Leny Bayda

A Glimpse into the Future

As I looked at the notebook on my desk, I reflected on the conversation I had had just moments ago. A man had entered my office, and asked Gina, my secretary, if he could speak with me, that it was urgent. As usual Gina had tried to seek information about the man but he would not give much, just that he needed to speak with me, that it was important. With me currently not engaged in any projects for the past week I was researching contract work so I figured why not give him a few minutes. I told Gina, via the intercom, I was free and he could enter. Moments later he entered my door, closed it, came towards my desk and slammed a black notebook on my desk. I looked at it, then at him. ‘Nice to meet you,’ I said towards the notebook, before smiling and looking at the man. ‘Oh nice to meet you as well.’ ‘I don’t have time for this, do you have the money?’ I look at him inquisitively before he spoke again. ‘You are supposed to give me $25,000 for this notebook, it has the hyperloop designs Arka Sala created, you spoke with him back in 2018’. My mind instantly raced back to that conversation, along with the newspaper reports of his disappearance and death a few days later. ‘Arka is dead,’ I said plainly. ‘What is your name?’ The man opened the notebook and turned a few pages rather roughly. ‘Right there, the notebook says my initials, N.M.P. My name is Nick Melvin Paulo. It also says after we talk for an hour or so you give me $25,000 for this book. If you look at the very end you will see the designs you are looking for about that hyperloop thing from your competitor, I just want my money so I can get on my return flight and leave.’ I looked at the notebook, when it was closed it looked a lot smaller than the amount of pages inside seemed to indicate. Then I looked at the page he had opened. I saw Arka’s notes, I recognized his handwriting, plus at least one of the blueprints as I turned the pages. ‘How did you get this? The news reports said that his entire lab had been destroyed, sabotage they called it.’ Nick was focused in his resolve of getting what he wanted and quickly, though he also seemed quite scared. ‘I need to be out of here by a certain time, if you want this book, give me the money, else I should take it back.’ I looked him over, then spent the next 30 minutes or so checking the information in the book. I had spoken with Arka a few times before his death and he had sent preliminary information but nothing like what was this book. The back pages were pages upon pages of designs and technical information, all in Arka’s handwriting. I hurried and verified what I could, and after I knew for quite a few minutes now in fact that it did seem legit, I wrote a company check to the man and he was gone. As he left, he exclaimed, ‘Earlier than I thought, thank you,’ before the door to my office slammed shut and he was gone. I stared at the notebook for quite a while. Such a small looking thing on the outside but on the inside, it looked like it had thousands of pages, though those pages were small. I opened it and it turned to a page with today’s date on it. The pages were odd I found as they were entirely in black, with brownish gold writing at the top all in point form. However there was a spot in the middle of the page that kept blinking, almost like a mouse cursor on a computer screen. It said CURRENT TIME, then below everything was in green, or white, or with a little bit of red letters. One thing in red said JCC calls at 12:57pm. I looked at my watch which said 12:56, and then I looked at the phone. Who is JCC I said aloud, questioning, and a second later the green text which said her name flashed yellow showing the name JANE CHRISSY CANOS in capital letters for about five seconds before it reverted back to JCC in green. As I stared at the page the phone buzzed next to me. It was Gina, I pressed a button and spoke, ‘yes Gina.’ Gina on the other line noted, ‘Sir, I have a woman on the line who wants to speak with you, she is very insistent.’ I paused before asking, ‘Is her name Jane Canos?’ Gina responded, ‘Oh, you know her, should I put her call through.’ I look at the page in front of me and saw that the cursor was now blinking over the part that said that she would call at this time. ‘Patch her through Gina.’ Moments later a woman was on the other end, and at least at first, she seemed quite hostile. ‘You have something that belongs to me.’ I paused for a second before responding, ‘Excuse me?’ The woman on the other end continued, ‘The notebook, it is mine, I know you have it, that Nick guy stole it from me, I am at the airport now, I want it back, or the money for it, you didn’t pay him did you?’ I was confused as she spoke, ‘Look lady, I don’t know who you are, I don’t know who you think I am, I don’t know what you think I have, all I know is that unless I get some answer I am hanging up you got it.’ The lady paused, took a deep breath, and then spoke with a more pleasant voice. ‘Sorry, I forgot, you prefer someone to treat you nicely, my mistake, just I have been trying to evade Nick for so long, and he is so belligerent and blunt, well not to you but that is cause he knew you have a pistol in your desk, oh dear you must think I am insane by now, you still do not know what is going on do you?’ I sighed for a second and then spoke, ‘Look lady, I don’t know what you are talking about.’ ‘Yes you do! Read the book will you, you will see I get it back in a few months, so I want it back, I am at the airport, I will have my associate visit in a few hours, give it to him or else.’ The line went dead as a dial tone quickly replaced her voice on the other end before I pressed the speaker phone button and the phone shut off. I looked at the book and felt a shiver as I saw the words on the page had changed and were now in red. The spot that had said JCC calls at 12:57pm had now changed to JCC called at 12:57pm, sends Enrico to the office of JLS. JLS were my initials I thought to myself as I turned the pages and saw another red entry tomorrow at 1pm. JLS gives notebook to RRC. Who is RCC I question aloud. Moments later the name changed to read Ralph Clint Carmichael. It also included his job profession, FBI investigator. I turned back to the original page, with today’s date on it and saw one of the entries in green, as now everything below the current time cursor had all turned to green, stated, ‘Call RCC?’ I turned back to the page that was dated with tomorrow’s date and looked at the first red line, that noted RCC would acquire the notebook. ‘What is Ralph Carmichael’s phone number,’ I said aloud. A 1-800 number appeared, and so I dialed it on my phone. ‘FBI New York field office,’ said a female voice on the other line. ‘I need to speak to Ralph Clint Carmichael please.’ There was a pause before the lady on the other end spoke back, ‘Who should I say is calling?’ I paused before I retorted, ‘Someone with information and questions.’ She paused before I was transferred, as I waited for him to pick up the phone I started skimming forward in the notebook while looking at the dates as they continued to go forward in time. I skipped some pages, about five months in the future and looked at the top where is said OWNER: JCC, and the location Madrid, Spain. I turned back to the original page, today’s page, at the top it said OWNER: NMP, though at 12:44pm it said OWNER: JLS, my initials. ‘Hello,’ I realized someone was talking on the other line. ‘Yes, hello, my name is JL.’ ‘JL, as in JL Smith? How did you know I was about to call you?’ I looked at the notebook and much further below the line it said, ‘Call RCC?’ I noticed another entry about RCC. I was unsure whether it was there when I spotted the first RCC entry but it said, ‘Received a call from RCC?’ ‘Hello?’ the voice on the other end was waiting.’ ‘Sorry Ralph, I am puzzled by a bunch of events that have led me to end up contacting you.’ ‘I see, well I assume that you knowing my name has something to do with my pursuit of Mr. Paulo, is that correct?’ I turned to the page with tomorrow’s date on it and started to focus on the part that said I would give the book to RCC at 1pm tomorrow. ‘Hello, Mr. Smith, are you still there?’ ‘Yes, I’m here, look Nick gave me something, I assume you want it?’ Ralph paused and then said, ‘I am surprised you are willing to admit you have the black notebook.’ ‘Look, do you want it?’ Ralph chuckled before he commented, ‘You are willing to just give it to me, have you looked at it yet, not that I am complaining, just I am surprised you would just hand it over.’ I kept my focus on the part that said I would give him the notebook at 1pm. ‘Yeah, I want you to have it Ralph.’ Ralph sighed a long and deep sigh before he spoke again. ‘That sounds great, can I come by your office at say 1pm to pick it up?’ Focusing solely on the notebook I said, ‘Not at 1pm, at 9am, if you want it, 9am, nothing later, my office.’ A split second later I saw everything that was written on tomorrow’s page in green between the times of 9am and 1pm disappear and the red part about Ralph getting the book from me now moved upwards to 9am, along with additional information about him, that was not there, some in red, and some in green, between 9am and 1pm. ‘Sure thing, 9am it is,’ Ralph said before hanging up the phone. I literally froze as I saw other options start appearing in green and red on the page as stuff at the top during when I still, according to the book, would own it changed as well. Suddenly the book changed pages, on its own, to today’s date, as I saw a new note in red marked at 1:14pm, five minutes from now, that Gina would be asking for the rest of the afternoon off. ‘Why?’ A split second later there was an additional note, in red, that there had been a shooting at the local grocery store and that her mother was frightened but safe. Also below that a new message appeared, in red. The message read that JCC would call again, at 1:30pm. I pulled out my cellphone at this point, I did not understand the notebook, but I wanted evidence of it in case other things changed and so I went to the very end of it and began to take pictures of the events in it.