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The terrible rebellion of Audiola
one month ago
Came up with this idea for Sherbet's contest, but I was unable to develop it. I ended up wasting a lot of time struggling to get this story game off the ground until I just threw my hands up and discarded the idea to do something else. Over the past week or so, I turned the original premise of the story game I planned to write into a 1700 word short story using the main branch that was most promising. Could you please read it and tell me what you thought of it, what you liked and what you didn't?
Briiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!”. Delton blearily woke up to the sound of his perpetually annoying alarm. As he slowly yawned, he glanced down at the floor, littered with a field of used cotton balls, sadly scattered like a bunch of dead, fallen leaves. He slowly staggered to his feet as he put on his standard work detail uniform for his job in the fishery. He smelled the dank, fermented smell of cod on his uniform as he resignedly put it on; the soap ration was late again as the trucks were delayed due to insurgents. He pulled on his gloves and laced his boots tight, double knotted, and carefully placed his information visor on his temples, ensuring that it fit snugly along his head. He then turned it on. The visor glowed, and light photons appeared like magic, scattering together to construct a glowing image with the words, “Good morning Citizen”, in a jaunty faux-exuberant voice. The words began to move and new words replaced them, like a teleprompter. “Today is a wonderful day”. “Today, we must rise and set to work to build the society of Audiola to its zenith” “You are no longer alone and unheard. You are part of something greater....”. As the daily announcement began to play, Delton’s mind began to wander.
He thought back to his life 3 years ago. He woke up with the same sun shining in the sky, and the same clear pollution-free skies, but things could not have been more different. Instead of a dingy work uniform, he put on a shiny clean-pressed government official suit and tie, and instead of waking up with a feeling of dread, he woke up with a sense of unshakeable resolve. It was his sworn duty as the head of Educative Selection to ensure that the future generation is made up of the best and the brightest, and that there will be no aberrations that will threaten the survival of the species.
Officer Delton walked through the large marble hallways, and sat alone at his dining table, where a waiter silently served him his opulent breakfast on the large stone granite table meant to seat 50. After finishing his meal, he walked out of his mansion, and slowly stepping in the backseat of his Mercedez Benz. He directed his driver to take him to the center, and slowly let his mind wander. He flashed back to a moment in his father’s office, where, even as a young boy, he wore a clean pressed suit and tie, hair neatly combed, but eyes filled with fear. He was standing in his father’s office, as his dad sternly turned towards him. 6’4’’ and dressed immaculately, Delton’s father had a square jawed face framed by a lion’s mane beard and large, cruel eyes, that seemed to strike his soul with lightning bolts. Delton knew that this talk was very important.
Delton’s father then said to him, “Delton! Do you know our history, how our great family came to be, and the importance of upholding our own”. Delton replied hesitantly, “No Sir”. Delton’s father then said, “Well listen closely. This history is a closely guarded secret available only to those of the higher echelon of society such as us. They’re not meant for the riff-raff. Once upon time, there was a civilization much like ours. There was a whole global world. The year was 1962 A.D., A.D., means Anno Domini. We are of course right now in 500 A.C., A.C. meaning After Cataclysm as I’m sure you’ve learned in school. And there were 2 nations, known as the United States of America and the Soviet Union. These countries were locked in what we now call a Cold War, meaning the 2 countries were the biggest superpowers in the world.
These countries were obsessed with surpassing each other technologically and in almost every way, but almost never engaged in actual combat, the reasoning being that these countries had weapons of mass destruction that no other country could hope to compete with, so these 2 must remain in peace with mutual cooperation. Unfortunately in 1962 A.D., the Soviet Union threatened the United States with missiles stored in an ally country near the U.S., and the United States bungled a covert operation to dismantle said threat, and as a result, nuclear war erupted, both sides firing on each other, reducing the world to ashes.
