The holes are coming

Noma didn't know how long she had been sitting in the secluded bar but she was loath to leave. If only this were a dream so she would wake up but it was real and it was all because of her mad sense of adventure. A small noise broke her train of thought and when Noma looked up she was not sure if she was hallucinating or not. A normal looking person whom she had never met had walked in and looked around nervously but no one seemed to notice him. Her curiosity was well and truly tweaked but she knew she had to stay put. The last two people she had asked probing questions about this place had been swallowed up by mysterious black holes that had appeared from nowhere.

The first one had been a young man called Tonde and they had been in a rather swanky if a little too modern restaurant when it had happened. For a few weeks Noma had been asking him why there were no old people in this place and why all the residents looked like airbrushed models. Initially Tonde had been baffled by her question as if it had never occurred to him at all but that evening as he had started to seriously search for an answer all hell had broken loose.

There had been a loud noise and from thin air a big hole had opened up right next to him. The force from the hole was so strong that it took all of Noma's might to hold on to her chair and not be swallowed up. There had been no terror on Tonde's face but a look of resignation as he had let go and been swallowed up. As soon as he was gone the hole had disappeared and everyone had acted as though nothing strange had gone on. Everything including the knives and forks were still in their place and it was as if the hole had come for Tonde only.

A loud noise brought her back to the present and it was the normal looking person banging against an ancient looking vending machine. He was swearing under his breath and Noma had to smile. It was refreshing to see someone vending real emotion in a particularly unattractive way. No one in this place seemed capable of doing so and TP immediately came to mind. She had been the one who had met them at the station when they had arrived from the past.
 
Noma and the rest of the crew had been in the aircraft for about just over a week traveling at nearly the speed of light around the world on a one-way ticket to the future. Getting this gig had been a coup because the demand had been phenomenal. It wasn't like any old journey; it was a step closer to immortality.
  
'Well folks this is it; this is the destination many would have killed for and I'm sure some of you here did just that hey,' The Captain had winked and laughed at his joke. The silence that followed was rather unusual but he did not seem fazed. In the past few months they would all have forced themselves to laugh at his jokes because staying on his good side meant staying on the mission. 

'This is some way to welcome guests,' complained Susan as the doors slid open and Noma had to agree. They had landed on a glass airstrip several meters above the ground and frankly it was frightening.
 
'It's steady folks,' The Captain said as he had tapped the glass floor with his foot. He had then led them along the long corridor and no one had dared look down. They had all scrambled into an elevator at the end of the corridor and held their breath as it had wheezed down. 'It's time to meet the residents of the future.'
When the doors opened there was the most beautiful woman Noma had ever seen standing in front of them. Several other people walked past and even though the lady had started talking none of them were listening.

'Does anyone feel as though they are looking at Barbie and Ken's offspring?' Jerome asked. 'And they're all so bloody tall; they're giving me a complex.'

'Perhaps it's evolution,' Susan put in.

'It's only been a couple hundred or so years,' Jerome countered.

'Everyone was after perfection and maybe human kind finally found the answer to it and I got to say, I want what they're having.'

'The lady's talking!' The Captain said sternly.

'It's fine, I'm sure this is all a shock to you. According to our records those who arrived ten years ago found it all too strange and it affected their mental well being. But please do not be alarmed, we've learned from those mistakes; we won't repeat them.'

'If that's meant to make us feel better it's not working-,' The Captain gave Jerome a look that silenced him immediately. 

'But we were the first to travel to the future.' Noma was quite sure of that.

'Yes, they told us about you. For the past fifty years we have been receiving guests from the past and they all spoke of you. Now no more questions, it is what caused problems for the others.'

TP had then led them to a craft that was hovering just above the ground. After they were settled inside, TP had handed The Captain a bag. Inside were the little boxes they had left just over a week ago for their friends and family to fill with memories. They looked battered and old.

Noma eagerly opened hers as did everyone else and she felt tears fill her eyes when she saw amongst other things a film of her aged sister proudly talking about her family. About four or five generations of her family had contributed to the memory box and it was touching and surreal to see them.

As Noma absently watched the normal looking man she wondered why her memory box had stopped at five generations because she now knew that they had travelled for more three centuries. TP had seemed to finally relent after weeks of pestering from Noma about why there were no children. Noma was sure she had been about to talk when the hole had appeared. It had been hauntingly similar to how Tonde had disappeared. Now she was sure someone was watching and they did not want anyone talking. It was like Big Brother gone bonkers.

Coincidentally Noma had met TP hours later and had remarked about her hair.

'I have an appointment at the salon tomorrow morning,' TP's smile was so carefree it was unsettling.

'You went this morning and had that hairstyle removed, I was with you. And those are yesterday's clothes; it looks like your time has been rewound since you were swallowed up by that hole.'

'Noma you silly girl,' she admonished good-naturedly and then started to look worried. 'It's happening again.'

'What's happening again?'

'The confusion, it happens to all the visitors from the past. Oh dear,' TP looked increasingly concerned but that did not last. A blank expression came over her face and it was as if Noma had ceased to exist. That had been two weeks back. Since then she had not seen any of her friends from the past and the residents had continued to ignore her.

When the normal looking man left the bar, Noma waited a few minutes and then followed him from a discreet distance. When he walked into a plush mansion she sneaked in surprisingly easily.

'I'm not sure you can handle the answers you seek?' his voice made her jump. 'I saw you following me.' He turned and started walking. 'Come.' Noma followed silently. He led her into a massive darkened room and in the middle were a miniature but accurate version of the City and all the residents going about their business.

'Your friends will be joining them just as soon as I've finished with them. It's what they wanted,' he said defensively. 'Besides, I can't have all you people from the past coming here and upsetting the status quo.' He turned and looked at her. 'Don't worry I won't do anything to you, I think it's time I had some real company and I bet you're eager for it too considering that none of them can see you anymore,' he paused. 'It is what you want isn't it?'

Janine Dube is the Author of A Dark Horizon