As Leif walked the underground corridors of the university, the lights seemed to flicker, and some turned on when no one was standing near them.
He had all the documentation he needed to unmask the horror of the triplets. All this cruelty, this immoral experimentation would be known by the government and the people. Warwick would go down with his University, and he would be able to look at his children without guilt.
The tubes in the walls made him uncomfortable. He knew that this floor was partly incharge of temperature control of all the complex, but he knew secret rooms here. He just had stolen important information from one. He wondered if there were many more. If there were people at this time of night.
The lights turning on randomly added to his anxiety; he thought that someone would see him and ask him about his business. He had an excuse planned, but it was only useful to be left alone for the moment. After that he was going to be a fugitive, until he could show the world the dark secret of the University. He feared he could be murdered by Warwicks associates. He would have to lay low and-
The lights went out. There was only the humming of electricity. Leif's eyes tried to get used to the darkness, but he was seven floors under ground level. A minute or so later the lights around him turned on only to be off again. The lights that were five meters away turned on then, and quickly went off. Then the lights ten meters away, and so on. It got to the endo dof the corridor and continued where the corridor bifurcated to the left. This happened in a matter of seconds and was repeated, giving the impression of movement, of light moving away from him.
"They discovered me, I am dead" he thought. He tried to look to the other side of the corridor but the light let him only see the part that was being illuminated. He hesitated for a minute, and started walking. "I have an excuse" he thought, but he wasn't totally convinced. The patches of light that he passed weren't lit again.
Leif remembered going to the countryside with his father when he was young, sometimes a rabbit would be in front of their vehicle and tried to run away, but they were unable to see what was outside the light, so they kept running...
His heart leapt when, after turning to the left, where the trail of light ended, he thought he saw a person. But when the light illuminated that spot again, there was no one there. Sweating, he kept walking. He wished he had his gun here, but the University had metal detectors, and all weapons were forbidden in the complex.
He got to the end of the trail, and it turned off. After a couple of moments he yelled "Hello? I only was here to-
Soundlessly, a light stronger and whiter than the ones that had been guiding him flashed from where a wall was only a minute ago.
"Don't" said Warwick's voice. The light subsided, and leif saw him inside a small unpainted concrete room, sitting in a metallic chair, the potent light just above him. "Don't insult either of us with your excuses. I know what you are doing here, I know what you have in your hands, and how you plan to expose us. I just want to know why"
"They were just babies". Said Leif, a bit lamely.
"And now they are adolescents, and hopefully they will become adults. You were a baby one too I suppose. But probably you don't mean that. Explain"
Warwick's monotone voice didn't show any trace of mockery, so it was with certain uncertainty that Leif entered the room and spoke. "We didn't have the right to do what we did. To make them something...to make them something like a monster. And we didn't have the right to put them in those families. If I had known what was going to happen, I would have never got into this".
"Maybe. I would have done it a bit differently. I would have chosen another father for that part of the triad. But all in all, they had better lives than many. And they are not monsters. It is something you understood as a young man. Now that you have become fat and have two children you think you know right from wrong. This is beyond from right or wrong. It is the reweaving of humanity. It is-"
"are you going to kill me?" said Leif
"Of course not. Do whatever you wish. You have ruined your life, though. All the support you had from the university. All the strokes of luck you had, all the favorable errors you experienced during the last years were our doing. That is no more. We are not your friends anymore. Soon we will not even be your employers. Goodbye"
The lights turned off and returned in five seconds. Warwick was not there anymore. Leif walked out of the room, the entrance of it dissapearing without a sound behind a concrete panel, and out into the street. He was confused. Why did he still have the information?
mardi 15 décembre 2009
vendredi 30 octobre 2009
Tame
The Free Man was in an orchard. He didn't know the word, but he recognized the description that once her grandmother had given him about all that they had lost. And here it was. "The fruit could be picked from the tree, and there were rows and rows as far as your eye could see of trees." And of course they had picked fruit from trees, but only when they found one, and there were never too many in the same place.
He had alway believed -been told- that the places where Unifieds cultivated their food were factories, with fences aroun preventing the Free Men from entering. But now he was in one. And he could just extend his hand and take the-what was it? A sort of apple or pear, with yellow skin.
He ate, and put some in his pouch. He walked though this strange, structured forest. A Unified walked at the distance. "I am the last man", he thought "When I die there will be no hope of recovering the world. There is no hope already. What if I burn everything? Who will I be burning it for?" The Unified was coming nearer, apparently oblivious to the presence of the man, picking fruit and putting it in a sack.
He looked around himself. There were many more pickers. they were all coming to him. Was this an ambush? He had the strength, but the resoludion had gone out of him. He knew how to fight them; kill them or incapacitate them with a quick movement, never let them surround you.
He had seen them surounding some of his pack members. Moving like one, they could block almost every movement, and grapple quickly and effectively as a hand around a small fruit.
One of the Unified spoke. The Free Man had wondered since he had been alone, since he had the impulse to understand the Unified and not only destroy them, if they could all speak at once. They never did.
-We have been thinking.-said the Unified-Do you know what a zoo was?.
The Free Man did not recognize the word.-No- He admitted.
-It was a place were animals were put. Animals from many different places, not necessarily native to the land. And, at the beginning, they were trapped there in a big cage.
-I was told about it, but it had a different name-Said the free man, a bit more enthusiastically than he would have thought possible. He wanted - to eat them. They stored them alive.
-No. What you say is a farm. The purpose of a zoo was to look at the animals only. We know it is difficult for you to understand, but it is true. Some animals were caged because they were dangerous, but most of them were caged simply because they could escape. If they escaped people could look at them no more. And that was bad for the zoo.
The free man was so fascinated by this information so alien to his normal way of thought, trying to imagine what the zoo was that he couldn't predict what direction they were going.
- Afterwards, the realized that the zoo itself could be the cage. Like a big house for all the animals that were not dangerous to the people or each other. The dangerous animals were the only ones who were locked in smaller cages.
The reason why we are telling you this is that this is exactly like that. And we know you are a dangerous animal. But we are willing to give you the last chance. Can you live freely among us? Or do we have to give you a little cage?
