THE

MAJORITY

I looked down upon the glorious stone structure which was to be the newest of our achievements. I marveled at what we were accomplishing, the greatest of all the races, we the humans. Down at the bottom of the cliff on which I stood there were many lobsters slugging about. I was rather amused at the amount of guidance they needed to go about their task. It was no surprise to me that we had conquered them. I had never seen one until I had joined the military, being assigned to guard camps such as this. We were the great leaders of this world, the lobsters obviously inferior. They walked differently, acted differently, and most definitely looked different. They were the inferior of the two races, they were destined for their place and us for ours. No way could be better than a human way. Some of the lobster ways, on the other hand, were of no purpose, and utterly useless. Such ways should be gotten rid of, and we were doing that. The lobsters were just too blind to see.

I suddenly noticed that down below there was a commotion. One of the guards was down on the ground, a lobster beating him up. More lobsters were rushing to join the pitiful mob when the alarm bell went off, the signal that we were to halt the uprising. "If only the lobsters weren’t so blind," I thought as I started down the cliff.

Being at the very top level of the cliffs, by the time I got down to the pit the trouble was over. The foolish mob had been put down quickly, obvious proof of the Lobster race’s inability to plan ahead, and its short temper. If humans ever became slaves, I thought, which was an impossibility as there was no race to enslave us, we would not fall into such spontaneous actions as that. The Lobster race was pure foolishness. I was about to begin the trudge back up, when I heard my unit name being shouted. We had just received the pathetic duty of bringing the lobsters back to their cells.

The lobsters were a boring race, I thought. Look at them. They all look alike. Most were red, the younger ones blue, but individually they were completely identical. It was just yet more evidence that they had heads more like that of all the other identical animals. The lobster I was assigned to, of course , also looked no different to me than the hundred or so other lobsters within my sight. I gave the lobster’s rope (its arms had been tied) a tug, not about to waste energy trying to verbally communicate with it, and after a long wait it seemed it finally comprehended what I was trying to get across, and trudged along behind me.

It was getting late, I was tired, and I didn’t feel like looking. So I asked Lobster for directions, doubtful he’d know the way himself. And he didn’t. He bothered me with some fool lobster question and we moved on. When I finally found his cell, I shut the door and he asked me, "Why are you doing this to us?" It was a fool question, the answer obvious. "This war is to perfect the world," I said. It was obvious. "No," he said, "this war is to kill it." They just didn’t understand.

Later that night there was an assembly, the commander of the entire operation was going to give a speech. It had been scheduled for later in the month, but I guess the futile mob advanced its date. As we all stood in front of the stand on which the general stood, he started: "First off, I would like to congratulate each and every one of you on the excellent repellent of the small uprising this afternoon, and the wonderful way you are handling this glorious operation." There was some cheering among the men. "You are the best, and that is why you were chosen to work here. You are the best, you are human! With every day we prove the glory that we deserve, the power that is ours, and shall only grow until the entire known lands are ours. The Lobsters are inferior, they are useless, they have done nothing for centuries but impede the land which is ours. They do not deserve to own any land in the known world! We do, we are the kings of the world. Stick with us, do not stray, remember that you are a human, act like a human, think like a human. You know how a human is supposed to act, what is the right way to act. Do not let any other way blind you. I know you shall make our race proud! However, as this operation comes to a close, and the tower is finished, we are going to have to cut down on the workforce. We shall cut down the lobster slaves first, showing them that their foolishness is useless. The exact orders shall be posted in the morning. Dismissed!"

As I went to sleep that night I thought of the foolish lobster. How inferior. How different. How stupid. "No, this war is to kill it," I remembered him saying. How foolish a comment. A war to kill to the world? It was impossible, stupid. Yes, it was a foolish comment. It simply had to be a foolish comment".

I had the unfortunate duty of having to guard that lobster for the entire week, as a precautionary measure to prevent another mob. I went down to unlock his cell and he asked me his useless question again. I was beginning to think lobsters were no different from a parakeet, it merely knew one or two lines that it recycled now and then. I replied to his question that we treated them such because quite simply, they were idiots. "How do you know that?" he asked. "Because it is common sense," I answered. And it was. However, he then in only the way an idiot lobster could asked how I knew that it was common sense. "Because the King, the generals, the great men, they all say so." It was simple enough. But then he asked, "You cannot decide for yourself if we are idiots?" This was enough lobster nonsense for me.

