Dependence
“Sir, there is a power drain in Port Phasmatys’ energy barrier.”
“Sir there is a problem with the drunken dwarf. He seems to have run out of Kebabs”
“Sir…”
Being a commander on a game station had never been easy, there was always that one player that managed to walk into the exact spot were they could walk through a wall, or find out about an update before it came out. Eventually it had been accepted that this would happen and so rather than have precious machines doing the work, it had been decided that they would get people to do it, people that required little food, little attention and more importantly no oil. After 14.12.29, when the last of earth’s oil had been tapped, prices had rocketed. Cars had become a thing of the past. Buses were only used by the rich and the famous. Even pollution had increased. The amount of wood being burnt to produce power was incredible. But eventually it was gone. The last traces of oil were used. Yes there were still vegetable oil and such, but in the amount it was needed, no chance. Then someone had the bright idea to search other planets. Oh how the commander hated that person. After no oil was found the costs mounted up, the earth was pushed into complete depression, no country had escaped it. The European Union and The United States both had crumbled away. A small thermonuclear war had started in America to gain land, only to have it radiated in the fallout, ending the last chance of returning to normal, nuclear power was shut down across the planet. Pollution just increased. It was getting worse. Only a handful of people were left with any money. These people had pulled everything that they had to get into the space race, only to have the project be canceled. Now with just over 2 million pounds after pooling it together, they had done what anyone would have done. They brought countries. With the economy at its knees only Britain was outside its reach, the only country not to have been nuked. America went first, 1.5 Million. The huge country for such a fee was unbelievable. The other half a million was spent on cheap labor. The states slowly gained power, until finally they were in the black again. 2.4 million pounds. That was the price of Russia, having recovered slowly it had risen in price. With the 2 former superpowers under their control, other countries fell like dominos. The Unity, as it was called, had united most of the planet. But now came a bigger problem. They had failed to see Britain as much of a threat, but now it had outstripped The Unity in all fields. Embargos had no effect. Britain grew in power, fed by dissidence of the Iron Fisted Unity. Years had pasted, Britain had reached its limits and the fallout was subsiding, with more land, and more people the Unity would dominate them. Everything was against them, except for one thing Project: Runescape.
After intense fighting for the many years the people of earth had stopped having wars, and after the Unity took control…War was obliterated. In its place a string of diversions had sprung up. Not all of them legal. But the Unity tolerated them, they were losing people left, right and center, their Iron Fist had made the people fear them, but with Britain as an escape, it never served a useful purpose. It was then that Britain made its breakthrough, an ancient game ‘Runescape’ had been found, the severs had been under lock down for some time. Jagex had since failed and been forgotten, but the game restarted. It looked like that was going to be it. Another diversion, there were few computers, so few played it. The monotone was incredible though, if it was harness able then it would create a limitless work stream, even while relaxing. Of course it kept its quest and unproductive items as well, but it was focused now. While half the brain worked, the other half gamed. A series of Communication centers sprung up, an implant tied the person directly into the game at all times. It was complete. Project: Runescape quickly took hold. Britain became a 24 hour work zone. 10 Britons were outside its reach, the programmers, and so that was how it was. Britain fought and won a war of Production, The Unity was never able to replicate Runescape. People became Disillusioned. A leak of old maps and birth certificates, possibly from 1 of those 10 people, caused Independence Day. The Unity was shattered, the world was returned to how it was. Oil was replaced by Fission, then by Fusion.
The price? Only Britain was affected by the Runescape phenomenon. The 10 people were replaced every so often. The British people paid the price, the country was brain dead. It had lasted too long, there had been nearly 20 generation within the game, taking them out would kill them. Babies were born with the implants. The people were gone, their minds trapped within a game.
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Reliance
2040, January, Sunday 1st, 12:40, Arabian Union, Earth.
