Matilda was crying, sitting on her computer chair. On the screen, on top of the picture of them both, there was the IM window, his cruel last words still there and the cursor blinking.
"Sorry but I don't really like you. I don't think I ever did"
He was offline now, he went off seconds after saying that, probably afraid of seeing what she would say. But she wouldn't say a thing. She couldn't, her hands were shaking and she was feeling pain, feeling sick. That ended up being the only thing she did that day : cry. Dinner didn't even cross her mind, and she dragged herself to bed only because her back was starting to hurt after so many hours sitting in the chair.
The day after, she got up of bed, took a bath and dressed in automatic mode. Only when she picked up the lipstick did it hit her. It had been one of his little gifts, things he'd bought her 'just because' and given to her. Looking at her own face in the mirror, her eyes deep inside the dark circles, it all came back to her. Not just the cold, brutal breakup but everything.
They had met on the 347th floor, the city gardens, just like in the movies. She was sitting alone in one of the benches, taking up some sunlight and reading a old science fiction book, about a world with huge trees and forests, those were pieces of land, sometimes as big as a whole level, sometimes even bigger with nothing but trees, and some of those trees were hundreds of floors high. The garden floors were always thrice as big as a normal floor, but still the trees were small, the bigger ones barely going over two floors.
He had showed up, a nicely dressed young man, a bit younger than her, handsome and with a happy smile on his clean shaved face. He asked her if he could sit next to her, she just shrugged and moved a inch to the right. He sat there silently, looking at the never ending wasteland bellow for a while.
"So, what are you reading?"
She looked at him and back at her book without answering.
"I've read that book before. I like the idea but a whole planet covered in trees is impossible. There would be too much oxygen in the air and we'd all end up dead from excess oxygen."
"That's not true." - she didn't mean to answer but it came out her mouth automatically. He smiled before replying - "Oh so you can talk!"
She couldn't remember exactly what was said but two hours later, sitting in a small bar at floor 753, each with their own drink, he had been convinced that a world of trees could not only exist, but also support life.
The next week she didn't go to the garden, but when she did, he was there, siting in the same bench, reading some book. She got there and asked if she could sit there. He got a little to the left and she sat, asking "so what are you reading?" - She glimpsed at the book, old science fiction too, a story about a martian invasion of earth.
"I've read that book before. It could never happen because mars has no life and never did. And even if it did have life, their biology would be so different that there's no way the flu could kill them."
"That's not true" - he said. She smiled before saying her next line "Ah so you can talk!".
After that there had been 15 months of happiness, traveling the entire city, up and down. He had taken her to the top floor and they had made love against the wind turbines. She had shown him the underground floors and they made love, with the huge furnaces as the only witness. They shared his apartment on the 486th floor for a full year and everything was wonderful.
The he was offered his dream job on a different city. She couldn't ask him not to go, and she couldn't go with him either, not until she finished her last year. In 5 more months she would have a post-graduation and would be able of finding a job in his city.
They made plans and even had schematics of how their apartment would be like. They talked everyday online, and she even went to meet him, leaving her city for the first time. She knew, as every inhabitant knows, that the city wasn't the only city in the world. She had seen the other cities, from the gardens, if you looked anywhere but South, you'd see the other huge towers, going up into the sky.
And only two days had passed since she arrived at South City 1 in the express train from West City 3, where he has now living. All this went by her in a flash, she dropped the lipstick on the floor and started crying again. She had a presentation for her thesis that day, but instead of going she cried.
The next day she was weak, from lack of food and lack of sleep and lack of water. She forced herself to eat something and went to the top floor, a bottle of Recycled Whiskey in one hand, a small notebook in the other. She sat there, back against the wind turbine, sipping from the bottle and writing. When the bottle finished she threw it into the blades and watched it going into little pieces. She wrote down a couple more lines before resting the notebook on the floor, taking a deep breath and jumping into the giant steel blades.
Her body was turned into shreds and spread into the wastelands, where it would be united with land and sand. The notebook was found a week later, by a maintenance guy. The first page read "A Guide To Relationships", the second began with "Someday you were born," and the last read "and then you die."
Thursday 16 September 2010
Short Entries 14 to 23
Short Entry 14 - Praise OROL
I praise OROL, and so should you.
Ever since OROL overthrown the human government the crime rate went down 98%, the unemployment is at a historical minimum of 0.03% and there is almost absolute world peace for the very first time since civilization was first created.
With the possible exception of the rebels still trying to destroy the pacific World Gov. that OROL created, everyone is happy. Prisons are almost empty after years and years of overcrowding, nobody dies of lack of food, pollution levels are down...
What I'm trying to say is that the world is near perfection. Only the rebels stand between us and the beginning of a new age, a age of enlightenment, a age of peace, prosperity, harmony.
Then why do the rebels fight? Why do they oppose paradise? Studies show that the rebels are psychopaths, sociopaths and other kinds of mentally disturbed individuals, that should be captured and cured.
