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This may be a fictional tale, but it is also one that could become a reality? |
PREFACE Ok, some people have said, “If you write something and people read it you are then an author.” Fine, but in my opinion it is only when you have created something that people read and enjoy what they have read, that you can justify using the title of Author. So here is my latest attempt, something out of the norm, something a little different, something that might hopefully take you on the same journey that I took creating it. So after much deliberation and God knows how many rewrites, I have decided to re-post my story FREEDOM OF CHOICE. It is in fact a Sci-fi/Fantasy story and is set in the not to distant future. It is of course a fictional tale but one that could easily become a reality. Each world that might be out there has many possibilities for their future; this is one possibility, one situation that anyone including you could find themselves in. Could you in this position handle it, I wonder? With this story I have attempted to do something different, something that I felt needed to be done. Whether or not it has previously been attempted I do not know, but I felt that it was time for a change, time to explore, so I myself made a choice, to bring this story to you and hopefully you will experience as much pleasure reading that I derived from creating it. Ps, if you like what you are about to read, you can find the rest of the story in my portfolio, have fun, and thanks for taking the time. Yours STORYMAN1 INTRODUCTION (“Hello, someone once said that, ‘There is one good story inside everyone,’ well I have a story for you. More to the point, it is actually two stories, ah, I can see that you are beginning to get confused, good. Perhaps I should rephrase that, it is in fact two versions of the same story, or a story that takes two paths in different but intertwining directions. In all honesty I do not know the proper definition for this type of story. If you decide to read this story, Sorry, let me rephrase that, if you can read this story, (it would be very easy to lose your way,) but you are not going to let that stop you are you?”) (“Oh, please forgive me, I have neglected to introduce myself, my name is Christie, and yes I am in the story. I will also be performing a narrative role, from time to time. We would not want you to get lost on this venture. Who am I? Well not so much who, as what; it’s a long story, what I am now and what I used to be will all be revealed in the telling of this story, so get comfortable and lets take this trip together. I am Christie and this is my story.”) (PS, “I thought that I should also mention that we dispensed of Christian names a long time ago, we now only use second names, don’t knock it, it works for us.”) CHAPTER ONE (part one) THE SOLUTION “Well, where to begin, the best place I assume, would be at the beginning, but, at this particular moment in time things are developing, things that are relevant to this story. Things, that are to good to wait their turn in the scope of things; Who am I, the question you should be asking is not who, rather than what; I am not flesh and bone you see, although I once was. Now, well, I am what you could call, a life force, for lack of a better description that is. How did I come to be like this, easy, I made a decision. Before I made my decision, when I was still human that is, I was a Scotsman, born and bred. I lived, if you could call it that, in the kingdom of Fife. But I was unhappy with my lot, so I decided to travel, however I never dreamt that my travels would put me into the position that I now find myself in.” “ As I look down on Mother Earth she looks beautiful, sadly I have to say that she did not always look this good. Perhaps that is because she was populated at the time that I am referring to. Now however the surface is a hive of activity, robots of all shapes and sizes are busy erecting structures, cleaning, making her look nice. Why? they have no idea why, they are simply carrying out their instructions. What about the human race, there are none, or at least none of flesh and bone that is. I can tell that you are confused, well all will be revealed soon, in fact sooner that you think. I can hear the sound of raised voices coming from above, it sounds like the debate has resumed, if you wish to join me as I return to the meeting, feel free, just follow me, if you can that is.” In the clouds above are Three hundred and Fifty small spheres, they are about fifty centimetres in diameter, each one contains what can only be described as a small cloud. A voice came from the blue one, “Look, the reason we are in this predicament is because of you and your stupid bloody solution.” “Ah, I see,” replied the green sphere. “I seem to have difficulty recalling, your solution, was, what?” The blue sphere remained silent. “Now as I was saying, I did not volunteer for the task, I was ordered, ordered to produce a solution for the predicament that we were faced with at that time, as there were no other suitable alternatives.” “Huh,” Retorted the blue sphere. “Shut up Smith! All this bickering is not helping, let Simpson continue.” The red sphere said in a raised voice. “Now where was I, oh yes, when we were faced with annihilation I was forced to come up with a solution, relocating was out of the question as there were no suitable alternatives to Earth, at that time. Natural resources were quickly being depleted; so, we were forced to come up with something that was both safe and durable, what? Yes, I see him, where have you been?” “I descended to see how things were progressing.” “Well, as our leader your presence is required at all our meetings.” “Well I am here now, so you may continue.” “Thank you Christie, we were just getting to the important part.” “You mean you were, since you are the only one talking,” Said Smith. “Feel free to insert your input at any time.” Smith remained silent, he was not prepared to jump right in, he would wait, his time would come. (“Who could have foreseen that this would happen? there was no way of knowing, back then it was deemed impossible, so now, we found ourselves faced with another predicament, and another choice.” “Back then, I remember it well, the beginning, the beginning of the end. Everyone that mattered was too busy watching for nuclear attacks, meteorites, tsunamis, and every other form of natural disaster