8. (New)
-Genie,
-Beholder,
-Molly in Ruby,
-AL and Raeff in Emerald,
-AL and Molly in Ruby.
-Return to Marsyas and Silenus
-Escape From The Cave/The Ancient Temple
-then, *Potentially used for Part 8.********** Beholder, Genie, Hydra?
-Return to the ‘Fish School’
…
Quoted from: ‘The Existentialists: From Dostoevsky to Satre:’
Kierkegaard: “By reminding you that this was one of the customary unhistoric heresies of first love I sought to call you to order, and then I was very glad to walk with you through the big, cool, high-vaulted halls of your castle in the air, through the mysterious, half-obscure chambers, through the dining rooms illuminated to furthest corners by a multiplicity of lights, pendant lusters and mirrors, through the small room with folding doors opening upon the terrace, where the morning sun penetrated, and where the perfume of flowers which opened only for you and for your love was wafted in.”
“I will not pursue further your audacious venture as you sprang like a chamois hunter from crag to crag. Only the principle which lay at the basis of your arrangement shall I discuss a little more in detail. Your principle evidently was: mysteriousness, mystification, refined coquetry. Not only the walls of your chambers should be inset with mirrors, but even your world of consciousness must be diversified by similar refractions of light; not only everywhere in the chamber but also in consciousness you would everywhere encounter yourself and her, her and yourself. “But,” you say, “in order to accomplish this the wealth of all the world is not sufficient; in addition to that, spirit is requisite, and a wise moderation controlling the powers of the spirit.”
“Kierkegaard, of course, was far closer to Luther: anti-philosophical and individualistic. A little more subtly, to be sure, he echoes Luther’s famous dicta: “Whoever wants to be a Christian should tear the eyes out of his reason” and “You must part with reason and not know anything of it and even kill it; else one will not get into the kingdom of heaven” and “reason is a whore.”
“… To be sure, Nietzsche was, no less than Kierkegaard, an apostle of passion and a critic of hypocrisy, but he did not extol passion at the expense of reason, and he repudiated Christianity not because he considered it too rational but because he considered it the archenemy of reason; and his caustic critique of faith, both in ‘Antichrist’ and elsewhere, reads like a considered censure of Kierkegaard among others.”
…
Quote:
“What is good-heartedness, refinement, …”
“… and genius to me, when the human being who has these virtues…”
“… tolerates slack feelings in his faith and judgements… Among certain pious ones, …”
“I found a hatred of reason and appreciated it: at least they thus betrayed their bad intellectual conscience.”
-Nietzsche, ‘The Gay Science’
“Weariness that wants to reach the ultimate with one leap, …”
“… with one fatal leap, …”
“… a poor ignorant weariness that does not want to want any more:”
“… this created all gods and afterworlds.”
-Nietzsche, ‘Thus Spake Zarathustra’
Quote from ‘The Existentialists’:
” ‘Faith’ means not ‘wanting’ to know what is true. Every one of these barbs which could be multiplied almost at will by anyone who knows his Nietzsche, is as applicable to Kierkegaard… seeing as how persistently the Dane deceived himself.”
“”Among you a hundred mirrors
before yourself false…
strangled in your own net
Self-knower!
Self-executioner!
crammed between two nothings,
a question mark…”” -Nietzsche
…
‘Return to Marsyas and Silenus’
AL: “Well, here we are… We came to accept your ‘gad-fly’ challenge…
Marsyas: “A new dialogue, then?”
AL: “Indeed.”
Silenus: “Alright, then.”
Marsyas: “Splendid! I must admit–I am overcome with joy, to the point of embarrassing myself…
…gratitude to the two gentleman…” “…may I, to continue onward, and if promised to be un-interrupted to speak as well as in my usual way?
and in the spirit of public benefaction, to engage with you, as you say, ‘upon the dialectic.’
“Yes.”
“Of course.”
In my usual way of speaking, of speaking as possible; please–if I might put forward one further condition
… will the two young men object, to my wearing this brown paper bag–upon my head? Like this.”
“You must joking?”
“No! I’m serious!”
“Err, Very well…apply the brown sack, sir, and let us continue onward…” … “
It is from shame–that I may accidentally catch your eye, and become distracted by my flushed appearance, and rosy cheeks!”
