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| Trooper by Queen Karendala |
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“Who is that man in the brown robes?” the clone thought to himself as he looked over his shoulder from the dinner table. Everyone else around him was eating his dinner. Everyone else was doing as they were told. Everyone else was everyone else.
He watched the prime minister and Taun We walk and talk with this man for a few more steps then decided to get back to what he was supposed to be doing. On more than one occasion, he had been reprimanded and punished for thinking for himself. He finally decided that he would play along, do what he was told, but deep down he knew there was something more.
There had to be more than eating, tutorials, eating, training, eating, resting. It was the same thing day after day. At least the lessons and training was slightly different. But essentially, it was the same thing, the same faces... his face. Did none of the others realize there was something not right about this?
Behind the tube the guest was walking in, he could see the chambers with new clones; new beings that would be just like everyone else. Feti-troopers that all looked alike, growing in all the same chambers, the same fluid, the same body that was his. He wondered, he hoped that there would be another one like him, another one that was not like everyone else.
“Same food day after day as well,” was the voice playing in his head. “The least they could do was not clone the food.” But then he thought if anyone else really cared or noticed. Everyone was done eating, and as a group got up from the table and placed their trays on the cleaning counters. He moved with the rest of his unit back to the training floor.
They began their warm ups, stretching and waving arms about. He looked up to see the man in brown robes on the balcony over looking the troops in armor. Below the lines and ranks of his fellow troopers were practicing their formations. Marching about, he had to admit it was an impressive site. A grand army to be sure, but whose?
“We are soldiers, but who will we be fighting?” More questions ran though his head. More thoughts that he was sure were his own. “And what if we don’t want to fight, what if we think the war we are fighting is wrong? What if.....”
“....umph!” was his only cry as he was kicked in the stomach. The wind would not move though his lungs, no matter how hard he tried. There was even a moment where he thought he might pass out. Falling to his knees, he put a hand out to steady himself. After a moment spent in darkness, he opened his eyes to see white boots in front of him.
“Trooper! A long time have I watched you. Always thinking about the future, never thinking about where you are! Adventure, excitement... a trooper does not crave these things! You are reckless!” The trainer stood before him with his hands on his hips. Afraid to face the trainer in the eye, he had gotten a severe beating after THAT once, his gaze rested on the white boots. “Now get up, trooper! Get up and continue your lessons like everyone else!”
“Yes, Sir,” were the only words he could manage, now that his breath had returned to him. He so much wish he could tell everyone what he was thinking... but the fact that he was thinking for himself was what had gotten him into so much trouble. Sure there were higher-ranking troopers, but still, they are troopers. They are he.
Formation after formation, soon this training session was over. The sweat dripped into his eyes. He wiped it away and looked up into the tubules, hoping to get another glimpse of that brown robed man again. He could only imagine what it would be like to be different, to look different, to be treated different, to live different, to think different. Well, he had that last one down, anyway.
Walking back to the barracks, none of the other troopers talked to him or even looked at him. They were afraid of being associated with him. He was different than them and they knew it. Laying in his bunk, he pondered the irony of how he could be so alone when he was surrounded by thousands and thousands of others just like him... surrounded by everyone else. |
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