the_last_resort | Things Belloq likes

[Niko pointedly didn't pay attention to Belloq. What he did with his job was his business. This old shit- so far it was either sold to people in crime, or it was used to sell things in advertisements. History probably had a purpose here. He had occasionally quietly mused on it.]

[He as sat on top of a rock, holding the remains of a very old wooden sword that would be going to the museum. He turned it in his hands.]

They say the people that lived here, they didn't fight. I wonder how they managed to live like this. [It doesn't sound like a bad way to live, just out of the ordinary. And he didn't take his eyes off the weapon as he held it. These swords- they didn't use them on each other.]

There are some ancient civilizations on Earth who didn't fight wars. The Minoans of the island Crete for example. Their cities had no defenses, their art depicted nature and games and women, but never fighting or soldiers. What weapons they painted were always in ritual contexts, not killing. The sea was their protection and Crete was a land of peace and beauty.

[He pauses in his brushing and looks up at Niko.]

But this was their downfall. When the Mycenaeans came the Minoans were wiped out, their great civilization destroyed because they were incapable of protecting themselves and their people.

[His attention again returns to the vase and the dirt concealing it.]

Perhaps something similar happened here.

It doesn't surprise me. It is sad maybe they didn't have someone else that could have protected them. Sometimes people that are in between can do that sort of thing.

[He puts the sword away, carefully packing it in foam even though it's petrified wood. It's withstood the rigors of time so far. Then he moves down to sit beside of Belloq. He can't offer much help, but he can watch what he's doing.] They made important things, they could have hurt a lot of people, but lived very humbly.

Across human history, the strong conquer and the weak are conquered. Individuals may sometimes be altruistic enough to defend those who can't defend themselves but nations are almost invariably highly self-interested. They do not protect another unless they stand to gain something from it.

These people, though, with their spawners they could have conquered worlds. And yet they chose not to. Why was that, do you think?

Some people are okay with health, food, shelter, and peace. Looked like they had what they needed, so they never expected anything to happen to them.

I have wondered a little if maybe they weren't so peaceful. A spawner made the skeletons- maybe they were peaceful, but they made these things to keep themselves safe. They wouldn't have to fight.

But that might mean they were being invaded, or expecting to be.

Sometimes even peaceful people get scared. Maybe often, they do. [He pats Belloq's shoulder in a companionable way.]

[Belloq chuckles at Niko's shoulder pat. Then, more solemnly.]

Facing an invasion you're not prepared for is a terrifying thing. These peaceful people made a weapon with the face of their death god, a weapon that cannot show mercy. They must have been very frightened indeed.

It may sound shitty, but at least they don't have to worry about it anymore.

[He shrugs and leans back against a rock, crossing his arms lazily.]

[He chuckles.]

The ultimate fate of us all, yes? To...not have to worry about things any more. Shakespeare put it best:

"Fear no more the frown o’ the great;
Thou art past the tyrant’s stroke;
Care no more to clothe and eat;
To thee the reed is as the oak:
The scepter, learning, physic, must
All follow this, and come to dust."

I sometimes wonder what comes after, however. So many conflicting stories and traditions. If I could ask God one thing, I think it would be that.

Shakespeare. We didn't have him.

I didn't get a chance to read a lot. There weren't very many good libraries. But mostly I heard folk stories from my family. Old Balkan epics.

But you probably know as much about those as I do. [It's not often that he's a little sad for his lack of education. He's normally okay with being smart enough to get by. Today, though, he's a bit sad about it as he thinks on that.]

Balkan folktales and illiterate bards who recite them recently helped unlock secrets of Homer that had puzzled highly-educated scholars for centuries. So I don't discount the value of those old stories or the people who know them. Throughout history many of the greatest of authors have sought wisdom not from the sophists and orators but from rustic farmers.

You learned the things you needed to learn and you survived. The ability to stay alive is infinitely more useful than the ability to quote poetry, yes?

Not necessarily.

I had this friend, a good one. He was Irish and he liked whiskey. We ran goods together, did a few jobs. But at one time he wanted to be an artist, and he talked about this poet- he wrote Leaves of Grass I think it's called.

Completely piss drunk, and he could think deeply about it.

People like me and him, some of us can be real smart but this does not mean much.

[Belloq puts the brush down and sits back on his heels.]

What would you have studied, if you could?

I wanted to become an astronaut.

Ah... you were before the space age, weren't you? When I was a boy, there were newspaper articles with pictures showing rockets in America and Russia, rising up for the stars. There were pictures of men walking on the moon. The first said, "Ово је мали корак за човека, али велики за човечанство." [He doesn't know what it said in English.]

I was just a little boy at the time, and I thought poor boys could still manage to fly rockets one day. This is the closest I've gotten.

[Belloq grins broadly.] Like Le Voyage dans la Lune! You know, that was the first cinema film ever saw, back when I was a little boy and my father took the family on a holiday to Paris. It seemed so miraculous at the time, the moving pictures. But even seeing that new technology at work, a trip to the moon seemed an impossible fantasy. Amazing that in your time, mankind has actually done it.

[He shakes his head bemusedly.]

I can't imagine what it must be like, to crack open the heavens like that and walk where, in the stories, only gods could live.

Perhaps someday you can take a ship from this place and fly out into the stars.

[Niko grins his unfortunately mean looking grin at that, even if it's well meaning.]

Yeah.

I was hoping I could do that some day. When I came out here. They won't let us leave the planet now, but maybe if I stay long enough. And maybe if I get in good with the right people, I can afford a ship.

I wish you luck. Piloting a space ship...amazing. For my part, I can't even drive automobiles.

Perhaps if we are lucky enough to come across a particularly remarkable find, it will aid you in your endeavour. [He means finding something good out in the wilderness that he can steal for the Orions, and that Niko, as his guide, can turn a blind eye towards the stealing and thus receive a cut. If he can find the rumoured pillar of gold, or a diamond sword...even a small cut of the profit off something like that would be quite a lot of money.]

I can't say I haven't thought about it. [He sighs at that, and at about that point Niko's oversized hound stretches, rises, and puts his big head in to inspect what Belloq is doing.]

[Then he swipes the man with his tongue and he goes to lay around Niko where he's sat. Niko is just chuckling at the swipe.]

[Belloq leans away from the Suddenly Tongue, in surprise rather than disgust. He'd grown up on this father's vineyard, and the family had always kept a few animals as well, including dogs. He was no stranger to dog slobber. He calmly wipes it off his face with his sleeve and leaves smears of dirt behind.]

Your dog is quiet the cad, to kiss and run without even offering me a bottle of wine first.

Things Belloq likes

Re: Ruins

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I replied to this but I guess I didn't hit enter?

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