Changing the World, But Not Himself

A lot of individuals have tried to change their world. Not like Kevom, they haven’t.

Changing the World, But Not Himself

A Short Story

Written By

SpaceFaction

     Kevom is placed in a Seat opposite Elizibith, a Healthcare Professional, in a small casual meeting room in a Restrainer with two other Healthcare Professionals on either side of him. “That will be all, Teacun and Weimm. I will take it from here.”

     “Are you sure about that?” Teacun asks. “After all, this is Kevom you are about to talk to.”

     “I’m sure,” answers Elizibith. “This isn’t the first time I have tried to help someone like Kevom.”

     Teacun and Weimm look at each other before Weimm looks back at Elizibith. “Kevom isn’t like any other Crazies we have seen before,” says Weimm.

     “I know who Kevom is and what he has done,” says Elizibith. “I’m not worried about Kevom. Besides, he’s in a Restrainer. He can’t hurt me. I also have my side weapons if I need them.”

     “If you say so, Elizibith,” says Teacun. “You’re the one in charge of our Healthcare Professionals.”

     Without another word, Teacun and Weimm leave there. After they leave, Elizibith leans forward in her Seat toward Kevom. “They are gone; you can start talking now.”

     Kevom slowly looks up at Elizibith. “I have nothing to say to you.”

#

     “We have been here for almost seventy minutes, and you haven’t said anything else to me,” says Elizibith with a small Palm Monitor in her hands. “I can’t help you if you don’t let me help you.”

     “I don’t need your help or anyone else’s help,” says Kevom. “All the help I need is for you to let me return to Custi Mailva.”

     Elizibith finishes tapping something into her Palm Monitor. “I don’t know what will happen to you yet, but I know we won’t be taking you back to Custi Mailva.”

     “Why would you want to go back there?” Elizibith asks. “Most of the Custi Mailvaians there hate you for what you tried to do to them.”

     “I haven’t done anything to them, except to get rid of their poor and unwanted population,” says Kevom.

     Elizibith starts tapping again. “It’s not that you got rid of them as much as how you did it and why.”

     “Is that why I’m here?” Kevom asks. “Do you want to know why I did it?”

     “That’s part of the reason why you are here,” answers Elizibith. “The main reason why you are here is because of how you did it.”

#

     After being returned to his Sleeper by two other Healthcare Professionals, Booriv and Scholim, Kevom is pushed violently onto his Sleeper with the Restrainer still on him. “I’m back in my Sleeper now. I no longer need this Restrainer.”

     “You keep saying that,” says Booriv. “We still think you do need it. After all, you are still a threat to us and Custi Mailva without your Restrainer.”

     “Even with your Restrainer, you are still a threat,” continues Scholim. “You’re just not as much of a threat as you are without it.”

     Booriv and Scholim start to leave as Kevom begins to lie down in his Sleeper. “You’re wrong about me,” says Kevom. “I used to be like that. I’m not that way anymore.”

     “We think you are still that way,” says Booriv after he and Scholim stop leaving there. “That’s why your Restrainers stay on you at all times.”

     “What about when I eat?” Kevom asks. “I can’t eat with this Restrainer on.”

     Booriv and Scholim start walking toward Kevom again. “You have been saying that ever since you got here, and it hasn’t stopped you from eating yet,” says Booriv.

#

     Once again, Kevom sat in front of Elizibith. Elizibith continues to tap away on her Palm Monitor as she talks with Kevom. “I heard from Booriv and Scholim that you have been saying that you have changed. Is that true? Have you changed, or do you still want to change the world for what you consider to be for the better?”

     “What you have heard is true,” answers Kevom. “I have changed. I’m no longer who I used to be.”

     “That’s hard for me to believe,” says Elizibith. “If that’s true, then why don’t you want to talk about what you have done, and why you have done it?”

     Kevom struggles to get out of his Restrainer by adjusting himself in his Seat. He tries to get out of his Restrainer quite often. “What about this Restrainer. If I tell you what you want to hear, will you remove this Restrainer? I can understand why you have done this, but why do I need my Restrainer on all the time?”

     “Anything can be arranged,” answers Elizibith. “It depends on why you tell me. Tell me what I need to know to help you, and that can probably be arranged.”

#

     “Give me some good news. Are we ready to start changing our world for the better?” Kevom isn’t talking to Elizibith right now. He’s in a large room that looks like a production environment of some kind.

     Kevom and Roccie, who is in charge of this production environment, are looking down at what is happening below them. “I don’t know if it will change our world for the better, but we are ready to start to change a part of our world,” says Roccie.

     “What about our Solution to our Illness? Have you come up with a Solution to our Illness?” Kevom asks.

     Roccie looks at Kevom. “We also have our Solution to our Illness. I don’t think that we will need it, though. After all, our Illness will only affect the poor and the unwanted, and it won’t affect the world. It only affects the largest Land Mass on Custi Mailva.”