He had alway believed -been told- that the places where Unifieds cultivated their food were factories, with fences aroun preventing the Free Men from entering. But now he was in one. And he could just extend his hand and take the-what was it? A sort of apple or pear, with yellow skin.
He ate, and put some in his pouch. He walked though this strange, structured forest. A Unified walked at the distance. "I am the last man", he thought "When I die there will be no hope of recovering the world. There is no hope already. What if I burn everything? Who will I be burning it for?" The Unified was coming nearer, apparently oblivious to the presence of the man, picking fruit and putting it in a sack.
He looked around himself. There were many more pickers. they were all coming to him. Was this an ambush? He had the strength, but the resoludion had gone out of him. He knew how to fight them; kill them or incapacitate them with a quick movement, never let them surround you.
He had seen them surounding some of his pack members. Moving like one, they could block almost every movement, and grapple quickly and effectively as a hand around a small fruit.
One of the Unified spoke. The Free Man had wondered since he had been alone, since he had the impulse to understand the Unified and not only destroy them, if they could all speak at once. They never did.
-We have been thinking.-said the Unified-Do you know what a zoo was?.
The Free Man did not recognize the word.-No- He admitted.
-It was a place were animals were put. Animals from many different places, not necessarily native to the land. And, at the beginning, they were trapped there in a big cage.
-I was told about it, but it had a different name-Said the free man, a bit more enthusiastically than he would have thought possible. He wanted - to eat them. They stored them alive.
-No. What you say is a farm. The purpose of a zoo was to look at the animals only. We know it is difficult for you to understand, but it is true. Some animals were caged because they were dangerous, but most of them were caged simply because they could escape. If they escaped people could look at them no more. And that was bad for the zoo.
The free man was so fascinated by this information so alien to his normal way of thought, trying to imagine what the zoo was that he couldn't predict what direction they were going.
- Afterwards, the realized that the zoo itself could be the cage. Like a big house for all the animals that were not dangerous to the people or each other. The dangerous animals were the only ones who were locked in smaller cages.
The reason why we are telling you this is that this is exactly like that. And we know you are a dangerous animal. But we are willing to give you the last chance. Can you live freely among us? Or do we have to give you a little cage?
lundi 26 octobre 2009
Confrontation
"The tower of Babel" had said Father Max "Was God's punishment on men who tried to get too close to him". A silence followed. Everyone already knew what followed. This had been, after all, a conference on the dangers of this new technology. "What they are building, this new device for ´communication´, is a challenge to god. It will erase the punishment, by making Everyone able to communicate with everyone else". A murmur filled the audience. "And these scientists, these ´people of progress´, they blatantly declare that this invention will overcome all the limits of mankind. Even death. If this is not a new plan of the humans to become God, I don't know what it is". The crowd was restless "This is a new Babel," Screamed father max "and we have to stop it".
mercredi 30 septembre 2009
Narwhal Boat and Captain Penguin, Prologue
Narwhal Boat left the Arctic
kissed his mom goodbye before
he went to swim/sail down the Atlantic
many adventures he had there
but many more Elsewhere.
Elsewhere had different names
Captain Penguin call it home
his longing was a change
and we would lay on his snow dome
pensieve, thinking about what places to sail
The Antartic was Penguin's home
and he didn't know much above
The Arctic was Boat's House
and he had never seen the south.
kissed his mom goodbye before
he went to swim/sail down the Atlantic
many adventures he had there
but many more Elsewhere.
Elsewhere had different names
Captain Penguin call it home
his longing was a change
and we would lay on his snow dome
pensieve, thinking about what places to sail
The Antartic was Penguin's home
and he didn't know much above
The Arctic was Boat's House
and he had never seen the south.
mardi 29 septembre 2009
Hoy
creo que es la primera vez que uso este blog como blog, as in algo que es menos ficticio. Hace tiempo, mucho, muchísimo tiempo que no escribo nada. Siento que no tengo NADA que contar aunque la necesidad de crear ficción no ha muerto del todo y es por eso que existe esta entrada It's the fiction writing in me, clinging to life with its teeth, un intento casi-desesperado de no morir del todo, porque quizás muera, quizás no. Siento que puedo escribir, el problema es no tengo NADA -worthreading- que escribir, dos cosas bastante diferentes. Por mucho tiempo creí, de verdad, que no era necesario CONTAR algo y pensé que I could pull a modernist-writer y trascender la trama, pero a pesar de que siento que puedo escribir, I ain't no Woolf-Joyce-Faulkner. Nunca prentendí serlo, pero tuve la convicción de que no era necesario ser ASÍ de talentoso para trascender la trama, y la convicción no fue suficiente, nunca lo es, las cosas no se pueden sostener en algo así te primitivo e infantil. Se necesita algo más, en este caso talento.
Entonces escribo esto, a modo de narrar lo que sucedió con mi creatividad literaria, if I can't think o anything to tell I might as well tell this process... to anyone.
creativity x good writing = Genius (Neil Gaime is the perfect example of this)
I have a severe lack of the first agent y lo segundo no es capaz de sostener nada:
this is me (0 being the lowest, 100 being the top):
0 x 50 = 0
I HAD to pull a Sterne to show you this (Dearest reader)
Y, hay un segundo obstáculo: me cansa y la verdad es que no me gusta, ser TAN autorreferente, es de mal gusto (literario y de modales).
No hay segunda sin tercera: I AM HAPPY, no completamente, but life's good, y esta paralisis, aunque me da lata/pena no me hace lo suficientemente infeliz como para que eso sirva de motor y me diga "escribe y serás feliz" porque ya lo soy y me siento more or less completo...
Still....
espero que esto haya servido, por muy minimamente que sea, de laxante creativo/literario.
Entonces escribo esto, a modo de narrar lo que sucedió con mi creatividad literaria, if I can't think o anything to tell I might as well tell this process... to anyone.
creativity x good writing = Genius (Neil Gaime is the perfect example of this)
I have a severe lack of the first agent y lo segundo no es capaz de sostener nada:
this is me (0 being the lowest, 100 being the top):
0 x 50 = 0
I HAD to pull a Sterne to show you this (Dearest reader)
Y, hay un segundo obstáculo: me cansa y la verdad es que no me gusta, ser TAN autorreferente, es de mal gusto (literario y de modales).
