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Progressing Backwards
The Decadence* Gets Worse in the Pyramid
 *Decadence: from
French de-cadence = walk in reverse; progress
backwards.
Step by step, day by day, the Pyramid
dwellers became addicted. Addicted to eating, to sex,
to television, addicted to endless consumption of
shiny worthless products.
Talk of the day – reality games: who
wants to be a billionaire, who wants to break the
safe, who wants to date your sister.
Social awareness is up their asses.
Nobody cares of his fellow man, not to mention hatred
of the other “race” that has long since become a basic
social order.
Getting Drunk? What a Wonderful Pastime!
Did I say wonderful? Oh man – exquisite
plus plus! And now there’s an addition – and even a
complete substitute – young and high-techie, to old
fashioned alcohol: Resonance Sticks! An invention
nobody can trace to its origins, made of an
electrically charged stick, with some gizmo inside.
It’s got a wooden handle for comfortable grip. When
you put its metallic edge near the gland, it gives out
some resonance or magnetic field or something, between
the stick and the gland. From a certain distance it’s
only a tingle. But when you bring it real close and
wave it back and forth, you get your head banged for
real. “THE STICK THAT WILL FLY YOU TO THE STARS,”
says the improvised jingle.
Strange looking machines have appeared
out of the blue, having large wheels driven by leather
belts. These are used to recharge the sticks when
those lose their effect. Who’s the genius who invented
them? And who invented those wondrous sticks that
became teenagers favorite pastime?
The Resonance Sticks and Charging
Machines are being built in the pyramid according to
blueprints sneaked in by Snakes. He intended it to
appear as if developed locally by humans. They have,
down at the Broken Pyramid, a tanning factory used for
low quality leather products. But the strong though
narrow belts turning the machines are provided by the
cave tribe people who are experts with leather
tanning.
They can make the leather dense and
highly durable, and they also know how to cut it with
the high accuracy needed for the machines. However,
these people are proud and decent; I don’t think
they’re aware of the real use made of their products
otherwise they’d refrain from selling their services
to further the decadence.
Why were the Resonance Sticks so readily
adopted by the youth? Because they seemed like the
only escape route!
Simply so. They’ve had too much, you
see, specially the younger generation who grew up with
the glands, of the annoying aches it brought upon
these tribes. They were happy to escape. They jumped
on the opportunity and literally grabbed it with both
hands. The long term consequences - who the #uc%
cares?!
Decadence, I said.
 
To Change or Not To Change
One of the “rights” of the growing
teenager is to choose a unique name, which they would
then announce in their Coming-of-Age Ceremony. But
this is considered old fashioned and nerdy. Besides,
only a few would risk their social status, living
quarters and work options for a unique name of their
own.
Take for instance the technician who
fixes the charging machines of the Resonance Sticks.
The name of the technician: Joshua Gadgets.
He grew up by the name Bo-Ris until he was 21, and
only after establishing his career as a technician, he
changed his name to Joshua Gadgets.
Oh yea, and there was also one boy, a
few years back. He was born and grew up by the name
Rabi-Novitch. In his Coming-of-Age Ceremony he
announced his new name: White Horizon. Didn’t
consult anybody, chose it himself. Also avoided making
a fuss so as not to fall prey to the Wise Men Council.
At the ceremony, when they asked him what it meant and
why he had chosen it, he made an astronaut’s face and
mumbled something meaningless while caressing an
imaginary object, as if it was over there in the
distance.
The chairman of the Wise Men Council
twisted his nose in disgust: “Let him pass. I wish
this never happens to your sons.”
The little strategist wanted to jump
through the roof. But instead, he lowered his stare as
if searching for ants between the table legs, lingered
on for a moment and then left the hall silently.
Only when he got home did he start
jumping as close as he could get to the ceiling.
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