Times of Change I

A bit of fiction that may be non-fiction somewhere... 

In a different place and time another started a journey for different reasons. The knock came at 3am, a gentle tapping on the door. Xerces knew what he had done. He also knew the agency people would arrive shortly. He saw no need to have them break down the door. Why wake up the neighbors? They would all know in very short order anyway. Most thought him some sort of anarchist deviant anyway. He let out his breath and took his last look around his home for the last three years. Much had happened here. He hoped it was not all a waste of time. He opened the door. Several agency goons dressed all in black glared at him from the dimly lit hallway. A woman stepped forward.

 

“Xerces?” She said.

He held out his arm with the barcode tattoo he was given in late childhood. There would be no slam to the ground and being dragged away kicking and screaming as some times before. No, his last arrest was quiet and almost mundane.  Most of the others in the huge apartment complex slept through the whole thing. Anyone awake knew better than ask what was going on. No, it was wiser (and more healthy) to keep it simple and stick to one’s own business. The woman and four men rode down the elevator with him, the forty levels flying by. The death penalty was long gone but there are worse things than death. Darkness, heavy rain and fog greeted them all as they exited the building. He was handcuffed and placed in the back of a hover vehicle. The memory faded.     

Where is he from? Now that is a very good question, a very simple question, and in his case a trick question. Places always move. Atoms, elements, dust, living cells, beings, planets, stars, galaxies, groups of galaxies and time always in motion eternally. There is only the moment. Where is he from? No, the question should is be when was he from. This too is a trick. There is the when before he was an exile and the time since. The first concerns us here little. He does not know much about that time anymore. Time slowly evaporates memory. It has all faded. The time after becoming an exile he knows all. For, he has no choice. He has learned and learned. That after all is what an exile does. He thinks he remembers his name… Xerces. Sounds good. This is also his story to date. Now it is old news from the ancient past eternally slipping away.

The place Xerces is from is a collective of solar systems that over time became known as the Fellix federation. Humans had branched out over time moving into new systems taking what they needed along the way, regardless if they really needed it or not. The short version of the history of the Fellix Federation follows those of empire that came before and likely to come after. It started off a democratic city-state and in time became the envy of other city-states. It used this jealously to its advantage acquiring other city-states by any and every means possible; economic warfare, outright theft, assignations and similar thuggish means. If the above failed, open warfare based on lies and flimsy accusations lead to the desired acquisition. In time the democracy faded into something unrecognizable and unreal existing only in state sponsored mythology. The citizens continued to believe the stories because they had enough to eat and lived in relative comfort. One key facet of the Fellix Federation myth was to pretend that the other city-states joined by choice. Not being limited by one world or even one solar system, gave it the continuing flow of resources needed to sustain life well beyond the natural end point of similar systems. Those in power also stamped out the notion of privacy in all but the very highest levels of government and industry which had become basically one in the same. Enough food, entertainment and careful perception management kept all but a tiny fraction of the population in check. They had way of dealing with those who threatened the status quo. Brand them a threat of some sort and remove the threat. Xerces spied on those who asked questions for the powerful. He also spied for powerful people when they wanted to know more about other powerful people on a contract basis. Slowly, the state sponsored myths started to break down for him. It may have been one too many people “disappeared” or his thirst for knowledge and truth.            

Xerces is small and rather unremarkable which made him the perfect spy. He could go in and out of places unnoticed and seldom seen. This served him well until he started to learn more and more about the entities he served.  He knew all aspects of his craft, networks, humit, counter intelligence, making everyday people into espionage machines and how to be rid of them if they created a “problem”. He was on the fast track to making it somewhere high up in the machine. That is until he started to find out answers to his own nagging questions. Worse still, he shared his answers thus creating a tiny crack in the foundation of Fellix state power. Xerces hoped it was a start to a revolution he knew from years of experience was still at least a generation or so away.  He had no fear of execution. The death penalty may be gone but accidents still happened from time to time. But too many now knew his story. The Federation had something else in mind, something more useful.   

Exile, that is the term they use. In ages past he may have been put to death for his crime of questioning widely known or not. His exact crime is of little importance now. Let’s simply say he gave knowledge to those who were not expecting it and in doing so enraged the most powerful people of the whole Federation. A few still called for bringing back the death penalty in his case, an example was needed they argued. But in time calm reason won the day. There was talk of sending him back for more reeducation and retraining but this had been tried four times already. Poor stubborn Xerces never seemed to learn questioning things was not good for order much lass his own health. Exile was a punishment for this sort of thing, many thought to be worse than death itself. 

The idea is simple; make the less desirables deep space explorers, very deep space.  Advanced life support systems make death all but a sick joke. Immortality is a curse. Who wants to live on in good health knowing all your loved ones have grown old withered and died? There can never be any real rest crossing vast expanses only to cross another and another after that. The first exiles were sent out ages before Xerces came along and the knowledge they gained still flowed back but for the benefit of only a few. This may be the worse part of all. He knew they sent many after him. Who cares if they never return? In fact, they are not supposed to. Exile is for life, never ending life. There is no way out once the final decision is made. It only took a matter of days for his fate to be decided in a closed trial in a rather drab underground bunker. The hype quickly faded but the small crack remained. So he hoped.

With advanced life support systems and Hypersleep death is almost impossible. One can die in an accident or by getting himself killed by other beings or as in some cases, killing oneself. These poor options alone are the ways out of his sentence. Just two days after his sentence he was sent for training. The training was short, covering the basics of ship functions, systems functions and crew functions. They figure rightly so, he will have plenty of time to learn. "All the time in the world." Xerces thought. It was the last time he ever saw any friend or family member. Just before he was to leave they threw a going away party for him. It was much like being alive and fully present at his own funeral. They often spoke of him in the past tense. None spoke of what he did or the “system” that brought all to this sad point in time and space.  At least they knew he was still alive. Few are so lucky.

They put two or more exiles together. Being alone leads to madness, which does little for successful missions. Exiles sometimes still get bad ideas. Some have not done their assigned mission, but made it up as they went along. This turns out to still be okay. If they try to return to known areas already explored, they are killed. They have to go somewhere new. So new knowledge is still always gained. There is no alternative but to leave forever and that means forever. A form of suspended animation known as Hypersleep, was developed and refined over several generations.  No one exile is “put in charge”. Rather it is up to them to work it out as they go. If it does not work out, well the robot crew will take care of the situation and the mission continues with out exiles. Xerces soon found out he would not be alone on his trip through eternity.                          

Dzann is the opposite of Xerces, stunningly beautiful with long wavy blond hair and green eyes, social and noticed everywhere she went.  She is also a world renowned doctor and scientist who worked in an intelligence of a different sort, artificial intelligence. She wanted her research to help those hurt in accidents facing a lifetime of paralysis and or brain damage. She combined bioengineering with the use of intelligent micro-machines for the purposes of healing. The powers that be had other plans for he research. Monsters are what they wanted and she had no interest in bringing them into being. When she refused their generous offers, her life became very difficult. The end of a long good marriage, a ruined reputation and an empty bank account were just a few of the costs she incurred for not seeing the big picture. The Federation did not like loose ends so she wound up taking a similar path to exile.