No hay segunda sin tercera: I AM HAPPY, no completamente, but life's good, y esta paralisis, aunque me da lata/pena no me hace lo suficientemente infeliz como para que eso sirva de motor y me diga "escribe y serás feliz" porque ya lo soy y me siento more or less completo...
Still....
espero que esto haya servido, por muy minimamente que sea, de laxante creativo/literario.
mercredi 22 juillet 2009
Crack
Melliburn walked slowly to the main door of the complex. There, the two guards (Clint and Burlock) waited for him with mildly amused faces. Meliburn had a reputation for humoristic remarks and entertaining gossip. He usually chatted a bit with the guards, and was rewarded by the feeling of safety he experimented. Noone feels safe around guards you are not acquainted with, especially guards with this weapons. He put down the package he was carrying before crossing the metal detector and was welcomed cordially. He was in the middle of a pun he had come up with during the morning regarding a chemical and a fat lady scientist working in the complex when the lights went out.
_________________________________________
The people in the complex referred to them as the Family. This was mainly because this is the name they sometimes used to identify themselves in the religious services they held in their meeting center. It was also said that the nickname arose after some rumors about them being just a conceptual cross between hillbillies and the Old Amish in every respect.
The Family kept to themselves. They were an agricultural community, with knowledge of agronomy and small electric generators setting them appart from savages. They had moved to the hills near the complex slowly since the price of the land dropped due to the building of the complex. Appart from being noisy, a thing that scared away most of the animals that were part of the diet of the previous owners, it was rumored that it was going to be a radioactive plant. A cheap one, the kind that killed plants and people some years after they were constructed. Besides, there were the soldiers.
The Family allowed, with just a slight twitch of their faces, the presence of people from the complex in their services, which were a mixture of science class, sermon and townhall meeting. Problems (From arguments to difficults in building) were solved in the light of the Reason of God. To the people from the complex that were in charge of keeping an eye on them, they seemed a reasonable folk, that paid no attention to the complex affairs. A peaceful community if it wasn't for their lust for hunting.
_____________________________________________________
Melliburn walked in the dark to where the package was. He pushed the button just as the flashlights on the guards weapons turned off. The flashlights turned off immedaitely.
-My nightvision is off!-said a guard.- Dr. Meliburn, are you alright?
Melliburn knew he had to hurry. The Pentone was everywhere. He might have impaired one with the shockwave, but the other four arms would be looking for everyone, and once he shot the guards and went out of the complex he would be the main target. He felt a pang of guilt, shot, and ran out. Fear was everything, except the little bundle of hope under his arm.
_________________________________________-
First the power went out, and all became one. Rather, every part of what they were became individuals for the two seconds it took for the emergency power to restore the repeater antennae. And one of them had dissapeared. It was as if you realized that some of your memories and that the range of all your senses diminishes from one second to the next.
This was not normal. It took more than two seconds to die; not to receive a lethal injury, but to stop feeling and for your brain to stop sending signals. The part of the pentone that was in charge of the front of the complex tonight had been...erased. Obliterated. The Pentone moved to the front yard.
___________________________________________
The front yard was dark and empty save for one sad figure. The former Pentone arm was on his knees, rocking back and forth.
-I am blind. Blind, I am blind I'm blind, help me, I'm blind...
Melliburn shot him and kept running. The four other arms of the Pentone were coming. he couldn't see them but he heard their vehicles. He ran without looking back. he didn't have a chance of hitting one of them in these vehicles when the others were there. They knew exactly where to move, their formation for perspective was flawless.
He was at the foot of the first hill now. Any moment now his backup would get there. The noise from the vehicles was too close now. He turned and shot twice. The arms moved as he had seen so many times before in their trainig sessions. They shot him, surgically. Left knee, liver, right shoulder, left elbow. He collapsed immediately and screamed. He only felt red frustration before he fell unconscious. The bundle fell with him, with a soft plastic sound.
_____________________________________________________
After half an hour, the soldiers were still where Melliburn's body was.
-He couldn't have killed them all- Said a corporal
- Of course not!- Said Liutenant Trell- He didn't kill any of them. Look at their bodies.-
The Liutenant put his hands in his face. This was not supposed to happen. They were not ready yet. It was all over now, and it was his fault.
Corporal Gleen was running down the hill.
- I told you to come back with a wittness! - growled the Liutenant
-There is no one - said the Corporal - The Family is gone.
_________________________________________
The people in the complex referred to them as the Family. This was mainly because this is the name they sometimes used to identify themselves in the religious services they held in their meeting center. It was also said that the nickname arose after some rumors about them being just a conceptual cross between hillbillies and the Old Amish in every respect.
The Family kept to themselves. They were an agricultural community, with knowledge of agronomy and small electric generators setting them appart from savages. They had moved to the hills near the complex slowly since the price of the land dropped due to the building of the complex. Appart from being noisy, a thing that scared away most of the animals that were part of the diet of the previous owners, it was rumored that it was going to be a radioactive plant. A cheap one, the kind that killed plants and people some years after they were constructed. Besides, there were the soldiers.
The Family allowed, with just a slight twitch of their faces, the presence of people from the complex in their services, which were a mixture of science class, sermon and townhall meeting. Problems (From arguments to difficults in building) were solved in the light of the Reason of God. To the people from the complex that were in charge of keeping an eye on them, they seemed a reasonable folk, that paid no attention to the complex affairs. A peaceful community if it wasn't for their lust for hunting.
_____________________________________________________
Melliburn walked in the dark to where the package was. He pushed the button just as the flashlights on the guards weapons turned off. The flashlights turned off immedaitely.
-My nightvision is off!-said a guard.- Dr. Meliburn, are you alright?
Melliburn knew he had to hurry. The Pentone was everywhere. He might have impaired one with the shockwave, but the other four arms would be looking for everyone, and once he shot the guards and went out of the complex he would be the main target. He felt a pang of guilt, shot, and ran out. Fear was everything, except the little bundle of hope under his arm.
