Stepping back out into the bright sunlight, they wove carefully through the chalk art on the main walk and started down the busy street. Stopping at a rack where baskets full of fruit were secured under a neat awning, Daniel selected a couple of apples and handed one to Arlo. Taking a giant bite out of his apple, Daniel continued down the walk, but Arlo was looking at the unattended baskets of fruit, checking to make sure he'd brought his billfold with him.
Puzzled, Arlo refrained from immediately biting into the stolen fruit, but Daniel, who hadn't slowed down much, knew what Arlo was thinking, and proudly turned to walk backwards to speak, "Food is free here in Lakeland."
Arlo ran a few steps to catch up. "What?"
Daniel repeated: "All food is free in Lakeland. Every day there are big cookouts all over town, nobody goes hungry around here, we..." Stopping, Daniel pointed across the street. "That, has got to be your car right there."
It was Arlo's car, and three teenaged boys were walking around it, talking among themselves. Arlo was impressed by this perceptive observation by Daniel, but was becoming more confused by the second. "How'd you know that's my car?"
Even as he asked, Arlo noticed that many of the cars parked in the area were painted up in interesting ways, some with scales like fish, while many were decorated to look like fruits and vegetables. Arlo's car was a boring tan color, but it was bland on purpose- in Hill Valley, his function was to observe, and not to be observed.
Daniel was motioning to the boys and pointing at Arlo, and one of the youngsters yelled across the street "Mister, you want us to paint your car?"
What a strange question, and before Arlo could reply, Daniel laughed "C'mon Arlo, let em paint it... they are masters, it'll be fantastic, I promise. It's a company car anyway, right?"
One of the boys ran across the street towards them, saying "It'll take 5 minutes, if you want." Arlo looked down and laughed, thinking about the absurdity of such an offer. The boy continued "We can put it back like it is if you don't like it... it's up to you."
Daniel was nodding towards the boys and then began motioning to Arlo. "Let's go get some grub, we have a lot to talk about. Don't worry man, the paint job won't cost you anything."
Arlo was still obviously baffled as they sat at a nearby sidewalk taco place, and Daniel did his best to explain the concept of free food and automotive painting. Some of it made perfect sense, but overall Arlo was not understanding how such a thing could work.
"So, are you telling me that Lakeland has no money- no currency- no means of exchange? How is that even possible?" Arlo was actually scratching his head in disbelief.
Daniel was expecting the question, but took a breath and thought. "We do have currency! I mean, people still trade, and there's digital currency. Now… sometimes we trade in our time, which is something of value that we all have an equal share of... but our main form of currency is probably friendship."
Arlo's expression showed that more explanation was needed, and Daniel went on: "You have to think with logic, and if you do, you'll find that some things in life have an agreed value… like cash or gold, while other things have true, real value. Friendship is the most valuable thing we have, it's value is incalculable... priceless really, as it is what holds us all together here in life, and is the real source of all the things we trade and share. People naturally want to share what they have with friends, and they naturally want to help each other, even strangers, whenever the need arises. It's human nature to share when there's no scarcity of things like food… we have too much!"
Daniel tried to think of another way to explain it, tapping his fingers. "Do you know how much a hundred dollar bill is really worth?"
Arlo puffed and rolled his eyes. "Maybe two bucks?"
Daniel nodded vigorously. "Right! But everybody still thinks of it as a hundred, right? It's an agreed value, but not at all a true value. Not even close. You still do ten times more work for it than it's really worth. It's a sickness… that we would sell the hours of our lives at such a cut rate, and pretend to be making the best use of our time. I know! I was mentally ill, just like that, for years… the whole time I worked for the UBS. "
Arlo's brow wrinkled up. "You don't work for the UBS anymore?"
Daniel stared at Arlo. "None of us work for the UBS... are you joking?"
Daniel suddenly looked worried, and gazed at Arlo while he spoke. "You work under Don Felger right?" Arlo nodded, feeling a sudden chill hearing the dark name being spoken out loud.
Daniel breathed again. "Felger... Don Felger got kicked off the Board 17 years ago. The Fictionarium Project was cancelled shortly after… they said there was no funding to bring the subjects home, so... they just left us. They canned Felger when they figured out he'd been funneling a huge portion… everything, into his own pockets." Daniel laughed again. "Since then, Felger's been hiring his own Conditioners, Bishops and Priests, the whole thing... everything..."
A silence rung loudly in the air for a second or two. "Arlo, you don't work for the Science Board- you work for Don Felger. Fictionarium has been officially shut down for 17 years now."
Daniel could tell that this revelation was a lot for Arlo to process, and tried to change the subject somewhat. "We should go get a drink across the square, I'd like to hear about how Hill Valley is going these days."
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PART III of Chapter 6. is next
FICTIONARIUM