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Mad Andriod Fable #4
Tom Ball
Well the vessel had gone to the far reaches of the universe, like so many others, android controlled...
But this one didn’t go according to plan. As the ship landed it became obvious that someone had played a joke. The civilization that had been planned, the sperm and egg banks and such had been perverted to strange purpose. As the youth came to life, nourished by the androids, all were trained to be Shakespearean actors in the differing plays. It was a society of tragedy and comedy. And they all had to act it out. After all said the great androids “Is not Shakespeare the greatest literary genius?”
The androids had been told that an ideal society had to be based on Shakespeare. And the plays were real. Deaths were real, for example. If you died in the play that was it, you were dead. Since the androids had billions of eggs and sperm in their banks, it was no big deal to have some die.
Typically these humans were born fully-grown with memories mainly of the Shakespearean plays and little else. When not in the play, the actors and actresses had to act “Shakespearean”, and they would be judged by the androids. If they lived well, they would be given a good role. Those actors who had starred in one or more of the plays had the highest status and were virtually worshipped by the others.
This “civilization” lasted for thousands of years. The people did no work and lived comfortably from the bounty of the many androids that were created by the original ship. Few people questioned their roles and the androids were seen to be Gods who knew what was best for people.
Of course the Shakespearean plays are very violent and would have seemed stupid to most of the people who dwelt on other planets, with most of the plots based on things like jealousy, rage, revenge and such. Most people on other planets had pretty much moved beyond that sort of thing. Still some fools liked Shakespeare.
The moral of the story is that everything can be perverted, even an entire civilization.