Dialogue #4: [‘Beholder’] and [‘Genie’]
…
[‘Beholder’]
“The vision-place: the Beholders of the Asteroid;
here, you seek to see
from ‘our’ observ-atory, to be a visionary, true,
But real power is in the
production of the show…”
…
… you have the desire, we can see
it—as clearly as if writ upon your face: another with desire,
lust for power, in myriad of forms, to Behold
it is common; what the Beholder knows:
one must remove themselves
from things
awhile…
in order to better see
more, and assess what’s been seen.
To see what we see, you’ll need your strength geared toward oracular powers, powers of prescience, and displayed at
Top strength–maximum strength–
–like the cyclops’ eye drops,
It’s the most beloved tool for the job,
for the beast,
… and ‘Dune’ is to a Beholder held in semi-religious regard, the written canon of Frank Herbert, particularly,
as his vision for the universe covering the reign of Leto II,
and his overthrow.
To Behold what the Beholder knows,
‘what’ must one do?
Observation: So Ruby has the majority of the physical territory, outside of the gigantic Acropolis area. Observation: Emerald is more concerned with intellectual property, and stays confined to their own large towers spread around the Acropolis, and 3d-printed Hotel-style rooms, for those who travel. Observance: of Rubies, of Emeralds, and of Sapphires.
Observation: Along the base and making its way all along the slopes of the mountainous Acropolis are the coral bone structures of ‘old Utopiaoid.’ Most of the surface area of the Acropolis are these structures, although more extravagant at this elevated level, with the experiments of the technologists of modern day Utopiaoid. The towering structures are not even visible from the surrounding Ruby sprawl. Streets and warehousing facilities as far as the eye can see… and open air, here, the clear ceiling far above showcases the stars and nebulae all around them.
Amidst the coral centerpiece…
… the flat, squat, centralized Towers–owned typically by Emerald Sector, who are the usual own of structures like towers. These Emerald Towers are more metallic in style, and are almost a bluefish silver.
They seem very old-world, and were probably constructed around the same time as the old-Utopiaoid coral structures were originally being grown.
…
********
Dex and Shaska intro…
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
“Realism in the 4th dimension”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Rosen, Fourth term – (Beholder)
Dex, Fourth term – (return to Beholder)
Shaska, Fourth term – (return to Beholder)
Characters Dex and Shaska have been in this program for two whole terms, and thus far advanced…
…
‘Realism in the 4th dimension…’
*******************************************************************************
‘The Cave’ / or ‘The Ancient Temple’
Computer: The cave they had just made their way out of within the volcano is collapsing. Surely, it will bring the recently discovered Secret Temple down alongside it. At the base of the volcano the native inhabitants of this island had discovered the cave millennia ago, erecting a Temple which was only accessible through the Volcanic tunneling systems that had now just totally collapsed.
Narrowly escaping with their lives, new dangers arise before their eyes. They flee the precious discovery as rocks of varying sizes rain down from above–“
And then a voice, another voice, one apart from the scenario-setting computer voice; out of the darkness and interjecting with a high pitched, Mickey Mouse tambre: “And don’t forget to mention all the falling rocks are flaming blue!”
Computer: “Yes—and the rocks were flaming blue; it was an eerie blue flame.”
“I’m not scared,” said the small voice.
The computer overseeing the scenario decides to cut to video footage of the boy darting his way around Temple stone, narrating alongside the boy as he makes his way down a rumbling corridor. His loose fitting safari clothes are popping, making sounds like sparks as the cloth resists in each fast moving limb punch, punching limbs up against the material at full pace.
loading…
Computer: “Yes, legend has it that the cave was coming down rapidly, and bringing the Temple down alongside it. Catastrophe seemed inevitable…
Though there had been debate on the matter of the safety of the volcano, and whether the Temple could survive an eruption, beforehand, none would dispute it’s danger now. The ancient secrets held within are safe no longer; the adventurers are forcibly conceding, however begrudgingly; they are powerless.
