A Future without Tomatoes

"Eeesh. What is that?" A girl muttered under her breath. "Ugh. Look at those things in the middle. Look like little eyes in little sections," she continued whispering near her friend's ear.

"This, children, is called a tomato," The museum guide said. 

"Ugh. To-mah-toe. What a name." The same girl riled. Okay, turns out to-mah-toe caught on, to-mae-toe lost. 

"A few centuries ago, this was one of the last vegetables that survived." The museum guide continued.

"A few centuries ago?!" I, accidentally, yelled. I am sure everyone in the enormous hall was staring at me. Yes, I was trying to travel in time. But, no, I didn't really expect to actually travel in time. 

"Yes, ma'am. A few centuries ago," a man dressed like security personnel came up in front of me. Seeing that I was standing dangerously close to an exhibition, and I seemed delirious to start with, he grabbed my arm and 'escorted' me out of the museum. 

I desperately needed to get back to my time. 

But which time was I in? At least a few centuries later, because I come from a time where tomatoes are easily everywhere.  

I wandered on the streets, looking around me. No flying cars. But no black skies either. Everything seemed just like it was where I was from. 

"It's 3013, Paakhi," a voice told me as I was walking.

"What?" I whispered and turned around. Ah. My research partner.

"How did we end up here?" I asked him, and he laughed it off. 

"We, umm, time traveled," he said. "And yes, there is no flora, or fauna here. Water, oxygen, food: everything is made chemically. The Earth is surviving on space mining and science. Nothing's natural."

"Oh my god. That's not even a thousand years from where we're from. We need to get back," I said. My heart was beating faster, as I could feel my body getting hotter. I was panicking. I couldn't believe that the Earth was surviving without nature. I clenched my fists and turned away, blaming myself. Blaming every human from my time. We could have saved the Earth. It wasn't too late for us, but in 3013, it was definitely too late.

"The future is not immutable," I said, smiling. We still had a chance.

"What?" My research partner said, visibly confused.

"If we continue on the path that we were in back in 2020, this is where we would end up. An Earth without nature. But if suddenly, we changed our paths, the past events would change and the future would change too!" I said, trying my best to make sense. He nodded. "We need to get back. We need to change the present, so we don't end up here," I continued.

"And you need to wake up," My research partner said. Suddenly, his voice distorted into my mother's, "Wake up, Paakhi!"

Out of the blue, I found myself opening my eyes and waking up. 

"Great," my mother said, "It is eight o'clock. You don't get to wake up late just because we're in a pandemic!"

"Huh?" I remarked, very confused, "I'm sorry?"

"Hmm. What do you want to eat for breakfast?" My mother asked me.

"I would like some tomatoes."