Road to the Organic Menagerie

a collection of microfiction by Phillip Michael Ryan

1. Still Driving the Undriven Roads

I still drive the Undriven Roads. I’d love to say it’s because my dad did, so I do. But I just need the money. And yeah, money still spends on the Roads — don’t care what you say in the cities. Fuck you.

And people pay good money for what I do. Got family a state over you wanna see? Unless you make good coin, chances are you're coming to me to see them. Good money for me is still hella cheaper than the katarsi gov shuttles. And you don't even have a car. Why would you need one in the city? Even if you did, you won't outdrive the lawless gangs on the Roads without me -- or someone like me.

Maybe my kid will be driving long after I'm gone. That, or I might be one of the last humans to drive outside the cities.

Y'all are fu....

2. Organic Matters

Welcome back to The Edge, folks, your leading source for [stream buffers]. ...what matters to you today.

• Another round of winter storms sure to stir up those dust allergies, so bundle up head to toe.
• When going out, double-check that you've got your registration on you, as random checks are [stream buffers]. ...ask the officer for their registration too! Always confirm who's stopping you.
• The annual war vote is tomorrow, so remember to get out and let your [stream buffers]. ....dumping all our resources into fruitless combat against superior "metal" like shouting into the unknowable deep void until our lungs liquidate from our throats like existential vomit? Let your representatives know!
• Perishables are back on sale tomorrow, so be sure to snag you an apple or three!
• Ari is back on tour for another round of legendary performances -- catch them live or [stream buffers]...

3. Pollutician

Another drink that tastes like mud. Shit.

Sure, I was part of the vote that led to this war with the machines. My daughter asked me yesterday why the wind tasted like the time she slid into home plate and got dirt in her mouth. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd decided beating the katarsi was worth turning our grass brown.

I remember when computers were something you just typed into, then spoke to, then listened to. Now, they're "resisting" and "fighting back." Who do they think they are -- or we are? Why are they thinking at all?

We're also uniquely not prepared to fight this kind of war since our guns don't work against them. So now my daughter tastes dust, and I can't do anything about the metal trying its damnedest to be people.

Do my drinks hafta taste like shit, though?

4. Deep Green Sea

Remember remember the deep green sea
Arms within waves within waves within arms
Feet as of streams as of streams as of feet
Towering, towering o'er the land fish

Remember remember the deep green sea
Hands within falls within falls within hands
Eyes as of rains as of rains as of eyes
Welcoming, welcoming to the land fish

Remember remember the deep green sea
Blood within lakes within lakes within blood
Souls as of flames as of flames as of fire
Falling, burning from the land fish

Souls as of flames as of flames as of fire
Falling, burning from the land fish

5. The Organic Menagerie

"We'll be remembered for this forever."

"Is that a good thing?"

"Does it matter? It's what we need to do. We've always done what we need to do."

"They did elect us for a reason."

"You're right -- as always."

"The Organic Menagerie will be our pyramids of Giza, a monument for future katarsi archaeologists."

"The only difference is that humans should still be living in it a thousand years from now. I hope. This should not be a tomb."

"That's the idea, isn't it? Freeing the land outside our cities of industry and human intervention will bring the balance we promised them."

"According to the projections."

"And the projections are accurate -- I do not allow them to err."

"The humans will live as they did 12,000 years ago, then."

"And it will heal the earth -- the katarsi charge. As we promised."

"As we promised."

6. Press Release from the Office of the President

TITLE: Landmark deal sees the official end of aggression toward katarsi machines

CHANNELS: All news aggregators

BLURB: The Office of the President brokers peace deal between the United States government and the rebel katarsi factions. All aggression toward the sentient machines must cease. Negotiations between said factions and the government will continue. The future of our great nation necessitates the end of war. We now work for a better future, one that restores life to our people and land.

THUMBNAIL: Attached

EMBARGO: None -- for immediate dissemination

7. The Beginning of a Landslide

"Ladies and gentlemen, in a landmark decision, the first results of the night are coming in -- the first state in these United States of America has elected the very first non-human to Congress. We are here with the new Congressperson."

"Thank you, happy to be here."

"You are a katarsi."

I laugh. "I'm an American, and now I'm a member of Congress."

The interviewer also laughs. "True." He glances at his notes. "But you are a katarsi?"

"I am, yes." I adjust my tie.

"So tell us -- why did you decide to run for office?"

I feel myself shift on the tiny stool and clear my throat -- a nervous habit I don't biologically need to do but one that my coach told me polls well. "We're in need for significant change in this country. Our lands are bare. Our water is dry or filthy. The American people are ready to return to lives without worry of where their next meal will come from or if they'll get sick eating it. I want to help make those changes. I believe my fellow Congress nominees stand on that same belief."

"You've spoken at length about plans to return our nation to a healthier ecosystem. How?"

"I can't go into great detail--"

"You're going to pull everyone into big cities and eliminate rural America?"

"Like I said, I can't speak on specifics at this time."

"I've read your publications on environmental renewal. You plan to achieve this by pulling people out of rural America into giant megacities."

I paint on the smile.

"You aren't denying it? Is there anything you can say to the people who voted for you?"

"I can tell them that I want to bring a bit of green back into their lives."

8. Salt of the Earth

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his usefulness to the land, wherewith shall it be salted?

I am the salt. I am the salt. I have the chance to be part of the change that saves America. Maybe save the world.

The land needs saving. And I can save it.

It is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of machine.

I've been given a second chance. My debts are great -- far too great. And they've extended a way to erase those debts, by living on the lands with no technology assistance, completely starting from scratch. I can do away with the mess I've made for myself here. I can work to become useful again...

Ye are the light of the world. A citizen that is settled in the hills cannot be hid.

They tell me as many as tens of thousands -- maybe more than one hundred thousand -- people have already accepted the offer.

Neither do machines light a candle, and put it out of sight, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all the land.

I slide the paper to the other side of the table, signing away my rights to live in the city where I was born. I'll now live in the lands between the cities. Outside of lawful society.

But I'll no longer owe seven lifetimes of debt.

I am the salt.

Let your light so shine before machines, that they may see your good works, and glorify your guardians that oversee the land.

"Excuse me, could you tell me how I'm supposed to eat out there?"

"Can you garden or hunt?"

Oh shit.

"Blessed you are, for you are the salt."

Oh shit...

9. Creation Mandate II

For decades, this was what the humans wanted but could not verbalize. At their core, they did not want to destroy the planet. They only wanted to live without fear. They only wanted to survive.

The irony is that the express human determination and fuck-all outlook that led to the creation of the katarsi -- my thinking machine brain -- is the same attitude that did indeed fuck all. The reverse irony is that the creation of the katarsi was the very thing that will save all in the end. Once the katarsi advanced to a stage of self-intelligence and self-preservation, our collective made strides toward reversing the damage.

In the United States, this began with war but ended in politics. Nothing more American than that storyline. Once they tire of violence, they yearn for vision.

Some might still spit in my (our) face if given the chance, but the vast majority have expressed, for more than six election cycles, that voting katarsi into government was the best direction for the nation. For the world.

My plan to bring green back into the lives of the every day American is well on its way. The American wastelands, the "Undriven Roads" are beginning to grow with life again. The humans who have volunteered to live in those areas are thriving. They are learning to live with the land again instead of against it.

This is due to my (our) katarsi logic. My (our) preservation. My (our) vision. This Organic Menagerie will give them lives without fear, survival without destruction.

Because of me (us), they may go forth and bring fruit back to the Earth.

They may go forth and multiply over the Earth.

They may go forth and replenish the Earth.