The Talentless

A Story by Jamie Tong

My second story. Tell me what you think.

Chapter 1- Angst

“We are all unique”

“Everyone is special”

“I believe in you”

These things are heard every day. We all hear it. Normally from optimists. There’s also the misery guts who say the opposite. The pessimists retort-

“If everyone’s special, no one is”

That’s me. It’s probably you. I mean how would you have found this if you weren’t bored out of your mind looking for something to distract you. Wait, wait, wait. It’s not an insult, it’s what-d’you-call-it… A hook? I’m trying to be special, you know get your interest to keep reading I mean. Start again.

Look I don’t know why I’m writing this. There are people far better equipped to do this. Talented, intelligent and eloquent. There are also people who could follow the Talented. Ignorant, unskilled but ultimately happy. Then there’s me, the Talentless. “O woe is me” huh?

It hurts ok? To recognise that you will never be someone special. I always wanted to be special. Not like Superman (registered trademark) though he is that ultimate combination of perfect, amazing, powerful and insaaaaaaaaaaanely dull. But someone who could affect the world. To have an idea, a story, a skill that could change people. So that when you Google me (registered trademark) I am in the top 20 that come up. To have a Wikipedia (regi- you get the idea) page that says briefly what I do and has that ‘would you like to add to this?’ thing at the top and maybe someone thinks ‘hm, I am interested and know something of this person, maybe I’ll add to it’ before clicking on that YouTube (all together now- ‘registered trademark’) video of The Running Man (at least that’s what’s ‘trending off the top of my head).

This is all very angst-y. Oh god I sound like a teenager. I still identify as one, you know? Whenever I read stories about the screw ups that an 18-year-old does. Whenever new games and movies aimed at ‘the younger generation’ come out. I’m there. So call me a man-child and be done with it.

Anyway where was I? Oh right the Talentless. Yes, we are the kind of people who aspire to create things that are special. Who envy and spite those who can make something off-the-cuff but in the same breath aspire and look up to them. Who constantly flicker from and try anything that might make someone say ‘that was really good’. Who means it without pity or judgement. Unbiased approval. That’s what I want. It’s what we all want.

Approval from friends and family is nice, like caffeine. Makes you feel good. Gives a good basal level of self-esteem. But compliments from the public is like heroin. Makes you feel amaaaaazing. Suddenly pleasing this amorphous, non-sequitur (not-sure-if-this-works-when-used-this-way-but-bite-me) figure that I don’t know is the person I most want to please. So here I am, angst-ing all over the page hoping someone finds this interesting to read. Anyway on to the story.

Yes.

I actually have a story in mind in spite of all-of-the-above.

Chapter 2- Prologue

Yes I studied English and know structure story how to be good very. See that? That’s something I’m-sure-there’s-a-word-for-it-shut-up. I love how desperately Word (on which this is being typed) is trying to help out the above. Anyway Chapter 2, I promised you a story and I am damn well gonna write a whole mess of story. So I live on Earth. I know Earth-shattering (lol, random pun humour is random). But not your Earth- yes I know how cliché a start that is. But it’s not. Because on my Earth your status is decided by Talent. Talent is essentially- yes, this is exposition but goddammit what do you expect it’s my first time and I’m writing this like the opening cinematic of a game. Anyway Talent. It’s exactly what you think. If what you’re thinking is that it’s a quantifiable value decided through genetics, effort, biology and magic. One of those was a lie. Yes. Effort plays no part in this.

You see on this world, pretty much everything has evolved much like your world. Although we are about three or four centuries ahead hence I can refer to and write about ‘your world’. In this world, my worl- you know what, my world= Earth, your world= Earth 2 (registered trademark). Anyway on Earth during the time of Galileo there was another person. I’m no good with history but for completeness sake and since you don’t have access to Earth’s Internet (keeping up?) he was called Olligae. He discovered that if you used some methods at the birth of a child you could create a ‘veil’ around them. This ‘Veil’ would be one of 2 colours. Red and White. Red meant you had ‘Talent’. Be it athletic, creative, academic you had potential to affect great change. White meant ‘Ignorant’. At the time it meant ‘not knowing’. It was found that the Ignorant were able to be productive but ultimately followed the Talent and supported them. There was no shame in it.

In fact, ‘Ignorance is bliss’. Ever heard that one? It’s because the Ignorant knew their place in the world. They lived happy, with no stress and sometimes their children would be Talented. So which colour did I have? I was blue-daboodee-daboo-fuc-

Blue. No I wasn’t the first. In fact, it had been noted to be on the rise. It was noted once colour imaging had been developed. Certain Ignorant babies had more blue-tinged Veils. At first people thought nothing of it, and, because it was relatively rare and unprovable it wasn’t investigated. But in the 14^th century when photography was invented, the Talented found that there was a marked rise in incidence of blue-tinged Veils. They tracked their progress and noted that they were Ignorant but very unhappy. Rates of depression and addictive tendencies were correlated with the degree of blue in their Veil. Initially, through anecdotal findings, the Ignorant-B’s were found to suffer from ‘Gambler’s Fallacy’ without exception. They believed that they were quote “meant to win”. This linked with their depression, reasons for which all echoed “I want to improve but I can’t”.

By the 16^th century imaging had improved to what Earth2 has called ‘4K’ and grading of Veils began. Those with a wavelength closer to 450nm suffered less and those nearer 500nm often developed Gambler’s Fallacy and concurrent depression by 20. Although the official name for this was ‘Ignorant-Grade- insert wavelength here’ the general populace termed it ‘being Talentless’. At first they tried to make it confidential but the Google Glass (which, by the way, I don’t get why you guys haven’t taken it up) incorporated a Veil meter which essentially put it on blast. If you’re interested I’m Ignorant-Grade-500. Wooooo….

