The Monster Machine

Dispiteous Actions

Tova stirred, slowly becoming conscious and she tried opening her eyes. She blinked a few times before looking around and realizing she can't see anything beyond herself. Nothing at all to be seen. And endless void. Tova sat up and tried looking around, but she still couldn't see anything. She sighed and brushed a long part of her hair behind her ear.

"My friend! You came back!" shouted a tiny voice and Tova suddenly spotted her little black, blobby friend. She recognized the white, expressionless mask on its face and the droopy sprout ontop of its head. It ran up to Tova with its stubby legs and hugged her ankles. Tova smiled faintly, happy to see a familiar face in an unfamiliar area. The blob looked up at Tova.

"I didn't think you'd come back!"

"Me neither. But I'm happy to see you." said Tova quietly. She was more than happy to see another friend. She flattened her legs and let the blob climb up and sit on her comfortably.

"How has your journey been?"

"I... I'm doing a lot better now. I met some new friends who promised to keep me safe. We're trying to find out what my fathers really up to." Tova explained.

"You're father? What is he planning?"

"I don't know, but my friends say it might be something... bad. And I think they're right. I never realized that... he was actually hurting me. I don't think he ever really cared about me..."

"Oh... I'm sorry you were treated so badly. It makes me sad to see people hurting each other because they only care about themselves. Truthfully, they are only doing more damage to themselves. I wish we could all be friends."

The blob looked down and slid off of Tova's legs. It walked around her and Tova watched as her friend just... wandered around, probably lost in thought. She felt the same way though. She never knew how cold and mean people could be to each other despite not knowing what they might actually be dealing with. As if their own lives have more worth than those who really deserve recognition for their good actions. She couldn't imagine what it would be like if she was just as mean, or as a person who struggled to be good everyday, only to face even worse circumstances they can't control. Still hanging onto a broken thread of hope, dreaming of a day when things would be better. For themselves and for the future. It was sort of deppressing to think about.

"Hey... since you're here, can I ask you about some things?" Tova asked nicely.

"What is it you wish to know?"

"Has there ever been a time... any time... when people where actually..... nice to each other?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... was there a time... before all of this, when people actually cared for each other? The place where I live... I heard it was all built in a rush because people only cared about staying alive. Do you know... what actually happened that was so bad that made everyone become so bad and mean to each other?"

The blob turned around and walked back towards Tova.

"Ah... I think I understand. I may not know much about myself, but the subject of human history is my specialty. Bring me closer." said the blob kindly as it raised its stubby arms outwards, asking to be held. Tova carefully picked up her tiny friend. It felt cold, squishy and... a little slimy, but it wasn't offputting. She let the blob lean against her shoulder close to her ear like a child and began to wander through the nothingness.

"There was indeed a time during the beginning of the human reign where they got along well with one another. Sharing resources, inventing ideals and customs, and teaching their decendents about traditions and how to live life well so that their society would one day grow into a paradise. Sometimes, different groups of humans wouldn't get along or agree on how they lived their lives, and the only way to establish true dominion was to fight each other until one side gave up or completely perished.

"So... not everyone gets along with each other, do they?"

"They can, and they could if they wanted to. Some have tried and either failed or succeeded in some way. But no one is ever forced to show kindness to everyone. Like all beasts and creatures that wandered the same ground, they wanted to protect their own territory and live long lives. Either by themselves, with a partner, or in a community where they can agree on how to live. Most people used to believe that differences would change their lives in a way they did not want, and feared it would tear their way of living apart. They never learned that it was in fact the opposite, and nor did they learn to accept it."

"This all happened up on the surface, right?" asked Tova.

"Yes. That's where all life originated and everything lived there. As the human reign began to expand, so did their curiosity knowledge. But so did their greed, their selfish pride, and their envy of others."

The blob turned its head and faced away from Tova's face as she continued to hold it gently in her arms. She made sure it didn't fall or slip from her hands. She used to have trouble understanding big words, but somehow, she was able to understand everything the blob was saying to her. She tried to imagine what life was like, but something so big and complicated as that was difficult. It seemed her colorless imagination would have to do for now.