_________________________________________-
First the power went out, and all became one. Rather, every part of what they were became individuals for the two seconds it took for the emergency power to restore the repeater antennae. And one of them had dissapeared. It was as if you realized that some of your memories and that the range of all your senses diminishes from one second to the next.
This was not normal. It took more than two seconds to die; not to receive a lethal injury, but to stop feeling and for your brain to stop sending signals. The part of the pentone that was in charge of the front of the complex tonight had been...erased. Obliterated. The Pentone moved to the front yard.
___________________________________________
The front yard was dark and empty save for one sad figure. The former Pentone arm was on his knees, rocking back and forth.
-I am blind. Blind, I am blind I'm blind, help me, I'm blind...
Melliburn shot him and kept running. The four other arms of the Pentone were coming. he couldn't see them but he heard their vehicles. He ran without looking back. he didn't have a chance of hitting one of them in these vehicles when the others were there. They knew exactly where to move, their formation for perspective was flawless.
He was at the foot of the first hill now. Any moment now his backup would get there. The noise from the vehicles was too close now. He turned and shot twice. The arms moved as he had seen so many times before in their trainig sessions. They shot him, surgically. Left knee, liver, right shoulder, left elbow. He collapsed immediately and screamed. He only felt red frustration before he fell unconscious. The bundle fell with him, with a soft plastic sound.
_____________________________________________________
After half an hour, the soldiers were still where Melliburn's body was.
-He couldn't have killed them all- Said a corporal
- Of course not!- Said Liutenant Trell- He didn't kill any of them. Look at their bodies.-
The Liutenant put his hands in his face. This was not supposed to happen. They were not ready yet. It was all over now, and it was his fault.
Corporal Gleen was running down the hill.
- I told you to come back with a wittness! - growled the Liutenant
-There is no one - said the Corporal - The Family is gone.
lundi 20 juillet 2009
Climbing to the cliff
Carmen Regber looked at the woman directly to her eyes, and bit her lower lip.
-Well... there are rumors, but the technology is not available to the public. Sleeptech is the closest we have, but the brain activity of your husband is too weak to detect anything.
The woman, her eyes red but a determinate expression, asked Regber almost without a pleading tone
- Is he dead? Is his brain dead?
- No- Regber paused, feeling awful for being an actor at this moment- But only just. He is in a deep coma. The rumors have given rise to people working on this-
- Is there a way to go into his brain?
-it is more complicated than that... but there is an experimental group that is using the Communion platform
- But that is for children and perverts! it is not a tool for medicine!
-What you say is true- Said Regber - and this is not really safe. Forget I ever mentioned it.
______________________________________________________-
Three days later the woman came back to Regber, and she explained how it was possible. The brains were connected binary and an adaptation had been made to use neurotransmitters and generate responses from others.
-In a way they will instruct your husband's brain to do what is necessary to come out of the coma. Or that is what they say at least. Believe me it is not a safe thing. His brain has sustained enough damage.
-We will do it- said the woman.
They always did. Choose right, and they always said yes. Regber felt horrible. But she was not harming anyone. These were scientists that were working to help other people, and the money she was receiving was helping more people. It was only helping everyone. What could go wrong?
_______________________________________________
Project Lazarus had enough test subjects, and they already had enough success rates to make it public. Nathaniel Thame, the director of the group, was about to derive some money from their investors in advertizing, and afterwards donating the knowledge of the process to the UN, or other entity that could distribute it for free. Or at the lowest price possible. they were in for a Nobel. It had all come so obviously as he played in those sci-fi servers. Neurotransmitters. Decoding, understanding and sinthesizing or stimulating their production.
They would need some people that would probably die. but some people were unplugged for no better reason than saving money to their families. No real problem there, when you looked coolly.
The name "Lazarus" was Dean's idea. It was bigger than they were, but it was good advertizing. Two weeks from now, he decided. Then he would show this to the world. It was almost perfected; he would get more funding, and everything would be better. And this could only be the beggining.
Thame went out of the shelter.
-Don't move!- Said a soldier holding a gun. There were many other cars arriving at his place. Everything will be alright. What we are doing is perfectly legal.
-Well... there are rumors, but the technology is not available to the public. Sleeptech is the closest we have, but the brain activity of your husband is too weak to detect anything.
The woman, her eyes red but a determinate expression, asked Regber almost without a pleading tone
- Is he dead? Is his brain dead?
- No- Regber paused, feeling awful for being an actor at this moment- But only just. He is in a deep coma. The rumors have given rise to people working on this-
- Is there a way to go into his brain?
-it is more complicated than that... but there is an experimental group that is using the Communion platform
- But that is for children and perverts! it is not a tool for medicine!
-What you say is true- Said Regber - and this is not really safe. Forget I ever mentioned it.
______________________________________________________-
Three days later the woman came back to Regber, and she explained how it was possible. The brains were connected binary and an adaptation had been made to use neurotransmitters and generate responses from others.
-In a way they will instruct your husband's brain to do what is necessary to come out of the coma. Or that is what they say at least. Believe me it is not a safe thing. His brain has sustained enough damage.
-We will do it- said the woman.
They always did. Choose right, and they always said yes. Regber felt horrible. But she was not harming anyone. These were scientists that were working to help other people, and the money she was receiving was helping more people. It was only helping everyone. What could go wrong?
_______________________________________________
Project Lazarus had enough test subjects, and they already had enough success rates to make it public. Nathaniel Thame, the director of the group, was about to derive some money from their investors in advertizing, and afterwards donating the knowledge of the process to the UN, or other entity that could distribute it for free. Or at the lowest price possible. they were in for a Nobel. It had all come so obviously as he played in those sci-fi servers. Neurotransmitters. Decoding, understanding and sinthesizing or stimulating their production.
They would need some people that would probably die. but some people were unplugged for no better reason than saving money to their families. No real problem there, when you looked coolly.
The name "Lazarus" was Dean's idea. It was bigger than they were, but it was good advertizing. Two weeks from now, he decided. Then he would show this to the world. It was almost perfected; he would get more funding, and everything would be better. And this could only be the beggining.