The orders the commander had promised would be posted were, in the usual efficiency, already up. It turned out that the cutting down of workers the commander had spoke of was quite literally a cutting down of workers. Lobsters number102 through 210 were to be executed the coming Friday. I thought the Lobster, who just happened to be # 203, might like to read it himself. However, he could not read Human, which was absurd considering that there was no better way to write than human. "Well my friend, it looks like you are to be executed, Friday," I said smugly. However, deep inside of myself, I didn’t feel so smug.

As I watched the lobsters do their labor that day, for some reason I started to regret my words to the lobster. But, I reasoned, I had no reason to be. The lobsters, when compared to ourselves, were dispensable. I remembered how the commander had warned us to be good humans not blind humans, that the lobsters were obviously inferior. "But how do you know we are inferior?" I could hear the lobster asking me again. The answer was obvious, it could be seen, it was told to us that they are inferior. "You cannot think for yourself?" the lobster voice asked again in my head. How absurd, I thought to myself. Yet, nagging in my mind was the idea that I wasn’t thinking for myself. No, I said to myself, I am letting the lobster try to shake the truth of their inferiority out of me. I mustn’t be weak on this. I must hold the truths firm. It is dangerous to listen to a lobster.

After I walked the lobster back to its cell, I proceeded directly to the barracks. Again, as I lay looking at the ceiling, I found the Lobster’s words sinking into my head. The general, I thought, he would be ashamed of me. But how did the general know these things? Had someone told him? And then an evil thought slipped into my head. Was the general scared of the lobster, was he in fear of their possible abilities? "I must shake these ideas," I thought, as I struggled to fall asleep.

That morning, when I woke up I did not go with the other guards as usual. Something was holding me back, I was starting to make a decision though I did not admit it, even to myself. I waited until I knew everyone would be at the work site, and then headed for the lobster cells. When I finally found the cell my lobster occupied, I found myself unable to do anything, I merely looked upon him. "What do you want?" he asked eventually. "I’m going to help you," I found myself blurting out. "A human would not help me, all humans are demons," he replied. "Demons?" I was outraged, I had decided to help save this foolish creature’s life, and he was calling me a demon. "How do you know we are all demons?" He glared back before answering "Because the wise lobster, our great lobster, they all sa..." he stopped, right there, in mid-sentence. I was wasting my time. I now knew the lobsters were inferior, I should not have listened to this one. The commander had been right all along. Any sensible human would have taken that offer up. I walked away, leaving the inferior creature in his cell.

Without a lobster to guard, I spent the day wandering around, marveling at how easily I had fallen into the lobster mind trap. If only I had heeded the commander’s words more. I went to the barracks early.

The next morning I arrived at the lobster’s cell. Today I would give him the respect he deserved: none. It was still asleep and I yelled at it to get up. It woke but did not move. I yelled again. How obvious its stupidity was once my mind was in the right place again, I thought. "I am sorry." it blurted out. So now it was pleading for help. It was obviously a plea for help. I did not heed its words. "I am no better than you." It seemed he had resorted to groveling at my feet. However, his statement was correct. "You are inferior," I added. I was the master today, as it should be. "You are not a demon,." his groveling continued. He was trying to make me feel nice toward him. "You are not blind. You know the truth"” How true, I did know the truth. But yet as I thought this, the truth seemed false. “"And even if I am inferior, this is not a matter of right of wrong, better or worse. This is a matter of life."

I could not think. My mind was in turmoil. What was the truth? Once again, all the doubts I had ever had about the inferiority of the lobster came plunging back. But was the lobster tricking me? But if the lobster was inferior, it couldn’t trick me! But they must be inferior! The commander knows, why would the commander lie? The commander has every reason to lie. Was I thinking for myself? Yes, of course,but perhaps not. "A matter of life," I heard him say again in my head. I opened the cell door and heard myself say, "The cliffs to the north are unguarded."

I had betrayed my kind. But I had saved a life. I was still not clear, I was confused. I thought over the questions I had asked myself many times now, what was right, what was wrong. But as I sat there I found myself wanting to save more. I still couldn’t decide if it was right, but I knew it was my future. I needed help, however, I needed to know I was doing the right thing. I noticed suddenly that the lobster was still there, right in front of me. And then he said,

"I will help you."