The contrast from where I was is stunning.

The skyline is resplendent with crystalline towers gleaming like jewels in the sun. Their twisting design and shape is unlike anything I have ever seen before.

I can make out air vehicles of some sort. The nearest one is visible enough that I can make out details. It looks like the classic Kirby fantisticar, but with a bubble dome affair on top. There is, no doubt, commerce and productive pursuits being engaged in, as I watch these vehicles move purposefully from point to point. The sky is gorgeous with color and the air is crystal clear.

On the ground the people are happy. Small children, women and men laughing and talking is a comforting background noise. My sudden arrival even amidst a busy metropolis goes unnoticed, except for a little girl, no more than 16 months, carrying a stuffed animal about a dozen feet away. She is smiling at me.

The goodness of this time is already palpable. I turn and see this is a parklike environment, a fountain behind me surrounded by many beautiful flowers. I approach it and glorious scent of gardenias fills my nostrils. I see a flagpole near the door of the closest crystal tower. The flagpole is pure gold or brass and gleaming in the sunlight. The US flag is gently rolling in the breeze.

The memory of the place I fled, this same place in a different timestream, is quickly placed to the background of my consciousness. Just as I think about this, I hear a scream. I turn instinctively to the source and see a man carrying a baton that projects a hologram. The hologram is like a sign of some sort. It reads:

"Free The World from US oppression and corporate imperialism!"

The image of a burning US flag repeats again and again, repetitively like a computer. gif image of 100 years prior.

The man is wild eyed and unshaven. He is running towards a family sitting nearby on a bench and in his other hand, it appears he wields some sort of weapon.

I move instinctively towards the man in a run. But before I reach him, he has grabbed one of the children and is violently shaking them. In just an instant, their reactions make quickly apparent that the father and mother are stunned beyond reason. Clearly they are completely unaccustomed to violence of any kind. It is simply horrifying them into a state of paralysis.

To my immediate right an immense blinding flash goes off. An explosion? No. I feel no blast wave or heat. Suddenly beside me are four uniformed man in complete white jumpsuits and they point a device at the man and a golden beam hits him in the back, crumpling him instantly, yet leaving the child unharmed and all at once free from his grasp. They are tall, slightly over 6'4 and clearly in peak condition.

I realize they teleported here and are some form of constabulary. They grab the dazed man who merely stares at them with utter contempt and the rage of the mentally imbalanced. Another bright flash and they are all gone.

Suddenly I realize why my appearance had not generated such a stir. The science and practical point-to-point teleportation has already been developed here. The fact that they apprehended this man without shooting him is not lost on me. And that they reached him faster than I could is also a refreshing mental note.

The child is still crying and the passersby are quietly talking amongst themselves about the incident. The parents embrace the child tenderly and are comforting.

I listen to the nearby conversation, and what I can hear is eye-opening.

"The poor man. I hope they can help him."

"Most of the disturbed are woefully uneducated. I hear that most of these come from states without mandatory 24 year education cycles."

Where I expected to hear hate, I only hear compassion. In place of outrage, there is concern and reason. Suddenly the beautiful environment, the crystalline buildings and the people all make a perfect match in my mind. These things are complementary and components of the society - reflections of each the other.

I stare at the stars and stripes...but something is odd about it. I walk closer and it hits me all at once, there are many more stars on the US flag...I see 10 rows of 10...there are 100 stars!

;-)