Prologue
"It's an apt name, Pandora." Gaarde said as he stared out the window that made up his office's entire rear wall.
"Waizat?" Lorn asked as he stared at the centerfold of the nudie mag he held.
"You don't actually care, do you?" Gaarde asked.
"No, but I know how much you love the sound of your voice," Lorn replied.
"Touche'." Gaarde admitted. "Pandora was a character from old earth mythology. A young woman gifted with perhaps the most dangerous trait imaginable."
"Sword arms?"
Gaarde sighed. "Curiosity."
"Ohhhh...I see, this is one of them...metathings."
"Metaphors. Yes. Pandora was once given a box, sometimes in the story it's a jar, and she's told never to open it."
"Then why did they give it to her?"
"Because they knew she would."
"Dick move."
"Should I just stop?"
Lorn set the magazine down. "No, I'm actually mildly interested now."
Gaarde turned away from the window and leaned forward on the back of the decadently padded office chair that sat behind his desk. "They knew she would...and they knew it was a lesson that had to be learned. So, of course, unable to control herself, Pandora opened the box and all the terrible things in the world sprang out. Greed, violence, hatred, etc. etc."
"Must have been a big box."
"It's a story. It didn't actually happen. Physics take a back seat."
"Oh. So then what didn't happen?"
"Just when Pandora was ready to despair at what she had unleashed upon the world, one last thing came out. It was called Elpis."
"Like the moon?"
"That's where they got the name, yes, but in the story, Elpis was the spirit of hope. And her first act was to give Pandora hope. Hope that, despite all this evil now out in the world, there was still a chance that people would rise above it."
"Hmmm," Lorn said non-noncommittally.
"I just find it interesting that the history of this world follows its namesake so closely. We settled it out of curiosity, searching for mineral wealth, then vaults, anything that could make us richer, and instead we woke monsters, both alien and human."
"Going by the story, would that mean there's still hope?"
"I hope not," Gaarde said, smiling wickedly at the irony of his choice of words. "People are much easier to control when they have no hope."
As if on cue, a voice rang out of the intercom on his desk. "We have achieved geosynch orbit over the target, sir. Awaiting your order."
Gaarde leaned in and pressed the talk button. "The order is given."
"Acknowledged. Moonshot salvo launching in five."
Gaarde turned back to the window to watch as the large metal bullets rocketed from Helios Station down toward the planet.
"No hope," he said softly. "Only Hyperion."