And if there was any debate to be had on the structural integrity left open for discussion, there weren’t anymore Tribal guides left to warn of it. They had all been wrong, about the safety, and now they’re dead. They said they believed the volcano was still inactive, but it was just hunch. It was a gamble. Now, looking at the situation that the group had found themselves mixed up in, it was apparent that–
Aleon: “You can’t trust the island scientists when it comes to something as important as this…”
Inside the cavern, these tombs had been cold this morning, now they have steam riding along the walls as the magma seeps down along the east side of the mountain. Inside the ancient structure the stone raining down has a texture like sea foam—”
And then, once again, alongside the narrator a squeaky mouse voice. A boy’s voice, overly excitable, and clearly holding back from an inborn impulse to rattle off the contents of the mind at a hundred miles an hour. Someone to listen is too good an opportunity to miss out on.
“I mean, this is some ‘real’ Temple-of-Doom-type stuff!” Again, the narrator’s young guide interjects with first-person authority, no lacking of gumption, and that adolescent high-pitch voice we’re starting to learn to tolerate.
Computer: “Ahem…Thank you, for that.”
“You’re welcome.”
Computer: “And might I add: the remarkable group of young explorers (where are the others, Aleon?) of the volcanic-temple trek has one thing going their way: It was a steady collapse. As far as horrible events go, it was really nice. They had ‘just’ enough time, just barely enough time to escape; they can make it if they really hustle.”
He waited for the others…
The ladder he had once used during the descent into the volcanic depths has now, inadvertently existing as a bridge. The two shadowy figures behind are catching up to him, children about the same age, his friends. The ladder, now a bridge, had gotten itself lodged in some boulders as the cave’s ceiling first began to buckle. The boy in tan and green safari clothes grabs the damaged, marked-white steel of the ladder, pulling himself onto the makeshift bridge with a look on his face that made everything seem very real. But it is not.
Computer: “He is running full speed now, making his way across the ladder bridge, when—calamity strikes.”
It was you making the movements though, that felt so real…
Loading…
The escaping adventurer didn’t like the sound of that.
But it wasn’t real, and they were removed from all danger, and even discomfort, but the task at hand required real running…
Loading…
Computer: “And then–the group is met with a challenge.
“–without a moment’s hesitation.”
Computer: “Yes–another, not correction, but thoughtfully calculated interjection. And back in the simulation, the hero springs into action…”
Computer: “Without a moment’s hesitation he is running at full speed towards the other side of the chasm. At first glance, the boy looks unsettlingly daring. He has oddly (though striking), strong-looking legs, for someone his age; like some Spartan runner delivering a message.
“Yeah, and the majority of the stones are flaming bright; it’s hard to see, and I can feel the heat radiating off them; I can smell the smoke too; its harsh and I think I can even feel my eyes watering…”
the athleticism, particularly amidst the rumbling and of the fracturing stone pouring down from high above him.
Aleon: “So anyways…it was providing quite a layering of threats to thwart my escape. But, I kept my head together.”
Computer: “Indeed he did.”
The bridge collapses—
The virtual reality simulators used by the Asteroid society are NEAR ‘total immersion’–That was a project the Emerald programmers seek to take on. Temporarily induced amnesia, for a sort of total immersion simulation…but no, these things were not fruitful avenues in a political sense. If there is some way to manipulate the user into forgetting they were in a simulation–ahh! Now that would be the Holy Grail. We could really teach you then, anything we wanted…And as far as the Emerald programmer is concerned it is only a matter of time before this technique is discovered so they just lay back in a state of surrender to it.
Computer: “The ladder had become dislodged amidst the rumbling.”
nearly at the end of his stunt The boy is hurled from the bridge due to the current rumbling.
Computer: “The warranty was strictly for laddering purposes, and laddering purposes only. The manufacturers had intended a life of vertical assistance for it, and almost nothing was spoken in the legal print for any use as bridges, across rocky chasms…”
Aleon: “Err, umm, yes—”
Computer: “Although the manufacturer will not be held responsible, the boy survived the fall with the ladder-bridge. The fall wasn’t too far—he survives but is injured. The sharp rocks aren’t pleasant on his frail skin.
Aleon: “…what? Wait–“
Computer: “–and just then, a jagged piece of recently torn steel eviscerates his flesh.”
