I wrote this some time back in 08 or 09 I think.
Parallax
I wake up and the sounds of the sirens are already willing me into action, the slightly displeasing static sound that would make any further mental rest impossible mixed with the divine sounds of Goddess’ voice, reminding us of the wonderful day ahead of us, working for Her, working to give Her more power and more dominion over the world.
“You serve only Me, your will, your mind, your body, your soul is Mine. You all know this because you wouldn’t have it any other way.”
I look around at the rusty iron bars that make up my cage, I see others like myself stirring also, I don’t look for long as I seem to feel that I can’t make out their faces no matter how hard I try, all of them featureless masses of flesh without personality. I realise that I am the same as they are. I am not human; merely object. But I can not dwell on these thoughts. It’s always the same. Harsh white lights; a mockery of daylight shines down on us as we are to examine our filthy bodies and prepare ourselves for the day ahead.
I look up at the camera which is positioned in the far left corner so that it has a perfect view of our sleeping positions, I read the sign just below it knowingly, even lovingly: Goddess is always watching. I move forward a little, still in line of sight of the camera to the alter, and there perform the daily ritual common to all devotees of the Goddess, the daily act of surrender.
“I surrender to You, oh Divine One, I exist only to further Your power and soon the rest of the human race shall follow suit.” I say this with eyes averted from the depiction of our most beautiful Goddess, but look up at it lovingly after the short prayer. I examine the image and simply drown in the symbolism and aesthetic revelry that my eyes are drawn into. It seems so alien, so unknown, so powerful. I couldn’t have such power and wouldn’t want to. Best just to serve Her. My flesh whole-heartedly agrees with my train of thought but something else stirs… Without emotion… balance is required… Stop. Then just the static… strange. Best get to work, our cell doors opening now, I move out eagerly, deciding to set my intent straight and follow the flesh.
I amble out of my cage and join the long lines of indistinguishable figures, hundreds of men, and even some women, queuing for their daily intake of minerals and vitamins, Goddess’ voice now rings a new message “Work harder for Me today. Give Me everything, I deserve it.” We receive our intake from machines that operate slowly and roughly, impersonal dispensers that allow one serving for every soul surrendered. We place our refuse cups in the empty dispensers along with our gifts for the Goddess, the little cups of essence that we are to prepare each six-hour rest period. After this queue we move towards the mines, six huge fields of rocks which have, by my reckoning, roughly a couple of hundred people working them each day. On the way there we have a clear view of the immolation chamber where workers who are of no use are tortured slowly before being put to death, all the while revelling in the humiliating laughter of our Goddess who rings now, “You’re of no use to Me anymore, you are worthless swine. Take in my image one last time before I dispose of you.” This is the final destination for each of us, our retirement package, our one thing to look forward to after a life of slavery. I had a feeling that the Goddess was personally responsible for the messages broadcast in the immolation room, they were always different and seemed fresh, it seemed as if She actually watched the frail die, as if She took great pleasure in watching the poor hapless souls who had worked for Her for a good part of their life, die slowly and painfully. When I really had time to think about it I would sometimes fleet over the idea that it was such a logical paradox to want to serve such a sadistic power. I rarely had time for thoughts like these though. What else was there if not this, here and now? As I have almost passed the immolation room I hear the broadcast stop. I can feel the crowd grow slightly unsettled through the slight shuffling of the mass, still no communication, no eye contact, no human interaction. Goddess’ voice has faltered, panic! We all continue towards our scheduled labour hoping that things will become clear in good time. I speak as if I know the thoughts of my companions, but I really have no clue about what they’re thinking.
We reach our work places where Goddess’ voice can be heard again by our gracious ears, and begin to crack open the ground beneath us for pieces of rock which would be able to withstand the machine’s quantum pressuriser. Our bodies are weak and brittle, but we are fuelled by our singular purpose and this is enough to keep us working. This day like every other would produce a multitude of very valuable stones for our Goddess just on this field alone. I continue working throughout the day neither happy or sad which was normal but I find it hard to switch my mind off, something keeps stirring, the same thing that I felt this morning. I remember now, I used to call those ‘dreams’. Goddess’ voice stops all of a sudden but this time I realise that somehow I had known it was going to happen. I feel a mixture of anxiety and excitement. When a new voice speaks I am not surprised at all.
The new voice transmits loud and clear over the airwaves,
“You have been, for years now, trapped in an illusion. You’ve become a slave to a god that doesn’t exist. You have been mindlessly building a wall to keep yourself free of emotion. It’s now time to break down those walls and rediscover your own lives. I speak these words out of love for you.” As quick as that and I remembered what it was like to feel. By the time I realised this it was all I could do to look around at the crowd. They were all on the ground, on their knees or lying down, crying, some with smiles on their faces, some with despair. It was at this point I felt my own tears rolling down my face.
*******************
It begins in a dream. Early morning sun, bright and warm, infuses the soul with happiness and hope. The eternal cycle, another day begins. All of a sudden the light disappears and all that’s left is a cold sickening feeling. In the distance I can see despair, I feel an urgent need to escape. The Mercury symbol appears, cold and black, like jet and a voice begins to speak:
“Your brethren are in trouble… If you are to realise your quest, you must first restore their freedom. Without emotion the vessel can only substantiate for so long, balance is required for the free flow of feminine and masculine energies to develop and grow. Without this a dam of energy will be created. Stop this while you can. Be conquered but not intimidated.”
