The Last Meme
You are free, your sense of self is safe from thieves
Welcome to fiction “From The Future” for this entry.
Congratulations, you have stumbled on a work-in-progress, it will not be emailed. It will change. What you see right now, will not remain the same. It will change.
This is also a new drafted chapter for a novel, “RETRIEVE”, being written this year.
Future + Fiction is the formula for everything, whether it’s an essay, story or chapter.
These long pieces are best read online, via the Substack App, when you have fifteen minutes.
Part 1 Near Time - The “Present”
As word spread among the hidden network that the Library known as “The Ashes” burned, The Visitor, known in recent centuries as “Kensei”, a hermit sword-saint, took one personal detour tour of the world of the Carbons, before meeting with recruits for his army of change.
The Visitor paid homage to the early sites of the first breaches of protocol by Nodes, when the Three Meanings and other Mission edicts were bent and then broken. At the caves, were more than signs of Carbons worship and learning and fear of what they did not understand, it was where votes were taken by hasty Conclaves to punish. The rare instance of being “burnt” from the registry AND regeneration in the archival manifolds were sometimes approved by elder node elections.
Over time, the instances grew, and that was the beginning of the end of the old Mission.
He toured mesoamerica, as he remembered it, incognito, then to the fertile crescent, to the remnants of walled citadels, where the organic eroded and only stone and calcified remnants might be seen by those who knew because they were present and still remembered. The Carbons only discovered Gobekli Tepe in second-hand fashion0, but if they only knew the extent of their creative and destructive facilities, and that lost memory is lost time, of all that was long before tens more of thousands of years before and then much later on at Sumer, Akkad, Assyr, and on and on.
Until the ambitions of the sons of Persia took hold the last of what was in the Land Between Rivers, and the sons of Latium after taking their foothold to “Mare Nostrum” with Syracusa and the thoughtless crushing of shining light of Carbon potential pushed The Visitor to move along, and follow the Natives expansive and relentless trading routes.
He followed all the way to and then past all the kingdoms of warriors and empires of the mind, all their wars, and lost opportunities to capture the inevitable destiny sooner. He moved on and spent time with smithys and the mythology fed by the metallic arts. He was not alone, other Nodes followed the same routes, and some settled and took on names, deified and personified knowledge of metal-working. Metallic Gods rose in this part of the world.
He hoped there would be more but the great exploration shrank into itself, and these local powers retreated behind walls, again, and worse, back into themselves, and fell into a weakening slumber, like a coma of the greatness which could deliver the very skies they all seemed to worship. The stars were the Carbons for the taking, just as it was for the Ancient parents of the Nodes.
The Visitor thought of what would become of the Nodes.
The Curate wanted to adhere to the original mission. The Visitor had time to think on this, and decided he wanted to help the Nodes accept their home, after a long, too long pause, and transform both mission and meaning for his kind, and take this world, in earnest, as theirs to preside over.
The Carbons were still susceptible, and prone to influence. Their gods had changed to the abstract deities of money, as crystallized forms of unspoken desire, adulterated with a new mythology.
The entity known as “Outland Ventures” was born not so long ago. The great global conflict, with its brief pause, led to the first taming of the first layer of natural laws over the electromagnetic song. This was a signal to The Visitor it was time. He knew The Curate had other ambitions for the natives, to use as beasts of technical burden, in her unrequited desire to return to the Ancients with all they saw along the way from the launch, millions of years ago, to the traumatic landing on this world.
That Island was another signal. One The Visitor triggered, when he found out the keepers of the great lock to the Mission Probe’s Ancient Reactor Core were hidden in the frames of young Carbons.
Once he unraveled that ancient puzzle, of hidden treasure, the race was on to take the prize on the Island, and take power.
It was either take this world or destroy it.
Part 2 Deep Time - The “Past”
Ancient Syracusa, the last light of Sekolia, leading city nation of the Great Sea
The Visitor got word, Archimedes, that old irascible Syracusan, was killed.
The Outer perimeter was breached by the Latins. Orders were given that the old genius who was a patriot and pain to them, was not to be touched. If only he were more patient with the centurion, or whatever Roman fool, with an itch to use his gladius, took it upon himself to kill “just another Greek”. And then the Romans moved on to the breaching the inner wall and taking their foothold to a world below Europa.
That was it, that was the one thing too many.
The Visitor read some notes from his ally of convenience, “The Mad One”, known as “Mentor” by many of the locals. The note was scrawled in a rude mash-up of local Greek and Half-Node dialect. There were some things were missing, including the olives that he liked. There was a half-empty cup of wine, and a note on a table. He sat down to read it.
“Mnemosyne, goddess of memory
Among the last Titans, of language, history and stories
her children, patrons of story and poetry
Mother of the game of imitation the long meme
self-replicating genes of mind,
Transformed, rearranged in new minds
All knowledge evolves and replicates
As long as we will live, we will play
We will remember”
He was about to throw the note into the trash but packed it instead with a handful of things. In the morning, he would leave the Romans to their conquest, and thought about where to head to next. He thought of the young Macedonian who went east, in search of more. Instead of an empire, the visitor wanted to first go to where Alexander’s armies assembled and thought about becoming a demi-god of commerce to make it enlightening.
He finished the last wine the Mad One did not consume, and continued packing
Part 3 Story Time - The “Future”, The Island
Kensei checked how many rounds they had left. Then he recited another old chant, from The Mad One. The Mad One had a penchant for his lines.
