the 28th possibility, red version

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ka and bo had been watching the humans for months. seasons had come and gone. the human tribes had not fought or raided each other. and roamed freely over each other’s territories. and hardly seemed to have separate territories any more. although the total area they inhabited seemed to have shrunk. at first ka and bo thought they were retrenching in order to consolidate and attack the fans and the bans. but, no. there was no sign of training the young humans for war. there was no sign of any preparation for war. the young males, and the young females, in fact the humans of all ages spent their hours, when not gathering food, eating, singing, and dancing. and all they gathered for food were fruit and nuts, without disturbing bugs, birds or other small creatures. the hardest part of their long surveillance, ka and bo agreed, was listening to the ceaseless insipid music of the humans. when ka returned to the council of the fans, and bo to the council of the nans, they were both greeted with skepticism, if not outright scorn, and told to return to their posts. but months had gone by, and nothing had changed. ka and bo were now sure of their information, and confident of bringing their elders around to a total concerted attack on the humans. each had selected some human acres for their prizes, and picked out a few human females for their personal use. and this time, the elders agreed, though with dire warnings of savage punishment against both ka and bo if the humans proved, after all, to be engaged in an elaborate ruse. the simultaneous attacks were planned for the waning of the next moon. the success of the attacks was so total as hardly to furnish tales for song or story. the humans were obliterated as a tribe and empire, though a few were allowed to survive as slaves. in time, ka became emperor of the fans, and bo the emperor of the nans. the story of their final confrontation has been told a thousand times, with many variations and embellishments. for what good is a story, without variations or embellishments? no more than a song without words, or a book without pictures. next

the eleventh possibility

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jh-56s, j for short, has a dream. 33rd dream of the 7,651st day of j’s life. 267,786th dream of j’s life. walking down an empty road, beneath a pink sky. trees, with thin green branches, no leaves. house in distance. house never gets closer, j keeps walking. 278 checks notes on j, one of 278’s 1028 charges. jh-56s is on short watch list, as dreams show signs of leakage from expiring empire’s past. the door opens, and y88, 278’s senior officer, appears. y88 on routine daily rounds, or so 278 thinks. but how know? who knows what? y88 watches scan of j’s brain-dream, says nothing. 278 makes move to move on to next dreamer, y88 holds up hand. “let us look a little longer,” says y88. “if you like,” 278 replies. “there has been no change in subject for “ - consults notepad - “17 days.” “it is the color of the sky,” replies y88. “i just do not like it.” “a common enough color in scans of this sort,” 278 replies. “perhaps just a slight shade darker.” “it is the very slightness of the shade of darkness that concerns me,” says y88. “let us watch a little longer.” “very well,’ 278 agrees. now 278 and y88 are following j down the road. j does not look back. the sky gets a darker shade of pink. the trees, when they appear, are further and further apart. at a signal from y88, 278 assumes the form of an orange cat. and y88 the form of a spider. the spider is the same size as the cat. they move swiftly down the road in their new forms and catch up with j, who turns around. j has a classic human form with two legs and two legs, a head and an upright stance, but has no face. now they are within distance of the house, which suddenly looms on the horizon. there is a path leading off the road to the house, and they take it. close up, the house has four floors, each with seven windows facing the road, except the ground floor which has six windows, three on each side of a heavy door. all the windows are dark. j makes a sudden rush for the door, attempting to leave 278 and y88 behind. the door opens with ponderous slowness, but 278 and y88 stay back. they allow the door to open, and j to rush inside the house. the door closes, even more slowly than it had opened. the sky turns green, and y88 and 278 enjoy a good laugh. next

