The Rat King of Level Z

[BinniLee]

THE RAT-KING OF LEVEL Z - Binni Lee

“You have admitted your guilt and the punishment is set by the laws. Only one punishment, one crueler then death, more vicious then rape, can be executed.”

The judge stated, looking down on the defendant with the look of a concerned father. “The laws are clear on this matter. You have contracted yourself to uphold

the axioms of level A. That is Existence exists, Level A is Level A, and Consciousness exists. The punishment stated in the law is that the offender shall be

tossed down into the well of Z.”

“I don’t believe it.” The defendant said and shrugged

“Existence exists! If it did not, consciousness itself would be an impossibility. This principle is self-evident, because its truth is given in perceptual experience,

and such that any attempt to refute it implicitly assumes it.” The judge shouted, pleading to the defendant one last time too change his testimony.

“I mean no harm to the people of level A.” The defendant said. “I just don’t buy it.”

“Just withdraw that statement!” The judge demanded; holding is hands out pleading to the defendant to withdraw the statement. “I will sentence you to be tossed

into the well of Z if you don’t. However, if you withdraw it – you can walk out of here.”

“I won’t.” The defendant said. “I can’t know anything outside my mind for certain.”

Two men dragged the defendant out of the courtroom. He was the first man in the history of level A to be tossed down the well; which was considered barbarous

to threaten. As he stood on the edge of the plank; a short leap from level Z. He took one last look at Level A. A large crowd had gathered, only the silhouettes

of it visible between him and the setting sun. Behind the crowd: stood skyscrapers, jets flew and scientists were awarded for genetically engineering rats to tend

to corn.

The defendant was pushed off the plank. The defendant began to fall; not into a pool of sharks but into an abyss. The fall seemed a lifetime. He gazed into the

abyss, as he fell through it, the abyss hissing as he went by, also seemed to gaze back into him.

The defendant fell into a heap of rotten vegetables. The mushy smell and embarrassing consistency of the vegetables gave his face a frown larger then the sky.

He looked upwards. There was a giant sign hanging by chains over this underworld. It read: Level Z and subtitled: Reason is dead. The defendant had been

discarded like all other organic garbage down the well of z. As the defendant wiped a chicken bone, moldy mushrooms, and a half eaten donut of his chest he

heard noises, which could only be defined as beastly snarls.

The defendant looked down the heap; standing like a statue of a neurotic on a pedestal usually reserved for heroes. There were rat-men climbing up the

garbage heap. Rat-men that didn’t look like rats turned human but humans turned rats. The rat-men shackled the defendant and lead him down from the

heap. “Come with us you filthy human!” They snarled; not paying attention to the fact that they smelled worse then the heap.

The rat-men lead the defendant to the rat-king. The rat king stood on an elevated platform, made from metal trinkets dropped by children down the well, such as

spoons, hairdryers and unplugged refrigerators. The rat-king wore a crown of barbed wire; that seemed like an industrial version of thorns.

“Only know that I know nothing.” The rat-king yelled. “That is why I am the only rat fit to rule this underworld. They call us parasites, but in fact it is they take all

the harvest and leave us with nothing but crumbs from the fields they have grown. Crumbs and sewage – that is all that all kinds of men deserve anyways.

According to our laws we must destroy everything that grants hope, anything that celebrates life, and the laws are whatever Rat-kings feel they have to provide

to the worker rats.”

“Altruism is at the heart of the noble soul!” The rat-king proclaimed. “Rats can only sanction their existence and justify their use of valuable oxygen by servitude

to their fellow rats. There is nothing better then indiscriminate ratly love! Every ratly monarchy must sustain itself by shift in the range of the moment decision

making. Therefore I sentence you to be burned at the stake in accordance to our only law: Exterminate everything human! Besides, fire kinda turns me on.”

The defendant ran for his life, through a crowd of hissing rat-men that clung on to him. He escaped into a maze of discarded cars. The rats guided only by their

instinct, lost the defendant, which escaped by taking gasoline from a dysfunctional car’s tank and putting it into the tank of a semi-functional Beetle.

The defendant drove to the edge of this underworld, where all rats were enslaved to all rats. He climbed the walls of this level. It was an arduous climb, opposing

him were tribal packs of mountain rat-men of every kind; which differed in the rhythm of their chants and color of their war paint. When he reached the top of

level Z, his clothes were torn and he mounted a rat spear, that had been little more then a stick sharpened by a rat-man using his own teeth as a tool, but now it

had a flint on it.

The defendant had reached Level Y.

Edited July 7, 2007 by BinniLee

[aequalsa]

Fun! I liked it. Reminds me of a cross between Flatland and revolt in 2100

[BinniLee]

Fun! I liked it. Reminds me of a cross between Flatland and revolt in 2100

Short ode to reason, with allusions to Ayn Rand, Nietzsche and Jesus.

Written for my pleasure and exercise.

Reason is your game, so I tought you people might be interested in it.

Edited July 8, 2007 by BinniLee

[Thales]

Short ode to reason, with allusions to Ayn Rand, Nietzsche and Jesus.

Written for my pleasure and exercise.

Reason is your game, so I tought you people might be interested in it.

It's well written, imaginative and fun, with clear video game parallels. I think I get the gist of it. My only grip would be the autocratic style of the judge on level A. You can't demand that someone accept the world. A person has to come to this conclusion on his own. A contract shouldn't be required to bind you to something which you truly believe.

[fletch]

I would add only that the defendant, when offered the opportunity to recant his beliefs would have done so without hesitation. It seems to me that it is not principles that lead men like the defendant into the abyss, but the lack of them.

[BrassDragon]

I really enjoyed this, so thanks!

I agree with the point Thales made.

[BinniLee]

It's well written, imaginative and fun, with clear video game parallels. I think I get the gist of it. My only grip would be the autocratic style of the judge on level A. You can't demand that someone accept the world. A person has to come to this conclusion on his own. A contract shouldn't be required to bind you to something which you truly believe.

yeah, but I had to justify them throwing him down the well somehow, not exactly in the spirit of Objectivism, that is throwing people down wells.

[Thales]

yeah, but I had to justify them throwing him down the well somehow, not exactly in the spirit of Objectivism, that is throwing people down wells.

Right, I understand the problem. One idea is this, he makes a bad decision attendant with his philosophy which goes against the advice of someone who is level A wise, and, bang, he ends up falling into the abyss. That is, he tries to defy reality in some big way.

But don't let me take away from your story, because I enjoyed it very much.

[Dorian]

I enjoyed the story a lot. It was fun imaging this world you created. Keep it up.