The Fate of Man

“What the hell!!” Robert shrieked as the alarm on the machine next to him started blaring.

“Dude, look at this! Holy shit man!” Collins screeched, flushed with excitement.

“What did you just do?”

“I hit the jackpot! I hit the JACKPOT!!”

“No freaking way man!”

“$20K, dude, I just won $20,000 freaking dollars!!”

“Holy shit man!”

“There’s so much I can do with this! Oh man, I can finally buy a decent car that actually works, or shit, I can finally take Felicity out for a fancy steak dinner!”

“Maybe you can start by buying your best friend a drink at the bar.”

“Ah, dude, you got it!”

A young woman dressed in a flattering black cocktail dress approached them, “Sir, congratulations. I see you hit the jackpot. You need to take this voucher to the girl at the front counter.”

Collins barely had time to register what she was saying as he snatched the voucher, “thank you” was all he managed to croak out as he continued to look at the machine in disbelief.

“Well come on man, let’s go cash this out!” Robert slapped Collins on the shoulder gently guiding him to the front counter.

“Congratulations sir. You hit the $20K jackpot and the bonus case option. Let me show you to the room where you can make your selection for today’s winnings.”

Robert gasped, “Geeze bro, a bonus case! You must have finally stumbled into some luck.”

“And it’s about time too! After all that has happened this past year with my mom and my brother, I really needed something to go right, man.”

“Follow me, gentlemen.” She guided them through a set of doors that led to a room shaped like a circle where there were at least ten doors surrounding them. “We will be heading into that one,” she pointed as she continued to lead the way. As she opened the door with her key she instructed, “You have a briefcase waiting for you on the table in the middle of the room. Open it and follow the instructions to make your final choice.” She waved them into the room and then turned to leave, “Good luck gentleman.”

“Weird bro.”

“Yup.”

Both Robert and Collins walked over to the briefcase. “Well, this is all you bro,” Robert said as he placed his hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“Thanks, Bobby, that’s awfully supportive of you,” Collins grunted as he rolled his eyes and cracked open the briefcase. Robert made a move like he was hitting the deck as Collins opened the briefcase. “Dude, come on.”

“Hey, you never know.” Robert teased.

Collins sighed, “Huh, just a black notebook. Well, I have to say, I’m a little underwhelmed man.”

“I’m sure there’s something in there you need to see, so go ahead and open it.”

Collins opened the small black notebook and read the inscription aloud for Robert:

Welcome to Project Hiledale. My name is Oliver Everett. If you have found your way to my little

black book, you are in for a treat. You have been selected to participate in a battle that will prove

once and for all what lies at the heart of humanity. You see, there are still some of us who

believe that there are enough good people left in this world, that make humanity worth saving.

However, there are many more who believe humanity has reached its peak and our time is over.

You do have a choice in the matter though. You can stop right where you are, take the money,

and leave. If that is your choice, you just need to go back through the door where you came in.

If, however, you feel like you can save the lives of millions of people and restore our humanity,

push the green button on the wall to reveal a different door you will take where the real battle

will begin.

“Dude! What the hell did you just read? That kind of shit doesn’t actually happen.”

Collins looked uneasy as he flipped through more pages in the book, “I don’t see anything else written here. What the hell do you think he means?”

“What do you mean? He said you can just take the money, so just do that! Why are you even still standing here? Clearly, the guy is whack.”

Collins was still fumbling with the book when he suddenly looked up and located the green button on the wall in front of him.

“Collins! What are you doing man? Let’s go back through the door.”

“I think I want to push the button.”

“What? Why the hell would you want to do that?”

“I just have a feeling that I shouldn’t be ignoring the part where he said I can save the lives of millions of people.”

“Whatever, dude. It’s your decision, but for the record, I would take the $20K and just move on. You’re not a hero and neither am I.”

“Duly noted.” Collins made his way over to the green button still holding the black notebook in his hand. He pushed the button which revealed an opening. “Bobby, I don’t know why I’m saying this, but I need to go in there alone, and if for some reason I don’t come back, I just need you to know that you’ve been an incredible friend and my life is better for it.”

“Dude, don’t talk like that. You’re freaking me out, and I’m starting to think I should just drag your ass back through..holy shit man!”

“What?”

“The other door is gone.”

“Looks like once you’ve made your choice, they make it so that you can’t go backward.”

