Civilization on Planet was difficult for the first few years for its new inhabitants. Their first cities were living epitomes of the poor mans duct tape to repair a cracked radiator. Despite this however, the people had hope for themselves. Each separate faction wanted their cities to stretch across the entire Cantauri globular, from Alpha to Zeta, Lambda, Pi, and everything in between. What faction wouldn't want to say, "My people live in the finest star system in our known universe"? After a score nearly all communications were up, and the factions could freely trade and negotiate. Except for one faction...
Chairman Yang of the Hive had decided, without the consent of his fellow faction leaders, to have an isolationist empire. 'My people needn't be concerned in world affairs,' was his theory, 'because once they're exposed to free-thinking individuals then they will want to be able to have freedoms like their peers. I refuse to let the reins on my faction be loosened with elections and another system of government besides a dictatorship.'
Sunrise on Planet was a beautiful affair, especially with two suns. The main star would rise a quarter of the way and then it would be closely followed up by its satellite star. Throughout the course of the day, the smaller star would orbit the larger, giving a sort of simulation of Earth's orbit around the sun.
"Would you look at that..." Contessa, a drone said. Every citizen of the Hive was a drone; all worked solely to serve Yang, his advisors, and his military. Contessa happened to be a field worker, harvesting crops and whatnot. "Two suns..."
"Hush, one of the overseers will hear you!" someone next to her said.
"Let them hear me!" She shouted as she began to sing, "Lass dich nur nichts nicht dauren, mit trauen... sei stille."
"What part of hush don't you understand?!" the now nervous drone said as he looked around for any oncoming police.
"Wie Gott es fügt, so sei vergnügt, mein Wil-le!"
The once legato 'wille' became staccato as the psyche whip coiled around Contessa's neck.
"You know the no talking rule. Speech amongst citizens promotes the growth of a mutiny." The officer said.
"How can you possibly call us citizens with the treatment we receive?" was the semi-choked reply of Contessa.
The comment caused a murmur amongst the workers as they looked upon the scene. Unfazed by this, the officer motioned with his head for another officer to come to his side.
"This one here is in violation of the laws of our society. Being such, she will be made an example of. Fifty lashes"
The once murmur soon became cries of outrage at the punishment. Contessa was made to lean forward upon a strip of railing while the one of the police lifted the back of her shirt . Battered, callused skin in various patterns of lines was revealed to the drones, who looked on in horror. The officers took place on either side of her, pulled their psyche whips back, and then struck at the same time. As the lashes passed by, the rage turned into a grave atmosphere, and everyone else seemed effected except for the police, and Contessa.
"Why, I feel like a slave before the Civil War." Contessa stated aloud to no one in particular. To most of the drone population, the punishment would have floored the recipient, but ever since the first day of planetfall activities such as these regularly commenced. Once punishment spheres were discovered, these said activities increased in intensity and duration for the entire drone population. Most thought that Yang envied Contessa for her vast knowledge and mastery of the sciences, and her ability to evade the weekly nerve staplings.
"Can nothing penetrate that thick skull of yours?" the officer asked at the remark, "To the punishment sphere with you. And the rest of you will have this event wiped from your memories. After you my lady," the officer said with mock respect as he gestured for Contessa to proceed to the area of the city where the spheres were kept.
The walk was one that someone wouldn't wish to remember, but Contessa knew it well. Down a main hallway and then fourteenth wing to the left. Seven doors down and to the right was her assigned sphere. The rooms where the devices were kept weren't spacious, and only a handful of drones could say that a punishment sphere was set aside just for them. Automated they were, and all the recipient had to do was put special bands on their ankles and wrists, and a collar around their neck. Once in the middle of the platform, an electrical current would jerk their limbs into the infamous position of an "X" and the process would begin. The majority of the spheres were set on medium, and finding one on low would resemble the idiom "finding a needle in a haystack". This however proved the distaste Yang held for Contessa. Her sphere was the only one on the entire planet to be set on and extra high setting. Residents of these instruments were usually left in them until near death. The collar worn about the neck fed readouts into the computers monitored by the police, and once someone's body showed signs on failure they would go and retrieve them.
