{"id":4061,"date":"2021-11-11T02:11:06","date_gmt":"2021-11-11T02:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/edgeverse.org\/?p=4061"},"modified":"2022-06-30T06:30:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T05:30:34","slug":"but-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/edgeverse.org\/?p=4061","title":{"rendered":"But Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Here you can read an entire shorty story, completely free. Blips are strictly less than two thousand words, or maybe more, and typically have a surprise twist in the tail. \nThese stories are free for you to download and share but please link back to us so we can build our site and create more free content. \nThanks very much for visiting. Please enjoy the story. <\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To celebrate memorial day, we\u2019re posting a story from \u2018Blips\u2019, a collection of short stories that combine into a narrative that explains the creation of the universe \u2013 or something.<\/h5>
\u2018But Why?\u2019 is set in World War 1, the \u2018Great War\u2019 and the \u2018War to end all wars\u2019 that didn\u2019t quite manage to deliver on its advertised promise.<\/h5>
This story takes the whole idea of way and asks the question in the title.<\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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But Why?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A.P. Atkinson... mostly...<\/h5>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u201cHeaven help us!\u201d<\/p>

He closed his eyes, screwing them shut as the world around him descended into a level of insanity that went far, far beyond regular, run-of-the-mill madness. Explosions echoed through his mind; roaring thunderous crashes tore through reality as fiery metal shells tore into the earth below his feet. His heart pounded in his chest as the darkness behind his eyelids flashed to white with every seething-hot eruption of energy.<\/p>

He panted desperately, as his lungs drew in short breaths of the acrid air, tinged with the stench of burning flesh and sulphur. He felt a sudden jolt as his body slumped to the ground. He had been dimly aware of a wooden ladder leading up to the land between the two opposing armies, and now, here he was, flat on his back in a damp, muddy puddle.\u00a0<\/p>

The air was filled with triumphant roars as men cleared the trench wall, which quickly turned to agonised screams as the staccato roar of gunfire ripped through their soft, fleshy bodies.\u00a0<\/p>

His mind was lost. He was swirling into a pit of complete chaos that his brain just couldn\u2019t comprehend.\u00a0<\/p>

But suddenly, everything was silent. It was a sharp suddenness that bathed his entire world in nothingness, ripping the previous something directly out of his mind as if it had never been there at all.\u00a0<\/p>

Slowly, gingerly, he began to open his eyes. In place of the foreboding carnage of a bloody war was a white, sterile room that seemed to glow with effervescent energy. The walls, if there were any at all, seemed impossibly far off in the distance leaving him with the impression of being inside a white cube with no actual sides.<\/p>

\u201cWhat is this?!\u201d he muttered to himself nervously. He sat up slowly, blinking in abject confusion.<\/p>

\u201cCorporeal Nonsense?\u201d a voice behind him asked.\u00a0<\/p>

He turned to see, and his eyes widened, a cold tendril of dread tightening itself around his spine.\u00a0<\/p>

Could things get any worse?<\/p>

The voice was cool and heavy and had the tone of cold honey poured across hot coals. The person whose face it had exited was a woman that looked, oddly, exactly like his uncle Jim, right down to the little scar on his right eyebrow that he\u2019d got cleaning his pistol without checking that it wasn\u2019t loaded. Beside him sat a man that looked exactly like his aunt. This didn\u2019t make a great deal of sense, but he was oddly certain it was them. Also that it wasn\u2019t, couldn\u2019t be, and also couldn\u2019t be anyone else.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d he said with a nervous whimper.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cYour name?\u201d the woman who probably wasn\u2019t really his uncle said. \u201cYour name is Corporeal Nonsense?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cMy name? My name isn\u2019t Nonsense, it\u2019s Jerry. Jerry Nostridge. I\u2019m a Corporal in the King\u2019s army.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

The two people that looked incorrectly, but precisely, like his aunt and uncle looked at one another behind a white, and very functional-looking desk. They stared blankly for a moment, and then, in unison, turned back. His aunt said, \u201cIs that not what we said?\u201d<\/p>

Jerry sat for a moment in his damp military uniform, black dirt smeared across his face, just staring back at them. \u201cNo!\u201d he said. \u201cNot really. It was really quite different.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Uncle Jim shrugged his shoulders and said, \u201cIt\u2019s close enough!\u201d<\/p>

Jerry tried to stand up, but felt the uncomfortable heft of his equipment packs strapped to his back and sides. He unfastened the metal clips and let the weight fall off and clatter noisily to the polished white floor, if there actually was a floor beneath him. He stood, gently easing himself up from the uncomfortable position he had landed in. There was no wet puddle to be seen, although a great deal of it was now uncomfortably clinging to his skin having soaked through his heavy, course green uniform. \u2028\u201cWhere am I?\u201d he said. \u201cAm I dead?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t think so,\u201d said his aunt. \u201cBut I\u2019m not an expert in the matter.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle scratched her forehead in a strangely familiar gesture while tapping buttons on a small, flat device on the table.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cNo!\u201d she said finally. \u201cMy research suggests that you\u2019re alive. Would you like to be dead?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