that could occur to threaten our planet. But the one thing that was to bring about our demise went unnoticed, until the last minute that is. Earth’s atmosphere, the singularly most important attribute that we need to exist,------ air.” The year was 2025 and Earth’s air supply was depleting rapidly, no one had noticed, no one had been looking, we never expected it, air, you more or less took it for granted. By the year 2020 the ozone layer which had been deteriorating was virtually gone. That was when it had begun, Earth’s precious air supply was slowly being sucked into space, that coupled with the radiation seeping in meant that Earth, or rather its population were facing imminent annihilation. At the end of the day it would not be caused by war, or natural disaster. What was to bring about our demise would be much less complicated than that, put simply, it was to be caused by two things-------greed, and a total disregard for our own environment. As usual, by the time the mistakes had been realised it was already too late.”) (“For centuries man had raped and pillaged mother earth, all of her natural resources were all but gone, man continued to build. We had no consideration for the plants that produced our life giving air and now we were going to pay for our contempt. Plans were drawn up, every attempt was explored, all minds were put to the task. Solutions were put forward then discarded. When we were informed that we had less than a year’s supply, the situation went from desperate to near panic. That was when they called upon professor Donald Simpson, the man that at that time; was considered to be the most intelligent person on the planet, albeit somewhat eccentric.”) (“The meeting was short and sweet, the board facing Simpson consisted of the President, Vice President, Secretary of defence, and the Secretary of State, also present was a Cardinal, representing the Vatican. The President was the spokesperson and so he began.”) . “We are charging you with presenting us with a solution, you have one month, one month from now you will return with your proposal.” “And if I cannot?” The president did not reply, the look on his face said it all. Simpson left the meeting deep in thought, he knew the importance of his charge, he also knew what would happen if he failed, put simply, he would not have to worry about suffocating to death; Simultaneously, whilst this meeting was being held, there were similar meetings being held in every country in the world, but as usual the Americans wanted to be first. Such was the way, even when faced with annihilation, their vanity knew no bounds. All of the governments however, had been (secretly,) since finding out about the situation, working feverishly on Their own (secret) solutions. The Americans had at this time several large air producing devices under construction, however, producing enough oxygen to sustain the human race was a tall order indeed, billions of people inhaling a cubic foot of air every few seconds was a hell of a lot of air. You would need millions of such devices, or maybe not, depending on who would be breathing the air that they produced, if you get my drift, such was the mentality of those in power. Meanwhile Simpson was in his lab, he had been for some time working on something, something that had no direction, until now that is. His experiment could however, be adapted to fit the present dilemma. A few adjustments here and there and it would probably work. That would be the easy part, selling it to the human race however, would be another thing. His experiments had been dealing with the concept of separating the human life force from the body. If he could adapt this then, well, if you did not have a body you would have no need for air. Suddenly he could hear screams from outside, so, it had begun, people were beginning to panic and in their panic came madness. Time was rapidly running out, he would have to work faster, he would have a solution, whether or not it was acceptable would be up to them. But given the present situation any alternative would be acceptable to death, would it not? He surely hoped so, in truth there is no good way to die, but, I would have to say that suffocation, would have to be one of the worst. He knew that he was going to have to present his solution, but how? He knew full well that he would have to present it in such a way that it would be acceptable. His train of thought was interrupted by his wife entering the lab with a tray which held a cup of coffee and some cookies. She immediately saw the look on his face, a look that she knew only too well. “Tell me that you are not thinking what I think you are thinking.” “How else can I convince them dear? Unless they see it with their own eyes they are going to say I am mad.” “Surely there must be another way.” “No, I have to show them, but I cannot ask anyone else to attempt it, it has to be me, don’t you see.” “Very well but I want you to do me as well.” “I can’t risk that, what if something were to go wrong, if I fail someone has to be here carry on, to not make the mistakes that I might.” Although she did not like the idea she had to agree with his logic, after all there were other concerns involved, like the fate of mankind. (“How it actually worked out was not the way that most people would have thought, after all when the alternative is death, people will pick any solution, no matter how bizarre it might be: Me, yes, my name is Christie, I am the designated leader, not that I chose to be, more rather I was chosen. What outstanding attributes do I have? None, how then was I chosen? I guess you could say that I was in the right place at the right time, or the wrong place. Anyway, back to the story, one month has now passed and Simpson is preparing his presentation.”) “Well dear, you did it, I knew that you would,--------what is it like?” “Not what I expected, but at the same time good, it almost feels, dare I say it, Godlike.” “Well they cannot say that it will not work, not when they see you.” On the morning of the meeting, for the board and the press that were in attendance anticipation had been building. Thanks to the many ears that were listening, they had heard through the grapevine that Simpson had indeed come up with a solution. Only problem was they had no idea what it actually was. When Mrs Simpson entered the room accompanied by a mysterious floating cloth the room fell silent, after a few seconds the President