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A confession
by Thanos Kalamidas
2008-09-26 09:53:28 |
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I, Jeremiah Soul, feeling that my life leads to an end and with the little power remaining in the cells of my brain I decided to write what really happened the afternoon on the 20th of May, the year William was born and somebody, unknown to me till that very moment with the name Wilhelm, pushed me while I was trying to cross a street light.
Details in this story are very important and I would never know the name of the man who pushed me if he hadn’t said, I’m really sorry, my name is Wilhelm … and I didn’t have the time to hear the rest because a double-decker bus with obviously a very old engine and a very bad mechanic taking care of her made a horrible noise that made me jump and move to the other side of the street ignoring the rest Wilhelm wanted to say.
 However, that year was my seventh at the service and that very same month I had been promoted to the position of the assistant of the vice-helper for the fourth in command of the State Institute of Cold Mathematics and Other Elements or as we called it, the SICMOE. My promotion had come at a perfect moment in my life and accompanied with certain privileges that I had gradually learned to appreciate.
For example, I could have the luxury of half an hour nap anytime I would like during the afternoon and most importantly after my half hour nap I could enjoy a full cup of coffee with a straw! But the biggest and higher blessing was that now with the help of the holy and internal machine I was able to bring some real excitement to my life having a virtual date with Sara, daughter of Dartford officially! For that reason I had excused myself the expense of a new pair of glasses, coloured yellow.
To miss any kind of misunderstanding I have to explain why this was so important for my life. Dartford obviously saw a prominent career in me; after all, it took so little time to become from Ludwig to Jeremiah without even having to go through a silly name like Keanu or something K like this. And I have to admit, it was a taboo then but I had done it, I had already chosen my next name to be and it was Islas. If I was lucky, even though I understood that it was nearly impossible, I could jump and become …Hector. Of course, you must understand that I was young and very ambitious but then I had the right background, certifications and proof that I was a good one, a very good one; never forget that my father was an Andrew and like it or not I had the genes for a well promising future.
My work as the vice-helper for the fourth in command of the SICMOE was the examination and exploitation of the shape and my daily routine included a lot of observation over hundred seeds of papers that were coming in front of me from the office of the systematic examination or better the SEEX department led from one of my idols, Doctor Aaron Routeing. My part was to file them, give them a protocol number depending on their importance and then move them forward to EXEP department on my left, a work that lay upon my assistant Ms. Water Remoter. A woman I never saw in real life but enjoyed her skills in moving forward files at an admirable speed. In an exchange of memos with my superior I had suggested her promotion but in return I had got a note forward it to me with the explanation that promotions were not included in my privileges.
But returning to the 20th of May if that year, I had just finished with all my work moving all the seeds from the file called ‘for protocol number’ to the other file called ‘exit’, carefully examining the numbers to see any irregularity that would exploit the system of vertical calculating and getting ready for my evening snack that would take place in the side of the SICMOE amphitheatre when I noticed for the first time the number 1,256,308 on my screen. My organic clock was showing afternoon exactly which meant that my replacement was ready to take over and I should step out of my office to leave room for the automatic cleaner to clean all the cells my body had left behind. I checked for the last time my screen where the number 1,256,308 blinked for the last time before moving to the next link and go green.
The SICMOE amphitheatre is just cross the road from the main SICMOE building where I work and on the side of the TECHNO building that hosts all the researching teams for the SPEX complex led by honourable Doctor Bryan Offborn, a distinguish professor of Delivering Cold and Important Applications. My snack should be on place waiting for me and the only thing I had to do was waiting for the blue light that would free me from the traffic-block, cross the street while the other side, the green side is waiting. That very moment a continuity of events started.
A man first pushed me on the street and automatically his voice reached my hearing organs saying “I’m sorry, my name is Wilhelm …”, I didn’t have the chance to hear the rest since a double-decker bus that was parked next to the street on one of the automatic double-decker bus pavements made a sonorous sound that made me turn and the amphitheatre cross the street turned to purple colour making me suddenly think the number 1,256,308 and having to turn back and re-enter the building of SICMOE and run to my office which was apparently on the forth floor since my classification level was vice-helper for the fourth in command of the SICMOE.
I stormed in my office to find that my screen was alive still blinking in blue background and not the usual green the number 1,256,308. My possibilities of action were very limited so I did the only thing I could, pressed the yellow button under my desk, next to the orange and the red. The red means mild alarm, fire alarm, the orange means serious alarm, heart attack need for toilet and the yellow button means panic which includes nearly everything but most of all …panic! And I did press the yellow button.
On the 20th of May that year, unknown the number the whole system collapsed, the logic of the names lost every meaning and despite the fact I had already decide the name that was going to follow Jeremiah was going to be Islas and getting closer to letter E I would have the privilege to chose a second name, after that May Day everybody had to have a second name while the first remained as it was. The catastrophic effect of that day stands till today, the whole social construction collapsed in minutes and while all the numbers lost their meaning, the number 1,256,308 became the nemesis. People from all around started having opinion; some thought that the number represented the cycles of the third planet in Alpha Century and some others that it represented the spears around the tree in the centre of the park. More people came with more notorious ideas and suddenly all order was lost and I became Jeremiah Soul the man who first saw the number 1,256,308.
I, Jeremiah Soul feeling that my life leads at last to an end and with the little power remaining in the cells of my brain I have to admit that I am the person who brought the chaos in the blessed and holy machine. I am the one who first saw the number 1,256,308 and the first that woken the long dead opinion and the wrong option that the earth is round. I, Jeremiah Soul hours before the long sleep and facing the Great Creator the Machine I want the forgiveness of the humanity for the roads I opened and I like as my last words to forgive Mr. Wilhelm because it was all his fault!
*This short story is in memory of the greatest sci-fi writer of the world who died this year, Arthur C. Clarke
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