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The New Era 24
🕑 Added 2025-01-17 10:57:53 +0000 UTCChapter 24
Subject: Drone Z831H369X045 [AKA Forty-Five/Forty]
Species: Unknown
Species Description: Humanoid
Ship: Grand Vessel of the Universal Omni-Union
Location: USSS Thanatos
"Get up," the guard said brusquely.
"What?" I asked, having been lost in thought.
"Captain Reynolds wants to talk to you. Get up."
I complied, and began to follow the guards. I glanced at Naza's empty cell before we left, and the crack in the glass seemed to glare at me accusingly. Naza's story about the wickedness of the Omni-Union wasn't the first that I'd heard, but I had assumed the others were just gossip brought about by bored workers. Exaggerations, nothing more, lacking the depth and pain of the original tale.
Naza didn't lack that depth or pain. It was the first time I'd heard such a story from someone that it happened to. The first time I'd seen that kind of pain in someone's eyes. The first time I'd felt fear at that kind of rage. When he had first started his story, I hadn't believed him. I thought he was just making something up to excuse his betrayal of our masters. But when he hit the glass and we locked eyes...
While we walked down the long corridors I thought about my own hive. A dad, three moms, two brothers, and two sisters. My eldest brother had died in an accident when I was too young to remember him. What would that loss have felt like if it happened yesterday? What if it had been my whole hive? What if it hadn't been an accident?
Our loyalty to the Omni-Union has been rewarded, though. Conversely, Naza's hive had been disloyal and paid the price for it. They had to have known what they were risking, and the reason Naza feels the way he does is because they left him in the dark. That wasn't the Omni-Union's fault. That was his hive's fault. They chased a dream as foolish as freedom and it led them straight to their deaths, leaving poor Naza to grieve. His hatred for the Omni-Union is misplaced, but I can understand why he can't hate his loved ones.
The door to the interrogation chamber hissed slightly as it opened. I followed the guard in and took my seat at the table, waiting patiently as my arms were secured to the table. Captain Reynolds looked up from his tablet.
"Hello, Drone Z831H369X045," he said, less cheerily than usual. "How are your accommodations?"
I stared back at him. He knew the accommodations were better than the ones I had back on the Grand Vessel. It was humiliating to have better quarters as a prisoner than as a loyal member of the Omni-Union, but he knows that as well. In each interrogation he would probe like this, trying to cause friction between myself and the Omni-Union, and each time he would fail. I'm stronger than that.
"Not feeling talkative today? That's odd, you and Naza were having quite the conversation earlier. Perhaps that conversation took a lot out of you."
The reminder of Naza hit harder than I thought it would. The snarl on his face, the fury in his eyes, and the crack in the glass all flashed through my memory. But it was his hive's fault. Not the Omni-Union's. Not... Mine.
"I hadn't realized that life on the Grand Vessel was so difficult. You have my sympathies," Reynolds said, sincerity dripping from his voice.
"I don't want them," I replied coldly. "Life on the Grand Vessel isn't difficult. We eat, we work, and we recharge. Everything is scheduled for us, we don't have to try to find things to do. WE have a purpose."
"And what of the drones like Naza? How many do you suppose have lost loved ones like he has? Hundreds? Billions?"
"He lost his loved ones because they weren't loyal. It is unfortunate for him, but at the end of the cycle it's simple cause and effect."
"And what about the ones who were loyal but were executed as rebels anyway?"
I stared at him blankly.
"Don't tell me that never occurred to you. According to our observations alone, they execute an average of eighty dissidents per one of your cycles. You don't kill that amount of people without getting it wrong now and then."
"The Omni-Union has eyes and ears everywhere," I replied. "They see everything. Hear everything. They know whether or not someone is a dissident."
"Well now, that obviously can't be true. If they see and hear everything, then how did you end up here?"
I opened my mouth to reply, but none came. He had finally found a crack to exploit. How HAD the United Systems managed to avoid the eyes and ears of the Omni-Union?
"Y-you used trickery!" my accusation stammered forth.
"Of course we did. But then, so do the dissidents. That's when the games begin, you see," Reynolds leaned back in his chair with a sigh. "The OU figures out ways to see through the trickery, then the dissidents come up with new tricks. It's a back and forth between the two, with normal people caught in the middle. If the OU couldn't see and hear us steal you and Naza away, it means they don't see and hear everything. Which means they have to make assumptions about whether or not someone is a dissident."
"They don't execute drones without hard evidence," I said.
"Yes they do. All it takes is an accusation without contesting evidence to convict someone of dissidence. If two drones are fighting and one of them is working in an area where security has gone down, the other can simply accuse them of dissidence to get them killed."
A shudder ran down my spine. Stories of false accusations were as popular among bored workers as ghost stories. The thought that one could be killed for no reason is terrifying, but all those stories were obviously fiction. They had to be.
"I... That's... No. No, they would know."
"How? You know for a fact that their security systems aren't infallible. Actually, that brings us to the reason for this sudden interrogation," Reynolds said as he leaned forward again. "Before we grabbed you, you were working on one such security system."