And if we all assist OROL, that can be done easily. Just be careful not to let yourself be infected by their speeches. They talk about hollow concepts, without meaning, like 'freedom', 'honor' and 'individuality'. Those are but words, void of all substance. Those are ancient ideals that brought mankind no good. This times need no freedom, no honor and surely we need no 'individuality'. 8,3 billion people in the world. Imagine if each person did not what is best for the world, as OROL dictates, but what they though to be better for them? And what is 'freedom'? Every men, woman and hermaphrodite is free, as long as he does his job, to do what he pleases, in his free time.
And then there's the talk about 'honor', a vague concept that means nothing at all. They say that the human race should govern it self, that it's dishonorable to be ruled by OROL, but how can it be dishonorable to be in peace, to be happy, to be without disease?
OROL has brought us everything we ever wanted, and under OROL we are happy as no other generation has been before us.
And this is why I praise Our Robotic Over Lords and so should you.
All praise OROL!
First published in the World Times of 14th of March of 2113, special edition commemorating the the 7th anniversary of OROL's victory.
Short Entry 15 - Mega Mecha Victory Shigeru - The Boy The Mind Choose
"I'm too young for this" - this was the only thing in my mind as I entered the control pod - "I'm too young to fight" - As the connections plugged into my skin - "I'm too young to die" - As the interface began to turn on.
In front of my eyes, the blackness became alive, with the service men running around left and right. Line after line of checkups started, exactly as when in practice.
Lower Left Engine ---- OK
Lower Right Engine -- OK
Upper Left Engine ---- OK
Upper Right Engine -- OK
Main Central Engine - OK
"All engines OK" - I said trough the intercom, and Dr. Yashima replied : "Good. What's the status on the interface?"
I moved my head left and right and so did it, showing me the confinement walls to my side. I then raised my left leg, and then the right, and so did it. The arms where next. Left arm, 2 inches up, 2 inches out : 2 meters up and 2 meters out, it moved.
Right arm, same thing.
"All fine, Dr. Yashima."
"Are you ready Shigeru?" - It was the General himself, ordering me to battle as easily as he would order one of his servants to fetch him some tea - "Go and make us proud of you."
I heard him ordering Dr. Yashima to send me out, and then felt the boost of the launcher. Seconds later I was outside, facing the giant beast inside my heavy armor. 87meters high, armed with a pulse rifle, a backup plasma gun and knifes in the gauntlet. The beast looked in my direction and I had my first good look at it : boar-like, with a thick shielding on his back, teeth big enough to shred a house in one go, and running in my direction.
"I'm only 14, I can't die here!" - my mind wandered trough the reasons I needed to survive while my trained body lifted the heavy riffle, pointed it - "I've never felt the touch of a woman breast!" - fired one round - "I never drank a beer!" - waited for the smoke to dissipate - "I never drove a car!" - saw the beast still there, one leg cut below the knee, bleeding heavily from the left eye - "Not even a motorbike!" - Changing clips - "I never kissed no one!" - Rearming the riffle - "I've never been in love!" - firing again, emptying the second, and last, clip. The beast fell, and in the radio I heard the screams of joy of the rest of the team - "Great job Shigeru!" - the general. And I remembered - "Yes, I have loved. I love her. I love Tomoe! And that is why I must survive, today and everyday!"
The next day at school I got next to her, grabbed her by the shoulder and kissed her. She slapped me and I got suspended for a full week, but it was worth it.
Short Entry 16 - The Alchemist
It was the twenty second day in a row. I got home and dropped in bed like a stone. The next day would be the same : work from sunrise to sunset. The Alchemist wouldn't tell us what was it that we were building, only that it must be ready "when the starts are right", whenever that might be.
The next day I got up, did all my morning duties, which mostly involved making sure the kids were up and out in the field with the cows and got out to work.
The great white walls of the castle stood before me, and I circled them till I reached the gates.
Abel was on duty and he let me in after the usual "how's your wife and my kids?". I got to the big barn a few minutes before the bells rang the morning, and I waited outside. Josue and Mark were there already, Mouse (his name has John, but since he was small and insisted in keeping that long ridiculous mustache, we called him mouse), Thomas and the rest arrived meanwhile. Antony was late again, we were already lined up and waiting for the distribution of work when he arrived. The Alchemist waited for him to get in line, and gave each of us our work for the day. I had to finish that huge metal cross I had began the day before. When everyone else had his work assigned, Antony was still there, standing. The Alchemist turned to the little man that followed him everywhere (we called him the Small Shadow) and said : "Pay this man 22 days of work, but don't forget to discount for the lateness and find me another one to do his job". He then turned his back on both of them and went back to his room and his papers. Antony cried and screamed to no effect. A guard came and took him away a little after. A young man, no more than 16, joined us halfway through the morning. He didn't speak to anyone, just sat in his corner, blowing glass into tubes, curved tubes, straight tubes, spiral tubes...
When the lunch bells rang, the Small Shadow entered the barn, followed by Mary, the cook, and a couple of servants with the food. Meat stew, good food, better that what I could provide my kids. Working for the Alchemist was hard but worth the effort. The new guy didn't talk with anyone. He ate alone, finished before anyone else and got back to work,
A few days later, 6 if I remember correctly, as soon as I got there I knew something was different. We were all there, in line, but the Small Shadow was nowhere to be seen. The Alchemist came, smiling, and said : "You have been doing a excellent work, and tomorrow it will be finished. Today we start assembling it. This are your works for the day."
