The Machinations Of Greed

Hate

She shifts slightly, eyes on the notebook, and her foot taps against the wooden floor as she reads her own question for herself.

"...If you saw a bird in a cage, in the middle of a beautiful, yet endless forest, singing a wonderful song... would you let the bird out of its cage?"

His 'mind' processes the information given, and he finds himself standing before a hummingbird, stuck inside of a birdcage. It stands on a pedestal of wood, and it sings as it stares into his eyes.

"..."

All around him are hundreds of trees, allowing for shade to form and cloud the sun's rays from above. He looks around, yet he can't see an end to all these trees, like an endless labyrinth. He looks back to the bird, and he realizes something...

"...A? Do you hear me?"

His eyes snap open as he hears Gabriel's voice, and he finds himself in her eyes.

"...Yes, Miss Gabriel."

"...Can you answer the question?"

"..."

He wants to answer positively, yet his voice doesn't come out. It's like he wants to find out more about this bird. There's more to it, and he knows. It's not just a bird.

"...Miss Gabriel, can you tell me more about what would happen if I let it out?"

She nods shortly, her gaze flickering from the notebook to his face.

"Certainly, A. If you let the bird out of its cage, it will be able to fly, to soar towards the sky, and to feel the wind against its feathers."

"...I see."

He lowers his head ever so slightly, imagining exactly that. Seeing it soar.

"...It's a beautiful image, isn't it, A? Nature, life... freedom."

"...I agree, Miss Gabriel. But what if you let the bird sit in its cage?"

Gabriel frowns as she listens to his words, and she tilts her head to the side.

"...It could sing forevermore. It would never have to move, and its song would reverberate through the forest, through its home. It would bounce off the trees, and anything living there would bask in the sound."

Gabriel shifts in her seat again, and her frown deepens as she ponders his words.

"...If that was the case, A, then the bird would stay in its cage until it died. It would live alone, and die alone. And it would remain as an object to be... viewed, to and by anything that passed by it."

"And yet if it was free, it would never have a 'home' for itself, only the gift of flight. The choice to have a home."

Taken off-guard by A's sudden willingness to think using his 'heart', Gabriel hums in thought.

"...I see. I understand what you mean, A. You let it lay in the cage... well, this is getting interesting. Next question."

She writes his answer on the notebook for the second time as she speaks, keeping her gaze on the notebook.

"There is a runaway trolley barreling down the railway tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the other track. You have two options:"

"Do nothing, in which case the trolley will kill the five people on the main track."

"Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person."