<<Citizen#0024-48389264

Entry#13875

Such selfishness! Unrestrained rebellion against everything we stand for! This cannot be humored or forgiven. The girl must be put in her place or removed from our place. It is such a delicate balance we need to sustain here, there can be no favors for any of us.>>

<<Citizen#0021-48374639

Entry#10954

We guide Janus forward in the eternal weight of deep space to Olympus Nova, our final resting place. And though we can never find a home, I take comfort in knowing the Chosen Ones, the ones we protect, shall continue our destiny and shine brighter than ever before.

I pray only that our sins die with us, and those wonderful chosen few live forever.>>

The next couple of days Siff spends reading silently in her room. She doesn’t speak to her father or anyone else, and he does not speak to her. There is still anger and deep disappointment behind his eyes; Siff is hurt and filled with resentment. What kind of a world is it where you are beaten for having questions? Did Noven ever care even a little bit? How can she ever trust anyone again? Is it her future to hide who she really is? What is Bear going to think of her now?

She skims over familiar passages each day, as she reads about humanity turning Earth into a fully mined husk then expanding across systems and ravaged worlds for resources, how they constantly warred amongst themselves until one great invention brought all the factions under a tenuous peace to watch it work, how this invention was designed to mine the energy of a star, but it went terribly wrong. The Great Catastrophe was the man-made creation of a black hole that all but wiped out the human race, and through tremendous guilt and self-reflection there was a common realization among the survivors that the universe would be better off without such a destructive species. The history follows with one last attempt to be a force of good by selecting the Chosen Ones and crewing the mighty ark Janus with the last of humanity, while sending terraforming equipment to a new home-world to begin the preparation work as the great experiment continued. The appointment of four offices to lead the mission. Two military: Pilots and Security, led by Jupiter and Mars. One appointed: Caretaker of the Chosen Ones, named Pluto. And One elected: Prime Minister, Saturn. And finally, the implementation of AI aboard the ship to monitor and develop the health and safety of the mission. A mission that, if successful, will see the Chosen Ones begin a new life on a new home-world and the crew obliterated in Olympus Nova, Vesta’s star.

It just all seems so…hopeless. Being told who you are by a ship that is taking your kind to its death. And not just told who you are, the AI monitors biology and psychology; It tells you when more crew members are necessary, and whose DNA to use. It tells you who can raise children or if the children need to be raised in artificial reality. It tells you who you are allowed to be romantically involved with. It tells you what you are to eat. It tells you…everything. Except how to be yourself. Or how to be fulfilled. Siff wonders if they are the same thing.

<<Citizen#0023-48325193

Entry#14235

I am in wonder at the beauty of the universe. The infinite stars shining around us, the last of humanity, living aboard Janus. This craft is a truly powerful juxtaposition to the beauty we see outside. For we are the filth of the universe. A blister of plague upon the majesty of creation. We cannot be allowed to leave this place or we will pour out like a festering wound, once again infecting everything we touch and bringing it to destruction.>>

On day three Siff finds herself going a little crazy. Her father is at work and she paces through the house in frustration. The doors and windows are locked shut so she can only watch the outside world continue on without her. She doesn’t dare draw anything or it could be seen as rebellion. She doesn’t dare write any of her thoughts or it will be seen as rebellion. She doesn’t dare speak her thoughts either: Janus is always watching, and always listening. This is hell.

Siff walks to the front door, leans her head against it in resigned frustration and weeps. Why can’t she be like everyone else? Why can’t she just accept the mission and play her part in it? Why does she always have to question? She turns and sits against the door with her head hung between her knees, letting her soul give up.

It is evening when she looks up again, her attention drawn to a malfunctioning holo-display in the front room. It flashes the same yellow path she saw in the VR before disappearing. Siff frowns in curiosity and is about to stand up when the door behind her opens. She falls outside the house, expecting to see her father, but instead sees no-one. Either Janus has malfunctioned, or someone has set her free.

Siff stands warily in the dark of the evening. All is quiet and there is no-one in sight. She begins to think someone is trying to communicate with her. That yellow pathway…it led to a wall by some garbage next to the park…if she is caught, she will be in big trouble. But the hell of confinement coupled with her curiosity takes over: Siff grabs a jacket, pulls the hood over her head, and quickly makes her way through town.

Only the occasional pedestrian is out tonight, and none pay any attention to her as she walks briskly to the wall with garbage piled up. She doesn’t notice anything interesting or suspicious about the site. Just some rotten foods in containers due to be taken away. She moves some of the containers around wondering if there are any markings on them to give her clues, but nothing is to be found. If she risked all this for nothing…she pushes one container away from the wall to check for markings and finds a grated vent in the wall at ground level. There is a VR headset lying on the ground next to a piece of torn and crumpled paper. Siff reaches for the paper, something about it seems familiar. She picks it up and goes wide-eyed: a picture she drew of herself in the Chosen Ones environment, sitting against a tree. This page was in one of her journals she was forced to throw away. She turns the crumpled sheet and looks on the back, where someone has written the words ‘Not Alone’. She gulps in fear as she looks to the headset. It seems both items were slipped through the vent for her to find. Siff puts the paper in her jacket pocket, then picks the headset up and hesitates. What if it’s a trap? What if she’s being set up so her mother can have her arrested? What if it’s Noven again? She huffs and rolls her eyes at that thought, Noven doesn’t have the tech know-how to infiltrate the VR systems. Feeling a sense of dread anticipation, Siff sits against the wall behind the garbage and puts the headset on.

There are blinking lights and then it boots up. There is no artificial reality overlay, but a female voice does speak to her, “Hello Siff.” Her heart races, what is this? “Thank you for coming, I’ve been following you for quite some time.” The voice has an artificial quality, like someone is masking who they are, “Your thoughts and dreams are valuable, and they can come true. We have been waiting for someone like you, and now we are so very close to the right time.”

Siff gulps up the courage to ask, “The right time for what?”

“Freedom. Hope.” There is a pause, “Revolution.”

“No way. Uh uh. Nope.”

“Don’t run. You think you’re the only one who suffers under the system? How do you think I saved that paper you hold?”

“I…I don’t know.”

“Tell me about the lower levels, Siff.”

“It’s…all automated. We have systems and robots that keep the internal engines and ecosystem propulsors maintained.”

“That’s what I once thought as well. But you know as little as I did. Have you ever wondered why they send daily security squadrons to the lower levels? They aren’t policing the robots, Siff. We’re down here. And if you want to know the truth. If you want a cause. If you want something worth fighting for, come see for yourself.”

The vent grate pops open like a door. Siff panics and throws the headset to the ground. She gets up and runs home as fast as she can, while trying to avoid any suspicion from the sparsely populated evening streets. When she gets home she hangs her jacket up and heads into her bedroom. She begins to read yet again, burying her mind in “Mission Documentation and Purposes”, trying to forget that voice in the headset. And that vent behind the garbage.

Chapter 7: We Are So Very Close To The Right Time

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Chapter 7: We Are So Very Close To The Right Time

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