<Snipped quote by Webmaster>

I... Don't think this is me.
*Whips my head up and to the side as a few more gunshots and an explosion can be clearly heard a few levels above us*

I'm starting to think we might not be alone*
*Scoots up until my back's at the wall and the floor slides beneath my shoes*

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

<Snipped quote by Legend>

We'd love to.
*Stands as well with a smile, cup in hand*

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

I—...
*Glances over to Vector*

*I turn and head for the door. As we pass through, space warps and seethes for a moment, and we are somewhere else.*

*We stand atop the flat concrete roof of an office building, its tinted windows gleaming in the city lights. Overhead, the night sky roils with dark clouds; it's not raining, but it's not far off from it either. The surroundings form an endless sprawl of urban construction, a yawning monster of steel and glass and asphalt. Jumbotrons mounted atop the various buildings display advertisements for all manner of luxuries, from the mundane--fine dining, cruises, exotic entertainment--to the fantastical--domestic service androids, autonomous cars, and pleasure journeys across the Solar System. Interspersed between the ads are recruitment messages depicting men in mottled camo exo-armor and icons of a black flag with thirteen gold stars arranged in a circle, a single larger star in its center.*

The Sol Cooperative. The City of Union, to be more specific. Beautiful, isn't it? In a brutalist, technocratic sort of way.

This is an illustrative tool of sorts; I'll bring us back in a moment.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

<Snipped quote by Legend>

*I turn and head for the door. As we pass through, space warps and seethes for a moment, and we are somewhere else.*

*We stand atop the flat concrete roof of an office building, its tinted windows gleaming in the city lights. Overhead, the night sky roils with dark clouds; it's not raining, but it's not far off from it either. The surroundings form an endless sprawl of urban construction, a yawning monster of steel and glass and asphalt. Jumbotrons mounted atop the various buildings display advertisements for all manner of luxuries, from the mundane--fine dining, cruises, exotic entertainment--to the fantastical--domestic service androids, autonomous cars, and pleasure journeys across the Solar System. Interspersed between the ads are recruitment messages depicting men in mottled camo exo-armor and icons of a black flag with thirteen gold stars arranged in a circle, a single larger star in its center.*

The Sol Cooperative. The City of Union, to be more specific. Beautiful, isn't it? In a brutalist, technocratic sort of way.

This is an illustrative tool of sorts; I'll bring us back in a moment.

*Nods, taking in the scene*
Fascinating indeed. You said this is a meaningful civilization to you?

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Nods, taking in the scene*
Fascinating indeed. You said this is a meaningful civilization to you?

Of course. Socialist, but degenerated enough from its prior ideals that, in some places, it's a kleptocracy with a red coat of paint. Everyone skims a little off the top and treats their sons and daughters like royalty; you stay in line and you get your pork, same as the rest of 'em. Princelings, I think they were called in the old People's Republic of China.

*I smirk.*

I ought to find myself a princeling or two to live off.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Of course. Socialist, but degenerated enough from its prior ideals that, in some places, it's a kleptocracy with a red coat of paint. Everyone skims a little off the top and treats their sons and daughters like royalty; you stay in line and you get your pork, same as the rest of 'em. Princelings, I think they were called in the old People's Republic of China.

*I smirk.*

I ought to find myself a princeling or two to live off.

Mmmm... how about the commonfolks of society? What sorts of lives do they live here?

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

Mmmm... how about the commonfolks of society? What sorts of lives do they live here?

See for yourself.

*I gesture to a newscast blaring from one of the enormous screens. A made-up female anchor speaks into the screen, while videos of parked police vehicles and protestors being taken into custody by faceless enforcers scroll past.*

NEWSCASTER: A riot in South Union was broken up yesterday following a disturbance at an unregistered religious meeting. Police say the self-proclaimed priest attempted to flee when asked for his credentials and was taken into custody, leading to a confrontation between armed agitators and government forces. No one was hurt and the disturbance is under--

*I clench my fist and the screen begins to distort.*

Now let's see the truth.

*The screen changes. Now it's bodycam footage of an apartment door being kicked in, of scared parishioners gathering behind a man in Catholic vestments. One of the rifle-toting policemen demands the names of everyone there; the priest refuses. He steps forward and cracks the old man across the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him to the floor as his flock screams and scatters, and the footage ends with the recording officer reaching to turn his bodycam off. Then, there's footage of bottles and rocks bouncing off of riot shields, of those same faceless enforcers knocking down and beating the protestors, and finally, gunsmoke and blood in the air as live ammunition is discharged into the crowds. People hit the ground. Some are screaming and writhing as they bleed. Some aren't moving at all.*

*I release my fist and the screen returns to normal.*

Fourteen "commonfolk" died yesterday. Seventy-three are still in the hospital, survival doubtful. Not one of the men who fired those shots will face any consequences from the law or their superiors.