I awake in a cold sweat just like I knew I would.
I forget about it for now, time to analyse that later. I put on a pot of coffee and I try to survey my situation. Another two days to wait in this God-forsaken world before I can hook up the delivery job I’m waiting for. Another step closer to home and just that little bit closer to that pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.
It’s wet outside and the light here seems constantly grey, it feels like a fluorescent pseudo-light. This isn’t surprising, as the technology they use to light worlds like this is generally makeshift in nature, enough to do the job and get things done. No substitute for real genuine atmospheric starlight like they have on developed first-plane worlds. That thought again… home.
The population on moons like these were generally sparse but this one was particularly barren. There couldn’t be more than a few hundred people living or working around these docks which has given the place the appearance of a ghost town. You mightn’t see a person for hours on end unless there was a job that was being done. Considering this lack of stimulation I begin to focus more on the dream I had experienced before awakening. I had experienced dreams like this before, and as had become usual following such an experience, I recognised in myself a state of great restlessness. I feel an urge to go exploring despite the eerie quality of the desolate rock.
Flying to the docks I quickly examine the schematics of the industrial layout for this moon. Fifty-three different industries, each with it’s own corporate logo. I immediately recognise one as the Mercury symbol… ‘Circe industries’, twenty-two degrees east, fourteen degrees south, a quick flight. Looking on the map I can see that the location is around a great cavern, it seems to be a mining company, I think to myself, and this is confirmed through a quick stat-check through my cog-link to skyweb. I get back into my Light-Speeder and make for the gaping hole in the rock. I can already see from the sky tiny figures working the mine and I decide to land a little way away and walk up for a closer inspection. No use rousing the locals for no good reason, right?
Walking past the mines I see figures, or hardly figures, pounding the earth below them, releasing rocks with tools and dispersing them to other allotments where more wretches used machines that allowed them slowly to turn the rocks into perfect shining diamonds. I wondered where these tiny treasures were being transported. This machinery must cost a mint, but it’s not that uncommon to find this sort of operation on a border moon. The figures themselves were a worrying sight… These were tortured souls feigning happiness and contentment to the life that they lead; their faces were blank like they had let go of all tension. These were not people, they were just bodies doing the rounds. The Mercury symbol gently super-imposes itself over my vision and it starts to make a little more sense, the mornings dream I mean.
Scanning the surroundings quickly I head for the most obvious place for a control centre, a small building at the top of the cliff, attached to the complex below only via a lift tube. I fly my Light-Speeder for a few minutes in the direction of the building and reach it without being noticed. I land maybe thirty feet away from the property and am surprised to find little to no security around the building.
I walk into the structure and behold an Angel, a figure with perfect white wings flowing behind a pallid figure, a feminine form, beautiful but also somewhat sickening. Her hair is a dark red shade and her eyes are all iris, no colour in them, just white.
“I have been waiting for you” she says to me, “I see you got the message from my brother Mercury. These men have been waiting for you too, they don’t realise it though. Well, the deal is complete as soon as you are ready to make good on your end.”
In confusion I stammer, “Uh… look… I think you’re mistaken lady, I don’t know who you are or what is going on here but I-”
“What, he didn’t tell you?” She interrupts in a bemused tone that seems to make my flesh tingle with delight, “That’s perfect.”
I look around as I notice an extreme source of heat somewhere in the room. On the wall is a sun portal, I’ve only ever seen one of these before and that was on an odd job delivering some off the market delicacies to a multi-billionaire corporate director.
“You have some sort of control over your workers… I don’t think they are being kept under satisfactory conditions, what have you done here?”
“Actually you’re wrong, those ghosts are free to leave any time they choose. They simply have nothing else to live for, they have forgotten how to be human. I simply provide them with purpose.”
I could tell that whoever this nut-job sorceress was, she believed what she was saying. I felt physically disgusted about the situation but at the same time her image was changing before my very eyes, her colour now was toned and quite alluring. She seemed now tall but not imposing, her eyes an emerald green, her hair was the colour of golden brown. As I felt a strong draw toward her I noticed a metallic taste in my mouth and my vision of her changed quickly back to her original image. I remember the voice, ‘be conquered but not intimidated.’
Knowing now somehow exactly what to do, I walk over to a control panel on a wall. I see screens monitoring various sections of the complex, I can see that things here are pretty messed up. I press a button and talk into a microphone but it’s not my voice that’s coming out of my mouth, nor are the words of my design. Soon after I see the figures on the screen, looking as if they had awoken from some kind of extended hibernation. I look back and see my new captor smiling, her visage now malleable at my will.
“Don’t worry, I know I have no power over you” she says, “I know what my brother is like… I guess I just realised things needed to change too.”
There’s a pause while I realise exactly what was transpiring… Metallic taste is stronger now.
I get it… me for them. It’s okay though, home can wait.
