At the Twilight of Mankind

Part 4 - Chapter 1: (4/4) Introducing the Main Characters

In a very short time, poor countries were no longer poor. The scale on which they had been measured for centuries no longer existed. With the disappearance of the ladder of paradise, followed the disappearance of hell. They were no longer not enough nor too much. They simply were. Together, they had regained pride, confidence, and dignity without having to take them away from anyone else. Together, they no longer wanted to fight to compete with each other to win a seat in paradise.

However, despite their new redemption, they remained men with the original curiosity of small children. So, they put on their military clothes and got into their old cuckoo clocks to see what was happening where a supposedly intelligent, biological, and robotic system was holding the great powers of the world captive. They took some weapons, just in case! They chose to go and see the smart system in Europe since the continent was closest to theirs. Ideal for a quick escape.

They arrived in a big city that was clean and orderly. A few buses were coming and going on almost empty roads; the passengers were all very old and seemed to be accompanied by men and women with strange gaze; cattle and wild animals roamed freely taking advantage of nature which enjoyed all the space left by the few buildings planted here and there. No ruins, no rubble, no corpses lying on the ground, no signs of a war or violence.

In the middle of the city, a huge park with a large swimming pool where elderlies were having fun like the children they used to be a very long time ago. Some were sitting at tables, others on benches. Their frail small wrinkled bodies moved slowly, but surely. Their smile was big and genuine while their gaze no longer judged the world. Like guardian angels, men and women with strange gaze were standing by their side. They noticed us right away with our colourful uniforms, our young black faces, guns hanging from our shoulders. They weren't afraid. They weren't surprised either. It was as if they had been waiting for us.

"I'd never seen cyborgs in my life," the president continues, staring into the distance. "I didn't immediately realise they weren't human. I'm talking about the ones with the weird gaze, of course. The others were human. Some had rather sophisticated prosthetic limbs, but they were humans. They seemed so happy. This place seemed so peaceful and serene. Really! Then, we walked towards one of the old men sitting on a bench to ask him where the others were (the younger men and women, and the children). Without saying a word, he pointed his old wrinkled finger at what looked like a large glass stadium."

"You don't want to see what's going on in there," he said gravely. "We can hear them sometimes. Leave us alone and go back where you came from." He paused for a moment before continuing calmly. "It's almost over anyway. Look at us. It's almost over."

We didn't listen to him and started heading towards the building. No one tried to stop us either by word or by force. The intelligent system had well learnt the logic of the masters of paradise. It knew their fears and desires since it had been conceived out of them. It knew it didn't need to invent some very powerful weapon to exterminate them. It was as efficient to simply confine them with meagre resources in a small corner of the world with an unobstructed view of everything they didn't have access to, and let them kill each other for it. The weakest would fall first, the strongest would become even stronger and bring down the rest until the last. But, ...

"Why spare the old ones and not the women and the children?" The young woman interrupts the president at the exact moment when he always asks this question.

"Yes..." the president sighs breathlessly. "Why?" he asks, raising his voice, and turning a questioning look at the young woman. He finds it hard to hold back the restlessness in his hands which he places first on his thigh, then on the lounge chair, next on the glass of water placed on the table in front of him, and finally on his heart beating too fast.

"You've never told me what you saw... tell me what you saw through the window of the stadium... the younger men, the women, and the children," the young woman asks softly, leaning towards the president.

Silence returns to the room like a shadow, heavier and heavier. The old man slouches again on the lounge chair as if to let his whole body be swallowed up in matter. He gazes at the ceiling for awhile, allowing his memory to come back, but he still doesn't have the words; the words that a child of her age would understand and forgive.

He looked at these people. He watched them suffer their vulnerable mortal condition through a large window. They looked like the animals they massively slaughtered before eating them in large quantities. Little of everything, a lot of nothing. Men, women, children screaming behind the big glass and him and his comrades with the cyborgs standing on the other side. We stood there watching as if these people were just actors in a movie on a giant screen. There was no harm in watching while we stayed on the other side. The cyborgs at our side watched motionless, their faces peaceful and imperturbable, their gaze lifeless and without compassion for those men, women, and children on the other side. Yes, I watched too.

I know! You're wondering what the common denominator between the six characters is

Stay inquisitive and keep reading ...