That was life though in the Hive, a tedium of work from dawn and well into the night. Survival was the order of the day for the citizens as they went by on what little was given to them. Many had already succumbed to the stereotype of a life of service, but the few who hadn't had no way of coming together and planning a was out. Not I, Contessa thought to herself as the punishment sphere ate away at her life forces. I will rid us of this nuisance if it's the last thing I do.
Chairman Yang of the Hive had decided, without the consent of his fellow faction leaders, to have an isolationist empire. 'My people needn't be concerned in world affairs,' was his theory, 'because once they're exposed to free-thinking individuals then they will want to be able to have freedoms like their peers. I refuse to let the reins on my faction be loosened with elections and another system of government besides a dictatorship.'
Sunrise on Planet was a beautiful affair, especially with two suns. The main star would rise a quarter of the way and then it would be closely followed up by its satellite star. Throughout the course of the day, the smaller star would orbit the larger, giving a sort of simulation of Earth's orbit around the sun.
"Would you look at that..." Contessa, a drone said. Every citizen of the Hive was a drone; all worked solely to serve Yang, his advisors, and his military. Contessa happened to be a field worker, harvesting crops and whatnot. "Two suns..."
"Hush, one of the overseers will hear you!" someone next to her said.
"Let them hear me!" She shouted as she began to sing, "Lass dich nur nichts nicht dauren, mit trauen... sei stille."
"What part of hush don't you understand?!" the now nervous drone said as he looked around for any oncoming police.
"Wie Gott es fügt, so sei vergnügt, mein Wil-le!"
The once legato 'wille' became staccato as the psyche whip coiled around Contessa's neck.
"You know the no talking rule. Speech amongst citizens promotes the growth of a mutiny." The officer said.
"How can you possibly call us citizens with the treatment we receive?" was the semi-choked reply of Contessa.
The comment caused a murmur amongst the workers as they looked upon the scene. Unfazed by this, the officer motioned with his head for another officer to come to his side.
"This one here is in violation of the laws of our society. Being such, she will be made an example of. Fifty lashes"
The once murmur soon became cries of outrage at the punishment. Contessa was made to lean forward upon a strip of railing while the one of the police lifted the back of her shirt . Battered, callused skin in various patterns of lines was revealed to the drones, who looked on in horror. The officers took place on either side of her, pulled their psyche whips back, and then struck at the same time. As the lashes passed by, the rage turned into a grave atmosphere, and everyone else seemed effected except for the police, and Contessa.
"Why, I feel like a slave before the Civil War." Contessa stated aloud to no one in particular. To most of the drone population, the punishment would have floored the recipient, but ever since the first day of planetfall activities such as these regularly commenced. Once punishment spheres were discovered, these said activities increased in intensity and duration for the entire drone population. Most thought that Yang envied Contessa for her vast knowledge and mastery of the sciences, and her ability to evade the weekly nerve staplings.
"Can nothing penetrate that thick skull of yours?" the officer asked at the remark, "To the punishment sphere with you. And the rest of you will have this event wiped from your memories. After you my lady," the officer said with mock respect as he gestured for Contessa to proceed to the area of the city where the spheres were kept.
The walk was one that someone wouldn't wish to remember, but Contessa knew it well. Down a main hallway and then fourteenth wing to the left. Seven doors down and to the right was her assigned sphere. The rooms where the devices were kept weren't spacious, and only a handful of drones could say that a punishment sphere was set aside just for them. Automated they were, and all the recipient had to do was put special bands on their ankles and wrists, and a collar around their neck. Once in the middle of the platform, an electrical current would jerk their limbs into the infamous position of an "X" and the process would begin. The majority of the spheres were set on medium, and finding one on low would resemble the idiom "finding a needle in a haystack". This however proved the distaste Yang held for Contessa. Her sphere was the only one on the entire planet to be set on and extra high setting. Residents of these instruments were usually left in them until near death. The collar worn about the neck fed readouts into the computers monitored by the police, and once someone's body showed signs on failure they would go and retrieve them.
That was life though in the Hive, a tedium of work from dawn and well into the night. Survival was the order of the day for the citizens as they went by on what little was given to them. Many had already succumbed to the stereotype of a life of service, but the few who hadn't had no way of coming together and planning a was out. Not I, Contessa thought to herself as the punishment sphere ate away at her life forces. I will rid us of this nuisance if it's the last thing I do.