spoke. “Mrs Simpson, a pleasure as always, we were however, expecting to see your husband, he is aware that his presence is required is he not?” All eyes and lenses turned to Mrs Simpson. “I am aware Mr President,” Said Simpson’s voice. Half of the panel including the President stood up. “What is this? Are you hiding? Show yourself man.” “Would you mind doing the honours my dear?” Mrs Simpson reached over and removed the cloth. Cameras were flashing recorders were recording, the board were now sitting down with their jaws dropped. The cloth had been removed to reveal a small transparent sphere, it was about fifty centimetres in diameter and inside it was what looked like a small cloud. “Simpson, is that you?” The President asked, once he had regained his composure. “In the flesh, or not, as the case may be.” Mrs Simpson smiled, her husband could never resist a quip when the opportunity arose. The President stood up, one could detect the anger in his voice as he spoke. “Are you serious? This is your solution, are you mad? Whatever possessed you to come up with this?” “Simple logic, if you have no lungs, you then have no need for air.” There were many questions about his condition and how he had arrived at it, all of the board members however, were to afraid to ask. “You do not seriously expect us to end up like you.” “Well when you think about the alternative this is not really that bad, to all intents and purposes I am aware, therefore I exist, I am alive and will remain so for eternity if need be.” Every one on the planet simultaneously knew at that instant that they were going to be faced with a choice, expire or exist as a ball of smoke. “So exactly what are you?” “I successfully removed my life force from my body and placed it in here.” “Life force, or do you mean soul?” asked the Cardinal that made up the holy representation of the panel. Just then two men burst into the room, they made their way towards the President, one of them whispered in his ear. The President slumped down, his face turned a dull shade of grey. Without getting up he said with a wavering voice, “It has begun; we have received reports of mass suicide.” “Where,” asked Simpson. “Everywhere, people are killing themselves in their thousands”. It would appear that some had already made their choice. Seeing an alternative that was too alien to them, they apparently preferred death. “I think it would be better if we postpone this meeting, we need to address this present situation, we cannot allow this to go on, the people need to be informed of the full facts of the situation.” “Before we do, I would like my question answered,” Said the Cardinal. “We need to know, is Simpson alive or is he in fact dead?” “When you put it like that, I would have to say that I cannot be sure, I mean that, as far as I know I am still alive, I feel that I am still alive.” “As do all people that have passed,” Said the Cardinal. Time was of the essence, the President knew that he would have to address the nation. “People of the world, we now find ourselves in a dire situation, we are faced with a choice, a choice between life and death, granted the solution is not one that we would have hoped for, but, never the less, it gives us the opportunity, an opportunity to continue to exist; to continue to strive for an alternative, so I ask you, --------no I beg you, do not throw away your life needlessly, we must continue, --------continue to exist as you have seen, we can, and we will continue to survive, we will overcome as man has always, and we will do it together, we will not stop until we can once again flourish.” Although the Presidents speech was heartfelt, it did little to inspire the population, people were now dying in their millions. However, not everyone was horrified by the concept of existing as Simpson had revealed: Life was life, in whatever form, but the question that had not been answered was, was it life? Simpson appeared to think so, but how could one tell? However the opportunity had been given to continue and most people were willing to accept that, irrespective of the concept. The meeting was hurriedly reconvened, they had to move fast before the population, or what was left of it changed their minds. This time however, it was a closed meeting, no press, no public, it was felt that the details of Simpsons solution and how he accomplished it might be to distressing. Once the board had been seated Simpson and his wife entered. This time there were questions to be asked, questions that no one wanted to ask. Simpson could sense that the members of the board were hesitant in this respect so he did not wait to be asked. He was proud of his accomplishment and he wanted to share it, irrespective of whether or not anyone wanted to hear it. “I first began my experiment over two years ago, initially my intention was to transfer the human life force from one’s body into an artificial body, this was to be used in extreme cases where a persons body was to severely damaged to sustain life.” The first question was the obvious one. “Can the process be reversed?” “Unfortunately no, every attempt so far has failed, for some inexplicable reason the body rejects the life force.” “So your present condition is irreversible?” “For the moment I am still working on it.” “Are you a religious man Mr Simpson?” asked the Cardinal. “Unfortunately no,” replied Simpson, “They only faith that I possess, is in science.” That last statement annoyed the Cardinal, and in that instance he took an instant dislike to Simpson. The Cardinal was a man of unfaltering faith, he believed that in their present dilemma the Lord would prevail. “What you are telling us is, that once the life force has been removed the body is in fact dead and therefore rejects the life force,” Added the Cardinal. “Well I personally would not put it that way, but yes.” “Then if your body is dead, you are to all intents and purposes, a spirit, if this is true then you are not existing, you are not human, you are in truth an entity.” “All I do know is that irrespective of my condition, I am here, I am continuing, it may not be the ideal situation for everyone but I am here, I am aware, therefore I exist, I shall continue to exist, I shall continue to work until I can reverse my present condition.” “Reverse it into what,” Asked the Cardinal. (“Perhaps this would be the appropriate time to inform you that, the Cardinals name unless you have not already guessed was--------Smith.”) |