Out in the park their game is much more calm. Siff and Bear compete as investigators in a fantastical murder-mystery. This time only wearing headsets, the game’s reality is superimposed on the real world. They scour the park looking for clues and discussing the case with different creatures until Siff’s headset flashes again, showing the same yellow dotted line as before. She sees Bear talking with a mini-dragon in a different section of the park and decides to sacrifice her very obvious lead in the game to investigate where this line goes. She follows it across two bridges and streams, past multiple families and other gamers until it starts to lead out of the game arena. Siff furrows her brow with suspicion, but continues on her quest.

After several minutes of curious following, Siff is led to a garbage disposal site, with the yellow line ending behind a box of rotten fruit leaned up against the wall, “What the hell! Stupid VR!” she pulls the headset off and begins angrily walking back to the arena. It isn’t long before she runs into Bellerophon, “What are you doing, Siff? The game’s way over there.”

“My stupid headset’s broken again! Today sucks.”

“Aw, c’mon. Let’s go eat and relax for a bit.” Siff huffs in agreement and they head back to hand in their headsets, then make their way to Mencho’s restaurant.

As they sit snacking on dinner, Bellerophon tries to change the subject from the games, “So. Noven, huh? You must really like him.”

“Huh? Yeah, I suppose.”

“You suppose? In all the years we’ve been friends, and even when I was in school with you, you never let me even look inside your locker. He must be pretty special.”

“I guess. We’ve been dating a while now and I figured I should start trusting him more.”

“As opposed to your best friend who you still don’t trust?”

“Come on Bear, that’s not fair. I’m allowed to have my privacy.”

“Sure, I guess I’m just a little jealous. There’s a part of you that has always felt off limits. Like…you hide it away.”

“Can we change the subject, please? How’s pilot school going?”

“Oh my god it’s so awesome! Okay, so, just today we got to…” Siff knows Bear can talk about flying all-day every-day, and she’s heard most of it before. She knows it’s the perfect subject to start when she doesn’t want to talk about something. She is still nervous about trusting Noven to go into her locker, but fortunately she is away from school tomorrow on a field trip to the Needle.

“…and as we were flying around the ship…”

“Hey Bear.”

“…Yeah?”

“Did you go on the field trip to the Needle when you were in school?”

“Of course! It was awesome! You get to see The Chosen Ones from a birds-eye view and all the control systems that keep their environment running. I didn’t understand any of it, but I had a great time! I’m surprised your dad hasn’t taken you there yet, I bet he’s in there a lot.”

“Well, you know him, all protocols and logistics. My dad is by the book with everything.”

“Guess that’s why he got all the way to the top. You know in pilot school we study textbooks your dad wrote?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. He’s great, but always busy. I wish he was around more.”

“I can see that, but he really loves you Siff.”

“I know. And his responsibilities take up a lot of his time. At least he chose to raise me.”

“Yeah that’s rough about your mother. And she just got elected Prime Minister last month. How are you handling that?”

“It feels the same as always: she’s dictating my life from afar. Except now she’s dictating everyone’s lives from afar.”

“Hah! I guess so.”

“How are you doing, Bear?”

“Oh you know me, chasing the dream and getting everything I want. I’m the luckiest guy I know!”

“Ha! Isn’t that the truth! I’ve never known you have a bad day.”

“That’s because life is great! We get to live long, healthy, happy lives doing the careers we are best suited for and traveling across the stars! I can’t think of a better way to live.”

“Well, having something to hope for would be nice.”

Bellerophon frowns slightly, then touches Siff’s arm, “Come on, let's get out of here.”

They leave Mencho’s and walk quietly for a few minutes before coming to an outlook window. One-hundred feet in diameter, it gives a majestic view of the universe. The evening is setting in and there is less foot traffic about as they lean against the railing and look into the star-filled view.

“You’ve got to be more careful Siff. I know not everything makes sense to you, but you can’t go talking like that openly in public: it’s dangerous.”

“I know, I’m sorry. I know the mission is priority…”

“…and any questioning of it is illegal.”

“But does that make it illegal to dream? Or to desire a different life?”

Bear touches her shoulder and and smiles, “Lets go.”

He’s right, I need to talk and we can’t do that here.

When they were young, the two of them would seek out hiding places where they could be alone and talk about everything without having to worry. Most of their hiding places either became too small as they grew, or were taken over by developments of new buildings. But one place has remained both secret, and large enough. They walk outside of town where Bear lifts a floor panel and the two of them slip inside.

They sit on the floor in a small bare room, lit by their communicator flashlights. Here they can talk openly, and Siff will be safe. Bear shakes his head, “Why would you want a different life? Janus is an amazing craft, and its AI sets you up with the best possible outcomes.”

“So why does my life feel so hopeless? Why can’t I have the freedom to dream? Or choose for myself the life I want? Why can’t I have the hope of pursuing those dreams?”

“Siff—“

“And why can’t we have hope for our own people? If the Chosen Ones can change, surely we can as well? We’re all human, right?”

