I was looking through my old documents, and found a futuristic story that I wrote when I was a thirteen year-old for a school assignment. So here goes, I hope you’ll enjoy it.
“Freeze! You are under arrest!” As these words rang out, Julius’s arms were roughly grabbed from behind and handcuffs snapped on his wrists. His blood chilled. Wild thoughts shot through his mind like missiles as he turned away from the “Newswall” and faced his captors, two malicious-looking officers.
A year ago, Julius had grasped his certificate in his hands firmly. “Better not lose this,” Julius mumbled. The words “Julius Fong graduated from Caesar’s University with a First Class Honours in Infocomm Technology in the year 2059” were printed in bold on the glass screen certificate.
Stepping out of the campus, Julius scanned his surroundings. Buildings rose over a thousand storeys above him. Pedestrians shuffled around slowly, their eyes blank and cheeks gaunt. Hunching their backs, they stared at screens hooked in front of their eyes. Cars sped around silently. In the backseat, passengers tapped relentlessly at keyboards, hoping to finish their work before the deadline. An eerie silence hung in the air. There was no conversation between humans. The world had lost all humane touch to high-tech devices.
Just then, his Personal Brain Organiser (PBO) informed him that he had an interview to attend. The PBO, which was implanted in his skull, sent constant signals into his brain to remind him of his schedule. It also saved every single activity of his neurons, including the sudden brainwaves he frequently had. This allowed him to recall the ideas and work on them when he had the time. A disorganised and forgetful person, Julius firmly believed he would not have gotten by university without the PBO.
A few weeks later, Julius sat in his usual spot in his study, bursting with exuberance. Much to his utmost delight he had succeeded in attaining a job that had flexible work hours and allowed him to work from anywhere! He was ecstatic as his parents had contracted the Height Syndrome from a prolonged stay in his 1005 storey high home. Their exorbitant medical fees had left him with no choice but to quickly search for a stable job, which he had finally found.
However, Julius soon had a shocking discovery. Due to globalization and increased competition, business interactions across time zone have caused many to sacrifice more personal time just to put a meal on the table . Employers were demanding that employees commit more time to work. Otherwise, they might risk losing their jobs. This had an adverse effect on the employees’ mental health. Many of them had drastic cases of “Esypia”, a disease which is similar to but much worse than workaholism. Some symptoms of this disease were: feeling extremely depressed about undone work, sleep-walking on a regular basis to workplaces, being hysterical if work was not completed perfectly and having a phobia of bosses. Despite advances in technology, cure had yet to be found for this disease.
Julius was determined to render assistance to these people. Having a flair for inventing useful gadgets, he set out to work without hesitation.
Within a month, he had invented the Personal Time Organiser Version 1.0 (PTO 1.0). It was a neurochip the size of a speck of dust. PTO 1.0 was programmed to have only two modes — work and recreation. These programs were not able to be hacked into due to “The Shield”, a firewall that Julius had built into the chips. PTO 1.0, as its name suggested, controls a person’s time. During the “work” mode, the neurochip increases the memory and brainpower of a person up to 100 times its original by releasing 100 billion “temporary neurons”. With these features, one’s work productivity rate will increase significantly.
During “play” mode, the “temporary neurons” are destroyed and a person’s intelligence temporary decreases until a low but harmless level. One becomes too stupid to work but still intelligent enough to perform basic tasks. A hormone is also released to help the brain relax completely. A person will not process any of his employer’s work-related messages as they will be blocked and stored in a storage compartment. This compartment will remain sealed until the “work” mode is activated again.
Sometime after PTO 1.0’s release, Julius sat at his kitchen table, staring at his “Newswall” as the newscaster reported the latest news. The “Newswall” allowed him to receive the latest news at the press of a button whenever he was facing a wall of his house, even in the bathroom. He sat bolt upright and his lips widened into a grin as he heard the newscaster reporting “Employees are rushing to purchase the PTO 1.0, a highly-efficient, easy-to-install product. It was invented by Julius Golius, a freelance inventor who aims to cure employees of the deadly disease, “Esypia” by programming “work” and “play” moods into neurochips that control the brain. This product seems to be immensely well received by employees.” What came next rubbed off his grin though, ” In contrast however, employers are outraged. This is because some employees had become more indolent than before, making excuses such as the switch from “play” to “work” mode being too sudden for their brains to adapt to.
The affluent employers ordered for Julius to be arrested and brought to court. Julius remained hopeful as the judge was a family friend.
Alas, after months of trial, the judge, who had been bribed by the employers with a huge sum of money, sentenced Julius to 2 years in jail for causing unrest. Not only that, he was banned from selling PTO 1.0 in the future. Julius was utterly devastated. All of his efforts were in vain. “Why did this have to happen to me? Why?” Pessimistic thoughts flooded his head and he sank into depression.
A few months after his imprisonment, he heard a buzz and turned around as a guard approached him with a device. He fiddled around with it and pressed the only button on it. Out of the blue, some words were projected on the floor in front of him. As he scrutinised them, found that they were letters addressed to him. As he eagerly read them, he felt a smile widening on his face. One of the letters read:
Dear Son,
We had given birth to a child who would never give up in spite of the circumstances. We have the utmost faith in you, so be strong, pursue you dreams and save the world! We know you can do it. Don’t let us down.
Love,
Mum and Dad
Another read:
Dear Julius,
Love,
Never give up. You were the one who taught me that. I wish you the best in all that you undertake.
Your Cousin Isaac
Julius’s cousin was 12 years younger than him. Julius had accompanied him through his childhood. Hence, they were as close as brothers. As for his parents, Julius was taken by surprise. They had never encouraged him with any words throughout his 24 years of life. Since young, they had regarded Julius as an extra child. He was the fourth in line. His older brothers had all died fighting for their country in the entirely hopeless World War III. His parents had yearned to bear a daughter as the fourth child but were extremely disappointed when he was born. Hence, they neglected him and detested him. Julius presumed that his parents’ attitude towards him had finally changed.
With his close family and relatives’ support, Julius was greatly motivated. After being released, Julius resumed his experiments and soon developed a newly-improved Personal Time Organiser Version 2 (PTO 2.0). This gadget released 1000 billion “temporary neurons” in the “work” mode, up from 100 billion previously. This allowed one’s work productivity to increase by 10 fold. He also added another mode, the “rest” mode, which enabled employees to have a deep, undisturbed sleep at night. PTO 2.0 also provided smoother transition between each mode. The timings for each mode were fixed and not changeable.
This new device pleased everyone, including the employers. Julius’s boss even purchased 400 of this product for his other employees!
Thanks to Julius, many employees no longer suffer from ” Esypia”. Shorter work hours and increased work productivity have allowed employees to enjoy more personal time yet succeeding financially and retaining a healthy mind. With this device, a forty-hour workweek was not longer a relic of the past.
Julius’s story spread across the nation, many commended him for his perseverance and determination. Julius’s dream to improve other’s lives had come true!
Despite the difficulty he met, Julius never gave up. One core reason was that Julius did not want to let his parents and cousin down. He did not want to let me down. I know, because I am Isaac Golius, his younger cousin.
Oven Thoughts 