Union of the Stars: The 220th Hunger Games
SYOT: CLOSED
Summary:
After years and years of rebellion, all of Panem finally has a common enemy to unite them: a species of evolved humans called Mu. No one knows where they come from, only that their psychic abilities are devastating and manifest between the ages of 12 and 18. A deadly Mu revolt 50 years ago changed the face of Panem and the rules of the Hunger Games forever. Now the Mu are the ones fighting to the death while the Capitol and Districts watch on.
But little do the citizens of Panem and even the Mu themselves know...conspiracy lies at the heart of the Mu's existence, and it so happens to be written into the design of this year's arena.
Acknowledgements:
The Mu, associated plotlines, and a few of my side characters and tributes are adapted from a classic science fiction manga called Toward the Terra by Keiko Takemiya.
A huge thanks to everyone who submitted and continues to show an interest in this story! It wouldn't exist without you. I really did not anticipate receiving so many submissions, and all of them exceeded my expectations at that. I hope I can do them justice!
Extra Content:
If you are interested in worldbuilding notes, side character profiles, and updates on my progress, please visit my tumblr, mihanada - tumblr - com (replace - with .)
Side stories/ficlets for all tributes and side characters are cross-posted to tumblr and here (under the name Union of the Stars: Side Stories).
I also created a website for this story at unionofthestars - weebly - com (replace - with .) It's a fun mock-up site for Panem's 'Department of Psionic Research', here to tell you all about the Mu (or, at least all that the Capitol wants you to know about the Mu!).
Psionic Research Facility Lower Level 1, Department of Psionic Research
The Capitol, Panem
Kayvan fastens a thin metal bracelet around each of his wrists, vaguely wondering how the engineering department managed to fit psion suppressors into the narrow bands and whether they will hold up if a Mu decides to attack him. His superior assured him that none of the Capitol or Victor Mu would dare do such a thing, but Kayvan has his doubts. Everyone has seen the destructive power of those psion waves they wield against each other in the Games. Kayvan, with his normal human body, will be nothing but a blood splat on the wall if they use their powers on him.
One of his senior colleagues with far more experience than him follows in his footsteps to observe his session with the Mu he has been placed in charge of. The weight of her boots on the thick metal flooring is comforting as he takes a deep breath and steels himself to step through the doors into the holding area. When he is prepared, or as well prepared as he can be given the circumstances, he taps out the code and the doors slide open with a soft hiss. A blinking light above the door flashes in warning. They have five seconds to walk through before it closes again.
"CR-04," he says under his breath as they step beyond the threshold.
Cell doors line the hallway. There are far more resting just beneath the research facility than he ever thought possible. The average citizen is aware that the Capitol houses both the dangerous Victor Mu and their more docile Capitol counterparts, but even Kayvan had no idea there are this many. And he was born and raised in this city, too.
They pass many of the narrow cells filled with human-shaped beings. A scientist called Clemence dubbed them 'Mu' over seventy years ago, when the first one was found in District 6 and brought to the Capitol for examination.
"What do the letters stand for?" his colleague asks suddenly. A pop quiz of sorts. She said earlier that the department is fed up with hiring newbies who have no clue what they are working with before stepping into the building.
"Capitol, red type," he answers as he passes doors with green labels on the front. "Red types excel at amplification and object glazing."
Her lack of response tells him it was correct. They pass the rows of cells with green labels and into the reds.
Cell CR-04 is two rows in, locked with a keypad identical to all the others in the building.
Kayvan taps out the code his colleague gave him earlier. The codes change every few hours to avoid mishaps, so he stops repeating it in his head the moment the keypad blinks green in approval. He won't need it ever again.
The door slides open, revealing a sleet grey room with a white cot, toilet, sink, and a narrow bookshelf filled with the oddest baubles. It's cramped beyond belief, smaller than any of the closets back at home, but large enough to house a single human-shaped being.
A male Mu is sitting on the bed, absently playing with a wooden spring puzzle similar to one Kayvan remembers having as a child.
The Mu's file says that he is only a year, two months, five hours, seven minutes, and thirty-one seconds younger than Kayvan. Unlike the Victor Mu, who lead relatively normal lives before manifesting their inhuman natures, this Mu has been in the facility for twenty-one years. Kayvan cannot imagine growing up in a room this small, but the Mu appears fairly content and almost at peace.
A pair of brown eyes with a green tint to them turn to stare at Kayvan. The Mu looks utterly human, with a small smile on his face and a polite incline of his head. He sets the puzzle on the bed next to him carefully, then gets to his feet just as slowly. When he is finally in front of Kayvan, the smile has faded to a neutral expression.
