old tapes and things when she'd gone on an excursion,

when she was studying, that was real special. The cd's today, were so small, they slipped easily into the palm of your hand, yet there was so much room on them you would never fill them!
So, “the powers that be” the government of the day had concealed a micro chip in it as well, so 'they' knew at all times, where everybody was.
Nan said, “They used to call that, invasion of privacy” Nan came out with some funny sayings, at times. The c.d's were certainly an improvement on the old tapes though.
And the digital screens, a full wall size, were a lot better than the little screens in the boxes, Nan said, they had.
They called them a t.v set and a video recorder. The electronics technology had gone mad since the turn of the century.

Everything, all cell rooms, all buildings, all companies, everything was now on a large internet-network!
Everything was connected to something, somewhere, in a large massive building, known as “the beast”...
All due to large solar powered screens in space miles above the earth. And there was no cash, that had been like that for a good ten years or more.

Nan still had some coins, she was saving them, Carley had seen them, and played with them. Funny things they were. Certainly a lot easier to lose, than her micro-chip card.
Micro-chips did everything. Some people even had them implanted, it was not law yet, so not everyone had it, but they did implant babies though, as soon as they were born, unless you specifically signed lots of papers.

Nan had none of these things, unless it was made law, did Nan do it. Carley couldn't really understand why, yet....something was holding her back too, from having the implant done, even if she had been in trouble a few times, as she'd misplaced her, card, but thankfully, she'd found it again.

That was another thing she couldn't understand. All those important things, Nan never misplaced or lost, Nan would come out with another one of her sayings, “The Lord keeps me safe”
Still, she couldn't really understand why Nan was so against all this stuff., surely she could see things were so much better now?

As Carley was travelling towards her home building, she thought she might do some time travelling at the weekend, may then she could explain to Nan what it was all about.
Nan was always busy at weekends, still, at her age. She'd have to talk to her and tell her to slow down a bit. Nan would meet with a whole lot of other older people and go to”worship” as she called it. Carley had never been, even though Nan had asked her often, to come.

Today's society saw it as a complete waste of time. Some kind of religious thing it was, a fairy story, she told Nan.
But Nanny very seriously told her, “it was no fairy story. Jesus, God's son, really did come to earth, and died for humankind, so they could be redeemed!”
But it was all gobbellygook to Carley.

Her travel capsule got her to her destination, and she got out. It was right at the door of her unit, and it set her thinking back to what Nan had said. How people lived in separate houses, and separate buildings, to the cell units they had now.
They must have had lots of rooms in those days. Today, if she wanted to go for a walk, it was on a machine, wearing virtual goggles, it was never the real thing, but it was o.k. Just the same, she often wondered what the real thing would be like? Nanny said, when she was young, she used to go for walks along the streets, but that was impossible now!

Anyway, it would also be breaking the law. There were so many laws now, hardly anything was allowed anymore, unless you got a special permit and that took forever.

There were so many others who wanted to do the same, and experience the real thing too. It seemed the only entertainment for her this weekend was time travel, so, that's what she'd do! She sighed!

AS she got to her cell room, she organised her 'SPEAK-SEE-COMPU', to make the appointment to book the time and place for her trip.
She really had no idea how to go about it and was thankful for her gadget. She then organised herself.
Nanny used to tell her about showers, and baths, and she thought she could remember from when she was a little girl, that she'd had a bath, now and then, at Nan's.
But, laws had stopped them too. A waste of precious water.
All cell-rooms were supplied with pressure-spray outlets, It looked like some kind of steamy mixture...
and that was it.
You only had to step on the unit, wait 30 seconds and exit, and that was it.
Dressing was no problem either, everything was decided for her, and because she arranged her weekend outing through her gadget, her outfit was ready and waiting for her.
Her 'SPEAK-SEE-COMPU' was speaking. She was informed her time travel was arranged for Friday afternoon at noon, the only available spot, and to be at the outlet 15 minutes before leaving!

SHE WAS THERE...READY AND WAITING!
Nanny knew she was going and on her return, she was full of excitement to tell nan what had happened!
“I was picked up at 11.45 Nan, on the dot, and we sped off to the “time travel pick up station” There were masses and masses of people there, Nan, you should have seen them all, they were so excited.

We all thronged through this large tunnel, there were cells at intervals, where different people went different ways. There were heaps of places to go to!
I thought I'd check out the time you are always talking about, Nan. We had to wear suitable clothes, to fit in with the people of that era, so we were handed these special clothes to mingle with the crowds.
They were lose fitting garments with sandals for our feet. We all got into the capsule, and before we knew it, we were there...

WE WERE TOLD TO BE BACK IN EITHER 8 OR 12 HLOURS.
You should have seen us Nan, we, all of us, stood on a dusty road, just outside a large city. There seemed to be some kind of festival going on, there were crowds of people everywhere...
I was glad I was dressed appropriately, at least that way I would not be noticed. The crowd pushed itself towards the city, and I let myself be pushed along with it. I was very curious as to what was going on?

We all went through some kind of city gate, the whole crowd kept on moving through the city as if it was going to a specific place.
I went along with it.
There were people everywhere....and they all spoke in different languages too.
I heard a voice in my own language saying, “I believe the main event is happening this afternoon, they still have to decide who the guilty party is! We'll go to the main building in the centre of town, that's where they decide!”

I was happy with that information and edged my way over into the direction where the voice said it would all be happening!
I arrived, and, as everyone was looking up, I also looked up,.
There, on a balcony stood several men.
One of them looked very important, as if he was in charge.
Two others did not look so good, but 'they' seemed to be the focus of attention.
One man had his hands tied behind his back, he wore a crown that looked like it was made out of thorn bush branches as it was full of thorns.

It had made his face bleed something awful, it was running down his face,
Nan....it was awful! And his clothes were all torn and ripped, there was not much left of them on him, they only just covered him, Nan, so terrible.
The other man was not as badly hurt, he just had his hands tied behind his back as well. NAN...are you listening?
The crowd all around me grew more and more hostile...
they started to call out things....insults.... to the men on the balcony, some even picked up stones...as if ready to hurl them at them.
It was quite safe Nan, really, …..nothing happened to us.... honestly...
The important looking man...... he must have been very important.... as he seemed to be in charge...he called out something to the crowd....
they started to quieten down some....pointing to the bloodied man, the man in charge called out again.....”Shall I release him...he is innocent?”
But mighty roar rose from the crowd all around me....CRUCIFY HIM....CRUCIFY HIM... RELEASE THE OTHER ONE...
the man in charge put up an argument as if he did not want to do what the crowd wanted him to do! I started to yell with the crowd.... CRUCIFY HIM...CRUCIFY HIM...again, the man in charge demanded, “Why, what has he done? What crime has he committed?”

but the crowd seemed in a frenzy now.... and all the visitors as well....
I did too, Nan....
. I had really become part of it all..... we all, shouted louder and louder....CRUCIFY HIM....CRUCIFY HIM....LET HIS BLOOD BE ON US AND OUR CHILDREN...
The man in charge turned to the prisoner shrugged his shoulders, and handed him over.... I looked around me....
. HOW MANY WERE LOCALS I WONDERED, AND HOW MANY WERE TIME TRAVELERS....
So I then returned to my pick up point and came back.....
Oh...Nanny...why are you crying so?”
(with permission from the author)