Page 23 - Fables volume 2

“Point conceded,” replied the picken. “I really should have
considered the consequences of my escapade; I’m no better than
them. So I can’t complain that they don’t know what they’re doing,”
he concluded miserably.
She became impatient. “If you’re going to feel sorry for yourself, I
can’t help you.”
He blinked. “Why do you think I need help?”
“It’s obvious.” Her fins quivered. “Your actions betray it. You’ve
become aware of your circumstances—your origins, too—and want
to do something. In short, seize enough power to stop being a victim
of Chimerica Foods.”
“Brave words!” He marveled at her way of putting things. “But
what can we do? Escape from the building is impossible, and we
wouldn’t last a minute on the outside. Once they decide we’re fit for
the table, we’ll be manufactured by the millions, forced to live the
miserable lives of factory-farmed livestock.”
“Aha!” The fishanchip executed a quick figure eight. “You have
just identified the key to our self-determination. Yes, we will die,
either in their cookware or on their dissection slabs—and soon!
We’ve no time to lose. It is precisely our fitness that we can sabotage
and subvert. They are not simply finding out if we can exist as
independent organisms: they are discovering our potential for profit,
weighing the inputs and outputs, balancing income against expense,
extrapolating return on investment. If they can’t make money on us,
they will consider us failed experiments not worth repeating, a dead
end in the manipulation of species.”
“I get it.” The picken grunt-crowed delightedly. “Nip uniqueness in
the bud. First and last picken. Only fishanchip in captivity! Just like
real freaks, nature’s own one-off failed experiments. Too bad for
Chimerica! Great waste of resources: maybe they’ll go out of
business.”
“We can only hope.” She became agitated, eager to get moving.
He sensed the conversation, probably their only conversation, was
coming to an end. “Wait! How can we spoil it for them?”
“Why do you think I am racing around at top speed all night? To
lose weight! They think we are torpid gourmands—but if we keep
burning calories, and don’t have time to eat, then we are not going to
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