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Short Stories Science Fiction What Is It?
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What Is It? |
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| Written by David Neve | |
| Friday, 11 April 2008 | |
Life in year 2900 is much different from that in the early years of man. Gone are the wars, world hunger, and population problems. So many things had changed that beyond the basic human form - there almost seems to be no association between man of the past and man in its present form.
The Central World Government had contrived to remove war from the planet in the early 2000's and succeeded. The want for war was treated as a disease, and as such, something that needed to be treated. A method was devised whereby, without the knowledge of the general population, chemical agents could be introduced in mass through the food sources that would suppress the want to make war.
Unfortunately, those in control lacked passion, and lacking passion themselves, did not recognize the danger to the human race they were about to unleash. The want for war, although not always a good thing, is a thing of passion, as are most treasured human traits. With war, went joy, went sorrow, went compassion, went caring.
Years after the introduction of the treated food, it became evident to all but the humans in the race, that the human race had lost its drive, its passion for life, along with its love of searching for and exploring new challenges; experiencing. Reproduction had fallen to nothing and the continued existence of the race could now be attributed to science. Machines now controlled the numbers of the human populace. Mentors simply requested a student and if the numbers could support it, a post puberty human of the chosen gender would arrive.
There were humans that were not in the race, small pockets of humanity that resisted the CWG. In the beginning many of the groups resisted openly, indeed many such groups were quietly and violently exterminated by the very government that claimed to seek world peace. The CWG's reach, technologies, and resources were too great to withstand and in a very short time the resistance groups were forced underground.
Many hundreds of years passed with the resistance groups always in the shadows. They waited and they watched, knowing that at some point the CWG would weaken. At some point they knew that the CWG would drop its guard - and they would strike...
***
Renaid sat and looked at his life partner sitting on the porch. She has been spending more and more time on the porch lately, thumbing through the distro-cards shopping for something new, something interesting to bring into their lives. Something was wrong with her, he knew, he could feel it. He walked out to the porch and sat with her.
Sharley didn't even notice his arrival. That was nothing new, really, the man walked like a cat. Sometimes he moved so quietly he just seemed to appear at her side. She sat and thumbed through the latest auction offers, looking for what - she didn't know. She just knew there was something missing from their lives, something vital.
Renaid leaned into Sharley lightly bumping her shoulder, "Hey, what's up?"
Sharley shrugged her shoulders, not even looking up from the small cards, "I don't know, I can't explain it. Remember when my mentor died? How I felt unhappy? I feel that now, and I don't know why?"
"Have you done a med-scan?"
"No, but I don't think it will do any good. This doesn't feel physical, something inside" she paused and motioned to her heart, "just doesn't feel right."
Renaid didn't know how he was supposed to respond to this, none of the humanity courses he had taken prior to perso-matching his partner had prepared him for this. Troubled, he sat quietly and watched his partner thumb through page after page of offerings.
The afternoon passed quietly by as Renaid sat and offered what he knew of companionship. He sat beside Sharley, making himself available to her, but the birds in the trees took his attention away as they fussed with one another. He watched the adult birds as they took turns leaving then returning with food for the newly hatched birds in the nest.
He didn't really know how long he had been sitting there before he noticed that he could no longer hear the slight beep that resulted when Sharley opened a new auction page. He looked over at her, and found her intently reading a product description, "Find something interesting?"
When Sharley answered she sounded different. "Listen to this: This item is guaranteed to bring joy and happiness into your life. Not the typical stunted emotions you have been fed all your life; you will find that this item will bring back the feeling of "Old Earth" - true happiness and true joy. This is a limited supply item, with less than 200 in stock."
Renaid could hear a difference in her voice, something in her tone, but he couldn't place it; uplifted perhaps? "What is it?"
"I don't know, there's no picture, no dimensions - nothing..."
"How much?"
"Fifty seven thousand."
Renaid would have been shocked if he knew how to be, but puzzled was the best any civilized human could do, "That is a lot of money for something so vague. Is it real?"
"It has to be, you know as well as I do that fraud is impossible at these auctions. Look," she turned the card in his direction, "only 45 left. The first 150 went in less than 20 minutes. I'm going to buy one."
"Don't you think we should take some time to con..." It was too late. Sharley had already made the purchase. Once again Renaid was left puzzled, where perhaps in the distant past he might have been angered. All that could be done now was wait.
***
The assembly hall was crowded and Fasher was pleased. When he originally presented his plan to the Committee he was met with everything from attacks at his sanity to anger. Two years later, he now finds himself at the beginning of realizing his dream, but the price will be high. This week he will launch what he has always believed would be the final assault against the Central World Government.
