Rumba All the Way to Sunset

I am 88, old enough to go on my vacation. This morning I bid farewell
to my daughter and her husband, and now the final hours of my wait come to a close. Since my retirement from the active workforce, I have looked forward to this moment. Soon, my adventures would begin - adventures of a lifetime. As I look back today, I realize that I have truly spent a lot of my time waiting. I applied for my vacation one year ago, and then I waited to hear back. Two weeks ago, I received a directive from the Office of Vacations. Finally, I was on my way!

The day I got the directive, I dropped everything else and started preparing. I distinctly remember thinking to myself, "This is it!" A journey to all the places I have always longed to visit, Greenland, Tahiti, the Great Volcano on Mars, they had given me everything that I had asked for. I am one of the lucky ones, I am a Positive, I have contributed more to the Social Matrix than I have taken from it. Thatis why all of my requests for the vacation were granted. My vacation is my reward.

I spent the rest of the day looking at the holoscapes of the places I was going to visit. In the evening, my daughter Eva dropped by on the visiphone, she was excited to see me in a good mood.

"Hey Dad, you look happy!"
"Oh yes, I am. The directive came today. I will be on my way soon!"
"Oh, I am so happy for you!"
She paged her husband, Frank, who was taking the levitrain on his way back from the Metropolis. He joined in also on the visiphone.
"Dad, that is great news. We should plan a Farewell soon."
That evening we settled the date for the Farewell. It was to be at my place. I went back to settling things in anticipation of the journey. There was a lot to do and it occupied the whole day. This was when I did not have enough time left over in the day to wait. But the wait came, inevitably. My friend Jack who went on his vacation a year ago would often talk to me about the wait.
"You know", he would say, "you wait all your life for your vacation. And when it finally comes, waiting through the last few weeks is pure hell. I have waited for it for a long time, but I can't wait these few remaining days. Time stops ticking. Even though you spend most of the day wrapping up the affairs of your life, so that you can leave without any worries, there still seem to be thousands of hours left over each day. My doctor tells me to relax. He says I should sleep more, and try to think of my vacation, and what I want to do. That I should not eat and drink ordinary food anymore because of all the additives. I know, I know, I am old and all that stuff makes me edgy, but it's not the food and water, you know. It's the wait, it's like time has been stretched out. It's the time stretch that starts to get to you."
Although I would try to imagine what he was going through, it still
took me by surprise once it happened to me. In the first few days, I
was too busy to notice the time stretch. I would wake up early and get
to my work, wrapping up things, dictating instructions to my Brain
Mate on how things would have to be settled once I was away. There
were people throughout the Web who needed to be contacted, who needed
to be informed of my upcoming vacation. People who would congratulate
me with a tinge of envy and tell me how much they were looking forward
to their own vacations. I was too busy, and too fast for the time
stretch to get to me.
But then it slowly caught up with me. I would be afraid to get away
from my Brain Mate, for me it was no longer a computer but a way to
avoid the time. But then even that did not work as the affairs of my
life were slowly closed like well-read books. And one day I woke up
knowing I had no reason to talk to my Brain Mate. That's when it got
to me. Everything slowed to a crawl, the images dancing on my Brain
Mate monitor, the motions of my limbs, the currents of my
thoughts. Even when someone dropped by on the visiphone, it would be
as if their voices were stretched into these incredible drawls. I
wanted to speed everything up, wind forward those damn digits to the
day of my vacation. I called my doctor that day. He told me not to
worry but to occupy myself. That wasn't helpful! I was occupied
already.
Then there was the Farewell a week ago. Everyone showed up, more than
half of those invited were present in person, the rest on the
visiphone. I like private parties, so my party was not shown on the
WebView of my community. Instead they just had a short message that
popped into many homes.
