Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country. - Anais Nin
SHATTERED CITADEL: LIBERTY'S SAFEGUARD
Chicago, United States of America, Earth [Sol], 1542, 21062029
All around him the crowd began to surge towards him. He looked to his sides and his fellow officers braced for the coming wave of humanity. He steadied himself and nervously gripped his baton. He gripped it so hard that he could feel his hand going numb from the pressure. The first glass bottle smashed against his riot helmet and temporarily blinded him. His nervousness was now gone. Anger replace it. These might be his brothers, but it was clear they wanted to kill him.
The first rioter within arms reach came upon him with a broken broom handle which he smashed in two with one swift motion of his baton. He grabbed the young hood rat and pushed him into two more charging rioters. He lifted his shield and smashed it hard into the faces of the two as they fell over the young man. He spun around and broke the brick another rioter was holding in her hand with his baton breaking every bone in her hand in the process. All around him his fellow officers were struggling to beat back the massive crowd of desperate people. A thick smoke filled the air and immediately the rioters begun to cry and spit uncontrollably. Some doubled over and clawed at their burning eyes.
This day had begun like any other. He went to work and was deployed to provide security at the local breadline. He watched as the unemployed lined up early and anxiously waited for their food and water rations for the day. Four hours before the doors even opened to the food distribution center the line was already ten thousand long. Times were tough, tough for everyone ever since the global economy collapsed. Hit worst of all was America, due to its massive debt, which had finally caught up with it. The Chinese had recently demanded that the U.S. repay its loans and the U.S. was forced to pay them before anything else, including vital services for its own citizens. Food distribution, the military, healthcare and other essential programs were drastically cut or ended. It pissed everyone off, no one cared that some hapless president twenty years ago promised China that America would guarantee their loans to the U.S., it might have well been written in stone. America signed on the dotted line and had to pay no matter what. People didn't want to believe that they had to pay for the decadence of those who lived before they were even born, or still an infant.
Then today, the food had finally ran out. The center didn't open and its federal workers got the hell out of dodge. Leaving the people of Chicago to starve, oddly enough they waited patiently until late afternoon. When it had become clear no food was coming, the radicals in the group incited the others to riot. Then all hell broke loose. Every store still open after the economic collapse was smashed, looted and gutted. Anyone looking like they worked for the government was attacked. That day alone, forty-six postal carriers were beaten to death in Chicago. The entire police force were forced to retreat and regroup, those who hadn't made it out were most likely dead. In the relative safety of the Chicago suburbs they armed themselves with heavier weapons and linked up with the National Guard. A curfew was imposed and the population was given one hour to return to their homes or risk being shot. The gloves were off, ever since the collapse the government had resorted to using the military to maintain order wherever the situation got to big for the local police force. The police lined up and marched down into the heart of Chicago, the military not to far behind. The idea was for the rioters to take the hint and disperse before the trigger happy soldiers arrived. Normally that's how it went down, but this was different. Even when the citizens of the United States watched in horror as the U.S. dollar became worthless, as their savings were wiped out, services dried up, and jobs evaporated overnight, they didn't revolt. Now the food had stopped coming and people were desperate. Their lives were at stake and society in downtown Chicago reverted into anarchy.
He now found himself in the middle of that chaos. The injured layed sprawled in the streets. Rioters choked on the fumes of the tear gas. Another danger presented itself from within the white cloud of tear gas. The professional instigators, or as they were popularly known “the black shirts,” the radicals who now ruled the streets of most poor big cities. The black shirts were armed to the teeth and were in the center of every major revolt. They were hell bent on bringing about the “workers revolution” to America, what years ago seemed like a distant fringe had turned into a massive political movement. The old system had failed and they were molding the government from the streets. The first black shirt appeared from the fumes with a gas mask on and a sawed off shotgun. He reached for his MP 90 and lifted it up to meet the new threat. He froze as they both made eye contact. The black shirt took advantage of the situation and swung her shotgun towards him, he couldn't bring himself to kill her. Even in the face of his own death.
“CRAAAACK,” a burst of pressured air shot past his head and the woman jerked violently, her stomach exploded. Showering him with blood and gut particles. “Hey asshole! Stop being a pussy, and shot them next time!” A Guardsman on top of a Humvee told him from behind his .50 cal mounted gun. The soldier shoot a long burst into the rioters still struggling to breathe in the tear gas. The Humvee sped off down the road, shooting anyone still outside.
