[evelyncanarvon]

Synopsis: A fun look at life, and what it might be all about. Rated PG.


"Welcome to Humanity. How long do you intend on staying?"

The attendant greeted the first of a throng of visitors. He looked around to his left and right. He was seated at a desk, a glass wall separating him from the vacationers. There were hundreds of desks like this lined up along the wall of this huge building. Each desk had another attendant, and on the other side, a huge line of faces: some had come hundreds of times before; for some this was their first time.

The first visitor in line looked at the attendant. "How long do most people stay?"

"Oh," said the attendant, "This is your first time then?" He reached under his desk, pulled out a pamphlet, and handed it to the newcomer. He took it and began to peruse it, as the attendant continued to talk to a point straight ahead of him.

"As you can see, the average time most visitors stay is about 5 philsecs. The Humans call this length of time 75 years. If you wish to stay longer, that could be arranged. However, you can stay no longer than 7.5 philsecs. That is a rule. Many vacationers choose to stay a shorter time. Some only stay one one-millionth philsecs, which is equivalent to about 5 hours for Humans-"

The newcomer interrupted him. "Why would they stay so short a time?"

The attendant cleared his throat and looked down at the newcomer, annoyed by the interruption. "Some visitors only have a short amount of time to spend; some are scientists performing an experiment. You're not a scientist, are you?"

The newcomer looked at the ground. "Oh no, I just-I wanted to get away for a while... I think I'll do the normal time."

The attendant looked back up at the air and said, "Number?"

The newcomer rattled off "6754918."

The attendant typed in this information and a card popped out of his computer. He looked straight ahead and pointed to his left. "All right, if you go over to that desk, they should be able to take care of you."

The newcomer looked to the right and saw a desk labelled "Human Selection for Long-Term Visitors". He started to walk that direction, but a voice stopped him.

"Wait," said the attendant, and handed him the card. "You'll need this."

"Thanks," said the newcomer as he left.

The newcomer walked to the new desk, where there were about 20 other visitors. They were all looking up at the wall, where there was a screen showing about 40 Human individuals, with profiles listed below. Another attendant stood looking down at his computer, reading off information.

"Next we have a Morris. Female. Beauty 7. Intelligence 4. Kindness 6. Sociability 8. This one needs a host in .0004 philsecs, or else we'll have to terminate it. 500 dollars. Any takers?"

As the attendant spoke this information, one of the pictures on the screen grew and covered the screen. The newcomer could hear the visitors around him talking amongst themselves.

"I'd prefer a smarter one."

"Well, she is sociable. That probably means she'll have a happy life."

"Didn't you say you wanted someone pretty?"

"What's the point of that, they all look ugly to me."

A few people laughed and nodded their heads in accordance. The attendant smiled and looked around at the group expectantly. "No one?" she said. "Remember, if we don't get anyone by the time the baby is 9 months old, Human time, we will have to destroy it... anyone?"

The visitors looked around at each other. Finally, someone raised his hand. "I'll have it," he said.

The attendant smiled. "Good," he said. "Come up here. I need to see the card you got at the registration desk. And I'll need the 500 dollars up front."

The newcomer watched, as the visitor who accepted Morris walked up to the desk and handed the attendant his card and some money. The attendant spoke to him. "You'll need to be back here at 9:30 a.m. this Tuesday. All right? If you're late, you can't go."

The visitor left with a new card indicating his Human.

The attendant looked back down at her computer.

"Now we have a Henderson."

Henderson's picture grew to take up the whole screen.

"Henderson. Male. Beauty 2. Intelligence 9. Kindness 3. Sociability 1. He doesn't need a host for .005 philsecs. Anyone?"

The newcomer looked around. Some visitors were shaking their heads. Someone laughed.

"This guy looks like a serial killer!"

Everyone laughed, including the attendant.

The attendant said, "Actually, this type of personality tends to create successful computer operators. Heard of Bill Gates?"