Kayvan almost doesn't know what to say. His colleague said that he doesn't have to say anything if he doesn't want to, but this is the Mu he will be assigned to for the foreseeable future. Mu are half-human at best, but that human half means kindness and a firm hand goes a long way in training the violence out of them. The seminar on Mu-human interaction said so.
The Victor Mu, on the other hand…
Kayvan rubs the bracelet on his left wrist. This thing really is unnecessary.
"Hello, CR-04. I'm Kayvan Mettius, your new handler. What should I call you?" Kayvan asks. The Mu are only listed by their ID numbers, but many handlers give them names to make it easier to deal with them.
"Roan, if you need to," says the Mu. Kayvan expected his voice to be flat, as emotionless as the walls and impersonal as his ID number, but it's rather warm and familiar instead. It's a voice he can imagine on one of his friends, or even a random stranger he might meet at a coffee shop.
Kayvan inwardly laughs at his name, though. Roan's hair is muted auburn in color, thus the name. Apparently, whoever gave him that name was not the most creative person to walk through these walls.
"Can I call you Kayvan?" Roan asks after a few empty seconds.
Kayvan blinks curiously.
He sounds polite, cultured, even. His voice is certainly accented with the Capitol's dialect, but the wording is straightforward enough to startle Kayvan. Expectations aside, Capitol Mu are supposed to be more docile than their District-born brethren. A proper upbringing is absolutely necessary to ensure a Mu's cooperation and obedience, after all.
No one in the room moves while he composes himself, not even his colleague behind him.
"Yes, certainly. You can call me Kayvan, Roan." Trying out the Mu's name, Kayvan feels incredibly silly. Roan is a lackluster name, really.
Kayvan pretends to glance at the time flashing on the walls above each cell door outside. His colleague gave them enough time for him to speak to his assigned Mu for a few minutes, but he has no idea what else they could discuss.
"I suppose we can talk later on the train. It's almost time to go."
The Mu walks over to the shelf on the east wall of his cell and takes a thin metal chain off the shelf. A small, rounded metal disk with the Capitol's logo stamped on it dangles from the end. Kayvan remembers seeing an image of it in a presentation when he was struggling to get through the schooling necessary to even pass the initial applications to this place.
The disk is a suppressor. It won't prevent the stronger Mu from using their powers and it can be taken on and off easily just like Roan is currently doing, but it puts the citizens at ease. That's the most important part. The Capitol regulates and spearheads the struggle against the Mu. If they lose control, it'll mean chaos.
Roan switches the suppressor on, then leaves it to hang off his neck in clear view before walking over and nodding for Kayvan to lead the way out.
Background Information:
This information was originally intended to brief the submitters on the situation at hand in this AU. I have left it up in case anyone wants to read a condensed version of the reasoning behind the plot, but most of it should come up throughout the story if you prefer to learn it that way.
The Capitol and Districts have united against a common foe: the Mu, evolved humans with psychic abilities. According to scientists, their aim is to wipe out and replace humanity with their own kind. The Capitol now runs Hunger Games featuring only Mu. The Capitol and Districts still live with the same disparities of wealth from canon, but the very real danger that the Mu represent has taken top priority. Tensions still run high, but there is far less rebellion these days, at least from the average District citizens.
The catch is that Mu aren't evolved humans at all. Advances in genetic engineering led to the creation of a 'Mu factor' that gives a person psychic abilities (it's not real science, just go with it). Tired of the Districts rebelling every few decades, the Capitol used this discovery to create a common enemy.
-How do tributes get the Mu factor?
Mu can give other Mu a weaker version of their abilities (though they're still powerful enough). The Capitol sends out Capitol-born Mu, all loyal to the Capitol, to give random babies the Mu factor during mandatory infant vaccinations that occur at the same time as the reapings. This way, they know how many tributes they will 'discover' in any given year.
-How do the reapings work?
Reapings are performed under the guise of weeding out the Mu from the population. The Capitol claims their abilities manifest from age 12 to 18. The reaping is performed using a large metal scanner.
Mu abilities can actually manifest a little earlier or later. Any Mu discovered outside the 12-18 range are killed in an 'accident' which is covered up.
Some tributes do not realize they are Mu until the reapings.
Other tributes "successfully" hide their abilities. I say "successfully" because the screening is rigged to overlook some Mu during the reapings to give credibility to the "abilities manifest from age 12 to 18" thing.