Loading…
Aleon: “Ackk!!!” He yells out at the sight of the wound, which before his eyes just digitally manifested upon his leg. It looks so real! Cursing himself under his breath for having trusted that bridge, he thinks: ‘Always read the fine print, when buying ladders.” Once again it didn’t hurt, but the sight is a little jarring… for a child’s video game.
But was this for a child? Or had the kids merely acquire a game from a teenager, maybe even one or two meant for an adult.
Wincing for only a moment, the boy heroically ventures on ahead. The right leg has an exposed wound on the top of the thigh, the arbitrary pattern in blood almost resembles something deliberate—like some ancient and forgotten runic symbol-language, marking a mistake and exacting some costly, bloody negligence.
AL: “The idea was to make everything as ‘realistic’ as possible, so you can understand why the chaos settings had been placed on ‘high’…
Computer: “Here, A bridge may ‘look’ like the obvious route, but appearances are deceptive when chaos is king.”
The boy: “You see, I knew it wasn’t ‘actually’ hurting me. I ‘know’ the sight of the gruesome wound triggers an adrenaline spike in my biological mind—and therefore the reaction ‘seems’ real. But I know. I know, however, this was a five-sense simulation—that’s one thing—seeing the event, feeling the cold winds of the cave and the heat of the rocks; to hear that horrible rumbling; to smell that building acrid smoke; the walls induce psychological by my vision, stress response while trapped amidst the closing volcano…can simulations such as these…kill the mind?
Computer: At the bottom of the cave, where fiery stones create a blurred atmosphere, he could still see two figures.
Others had fallen in. As was mentioned before, the chaos element had been raised significantly and there was no way to tell if this was another untrustworthy bridge. He would certainly like to think of himself as the person who would choose to save at least one of these unfortunate people, and He more-than-certainly would like the test to reflect as much for the records. His injuries have slowed his movement capabilities. He now had a choice: leave them both (they are decoys that will waste his time and lead to failure), or choose between them (which individual to save?).
…
-end-
********************************************************************************
‘The New Aesthetic.’
Molly in Ruby.
Opens to Molly strapped into one of the VR-machine harnesses, like one you would find typically in any one of ‘the pubs’ spread throughout the Ruby streets.
“You can take that off now, I think.”
“You’re very beautiful—in an old fashioned kind of way…”
“Who are you?”
“I’m an artist: of the new aesthetic…”
Jack Napier-Joker: “I am the first, fully-functioning, homicidal artist.”
Vicki: “What do you want?”
“My face…—on the ‘One Dollar Bill.’”
Vicki: “You must be joking…”
“Do I look like I’m joking… ?”
Computer: “[It’s time to get some rest now].”
They had been celebrating for days, on a binder with the Ruby substance… again…
… and all of the people… are now sobered up, a bit, come on people—look alive!
overly annoyed still by the voice of…–the overseeing computer, which speaks so infrequently …
… for the unicorn… because… *cut*
… the look in the eye of her… ,she comes to the realization that this is the cure to her ailments. She gets tougher, in fortitude, and self-control… and discipline.
A story about something that happened in Molly’s childhood in Ruby.
ideas -Molly going to a VR club
* -Molly visiting Emerald, staying at other character’s resorts
-Molly…
-Molly…
*Musicians, people who are part of an electronic rock trend. ‘The New Aesthetic’
-Molly confronted with danger, perhaps a VR jump that is so realistic that it is terrifying
-Molly playing a sport, [‘Centaur’]
-Molly socializing with her classmates… [‘Unicorn’] or ‘Sprite’ or ‘Pixie’.
********************************************************************************
AL and Raeff in Emerald
Putting them on [AL’s goggles], he looks around the room a bit, and then, somewhat un-enthusiastically, takes them off.
Raeff: “Neat.”
Handing the goggles back to AL, zzz If it weren’t for the… , Aleon might not have noticed the oily spot on the underside of his work-goggles. AL: “More of those damned fish scales! They’re everywhere!”
Raeff scratches his matted blond hair, wincing apologetically.
Raeff: “Oh, Sorry about that.” Sand falls from his shaggy hair where he had been nervously scratching.
