GuNNhead

In their nights together before the birth, he speaks in whispers of things he had heard: the independent colonies, a different kind of life, where the child would be able to live free, as if on the former Earth, growing outside a chamber. She does not know why anyone would prefer that to the implantations and career assessment based on bio-rhythmic and measured neuron synapse response. A life without purpose, forced to find one on ones own. It simply made no sense. He speaks of natural, when she sees nothing wrong with normal. Why not become enhanced? Pure organics have been evolved, surpassed. Obsolescence.

—

It’s nighttime, calm; an open-air field of residential crafts. They all look similar. Slowly, the hangar door opens, spilling a bright white light into the dark field. The three figures burst out, and run frantically across the partially oxygenized open field of crafts, they know in their minds that what they are doing is wrong, insane; but their hearts tell them otherwise. Each in their orange suit, they wildly tear open each craft, hoping for one that will work, to carry them to safety, away from their pursuers. Will they be chased to the ends of Mars? It doesn’t matter; they’re being chased now. Finally, Maddie finds one that works, and they all pile in. Paul takes the control. The hatch closes, and the craft begins to lift shakily into the air, hovering with bursts fresh white exhaust firing out, steadying it. Armor-clad security run out onto the field, but it’s too little too late, they get close to the craft, red dust swirling about them. Their digitized voices call out into the night.
“Halt. Please land the craft and return the stolen property. It is pointless to attempt escape.”
The craft does not listen, and positions its course.
“Halt, or we will be forced to fire.”
As the craft begins to take flight, they fire their weapons at it. The laser-blasts fly past the ship as it departs, but one connects, the wing.
“Nice shot, soldier.” They return to the hangar.

Inside the craft, Laura begins to give birth in the midst of warning sirens and flashing red lights.
“It’s okay, I’ve read about this,” Maddie calmly states.
“Well that’s just great,” Paul says, looking backwards, “but do we even know where we’re going?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it, it has to be there, it can’t-” Laura stops mid-sentence to scream in pain.

Sunrise. The craft has crashed by a roadside, under a large overpass. They’re out of fuel, the wing is badly damaged, blackened, still partially smoking. Two figures walk in the distance towards to sunrise, at an angle veering away from the road. One of them did not survive the crash, but the child did. You can hear distorted voices, echoing in some future time.
“So, what is this place?”
“A rogue underground colony, apart from the Earth Corp. It’s a place where you are free to raise your own child, to be a family.”
“A family?”
“Freedom, you’ll see, it’s a good thing.”

This entry was posted on February 10, 2010 at 3:33 am and is filed under Fiction, Sci-Fi. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.