The thick black substance ran from the iron frame. Running down the sides as the pressure lessened. Every drop to be collected, harvested, tagged, not a drop wasted. They knew that it would never last, but while it was here…They would rip it from the ground, sell it for what they needed to get more. A vicious cycle. A step of capitalism. It could not last, there was no chance. Oil was used more and more, prices rose, and with that inflation took hold. Archright was one of the few people that got paid less. A lowly worker, the suffering one that bore the brunt of the search for oil, companies and workers alike knew that this was the end. Traces of oil had seeped through into the rock, draining this was expensive and provided little return. But every scraping provided part of a barrel, every trace was another paycheck, another machine that would work, even if only for a few seconds longer. Archright had thought about quitting but then what, the Middle East had become an industrial zone. Countries had put aside their differences, joined together in the spirit of capitalism, and made the west pay through the teeth for the drops. Archright, along with the others had all come up with plans to smuggle oil out, none had ever been serious. It was death to even attempt it, didn’t stop them dreaming though. Archright’s mind was snapped back in an instant. A klaxon was going off. The sound could mean only two things: Oil had been found, or it was over.
2040, January, Sunday 1st, 13:12, Arabian Union, Earth.
The workers assembled, there was only 1 woman compared to the 54 men, but that was enough to force them to say workers, rather than men. The stern look on the administrators face told them all they needed to know. There was nothing left. He said it anyway though.
“As you all know, there is an oil shortage. Advanced tests have been used and we have determined that there is nothing left. I am therefore firing everyone at the end of the week. Thank you for you work, pay will be given on leaving.”
Archright’s heart sank. Now what would he do? He had come here to work, to do what his country needed him to do, for every worker they sent they got a penny off per 100 barrels, the USA had exhausted its own fields. It needed everything it could get.
“Also I want to see all the team leaders, within the hour.”
Archright was a team leader. It wasn’t hard to make it. Many died within their first month. As team leader he was required to work in the caves, digging up the rocks for processing. The rest of the team would transport them back to the surface. It was just being at the front of the line. None the less it gave him hope. Maybe there was some other job, they still needed processors. If the oil was out then the machines would be replaced. A tiny glimmer of hope sparked inside him.
2040, January, Sunday 1st, 13:30, Arabian Union, Earth.
The office was a cold unforgiving place. When Archright had first arrived, 6 months ago, he had walked along this same corridor. This time though he was with the other 10 team leaders. Each looked more nervous then the last. Whatever they were going to do it would be dangerous, that was certain. They waited outside the office. There was nothing but the clock. It slowly revolved, driven by spring and cog. It ticked slowly onward, 13:30 came, and the door opened. The Admin came out, took a breath and looked down.
“All of you have been here, for about 5 months. You are the most experienced here. That is why you are here. This has been talked about for a long time. Each of your respective countries has agreed to sell all of you to us for a single barrel of oil…” He paused letting it sink in.
Archright felt a pang of anger, ‘I give my life for my country and they trade me in for an oil barrel!’ He thought to himself. ‘Well I don’t care, screw them. I am my own man, not his or anyone else’s’ He knew that this was a lie, he was deep within a country that owned him…he was a slave and powerless to do anything about it.
“This makes you slaves. We are willing to give you your freedom. On one condition, you must leave your counties behind. We have plans to search the solar system for oil. We need a crew for our craft…” He let the idea linger in the air. Each man slowly thought about it, their country had deserted them. They were lost to everyone on the world. Space seemed like the perfect escape, what was their alternative, enslavement. It had been legalized only a few years ago, all across the planet there were workers, paid in nothing but bread and water. Slaves were still subject to Human Rights but the country owned them. Britain did not agree with it at all, as such it had been outcast from the UN, the EU and had been cut off from the world. It had been agreed, Britain would be alone.
“Your alternative, enslavement, will not be terrible. You will simply live your life, tending rape seeds, getting the oil out of them. We expect that the trip will take most of your life, but you will be free. We are setting up a colony on a space station around Jupiter no matter what. You are free to stay there if you wish. All of your options are fraught with work. None of you will avoid it. So what will it be? We are not heartless, you may bring 1 other person, and females will be provided. Everyone else has no choice, life on rape seed farms.”
2040, January, Sunday 8th, 01:02, Arabian Union, Earth.