"James Earl Johnson, 88, will be leaving on his vacation on October
15. We wish you a happy journey! Bon Voyage!"
My daughter and her family were present. And so were some others,
Alice, Ravi, Simon and Michael. Ravi will be leaving on his vacation
in about two years. We chatted most of the time, and spent many hours
going over the holoviews of the time we had spent together. Simon and
myself in the Galapagos. With Michael and Alice in Mauritania. With
Ravi on Lunar base three. Michael told his bad jokes again, and all of
us laughed again. It was good that I was occupied and did not think
about the wait, after all that is the purpose of Farewells.
Later in the evening, I talked to Ravi, and told him about the time
stretch.
"I can't wait for this to be over, you'll know what I mean. All these
pre-vacation guides tell you what it is, but it's something totally
different to experience it yourself."
Ravi is an old friend of mine. I met him more than thirty years ago,
when we were still remote-operating lunar miners. Hell it has been a
long time. He's a good guy, would have been great if we had gone to
the vacation together. But you know what they say, "Everyone
vacations alone". He'll get his chance in two years. When we were
done talking he embraced me.
"Take care Jimmy", he told me.
The Farewell was good I think.
The day of my departure finally arrived. Early today, I took the
levitrain to the Metropolis. Eva and Frank were granted a leave from
their work and they came along. We got off close to the Spacedrome. I
was to report to the vacation Kiosk at 1200 hours. We still had some
time to spare, so we moved about. I had not been to the Metropolis for
a few years, so I noticed that the number of buildings had increased
considerably. Everyone knew that the Metropolis was growing fast, but
I had expected most of the new constructions to be not skyscrapers,
but landscrapers that burrowed deep into the earth for miles. After
all, the Metropolis is like an iceberg, most of it is underground, if
one can still remember where ground used to be. But I did not care
whether there were a thousand or ten thousand of these giant titanium
structures in the Metropolis. After a while you lose count.
We went to a cafe. Cafe's always remind me of Eva's mother, Judy. She
used to like going to them. Every Friday, we would take the levitrain
back from work, change and then go to this place close to where we used
to live. I missed her, she never lived long enough to take her
vacation. Eva was young when her mother died, but now that she is a
woman herself, I see the silent beauty of her mother in her. When Judy
died, I was afraid for Eva. She was very young, and I was afraid she
might miss her. Fortunately, she did not have to deal with the sudden
shock of her absence. Over the next few years, she had the company of
her mother's holoview, an evanescent life-like image of her mother who
was always around, who accompanied and responded to Eva just the way
her mother would have. Then Eva grew up, and accepted the fact that
her mother was no longer alive. I was sad the first day we switched
off Judy's holoview, I missed her voice, even though it wasn't her.
Once I am on my vacation, my holoview could still walk around, if Eva
wants. It contains my mind pattern, it will respond pretty much as I
do. Only it will not age like me, and it will not get sick. And if she
so desires, it will always be in a good mood. I am sure she will not
miss me terribly.
Eva was sitting next to me, she was quiet, lost in thought. Then she
spoke up,
"Dad, do you miss my mother?"
I told her I did. She was silent.
"Do you remember when we went to Kashmir? You and I? We climbed up the
hills, camped in the valley, went boating on a lake."
"And we spent three days walking to the base of K2", I reminisced.
"Yes dad, I was very happy."
I had been very happy then, even though Judy was not around.
"I will miss you, Dad."
Then she hugged me. I knew she would miss me, I saw tears in her eyes,
and felt them streaming down her cheeks. She sat back and looked
away. Then Frank embraced me and whispered in my ear.
"Don't worry about her, she will be okay. You have a fun vacation. You
deserve a wonderful vacation."
I knew she would be fine. Everyone goes on a vacation.
Finally we got up and headed towards our destination. It was close to
noon, Eva and Frank had a levitrain to catch, and I had a vacation to
take. We walked back to the Kiosk. It was time for me to say
goodbye. Eva embraced me again.
"Good-bye Dad."