A few visitors smiled and looked at the picture with more interest. A visitor at the front raised his hand and walked to the desk. When the transaction was complete, the next picture grew on the screen. Several more Humans were sold. There was a Johnson-Female, Beauty 4, Intelligence 4, Kindness 8, Sociability 5. No one bought her. A Merchant was sold. Male. Beauty 4. Intelligence 7. Kindness 3. Sociability 8. The attendant pointed out that this personality made for a great politician. Three people vied for the sale, and the attendant ended up picking the visitor in front. As he excitedly ran up to make the purchase, a visitor next to the newcomer muttered "idiot."

The newcomer turned to the visitor and smiled. "What, you don't want to be the next Bill Clinton?"

The visitor looked at the newcomer and said seriously, "We're going to have this life for 5 philsecs. That's a long time."

"So?"

"So, I want to have fun. Medium kindness, high beauty, high sociability, probably low intelligence."

The newcomer looked surprised. "Yeah, but don't you want to, you know, make Humanity a better place?"

The visitor scoffed. "I'm not paying 500 dollars to work my whole life! I've tried the route of the rich businessman personality, and it sucked. All work and no play. I mean, we're paying them for God's sake! We should get to have fun!"

The newcomer considered this.

"Now, maybe if you can get a scientist," said the other visitor. "They can improve Humanity, and they get to live exciting lives. But none of this business and politics crap. This life is supposed to relieve stress, not make it worse. Excuse me."

The visitor raised his hand and walked up to the desk to purchase a woman, a Jones, Kindness 5, Beauty 7, Sociability 9, and Intelligence 2. Some of the other visitors gave him odd looks. The newcomer smiled as he imagined meeting Jones, completely smashed, in some seedy bar. The newcomer said to himself, "I hope that works out for him."

The attendant looked down at his computer as a picture of a man filled the screen.

"Michaels. Male. Beauty 7. Intelligence 6. Kindness 7. Sociability 7. A good, roundabout individual. Perfect for first-timers. And ready to go today, actually. Anyone? We really do need someone today, or else we have to terminate him. Anyone?"

The newcomer thought, "Why not?" and he walked up to the desk. "Hi, I'll take him," he said.

The attendant looked at him. "Oh great, you're a lifesaver. They always get mad at me when I can't sell someone. Can I see your card?"

The newcomer handed the attendant his card and asked, "How much?"

"480 dollars."

The newcomer retrieved the money from his pocket. "Here you go."

"Thanks." The attendant took the money. "Actually, if you could step right through there, they can have you now."

"Oh," said the newcomer. He walked toward where the attendant indicated. There were two double doors with a large sign above them that read "The Life Room". The newcomer moved to open the doors, but another attendant stopped him.

"Excuse me," the attendant said angrily, "you can't go in there."

"The attendant back there told me to come here," the newcomer said, showing the attendant his card. The attendant scrutinized it.

"Right," he said. "You can go."

The newcomer walked through the doors. The sight that greeted his eyes was amazing. This room was even larger than the last, and it seemed to stretch up for hundreds of feet. Everywhere he looked there were beds, thousands of beds, each with a vacationer in it, hooked up to a main computer located in the center of the room. The newcomer began to walk toward the computer, where there were about a dozen attendants and scientists standing, reading the output of the thousands of vacationers. As the newcomer moved nearer, he could see the different parts of the computer, all labelled "LIFE". The newcomer could hear the scientists speaking.

"Right, we've got a guy in the south quarter about to wake up. He's having a heart attack right now."

The newcomer could see an attendant rushing away from the scientist toward the left group of beds.

"I think that's it for now. Oh, wait, damn, someone just got shot. You two, bed 646."
Two more attendants ran off toward the right. The remaining attendant looked up and saw the newcomer. He began to walk toward him.

"Oh, hello. Are you here to live?"

"Uh, yeah... I was told to come in here." He handed his card to the attendant, who read it through quickly.

"Oh, this is your first time!" said the attendant excitedly. "Well, I hope you like it. We could wait for a bed over here to open up-" He looked over at the bed where the two attendants had just gone too, helping up a man who looked like he had just woken up from a particularly horrible nightmare, holding his arm as if it had been hurting him horribly. "But that might take a while. We should probably go over to the North-"

The attendant stopped and looked at the newcomer, who was still staring, transfixed, at the vacationer who died in a shooting.

