Chapter 4 – The World Fifty Years Ahead
The first time Rion truly looked outside, it stunned him.
Skyscrapers didn't scrape the clouds anymore — they floated above them. Transparent rails glided through the air like silver threads, carrying pods that whispered instead of roared. Even the horizon looked different: faint grids of light stretched across the ocean, marking what he guessed were power farms.
He closed the blinds quickly, heart thumping.
Okay… deep breath. Don't freak out. You're just fifty years behind.
The holographic console hummed on. He sat down, opened the browser, and typed the most basic word he could think of:
> "News."
Instant flood. Articles appeared in a dozen languages — but when he tapped "Global Digest," the interface rearranged itself, speaking directly in his voice.
[Global Digest – Year 2075]
Headlines flickered past:
First Self-Aware AI Nation Granted UN Membership
Neural Tourism Becomes Mainstream: Live Another Life for a Weekend
Earth's Orbit Traffic Peaks at 10,000 Satellites — New Regulation Incoming
He leaned closer, half-grinning.
"AI nation? Neural tourism? What the hell…"
Scrolling deeper, he found familiar names — Google, Tesla, Samsung — merged into a single entity called Aetherlink Conglomerate, apparently managing 70 percent of world infrastructure.
He muttered, "So we did become one megacorp future. Nice."
Then he found something that made him pause:
> Parallel Mind Transfer Research — Morally Prohibited After 2060 Scandal.
His mouth went dry.
Parallel… mind transfer?
He clicked.
The article described an experimental technology allowing consciousness to "echo" across dimensions. The project was banned after accidents where test subjects lost their original bodies.
A comment thread beneath debated if the phenomenon was really science — or some metaphysical fluke.
Rion sat still.
So the thing that happened to him — might already be known here… and outlawed.
"Guess I'm an illegal miracle," he whispered.
He opened more tabs, diving into culture. Music made by AI-human duets, fashion that changed color by mood, even food printed by nanofarms. Society seemed peaceful yet eerily efficient — everyone connected to something called the Neural Web, a global network blending consciousness and data.
He realized he couldn't even see a normal smartphone anymore — people wore thin silver rings or just blinked to interact with devices.
Hours passed before he finally leaned back.
The future was terrifyingly clean.
And maybe a little lonely.
He rubbed his eyes. "No wonder my other self buried himself in work."
Before returning, he downloaded a few public e-books on "Basic Quantum Engineering" and "Neural Architecture Design."
If half of this was real, bringing even a fragment back could change everything in 2025.
He whispered the trigger.
---
The hum of cheap air-conditioning returned.
The smell of dust, ramen, and last night's coffee.
Rion looked around, smiling faintly.
"Alright, Future World," he murmured. "Lesson learned. Time to build something cool… and maybe a little illegal."