|Viraliv|[17-21]Ciusir-Bi|Umaek|Sol|Mars|
12,763,892,458cy
Black site “Last Resort”, Medium Mars orbit
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#Three Years After Willums Death#
In that time, not much has happened. Willum’s death, and his findings, go lost and forgotten from the memories of the people. The defense mechanism of the microbes hasn’t been tripped and while Willum’s research gave undeniable proof it exists, it’s not known how it activates. As a result, the people have continued to live their daily lives like nothing is, nor could go, wrong.
However, for some people Willum’s research provided an opportunity. Located on a resort station in a medium Mars orbit is a black site. This blacksite is staffed by one of the more powerful nations in the Earthen Alliance who, like many of the others, wishes to have complete control of Earth and her colonies. To that end, they have started a project with the goal of creating a new bio-weapon agent. The bio-weapon was already in development however, with the release of the microbes and Willum’s research they started from scratch. With the strategy of finding out what triggers the defense mechanism of the microbes, and in what ways they could make the reaction more powerful.
Of course, infecting people with the bio-weapon is one of the key components of this plan. To that end they are genetically engineering a retrovirus to edit the microbes that are in the human body. These changes wouldn’t be noticeable unless under extreme scrutiny during extremely specific lab tests. The test subjects, once the project progresses to the human trails, are the people on the resort station itself. Another key component is making an antivirus, or any other way to render the bio-weapon ineffective; you wouldn’t want to kill off your own men afterall.
#View of Glena Tenson, a wealthy second gen#
“Ugh, finally got here, stretching feels so good after that long flight.” Glena says.
Walking their way off of the luxury cruise liner, the family of three takes a second to stretch before continuing. Her father, a man with greys and a more gentlemanly tone of voice, said, “Of course dear, and I assure you this trip will be one you won’t forget.” He then hands his bags to the attendant and begins talking to one of the many receptionists. After a few minutes he gets the key to their apartment and tells his wife and daughter to follow him. Walking to their room gave them a good view of the station’s rich and cultured main area. A large Biodome in the center of the station that holds fauna and flora alike holds their attention, some of the rarest earth species can be found wandering around and living their day to day life. Guests can buy them and have them tamed or eaten at their convenience, even some of the larger and more predatory species.
Though Glena and her family don’t wish to partake in such activities they are intrigued at the chance to view such magnificent creatures. Watching the various tigers or flamingos go about their day is something that all guests can enjoy. Finally making it to their room, they are greeted by a magnificent display of what money can buy in the 23rd century. An apartment room with enough square footage to easily hold a household of seven people. Of course, with all of the furniture, name-brand only, a lot of that space is already occupied. After their maid, the one specifically allocated to their room, helps them put away their luggage, they begin to wander around the metallic yet artistic station.
Seeing all of the restaurants, leisure places, and various other locations wholly focused on entertaining the top ten percent of humans from all over allied space was a truly shocking experience for Glena. She had lived a rather sheltered life from the moment she was born, her family holding a near monopoly on a needed good in a far away system. For her, this is something that she has never experienced before, her excitement is palpable and her father addresses her, “now honey, there will be plenty of time to explore this station as much as you want later. For now we have a reservation for a well-known restaurant that’s due in about twenty minutes.”
Glena had no choice but to follow, however she’s already planning out her next few months aboard this place and day-dreaming about all of the wonderful sites she will no doubt see. From the itinerary she had read earlier the most interesting things were the various creatures and plants that could be found on the station. Speaking of the station, you can clearly see Mars from the most beautiful positions, comparable to the early space age of humanity when it was taking pictures of Earth from the little shuttles they had at the time. Mars serves as a mainly industrial world, one of the first, while also being home to many prestigious academies that are mostly military in curriculum. Glena was shocked upon hearing that when Mars was first being colonized nearly all inhabitants lived far beneath the soil, like molemen suckering up to lava tubes. Luckily the age where humans would have to do that has passed, after the hundreds of years humans have spent colonizing they have learned many things.
Glena, now staring at her real steak sourced directly from Earth can only shake her head to clear the images of how the first colonist had to eat “meat” sourced from crushed insects. She drinks from a glass frosted in gold, water of course even if this is a once in a lifetime trip her parents still wouldn’t let an underage girl drink the hard stuff. Her parents seem to be eating some type of blue crustacean, a lobster maybe? Some time passed, and with the stomach of Glena and her family, filled near to the brim with three sets of the most exotic of foods found only this close to the capital of the Alliance, Earth of course, something that only can be seen as a tiny bluish sparkle from here.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
Upon reaching their room Glena’s father asks in a fake pouty voice, “All full honey? That dinner sure put us through the ring, I don’t know if I’ll be able to move tomorrow.” He mock pats his stomach.
The mother speaks this time, “Oh baby, you know we have to let Glena drag us around the place, couldn’t you tell how excited she was when we first got here.”