I stared at the Captain as if under a new light. How could he know about that? How long had they been watching me? Wait, if they had been watching me the whole time, why hadn't they asked about this before? No, they had just found this out. But how? Naza didn't know. Who told them?
"How do you know that?" I demanded.
"We've made contact with the rebels that are aboard the Grand Vessel," he casually replied.
Rebels? What?
"You're lying. The rebellion was put down. There aren't any rebels aboard the Grand Vessel."
"Then how did I find out you have the information that we need?"
My head swam as I tried to think of an alternative explanation. Maybe they found a duty roster somewhere, or maybe they... Wait. Information that they need? Not want, but NEED? What are these idiots planning? I regarded Reynolds with a cold stare.
"We specifically require the access codes and security schematics that you needed to perform your duties," Reynolds said, matching my expression.
"Then retrieve the information from my corpse."
"I'm afraid we won't be falling for that. We're well aware of the security protocol that wipes sensitive information from your implants upon your death. We also know that forcing the issue could result in your death and the activation of the aforementioned security protocol," Reynolds' expression turned darker, as if he didn't want to say what he was about to say. "Perhaps we need to give you a taste of what the Omni-Union does with its prisoners to gain your cooperation."
"What?"
"Advanced interrogation. The politically correct term for torture. As a rule, we're against this kind of treatment. But the Omni-Union wants to kill us all. Our men, our women, our children. Down to the very last infant in its cradle. If you don't give us the information that we require, they may very well succeed. What would you do if you were in our position?"
Another shiver ran down my spine, but I maintained my cold glare. I wasn't so ignorant that I didn't know about the Judicial's interrogation techniques. They were taught to us in school to keep us on the right track in life.
"I should help you because the Omni-Union is evil, but you would do the same things that they would?" I demanded.
"No. The techniques we've honed over thousands of years are far more insidious. To be fair, we also have many more rules surrounding the use of torture than the Omni-Union does. First, we have to be certain that the victim has information that is required. Check. Second, we need to be in a situation where civilian casualties are almost guaranteed. Check. Third, the victim has to have refused cooperation despite reasonable attempts to gain said cooperation. Check."
"I-"
"To be clear, Forty, I don't want to torture you. WE don't want to torture you. But given the choice between your pain and our extinction, we'd be fools not to choose the former."
He was speaking as if torturing me was a foregone conclusion. I thought about all the different methods of pain that the Judicial's inflict on dissidents, and panic began to set in. But I would remain strong, right? I wouldn't give in to torture. Right?
"There is an alternative, of course," Reynolds said with a measure of hope in his voice. "You simply have to realize that what happened to Naza wasn't a unique experience amongst your people."
"What do you mean?" I asked, glad for the change in topic.
"Well, as I mentioned, there is another rebellion already formed and waiting for their chance to strike. From my understanding, the last one had a fairly brutal conclusion and was less than one of your life-times ago. Ask yourself, what would make so many drones wish to go through that again, rather than to simply follow the orders of the Omni-Union?"
I sat in silence.
"Wouldn't it be easier to just give in and do what the Omni-Union says? What could motivate them to want to fight to the death for freedom? Or could it be that they're fighting for justice?"
Justice? Justice for what? Captain Reynolds seemed to see the question in my face.
"Justice for all those who have been murdered by the Omni-Union. All of the innocent people that they've killed, all of the families that they've ripped apart, all of the cycles that they've oppressed your people. These are CRIMES, Forty. Many of your fellow drones recognize this, and are willing to give their lives to make the Omni-Union pay."
Could it be true? Could it all be true? What Naza said about where the materials come from? That a new rebellion is about to begin because so many have experienced the same pain as Naza? His tormented expression through the cracked glass flashed through my mind.
"We don't want to torture you, Forty, but if you don't give us the information we need, you will be siding with xenocidal murderers. Megalomaniacal child-killers. This fight will happen whether you cooperate or not. It HAS to happen. But by withholding this information, you will be attempting to condemn my species and many of your fellow drones to death," Reynolds said. "You have a choice to make. What will it be?"
I felt as if a thousand pieces of a machine were suddenly slammed together by his words. How much death had been involved in the construction I've already done? How many ghosts were in the walls of the Grand Vessel? The Omni-Union had been good to me, good to my family... Right?
But then, why is my prison cell more comfortable than my rest area? Why do I get tense when anyone cracks a joke about our masters? Why do I hate myself every time I think of the way that Naza looked at me back in our cells? If he finds out what I know and that I refused to tell, would I ever be able to meet his gaze again? I asked myself all these questions, but I already knew the answer. The answer that made it clear what I needed to do.
"Okay. I'll give you what you need."
Comments
ItsDirector
Terran Contact is actually by u/VexTrooper AKA FableTheFox lol But I can see how you could get it confused with The New Species.
Sergio6887
From Terran Contact, through The New Contact, to now The New Era, the author has given us another excellent story line in a greater saga!
David Ellis
Great job, Captain Reynolds! Reading the emotional state of a different species has to be hard. And I am sure Omega is going to be gloating about how great his humans are to his other selves.
