The Niceties of War NN2021

The Niceties of War NN2021

The two ship squadron was at rest maintaining station without dropping the anchor.

Two enemy fleets totaling 83 war ships were on one side preventing their escape. They knew that another 37 war ships were waiting just over the horizon should they choose to run in the only supposedly safe direction.

The only real escape was the narrow straight guarded by two stout forts bristling with cannon. They covered the approaches to and the passage between them. On the surface, the two ship squadron was doomed!

On the Bridge of the command ship were some very notable people.

Christine, Companion of the Keeper of Balance was in charge, simply because these were her two ships, the remaining 13 ships of her battle fleet were submerged out of sight waiting for orders. A High King and two other Kings were present along with a few Admirals and two advisors.

The coming battle was going to be simply a slaughter. Wooden sailing ships armed with cannon firing balls of iron were no match whatsoever for her ships. The technology she was using was about 10,000 years in advance of these enemy fleets. At this time Christine, Companion of the Keeper did not want to show just how advanced they were.

All parties were discussing the coming battle, many seemed a little uneasy in spite of the Companion's assurances.

A double chime sounded and as the conversation stopped, Christine said, "Go ahead."

Since the local population did not have advanced communication methods, these voices that came from nowhere were initially a little scary but after three weeks at sea, the guests were accepting of these oddities.

"This is Pegasus, and for the benefit of your guests, I am a very big ship sitting very deep and I am under you right now. As has been explained to you, I am an Artificial Intelligence. I would like to have a conversation and I do not know how you will all react. A simple no will be sufficient if I accidentally offend."

Every person nodded acceptance so Pegasus continued.

"As you are aware, Great Dragons have the ability to move people and objects from one place to another almost instantly. It is called a Dragon Transfer. We have another similar method for moving things around at lesser distances. This one is based on what we call science. The only little problem we have is that this method does not move the soul and thus if you use this method on say a person, their body is moved but without the soul going along, the person is dead on arrival."

Pegasus waited until her listeners had settled a little before continuing. "There are 16,258 enemies between the ships and the fortresses that oppose us. These people will die, some of them horribly and in great pain. As well, the rodents will feast on the remains and disease and sickness will spread outwards to the civilian population. I would like to avoid all of those nasty outcomes of war."

Pegasus waited again and this time noticed the nodding of heads and the general loosening of stress so she continued, "You have a custom in some of your countries where the dead are buried and a tree planted over the grave in remembrance. It seems a lovely custom to my way of thinking."

The High King spoke, "It is a wonderful custom and a fitting tribute. Do you have the needed trees?"

Pegasus replied, "Not as yet. Would it be permissible to insert another step in the process?"

The High King replied, "What exactly do you have in mind. Speak without hesitation please, I am well aware of our differences so please feel free to suggest whatever is on your mind. War is always such a horrid mess, followed inevitably by sickness. I would like to hear any method that would save their civilian population."

Pegasus replied, "When I move them, we call it 'beaming them', I can slightly alter the remains and form them into a ring which is buried such that a tree can be planted in the middle of the ring and the tree is then fertilized."

The bluntest person on the Bridge, Lord Campon, asked, "Simply stated, all of the enemies would die and you will use the bodies as fertilizer at some time in the future. Is this correct?"

Pegasus replied, "Yes, can I turn the dead into fertilizer?"

End

Many a ground has be fertilized by those who prey to a different god than the conquers and in some cases the same god.. At least it make s the ground fertile ! S&F well done

a reply to: pheonix358

Feed your plants like a god...
With
The new soylent brown

a reply to: pheonix358

You never know what you are going to read in these contests.

This one was well done.

Thank you for writing it.

Thank you all. Was just playing with a plot twist and had too many bodies to deal with so ... fertilize the enemy!

Lol.

I wonder how Star Trek beams up the soul?

P

Great story!

Although up the 19th century it wasn't uncommon for the war-dead to be sold as fertilizer, and if the film The History Boys is to be believed, it was in fact during the Zulu War (1879) that the remains of the British fallen were considered worthy of any individual or "special" commemoration. This should be fact-checked however, and it might have to do with the Zulu custom of opening the "chests" of their slain foes (ostensibly to let the spirit out - actually a mark of respect). But the British viewed this this as horrific mutilation, which hardened colonial attitudes and propaganda, especially when such corpses arrived back in Britain after several weeks at sea, such as the famously nauseating arrival of Prince Louis-Napoleon, who one might add, had no business being in the British-Zulu War in the first place, but he insisted at his peril.
en.wikipedia.org...

Even more grimly, the bones of the dead of some of these battles were later collected and pulverised into fertiliser which was sold for a modest price across Europe. To quote an article from the The Observer written in 1822: "It is now ascertained beyond a doubt, by actual experiment on an extensive scale, that a dead soldier is a most valuable article of commerce; and, for aught known to the contrary, the good farmers of Yorkshire are, in a great measure, indebted to the bones of their children for their daily bread. It is certainly a singular fact, that Great Britain should have sent out such multitudes of soldiers to fight the battles of this country upon the continent of Europe, and should then import their bones as an article of commerce to fatten her soil"!

www.todayifoundout.com...

a reply to: halfoldman

Interesting info. Thanks.

P