Wide-eyed, Aleon looks to his recently cleaned and sanitized laboratory floor. Expecting the worst, Raeff’s gaze…
-cut-
Folks arriving to the large Emerald banquet hall find their seats, and the children follow suit. Aleon exhales, mentalling preparing himself by entering a zen state. “Why me?” the boy remarks to himself. At separate tables, Aleon notes exactly where his sister Molly is seated, …
Glass clinks, chiming throughout the banquet halls. The father had promised the alert—and he delivers: “And before we begin the celebrations, please—allow me to indulge a…
This was followed by great applause, as nearly everyone knows the accomplishment to which this proud father was referring.
“Here-here!” agreeable eruptions sounding across the make-shift symposium, “Thatta’ boy.” These certainly are merry men, the Ruby-folk, and seem well accustomed to celebration.
“On the specifics of his accomplishments, I admit, I know very little! On such scientific intelligence, we can only attribute to the trait to the boy from his mother!”
The mixed crowd of Ruby and Emerald ladies and gentleman really liked that one. Laughing and applauding as exuberantly as before.
“And although I am ignorant of the details of the case, I am very aware of the subject, and the subject’s impact, what it will have on our society in general.”
********************************************************************************
AL and Molly in Ruby
All Hell was, metaphorically, clearly, breaking loose, in short; as far as the operation of this particular establishment was concerned! It was obvious, from AL and Molly’s point of view.
AL: “What now? What’s this? What is with that squeak?”
Molly: “It’s My sandals…”
AL: “Why are you sandals squeaking so annoyingly?!”
“My sandals have ‘gone squeak’ on meehh…”
He wasn’t entirely sure, however, if he was even ‘supposed’ to care or not… about the shrimp tails… still being on… in the shrimp burrito, or whether or not to move on, or maybe he was supposed to be appalled… yet… remained to be determinedly calm, however… this squeaking crossed the line.
…
At ‘the pub’
He had eaten the entire artichoke leaf, thinking it might be the correct way to do things, chewing and then swallowing, the whole thing, at the pub, it was an appetizer he’d never seen before. He ate the whole leaf, rather than just that little bit, like you’re supposed to… it was devastatingly embarrassing.
You see, with the artichoke appetizer, you’re to rake off the meaty edge with your teeth, but they don’t tell you this. It was chewy, and the whole time he kept wondering if it was indeed, perhaps, in some region of the world, a place where they might do this… nobody tells you not to eat the whole artichoke leaf… but he had done so by mistake, in a move in line with the spirit of diplomacy… and of trying out new cultures, customs, and ways… like in Star Trek… as the mechanics of star-fleet had taught him, through example…
… and it was too late now for him to save face—so he had to act like he intended it, all along, and chews the leaf, mentioning how it’s some old American way of doing it, while he should have just made an outward joke about it, AL didn’t have much comedic sense, so yeah… the whole damn thing was waiting to blow up in his face—and reveal the uncultured swine he’s been pretending not to be all along…
… while playing baseball—they chewed the artichoke leaf like this—and that’s how everybody was doing it in the States, anyway…
…
M
‘Their crew was side-swiped by an ‘intemperance patrol squad’–they had been caught red-handed, in indulgence… by the indulgence police.
Punishment is dealt by the gargoyle, but though criminal offense are dealt with as treatment centers and not detention blocks–the capturing of the offender is left to the ‘Gargoyles.’
…
-end-
********************************************************************************
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‘Computer: “–Complexity of Organism not Sufficient–“”
Return to: Simulation #1: ‘Fish School”
Aleon grabs at a swimming cluster of microbial cells, or at least attempts to. His large VR glove blurs within the air as he swipes at some invisible pixels in the empty, cold darkness.
Selecting the cellular cluster, or rather the cluster of lights that represent the cellular cluster, a text prompt appears overhead. He has several options for interacting with the bubbling mass: he can choose to attack it, he can attempt to engulf the mass and, incorporating it into himself, grow larger, or he can simply run away from it. Attacking it would require that he secretes toxic chemicals from the inside wastes of his own organism by a coordinated method of rapid diffusion. This would probably deter the alien organism from coming closer. Aleon perceives no threat and decides to save the metabolic energy.
