Fortune's Misgivings

I’ve always had these ideas in my head about fortune-tellers. They’d live in musty back alley parlors, deep within a room filled with a haze of lavender and myrrh. A wrinkled woman wrapped in robes of wisteria would take your hand and direct your gaze toward a pearly translucent orb that sits on the table covered in beads. She’d close her eyes and chant mysteriously before spilling out the tantalizing hints of your future like silky drops of plum tea. The exotic trinkets would clatter and ring. Sunlight would stream thickly through the dust. Time would pass in a blur, and you’d leave the parlor a changed woman. 

Those ideas came to me in the form of story books and motion pictures, and playtimes as a child within the shelves of Mother’s closet–her scarves, the robes which slunk around the shoulders of the oracle; her chunky bracelets, the baubles which fit loosely around wrinkled old hands. 

I’d never had reason to question these images–fortune-tellers didn’t exist after all. And if they did, they certainly wouldn’t live in a city like New Arcadia. The grand and bustling metropolitan city of the human colony Ares had no room for people of whimsy and subversion. 

Or so I thought. 

“You’re the oracle?” 

Jin doubled over laughing as my jaw hung open. “Boy, you should see your face!” 

“I just… thought…” I stuttered, then cleared my throat. “I only assumed that he would be… human.” 

“That’s rude,” she said with an elbow to my ribs. “Augments are human. They’re just a little less so than the rest of us.” 

The smartly-dressed augmented in question raised his eyebrow. “The future is not only the domain of humans. Why should those who divine it be required to adhere to the standards of the typical?” 

“You’re saying there’s alien fortune-tellers out there?” 

“Quite likely.” 

“Shouldn’t you, of all people, know for certain?” 

He smiled patiently. “It’s not my place.” 

“I see…” I shifted in place. “So do we just… do it right here? On the sidewalk? In front of everybody?” A gaggle of short-haired women in swing dresses pushed around us, bumping me off balance and illustrating my point. 

“Of course not. We shall go inside.” The augmented gestured toward the door of his store-front. “Please, come in.” 

“Wow,” I breathed as we stepped inside. The clothing store was far from cluttered, it was packed. Filled to the brim with every kind of sequins and ruffles and colors and satin, fabrics burst from the racks in reckless fashion, screaming at the eyes throughout every nook and cranny. I’d never have the money to shop here casually. I picked at my cotton trousers and averted my gaze. 

“How do you like your first taste of high society?” Jin muttered. Her eyes were gleaming. “Feels like the glamor never goes away, no matter how many times I’ve been here.” 

“You run this place?” I asked the augmented as he led us through the aisles. 

“No,” he replied simply. “My business partner and I determined that my face would be a poor representation of the company. He takes the lead in all aspects of sales. I do more of the heavy lifting, so to speak.” 

I didn’t know how to respond to that. Fortunately, he moved along swiftly. 

“On my off hours, I tend to clients of my more personal undertaking. I am grateful my partner allows me the time and space to do what I truly do best.” 

We had reached the back of the store, complete with a marble counter and golden cash registers, sparkling under the beaming stage lights. A small wooden door hid in the corner. I wouldn’t have seen it had the augmented not pointed us to it. 

“Telling the future?” I guessed. 

“No,” he replied, and opened the door to reveal a room the size of a broom closet. 

“Go in,” Jin urged. 

“In there?” 

“Just do it.” 

I sighed and stepped into the dark space. A single naked light bulb hung from the ceiling, so dim it couldn’t even illuminate the whole room. Blindly, I reached out with my hands, but where I would expect a door to be, there was only emptiness. 

“Do not be afraid,” said the augmented, who had followed Jin and I into the closet. He moved inward, edging around us until he disappeared into the black. “Many like to surround themselves with color and music to stimulate their senses. But a cluttered space only lends a cluttered mind. I find that I work best in the darkness.” 

I followed the sound of his voice deeper into the room. At some point I found Jin’s hand and gripped it for guidance. 

“So you clear your mind so you can see the future better,” I said slowly. “I think I get it.” 