“Siff—“

“Why is it only the Chosen Ones who get to have that freedom? That promise? That hope?”

“Siff, you know why. They were biologically selected and psychologically trained to give humanity the best hope we have. You do have hope, Siff, we all do. The Chosen Ones are our hope.”

“Yes, I get to hope they won’t screw up like we did when we drop them off and annihilate ourselves.”

“Oh come on, that’s depressing even for you. It’ll be a thousand years or more before that happens, and we’ll be long gone.”

“But my descendants won’t. Why do we have to…”

“Look. You have too many questions and too much doubt. You’re asking for trouble. We’ve learned all this since we were kids. Humanity is fundamentally flawed. Our history shows through our ravaging of multiple systems that we can’t overcome our destructive tendencies, our greed and violence. We came to this realization after the Great Catastrophe, and selected the Chosen Ones as our final hope to exist harmoniously with the universe. We built Janus, this gigantic and amazing piece of technology, to take them to Vesta and get us through the mission. But for the mission to succeed we all need to be of one mind. There’s no room for doubt, and no place for the questions you’re asking. I’m your friend and loyal to the end, Siff, but you’ve got to curb your discontent. Enjoy the beauty of the life you have, and the fulfillment that comes from making humanity a better place…”

Siff takes a deep breath and sighs as she hangs her head. Bellerophon continues to give the spiel and the answers that are trained into all the crew from birth, he’s probably going to quote ‘The Poet’ next, “…An ornament among the stars…” There it is, “…majestic in purpose…” The nuances of life pasted into textbook phrasing.

Siff holds up her hand for Bear to stop, “I’m going to head home.”

“I’ll walk with you.”

“Okay.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Home is where Siff finds her father waiting, a warm smile on his face as he opens the front door, “Hello, Sweetheart.” He gives her a big hug and looks over to Bellerophon who quickly salutes, “At ease, Pilot.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Hi Dad, how was work?”

“Nothing overly eventful, just some extra reports to look over. Sorry I’m so late. Did you guys find something to eat?”

“Yes, Sir, we went to Mencho’s.”

“Ah, good food there! Anything else happen today?”

“Well, Sir, Siff did get me shot again in the VR.”

“Oh come on! It was the best strategy and you know it!”

“And how did that strategy work out for us?”

“That was because my headset malfunctioned! Sheesh, Bear! I can’t catch a break!”

“Not when it’s so much fun to wind you up.” He chuckles.

“Do you want to come in? We have some snacks if you two want to continue this conversation.”

“Thanks, Sir, but I’d better get going. I have homework due. Plus, I don’t know if I’d survive much longer with the way our conversation is going.”

“Fair enough, see you later Bear.”

“Thanks Sir, have a good night. See you Siff.”

The door closes and Siff picks up her schoolbooks from the counter. She makes her way through the hallway, following her father to the living room where they both sit on the soft couches inside. Her father’s name was Baldr when she was growing up. Then he was appointed Chief Pilot. Each senior office comes with a title-name, and the Chief Pilot’s name is Jupiter. Each of the four commanders adopt the name appointed for their class; when they leave their position they surrender the title and return to their birth-name. Baldr had been Jupiter for three years, but the name still feels new for Siff.

Father and daughter take a deep breath and sink further into the soft cushions facing each other, “Are you going to watch the Chosen Ones tonight? I’m sure there’s some interesting things going on down there.”

“Nah, I’ve got homework to do. It’s the class trip to the Needle tomorrow, and I don’t want to fall behind.”

“The Needle? That’s tomorrow? Wow, that came up fast! I’m sure you’ll have so much fun! There’s a lot to see, and there’s something truly special about seeing the Chosen Ones from that viewpoint.”

“I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’ll be great to see a new environment. Things can get a bit same-y sometimes.”

“Same-y? Even with the hundreds of sectors to explore on this level alone, multiple parks and entertainments…plus VR that can literally take you anywhere you can imagine?”

“Ha! Yeah, but still on this ship.”

“If you want off the ship, you could still apply for the Pilot program.”

“Janus’ AI already has me sorted for the Political program, I doubt that will change.”

“Me too, you are very good at politics. You take after your mother that way,” Siff lets out a frustrated sigh, “I know you’re not a fan, but your mother is a gifted politician and excellent at her job. It’s not a bad thing to take after her.”

“Anyway…I’ve got schoolwork to get done.”

“Sure thing. Oh, by the way…”

“Mm?”

“You mentioned the VR was malfunctioning?”

“Oh yeah. My headset glitched and overlaid a yellow path that led nowhere.”

“Which game?”

“The Hill Climb, and Fantasy Detectives.”

“Two games? And it led nowhere?”

“Yeah, just a wall by a pile of garbage. Any reason?”

“Hmm, Okay. No, just interested in your day. I’m going to wash up and get some sleep, have a good night, Sweetheart.”

“You too, Dad.”