As she spoke, his aunt pulled out a polished metal rod and brandished it with a friendly smile. \u201cI can arrange that if it\u2019s what you wish! We have technology that would make it spectacularly hilarious and, I can assure you, almost entirely painless. I\u2019ve tested it on many people and I never felt a thing, apart from a ringing in my ears from all the screaming.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Jerry grunted to himself and edged away, holding up his hands. He swallowed hard as his head began to swim. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be dead\u2026\u201d he said urgently. \u201cPlease don\u2019t kill me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

The two people seemed quite taken aback. \u201cYou don\u2019t want to die?! Am I hearing this correctly?\u201d<\/p>

Jerry just stared.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cBut you were in the middle of a war,\u201d said his aunt. \u201cWhat were you doing in the middle of a war if you didn\u2019t want to die?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle nodded her head in agreement. \u201cIt does seem rather an ideal place to be for someone who wants to die, and exceedingly sub-optimal if it was something to be avoided. You can see why we\u2019re confused, can\u2019t you?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cOf course I don\u2019t want to die!\u201d he cried out desperately. \u201cNobody wants to die.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cOur research suggests that you are in error. It appears to us that a great many people wish for their corporeal existence to cease. They put a lot of effort into it.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cYou mean the great war?\u201d Jerry said, trying to follow as best he could.\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle chuckled to herself. She turned to the aunt and said softly, \u201cHe thinks war is great!\u201d<\/p>

His aunt shrugged and said, with a little chuckle of his own, \u201cWell, compared to most of their other achievements that century, it was fairly impressive. Have you seen their space program? It\u2019s embarrassing!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cQuite!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWait\u2026\u201d Jerry said suddenly. \u201cWho are you? What is this place?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cDon\u2019t worry about that. You wouldn\u2019t understand anyway.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cHe might!\u201d his aunt interjected thoughtfully. \u201cListen, young man. We\u2019re part of a single, unified being that has chosen to project itself in the form of a pleasant memory from your youth, to make you feel more comfortable. Our technology is flawless, so, to you, this all seems perfectly natural and comforting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cMy uncle Jim used to strangle neighbourhood cats,\u201d Jerry said coldly.<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re welcome,\u201d said his uncle with an accommodating smile. \u201cWe\u2019re scientists, I suppose you could say. We like to borrow random people from various points in time and space at the exact moment of their death. We\u2019ve refined it since the incident in Tunguska, but it\u2019s still rough around the edges, as it still makes a bit of a disorientating flash. There\u2019s only so much we can learn from people dying of heart attacks at fireworks shows. In any case, we study them and send them right back to the same time. That way nobody notices.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAnd you still get to enjoy your horrible death!\u201d his aunt added. \u201cWe aren\u2019t cruel. We don\u2019t want to deprive you of anything.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d Jerry mumbled weakly. \u201cI don\u2019t understand.\u2026\u201d<\/p>

\u201cTell us about why you were busy fighting a war!\u201d his aunt told him. \u201cI\u2019m especially interested in why you put yourself in the line of fire, if your intent was not to die.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWell, of course it wasn\u2019t my intent!\u201d Jerry assured them. \u201cI\u2019m afraid to die!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle leaned over and suggested with a grin: \u201cI bet he did really; they all do. I never met one that didn\u2019t end up dying in the end. They\u2019re totally preoccupied with it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWell, I didn\u2019t have any choice, did I?\u201d Jerry said, shaking his head. \u201cI was obeying orders. We charge on the whistle.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t understand. Did they force you? What did they threaten you with that was so much worse than your apparent fear of death?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWell\u2026\u201d Jerry grumbled to himself and screwed up his face thoughtfully. \u201cThey didn\u2019t really threaten us with anything. The rules are the rules: it is what it is.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

The two looked at one another. Eyebrows were raised.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWe understand,\u201d the aunt said with a happy smile. \u201cYou enjoy being told what to do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cNo!\u201d Jerry said sternly. \u201cNobody likes being told to run headfirst into machine gun fire with explosions going off all around them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

