Questions

The pounding of a hammer thicker than steel reached my ears as I stepped foot into a place I knew like home, the repair shop. Kono’s muscular arm rose up and down, up and down, like a metronome of sorts as he worked to beat a chunk of metal down. Rumbling cars raced outside on the dark streets, typical for these Saturday evenings when the streets were barren of footsteps and only those with little to lose walked freely.

Kono glanced up and wiped his thick brow. Metal clattered against metal as he tossed his hammer aside and waved.

“Didn’t expect to see you around today Makoto.”

I smiled. “Needed a quiet place to study. You know how my apartment can get on nights like this. Also needed to drop off a few things” With most of the Corruption Checkers off duty, there was little Fides could do to enforce the Truth, especially here in the middle of the slums. I’d heard that down in the lower sections it was anarchy at best, and a slaughter-fest at worst. Half the reason we never got security droids around here anymore was because the lower part dismantled most of Fides’s supply, or so I heard.

“Can’t blame ya there. Backs open for business until I give up on this hunk of junk for the night.” Kono gestured towards the sheet of metal he was hammering away at just seconds ago. “Should give ya a few hours.”

“I’ll take anything I can get.” I nodded towards Kono and walked back towards the storage room, or the back as we called it.

Inside shelves upon shelves were filled to the brim with more parts than an average person would see in their whole lives. A makeshift kitchen was thrown together in one of the corners, nothing matching in the slightest.

I dumped everything from the market in the fridge and multicolored pantries barely screwed together. It didn't take long until my once heavy sack became light as a feather.

Next to the fridge was a smooth wooden table, the only new thing Kono’s makeshift kitchen had. None of us were the types to spend much, but Kono had one day shown up with the table out of the blue. Any of our questions were completely thrown out without a word, and eventually, me and Nari learned not to ask.

I laid the three books I’d checked out on the table. Inside there was the answer I was looking for, the keys to not worrying about that mental patient’s ramblings anymore.

Pages ruffled and the cover quietly knocked against the table. I could feel the black ink soaked into the pages as the words “chapter one” met my eyes.

“The Truth, a machine on the level of a god. A machine that can solve any issue with absolute and objective truth. Such a machine was once considered fantasy, an impossibility. This was until The Fides Corporation was founded in 2018.

With their rapid advancements in augmented reality and virtual reality technology they quickly became a Fortunate 500 company.

A few years later they took the record from Whamazon and Pear as the world's most valuable company.

A few years after that The Fides Corporation announced what they called ‘the invention of a lifetime.’ While little was known at the time, that invention would soon change all of Japan.

The Truth was revealed a decade later, and within two years completely revolutionized the world.

Made from fifteen zettabytes of data, the Truth was a system that created absolute truth and could solve any moral problem. Some examples include The trolly problem, the prisoner's dilemma, and the baby problem.

A year later, the Japanese government relinquished control to the Truth and by proxy The Fides Corporation. Changes were quickly made based on the Truth. The murder rate went down 90% within a year, the sexual assart rate decreased by 69%. Japan officially was ranked as the world's most peaceful country within a year of The Truth’s rule.”

I sighed. What was the point of this? Everything here was just common knowledge. Ask anyone on the street and 9/10 people would get this correct.

I turned past the introduction. Beyond lay a row of numbers and chapter titles; the table of contents.

Within the textbook in front of me were rows upon rows of chapters with names that barely registered in my mind.

“Here we go.” Within the mess of text was a chapter called “Rebuttals to The Truth.” I eagerly flipped through the pages until the bolded title was clear as day to my eyes. Inside lines of text lined the pages, packed to the brim with words more complicated than I’d seen in a long time.

Nevertheless, if I was going to deal with these nagging thoughts this was the way to go.

The door creaked open as Kono lumbered into the room towards one of the overloaded shelves.

“How's the book?” Kono sorted through the mountain of parts before pulling out what looked to be an intake of sorts.

“Complicated. Every other world feels alien.”

“Hahahahaha. That sounds right! Those ol textbooks never fail to boggle the mind. Let me take a small peak.”

Kono trotted over and leaned over my shoulder, casing the whole table in his shadow. “Damn Makoto, you lept straight for the deep end with this. Ever thought of taking it one step at a time? I doubt half of this’ll make any sense to you with what you know unless you’ve been sneaking shit behind my back, not that I’m one ta talk.”

“At this point, I just want to get this done and forget about it all.”

“What are you doing anyway? You’ve never been the type to stuff your nose in books for hours on end, much less study them. Hell if it wasn't for Akane I doubt you would’ve touched a book in your life.”

“Just trying to get a few questions answered.”
“Questions? What the hell you on about?”

“Remember that suicidal protestor?”

“Yea, fucker caused my parts to arrive late.” Kono gave me a glare.

I put my hands in the air. “Hey, it's not like we could do anything else! But seriously, some of the points he made I can’t disprove right now and it’s annoying me to death.”

“Have you considered he could be right?”

“And Fides wrong? And the Truth wrong? There’s simply no way. Somewhere in here lies the answer to every single nonsensical point he tried to make.”

“What if it’s not? What if the Truth is not infallible?”
“It’ll be here.” I glanced away from Kono and looked back towards the book. Those answers were here, they had to be. Worst case they simply had to just be in another one of those books on that shelf.

Surely someone had to have answered it. Page after page flew by with nothing, not even a glimpse of an answer. Nothing about subjectivity, nothing about objective standards. If anything, the book felt as if it was doing everything in its power to completely avoid the subject.

“Found your shining star?” Kono smirked as he saw my face turn bright red.

“It’s here somewhere.” I scowled, not even looking up.

“Damn bro, how committed are you to this shit. Just admit it’s not there and move on with your life. The Truth’s objectivity don’t got shit on your life.”

“Excuse me?” I slammed my chair back and stood up. “No effect? The Truth is the lifeblood of Japan! What's holding the country together if there is no Truth to guide us?”

“Who fucking cares? Society won’t collapse because one person realized the Truth. Long as the majority either believes or doesn't give a shit nothing’ll happen.”

My ears had to deceive me? Had Kono gone senile? I just couldn't believe that Kono honestly believed this. Society worked because The Truth existed. Without it, everyone was just living a lie, a falsehood. What did that lead to? What was the point of living in a world based on a lie?
“Whatever. Not my place to give a shit. People can believe what they want, long as it doesn't affect me I couldn't care less.”

“You do you.”

Kono slowly walked out as I laid my head against the table. Maybe all this wasn’t worth it in the end.