Nobody had elected to stay, rape seed was safe but life was hard. As a slave almost nothing was unaskable, Human Rights had been reduced. The right to life, the right to food and water, the right to sleep for 5 hours every 24 hours. That was it. Females used like cattle, bred to give strong children, men were used as laborers. Work lasted 16 hours, followed by 3 hour recreation, followed by 5 hours sleep period. Punishments were mainly more work, a cut down on recreation normally, physical punishment meant a slow down in work. The craft was nuclear powered, with solar cells if anything happened. Armed with 2 point defense lasers and a tractor beam it was not a war craft. The lasers would be used to rip away the top layers, then the tractor beam to pull the oil out. Archright had been picked as second in command. He had been there nearly the longest, second only to the administrator who had 20 years work experience. The craft had 8 quarters, a bridge and a 500 Tonne (500000Kg) storage area filled with food and equipment to set up a space station. Aboard were 24 males and 5 females. It was 4 people per room, 2 team leaders and their friends. The females stayed in a single room. The Administrator, who’s name was Paul and his brother had a room of their own. Archright had chosen the next in the line, having been there for a day less than Archright, Eric was the third most senior member and Archright’s lover. It was accepted to not be interested in the opposite sex. The group was set, Archright had some second thoughts about this, they would probably never see Earth again, and even if they did they would be old. Eric moved to comfort him, and together they watched as the engines fired and they were propelled out into the unknown of space. The lash of the engines as they met gravity had pulled them from the bed, depositing them in the corner of the room. They had only got in this morning so they had yet to decorate. It was a simple gray room with a 2 bunk bed setup, a window and a loo. Archright and Eric had few possessions as did most of the others. Eric had a baseball and a set of medals. Archright had a few trinkets and a bucket of blue paint. He had brought it only hours before take off, it had cost him a baseball card that he had had since he was 12. Their roommates both kept their distance. It was a standard thing about the world now. Don’t get close, death was around the corner. There were 3 shifts in a day, each lasting about 9 hours. Eric was on the second and Archright the third.
2040, January, Sunday 8th, 19:32, Earth-Jupiter transit, aboard ‘The Reliance’
Archright walked on the bridge. There were no flashing buttons, no huge view screen as there had been in all the space shows he had watched. It was a square with 8 consoles in. The consoles each had a label on, ‘Comms’, ‘Helm’, ‘Sensors’ or ‘Command’. 2 for comms and helm, 1 for command and 3 for sensors. Being second in command he took his place at the console and watched the screen. Every few minutes a report from someone would come up. Apparently he also controlled the weapons, as he found out by accidentally exploding an asteroid off the port side. This was the highlight of 9 hours, along with a readout of the dust cloud that had been created when he destroyed the asteroid. Towards the end there had been a broadcast from Earth, another ship had taken off from the USA it was going to investigate Venus and Mercury. More had been planned but there was not enough for another to go up. Britain had sent up a single shuttle, it was targeted at the moon. It was thought to be a colony ship, why the moon though? No one contacted Britain about it, so it was unsolved as the Reliance received the last of the transmission.
2064, November, Sunday 16th, 23:02, Jupiter, aboard the Reliance
Eric was a sensor officer, and thus he had been one of the first humans to see Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune from orbit. They was larger than he had ever thought possible. The many moons that orbited them were amazing. But alas none contained Oil of any description. The Captain resigned himself to return to Jupiter, a suitable place to set up a station. There was the erratic orbit of moons and the odd asteroid that seemed like it was heading for Jupiter and his huge Gravity field but they would be safe from Earth. There was now 30 people on the station, Paul had died as had his friend, but 4 children had been born. They were all in their late teen, now. The craft had become a safe place. It considered itself outside Earth law and had sent a distress call, saying ‘they had looked at all the planets and none contained enough oil to mount an operation, they had collected some but it had become unstable.’ The ship had then blown 2 asteroids apart simulating an explosion and then radio silence. The ship was small enough not to be seen from Earth. The craft slowly changed from a Capitalist transport to an Equality colony ship. The gene pool was not greatly varied but it would be enough to at least start a colony. As the ship entered Jupiter’s orbit they received a terrible report, nuclear war had broken out on Earth, although they were dead to most of the world, the colony on the moon had been sympathetic. It had sent another ship outwards towards Jupiter, the Earth was none the wiser.
Reliance on Compassion, Freedom, Understanding ...Is this what the future holds?
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