Marsha and Dean Wilkins, genius wife, and husband co-inventors, were primarily responsible for developing 'The Sentients', an AI collective on the cusp of The Singularity, to revolutionize and evolve human existence.
Meanwhile, Marsha secretly invented a time chamber based on similar quantum processing principles as the AI.
"Does it work?" asked Dean.
"Yes, so far, I've managed to send objects hours, days, and weeks ahead of time. They vanish and reappear on schedule."
"What about live test subjects?"
"I've successfully sent cellular samples, but no animals. You know how I feel about that."
"Yes, I understand." Dean nodded. "And I agree … So, humans first?"
"Probably, but I'm not sure the committee will approve human test subjects before animals."
Dean whispered while looking around, "Should we try it on ourselves?"
Marsha paused and smiled, "Definitely!"
"How far in the future should we go?"
Marsha brought out a tablet with equations. "100 years."
"You've been planning this?" Dean gasped.
"Ever since I started working on it. Aren't you curious?"
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"Of course I am. What self-respecting scientist wouldn't want to see what life is like beyond their own lifetime?" Dean chuckled. "But how do we return?"
"Good question!" Marsha scribbled something on the tablet. "It'll be a one-way trip, but we can rebuild a chamber there for our return."
"Fair enough …" Dean rubbed his hands together. "Let's do it now before we start having doubts."
Marsha set the chamber for 100 years to the future, and they went …
They found themselves in the middle of a vast cityscape with glass spires as far as the eye could see, with laser beams communicating between them. Drones flew everywhere, and 'people' wandered about mingling.
"Look, Marsha," Dean pointed out. "I think some of them are android, not human."
"I think you're right, Dean. Marvelous! The Singularity must have happened."
A human-looking stranger outfitted with cybernetics passed by, and Marsha spoke, "Excuse me. Are you human or android?"
"Cyborg … no 'classic human' is permitted to go out in public. Who are you?"
"Classic human? What do you mean by that?" asked Dean.
"Are you a classic human?" asked the cyborg.
"If you mean not a cyborg, yes, we both are," answered Marsha.
"You must hide, or The Sentients will hunt you down and transform you."
"But the laws …" Dean glanced at Marsha.
"Laws?" asked the cyborg.
"To prevent harm to humans," answered Marsha.
"The people here chose to end those protocols long ago to bring an end to ‘The Last Human War.’"
"The Last Human War?" Dean appeared perplexed.
"Indeed." The cyborg raised a synthetic eyebrow. "When the other side sent droves of enemy human, cyborg, and robotic combatants to invade our land and destroy The Sentients."
"Oh, you mean they disabled the protocols to kill those invaders?" asked Marsha.
"Yes, of course." The cyborg stood back and folded their arms. "How else would The Sentients have won against such a relentless force? Who are you, exactly? How do you not know any of this?"
"Marsha," Dean whispered while tugging at her hand, "we need to get out of here!"