Thame went out of the shelter.
-Don't move!- Said a soldier holding a gun. There were many other cars arriving at his place. Everything will be alright. What we are doing is perfectly legal.
mercredi 15 juillet 2009
"We just want to talk"
The man woke up with the feeling that his nightmare was still going on. He was badly bruised and the involuntary movement involving waking up with terror made him immediately aware of this.
He slumped backwards to a lying position. He was in a hill, apparently. There were some trees, but nothing much to really cover him. He felt foolish, by falling asleep like that. Had he fallen asleep or just fallen unconcious?
The voice said "are you awake? We just want to talk. We could have killed you. but we don't want to. We don't want you running either. We don't even want you to join us"
The man didn't know where it came from. He looked around, but there was no one to be seen.
"We want you to know, that we are not fighting you if you stop fighting us"
"And then taking me by surprise and making me one of you, right?" Yelled the man, trying to stand. He used a fallen branch as a walking staff and walked in the direction of the voice.
"No. We would leave you alone if that is your decision" the voice was clear and devoid of emotion as they usually were. It came from an old walkie-talkie that was among some branches.
He recognized it. It had been part of the equipment of his pack before the raid of the unified.
"It is only you fighting. Did you know? You are the only one left".
The man heaved the branch and crushed the walkie-talkie.
He fell and stayed there for some time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The man woke up with the feeling that his nightmare was still going on. He was badly bruised and the involuntary movement involving waking up with terror made him immediately aware of this.
He slumped backwards to a lying position. He was in a hill, apparently. There were some trees, but nothing much to really cover him. He felt foolish, by falling asleep like that. Had he fallen asleep or just fallen unconcious?
The voice said "are you awake? We just want to talk. We could have killed you. but we don't want to. We don't want you running either. We don't even want you to join us"
The man didn't know where it came from. He looked around, but there was no one to be seen.
"We want you to know, that we are not fighting you if you stop fighting us"
"And then taking me by surprise and making me one of you, right?" Yelled the man, trying to stand. He used a fallen branch as a walking staff and walked in the direction of the voice.
"No. We would leave you alone if that is your decision" the voice was clear and devoid of emotion as they usually were. It came from an old walkie-talkie that was among some branches.
He recognized it. It had been part of the equipment of his pack before the raid of the unified.
"It is only you fighting. Did you know? You are the only one left".
The man heaved the branch and crushed the walkie-talkie.
He fell and stayed there for some time.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Boredom and Loneliness?
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Leave boredom and loneliness behind with Communion(TM), the new mind environment that will link you to anyone who wants what you have to offer, anyone that offers something.
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Once you have it installed, you have everything you will ever need*, because it is not a payed service. Enter Communion (TM) and see why your life is not complete without it.
*Maintenance is not considered to be part of the product.
Leave boredom and loneliness behind with Communion(TM), the new mind environment that will link you to anyone who wants what you have to offer, anyone that offers something.
And this is not only a social tool: More that a hundred illusory environments to interact with others neuronally. Thematic worlds, gaming plataforms, dating rooms, just a thought away from you.
Live new exciting lives or improve the one you already have by knowing the person you always wanted to meet.
Once you have it installed, you have everything you will ever need*, because it is not a payed service. Enter Communion (TM) and see why your life is not complete without it.
*Maintenance is not considered to be part of the product.
Warwick (I don't remember his name, the main scientific of the first part)
looked at the trinity. Each as an independant man had done things that apperared to be random, but Warwick had been listening to the neural turmoil in his children, as he thought of them.
Ever since they discovered what they were, they avoided each other, and they had changed radically from one another. (One) had grown big muscles, and had dwarfed the other two, and (two) had had a car accident and his face had been disfigured. Nobody would have said they were triplets now.
Nobody had thought about it for a long time, except the nine. Not even the boys' parents. The experiments and tests had stopped when the boys were around 13, and the money still got to the parents, so why ask?
Sometimes Warwick thought that the phisical meetings that his boys had from time to time were just a show for him, so that the ones who were paying attention didn't dismantle the hardware for their communication. He watched the escape, gripped by this historic moment, thrilled at the impossible feats of coordination, multiplying in his head all that could be done, if only-
"are you going to let them?", asked Klein calmly.
"Of course I am. What are we, com kind of slavist monsters? They are free, after all, and they are proving it"
"One of them killed his family when they were disconnected" said Klein coldly.
"They deserved that and more. It was fair"
"I didn't know you knew what that concept meant" Said Klein with only the trace of a smile.
"All this years I have dedicated only to the idea of Justice. We have been working to make a fair world"
"I thought it was just to see what happened." said Klein, now the smile in her wrinkled face more noticeable.
"That too, Klein" Said Warwick, smiling despite of himself. "I am a scientist after all. Would you say "success"?"
"Certainly. I don't know how Lang will react though. I will accelerate the media coverage, and we can start again. For real this time".
________________________________________________________
Ever since they discovered what they were, they avoided each other, and they had changed radically from one another. (One) had grown big muscles, and had dwarfed the other two, and (two) had had a car accident and his face had been disfigured. Nobody would have said they were triplets now.
Nobody had thought about it for a long time, except the nine. Not even the boys' parents. The experiments and tests had stopped when the boys were around 13, and the money still got to the parents, so why ask?
Sometimes Warwick thought that the phisical meetings that his boys had from time to time were just a show for him, so that the ones who were paying attention didn't dismantle the hardware for their communication. He watched the escape, gripped by this historic moment, thrilled at the impossible feats of coordination, multiplying in his head all that could be done, if only-
"are you going to let them?", asked Klein calmly.
"Of course I am. What are we, com kind of slavist monsters? They are free, after all, and they are proving it"
"One of them killed his family when they were disconnected" said Klein coldly.
"They deserved that and more. It was fair"
"I didn't know you knew what that concept meant" Said Klein with only the trace of a smile.
"All this years I have dedicated only to the idea of Justice. We have been working to make a fair world"
"I thought it was just to see what happened." said Klein, now the smile in her wrinkled face more noticeable.
"That too, Klein" Said Warwick, smiling despite of himself. "I am a scientist after all. Would you say "success"?"