I assembled some of the crosses into a giant cylinder, together with wood. The great furnaces Thomas and Josue had been doing went into the bottom of the object, and the Alchemist himself, together with the Small Shadow (that came into the barn mid-morning), constructed a small room, with size for one person only, that went into the top of the cylinder when it was finished.
The next day, we had the machine ready. A arrow pointing at the sky, with a small glass window on the top.
It's from that small window that I see the earth now, rushing in my direction. I'm about to die, but I have seen the starts next to me, the moon looked as if it was near enough to touch it... I can die happily knowing that I was closer to God than any men before me...
Short Entry 17 - Numb
"I hate my job" - It's the first thought that runs trough my mind, every single day when I wake up. For some 30 seconds that's all I can think off, how much I hate my job. Eventually I open my eyes and the sensors see that I am awake. I get the morning injection and I don't hate my job anymore. I don't hate the job, I don't hate my stupid coworkers, I don't hate my good for nothing boss, making me do stuff he can't even begin to understand and then presenting my hard work as his. I don't even hate the law and the government, I hate nothing. But not today. Today I dodged the syringe, and today I hate it all. I got up and hated waking so early. I got dressed and hated this ugly, uncomfortable Uniform of the People. I had my breakfast and hated the synth-milk and the synth-bread. I left and hated the inefficient, dirty, crowded public transportation system. I hated the big building, a gray block with ugly doors, not even a name, just a number 342-R, between 342-Q and 342-S. I hated myself for never having had the urge to check the other buildings. This was all I knew from this city : My house, the sub station next to it, the sub station at the middle of 342/343 street and the rec-center. I was on time, not one minute to spare, but not yet late, so I had to enter and go work. The elevator, which I hated, took me to my floor, and I sat between two coworkers I hated, waited for my terminal to recognize my finger prints, and spent all day doing what ever it was that I do. Filling up data sheets, from other data sheets. All day. One stop, for a lunch I hated (synth-beef and dehydrated-potatoes), and then, the lunch injection. This time I didn't dodge it. I didn't even hate it, I loved it. It gave me peace. It made my mind so numb I could no longer hate. Maybe that's the only way to live in this time and age : numbed.
Short Entry 18 - Priest
"We shall destroy worlds for thee!" - the priest shouted and the five hundred crusaders replied - "Oh Goddess Eternal".
"We shall crush thy enemy,"
"Oh Mother of All."
"We shall clean the universe,"
"For Thy return!" - Five hundred and one hands lowered five hundred sword and one spear. The priest turned his spear, pointing it to the body on the floor, grabbed it with both hands and in one movement, killed the prisoner. The crusaders cheered as the blood of their enemy slowly filled the runes carved in the floor, spelling the name of their Goddess : WAR.
Short Entry 19 - no more paper
At first, it was the kids. They could see all the series they wanted online, they didn't really care about politics, sports were no longer fashionable and the rest of the news were filled with tragedy. So they gave up on television. Soon the kids started to grow older, and the adults were now elderly people. The cinemas had been abandoned years before... With online movies, giant screens at home, with full surround, instant popcorn, and no one to speak on the phone, no 'dude with the extravagantly big afro' sitting in front of them, no tickets, no walking trough the pollution and thus, no need to wear that stupid suits, in truth, no need to get dressed at all... Why would they go to the cinemas if they could just watch it at home, for free?
Strange enough, theaters saw the audiences spiking up. Something that had not happen in centuries. People went to the theater to see what they couldn't see in the movies : real people doing real things.
The kids grew and still cared nothing about politics. After ages of changing sides, the government never really changed. No matter who was the Top Dog, what party had the more votes, it was always the same. So people gave up. Let the politics vote among themselves, let them elect themselves and care about it. In less than a century, a ruling elite existed, and the rest of the world couldn't care less about it.
Television died. The kids that had given up on it were now the older people that still didn't watch it. Television companies changed into online shows companies, direct to .mp6 films. The live shows were streamed directly in their web pages. The news sites merged with the news TV, anchor men and women were replaced by rss feeds and virtual bots.
It was actually a organic process, not a direct transmission. The number of people that lost their jobs was small, compared to the size of the industry that died...
Paper newspapers still existed. The New Times, a world wide newspaper, the largest of them, had something like two thousand exemplars printed and around 3 billion downloaded.
Books were still sold, but as ornaments. E-books saved the page you were reading, you could buy just the first 10 pages, or just the last 10, or just that one chapter someone had told you it was good. If you really liked the book, you could buy it and all it's sequels in a bundle and carry them in your pocket. Some books, like the urban fantasy classic (the Roman Central University of Human Studies had a 2 semester course about it and it's importance in defining a new world) Twilight, even came with the fanfic package : you could download the book, the sequels, the spin-offs and every single existing fan-fiction.
Short Entry 20 - Spare Parts
the robot was made of spare parts. The torso had been a washing machine, stripped of everything, a scooter engine stuck inside to power the small electric motors that made the junctions move, a metal bar connected to the claw of one of those "catch the prize" machines in the right arm, another metal bar connected to a electric chainsaw on the left one. It had no real legs. Bellow the washing machine there was a cylindrical tube, taken from a water dispenser, the little faucet still there. Instead of water, the 'legs' had fuel for the engine on top and the other engine that powered the Segway wheels.
