As I've been away from the project for a while, I seem to have skipped ahead somewhat with the second chapter. The next several releases will be events taking place between the two major events. I apologize for the confusion that any of this will cause, and shall strive to make my writing more comprehensive in the future.
English was my first language, I still don't know if I love or hate it.
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[Military research vessel Bai Ze: 00:00 Ship Time, Central Dorms] - Day 02
Ai-Shi had thought that when she awoke from cryogenic stasis, she would be in the pod that had sustained her. Her assumptions proved to be incorrect, as upon opening her eyes the sight that greeted her was not that of scientific equipment, future historians, or a desecrated wasteland, but that what appeared to be a simple brushed steel sleeping compartment. She sat up quite comfortably atop her grey mattress and was relieved upon identifying an inlaid rectangle in the wall to her right that was clearly the handle of a sliding door.
Whether or not it could be opened was another question entirely, and when her hand hovered over it, an information window appeared which read:
Subject 938821 "Ai-Shi" has been awoken ahead of schedule. For clarification of any information pertaining to the current situation, please refer to the subject's assigned guardian. The assigned guardian is identifiable by a codex emblem displayed on the left shoulder containing the subject's designation number.
Ignoring the way her name was written, she had no idea what a codex emblem looked like. Sliding open the panel, Ai-Shi took a first look into the world of the future. It struck her how colourless everything had become. As though the entirety of the small room she bore witness to was a well polished stone, its smooth perfection, especially the floor, exuded an unearthly atmosphere that left her awestruck despite its simplicity.
A man in a lab coat sat at his computer off to one side of the door, and he turned to face her upon hearing the gentle hiss of the panel. Considering the fact that only one other person was present, knowledge of what a codex looked like wasn't entirely necessary.
"It's a book?" the question which unintentionally slipped out was rhetorical. Clearly displayed on the left shoulder of the man was a book. A simple icon with numbers across it that she assumed to be identical to her subject ID.
"You mean this?" he pointed to his shoulder before continuing, "The codex format is one in which pages are bound together, and have a cover. While it was used only to describe manuscripts for some time, it began to include all things printed in its style when the term 'book' predominantly referred to digital content."
It made sense that linguistic changes would occur during the years in which Ai-Shi was unconscious, but considering how understandable the scientist across from her was, she must have woken up considerably before the thousand years she was supposed to be preserved for. The difference in terms didn't seem to affect grammar much, so it might have only been a few generations between her and the scientists who woke her up.
"How long have I been in stasis then?"
"Around 300 years."
That amount of time did not match up with how similar the scientist's dialect was to her own. 300 years spelled the difference between Shakespeare and HG Wells. While mutual understandings shouldn't have required a translator yet, the cultural and grammatical changes ought to have been easily distinguishable, and instantly apparent. It was also possible that the man was accommodating her by speaking in an archaic manner. Regardless of how polite she intended to be, the skepticism displayed on her face wouldn't go away.
"What's wrong? Do you feel any sense of discomfort?"
"No," Ai-Shi's voice trailed off, and only returned softly with, "Your dialect..."
"Ah, well, the dialect spoken universally aboard the Bai Ze, which is the military research vessel you are currently aboard, does happen to be relatively archaic when compared to what the average civilian population would be speaking."
"Why is that?"
"Firstly, the Bai Ze is intended to be entirely self sufficient, so strictly enforcing a formal style of speech prevents the creation of new dialects to ensure communication aboard the ship remains standardized over long periods of time. Halting the evolution of a language also helps minimize time spent updating the computers' language processing, allowing them to focus on research more efficiently than any other existing system. Finally, it makes life easier for the senior crew members, some of whom are over 200 years old, and don't yet have a known life expectancy. It also minimizes the generation gap, making an internal conflict, or misunderstanding less likely to happen between the upper and lower ranks."
"It wasn't just people enjoying the esoteric, then?"
"The accent is considered highly attractive in friendly territory, and intimidating to those outside of it, so your reasoning wasn't entirely incorrect."
It seemed that the future was more complicated than anticipated. Ai-Shi didn't intend ask many more questions, as the information she was currently digesting seemed to be enough for the day, but she still wanted to know why they woke her up.
"We used your pod as ammunition."
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When she returned to her senses, the man was doubled over with laughter. The blood that had previously drained came back to her face in a single rush. Change from pale to bright red in combination with the mixed expressions of confusion, embarrassment, and anger in rapid succession seemed to turn her face into the universe's single most hilarious entity as the man rather unprofessionally slid out of his chair, and continued his laughter even as he lay partially on the floor. Ai-Shi wanted to crawl right back into the bunk she had emerged from; preferably without having to return. Unfortunately, she felt that running away would only be admitting defeat. How it was a defeat happened to be entirely lost to her, but all that mattered now was a regaining of dignity; something which a few deep breaths went a long way towards achieving.
Everything settled down, and with the man back to sitting in his chair, she got to questioning. His name was Shen. Her pod had been recycled due to an unforeseen lack of materials on board. Rather than a scientist, (an occupation requiring extreme specialization and AI assistance) she had been placed under the supervision of a public relations officer. All personnel aboard the Bai Ze were special forces, but when not used as active combatants, played cultural roles aboard the station to maintain order, stave off boredom, and ensure the powerful on-board AI didn't waste any effort on things other than military advancements.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
"So, what happened that caused the resource drain?"