*I huff.*

Of course, if any of those men were to happen upon some misfortune while treading through the more dangerous parts of Union, I doubt any workingman would report it.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

See for yourself.

*I gesture to a newscast blaring from one of the enormous screens. A made-up female anchor speaks into the screen, while videos of parked police vehicles and protestors being taken into custody by faceless enforcers scroll past.*

NEWSCASTER: A riot in South Union was broken up yesterday following a disturbance at an unregistered religious meeting. Police say the self-proclaimed priest attempted to flee when asked for his credentials and was taken into custody, leading to a confrontation between armed agitators and government forces. No one was hurt and the disturbance is under--

*I clench my fist and the screen begins to distort.*

Now let's see the truth.

*The screen changes. Now it's bodycam footage of an apartment door being kicked in, of scared parishioners gathering behind a man in Catholic vestments. One of the rifle-toting policemen demands the names of everyone there; the priest refuses. He steps forward and cracks the old man across the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him to the floor as his flock screams and scatters, and the footage ends with the recording officer reaching to turn his bodycam off. Then, there's footage of bottles and rocks bouncing off of riot shields, of those same faceless enforcers knocking down and beating the protestors, and finally, gunsmoke and blood in the air as live ammunition is discharged into the crowds. People hit the ground. Some are screaming and writhing as they bleed. Some aren't moving at all.*

*I release my fist and the screen returns to normal.*

Fourteen "commonfolk" died yesterday. Seventy-three are still in the hospital, survival doubtful. Not one of the men who fired those shots will face any consequences from the law or their superiors.

*I huff.*

Of course, if any of those men were to happen upon some misfortune while treading through the more dangerous parts of Union, I doubt any workingman would report it.

*Clenches my fist and grits my teeth at the injustice*
How dare they?

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

See for yourself.

*I gesture to a newscast blaring from one of the enormous screens. A made-up female anchor speaks into the screen, while videos of parked police vehicles and protestors being taken into custody by faceless enforcers scroll past.*

NEWSCASTER: A riot in South Union was broken up yesterday following a disturbance at an unregistered religious meeting. Police say the self-proclaimed priest attempted to flee when asked for his credentials and was taken into custody, leading to a confrontation between armed agitators and government forces. No one was hurt and the disturbance is under--

*I clench my fist and the screen begins to distort.*

Now let's see the truth.

*The screen changes. Now it's bodycam footage of an apartment door being kicked in, of scared parishioners gathering behind a man in Catholic vestments. One of the rifle-toting policemen demands the names of everyone there; the priest refuses. He steps forward and cracks the old man across the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him to the floor as his flock screams and scatters, and the footage ends with the recording officer reaching to turn his bodycam off. Then, there's footage of bottles and rocks bouncing off of riot shields, of those same faceless enforcers knocking down and beating the protestors, and finally, gunsmoke and blood in the air as live ammunition is discharged into the crowds. People hit the ground. Some are screaming and writhing as they bleed. Some aren't moving at all.*

*I release my fist and the screen returns to normal.*

Fourteen "commonfolk" died yesterday. Seventy-three are still in the hospital, survival doubtful. Not one of the men who fired those shots will face any consequences from the law or their superiors.

*I huff.*

Of course, if any of those men were to happen upon some misfortune while treading through the more dangerous parts of Union, I doubt any workingman would report it.

*Pauses to consider the scene for a moment*
Ah, once more the law of nature comes into effect. The strong rule the weak, by threat of death—the common thread of mankind's woes.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Pauses to consider the scene for a moment*
Ah, once more the law of nature comes into effect. The strong rule the weak, by threat of death—the common thread of mankind's woes.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Clenches my fist and grits my teeth at the injustice*
How dare they?

How dare they, indeed. A... history lesson of sorts might illustrate my point.

*With a flick of my hand, I conjure an image, or multiple, to be exact. US Marines land on the shores south of Shanghai, advancing against heavy enemy fire with the aid of the Air Force. The last oil derrick in Texas falls still as the reservoirs dry up. Stock indexes fall to lows not seen since 1929. People march in the streets crying out for change; others take the opportunity to loot whatever they can grab. People are hungry, broke, and deeply afraid.*

*Then, boom. A mushroom cloud over Washington, DC. When it clears, half the city is simply gone.*

I'll give it to this world; freedom and liberty lasted quite a while under quite a bit of pressure. But nothing lasts forever. Resource wars, global famine, economic crisis after economic crisis... by the end of it, all it took was some domestic terrorists and a loose nuke from the Great Asian War to obliterate democracy forever. Martial law came; the rest of the world soon followed.

