Chapter 98: Escaping to the One Place that Hasn’t Been Corrupted by Capitalism (1) (Patreon)

At first, the ship was dragged away by the four wires above to a different location. Looking above from the windows, there were thousands upon thousands of complex bits of machinery moving in tandem. Ships could be moved from one portion of the bay to any other portion with little difficulty. Most people in the squad watched with some interest. The only exceptions were the pilot and Ruel. 

The ship was carried to a long elevator. I craned my head low and looked above, and far beyond, the light of the sun beamed into my eyes through the dark glass, making me flinch away. The ship started to rise far above, the floor moving underneath, until we came to the top of the ship division. There were other ships all on the roof, lined up in similar-looking elevators. 

Panels in the roof raised up underneath the four long arms of the ship, supporting it. The wires clicked loudly, and then retracted back into the complex machine that housed it. I don’t know exactly what I was expecting to happen, but it certainly wasn’t what did happen. 

“The ship is really quiet. I don’t know how they do it, but you can’t hear anything outside. Not a thing.” I hadn’t noticed it, but Day had come up beside me. 

“I forget you’ve been on one of these,” I said, more focused on what was to happen than on conversing with Day. 

The four arms of the ship started to bend as though they were alive. I say ‘as though they were alive’ precisely because the action seemed so organic, fluid, and natural, that it was difficult to believe it was the movement of a machine. But then, if I’m to get technical, living things are really just complex machines. Perhaps it’s not so far off for machines to come this far. 

The arms bent until the four points were pointed downwards, as though they were legs. I barely had time to put the pieces together before the world disappeared from my eyes. Everything that I could see, save those around me or the ship itself, became a blur.

We weren’t thrown to the floor jarringly, despite how fast we were probably moving. Trying to focus on any one object was impossible—we moved through the stars that quickly. If I’m to give a comparison to anything, it would be like trying to follow the blades of a fan moving at top speed. If by ‘top speed’ I were to mean ‘light speed,’ it’d be a perfect comparison. The points of the ship’s four arms emitted one long streak of blue light that trailed behind like a jet-stream.

Stars, planets, and other celestial formations flew by in a myriad display of colors. Above all, there was the eternal projection of black—a great emptiness. Having experienced the Shadowlands, the vastness that was space was the only thing thus far that had come close to replicating it. And it was merely a dim echo. Nevertheless, both held one very similar quality. 

A feeling of meaninglessness. Insignificance. Or at the very least, that’s what consumed me. I’ve never been the sort to be awe-stricken. 

The room became a cacophony of ‘wow.’ I managed to hold my tongue. Zinuetet was enraptured by the dancing lights that passed by, like a country boy driving through Las Vegas at the tender age of six. All bright neon lights, all show, all something that seemed so near that you could touch it, but was actually large enough to eat you several times over. 

The notion that an expanse of space this large belonged to someone… Belonged to an empire, headed by an emperor… It all felt a bit ridiculous at that point in time. 

Richt didn’t own this space. He couldn’t. No being could. It was beyond the petty whims of man, or whatever sort of aliens would see fit to call it theirs. To look at all of this, and say that it belonged to you… it was nothing short of arrogance. Just because men build upon the earth does not make the land theirs. 

Even still, it’s not like the land is going to reject people. It’s not alive. What’s wrong with trying to own the world? Is Mother Galaxy going to get mad? Ridiculous. I smiled and laughed lightly at the insanity of my own ideas. 

Zinuetet turned away after hearing my voice, her purple eyes resting on me. “Why are you laughing?”

I turned from the window and walked away. “It’s nothing.”

I felt a feeling well up in my chest, a burst of passion that had been waiting for a long time. I had no purpose for a long time. I tried to further my position because it was what seemed natural. If you’re drowning from the weight of it all, you try to swim up. It’s common sense—at least it is for me. Now, though, I had seen the blatant arrogance of Richt staring at me, the one who would claim the galaxy… 

And my purpose was clear. 

Zinuetet turned from the window and followed me. “Really, what’s wrong?” 

“They say the fruit from another’s garden seems sweeter. Maybe I’m misremembering the phrase. Point being, I’ve beheld something that I’ve been looking for a long time. The sort of achievement that I can respect. In my early years, I never had anyone that I admired.” I looked at my hand. The hand that was dead, that I could not feel. Zinuetet continued to listen patiently as I walked into another room, being the first to leave. It was only once the doors were shut behind me that I felt confident speaking my thoughts. 

“Why would I respect people like actors, writers, musicians, the ones that people love and adore? Useless, all of them. No. I was looking in the wrong places in my early years. The ones to respect—the ones that I respect, are the ones that saw something they wanted, and took it. Genghis Khan. Tamerlane. Sabuktigin. Even Alexander, cliché as he is. The colonial empires. 

“In my time, to desire to emulate those people is ridiculous. Nuclear weapons exist, after all… that would cut short any dreams of conquest. But, I’m not beholden to the same limits here.” I held my hand out to Zinuetet, and after hesitating, she took it. “But there are others I respect, as well. Those that built. Architects, people that carved out a great legacy, created a culture, a religion, a way of life, a philosophy. Those people are respectable, not because of the merit of their ideas, but because of what they did.”

Zinuetet allowed herself to be led by me. “I don’t understand what you’re saying, Casimir.”

“I’m saying this—I want to create something. Just as those before me, yet entirely separate from them. Emulating nothing. Creating. Founding something larger than myself. To create something of such a grandiose scale that I am talked about as a part of life, rather than a spectator of it. And I want the same for you, as well.”

I paused, and turned around. “I love you very dearly. You are truly family to me—a sister. I have told you that is what I want out of my life. You have supported me more than I deserve, I think. So, in the future, come what may, I will always help you, whatever your goals may be.” I smiled. 

Zinuetet was dumbfounded, staring at me with wide eyes. “I…I… why say this now?”

I released her hand and walked away. “Who knows? Just felt like it. Maybe it’s because if I don’t say it now, it’ll never be said. Communication is the foundation of a good family, you know.”

I chose my room, and the door opened for my passage and shut in my wake.