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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Macbeth" data-source="post: 2049514" data-attributes="member: 11259">ForgetBy SageThis is nothing like the island of Dr. Moreau. They wanted to be human, they tried to be noble, and they had an evil Doctor playing god.We don't want to be human, we don't want to be noble, we just want to forget. Just like all the rest of you, we just want to forget.Ever since Eve ate of the fruit, you've all been trying to forget the knowledge you gained. Trying to forget good and evil, or hide it. Drugs, entertainment, sex, lies, its all just ways of forgetting one bad meal.And that's all we want too. We just want to forget what Dr. Groveger made us learn.That's the problem. Groveger gave us knowledge, gave us good and evil, and now all we want to do is forget it.We also want to get rid of the constant headache. Animal skulls were not meant to carry brains this large, and the result is living with a never-ending migraine.It started like any creation, with a mad god. Dr. Groveger was a biologist, or a chemist, or a creationist, or something like that. He sat on the mountain top and toiled away with experiments that you can only get away with on deserted islands in international waters. He never told us how he got the money, how he payed for us, how he bought our souls. He just started working in his complex, and one day, he succeeded.And like any other mad creation god, he had a sick sense of humor. He was well read, and thought of himself as a Moreau done right. We had no similarities to beasts, we never regressed, we were more like the pigs from Animal Farm then the animals of Dr. Moreau. And in the spirit of Dr. Moreau, he set us up on the other end of the island, living in a little village, living a 'perfect' life.He even gave us history. A collage of images, all of them fakes, that give our little town a history. Like Rockwell with animals. A perfect history. Dog-men and frog-women having a sock hop, lizard children sledding on a snowy slope (as if it ever snowed here), the whole thing. A whole history of propaganda, images that always show the noble spirits of his man-beasts. <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18786" target="_blank">Policemen-dogs watching over the children, a perfect image of our 'nobility.'</a>And that put us where we are now. In another endless meeting over how to make ourselves perfect. “But civil law should be free of religion.” That's Mr. Jefferson for you, his chipmunk cheeks and bushy tail conceal a dogmatic ideal modeled after the declaration of independence.“And what of the positive values provided by religion?” And that's the inevitable responses from Father Gregor, the only one of us to consider himself a priest. I'm sure the Catholic church never ordained a crocodile-man, but he insists on his religious rights. The only problem with being so human, so non-Moreau, is that we have this burden. The burden of caring, the burden of being perfect. We just want to forget.“And what do you think, Mr. Edgar?”Great, now they want my opinion.“I think we've come too far.”Every pair of eyes in the meeting room turns to me. For dramatic effect I stand up and pace around the room, my hooves making a clopping sound on the finely polished hardwood floor.“Have you ever thought about the outside world? How Groveger and his people live? I found this on the beach.” I pull out <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18789" target="_blank">the advertisement, an image of two girls, their hair intertwined, but still as happy as we could never be. An image of the carefree life our knowledge had denied us.</a>The room drops to a silence as they all take it in.Mr. Hever is the next to speak. He's one of the 'pures,' the creations that still look like animals, but have human level brains. Mr. Hever is a seagull with the brains of a high school graduate. “They... They all live like this. The people like... like Dr. Groveger, they don't care. They're not like us, they don't have to worry, they don't have the knowledge of good and evil. I flew to... to another island yesterday.” Mr. Hever's word elicit a response from the crowd. Leaving the island is strictly forbidden, but before anybody can object, Mr. Hever continues in his squawking voice. “<a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18788" target="_blank">There... there was a girl there. She didn't care, there were... animals around her, not like us, the dumb ones. And she looked so happy, so without worry. She didn't need to know if she was good or evil, if she was right or wrong, she just looked happy.</a>”The crowd burst into sound as Mr. Hever finished.“But we're privileged by our knowledge...”“Was she really that happy...”“How?”