The Meaning of Life ...according to 80.
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Upon a time, not far removed, yet in a world of their own, there once existed a variety of life-form known as‘Them’. Although they, the Them that is, were in most major respects quite similar to one another, they did differ in many minor regards. Regrettably, and despite the fact that this variation was essential to their very existence, it was also the root cause of much consternation and confusion amongst Them-kind Themselves. One conspicuous, and especially unendearing trait of Them-clan character, was a marked tendency to become extremely agitated at the least provocation. Particularly so, if one moderately more observant Them pointed out an anomaly, in the general method or manner of Them-kin life. Them could often become so incensed by the effrontery of such an unguarded act, that they would take it upon Themselves, to discontinue the existence of the Them that had been unwise enough to speak out. Yet the strangest of things was, that after the passage of a little time and without even realising it, they often came to accept that what had been said did have some merit to it after all. Thereupon, at a future date, they might even adapt or change, to incorporate some modification into their ways. All without question or comment, and just as though the late and unlamented Them’s new and novel notion, had been their own idea from the outset.
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So it came to overtake Them, that in the roundness of time, 80 appeared. And as It, 80 that is, grew as small Them are wont to do, It earnestly began to question the ways of those oft-times wayward, sometimes weird, creatures around It. Just as though, oddly though it might have seemed, It was not really one of Them at all. Additional time passed, as time is wont to do, and after many trials and an almost equal number of tribulations, a fact of Them life made itself evident to the developing 80. The certainty, that Its time in the world of the Them would be dramatically foreshortened, if It were ever to speak aloud of those matters on which It thought. This realisation did not however prevent It from observing, considering, or trying to determine the nature of the strange system under which those about It seemed to be operating. Indeed, it soon became apparent to 80, that in the world inhabited by the Them, there were a great many mysteries to mull on, riddles to be unravelled, and contradictions in need of comprehension. All of which caused It to reason thus: If what occurred there had no meaning, then why didn’t the Them just give in, give up, and get gone? Conversely, if there was purpose to their endeavours, might not there be some way of working out precisely what that purpose was?
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And so, with that aspiration, 80 began to question those Them It chanced to encounter. But alas and unfortunately! Although answers to Its queries were forthcoming, most made little or no sense. For instance, when It enquired of Them, why they did something in a certain way, they frequently replied that they did not know why, exactly. However, they were absolutely sure about one thing. Which was that as far as they were aware, whatever-it-was had always been done in the self-same way before, and would be evermore. 80 also noticed, that although the responses given by different Them on the same subject appeared remarkably similar, each had it’s own individual twist. Making it in some subtle way unique to its possessor. Of those replies remaining, many lacked logic, while others lost all credibility when examined at length. Sadly, the search for enlightenment seemed to be going nowhere. 80 wondered, if that was because
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