*Then, rebellion. Student protests in Europe and Asia escalate into a proletarian revolution. Borders fall, nations unite under the Terran Cooperative, a collective built on the ideology of Technocratic Socialism, a socialism for the new age. There is war between the Cooperative and the military juntas of Africa and the Americas, and then, again, kaboom. New York, London, Beijing, Moscow, and a hundred other cities all gone. Above their ruins stands the flag of the Cooperative, finally triumphant.*

This is what they fought for. The world unified under a common banner for the common man, where people could finally live free of capitalistic domination and pursue their passions as part of a unified, post-industrial collective. All it costed was eight years of war, three thousand nuclear bombs, and a third of humanity.

*I point upward.*

That's not a storm cloud. That's ash from the cities that went up in smoke 130 years ago, still in the atmosphere; nuclear winter doesn't end, you just get used to it. They bulldozed the still-smoking remains of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York and compacted them into the foundations of Union. This city is a memorial to how far the Cooperative's forefathers went in pursuit of freedom.

*I laugh darkly.*

Now look where we are.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

<Snipped quote by Legend>

How dare they, indeed. A... history lesson of sorts might illustrate my point.

*With a flick of my hand, I conjure an image, or multiple, to be exact. US Marines land on the shores south of Shanghai, advancing against heavy enemy fire with the aid of the Air Force. The last oil derrick in Texas falls still as the reservoirs dry up. Stock indexes fall to lows not seen since 1929. People march in the streets crying out for change; others take the opportunity to loot whatever they can grab. People are hungry, broke, and deeply afraid.*

*Then, boom. A mushroom cloud over Washington, DC. When it clears, half the city is simply gone.*

I'll give it to this world; freedom and liberty lasted quite a while under quite a bit of pressure. But nothing lasts forever. Resource wars, global famine, economic crisis after economic crisis... by the end of it, all it took was some domestic terrorists and a loose nuke from the Great Asian War to obliterate democracy forever. Martial law came; the rest of the world soon followed.

*Then, rebellion. Student protests in Europe and Asia escalate into a proletarian revolution. Borders fall, nations unite under the Terran Cooperative, a collective built on the ideology of Technocratic Socialism, a socialism for the new age. There is war between the Cooperative and the military juntas of Africa and the Americas, and then, again, kaboom. New York, London, Beijing, Moscow, and a hundred other cities all gone. Above their ruins stands the flag of the Cooperative, finally triumphant.*

This is what they fought for. The world unified under a common banner for the common man, where people could finally live free of capitalistic domination and pursue their passions as part of a unified, post-industrial collective. All it costed was eight years of war, three thousand nuclear bombs, and a third of humanity.

*I point upward.*

That's not a storm cloud. That's ash from the cities that went up in smoke 130 years ago, still in the atmosphere; nuclear winter doesn't end, you just get used to it. They bulldozed the still-smoking remains of Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York and compacted them into the foundations of Union. This city is a memorial to how far the Cooperative's forefathers went in pursuit of freedom.

*I laugh darkly.*

Now look where we are.

I see... As always, my deepest regrets go out to these people. It is a shame to be ruled by threat to life, the very thing they hold most precious. It's certainly a condition ripe for abuse.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

I see... As always, my deepest regrets go out to these people. It is a shame to be ruled by threat to life, the very thing they hold most precious. It's certainly a condition ripe for abuse.

Do you know the definition of a state? It maintains sovereignty over a territory, it has a government, and it is the only legitimate user of force in that territory.

There is no state that rules by any other method than threat to life. That's why this little experiment humanity made, this idea of rising above itself, failed.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Do you know the definition of a state? It maintains sovereignty over a territory, it has a government, and it is the only legitimate user of force in that territory.

There is no state that rules by any other method than threat to life. That's why this little experiment humanity made, this idea of rising above itself, failed.

Ah!
*Claps once*
I see why you've brought us here. Yes, a government's power comes because it wields death. Even in brief periods of order, chaos lurks beneath the surface as the stabler state, ready to erupt at a moment's notice. But the key is that while they agreed to set aside death momentarily, wielding its power proved greater than the power of their agreement. So in order to rob death of its strength, mankind must bind itself behind something that naturally defies death.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

Ah!
*Claps once*
I see why you've brought us here. Yes, a government's power comes because it wields death. Even in brief periods of order, chaos lurks beneath the surface as the stabler state, ready to erupt at a moment's notice. But the key is that while they agreed to set aside death momentarily, wielding its power proved greater than the power of their agreement. So in order to rob death of its strength, mankind must bind itself behind something that naturally defies death.

