(Posted on 03-13-2001)
He. An expression. A state of being. An existence. He had existed for a time. Perhaps days. Perhaps months. Perhaps years. In his small corner in the dim recesses of Port Oread Station, Time had long ceased to have meaning for him. He had existed only to find the Answer.
The Answer. An expression. An end to a beginning. The Beginning of the question. The question that had so long occupied his every fiber of his existence. The existence he had led up to that point - to find the Answer to the Question.
The Question. An expression. An expression that was the start of everything. The point from which every man on every world 'round every star in every galaxy in every universe had at one point started. The Question that was a Beginning.
The Beginning. An expression. The beginning was a time ago. He had come to Port Oread Station to find the answer. It was the place he needed to find the Answer. It was not the place for everyone to find the Answer. But it was where he needed to find the Meaning.
The Meaning. An expression. An explanation of the obvious. An explanation of the not-so-obvious. The Meaning that was the Ends of him. Or it was the Beginning Or perhaps the Answer. Or perhaps the Question. Or perhaps a smaller part of yet another Meaning. Or perhaps a larger part.
Was it insanity?
He considered. Here he was, looking for a Meaning that was an Answer that was an End that was a Beginning that was a Meaning that was an Question that was a
He smiled. It made perfect sense - all of it, none of it, the start of it, the end of it. The Who, the What, the Where, the When, the Why.
Who? He. What? The Meaning that was an Answer that was an End that was a Beginning that was an Expression that was an Question that was a Why. Where? Here. Or there. Or everywhere. Or nowhere. When? Today. Or yesterday. Or tomorrow. Or never. Or Always. Why? Why not?
Two passerby looked at the crumpled body in a dim corner of Port Oread Station.
"The old nutcase kicked off, I see," one said.
"I wonder why he was here?" the other asked.
"Don't suppose I know," the first said.
"How long's he been there?" the second asked.
"Always," came the answer. "Or at least, long enough to matter."
"Not that he mattered," the second said.
"Didn't he?" the first asked.
"Did he?" the second asked.
"I don't know," the first said. "I wonder..."
A Question.
(This message has been edited by moderator (edited 03-13-2001).)
