Hey Everyone!! :-)
I've got a little more of Alyce's adventure to share with you, today! Enjoy! :-)
Excerpt from sci-fi satire novel:
We moved off down the hallway and the exhibit changed. What looked like color-coded boxes were lined up in rows of green, purple, blue, yellow, and red. Some of the boxes had robots in them but others were empty. It appeared as if the tallest robots were in the green and purple boxes and the smallest robots were in the blue boxes, with the red and yellow boxes containing robots of intermediate sizes. As I watched, two uniformed robots carried a child-sized robot over to a large ruler that was set into the floor. After comparing the small robot's height to the ruler, they put it in one of the blue boxes.
"What in the pink and purple heck…?"
"It was unclear to us the criteria that was being used to separate these people," said Squid-boy. "The only thing we were able to determine for certain is that size and gender seemed to be factors. Therefore, what we're showing here is people being categorized by height and then by gender, though perhaps the order of those should be reversed?"
As he talked, I felt my jaw falling open, but I couldn't seem to pick it back up again. If I'd have been home, I'd have caught a dozen flies. Finally, his question registered in my brain and I nearly choked to keep from laughing. The subject we were discussing wasn't funny at all, and even in my shock I knew how inappropriate it would be to start giggling, but the way these aliens' minds worked sometimes, well, it just tickled my funny bone.
I must have made some strange noises because Yax came over and peered down at me with a serious look of concern on his face, and that about did me in. One look at the frown on that devil's face and I'm sure I turned near purple trying not to bust a gut. I had to excuse myself and walk away before I started hee-hawing at a time and place where it would have been in the poorest taste and made my mamma roll over in her grave.
When I finally had control of myself, I went back, but the confusion on both their faces nearly set me off again. Squid-boy opened his beak to speak, but I held up my hand and said, "Don't. Just don't say anything." They looked at each other and then back at me, and I had to look away from them before I lost it. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath. "Let me see if I've got this right, you think that the people here," I waved at the exhibit, "were separated based on their height and their gender?" My voice squealed at bit at the end, and I had to clear my throat to maintain control.
"Yes. Why does this disturb you?"
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut, breathing deeply. "Okay, you got part of what was going on here, but you mixed up the details, a bit." A strangled chuckle snuck out before I could stop it.
"And the way we've misinterpreted these events upsets you?" asked Yax.
A glance at the worry on his face and a half-formed snicker got past my lips. I had to look away and wipe the tears that were leaking from the corners of my eyes. Taking another deep breath, I looked up at the ceiling. "Umm… No. Not exactly."
My hosts looked at each other, again, and Yax moved closer to his colleague. "Do you think this is a manifestation of emotional shock?" asked the taller alien.
That was it; I couldn't take it anymore. A whoop of laughter escaped and echoed through the halls before I could stop it. Squid-boy narrowed his eyes at me and clicked his beak. "No. I do not believe it is distress that has resulted in this reaction."
Seeing the irritation on the faces of my hosts when they realized I was trying not to laugh at them nearly sent me completely over the edge. But then I looked back at the robots who were being "arrested" and the tears on the faces of the smaller robots, and thinking about how that was happening for real, to actual children, was enough to sober me instantly. Turning back towards the part of the exhibit where the sorting was being done, I remembered that while the criteria being used was different, people were actually being separated from their families and sent to different places.
When I thought about it a little more, I realized that words like "infestation," "diseased," and "animals" were already being used by elected officials at the highest levels of our government. How long would it be until terms like "liquidation," "final solution," and "special treatment" entered the conversation? With that in mind, all feelings of frivolity fled my thoughts.
Now Out:
