A short story
- This topic has 7 replies, 3 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 11 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
[b]Last of the Yün Siph[/b]
By Lee ShermanOutside the window, the sun had just disappeared below the horizon, and the fiery colors in the sky faded into the livid tones of death. The radiance that had bathed the Earth was drowned out by the artificial brightness of four rectangular electric lights on the ceiling. One of them flickered, unable to glow with the energies supplied to it. They were framed by a dull blue that enveloped the walls, broken by a “painting” of meaningless colored shapes that could be flowers, or birds, or symbols to be read by a machine, or just shapes. Through the dull walls phones could be heard ringing in their different tones, and meaningless rhythms sounded on the keys of computers. Crickets outside sang songs that instinct had dictated to them. Melded inextricably to the wall was a countertop of the darkest black covered with meaningless items. Meaningless patterns repeated over the tiles of the floor, and they resonated in cold tones as footsteps fell upon them in their own pattern. A man walked in the room. He was an older man, balding, wearing thick glasses, dressed in clothes as unimaginative as his surroundings. He closed the door, clicked the end of his pen, turned a few pages on a clipboard, and sat down in a swiveling chair to do his job.
“How are we doing today?” he spoke to another man. The other man sat in the corner, his hands and feet were chained to a cold metal chair. He looked like death, but his eyes were still full of life. He had meaning.
“Do you know where you are?” The other man’s lips remained still.
“Do you know how you got here?” Still, no response was uttered. “Do you know why you’re in those restraints?” The man’s eyes shifted, as if he had caught something of meaning in his gaze. The other man asked one final question in his list.
“Do you know how lucky you are?” The other man fixed his eyes on the man who was asking the questions, but still didn’t speak.
“Not many people survive what you have been through. You experienced an aneurysm in the temporooccipital lobe of your brain. You were in a coma for seven days. You should be dead. But instead you’re sitting there, with full intellectual capacity, but with no past. I’m here to help you. It’s my job to bring your memories back to you, and to end the fantasy that’s been played in your mind. I’ve done this before, and I’ll do it again.” He finally looked up from his clipboard again, wondering if the man had any comprehension of what he was saying.
“Do you know who I am?” Once again, the only answer was a stare.
“I am Dr. Paul Griffon. We met before, briefly.” The doctor seemed uncertain how to follow up each sentence as it was treated with silence.
“I was just talking to your wife. We’re all glad you came out of the coma, but now we have new concerns. Do you know who you are?” An answer finally came.
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph. We are all born children of the Ley, we live and die protecting order. When humanity was brought to the brink of extinction by the great nuclear conflict, it was we who rebuilt civilization. We were once a powerful warrior caste. When the Technocrats came to power, they condemned our beliefs and labeled those who continued to follow them heretics. Today I am alone. My brothers are all gone, destroyed one by one by the forces of darkness. But a prophecy states that I will be responsible for the death of the Interdictor and the dissolution of the Technocracy.”
Dr. Griffin was not surprised by what he said. He had heard the ravings of madmen before. He just wrote down some notes and shifted from questions to statements.
“You are Lester Pierpoint Shield. You were born on September 9, 1975 and married to Meredith Benton on December 11, 1998. You work as a stockbroker in Detroit, Michigan.”
“I am Gêkí. I was born on March 15, 4553, and am married to no one. I am templar to the noblest of orders.”
“You’ve undergone severe psychological damage in these last few days, Mr. Shield. You are experiencing organic amnesia, and your mind has constructed memories that never really happened. It’s my job to bring you back to reality. I’ve worked with patients with similar cases, and I expect you to make a full recovery. Your real memories will surface in time, only first you need to let go of this other life you think you’ve led. Now, I want you to listen to the words I say and try to remember. Your parents are…”
“I was grown in a lab. My only father is Kaïzäa Yün; my only mother is the Ley. My brothers all died fighting for what they believed in; and with my help their deaths will not have been in vain. I have meaning.”
“Do you remember how you got here?” The man returned to his routine of not answering the doctor’s questions.
“Do you remember losing consciousness? There was still no answer.
“Do you remember ever being on a surgical table?”
“Yes.” Although it was the answer the doctor had wanted to hear, it surprised him.
“Do you remember why you were there?”
“To be ritually killed by an agent of the Technocrats. She failed.”
“Woman surgeon, can’t expect much results. Now, you need to concentrate-who are you?”
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph. We are all born children of the Ley, we live and die protecting order. When humanity was brought to the brink of extinction by the great nuclear conflict, it was we who rebuilt civilization. We were once a powerful warrior caste. When the Technocrats came to power, they condemned our beliefs and labeled those who continued to follow them heretics. Today I am alone. My brothers are all gone, destroyed one by one by the forces of darkness. But a prophecy states that I will be responsible for the death of the Interdictor and the dissolution of the Technocracy.”
The doctor decided to explore what he was saying.
“What is this…’Ley’ you keep talking about?”
