Today's the Day!

"The only thing we have to look forward to is... the past"
- Tempus Patterson, Aetas-Corpus: A History of Humanity's Future, 1983

"If you want to make a little money, write a book. If you want to make a lot of money, create a religion."
- L. Ron Hubbard

AUGUST 17th, 2056:

What follows is a transcript of The Ceremony of Revelation, a holy day of the Futurists. It is an unbiased, factual account of the day's events.

(St. One-of-Sixteen steps behind the podium.)

"Welcome!"

(Audience CHEERS)

"I am Saint One-of-Sixteen. I was born in the year-of-Tempus two-thousand and ten to a devout Futurist family. My father was a Descendency administrator at the church of San Bernardino. My mother mended robes for the Elders."

"Unsurprisingly, the message of the Church captured my imagination at a very early age. That the whole of humanity had descended from its last sixteen survivors spoke to me on a level I can only describe as feral. Our church is pre-destined to find the sixteen most perfect examples of man and send them to the beginning of creation on the Day of Transportation, thereby completing the Circle of Man."

"I apologize for spouting off what I'm sure the millions of Futurists gathered here already hold dear to their hearts. But the message of Tempus surely excites all of you as much as it does me."

(Audience CHEERS)

"But when I became a young man I lost the faith! I became lost to the present... The Sinister Now. A mistake far too many of our brethren make, but one from which they usually recover."

"The elders came to me when I was lost in the murky waters of vanity... Entangled in the tentacles of the beast we once called Los Angeles. They came to me and witnessed. They reassured me in my faith then said the words that would forever change my life. They told me that Tempus Patterson knew I was the first..."

(Audience CHANTS "He shall come 'round. Tempus shall come 'round again.")

"He knew I was the first of the sixteen, and that the Day of Transportation would occur in our lifetime. The Sinister Now had poisoned my purity, but Tempus found me and cleansed me of the Chronal dust that had collected in my heart to rid us of our destiny. And when Tempus died I told him I would continue his work. I held his hand... Patted the sweat from his brow..."

(Several Futurists rush the stage and attempt to touch St. One-Of-Sixteen. Guards approach them. St. One-of-Sixteen gestures them away.)

"Be calm, my friends. Today's the day!"

(Audience CHEERS. The disruptors disappear back into the crowd.)

"Tempus spoke to me before he went. He told me the details of The Plan and of the Ultra-Truth locked within the vault behind me. He said to open it one day in the future. Today is that day!"

(Audience CHEERS.)

"I wonder how Tempus feels-- looking at us through a vid-screen positioned in the time past the Day of Transportation-- knowing that his dedication and inspiration has led over fifty-million into the future, ahead to the past, and out of The Sinister Now."

(St. One-of-Sixteen SNIFFLES.)

"Tempus Patterson..."

(The audience CHANTS: "He shall come round again...")

"Tempus would embrace us all. And he will... someday. We shall all exist past the Day of Transportation to see him again. We have seen much in the years since his death. We have fulfilled his dream of overtaking Christianity as the world's most popular religion. We have merged countries and conquered states all in the name of Futurism. All for the glory of Tempus Patterson. And finally we stand at the Ceremony of Revelation. Today is the day!"

(Audience CHEERS.)

"I am ready to reveal the Ultra-Truth... the means by which we shall finally escape the now and move ahead into the past! The promise made to us in our youth is no fulfilled... Behold! The Ultimate Truth!"

- - -

From the August 18th, 2056 edition of Vidnews:

And with a flip of his robes Saint One-Of-Sixteen marched to the vault door. The silence of the large crowd was astonishing. You could hear heartbeats.

The Saint pulled back his sleeve to expose his chip to the scanner. A red light on the vault door lit up. A few in the crowd started to hum. The Saint put his finger to his lips. Not yet. He then typed in the secret code that had been imparted to him by the church's patriarch. It took him a full five minutes. The crowd remained still and silent.

Finally, a green light on the vault began flashing. The Saint gestured to the crowd. Like a well-rehearsed choir they stood up straight. A few coughs were heard. Children looked at their parents for the cue... they were anxious to sing the tune that they have practiced at every church service since they were old enough to attend. The Saint pulled out a Musicon and blew three notes in a slow rhythm. The crowd repeated the notes, the fifty-million combined voices almost defining in their devotion. People from as far as two-hundred miles away reported feeling the ground shake.

The vault cracked open an inch. Maybe two. A sound of trumpets erupted from it, repeating the same three notes in unison with the crowd. Saint One-of-Sixteen took a cautious step back. None of them knew what to expect, only that they had waited years for this one day... this one moment.

The vault crashed open. The trumpets were silent. A blinding yellow light washed over the crowd. Most looked away. Those who didn't still numbered in the thousands. Thousands of people blinded. Some temporarily, some permanently. They were the lucky ones. All of them left that day with sunburns.

"Today's the day!" shouted Saint One-Of-Sixteen as he shielded his face.

A booming voice projected from the vault. "Prepare for the Ultra-Truth," it shouted. A fair warning, but none in the crowd that day could have prepared it.

Smoke billowed out of the vault and across the stage. The light faded out and the crowd, with frozen faces, beheld the Ultra-Truth of the Futurists. Red velvet letters stitched on a sheet of the finest silver silk ever grown on the Fabric Farms of Yosemite Park. It read:

"Gotcha!
Love, Tempus"