"Every generation believed that life could and would be better in their future," the blob continued. "Every hardship they faced, every challenge and obstacle they ran into was always pushed through with hope and determination. Their lives changed rapidly as they grew and so did their appearances and ideals. So much so, that with each formation of new minds... their heritage, history, and everything they believed was always thought to be superior to anyone who was different to them. And they tested those beliefs constantly. That's when they started making the machines."

"Machines?" Tova wondered out loud. "What did they do?"

"Their creation of machines is what drove them further to see who was more superior. Forcing themselves to improve because they believed that if they could make something better than someone else could, then they would be instantly recognized and worshipped as truly superior beings. But what they never realized... what they thought they were believing was that if they could improve their way of life, they could make their futures better to live in. As if the lives they currently lived weren't good enough. As if they could control life itself."

Tova was beginning to lose focus as she continued to walk through nowhere and eventually stopped. She sat down and let the blob sit on her knees so she could listen further without distraction. The blob looked up at her and continued.

"As their machines got bigger, so did their hunger for knowledge of truth. They became more aware about themselves and began to open up to each other, learning about the differences in their ongoing societies. However... not everyone was open to new ideals. Lack of empathy was feeding their ignorance. And the longer it took for them to realize that, the worse life got. For others and themselves. And that included the lives of new generations. For some reason, most never spoke about their issues to those they trusted."

"But... why? If they knew something was wrong, why not say something. Even if they didn't agree on anything, why couldn't they just agree to not agree on everything? It's not like they're forced to agree on everything, right?"

"Well... it was a bit more complicated than that."

"Oh..."

"I'm not entirely sure why... but I believe that they couldn't let go of their core beliefs that differences within their society would ruin their foundations, and instead of accepting the truth within, they continued to forcibly improve everything until they believed they could achieve a flawless future."

"Is that even possible?" Tova wondered. "Can there be a flawless future?"

The blob looked down sadly.

"No. A completely flawless future doesn't exist. Never has and never will. But if you really wanted to live in one, I'd recommend that you should accept the flaws in your society and learn from mistakes that were hidden in your answers. If someone wants to help solve a problem, then you should help fix it. But if someone wants to improve something that works fine on its own, it is good to listen to their ideas. But not everything needs to be fixed, especially if it doesn't already have a problem. It doesn't matter how easy or hard it is, depending on what your trying to accompish. Don't ever trade Quality for Ease."

Tova went silent, contemplating the words of her tiny, yet adorably fragile friend. Her eyes began to feel droopy and she sighed quietly. She laid down on her back, lifting her knees up in the air and the blob leaned back on them as they both relaxed.

"It's okay. I understand this must be a lot to take in. Even I don't completely understand everything about human nature, but their persistence of living is quite fascinating to me."

Tova blinked slowly. Her mind began to drift.

"Are people always this... complicated? They're so... hard to understand."

"Indeed they are. I don't blame you. As they continued to build more machines, you would think they would become much bigger, and they have, but their greatest creations were for machines that were much smaller. And just about as complicated as humans. Unfortunately, they soon became addicted to their own technology and never stopped making more. Most of their new creations were designed purely for entertainment."

"Why? Didn't they ever have work to do?"

"Well, when you have machines that do practically all the work for you, what else is there to do? Creating machines that do all the hard work ultimately forced humans to improve on themselves in ways that was actually very hurtful, and in more ways than one. People forced each other to try and reach unattainable standards of living out of spite, and envy, and further superiority. Making common folk believing they could reach those standards with minimal effort, but they were only making selfish, powerful people too powerful. Continuously feeding their blind pride and unheathy greed with lies and false hope."

The blob sat up and slid down from Tova's stomach, walking over to her side.

"They made their machines so good at doing their jobs for them, that they forgot how to do simple things for themselves. So... they started searching for something else that could gives their lives meaning?" Tova questioned.

"Exactly." replied the blob. It walked over to Tova's head and she turned to look at her friend.

