Waking from their nap, no more refreshed, body aching from the cramped quarters and an undeniable throbbing in their unfortuitous console-injured forearm, radiating the undeniable heat of infection, or at least agitation.
This wound would have warranted a trip to the sick bay, caring machines encouraging the healing properties of the body’s natural defense and supercharging the augmented healing nanobots every ark resident had invested through the daily-allotment of protein and other nutrients. Whether right or not, many preferred the sick bay to general life on the ark, because it was something different from the mundane tedium.
Not that those on the ark knew anything but mundane tedium, but the stories of old spoke of: roller coasters, machinations designed to trigger the human senses through gravitational shifts and momentum; running, self-generated propulsion (usually forward) and a chemical response of the body creating adrenalin and dopamine, once used only to outrun predators but nearing the end had become a hobby and personality trait unto itself; sex, the old way of maintaining the species, a rudimentary bonding of bodies and fluids that allowed the passage of DNA via egg and sperm, similar to how flowers were pollinated by the transference of pollen on the legs of bees. It was all a sweaty matter, the bodies chemical reactions causing an increase of heat that necessitated the body’s self regulation via an emission of sodium and water.
None on the ark sweat; the sodium was needed and there was no wasteful body processes. The odor sweat caused had been described to the arkians by the elders, as it had been described to them by their elders, but never experienced.
It all sounded so primative.
Even before the end, there had been lore of civilizations before that that had been more primitive still. Those early earlyfolk hadn’t used metal or bioplastics or processed materials at all, just the naturally-occuring wood. They had no protein portions, but they did butcher the fauna, using all of their components to sustain life, create tools like water bladders, wind-blocking fabrics, waterproofed with sap and from trees, and oils. They were there before the metalfolk made the roller coasters and corporations that valued their 401k’s more than life.
While the arkfolk didn’t try to order, arrange, or judge the civilizations (they WERE several generations removed from the experiences all of the earthfolk experienced) there were curiosities of their life and what those experiences were like. What was it like to gut a deer? What was it like to run? What was it like to bite into a peach?
They heard about peaches, in an ancient tale of James and a giant one. Peaches were described as fuzzy, tender, yet firm, and juicy.
These were all dietary traits never experienced by those on the ark because of the necessity for efficiency, the pre-determined rations of protein, sodium, sugar, calcium, iron… There was no unexpected experience, it was always the same.
So what was it like to bite into the perfect peach? What about a rotten one? The experience of expecting, being surprised or validated, must have been exhausting.
The throbbing of the lacerated-forearm drew Their attention back to now. Always daydreaming, considering What, They had been designated the questioner of their cohorts. Others had been the formulators, others still had been the declarations.
Sometimes They questioned why life continued on. Was the purpose of life experiences? There had been so many lost in the wars. So many that had never been documented, like the light refracting on dust. How many dust particles never saw light? How many were inhaled and absorbed into the bodies of those primitive warfolk, did that dust become them, or did they become the dust?
Does any of it even matter since the ark was on its way out, the future of life indeterminate? Would the generations and DNA of those on the ark, collected from those warfolk and metalfolk and earlyfolk and generally the earthfolk before the explosions, survive? How many pods could be saved? What if not enough diversity was saved and the inbreeding would result in life failing to thrive? Was the destiny to be relocated to another planet just to do it all again? Was the test to learn from the mistakes of the past, or to recreate them?
What if the earth had been settled by ark people before, and their anger and greed had been caused by what had been lost? Did They have the strength to not become jaded, an archaic term unfamiliar in anything but theory to the arkfolk, rooted in a green stone found throughout the world, often used in the primitive artistic statues as an eye, leading to the “green-eyed monster” phrase made popular (coined, They thought it was called, because of the minting process of metals to become currency that was then used to trade goods and services, something that was outlandish to the arkfolk) by someone called Shakespeare, to indicate the date of someone experiencing greed and jealousy. What if they were them, just at a different time, like looking into Their past or future. They couldn’t really tell anymore which way they were headed, coming or going to destruction, but They knew it was Their path, and They could choose how to navigate it.
But to what end?
Their stomach growled. Hopefully help was coming soon. Maybe They should have grabbed a protein portion on Their way out.
PIXLEY.DESIGN 