The head was a laptop computer, the integrated webcam working as the eyes, the speakers as the mouth. One of the USB ports had a small USB hub from where one cable left to each of the servomotors. Bluetooth and wireless pens gave it the ability to receive communications from his central brain.
But the scariest part of it all? It wasn't the chainsaw. It wasn't that the robot towered at 2 and half meters meters. It wasn't the creepy claw, nor the scooter engine, always working, nor the smoke exiting from the exhaust pipes on it's back. No, the scariest part was the laptop screen and the "HELLO I'M A ROBOT" written in comic sans.
Short Entry 21 - M.A.L.D.A.D.E.
The Mutilated Alien Lurkers of the Doomed Ancient Dome of Evil entered the stage, the long black hairs covering the painted faces. The lead singer, Extremist Violent Immolated Lord, his torso covered in tattooed satanic symbols, a black iron gauntlet in his right hand, spiked bracelets covering the left one, grabbed the microphone and growled something unintelligible in ancient Sumerian. The guitarist, a girl wearing a full black Victorian dress, complete with corset, know as lady Murdering Altar of Disease Ness, started a fast rhythm, banging her head violently without missing one single note. The drummer, Putrefact Lord of All Gods Under Evil, wearing only shorts and spiked shoulder pads, accompanied her. E.V.I.L. growled more, a lyric about the day the Dark Ones would come and destroy the world of light.
The audience, a couple hundred men and women dressed in full black, t-shirts with MALDADE written in a Gothic lettering, jumped up, down and sideways. Knees hit heads, elbows hit chests, teeth flew among the huge masses of dancing hair.
By the end of the show, 4 people had been taken to the hospital, and many many more wore scars, bruises and bleeding noses.
In the dressing room, Rupert took the gauntlet and the bracelets, washed the paint of his face and kissed his wife Susan, while helping her to take off the corset. On the other room, Frank took off the shoulder pads and sat on his chair, drinking a cup of tea, Britney Spears playing on his laptop.
They met outside, half a hour later, Frank with a yellow t-shirt and jeans, Susan in a short blue skirt and a white tank-top, Rupert wearing his usual light blue, long sleeved shirt and the tweed pants. They drove off, Frank in a old-school yellow mini and the couple in their soccer-mom van.
Short Entry 22 - Ignored
The room was silent. People passed by, looked at each other but nobody spoke. Alone on his corner, the great green monster told tales of things that had been, things that were and things that might be.
He spoke to the air, and not even the air replied. Some people stopped, staring at him, silent, not acknowledging neither his presence nor his speech. When ever someone did this, the green monster would raise his voice, and speak with more emotion, but no feedback ever came. It was almost as if nobody could see or hear him.
After a while he started to insert sexual overtones on his tales, to see if people noticed. Then he discussed politics and created characters of extremist types, tales of violent behaviors, amoral beings from outer space that destroyed the earth and killed the poor, pitiful, weak humans.
Nothing seemed to work. He was still alone in his corner talking to himself. More people were coming, and talking among themselves and ignoring him.
He began talking about the day a giant green monster was talking in a room and nobody noticed him, so he got angry and started eating the people in the room. And as he talked about it, his tentacles started dragging people and he'd interrupt his sentences to munch on those who had ignored him.
When he had eaten everyone, he sat on the ground, a smile on his face, pieces of human meat on his tentacles. He was happy now that there was nobody else to ignore him.
Short Entry 23 - War and more War
70 years ago this was exactly like it is. Nobody here, nothing here. A big, lifeless ocean of ice. 200 square miles of white, cold ice. One of the few places on earth unchanged. I used to come here, walk 10 miles into it and stare at the stars. 15 miles away, the city. Yet if I turned my teenager back at it, I could believe I was in an alien world, where there was no wars.
The day I turned 16, the Great Emir Ahmed Nasir Buthrupalli won the elections in India.
In China, the communist regime had fallen years ago to the hands of the extreme nationalist Great Chinese Liberation Army and his General, Mei Wan Lo, the first female ruler of the, now called, Free Land of China. Free in name only, since it had merely swapped the tone of the speech.
Russia was little more than Moscow, since the Siberian Democratic Republic had fought the Great European War, with the help of the Kingdom of Allah, former Afghan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan,Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some ten other smaller nations, winning it's independence at the promise of doing nothing to prevent the future invasion of the Kingdom of Allah.
France, Germany and Italy had joined forces with Russia, only to fall too. France from the inside, turning into the First Colony of the Kingdom of Allah. Germany had been invaded from two sides, and fell, becoming the Second Colony. Italy had lost Sicily to Greece, and the north to the First Colony.
England had lost Ireland and Scotland, but it still had Wales, and was trying to stay away from all the wars. The Great Emit however, had promised that England would fall under the rule of India.
When the wars began, on my fathers marriage day, Spain tried the invasion of Portugal, but 5 years after the guerrilla wars began, the Spanish army retreated to fight on the other side, against the First Colony.
