Seeing is Believing

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“I mean, did you really expect to come on my show–be sure to like the podcast, by the way–and convince my listeners that you were actually from the future? Please! All of the True Take listeners are well-informed and only trust reliable sources like myself,” Devin Myers, self-proclaimed genius and niche internet celebrity, scoffed and cackled. The pitch of his laugh was perfect for making someone’s eye start to twitch.

Across the table from Devin sat his guest, Lainie Ritz. She had reached out to the True Take podcast claiming to have traveled from the future with a warning. Devin found immense joy in finding people with the craziest theories and humiliating them on his podcast, paying them for their time in exposure and false promises.

“I can prove it,” Lainie insisted, fidgeting with an object in her lap. “I brought portal technology from my time that allows any user to see their future self.”

“A visual demonstration for an audio-only podcast,” Devin remarked mockingly. “You know, if your warning was that the education system will collapse, I might be inclined to believe you.”

“I’m being serious,” Lainie insisted with a frown before revealing the concealed object, placing what appeared to be a circular, titanium-framed mirror on the table. “Just look into the portal and describe what you see to the listeners. They always believe you, right?”

With a sharp sigh, Devin snatched the mirror and peered down into it. The metal frame was cold to the touch, sending icy warnings of a bleak future. 

“I wonder what sort of poorly animated video you have set to play on this,” Devin pondered aloud with faux interest. The mirror reflected his freshly shaven face and his nose still crooked from a recess incident in elementary school. He tilted his head, trying to catch lag in what had to be a camera hidden seamlessly in the glass.

“This isn’t even–” Devin started, but he cut his own sentence short when his reflection began to change. His skin creased and drooped, doing away with the sharp features he boasted about. His luscious blonde hair receded backwards and thinned out until it was barely visible.

“Is this some kind of joke?!” Devin shouted but couldn’t put down the mirror. “You think you can deface me on my podcast? What kind of filter is this?”

“This is your future, Devin,” Lainie replied in a collected manner, her eyes narrowed onto how tightly his fingers clutched the frame.

“That’s bull–”

“That’s not even the scary part,” Lainie interrupted. “Move it around. Let it show you the room.”

Devin couldn’t pull his face nor hands away from the mirror. Devin had grown up an unruly child, each teacher all too familiar with his mother’s phone number. He was a behavioral nightmare who sought to do the opposite of whatever he was asked, yet he didn’t hesitate to raise the mirror and catch a glimpse of the wall behind him.

Devin’s eyes widened as he saw what could only be described as a barren wasteland behind him. A figure slowly emerged in the distance, seemingly approaching him. His will burned, sending signals for him to look away from the mirror, but ultimately went ignored.

“Mom?” Devin whimpered, taking in the sight of hollow features on a corpse-like body. 

“A terrible plague overtakes the population 50 years from now. Everyone who dies by it is reanimated days later. They aren’t truly alive, yet still they walk and seek out–”

The mirror finally fell from Devin’s hands and shattered on the table. Devin remained frozen too afraid to look away from the now broken mirror. Cracks ruined the image, yet the nightmare persisted.

Lainie left the True Take studio as the only guest maintain their pride. She wondered if Devin would ever recover from today’s events, and if perhaps he would look into revising the podcast’s concept. Regardless, she was satisfied with her work. 

As Lainie walked to her car, another individual caught up to her side. The individual was much taller and bore a stretched appearance–their neck a little too long, their fingers a little too slender, their teeth a little too big for their mouth.

“Did you achieve vengeance for your sister, Ms. Elwood?” The individual asked as they ducked down into Lainie’s car.

“I believe so,” Lainie confirmed as she started the car. “The technology of your planet is something else, Dr. Vlorgrath. I mean, it looked so real.”

“Generative artificial intelligence takes from what has already been created, so it hasn’t taken long to fine tune its realism. Using it for something malicious like this, however, is very illegal on Speculum. If word gets out that I allowed you to dawn the disguise of ‘Lainie Ritz’ and use Speculumine technology to imitate a human being and cause psychological damage…you will lose your communication line to the laboratory and I could face a life sentence.”

“I know, and I won’t let that happen. I just…that man utterly humiliated my sister! I couldn’t let him get away with that,” Lainie, or rather Lauren Elwood, declared. “Mariah just wanted the world to see that other lifeforms were out there and lived in much more advanced societies.”

“I did this only because I wish Earth to respect the Elwood name,” Dr. Vlograth stated clearly. “I must say though, I don’t think Earth is ready for such technology. It’s addicting, damaging, and needs strict rules in order to serve any true benefit.”

“You make a good point,” Lauren agreed. “Devin couldn’t look away from it.”

“Perhaps you should start one of these podcasts in order to prepare your world for a time in which technology like this might come to exist out of their own creation.”

“Hmm…host a podcast? You know what, it seems like anyone can do it, so why not?” Lauren laughed before pulling out of the parking lot and driving off without any care for what happened to Devin Myers post-exposure to the Speculumine technology.