chapter 0: Cebelrai CX44
77 hrs
when i first come across it, the 19-exobyte packet of information offers no indication that it will ultimately lead to my death.
i'm in an apartment in municipal spire S929. the familiar taste of argon blistering off the tetryon storms greets my lungs with icy wind. at this altitude, the sky turns to a frothing slush of frozen radiation blasting across the bottom of Nuna's stratosphere, 44 kilometers above the desolate surface.
the residential column of spire S929 is a warren of derelict plastic apartments. to the north, the rooms are open to a chasm where a turbolift shaft once lay. sheathes of ice flowers accumulate around the edges of the failing ion shielding.
i can remember a time at the start of this century when the coiled streets of the mid-hive swarmed with the cubicled lives of the intern nobility.
now only me and the sealgulls inhabit the rusting midsection of the vast polar capital. those who were able have long since moved on to higher levels of the towering city. others fell.
for the next 210 days of this year, exhaust drains will drench the entire residential column with the black chalk clouds of chemical runoff from the orbital spire.
NOTE: this is an excerpt of an interactive story. i tried to upload the .html but it didn't work, so you can read the full version at:
philome -dot- la/VideoJames/star-trek-kyoshi-the-solitary-convert/play