"Oh, it's okay," He said reassuringly. "Vacationers are like that sometimes right after they... um, pass away, but they're back to normal soon. Really, you're going to have a great time. Why do you think people keep coming back?"

The newcomer still looked nervous. "Uh, yeah," he said. "I'm good." And they continued walking.

They walked for about three minutes until they reached a row of beds that were almost all empty. He indicated one of them. "Sit," he said. The newcomer sat down.

"Okay," said the attendant, "I have to read you some stuff." He took out a notebook and opened it.

"Welcome to Humanity, long-term. You have selected to live the life of a-"

The attendant looked down at the newcomer's card.

"Michaels. You have requested a lifetime of roughly 5 philsecs. If for some reason-"

The attendant glanced over at the bed of the shooting victim.

"-you do not live the whole 5 philsecs, you will be partially refunded depending on how much shorter of a lifetime you have. Although Life Inc. has the best doctors available to care for its vacationers, Life Inc. cannot be held responsible for any injury, mental or physical, that may occur during your stay. We hope you enjoy your stay and that you return to Life Inc., division 587."

The attendant handed the notebook to the newcomer. "You have to sign here," he said. The newcomer signed.

"Okay," said the attendant. "I need you to lie down. Don't be nervous. You'll be fine. And you picked a great personality-I had one like it about 30 philsecs back, and I loved it. Oh, and you need to put this on."

The attendant handed him some odd kind of helmet with wires coming out the back. The newcomer strapped it on and lay down in the bed. "So," he said, "how exactly will this work?"

The attendant said, "Oh, I don't know exactly how the wiring into Life works, that's the scientists' job. But basically, the other vacationers in Life can conceive a baby. It's quite brilliant, really. The actions of the vacationers in Life are what make it possible to bring in new visitors." The attendant looked around at the room admiringly.

"Anyway, at 40 days, the baby begins to have a working brain. There's really no point giving it a host before then; there's nothing to see or feel and it's really very boring. But we need a host by the time the baby is born so there's actually something in the baby, so it's not just a little machine. You basically become the baby, and experience all of its thoughts and emotions; make its decisions. You get to live its life for about 75 years."

The newcomer asked, "Will I know, when I am the Human, about who I really am?"

The attendant smiled. "Oh no, of course not. Actually, that's the fun part. You get a completely different existence, and you can do with it whatever you want. The next 75 years will have no effect on the real world, only on your own person. Have fun with them!"

The newcomer smiled, remembering the politician-hating visitor. "Okay, I'm ready."

"All right then," said the attendant. "I'm going to turn on the machine now. In about 10 seconds you will be incorporated into Life. Can I have you count back from 10?"

The newcomer heard the click of the machine. "10-9-8-"

The newcomer started to feel tired. He saw the attendant looking not at him, but at the computer screen next to him.

"7-6-5"

The edges of his vision were beginning to go black. He closed his eyes. The attendant looked down at him, checked the monitor one last time, and left. He walked back toward the central computer, contemplating when he should take his next vacation.

"4-3-2"

The newcomer knew he was alone. He wondered what he would first see in Life. He wondered if he would be happy. He wondered-

"1-0"

Somewhere far away, a baby opened his eyes for the first time.

[JirQUEST]

the concept is very unique. i love it

That was a great story. I hope to see more of your work.

[foltgee]

Very nice story. I enjoyed reading it very much.

I would have liked to have seen more of your character's world before he chose to begin his "vacation" into ours, although the ambiguity does add to the uniqueness of the tale. There are many traditions that believe that souls "choose" to incarnate into this lifetime, and also "choose" to come back many different times, so this is an interesting twist on that tradition.

Good work.

[Patricia16]

Wow, great concept, and great writing.

[psycosis]

Excellent story and Im not much into reading stories......very nice job

I really enjoyed reading this. It reminded me of Micheal Newton's Destiny of Souls. Have you read it? I wonder how close to reality this is.

[aube]

Oh now this is absolutely great!! Very original and quite funny I really enjoyed reading this!

I really liked it. I skimmed it and didn't think I would like it but it pulled me in. I agree that seeing more of the characters world would be nice to clarify the story. I first thought it was in "Life", then I thought it was more like aliens, and then I thought of angels and the afterlife- which makes the most sense.