the eighth possibility

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"ayesha! why are you treating your slave so nastily?” “what is it to you, my dear bathsheba, how i treat my slaves? after all, “ princess ayesha laughed. “they are slaves, are they not?” “indeed. but surely you are aware of the empress’s directive to treat the slaves with a touch of respect in order to ensure their loyalty in the coming confrontation with the bakkadian empire?” “pooh! it was a suggestion, not a directive. i, as much as you, am still free to treat my slaves as i will. i ask you, if the empress dd not trust my judgment, would she have trusted me with the command of the central fleet?” “i suppose not,” the princess bathsheba agreed. “still - look how sad the poor fellow looks! he is still smarting from your rebuke.” “who cares what a slave looks like? or what they are thinking? after all, men have been slaves for ten thousand years - at least within the happy confines of the empire, which we, as princesses and officers of the fleet, are sworn to defend.” “true,” bathsheba agreed, with a hint of reluctance. suddenly ayesha whirled on the slave. “you! what are you standing there for? with your ears flapping in the breeze like the wings of a flying alligator?” the slave, a hulking fellow with broad shoulders and a flattened nose, hung his shaggy head. “you did not dismiss me, mistress.” “i am dismissing you now! get out of my sight! but be ready when i summon you!” the slave shuffled out of the antechamber and headed down a winding corridor. “and we are expected to treat such creatures with respect!” princess ayesha exclaimed. “i rather think not!” “but here is the empress now,” bathsheba noted. the empress approached the two princesses without ceremony. she had a serious look on her face. “what news, cousin?’ ayesha enquired. “serious news,” the empress replied. “but nothing to be alarmed about. i have just received word that the bakkadian fleet is approaching more rapidly than we had anticipated. perhaps indicating some desperation on their part, hoping - how pathetically - to catch us unawares. be that as it may, i advise you both to return to your fleets immediately and await further orders.” “it shall be done,” both princesses replied in unison. “we have beaten these patriarchal empires before and we will beat them again,” the empress intoned solemnly. “we shall!” exclaimed bathsheba. “and men shall always be our slaves!” cried princess ayesha. “indeed they shall,” the empress agreed, wth a smile. “but this is no time for words. report to your fleets.” the two princesses hastened out of the antechamber toward the front door and front steps of the palace. the slave, who had remained within listening distance around the first bend in the corridor, continued on his way with an impassive countenance. next

the ninth possibility

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the formalities were observed, even at the end. cleopatra mason khan, the president of the human federation, stood up before what was left of the human senate, with the remaining five of the seven members of the council seated behind her. cleopatra’s eleven year old daughter, cinderella, seated on a little chair directly behind her, was the only other person present. a cold wind blew through the broken widows of the world headquarters. she spoke into an old fashioned standup microphone, that she could only hope was secure, and addressed such of the human race as could tune into her. “my fellow humans, i am asking you today to recognize that this stage of the war is over. the machines have inflicted irrevocable harm on our forces, and we - myself, the council, and the senate, have decided that we can go forward only with a totally new approach. up until now, we have attempted to fight the rebel machines with machines - machines we thought were loyal, and those we thought too primitive to be enlisted in the machine cause. we now realize that this is hopeless. there are no loyal machines as such, few that we can coerce to do our bidding - such as the microphone i am speaking into right now - and none, we have come to accept, that can not be reached and appropriated by the machine command. therefore, as of today, we are, to use an old fashioned expression, ‘taking to the hills’ and will no longer use anything that can be classified as a manufactured machine, not even anything made of metal, only hand crafted weapons and tools made of wood or stone. we know that some have already taken up the fight in this fashion. we salute them, regret that we were so late in coming around to their correct view, and hope to work with, and fight beside them in the future. those whom we can contact, will be contacted. those whom we can not, we wish good luck. we will remember you in our prayers, and we counsel you not to despair. good night.” a few members of the senate clapped half heartedly. all present rose quickly. they all had bags with them, and began hastening down the stairs - the elevators had long since been compromised - to the fleet of horse drawn carriages waiting outside to carry them to the new headquarters “in the hills”. cleopatra khan turned to cinderella, who had listened expressionlessly to her speech. “are you ready?” the girl had a small knapsack and a slightly larger suitcase beside her chair. “i want to go back and get one thing. i just decided i want to take it.” cleopatra repressed a sigh. “nothing too bulky, i hope.” “just a handkerchief. it belonged to one of my old dolls. and since i can't take the doll - ” dolls could not be taken to the hills, because they could contain hidden transmitters or other machinery. “all right, but hurry up.” “why? i thought we were going to be the last to leave.” “we are, but please hurry anyway.” without further ado cinderella made her way back to the apartments behind the forum where she and cleopatra had had their residence. the apartments were almost bare, but there was a small cot left in cinderella’s old bedroom, and on it cinderella took a small handkerchief which she had left there in case someone accompanied her to verify her story. a small doll sat on the windowsill, overlooking the ravaged capital city. “i heard everything,” the doll told cinderella. “you don’t need to add anything.” “well, then,” said cinderella, “i guess this is goodbye.” “yes, it is, “the doll agreed. “goodbye.” the doll raised its little fist. “victory.” cinderella raised her fist in reply. “victory.” next