I felt a prickly knot rising quickly in my throat. My eyes seemed to
have a mind of their own. For a moment I saw Eva as I had seen her
almost twenty years ago. Somewhere deep within me, I realized that my
little girl had never grown up for me. I turned around and faced the
entrance of the Kiosk and pronounced my name to the entrance. My voice
was slightly hoarse, but the scanner easily identified me through the
characteristic inflexions of my words and the unique map of blood
vessels on my retina. The shell of the building slid open and I
walked in. The door closed behind me. I turned around to look at Eva
and Frank. They were gone.
The Kiosk was peaceful and slightly chilly. Its inside was like a
hollow sphere that extended far above my head and in front of me. The
walls close to me glowed soflty, while the walls far away from me were
mere shadows. I could not judge how big the Kiosk really was. Then my
guide materialized next to me, a holoview of a young man in his early
twenties, dressed in white according to my request. He greeted me and
congratulated me on my vacation. Then he showed me the way and started
walking. Decades ago the Creators of the New Civilization taught us
that at the time of vacation, we were always alone. Now in accordance
with their teachings, I was all alone in the Kiosk, and walking the last
few steps.
We walked together slowly towards the center of the Kiosk. The wall and floor around us lit up to
illuminate our way. Out of the
darkness that hung in the heart of the Kiosk appeared a form, a
polished slab of stone that levitated effortlessly a few feet off the
ground. The floor around it lit up as I approached. The stone
tilted until it was vertical, towering a few feet over me. My guide
turned me so that my back was to the stone and then let go of my
hand. I had come to what I had been waiting for, I had come to the
Dream Maker.
I was lifted off my feet until I was levitating a foot off the
floor. Then I felt myself being pulled towards the stone slab and
being pinned to it gently. Finally the stone slab started tilting
back, until it had assumed the position of a levitating bed, and I was
lying on it.
This brings me to where I am right now, the present, when I find
myself lying on the Dream Maker, waiting for my vacation to begin.
My thoughts are being recorded by the Dream Maker, as it configures
itself to suit my mind pattern. It has to get the details right, each
and every one of them. Otherwise the vacation would not be right. The
room is silent and darkness extends all the way to the ceiling of the
Kiosk. Two small hemispherical shells emerge from the darkness that
hangs above me, and move towards me with intent purpose. These are the
Fingers of the Dream Maker. They descend slowly on either side of my
head and come together seamlessly, enclosing my head in a crystal
ball. My vacation is about to begin.
Vacation, the dream of every man and woman.
As I think, the Dream Maker, is preparing for my travels. The pristine
shores of Greenland -deep-blue icebergs set in a black ocean, the cold
wind, the softness of my heated parka and the laconic sun. Then onwards
to Tahiti, its gigantic resort in the clouds, beaches that extend for
miles and the taste of ocean spray. Then finally to Mount Olympus, towering
over the Vanadium mining settlements on the desolate Martian
surface. Its cone rising miles above everything around it, its steep
walls, the red dust, my pressure suit and the precipitous edges. I will
live it all, two years dream time of vacation, lived in less than an
hour of real time spent in the Kiosk.
And I will not be alone, the Dream Maker has chosen my
companion. We will visit different worlds together, the Dream Maker
recording each and every moment. Then the two years will be over, and
the vacation would end.
And so would I.
I will fall asleep, never to wake up again. The Dream Maker will
systematically stop my higher brain functions, and then everything
else. Then there would be the Recycler to bring the whole circle of
life back to the beginning, the most elemental -complex molecules
that will become the part of other humans on this resource-hungry
planet. I will probably live on, not as me, but as the part of the
breathing soul of another. Eva would get a holoview of my vacation,
she will see me and my companion on my most important
journey. And one day it will be her turn to leave for her vacation,
perhaps her daughter will come to bid her farewell.
My journey begins.
I am standing on the front porch of my house. The air is cold and
crisp. I hear footsteps behind me and turn to look. It is a face I
have waited so long to see, it is my companion.
"Hello Judy"
"Hello Jimmy"