Karl counted the minutes, but he kept losing track. Something about the abyss seemed to defy time although he couldn’t understand it. His seconds seemed accelerated, and his minutes seemed to only take 30 seconds. Suddenly, Karl felt himself yanked from his silent pit of darkness into the bright lights of… He couldn’t quite describe it. The walls, the concrete, even the lights were a sterile white color. It looked nothing like Prussia, everything was much too clean, even in the small cramped alleyway he was in. He saw the portly man standing beside him, speaking, but he couldn’t hear any of it. His ears were ringing.
He could hear a muffled attempt at a “Hey, you can’t be here!” as his ears slowly stopped ringing.
“Where am I, fat man?”
“You can’t be here! You’ve ruined everything! Now they’ll know I brought someone else!”
“I said, where am I? Don’t make me tear your arms off.”
“I suppose I owe you an explanation.” The fat man pulled a white cardboard box from deeper in the alley and sat down with it. Karl stared intently. He noticed the under-suit again and was able to get a clearer look at it. It was very tight, like it was custom fitted. It had a detailed hexagon pattern on the mesh, which seemed to be metallic. That explained what he saw back on the street of Trier.
“You’re in the future. I was sent to gather info on historical figures in Prussia for a college thesis, but it seems I brought a little too much information back with me.” The man chuckled, “I didn’t realize the man himself Karl Marx would follow me into an unlit alley.”
“So, I gained relevance in your future land?” Karl shifted his position to lean against the wall. Karl took another glance at the walls, and they seemed to be completely clean, even down to the grain of the sterile white paint. It was very odd for Karl, he never saw anything of true cleanliness.
“Well, in a way.” The man spoke, “That book you wrote was quite something, and we derived our government from some of the parts of it.” Karl was shocked. He never thought anyone with actual authority would ever read his book, especially in the future.
“How much did you derive?”
“Well… It’s called socialism.” Karl’s demeanor went from pleasantly surprised to incredibly angry.
“COMMUNISM IS A PERFECT FORM OF GOVERNMENT IT INCENTIVISES WORK AND HAPPINESS FOR THE GLORY OF THE NATION, HOW DARE YOU SIMPLETONS CHANGE IT, IT HASN’T EVEN BEEN ATTEMPTED YET… FOOL!” Karl stormed out of the alley before the portly man could say anything to him. He found himself on a street full of floating streetcars and flying machines, he’d never seen stuff like this, it truly shocked him. He was most definitely in the future. Where could he go from here? He figured it would be a good option to find the city center, maybe to learn more about this supposed future land.
Karl observed the city with great interest. It seemed almost everything was automated, there was even robots replacing human jobs. In a café, he saw a large amount of portly, unfit men and women standing in line to receive coffee from a robotic cashier. Although the robot was very clearly a robot, it still looked sleek and human in design. He never thought he’d see craftsmanship of that level on such a large scale, robots were everywhere! There were flying machines with four rotors, flying above his head. They seemed to be delivering packages of various sizes, he even saw a box labeled “pizza.” Quite interesting to a man of the past, surrounded by filth for the entire span of his life. Maybe this would be a different experience and a better society to be in, but he couldn’t stand that they “adapted” parts of communism. In his head, it was the same as butchering his idea.
After several minutes of walking and following street signs, he found a very tall building with a large blinking “Information” sign. The building front was almost completely glass and metal lattice, like an array of windows. He walked in through the double set of doors and was immediately overwhelmed by how clean the air was. It was devoid of dirt and musk, it was the clearest and cleanest air he’d ever smelled. The room itself was devoid of anything other than tiled floor and having a large desk at the opposite end. At the desk sat a surprisingly thin woman. He’d only seen fat people when he got to the future. He walked up to the desk.
“Hi, sir! Is there anything I can do for you?” The woman looked inquisitively at the man, as if she just realized that she was looking at a 6’10” musclebound male.
“What is socialism?”
“Are you well? It’s the form of government we’ve utilized since 3024.” The woman looked at him strangely.
“Do not play games with me. Tell me where I can find your leader.” Karl leaned on the desk, causing it to creak and bend.
“Sir, you’re acting very hostile with me. Please leave.” The woman reached for a panel full of buttons and pressed one. Suddenly, some of the ceiling tiles opened to reveal a row of six flying machines that floated down and around Karl. On closer inspection, Karl noticed the flying machines were all labeled “Gun Drone 12.7RND – ARMADILLO MUNITIONS.” He knew the woman was serious.
One of the drones emanated a robotic voice, “PLEASE LEAVE THE AREA. YOU ARE IN VIOLATION OF NAP ACT 41 ESTABLISHED BY LORD GOD TRUDEAU. YOU HAVE 5 SECONDS.” Karl knew what he had to do. He sprang up into the air, latched onto one of the drones, and hurled it at another drone. They collided and burst into an electronic mess of scrap. It was at that moment that the gun drones began firing their heavy 12.7 ammo at Karl. Karl flinched, but it did nothing, merely bouncing off him. Karl was invincible while he was flexing his muscles, the bullets could not hurt him. Karl grabbed another drone with his long arms and aimed for another drone. The fourth drone tried to duck and weave to dodge the incoming attack, but the effort was all for naught. Karl used his precise vision and muscles to hurl the third straight at the fourth, hitting his target dead on. The two other drones fled the scene, busting through the windows to the outside. Karl walked back to the desk and gripped the woman by the hair.
“Where is your leader.”
“You- You brute! Let me go!”
“Tell me and I shall lower you.” Karl still had a firm grip on the woman’s hair, dangling her above the floor.
“Fine! Do you have a phone?”
“Phone?” Karl stared inquisitively.
“Just take mine!” She tapped a few things on the black small slab of metal that she pulled out of her pocket. Karl took this "phone" and observed. He saw that there was a small map on it. He dropped the woman and followed the instructions on the map, leading to the capital of the civilization, surprisingly close to his current location. Karl left the building in tattered clothes, on his way to the capital.
