CHAPTER 23
MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTION
The vast meeting room Nelson and Tina found themselves in dwarfed its occupants, and chihuahuaed the Doberman Pinscher.
Three of its inhabitants donned lustrous white robes, each with a thin rainbow braiding stitched from their sternum to sweep over right shoulders. Four more, including the Knowall Dex'2O who had accompanied Nelson and Tina, all sported the same deep vermillion robes with a variety of gold braid styles. The dog remained raven black.
Nelson appraised the scene. It was undeniably a wonderous sight, albeit with one clearly unsuited item.
A strawberry.
From the clean lines of the room's rich cherrywood walls, down to the curved lineation of the mirrored table, all was in balance. From the sweeping profile of the long table, pulling focus to the rounded porcelain salver planted impeccably in its centre, there was harmony. Yet slightly off-centre resting on that salver sat an isolated red strawberry with its bright green stalk.
Nelson's distracted imagination ignited and primed itself for lift off...
TEN...
This is definitely not a strawberry.
NINE...guidance is internal
In my 1980's world, radios are made to mimic hamburgers, telephones represent cartoon mice, so I've learnt not to be fooled.
EIGHT...
But my world is now forty years off the pace of this underground realm. So, what could it be that sits here so formidably before me?
SEVEN...ignition sequence starts
Okay, let's extrapolate the trend in miniaturisation by many decades. Aha, yes!
SIX...
Here is a rechargeable strawberry comprising a video camera with satellite dish incorporated into the stalk, suited to beaming discrete images of each person sat here anywhere in the world, probably on command of the Chairman's voice.
FIVE...
That is brilliant.
FOUR...
Hang on. Then again, its stalk could contain a microscopic laser, and relevant optical instruments, to reproduce holographic images of a strawberry... and it isn't really there at all!
THREE...
Oh I like that one. Genius.
TWO... all engines running
Come on, think bigger. Maybe... it is a banana injected with the appropriately encoded electro-chemicals empowering it to assume the shape and flavour of a strawberry, or any stand-in fruit, at the whim of its consumer.
ONE... LIFT OFF! we have lift off
Yes! Get in!
One of the white-robed Knowalls dislodged Nelson's enthrallment, and in an instant his fantastical speculation was answered.
"Would you like a strawberry?" the Knowall asked, "I'm afraid there's only one left."
WHOOPS... forgot the clutch!
"No, are you sure?" followed up the Knowall, "Final answer?" and without waiting for further reply he grabbed the fresh strawberry and popped it into his mouth, pitching the stalk to the Doberman in a single deft move.
"There you go Zen, enjoy."
The dog snapped, swallowed, and growled. He was tiring of endless strawberry stalks and biscuits.
YOU ARE READING
You, Me, We Are All Mistakes
Science FictionSo, whether you care about it or not, we live in an unimaginable cosmos. We sit in an inconceivable galaxy of a hundred billion blazing stars commonly termed the Milky Way. A mind-blowingly vast group of similar galaxies is blandly named a cluster...
