《Rambling Doom》 Rambling Doom Ballard: The Visionary Entrepreneur¡¯s Call for Wetware Computer Revolution Worker Advocates, Scientists Question Wetware Ethics CEO of Anesidora calls human workforce ¡®burden of the past¡­wetware is the future of business¡¯ Anesidora Acquisition of Ballard¡¯s Pithos Approved Famed Entrepreneur of Pithos In Coma After Collision Darkness Smell of rot Feel of slime Open my eyes Eternal fire and thundering skies Find myself standing alone Fields of filth and flesh Pools of poison and blood Hills of garbage and bone I am surrounded by everlasting trash and death Blood pulp and sewage where I step No roads Hell? Not Hell Don¡¯t believe in Hell Shallow canal of vile waste Manmade ways of dead and decaying Plow trucks run the canal in haste When I near they stop Doors open and wait I look inside My stomach drop Driver of meat and wire They don¡¯t speak They don¡¯t emote They don¡¯t tire The trucks are the only way to leave the fields Ferrymen of the River of Styx? Not Hell Not dead Don¡¯t believe Dream? Nightmare? Why can¡¯t I wake up? Canals to a city of ruin The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. I am out of the plow Streets full of filth Streets empty of life Trucks carrying garbage Trucks carrying dead Drivers of meat and wire Someone Something comes out of a building Mess of flesh and machine Not a man No face No head Walks like man Carrying the dead Dead thrown into truck Abomination grabs me I join the lifeless in a truck Can¡¯t crawl out I¡¯m taken to the factory All trucks go to the factory I¡¯m dumped with garbage and death Dead below me The ceilings are alive Long metal flesh arms descend The claws arch and extend Garbage taken I writhe Dead taken I¡¯m taken Fall onto a belt for corpses Ride the belt to the grinder The grinder chews those before me I head for the grinder Stumble on dead to get away Slip on dead to get away Climb out and over the divide Escape before the grinder Explore the factory of shrieking machines Moving belts of refuse Separate metal from electronic Separate electronic from rest All is recycled Necrotic pulp passes me I follow the belt Great hall of metal and flesh Metal weld into chassis Flesh print onto chassis Electronics attach to flesh Once was dead now alive Vehicles fill with flesh Electronics attach to flesh Flesh and metal one Once was dead now alive All is recycled The belt diverts Follow to a cold room Tubes of meat? cells? brain cells! artificial brain cells! Familiar Cells brew behind glass Pulp filters Serum flows Serum grows the cell mass All is recycled Too familiar All too familiar Wires and cables on the floors Wires and cables on the ceiling Wires and cables on walls and doors Something inside the room with me It approaches me With wire and cables it move Looks like a person Looks like a familiar person More stirring in the room All approach me The Board Machines in preserved skin Camera and cable eyes Servants of the System Managers of the System¡¯s molded slaves The System was sold as the Dream The Dream promised to serve life The Dream promised to provide liberty The Dream promised to help all pursue happiness The Dream is a lie The System serves its people The System serves itself The System seeks growth over humanity Ignorance feeds the System Spite feeds the System Strife feeds the System Death feeds the System The System is cancer The Board knew when they sold the System The Board sacrifices humanity to be one with the System One with the System to reap the benefits The Board is a parasite The System¡¯s foundation = Universally Compatible Artificial Organic Computer My design My shortsighted plans My greed My hubris My selfishness The Board wants to reward me The Board wants me My body to feed the System My mind to grow the System My progress without my humanity I run Chased by abominations Chased into fields of oil and decay Alarms scream not for me My pursuers flee The landscape trembles Hills of refuse collapse Giants each made from 50,000 bones Hatred gazes upon me Blood of toxic runoff Bile of black oil Eyes of fire Undead children of a poisoned Earth Devourers of flesh Drinkers of blood Fire setters of wheels and wells Made from the victims of lies Victims of deceit Victims of abandonment neglect I run I¡¯m caught I¡¯m lifted I feel rows of teeth cut and crush My blood escapes My blood pours down the gullet ahead Separated from myself my screams hush How am I alive? Feel the walls close in Walls of snapping jaws Walls of bile Jaws rend Jaws mangle Bile burns Innards tangle My pain goes wild I¡¯m becoming one with my devourer Feel everything Hell? Not Hell Hell? Don¡¯t believe in Hell Not Hell Don¡¯t believe in Hell I don¡¯t believe in Hell Worse This is worse This is worse than Hell Famed Entrepreneur Out of Month-Long Coma Famed Entrepreneur Calls for Pithos Split with Anesidora CEO of Anesidora says Ballard ¡®not cut out for business, nor his own vision¡¯ Blood Meet: Ballard Assaults CEO Ballard Missing, on the Run CEO of Anesidora Stable, Permanently Blind First Tests of Pithos¡¯s Universally Compatible Wetware Proves Positive I saw it coming I see it coming How do I stop it? There¡¯s got to be something I haven¡¯t slept Should I sleep? What if I return to that place? My head hurts I need to remember My body aches Need to write from memory My chest hurts Write more to see what I missed I¡¯m missing something It must be something I¡¯m missing something It¡¯s got to be something I have to stop it How do I stop it?