Author : David K Scholes

Canberra, Australia
2095

“It’s limited to a few long term users – one hour access every month to the future view function of face book,” I was face book chatting to a group of holograms.
“You get to view your friends’ 3D face book posts up to 2 days in the future.”

How do we know they actually are future posts?” Chantelle’s hologram piped up.

“Friends posts checked a few days later are pretty much spot on. Apart from the c-factor,” I added.
“The c-factor?” queried Jane. She was the only one present in the flesh. Other than me.
“The extent to which history gets changed because people get glimpses of the near future and act on that,” I replied.

“It appears to be very low, but it’s increasing,” I added with a salutary warning.

“They should shut the whole future view function down,” exclaimed a gatecrasher hologram. “It’s too dangerous for even one person to get flashes of the near future. However that’s done. It’s interfering with human history.”

“Who was responsible for adding this future view function anyway,” asked Jen.
“The face book admin are saying nothing but it came about shortly after the Trell visit,” I replied.

“Aliens, aliens might have had something to do with face book changes?” Max, or rather his hologram, was indignant.

“Well they did have input to a lot of things,” I replied. “It’s not like we had a lot of choice. We had to agree to a lot of things just to get them to go.”

The Trell had been subtle but any mechanism that offered flashes of the future to an elite few had the potential to alter human history significantly. Especially if the knowledge of the elite few became the knowledge of the many. Had this been their intention?

* * *

I left it until every one had left the face book chat except Jane and Max before telling them I had future view access on face book.
“Let’s take a look at it now,” I said. “Whose future posts should I view? How about yours Jane?” I said it with a slight air of mischief.
“Creepy!” exclaimed Jane but she didn’t say no. I think she was just as interested just as curious as Max and me. Maybe more so.

So all three of us hunkered down in my large face book room and tuned in to a 3D audio-visual indeed full sensory post by Jane one day into the future.

I don’t know what we had been expecting but certainly not what Jane had to say in her post.

“Just commenting on the face book administration’s decision to close down in the next hour it’s near future view function. I think they are right to do this. These flashes of the future glimpsed by an elite few are extremely dangerous. Set up I believe by the visiting Trell they cannot be good for humanity.”

We tried to view some hours ahead of this post on Jane’s face book page and got nothing.

The next day we heard the announcement live from the face book administration. Confirming the accuracy of Jane’s post.

For that hour before it was closed down there was hyper activity on the face book near future view function. Those with access going in with intensity and spreading the word as broadly as possible. The c factor – the extent to which aspects of human history were changed shot up to significance but then thankfully died down a time after the function was withdrawn.

I breathed a sigh of relief.