SFS1 - Science Fiction Short Stories (4 page)

“I saw Steve Jobs” grandma said excitedly.
“But even he doesn't have an iPhone!”

 

“Who else have you seen up there grandma?
Got any other interesting news for me?”

We talked about our family members for a
little while before my call
was
suddenly
disconnected. I looked at the mobile display. It
said “call disconnected” but the signal was full.
I checked the balance to see if that was the
problem. It wasn't but I had already used up
almost half of my allotted time! I didn't quite
have enough for my article so I decided that I
should
call
some famous
people.
The first
person I tried was Adolf Hitler. After a Google
search I put in his date of birth, his name and
his date of death to see if it would connect me.
An error message flashed upon my screen and
said “Person is unavailable, has been
reincarnated.”

After that I tried to call Abraham Lincoln. The
phone rang for what seemed like forever, but
no
one
answered.
I tried
Steve Jobs.
Same
thing. Then I tried Princess Diana and a few
other celebrities, but just more ringing.

I guess it made sense. Normal people couldn't
reach
VIPs
even after
they were dead.
I
thought of calling Osama Bin Laden but I'm
pretty sure the FBI would have me on a watchlist faster than a sand storm.
I noticed
my
balance had been reduced even though no one
had
answered
the call.
I called
customer
service to complain.

“No one has picked up my call but still you've
charged me for time spent. What gives?”

“We can't force ghosts to talk with you. If they
know you and want to talk with you, then
they'll answer your calls. Per our policy we
collect a connectivity charge of $1 per call, even
if the call is not answered.”

“Really?”

“Yes, please check our terms. For the best
response, you should call ghosts you know like
relatives or friends. Celebrities and people you
don't know answer stranger's calls only very
rarely.”
Now I understood the proverb, 'the devil you
know is better than the angel you don't know.'
So I decided to call some devil I did know.
Suddenly my wife came to mind. I decided to
try to use the service to call someone that was
still alive. I mean, investigating the service was
my goal for the article and that would be part
of it. So I gave my wife's date of birth and her
full name. It showed me a list of people that I
could choose from and I chose her name. It
rang.

“Hello?” asked my wife, her voice a little
unclear.

 

“Hi Lilly, Are you in hell?” I asked, somewhat
surprised.

“Hey Joe. Yes, I'm in the
hall
way. Why are you
calling me from such a strange number? You're
just
in the bedroom,
right?
What
are you
calling me for?”

She hung up the phone and walked into the
bedroom. After seeing her I understood what
had happened. They simply had routed the call
to my wife's mobile number. I hadn't been in
her brain at all. I checked the balance which
was getting lower by the minute. I decided it
was best to talk to some other ghosts.

After
thinking long and
hard
about
who
I
could call, I decided to call my old friend James
who had died in a train derailment a couple
years before. I wasn't able to attend the funeral
because I had been on vacation when he died. I
didn't know whether or not he knew that. I
thought to myself that I'd have to apologize for
not being able to make it. I knew his birthday
from
my
calendar
and
reverse-engineered
what year he would have been born in based
on his age. I didn't know when he died so I
searched on the laptop for it but still couldn't
find anything. I decided to call my friend Ben
to see if he knew.

“Hey Ben, how are you man?” I asked.

 

“Pretty good, Joe. How are you? Did you find a
new job?”

 

“Just been doing some freelance writing. Can I
ask you a quick question?”

 

“Sure, shoot.”

 

“Do you know James' date of death?”

He laughed and told me the date of James'
death. Then he said, “I know why you're
asking. I also tried to call him but haven't been
able to
reach
him.
That
devil
James hasn't
responded.”

I was shocked and surprised. I knew that Ben
never spent a penny on others. The idea that he
would
spend
money to
call
a ghost
was
unbelievable.

“Why did you call him?”

He took a moment before he replied. “I had
free minutes so I used them to call him hoping
I could get the number of his girlfriend. I mean
it's not that useful to him any more.”

I thought for a second and understood why
some countries might want to ban this. After
death people should
be allowed
to
rest
in
peace,
not
be
hassled
about
their
former
girlfriends.

“Alright Ben, thanks for the info! I'll catch you
later.”

