Hyperion Dreams

3 - The Blues vs The Reds

I'm in the thick of the fray, in a normal battle on a sunny afternoon. Blues (us) against Reds (them). Boolean is right next to me. We are hacking at the enemy line. What a fight! Shield against shield, berserkers frothing at the mouth and hacking wildly, then running and hacking some more. My left arm feels warm, I see crimson all over my left side.

Is it my blood?—or the enemy's?

The line is moving—fluid—dynamic.

We push forward. I hear Boolean screaming his primal scream. I am about to hammer my sword down on a Red's 12 o'clock—right on his head. The Red turns and holds up his shield. My sword crashes down on it. The shock transmitted to my hands is so intense that I release my grip.

"Be damned!" I scream out loud—I forgot to turn on my sword!

There is a large gap in my memory; a 'filmriss.'

Suddenly, I'm sitting in our common room, taking off my armor. It's as if I had lost my balance, and just recovered. Boolean is also there. We are drinking our energy drinks. The other men are yelling the normal victory slogans; "did you see me smash his bloody head right off!?"—"Did you see me kill that red!? One shot one kill!"

As the scene quieted down, I asked Boolean, "Boolean, does it ever make you wonder that we always survive? I mean, why don't we ever get killed?"

"Well that's good Hype! We are survivors!"

"Yeah, but I thought wars would be harder. I mean, why do they call it a war? Isn't one side supposed to be wiped out, and we take over their land?"

"Well sure Hype, but we will get there next week for sure."

"Hmm, that's what you said last week. Doesn't it irk you that we have these battles every week, and come back every time unscathed?"

"But look Hype—you're bleeding there. It's not like you've never been hit."

"No, no. I mean, what if this all isn't real? What if we are just a simulation? You know, this world doesn't exist, and we are just in an endless loop of wars?"

"What do you mean 'simulation!?'" he said, doing his best to imitate an extreme indignation.

"Just that," I said. "What if this is all not real? And we are just simulations, in a big computer generated world, doing this war over and over again. What if we are just pieces in a video game?"

Boolean didn't think too long, he shot back instantly: "But even if we were a simulation, why would we keep going to war?"

"Maybe the creators of the simulation found out that we actually need some kind of stress. Life would be boring without it."

"That just doesn't make any sense Hype," said Boolean.

"Sure it does, think about it: If I made a simulation, and put several people in it, they would get bored shitless in a matter of days, if they had nothing to do. Maybe the creators found out that we need highs and lows, in order to stay happy, and not go brain dead.

"And maybe, they figured out that perpetual wars were just the right level of stress to keep us happy."

"OK Hype, but why, just why would anyone build a simulated world and put simulated people in it? – they must want something more, right?"

"Good question," I said, "good question indeed."