by Mars Dorian
“We’re there,” Bloom said.
She rolled off an exit and halted the porter near the entrance to a reservoir. A giant lake graced RX’s view. Bloom leaped from the vehicle and lured him to the water. He stood silent and gazed at the giant amount of liquid that stretched in front of him. The sun’s rays sparkled off the water’s surface and unleashed a glitter fest. Bloom giggled.
“Oh my, the face you make.”
“It’s the first time I see something like this in reality.”
“You have never seen water?”
“Not that amount."
Bloom pointed toward the aerodynamic ships in the distance. They looked like metallic fish with circuit patterns permeating their hull. But upon closer inspection, they turned out to be some kind of drone boats.
“They fish the sea creatures we’ve grown underwater,” Bloom said.
“But this lake is artificial.”
“Yes. It’s an aqua plantation, but the fish is organic.”
She pointed her finger at a factory near the beach. A robotic structure protruded from the ground like a massive boulder. The drone boats entered the structure, unloaded their batches of fish and sailed back to the horizon. Evergreens in special gear oversaw the process and mounted some of the boats. RX took another step forward to get a better view. Bloom held him back.
“Be careful, you don’t want to step inside.”
“Is the water poisonous?”
“No, of course not.”
RX looked down a feet in front of his boots, where the water began. Odd creatures surfaced and aimed their mouths at his direction. RX had no marine training, but he knew these weren’t regular fish. Some of the sea creatures cast a deep down shadow. Judging by their size, they must have been bigger than the transporter that picked up his APEX.
What in the world?
“Do they eat humans?” RX said.
“Let’s just say if you want to take a swim, this isn’t the place to go.”
“Got it.”
He stepped away from the water’s edge and increased the distance between him and the artificial lake. The creatures freaked him out and killed his appetite.
“So what do you do?”
“What do you mean?” Bloom said.
“What is your function?”
“What do you mean?”
RX pondered his word choice and looked for the common denominator.
“What is your job?”
“Job?”
RX flinched. Maybe it was another mistake in translation that Aida hadn’t figured out yet, although he didn’t know how to put it any simpler.
“How do you make money then?”
“What’s money?”
Lost in translation, part IV. More sequels to come.
“Aida, is there something wrong with the decoding?”
The AI spoke for the first time today.
“No, it looks like they really don’t have any form of currency in their society.”
No money? How was that even possible? How would any exchange of value take place? More and more questions popped up.
“Is everything okay?” Bloom said.
He watched her innocent face.
“Bloom, what do you do all day?”
“Depends. I do whatever is required of me, including planning and parenting. I love to play with my children.”
Children, RX thought. The ancient term for offspring units.
“You have…children?” he said.
“Of course.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know. Fifteen? Twenty?”
“You don’t know?”
“I stopped counting after the tenth. Keeping track of them all just wore me out.”
“Where are they?”
“Somewhere in the colony.”
RX halted for a second and examined Bloom’s facial expression. He thought she was cracking some kind of joke, but she looked serious. Dead serious.
“You leave your offspring unattended?”
“No, they’re being watched.”
“By whom?”
“Everyone, of course.”
Of course.
RX pondered her statement. He had never heard of a colony that operated like Evergreen, not even the hinterlands of the rim territories.
“I assume you don’t have any kind of ranking system either, do you?”
Her face lit up like the sun.
“You’re funny, Rex.”
At least one of them was laughing.
RX watched a few drone boats fishing the water creatures. They shot webs into the water that wrapped the fish and then pulled them in via bionic arms. The scales and slimy skin of the catch glittered in the sunlight and turned RX’s stomach inside out.
No wonder he resented the flavor.
It looked as ugly as it tasted.
“Do you guys only eat these creatures?”
“Why would you eat anything else?”
You know, variety and good taste.
But he kept his mouth shut.
Different food for different folks.
They did have salad-like slices and a bread-like substance, so RX wasn’t going to starve soon.
He averted his glance and walked back to the porter.
“Let’s get out of here before I throw up.”
“Aren’t you hungry?”
“Not anymore.”
She tiptoed back to him and resumed control of the porter.
“What do you want to see next?”
The question he’d been looking forward to.
29
“Do you have any military structures?”
“No.”
“A police station?”
“No.”
“Nothing? A prison at least?”
Bloom did a weird thing with her eyes and shrugged. She looked puzzled to the P.
“Why would we need these things?”
“You know, in case someone goes crazy and kills.”
“That never happens. We’re peaceful people.”
RX heard that one before, at least a gazillion times since he had arrived. And he still didn’t believe it. Over the course of his military career, he met various human communities around the galaxy, and no matter how much they differed in culture, they always contained conflict.