“Of course, I wouldn't want our sweetheart to miss her fun. I’ll make sure to wrestle this food down when we’re sleeping.”
Glena speaks up, “You better, I don’t think I’d be able to forgive you otherwise.” Swatting a playful hit on her fathers arm.
Overall a happy family and life, Glena’s parents have their duties but most of the day to day work is done by advanced robots leaving much more freetime to spend at home. The same can’t be said of families in the lower castes, after all it’s cheaper to pay people then it is to buy and maintain an advanced robot. Glena has trouble sleeping that night due to her thinking about the possibilities of tomorrow but eventually she falls asleep promising herself that the more sleep she gets the more energy she will have for tomorrow.
The next day, after Glena and her parents are done preparing, they set off to explore all of the places Glena had wanted to see. Rushing about from place to place left the parents a tired mess. Luckily various food and resting places were dotted everywhere but even so, their energetic child is forcing them to recognize their own age. After a uniquely long stretch of station without any resting places they were forced to stop and wait a while, going to the bathroom and generally recouping. However, in the small time that they had allowed their eyes to stray away from their child, Glena had moved on to the next distraction. And just like that she was gone, and just like that the parents went into emergency mode. After all this was a big station, lots of people around and the best they could do was ask security to keep an eye out for a girl, one of the many that could be found on the station.
Glena had seen a small boy, but not just any boy it was one who didn’t look like he fit in. Covered in dirt and grim, worn clothing and stealing shaky looks at the food stalls nearby. He stuck to the shadows and Glena wouldn’t have even seen him had she not been looking in the right place at the right time. Glena knew she shouldn't leave her parents behind but the boy would’ve scampered off if she waited for them. Not wanting him to escape her gaze, she runs off after him hoping to help him find his parents or at least the security. He sees her obvious run towards him and starts sprinting, falling over items along the way. His malnourished body is in no way able to out pace Glena, who like most people in her status have some enhancements to their natural body. Catching up to him Glena captures his hand in hers, forcing him to a stop and says, “hey, I don’t know why you’re running but I don’t mean you any harm.”
He looks back, a little bit of fear could be seen in his eyes and he replies back, “Just let me go! Nobody can know that I’m here.” He tries to release Glena’s hold on him. Glena says, “I’m not letting you go like that, so you might as well give up. I’ll only let you go once I get you some food, okay?” Glena decided not to ask him why others can’t know about him until she earns his trust. She quickly cuts in another question before he can say anything, “I’m Glena, what’s your name?”
The brat stops trying to wrestle his hand out of hers and says, “I’m Theo and fine you can get me some food but I can’t go out there with you.” Glena replies chirpily, “Well, nice to meet you Theo and you stay right here while I get you some sandwiches.”
After Glena got some food she went back to the spot, thinking that perhaps Theo wouldn’t be there when she got there. To her surprise he was still there, perhaps his hunger overwhelming his caution. He quickly snatches the food away from her before muttering a thanks and begins eating it at a pace almost akin to a beast. Glena watches the boy, who looks around her age and very skinny, devour 3 sandwiches one after another. Waiting until he finishes them to ask, “So… what are you doing here, you don’t exactly fit in.”
Theo gives Glena the stink-eye and tells her “I won’t tell you, rather you’d be in a lot of danger if you did know and just by being next to me you’re in danger as well. Thank you for the food but you should go away now, before they find us.”
The look in his eyes was enough to convince Glena, she had never seen someone look with that much will before. However before she leaves completely she says, “Well Theo, I’ll be back at this spot sometimes. I don’t know exactly when but if you happen to be here too then I’ll get you more food and maybe some new clothes as well.” Then she skips off before Theo can even reply.
Glena met up back with her parents, who were in a heated argument with a security personnel, and they stopped the adventure early that day, spending the rest of it giving a scathing lecture to Glena. Still she went to bed happy that day, this is the feeling of adventure that she had wanted and didn’t get at home.
Waking up the next day she is essentially grounded, doomed to be chained to her parents, who didn’t want a rehash. Of course, they still went to lots of interesting places but she was kept more closely to her parents and wasn’t leading this time. Still she had tried to curb her parents towards the direction where she had found the boy, Theo. She failed though, perhaps her parents were wary of the location, and Glena could only hope Theo was not waiting for her to give him food this day.
Three days passed and Glena’s chain was a little longer. Able to move more freely due to a combination of her parents finding interest of their own on the station and the fear of Glena running loose lowering. She is still not free yet and she’s hoping that Theo won’t think that she abandoned him just because she hasn’t gotten the chance to go over there. Glena still can’t keep the boy out of her head, not out of a romantic sense, just like how one views a new experience. It’s obvious to her that he comes from a vastly different background and she is interested in hearing the world through his eyes. Of all the crazy new experiences to be found aboard this station this one is no doubt the rarest one and one privy to her alone.
Glena couldn’t wait for the day when her parents would let her off to go explore by herself.