"What Is This Place"

There was a long line at the gate. People were standing and waiting impatiently to be checked in. I looked around and saw that we all were exhausted and worn out from wherever we had come from. This was an era that we considered the "end of days". In the past, you would hear people talk about it, but never thought it would come. Now, at this moment in the year 2060, we are all living in a period where ethnicity or gender is not an obligation. It does not matter because we are all in the same boat, which is AI versus humankind.

The cities had been destroyed, and there was no solid answer on how to get back to the way things were. In this moment, I stood with a group of people that I didn't know, nor did they know me, pleading for someone to help me. There were men in uniform who wore shields around their faces along with protective body armour. They also had robots that stood alongside them. The robots were (AI) artificial intelligence with microscopic lasers that could read right through you. If you were of no use to the population, then they were turning you away. Those who refused to leave were terminated, meaning you were no longer of any existence in this world.

There was a huge world on the other side of this place, to which you had to be of high status or a follower of the new leadership. The government was now in control of how things ran, and anyone who voiced any opposing thoughts against it where exiled. I was five feet away from being the next to be checked off when the robots attained a family of four. They gathered the father and mother along with the twins and removed them from the premises. I could hear the man in black say, "Not allowed"! as they were being shoved off from the crowd.

This was a place that had strict rules and policies that were put in place to control the population. They needed that control so that they could dictate how society should live or determine whether or not you should live. As the line moves forward, I begin to become very afraid of my fate. I feared that "I don't belong here!" I feared that I was not of statute or useful to this population. I thought to myself, what is it that I could bring to the new era? What do I have to offer so that I would matter and not be demolished?

So there I was, standing in front of the man dressed in black with his bold armour and shield. He stared firmly at me as the robot read my brain with his laser. My information was visible in the air and no longer private. It told my history from the time I was born to what is now current. The robot stood back as he completed his observation. There was a green light that said, "Approved!" I was able to pass through the entrance. As I went through the gate, the man said, "Welcome to United Gates!"

I walked through a long tunnel that had pictures of all the leaders who are now in control of this newfound world. I didn't rather to be happy or sad. All I knew was that I was hungry and that I could dig into a cheeseburger meal with a large Coke. My feet were sore because I had been walking and running for days. Trying to survive in a place that was no longer my home. For some reason, a place that I have learned to love and live in was no longer available to me.

I finally arrived at a steel door with a computerized box in front of it. As I stood in front of the door, the lights came on all around me. There was a voice that said, "Stand still, please"! Immediately, the lasers on each side begin to examine me. It was making sure that I was accepted. The beam stopped, and all of a sudden, you could hear the door begin to open. As the door opened, you could see a whole new city that was already living outside the old world. There were streets filled with cars and trucks, along with bicycles. In the sky, you could see cars and trucks flying in the air like planes.

I was trying to understand how on earth the gravity was able to hold them in front of the traffic lights. I watched as some of the flying cars and trucks landed on top of the buildings. This was the new technology. The people's attire was almost the same, but better. I watch a woman change the color of her outfit with just voice recognition from her watch. Cell phones were no longer handheld. I saw some people using earbuds or earrings that allowed them to communicate with whomever.

I continued to walk the streets until I came across a building with the letters "ASTRAY" written at the top. I watched as people who were in old rags like me went inside and came out with new attire. It was as if you were given a whole new life, a whole new opportunity to start all over again. There was a man who went inside with a limp and later came back out with a suit and brief briefcase. He walked out of the building whistling, "Be Happy!"

So I walked in expecting to speak with a receptionist, only there was an office area fully equipped, with no one sitting at the desk. I said, " Hello, is anyone here?" I stood patiently waiting for a response. I turned to the right, and there were two empty chairs. I turned to the left, and there was a mirror. I walked towards the mirror, as it looked like a hologram. The mirror began to become fuzzy as if it were a screen monitor. I walked closer to the mirror and reached out to touch the screen. All of a sudden, the mirror pulled me inside.

Inside the mirror, I was tossed and turned as if in another dimension. The next thing I knew was that I was sitting behind the desk with two people waiting for me to check them in. There was a robotic nurse who came out to take someone to the back. As I sat in the chair, feeling my clothes and face, I realized that my whole image had changed. I was not from any privileged status, nor was I an eight-year scholar of any occupation. I was your average Jane Doe, just wanting to get through the day.

While sitting at this desk, I notice that everything pretty much operated itself. Everything was just a push of a button. I saw that I wasn't needed, so I thought that I wasn't needed. I began to get up out of the chair and walked around the desk to leave. I smile at the people that was sitting in the chairs as I politely reach for the door handle. As I began to turn the knob to leave, an electric current kicked back at the desk. I said, "Oh my, don't mind me!" There I sat in the chair with my legs in the air, trying to keep my skirt covered and fix myself back in the chair.

I looked at the people that was in the chairs, I noticed that no one gave a smile or any gesture to see whether or not I was ok. Come to think of it, they really didn't move at all. Although they looked as human as I did, something else was telling me that they weren't. So, I was beginning to worry because I didn't know what this place was or who controlled it. All I know is that I didn't get the chance to leave out like the gentleman that I saw leaving out earlier.

The door opened, and the robot came and took another to the back. As the other person went back, I looked in the mirror and saw the person who had gone in earlier leaving from another exit. I couldn't understand how I was able to see them leaving because there was no exit on my side of the office. It was onIy one way in, and that was the way that I came in.

Raising concerns, I was trying to ask questions: "Why am I here?" "What's going on?" and "Why are you holding me against my will?" The robot looked at me and said, "This is your job now, and you must sit here!" As the robot took the human to the back, I yelled out, "Hey, I don't belong here!" I didn't get the chance to leave, to explore the newfound world. I had never worked in an office, let alone had a robot for a boss. Therefore, if this was going to be an idea of the United Gates, then "No, I don't belong here!"