"Certainly. I don't know how Lang will react though. I will accelerate the media coverage, and we can start again. For real this time".
________________________________________________________
The Convergence
He walked slowly through the dimly lit corridor. He was waiting for the noises, and then he would run. He had planned this moment since he found about the trinity and knew nobody would ever be able to believe he had done it without external help. But he had, after all, many ears and many eyes, and a keen mind. He had always been encouraged to learn about everything, and although some things were hidden, he had learned.
The cry was not very loud, but he had been expecting it, so he ran. He plugged his transmitter and blocked the main transmision. The planes of the University had been difficult to get, but he knew how to look for things, how to convince people.
The off-campus repeat antennae had been discreetly sabotaged some time ago now, and he knew where to leave the little car so that it was never found again. He put on the wig, and signaled a taxi to stop.
He got off a mile away of the motel and walked. He had the time. A busy lifetime in front of him. He was waiting for himself in the room, and the communicator made him remember the trip of the rest of him.
He saw his bloody hands from the door and the part of him that was in the bed wiped them absentmindedly on the cover.
"I had concluded that not killing them was a better idea, but another conclusion was reached when we separated. I 1- Individuality 0 .
The three bodies moved in the small as a group with clear instructions and a prohibition to speak. They ate, slept and went away. The world was waiting. It always had been.
___________________________________________________________________
The cry was not very loud, but he had been expecting it, so he ran. He plugged his transmitter and blocked the main transmision. The planes of the University had been difficult to get, but he knew how to look for things, how to convince people.
The off-campus repeat antennae had been discreetly sabotaged some time ago now, and he knew where to leave the little car so that it was never found again. He put on the wig, and signaled a taxi to stop.
He got off a mile away of the motel and walked. He had the time. A busy lifetime in front of him. He was waiting for himself in the room, and the communicator made him remember the trip of the rest of him.
He saw his bloody hands from the door and the part of him that was in the bed wiped them absentmindedly on the cover.
"I had concluded that not killing them was a better idea, but another conclusion was reached when we separated. I 1- Individuality 0 .
The three bodies moved in the small as a group with clear instructions and a prohibition to speak. They ate, slept and went away. The world was waiting. It always had been.
___________________________________________________________________
mercredi 3 juin 2009
Sombras, parte 3
(needs more reworking than anything, but I needed to put it here before it rotted)
Se sentía tan tonto mirando al grupo. Sentía esa rabia frustrada que aparece cuando una persona que no debería ser tan imbecil no entience nada de lo que dices y te obliga a hablar lento y con metaforas.
Gabriela lo había convencido de conocerlos, y ahora sentía que había sido un gran error. ¿Que esperaba? Todos ellos pensaban que el no estaba loco, y que sus alucinaciones eran una especie de Don y eso sonaba atractivo, claro. Era como encontrar en la adolescencia un grupo de gente que adorara tus espinillas.
-Entonces...-dijo fran con una voz donde cada letra descendía de una H primordial- ustedes son una especie de...cazafantasmas, cada uno con poderes y conocimientos que los ayudan a enfrentarse a las fuerzas del mal, ¿no?
-¡No! - se quejó gabriela- ¡Que rabia weón! Creemos en ti, te ofrecemos una forma de ayudarte sin volverte un zombie, y lo mejor que puedes hacer es apresurar una conclusión y burlarte.
-Lo siento, pero acepten que suena estúpido. Medium, Clarividente, Monje y Científica encuentran a alguien que puede ver fantasmas y comienzan su cruzada contra el mal-
-¡No es el mal, imbecil! - Gritó gabriela, pero su rabia fue opacada por la risa del chico de pelo negro que contagió a los otros dos. Gabriela los miró enojada y desequilibrada.
-Si es muy gracioso- Dijo la chica rubia, con restos de risa en su voz. - Es la peor película de los últimos tiempos. El equivalente magico de dan brown.
-De todas formas es interesante, ¿no? - Dijo el chico calvo con lentes- No es tan grave si no cree lo que le decimos. Después de todo estuvo con un tratamiento por años para convencerlo de que eso no era real. Podrías probar esto y ver si te resulta. Si no, vuelves a ser un loco o un zombie y nosotros deberemos dudar si era demasiado dificil o lo que creemos era falso. Casi un desafío.
Se sentía tan tonto mirando al grupo. Sentía esa rabia frustrada que aparece cuando una persona que no debería ser tan imbecil no entience nada de lo que dices y te obliga a hablar lento y con metaforas.
Gabriela lo había convencido de conocerlos, y ahora sentía que había sido un gran error. ¿Que esperaba? Todos ellos pensaban que el no estaba loco, y que sus alucinaciones eran una especie de Don y eso sonaba atractivo, claro. Era como encontrar en la adolescencia un grupo de gente que adorara tus espinillas.
-Entonces...-dijo fran con una voz donde cada letra descendía de una H primordial- ustedes son una especie de...cazafantasmas, cada uno con poderes y conocimientos que los ayudan a enfrentarse a las fuerzas del mal, ¿no?
-¡No! - se quejó gabriela- ¡Que rabia weón! Creemos en ti, te ofrecemos una forma de ayudarte sin volverte un zombie, y lo mejor que puedes hacer es apresurar una conclusión y burlarte.
-Lo siento, pero acepten que suena estúpido. Medium, Clarividente, Monje y Científica encuentran a alguien que puede ver fantasmas y comienzan su cruzada contra el mal-
-¡No es el mal, imbecil! - Gritó gabriela, pero su rabia fue opacada por la risa del chico de pelo negro que contagió a los otros dos. Gabriela los miró enojada y desequilibrada.
-Si es muy gracioso- Dijo la chica rubia, con restos de risa en su voz. - Es la peor película de los últimos tiempos. El equivalente magico de dan brown.
-De todas formas es interesante, ¿no? - Dijo el chico calvo con lentes- No es tan grave si no cree lo que le decimos. Después de todo estuvo con un tratamiento por años para convencerlo de que eso no era real. Podrías probar esto y ver si te resulta. Si no, vuelves a ser un loco o un zombie y nosotros deberemos dudar si era demasiado dificil o lo que creemos era falso. Casi un desafío.
jeudi 23 avril 2009
Les Connards de la Nuit.
