Brutalist Stories #23

“They’re worth saving.”

“What makes you say that?” I turn to him and wonder where this change of heart has come from.

“I’ve seen something in them,” he says.

“What could you have seen, this far in, that’s made you change your mind?”

“Look at them, they’re so alien to themselves, to each other, it’s extraordinary,” he turns to me and raises his eyebrows.

“You appreciate their variation now? Somehow you find that attractive now? The decision has been made, you can’t change your mind now.”

“No decisions are final,” he says to me slowly shaking his head. “We can always change, that is our prerogative. We are allowed.”

“Only under exceptional circumstances,” I say as we walk through the ruins, this eroded grey substance, over run with green, the nature of this planet finding its way around the concrete of their progress.

“I believe there are exceptional circumstances that have come to light.”

I turn to him and furrow my brow.

“We know all the calculations we’ve ran, we know their chances of survival are slim, but I ran a variant scenario where we interject.” He pauses. “A last revolution.”

“They are undeserving, they are bound to destroy themselves.” I shake my head and stand still. Why does he think we’ll bestow this upon them?

“This planet, it has done something to them, you can see it, their factions, religions, cultures under cultures and within subcultures, they are vast. This peculiar undulating mass that never ceases, that spews up so much so constantly. Yes, it is almost inevitable that they will destroy themselves because of it, but if it can be helped…a Last Revolution…” He pauses and raises a hand out from underneath his robes and runs it slowly down the concrete curve. “The calculations have been made, their survival rate increases dramatically, their capabilities could be significant.”

“This is serious.”

“I know,” he turns away from the wall to look me in the eye. “But we were once such a world, struggling through the horror, only seeing a flicker of the light, driven by our evolution into the darkest corner. But we were given a chance, and now look.”

“A Last Revolution.” I pause, and my hand balls into a fist under my robe because it is clear he is right. What we had once, where we were, the chance we were given, and the opportunity to one day give it to one other race.

“This race, the humans, they deserve it,” he reaches under my robe and takes my balled hands in his. “The universe deserves it.”

“We only get this once, that is the rule.”

“Let us give it to them. They are not exceptional, but they are extraordinary, they are different, and this is what they need, what the universe needs.

I hold my hand to my ear and hear the click of the communication system. “Yes, there has been a change. Yes, this late. Yes, we are sure. Cancel previous order. Confirm; The Last Revolution…Engage.”

Building inspiration: Villaggio Turistico Club Mediterranée - Italy