The two beings looked at each other again and simply shrugged. His uncle rubbed her forehead and said, \u201cThen why do you do what you\u2019re told, if you don\u2019t want to do it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWe had to!\u201d Jerry said simply. \u201cThat\u2019s what we signed up for. We had no choice.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cAh, there\u2019s no choice!\u201d his aunt said. He began pressing buttons on his desk, and nodded as he scanned the results. \u201cAccording to our research, you did have a number of choices.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMaybe!\u201d Jerry said moodily. \u201cWhen I and everyone I grew up with signed up, we were told it would be a great adventure. We didn\u2019t expect there would be any actual fighting.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cNo fighting?\u201d said his uncle, somewhat taken aback. \u201cWhat exactly did you think a war was?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cI don\u2019t know. I guess I didn\u2019t think about it at the time. I just assumed that heroics and getting horribly killed or maimed would be limited to people more qualified for the job. I never thought it would happen to me.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cLife is quite unfair!\u201d His aunt reached over and thoughtfully rubbed his uncle\u2019s chin. \u201cMy records indicate that all human life comes out of a human female body in a most appalling manner. It\u2019s almost as appalling as the way it\u2019s put in there.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cResearch!\u201d his uncle said with a rolling of his eyes. \u201cIs that what we\u2019re calling it?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s for science!\u201d he snapped. More calmly he turned to Jerry and said, \u201cYou all breathe the same air and drink the same water. I think I read somewhere that you all have roughly the same stunted intelligence.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle stifled a chuckle. \u201cIntelligence!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWhat?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cConcepts of fairness differ!\u201d Uncle Jim said to herself. \u201cIt all seems fair to me. You\u2019re all basically the same.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cNo!\u201d he said. \u201cIt isn\u2019t fair that one person is richer, better looking or luckier than me!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His aunt leaned forwards and looked at him closely. \u201cBetter looking implies that you\u2019re good looking in the first place, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>

Before Jerry could argue, his uncle added: \u201cRicher? Does he mean more full of flavour? Are they eating each other again?\u201d<\/p>

He gave her a stern glare and said, \u201cNo, Jim. He\u2019s talking about that money stuff.\u201d<\/p>

The uncle gave him a disgruntled look as if one of them had sat down too fast in underwear that was too tight. \u201cBut that doesn\u2019t really exist. I thought we\u2019d decided that it\u2019s just a shared delusion.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt is!\u201d he told her. \u201cBut he doesn\u2019t know that, does he? That\u2019s what delusional means!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

She turned to Jerry and said, \u201cMoney doesn\u2019t really exist. We think it\u2019s a joke that got out of hand.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cOf course it exists,\u201d Jerry said, scoffing at the idea. \u201cHow else do you think I pay for my beer?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cBeer?\u201d<\/p>

His aunt rolled his eyes and said, \u201cIt\u2019s the carcinogenic poison that upsets the chemistry of their brains, to both reinforce the delusion and to use as a coping mechanism for dealing with living inside it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Jim looked to Jerry. She blinked twice and turned back to the aunt. She said finally: \u201cWe\u2019ve got nothing else to learn from this creature. Just kill it with the hilarious-spectaculiser.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

He nodded and huffed a weary sigh. \u201cSure! Let\u2019s find a better one.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWait\u2026\u201d Jerry cried out. \u201cYou can\u2019t kill me.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His aunt brandished his metal rod and said, very firmly: \u201cI most certainly can!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle flashed a supportive smile. \u201cNo, no. We\u2019re not actually going to kill you, we\u2019re not without compassion,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ll just turn off the machine and you\u2019ll be sent back to the exact moment we snatched you from. You\u2019ll die naturally of your horrendous injuries and we won\u2019t be in any way responsible.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cWe sleep very well at night!\u201d<\/p>

\u201cPlease\u2026\u201d Jerry muttered weakly. \u201cDon\u2019t send me back there!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

His uncle rolled her eyes, in a very aunt-like way. \u201cDo you see that?\u201d she muttered. \u201cHe really doesn\u2019t want to die, despite the mountain of evidence to the contrary.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cMost peculiar,\u201d said his aunt. \u201cShall we put him with the others for further study?\u201d<\/p>

\u201cWhy don\u2019t we ask him? He was the one saying he was never given a choice.\u201d He turned to speak to Jerry. \u201cEventually, we will need to switch the machine off and return you to your place of death, but so long as there\u2019s a big splash of your DNA around it doesn\u2019t much matter how long you stay here for.\u201d<\/p>

Jerry looked around the almost empty white box. \u201cI\u2019m in no rush\u2026\u201d he said weakly with a hopeful smile.<\/p>

\u201cYou\u2019re not the first specimen we\u2019ve had pleading for a life extension!\u201d his aunt said, pressing some buttons. \u201cAs bizarre as we found this, we decided it warranted additional research, so we created a dedicated artificial environment, a simulation within which you can live out your days. We get to learn about your species, and you get to temporarily postpone your inevitable, painful and horrendous demise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s a win win!\u201d added his uncle.<\/p>

Jerry swallowed audibly and gave him an awkward smile.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAre we to take it that\u2019s your choice?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>

Jerry nodded enthusiastically.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cFair enough!\u201d his uncle said. \u201cYou\u2019ll like what we\u2019ve made here. We designed it using all of our knowledge of your pitifully confused species. It\u2019s grounded in your reality and is perfectly suited to house you.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s like a big muddy animal-cage,\u201d his aunt told him. \u201cBut you get to change your own sawdust.\u201d<\/p>

\u201cBefore you know it, you won\u2019t even remember your old life. You won\u2019t even remember this conversation!\u201d<\/p>

As she tapped away at some buttons busily, his uncle learned over as if to share a secret.<\/p>

\u201cThe residents seem to really like the mud!\u201d she said.<\/p>

Jerry cocked his head curiously.<\/p>

\u201cThey call their new home Earth.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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