The man at the head of the table felt a sudden pain in his chest.
It happened during a cabinet meeting, with all of his staff looking on as he began to wobble in his chair. Only a second or two passed, before the ministers all bore witness to the truth behind the well-worn phrase about being dead before hitting the floor. The expressions on the faces around the table varied greatly. As for the deceased ruler, he found himself reading through what seemed to be an A4 sheet of paper that showed four columns of animals and insects. Each item having a checkbox beside it. Some of the animals had been redacted, presumably for safety reasons. The instruction at the top stated that only three should be selected, with no prioritisations permitted. This was followed by a Z4 in brackets. He was trying to understand what it meant and where it had come from when he became aware of someone nearby, talking.
Looking up, he found himself looking at a man in a white suit, sitting on the other side of a large desk. He was saying, “You can choose any three of those.”
The general looked back down at the list he was holding. He said, “Is this some kind of joke?”
The man sat back with a sigh. “OK, he said, “I thought you’d be difficult.”
He took a folder from the tray and opened it. “OK. What do we have? Let’s see. Oh, yes. That’s right. You were a dictator, rated at Z4.”
“Dictator?” I wouldn’t say that…”
“No?” asked the other, cutting him off.
“No. I did my best for the people. Gave them a happy future.”
The man in white said, “It says here, your leadership was responsible for over two million deaths.”
The general frowned. “I’m a bit hazy on the details. There’s a lot I don’t remember.”
“That’s the problem. You shouldn’t have memories about anything you left behind.” He picked up a pen. “One moment, I’ll just add an EP to the record,” he said, under his breath.
The general said, “EP?”
The other nodded. “Entrenched Personality. In the vast number of cases, no memory of a previous life remains.” Pulling a face, he added, “This is why you’re having a problem accepting your assigned list.”
Holding this up, the other said, “And this, Z4?”
Shaking his head, the other said, “OK. You have been placed in the Z category, the very worst, I might say,” he grimaced before saying, “but I’ve had worse.”
Becoming angry, the general said, “Look! What does any of this mean?”
In a lower, more confidential tone, the man said. “OK. Put simply, what this means is that right now you are a bit of a bad apple!”
“Bad apple?”
“Yes, this is why it has been decided to press the ‘reset’ button, as it were. This was deemed to be the best course of action to take.”
With a deep frown and looking around, the newcomer said, “I’m not sure what else I should be asking you…”
“Good,” said the other. “That’ll be the EP wearing off. Now, let’s move on, shall we?”
He dropped the folder back in the tray.
“Ladybirds seem to be a favourite at the moment, but of course, the choice is yours.”