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The New Era 22
🕑 Added 2025-01-03 13:54:20 +0000 UTCChapter 22
Subject: Drone N436Z984A026 [AKA Naza]
Species: Unknown
Species Description: Humanoid
Ship: Grand Vessel of the Universal Omni-Union
Location: USSS Thanatos
Several more rounds of interrogation passed by, and I offered up all the information I could in the hopes that I could help bring the Omni-Union down. When I wasn't 'spilling the beans', as the humans put it, I was resting in my prison cell.
Ironically, the prison cell was much more luxurious than my resting area aboard the Grand Vessel. It had a horizontal charging station which actually allowed me to lay down and rest, a seated waste receptacle, and a chair to relax in. The seated waste receptacle wasn't necessary because my implants recycle all of the waste my organs produce, but its inclusion demonstrated a level of care that assured me that I had made the right decision.
The best part of the cell was a terminal-like device that allowed me to access various forms of entertainment and knowledge. Every bit of information I provided resulted in more things being added. They had asked for my preferences, but I had been so overwhelmed by the thought that I couldn't think of anything. So, they gave me a bit of everything and I found that I'm particularly interested in documentaries.
Our captives had apologized for the lack of privacy in our cells because of the glass wall leading to the passage-way. I had laughed, because privacy is so rare for drones that it's nearly a foreign concept. The only time we get any is when we're working alone, or our neighbors in the barracks have died. Even now, the only invaders of my privacy are the guards watching the security cameras and Forty, whose cell was now across from mine.
Each time I had been interrogated, Forty had been as well. According to our captives, though, she was much less forthcoming, claiming that she is loyal to the Omni-Union. Knowing this about her had made me see her in a much dimmer light.
She gave me a stern look as I pulled up a documentary about the various forms of government on alumari planets on the terminal.
"Do you really hate the Omni-Union?" she asked as the documentary loaded.
"How could I not?" I countered.
"They've given you everything. You would starve to death without them."
"Our species were advanced enough to have fought a war against the Omni-Union before the inception of the Grand Vessel," I explained, pausing the documentary. "Our people weren't starving before they conquered us. We wouldn't need thei-"
"But they DID conquer us. They showed us that life without purpose isn't worth living, and then gifted us a purpose. The Grand Vessel is the most worthy project to ever have existed. What would we even do without it?"
"Whatever we want. There are many, many things that sentient beings can do to pass the time. Most of them are fun, even."
"Fun?" she asked, offended. "What use is fun when there's work to be done? We'll have plenty of time for such frivolities once the Grand Vessel is completed and we leave this dying universe."
"No, WE won't," I scoffed. "Our great-great-great grandchildren might, but the Grand Vessel definitely will not be completed within our lifetimes. We will both die doing maintenance on sections of it that have already been completed, like so many before us have. And that's assuming that they actually free our descendants once it's completed."
"What? Why wouldn't they? They've promised-"
"Promises from the Minds break more frequently than anything else aboard the Grand Vessel. They've been making promises to us for billions of cycles, and I doubt they've kept a single one of them."
"You would accuse the minds of lying?"
"Accuse? I simply state facts. They promised my parent's generation that their children would have fewer prosthesis. I have almost twice as many as my father did. They promised the rebels better working conditions in exchange for their surrender, but things are worse now than they've ever been. And yes, they've promised that we will be freed once the Grand Vessel has been completed and will travel beyond the stars with them," I said, locking eyes with Forty. "But then, who will perform the maintenance?"
"Maintenance will be... It will be automated," she replied, no longer able to meet my gaze.
"If they were able to automate the maintenance, they would have by now. It would free up a lot of their workforce for new construction. Face it, Forty, they're never going to free our people. We will continue to be slaves until our extinction."
With a grunt of frustration, she sat roughly on the chair in her cell. She crossed her arms and looked at me with an angry expression, seemingly trying to find the words to express what was on her mind. I returned her frustrated gaze with a blank expression.
"What makes you feel the need to hurl such dire accusations at our masters?" she asked. "Actually, nevermind. You haven't answered my original question. What makes you hate the Omni-Union so much?"
