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Earth Czar « Thread Started on Aug 22, 2009, 2:33am »
"I don't want to go" I yelled crossing my arms as if it were the final say.
"You don't have a choice, Marco. You have been chosen and we cannot appeal that" mother told me. The look on fathers face told me that he didn't like what was happening but his silence told me that Mom was right.
"It's not right" I said looking down at my shoes, I didn't want them to see that a big boy like me had tears welling up in my eyes. "They can't do it"
"Yes, they can. They do it all the time. They're not going to treat you any different" she told me and poked me in the chest for good measure "I wish it wasn't so too, my son, but it is the way things are".
I turned my back on them and wiped my eyes. How could these strangers come into our lives and take me away from my parents? They come from out of town and they rode in big black cars and never took off their sunglasses, even in the house. Mom hated that. Dad hated them from the moment they pulled up in the driveway. I think he hated them before, years maybe even without meeting them. He hated what they stood for but never said or did anything about it. He wasn't a coward or a bad man, he just never thought one man could stand up against it.
As soon as they had gotten out of their cars one of them scanned us with a facial recognition beam, they knew who we were. They would never be able to lose us no matter how far or how fast we ran. Before the men even got to the bottom of the sidewalk I saw Dads hands balled up into tight fists. Mom had her arms around me before the men had said a word. Her fingers had dug into my shoulders. Those red marks were still there I bet.
"Congratulations, Mr and Mrs Rubin, the government is proud to tell you that have won the National Honor Lottery" The man in charge said, he never extended his hand because he knew dad would never take it. The smile on his face was fake as was the joviality in his voice. Mom was holding me tighter than ever and we took a step back, a little behind dad.
"You should be honored that your country has chosen you, Mr Rubin. This is a privilege for any family", The man knew it was a lie, everyone in the country knew it was a lie and yet nobody dared say it. As if the first person who spoke would bust a bubble that would bring their house of cards falling down on top of all of us, to show us that the illusion had been artificial. Nobody wanted to be responsible for bringing down the curtain because everyone was afraid of what lay behind it.
"I don't want to go" I repeated for the thousandth time. I knew the bags were packed and sitting by the front door. I knew that once I walked out that door I would never see this place again. I would never see my parents again. My friends, my school, the park down the street. They would forget me eventually I supposed, well not my parents obviously. It would take years before they could go through a day without thinking of me I guessed. At least it better.
"You are going to go to Space Camp" my father had told me when we were alone. "They will train you in the basics of what you will need to know to live and work out there. Then you will go to a more specialized school in whatever field they think is most suited for you. Just do your best because that is how to make things go your way. Doing poorly on purpose will not get you a trip home, Marco. You never want to do badly, okay?"
I had promised to do my best. I would learn, I would obey. I would work at whatever jobs they assigned me to. But I would not forget what they were doing. I would try to be different if the opportunity presented itself later when I had rank. Maybe when they least expected it I would have a big enough hammer to smash this system to bits and pieces. If I was a Captain or an Admiral or something, maybe I'd have power to do something about it.
I was fooling myself. Certainly all of the boys and girls who were taken away had those same thoughts. The brainwashing was apparently total and complete because nobody ever raised a hand against the government. There had never been a mutiny aboard the fleets many ships. I would become just like them, human robots at the service of our master. I would be brainwashed the same as everyone else. Who was I kidding that I would ever raise a fist to the Czars?
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #2 on Aug 23, 2009, 12:38am »
Yes, it is the 99th year of the Great Crisis and the Earth government is ruled by a group of Czars, or a Council of Czars (C ausgeschlossenATES der Zaren) You see the Czars have ultimate power until the crisis ends and it is the Czars who decide when the the crisis ends.
The people of Zachary IV colony were wiped out by a mysterious enemy more than a hundred years ago followed by several settlements and outposts. The Crisis and the rule of the Czars (originally a military council) was put into power as a fleet of these unknown alien vessels headed toward Earth.
Once the first battle had taken place and the enemy fleet had retreated, the world leaders were told that the crisis was hardly over. After losing several national referendums in Europe the enemy fleet returned and atomic explosions destroyed Moscow, Brussels, The Hague and an explosion near London was said to have been an off-course weapon still managed to heavily damage the city.
There was no radioactivity, no EMP, it simply killed without destroying.
So the colonies soon became militarized and all of the children who showed the most potential were drafted and sent off for training. None of them were allowed to ever return to Earth. The population of Earth dwindled as government policies poured resources into the space force and "colonization" programs.
Reports of enemy vessel sightings and skirmishes filled the news services and jolted the public into ever more subserviance to the state. Forget your trivial problems, so what if you have no food or electricity- don't you understand that the human race is at stake here?
Not to be patriotic was to be an enemy of the people. Dissent is illegal. Discussion of politics was unheard of.
Poor Marco would be sent for basic training where he will be instilled with rigorous instruction on patriotic fervor and love of the state. This would be daily as he learned military history, tactics and all of the other things future space soldiers needed to learn.
Then he would be assigned and deployed to a world he has never seen before. There he will be assimilated into the colonial brigades under the local rulers who work drectly for the Czar on Earth.
Their mission is, of course, to defend the human race from the aliens at all costs. Their second mission is to defend the colony as it sends its resources and main products back to Earth. Interstellar mercantilism at its finest.
This is because Earths masses have fallen into a state of total ineptness. The world could no longer grow enough food or make enough basic commodities to support itself. Nearly everyone lived at the mercy and on the "generosity" of the Czar.
« Last Edit: Aug 23, 2009, 12:47am by Floyd Looney »
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #3 on Aug 23, 2009, 4:24pm »
Very good! The government in this story sort of reminds me of Stalin's government during WWII (Fight for the motherland or be sent to the gulag! Dissent will not be tolerated!), well except the mercantilism part.
