823.M41
There have been times travelling through the Empyrean that have I thought on my life as it once was. A family; children and a loving wife were all that kept me going through the hellish days of labor and constant Imperial bureaucracy. In between dodging Adepts and Adminstratum overseers I walked the Hab blocks with my family to try and make their lives have meaning. To find the not so dirtiest spot in the area and stare out into the sky; to try and imagine a world full of natural life, not these mechanized and concrete constructions that choked our eyesight. We came close once, during a series of PDF drills where a majority of the craft were grounded for better viewing of a possible invasion from above. I huddled my wife and children close to see something resembling peace and think only of those days with them fondly, for the rest of the days were something I recall with loathing.
"But I want to go and see the circus Papa you promised!"
"I know sweetling I did, but Papa has to work to provide us with food rations this month. I'll make it up to you when I find some time off between jobs."
"Papa but the circus will be over today! And I want to go today!"
"Alright child, hush a moment and let me go ask your mother."
"Lucretia do you think you could take our beloved daughter to the circus? She's pretty adamant that she goes."
"Dear you know we can't afford to go, not with Sebastian still missing."
My wife was a nervous wreck after we found out our son Sebastian didn't check in with us two days ago. He was usually a bright lad that always made it a point to remind us where he was and how he was doing, more of his mother's doing I suppose, but he was never late on such things.
"Alright love, I'll go look for him again and we might be able to manage to get to work in time. I'll call on you if I hear anything. Please try and take our daughter out to the circus, I think it would do both of you some good."
I kissed my wife and child goodbye and headed out into the maze like footpaths around the hab blocks. The rain was unusually thick today and I found myself fighting through the vast denizens that were going the same direction I was, to the Administratum to be assigned a work number. I would occasionally take a beaten path to ask my son's friends if they saw him and was met with the same disappointing "No." each time. I wondered what my son had got himself into that would cause him to be late, it was very out of character for him. Lucretia and I always implored him to stay within a certain section of the habs and not to mingle with undesirables. Half an hour passed and I then realized I was late for my Menial tasking. I must have run faster than I ever did to get to the overseer in charge of postings, but arrived too late for an assignment.
"What have we here? Late for Menial posting as assigned by the Administratum? For shame Augustus, for shame. However, you may be in luck, though that depends on your definition of luck because we have an opening in a not so sought after slot in corpse removal. The undercity is plagued by well, plague and we need workers to go there and take out the trash. You'll get the proper safety equipment of course and will be working with a supervisor of incineration. Just wear your breathing apparatus and make sure to not come into skin to skin contact, and you should make it out alive."
"If that is what's needed then I'll do what's best for the Imperium." I nodded gloomily.
"That's the spirit! If all Menials were like you then we could call them Adepts in no time with such devotion to the Imperium. You might not have missed an assignment as a Preacher if you had such convictions earlier. Here is your work pass and token to get into the undercity, now be off with you."
I was absolutely crushed and could find no solace in the dreary prospect of corpse removal and incineration, even if it meant food rations. My thoughts though, were replaced with that of my family, and how I must do all I can to provide for their survival like everyone else. It helped to add steel into my spine in times of incredible defeat, to think of them; to know I'm enduring this torpid Menial existence for them. The constant drone of citizens shuffling to and fro kept my mind in a hive state mentality. Occasionally while I curse this pitiful existence I would embrace it to let it carry me to where I'm supposed to. It actually helped to keep my mind off of the more dishonorable options available to me. I could have easily been a bodyguard for some hab criminal or even a "messenger". The messengers were probably the worst, as they left limbs broken or shorn from bodies to get a point across. If a debt failed to get paid or someone insinuated something that the local crime lord disagreed with; they'd get a messenger sent to them. I kept those thoughts to myself as I didn't want to worry my already worried family, especially my wife wouldn't tolerate that kind of stuff.
"Work pass fifty-six Epislon to the right and down the shaft!" A low grade overseer called. I parted from the horde of Imperial workers and presented my pass to the overseer.
"Right then, down the hole and you'll find your protective gear, enter the airlock and select the work pass number as indicated by the screen, then enter the other side and get to shuffling corpses."
I opened the hatch and was met with the foulest undercity stench I think I've ever witnessed. Almost to the point of regurgitating last year's food rations I forced myself down into the darkness below to fulfill my work order; for my family. I started putting on the protective suit and mask with air filtration to start my corpse work. Entering my work number, I was met with a green light and a hiss of an opening hatch. Grabbing the torch, I head into the plague infested darkness and am only met with the glowing eerie eyes that are floating around. My senses are on edge as a pair of eyes drift slowly to me at an ominous pace. It was then I realized that they were servo skulls, I assumed monitoring any plague activity or infection of new workers. I was scanned with it's cold logic and it passed by on its way to fulfill whatever duty was programmed to it. I make my way to a group of workers at the nearest pile and join in the gruesome task.
