The Man in the Box

[mukor]

The People lived in a box.  It was a very large box, and only rarely did the edges come into view. Not once were The People limited by the confines of their box.  It was, however, a box.

Never did The People talk about the box.  Or investigate its edges and perfect corners.  Or talk about the box.  The box was there and not there, and The People

Comments

[gram_negative]

Damn, son, you lurk for this long and then drop this heavy-ass sci-fi Biblical parable shit on our heads?

By which I mean: post some more!

I guess if I had to ask for one point of clarification, it would be: did the Crop Master simply lose his nerve, or is there some physical reason to do with the nature of the box, etc, that kept him from leaving? Or do you, The Almighty Author, not want me to know?

[gram_negative]

Well, originally I was going to have everyone stuck as a 'star', and it was going to be more about what happens if you push someone to go where they're not ready. But I really only wanted the Crop Master to have a shitty ending.

So, in my head, its now about his karmic punishment for his deception. If I were to try and get into the metaphysics of the world that I didn't fully define, I would also go with: The People 'knew' they were going to another world like theirs, where the Crop Master didn't. So, will equals fate.

I almost expanded it to have the story being told by a loremaster for The People, who know live in a world without a box, which at first is very difficult for them. But the Star of the Crop Master, which lead them to this world, now always leads them home.

[mukor]

Yeah, that's me.

[gram_negative]

I very much like the Lore Master idea, maybe just introducing him in a closing paragraph, because this would make the story some equivalent of a constellation myth, ie "that star over there was the Crop Master from long ago, who did thus and such," which I think is kind of cool.

[hogofheaven]

Hurrah for writing stories!