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #4 on Aug 23, 2009, 5:36pm »
I didn't mean mercantilism as much as I meant rape of resources. Its not like they're going to be getting finished products back from Earth, they're just getting "protection". The alien threat might or not be wholly fictional, I haven't really decided.
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #6 on Aug 24, 2009, 1:26am »
They rustled us awake earlier than normal this morning, not that we didn't know they would once in a while.
That one time, a few weeks ago, time they woke us up nearly as soon as we fell asleep. They marched us to the armored hovers and dropped us on a mountain-top. They said we had exactly five days to the minute to get to the "base camp" all we had was a compass and a vague idea of the direction of this "camp".
We were sleepy, miserable, cold and everything else. We merely saluted and responded "Yes Sir" and "Praise the Exalted Czar" when appropriate. Then they took off and left us there.
We found the camp a half-day early and we all fell into a pile right in the middle of the courtyard surrounded by a dozen very old shacks. We were just about asleep when they picked us up and said we were going home. They gave us water and food packs.
Little did we know their survival scenario was hardly over as we were told "oops" it seems we have been attacked. Now get out there and build a shelter and a fire. It was pouring, the ground was pure mud. If you built a hole the mud and rain filled it up quickly.
I built me a bit of shelter in a small but sturdy tree and used an extra slicker I had pocketed aboard the Transport Hover as a water-proof roof. My fire was in an ancient tin can than I held by its handle. Almost everyone else was much worse off.
When we finally got back to the base they fed us well, they said they were restoring the lost calories and we'd make it up in the workouts after we slept a full glorious 8 and a half hours. After a week of pure torture it was awesome. Glory to the Czar.
It was different this time. It was two weeks early for basic to be over but we were being mustered. I stood there, in full uniform with full pack, holding the GN-Carbine, general issue as if I knew what to do with it. As if any of us were really trained enough for anything more than security guard duty at this point.
The Corporal asked the General (*) when he came to inspect us. None of had seen a General, even a single star like this one. The General announced to us that we were being deployed and put on active duty. Was he kidding? Was this some kind of sick joke?
We were soon aboard the transports and they drove right onto the loading ramp and into the giant booster ships. They strapped the vehicles down and we strapped down inside the vehicles as the ship was thrown violently off the surface of the Earth.
Soon little view screens came to life and the Czar himself was shown, sitting at his desk. The green lawn of the Capitol Palace looking beautiful behind him.
"A dastardly alien attack on our colony of Cochrane has been devastating. Thousands are dead, the local garrison was their main target. The mines and ore peocessing complexes were heavily damaged. These are vital resources for the human race, as you probably know, and they are threatened by enemy activity. You and many others are chosen to defend this vital link in the human chain, we are all depending on you. Keep the hopes of humanity alive"
As the screen vanished I heard the muttered chorus "Praise the Czar". This was duplicated on 150 vehicles on this ship and the other, maybe hundred ships, no doubt.
Yea, right. Praise the Czar. Sure.
« Last Edit: Aug 24, 2009, 1:27am by Floyd Looney »
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #8 on Aug 25, 2009, 5:07pm »
Thanks. I think it has some potential. I still think your sf post was a really good story idea, have done any more work on it? Maybe just an idea for later in the story?
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #11 on Aug 25, 2009, 8:07pm »
I did have one idea for In Plain Sight. The POV character loves his women (kind of like James Bond) and the government sends a woman to seduce him and try to kill him in bed, but for one reason or another she goes over to his side. But that would be something for later in the story when the government starts getting more suspicious and more openly aggressive. I still need to think of the events in between the beginning (what I wrote) and that point.
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #12 on Aug 25, 2009, 9:34pm »
I like looking at the old newspapers. Coastal cities like Boston would have listings of ships coming into port and what they are hauling, ships for sale and ships departing soon for those who might need to send cargo or passengers somwhere. The ocean was the most important aspect to a lot of the coastal cities. Especially before steam.
In newspapers around and after the Civil War you'd see newspapers with baseball box scores and reports on billiards matches and stuff.The advertisments were always interesting too.
The front page might have a poem, might have letters from correspondents in foreign cities, sometimes with weeks old news. No multiple column headlines, although they might have banners across the whole page top if the news was important enough.
I wonder if off-world colonies might revert back to a lower technological level. I suppose they would have to if contact and support from Earth was rare. Newspapers might make a comeback, 4 or 8 page news sheets with six or eight columns of tight text.
« Last Edit: Aug 25, 2009, 9:42pm by Floyd Looney »
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #13 on Aug 26, 2009, 12:15am »
Imagine a colony of 1,000. Isolated. How long before any technology they have breaks down? Where do they go to get spare parts for machinery? Ore mine, processor, smelter, partsmaker - they wouldn't be able to. Not with 1,000. They would be subsistence farmers, maybe a woodworking shop, a leather tanner not much more.
The technology level will likely depend on the population. Now if they had daily cargo deliveries from Earth or something it would change things. They would be able to trade things they made that couldn't be made elsewhere for goods. THAT might allow them to keep a generator running or a computer functioning, or a droid.
But I think if we send a colony ship hundreds of light-years away, we need to make sure they have basic tools and things to jumpstart their re-progress.
Re: Earth Czar « Reply #14 on Aug 26, 2009, 2:59am »
Your posts bring up some very good points, and get the ideas flowing again. It makes me think what the colonists in In Plain Sight will have to take to Mars in the way of production capability, especially since every single kilogram counts on a rocketship (even one powered by fusion).
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