(A short story by Anirudh Shobhanan. Your feedback is appreciated!)

As usual, I woke up minutes before my watch’s alarm was set to go off. I took in my unfamiliar surroundings, found the people near me to be sound asleep in their seats, and remembered that I was on a flight from New Delhi to Tokyo, to attend ‘FutureCon 2019’.

Abruptly, a sphere appeared, hovering in mid-air, before me. Astonished, I gazed into the shimmering globe, which manifested a murky swirl of images and a cacophony of sounds. The mists cleared to reveal a crystal-clear image of – myself!

I heard my voice emanating from within the sphere, “I know you have questions. Well, I am your future self. The timeline we dwell in is just one of infinite possibilities. Recent breakthroughs in quantum-chronodynamics have made it possible to take a look at, and even remotely interact with, any point in Space/Time. When we activate a sphere comprised of chronons in our timeline, its counterpart spontaneously materializes at a chosen point in the Multiverse.” He looked at me (i.e. at the quantum counterpart of the chronosphere poised before me), grinned and said, “I just realized – you are sitting in seat 14C viz., ‘I Foresee’. Well, here are a couple of alternate futures for you to scry…”

The chronosphere became murky and depicted scenes that portrayed Earth in dire straits. Potable water is scarce. Fossil-fuel resources are depleted. Industries are shut due to paucity of power. Apathy and greed dominate. Discontent simmers among disgruntled masses. The world is more divided than ever.

Against this backdrop, the chronosphere manifests pandemonium caused by a series of cyber-attacks worldwide. The world’s economy is paralyzed, and secure data is compromised.

Suddenly, thermal blooms are detected – a pre-emptive nuclear strike has begun, and the retaliatory strike immediately follows. The few leaders who could have salvaged the situation have been killed in the strikes, and alternate chains of strategic command were compromised during the cyber-attacks. Ominous mushroom clouds portend Armageddon...

The chronosphere underwent a phase-shift, and the Doomsday images were superseded by a Utopia of bountifulness. Physicists have solved the world’s fuel crisis by cracking cold-fusion and high-temperature superconductivity, and inventing micro-fusion reactors, thus ushering in an era of unprecedented development. Everyone has personal nanocomputers – coordinated by an Artificial General Intelligence implant – that directly interfaces with the brain. Further, these nanocomputers have been interconnected via wireless frequencies to produce true global synergy – virtual telepathy! Earth is a perfect democracy, with every citizen able to vote on each law. Complete literacy ensures information access, literally at the speed of thought. Perfect health approaching immortality is the norm, with biotechnology, bionics, cybernetics, and nanotechnology combining to eradicate disease and disability. Further, the ambience of the world has been transformed owing to the pioneering research of bio-chemical engineers, that led to the eradication of extant pollution.

A Golden Age of prosperity has been ushered in. Locks are unnecessary! Paraphrasing my favourite fictional character, my (future) voice declares, “The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity.”

Another phase-shift occurred in the chronosphere, and I found myself looking at a panorama of space. It depicts a three-star solar system with a tiny spaceship in the foreground. “The unmanned space probe – ‘Locus Proximus’ – sent to survey our neighbouring Alpha Centauri system, as proof of concept of an EM (electro-magnetic) drive,” my voice elucidates.

The chronosphere shifted focus to a venue in Tokyo, where ‘FutureCon 2045’ is being held. Priceless masterpieces adorn the walls, world-renowned holo-sculptures embellish the hallways, and ethereal music plays in the background. Eminent futurists, scientists, and proponents of the Arts are present.

Focus shifts to the Chief Guest who, at the culmination of his speech, marks the tenth anniversary of the establishment of a Martian colony. The vista changed to the large-scale terraforming of Mars. The next scene portrayed a group of colonists tending to a potato farm within a geodesic dome of the colony. “As you perceive, the Red Planet isn’t inhabited entirely by robots, anymore,” my (future) voice informed me.

