* * *
Time passed and as the days turned to weeks and to months the plantation grew and grew. It was now well into the thousands. The executive branch now consisted of 12 people with Chase as the head. They had progressed quite well and the problems of survival were evolving. Food was always an issue, but at last someone skilled in farming had shown up and was even able to help with the roaming cattle and fowl that had been recovered from the caves. Several scouts had been sent in all directions to report in on whether all Paragons everywhere had failed. Reports were always the same, there was a rising body count and a majority of the casualties had simply quit on life, not knowing what to do. It was decided that at this point more energy could be spent on further scouting, and to locations further away. Also some time was invested on recuperating the technology of how each unit actually functioned, it was a completely lost technology, but a few tech savvy people in the tribe existed and they were set to work as well. Builders were creating furniture and beds for each of the paragons which ended up becoming homes to each of the villagers once again. The council had passed on a barter system and proper exchange was put in for those doing furnishings, cooking etc. For those villagers that didn’t want to work, it was simple, the pain of hunger drove them to contribute so they could eat, or they were left to die as the village hadn’t developed a police force. People meted out their own justice as they saw fit and slowly, the people were creeping up to civilization once again. Finally a name was decided upon for the village, New America.
The tasks of the people began to diversify. More attention began to be put on the arts and technology. Those skilled in programming and electronics were in greater demand, not because they could develop anything useful, but because they delivered a sense of hope, a hope for better times again. Further advances began when certain days of the year were set aside for festivals, music and games. Of course they were nowhere near as immersive as before, but with everyone being a busy contributor to society, everyone seemed to quite happy indeed. People got along very well indeed. It was simple times.
Chase had lost weight and became physically fit with all his exertion in the fields and with other building projects. He even had to opportunity to go on several dates. It wasn’t quite what he expected or what he was used to. The women were of course not as drop dead gorgeous as they were online, and it wasn’t as easy as just making it to the bedroom. He had to consider whether a real future existed with this person or not and if he could raise a family with them. Conversations usually lead down corridors and crannies he never would’ve guessed in a thousand years. Just making out with a female raised his heartbeat to heights as never before.
Leading the village had its problems and they were mostly managerial. There were always arguments to handle between others and others with himself, disagreements on where resources should go, who should be doing what, how much they needed of so and so. But with pain as the whip, leading him on, and the new found pleasure of his helping his fellow man, Chase was driven from inside to succeed for the sake of all.
He was making it, so were they all until one day everything changed once again. A scout had returned with news. His name was Dalton and he had been gone for months. He dashed up to the executive hut all drenched in sweat from having run a great distance. An adjutant to Chase informed him of his return and let him pass.
“Sir we have news! Big news.” He proclaimed.
“Go on, we’re listening.” Chase replied.
“Sir, Hanley and I ventured east, as ordered, in search of signs of working technology, but more so, working Paragon units. We found some! But there is more. A great many units have failed and there are copious amounts of carcasses spread throughout the countryside. But we finally got to a point where there were no more corpses, only empty units. Despite being low on provisions we continued on and we were shocked at what we found. Bloody red bodies littered the ground. It looked like someone had fought a war and lost. The animals were picking at the dead. But next to that were actual working Paragons!”
“It seems that those who had lost their units took back others one by force. I’m sure that those that had lost everything started a violent takeover and took the usual pabode inhabitants completely by surprise.” One of the Chieftains said.
“True, If there are only a few left then I can see how that would start a bloodbath.” Said Chase, “but that brings to bear some interesting decisions. In the first place, we need our techs to do an in depth study of just how these things work so we can duplicate some of the technology. Secondly, these units are the key to returning to healthy diets and we must have a knowledge of the inner workings of the food processing plants. How far away are these units.?”
“They are far far away sir. It took us a month and half to get there by bike, moving the whole village would take months probably.”
Hmmm, Chase thought it over.
“It could very well be that cables which had a hard wire connection to the those units were severed in the storm. If that is the case, then a simply reconnection would reset all the servers in this entire state.”
The chieftain shook his head.
“No no no, if we reset the servers it would not be with working farms. They would not be able to provide us with protein and nutrients in our foods because when they went down, the food has already spoiled other than what we were able to salvage. Besides the damage has already been done, millions are already dead. We are too late. But of far greater importance, I like where we are going as a people. With everyone having a role as contributors rather than dependents, we are truly building a new civilization. People are getting to know their neighbors, they are laughing together, they will be having children together, real families. This is a step forward. We have new foods, new artists and a new culture we could potentially enter a new Golden Age without the use of these confounded units, they are traps if you ask me. We need to keep this an absolute secret.”
