PHOTO PROMPT © Peter Abbey
The Last Blue Whale
Dawn’s boardwalk gate opening brought clumps of gawkers, who walked en masse the hundred steps to Observation Station. Some spoke; most didn’t. It was as if the silent ones were aware of the importance of remembering. Like instinctual clockwork, as a new clump approached, those at the station would turn towards Check-In.
She was corralled in plexiglass, lithe and regal, a living blue stream. As she turned in her prison, some caught her eye. Some even saw sadness in it; kindred spirits.
Clerks scanned wrist codes. Machines that never slept hummed behind them. Would it be painless, as promised?
[99 words]
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the hostess with the mostest of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
Oh that’s so sad. And so pointless
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:( One word: humans.
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This is ever so sad but I won’t lie… I am confused as to what will be painless to whom…
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Those clumps of people are headed to the station at the end of the dock, checking in to enter the machines…
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Ahhh… Our stories could be linked ;-) Kinda sorta maybe…
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:)
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I must admit to be confused by the last line too.
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Russell, hoping the others’ comments help clear up your confusion? Thanks for reading and your comment.
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A stark reminder today Lisa.
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Dear Lisa,
I’m kind of with Dale. It sounds like the people and the whale were all prisoners. Sad and rather chlling story in any event.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Rochelle, I think they are all prisoners, one in the water and the others by being drafted, so to speak, to show up at the docks on a particular day. I’m not sure where they are headed once they get into the machines. Maybe off-world? Maybe next life? Maybe cryogenic tanks?
Thanks for reading and your comment.
Shalom,
Lisa
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Touching story.
The last 3 lines bring about the mechanical and inhuman aspect.
May be reality soon.
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Anita, thank you. I’m glad you picked up on those aspects of the story.
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Wow! Pretty bleak, and who are they to dictate when they should go? Good stuff
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Thanks, Someone. I’m not sure exactly what’s going on here, but I’m ambivalent at best.
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I’m kind of hoping we destroy ourselves first before we destroy the rest of life. (K)
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I’m with you, especially if that station takes us to where we can infect other planets with ourselves.
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I’m glad the comments clarify things. I first thought the people were being fed to the whale which wouldn’t make sense for its diet.
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Sorry if I wasn’t being clear. I’m guessing it’s a Sea World kind of place, but I can’t imagine a blue whale ever surviving in captivity.
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Hair-raising snapshot of a … what do they call it? … transhuman world!
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Dora, it may be just that. Maybe they’ve already been transported to another place and the ETs have them all contained. Perhaps there’s breeding program where the the zoos trade species like they do on Earth :( Looking at this story we are horrified, but we do the same all the time.
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The trapped Whale is looking at the same trapped people I think…my mind went to different places… First thing I thought of is a show that I can’t think of… that had suicide machines on every corner that people walked into because of over crowding.
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Max for sure on the whale watching them also. I know there was an old drive-in movie called, “Wild in the Streets” where the young people sent oldsters to suicide machines (iirc.)
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That could be the one that came to me.
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A hopeless situation here, and a sombre mood. The whale, the stream of people going somewhere. That eye contact between the whale and one of the ‘gawkers’ is chilling.
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Margaret, thank you. I also think that moment of eye contact is pivotal.
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The brutality of human race
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:( yes.
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🥲
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:(
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sadness can be contagious indeed.
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Yes, it can, Plaridel.
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A disturbing tale indeed, even more so than I initially thought having read some of the comments.
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Yes it is, Keith. Really gets my gears turning with wondering what’s going on.
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Wow, heartbreaking Lisa. It has a strong Soylent Green vibe. Species are lost and people treated like cattle.
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Gabi, that’s also a very real possibility with the story; they are being turned into food for a starving human population. I remember when I read about how they ground up chickens and turned them into… chicken feed :(
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Yes the whole way animals and farming are ‘industrialized’ is sickening.
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Sad. So sad.
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Thanks for reading, Linda. Not an easy read :(
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Once it was an adventure out at sea to encounter a magnificent whale. But you have described a morbid curiosity for the caged dying animal. Are we so cruel?
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James McEwan
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Thanks, James, for reading and your question.
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Yes: Sea World and Killer Whales et al.
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If it’s not painless I think whoever is operating the machines will tell everyone it is. I’m wondering what’s on the other side of the machines?
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Me too, Michael.
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Disposing of the older people?
Why am I not surprised?
Thought provoking story.
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May be! Thanks, Dawn.
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I read this through a few times, Lisa and also read all comments to fully comprehend the magnitude of your story. Making eye contact gave me pause …. as well as goosebumps. Such a deeply moving and unsettling story.
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Nancy, thank you so much for taking the time with the story <3 With the eye contact between the person and the whale, in videos, where the divers are looking into the eye of a whale, I always wonder what the whale would like to share with the human. Something like, "please do the right thing."
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I immediately thought of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Did that come to mind when writing your story?
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No, not consciously. I’m sure I must have seen the movie when it first came out.
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This made me feel really sad. For everyone. Beautifully written.
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Thank you very much, Sandra.
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Nice
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Thanks!
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Thanks
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With overpopulation, there may come a time when people just have to be rounded up and fed to the machine. I think AI will eventually eat us.
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This story was thought-provoking, and the comments section plunged it even deeper than my mind originally went. -Angela
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Thanks much, Angela. I love it when readers have questions, concerns, imaginings, doubts, etc. It shows I’m reaching them.
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Oh I am so often reminded just how awful humans are… here is another reminder. How sad.
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Such a sad story Lisa, whales are beautiful animals!
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