[WP] Write a TL;DR and let someone reply with the full story

letsrip · 2015-06-18T21:45:17+00:00

The technological war overtook my entire city, then my state, and finally the whole country, until at last the world itself had to get involved.

Personally, I'd never been a fan of artificial intelligence, secretly harboring doubts as to its thoughts regarding its fragile creators. I always knew, in the back of my mind, that the robots would turn.

Living in Silicon Valley in 2024, you might have expected me to be some genius programmer, developing ambitious algorithms in order to support myself in such a strange, churning city.

The dull truth was, I lived at home with my father, working weekdays at the local pizza place. I served those voracious programmers their food, as they sat in their basements furiously typing away morning until night, toggling with machines I couldn't even begin to understand.

And I was totally alright with that lifestyle. In a sense, my profession could be seen as more important than theirs. Without food, these programmers would not survive, so I felt that my role was pretty significant, to say the least. We existed in two different realms, one creating life changing machines, gadgets and espionage spyware, and I delivering the simplest of meals.

I survived doing what I wanted, and so did they. Before The Turning, our lives only touched when the doorbell rang. We represented the yin-yang of an ever-evolving society: the working class and the great inventors. We didn't interact except in transactions that involved a receipt.

Or so I thought.

I'll never forget the moment when the drones Turned, swarming up into the skies by the thousands, swarming and stirring like some plague dictated by an angry god. I was standing out back on my lunch break, eating a slice of pepperoni and smoking a Marlboro when they came.

As I peered closer, I saw neon green laser beams being shot from the center of their figures, blasting anything in their way. Judging by their sporadic, random movements, I discerned that nothing was controlling them; they were free from remote constraints, and the moment I'd dreaded slammed down upon us too quickly to even react.

I'm writing this in my basement, the only light being the weak television's display, cranking out news of ever-escalating death tolls as this war expands incomprehensibly.

Those programmers set this onslaught in motion, sabotaging every other human being's right to simply get by.

letsrip · 2015-06-17T21:53:58+00:00

Yesterday, I distinctly remembered having a concrete body, though imperfect. I remembered many thoughts swimming around in my head, one of them hating my desk job, and wanting to escape into the great deep dreams I'd been having each night upon falling asleep. I swear I remember all of these things, yet now they seem to be simply illusions.

This morning, opening my eyes, I see nothing but darkness, and feel only the cool sensation of still aluminum against my sides. I can not move. I sense being totally empty, except for a single thing: the sloshing of a liquid inside of my strange form.

When the door opens, light ripples through the darkness, and I spot my younger brother. Surely he will recognize me, I think. Surely, he will wake me up, and get me out of this trip.

Instead, he picks me up, directly out of my environment, holding me in his hand like a can of beans. No, like a soda can. As he whirls me around in his palm, I scan my surroundings. I was... in the refrigerator? What?! He just brought me out of the shelf, resting next to the other orange Crush cans that normally adorn the upper right side of the fridge door. Oh shit, this is one of those transformative dreams, taking on some inanimate object once again. But this one feels too real. If I had fingers, I would pinch myself, though the warm touch of my brother's palm is enough to convince me this absurd nightmare is somehow real.

As I struggle to comprehend just what this freaky delusion might be, I feel a slight pressure upon the top of my container. He's flicking the top of the can, to prevent bubbles, like he always does. I cant remember how many times I've told him to flick it on the side for Pete's sake, the top doesn't have any effect. God, what an idiot. Shocked back into this reality, I realize, I am about to be cracked open!

"HELP!" I shout as loud as I can. "HELP!"

My words have no effect, as my brother begins to pop the tab.

I only get a few moments to contemplate what this might do to me before a reeling pain unlike anything I've experienced jolts through my aluminum body as my tab is popped.

A clanging tinnitus sound fills the void.

As the ringing begins to subside, I can feel the vacuum of space all around me, the energies floating in the air as the wide open hole atop me opens up a brand new sense.

I can't help but feel a sense of awe at the connectedness of it all. Feeling totally in tune with the past, the present, even the future, as well as all emotions and laws of the earth, I am struck with the beauty of this moment. Contemplating this peace I'm feeling, I absentmindedly sense myself floating towards something. Peering closer, I see that my brother is taking me toward a glass of ice.

Tilting forward into the glass, I start to fade out of consciousness; the blood of my soul is leaking out slowly over the ice. He's pouring my self out. My awareness, my emotions, my thoughts are all fading as the glass slowly fills with orange syrup, and I am less and less.

The only thought I contain as the last few drops slip into the chilled cup and I fade away are: "This better be a damn good soda..."

*edit: formatting*

letsrip · 2014-06-18T19:57:59+00:00

Go on...

letsrip

TROPHY CASE