Chase gave it some more thought. He was right in some aspects. But he felt mankind had a right to the technology it had developed.
“But we have learned now. We can never become completely dependent again. Someone somewhere will always have to know how to rebuild, how to keep improving and how to change things. If we use what we learned to teach everyone essential skills for life and use this as a harsh lesson of history, this will never happen again.” Said another
“You don’t know that. People will fall into complacency again over time and become lost again within the machine. I believe that life is meant to be lived, just like we are doing. Why change it?” said another.
“What do you think Beverly?” Chase asked.
“I believe that it could possibly be an easy fix putting all the Paragons back into the network. Everything could very likely be as the result of one lost cable or connection which has pushed us out of the main network. I think we need to record this as a very important part of our history and revamp the program to teach us how to live and respect one another.” She said.
Chase listened to all opinions as they discussed into the night, finally after much deliberation he spoke.
“I thank you for all your valued opinions. First of all everything we have learned stays within this tent. We cannot let it get out that there are pockets of working machinery to the village, because that would cause a lot of confusion, especially since we have not yet decided on a course of action. We are going to vote on it, but here is what I believe we should do. First and foremost, we must never let ourselves fall into another dark age of technology ever again. If we just move forward with full repairs, that may be exactly what would happen, it may not happen overnight, but it would happen. We have to create a division of historians who carefully document what has happened here and why, including the body count, they can make old style books to be passed down through the generations. But this has to be made a record of, hell the balladeers can even write songs about it for all I care, but this moment HAS to become part of our culture and I like w
hat was suggested that we need to incorporate learning and life skills into Paragon programming. But there is great bloodshed and turmoil within our lands. If we continue to rise back as a nation, we have a responsibility to the people that this does not occur. I can’t sit around while bandits pillage on the innocent in a further pursuit of an empty existence. I believe, as we continue to grow in numbers, we need to take back those units that were taken by force and use them only for the purposes of food and education. Time in each unit will be rationed for all. Only because we let ourselves get carried away and spend 90% of our time on self-gratification and entertainment, did we almost lose ourselves. If we maintain a sense of ethics and are temperate, we can use these machines to the benefit of mankind rather than their detriment. Therefore we need to train a complement of soldiers to take them back, reverse engineer them as best we can and move from there. This would be dangerous to a degree, but our village has developed a proud and capable people, people who will be able to defend themselves and who would win a war against those who preyed upon the unsuspecting. We are all Americans, and we can all grow as Americans again, together as a people.”
Everyone listened attentively. It was very late now and it was agreed that it would be voted on in the following days.
* * *
The entire town had been informed and after everything settled down, the voting began. In the end it was decided that the Paragons would be retaken and used as food stations and learning bays, but food came first. They would attempt to study the units as best they could so that technology could be reestablished. Use of the units for entertainment purposes only was strictly forbidden and people would be lining up to eat and have 20 minutes each before the next person would get a chance. Nutrition was held as important.
Of course not all in the villagers were in agreement. There was a lot of unrest and many believed that the units should be abandoned altogether in favor of the better society they were building. Chase was in strong disagreement with that so when he began the action of training soldiers to both protect his people and win back the units that were stolen, it was voted that only those people who were in agreement and actually wanted to be soldiers would be enlisted. It turned out that out of what was close to about 6,000 people there were enough volunteers to make up a 400 man army, enough to defend and more. Also these were men who had been used to VR environments involving war or battle and so had an understanding of military tactics etc. Chase chose his men out this pool and after his artisans had crafted a series of weapons and armor began a grueling training program to make them fierce warriors. New America would be protected.
It was not expected that they would meet a strong resistance to those who had hijacked Paragon units or those who were still lost in the world of VR, not being trained in the real world with what would be considered archaic weaponry, but the reports of many acres strewn with hacked up bodies showed that they had to be ready for whatever multifarious circumstances which could possibly occur. Was there another army out there? The scouts found at least a few tools that man had used to butcher other men. Better to be prepared and the villagers uniformly agreed that this was a necessity at least.
A month of training passed, they were ready to begin the trek to the east. A countryside began to fill with backpacks of provisions, stretchers, make shift tents, pillows and blankets and anything else they could possibly need. Along with soldiers, they also sent along medical officers, some women for food preparation, the best techs they had, a priest and a historian to accompany them. They would be gone for a long time and it was hoped they return. Families began their heartfelt goodbyes. Goodbyes to people they had previous only known through the disjointed interpretations of a computer program.
Chase would not have to say goodbye however, his new love, Brandi, who had skills as a cook, volunteered to be among the soldiers. But he did have a send off from his father, who was in stout disagreement with the mission, and from Jessica, his sister. Many of the villagers were sad to see Chase go, but the executive branch was well established, and he knew he was leaving everyone in very good hands. As they pushed out that morning into the valley, those left behind who were the musicians decided to lament their departure through the cheers of the crowd.