     Just then, there’s an explosion in the production environment below Kevom and Roccie. Suddenly, the room fills with a grayish white cloud, a thin wall of glass separates Kevom and Roccie from below them, and the workers down there are panicking before the cloud engulfs that room.

###

     “About seven and a half months later, and the whole world has been affected by our Illness. Almost everyone has been affected by it. It was supposed to be only the poor and unwanted on our largest Land Mass on Custi Mailva.”

     “Out of ten billion Custi Mailvaians, how many are still alive because of what you have done?” Elizibith asks after she finishes tapping something on her Palm Monitor.

     Kevom has been leaning forward in his Seat. He looks up at Elizibith. “You probably know better than me about that.”

     “I do,” says Elizibith. “Thanks to you, there are only about four billion of Custi Mailvaians still alive.”

     “You blame me for all this, but it’s not all my fault,” says Kevom. “I only created this Illness. I’m not the one who let it lose to affect the whole world.”

     While Elizibith starts tapping again, she is still looking at Kevon as she continues tapping. “I thought no one knew how that happened. Do you know something I don’t know?”

     “I don’t know anything about that,” answers Kevom. “All I know is I’m not the reason why this has happened to us.”

#

     Elizibith isn’t talking to Kevom right now. She’s talking to herself while she taps away on her Data Monitor on top of her desk. “I have finished talking to Kevom about what he has done to the other Custi Mailvaians. It’s my Healthcare Professional opinion that he isn’t the only reason why they have this Illness.”

     “Kevom says he’s not the reason why his Illness has been created. He says someone forced him to do this, but he hasn’t told me who that someone is yet. I think it’s because of why he was forced to create his Illness.”

     “If I can find out who has done this to him, I think I can help him, but if he has been forced to do this, it’s not his fault. The only problem is I don’t know how I’m going to find out who this Custi Mailvaian is. I think I know who has done this to Kevom, but I hope I’m wrong about this.”

     Elizibith stops tapping again, but she continues to talk to herself as she looks at what she has tapped. “I can think of only one way to find out what has happened there.”

#

     “Kevom knows what he has done is wrong. He also knows it’s not his fault that this has happened on Custi Mailva. What I need to do is get him to believe in himself. I know that won’t be easy, but I need to try.”

     Just then, the red light starts flashing above the sliding entrance to that meeting room. Elizibith taps her Data Monitor to turn it off. She gets up and walks over to this entrance. Elizibith pushes a button next to it. Not only does this turn the red light off, but it also slides this entrance open.

     Elizibith takes her Seat opposite Kevom, while Kevom is placed in the other Seat by Teacun and Weimm again. They don’t say a thing; they just leave. “I thought we were done talking,” says Kevom. “If so, then why am I here now?”

     “We have finished our talking about the Illness you created,” answers Elizibith. “Now, I want to talk to you about you.”

     Kevom looks up at Elizibith with a wondering look on his face. “What does that mean?”

#

     “I don’t need any help with myself,” says Kevom somewhat angrily. “You have been trying to help me for the last couple of weeks, and I keep telling you the same thing: I don’t need your help with myself.”

     Elizibith doesn’t stop tapping on her Palm Monitor as she looks up at Kevom. “I disagree. You need all the help that you can get.”

     “Do you know what time it is? It’s almost time when I need to decide your future, and I don’t think you are ready for that decision.”

     “I already know what your decision is. You already told me what your decision is, and I don’t agree with that decision. I’m not crazy.”

     Elizibith finishes her tapping before she says anything to Kevom. “We don’t use terms like that. Besides, I didn’t call you that in any way.”

     “All I said to you is that there was only one decision I could make about your future if you don’t tell me who forced you to create your Illness. If you tell me who forced you to create it, my decision will be a lot better for you than it is right now.”

#

     “You know I can’t tell you that,” says Kevom while he is being escorted back to his Sleeper by Elizibith, Booriv, and Scholim. “If I tell you that, I’m dead.”

     “If you don’t tell us who has done this to you, a lot more Custi Mailvaians will die from it,” says Elizibith. “Everyone who isn’t wealthy may die from it.”

     Kevom stops walking. So does everyone else. “None of the wealthy have died from this Illness,” says Elizibith. “Is that why only the poor and unwanted have been dying from this Illness?”

     “I know what you’re trying to do,” says Kevom. “You will say anything to change my mind about telling you why I have created this Illness, but I won’t. I don’t care who else dies from this Illness as long as it’s not me.”

     “You aren’t wealthy,” says Elizibith. “Unless you have been given the Solution to this Illness, you might as well tell me who forced you to create this Illness because sooner or later you will probably also die.”

     Kevom struggles out of the grips of Booriv and Scholim and walks over to the viewport to look down at the planet below him, aka Custi Mailva. “It looks like I’m probably going to die either way. So, I might as well tell you everything I know.”

Word Count = 1,968