To oppose was human.
And the only ones who didn’t were dead, either physically or mentally.
Except for the Evergreens.
And Bloom.
“Let me show you some beautiful things instead.”
Sightseeing, the Bloomified way.
She drove RX around the different sections of the Evergreen colony. Past the ruins, the various organic houses and the concrete barricades that plastered some of the roads.
A place like no other.
“Why are there so many ruins inside the colony?”
“Don’t know. Maybe from our ancestors? The ruins have always been here as long as I can remember.”
“Was there some kind of war?”
“Like I said, I don’t know.”
“And you never wondered the story behind all those forsaken structures?”
“I don’t think much of the past. I only worry about the present and what’s required of me.”
What a simple way to live, RX thought.
Bloom accelerated the porter and entered the inner levels of the colony.
Wherever they rode, RX recognized the same circuit pattern running through everything. The highways, the ground plates, the houses, even the full-body tech tunics everyone wore.
“Where do you produce the energy for the colony?”
“Oh that? I’ll show you tomorrow. It’s getting late, we should head back.”
RX couldn’t tell whether Bloom avoided his question or really wanted to return.
30
Afternoon sunshine swapped for night. RX and Bloom returned to Evergreen’s central. He wanted to return to his APEX for another sleep i
n the cockpit, but Bloom wouldn’t let him go. She grabbed his hand and squeezed.
“You can sleep in our houses.”
“Looked like someone else was busy doing that already.”
“Oh, we can take another one.”
“Which one?”
“Any that is vacant now. Our house is your house.”
“Any?”
He randomly picked a house that looked desolate.
“How about this one?”
“Sure.”
They approached the front. The organic wall opened up and ushered the two inside.
“You don’t lock your house, I assume.”
“Why would we?”
“To stop people from stealing your stuff.”
She flashed him that What The Hell Are You Talking About glance. RX realized he would see that expression many more times. Bloom ran her finger along the organic walls.
“Why would you steal if you have everything?”
“True.”
RX realized he needed to change his mindset about the society. He entered the sleeping chamber where the capsule opened up. Bloom took a load of sea creature flesh from the storage unit and stood by his side, munching the disgusting stuff.
“You want to sleep now?”
“I’m pretty tired, even though I didn’t do much. Mmmm. Must be all the new experiences and the richly-flavored air. Definitely tastes different from what the life support system back in space provided.”
“It’s still hard to imagine. You said you lived in a flying vehicle?”
“Spacecraft carrier.”
“Is it bigger than your craft?”
“Wayyy bigger. It’s like a cluster similar to this colony, only built tighter. Way tighter.”
“Unfathomable. But it’s all artificial, even the air and the food, right?”
“Even the gravity.”
She made a weird tsss sound with her mouth.
“But why would you want to live in an artificial environment when you can enjoy the organic world?”
“Some of us don’t have the choice.”
She nodded with curiosity.
An odd, and yet interesting, tension filled the room. RX experienced a similar emotion when he faced Arrow not too long ago.
Bloom finished her food and smiled.
“Do you want to procreate?”
RX coughed, and this time it wasn’t because of the air.
“Say what?”
“The way you look at me, it’s obvious you think of sex. Well, I kind of like you. I think you like me, and it’s been a while since I produced children.”
RX looked at her face and waited for it to burst into laughter.
It didn’t happen.
“You mean you want me to…impregnate you?”
She smiled.
“Yes.”
“Exchange body fluids and…sperm?”
“Yes.”
RX cringed at the thought although he desired her body. It had been ages since he engaged in intercourse, and 3D porn didn’t count. But he wasn’t going to have sex with an unknown colonist without protection.
“Do you have contraceptives?” Any form of birth control?”
She shook her head.
“What, nothing? Not even…”
He looked for the right word. What was the thing called that his ancestors used?
Ah, yeah.
“Condoms?”
“What’s that?” Bloom said.
“It’s an ancient technology from Terra. It’s basically a barrier device that’s used during sexual intercourse to reduce the probability of pregnancy.”
“But then how do you procreate?”
“Well, you don’t. That’s kind of the point.”
She cocked her eyebrows.
“You’re making one of your jokes again.”
“I think you are the one who’s making fun of me. Who in the world creates offspring by having sex? That’s so 21st century.”
“Like, everyone.”
“Not where I come from. I don’t even know if you’re bacteria-free.”
Bloom shrugged.
“Well, tell me if you change your mind.”
And with that, she left his room and tiptoed out the house. RX rested his head on the pillow-like form and sighed. He felt the urge to rub with her, but he didn’t want to risk an infection his narnites couldn’t handle. Surely, the Evergreens had some kind of contraceptive. Somewhere.
