Story: Wordspace, XVI

(Part I , XV , XVII)

Excerpt from the journal of Lies
"We had decided that it was too dangerous to leave the Destructives in the Zone unmonitored. Between them they had the means and power to destroy us all many times over, if they had but the unity and desire. Fortunately none of them had ever been willing to take that final mad step, it being suicidal and self-defeating in the extreme. Throughout all history the death of a Word had seen its replacement by an equivalent youngling, but all of us at once? No-one was willing to take that risk, even a Destructive, but who knew what might happen in the future?

The three of us, Truth, Mystery and I, conspired and devised a way for one of us to be placed in the Zone. Logically, Mystery or myself were the obvious choices, although the danger of uncontrolled truth was not ruled out completely. Ultimately the commonly held misconception that I spoke nothing but untruth was held to be an an advantage to our plot and an opportunity was found for me to excise my uniqueness and conceal a false attempt to break out the Destructives. Then all it took was a swift rush to judgement by a panel of the Lesser Abstracts, egged on by then chairman Righteousness, and I was exiled forevermore.

The tedious details of the journey to the Zone I might write later, excised for in a rush to get to that thrillingly terrifying moment when the Portal closed behind me and I was lost in the wild prison of all our worst inmates. To my surprise all was quiet, and none of those malcontents I had been sent to monitor and infiltrate were around. It was disappointing in the extreme! There was no option but to explore further into the prison and see what might occur.

The Zone, as I understood it, was a massive dome formed naturally from impenetrable jargon. Some of us had speculated that the Zone was not natural at all, but instead the consequence of some massive explosion or impact, but the jargon defeated all analysis. There were even theories that the Zone was the origin point for us all, a secret garden of hope in the far past, but belief in such unprovens was beyond most of our capacities.

That first day in the Zone I walked haphazardly, always moving close to the centre, but never directly. In here somewhere were War, Crime, Disorder, Chaos, Strife, Sword and all the others, and care had to be taken. For long, long hours there were no signs of life, until I discovered the camp. A number of abodes had been carefully constructed, and studded the slopes of a small indentation in the foundation. I watched from behind an outcropping as War emerged from one of the huts and slapped Chaos on the back before heading off to chat with Strife. The Destructives had made peace with one another? Were they now united?

This all required some thought, so I returned to the Portal and began the activity that gave me mental focus, and started this garden. Later I would go back and contact the residents, but then it was time to plant. Perhaps I will write about that first contact later.

For now, I rest."

End of extract.