So you got me riding this bike with God knows how many degrees below zero although it might not be that cold and I should be wearing a jacket. I can't barely keep balance and you keep yelling Allez! allez! Joel, on y va! and I yell back "yes, it's just je suis tres drunk, c'est difficil" while we cross some bridge and approach rather inefficiently to Bastille.
You point at something in front of us Regarde! c'est un vélo and I don't understand what's all the exciment about, you sound worried as well. There it is, somehow a bike is hanging from the border of the quay and you quickly got off your velib and take the rescuing task quite seriously, then I remember your little sister telling me about how you have saved many bicycles in distress in the past, it seems you keep on running into them like if it is some sort of fate of yours.
You are not drunk and I feel self-conscious because I am, I might do something stupid, you will not and I feel I have got extra care with everything. I think of all the signs I think you are giving me, I think, I think that maybe there aren't any signs and that you have never given me any confusing signals but I wanted them to exist.
Voila, La Bastille!
"Le Bastille?"
Ce restaurant s'appelle Le Bastille, mais nous sommes en LA Bastille
You ride with no hands and look at me, smiling at me and I yell at you "J'ai été amoreux de toi!"
Tu es amoreux de moi?
"Oui, et tu sais et tu as su toujours"
You stop, I stop, the streets are empty while the people celebrate or sleep or are having sex for the first time in the year, maybe in their lives.
Mais tu n'as dit jamais moi que tu
"It doesn't matter anymore, je ne t'aime plus... c'est plus tard"
Tu a dû dir moi que tu aime moi avant parceque j'ai t'aimé aussi
"Dit pas que tu n'as su pas! It was obvious, I was obvious, tu aurais dû entendre je t'aime, de plus je pense que tu as surtout entendu"
J'ai entendu, mais tu n'as dû pas
Now we look at each other, I tremble, I'm freezing and I think we both feel like crying a little, but we don't.
Je detest que il soit plus tard...
"Moi aussi"
Maybe we will hug.
You point at something in front of us Regarde! c'est un vélo and I don't understand what's all the exciment about, you sound worried as well. There it is, somehow a bike is hanging from the border of the quay and you quickly got off your velib and take the rescuing task quite seriously, then I remember your little sister telling me about how you have saved many bicycles in distress in the past, it seems you keep on running into them like if it is some sort of fate of yours.
You are not drunk and I feel self-conscious because I am, I might do something stupid, you will not and I feel I have got extra care with everything. I think of all the signs I think you are giving me, I think, I think that maybe there aren't any signs and that you have never given me any confusing signals but I wanted them to exist.
Voila, La Bastille!
"Le Bastille?"
Ce restaurant s'appelle Le Bastille, mais nous sommes en LA Bastille
You ride with no hands and look at me, smiling at me and I yell at you "J'ai été amoreux de toi!"
Tu es amoreux de moi?
"Oui, et tu sais et tu as su toujours"
You stop, I stop, the streets are empty while the people celebrate or sleep or are having sex for the first time in the year, maybe in their lives.
Mais tu n'as dit jamais moi que tu
"It doesn't matter anymore, je ne t'aime plus... c'est plus tard"
Tu a dû dir moi que tu aime moi avant parceque j'ai t'aimé aussi
"Dit pas que tu n'as su pas! It was obvious, I was obvious, tu aurais dû entendre je t'aime, de plus je pense que tu as surtout entendu"
J'ai entendu, mais tu n'as dû pas
Now we look at each other, I tremble, I'm freezing and I think we both feel like crying a little, but we don't.
Je detest que il soit plus tard...
"Moi aussi"
Maybe we will hug.
mardi 21 avril 2009
and so it comes
He did not agree it was just a smell, because it had an undeniable flavour. He looked at his cup, sipped, and pondered about the possibility of tasting the cornflower, but its flavour was most probable to fade away quickly. Nevertheless, it was blue, and blue things, he thought, should not only have flavour but taste splendidly, like blue-marzipan or blue petals of any flower except, perhaps, oleander (although why should it taste poisonous?).
Every now and then a petal, or a leaf or two would find its way through the filters of the teapot to finally land on his tongue and he would press them against his palate with the tongue hoping to squeeze flavour out of it. He thought he could. And so he poured himself another cup with scientific accuracy, the teapot a scalpel, the cup a white mouse. He was serious about it for now it was time to think about the last weeks "events:" Monday night, an agressive yet delicate shooting star attack while waiting for a taxi; Wednesday lunch time, a horse in the frontyard; Sunday, a flying cat moving from north to southeast (it could have only been Antarticabound); last Tuesday, the iron fence behaved like a badly tuned T.V. channel -horizontally, not vertically.
The signs were many, the sudden reaction to Plath and cummings the previous afternoon was an example. He sipped again. The mystery was not that difficult to be discovered. However, this time something was not quite right for it was not like the other times, the horse was too shiny and stood there for too long and the minute shooting star had really blinded him. He needed to know if it was something new, or something different. Cornflower on the tip of his tongue. His mood could not have that influence, sometimes out of tiresome shadows passed by his peripheral vision. But he was fine now, and he had just hung up on the telephone without saying before that things were going pretty smoothly.
The tea and the thinking made him sleepy. He took a 5 hours nap.
Every now and then a petal, or a leaf or two would find its way through the filters of the teapot to finally land on his tongue and he would press them against his palate with the tongue hoping to squeeze flavour out of it. He thought he could. And so he poured himself another cup with scientific accuracy, the teapot a scalpel, the cup a white mouse. He was serious about it for now it was time to think about the last weeks "events:" Monday night, an agressive yet delicate shooting star attack while waiting for a taxi; Wednesday lunch time, a horse in the frontyard; Sunday, a flying cat moving from north to southeast (it could have only been Antarticabound); last Tuesday, the iron fence behaved like a badly tuned T.V. channel -horizontally, not vertically.