“Aida, are you there?”
“For you, always.”
“What’s the matter with these people?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. They’re just weird. Eating slimy sea creatures and exchanging liquids to procreate. I knew they were backwards, but that’s another level of savagery.”
RX imagined exchanging liquids and almost threw up. He once saw a century-old feed where early colonizers rubbed each other to produce offspring, risking bacterial infections and sicknesses. He almost felt sorry for his primitive ancestors. Hard to believe the Evergreens were just as regressive.
At least the weather rocked.
RX closed his eyes and thought about the events of the day, or lack thereof. The sightseeing tour around Evergreen was both relaxing and insightful. He remembered all the citizens on the street and their shiny faces.
Must be sweet to live without pressure.
Just eating, doing random stuff, and sleeping.
Alone or with someone else.
No obligations, no responsibility and no debt.
Oh yeah, the debt.
From all the things he missed, debt wasn’t one of them. In Evergreen, RX knew he could wake up in the morning without having a message scream at him on auto-read.
He’d wake up with the sunshine brushing his face and thousands of civilians being polite. Maybe this was paradise, a world where everyone was happy and cared for. But if that was the perfect system, why wouldn’t any other colony operate like that? A world with no war and no suffering.
Just neverending joy.
And healthy, good-willed people wherever he looked.
Primitive, but polite.
Something to ponder.
RX’s eyes adapted to the darkness. He looked at the walls that changed their surface consistency, which seemed to affect the temperature. Within a minute, the room cooled down to a satisfying 18 degrees. RX touched the linker behind his ears.
“What do you think of this place, Aida?”
“It’s an interesting colony. I’ve recorded your conversations and checked Bloom’s statements. I compared her data to all the different societal structures within the offline databases.”
“And?”
“There’s not one colony even remotely governed like this one.”
“Interesting. But it somehow seems to work. I mean, they have enough housing and food for everyone, and no one needs to suffer. There seems to be no hierarchy and thus no pressure to perform. It’s like one giant holiday resort.”
“So far, your comparison seems adequate. But we don’t have enough data of Evergreen to make an accurate assessment yet.”
“True.”
He listened to his breathing and enjoyed the silence. The bed was cozy and cradled his skin like organic fur. He enjoyed the housing much more than his quarters back in the carrier. Everything around here was more pleasing to the eye and body.
RX’s mind drifted into dozing. He exchanged a few more words with Aida.
“Any news from Stryker?”
“I still can’t make a connection.”
“Let’s see what we’ll find out tomorrow.”
And with that, RX fell asleep with a smile on his face.
He enjoyed the most satisfying rest since…forever. Dreamed of a world where he’d never return to the Stryker carrier. One part of him of cringed at the thought, the other didn’t care.
Stuck in paradise.
Could have been worse.
Much, much worse.
/> Or?
31
The second the sun’s rays shone through the crevices in RX’s sleeping chamber, Bloom rushed inside.
Prepared breakfast, served with glee.
RX was like, thanks.
Bloom offered him a tray filled with sea creature meat.
RX was like, no thanks.
“Why do you never eat?”
“Frankly, the flavor is a bit repulsive. Guess I’m not used to organic food.”
Especially not sea meat that looks like a thruster melted its anus inside out.
“Just try it,” Bloom said.
“Already did.”
“Try again.”
Out of politeness, he picked up a slice and chewed. To his surprise, it didn’t taste as bad as he had remembered. Which didn’t mean he liked it.
“It’s edible,” he said.
“Just eat more. You need power for the day. I want to show you around.”
RX picked up another piece and gulped it down. His hunger dimmed his taste.
“I want to talk to Norma today.”
“What for?”
“I want to ask whether she owns technology that allows for interplanetary communication.”
“We don’t.”
“How do you know?”
“I just do.”
Bloom sank her head into the meat-filled plate and devoured her creature flesh. RX watched her tear through the pieces like a prehistoric raptor.
Such savagery.
“You really like this stuff.”
“I’m lovin’ it.”
“Good for you,” RX said.
Bloom finished the meals and ordered a porter outside.
“How’s your injury?”
“What?”
RX realized he had three broken ribs not too long ago.
“I don’t feel anything.”
“I’m glad. You look much better now, even though you’re still pale.”
“It's my natural color. Better get used to it."
“Okay.”
The porter's doors slid sideways and welcomed them in. Bloom grinned.
“I want to show you the south side of Evergreen. It’s something you have never seen before.”
“Sounds sweet, but I really like to speak with Norma.”
“I told you she can’t help you.”
“Maybe she knows someone who can. I need to contact my carrier, and Norma’s the only leader who can help me with that.”
“Rex, I already told you—we don’t have a leader.”