A thunderstorm, rising quick sand, the secret service and a president falls on his sword! Part Four
A President Falls on His Sword
-------------------------------------
I am watching a press conference on television. It is the President. Of what I wonder? I think the world. Times have changed obviously. Thu is with me. I told her the truth, even though I should not have. Secrets such as this are hard to keep. I hope she can keep it better than I have.
The damn reception is bad as well! Can you believe it?! This future sucks.
Ok back to the President. He is announcing that he has a terminal illness. The collective gasp is clearly audible. He is standing down effective immediately. His speech continues and he wastes no time in raising our spirits, we need to continue on without him, the heavens await us! The speech ends with universal applause. He has received many in his illustrious career, but none to rival his last. Mr President steps down from the podium, the camera is panning away, but I catch a glimpse of his eyes as he turns away.
I suddenly realise that the events portrayed on the television were in the past. I know this because I was there the day the President was executed. Well some might argue it wasn't an execution. They would have a point as well.
The President was placed in a metal apparatus of sorts. Only his head was showing once it closed around him. There were others in the room with me at the time (not Thu of course, government official types), but they were irrelevant. He did not look at me once as the final piece of the machinery descended upon him. He stared straight ahead with little expression at all. I think his mind was far away, as mine would have been in his predicament.
His head was finally encased in metal as well. A metal box. A mini version of the one that incased his body, although this one had more tubes and wires. At that point the machines started whirrrrring (is that a word?), beeping and hissing. Then it was over and the President was no more. Remember Han Solo? Same deal I guess, but totally different.
I came out of my reminiscing at this point. I am back with Thu and we are at a desk (for those that care the desk is in a former family home of mine, in Birrong). On the desk in front of us is a metal box. Funnily enough it has tubes and wires sticking out of it.
Unhappily I begin to open the box. It doesn't so much open, as get dismantled. Bit by bit. Again think Star Wars. Return of the Jedi to be precise. The second death star is in its death throes. The Emperor is dead and Luke is alone with his father, who wants to see Luke with his own eyes before the end.
The moment of truth is here. I lift the final piece off the puzzle and see what I already knew would be there. It is a crescent shaped strip of silicon material, in the shape of a man's mouth, part of his nose and one of his ears. I could have lifted it up and placed it over my own mouth like some kind of macabre mask. I didn't of course. That would be insane and disrespectful. I was glad Thu was here, but wished that she wasn't. It wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.
"Who is it?" the mouth asked.
I was about to reply when it began talking to itself. The brilliant man it once belonged to was now no more. Of that I was sure. To imagine life as a strip of silicon/skin is so mind warpingly horrific that even now I can't bend my thoughts enough to capture the concept. What must it be like? What can you sense? Where do you go, what thoughts would you have? What are you exactly?
Scientists and theologians have discussed the realities of this punishment. There are many disagreements, but I believe there is one consensus. It is a fate far worse than death. We have found a way to trap souls.
This was the first time that this method of 'execution' has been carried out. Only humankind could conceive of a situation where its recipient was the brightest amongst all our souls. Notice I say brightest. What was his crime you may ask? The details I do not know. But I do know that were this information revealed to you, half would immediately agree with the sentence. The other half would weep.
My thoughts wandered to the group of mysterious women who set me on this path. They sent me forth to prevent a calamity. To save humankind.
What have I done?
The End
-------------------------------------
I am watching a press conference on television. It is the President. Of what I wonder? I think the world. Times have changed obviously. Thu is with me. I told her the truth, even though I should not have. Secrets such as this are hard to keep. I hope she can keep it better than I have.
The damn reception is bad as well! Can you believe it?! This future sucks.
Ok back to the President. He is announcing that he has a terminal illness. The collective gasp is clearly audible. He is standing down effective immediately. His speech continues and he wastes no time in raising our spirits, we need to continue on without him, the heavens await us! The speech ends with universal applause. He has received many in his illustrious career, but none to rival his last. Mr President steps down from the podium, the camera is panning away, but I catch a glimpse of his eyes as he turns away.
I suddenly realise that the events portrayed on the television were in the past. I know this because I was there the day the President was executed. Well some might argue it wasn't an execution. They would have a point as well.
The President was placed in a metal apparatus of sorts. Only his head was showing once it closed around him. There were others in the room with me at the time (not Thu of course, government official types), but they were irrelevant. He did not look at me once as the final piece of the machinery descended upon him. He stared straight ahead with little expression at all. I think his mind was far away, as mine would have been in his predicament.
His head was finally encased in metal as well. A metal box. A mini version of the one that incased his body, although this one had more tubes and wires. At that point the machines started whirrrrring (is that a word?), beeping and hissing. Then it was over and the President was no more. Remember Han Solo? Same deal I guess, but totally different.
I came out of my reminiscing at this point. I am back with Thu and we are at a desk (for those that care the desk is in a former family home of mine, in Birrong). On the desk in front of us is a metal box. Funnily enough it has tubes and wires sticking out of it.
Unhappily I begin to open the box. It doesn't so much open, as get dismantled. Bit by bit. Again think Star Wars. Return of the Jedi to be precise. The second death star is in its death throes. The Emperor is dead and Luke is alone with his father, who wants to see Luke with his own eyes before the end.
The moment of truth is here. I lift the final piece off the puzzle and see what I already knew would be there. It is a crescent shaped strip of silicon material, in the shape of a man's mouth, part of his nose and one of his ears. I could have lifted it up and placed it over my own mouth like some kind of macabre mask. I didn't of course. That would be insane and disrespectful. I was glad Thu was here, but wished that she wasn't. It wasn't exactly a pleasant sight.
"Who is it?" the mouth asked.
I was about to reply when it began talking to itself. The brilliant man it once belonged to was now no more. Of that I was sure. To imagine life as a strip of silicon/skin is so mind warpingly horrific that even now I can't bend my thoughts enough to capture the concept. What must it be like? What can you sense? Where do you go, what thoughts would you have? What are you exactly?
Scientists and theologians have discussed the realities of this punishment. There are many disagreements, but I believe there is one consensus. It is a fate far worse than death. We have found a way to trap souls.
This was the first time that this method of 'execution' has been carried out. Only humankind could conceive of a situation where its recipient was the brightest amongst all our souls. Notice I say brightest. What was his crime you may ask? The details I do not know. But I do know that were this information revealed to you, half would immediately agree with the sentence. The other half would weep.
My thoughts wandered to the group of mysterious women who set me on this path. They sent me forth to prevent a calamity. To save humankind.
What have I done?
The End
posted by lucky at 2:35 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home