A prisoner's action

[stupidhonor]

[1]
[Sielje's cell is littered with books. Books that she was reading - because she made a promise to. And in the middle of it all, the knight standing stoically while pondering her available moves, another book in hand.]

Trapped in enemy territory, sworn not to cause trouble to my own captors as is required of a honorable prisoner... what may I do?

Earth is even more dangerous and tumultuous as a place than Ankaia. The planet has been ravaged by wars and invaders, even invaders out of this world.

I... I wish to see. It is too much to ask of a prisoner, but I wish to see how the ordinary people of Earth manage to exist. I find it impossible to believe that they can eke out a living with a constant threat of demise over their heads.

[She closes the book. It's written in ancient Greek. As a matter of fact, the books around the cell are written in all kinds of languages, presently used or classical.]

[2]

Hmm.

Hmm...

[The vending machine outside Sielje's cell roused her curiosity for a while now. As soon as she had a chance, she went out to pick up a few items it had available - probably certainly with assistance of others who needed to explain how it worked.

And now it's time to further inspect her rewards.]



This is Earth food, is it not? How do you... open yourself! Aah!

[She rips a bag of chips open, scattering most of them on the floor to her own surprise. Sielje pretends not to be embarassed about it at all.]

Such difficulty...

[She mutters while picking up a canned drink, then immediately puts it back down. Too hard to open - and the knight does not seem too impressed with the chips' taste upon carefully eating one.

Lastly, here comes the chocolate bar. The wrapping is easy enough for even someone like Sielje to remove on a second try. As for the taste...]





...!



It is sweet! How is it possible? How did they make the flavor so sweet?

Comments

[stupidhonor]

Humans of Earth are threatened by so many monsters... yet you find time to make sweet treats.

[Sielje looks up, puzzled.]

[majestic_keiki]

Our culture is what gives it all meaning. And most people aren't fighting or needed to make weapons anyway, so they'd simply be out of work if we stopped doing it.

[stupidhonor]

Are the people of Earth so confident in their warriors' ability to defeat the invaders, that the rest of them do not fight at all?

[majestic_keiki]

What good would it do to give a random pastry chef or farmer a Genoace and ship them off to the frontlines? We can only make so many robots and with the enemies we're fighting, just giving them guns wouldn't be very useful.

[stupidhonor]

Do they not seek to become stronger on their own?

Not everyone on Ankaia is a knight, either. But everyone wishes and tries to be.

[majestic_keiki]

Why would they? Being a soldier is dangerous, often poorly paid and not everybody likes or wants to be the same thing.

[stupidhonor]

For personal pride, for glory, or because it is an honorable act.

[Sielje's gaze moves to the side slightly.]

Or to conquer fear. The strong have nothing to be afraid of. The weak need to worry of everything.

[majestic_keiki]

So living a peaceful life far from the front lines is scarier than being a soldier while half the galaxy is attacking the planet?

[stupidhonor]

It would be on Ankaia... and Earth is still the more dangerous of the two.

[majestic_keiki]

Perhaps, but we still have space for civilians to live and pursue other goals.

We'll probably start rationing before drafting everybody anyway.

[stupidhonor]

[Sielje feels a bit glum now for some reason. She pokes the soda can, as if expecting it to open from just that.]

Drafting being, what exactly?

[majestic_keiki]

Ordering a percentage of the public to take up arms and fight in a war.

[stupidhonor]

I see. That is an act of dishonor, is it not?

In all history of Ankaia, it never happened once. Nor would it ever happen. Everyone, from mightiest lords to a lowly guard, wield arms not because they are forced to, but by choice.

[majestic_keiki]

We don't do it much anymore. But if it's the difference between monsters eating us all or alien giants blowing up the planet and our survival, shouldn't we be ready to do it?

[There's a slight strain to her voice, but whatever is causing it, she isn't saying.]

[stupidhonor]

Those chefs or farmers you mentioned, would they be able to make a difference in that case?

Perhaps Earth is trying to become more like Ankaia. Encourage the strongest to become stronger still, and they will defend the rest, the common people.

[majestic_keiki]

They probably would. Numbers has a quality of its own, though it'd require having enough weapons for them.

Mostly it hasn't come to needing that yet and perhaps our industry can't keep up to make it possible to actually arm enough that a draft would make sense.

[stupidhonor]

So this is the reality of living on Earth. It is...

[Sielje won't say complicated, but it is. It's too much for her to wonder about all at once.]

[majestic_keiki]

I can get you some books or movies if you want. To see what life on Earth is like in different places.

[stupidhonor]

I have this.

[Sielje lifts up a book. It's Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment, in original Russian.]

This and others too. It provides me with insight on how people of Earth think.

[majestic_keiki]

I was thinking of something that isn't centuries old. Things have changed a lot since then.

Also, when did you even learn Russian?

[stupidhonor]

Stories become wiser in age. Though I will not judge one without knowing it first.

[Sielje opens the book and shows a page full of cyrillic.]

You cannot read this?

[majestic_keiki]

No. I only speak Japanese and English. I don't even know how to read the characters.

And, perhaps stories do, but they still don't really tell you much about Earth as it is. When that was written we didn't even have planes or computers and most people were farmers.

[stupidhonor]

You can read some words but not others? This is strange. In the end they are all just words, nothing else.

Ankaia has plains, but there are no computers or farmers.

[Whatever those things are.]

Does Earth really change so quickly?

[majestic_keiki]

Yes. Earth's history is one about constant change. Technological, cultural, social and political. Different countries are quite different as well.

Ankaia stays the same?

[stupidhonor]

People come and go. Common folk who are forgotten, and great knights who have achieved extraordinary feats, remembered for a long time.

But Ankaia as it is remains the same over the years. There was no need for change in the state of affairs.

No one asked for it.