Elliott's stories

The Wall I wake. I see the wall. The wall is there to protect me, to keep me safe. The wall is comforting.  I walk through the meadow. I see the wall to my left and to my right. It stretches out in the distance in front of me and trails off far behind me. The wall is there to protect me, to keep me safe. The wall is comforting.  I wander down to the stream and through the forest, where the rush of the water and the rhythmic sound of the wind in the trees soothe me, and I feel happy. All the while, the wall stands there, protecting me.  I’m all alone here, but it doesn’t seem strange. I am at peace here alone because I know the wall is there to protect me, to keep me safe. The wall is comforting.  The sun beats down on my face, but the wind is cool and refreshing. The sound of the birds in the trees brings me joy. The birds fly above the wall. I sometimes wish I could see what lies beyond as they do, but then I remember the wall is there to protect me, to keep me safe...

The rain hasn't stopped since the machines took control... I think it was always inevitable. The hubris of humanity, our arrogance that we were always going to be the dominant species on the planet. The people in charge told us the machines were there to help us, to assist us, to make things easier. Then, they started taking the dangerous jobs, and people were happy, no longer were human lives at risk in dangerous situations. Then they took the easier jobs, no longer did humans need to perform menial tasks. Again, we applauded as the machines delivered our packages and handled our shopping. Then we bred the machines for war, and what did we think would happen? Emotionless machines that spat out data on the most efficient targets to cause the most devastation. Countries and cities became longitude and latitude, the human population was reduced to simple equations. We tried to get the machines to fix our mistakes. Fix the damage we've done to this planet, thinking somehow glo...