How the Muffin Crumbles

Part 2

None of us knew what was happening. You'd hear a snippet of conversation or the occasional mourning family. None in which are too far from the norm.
Norm, now that's a funny word. I remember reading somewhere that a norm is established in any social and psychological situation, to be able to decipher what is good or bad, sane or insane.
I saw a woman on the bus today, she didn't look to be the most gorgeous of women, but who am I to judge as I'm not the model of excellence either. There she was, silently leaning on the plexiglass wall at the front of the bus. Her interlaced fingers fluttering gently to the beat of whatever song was playing on her headphones. Slowly the reverberating fluttering decreases in intensity as her head gently lulls forward into a silent slumber.
I couldn't help but wonder about this girl. Someone whom I have never had the chance to speak with, let alone meet formally. She seemed sad and lonely. Here she sits silently amongst the hustle bustle of daily life, surrounded by groups of friends and couples, she sits alone. Is this the norm? Why does she choose to sit alone? Is it internal? Mental? Why?
Through all this meandering in my own mind it dawns on me that I have missed a part of my argument that could have made all the difference. I too was sitting alone. Could I too have been watched by her, contemplated in silent thought. Did I look sad or alone? Me sitting with my notepad and pencil, scratching away madly in my steno pad. Could the surrounding people be wondering what words of madness I was scribbling?
I was reminded of a philosophy, we are all alone. There is no such thing as an unselfish deed, even one's “love” for their child leaves a sense of gratification to the parent. We all live alone, all die alone. The task is to fill our lives with as much as we can in our short lifespan. A blink in an era of the giant time continuum of the universe.
This is exactly as the outsiders had thought, as they neared our young planet. Several millennia before this planet lay quietly propagating genomes and germs. A simple scan of the structure of the planet as they passed revealed that now lay much more. We primates had created an industrial age of primeval capacity and had even created weapons that could destroy our own world. Why would anyone in their right mind find the possibility of killing millions of their own profitable? This is why they came. To observe, to find the reason for our primal urge to kill that which means the most to us. They did not come in a display as George Orwell had told, but in more subtle approaches. No one knew of their existence, no instrument made by man could fathom the technology they had accomplished in their lifespan. Multidimensional space continuum was the least of their worries. So they came, they watched. No one knew of their presence, and no one knew of their intentions.
Here I sit in my daily routine, listening to the revving drone of public transportation. The smell of sweat and humidity of a dozen people surrounding me as I scribble madly on my steno. Little did I know how that excruciatingly long bus ride was a mere synapse in a much larger more intricate series of events that I could never fathom.

To be continued...

How the Muffin Crumbles

The Story of My Life

I also included this story on the Realm Runners page as a possible NPC story, but I figured since it is my writing and I have been told to try my hand at Science Fiction I might as well post it here as a full story.

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind- bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist's, but that's just peanuts to space."
Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Have you ever wondered if we were alone in the universe? Have you ever looked at yourself in a mirror and wonder if what was there was really the truth? I did, regularly actually. You see, I'm what those other beings like to call a Carbon Bipedal Epidemiological Neanderthal, C.B.E.N. for short. I currently reside in what they call a sterile homeostasis tube, in which they watch me live. No, I'm not in a test tube by any means; I have room to move, quite a bit actually. It’s like my own little studio apartment. I still cook for myself; I clean, and vegetate on the computer or television like I did on Earth... They don't call it Earth either, it's 4.2236.235 Class R planet. Sometimes they even try to get me to "breed" with one of their "female" prototypes they place in my tube every few days. Tempting, but not quite that desperate yet. To tell the truth, I'm actually quite comfortable in my living here, other than it being lonely as hell. I'm sure you're wondering how I know all this, but that is why this is the story of my life.
Two security guards arguing over a muffin, this is how my story begins. The muffin was left on the desk of one whilst the other decided to take an extended smoke break during his rounds. Things quickly became a little physical since neither had brought their lunch that day and neither wanted to give up the muffin. To make a long story short, in a comic childlike tussle the two had completely desecrated the muffin and in the end made nothing more than a mess of the floor, desks, and their uniforms. This of course lead to both grumbling grudgingly back to their desks about the loss of said crumbly muffin. Little did they know, the muffin was not the only thing that crumbled, it was also the pillars that held the two stories below them.
I had just flicked on the television after a long restless 3 hours of unsuccessful sleep and was raiding the fridge for something that wasn't past the expiration date, when I heard it. The sudden interruption of the "News Break", the assumption of a terrorist attack and an image of a destroyed superstore. I chuckled a little as this was the normal time of the late night comedy acts, but as the news report droned on it began to hit me as truth.
"Recent update: No signs of outer impact to the building. Further investigation will tell if the destruction is the result of an explosion. Keep tuned in for more details, we now return you to your normal broadcasting."
The television flickers a few times and then switches to the obnoxious noise of the late night shows. Completely baffled at the audacity of some people I stare blankly at the wall, my thoughts drown out by the drone of the false laughter on television.

To be continued...