He walked towards the woman who tried to kill him before and store at her in amazement, she was still alive. Her body was severed in two and she struggled to breathe, but she was still trying to reach for her shotgun. He shot her twice in the head. This time he didn't hesitate. He had never actually killed anyone before. He had enjoyed breaking bones and maiming with his baton, but killing another person was a line he never crossed. The tear gas began to clear and he stood alone among dozens of dead American rioters. Far in the distance the sound of gunfire echoed through the tall skyscrapers of downtown Chicago, but around him there was complete silence. “What a fucking disaster,” he stepped over the woman and went towards the shooting.
AJISA HR Office, San Diego, United States of America, Earth [Sol], 1202, 05082039
“You passed all the tests, and your background is impeccable. Ten years on the force, prior military experience, and even military college. Your the perfect fit for our Colonial security forces program.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“This is the contract.” He passed the contract to him. “Sign here, and here. Basically this form here says that you'd work free of charge for five years for AJISA at its Martian colonies. You'd be provided with everything you need to live; room, board, food, but that is to cover the cost of transporting you to the colonies. This form is life insurance and benefits, including a guaranteed apartment within Mars and twenty thousand spending credits at the end of your five years service to begin your life. After your service you can continue working for us with pay or find work elsewhere on the colonies. Its up to you.”
He signed the papers and shook the AJISA representatives hand. “When can I start?”
“The first available seat on a ship to Mars is eleven months from now.”
“Oh.”
“Disappointed?”
“Well I am eager to start and begin anew in the colonies.”
“I like that spirit. The colonies are full of people like that, its what we're looking for. The colonies are the future of mankind. Its going to be a lot of hard work, but building up a nation from scratch always is.” The representative smiled and continued, “Enjoy what time you have left on Earth, because after you go to the colonies its going to be a very long time until you see her again. I suggest you see your family for the last time, if you have any. Visit Paris or whatever, because most of Mars is still a cold dead red place.”
He nodded and shook the man's hand one last time before he left the office.
Delta Site Space Elevator, Gulf of Mexico, United States, Earth [Sol], 0800, 18072040
“X1190 to X1690 may now board lift C, to high Earth orbit.”
The large line at the terminal moved into the lift, ushered in by the flight attendants to their seats. He was given a seat in the first row of the large elevator. The elevator easily held five hundred people, who sat in circular rows facing outwards from the huge pillar in the center of the elevator. The pillar was in fact the ultra strong carbon nanotube cables that connected the sea based platform with the spaceport counterweight high in geostationary orbit. Once everyone was seated, the elevator lurched up and the titanium walls lowered, revealing the outside world. The passengers let out an audible gasp as the clear blue ocean stretched out before them and the warm glow of the sun filled the room. Dozens of tankers, cargo and passenger ships could be seen heading toward the elevators, ready to drop off its precious load. Every hour, every day a constant flow of supplies and personnel were arriving at the space elevator, the elevators were the lifeblood of the colonies. Each elevator cheaply moved thousands of tons of materials and hundreds of passengers into orbit each day. Where they would board a ship to the colonies or go to work on the orbital stations that had begun to spring up in support of the colonization efforts. When the elevators returned to Earth they were filled with vital raw materials harvested from the colonies: gold, hydrogen-2, ores of all kinds, and water. The elevators were the only things keeping the economies of some nations alive. The sky outside the elevator became darker and darker as they ascended, until there was no atmosphere. Only the curvature of the Earth and the stars could be seen. The passengers in the elevator said nothing as the Earth moved further away, they were thinking about those they were leaving behind, the lives they once lived on that blue planet, and the dangerous work ahead they had in the colonies.