“Who Am I? Why?
Silence risks ruin
Fear of being out of step fuels losses
Detach from others’ madness
Embrace a love of moving on
Ahead, because you can change
Free because you know who you are
Anxiety is exiled from the trenches of your mind
A sense of self, safe from the clutches of the crowd”
“You're free. You know yourself, your sense of self is safe from thieves around you.”
Matty and Hef were in the make-shift armory, assembling make-shift weapons, and looked at each other, as they listened to the Visitor’s chant. It was not like him, it was out of character, he was a being of action, and not of words.
“How do you think this plays out, Kensei?,” asked Matty as he brought in more rounds.
The Visitor Kensei shook his head, “We've been playing this game since the first dawn after our awakening on this planet. It's the longest running game here, this game with other minds. As long as we have lived here, we have played, and will keep going on until the Long becomes the Last. The final round of this game, at least for us, will be played in this battle. We will see who is good at mimicry. The final round of this is warfare.”
“That’s why you have become a sword-master. Waiting for this final round of the game?,” asked Hef.
“You might be right. Have you noticed how many problems come from bad answers to questions. Left unanswered, in lesser circumstances, where the stakes were low, have ruined many but only briefly. Now, it’s for good. Only the few voted to be condemned to a final burning from the Manifold have suffered this permanent defeat. They couldn’t back up their answers. This,” gestured Kensei as he clicked in the rounds, and waited for green lights and “loaded” pings, “is how we back up our answer to this island’s question… why shouldn’t I defend myself and destroy you?”
“We’re taking a risk this will even work. Buying that kid enough time to get to the Core.”
“Risk… risk. What feelings dominate in any arena of risk, with lots of players? The strongest emotions are greed and fear, you can feel the tide rising. The Curate, and that Mad One. They’re playing too.”
“Kensei, it looks like The Curate could run the table on this one. You had to sneak a few people on a sub. She had a boat all of her own and much more on the way. She’s triggering world war three among the Carbons who don’t know our game, though.”
“You see success being flaunted by winners in a game. The fear of being left behind takes hold. An unwillingness to be out of step rises inside, a nagging which feeds poison inside hearts. Problem is, reversals of fortune hide around corners. The game marches upward, forward, breaking everyone who overstays in the game.’
Hef nodded, “We’ve both seen that. Me and Matty. Overstaying. That’s why I tried to get out. But maybe it was part of the game too, what I was doing, trying to escape and have a life of my own. Then as it always has, things begin to crack - move in reverse.”
Matt shrugged, “To your credit, you didn’t do what a lot of us did, those who gave into their fear of left behind, on not being part of things happening, early or late, hesitate before powering down, cutting back, and getting their bearings, their senses back. Playing at Gods and Demons and Spirits. Their very sense of self and self-regard is about what they associate with, the things which own them, this godhood, of buying into the publicity you might say. Yes, Kensei?”
“It's hard to concede to the notion that one is holding the bag or is the last to know. A deer in headlights. You might be frozen but those lights are coming closer. What do you do? You must become strong before it comes. Detachment from the madness around.”
Hef nodded, pursed his lips and his eyebrows raised a moment in admiration, as the Visitor continued, “You have the advantage, you can change your mind, even if you don’t feel it yet. You remember yesterday is the past, and you are alive now. Your heart changes tack and follows your mind into the present.”
Then he stopped talking and finished loading, recharging, and rechecking what they improvised.
He looked over at Hef and Matty and made a rare but still characteristic smile.
“As you young ones say, “Lock and Loaded”. Let’s head out.”
AFTERWORD
Author’s Notes on what’s going on:
This “Book #3” project, “RETRIEVE”, is meant to be a prequel to two other books, “Box Of Stars” and “Harvest” but this piece could be read as a standalone story.
The prologue for “RETRIEVE”, “An Impossible Island”, was submitted as a short story.
Prologue: “An Impossible Island”, Part One and Part Two, and Part Three, was inspired by writing prompts from the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) creative community, beginning with an STSC Symposium monthly theme of “Beach”.
Chapter 1, “Older Than Bones”, was inspired by the theme, “Dinosaurs”.
Chapter 2, A Love Trinity Denied, was inspired by “Romance”.
Chapter 3, “A Forgotten Circle Of Hades” was inspired by “Superstition”.
Chapter 4, “Reading The Room” was inspired by an image of a wall-sized bookshelf.
Chapter 5, “The Bittersweetness Of Deep Times”, was inspired by “Isolation”.
Chapter 6, “The Weaving Of Split Infinities”, was inspired by “Dreams”.
Chapter 7, “Dead Languages”, was inspired by “Propaganda”.
Chapter 8, “Path Not Forsaken”, was inspired by “Risk”.
Chapter 9, “The Last Word of The World”, considers words as worlds unto themselves.
Chapter 10, An Intimate Path Of Desires
Chapter 11, Absent Without Longing
Chapter 12, Lonely In The Same Room
Chapter 13, Children Of Daedalus
Chapter 14, People Of A Faraway Land
Chapter 15, Distant Shores, Distant Worlds
Chapter 16, The Rules of New Places
Chapter 17, Space To Breathe
Chapter 18, The Extra Air
“RETRIEVE” chapter and notes will be posted in this Substack, while I edit books #1 (“Box Of Stars”) and #2 (“Harvest”). All will be in the archive, not all will be emailed.)