Above me I see distant stars, out of reach, like blue skies and freedom.
Life echoes. In every incarnation I have been a thief, and I have been caught.
Millennia ago, a young soul, I poached a single rabbit from the King's Forest to feed a starving family. Into the hole I went, clamped in chains, forgotten.
Most recently it was Leporidae gene seeds from the Imperial Menagerie. Rabbits to feed a whole colony. And for that I was sentenced to languish deep in this black hole, made to remember every one of my past lives.
I long for forgetfulness.
Author bio: John Xero would like to be remembered. In his dreams he is remembered for his imagination.
There is something of the psalm in this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Sandra. =)
DeleteNot just in your dreams dude, that's how I remember you right now!
ReplyDeleteAww, thank you, Pete. ^_^
DeleteAn interesting take on the fact that we never, really, change.
ReplyDeleteWhether that's for good or bad -- and it could be both, with this charcter -- is to be seen. I wants forgetfulness, but I wonder if he actually regrets.
We change all the time and yet we always stay the same. One of life's great paradoxes. =)
DeleteI'm sure there are moments in which he regrets... when he is not quite himself. ;)
Thanks, Becky. =)
I was just thinking I hadn't seen much from you lately, and bang!
ReplyDeleteAmazing how technology improves both theft and punishment, but asshole kings are still assholes.
Ha! That's one way of putting it, Larry. =)
DeleteBig ideas in a tiny space here. I hope he got the gene seeds to the colony before he was caught
ReplyDeleteThank you, Mazzz. I'd like to think so to. =)
DeleteI love oubliette and demi-jon/dungeon as words & concepts. So I was an absolute sucker for this tale
ReplyDeletemarc nash
Thank you, Marc. =)
DeleteOubliette's a great one, isn't it? Sounds fanciful, but is entirely literal and unpleasant.
I'll never forget climbing into an oubliette at Warwick Castle when I was younger, and seeing the graffiti scratched into the stone walls. This is a more futuristic version I imagine, but chilling all the same.
ReplyDeleteDon't think I've ever been to Warwick Castle, looks worth a visit though. I think, no matter how advanced prisons get, they will always still be prisons...
DeleteI love this idea that he has been a thief, over and over and over again. He sounds like an immortal Robin Hood. Really fascinating thought.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Amalia. =)
DeleteAn eternal Robin Hood, persecuted by an eternal King John and court.
An interesting piece, an illustration of those who have and those who have not. I too hope he got the seeds to the people before they captured him.
ReplyDeleteI kinda hope so to, Helen. Thank you. =)
DeleteThis puts me very much in mind if the starving children sent to Australia for stealing a loaf of bread, the full weight of the law brought to bear on the smallest transgression.
ReplyDeleteNicely crafted John, as always. :)
History is littered with injustice, isn't it?
DeleteThank you, Steve. =)
That author bio note was great! Like somehow it fitted to the story above. And the story itself is simply brilliant. It poses a universal question, one that is epitomized in events, choices and actions told in so few words here, but that's what makes it awesome! An echo indeed!
ReplyDeleteThanks for such a great comment, Cindy. =D
DeleteI usually try and tie my bio in with the story theme somehow, depends how creative I'm feeling at the time. ;)
The dark side of karma, an eloquent tale of the road to hell being paved with good intentions.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Catherine. =)
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