I tried contacting James again. My phone told
me 'ghost
not
found.'
I tried
with all
the
combinations of information I could think of
but I got the same message again and again. I
was surprised and confused. Maybe he was
using some kind of 'Do Not Disturb' service. I
called customer support and inquired about it.
They told
me that
there wasn't
any such
service for ghosts. Any call they received they
would get but they didn't have to answer it.
They told me that the person's actual date of
birth or death was probably different from the
information that I had. I explained that I was
sure that everything was right and asked them
to send the issue up the chain of command.
After getting off the phone I sat and thought
for a while. Maybe in the future they might
open a chat
room or
even a ghost
dating
service.

The information I'd collected was not enough
to complete three articles. As a writer, I knew
what people liked to read and so to spice up
my articles I wanted to have a conversation
with a famous person but none of them had
responded. So I did the next thing, I called my
grandma again. She was the only one ghost I
knew. She had said she'd seen Steve Jobs. It
was my only hope.

“Hi candy boy, where did you go in the middle
of our call?” she asked.

 

“Sorry, grandma there was a problem with the
signal.”

 

“No signal problem here!” she said with a
laugh. “It must be on your side of the veil.”

 

I talked with her for a while again and finally
asked her the favor I had in mind.

“If you could please talk to Steve Jobs and get
some
information
for
me
that
would
be
amazing, grandma.”

“How can I approach him?” she asked. “I can't
very
well
go
up to
him and
ask
for
an
autograph or a photograph can I? Maybe I'll
tell him I was an iPhone user.”

“Millions and millions of people use the
iPhone, grandma” I said and chuckled.

 

“Okay, well I will find a way. What
information do you want from him?”

I
thought
about
it
for
a
second.
What
information did I want? “Just one question, ask
him what he thinks about the new iPhone 5S
and
5C
as
two
categories.
I'll
call
you
tomorrow at the same time. ”

I hung up the phone and started to write the
three Ghost On Call articles that I had been
researching. I worked furiously and completed
two articles before I fell asleep.

“Candy boy, come on I'm waiting for you!”

I woke up. Oh god, I forgot! I was supposed to
call my grandma. I was already late to call her.
How did she come into my dream? Ghosts
didn't
have outgoing calls
yet.
I called
my
grandma's
direct
number
before a recorded
female's voice said, “your balance is low.
Please recharge to make sure that your contact
is not interrupted.” My grandma answered
after only a single ring.

“Hi candy boy. I was waiting for your call and
was just thinking about you.”

“Grandma, I think even without this service
that ghosts can connect to humans. It's pretty
unbelievable what just happened.”

“What do you mean?”

 

“You were in my dream just now. You asked
me to call you.”

 

“That’s great.”

 

“Did you get any information from Steve
Jobs?”

 

“Well, I approached him by a friend of a friend
of a friend of mine”

 

“Oh like LinkedIn network.”

“Yes some links. He said that the iPhone 5C
and the iPhone 5S are only one type of phone.
If people want to have different colors they can
just get a case.”

“Wow. Thanks grandma, you did an excellent
job”

 

I talked with her until my balance ran out.

 

I finally finished the articles and sent them to
the editor. The titles were as follows:

 

1.
Does Steve Jobs Like the new iPhone?

 

2.
A Black Hole in Hell? Missing Ghosts

 

3.
Ghosts and their Privacy Issues

They published
the
Steve Jobs
article
as a
cover page. After a week the assistant editor
called me and told me that they had selected
all three articles and would publish them in
subsequent issues. Further than that though,
they offered me a full time position. I was so
excited with the news that I was going back to
work
after
six
months
have having
to
do
freelance
writing.
I
immediately
called
my
wife and told her the news.

It was all due to my grandma's help. I told her
thank you and to tell her sorry to Steve Jobs
and
that
I wouldn't
have gotten this
job
without his name.

A Month Later

My second article “A Black Hole in Hell?
Missing Ghosts” was published and became
the hot topic in the city. The article was based
on my attempts to find my friend James who
had
died
in a train derailment
two
years
earlier. Even my grandma could not reach him.
I thanked him fully for this article and started
to pray
for
him as I had
done
before.
An
incoming
call
from
an
unknown
mobile
number interrupted my prayer.

