A dark unending hall of machinery.
That is the sight that met my now opened eyes. The walls were cold, cruel, and chromed with utter indifference towards my sudden existence in their space. The hall echoed their sentiment through its empty droning ambiance. With no other path than the dark path ahead of me, I placed my hand against the wall and began to walk.
…
After what seemed like an eternity walking across the chromed hallway, my hand tracing across the metallic wall met a new texture. It was sleek yet not hard or metallic as the walls that enclosed me.
Wires.
At first there were few strands that danced across the wall. The longer I progressed the more strands of wire appeared to meet the others, and like vines they slowly wove themselves together, overtaking the metal walls and even the floor I walked across. It was a synthetic overgrowth.
Bzzt
Down towards the dark hall, a dim light flickered. The owner of the static light hung from the ceiling, supported by a host of tangled wires. It was a flat screen TV. As I stumbled my way across the now wire infested floor, the TV began to flicker more rapidly as if it could sense a disruption in the hall once devoid of life.
Bzzt, bzzt, bzzt
I was now in front of the suspended TV which greeted me with a blend of white and grey flickers of static that violently populated across its screen.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-
The TV screen suddenly shut off and I was left in darkness.
But only for a moment.
Within seconds the screen flashed back on and with it came with an array of blinding colors, flashing images and sounds that enveloped my senses like a haze of static. All sorts of media erupted in my vision. entertainment, war, politics, education, and so many other subjects that varied in importance and novelty. Overwhelmed, I tore my gaze and body from the TV to the ground. The TV continued to crackle and flicker and as I gathered my senses, I could feel that same feeling lingering in my head, along with the faint desire to immerse myself within the screen yet again.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
This screen and whichever other ones I would encounter in the future are not to be gazed upon.
Though I had to wonder, even if it was just a screen, was it able to gaze into me?
After I picked myself up, I continued down the wired hallway. What met me on my tireless trek was even more screens. Some were like the flatscreen TV, others were CRTs or analog. Some were the size of a book, others the size of a hand. They either hung from the ceiling with the help of stands of wire or crudely scattered on the sides of the hallway. Some flickered with light, emitted static or were pitch dark. The condition of the screens varied from perfectly ok to worn down and cracked. Faint distortions of sound leaked from their worn speakers.
“B-b-buy our n-new product tod-d-day?”
“And w-what I really th-think about this i-isssssue is…”
“I believe that the p-provoking theeeme of the s-s-story would be…”
“W-with my sword, I wiiilll punish your w-w-wicked transgressions!”
“Th-they areeee the problem and ca-cause of every issue of oour society!”
Sometimes the hallway would give way to a much bigger room which contained various items of furniture formed by the wires around me.
In the first room I passed I saw a bed attended by its nightstand and its phone.
In the second I saw a couch accompanied with a small table and a lamp in front of a large TV.
In the third I saw a sole chair befriended by a single desk that held a laptop.
And in the fourth…
Unlike the other three rooms, the entrance to the fourth was blocked off. A security door covered in CAUTION tape stood in my path. Multiple bulb shaped cameras were implanted on the top two sides of the door. They were all heavily augmented with many lenses shaped like eyes and constantly swiveled and darted around as if they were desperately looking for something new to stimulate their ever-vigilant eyes. Above the cameras there was a sign that read “Screening Room”. As I approached the door I fell under the sharp immediate attention of the cameras. Although I was sure they were just security cameras that were a bit over tuned, what I couldn’t shake off was their piercing gaze. It felt… organic, as if they had the capacity of emitting human obsession as they continued to stare and gnaw at my very being with a latent hunger that was very unlike a machine. There was no analytical logic to it. No computational rationality or reason to them despite their position and appearance. They just wanted to consume what was before them with their obsessive gaze.
Just like their creator.
With that a voice echoed.
“Welcome to the screening room, welcome to the screening room, please enjoy the visual spectacle ahead of you.”
The security door opened.