Swimming his little cluster of cells away with water pumps, he moves his mouth pronouncing a phrase he had read, but makes no audible sound. He had never said the word out loud or heard it said: “Flagellar motors,” he mouths, as he looks up its definition in a side window used for quick reference research (slender, threadlike structures that allow small organisms to swim).
Getting bored with the slow initial progress of the game he attempts to drag his colony of cells onto dry land.
An error prompt displays in front of him:
Computer: “–Complexity of Organism not Sufficient–“
AL: “I’ll need feet. Looks like we’re gigging to be here awhile…” he gathers to himself. So, for the time being, Aleon continued swimming about, checking out other bubbly clusters of proto-life that his classmates were controlling. Slowly, the forms of these creatures were becoming developed.
Each creature was becoming a little more personalized through greater complexities, and naturally, they were taking on the personalities of the student who was controlling it, and the trajectory of its evolution.
A man’s voice, the teacher, shatters the cold silence:
“Try to walk before you run.”
They were in a laboratory, of sorts, as well as a classroom. Here, the adults would experiment in new educational simulations with their children.
“How can I walk without feet!?”
The adult’s voice again, pipping in through the VR helmet: “Perhaps I’m being too literal. What I’m getting at is that you need to master the microscopic world before you make your way onto the terrestrial world.
” Let’s try to develop your ability to swim. Try to become faster, it will help you grow as you avoid your natural predators and consume your natural prey.”
–
Molly, Aleon’s sister, … had big orange hair. Molly was clearly destined for the Ruby society…
… switched over to Emerald society to be with her brother, and to begin her adolescent education. He had followed his interests to Emerald, and by his assessment of his sister, he was glad that he hadn’t been brought up anywhere else.
The Sapphire people fear over-exposure to the simulated worlds, which were so frivolously utilized by Emerald and Ruby societies. But some of them opt to have their kids at least educated there, to Emerald or if they have a lot of friends and compelled to go to Ruby… they have slightly different teaching philosophies for this age group, it’s generally about the same trajectories though. To be brief: one is generally geared toward sociability, and the other was simply a bit more studious.
The teacher went on, knowing perfectly well how to deal with crossovers from Ruby: “You aren’t giving it a chance, Molly. Look: You’ve barely even moved your organism, what are some ways we talked about for little creatures to get around, hmm?”
AL: “Primary objective: Try to understand your environment,—
“Shut up, Al!”
I promise there will be much more to design later on in the game. Allow the game to dictate to you a little, so that in the future you can dictate a little more to it.”
“I don’t get it. I want to make my creature.” Molly insisted that the seven million years phase went on way too quickly, for her taste… The teacher sat at his observation desk. He can see what each individual student is doing from a conglomeration of computer screens connected directly to the simulation display of each student. “Everything is in some sort of context. find the natural harmony, the harmony in the medium, and a correct course of action will appear.”
After some time, the instructor lifted some more restrictions from the student’s simulated environments. The students were nearing the big-game fish level of development, and things were getting pleasantly competitive and stimulating. They chased each other around, testing out which was of them was hunting which.
The child suspended next to Aleon’s terminal was his oldest friend, and the two couldn’t be more different. Raeff was from Sapphire.
…has long white hair, a tan, healthy complexion, and is quite new to this world of simulation. He’d been tanned by their giant UV artificial light source technology. To say He is in awe of this experience would be a kind of ultimate understatement. Raeff grew up in Sapphire society, but he wasn’t aware of the politics of it. He didn’t know until a few years ago how the other wise had been living, and he found all the games and electronics fascinating. “It’s real neat.” Is probably some he might say about it. They had a real man-made sea there, in Sapphire, there was a few of them, and it was not simulated. Well, in a way it was, just not with any holograms or VR equipment interfacing. The Sapphire world is a world in tune with nature—believed necessary to human sanity; actual nature—and they try to maintain some sort of natural ‘purity.’ This is the Spartan philosophy known to the people of Sapphire as ‘the Arrow.’ It was a sort of initiatory step, to join the tribe.