“Hello, Joe speaking,” I said into the receiver.
“Hey Joe, this your friend James.”

It was James' voice. That much was for sure. I
was surprised. When did the ghosts get an
outgoing call facility? I was speechless for a
few seconds.

“Hey Joe, are you there?” asked James' ghost.

“Hey. I'm just a little surprised to hear your
voice, man. How are you? I'm sorry I wasn't
able to come to your funeral. I was out of town
on vacation. Extremely sorry. I actually was
just praying for you.”

“You're an idiot.”

 

“Look, I'm sorry about the funeral. I should
have cut my trip short. Please forgive me.”

“Even my girlfriend hasn't tried to call me,”
said James angrily. “Why did you try? And
then you have to make it a whole big issue.
Yeah, “Black Hole in Hell? A recent news
update
says
the
FBI
might
even
do
an
investigation about missing ghosts.”

“Wow! Our magazine is available there? Are
you in Hell or Heaven?”
He started to yell at me. I didn't understand
why he was so angry. Maybe if you died a
violent death you become a violent ghost. He
yelled and asked if I had contacted him about
the hundred dollars he had borrowed from me
three years ago. He seriously laid into me. I
almost had to get a dictionary out for a couple
of the words he called me.

“Don't try to call me again. Don't even think
about me. I didn't die in the train crash, Joe.”

 

“What?” I asked, dumbfounded.

“My relatives wrongly identified a dead body
as
mine and
held
the funeral.
I used
this
accident as an opportunity to escape from my
debts.
I've gone away
and
settled
down
somewhere where they don't know me. Listen.
Don't tell anyone. I will transfer $100 to your
bank account. Don't disturb me again.”

He did not even wait for my reply. He simply
disconnected the call.
6 Two Robots

Year: 2120
Place: Federation Courtroom
The defendant and plaintiff in this case were
both robots.
This
is
not
the first
time that
robots have come to court for justice. The judge
asked the first robot to proceed.
“My lord, my name is Rose and I am a robot.
My model number is R-Femal-2111 and my
configuration is...”
“Your configuration information is not
important to me,” interrupted the judge. “I'm
here to give judgment, not to do hardware
maintenance.
Please
process
with
your
complaint.”
“My lord, I have been working for 2x Logistics
for the past four years. My husband, Blue Tiger
also worked there. Six months after we met, we
got married. We had it registered as per the
requirements
in the Robot
Marriage act
of
2095. I have the certificates with me here.”
A small robot came and took the certificates to
the judge.
“I'm here to request a divorce. I don't wish to
continue my life with Blue Tiger any more.”
The judge terned
to
the opposite party
to
proceed.
Blue Tiger introduced himself and proceeded
to plead his case. “I am not interested in
getting divorced. I am still very much in love.
If there's anything you can do to help me, I'd
like to continue to be married to her.”
“Why do you want to divorce him when he's
still in love with you?” the judge asked Rose.
“No, my lord. I don't like him any more. Please
won't you grant me a divorce?”
“My lord, would you please ask her the reason
why? If she can give me a good reason, I'll
agree to a divorce.”
“You have to provide a reason before I can
grant you a divorce,” said the judge to Rose.
Rose thought for a moment before she replied.
“He doesn't suit my taste, nor does he suit my
frequency. I plan to get a divorce and pick a
new partner who meets my needs.”
“No, my lord!,” shouted Blue Tiger “She has
already
chosen another
robot.
His
name is
Smart Bridge and he works in the shipping
division. She wants to marry him. That's why
she's looking for a divorce. It's not a good
reason at all.”
“Is it true?” the judge asked Rose. “Are you in
love with some other robots?”
“It's not love, but I do plan to get married to
him,” replied Rose.
“You do know that an extra-marital affair is
illegal as per the Robot Affairs Act, section
2116?” asked the judge.
Rose
was
silent
for
a
moment
before
answering. “No, it's not like that.”
“If there is evidence that you have broken this
law, you will be punished.”
“My lord, I have evidence they send messages
back and forth,” interrupted Blue Tiger. “Rose
has even written poems about him. I accessed
her mail and found the poem.”