In Africa, the central countries united to become the African Muslim Union, two years before I was born, and began invading the surrounding countries. Portugal went to the help of it's former colonies, as did the Netherlands.
At the days of the coronation of the Great Emir, when he became Emperor of the Indian Oceanic Empire, Africa was divided between the Great Fifth Empire of Portugal, the Trading Nation of Netherlands, the AMU and the I.O.E. .
I was 20 at the time, and I was one of those that celebrated the election of the Last President of The United States.
When the wars began in Europe and Asia, the US were struggling with Mexico and the South American Coalition of Communist Republics, formed by almost every country of South America : Mexico and Uruguay, although allies on the war against the northern continent, did not joint the SACCR.
Canada was one of the very few countries still at peace, and it was there I was born and raised. I left it for the US at age 17, to work in Pierre, South Dakota. When Mexico got to Nebraska I returned here, to my mother's house. I was here when the US fell into the hands of the SACCR, losing the S, when Switzerland became the World Bank Country, the first sovereign enterprise country, when the Fifth Portuguese Empire conquered the Trading Nations of the Netherlands, and when, 10 years later, the AMU fell at their hands too. I was still here, when, in the year my youngest son turned 10, the Free Nation of China conquered the remains of Russia, Japan and Oceania, in one single month. Millions of soldiers marching out, and stopping at nothing.
And now, I'm still here, ready to finally let go of my life. I came into the icy desert to get away from all the wars, still raging. The Canadian border changes every year, and I stopped trying to understand which country owns which land. 4 years ago, the nuclear crisis threatened the world again, but after the destruction of half Antarctica, a demonstration of power by the Emperor of the IOE, the remaining nations signed yet again a nuclear disarming protocol. I grow tired of all this. Science is stagnated, the only investigation is in weapons, each time more powerful more deadly... Maybe this will never change, maybe this what mankind really is : a war loving species...
I'm sorry son, I've been talking for too long... All I really wanted to say was that you deserve better. You deserved peace, and maybe you will never see it... Sorry for bringing you into this world, and remember : if there is something you can do to help it all end, do it. I will rest now...
I praise OROL, and so should you.
Ever since OROL overthrown the human government the crime rate went down 98%, the unemployment is at a historical minimum of 0.03% and there is almost absolute world peace for the very first time since civilization was first created.
With the possible exception of the rebels still trying to destroy the pacific World Gov. that OROL created, everyone is happy. Prisons are almost empty after years and years of overcrowding, nobody dies of lack of food, pollution levels are down...
What I'm trying to say is that the world is near perfection. Only the rebels stand between us and the beginning of a new age, a age of enlightenment, a age of peace, prosperity, harmony.
Then why do the rebels fight? Why do they oppose paradise? Studies show that the rebels are psychopaths, sociopaths and other kinds of mentally disturbed individuals, that should be captured and cured.
And if we all assist OROL, that can be done easily. Just be careful not to let yourself be infected by their speeches. They talk about hollow concepts, without meaning, like 'freedom', 'honor' and 'individuality'. Those are but words, void of all substance. Those are ancient ideals that brought mankind no good. This times need no freedom, no honor and surely we need no 'individuality'. 8,3 billion people in the world. Imagine if each person did not what is best for the world, as OROL dictates, but what they though to be better for them? And what is 'freedom'? Every men, woman and hermaphrodite is free, as long as he does his job, to do what he pleases, in his free time.
And then there's the talk about 'honor', a vague concept that means nothing at all. They say that the human race should govern it self, that it's dishonorable to be ruled by OROL, but how can it be dishonorable to be in peace, to be happy, to be without disease?
OROL has brought us everything we ever wanted, and under OROL we are happy as no other generation has been before us.
And this is why I praise Our Robotic Over Lords and so should you.
All praise OROL!
First published in the World Times of 14th of March of 2113, special edition commemorating the the 7th anniversary of OROL's victory.
Short Entry 15 - Mega Mecha Victory Shigeru - The Boy The Mind Choose
"I'm too young for this" - this was the only thing in my mind as I entered the control pod - "I'm too young to fight" - As the connections plugged into my skin - "I'm too young to die" - As the interface began to turn on.
In front of my eyes, the blackness became alive, with the service men running around left and right. Line after line of checkups started, exactly as when in practice.
Lower Left Engine ---- OK
Lower Right Engine -- OK
Upper Left Engine ---- OK
Upper Right Engine -- OK
Main Central Engine - OK
"All engines OK" - I said trough the intercom, and Dr. Yashima replied : "Good. What's the status on the interface?"
I moved my head left and right and so did it, showing me the confinement walls to my side. I then raised my left leg, and then the right, and so did it. The arms where next. Left arm, 2 inches up, 2 inches out : 2 meters up and 2 meters out, it moved.
Right arm, same thing.
"All fine, Dr. Yashima."
"Are you ready Shigeru?" - It was the General himself, ordering me to battle as easily as he would order one of his servants to fetch him some tea - "Go and make us proud of you."
