The Lightbreakers of Orpheus [20]

A serialised Sci-fi novelette.

Previously [19]

[20]

Once Orpheus was a peaceful planet of red sand, and green forests, a wonderland of mismatched colours, hiding treasure beneath its surface. Green giants walked the red sands. Green giants tended the gardens. They didn’t care for precious metals hidden by Orpheus’ red crust.

Then came humans. They came armed and ready to conquer, and no matter how the green giants begged them to stop, no matter what they said, humans didn’t care. The green giants were animals, therefore they did not speak. Orpheus was to be cleared from all harmful wildlife. Calling them animals justified the many killings. Humans slaughtered, they build houses upon the graves of those whom they killed. They gave the green giants an ugly name. Murblards. Green and dumb. Considered dangerous. When, finally, the green, peace-loving giants gathered to fight back, it was too late. How could they had won, when there wasn’t a word for “war” in their language? After the red sand of Orpheus was soaked in the black blood of Murblards, the green giants retreated; they hid in their caves, in deep forests, in stony canyons under red mists. But they never forgot. They grew, and they waited.

The human population overtook the planet with a parasitic persistence, and voracious speed. The planet was in need of an iron fist to rule over all the opportunists digging every unsupervised patch of the land for precious metals. The Government rised, and ruled Orpheus ruthlessly, until resistance gave them the first blow. The Rebels were a band of ragtag space-warriors, fighting for justice. They didn’t stand a chance against the Government’s special GHOUL forces. Until the Rebels found some influential friends outside Orpheus, who had their eyes set on the precious planet. Thus, the war began, and it went on tearing the planet apart until a small event, that would turn the tides, and give way to a new power waiting patiently for its time to emerge.

A young man lay on an operation table. His eyes were covered with a device implanted straight into his eyes. Stiches all over his shaved skull. He was slowly waking. Two men stood by his bed.

“How long have you been a part of it?” Captain Derek asked his elderly friend.

“For years,” the bald Doc replied.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You were married to Sophie, and we didn’t trust her. You raised her and a Rebel officer’s daughter. Your family had connection to the Rebels. We couldn’t risk…”

“You knew me, Doc!” Derek interjected.

“I know the Rebels. Those scumbags will shoot you with smiles on their faces, all the while yapping about building a better future. They’re brainwashed for life.”

“Do we stand a chance?”

“The united forces of the Peacekeepers are capable of tackling the Rebels. We just need that tiny crack in their defense. Then we’ll take them by surprise, and use their tech against the Government,” Doc explained.

Derek shook his head. “All these years you have known me, and still you didn’t trust me.”

“I do trust you. But timing is everything,” Doc Benton looked into Derek’s face. “I welcome you into the forces of the Peacekeepers of Orpheus, Captain Derek.”

The young man on the operation table stirred.

“Mark? Can you hear me?” Doc Benton asked.

The latter nodded slowly.

***

Anouk woke slowly, though it didn’t really matter whether she was asleep or awake. She was drugged most of the time, strapped onto a hospital bed, and fed through tubes planted into her flesh. They took her kidney, they took patches of skin from her thighs. Nobody spoke to her. The dead eyes of androids tending after her were a menacing sign of the malice yet to come. She wasn’t human anymore. Just a living organ factory, waiting to be stripped of every bit of her body patch by patch. She wasn’t treated as a human, while her biological father hoped to regain his humanity by stripping Anouk of hers.

She lay on the bed, tears slowly rolling down her cheeks.

“Daddy, please save me… where are you, Daddy?” Anouk whispered.

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