Nomad_Freedom Is Never Free by Todd Brill

Author:Todd Brill [Brill, Todd]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2017-10-31T00:00:00+00:00

17

“While you were in the camp, did anyone ever tell you about the Legend?” said Telarch tugging on his beard.

Nomad thought for a moment, remembering all the things he had been told, all the stories he had heard.

“Yeah, I remember that one,” he said, through a mouthful of dry bread soaked in broth. The broth tasted like chicken but Del assured him it definitely wasn’t whatever “chicken” was. By the look on Del’s face, Nomad decided against delving deeper into that mystery for now.

“Intriguing,” said Hiyadi. “Why was it such a popular thing to talk about in the camp, even though it was quite foolish?”

“Foolish?” said Telarch, snorting. “What’s so foolish about it my cyborg friend? Did you find it foolish because it didn’t involve logic or circuitry?”

Nomad winced at Telarch’s scathing reply and looked at Hiyadi. If he was insulted or hurt, he certainly didn’t show it. Hiyadi’s pale white face was as impassive as ever.

“The story of the Legend is predicated upon the idea that the story is somehow prophetic and that it foretold of the freedom of the prisoners in the camp. It is highly improbable this would ever occur, and, if it did, it would be highly improbable that one person alone would be responsible,” said Hiyadi.

“Bah,” said Telarch, tearing another hunk of bread to dip in his soup. “You rely too much on your computer algorithms. Nobody can see the future, not even the best scientist in the universe. People need hope, my friend. Even if it wasn’t likely, they needed a story to help them hope for rescue. Without hope, people have nothing.”

“Hope is a wonderful thing,” replied Hiyadi nodding. “However, it is my experience that hope relies on faith and faith relies on illogical fallacies and the ignorance of facts. Had the prisoners worked together instead of waiting for an improbable rescue, they might have effected their own escape. Instead, they sat cowed and compliant, waiting for a magical hero to save them that most likely would never have come.”

“But not everyone is a warrior, Hiyadi,” added Nomad. “Not everyone in the camp was capable of fighting. They also didn’t have a leader; someone they could look to for inspiration or hope.”

“You use the word ‘hope’ again, my dear friend,” said Hiyadi. “Hope is only warranted if there are facts to support it. In the case of the prison camp, hope was not warranted since there was no leader and only the remotest of probabilities for their escape.”

“Without hope, nobody would lift a finger to fight,” said Telarch, angrily dunking his bread. “I’ve seen it before on my world. We tried recruiting people to our side, but they were hopeless. They didn’t believe what we were doing would make any difference. Maybe they were right, I dunno. But I had hope. Yes, you can call it blind faith or whatever you want, and I understand what you’re saying, but you don’t understand what that means to biological creatures like us.”

“Perhaps not,” said Hiyadi tentatively.

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