“Anything in particular you’re interested in taking a closer look at?” Alvin waved a hand over the storefronts lining both sides of the street.
“Technology,” I blurted without a second thought. “I mean … uh, electronics. I’ve always been fascinated with new inventions and one of the reasons I volunteered was to see what kinds of things people come up with in the future. So … is there a Radio Shack around here?”
“No, but there’s a fair number of similar stores.” Ogre pointed off down the street and we resumed walking. A few minutes later we reached a large parking lot on the corner with a warehouse-sized building set at least a thousand feet back from the street. That in itself was a marvel. I grew up in a small town that had no buildings larger than a three-bedroom house aside from a few churches. A dozen of the grocery stores I grew up around could’ve fit into this lot and still leave room for the store.
The doors parted and a whole new world opened up in front of me once again.
Alvin pointed in one direction, then another and another. “We’ve got TVs on the left, stereos next to them, phones right over there, tablets in the next aisle, accessories for them in the section behind them, desktop computers over there, laptops there, software and video games on the end.”
“And that’s just for starters,” Ogre added.
“Incredible.” Some of the devices in the hospital room I woke up in had appeared quite advanced, but the people at the Institute had been careful to keep me from being overwhelmed while I was recovering. Once I was back on my feet, though, I was ready to start catching up.
Boy, was I ready.
“Where do you want to start?” Alvin grinned and clapped me on the shoulder.
“I have no idea.” I shrugged. “I guess we can start on the left and just work our way over from there.” I walked over to the wall, stared at the two dozen objects of varying sizes, each showing a different moving image, and glanced over at Alvin and Ogre. “You said these are televisions?”
“Yep,” Ogre said.
“They’re not big and boxy. They’re so thin. And rectangular? TVs aren’t square anymore?”
“Nope. The aspect ratio is closer to theatrical movies, these days.”
I approached the nearest one and marveled at the bright, vibrant, sharp image. “They don’t use cathode-ray tubes anymore.”
“Exactly. These are LED screens. The TVs are thin and lightweight. They can be mounted on a wall if you want.”
“How are the pictures so clear? And in color?”
“Those are ultra-high-definition screens.” Ogre let out a quick chuckle at my confused expression. “We can go over all the details later. For now, just enjoy.”
Grinning, I moved to the right and found the TVs getting larger. I couldn’t believe how big the ones at the end of the aisle were. A label on the largest said seventy-five inches. I rubbed my hands together and thought of what I could do with the trust fund that had been set up before I was frozen. They’d planned for me to have enough money not to need to find a job immediately, giving me time to acclimate instead of sink or swim.
“Wow. I am absolutely getting one of these for my house.”
I turned to look over the shelves behind me and found them lined with small, rectangular boxes.
“What are these?”
“Movies and TV series on DVD and Blu-ray.” Ogre caught my raised eyebrow and elaborated. “They’re stored on discs. DVDs are standard-definition and Blu-rays are high-definition. Each of those thick boxes holds a full season and the slim ones hold a movie and supplemental material like interviews, behind-the-scenes stuff, and commentary tracks.”
“TV shows can be stored on discs?”
“Yep. Also digitally.”
“What’s …?”
“Files on computers. No physical media at all.”
“Oh. A house would have to be pretty big to fit one of those into it.”
Ogre giggled and pulled a rectangular device from her pocket. “Nah, they don’t take up whole rooms anymore. Some can fit on a desk and others … well, have a look.”
“That’s a computer?”
“It’s a phone and a computer.”
I stared as she tapped the screen and the numbers of a phone appeared on the surface. The phones I grew up with had dials, but I’d seen a few with buttons while walking through the Institute’s corridors. I laughed. Who needed dirigibles when we had gadgets like these?
“So, when they set you up in a house and you pick out your furniture and TV and whatnot, you can start building a library and catch up on all the stuff you missed over the past sixty-some years.” She waved a hand over the movies and shows.
“I wouldn’t even know where to start. Any recommendations?”
“Well, since you’ve always liked science fiction books, I think you’d enjoy a few pop-cultural landmarks like The Twilight Zone, Star Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, and Babylon 5.” She grinned. “That last one is my all-time favorite. If I start talking about it, I’ll go full-genki girl.”
“Whatever that is.”
“Like, hyperkinetically enthusiastic.” She laughed and shrugged. “When we get back to the Institute this evening, we can show you an episode of each to give you a taste. Maybe we can introduce you to some anime, too, and similar shows produced over here in the states. One of my favorites is gen:LOCK.”
“Hmm. Maybe we can make it a series of reaction videos,” Alvin said. “Play it up as a guy who’s never seen any of this stuff without bringing up the cryonics thing, and just document his introduction to sci-fi from the past few decades.”
“I think I understand what you just said. Most of it, anyway.” I laughed. “Sounds fun.” I turned slowly to take another look around and recognized a few dozen other phones like Ogre’s on a nearby table. “I think I’m going to like the future.”
Comments (0)
See all