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    Syzygy
    Syzygy
    Syzygy
    Ebook72 pages1 hour

    Syzygy

    By M. A. Bartley

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Darius Crossborne joined the Sol System's Armed Service to find purpose in his life. Though he had never left his colony on Saturn's moon, Titan, he longed to give meaning to his otherwise trivial existence. When the opportunity came to join an off-world mission to Earth, he readily accepted. However, on the re-born blue planet run by a giant corporation, a purpose far more important awaits him.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherM. A. Bartley
    Release dateFeb 24, 2013
    ISBN9781301435418
    Syzygy

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      Book preview

      Syzygy - M. A. Bartley

      Syzygy

      A Novella by Matthew A. Bartley

      Published by Matthew A. Bartley at Smashwords

      Copyright 2013 Matthew A. Bartley

      Prologue

      If you can't create it, you're going to have to pay for it. It's the driving force behind our existence. Our economies, our relationships, our fears and our hopes are based upon our desires and our inability to fulfill them. It's what keeps us awake at night. It's the reason that no matter how far and long we search, we'll find that Utopia remains just out of reach. No one wants to leave their perfect world to buy meat and bread. No one wants to have their dream delayed because it's under construction. They just want it. Now. But if you can't create it, you're going to have to pay for it.

      It was this notion that laid the foundation for the Synthesis Project so many years ago. As a species, we had grown tired of waiting. We ushered in an era of instant gratification, and with it came possibilities that revolutionized the way we saw ourselves and our world. Organic cloning, synthesized genetics, synthetic construction of elements, three-dimensional printing of organic tissue; these became commonplace practices, and eventually led to our ticket off of that blue marble.

      At least, that's what I'd heard. I'd never been to Earth. I was designed, born and raised at the Huygens Research Colony on Titan. My mother and father were highly skilled genetic engineers who were selected as part of a diverse scientific team to join one of the colony projects. I don't know why my parents chose Titan over Ganymede, but I'd learned enough, through Academic Summary classes, virtual courses on the extranet, and simple word-of-mouth, to know that either one was better than living on Earth. I remember feeling cramped in a colony of about 10,000 people until I read that Earth's population was approximately 10.7 billion. Records showed that there had been a steadily climbing number of births on Earth after the Reconstruction.

      See, the '20s held the culmination of the worst economic disaster in human history. Couple that with heavy solar activity knocking out the less protected power grids every few months, and you've got a perfect shit-storm for anyone trying to live a decent life on Earth. Countries went bankrupt. People were dying. Everyone needed a way out. The whole fucking world was on sale. And the corporations and banks who always had all the money stepped in and bought up the planet. Formal governments were disbanded, because the puppeteers don't need puppets when they own the theater. Syndicates took their place, with corporate figureheads running the show. The leading superpower countries all melded into a conglomerate. They dubbed themselves Pillar, as they claimed to be the sole support of human civilization. Arrogant pricks. They might as well have called it Earth Incorporated. All currency was condensed into Standard Gold Credit, probably to make it easier for them to count.

      Life went on much like it did before the Reconstruction, just with a new set of hands on the reigns. If you owned a business, they made money. If you had a job, it was making them money. If you committed a crime, you were put in a supervised work camp to make them money. They made sure you were well, because the dead didn't make them money. Hell, they commissioned the Synthesis Project, and eventually the Colonies as well. They had the funds, the power, and the drive to expand. New tech meant new wealth, and they were winning both ways. They quietly cashed in while the people were happy with their new toys. Perhaps the most disconcerting thing of it all was that everything, at least economically, was running smoother and more efficiently than it had been in decades.

      In 2049 I turned 18, by Earth orbit standards, and was given three choices. I could pursue further education in a scientific trade, join the Sol System's Armed Service division on Titan, or be deported to Earth, because if you weren't benefitting the Huygens Colony or protecting it, then you had no business on Titan as far as Pillar was concerned. Unfortunately for me, my parents, though they designed me to have their eye and hair color, as well as a taller build than my shorter father, opted not to implement a genetic predisposition for high I.Q. or scientific interest. They wanted me to develop as naturally as possible in that respect. That's not to say I was stupid; I excelled in AcSum, and most of the virtual courses I took were fairly high level. I just never developed a penchant for tinkering or an interest in scientific practice. In fact, I've always appreciated my parent's decision. There were people everywhere whose lives were planned out before they were even born. Smooth skinned, fair-featured, smiling Man-droids who never had a fucking clue. No, thank you. I would rather find purpose than be told what mine is. So, following that notion, I joined up to try and find a bit of purpose in the SSAS.

      Over the next seven Earth orbits I cut out a place for myself in the Service, and actually enjoyed it for the most part. I met some respectable men and women, made a few friends, and got to train with some incredible tech. I learned more than I thought I would. For me it was, among the weapons training and conditioning, a lesson in reasoning, cynicism and existential curiosity. I came away with more than a few questions, and that was a good thing. The universe seemed closer and yet massive in

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