Nail - A Short Story Read Online Free PDF Page B

they’ll do the rest of the work. Overlords are powerless
when people refuse to believe in them.”
    “ Overlords… what are they?”
Bas asks; Ralic gestures as they discuss, leading him to the one
thing that he didn’t check before he descended— the large, white
object covered in a sheet that's been sitting the center of the
town square for more than a century.
    “ We… we don’t really know.
I’ve read lots of books written about it. Overlords are like… ideas
that are alive.”
    “ Ideas?”
    “ Yeah, like yours wants you
to stay in a hole and invent things forever, and it does it by
feeding you lies. Or my town, Quetaine— before we made that town, our ancestors
traveled to this large island from an island that was a
fake.”
    Bas mutters. “Uh, a
fake… island? ”
    “ An island’s a kind of
landmass… I guess there’s too much to explain. For now, just know
we’ve got to show the overlord is wrong. Destroy its idea, and
we’ll destroy it too. We know that for sure.”
    “… You Qetaine people must be
amazing— figuring it out.”
    Ralic sighs as they reach the large
object covered in white. “It was all an accident. The overlord made
a mistake that it couldn’t have known about, and that's how the
village figured it out.” Ralic touches the sheet— it’s strong, and
made of a material Ralic’s never encountered before.
    “ Who figured it out? A
hero?”
    “ It was a lot of people. A
boy our age, his wife, her dad, and the elder’s wife.”
    Bas hums. “Was that elder an
overlord?”
    “ In part, yes— but what’s
important is that it’s only together that we can do away with an
overlord’s delusions. Alone we’re just outcasts, humiliated
publicly for questioning the overlord’s decrees; but together, we
become more than just the insane and deluded people the overlords
will pass us off as. Overlords feed on ignorance, misery, and
deferred potential; if you let them, they’ll take everything from
you and leave you feeling like you owe them
everything. Now then…” Ralic pulls down at the tarp, with the help
of Bas— revealing a large, titanium-plated wonder of unknown
origin.
    “… What is this? ” Bas asks.
    Ralic notices a steel staircase at the
base of the machine leading up to its center. “Let’s find
out.”
    The two step around and up the stairs
of the alien machine. There’s a hatch that they enter, and inside
is four seats and a strange black rectangle— at the side opposite
to the hatch. The two spare a quick glance as the rectangle emits a
calm, blue glow. It displays symbols amidst the strange mechanical
whirs of computation and silicone-like devices that neither of them
have heard until now. As they listen to a computer fan for the
first time, they read what’s on the screen. There’s a disbelieving
silence as they realize that not only are there words and letters
of the exact same language that Qetaine uses, but the mathematical
symbols and measurements of the underground town as
well.
    '-Insert target depth: _
meters-' reads the display, among three or
four other factors even harder to comprehend.
    “ Wh-what does it mean?” Bas
asks.
    Ralic squints in perception.
“How else could the digging for such a massive opening underground
be done?… this is a digging machine!”
    “ Of course… but this light
that shows words and letters— what does it mean? What are we
supposed to do?”
    Ralic looks about the strange, compact
room as they sit in opposite chairs. “Hmm… here!” Ralic points out
a strange set of keys, holding every letter in Qetaine’s alphabet
and the separated symbols of the underground town- along with many,
many more symbols neither of them are familiar with.
    The two look between each other and the
glowing square with symbols, and at once they decide not to ask any
more questions. The implications of a machine this advanced, having
the symbols unique to both their towns, is beyond mind boggling; it
is as unbelievable to Ralic