The Sapphire people distrust over-exposure to the simulated worlds, which were so frivolously utilized by Emerald and Ruby societies. Knowing mainly hunting, fishing, filleting, navigating their physical bodies across the artificial coral mounds they run on, gutting, shelter assembly, navigation, depth diving, fighting, as you can see they are physical and in a very particular way. Raeff has a deep respect for what he can do with his own hands. To receive ‘the arrow,’ one must adequately live the simple, and yet profound, lifestyle for a significant amount of time, and certainly anyone could benefit from a refocusing on their fundamentals and movement.
However, unlike most of his community in Sapphire, Raeff found himself amazed by the “simulated” worlds. He had selected ‘Genie’ for his first term, but he had switched because of Aleon to Manticore, and for the same reason Molly had–because Aleon said to do it—but she at the last minute had switched back to her original idea and became a Genie. The Asteroid community seemed intent on keeping the trio together, so there they were. Molly had a slightly different schedule, but the were always hanging out together. People were extremely happy in Sapphire, they seemed sometimes like a different species, when they stepped back in to “dry land”. So, it was sometimes the case, that the majority of them would become oblivious to the outside worlds of ostentatious lights and sounds, and of their gratuitous practices that they didn’t have…
In the classroom, there was a great variety of forms for their creatures. The rather ludicrous variety of forms actually represented the creative wishes of each student, made into a real image to represent their imagined organism. In a way. It at least suggested something. The games are advanced, but they’re still not all-knowing. The instructor noticed that Molly was having some issues once the restrictions had been lifted. Her organism lay at the bottom of the ocean—some sort of pink flamingo-fish, bird-feathered but nowhere wings might be, whiskers three feet long, a mild addiction to sea cucumbers.
The species name: “Puddin’.”
“Molly, I see you’re having some difficulties…I’m sorry dear, but I don’t think ‘Pudding’ has quite made the cut. Also, I do want to condemn you for making those flippers look like cow boy boots–they really do.
“Thaaank you.”
“Even so, your ‘cowboy boots’ have cost the lives of countless generations of cucumbers to select for, and maybe it’s been a little extraneous–I don’t know. Why don’t you try and cooperate a little more with the game, dear, hmm?”
“Because I don’t want to do it your way, I want to do it MY way!” yelled the cranky young girl.
“Puddin’” had been her mechanism of sabotage. It had been her protest to the game overall. It was like the cherry on top of her argument.
“Progression can only happen under certain conditions, uhh–you have displayed degeneration.”
…
Though it wasn’t the most stimulating of the games they played, it beat the monotonous hand-written, chalk-board approach. Children seemed to crave the stimulation brought about by technology, almost like a drug. Sapphire had emerged as a response to this apparent dysfunction, and seeing no disfunction possible in nature, Ruby seemed to be a culture centered on a certain relenting to the oceans of lights and sounds. In Emerald, instead of water, it was oceans of t mind: and there had been a degree of balance between the two… I suppose… and the Emerald people would take brief “information diets,” which was a Sapphire-like trait, or play games and watch movies, which is more Ruby and where much of their time was spent in meditation, reflection, philosophy… rhetoric and philology, the girl was throwing a tantrum, now.
In response to the duration of this tantrum (and magnitude) her instructor had switched her terminal to the ‘off’ position. She was left there, suspended in darkness and silence and hanging in the air. She hangs from the cables while protesting her instructor’s decision, her rageful screams fading quickly at the presence of zero input stimulation, from maximal, and by violently kicking her legs and tossing a shoe from her foot. After realizing the futility of her tantrum, she just hangs there in silence awhile, and then honestly she’s okay again.
Swimming amongst the scene we see one student represented as an entire school of lime-colored fish. The school of fish moves together, as if aware of the overall plan. They behave as if directed by one singular consciousness—and they are. The fish has a blue stripe along the side, and it almost mimics the look of the wave-world in which it had been spawned, like a tiny little microcosm.
Another student sees in acres. Light green acres of plant-life originating from a single ancestor. The immortal plant is steadily still growing across the ocean floor it is has maintained dominance over… for half a millennia…
…who had been focusing on one of the main properties of the plant: the chlorophyll, and evolving a new mechanism of photosynthesis for which his chlorophyll has been mutated and enhanced.
The tall plants sway gracefully under the tidal movements.
A large puffer fish expands, swimming alone, and the utterly strained and uncomfortable look on its face makes the childrem smile.