"Go find your own pile, we have special orders for this one." A worker asserted.
"What orders are there aside from transporting them to the incineration unit?" I asked.
"The kind that ensure that people like yourself don't end up like one of these corpses, now bugger off!" He threatened.
I backed away carefully as to not rile their authoritative physical nature and found another pile to sort through. I thought it strange that there were "special orders" for the incineration of corpses, but I didn't know then what kind of sinister plan was being designed for these plague ridden unfortunates. I also didn't notice through the darkness and heavy mask that they weren't exactly human workers who told me off, and I merely brushed it off as some sort of imagining here down in the darkness. My mind working overtime and my eyesight barely adjusting to this work environment. It was then that I noticed a familiar set of eyes and tufts of patched hair on a plague corpse. It was Sebastian, my boy. I had no idea how to react to this aside from weeping inside of my mask and clinging to him as if trying to wake him up from the grave. An overseer placed his prodding stick on me and told me to not bother with the dead.
"It's my son overseer, he went missing some days ago and now I find him here in this tomb."
"That's not my business, my business is to make sure these corpses of other people's sons, fathers, daughters, and mothers get turned to ash by the end of the shift. Now get back to work or you'll have to explain why your family has two corpses down here instead of one."
"Yes overseer." I managed to say amid the emotional thunderstorm inside of me.
I picked my son up and placed him in another spot so I could see him one last time before I said farewell, and got to moving other corpses to the wagon that hauled them to their fiery destination. I continued on with my work occasionally glancing in my son's direction to make sure he wasn't moved. There must have been thousands of corpses down here, but on a world this size with as large a population, it was no surprise to see this many bodies in one area, even with plague. I trudge along throughout my work shift and notice that authoritative group of workers slowly moving their way in my direction. One of them pushes me on top of a corpse pile and I try not to notice them picking out other corpses to cart off. Another moves toward my son's body and I lunge forward to stop him, but am meet with the bodyguard of the group and a gloved hammer blow to my head. Seconds before passing out I noticed very distinguishable hands protruding from the suit of the one carrying off my dead son, and then pass out.
"Work number Fifty-six Epsilon wake up you lazy sod, or do you want not want to eat today?" The overseer rolled me over and noticed me holding my head.
"What's wrong with you? Don't tell me you're infected!" The overseer remarked alarmingly.
"No!" I said as I struggled to get up. "I was working when another group of workers, real violent types came and grabbed my son's body. I tried to stop them but was knocked out. The only thing I really remember was an odd looking arm sticking out of one of their suits, looked almost like scythes than actual fingers."
"Scythes you say?" The overseer seemed a bit worried now and picked me up so we could report to his superior.
We went through the airlock and were sanitized to re-enter the human population. Climbing out of the undercity hatch back to the surface I was met with the "cleaner" air of the habs. The overseer quickly reported what I said to his superior and I was then told to meet him at his work station.
"Scythes you said? What fracking uselessness is this? I asked for competent workers not some menial who doesn't know how to tolerate undercity darkness and is prone to flights of fancy!" By the Throne Quint get him out of here and if you muck up one more time you'll find yourself out of a job like him!"
Quint, the overseer in the undercity led me to the gate and pulled me aside.
"Listen I want to believe you, and I do, but I have my own job to consider. How are you doing on rations?" He asked.
"This was supposed to help for a month at least, now I don't know what I'll do for my family; especially now that I know my son won't be coming back."
"Damn it you have no luck do you? Here are some ration cards for a week, that's the best I can do, for your son at the very least." Quint said pressing the cards into my hands.
"Thank you sir! I don't know what to say!"
"Say nothing of what you saw down there, my boss won't appreciate it and I'll appreciate it to keep my job. Now get lost."
I quickly move out of the work area and wipe the sweat from my forehead, suddenly remembering the family that relied on me. Joining the teeming masses of human waves, I let myself be carried to where my hab was located. Then enter my home to no family and just as I started to worry I realized that they had gone to circus. Hours pass and I found myself waking up from my harrowing experience and mostly due to the blow to my head. My wife is sleeping next to me, a picture of our son in her hands and the reality of what I saw kicks me in the gut. My son, gone in both life and flesh, now forever denied a dignified rest. I pick myself up and go to the refresher to splash water on my face to try and wake up. Walking into my daughter's room I notice her cradling a stuffed toy of some sort, a prize she won I gathered. Then pick up a few toys there and there to straighten things out, kiss her on the forehead and leave. I go and slump over onto the chair to read the latest dataslate that came in concerning local goings on.
"Mysterious disappearances, rampant plague in the Solinus Quarter, food riots in District Three, and lastly the Governors 115th birthday. Oh just another fine day in the Imperium. We might as well have Orks rain in on us next wouldn't that be swell?" I mumbled the reports to myself as I didn't want any wayward Arbites to come busting the door down.
"Dear? You're awake how did work go?" Lucretia asked.
"Sit down love, I have something to tell you."