Chapter 318 (1/2)

ONE MONTHS AFTER CASE OMAHA

The planet looked perfectly innocuous. A single Pangaea continent with islands scattered around, nearly 70% of the planet oceans, two ice caps, active atmosphere. Vast cities were scattered around the primary continent, connected by lines of light with smaller cities scattered about. It looked like any other planet, the uniformity and the precision would have been perfectly in place in Unified Species Council territory.

But Nakteti couldn't help but just stare at it.

The It Tastes Sweet had docked at one of the massive space stations orbiting nearly two million miles above it. They were having some of the problems that had popped up during the Sweet's 'maiden' voyage and it's flight from where TerraSol had vanished. The engineers were aboard, working on her ship, and she was pleased with the progress.

Curious, she had checked the planetary index.

Now she stood at one of the observation ports aboard the Sweet and stared at the planet below.

”But... why?” she asked, staring at it.

”What do you mean?” Major Carnight asked from where he was leaning against the wall.

”You've beaten so much. Death, major injury, poverty. There's very little you can't create with the nano-forge creation engines, so the Confederacy is essentially post-scarcity,” Nakteti said. ”So... why?”

”Why do they choose to live there?” Major Carnight asked.

”Yes. Why would they choose to live in a dictatorship? Working in dangerous factories? Why subject themselves to it?” Nakteti asked. ”Mandatory sterilization, no clone tech, no technology beyond what you'd find in Lanaktallan space. Why? Why don't they leave?”

Major Carnight shrugged. ”Because they can,” he said. When he saw Nakteti's confused look he shrugged. ”They can leave any time. It's one of the major tenets of the Confederacy, Freedom of Movement. It's part of living someplace like this, you can just renounce your citizenship and leave.”

”But why live there?” Nakteti asked. ”Why live under oppressive, draconian laws with socio-police, abusive law-sec, even corp-sec and violence in the streets?”

Major Carnight sighed. ”There's an old myth. Real old, prior to the Great Glassing. Apparently humans were put in a simulation. The first couple were utopias. Do you know what happened?”

Nakteti shook her head, reaching out and taking Major Carnight's hand even as she held tight to her command stick. She had a feeling she wasn't going to like the answer.

”It crashed. It lasted less than six hours. The second one lasted two hours,” Major Carnight said.

”Why? Why did it crash?” Nakteti asked.

”Because we're humans,” he said. He gave a bitter laugh. ”There are utopia worlds out there. Every luxury you can imagine, hell, luxuries and pleasures that even Matron Sangbre couldn't imagine. As much as you want, when you want, how you want.”

”Why not live there?” Nakteti asked.

Major Carnight laughed. ”The major population of the utopia worlds are transient, rarely staying for longer than a few months or years. Do you know why?”

Nakteti shook her head.

”We humans have another saying,” Major Carnight started.

”You seem to have a lot of them,” she laughed.

”Yes, yes we do,” Carnight laughed. He squeezed Nakteti's hand affectionately. ”As I was saying, we have another saying: One man's Heaven is another man's Hell. It goes hand in hand with another saying: It is better to Rule in Hell than Serve in Heaven.”

”You humans are strange. Your people would rather live on a world like that, with all of the restrictions and oppression, than somewhere else seems crazy,” she said.

”Yup,” Major Carnight said. He gave a strange sigh. ”There's a high amount of diversity of thought, morals, ethics, and beliefs in the Terran species, in people. Some people, well, they actually prefer the rigid structure, in some way enjoy the suffering and oppression. Some feel as if every day is a triumph of their willpower and endurance, others feel it necessary to atone for perceived sins.”

He gave another sigh. ”I realize that it seems strange to you, Nakteti,” he said. ”Humans, well, we're different. Different from one another, even siblings can be so wildly divergent you would never believe that they were family members much less twins.”

Nakteti shook her head. ”It just startles me.”

Major Carnight tapped his fingers against the wall. ”I have a sister,” he said. ”Actually, my mother and father have been married for nearly four hundred years. Completely monogamous. They're, shall we say, prolific. I have eighty-three brothers and sisters, and every one of us are different. We even look different,” he laughed and held up his hand.

”Eighty three? Just the two of them?” Nakteti put her hand on her own stomach. ”Her poor birthing organs.”

Major Carnight laughed. ”My sister has as many children and she's only two hundred. Of course, she's what's known as a 'magical primitivist' and lives on a nanite infused world. She's their version of royalty, spent a hundred years clawing her way up to it.”

Nakteti shook her head again. ”You humans are weird.”

Major Carnight laughed again, tilting his left hand palm up and displaying a hologram. A plump female Terran sat surrounded by nearly a hundred other Terrans. From the two small infants breast feeding to the adults down on one knee. Nakteti looked hard and noticed that they all had the same appearing eyes. Not the color, just something about the eyes.

”My sister, Her Grace the Arch-Duchess of Relflagen, Lady of Magic and Beauty, the Arcane Will of King Nganto, She Who has Birthed a Hundred,” Major Carnight said. He shook his head. ”She's a weird one, but I love her dearly.”

”So why a dystopia?” Nakteti asked, touching the plas-steel screen again with her free hand, holding onto Major Carnight's hand when he lowered it.

Major Carnight shrugged. ”Who knows. I imagine if we looked into the history we'd see who purchased it, who settled it, and why they set it up the way they did. It probably makes perfect sense to everyone involved,” He shrugged again. ”I noticed it's a single life with SUDS. Basically, if you get killed then you're reskinned and your time there is over. You get paid your actual wages and free transport to another world of your choice.”

Nakteti shook her head. ”To willingly subject oneself to such things.”

”Exactly. Willingly. That's the key point,” Major Carnight said. ”There's probably revolutions, counter-revolutions, wars, the whole experience down there,” he laughed suddenly. ”I'll admit, in a way, it's tempting, alluring. I wonder how long I'd last, where I'd find myself. You have to start reskinned as a child in a creche. The challenge is there and it's tempting.”