In the distance, a small white screen flickered to life. “I must confess something,” the augmented said. “I am not really a fortune-teller. You might call me more of a…mechanic.” 

“What?” I tugged angrily at Jin and whispered, “Did you bring me here for nothing?” 

“Just wait,” she chastised, pulling me closer to the screen. 

I could see the shadow of the augmented flitting about as we approached, systematically pacing the room as he flipped power switches and more screens burst into brightness. 

“What is all this?” I asked. 

“It’s my Machine,” the augmented said proudly. “It analyzes all possible probable outcomes in any given scenario, then follows Wade’s algorithm to achieve an equilibrium between what has happened and what should be.” The screens began running lines of code, their old platinum frames trembling under the stress. 

“So you’re… a programmer.” 

“A mathematician.” 

“Not an oracle.” 

“Not in the fantastical sense. But I guarantee you I can predict your future nonetheless.” 

I was skeptical. But Jin had already bent my ear to the wonders this so-called fortune-teller had performed for her. “How does it work?” 

“Sit here.” The augmented gestured to a rickety chair off to the side. I sat. 

He talked as he worked, hands flying across the dashboard in a shadowy blur. “The universe was born from a conceivable set of coincidences. Take Ares, for example. This colony only exists because there just happened to be a planet within the habitable zone of our star. And it just happened to have the right density and atmosphere to foster a rich environment of platinum–a material the Earth space program just happened to covet at the time of human expansion. Had the space program been ahead or behind its time by only a few years, our deep space probe would have entirely missed running into the dwarf planet. We never would have known this existed. And now it’s one of the most populated distant colonies.” 

“Right,” I said slowly. 

“As the present progresses, it feels impossible to predict what might come along in the future. But looking back on the past, it’s easy to see the patterns which lead to a specific outcome. If you follow the trend of these patterns, it becomes almost child’s play to know the outcome of any scenario.” 

Jin jumped in eagerly. “So if you want to know the future, you have to look at the past. Isn’t that brilliant?” 

“I guess so.” I wasn’t really following. 

“To you, the details probably don’t matter. All you have to do is answer a few questions, ones that the Machine outputs,” the augmented said. He took his place at the dashboard. “Are you ready?” 

I glanced at Jin. I couldn’t quite make out her face, but I could feel her excitement brimming. 

“I’m ready.” 

“Do you know anyone named Jin?” he began. 

“Obviously.” 

“Have you ever bought anything from the company WalStroid?” 

I thought for a moment. “Yes, some sunglasses I think.” 

“When did you last talk to your mother?” 

“Many years ago. The long distance calls rack up a lot of money. What does that have to do with anything?” 

“Just trust the process,” said Jin. 

“What is your favorite song?” 

“Deep Space Blues, by the Neil Armstrongs. I like the trumpet player.” 

“Favorite color?” 

“Green.” 

“Those sunglasses, the ones that you purchased from Walstroid, were they green?”

“Yes.”

“Last question,” said the augmented. “What would you like to know?”

I paused. “I want to know about the future.” 

“Your personal future?” 

“Yes.” 

“Alright.”

“Alright? Was that it?” I stood. “What were those questions about? They were so random.”

The augmented continued to input some data and shrugged. “Only the Machine knows. I’m just the facilitator.” I peered over his shoulder, but all I could read was gibberish. A crazy mix of numbers and letters and symbols which scrolled across the screen at lightning speed. 

“You did great,” Jin said. She squeezed my hand. 

“I feel like I didn’t even do anything.” 

“You didn’t do anything abnormal in this moment,” agreed the augmented. “But your whole life has been a series of events which have culminated to this point. All we have to do is read the patterns.” 

“So?” I prompted. “What do the patterns say? What is my future?” 

He peered at the screens, eyes flickering back and forth. The code whizzed past, faster than any normal human could read. Then, after several moments of this–me, waiting impatiently by the wooden chair, Jin with her breath held, him frozen, staring, reading–the code ended abruptly, the screens shut off and we were thrown back into darkness. 

I could feel the augmented shift slightly as he exhaled. 

“What?” I asked. “What is it?” I wished I could see his face. 

“There’s no easy way to say this,” he said. “But… you’re going to die soon. Tonight.”