And that is where we come in. Like the phoenix rising from the ashes, the survivors of this calamity, our noble ancestors, sought to rebuild and, more importantly, restructure. You see, we were dealt a horrible blow, as during this time another war was being waged by the United States, and in this war, they United States used a nasty chemical weapon known as Agent Orange that has severe effects on Human Physiology. When combined with the nuclear waste, this deadly cocktail triggered a latent mutation in many humans, causing so many of the survivors to go deaf, except for the chosen few. Our ancestors were disgusted by the weakness in the survivors, as during the fallout of an event like this, it is absolutely crucial for all members of the survivors to contribute value, and the earless sought to weaken and destabilize. Despite their abject frailty and pure useleness, the strong members rebuilt civilization back to its former glory in a mere 500 years. To punish those who held us back, and continue to hold us back, I, the Head of the department of selective education promise to ensure purity in our young children, for they are the future, and to prune out the earless, and I expect you to uphold this tradition as our family has done faithfully for decades.”
Delton suddenly jolted awake, as he realized the car stopped and he had arrived. In front of him stood an array of audiometric testing equipment and list of children’s names, arranged by class and teacher. He meticulously began his work for the day, calling up kids from the 1st grade all the way to the 9th grade, and having them perform the Hearing Beep Test, and then checking with his recorded benchmark to ensure the kids are up to standard. If not, he would carefully thin the herd with his trusty pistol he had in his pocket. He disliked this aspect of the job, as to him, it was completely unnecessary and a mere failure of natural selection to simply weed out the flawed specimens. “Why”, he thought, “must humanity be held back by these swine, who destabilize our country? If only there was somewhere we could send them, where we would be free from the wretched masses holding us down like weighted anchors”.
Eventually his work was finished for the day, and he left, after hoisting the scarlet soaked table on the dias in front of the school, and giving all a gentle admonishment about the importance of ensuring the greatness of humanity remaining intact. Content with the day’s work, he left, but as he was heading home, the streets erupted with flames. A veritable swarm of horribleness erupted, with his beloved town being engulfed in flames. He saw many of his close friends and golfing buddies being overrun by an angry mob. Before he knew it, his life was crashing to the ground. Delton managed to get back home undetected, and he quickly plugged his ears with cotton, as he knew they were looking for others like him.
Delton snapped back to the present. “This is a time to take action not to cry over the past”. Work at the fisheries proceeded as normal, as Delton was careful, as usual, to avoid the sound traps. Loudspeakers frequently blared the most insane things, recordings of a more quaint era, leaving his fellow workers happily oblivious, to the psychological torment blared through the speakers. At times, the speaker’s voice adopted a friendly tone, urging those who can hear to report to the rebel’s headquarters, where they would be pardoned and treated with mercy for their crimes. But Delton was no fool. He worked the day in silence, carefully kneeling in the damp water to sort out the endless sea of fish.
At last, dusk approached. He shedded his dingy uniform, hopefully for the last time, and carefully pulled out the cellphone he managed to hide for 3 years. He sent out a group call, softly saying, “It’s time”.
For about a year now, Delton was the leader of a group dedicated to defeating the filthy rebels who dared to usurp the genetically superior. At times it was tiring but Delton knew how important the work was. He was certain that eventually, the natural order of things would restore, as the earless weren’t very intelligent, nor did they have the ancestry that stretched since the beginning of Audiola, like Delton did.
Delton knew he and his men deserved to rule, and it was only a matter of time before they did.
He and his men quietly split up, heading to different sectors of the city. Delton quietly brought out the pliers. Timing was crucial. They needed to destroy the lights and plunge the city into darkness. Delton remembered the long months he and his men would sneak out of the city, blindfolding themselves, training their ears till they could differentiate between the footfall of a deer, and an antelope. Delton knew that their ears would lead them to victory, the very fact that they can hear separates them from the masses, and will be the Earless’s undoing. He laughed mirthlessly. What were they thinking, they really thought they could rule, and everyone else would just roll over for them. Yeah right, over his dead body.
Delton carefully connected his pliers to the wires in the electrical box connecting the lights. With a decisive stroke, he slashed the wires, plunging the city into darkness. Delton cried out in celebration, but as he pulled out his stolen rifle, all of a sudden, a sharp, harsh, loud ringing sound rang, that slowly began to escalate in intensity. Delton felt his eardrums shatter, and all of a sudden, all the men lay on the streets, crying out in agony, as the night became quiet once more.
