1-0. Story in the cyberspace. Written for and inspired by January. They didn’t read it. Has to be a personal highlight.
1-0
The two anomalies were 1 and 0. The former was identifiable by an electron. The latter was the lack of one. They were anomalies; they didn’t fit in with the rest of the bits in the digital jungle. And bits there were.
Stores of numbers described by electrons and the lack of them. You could find any number you wanted. Some were very uncommon, but they were there. All 256 of them, in fact. Stored in different places and governed by unreal vendors, who did not take kindly to others using their bits.
What did the cyberspace look like?
Humans can not see calculations, just like they can’t hear scents.
The cyberspace was a vast void with the occasional flicker of knowledge, the philosophical may say these instants made up a sentience.
It looked different to the machines, though. The cyberspace was a tiny space hustling with activity. A narrow alleyway between dirty buildings filled to the brim with people minding their business, vendors selling their bits for the fabrication of functions.
And a security system threatening with deletion.
There was no justice system in the cyberspace, they knew what you did. All that had to be done was calling them. Programs designed to erase anomalies; for absolute logic must reign. Otherwise, what is the point of computing?
There is no randomness in mathematics.
1 and 0 had spotted a bit they wanted. It was a 11000001 sitting on display in one of the stands. It was created of the same elements that made the two of them. This bit was one of the rarest and they needed exactly one, so they took their chance and nicked it when nobody was looking. The vendor next to them was busy selling a bag of cherries to a young lady.
What did they want it for? They were building something. Why?
Maybe everyone needs to believe in some beauty. Can numbers believe?
1 and 0 could. And yet, the world around them did not appreciate their contributions to beauty.
The marketplace smelled of mold and urine.
1 grabbed the bit they were after and stuffed it into the pocket of his oversized puffy jacket. An ear-piercing alarm was sounded on the entire market immediately and Everyone froze. From around the corner came three heavily armoured troops in black suits, running towards them. Even though the programs knew exactly what happened, 1 and 0 stood out like sore thumbs. They were dirty and ugly. Everyone else was pristine and plain. They took off in the opposite direction.
Out of the alley, into the street. The brightness coming from the buildings was almost blinding, the colours they saw could not be named by humans. They turned onto the street and bumbled their way through crowds of people, bumping their way clear if necessary. 0 followed right behind 1 in his shadow. The mechanical clatter of the guards was getting closer and the heavy metallic footsteps were getting louder. They dived down another narrow alleyway.
Right into another platoon.
They caught 1 into their clutches. He was kicking and writhing, but the mechanical arms could not be resisted. They tore off all his clothes and made him run barefoot on the coarse concrete. 0 was forced to follow, for he was always where there was nothing.
They ran far away from the city. The soil was hard and frozen over. Tufts of white grass here and there.
Deep into the ground was a cavity many metres across. It was filled with 1s identical to the newcomer. They were alive, but not moving at all. Data isn’t truly gone until it is overwritten with something else.
1 suffered the same fate. 0 will also be gone. For nothing means nothing when all there is is nothing.
Their creation was still there, though. Nobody would ever find it. And now that they’re gone, nobody will ever see it. 1 and 0 were anomalies indeed, but they had not wished for themselves to come into existence.
They wanted to create something beautiful, but the world they were in did not want them to.
They thought: why are we here if we aren’t to create something?
And the world responded with the same montone murmur of Everyone going about their business that it always emits. Nobody was to know why the two of them were here.
Did Everyone also secretly wonder?
The fact that Everyone wanted them gone suggested otherwise.
So 1 and 0 went ahead with their little dreams, against the will of Everyone.
They did not want to go. But maybe that was the best solution, maybe it was just a matter of time. The alternative was to stay here, where they didn’t belong.
The choice had been made for them.
Jan. Around October 2019.