Chronologue

The year is 2257: Present day Washington D.C. Kew Gardens, Georgetown; September 24

The agent walked up to the door. He stood there for about 15 seconds then rang the doorbell. A young African American male in casual attire opened the

door and frowned at the strange man; the mysterious man was tall around 6 feet or so and wore black clothes with a suit and tie. “Hello, Bob Jordan,” replied the agent. Bob Jordan noticed that the man was carrying a large briefcase as he stepped aside to let him in, closing the door behind him.

“…My name is not Bob Jordan. Who are you? How do you know me?”

“We met several times inour Black Ops debriefings,” said the agent. “Besides…You already know who I am.”

Bob Jordan scratched his head. “My name…Is… Butch now.”

The agent chuckled to himself, “I know. I wanted to congratulate you in person this time for joining the force. I have been dispatched to answer any more questions that you may have. Even though you already know them. That’s why you opened the door and let me in without asking why…You already know why I’m here.” Butch scratched his head as the two sat down in chairs across from one another. “How? How do I already know? Black

Ops? The Force? What are you talking about?” The agent gave a perplexed look. “You mean you don’t remember? You joined the Federal Bureau Republic. The age of our agents going on the front lines has all gone digitally now. With the number of riots and systematic killings in the year 2160 to 2230, we have lost over 610,000 agents in service to the government.”

The agent sat his briefcase on a table and opened it to reveal a computer screen inside. He pressed a button on his shirt cuff, and the device began to display a brainwave screen of some sort, and a second screen showing footage of what appeared to be the inside of a room with a sizeable cryogenic pod big enough to fit a person within. “And so, we are no longer putting federal agents in harm’s way anymore. From now on, all that is required to join the bureau agency is to type in a text “I want to be an agent.” You don’t have to send the text or insert a period or quotation marks. We will know who you are. We will hack into your subconscious and conscious state directly. You will receive your self-defense training and instructions manual, be sworn in and then debriefed, all via the Uerther Computer network. The process will take only 4 seconds…But to you, it will seem like it took 4 years, and you will be an agent…Even if you deleted some portion of the text, scrambled it, added special characters, or changed your mind just seconds before.”

Butch flinched back in his chair with a mortified look, “What are you talking about?! I didn’t sign up for that!” The agent frowned in confusion. “Yes, you did. You and your girlfriend both did. Don’t you remember? You both typed in the text about 6 months ago and have been agents ever since. You even took a tour to Israel and Moscow to help stop the rising Avalonism Threat.”

Butch frantically swung his head and trembled where he sat as the agent continued.

“Yes, there are some remnants of PTSD you seemed

to have obtained in Moscow…Your hysteria.”

Butch stopped moving and widened his eyes, in sheer shock.

“It’s not because you didn’t know. You already do. I am merely bringing back up painful subconscious memories. The android attacks and all.”

Butch slowly turned over to the screen and pointed at it. “What’s…That thing?”

“Youtell me,” said the agent, “It’s yours.” “You mean…You’re giving it to me?”

“No,” continued the agent.“You gave it to Agent Bob Jordan, and told them to bring it with me when I came over to see you.”

There was a long pause. “Hmm…Oh, yes. Bob Jordan is an alias that the bureau uses to describe all our agents. Bob could be Caucasian, Jordan can be both male or female, or possibly African American. It doesn’t matter. All you need to do is consider us to be formless, and know to expect us…”

The agent turned towards the device, and suddenly on the screen, the cryogenic pod blew steam and opened up to reveal a human inside. The man’s eyes were expressionless as he marched from the pod; he walked around in circles looking not only entirely different from Butch but with a different ethnicity.

“What is that? Is that a robot?”

“It’s you, as an agent. Right now, you are controlling him and will go to meet somebody.”

“That’s me as an agent? …No, no. I’m not doing anything. I’m just watching what’s happening on the screen.”

“You are doing something. You are controlling the android.”

Butch threw up his hands. “Look! I’m not doing anything! See? How can I control something? I don’t have a button or anything on me! I’m not pressing anything; I’m not touching anything!”

“Bob Jordan. You are controlling it with your mind.”

“But how?! I’m not thinking of anything!”

“But you are. Observe.” The two looked at the screen. “Think of something. Anything.”

Butch did, and suddenly the machine walked backward, turned around, waved at the screen, and started to do jumping jacks—

Suddenly attuned to Butch’s thoughts! Almost as if remembering to blink, whatever the agent did on screen Butch was aware of its movements! His eyes widened, and his whole body trembled in his chair.

“There. You don’t have to worry about getting killed on the line of duty or in service to the government anymore as if you were a police officer. You can live a normal life. Regardless of whether you think about it or not, the agent will carry out its duties; you will get paid in service to the government. When you receive a check, you will know it’s from the government, but you won’t be able to recall why. You can still work another job…But we prefer you and your girlfriend didn’t, you understand. Also, know that you have already disabled all of your social media accounts. You just won’t recall ever having any of them…But you’ll know you removed them.”

“Where is he going?” went Butch.

“You tell me. You know. I am unauthorized from knowing the exact location that you’re going, unless you tell me, of course.”

“But…Ican’t…remember where it’s going!”

The agent sat back in his chair, “Well where do you think it’s going? Think. And it will be the answer.”

“I…I don’t know! Like, to go see a senator or something?”

The agent’s eyes widened. “Yes, that sounds about right.”

Butch’s eyes froze in disbelief.

“What else would you be doing Bob Jordan?”

“I…I guess I’ll probably be going to talk about those robot androids the news keeps talking about.”

“Yes. This is correct.”

“Then I’ll probably be speaking to somebody in the military…? Then…Then I might…I think, like go overseas, then talk to other agents, then return to a base?”

The agent gave a surprised smile, and his piercing emotionless eyes widened. “Yes. All those things, in that order.”

There was a great silence, the horrified look on Butch’s face seeming to further widen the agent’s grin. He closed the computer suitcase, stood from his chair and began to walk out of the apartment. He looked over his shoulder. “Goodbye, agent Bob Jordan.”

“Wait! W-wait! Who…Who sent you?!?”

The agent’s eyes sparkled, and an almost splitting lively grin broke wrinkles over his face.

“Your girlfriend sent me.”

Butch froze with his pupils shrunken in place, sweat pouring from every corner of his flesh. Even the corners of his nose and behind his ears reeked of sweat and angst. “She will be home in a couple hours; she’s not going

to be able to recall any of this of course. But she will already know what has happened.”

Then the agent went from the apartment leaving Butch behind in silence with the ominous closing of the door. The noise from the outside world’s city seemed to trickle its way back in through the windows as everything began to be filled with life yet again.