Damien Broderick - Strange Attractors by Original (pdf) (no david read aloud txt) 📕

spread our Elixir and have a good

time in the process.

They gave us a send-off, and M other made a speech about civilising the ignorant and so forth, and then we broke loose and pushed off into the channel.

It was a trap! Police! ‘Give it to them!’ shouted the wall cells,

‘Teach them some respect.’

But a few of us escaped, and personally, I harbour no grudge. I

like to know where I stand. I left with no illusions.

And somewhere out there was the Promised Land, the land of

lard and glycogen.

I would colonise that land (I determined) and teach the Elixir to

all.

I travelled as a merchantman, flying no flags, my weaponry

withdrawn.

W hat ajourney! I circumnavigated the globe. The things I saw you

wouldn’t credit. Control, what a city was that! I was there. I saw the

canteen, the pumphouse, the observatory. I visited the nursery, I

saw an egg being prepared for sacrifice. It was horrible! And many

other sites, too numerous to mention. But when I saw the warehouse, I knew that was for me.

This was the ‘works’ they’d spoken of, the factory, the warehouse.

Such opulence! Imitating a wounded lymphocyte, I put ashore at a

prime piece of real estate.

I claimed the place in my own name, then one of the natives

grabbed me. All around us, highly specialised workers performed

intricate tasks.

As we travelled, I formulated a plan. I would pass myself off as a

bona fide refugee. Then I would organise the workforce, and precipitate a social crisis. I would decide what to do then, when the time came.

‘Call the cops,’ said the overseer, taking one look at me.

The district superintendent came down, no less. ‘W here’s the

suspect?’

The elixir operon

149

‘Why, ah — she must be hiding behind those babies.’

‘W hat sort of babies are they?’

‘Bit too early to say.’

‘And can I interrogate a baby?’

‘O f course not. A baby can’t talk.’

‘So how do I know the baby’s on the level?’

‘I beg pardon?’

‘Supposing you had a bad baby.’

‘You’d wait till the baby grew up.’

‘Supposing the baby never grew up? Suppose the baby remained

a baby forever?’

‘Wait a minute . . . you don’t mean — ’

‘I’m afraid so. Never leave the suspect unattended!’

‘But I was only gone a second!’

‘One second is all it takes. They’re everywhere.’

I was going to enlighten them, but I never got round to it. I did

have a whole warehouse to eat out.

5

‘Farkin Hell, what’s going on here? Some greedy bastard ate my

snack! Hey Mum!’

‘Leave’m alone,’ says Mum. ‘They produce the food we eat, or

some such shit.’

‘She ain’t gonna do nuttin about it.’

It’s the dude from over the road.

‘Hello,’ she says. ‘You’re one of the little warehouse girls, aren’t

you? Shouldn’t you be at home, sweetheart?’

I beat her up good, so she wouldn’t get no fancy notions.

6

Everyone hates us. We can’t take a trick. Is it any wonder we act as

we do? If society had given us a fair go, we wouldn’t feel this way.

We’re trained for nothing.

Still, Life has its moments. Like the other day, we found the

Brewery and all got pissed.

‘Hey,’ said someone. ‘Dis must be dat Elixir dey speak of.’

150

D avid Foster

1

Look at them. No better than mackas and even mackas won’t eat

collagen. My sisters aren’t so fussy. I’ve seen them fighting over

bones. It makes me ashamed to see what we’ve done to the environment. But that’s the least of their concerns. It’ll see us out, they say.

Don’t they realise the world is ending? Death rays, poison scripts

— how can they stand the atmosphere?

We live by seizing what yesterday put in store for tomorrow. I’m

so depressed when I look around.

‘Don’t just sit there and mope, dear,’ said a red cell to me yesterday. ‘Get out and do a bit. You’ll feel better if you do, and what’s more, you’ll be helping someone.’

But I can’t work in this environment. It seems so pointless.

I’ve decided I want to live alone. I want to be independent.

Here I am in the countryside. It’s fairly crowded actually, wouldn’t

you know it? Try as I might, I can never come up with an original

idea. There are too many people in the system!

I’m finding it hard to be self-sufficient. I don’t have any skills.

My parents never taught me anything. Oh well, it’s too late for that

now.

Freedom is an illusion. There is no master. There never was an

Elixir.

Cool it