Chapter 3- The Difference Between Misery and Depression…

… is that misery loves company. Starting off on the lighter-side of life. So, I once heard that in story-telling you should ask yourself ‘is this the most interesting part of your life and if not, why aren’t you showing that?’. The source was YouTube. On a gaming review. That was legit-ness.

So taking the boundless wisdom of that video let’s give you the highlights reel. Born, primary school, medium-sized fish in a tiny puddle, puddle turned into a bowl, bowl poured into the sea. If you followed that then what I’m saying is I had thought I was Talented. I knew that my Veil was white, yet my abilities were always at the top of my class. You see being Talented is rare, so many of the people around me didn’t pay it any mind. All through to the cusp of adulthood I thought ‘maybe I am Talented? I haven’t met anyone to say otherwise’.

That was your first mistake.

You see hope and aspiration is like an oasis. A quiet, idealistic place in the harsh desert of life (god am I ever aware of how pretentious I sound). However, like finding an oasis in the desert it’s more-often-than-not a mirage. That has led you deeper into the desert. To die. Painfully. Alone.

Had you not set out to prove yourself in the desert i.e. be Ignorant, you would be happy. Had you turned back when you could i.e. give up, you would have learnt something. But instead, being Talentless, you saw that glory in the desert. Others had made it there, why can’t I? See the Terms and Conditions of Talentless-ness-(less?).

So, lying there on the sand, time trickles slowly by. Nothing being achieved. You’re now slipping. Falling. O god why am I falling?

Because we have moved onto the next metaphor. Now that you are trapped in the sand of an hourglass where you don’t affect anything and nothing changes all you can do is be still or turn your life upside down, just so that something is happening.

So all that long-winded metaphorical discussion essentially leads me here. The pacing issues more glaring than those seen in Fan4stic (Earth 2 2015 edition) aside, essentially welcome to the start line take your position. You this is a story all about how (you know you’re singing it). Anyway, we are essentially going to talk through the Crisis on Infinite Earths. Namely yours and mine. And how, in spite of being labelled Talentless, one man led the world in its darkest time.

You see part of the psychosis of being Talentless is the need to do it yourself. The refusal to take advice that you yourself dispense. I had always wanted to affect people’s lives. So logically I pursued a career in medicine. However, medicine is studied by the Talented. Those with the ability to care, to absorb knowledge and not expect anything in return. Talentless doctors are rare and for good reason. I’m not gonna spell it out for you.

Through trying to pursue this, I found myself distracted by things that gave me instant satisfaction. Working out. Playing sports. Writing a short story that you hope it good but is ultimately all over the place and will fall on, I was going to say blind eyes but let’s be honest here, the reasonable assumption that this is a pile of angst wrapped up in pixels and thrown onto a page. Now pursuing these thing that gave instant gratification was like injecting myself with the highlights reel. It was like super-heroin. I was achieving things so quickly. Skills that I never knew I could gain. But you never learn from your mistakes, you only ever repeat them somewhere else.

I should have already known that I wouldn’t become Talented. This was clear in my professional pursuit. But like I said, we Talentless people suffer Gambler’s Fallacy.

“I’m sure playing this sport, I will become recognised for it”

“I’m sure working out, I will look good and be praised”

“I’m sure pursuing strength and lifting heavy, I can prove myself”

Ad infinitum. You see, this story itself is a reflection of everything I have just said. How meta. I promised you a story but I lied, I just wanted to make you read my ramblings.

It didn’t end well, by the way. The darkest time thing.

Chapter 4- The Plot Thickens

… well changes from dry air to slightly humid summer air. So you’re asking, ‘how can I be reading the writings of someone from another Earth?’. If not, now you are. Good question. You see one of our esteemed Talented people theorised (loyal to “English (United Kingdom)”) the multiverse way back in the 15^th century. Pursuit of this led to rapid advancements in the field of Cosmology. Leading back to the Google Glass, imaging of other universes was made possible.

I’m sure you’ve watched that classic 1599… I mean 1999 movie (had to Earth2 Wikipedia that) The Matrix? And the exciting advancements in VR such as… let me see which companies did it here… HTX Vive and Oculus Rift? Well, as mentioned, Earth had these theories down-pat and VR accelerated us to the point we were able to experience being in alternate Earths. It became so real that we could spend entire weeks living a whole life, like that Rick and Morty episode where they go to the arcade and play that game.

You see science moves regardless of safety. Once VR moved onto ARP (Augmented Reality Projection, not sure if you have that yet) we started being able to interact with other universes. Now, as you can imagine this brings with it the whole Looper future subplot, where they outlaw time-travel as it could mess with reality? Well turns out that reality-travel also messes with reality. But, like in Looper, making something illegal just means that the Dark Net and underworld take advantage of it. ARP experiences were being sold like drugs. The Talented knew the possible consequences but hypothetical danger is never taken as seriously as actual danger and Earth was dying. So you know, priorities. Turns out recycling and driving that shitbox of car, the G-wiz didn’t save the world.

Anyway. Advancement in ARP had slowed to a crawl but advancement nonetheless happened. I mean seeing and interacting with Earth 2, cool. Seeing and feeling the Earth 2, ehmergerd.

So obviously I am telling you about this because I was hooked. I mean how couldn’t I be? On Earth 2 I was essentially the illegitimate child of Stephen Hawking and Marie Curie, brought up by the gay couple Leonardo da Vinci and Albert Einstein. Like I said, instant gratification.

You see, for me, addiction is essentially routine. Addiction in and of itself causes no harm. It’s just what you’re addicted to. I functioned fine so it was fine. Everything was fine. I just needed to spend 1 hour, every night and the equivalent of £20 living my life in Earth 2. I mean World of Warcraft ARP has nothing on the simulation masterpiece of your Earth 2.