"Age and wisdom," I said with a measure of sarcasm.
Forty's frustrated expression worsened, and I sighed in response. To me, it was logical to hate those who held a blade to your neck every waking moment. But what to do with someone who hasn't noticed the blade yet?
I sat in my chair with another sigh. The reason I hate them isn't so grandiose as a desire for freedom. It's much, much simpler than that.
"For as long as I can remember, my work has been my life," I said. "When I was younger, your age, I thought the work was fun and interesting. Each new cycle came with new challenges to overcome, new drones to work with, and new things to learn. Then the day of my first arranged marriage came."
My throat tried to close up, to keep me from speaking further on such a painful subject. It was as if hundreds of cycles worth of grief were trying to choke me. But, after taking a moment to compose myself, I continued my tale.
My first brood-mate's name was Drone T174EM634I111, better known as Temil. When we first met, I thought she was condescending and rude. She was older than me, and very quick to point out my flaws. I thought she hated me, but after a while I realized that she was just smarter than me and trying to help me improve, in her own grating way.
We came to love each other, and after we had our first child together, Temil was welcomed into my hive. My parents had died, but my brothers and sisters took turns carrying out their hierarchical responsibilities to keep our hive together and strong. So strong that we even had influence with most of the other hives.
All of my siblings were older than I and had already created their family units, which left me as the most eligible for hive-bonding through marriage. The birth of Drone H556N271KY341, my first-born son Hinky, proved that I was fertile and things began to move quickly. I was married four more times in less than twenty-five cycles.
Lami, Hruos, Prasi, and Jula. Along with Temil, they became my brood-mates and would welcome me home after every shift-block. This is where work began to become less fun, because it pulled me away from them. But I was under the mistaken impression that my duties were somehow making a difference and improving our lives, so I continued to take the longer shift-blocks for better benefits.
"Looking back now, it saved my life, but also robbed me of precious time with my hive," I said. "If I could go back and do it all again... I..."
Once again, the cold fingers of grief gripped my throat. I rubbed my face, wishing that I could cry out in pain, but the pain was numbness. A stabbing sort of numbness.
"What happened?" Forty asked softly.
"I-I need a moment," I said, standing. "J-just a moment."
I paced in my cell, trying to find the words to convey what had occurred. To explain the senselessness of it all. It wouldn't do them justice to just say that they died as dissidents and that I was spared simply because of my work ethic.
"My eldest brother was an overdrone," I explained. "Firm, but compassionate and fair. Beloved by his crew."
By more than just his crew, actually. When other overdrones surveyed their crews regarding how they want their foremen to behave, those drones would always point to Overdrone B884R326L477, my brother Barlatt, as an example. He even had a habit of taking under-performers under his wing and giving them guidance.
Unfortunately, this benevolence kicked off a sequence of events that ended in tragedy for more hives than just my own. Barlatt's crew made a mistake one day, and Barlatt gave his life making sure that mistake didn't hurt anyone else. There had been rumors of dissidence and a rebellion on the horizon. So, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary, the media decided to paint my brother as an Incompetent and placed his name on the wall in an attempt to demoralize the drones.
As a hive, we mourned. My brother had been a source of inspiration for us, and me especially. Even now, the way the media used him angers me deeply. But I couldn't mourn for too long, because I had work to do. A twenty cycle shift-block that would help my hive recover from the loss of my brother.
But before I left for the shift-block my elder brother, the new eldest, approached me. He asked if I liked my work. I said yes. He asked if I thought our brother's name on the Wall of Incompetence was unfair. I said yes, but acknowledged that there was nothing that could be done about it. It angered me, but I understood their reasons for it. He asked if I had ever thought about fighting against the Omni-Union.
Up until that point, the rebellion had just been a rumor that had so many degrees of separation from me that it had never even occurred to me that one could actually happen. Intellectually, I knew other rebellions had happened in the past, but that was then. Things had changed, I thought.
I didn't know why he was asking me such an odd question. The shock and suspicion surrounding such a question caused me to give an answer that I've regretted ever since. I answered truthfully, and said no. He gave me a sad nod and sent me on my way.