I heard him ordering Dr. Yashima to send me out, and then felt the boost of the launcher. Seconds later I was outside, facing the giant beast inside my heavy armor. 87meters high, armed with a pulse rifle, a backup plasma gun and knifes in the gauntlet. The beast looked in my direction and I had my first good look at it : boar-like, with a thick shielding on his back, teeth big enough to shred a house in one go, and running in my direction.
"I'm only 14, I can't die here!" - my mind wandered trough the reasons I needed to survive while my trained body lifted the heavy riffle, pointed it - "I've never felt the touch of a woman breast!" - fired one round - "I never drank a beer!" - waited for the smoke to dissipate - "I never drove a car!" - saw the beast still there, one leg cut below the knee, bleeding heavily from the left eye - "Not even a motorbike!" - Changing clips - "I never kissed no one!" - Rearming the riffle - "I've never been in love!" - firing again, emptying the second, and last, clip. The beast fell, and in the radio I heard the screams of joy of the rest of the team - "Great job Shigeru!" - the general. And I remembered - "Yes, I have loved. I love her. I love Tomoe! And that is why I must survive, today and everyday!"
The next day at school I got next to her, grabbed her by the shoulder and kissed her. She slapped me and I got suspended for a full week, but it was worth it.
Short Entry 16 - The Alchemist
It was the twenty second day in a row. I got home and dropped in bed like a stone. The next day would be the same : work from sunrise to sunset. The Alchemist wouldn't tell us what was it that we were building, only that it must be ready "when the starts are right", whenever that might be.
The next day I got up, did all my morning duties, which mostly involved making sure the kids were up and out in the field with the cows and got out to work.
The great white walls of the castle stood before me, and I circled them till I reached the gates.
Abel was on duty and he let me in after the usual "how's your wife and my kids?". I got to the big barn a few minutes before the bells rang the morning, and I waited outside. Josue and Mark were there already, Mouse (his name has John, but since he was small and insisted in keeping that long ridiculous mustache, we called him mouse), Thomas and the rest arrived meanwhile. Antony was late again, we were already lined up and waiting for the distribution of work when he arrived. The Alchemist waited for him to get in line, and gave each of us our work for the day. I had to finish that huge metal cross I had began the day before. When everyone else had his work assigned, Antony was still there, standing. The Alchemist turned to the little man that followed him everywhere (we called him the Small Shadow) and said : "Pay this man 22 days of work, but don't forget to discount for the lateness and find me another one to do his job". He then turned his back on both of them and went back to his room and his papers. Antony cried and screamed to no effect. A guard came and took him away a little after. A young man, no more than 16, joined us halfway through the morning. He didn't speak to anyone, just sat in his corner, blowing glass into tubes, curved tubes, straight tubes, spiral tubes...
When the lunch bells rang, the Small Shadow entered the barn, followed by Mary, the cook, and a couple of servants with the food. Meat stew, good food, better that what I could provide my kids. Working for the Alchemist was hard but worth the effort. The new guy didn't talk with anyone. He ate alone, finished before anyone else and got back to work,
A few days later, 6 if I remember correctly, as soon as I got there I knew something was different. We were all there, in line, but the Small Shadow was nowhere to be seen. The Alchemist came, smiling, and said : "You have been doing a excellent work, and tomorrow it will be finished. Today we start assembling it. This are your works for the day."
I assembled some of the crosses into a giant cylinder, together with wood. The great furnaces Thomas and Josue had been doing went into the bottom of the object, and the Alchemist himself, together with the Small Shadow (that came into the barn mid-morning), constructed a small room, with size for one person only, that went into the top of the cylinder when it was finished.
The next day, we had the machine ready. A arrow pointing at the sky, with a small glass window on the top.
It's from that small window that I see the earth now, rushing in my direction. I'm about to die, but I have seen the starts next to me, the moon looked as if it was near enough to touch it... I can die happily knowing that I was closer to God than any men before me...
Short Entry 17 - Numb
"I hate my job" - It's the first thought that runs trough my mind, every single day when I wake up. For some 30 seconds that's all I can think off, how much I hate my job. Eventually I open my eyes and the sensors see that I am awake. I get the morning injection and I don't hate my job anymore. I don't hate the job, I don't hate my stupid coworkers, I don't hate my good for nothing boss, making me do stuff he can't even begin to understand and then presenting my hard work as his. I don't even hate the law and the government, I hate nothing. But not today. Today I dodged the syringe, and today I hate it all. I got up and hated waking so early. I got dressed and hated this ugly, uncomfortable Uniform of the People. I had my breakfast and hated the synth-milk and the synth-bread. I left and hated the inefficient, dirty, crowded public transportation system. I hated the big building, a gray block with ugly doors, not even a name, just a number 342-R, between 342-Q and 342-S. I hated myself for never having had the urge to check the other buildings. This was all I knew from this city : My house, the sub station next to it, the sub station at the middle of 342/343 street and the rec-center. I was on time, not one minute to spare, but not yet late, so I had to enter and go work. The elevator, which I hated, took me to my floor, and I sat between two coworkers I hated, waited for my terminal to recognize my finger prints, and spent all day doing what ever it was that I do. Filling up data sheets, from other data sheets. All day. One stop, for a lunch I hated (synth-beef and dehydrated-potatoes), and then, the lunch injection. This time I didn't dodge it. I didn't even hate it, I loved it. It gave me peace. It made my mind so numb I could no longer hate. Maybe that's the only way to live in this time and age : numbed.
