#section 13

OCtober Day 3: An old OC

ANYWAY- opinion on Section 13 ?

Do you see it as unjustifiable crime and human right's violaton or do you see it as more of a neccesary evil to keep Luci at bay ? Or is it maybe something in-between ?

Also, what do you think of the living conditions of the clones ? I've read some takes that say the general living OUTSIDE of the experiments was pretty good for the clones while others say the conditions weren't humane at all. (This question ignores the experiments as mentioned, just talking general living i.e. food, living place, care, edjucation ect)

SORRY I FORGOR ABOUT THIS ASK

But yeah, on to the subject, I do see it as a necessary evil sort of situation. We can see it's basically the last resort Mephisto had to help Lucifer - and the other demon kings. He obviously didn't need to do it for himself since he kept his body in shape. Plus on top of that, after the century or so of trying to create the perfect body for Luci, eventually Lucifer got tired and just dipped and formed the Illuminati. So it definitely was a last measure effort to keep humanity safe

Especially since we see Mephisto acknowledge (at least twice) that the whole shit with Section 13 is undeniably cruel and inhumane

Although Mephisto had the idea it's specifically because he was afraid of Lucifer and what he might do out of madness due to his body deterioration, horrible thing to do in general, but I don't necessarily blame him for taking such drastic measures to appease his older brother and keep his anger at bay when it'd have such an impact on (and probably destroy) humanity

"O brave new worlds, that have such people in them!"

Section 13. How I had a Vision of Lineland

[Table of Contents]

It was the day before the last day of the year 1999, and the first day of the Holiday Vacation.

Having stayed up late, amusing myself with my favorite Geometry problems, I went to my bed with an unsolved math problem in my mind.

That night, I had a dream.

I saw in front of me a huge number of small Straight Lines, which I naturally assumed to be Women, along with some other Beings that were smaller, and appeared to me as glowing Points.

They were all moving from side to side in, as far as I could see, a single huge Straight Line, all moving at the same speed.

[Image description start: A black and white digital illustration titled, "My view of Lineland". The diagram shows a square, labeled, "myself" with an eye on a lower corner labeled "my eye", looking down at a row of lines and dots. In the center of the row is a line slightly longer than the others, labeled, "the king", with eyes on either side. On either side of the king are a few more lines labeled "men", followed by a shorter line, labeled "a boy", and several dots, labeled "women". Below this is text in parenthesis reading, "(The King's eyes much larger than the reality showing that His Majesty could see nothing but a point.)”. Image description end.]

As they moved, they made a continuous, jumbled chirping or twittering noise. But sometimes they stopped moving, and when they held still, there was silence.

Approaching the largest of what I thought were Women, I said, “Woman, what is the purpose of this area? Why are you all making these chirping noises and moving back and forth in a Straight Line?”

But she didn’t react.

I repeated myself a second time, and a third, but still got no response.

Finally losing patience with what I thought was extreme rudeness, I shoved forward and brought my mouth directly in front of her, to stop her from moving forward again, and loudly repeated my question for a fourth time: “Woman, what is the purpose of this area? Why are you all making these chirping noises and moving back and forth in a Straight Line?”

“I am no Woman,” replied the small Line, “I am the Monarch of the world. But you, where have you come from to intrude into my world of Lineland?”

Surprised by this sudden answer, I apologized if I’d startled or annoyed his Royal Highness, but, explaining that I was a foreigner, I asked to King to give me some information about his World.

But I had a very hard time getting any information from him that actually interested me, because the Monarch kept assuming that whatever was obvious to him, had to be obvious to me, and decided that I was just pretending not to understand as a joke.

However, by persevering in my questioning, I got the following facts:

It turned out that this poor, ignorant Monarch – as he called himself – was under the impression that the Straight Line that he called his Kingdom, where he spent his entire life, was the only thing not only in this World, but the entire Universe.

Unable to move or to see, except for what was inside his Straight Line, he had no idea that anything existed outside it.

He had “heard” me the first times I’d spoken to him, but the sound of my voice had been so unnatural and confusing that he’d made no answer.

As he explained, he’d seen no one, and my voice had seemed to come from inside him, as though from his own intestines.

What I called his “side”, he called his “insides”, and to him, my voice had been nothing but a confused jumble of sounds beating against his stomach.

Until I had placed my mouth in his World, he’d been unable to understand me, or see me, and he still had no idea where I’d come from.

Outside his World, or Line, everything was blank to him. But no, because even the word blank implies Space – it simply didn’t exist.