"So your brother was a rebel?" Forty asked.
"Not just my brother," I sighed. "My entire hive except for myself, Lami, Jula, and our six children."
"Well, at least you still have-"
I interrupted her by shaking my head. She gasped and held a hand up to her mouth. Over the course of my story, her expression had morphed from frustration into sympathy. It was finally beginning to match the sorrow I felt, and I continued the story of the darkest moment of my life.
Two cycles before the end of my shift-block I was apprehended by the Judicials. The interrogated me for three cycles, refusing to tell me what they suspected me of. Unfortunately, I was able to figure out that something terrible had happened to my hive from the context of their questions. Once they cleared me of wrong-doing, I demanded an explanation.
They explained that the rebellion had made their move the cycle after my shift-block began. I had missed it because the entire shift involved extravehicular activities, so we were staying in a shuttle. Obviously, the media didn't report on the rebellion, so we were kept in the dark. They fought for ten cycles before being forced to surrender.
That's when the Judicials revealed my hive's involvement. My heart broke as they explained that most of my siblings had been killed in the fight. Then they told me that most of my brood-mates were involved, as well, and the only members of my hive that hadn't been executed were Lami, Jula, and I. Unfortunately, my surviving brood-mates were why I'd been brought in.
"A few cycles after the rebellion was put down, our shuttle lost communications and we had returned to the Grand Vessel for a few more cycles. The barracks we stayed in was having issues with their security system, too," I explained, struggling to get the words out. "It was during this time that Lami and Jula w-were..."
I found myself unable to say it. I choked back sobs and sat down, holding my face in my hands. After a few moments, I took a deep breath and gathered myself once again.
"Lami and Jula were found dead, along with our children. Since they could only verify my whereabouts from my fellow drones, they needed to rule out familicide. They thought I could have had heard about the rebellion and killed my hive out of rage or misguided patriotism."
"How did they die?" Forty asked quietly.
"The Judicials concluded that it was a murder-suicide. Lami was very close to the rest of my hive. She suffered some sort of mental breakdown and... Killed the children. When Jula discovered this, she killed Lami. Then herself."
"I-I'm so sorry to hear that. B-but the Omni-Union didn't-"
"The Omni-Union is the reason this happened," I interrupted angrily. "They push and push and push. They take and take and take. They force us to work ourselves to exhaustion until we die, Forty! If they weren't so damned cruel, there never would have been a rebellion for my hive to join! You said earlier that they gave me everything!? No. THEY TOOK EVERYTHING!"
I stood and slammed my metal fist against the glass entrance to my cell. A crack perfectly bisected my view of Forty, and I glared at her through it.
"They only give so that they can take that much more," I growled. "The Omni-Union is heinous. Despicable. Villainous. They're responsible for so many atrocities that even despite your youth, you wouldn't have enough life to list them all. They MUST pay."
The fear in Forty's eyes slowly changed to comprehension. It seemed as if she had finally opened her eyes to just how terrible the Omni-Union actually is. I let out a breath that I hadn't realized I was holding and sat back down. Before I could say anything else, the door to the 'cell-block' opened with a hiss and a few human guards ran in.
"What the hell is going on?" one of them demanded.
"Illumination," I replied.
Comments
gevmechaguy
I love how the BBEG of this universe is effectively a giant, self-sustaining, bloated government bureaucracy running under it's own weight and inertia, long after the originator is dead. "Hey guys, let's build a meaningless project that spans EONS and devastates everyone for no real useful benefit!" *rampant cheering ensues*
Aerowarrier
Omega definitely watched all of that, and stopped the guards from seeing it until it was already over so that Naza could tell Forty what she needed to hear. They should’ve rushed in as soon as he hit the window, but Omega gave him the chance to finish his thoughts. And I’m sure that story will be relayed to the Directorate to be used as both propaganda and more evidence to the chance of inciting a true rebellion within the Grand Vessel
ItsDirector
Happy new year :)
Gerami
Beautifully written, absolutely love it!
Matthew Mclemore
I love these recent chapters so much. Happy New Year Director!
