Monday, April 07, 2014

Ads From A World Not Totally Unlike Our Own, 2 (A To Z Challenge)(250=1)

A To Z Challengers! There are two entries: This post is a 250-word short story, and the one below it is an entry in a serialized story about what happened when X intervened in human affairs, resulting in alphabetic turmoil.

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And now the story:



Ads From A World Not Totally Unlike Our Own, 2:





The thing about the Fermes was it could only change your history and only in your lifetime; no going back and making your grandpapa a billionaire or like that.

Nobody knew how it worked, the most popular consumer item in history. Or “histories” because people were never content changing their autobiographies once, twice, or thirteen or a hundred times.  Once the Fermes Typewriter was discovered, people became obsessed with altering and re-altering their histories. 

Want to win the 8th grade spelling bee? DONE. Wish you hadn’t had that third shot before you got in the car? That family now lives. Wonder what it’d be like to have asked out the redheaded friend instead of the blonde you married? Type your story this way: I turned to the redhead and said Want to go to a movie Friday? And she’s there, now, sitting across the table from you, and you remember every bit of life with her, from that night on – plus, you remember your other life, with the blonde. Bonus: you’ve lived both. As many as you want!


People could instantly have it all.  Or, have had it all. Every road not taken was taken, every decision undecided. We became a world of writers, reinventing our own lives over and again, seeing what could have been become was. It no longer mattered if we lived a life now; what mattered was making sure we remembered as many lives as possible.

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Like 250 word stories? There's a lot more of them here to check out by clicking this link. Reading them builds strong bones and healthy teeth!


6 comments:

Carolyn Paul Branch said...

You changed it? From H to F? Is that allowed? Why didn't they tell me that? Love the 250 word stories!

Briane said...

Carolyn:

What happened was I wrote this story and then was going to post it and realized it was F day, and I was all "Oh, boy, I don't even think there's an F IN THE STORY," and the original picture/ad for the story was of a "Hermes" Typewriter, so I quickly downloaded a new picture and made a new ad and invented the "Fermes" typewriter.

I understand that's how Edison worked, too.

Robin said...

Pretty clever. I think about Time Machines... now one can be had and for a reasonable price. Forever more... no such thing as the road not taken.

Briane said...

The only downside is you don't get to actually live through it.

There's a Cory Doctorow story, "Down & Out In The Magic Kingdom" where they talk about just imprinting the experience of a thrill ride into your mind, rather than having you go on the thrill ride. I love thinking about whether that would be the same thing, either way. It seems like it's not, but after you do the thing, how do you know the difference between a real or created memory?

That's what this story touches on. That and the times I think about Quantum Me, which is all those collapsed waveforms put to rest by my decisions.

Andrew Leon said...

I think society would end in a generation with a thing like that.

Liz A. said...

Okay, this one is going to haunt me for a while. Because there's a very big downside, somewhere.