(For Release on October 5th,
2015)
Übermensch
By: Mathew Babaoye
From new author Mathew Babaoye, comes a
science fiction debut set in a far future dystopian world, where the natural is
artificial, the unreal is real, and one is either Master, or slave…
________________
TO SERVE IS ALL
The
world is vast, a tapestry of sea and land and sky, representing resource,
wealth, and almost endless possibility.
But
the Masters would not share, and split the world into Domains, one for each of
them, to do whatever they would with the land allotted, each section a realm of
inviolate rule.
And,
as for the rest of us…
We
serve…
Gladly.
________________
Ubermesnch is the diary of a young posthuman,
and a twisted coming of age story. Grand in scope, meticulous in detail, and a staggering work
of imagination, experience it from the start, and learn the ways of service…
About the Author
Mathew Babaoye is a writer.
www.mathewbabaoye.com
Excerpt:
I woke up ready to serve.…
Eyes
blink repeatedly.
The
oval cell is white and bare.
I am
standing.
Memory
slowly blooms…
“Attend,”
orders a disembodied voice.
A
portal irises open.
I
step through, into a dim dark hall twinkling with floating motes of pale green
luminescence.
Beneath:
a blue glow forms, moving swiftly forward in a line…
I
follow it.
Down
the hall, and through another portal -
-
into another white cell.
Turning… I see the portal iris shut.
Successive
waves of blue light pulse from floor to ceiling.
Brightness
above.
I
pass up and outside.
Wind
blows soil-fragrance; puffy white clouds are arrayed in geometrically perfect
lines across azure sky, rows of tended barley lined perpendicular below, blue
leading forward through, towards a barn.
… something
about this place is not quite right.
I pass by rows of barley, where -
Everything changes.
Wind howls at night on a dark city
street, a lone streetlamp shining in the distance.
Something about this place is not
quite right.
The blue leads me towards the light, passing
by shuttered tenements…
… then turns, down a dark alley.
A menacing growl issues from the end.
I head towards it, where -
Everything changes.
A vast white square, surrounded by
dark sky purpling, and breeze of thin air…
I turn.
Twelve identical beings - tall, black
robed, grey-skinned, crowned with thorns - stand at the edge. In unison: they
turn, eyes flashing.
“You will serve me.”
A shiver runs down the spine…
Pleasurable.
“I will serve.”
Each points to their feet.
“Kneel before me.”
I hesitate… then walk to the nearest.
And kneel.
I stand and walk to the next.
And kneel.
I stand and -
Overlapping laughter.
“The tweaks in your design are
effective. You are different.”
All vanish - but one.
Something inside me… settles.
I walk before it.
And kneel.
“Rise.”
I stand.
It turns away, looking beyond the
edge again.
I wait.
After a time: “what do you see?”
I come to stand beside it, looking
beyond the… roof, of the Tower, across a landscape of mist, kilometers below.
Far afield, where mist thins, are the silhouettes of twisted trees, the horizon
glimmering shoreline, pre-dawn a pink blush.
“I see land.”
It frowns. “I am the Master. You see
my Domain.”
I consider.
Yes, the Master owns. The Master owns
the land. The Master owns the Tower.
The Master owns me.
“I did not understand the question,”
I clarify. “Yes, I see your Domain.”
The Master looks at me intently.
“What do YOU own?”
Anxiety. “I am not the Master. I do
not own.”
“Relax.”
I relax.
The Master nods. “Certain emotional
responses are to be expected, given your design.” A pause. “And my own. Hm.”
It walks from the edge, humming
distractedly.
I follow.
A low thrumming…
We rise upon an upwelling white
platform, tiers of white coming after, and white drips upward, silvering into
bright screens, which float into wide orbit around a center-portal-ascending
techno-throne…
… and all the rising smoothly stops.
The Master sits upon the throne.
I kneel. “Master.”
“Rise.”
I do so.
“You are as I hoped, strong and
quick-thinking. But…” Grey lips purse. “I would prefer you to call me by my
name.”
“What is your name?”
The Master smiles. “My name is
Gabriel.”
“Yes, Master Gabriel.”
“You will be called Id.”
“Yes, Master Gabriel.”
The Master frowns. “Are you being
impertinent?”
“Never!”
Still frowning. “The Tower is my
home, and the place you will inhabit, at my will. Memories and knowledge of my
Domain are implanted in you, but a tour by our sAI node will demonstrate that
it took.”
I am suddenly standing meters back,
bright-orbiting screens ahead, obscuring...
“Id,” calls a feminine voice.
I turn.
By the lowest tier, dawn warming red,
floats a golden sphere…
“Let us begin.”
-SandraTheBookWorm
No comments:
Post a Comment