I scoffed. “Excuse me? Are you threatening me?” Jin’s grip on my hand tightened and turned clammy.

“I am not,” said the augmented. “This is what the Machine predicts.” 

“Well that’s ridiculous.” I said. I pulled away from Jin. “This is all ridiculous. Is this your gig? You lure strangers into this creepy dark room, ask them nonsense questions, then tell them their life is going to end? I can’t believe…” I shook my head. “Forget this. I’m leaving.” 

Jin pulled me back. “Wait! You can’t leave!”

I yanked away from her. “Nothing is going to happen! This whole thing has been a waste of time. I shouldn’t have skipped work today, at least there I would have made some money.” I jabbed my finger at the two of them, not caring that they couldn’t see. “You both owe me for the time I lost in the mines.”

“I know this is not what you wanted to hear,” the augmented said calmly. “I’m sorry I had to deliver you such bad news.”

“Eat it, cyborg.”

Jin smacked my arm. “Don’t say that! Where do you get off, anyway? If he’s right, these will be the last words you ever say to us! Is that really how you want us to remember you?”

I gritted my teeth. “Even if I don’t… die, these will still be the last words I ever say to you both. Jin, I thought you were my friend.” 

“I am your friend!”

“Friends don’t do things like this. It’s cruel.” 

“Look…” She took a deep breath. “Maybe it won’t happen. Maybe you’ll be fine, and the Machine was wrong.” 

“Not possible,” the augmented interjected. I pictured Jin tossing him a dirty glare through the darkness. 

“Quiet. Let’s just say that it forgot to factor something into account and you end up a-okay tonight. Alright? Then what’s the harm in being cautious? Maybe you just… be a little extra careful tonight. You’ve already taken the day off, it couldn’t hurt for you to just take it slow, right?” She addressed the fortune-teller. “Did the Machine say what the cause of death was?” 

He shook his head. “It doesn’t get that specific. I’m sorry.” 

“Well…” She paused. “The streets are pretty dangerous. Those cars go fast. Maybe we’ll be safe and get on a train. We’ll walk on Main Street so we don’t risk anything happening in the alleyways.” 

“Fine,” I sighed. “But you have to pay for the train fare.” 

“I will,” she promised. “And what if you carried my pocket knife? Just in case anyone tries something.” 

“I guess that would make me feel a little better. What do you think?” I asked the augmented. 

He was silent for a moment. “No one has ever proved the Machine wrong. I sincerely hope you will.” He stood, his silhouette looming in front of us. I thought about asking him to run the Machine again, to see if anything changes, but before I could he began leading us toward the exit. 

In a matter of seconds, we had reached the floor of the store again. I covered my face with a hand to shield myself from the light and so I didn’t have to look at Jin. She hadn’t let go of my hand still, and despite our sweaty grip, I had to admit I was thankful for her presence. 

“Thank you for your visit,” the augmented said. “I hope you visit again soon.” The last part was not directed at me. It didn’t matter. I had no plans to come back. 

“I’m not ready” Jin said, squeezing her grip. “This is all moving so quickly.”

I rolled my eyes. “Nothing bad is going to happen,” I said.

“But what if it does?” Tears began to roll down her cheek as she said quietly, “I don’t want you to die.” 

“I’m not going to,” I reassured her. 

“But the Machine–” 

“Forget the Machine!” The augmented had given us some space, but I couldn’t help glaring at him. “It’s just a stupid program. It’s not all-knowing. It’s not an oracle.” 

She sniffled. “It was right all those other times.” 

“Luck.” 

“You know it’s not.” 

I squeezed her hand. “Look, I’m sorry about what I said before. You’re a good friend. I’m… thankful for you.” 

She looked up at me, her big eyes glistening. “Really?” 

“Really. We’re going to get home safe tonight, and we’ll order food, and you and I are never going to get our fortunes read again. Deal?” 

She nodded quickly. “Deal.” 

“Nothing’s going to happen,” I said, but honestly I couldn’t make myself believe it. “It’s all going to be alright.” 

Together, we stepped out of the fortune-teller’s parlor.