[Ambrose]

Great idea! The way this is written is both highly amusing and remarkably interesting. It definitely got me thinking about how incredibly huge and mind-boggling life is, and what it would mean if we could control it like this.

[SlickNick]

This is a spectacular achievement, it deserves all the praise it can get, and then some more. I really liked it, not just for its unique and creative concept but for the way it was handled and finely crafted. A standing ovation.

[kduchice]

A fun, breezy story... good use of dialogue. I also liked the little elements that added to the scene: the hundreds of beds with "vacationers", the other newcomers, hearing the attendents talking about people getting shot or having a heart attack and about to wake up.

So, even though you were probably going for a lighthearted tone, it would have been nice to intensify the conflict a tad... this guy is spending nearly 500 bucks for a vacation that's not even guarenteed to be a blast... it could turn out to be a really crappy vacation (I mean, suppose he ended up being born in some place like Kansas...jk). Maybe you could have had a little scene where a disgruntled vacationer was demanding his money back, or where another vacationer wants to go back to "LIFE" so bad because of some unfinished business/lost love/etc... Anyways, you've set up such a good situtation here, there's so many fun and interesting places it could go.

So, good work. And keep writing.

[pjmorand]

Great dialogue troughout the scene,very easy reading, good work!

excellent concept. Loved it! I normally skip lines if I get tired of a story but I read this all the way through from start to finish. Very neat look on life.

I'm interested on what the vacationers actually are, unless I missed something.

Got me thinking anyway .....

[Charles Nesby]

Wow.What can I say. You nailed it. Very nice. I can't find anything wrong.

[DarkPower]

Brilliant! I do not want to praise you too much but that was a well thought out and well writen story. My only regret was that you did not get to see at least a little glimpse of what his new life was like or perhaps how his real life changed after comming back from his vacation. Hey I really just want you to write me a novel about this.

[Gwenhwyfar]

Wow! what an interesting concept. This is such an existenstial piece.

I thought the plot was great. There is a lack of characterization with the main character, but that is actually perfect, because we, the audience, realize that he is about to become someone else. The dialogue moved well and of course, the ambiguity of everything really helped to add to the sense of slight confusion, which is necessary for "the newcomer." Great job!

[Bonbon]

Soul Trip is very interesting. It remimds me of The Twilight Zone.
Very well writen I could see what was happening as I read the story.

[alja123]

Why is it rated PG?

It is very easy to read, and draws the reader in, despite being wholely predicted after the first few lines. I guess you weren't trying to make it particularly striking, opting insead for an interesting and fun read. Which I like. I'd say that most people would have opted for the other end of the line with the guy waking up and realising what's going on. I prefer the way you did it though.

[Justice_For_All]

Everything flows together really nicely and its really easy to read. On top of that, its a very nice plotline. Editing is near-flawless and you did amazing with the other aspects of a story. Nice work.

[Seamless]

Wow, this story was amazing! I have been really out of tune with my reading lately, and haven't been able to focus, but this caught my attention from the start and I love the mystery about it.

I can't help but wonder if that's what life is really like? ... Very interesting, I give you five stars and two thumbs up

Hi. i want to tell you how my story onyour story. But right now I want to know how you want to be credited so i can post and send your story to various places. To contact me go to www.freewebs.com/angel_buffy ,from there go to talk then type in ur e-mail and i will then e-mail. I would tell you now but I don't feel comfortable giving out my e-mail to whomever rads this. If you don't feel comfortable do what i said but instaed of entering ur email enter your creditation preference. . Please get back to me on that. I will give you a week. Then I will start crediting you as it says evelyncanarvon. If i spelt it wrong i will spell it correctly when credititng. After the first week you can still tell me how you want to be credited but I will have no control over previous information posted and sent. Thankyou very much. Jacob Mathesti.
Thank you again very much.

P.S.After one month don't bother sending me anything.

[CaseStudy]

Everything a short story needs to be. You are talented enough to extend this to a worthy novella or at least extend this version. It doesn't take away from the story but it'd be nice if you expanded their world for the reader.