Short Entry 18 - Priest
"We shall destroy worlds for thee!" - the priest shouted and the five hundred crusaders replied - "Oh Goddess Eternal".
"We shall crush thy enemy,"
"Oh Mother of All."
"We shall clean the universe,"
"For Thy return!" - Five hundred and one hands lowered five hundred sword and one spear. The priest turned his spear, pointing it to the body on the floor, grabbed it with both hands and in one movement, killed the prisoner. The crusaders cheered as the blood of their enemy slowly filled the runes carved in the floor, spelling the name of their Goddess : WAR.
Short Entry 19 - no more paper
At first, it was the kids. They could see all the series they wanted online, they didn't really care about politics, sports were no longer fashionable and the rest of the news were filled with tragedy. So they gave up on television. Soon the kids started to grow older, and the adults were now elderly people. The cinemas had been abandoned years before... With online movies, giant screens at home, with full surround, instant popcorn, and no one to speak on the phone, no 'dude with the extravagantly big afro' sitting in front of them, no tickets, no walking trough the pollution and thus, no need to wear that stupid suits, in truth, no need to get dressed at all... Why would they go to the cinemas if they could just watch it at home, for free?
Strange enough, theaters saw the audiences spiking up. Something that had not happen in centuries. People went to the theater to see what they couldn't see in the movies : real people doing real things.
The kids grew and still cared nothing about politics. After ages of changing sides, the government never really changed. No matter who was the Top Dog, what party had the more votes, it was always the same. So people gave up. Let the politics vote among themselves, let them elect themselves and care about it. In less than a century, a ruling elite existed, and the rest of the world couldn't care less about it.
Television died. The kids that had given up on it were now the older people that still didn't watch it. Television companies changed into online shows companies, direct to .mp6 films. The live shows were streamed directly in their web pages. The news sites merged with the news TV, anchor men and women were replaced by rss feeds and virtual bots.
It was actually a organic process, not a direct transmission. The number of people that lost their jobs was small, compared to the size of the industry that died...
Paper newspapers still existed. The New Times, a world wide newspaper, the largest of them, had something like two thousand exemplars printed and around 3 billion downloaded.
Books were still sold, but as ornaments. E-books saved the page you were reading, you could buy just the first 10 pages, or just the last 10, or just that one chapter someone had told you it was good. If you really liked the book, you could buy it and all it's sequels in a bundle and carry them in your pocket. Some books, like the urban fantasy classic (the Roman Central University of Human Studies had a 2 semester course about it and it's importance in defining a new world) Twilight, even came with the fanfic package : you could download the book, the sequels, the spin-offs and every single existing fan-fiction.
Short Entry 20 - Spare Parts
the robot was made of spare parts. The torso had been a washing machine, stripped of everything, a scooter engine stuck inside to power the small electric motors that made the junctions move, a metal bar connected to the claw of one of those "catch the prize" machines in the right arm, another metal bar connected to a electric chainsaw on the left one. It had no real legs. Bellow the washing machine there was a cylindrical tube, taken from a water dispenser, the little faucet still there. Instead of water, the 'legs' had fuel for the engine on top and the other engine that powered the Segway wheels.
The head was a laptop computer, the integrated webcam working as the eyes, the speakers as the mouth. One of the USB ports had a small USB hub from where one cable left to each of the servomotors. Bluetooth and wireless pens gave it the ability to receive communications from his central brain.
But the scariest part of it all? It wasn't the chainsaw. It wasn't that the robot towered at 2 and half meters meters. It wasn't the creepy claw, nor the scooter engine, always working, nor the smoke exiting from the exhaust pipes on it's back. No, the scariest part was the laptop screen and the "HELLO I'M A ROBOT" written in comic sans.
Short Entry 21 - M.A.L.D.A.D.E.
The Mutilated Alien Lurkers of the Doomed Ancient Dome of Evil entered the stage, the long black hairs covering the painted faces. The lead singer, Extremist Violent Immolated Lord, his torso covered in tattooed satanic symbols, a black iron gauntlet in his right hand, spiked bracelets covering the left one, grabbed the microphone and growled something unintelligible in ancient Sumerian. The guitarist, a girl wearing a full black Victorian dress, complete with corset, know as lady Murdering Altar of Disease Ness, started a fast rhythm, banging her head violently without missing one single note. The drummer, Putrefact Lord of All Gods Under Evil, wearing only shorts and spiked shoulder pads, accompanied her. E.V.I.L. growled more, a lyric about the day the Dark Ones would come and destroy the world of light.
The audience, a couple hundred men and women dressed in full black, t-shirts with MALDADE written in a Gothic lettering, jumped up, down and sideways. Knees hit heads, elbows hit chests, teeth flew among the huge masses of dancing hair.
By the end of the show, 4 people had been taken to the hospital, and many many more wore scars, bruises and bleeding noses.
In the dressing room, Rupert took the gauntlet and the bracelets, washed the paint of his face and kissed his wife Susan, while helping her to take off the corset. On the other room, Frank took off the shoulder pads and sat on his chair, drinking a cup of tea, Britney Spears playing on his laptop.