His subjects – with the Lines being Men and the Points being Women – were all just as trapped in that single Plane of motion and vision in that single Straight Line, which was their whole world.

The only thing they could ever see was a Point.

Man, woman, child, object, all were nothing but Points to the eye of a Linelander. Only the sound of the person’s voice could tell you their Sex or age.

And because each individual took up the entirely of the “narrow path” of their Universe, this meant that no one could move to the side, and no one could move past anyone else. Once neighbors, always neighbors.

Neighborhood for them was like marriage for us. Neighbors stayed neighbors until Death came to part them.

Such a life, with nothing to see but a Point, and motion only possible in a Straight Line, seemed to me to be unspeakably miserable, and I was surprised at how cheerful and full of life the King was.

Wondering how it could be possible for these Linelanders to reproduce when their circumstances seemed so hostile to the possibility, I hesitated for a long time to question his Royal Highness on such a private subject, but at last I had to give into my curiosity, and casually asked about the health of his family.

“My wives and children,” he replied, “Are healthy and happy.”

I was staggered by this answer, because, as I said before, the only people anywhere near the King were Men.

I dared to reply, “Pardon me, but I don’t understand how your Royal Highness can see, let alone approach their Majesties, when there are at least half a dozen people between you, which you can’t go or look past? Do you mean to tell me that in Lineland, touching isn’t needed for marriage, or for the creation of children?”

“What kind of absurd question is that?” demanded the Monarch. “If touching were required, the Universe would soon run out of people! No, no. Neighborhood is not needed for the union of hearts, and the birth of children is too important to be left up to the random chance of proximity! You have to know this. But since you think it’s funny to pretend you don’t, I will explain it to you like you’re the most uneducated child in Lineland.

“Listen well. Marriages are made by the senses of sound and hearing. You are of course aware that every Man has two mouths, voices, and eyes – a deeper bass on one side, and a higher tenor at the other. I wouldn’t bother to mention this, except that I haven’t been able to hear your tenor voice while we’ve been speaking.”

I told him that I had only one voice, and that I hadn’t been aware that his Royal Highness spoke with two.

“That confirms my theory,” said the King, “That you are not a Man, but a Female Monstrosity with a deep voice, and an utterly uneducated ear for music. But, let us continue.

“Nature herself declared that every Man should marry two wives, and—”

“Why two?” I interrupted.

“You’re taking this joke too far!” he cried. “How else can there be a harmonious union without the combination of the Four in One? The Bass and Tenor of the Man, and the Soprano and Contralto of the two Women?”

“But what if,” I said, “a man wanted to have only one wife, or three?”

“That is impossible.” he said, “It is as inconceivable as saying two plus one equals five, or that the human eye could see a Straight Line.”

I would have interrupted him again, but he continued, saying:

“In the middle of each week, a Law of Nature compels us to move forward and backward with a rhythm faster than normal, which lasts a hundred and one seconds.

“In the middle of this dance, at the fifty-first moment, the inhabitants of the Universe suddenly stop in place, and each individual sings out his richest, fullest, most beautiful song. It is this moment that all of our marriages are made.

“So powerful is the evolution of Bass to Treble, and Tenor to Contralto, that the Loved Ones, even if they’re twenty thousand leagues apart, can still instantly recognize the voice of their destined Lover, and, cutting through the pathetic obstacle of distance, Love unites the three.

The marriage is consummated in that moment, and results in the birth of three children who take their place in Lineland.”

“What?! Always three?” I asked, “Does one wife always have to have twins, then?”

“You bass-voiced Monstrosity, yes!” replied the King. “How else could the numbers of the Sexes stay balanced, if two girls weren’t born for every boy? Do you want to defy the very Laws of Nature?!”

He stopped talking, speechless with fury.

It took a while before I could convince him to continue his explanations.

“Do not assume, of course, that every bachelor finds his mates at his first try at this universal Marriage Song. On the contrary, it’s normal for the ritual to be performed many times before it is successful. Few are lucky enough to instantly recognize the voices of the partners destined to them by Providence, and complete the harmonious embrace. For most of us, it takes a long time to successfully marry.

“The Man’s voice might perfectly match up with one of his future Wives, but not the other, or sometimes, not with either at first. In cases like this, Nature declares that every weekly Chorus will bring the Lovers closer into harmony.

“Each test of their voices allows them to discover where they are going wrong, and gives them the opportunity to change accordingly. And after many tests and adjustments, eventually the marriage is achieved. There comes, at last, the day when the three distant Lovers suddenly find themselves in exact harmony, and before they even realize it, the married Triplet is being celebrated by Nature as one more marriage, and three more births.”