In the Year 2025
By Frank Tremayne
It was the Year 2525. Gilbert and Beatrice were contemplating their next trip. They had decided this year they would visit Planet Earth in the Lacteus galaxy in 2025. The timing seemed to fit. It was exactly 500 years difference in time and the Year 2025 was a pivotal year in the history of Earth and also the extended Universe.
Gilbert and Beatrice were from the Erinaceus family aka Hedgehogs and lived on Planet Nuna in the Pleiades star system. The difficulty choosing their trips was the disguise. In reality they were 7 foot tall hedgehogs with large prickles. The technology was still glitchy and on previous visits to Earth, their real identity had been seen by native humans who were shocked to see very large hedgehogs suddenly appear in front of them. There was also the problem with hibernation. They hibernated in the winter months so had to choose a period in the spring and summer when they were fully awake. Their diet included worms, beetles, slugs, caterpillars, earwigs and millipedes so they needed to be close to wooded areas.
Artificial Intelligence had digitally uploaded all the history of the Universe and it was now possible to time travel across the planets and galaxies virtually in virtually any time in history. Rural areas were easier to live in for dietary reasons and also they could go into the woods and visit their smaller hedgehog cousins to discuss and cross reference being hedgehogs from different parts of the Universe. Also Gilbert and Beatrice could revert to their real Erinaceus forms for short periods.
Gilbert and Beatrice plugged themselves into the machine and pressed the Human in the Year 2025 button. And next the destination. A small village, Brenchley, in the county of Kent in the country known as England was the chosen place.
The reason why they wished to visit Planet Earth in 2025 was because 2025 and the following years were crucial in the ecology of the Universe. They saw themselves as observers. Humanity was intelligent but it was infected with a virus. It had become addicted to what had become known in the larger Universe as Monopoly. Its whole existence revolved around attempting to acquire as many material possessions as possible and this had caused a major dysfunction in the natural functioning of the planet. Pollution and disregard by humans for the natural world over a few centuries had created the imbalance.
It always took a few days to adjust to being in the body of another species and the first point of call was to find their smaller hedgehog cousins in wooded areas. They were telepathically linked and it didn’t take long to locate another hedgehog. Alfred told them that things weren’t good. Even though where he lived it was still habitable, the roads and traffic and encroachment from buildings was making life more and more difficult.
Gilbert and Beatrice decided to travel into an area built by humans for humans known as a City. London was a big metropolis in the South East of England. Humans had created a system known as Work which took up most their lives. Chewing over the cud, Gilbert and Beatrice came to the conclusion, it was based on survival in a similar way to other animals. Yet it seemed incredibly complex and time consuming. Other animals would eat what they needed and that was it as survival went. Humans were never satisfied and wanted more and more of everything even when they were full.
London was energetic and the lights and the busy ness of the city were undoubtedly exciting. This also had a downside. Hedgehogs are very sensitive and they both agreed there was a form of energy connected to London which effected how they felt and a day in the City quickly made them tired . There was a magnetic energy which fed off life force it seemed.
With the non human life in London, they noticed that Cats and Dogs had pulled off a neat trick. They would attach themselves to humans as what was known as pets and they didn’t have to search for food in a similar fashion to other animals but humans would provide food and safety for them. Very clever of Cats and Dogs thought Gilbert and Beatrice. There were plenty of birds and the sub species known as pigeons especially seemed to flourish.
What did shock Gilbert and Beatrice was the traffic. They hired a car and travelled around the south of England for a week. Humans also seemed to have lost the use of the lower limbs known as legs. They preferred now to use automobiles rather than walk or run except for short distances when they had to use their legs. The traffic grid had become enormous and related pollution and human population density was impacting the ecological balance of the planet.
There were upsides though. They especially enjoyed the Arts. Humanity was an incredibly imaginative species and created very impressive ‘thought forms’ such as music, books, plays and movies which were enjoyable. They also liked sports most of which involved a variation of games with balls. Human feet and hands were more natural to this and Hedgehog paws didn’t allow for such things.
Through all the trip, they had filmed much of their journeys. What they did was to send back the videos to their Erinaceus family on Planet Nuna every few days by the Poo Tube video channel which worked both on Earth in 2025 and Nuna in 2525. They weren’t too sure how that worked. It just did was all they knew. Their relatives and friends would leave comments. Some were distraught at the treatment of their hedgehog cousins and the natural world and others found it exciting and wished they were with them.
The original plan was that Gilbert and Beatrice’s trip would last three months. After two months they suddenly had to change the plan. One evening, Beatrice had excitedly announced she was now pregnant with their first litter of hoglets and they felt it was probably wiser to shorten the odyssey. They packed up their belongings and went into the forest and said goodbye to Alfred and other friends they had made.
A few days later they were back in their field on Nuna. Beatrice had a favourite hedge which she had chosen for the birth of the hoglets.
Home is where the heart is.
~
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