Within the next year his dreams and the dreams of his peers around the world will be realized. After hundreds of years, the World Central Government will fall. Better still, it will implode. He surveyed the people gathered in the hall and felt a combination of pride and elation overshadowed by the greatest sorrow he had ever known. He turned to his assistant and signaled that he was ready to speak.
The silence that followed was so immediate, so intense, and so thick in the air as everyone waited with anticipation and fear - that when all heads finally turned to him, for a moment he forgot what he was going to say. Many in this room were making great personal sacrifices to see this end. Many were going to be risking their lives to his plan. His words came soft and slow like a flower awakening to the sun's touch.
"Greetings citizens, I thank you all for attending. I know," he faltered as tears started to form as he spoke, his voice threatening to leave him, "how hard this is, and I will not keep you long. I'm sure you are all aware, but I wanted to make an official announcement before the rumors and gossip gets out of hand. I called you all together to let you know that this week we solidified the plans for the next assault, and have set a final date."
He paused for a moment to let his words sink in on the silent group. "In two weeks we shall begin Operation Infusion. All of the invasion details have been worked out, and I have been assured that all of the logistics are in place. Our researchers have assessed the CWG population and have carefully located our targets - a combination of the most powerful and the least powerful. I know that many of you need time to say your goodbyes, and I will keep you here no longer, as I have goodbyes of my own that I must attend. I just want to say thank you to each and everyone here, I know the sacrifice is great." With that Fasher turned and left the room.
***
When the room announced that there was somebody approaching the front door, although Sharley didn't know it - she was giddy with excitement. She thought she was just feeling uncomfortable. As she opened the door she called Renaid into the front room.
Renaid entered the room just as the deliveryman was leaving. He joined Sharley as she stood next to the table staring at the mystery box that they had spent fifty seven thousand to acquire. In his mind Renaid was doing the math. Three feet by two foot by two foot, that would be twelve square feet divided by...
Sharley grabbed his arm in what he thought was a uncharacteristic fashion, and her voice seemed to be on the edge of irrationally, "Let's open it!"
Still examining the box, Renaid saw no seams, nor any apparent point to open the box. As he reached out to touch the box, holograms appeared around the box warning that the contents were extremely fragile. He walked around the box looking for a point of entry and found none.
Renaid looked to Sharley, "I don't see a way to open the box without damaging it and possibly it's contents."
"Let me look." Sharley reached out to touch the box and when her hand came within inches they heard a sharp click. Both of them froze where they stood as the box started to dissolve from the top down.
Sharley was already in tears as Renaid slid over to her side and slowly slipped his arm around her waist. Both stood in silence and stared in awe at the spot on the table where the box had been.
Renaid turned to Sharley and with his free hand wiped the tears from her face. Such a beautiful face, he thought. She buried her head in his chest; unable to stop the torrent of tears she had not been able to release all of her life. He held her tight as she shivered against his body, joining her as the tears flowed from his eyes unbidden.
Sharley pulled her head back far enough to look at the table again, "Renaid, I think I feel better now." She slowly backed out of Renaid's arms and affectionately touched his cheek, then reached down and lifted the child from the small travel seat and held it to her breast, "I feel much better now."
Comments (6) |
 04-11-2008 09:07, In the words of the great Lori Branson and her business motto... "Life without Passion isn't worth Living" The thing that she got in the mail? I guess emotions.... » Reply to this comment...  04-11-2008 11:18, Shoot, gotta read this again.I thought it was a child she got ,as reproduction had fallen to nothing.Great diversity, just read one of your other stories before this.So different.Anway great read. » Reply to this comment...  04-13-2008 16:06, What type of story (isn't) in your bag. Good read, I was interested through out. » Reply to this comment... 04-17-2008 23:33, good stuff, keep it up. » Reply to this comment...  04-20-2008 07:25, Liked the general idea, but I'm not completely sure I got it all... Is Fasher the one that sent the 57 000$ worth item? Why? And yeah... I'm a bit confused... 0_o » Reply to this comment...  04-20-2008 20:43, the rebels-not were emotionally neutralized. the rebels evaded that, and were emotionally intact. so, in order for the rebels (Fasher) to win, they needed to deliver an emotional knockout punch - a baby... so - the rebels gave up their children (all conveniently conceived in the same week) to bring humanity back to the human side... under the guise of a cure-all available for a price. write on! » Reply to this comment... |
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