"Ease, Comfort, Safety, Pleasure, Bliss... without a better purpose... humans tried all kinds of things to distract their false freedom with just about anything they could afford to make them feel better about themselves. And it only ended up hurting them more and more. And in some cases... they hurt other people just to get the same euphoria. Most didn't care or realize what they were doing. Was it ever acknowledged? Yes. Did anyone try to find a solution to fix it? No. They thought the effort wasn't worth achieving and continued to believe the long running lie of hoping for a better future to give them peace would come along sooner than the answers to solve their issues themselves."

Tova turned over on her side and curled up, leaving one arm laying outwards so the blob could rest against it. They stared at each other for a moment.

"They're... kinda like their own machines..... without a fixed purpose, what's the point of being around if there's something else that can live and work better than themselves?" Tova said quietly.

"Hm, you make a very good point." the blob agreed. "How interesting it is to learn that humans' very own creations were what caused the destruction of their way of life. Besides themselves, of course."

Tova blinked and suddenly remembered something.

"Why were people forced to live underground? I still don't know exactly what happened."

"Ah, that's easy. After years of exploitation of natural resources and a couple other factors, the lands they lived on couldn't provide enough to sustain all human life and itself at the same time. Humans took more than they gave and as their corrupt societies began to collapse, so did the world."

"But, didn't they try to fix it?" Tova asked. "Wasn't there a way to reverse the process somehow?"

"There are many ways, yes. A lot of people did try. They were almost entirely aware of what they were doing, but sadly, not enough people really cared or couldn't contribute enough to even slow down the process. The world they lived on was dying, and they were the sole cause."

Tova stared silently at her friend, almost unable to believe what she had heard. She couldn't have imagined anything like this. That things, even before the Underground came to existense, people just made things worse and worse until it was too much. It made her sad to think about.

"Quicker than they knew, the land began to fight back," continued the blob. "There was nothing more the humans couldn't do to delay the inevitable. Humans had done so much damage in so little time, and the world had enough of being abused and taken advantage of. It was time for them to be gone."

"Like... when you get sick, and your body makes you all hot so it can get rid of the virus." added Tova.

"Exactly. Humans became a living virus to their land, and all it wanted was time to heal. And that's pretty much how this all happened. The persistence of human survival is what drove the humans to hide underground. If you're asking me, it seemed more like a last ditch effort. Many humans perished during the destruction, and it's been a long, long time since anyone has seen the surface. The few survivors that remained began to multiply again, and so did their dwindling societies. The virus has ceased spreading, but still continues to live inside the world."

Tova sighed and turned her head upwards, staring at the darkness.

"People did nothing but destroy, not just themselves but the place they lived on too. And their creation of machines only made things worse and sped up the process of their destruction. As if... people and machines are one and the same."

The friendly blob c****d it's head, "That's an interesting remark. And... actually, now that I think about it... I thnk that begs the question..."

"What question?" Tova asked.

"Is man like a machine. Or are machines more like man?"

Tova narrowed her eyes, "What's that supposed to mean?"

The friendly blob looked down, thinking to itself, trying to think of an easy way to explain itself.

"I mean... humans can make machines look however they want and make them do anything they want. Machines are mans' creation. They can be as simple or complicated, and their insides can be the same. Similar to the way humans are made. The more complicated something is, the harder it is to be understood. The harder it is to be understood, the more it is misundertood and often underestimated. And if you don't give the time to care for or understand how all the little pieces work together, eventually those pieces will break. The more pieces that are broken, the harder it is to heal or be mended. Lives, either human or machine, can both be broken just as easily and tossed away for nothing just as quickly. Without a fixed purpose, without any reason to accomplish anything, self-destruction will always be their final and immenent action."

The friendly blob took a few steps towards Tova's head and spoke quietly into her ear.

"So... who's the real machine?"

Tova's eyes closed and her entire body went limp as she lie still on the ground. The last words of her friend echoed in her mind as she drifted off. The blob stepped towards Tova's shoulder and lightly nudged it.

"Tova?"