“That’s a very philosophical way to look at it, but all of this is really freaking me out! I don’t think you should go in there. Maybe if we wait long enough, the room will reset and the other door will return.”

Collins stood there for a moment, looking from Robert to the open entry. Finally, with a sigh, he said, “Bobby, I think I need to do this. I need to see what’s in there, and if there is something I can do to help save lives, I think I need to take the chance and do it.” Collins gave Robert a final nod and held his breath as he walked through the opening.

****

The room was dim except for a dull glare coming from the screens now surrounding him.

A voice boomed through the speaker, “Welcome to Project Hiledale. Your task is simple, save as many lives as you can with the time and resources we provide you. Choose poorly and you affect the fate of many people; choose wisely and you save lives.” The speaker stopped, and the screens buzzed to life flickering on and revealing hundred of faces. The speaker buzzed once again, “Your task is simple. Tap a screen to see your options. Make a selection based on the facts presented to you and move on to the next screen. You have limited time. Good luck, Collins.”

He stared ahead, dazed for a moment. He was debating whether or not he should try to go back out through the opening he came in through, but as he turned behind him to look for it, he became aware that the room was totally dark behind him and the opening was gone. “Right, you can’t go back. Got it.” He walked over to the screens and started to take in the sights in front of him more consciously. He looked up at the center of the mass of screens and located the clock and display the voice had described. “30 minutes. Doesn’t seem like much time if I’m supposed to be saving millions of lives.” He held his breath and tapped on a screen that had a display of a woman with multiple small children running all around her.

The screen displayed two phrases, one at the very top of the screen, and one at the very bottom: Provide funding or Call the police.

“What?! How the hell am I supposed to decide something like that?” He looked at the screen more closely. “Hey, voice person? Don’t I get any more help than that? Why would one of the choices be to call the police? Are the kids in danger?” No reply came. He looked at the screen again. The kids and woman appeared to be very poor, they looked like they were living in a one bedroom apartment, and for now, they appeared, happy. “Shit! I choose to provide funding! Hello? I made my choice.” He tapped the top portion of the screen and it suddenly went black.

White text now scrolled across the screen: “You have just provided funding for an orphanage that sells kids into slavery.”

“What? Wait a second! This isn’t fair! I had no context! Hello? Can anyone hear me? I don’t want to do this anymore! Please let me out!”

“Time is of the essence Collins. Your first choice may not have worked out, and the future of all those children is now ruined, but you have more time and more chances to save some others.”

Collins was stunned, but he was now more alert and started to search for another screen he could test. He came across one where there was a roomful of people sitting together in what looked to be a seminar. He touched the screen: Make a donation or Have the building closed down.

“Jesus, what the hell? There’s no way to know which choice is going to help or hurt! I can’t freaking do this!” He tried looking more closely at the screen. He studied the faces to see if there was anger, happiness, or any clues he could use to make his choice. “Shit!” He clicked on the top button selecting Make a donation.

The screen went black. “You have made a sizable donation to the Luciferians cult. They will use the funds to spread hate and promote fear.”

“What?! This is totally rigged and so stupid! So every person on this screen is some sicko, and I’m funding sex trafficking and devil worship!”

The voice boomed through the speaker, “Collins, you were told the rules and accepted the task. It’s not easy to decide the fate of so many with so little to work from, but this is the way the world works every single day. Any decision you make at any point in your day could decide the fate of many, and at any given time you may be dealing with little to no information.”

Collins let the idea sink in for a moment and realized that this was a no-win situation. He had given up his own money to try and save others, but that wasn’t the right choice in the end. Fate has to decide what will happen to humanity. “So the real answer is, no man should be able to control the fate of man. Is that the thesis of your little experiment?”

The speaker roared to life again, “Collins, you have passed the test. No one man can decide the fate of many. You discovered this so much more quickly than all the others, but we can’t risk you sharing this truth with anyone else.”

“Wait! Now I have to die? What the hell?”

“No Collins, we are simply going to erase your memory. Tomorrow you will wake up in your bed and none of this will have happened. It will seem like a hazy dream.”

With those words, Collins found he did feel drowsy and sleep overtook him.

****

“Dude, wake up! Let’s get down to the main floor before all the machines are full!”

“What?! Shit, Bobby, I just had the craziest dream man. Wait, where are we?”

“The casino in Reno boy! We are celebrating my birthday weekend in style. Come on man, the girls are waiting for us!”

“Ok, dude, but seriously, no machines for me man.”