REBIRTH

Chapter 20

Time on the screens moved forward to the introduction of the first humanoids of our time. It was a primitive version of who we are now, but just as violent and driven by a need to survive. Time kept elapsing and the first sings of civilization began to appear. Great empires rose and fell, the fear of not-enough and the need to conquer always overpowering the wisdom of uniting as one race to grow together.

As the scenes continued to change I saw more and more of the same. Humans uniting and rising, then dividing and falling. So much war and conflict in the pages of our history. There was something hypnotic about watching humans battle each other in hand to hand combat. Man to man engaging in a battle for the lives over some ideal or belief that they held dearly. I couldn't look away.

It was when the bombs and machine guns came into the picture that repulsion and bitterness overcame me. These were not men fighting for ideals, these were weapons specifically design to obliterate each other over petty differences of opinion. Much as they tried to sell the wars to us as the right thing to do, we all knew it was bullshit. We were there to defend the interests of those in power. Not the government and certainly not the people, but those with enough money and power to create wars at their whim.

There was no more fighting for what we believed in, we were fighting for what they believed we should believe in. And we did. We believed, and we convinced ourselves that killing in those fields was done out of honor and duty to our country. We convinced ourselves that we were fighting for freedom. Our freedom, and to hell with the rest of the world. They were nothing more than gooks or hajis that deserved what they were getting.

The two nuclear bombs went off on different screens for effect, but they didn't get a reaction out of me. It was the aftermath that got me. The devastation of human and wild life alike. The poison we released into the environment. The pain and suffering we caused all around, and all because some believed themselves to be superior. If only they could be in this room with these two magnificent specimens, I wondered if they would rethink their theory.

Fast forward some more through more wars and conflicts, people living in unfathomable conditions while others lived in opulence, and then there I was front and center on all screens walking through the dessert night. I knew what was coming, and I just didn't have it in me to go through it again.

"Enough" I said. "You've made your point. We are a horrible species who deserve to be obliterated and forgotten forever. I agree. To hell with all human beings, let the species die off and pray that eventually a better one inhabits Earth in whatever dimension it is going to."

"You say that, yet you became an officer of the law. Sworn to uphold the highest morals and defend the weak" said Rogov.

"Ha! Defend the weak... You are one misinformed son of a bitch, aren't you? Our judicial system does not defend the weak, on the contrary. We defend the interests of those who have a voice, and by voice I mean money and powerful connections. Do you want to know what we do with the weak? What we do with those kids who are born into deplorable circumstances, the kind that would break your heart in so many pieces we rather be blinded to them? The ones who are born to crack-whores, neglected and abandoned to the mercy of the lowest scum our Earth has to offer? Those miserable beings we wait till they make one mistake, and we lock them up in facilities where worse atrocities are perpetrated against them. Don't be confused Rogov, I sure as hell am no guardian angel" I said and almost did not recognize myself. When had I become this bitter person full of hate and resentment?

"Bravo" said Rogov clapping. "I thought I would have to convince you of the unworthiness of your kind, but it looks like they have done that already."

"That's right. So if you are under the misguided impression that I exist for the purpose of saving humanity, I must say you are grossly mistaken. As far as I'm concern, wipe the slate clean and move on" I said surprising even myself because I meant it. At that moment an image of the soul group came into my mind. They had chosen difficult paths willingly. If this whole business of free will was true, then it meant each and every one of us had chosen the lives we lived.