listening.
“I don’t care.”
Gabe shrugged as Jonathan continued and mouthed to them kindly, ‘He does care.’ and then added, like a sweet, considerate wife, ‘but he’ll never admit it.’
Miek was the only one that laug hed.
T he rest just looked at Miek as Jonathan (oblivious) pushed on, “SO… since it didn’t actually mean anything at all and people were really only free within the realm of other people like them, the air began to get very stuffy. Some ideas were unallowable in one place, and in the other place were demanding tolerance. Those who didn’t want mere tolerance weren’t tolerated. And so, people were no longer free. Not only that, they weren’t happy either.”
“And happiness is related to freedom, right?” The skinny boy s aid excitedly like he was clever.
“Right!” Gabe said overly-buoyantly, tired of Jonathan’s explanation.
May smiled and shook her head. Since thin gs were going so well, Gabe figured he’d throw in the bad news right now, “And so, we started over.”
“What do you mean?” the burly, intimidating man asked.
Why do they always ask that? Gabe wondered. They pretty much know. They do… pretty sure…
Gabe went for honesty, “we gave everyone a disease, which they hardly recognized and we picked this area of this continent to clean it up and put a new population on it.”
“ What is a continent? Why this area?” Miek asked, untainted in enthusiasm.
“It was the least industrious. Less work.” Jonathan claimed. That was sort of true. “Sort of” meaning that World War three was on the verge of beginning when they made that decision and this area was the first to go. It worked perfectly for the sake of the project. All they had to do was go in and clean up.
“… so… you just killed them…” Miek added as if it were a joke.
“Yes, that’s what he said.” Gabe clarified with a patronizing tone.
“Whatever. That’s creepy and psychotic. So now what? You set up a new world, why are you here?” Miek asked.
May rais ed her eyebrows and watched the scientists as they exchanged glances and stared at the ground, then cleared their throats.
“We do research.” Gabe said in as cold a tone as he’d spoken yet. The icy looks from May and Dane were stimulating. “… You should probably know, and what May is waiting for us to tell you is that we’ve done this before.” He paused, “five times over the course of two-hundred and twenty-eight years”.
Too much information was contained in the admittance once their new friends really thought about it. Unfortunately as well, the kids had the time to chew on it. Samson and Miek roamed all the possible questions: They’ve extended their lives long enough for it to happen… or… somehow had to come back? How could they come back? Did they live one of those other places? Were there other people somewhere in distant lands? Then, came the concern for themselves: What would they do to the present inhabitants?
“So, it doesn’t matter if we kill them. They obviously have overcome that already.” Dane said to clarify to both of them. Mutterings of ‘how?’ wandered between them. Death was not an overcome-able thing in their minds. No way.
“We have advanced techniques that make it so our bodies can be remade with the same memories.” Gabe said with a wave of his hand as if it were nothing consequential.
Now Jonathan and Gabe realized their real secret. No weapons needed, they’ve got death by glare and ill-intention down to an art. And not even just to mention by humor. It was a very real effect for Gabe at least. His heart was filled with menacing hate that was coming from the outside, not out of him. It didn’t feel good. He grabbed his shirt and rubbed his chest.
Neither of them were quite sure why it felt so uncomfortable. There was nothing inherently different that they said from what others have said. Suppose, in a way, Gabe felt mocked. Almost as if the ability to die made
“I don’t care.”
Gabe shrugged as Jonathan continued and mouthed to them kindly, ‘He does care.’ and then added, like a sweet, considerate wife, ‘but he’ll never admit it.’
Miek was the only one that laug hed.
T he rest just looked at Miek as Jonathan (oblivious) pushed on, “SO… since it didn’t actually mean anything at all and people were really only free within the realm of other people like them, the air began to get very stuffy. Some ideas were unallowable in one place, and in the other place were demanding tolerance. Those who didn’t want mere tolerance weren’t tolerated. And so, people were no longer free. Not only that, they weren’t happy either.”
“And happiness is related to freedom, right?” The skinny boy s aid excitedly like he was clever.
“Right!” Gabe said overly-buoyantly, tired of Jonathan’s explanation.
May smiled and shook her head. Since thin gs were going so well, Gabe figured he’d throw in the bad news right now, “And so, we started over.”
“What do you mean?” the burly, intimidating man asked.
Why do they always ask that? Gabe wondered. They pretty much know. They do… pretty sure…
Gabe went for honesty, “we gave everyone a disease, which they hardly recognized and we picked this area of this continent to clean it up and put a new population on it.”
“ What is a continent? Why this area?” Miek asked, untainted in enthusiasm.
“It was the least industrious. Less work.” Jonathan claimed. That was sort of true. “Sort of” meaning that World War three was on the verge of beginning when they made that decision and this area was the first to go. It worked perfectly for the sake of the project. All they had to do was go in and clean up.
“… so… you just killed them…” Miek added as if it were a joke.
“Yes, that’s what he said.” Gabe clarified with a patronizing tone.
“Whatever. That’s creepy and psychotic. So now what? You set up a new world, why are you here?” Miek asked.
May rais ed her eyebrows and watched the scientists as they exchanged glances and stared at the ground, then cleared their throats.
“We do research.” Gabe said in as cold a tone as he’d spoken yet. The icy looks from May and Dane were stimulating. “… You should probably know, and what May is waiting for us to tell you is that we’ve done this before.” He paused, “five times over the course of two-hundred and twenty-eight years”.
Too much information was contained in the admittance once their new friends really thought about it. Unfortunately as well, the kids had the time to chew on it. Samson and Miek roamed all the possible questions: They’ve extended their lives long enough for it to happen… or… somehow had to come back? How could they come back? Did they live one of those other places? Were there other people somewhere in distant lands? Then, came the concern for themselves: What would they do to the present inhabitants?
“So, it doesn’t matter if we kill them. They obviously have overcome that already.” Dane said to clarify to both of them. Mutterings of ‘how?’ wandered between them. Death was not an overcome-able thing in their minds. No way.
“We have advanced techniques that make it so our bodies can be remade with the same memories.” Gabe said with a wave of his hand as if it were nothing consequential.
Now Jonathan and Gabe realized their real secret. No weapons needed, they’ve got death by glare and ill-intention down to an art. And not even just to mention by humor. It was a very real effect for Gabe at least. His heart was filled with menacing hate that was coming from the outside, not out of him. It didn’t feel good. He grabbed his shirt and rubbed his chest.
Neither of them were quite sure why it felt so uncomfortable. There was nothing inherently different that they said from what others have said. Suppose, in a way, Gabe felt mocked. Almost as if the ability to die made
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