"Only the worst 20 minutes in human history."
"How so?"
Shen slid his chair back, and gestured to his monitor. A roughly circular city map was displayed along with a timeline. Scrubbing through, Ai-Shi expected some kind of indication of whatever went wrong, and wasn't surprised in any way when yellow dots appeared and quickly engulfed the entire screen. She was surprised however, when the entire area surrounding the city instantaneously became bright red, followed by (in what seemed to be an entirely pattern-less manner) blotches appearing within the city itself. The zones didn't universally expand, some grew, others shrunk, and more still seemed to wriggle across the map like amoebas in a maze. After some time the red cleared up, followed by the yellow, creating a buffer of all clear between the city, and what Ai-Shi assumed to be the rest of the world.
"Each red spot marks the location of a known hostile caught on camera," he scrubbed back and forth so the growing and receding blotches would be easily visible while he explained, "It's my job to ensure we appear heroic to posterity, so I have to choose some of the footage to save in the public archives."
"Oh, but don't worry," he was now scrolling through a list of files, "I only have to watch 2 281 years of combat footage before I'm up to date with what I'm allowed to see, so you don't have to concern yourself with little things like supervision, or leaving the room, okay?"
Ai-Shi was getting the feeling that the Bai Ze was slightly larger than she initially thought, and Shen explained how fifty-nine million nine-hundred eighty-five thousand seven-hundred thirty-eight...
"That's too many cameras!"
"Redundant footage is sorted by area, and I can watch it at 5x speed, so the important information isn't hard to find. It's just that in order to optimize how heroic it all looks, every angle is necessary."
Ai-Shi hoped it was more necessary than the pose he just struck.
"So how long until you start editing?"
"17 days, 19 hours, 12 minutes."
"Including sleep?"
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Ai-Shi wanted her sense of awe back. How many days would she be stuck in a room with this guy, and where did the food even come from anyways? All these things swirled in her mind as she flopped herself into the desk mirroring Shen's. Judging from the fact that hostiles appeared within the Bai Ze, Ai-Shi assumed it was some kind of rebellion, betrayal, or mass infiltration. Basically, her safety wasn't assured, and nothing from the PR department would be able to convince her otherwise.
"What does the casualty count look like?"
"Already worse than WWI, and closing in on the Taiping and WWII," Ai-Shi was moderately surprised at how forthright he was about the level of disaster that had occurred, "It would only take a few more confrontations on this scale before the cult wars are topped, and those lasted decades."
Maybe it was good she'd missed that.
Not wanting to ask Shen, who would probably tell her something horribly misleading, Ai-Shi utilized the monitor at her desk to look it up. The cult wars were a series of conflicts around the time of the first human augmentation, genetic modification, and truly intelligent AI systems. Fossil fuels essentially ran out, as did fresh water, and antibiotics mostly lost their effectiveness due to their ceased development (the cost of new antibiotics had been too high, and other, more profitable products were prioritized). Cult membership shot up dramatically as those who resented technology formed terrorist organizations that lashed out with great frequency, and low predictability. Many satellites were destroyed, and in response, several technologically equipped cults began to appear. Data on how so many cults formed in such a short period of time had yet to be collected, and the social phenomena had remained a mystery. The leading theory was that in a push for brand loyalty spanning several generations, companies' marketing strategies had created a culture of extreme emotional reactions that allowed cults to easily instill hatred in an out-group with little effort. Few primary sources remained, none of them accessible from the Bai Ze.
It was definitely good she'd missed that. Or rather, there was almost no way any of her friends or family died in peace.
If ignorance is bliss, and knowledge is power, which one is better?
Ai-Shi couldn't access any specific information about anything that happened after her own time, and she couldn't hold back her complaint.
"Does the Bai Ze have no books?"
"Ghost stories are classified, if that's what you wanted to find."
"If you look them up, can I read over your shoulder?"
"All is vanity."
"A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels."
Shen looked over his shoulder, and raised an eyebrow, "Did people have useful memories back then, or did you always admire Confucian scholars?"
Ai-Shi had always wondered if she was a civil servant of the Song dynasty in her previous life, with the knack she had for memorizing texts, and quoting them back to people. She could feel herself puffing up in her chair as she proclaimed, "I'd have made the ultimate 12th century bureaucrat," while patting her chest for emphasis.
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[Military research vessel Bai Ze: 04:47 Ship Time, Central Dorms] - Day 02
"Fiction! Fiction! Fiction!"
"My headphones have muted you."
"Fiction! Fiction! Fiction!" he was clearly being irritated, so Ai-Shi continued her plan to retain her sanity, by threatening his.
"F~i~c~tion~!"
Shen was muttering something about murdering useless animators who wasted everyone's memory with wavy subtitles when Ai-Shi upped the pressure by sliding up next to him at his desk. Turning to face her, but only for a brief instant, he smiled and informed her that her permissions had probably already updated, "since they had the time for a custom font."
"I want you to do it."
"No."
"I won't move you know."
"I enjoy the sensation."
"It's not like you're even doing your job right now," on the monitor was clearly displayed future-level CGI running at 5x speed, "Don't think I don't know what that tentacle monster is about to do." Ai-Shi placed a comfortable distance between the two of them.