As the Earth moved further away he become afraid, not because of his future in the colonies, but for the people left behind on Earth. He was leaving a world that was tearing itself apart, a planet that was rapidly heading into the abyss. He wanted nothing more to do with its own self destruction. He had enough blood on his hands trying to maintain what little law and order there was left on that blue world. He tried with all of his might, sacrificing his marriage and his sanity to try to prevent the inevitable destruction of his country, of his planet. Things had vastly changed since he was a kid, he had witnessed the fall of his country from the inside, he had witnessed the collapse of the old global system and the rise of new nations hell bent on bringing about a new world order centered on themselves. He had enough, he was going to start again. On Mars. He had heard the colonies were like the free societies of old: peaceful, free, vibrant, and full of opportunities. He was thinking that maybe, mankind could start again. Rebuild a new shining city on the hill, on another world. Rekindle the free societies Earth used to have, before they collapsed from apathy, corruption and radicalization. It was a fantastic thought, one that filled him with hope.
He heard the woman next to him begin to cry. He turned to face her. She was gorgeous, even with the streaks of tears ruining her make up. He was so distracted by his own troubled thoughts that he had completely ignored her. Her olive skin, long dark hair, ebony eyes and South Asian features had him mesmerized. Finally he mustered the will to ask her, “whats wrong?”
“I will miss it.” She said pointing towards the Earth. He said nothing, so she continued “I will miss India, I will miss the rain, I will miss the blue skies, I will miss even those damn monkeys that used to harass me in the train stations.” She laughed at her own joke and he smiled back at her.
“Everyone will miss something, but were doing this for them.” He pointed back at the Earth far in the distance. “Everything we do from now on, is for them. Were going to restart that world someday. For the better.”
“Restart?” She said confused.
“Yah.”
“You think we'll ever be back?”
“Not for a long time, but when we do... the Earth will be unrecognizable to us or our children.”He said with a pained look on his face. He couldn't help but think about that woman he had shoot all those years ago. His first kill. That black shirt. The determination in her to kill him, to cause anarchy, even near death she tried to shoot him. She wasn't the only one, in his long career he had run into thousands of people like her. Determined to bring about a revolution at the barrel of a gun, the drills of their torture chambers and the bodies in the streets.
“Unrecognizable? You can't possibly think?”
“I hope your right and I'm wrong. I truly do. After what I've seen down there. That is why what we do from now on is so important. Miss them, but work for their future as well as ours.”
SHATTERED CITADEL: LIBERTY'S SAFEGUARD
Chicago, United States of America, Earth [Sol], 1542, 21062029
All around him the crowd began to surge towards him. He looked to his sides and his fellow officers braced for the coming wave of humanity. He steadied himself and nervously gripped his baton. He gripped it so hard that he could feel his hand going numb from the pressure. The first glass bottle smashed against his riot helmet and temporarily blinded him. His nervousness was now gone. Anger replace it. These might be his brothers, but it was clear they wanted to kill him.
The first rioter within arms reach came upon him with a broken broom handle which he smashed in two with one swift motion of his baton. He grabbed the young hood rat and pushed him into two more charging rioters. He lifted his shield and smashed it hard into the faces of the two as they fell over the young man. He spun around and broke the brick another rioter was holding in her hand with his baton breaking every bone in her hand in the process. All around him his fellow officers were struggling to beat back the massive crowd of desperate people. A thick smoke filled the air and immediately the rioters begun to cry and spit uncontrollably. Some doubled over and clawed at their burning eyes.
This day had begun like any other. He went to work and was deployed to provide security at the local breadline. He watched as the unemployed lined up early and anxiously waited for their food and water rations for the day. Four hours before the doors even opened to the food distribution center the line was already ten thousand long. Times were tough, tough for everyone ever since the global economy collapsed. Hit worst of all was America, due to its massive debt, which had finally caught up with it. The Chinese had recently demanded that the U.S. repay its loans and the U.S. was forced to pay them before anything else, including vital services for its own citizens. Food distribution, the military, healthcare and other essential programs were drastically cut or ended. It pissed everyone off, no one cared that some hapless president twenty years ago promised China that America would guarantee their loans to the U.S., it might have well been written in stone. America signed on the dotted line and had to pay no matter what. People didn't want to believe that they had to pay for the decadence of those who lived before they were even born, or still an infant.
