“It’s your move.”1
Sate sighs and, knowing it’s a bad decision, moves one of his pieces to the left. 2
“What were you thinking?” Gogg laughs and takes one of Sate’s men, drawing another sigh from his friend.3
“You know I’m no good at this game…” This comes out as an almost whine – never mind that Sate is, has, and always will be worlds older than Gogg.4
“Keep practicing, Say. One day you’ll win. Not anytime soon, but one day.”5
“You said that last time,”6
“And the time before that, and before that, before that…”7
“I get it. Anyways, it’s my move again.”8
Sate moves a rook and tries not to cringe as Gogg captures it easily. 9
“You still didn’t tell me,” Sate moves another pawn. 10
“Tell you what?” Gogg responds by stealing another one of Sate’s knights.11
“How are…they…sentient? You were talking to me about them this morning, and you stopped because it was time for breakfast. You have to finish what you were saying.”12
“Oh, yes!” Gogg’s eyes light up and Sate moves a bishop.13
“They have vehicles that travel through the air.”14
“And on water?”15
“Yes.” He surrounds another one of Sate’s pieces.16
“How else are they…?” 17
“They’ve developed a host of religions, languages… their population is increasing at an exponential rate!”18
“So they breed fast. Like rabbits,” Sate’s other rook is immediately swallowed.19
“Huh? Oh… well, what about medical advances and such?”20
“You have a point.”21
“And marriage customs?”22
“Well…” Sate moves another piece and Gogg peers warily.23
“Good move, Say. I’d never have thought of that.”24
Sate grins.25
“They may have marriage customs, Gogg, but they break the vows just as easily as they are formed.”26
“What about… lifespan? They’ve increased their lifespan to… twice as much!”27
“Yes, but what do they do with their lives?”28
“Hmm…” Gogg blinks as Sate captures one of his pieces. “You got me,”29
Sate smiles again. “I’m learning.”30
Gogg thinks for a second and moves his knight into a defensive position.31
“They are saving their world from the toxins,” He says.32
“They caused the toxins, Gogg. Let’s not forget that.”33
“Yeah…” Gogg eyed the game-board warily as Sate’s miniature army closed in on his queen. Suddenly his eyes brightened.34
“They help each other! Sate, they help each other! They’ve become so evolved – It’s no longer ‘survival of the fittest’! They help and strive to make others well – Hah!”35
Gogg slammed his queen down, successfully avoiding Sate’s carefully laid trap.36
“Mm-hmm…?” Sate stared hard at the board, seemingly unphased, carefully calculating the situation.37
“They may help each other,” He spoke softly, contemplation clear on his face; “And live long and… and they fly and have religions…. Marriage…”38
Sate moved his queen, which Gogg instantaneously captured. 39
“Still, Gogg – they cannot be truly sentient,”40
He lifted his pawn…41
“After all, they kill each other,”42
…And placed it behind Gogg’s player – closing the gap; executing a perfect plan as well as Gogg’s king.43
“Checkmate.”44
Gogg’s expression was priceless.45
Author notes
this contains author's notes... or lack thereof.
A contest entry
- Point vs Counterpoint by Thwack.
990 points, ended February 13, 2007, 6 entries
Bronze trophy winner
• next story in this contest, remove from contest
Please tell me what you think
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Whether intended or not, the idea that these two characters could either both be computer programs in a body, or at least one of them, really adds an impact to the story-telling.
The game of chess the two are playing represents a bare-bones analogy to what they are discussing. Then the two characters themselves, with their back-and-forth dialogue, are classifying life based on their own interpretations. The final layer is whether the things they are talking about (fungus in a petri dish? life on another planet?) are sentient or not--and even whether those same things make that exact distinction.
This was great and a joy to read. Good luck in the competition! -
Anti-Enlightenment
Read 'On the marionette play' by kleist, you can find it through google.
By not explicitly saying what you were thinking when you wrote this, you are already better than 90% of the writers on her. Well done, and thank you for making me think^^
If you know the Fall of Man, you should know that man never fell, because there are always things Gogg fails to see. And when it happens, His expression is *always* priceless, hahaha. -
Great setting for such a conversation. I really couldn't tell whether it was earthlings talking of outerspace beings or visa versa. I loved the ending. I can see this continuing to grow into a longer story that gives us details of who is talking about whom. I sort of like the fact that it actually tickles the imagination enough to make me wonder who is being discussed rather than me just assuming it from the beginning.
It was a nice reading experience for me
beginning: 5, language: 5, plot: 4, ending: 5, dialog: 4, characters: 4.
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That was interesting, it hooks the reader because you're not sure what they're talking about. I like how the chess game parallels the conversation. I thought about using that for something once, but I can't remember it now. I'm curious about who Gogg and Sate are, whether they're gods or what, but it might be just as effective without going into that.
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Oh, an interesting piece, I like it. The name seems a strange choice at the beginning but begins to make sense as the story progresses, a nice idea. I like the use of conversation, though in some places I had no idea who was talking, maybe you could make it clearer by say, mentioning who said it, and describing how a bit more, in the middle. If that makes sense to you. I saw a clear picture in my head of what was going on... It seems an interesting concept. Well done!
Rae.
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