A delicate seahorse, another lone creature, exists despite it all—and a shark feasts upon the A.I. directed fish and the student created organisms alike.
*****In the future of this Natural Selection simulation, the sentient species on the planet may come to interact with certain…
…
-end-
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An episode:
An Emerald Minotaur going into Sapphire in order to practice the survival principles he’s learned about.
Sapphire citizens live a Minotaur lifestyle almost by default. I’m sure there are many tribesmen that don’t even know what the Topaz is, even less their creature-class systemization.
Some extremely dedicated Sapphire citizens have never even entered a Ruby territory since their artificial ocean complexes were installed. There are probably some young ones now who were born in and have never gone out to Ruby in their lifetime.
It’s not going to be very easy on the Emerald Minotaur at first.
The raw sensation of the wind and water and of the elements are very different from the temperature controlled climes of an Emerald mega Tower. He certainly looked out of place, but there was a toughness in his eyes. Maybe it was just the brow, but the gaze was there. It was a look of doubled determination. He knew he had an intellectual interest, in a relationship with nature, on a primitive level he yearned for it, something indefinable, but he knew it would be something that might not be easy and that wasn’t going to dissuade him. He was a Minotaur, and he felt this was the next logical step in his evolution, putting the practices into real world application. He hardly even knew how to swim.
The wind was blowing hard and the seas were lapping chaotically, throwing small foam and water particles all around while he gathered up and bundled twigs. Luckily, the essentials for survival on these coral reef land islands are readily accessible.
He came here to get tougher.
He had learned quite a bit about what they do here, and the kinds of things the Sapphire Tribesman know through rote, and muscle memory, and now he had come to start his campaign of becoming one of them, and that meant training his body. He would become proficient at swimming, and diving, and he will work on his lung capacity, and his hands will get tougher from tying the threaded fabrics and weaves he would be making alongside the structures of bundled twigs and sticks he would spend hours collecting, and his sensitivity to the cold wind would deaden as he learned to override his discomfort with sheer discipline. He was here to finally develop strength.
He was smart and he had a lot of knowledge, but he felt he didn’t have the robust industriousness to be an outstanding Emerald innovator, so he decided to get creative in another way. He wanted to do something which blended the worlds of Emerald and Sapphire. He didn’t even know what he wanted to that end, exactly, but since he had the idea he had become obsessed with Sapphire.
The fact that people chose to live this way, amongst the surplus which our advanced technology allows, to live so primitively, and discomfort, but the more he read into what their experiences entailed, what their actual philosophy was, and descriptions of their lifestyle he became absolutely enchanted with the rigor of it all. It felt adventurous, like a swash-buckling adventure story from one of his pulp novels, and yet another experience which his reading about could only bring him so far. He would try some of the weirder sea creatures, like sea urchin, they use as food, their tribal delicacies, plucked by a diver from some far corner of the artificial ocean enclosure. In Emerald eating was a matter of heading down by elevator to the food court typically in the center of the building, and selecting one of dozens of culinary options.
…
Another story of a Ruby beholder who becomes an Emerald Beholder. He makes money through the markets, and helps individual ventures through finance… and he goes to an Emerald Tower to …
He just likes how Emerald operates better. He likes the meticulous way they do things and the zen and calm of the procedural … . He finds that he is simply by nature more inclined towards Emerald and we see the process of transferring from one society to another. He’s even taken up golf. Maybe he can speak briefly about his Scottish ethnic background in the old world.
He’s investing in, and that means not just financially but also helping build and development of the company, like a partner or fellow, water treatment facilities, not for drinking water but for cleaning the Sapphire sea water. He was becoming involved in a company that makes smaller facilities.
In the boardroom there were a few Sapphire representatives overseeing the water treatment facilities. They were a little more antsy in the boardroom, but like the Emerald industrialists they were quite zen and diplomatic. When you spoke to them up close they smelled like sardines and coffee.
…
Another story where Molly goes with her friends to a pub that has these relationship simulators, like you go to bars to pick people up, form relationships for save files, return to and create new simulated relationships, but also sometimes you run into monsters. Maybe it’s weird how it eerily echoes the encounter the group had had in real life earlier.
…
3 Ruby Comedians
Utopiaoid 
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