am I? Where am I? How did I get here?” But
soon, regaining his composure and overcoming his
momentary hysteria, he thought, “It doesn’t matter
how I got here, the main thing is to get out of
here as soon as possible. So, the street, if it
is a street, is perfectly straight. The buildings
resemble huge cubes and rectangles without windows
or doors. And it feels as if I’m very small and
in the middle of a child’s building block set.
There are no people, no cars, nothing on this
street.” But despite all this emptiness, there
was a strange hum.
Ben looked at his watch: it was 05:59. “Six in
the evening or morning?” Ben caught himself
wondering. After all, when he arrived at the
construction site and fell, it was morning. Ben
looked at the sky, and it was unclear. The sun
wasn’t visible. Just a matte blue sky without a
single cloud. As if it were artificial, and there
was no wind at all…
Meanwhile, as Ben tried to analyze his sensations,
the hum grew louder and louder. And suddenly, as
if on cue, walls opened in all the buildings. Like
garage doors. People poured out of them, yes,
people. Everything around became bustling,
something like buses appeared from somewhere, but
without wheels, and people started getting into
them, and everything began to spin and whirl. Still
not recovered from his first impressions, Ben
received a second dose and realized that he looked
100% like a complete fool. No wonder many were
looking at him very strangely.
Here, dear reader, for the full picture, I switch
to a first-person narrative.
As I was gawking around, my gaze fixed on something
hurtling towards me, seemingly about to crush me.
Yes, it was the so-called bus. But someone’s strong
hands, probably, grabbed me and threw me aside.
A second later, I was sitting on the floor, and
next to me stood a guy about my age, of average
height with light hair and tanned skin. His clothes
resembled those worn by plumbers or mechanics.
I examined him, he examined me.
Then he asked, “Is your distance sensor not
working?” In response, I continued to stare at
him, blinking, as I caught myself thinking that
he was speaking to me in a language completely
incomprehensible to me, sounds I didn’t know, but
for some reason, I understood him. To me, it seemed
like some hellish mixture of English, German,
Russian, and some other languages.
“Are you okay?” he asked again.
Apparently recovering from shock, I quietly said:
“Yes, I’m okay.”
Apparently, he understood me perfectly as well.
“So what’s wrong with your sensor?” he asked again.
And then he stared at me, his eyes widened, and
pointing his index finger at my chest, he said:
“Where’s your cube? Cube?!” he repeated twice,
while pointing at some red cube hanging on his
chest. Then I began to absentmindedly examine
myself, and everything in me said that I didn’t
understand what cube he was talking about.
“Cube!!!” he almost panicked. Then his voice
dropped to a whisper, and taking my hand, he led
me aside. Looking around suspiciously, he asked:
“Are you one of them?” he mysteriously pointed
his finger upward.
At this point, I couldn’t hold back anymore and
gave in to my emotions. In a raised voice, I yelled:
“What the hell is going on here? Where am I and
how did I get here?”
I was gesticulating wildly. In short, I let off
steam.
“Do you… have emotions?” he asked with surprise
and even, I would say, awe in his drawn-out voice.
“So you’re from the elite? A golden cube?”
“What cube?! What elite?!”
The stranger’s eyes changed. With concern, he took
my hand and led us into the shadows, saying in a
conspiratorial voice:
“Are you one of the rebels?”
“Alright, that’s enough. What rebels? What nonsense
is this? And anyway, what’s happening? Where am I?
No, seriously, is this Earth, planet Earth?” I
asked, almost crying and feeling foolish.
The stranger looked at me as if I were an idiot
and drawled:
“Eaaaaarth,” while taking a step back, apparently
already wary of my reaction.
“Earth…” I repeated in surprise. After a short
pause, I asked again: “And what year is it?”
I started to feel even more foolish. And a crazy
thought about time travel flashed through my mind.
“Yeaaaar?” the stranger continued in the same
drawn-out manner. “2150.”
“2150!!!” I exclaimed and immediately fell silent.
My mind was occupied with the thought: “Oh God,
I’m even afraid to admit it… but there are two
options here: either I’ve somehow really traveled
through time, just like in the movies, or I’m in
a coma after the fall and all this… Well, it all
seems very real…” I reasoned, biting my lip.
Apparently, I was reasoning out loud, and my savior
said:
“Okay, let’s go to my place and figure out who you
are, where you’re from, and why you’re here. I
don’t