Then today, the food had finally ran out. The center didn't open and its federal workers got the hell out of dodge. Leaving the people of Chicago to starve, oddly enough they waited patiently until late afternoon. When it had become clear no food was coming, the radicals in the group incited the others to riot. Then all hell broke loose. Every store still open after the economic collapse was smashed, looted and gutted. Anyone looking like they worked for the government was attacked. That day alone, forty-six postal carriers were beaten to death in Chicago. The entire police force were forced to retreat and regroup, those who hadn't made it out were most likely dead. In the relative safety of the Chicago suburbs they armed themselves with heavier weapons and linked up with the National Guard. A curfew was imposed and the population was given one hour to return to their homes or risk being shot. The gloves were off, ever since the collapse the government had resorted to using the military to maintain order wherever the situation got to big for the local police force. The police lined up and marched down into the heart of Chicago, the military not to far behind. The idea was for the rioters to take the hint and disperse before the trigger happy soldiers arrived. Normally that's how it went down, but this was different. Even when the citizens of the United States watched in horror as the U.S. dollar became worthless, as their savings were wiped out, services dried up, and jobs evaporated overnight, they didn't revolt. Now the food had stopped coming and people were desperate. Their lives were at stake and society in downtown Chicago reverted into anarchy.
He now found himself in the middle of that chaos. The injured layed sprawled in the streets. Rioters choked on the fumes of the tear gas. Another danger presented itself from within the white cloud of tear gas. The professional instigators, or as they were popularly known “the black shirts,” the radicals who now ruled the streets of most poor big cities. The black shirts were armed to the teeth and were in the center of every major revolt. They were hell bent on bringing about the “workers revolution” to America, what years ago seemed like a distant fringe had turned into a massive political movement. The old system had failed and they were molding the government from the streets. The first black shirt appeared from the fumes with a gas mask on and a sawed off shotgun. He reached for his MP 90 and lifted it up to meet the new threat. He froze as they both made eye contact. The black shirt took advantage of the situation and swung her shotgun towards him, he couldn't bring himself to kill her. Even in the face of his own death.
“CRAAAACK,” a burst of pressured air shot past his head and the woman jerked violently, her stomach exploded. Showering him with blood and gut particles. “Hey asshole! Stop being a pussy, and shot them next time!” A Guardsman on top of a Humvee told him from behind his .50 cal mounted gun. The soldier shoot a long burst into the rioters still struggling to breathe in the tear gas. The Humvee sped off down the road, shooting anyone still outside.
He walked towards the woman who tried to kill him before and store at her in amazement, she was still alive. Her body was severed in two and she struggled to breathe, but she was still trying to reach for her shotgun. He shot her twice in the head. This time he didn't hesitate. He had never actually killed anyone before. He had enjoyed breaking bones and maiming with his baton, but killing another person was a line he never crossed. The tear gas began to clear and he stood alone among dozens of dead American rioters. Far in the distance the sound of gunfire echoed through the tall skyscrapers of downtown Chicago, but around him there was complete silence. “What a fucking disaster,” he stepped over the woman and went towards the shooting.
AJISA HR Office, San Diego, United States of America, Earth [Sol], 1202, 05082039
“You passed all the tests, and your background is impeccable. Ten years on the force, prior military experience, and even military college. Your the perfect fit for our Colonial security forces program.”
“Thank you, Sir.”
“This is the contract.” He passed the contract to him. “Sign here, and here. Basically this form here says that you'd work free of charge for five years for AJISA at its Martian colonies. You'd be provided with everything you need to live; room, board, food, but that is to cover the cost of transporting you to the colonies. This form is life insurance and benefits, including a guaranteed apartment within Mars and twenty thousand spending credits at the end of your five years service to begin your life. After your service you can continue working for us with pay or find work elsewhere on the colonies. Its up to you.”
He signed the papers and shook the AJISA representatives hand. “When can I start?”
“The first available seat on a ship to Mars is eleven months from now.”
“Oh.”
“Disappointed?”
“Well I am eager to start and begin anew in the colonies.”
“I like that spirit. The colonies are full of people like that, its what we're looking for. The colonies are the future of mankind. Its going to be a lot of hard work, but building up a nation from scratch always is.” The representative smiled and continued, “Enjoy what time you have left on Earth, because after you go to the colonies its going to be a very long time until you see her again. I suggest you see your family for the last time, if you have any. Visit Paris or whatever, because most of Mars is still a cold dead red place.”
He nodded and shook the man's hand one last time before he left the office.
