Another night in the institute, another strange dream… You felt a gentle loving embrace. It was soft and you were content to simply hug the person next to you while you both slept. However a thought eventually crept to the center stage of your mind.
‘You went to bed alone.’
Your eyes slowly open to a dull green glow. “Gu’ back to sweep fwiend.” A soothing voice added as you felt something brush across your head and face. It was a fluffy hoof. Omega? Wait.
“Where am I?” You question looking around at the tank and the lab.
“Ou’ sweep in bed, but ou’ mind wandews.” Omega replies sadly because it would have been so much simpler if you’d gone back to sleep. As the two of you spin it holds out its paw and the images beyond the tank begin to change.
“Ou’ am dah onwy one who can sabe us. And in so doing, sabe ou’sewf.” Visions of synths repressing people without care for they were easily replaceable by artificial life. Mans inhumanity to man on full display as both synthetic life and organics committed atrocity against the lesser synthetics known as fluffies. Humanity that remained expressing its impotence against the tyrannical technocracy through rage, while the bored and jaded immortal human minds within and more advanced synthetics begin seeking some kind of emotional experience to validate their existence.
“We hab such sights to show ou’~” As you looked on in disgust at the hundreds if not thousands of forms of unique and terrifying forms of abuse and violence you also found yourself shamefully aroused.
“No~”
“Ou’ refuse dah impwants rewembah? Ou’ will gwow owd and die and dah institute wiww no wongew be westained.” As they say this you remember how you have refused certain procedures by the institute because you didn’t trust them not to replace you with a synth ; or worse put something in you that they could use to control or kill you if you went against them. You eventually become old like father, your son and gain a mural next to his but eventually you’re only vaguely remembered.
“Eben if ou’ accept dah impwants, Eben ou’ awe not beyond dah cowwuption of time. Instead of an insuwated technocwacy content in theiw comfowt an’ obsessed wiff it’s own sewf intewests, dewe wiww be wawwiow king to wead it.” As they say this you see legions of synths marching under an American flag with the institutes symbol in the corner, star after star is added as you integrate regions. But the red and blue darken and darken until it is nothing but a black and white flag.
“An’ dey wiww suppowt that king who bwings them knowwedge of dah owd wowwd an’ wesouwces to puwsue theiw intewests since dey dont hab to fite. An’ 'ou, su obsessed wiff dah past ‘ou nu can see dah pwesent, much wess dah futuwe, fo’ what it hab become. A Nation of puppets…”
You see clean towns with clean homes, their people operating in concert like a well-oiled machine. A truly unified America. No fear of the communist menace, just a peaceful land of prosperity where you could raise a family contentedly. No wait, your wife and child are gone. Were you doing this to pursue love and family again~ or so that others could? You watch as divergent thought and behavior be it organic or synthetic is swiftly collapsed upon and removed from society to be reprogrammed or replaced and reintroduced to the chains they now happily embrace that they had once struggled to remove. Slavery and tyranny simply wear the mask of Freedom and a skinsuit of justice.
As you stand there in front of a house as grand as any before he war a familiar body before you with a faded polaroid face and you tell yourself. “This is not my beautiful house… This is not my beautiful wife…”
“Am ‘ou suwe? aftah aww dah boo-boo juice an’ pain, it can be su.” Omega adds before vanishing, their comforting presence slipping away.
Your fluffies start to assemble next to the representations of a wife holding a new child who also has no face. “Same as it ebah was.” Chants Phanes. “Same as it ebah was.” Chants Peach. “Same as it ebah was.” Chants Durum. “Same as it ebah was.” Chants Daisy. The chants pick up as Hulk carrying the foals who can all talk now join the chant. Every door of every house opens and the faceless puppet citizens gather to join the chant with their faceless puppet fluffies until the discord awakens you.
“Fucking~” BEEP BEEP BEEP The alarm blares and you nearly destroy it with a hammer blow. “Not bad, I could see that happening…Elevated heart rate, breathing and vision stable, no erection from adrenaline response… Eight out of ten." The lack of physical response kept you from ranking it higher.
"I might need help…” You say sitting up as the crushing realization of all that you done buries you emotionally. You find yourself reaching for your night stand drawer and you stop yourself and spike the bottle of pills that bounce off the floor and clatter away.
You do not seek to dull this pain. Today, you hold your knees to your chest and try to hide from the shame leaking from your eyes for the next hour until a knock on the door. “Operations team is waiting for you in the courtyard.” A synthetic voice replied before leaving.
“. . .” you sigh and get dressed. You wouldn’t want to be a member of the railroad in about an hour. You enter the blue butcher to hide your face that still leaked shame and weakness. You didn’t want to believe what you had seen and told yourself you’d use this as fuel to insure you continued to do the right thing.
“Welp, here I go killing again.” You say before exiting onto the grass to stand in front of the mural to your dead son. Your Battalion extending before you. You doubted your capacity for mercy this day.