“The Ley are focal points of the Earth’s energy, manifested in lines that criss-cross the entire planet’s surface. They were built long ago by interplanetary travellers to tap the powers of a unique world. They are soft spots in the mostly solid shell of reality, sometimes kilometers in length, yet with event horizons mere nanometers wide. Their phased quantons radiate out from the surface, and are reflected down by the magnetosphere. The Ley are affected by the magnetic fields generated by machines, life-forms, even thought itself. They record events in time-space, which can be played back. They bend time. When an important event is about to occur, the Ley vibrate and quake out of their boundaries. A Yün Siph can feel the presence of the Ley, understand their behavior, and use their power to his benefit. Through the Ley we can see things that happen in other parts of the world, hear the thoughts of other beings, even catch an occasional glimpse of things yet to be.”
“If these things exist,” the doctor said, still in mock friendliness, “then where are they?”
“Everywhere. There is one going through this room.”
The doctor pretended to look to see what he was describing, knowing full well what he would really observe.
“Why can’t I see it?”
“Because it is in the blind spot of the mind.”
The doctor was struck by what he said, but pretended to be unfazed.
“Right now you are living two lives. One as a husband and soon to be father, named Lester Shield; the other as warrior and mystic, named Gêkí. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“One of these lives really happened; the other is just convenient delusion. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“One of these lives has a lot to offer; the other is meaningless. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“One of these lives can continue; the other must end. Do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Now, who are you?”
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph. We are all born children of the Ley, we live and die protecting order. When humanity was brought to the brink of extinction by the great nuclear conflict, it was we who rebuilt civilization. We were once a powerful warrior caste. When the Technocrats came to power, they condemned our beliefs and labeled those who continued to follow them heretics. Today I am alone. My brothers are all gone, destroyed one by one by the forces of darkness. But a prophecy states that I will be responsible for the death of the Interdictor and the dissolution of the Technocracy.”
The doctor wrote down notes, and the patient continued.
“Everything else is irrelevant. Meaningless rhythms and quasi-existences.”
“Your name is Lester Shield…”
“My name is Gêkí. It has always been Gêkí; it will always be Gêkí. Long before I was born, the Prophets saw me through the Ley. Though they died at the hands of the Technocrats, they wrote what was to come and I have read their prophecies. I will destroy the Interdictor and the Technocracy will end, and order will be restored to Earth. And after I have joined my fallen brothers they will erect statues of me at the places where the Ley intersect and the people go to pray, and they will speak my name, and my legacy will never be forgotten, and no one can take that away from me. Not you, not the Interdictor, and not Lester Shield.”
The patient was on the verge of tears.
“You are Lester Shield; you have to accept that.”
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph. We are all born children of the Ley, we live and die protecting order. When humanity was brought to the brink of extinction by the great nuclear conflict, it was we who rebuilt civilization. We were once a powerful warrior caste. When the Technocrats came to power, they condemned our beliefs and labeled those who continued to follow them heretics. Today I am alone. My brothers are all gone, destroyed one by one by the forces of darkness. But a prophecy states that I will be responsible for the death of the Interdictor and the dissolution of the Technocracy.”
The man began to shake convulsively in the chair he was bound to. The other man retracted the tip of his pen, and put it and the clipboard down on the counter to his right. He got out of his chair and stood before the helpless, looking down into his troubled eyes.
“You are Lester Shield.”
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph.”
“You are Lester Shield.”
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph.”
“You are Lester Shield.”
“I am a child of the Ley. The Ley speak to me, and I listen. When I close my eyes I see my departed brothers. I hear their voices in my mind. Their voice is the voice of the Ley. Their will is the will of order. They tell me to do things, and I know I must obey them. I can feel the Ley quivering under my feet and trembling behind my eyes. I am just a channel for their essence…”
“No you’re not! The Ley don’t even exist. There is no such thing as a Yün Siph. Not in the twenty first century, not in the forty sixth century, not ever. It’s all just a fantasy created by your damaged brain. You still have a chance to live a normal life, Mr. Shield”
“…I have the power of the Ley.”
“Then prove it, ‘last of the Yün Siph’.” Now, the doctor’s tone was mocking, like a hunter taunting an animal caught in a trap. Or a holy man, taunting a heretic tied to a burning stake.
The man reached out, as far as the restraint would allow, into the empty air.
“What are you doing with your hand?”
Suddenly, the other man stopped pacing. He began to clutch his throat and gasp for air. The crushing of cartilage and the cracking of bone was heard. The electric light that had before been flickering went out in a shower of sparks. The one who had identified himself as Dr. Griffon staggered and collapsed on the floor. The pen on the counter, disturbed by the vibrations, rolled off the clipboard and landed on the tile.
Crickets sang. Computer keys clicked. Phones rang. A thin trail of blood trickled from the corner of the fallen man’s mouth. And people talked.
“Did my husband really kill a doctor?” a woman asked another woman, dressed like a person of authority, who was peering into a rectangle of glass.
“No. He died of natural causes, probably a heart attack. I don’t think the autopsy results are in, yet.”
The plain-clothed woman breathed a sigh of relief.
“Dr. Chimaera made it sound like he was strangled.”
