Rico Penguin

  People often ask the question of “Why are we here?” Which I believe I’ve touched on before but most recently it popped a similar thought into my head. To be succinct “Why Not?” Of the massive number of possible formula’s for universes that could possibly exist each has the same chance of existing as every other universe.

  Mathematics, Physics, Biology, and every other science that I don’t fully understand are based specifically within our own universe. It is one of those tautological “It is because it is.” kind of situations. So we are no more special than any other possible universe, sure we have life as we know it, but that is a self fulfilling setup. Anytime we find life it’ll be life as we know it because we have found it and thus we know it.

  Life as we know it has changed over the entire span of human existence and was different before we existed. Life as we know it will continue to change and if we discovered another universe (or even another planet) with different life following rules that we do not fully understand we will now have a new understanding of life as we know it.

  All that separates life in this universe from another universe that may or may not exist from being under our oh so wonderful “life as we know it” tag is us finding it.

  Because of this I see nothing special about this universe which makes me wonder. So it isn’t a question of why we are here, there is no reason why we shouldn’t be here. Not all why questions are necessarily ones that have an actual answer. Just like “Why do people generate more energy than the sun.” I can’t take credit for that revelation, Richard Dawkins had a similar one “Why are Unicorns Hollow.” Just because you can ask it doesn’t necessarily mean it is a valid or important question.

  My question isn’t necessarily better. I realize the irony or hypocrisy in me asking it, but I am finding it odd to assume that life shouldn’t be here. There is no better chance of any other universe than this one, and everything that makes it special is only special because it involves us in some manner or another.

  As a point of clarification before closing this little thought, I don’t hate our reality, in fact I find it very awesome, but I don’t need some unanswerable question to justify that feeling. Since we exist I see reason enough.

Waz: Hi. Welcome to an Interview with a Scionian. The goal with these interviews will be to help flesh out the inhabitants of the IoS universe. Our first guest in this series is none other than Deki Stargazer. Welcome Deki.

Deki: Thank you Waz! I’m very flattered that you decided to pick me for the first interview. So many people to choose from and you go and choose little ole me.

Waz: Don’t be silly. You are the protagonist of the first book, you are the natural choice for the first interview. A milestone if you will, so shall we begin?

Deki: Of course. Ask away.

Waz: What would you say is the most remarkable thing about you?

Deki: Wow. That’s a tough question. I’m often told that being a blue orc is pretty remarkable. People gawk at me and whisper about me. It’s enough to make you insecure. I also can’t remember anything from my life before the Alten incident.

Waz: Do you have any formal training in combat or arts?

Deki: Not really no. I have gotten better at fighting lately but it has hardly been formal training. Unless you count highwaymen trying to rob you as formal.

[Deki and Waz Laugh]

Waz: No I can’t say that I can.

Deki: As for arts, I have recently gotten interested in writing a diary. I don’t think that counts either but it has helped me.

Waz: You say it helped you. Are you referring to your amnesia?

Deki: Yes. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the cause, it is hard. Sometimes I can feel my own memories melting away.

Waz: That’s pretty intense. Has there been any further loss of memories since Alten?

Deki: That’s the unfortunate thing here. I don’t know. I’d imagine so as I have some holes in what happened. Whenever I feel these memory holes I assume that I’ve lost something forever.

Waz: Not to change subjects but we are limited on time. How would you describe your personality?

Deki: Insecure maybe. But certainly caring, I don’t want to see anyone innocent hurting. I get uncomfortable in serious situations. I like to use comedy to help ease any situation like that. Then again I’m not all that funny so it only seems to help me most times. If I were to describe myself in a short alliteration I’d say something like “Nice, Neurotic and Nerdy.”

Waz: What food do you like best? If it isn’t a single food then perhaps a food type.

Deki: I’m a big fan of anything spicy. Spicy and really warm foods, I like the feeling in my tummy.

[Waz flips through interview notes]

Waz: Have you ever been in a war before?

Deki: Objectively I want to say no. But subjectively I feel like that would be a lie. I’m sure being blue I’d stand out like a firefly at midnight, I’d surely get wounded or worse. War scares me to death.

Waz: How do you feel about death? Not necessarily in yourself but witnessing it.

Deki: I fall apart. I’m not good in those sort of situations. The adrenaline is nice but otherwise it is a terrible experience.

Waz: You say “I fall” and not any form of hypothetical, are you eluding that you may have already been involved in this sort of incident?

Deki: Is there anything else you want to ask me? I am also on a short time frame.

Waz: Well by all means we could reschedule for a second interview at a later date? Would that be best for you.

Deki: Yes. I think I would really prefer that. It was a pleasure Waz.

  I’m a fairly young man, most of the time I don’t even think about it, but then there are those days. I in part blame the recent healthcare battles between the two unusually short sighted parties that make up this adorably dysfunctional American political system.

  I find that it is only exacerbated by me currently watching a marathon of House M.D.. Now I understand to a small degree some of the intricate ways that our minds try to correlate everything we experience to ourselves and to other things we know. As it stands I’m fairly certain I’ll actually make it to at least my 50th birthday. Now I’m hoping for at least triple digits but I tend to be a realist. Perhaps a naive realist (in other words not one).

  But I was thinking about the Macabre (Macab?) and how much we are infatuated with death. It is the greatest of ends (dare I say the ultimate one), it is something so powerful in our psyche’s that we create entire stories around just what happens instead of death. I even wonder just how much of our infatuation with death ties in with the nearly violent battle against national healthcare.

  Imagine if you will the concept at its rawest. There are quite literally people who find problems in the idea of preventing disease, pain, or death. There are literally people who see life-health-as a business. This is, to me, the ultimate erotic obsession with the macabre. I can in no way describe how disgusting this view is. There are no amount of words, no amount of gestures, no amount of violent acts, no amount of hypocrisy, I can think of no level of anything that would describe or display just how much I detest these people.

  Is it extreme? Oh yes. Is it short sighted? I’m sure. However this is true. Because at the end of the day, I feel nauseous to the point of nearly vomiting just by discussing death. When I feel minor discomfort I immediately assume it is something that is cutting off years from my life. All of these feelings, each of them compounded a trillion times over would not nearly be as bad as any of them actually being true. I cannot even truly grasp the terror of finding out that your life is about to end, even if that about is 20 years from now. The ultimate macabre is that all these fears, all these pains, and indeed millions of lives could all be spared, but they are not because of a bottom line.

  Personally, and again I’m sure this is part of my own hypocritical naivety, there is no amount of money that is too much to stop these fears and these realities. Mainly because there is no amount of money that has value when everyone is gone.