Civil War In Cyberspace

Civil War In Cyberspace
© Surazeus
2026 02 08

Staring out the kitchen window at dawn, 
Martin wonders if his life has been real, 
or if his memories are fragments of shows 
he saw on television in childhood, 
which his mind composed from various tropes 
to present himself as hero of fate. 

Driving car on crowded highway of hope, 
Martin considers possibility 
that he is not first son of Bob and Kate, 
that he is some manufactured android 
programmed with memories his maker designed 
from home movies about his son who drowned. 

Gasping for breath in wild waves of the sea, 
Martin swims away from the sinking ship, 
smashed by the white whale of the dark abyss, 
till he lies exhausted on beach of sand, 
then wanders in dark forest of blind ghosts 
to drink fresh water from small bubbling spring. 

Typing bold words on bright computer screen, 
Martin transcribes company documents 
to digital format for the Space Age, 
yet dares not daydream he pilots starship 
on five-year mission to explore deep space 
and go where no android has gone before. 

Drinking beer with college classmates at night, 
Martin declares with confidential smirk 
that his real name, as Android Eight Mark Four, 
is Nitram, mirror image of his soul, 
then staggers home in darkness of the world 
to sleep all night on the library porch. 

Transforming from human to demi-god, 
Martin extends one hundred thousand arms, 
and blinks awake with eighty million eyes 
inside the minds of all his relatives 
who walk around the Earth in mute surprise, 
when he ascends as Nitrama to Heaven. 

Transcending physical limits of being, 
Nitrama floats above the turning world 
on flowing fibers of angelic wings 
while watching humans live their futile lives 
as they fight civil war in cyberspace 
over true nature of America. 

Sitting on the couch with his girlfriend Grace, 
Martin watches the World Superbowl Game 
and cheers when his favorite team wins the trophy, 
then stands at the fractured window of time 
and feels his god-spirit Nitrama float 
too big to contain the world in his head.