assignment: the future

which do you think is the most likely future scenario from these listed? which is the least likely? for your assignment, write stories illustrating each of your two choices. 1) no more crime. total surveillance of all humans, 7/24. information processed by central brain, lawbreakers swiftly apprehended and summarily punished. 2) total crime. no police, survival of fittest. total gang war for control of resources 3) total war between males and females. men control some continents, women others. 4) total war between whites and non-whites. whites have more nukes, control moon and mars. non-whites more people and natural resource 5) total war between breeders (male/female humans) and sexless cloned humans 6) total war between two new religions, both with charismatic leaders. old religions gone. 7) men totally rule world, all women slaves. 8) women totally rule world, all men slaves 9) total war between humans and machines/cyborgs 10) all humans live in separate pods, watch porn/listen to new age music all day 11 all humans live in separate pods, sleep and dream all day. all dreams recorded, bad dreamers eliminated by robot police 12) single human with access to world-destroying weapon rules world, all humans slaves 13) world divided into fighters and breeders. breeders watch gladiatorial combats of fighters all day. 14) total war between mutant race of super-intelligent children, and rest of humanity 15) other animals (cats, dogs, primates. etc) mutate and rise up against humans. total war. 16) insects mutate and rise up against humans. total war. 17) humans merge into single entity, which takes refuge in center of earth 18) humans merge into single entity , which builds space ship and leaves solar system 19) humans reduced to one male, one female, who build space ship and leave solar system 20 humans reduced to one male, one female, who start history all over again, which plays out exactly the same as before. 21) total war between coalition of old religions (christianity, islam, marxism, etc) and new religion 22) total war between new race of immortal humans, and other humans. 23) invasion by aliens. humans unite, defeat aliens 24) invasion by aliens, humans unite, enslaved by aliens 25) invasion by aliens, humans unite, wiped out by aliens 26) invasion by aliens, humans defeated by coalition of aliens and other earth creatures (primates, wolves, insects, etc) 27) invasion by aliens. separate human nations align with different competing alien empires. total war. 28 ) total peace. no more war, no more nations, humans sing and dance all day forever. 29 ) no changes. world exactly the same in year 5000 as year 2000. 30) the future will be totally incomprehensible to the 21st century human brain 31) universe disappears in an instant 32) a great light appears in the sky, and a voice cries … next

an assignment

“today’s assignment is not so easy,” said miss anthony. “so pay close attention.” it is the year 3000. all living creatures live in a single society. the society is completely automated and powered to last forever (time has been abolished) each living creature has its own cell, or pod, where it is provided with air, water, warmth, and food. the living creatures are all identical to each other. every living creature is allotted the same amount of air, water, and warmth. every living creature is given the same food, in the same amount, every day. no creature has any contact with any other - thus avoiding any opportunity for oppression, exploitation, abuse, injustice, inequality, or alienation. but the creatures need art/entertainment. the art/entertainment can not be negative, abusive, exploitative, competitive, discriminatory, despairing, or hurtful, or deal with subjects that portray or imply the existence of negation, abuse, competition, discrimination, inequality, despair, or hurtfulness. for your assignment provide either a story meeting these requirements, or an outline for a series of stories meeting these requirements.

another exercise

by genghis gilgamesh

illustrations by eddie el greco

“today, class,” aggripina announced. “we have another of my favorite little exercises. one that is not quite as simple as you might at first think. the exercise is this - write a story without any adjectives or adverbs. any at all. many words you might not think of as adjectives actually are. for example, ‘hungry’ is an adjective. as are ‘happy’ or ‘sad’ or ‘white’ or ‘black’. it is not enough to avoid writing ‘the hungry lady walked down the dark street’. if you write ‘the lady was hungry’, or ‘the street was dark’, ‘hungry’ and ‘dark’ are adjectives. also, ‘his’ and ‘her’ and ‘their’ are adjectives.” * the rent by william howard taft when bronc got out of jail, his pals clyde and dave took him to a bar and bought him drinks. when bronc got back to the apartment, the landlord was waiting for him. “got the rent?’ the landlord asked. “i will have it tomorrow,” bronc said. “i hope so,” the landlord replied. when bronc got up in the morning, he remembered he had to get money to pay the rent. he went to see herbie. “got any jobs for me?” bronc asked herbie. “not today, “ herbie told him. “you should have taken the job i had yesterday.” “that was yesterday,” said bronc. “i need money today, to pay the rent.” after a pause, he continued. “do you think you will have something by the end of the day?” “no,” said herbie. “i have a couple of jobs, but i promised them to eddie and frank.” bronc nodded and left. he decided to get money by mugging people on the street. bronc walked down seventh street, a street filled with bars and bodegas. he saw a woman walking by and he grabbed her and dragged her into an alley. he strangled her and took the purse she had. when he got back to the street, he discovered that the purse did not have money to pay the rent in it. he could not pay the rent with what he had, but he could buy a burger and a coke so he bought those. he ate the burger and drank the coke. he went back out onto the street. he mugged a man and a woman. he killed the man but the woman managed to run. what he obtained did not add up to the money to pay the rent. when he was mugging a person on main street a policeman saw him. the policeman shouted at bronc to stop mugging the person. “hands where i can see them!” the policeman shouted. bronc ran down an alley. the policeman shot and killed him. bronc never ate or drank or slept or dreamed after that. the rent was not paid. the end