*I smile.*

You understand now. Only that which unites itself in the eternal can ever be eternal. Unfortunately, it seems ideals of liberty can very much perish from this earth, as this world shows; the fall of the Axis Powers, and the fall of the Berlin Wall forty years later, shows that neither communism nor fascism is what we're looking for either. Even technocracy, government by the learned man, doesn't last, as this pitiful little world government can show you.

The question, then, is what, in a universe defined by laws of entropy and inevitable decay, can ever truly defy death? Can anything?

In truth, I doubt such a thing exists.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

*I smile.*

You understand now. Only that which unites itself in the eternal can ever be eternal. Unfortunately, it seems ideals of liberty can very much perish from this earth, as this world shows; the fall of the Axis Powers, and the fall of the Berlin Wall forty years later, shows that neither communism nor fascism is what we're looking for either. Even technocracy, government by the learned man, doesn't last, as this pitiful little world government can show you.

The question, then, is what, in a universe defined by laws of entropy and inevitable decay, can ever truly defy death? Can anything?

In truth, I doubt such a thing exists.

*Chuckles to myself*
You know, I've heard humans use "love" to answer that question before. I do truly wish that idealism was correct. It humbles and reminds me that we're all coming from a different place.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Chuckles to myself*
You know, I've heard humans use "love" to answer that question before. I do truly wish that idealism was correct. It humbles and reminds me that we're all coming from a different place.

Considering how much of human media depicts the collapse of love, whether it be erotic, romantic, or platonic, I find such sentiments laughably inauthentic. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you on the idealism part, but it's like humans have never once looked in the mirror whenever they say that.

*I look out over the city, and point to the northeast horizon.*

In North Union, in between where Philly and NYC used to be, there's a skyscraper over a mile tall. They call it Union Tower--creative, I know. 400 short years ago, they struggled to make any building taller than, oh, eighty feet. In the last 300 years, they went from crude ballistic rockets used to bomb cities to relativistic arkships capable of ferrying tens of thousands of people to other stars. When they obliterated their previous civilization with their bombs, it took them less than fifty years to claw their way back to their old standard of living.

These people have potential, but they don't understand it and they don't understand themselves. They never will, not in an environment like this.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Considering how much of human media depicts the collapse of love, whether it be erotic, romantic, or platonic, I find such sentiments laughably inauthentic. Don't get me wrong, I agree with you on the idealism part, but it's like humans have never once looked in the mirror whenever they say that.

*I look out over the city, and point to the northeast horizon.*

In North Union, in between where Philly and NYC used to be, there's a skyscraper over a mile tall. They call it Union Tower--creative, I know. 400 short years ago, they struggled to make any building taller than, oh, eighty feet. In the last 300 years, they went from crude ballistic rockets used to bomb cities to relativistic arkships capable of ferrying tens of thousands of people to other stars. When they obliterated their previous civilization with their bombs, it took them less than fifty years to claw their way back to their old standard of living.

These people have potential, but they don't understand it and they don't understand themselves. They never will, not in an environment like this.

And yet, though you show us all the horrors of death and war, there is a force more powerful. Tell me, what is it that gives death its power? Why do humans rule by death?

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

And yet, though you show us all the horrors of death and war, there is a force more powerful. Tell me, what is it that gives death its power? Why do humans rule by death?

Because of the animal drive of humanity--and all life--that asserts that life must continue at any cost.

Because of fear.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Because of the animal drive of humanity--and all life--that asserts that life must continue at any cost.

Because of fear.

*Grins*
You hit the nail on the head. Humans fear death. Death is also the ultimate enforcement of control. A dead man cannot resist the living.

<Snipped quote by Tank O The Lake>

*Grins*
You hit the nail on the head. Humans fear death. Death is also the ultimate enforcement of control. A dead man cannot resist the living.

Indeed. Of course, this planet knows that, but applies fear rather inexpertly; it projects its fear in such a way that the projection outlines the spots out of its view. Hence my prior comment about unfortunate incidents befalling the officers in that little shooting.

<Snipped quote by Etcetera>

Indeed. Of course, this planet knows that, but applies fear rather inexpertly; it projects its fear in such a way that the projection outlines the spots out of its view. Hence my prior comment about unfortunate incidents befalling the officers in that little shooting.

*Finally speaks up again*
There are fates worse than death.
*Glances toward Vector for approval*