Random Story :
Catman Meets the Thing
Author: Hari Navarro, Staff Writer The lover of cats does …
A Drift of Reminiscence
Author: Luca Ricchi
Vernon Liu snapped awake as his pod shot up through the bunker hatch into the ashen dusk.
‘Navigation initiated. Destination: Xingjing Earth Federation Great Hall”’
He stretched his olive-hued arms – numb after many hours of induced coma – and squinted through the viewport: a barren wasteland with clumps of smoking ruins, interspersed with puddles of rust-red dirt and acid rainwater. He sat back and smiled. He had succeeded again.
The pod, on its southeast-bound trajectory, reached the outskirts of the capital. Xingjing Fifth High School appeared on the navigation map. Once a towering and maddening institution; now only a name on a display. He was determined to rise from the muck by becoming the best at this damned school.
‘End-of-Term Awards Ceremony, Senior Year – July 2184.’
The mechanical voice of an elderly teacher still echoed in his mind.
‘Third place: Günther Bang. Second place: Vernon Liu. The winner is—’
Vernon never wanted to know who outperformed him. He had cried, screamed, kicked at anything that got in the way as he stumbled out of the hall, his father following behind.
His old man, who died at his workplace, right below where the presidential pod now hovered. Among the rubble, a red neon sign still flickered: “Deep—”.
Vernon completed it in his head: Deep Red Artificial Intelligence Group, East Tower
When they called him to fetch the body, his father’s temples were dotted with tiny marks, like those left by acupuncture needles. Vernon had feared that the corporation was experimenting on his father – perhaps to test illegal brain enhancement implants – preying on the family’s migrant background from the north-western countryside.
Besides, the overtime, the pressure, the competition and the deadlines that hollowed his father out in front of his eyes had not been enough for those ruthless bastards. What a pity. How proud would Liu Senior be if only he had lived to see his son become President of the Earth Federation?
‘Destination reached.’
The pod jolted to a halt, and the harness released automatically with a buzz.
Vernon stood up, yanked a biohazard suit from the overhead compartment and climbed into it.
It was too early to inhale the lethal fumes of the aftermath.
The world beyond his goggles was dead, devoid of any sound save for a faint breeze that swept the dust into spiralling swirls, like those Mars storms the rovers once streamed to Earth, only this time with a one-man audience.
Vernon Liu was the only man left on Earth, and therefore the ultimate winner.
No more nerve-racking debates with his political opponents, whom he had locked inside the Earth Federation Great Hall before launching Operation Doomsday. Their remnants had likely merged with the acids and debris that gave the puddles their maroon hue.
He lay on his back and looked at the dimming sky while sinking into one of those rust-red pools and noticed his own presidential army above – a flickering constellation from his vantage point – still orbiting the planet, waiting for orders.
‘Those mindless idiots…’ There was no use for them anymore, after doing a remarkable job destroying civilian carriers in upper orbit that were supposed to ‘colonise new stars to secure the future and glory of humanity’, activating all the traps and weapons that simulated the planet’s rebellion, and not asking questions. He muttered a command into his wristband terminal and watched all the ships ignite one after the other, like fireworks of long-forgotten New Year celebrations.
‘And in the end, there was peace…’
He sprawled and let himself sink lower.