Sum Total

He is the sum total of man's recorded knowledge.

From the time man first scratched symbols in the mud, and hardened them creating the first historical document, humans have sought the perfect means to store their knowledge.

He was not the first attempt using the human brain for this effort. Some used drugs; others tried natural means—mushroom ... peyote. But he was the first successful try. Yet he must now be destroyed. So they say.

Who are they, you ask? The government, the scientists, men in power, charlatans. Those who cannot understand what they've done ... and so fear the creation. Man's arrogance will suffer the existence of that which he cannot understand as long as he can control it.

They no longer control ... Mose.

* * *

The car I'm driving careens wildly around the bend in the road. I almost lose control.

"Slow down, Jessie," I told myself through clenched teeth. Gravel peppered the underside of the car like gunshots. In the rearview mirror I saw Mose stir in the backseat. Somehow, he doesn't awaken; he must be exhausted.

"What the hell am I doing here?" I asked out loud for the fourth time in as many hours. I should have minded my own business. But no, there he was sitting in a booth, twisting and holding his ring tightly like priceless jewelry, drinking his tea, alone and ... scared. I had to ask what was wrong. That last thought kept running through my mind as the car sped down the hill.

I was a waitress in a small cafe in an even smaller town. Nothing much goes on in these parts--nothing exciting, that is. Mose was just passing through. It was slow ... and he wanted to talk.

Word Count: 288 words