A Link to the Past

The year is 2410 and 80% of the world's population has literally gone mental. Virtual mental trips are now the norm as well as mental living; with the later becoming increasingly rampant. Some socialist critics were calling these mental links to the brain "the destruction of society."

Depending on your life preference and also the size of your pocket book your daily life style is yours for the taking. But, the addictive draw of these links has caused some mental junkies to spend the rest of their lives on mental trips.

Mental manipulation was developed and patented early in the 22nd century by a rather large unknown conglomeration. Mental links were patented shortly there after. Various types of mental links are now available such as: vacation trips, anywhere in the known universe, encounter links with anyone living or dead, fantasy links; options were endless and usually unspoken, special links to the future, and also links to any time in the past.

Reservations of "particular" types of links could also be provided upon request. Certain events from the past are easily assessable in mental links such as: the great asteroid collision of December 12th 2012, the Alien invasion of 2042, and always the most requested one: the BH-1 (Big Hit 1; weapon of mass destruction) which wiped out 98% of the worlds civilization in 2099. Everyone usually commented that this was their favorite link.

With all of the mental trips going around Eon had been saving his money for something special. He wasn't rich by any means but had managed to take several links to see the favorites. But Eon wanted something completely different; he wanted to go back in his life and beyond.

He contacted "Get your link on" and was told that everything could be done with minimal difficulties. This new link was becoming a growing favorite among some of the spiritualist which were still left. His mind would be regressed back beyond childhood to several of his past lives.

The company would provide dates of past lives and Eon would decide which dates he liked. He was allowed to pick from two dates from which he could relive each life for up to thirty minutes. After the thirty minutes was up his mind would be held in limbo a few seconds and then the next life would begin.

The day had arrived for Eon's link to the past and he thought about the dates that he had decided. Eon had always been a history buff but most of the records from the past had been destroyed from BH-1. So, the information he did have about the past had been handed down through the centuries.

His first choice was October 16th 1793. This sounded around the time of the French Revolution, and Eon had some ancestors who were French. Maybe he'd get chance to check out some of his ancestors.

Eon's second choice was: July 20th 1969. The sixty's of the Twentieth Century had become legendary. Some of the music remained and several of the hero's names had also survived such as: Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, and several others. Now Eon was ready to take his link into the past.

The past link would be done by sending Eon back to 1793 then bringing him forward in time to the year 1969. Eon's mind began to relax as the sounds and vibrations of the mental link began to relax his body all over. In his mind he was recalling memories from his past as clear as the present day. His mind went back beyond the age of an infant then everything went totally blank.

Eon heard a light buzzing sound then his mind felt like it was digesting new thought patterns. Now he was extremely hungry and his body began to ache all over. Loud laughing sounds and a strong musky smell suddenly brought him back to his senses.

"Get up, Widow Capet. I'd say ye time has come." A husky voice said loudly. Eon opened his eyes to a streaming light which was coming through a high window in the jail tower. Matted curly grey hair hung down in his face as he looked around the dingy room.

He was in a medieval jail and dressed in a plain white dress. As he got his senses he realized that he was not a man. He was a woman; and a very sick one indeed.

"Let them eat cake now!" Someone else shouted as he heard a crowd outside explode into cheers. He climbed up to the window and saw a guillotine on a platform erected in a courtyard.

"I'd say your not the Queen of France any more my darling," a loud voice said as the door to his cell was opened. He was going to be executed. Why in the heck had he picked this date? Was he some kind of idiot?

"Let's go, your loved ones await you," the guard replied and laughed. Eon was led out into the courtyard as everyone cheered. The show of the century was on, and he (or was it she) was the quest of honor.

He looked at the clock tower, the time was: 12:12 PM and the sun was brilliantly shining on his face. Eon stepped on the executioner's foot as he walked by and said, "pardon me sir, I meant not to do it." Those were his last words of this life.

As he was looking up at the high horizontal line of the guillotine and the blade he was immediately grabbed from behind and pushed to his knees. The crowd went wild. His head was pushed into the hole of the guillotine and locked down as he stared into a bloody wooden bucket. His mind was racing at light speed, but somehow his body was relaxed.

"Come on," he shouted in his mind; "1969!" He tried to speak but some force prevented him from speaking or moving. The crowd got silent as he saw the executioner pull the release on the guillotine. He heard the cheer of the crowd for a split second then everything faded to black.

His mind was now null and void of any thought patterns; he was truly in limbo. New ideas began to form into his mind and he began to think of an organized plan of a sort; a list of things to do.

Eon began to hear sounds and realized that he was breathing through some type of respirator. Beeping sounds and static filled the air as voices began to chat back and forth. As soon as he opened his eyes his voice began to speak all on its own.

"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The eagle has landed." As he opened his eyes he was peering through a small window at the surface of the moon. He quickly looked around as he spoke without thinking. He saw a man in the pilot's set of the lunar module and realized that he was getting ready to walk on the moon.

Activity was a blur as he got ready to exit the craft. His mind kept going over and over a statement in his head that he must say; something about a small step or something, what ever it was he really couldn't remember.

As the door to the lunar module was opened the surface of the moon was reflected in the sunlight with all its glory. Eon could see the face of the earth cresting over the horizon of the moon. He looked down at the surface of the moon and thought it looked like powdered charcoal.

Eon turned around and began to step down the ladder and began to hear the buzzing sound again. His mind slowly began to fade as he looked down at the surface of the moon; which was just one step away. He heard his voice begin to speak again as his foot hit the surface of the moon.

"That's one small step for man, and..." Then everything went black again. His mind again was now non-existent. He seemed to hang in limbo forever. Finally he heard the buzzing sound and he knew he was returning home.

As Eon awoke he realized that he was back in the medieval jail again with the crowd cheering outside. He looked back down to his plain white dress and knew that he was going to be executed all over again. Was he now stuck in a never ending cycle of past lives? He just stared at the guard as the cell door opened again.