c. 2024 Rod Ice
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(8-24)
Dr. Judson Baines had fallen asleep in an oversized lounge chair, after hours of reading through journals written by his great-grandfather, at Evergreen Estates. His eyes burned from overuse and fatigue. Yet he felt content to have retrieved the valued, historical documents from their mission to Planet Earth. Regret tempered his scholarly joy as he realized that another visit might never be permitted. But he persisted in analyzing the treasure trove of notebooks, until exhaustion finally eclipsed his stamina. He snored loudly in his quarters on the Morningstar III. Electronic beeps and blips and other extraneous noises of the spacefaring vessel did not interrupt his slumber. But then, there was a chirp from his com-link.
Lt. Kelly Strafe stood outside of his door. She had dressed down, to appear anonymous. No one in the corridor leading to the remote cubicle had recognized her as she passed.
“Juddy? We need to talk. Open up, I’ve got news from Texas City...”
The academic steward restlessly rolled out of his plush furnishing. He could barely focus on anything in the small room.
“Kells? What the heck, woman? It must be after midnight, according to the ship’s clock. What’s the matter? Did they decide to let us stay in orbit?”
When the sliding panel yielded to a button-push, the lieutenant appeared, looking somewhat like a college student after a gym workout. She had donned a sweatsuit and headband, all colored purple. Her blonde hair spilled over the top.
“We’re on our way back to Mars, there wasn’t a change of heart about ending this voyage. But I needed to let you know that I got a back-channel blast from a friend at the TC command center. There’s been chatter about your discovery at the ruins of that trailer park we encountered. An order was given to take you into custody, on sight. The Mars high council got nervous after hearing that you might challenge their official timeline about what led to the Great Uprising...”
Baines had to catch his breath once the officer had finished speaking. Her frantic report made him both stunned and confused.
“CUSTODY? LIKE UMM, BEING ARRESTED?”
The lieutenant nodded, smartly.
“Keeping things in order is a big deal, Juddy. The outworld colonies only survive because we’ve all learned to get along. Dissenters mess up the machinery. I’ve tried to warn you before!”
The university professor wallowed in disbelief. His thick glasses dripped droplets of sweat.
“C’mon, Kells, that is completely ridiculous! They’re afraid of a new wrinkle to our history? We all came from Earther stock, the mass migration brought our DNA to new worlds. None of us are better or worse than the others. That’s the change that made mankind into a homogenous group of survivors, instead of a contentious rabble...”
His cohort flipped her head defiantly. She narrowed her gaze and pointed a finger.
“See, the thing that really changed was that nobody stirs the pot anymore. Except for lone wolves and newbie nerds. You’ve had your nose in the books for so long that you missed the point of your own lessons! Don’t you get it? Living in sealed chambers and hopping from planet to planet, to asteroids or whatever, that’s a tough trick to execute. It’s like being an acrobat. The only thing keeping us alive is discipline. For me, the kind of discipline I got by joining the Space Force. But you want to be a cowboy. That’s hilarious! We don’t have those kinds of individuals anymore. We’re better than that now! It’s all for one and one for all...”
Baines coughed phlegm and sputtered.
“You think we’re better as a species? Okay, I used to feel that vibe, myself. Yet right here and right now, I think one thing never changed. We’re still motivated by fear. They’re afraid of learning things about themselves, and about our history. They don’t want to open Pandora’s Box. It might inspire genuine discussion and debate. I’ve been teaching those concepts at school for a dozen years. But people like you, leaders and soldiers, stamp out the seed. You won’t let it grow! Think about it though, what you are crushing is our humanity. We were never meant to be robots in service to a grand matrix!”
Lt. Strafe shivered with shock. The words she heard tingled in her ears.
“Judson Rawlings Baines! My god, you sound like an instigator! Don’t paint me with your broad brush, I’m just one single woman, doing her best to get along in the 22nd Century...”
Her educator friend bowed his head with a twitch of remorse.
“I didn’t mean to pass judgment. Look, we’re all part of this scheme. It’s how we were raised, while the new cities went up on Mars and other chunks of rock in our solar system. There are still wrecked lifeboats out there in the cosmos, full of dead adventurers who never made it to a new home among the stars. What our human race accomplished is remarkable. We’re resilient by nature. That’s why I think that our social order will survive. If I dole out a little bit of truth, and ruffle some feathers, so be it! Our colony won’t vanish. Maybe, just maybe, it will be better in the balance. More free and wise and just, in making decisions. That could spread around the universe, given enough time!”
His military counterpart stiffened and narrowed her eyes.
“THAT’S WHAT THEY’RE AFRAID OF, JUDDY! THAT’S WHY THEY’LL BE WAITING WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT TEXAS CITY! THIS ISN’T A JOKE! YOU DON’T WANT TO BE A PRISONER IN THE COLONIAL CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM! IT’S UGLY AND DARK ON THAT SIDE OF THE FENCE!”
Dr. Baines fell backward into his lounger. He had run into an intellectual wall.
“So, if they plan to slap me in irons, then there’s only one choice to make. I can’t go back, Kells. Maybe it’s destiny at work? Convince Commander Block to turn this craft around. Drop me off where all of this started. Earth needs an awakening. I’ll volunteer. Let me be the first inhabitant to repopulate that patch of Ohio. I can study and learn, and eventually, reverse the trend that made our civilization abandon its birthplace!”
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