My new cell was smaller even smaller that the previous one but definitely better equipped. And futuristic. There was a sliding reinforced glass panel instead of bars and my bed seemed like a just a plate of a strange material hovering slightly over the floor. The surface looked metalic but when I laid down I felt it's soft and rather warm.
I guessed my 'interesting' wish made much more than just make me arrested. It figured an extreme way to punish me and in order for the punishment to be possible it advanced humankind's technological capabilities by at least a hundred years in some aspects...
In normal conditions I would probably be amazed by all the technology surrounding me but not then. I had a problem. A huge problem.
And yet despite my terrible predicament I fell asleep like a baby. Maybe it was the strange softness of the bed. Maybe they injected some sort of sleeping gas into my cell I didn't know and didn't care as my mind drifted to sleep.
I didn't dream of anything when I was woken up by a sound of banging on my cell's door. It was still dark outside so I guessed I still had some time before they execute my punishment. Maybe I still could do something...
Then I realized there was a person on the other side of my cell's door. He was wearing a labcoat and was quite tall. When I came closer and I saw his face I recognized him instantly.
"Derek!" I whispered "What are you doing here? Are you here to... help me?"
When I started school I was obsessed with science fiction. Derek was our neighbours' older kid and was the biggest geek I ever knew. Even despite our age difference he would often talk to me explaining the physical principles that might govern space ships once they are widely used, or a possible design for a lightsaber. I didn't understand the word of the scientific babble he was saying but it sounded like the coolest thing I could imagine. Then Derek left for college and I never heard from him since.
I wasn't surprised he had become a scientist.
"Shut up Jon! I didn't come here to help you." he whispered angrily "When I heard about your crime I knew immediately that they'll send you here to be downsent. What you did is disgusting and you absolutely deserve the punishment..."
"And yet you are here." I said "And judging by the way you try to keep quiet you are not allowed to."
"Well, yes. I hate you for what you did and think you deserve the punishment but when I was browsing procedures scheduled for the morning I noticed something strange... I felt you at least have the right to know that somebody fiddled with your downsentment. I'd try to change it back to the standard procedure but the program was already loaded into your transfer chamber and there is no way I could change anything without being noticed. And I definitely will not risk my career for a rapist and a murderer."
"But how?.. And what was changed?" I was very confused. Apparently the stone thought that this thing that happened wasn't interesting enough yet.
"Someone modified roots of the parametric equations of the Hawking systems effectively changing flow of the consciousness continuum flow!"
"And in English?"
"Well, ok... Basically what happened is..."
