Red Flower Revolution (Part 1)

There is not much to say. Yesterday a gasket on one of the great moving machines tore, and we were forced to halt our progress. This never happened before the coming of that woman, but since she arrived, the rate of such occurrences increased from zero to appreciable, and from appreciable to frustrating, and finally from frustrating to problematic. If anything, she is the one who is problematic.

The problem isn't so much she herself, but rather her effect on the morale of the men. They are a simple army of workers, not a one of whom had ever seen such a beauty. Indeed, she is more fair than any had imagined the beauties of legend. There is a certain twinkle of her eye, a cunning to her smile which drove men to the brink of sanity. She is a fireball.

That all the men were attracted to her was not ever in question; rather, thoughts dwelled on who would be able to gain her attention. Those poor provincial men never once considered why such a woman would suddenly appear in this massive polluting place, but if they had the acumen to form such thoughts, then they would not be so easily blinded by her beauty in the first place.

It was strange that a woman had come aboard. Each moving machine was responsible for an edge of base of the great plodding beast of a city known as Atop. When asked by inhabitants of the lower land what exactly the city was atop of, residents simply repeated the ages-worn mantra, "Atop the world, wherever we go, where that it is, where we say so!" Nobody remembered the actual meaning of the phrase, but it was catchy, and would recruit locals on occasion.

Much of population of the land resided in the crawling cities, built long ago by some twisted and backward people who felt that there was some sort of innate beauty to the landscape which ought preclude permanent settlement by man. That this ideal would eventually lead to what were essentially giant land-destroying, smoke-pouring factories was a testament to the absurdity of the ancestors whose bureaucracy and penchant for awful long-term decision making were the stuff of legends. Having at one point determined that the entire planet was heating up like some sort of hot coal, the city-makers attempted to resolve the situation by simply creating giant cooling devices which poured heat into space via giant radiators. This is not to say that their scientists were so foolhardy - simply that the weight of public desire and mass stupidity was perfidious to actual knowledge. But we digress.

It is possible that she did not even come from the land below. Nobody remembers seeing her climbing up the long winding metal-frame walkways of gentle angles (nor does anybody understand why such ramps were necessary when simple ladders would have sufficed for climbing). Strangely enough, the earliest anyone remembered her presence was the man on detail overseeing regulation of smoke discharge from the main stacks at the top of the city. Smoke discharge was so vital to society and discipline in Atop that the man was able to resist the desire to take a second glance at the woman for binding of his duty. Truly, very few understood that the actual reason for the smoke regulation shift was simply to occupy the need for activity and purpose among the lesser men, as the entire city had no actual use for the massive amounts of dirt and rock and organic debris swallowed up by the shoveling jaws at the front other than creating smoking slag which was once considered a great renewable resource. That there were more suitable materials for building or decorating or crafting was trivial; in those days, the beauty of an idea was considered more valuable than its merit.

After that first sighting, no man had seen the woman for days, until she appeared suddenly and unexpected during one of our regular future-thought sessions. It is common practice and perhaps even sensibility to know and understand what the future holds for each man, as since there is no more life to be had after death, one ought to plan accordingly. On the other hand, each resident of Atop lived essentially the same life and served the same function, so thoughts of the future were not particularly enlivening. Truthfully, all the men of Atop hated the future-thought sessions, and nobody really understood the necessity. For this reason, her entrance to the future-thought hall was akin to the sudden appearance of a woman in the midst of numerous men brought to a stupor by a lecture which had long ago failed its intended purpose. It was eerily similar.

She strode quickly and purposefully to the podium, shoved aside the startled speaker. "I am Red Flower, and this is a revolution!"

The surprise was so palpable that it was necessary to turn on the fire-control systems to clear it from the room. Drenched in retardant, the woman continued. "Each of you has been reduced to nothing more than a simple ox, pulling a cart not caring to where or what you go." She ought to have said that they were like mules, since mules cannot reproduce, similar to the dumbfounded men sitting staring around the room. Then again, mules are said to be much more intelligent and tame than oxen, so perhaps oxen would have been more apropos.

She continued. "I am here to free you. Let go of this foolish nihilist garbage, and believe!" Murmurs filled the room, and the sound of the woman's voice became muffled among the noises of retardant spraying nozzles and muffling whispers of the intrigued men. Later, some would claim that she had come from a place called "Instantbull", but that they might know it as "ConstantOval". Others said that she was a giant flying bird with great talons, and that she had come to save them from the city, which she referred to as "More Ya". Even others insisted that she had called them all slothful and retarded, and they needed to get back in shape, and that it would require seven easy steps. One man said that she had caused him to pledge his allegiance to a being named "Mister Rogers", whoever that was, and that upon his death, he would go to a paradise called "Neighborhood". Regardless of what anyone claimed to have heard, it was generally agreed on that the woman was totally and unequivocally attractive.

Days passed, and the stories became more and more outrageous. One man said that for a day he had grown black paper feathers all over his body, and became unable to do anything except run about excitedly, then lean over others' shoulders and cackle "Nevermore!". Whoever was assigned to smoke dispersal would ignore protocol and instead allow pressure to build up until its release caused a loud whistling noise, after which the man would loudly proclaim "All aboard!" Each time any man ate an apple, he felt an incredible urge to throw the fruit into the waste disposal after a single bite, exclaiming that "that is where it belongs." All the while, the strange behavior of the affected men did not subdue the universal regard for the woman by all. The city fell into disrepair as men dealt with their afflicted comrades and pined for the woman's return.

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I'll probably write the second part once the next topic appears.

I guess I lied, I don't think I'm very capable of starting something, putting it on hold, then restarting again later. It's just not in my nature.