For now they were intent on the contest. Their contests were thorough affairs that were always carried out with some fanfare. However, when ones of higher skill, such as Yana, were matching their leanings the atmosphere was absolutely festive.
Both the champions would arrive at the designated arena with a contingent of supporters, who would boisterously cheer their competitor. Winning the contest meant moving up the matrix which brought glory to the champion and honor to the academy. The after contest jeering so severely savaged the loser that it made him wonder what viciousness lurked under all the strict proprietary.
All of them not permitted on the field were crowded against the railing with their faced pressed eagerly into the mesh as if driven by some unstoppable need to be as close to the action as possible. As a result he was to only one on the vast stands of the huge indoor stadium and placed himself on a row high enough to get an unrestricted view without having to strain his eyes.
When Abema finally arrived, everyone was forced to reconsider the assumption of Yana’s certain victory. Abema was several inches taller than Yana and seemed even more custom-built for running.
The first thing he noticed was the palatable surge of anticipation for the impending animalistic justice that had overtaken the crowd. ‘Survival of the fittest’ was their way of life, even though it was never mentioned or discussed and even though they didn’t go quite so far as to literally kill the losers of these contests, losers were considered worthless and it almost seemed more cruel to let them live.
For them, advancing on the matrix was the only way to move ahead in life and was always their central priority. They spent most of their time honing their leaning for these contests. Defeated contestants never got a chance to match their leaning in the matrix again unless they could somehow prove that they were beaten due to reasons other than having the weaker leaning, which seldom happened.
Unable to move up on the matrix the losers were quickly sidelined for life and relegated to assignments no one still mobile in the matrix wanted to do. This meant that whatever station they had achieved up to the point of their defeat was the highest they would ever be and therefore they could only look forward to a life which steadily wound down. What made it harsher was the fact that the contests usually happened at a relatively young ages and they had very long life spans.
He wondered how they did it. Accept their place in the matrix as final, how they could give up their dreams and settle into whatever mundane role was tossed their way. Not that they did it gracefully, all of them got distraught and some losers would go into severe depression and had to be put into rehab for almost half a year, what was alien was the fact they could eventually collect themselves and pretend that nothing happened, and keep up the pretense for the rest of their lives.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Core 1.1
They were right! He wasn’t like them!
Ever since the start, since he first came to Myzagapurama he stood out. He wasn’t special in any way he could think of and he stood out precisely because he was ordinary, because he didn’t have a leaning. No one had ever said anything directly to him. They didn’t deem it proper and they never did anything improper. No one ever had anything but a smile to greet him with but somehow he never felt that they were smiling with their eyes. Somehow it never felt real, he never felt welcome. He wasn’t one of them and would never be.
They tolerated him admirably and even let him into their circles. They hung out with him and never bought up the subject of his leaning but he could easily tell that it weighed heavily on their minds. At first they had joked and prodded him about it and even speculated, in giggling undertones, that his leaning maybe in something he couldn’t discuss in public. Eventually, however, with no response or hint being offered from him the speculation and probing died off and it was replaced by a quiet understanding that he was really different from them.
The academy had politely put him down as a recondite, which meant that his leaning hadn’t surfaced yet. It should have been unbearably embarrassing because they never stayed recondite past even half of his age now. By his age they had all learned to master their leaning and had even matched it against others exhaustively to understand their place in the ranking matrix.
He wasn’t like them! And he didn’t care to be!
Ever since the start, since he first came to Myzagapurama he stood out. He wasn’t special in any way he could think of and he stood out precisely because he was ordinary, because he didn’t have a leaning. No one had ever said anything directly to him. They didn’t deem it proper and they never did anything improper. No one ever had anything but a smile to greet him with but somehow he never felt that they were smiling with their eyes. Somehow it never felt real, he never felt welcome. He wasn’t one of them and would never be.
They tolerated him admirably and even let him into their circles. They hung out with him and never bought up the subject of his leaning but he could easily tell that it weighed heavily on their minds. At first they had joked and prodded him about it and even speculated, in giggling undertones, that his leaning maybe in something he couldn’t discuss in public. Eventually, however, with no response or hint being offered from him the speculation and probing died off and it was replaced by a quiet understanding that he was really different from them.
The academy had politely put him down as a recondite, which meant that his leaning hadn’t surfaced yet. It should have been unbearably embarrassing because they never stayed recondite past even half of his age now. By his age they had all learned to master their leaning and had even matched it against others exhaustively to understand their place in the ranking matrix.
He wasn’t like them! And he didn’t care to be!
Core 1.0
They were right!
Though he had taken it in his stride he always felt alien amongst them. Every so he would feel under the breath whispers and the suspicious looks pointed at his turned back.
They all had a leaning, a special talent groomed in them from before birth. Each one of them was extraordinary at some one thing and they wore it proudly like a batch. They often matched their particular talent against others of the same leaning.
He was here today with them to cheer their track team’s champion sprinter as she took on an exchange sprinter from Skyla. He had no interest in the contest and was here only because he couldn’t come up with a proper excuse in time to avoid being asked to join the cheer squad shuttle. Yana ran like a rocket and it was most unlikely that the poor chap from Skyla, Abema or something, he had vaguely heard the name mentioned, stood any real chance of matching his leaning with her.
Even though they wore their leaning proudly like a batch it was usually hard to guess what their particular abilities were till they demonstrated them. Some of them, especially the ones with a strong physiological leaning were easier to categorize by the way they looked. ‘Yana the rocket’, as she liked to call herself, had a leaning so strong that it could easily be spotted even by a casual observer.
She was tall, standing almost a foot above a majority of the other women in the academy and her height was mostly in her legs. She had shimmering white golden hair with a beautiful and delicate face, slender arms and a bust to waist ratio to die for. Below the waist however she was like a different person, her slender buttocks grew into large muscular thighs which would have embarrassed even a male professional bodybuilder. Her calves looked like cudgels and tapered into sinewy ankles of steel with her broad feet perpetually in sneakers.
Though he had taken it in his stride he always felt alien amongst them. Every so he would feel under the breath whispers and the suspicious looks pointed at his turned back.
They all had a leaning, a special talent groomed in them from before birth. Each one of them was extraordinary at some one thing and they wore it proudly like a batch. They often matched their particular talent against others of the same leaning.
He was here today with them to cheer their track team’s champion sprinter as she took on an exchange sprinter from Skyla. He had no interest in the contest and was here only because he couldn’t come up with a proper excuse in time to avoid being asked to join the cheer squad shuttle. Yana ran like a rocket and it was most unlikely that the poor chap from Skyla, Abema or something, he had vaguely heard the name mentioned, stood any real chance of matching his leaning with her.
Even though they wore their leaning proudly like a batch it was usually hard to guess what their particular abilities were till they demonstrated them. Some of them, especially the ones with a strong physiological leaning were easier to categorize by the way they looked. ‘Yana the rocket’, as she liked to call herself, had a leaning so strong that it could easily be spotted even by a casual observer.
She was tall, standing almost a foot above a majority of the other women in the academy and her height was mostly in her legs. She had shimmering white golden hair with a beautiful and delicate face, slender arms and a bust to waist ratio to die for. Below the waist however she was like a different person, her slender buttocks grew into large muscular thighs which would have embarrassed even a male professional bodybuilder. Her calves looked like cudgels and tapered into sinewy ankles of steel with her broad feet perpetually in sneakers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)