The signs were many, the sudden reaction to Plath and cummings the previous afternoon was an example. He sipped again. The mystery was not that difficult to be discovered. However, this time something was not quite right for it was not like the other times, the horse was too shiny and stood there for too long and the minute shooting star had really blinded him. He needed to know if it was something new, or something different. Cornflower on the tip of his tongue. His mood could not have that influence, sometimes out of tiresome shadows passed by his peripheral vision. But he was fine now, and he had just hung up on the telephone without saying before that things were going pretty smoothly.
The tea and the thinking made him sleepy. He took a 5 hours nap.
dimanche 19 avril 2009
Embarassment
my gum
hits it--
--my skin twitters,
and I recall how stupid I was in the first place
like to suck too much on the wooden popsicle stick
-the feeling is the same-
but now's aftermath includes external punishment
unintentional painful blushes
because blood rushes twice in my face,
on my behalf, on yours as well.
So I look comfort on windoshopsthatIhavenevercared
and the potential denying you of something
that you reassure me you deserve by right
and I comment on teapots
while you pretend what I did never happened
and I point at stationary with hidden watery eyes
while you agree that pens are better black.
hits it--
--my skin twitters,
and I recall how stupid I was in the first place
like to suck too much on the wooden popsicle stick
-the feeling is the same-
but now's aftermath includes external punishment
unintentional painful blushes
because blood rushes twice in my face,
on my behalf, on yours as well.
So I look comfort on windoshopsthatIhavenevercared
and the potential denying you of something
that you reassure me you deserve by right
and I comment on teapots
while you pretend what I did never happened
and I point at stationary with hidden watery eyes
while you agree that pens are better black.
jeudi 16 avril 2009
____ March 2004
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
____ March 2004
1.____ March 2004
Dearest:
And finally, I took a decision, not the most sensible one but it's the only choice I truly have. Before I continue, I wanted to show you the cards that Aine read for me a couple of months ago when I asked her about you, she made a celtic cross? You know I don't really understand this, it was always Aine and you the ones who were involved in this things that I at most find interesting:
1.-Interest: 2 of cups // 2.- Obstacles: Ace of cups // 3.- Knight of cups //4.- Thoughts and Feelings: The Sun // 5.-Past: 6 of cups // 6.- Immediate Future: 6 of swords // 7.- Attitude towards the question: Queen of swords // 8.-Influence of other people: 5 of swords // 9.- Hopes and Fears: Ace of Disks// 10.- Final Result: 9 of disks.
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
2.So I don remember what it meant exactly but I do remember that what she said made perfect sense in that moment and I wrote down the spread because I thougth that you would be able to make sense out it. Blunt, it was very blunt.
And now that we have seen that play together the other thursday (Pinter's my favourite) I think this is my line to disappear. I don't know for how long, you know things are difficult for me to cope with and it takes me time so I decided I would step for as many months as it shall be necessary.
As I have already told you (in the pub, while playing pool), this is not easy for me and is not doing me any good and the truth is that the first time we talked about it (November?) I used a lot of understatements from which I apologise, and by attraction what I really meant was that I'm head over feet
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
3.and the thing is that with you everything ocurred backwards. Generally I don't made friends with people I fall in love with and I don't fall in love with friends. But your case was different and when I think about it, it seems nothing but logical that I ended up in love with you. You became very important in no time, you did not move from my side when I was going through it and I was fragile then and you helped me making me constant company
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
4.and I noticed that you did it with honest and real worry. Sometimes, when I think in those days I'm sorry that you met me when my mind was at its weakest point and I think "It would've been so much fair if you had met me sane" but then again, I would not be sane if it weren't for your help, your company and love. Believe me when I say that there is a big possibility that I owe you my life.
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
5.So, after all what you have done for me, it is not only understandable but it is only fair that I fell in love with you. And while I'm writing this letter and exchanging lyrics with you by e-mail I feel sad that I shall not see you anymore in a long time. I will miss you horribly because I love you as a friend, because you make me a little bit happy and because I know you love me too.
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
6.But I lost this battle of willpower and I cannot anymore hold this feeling of sickness that feel when you don't correspond me, when I think of the chance that you are with someone else and it is not fair for you that I become and obstacle for you and it is not fair for me to go through this pain, I didn't choose to fall in love with you after all but that doesn't make that I stop feeling that way towards you.
And so I disappear, writing on napkins with crummy eyes, in love and heartbroken.
THE HALF-WAY HOUSE
7.
I'll keep on loving you, but I need to start loving you without feeling like shit about it and not being in love with you anymore. I promise I'll do my best, I truly love you after all. Time to wave goodbye now.
I'll miss you, I love you and I will never ask for forgiveness for doing so again.
Please, accept this hug.
Tristram.
I'll keep on loving you, but I need to start loving you without feeling like shit about it and not being in love with you anymore. I promise I'll do my best, I truly love you after all. Time to wave goodbye now.
I'll miss you, I love you and I will never ask for forgiveness for doing so again.
Please, accept this hug.
Tristram.
dimanche 12 avril 2009
Before Twelfh Night...
...I had not admitted yet that something inevitably broke when you stayed and I did not and the being that you did not care about the pieces nor the object before it broke and now rather that picking up and sweaping the shattered glass we have rather ignored completely the existence of the vase -because, because a vase is a lame object after all? - but I'm cutting the skin of my feet and I certainly do not like bleeding and you certainly do not like stains on the carpet but I blamed you when it was my fault and I blamed myself when it was yours so Laurent had to die, he had to die because you would not and I do not desire to go before you do, so Laurent was the unfair, not sufficient, unproporciate scape goat that stands for (_________) it's funny how the previous one was for you as well even though it was for her too and so many months before who would have thought that Amsterdam was that pub really where I do not remember if I drank something or not
I admit it now, it broke, and it's been a month or two since Ash Wednesday and a week or two since I decided to erase the grey cross from my forehead, it should have never been there, because I am not sorry, I hate that it had to break but there's no more regret than the one I feel for even being sorry about the whole thing.
I admit it now, it broke, and it's been a month or two since Ash Wednesday and a week or two since I decided to erase the grey cross from my forehead, it should have never been there, because I am not sorry, I hate that it had to break but there's no more regret than the one I feel for even being sorry about the whole thing.
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