The Weight of Being Chosen_ The night before launch, they gave us stars. Not real ones, projected ones, cast across the ceiling of Holding Bay Seven like a promise someone had already decided to break. I lay on my cot and watched them pulse, slow and rhythmic, designed to calm us. Everything here was designed to do something to us. The food made us sharper. The light made us sleep faster. Even the silence felt engineered. I was the only one still awake. Around me, nine hundred and ninety-nine of the most exceptional young minds humanity had ever produced breathed in quiet, dreamless sleep. Scientists. Engineers. Strategists. Artists , though I never understood why The Continuum wanted artists on a terraforming mission. Maybe beauty was part of the blueprint too. I stared at the fake stars and thought about my mother.
NEW EARTH PROTOCOL – Chapter 1
_The Weight of Being Chosen_The night before launch, they gave us stars.Not real ones, projected ones, cast across the of Holding Bay Seven like a promise someone had already decided to break. I lay on my cot and watched them pulse, slow and rhythmic, designed to calm us. Everything here was designed to do something to us. The food made us sharper. The light made us sleep faster. Even the silence felt engineered.I was the only one still awake.Around me, nine hundred and ninety-nine of the most exceptional young minds humanity had ever produced breathed in quiet, dreamless sleep. ...Read More
NEW EARTH PROTOCOL – Chapter 2
_Kepler-9_They told us the planet was ready for us.They were wrong.Kepler-9 greeted us the way a predator greets prey, patience. With stillness. With the kind of quiet that makes you feel watched even when there's nothing there. We descended through clouds the color of bruised silver, and when the Arken's landing doors finally opened, the air hit us like cold hands pressing against every inch of exposed skin.Nobody moved for a long moment.Then Director Solen stepped forward, arms wide, voice warm with manufactured wonder."Welcome to humanity's future."I watched the faces around me. The tears. The trembling lips. The way ...Read More