Let the winds guide those who would venture forth towards a new world,
Let them find what they seek as realities mosaic unfurls,
May times past teach through hardship and parable,
May futures soil may be sowed and ever after be arable,
As we make our way to new beginnings let God guide our ways,
As we only hope never again to stray toward our earthly malaise,
Envelope those who would dwell within machine,
Envelope them with lifes embrace so unadulterated and pristine,
Guide them with your will,
Guide them all with your heart,
Guide them and lay all woes and misgivings still,
Guide them to a new start,
* * *
After a month they seemed to reach their destination. The horizon was filled with unnatural purple light which could only have been created by the hand of humanity. The active Paragons were just ahead. When the glint of steel was caught in the distance, Chase lined up his squads and barked out commands. Already the could see the corpses that lined the fields, the result of blunt, sharp and ranged weaponry. They made ready in a nearby trench and Chase hunkered down. He had already briefed them and they were expecting this.
He didn’t have his HUD or threat assessment display with its bloated probability percentages. The only way he could tell what was going on was to keep a constant eye on all his troops. The only way to maintain his command to the various squads under him was to yell and maintain his presence as a leader in the heat of battle. This was much more difficult. He could also die here and he knew it. Across the field he saw more glinting axes and swords and the enemy prepared for battle.
He readied himself for action and bark out the first commands to advance his troops. Again he was thinking one thing and ready to say another…
Just then a horrible thought had entered Chase’s mind. Was all this just part of a simulation? He dimly recalled asking the program for more originality and a higher difficulty a few days before the debacle had occurred. Maybe he was still in the program? He stood up and waved his hands in a motion to activate the universal console. He tried it again. Nothing happened. No this was truly the real world. Seeing it now, he could never again mistake it again. It somehow had an expansiveness to it that he couldn’t quite put his finger on. It also had pain in it, but conversely it had a far greater pleasure in it. No life had changed. He looked around and saw the bright and eager faces of the fellow men who would battle beside him, ready to die if need be. He saw their sweat, their passion. It spurred him. He loved it. He would play the only game he knew how, the only game that was left, the triumphant game of life itself, live or die in the attempt. He took in a deep breath and…
“CHARGE!!!”
The End
The Custodians of Nothing
A strident cry rang out in the Ariton night sky reverberating against the window pane, making its way into the heart of Nym’s spine. He shuddered. Edging up to the sill he gazed over the gothic yet metropolitan landscape shrouded in darkness. He knew what he would see if he looked down. Another innocent had been accosted by the enforcers and taken away against their will. It was a common now, but it never failed to unnerve him. He watched as the helpless man was dragged away to drumming heels on the cobblestone into the dark until finally drowned out by blustering winds. He fell back into reverie.
“What was that?” came from behind.
“What?” said a pensive Nym.
The spirited voice of a young boy rang up again as Brevin sat up in interest.
“What was that sound, uncle?”
He wasn’t really his uncle, it was more a term of endearment. He thought of a way to console him, to avert him from the truth. H
e couldn’t think of much.
“Nothing to concern yourself with Brevin, shouldn’t you be getting back to bed?” he turned his head back towards him and tried to drown out the image of what he just witnessed.
“You have a lot to study tomorrow and you will want to be rested. I’m going to be checking you out you know.”
“Aww man, more reading! When can I finally go outside and meet some people?”
Nym sat down next to the boy and sidled up next to him, “We’ve been through this Brev, it’s extremely dangerous out there. You could go and we may get separated and never see each other again, or worse, one of us could get killed. “ He gently caressed his cheek. “ Promise you will never run off, please.”
Brevin leaned back in his cot again, resting his head, “I know I know, you tell me every day. How could I forget?” He gave out an exasperated sigh. “But I still love you uncle.” He smiled “Good night.”
Nym returned an affected smile, hiding his inner feelings, and sank back into thought. “Good Night.”
The boy was coming to be of an age where a little truth may not hurt him, he didn’t really know how Brevin would handle it though. Nym had never seen him deal with adversity, unless you consider having to re-sweep the living room after play time adversity. No, but he couldn’t hold back forever, some day Brevin would have to grow up too.
The only time he really saw him in danger was the day he rescued the boy, he distinctly remembered the startled look he gave as Nym put the cap on his head. A cap he has had to wear ever since. It took him several years, but he finally got used to it. Just like Nym, his own bowler and frock coat a staple of his persona. At this point, the hat was practically conjoined to his body.
Epic Page 12