Delta Site Space Elevator, Gulf of Mexico, United States, Earth [Sol], 0800, 18072040
“X1190 to X1690 may now board lift C, to high Earth orbit.”
The large line at the terminal moved into the lift, ushered in by the flight attendants to their seats. He was given a seat in the first row of the large elevator. The elevator easily held five hundred people, who sat in circular rows facing outwards from the huge pillar in the center of the elevator. The pillar was in fact the ultra strong carbon nanotube cables that connected the sea based platform with the spaceport counterweight high in geostationary orbit. Once everyone was seated, the elevator lurched up and the titanium walls lowered, revealing the outside world. The passengers let out an audible gasp as the clear blue ocean stretched out before them and the warm glow of the sun filled the room. Dozens of tankers, cargo and passenger ships could be seen heading toward the elevators, ready to drop off its precious load. Every hour, every day a constant flow of supplies and personnel were arriving at the space elevator, the elevators were the lifeblood of the colonies. Each elevator cheaply moved thousands of tons of materials and hundreds of passengers into orbit each day. Where they would board a ship to the colonies or go to work on the orbital stations that had begun to spring up in support of the colonization efforts. When the elevators returned to Earth they were filled with vital raw materials harvested from the colonies: gold, hydrogen-2, ores of all kinds, and water. The elevators were the only things keeping the economies of some nations alive. The sky outside the elevator became darker and darker as they ascended, until there was no atmosphere. Only the curvature of the Earth and the stars could be seen. The passengers in the elevator said nothing as the Earth moved further away, they were thinking about those they were leaving behind, the lives they once lived on that blue planet, and the dangerous work ahead they had in the colonies.
As the Earth moved further away he become afraid, not because of his future in the colonies, but for the people left behind on Earth. He was leaving a world that was tearing itself apart, a planet that was rapidly heading into the abyss. He wanted nothing more to do with its own self destruction. He had enough blood on his hands trying to maintain what little law and order there was left on that blue world. He tried with all of his might, sacrificing his marriage and his sanity to try to prevent the inevitable destruction of his country, of his planet. Things had vastly changed since he was a kid, he had witnessed the fall of his country from the inside, he had witnessed the collapse of the old global system and the rise of new nations hell bent on bringing about a new world order centered on themselves. He had enough, he was going to start again. On Mars. He had heard the colonies were like the free societies of old: peaceful, free, vibrant, and full of opportunities. He was thinking that maybe, mankind could start again. Rebuild a new shining city on the hill, on another world. Rekindle the free societies Earth used to have, before they collapsed from apathy, corruption and radicalization. It was a fantastic thought, one that filled him with hope.
He heard the woman next to him begin to cry. He turned to face her. She was gorgeous, even with the streaks of tears ruining her make up. He was so distracted by his own troubled thoughts that he had completely ignored her. Her olive skin, long dark hair, ebony eyes and South Asian features had him mesmerized. Finally he mustered the will to ask her, “whats wrong?”
“I will miss it.” She said pointing towards the Earth. He said nothing, so she continued “I will miss India, I will miss the rain, I will miss the blue skies, I will miss even those damn monkeys that used to harass me in the train stations.” She laughed at her own joke and he smiled back at her.
“Everyone will miss something, but were doing this for them.” He pointed back at the Earth far in the distance. “Everything we do from now on, is for them. Were going to restart that world someday. For the better.”
“Restart?” She said confused.
“Yah.”
“You think we'll ever be back?”
“Not for a long time, but when we do... the Earth will be unrecognizable to us or our children.”He said with a pained look on his face. He couldn't help but think about that woman he had shoot all those years ago. His first kill. That black shirt. The determination in her to kill him, to cause anarchy, even near death she tried to shoot him. She wasn't the only one, in his long career he had run into thousands of people like her. Determined to bring about a revolution at the barrel of a gun, the drills of their torture chambers and the bodies in the streets.
“Unrecognizable? You can't possibly think?”
“I hope your right and I'm wrong. I truly do. After what I've seen down there. That is why what we do from now on is so important. Miss them, but work for their future as well as ours.”
1
SC: Liberty's Safeguard
Thu, 11th November, 2010
Riot Police are called in to crush a riot that broke out at the local breadline. One cop struggles with his guilt from the bloodbath.
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