“Naw, Lester was chained down the whole time. He couldn’t’ve done anything.” The other woman mouthed the words “chained down,” lost in thought, then returned to asking the nurse questions.
“What does he have to say? Has anyone even talked to him?”
“It would be meaningless. He’s
unresponsive. He just keeps saying the same thing over and over again.”They both looked through the tiny window into a dimly-lit room containing a man.
“I am Gêkí, last of the Yün Siph. We are all born children of the Ley, we live and die protecting order. When humanity was brought to the brink of extinction by the great nuclear conflict, it was we who rebuilt civilization. We were once a powerful warrior caste. When the Technocrats came to power, they condemned our beliefs and labeled those who continued to follow them heretics. Today I am alone. My brothers are all gone, destroyed one by one by the forces of darkness. But a prophecy states that I will be responsible for the death of the Interdictor and the dissolution of the Technocracy. Today, I fulfilled that prophecy.”
Excellemnt story Dalek!
Your exactness of phase and form are an inspiration.
It’s interesting that you should choose the hero as a single minded man, a spiritual man, a force of order who’s main objective is to violently end the life of someone whome we would all consider a good person.
It’s very rare that a Doctor is cast in the light of a baddy, even though (from the way your story was constructed) he prolly didn’t know he was the Interdictor.
A gripping read, thanks for the post [img]images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
Wow. I’m impressed. Intriguing explanation for the ley lines, and I like the ambiguous ending. Did he kill the doctor, or did he die of natural causes? Was it all the man’s illusion, or is he actually the last of the Yün Siph? Nice story, I hope you’ll post others.
I know, the quality of writing isn’t that great. That was the first real story I’d written. It appeared in [i]The Devil’s Diary[/i], a publication of my high school. I hope some day to get some of my sci-fi published professionally.
The original ending had the illusion destroyed when Gêkí killed the doctor. He was revealed to be some kind of biomechanical thing, and the setting changed to a high-tech dungeon in the forty sixth century. But I changed the ending so the final version is open to multiple interpretations.
The Yün Siph are something I created for something else and pulled for the short story. They appear in a novel I’ve been working on for a while, in the context of something real.
I’m glad you people like it.
[img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] excellent DT! [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] [img]images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
That was great! Where did you get the idea for the story from??
quote:
Originally posted by Smartass 2002:
That was great! Where did you get the idea for the story from??
I’m flattered that you think enough of my little story to actually wonder about its origins. There were actually a number of events that inspired it. It was written on February 17, and on that day I had to meet with the school psychologist because I got in a little trouble over something I did. There is something really menacing about someone who really hates you acting like he’s your friend. Plus there’s that irritating plural thing (“How are we doing today?”). Anyway, that caused me to fantasize about doing to him what Gêkí did to the doctor. Then in speech fourth block (my last class of the day) I was looking for a good script for dramatic interpretation and got really frustrated and came to the conclusion that the only way to find one I liked would be to write my own (even though realistically I couldn’t use it). When I was walking home I started thinking (not seriously at first) about what I would write if I could write a D.I.
The scene in the [i]Lexx[/i] episode [i]Tunnels[/i] in which Kai is questioned was a factor. I had that in mind when I was putting together the story in my head. I combined that with the evil psychiatrist idea. I thought it would be neat to have some futuristic character, bizarre in the context of twenty first century America, questioned by a twentieth century American. I don’t like time travel so I decided to make it an illusory reality (generated by, of course, the doctor). I was also influenced by a short story I had read shortly before which consisted mainly of one scene and dialog and in the end was open to multiple interpretations.
After failing to think up a new type of character for the out of place man I decided to make him a Yün Siph. The Yün Siph are in a couple chapters of a novel I’m writing. There are only two left, and one is killed in the course of the story. I came up with kind of mini-biographies for the major characters, and from the one for Gêkí (sort of the idealized sci-fi version of myself) I got some of the stuff like him almost having his heart cut out with a scalpel by a female agent of the Technocrats. So by the time I got home I had the entire story laid out in my mind and all I had to do was sit down at my computer and bang it out. The only real change from my original concept of it was the new (less definite) ending.
The origin of the name Lester Shield is interesting: it was what I was called at a speech & debate tournament by someone who misheard my name over the background noise.
I hope that is a satisfactory account of my story’s origins and is not too boring. I don’t want to sound egotistical, I know I’m not a hot shot sci-fi writer and my story isn’t all that great.
[ 04-03-2002: Message edited by: DalekTek790 ]
Good explanation. It amazes me how you could take those ideas and put them together. I can’t do that, I either do a fanfic or start from scratch. That’s what I did with the untitled (and bad) story I’ve put on here.
quote[quote] I don’t want to sound egotistical, I know I’m not a hot shot sci-fi writer and my story isn’t all that great. [/quote]
Hey, everyone thinks their story’s crap. Mine is. Yours isn’t. Or maybe I’ve just been reading really crap stories. Well, I read Aussie stuff, ‘cos it’s just about the only stuff in our library, and we Aussies have NEVER (in my view) been good writers.[ 05-03-2002: Message edited by: Smartass 2002 ]
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.