The temporal ‘crystal ball’ reverted to my future self. I observed, “We are not satiated by the present, and look to the future, convinced that the ideal lies further on. However, it is our dexterity in steering the present course of events that will determine our emergence into a nightmarish end, lethargic languidness, or a glorious future. Infinite possibilities beckon.”

I peered closer at him, and remarked, “It seems I haven’t changed much over the years.” My doppelganger responded, “That’s because you are about to travel in time, momentarily; I suspect it has something to do with this chronosphere and the weather outside. Don’t worry, I have tried to alleviate the future/culture shock. You will safely land at Narita International Airport... only, twenty-six years late. Let them hypospray nanotech into your arm. Some of the nanobots will negate any pathogens or cancers within your body. As you perceived earlier, nanocomputers will present augmented reality. With a 10,000-qubit quantum computer AGI symbiotically enhancing your intellect, the world is your oyster. The Technological Singularity has happened, but humans and AGIs are functioning in harmony. Well, that’s all I can convey to you. Be here soon!” My future self’s image dissolved, and my watch’s alarm beeped.

On cue, I felt some turbulence, looked out the window, and saw a ball of lightning engulf the plane’s fuselage. The chronosphere turned a translucent white and seemed to expand to the dimensions of the ball lightning phenomenon. I felt a strange sensation; then, abruptly, all was calm.

As the plane landed in Tokyo, the pilot seemed distracted while delivering his welcome message. Anyway, we deplaned and found ourselves herded by the United Nations Space Corps into a processing room. There, we were informed that our flight had spanned twenty-six years and deposited us into the future. “How time flies!” I remarked to myself. Some passengers did not take this news calmly. However, gradually, they appeared to come to terms with reality. Hyposprays of nanotech were administered to each passenger and flight crew. We were debriefed. Thereafter, we were given free accommodation. Our relatives/friends were being alerted.

It took time accustoming to the embedded AGI and other assorted nanotech within me. I acclimatized myself to the plethora of information being streamed to my brain. When I looked at anyone, I instantly became acquainted with virtually anything that entity was willing to share with the public. I devoured the contents of every encyclopaedia I could access – instantaneously! I found that just about everything was free in this future Utopia.

We were whisked away to the ‘FutureCon 2045’ venue, as honoured guests, in an autonomous flying vehicle. Once inside, amongst the wonders on display, I saw the distinct outline of a prototype chronosphere. I wasted little time interfacing with it, and briefing my past self, sitting in the plane.

The event I was interested in was the presentation of scientific papers. I sat through various paper presentations, educating myself in real-time to make sense of what would have been gobbledygook back in the day. Among the highlights, physicists have invented the ultimate harbinger of world peace; it utilizes the energy of any detonation – even thermonuclear – in a feedback loop, for neutralizing the same; breakthroughs in catastrophe theory have led to accurate prognostication and mitigation of natural disasters.

Amongst the works of genius, there was a wildcard entry that was creating a sensation out of the blue. When her turn came, she (my augmentations could find no information about her; she exuded a strange aura instead of the AR overlay) stood at the lectern and spoke, “Greetings, humans!” She waxed eloquent on the various achievements of our species. In particular, she focused on the fact that we had successfully established a colony on another planet, sent an exploratory probe into another stellar system, survived the Singularity, and travelled through time – albeit accidentally.

She then presented a detailed paper on inter-dimensional travel – folding space-time and instantly travelling to any other point in the Multiverse! Next, she expounded on ‘Cornucopia technology’. Matter could be transmuted into ‘Computronium’ – programmable matter, which could then be transmogrified into anything else! She then declared, “Homo sapiens, as a species, has matured enough to become a part of the Cosmic Federation. The knowledge imparted by me is a gift that has been bestowed in good faith in my capacity as the Federation’s Ambassador-designate to Earth. I will keep in touch.” She teleported away.

First Contact with aliens could not have panned out better. After a planet-wide poll, Humankind decided to join the Cosmic Federation.

As for me, utilizing the knowledge acquired from the wildcard papers, I assembled some Computronium, and decided to first teleport to my home in 2019, to reunite with my family and share my incredible tale with them. The rest of the Multiverse could wait a while…