They met outside, half a hour later, Frank with a yellow t-shirt and jeans, Susan in a short blue skirt and a white tank-top, Rupert wearing his usual light blue, long sleeved shirt and the tweed pants. They drove off, Frank in a old-school yellow mini and the couple in their soccer-mom van.
Short Entry 22 - Ignored
The room was silent. People passed by, looked at each other but nobody spoke. Alone on his corner, the great green monster told tales of things that had been, things that were and things that might be.
He spoke to the air, and not even the air replied. Some people stopped, staring at him, silent, not acknowledging neither his presence nor his speech. When ever someone did this, the green monster would raise his voice, and speak with more emotion, but no feedback ever came. It was almost as if nobody could see or hear him.
After a while he started to insert sexual overtones on his tales, to see if people noticed. Then he discussed politics and created characters of extremist types, tales of violent behaviors, amoral beings from outer space that destroyed the earth and killed the poor, pitiful, weak humans.
Nothing seemed to work. He was still alone in his corner talking to himself. More people were coming, and talking among themselves and ignoring him.
He began talking about the day a giant green monster was talking in a room and nobody noticed him, so he got angry and started eating the people in the room. And as he talked about it, his tentacles started dragging people and he'd interrupt his sentences to munch on those who had ignored him.
When he had eaten everyone, he sat on the ground, a smile on his face, pieces of human meat on his tentacles. He was happy now that there was nobody else to ignore him.
Short Entry 23 - War and more War
70 years ago this was exactly like it is. Nobody here, nothing here. A big, lifeless ocean of ice. 200 square miles of white, cold ice. One of the few places on earth unchanged. I used to come here, walk 10 miles into it and stare at the stars. 15 miles away, the city. Yet if I turned my teenager back at it, I could believe I was in an alien world, where there was no wars.
The day I turned 16, the Great Emir Ahmed Nasir Buthrupalli won the elections in India.
In China, the communist regime had fallen years ago to the hands of the extreme nationalist Great Chinese Liberation Army and his General, Mei Wan Lo, the first female ruler of the, now called, Free Land of China. Free in name only, since it had merely swapped the tone of the speech.
Russia was little more than Moscow, since the Siberian Democratic Republic had fought the Great European War, with the help of the Kingdom of Allah, former Afghan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Pakistan,Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and some ten other smaller nations, winning it's independence at the promise of doing nothing to prevent the future invasion of the Kingdom of Allah.
France, Germany and Italy had joined forces with Russia, only to fall too. France from the inside, turning into the First Colony of the Kingdom of Allah. Germany had been invaded from two sides, and fell, becoming the Second Colony. Italy had lost Sicily to Greece, and the north to the First Colony.
England had lost Ireland and Scotland, but it still had Wales, and was trying to stay away from all the wars. The Great Emit however, had promised that England would fall under the rule of India.
When the wars began, on my fathers marriage day, Spain tried the invasion of Portugal, but 5 years after the guerrilla wars began, the Spanish army retreated to fight on the other side, against the First Colony.
In Africa, the central countries united to become the African Muslim Union, two years before I was born, and began invading the surrounding countries. Portugal went to the help of it's former colonies, as did the Netherlands.
At the days of the coronation of the Great Emir, when he became Emperor of the Indian Oceanic Empire, Africa was divided between the Great Fifth Empire of Portugal, the Trading Nation of Netherlands, the AMU and the I.O.E. .
I was 20 at the time, and I was one of those that celebrated the election of the Last President of The United States.
When the wars began in Europe and Asia, the US were struggling with Mexico and the South American Coalition of Communist Republics, formed by almost every country of South America : Mexico and Uruguay, although allies on the war against the northern continent, did not joint the SACCR.
Canada was one of the very few countries still at peace, and it was there I was born and raised. I left it for the US at age 17, to work in Pierre, South Dakota. When Mexico got to Nebraska I returned here, to my mother's house. I was here when the US fell into the hands of the SACCR, losing the S, when Switzerland became the World Bank Country, the first sovereign enterprise country, when the Fifth Portuguese Empire conquered the Trading Nations of the Netherlands, and when, 10 years later, the AMU fell at their hands too. I was still here, when, in the year my youngest son turned 10, the Free Nation of China conquered the remains of Russia, Japan and Oceania, in one single month. Millions of soldiers marching out, and stopping at nothing.
And now, I'm still here, ready to finally let go of my life. I came into the icy desert to get away from all the wars, still raging. The Canadian border changes every year, and I stopped trying to understand which country owns which land. 4 years ago, the nuclear crisis threatened the world again, but after the destruction of half Antarctica, a demonstration of power by the Emperor of the IOE, the remaining nations signed yet again a nuclear disarming protocol. I grow tired of all this. Science is stagnated, the only investigation is in weapons, each time more powerful more deadly... Maybe this will never change, maybe this what mankind really is : a war loving species...
I'm sorry son, I've been talking for too long... All I really wanted to say was that you deserve better. You deserved peace, and maybe you will never see it... Sorry for bringing you into this world, and remember : if there is something you can do to help it all end, do it. I will rest now...
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