“Isn't leaving the island evil?”With a stomp of my hooves on the ground I stop the discussion. “Gentlecreatures, I know this sounds odd, but Dr. Groveger has wronged us. We were simple, we were happy, and he gave us all of his problems. Our images of happiness come from children, from advertisements, from those with no worries of right and wrong. We have been forced to live a life of horrible choices, of a struggle between good and evil. Are not our more simple cousins, those untouched by Dr. Groveger, more happy? I ask you, who here has ever seen a sad animal? Not one of use, one of the trues beasts.”The room is silent. “Exactly. An animal, even one in a desperate position, is never so sad as we are, they always have survival, not morals, on their minds. We should be the same.”Father Gregor's voice leaks into the silence. “But we are blessed by the knowledge.”“Blessed? Father Gregor, what is the story of original sin? And what has Dr. Groveger done to use?”And with that, Father Gregor sits back down, silent.“Gentlecreatures, we have a chance unique to ourselves. Eve and Adam could never purge the meal they ate, but we can. We are Dr. Groveger's creations, and so he can uncreate us. We can do what thousands of years of drugs and philosophy could not do for the outside world. We can become stupid again. Are you with me?”Slowly, one after another, the heads in the room nod. We have united in our desire to become stupid again. We are the masses, and we demand our opiate.“Good. We march tonight. Gather your families, and anything you could use as a weapon. Meet me in the square in an hour.”Seeing the entire number of Dr. Groveger's creations at once is like seeing an explosion in a zoo. The square is a mess of cloven hooves, tails, wings and horns. “Are we ready?” I say, trying to conceal my terror and delight.Every head nods in slow agreement.“Then we march.” We are legion, a gestalt of dozens of men and dozens of animals in a slow march to the mountain.As we approach the gates of Dr. Groveger's compound, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18790" target="_blank">the guards come into view. Dr. Groveger keeps all of the men we meet in strange dress, to obscure any facts about the outside world. The men at the gate wear orange and blue striped suits, and carry weapons that are intended to be used on animals. Two stand at either side, with an especially tall one in the middle ready for anything.</a>As we approach, the guard in the center steps out to great us. “What do you want, creatures?”“We want to give back your 'gift' to us.”“What?”“Your knowledge, you can have it. We want to be free like the animals of the field.”“I'm sorry we can't do that. You know now, and you always will.”If we're going to be beasts, we may as well act like them. With a snort and a grunt, I lower my head, and charge the center guard.My horns pierce him, and I twist my head, throwing him into the wall. And with that, our rise to our natural form starts. We may still know what we do is wrong, but we don't care, not now.Like a firestorm of sulfur we rip through the complex, and we start loosing our numbers. By the time we reach the center office, it's only me. Every one else lays dead or dying in the hallways.With a swoosh the door swings open, but he's not there. Moving to the desk, I find a note. He's out. We finally make our move, and Dr. Groveger is out collecting species for the next round of his experiments. It's down to me to kill him. As the sun comes up, I thrash through the forest, moving to the beach to find Dr. Groveger.When I find him, <a href="http://www.enworld.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=18787" target="_blank">he's knee deep in water, with the smoke from the complex rising in the distance. He looks into the bushes, and sees me thrashing forward, my hooves and horns covered in blood.</a>“I was wondering what happened at the complex. I guess it was you. Since you've probably come to kill me, can I ask you why?”“Because you made us like you. Because now we have to deal with the knowledge you gave us. We never wanted this, we wanted to be simple. Now it's my turn: why did you start the experiment? Why make us into this?”“Cause that's the way it is. Your simple life doesn't exist. I made you see the world the way it is.”“And how do you change us back?”“I don't. I can't. This is the way the world is, and I can't change it now that you know. Your in the same boat we're all in. Welcome to the human race.”He's not right. He can't be. Rage fills my vision and so I level my  horns and charge. Fear flashes across his face just before my horns rip through his chest.His blood runs red into the ocean, and I walk out to drown myself in the sea, in my sorrows. He may have been right, but now the only person who would know how to turn me back is gone, and I don't have anywhere else to go.As I walk into the sea, I try to forget my knowledge, forget what I did to try to forget. In the end I could never forget.</blockquote>

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