Sorry about this chapter it is an ending to the first half of my story, and
just sums up what has happened, etc. Things are still confused, for
everyone, so any doubts you may have are (hopefully) deliberate.
Nevertheless, still feel free to ask me. If you aren't meant to know, I
won't tell you. If you are, I will try to as quickly as I can.
The evacuation of Gaia's Landing was very subdued, a quiet gathering of all surviving Gaian citizens, who were then boarded onto shuttles the Council of Planet had provided. The City was a black scar upon the land now, an empty, charred wasteland that seemed to fester within the minds of every Gaian, reminding them of their failure and loss. It seemed prudent to leave Landing, to leave the loss behind, to lock the memory away in some unpleasant Datalink somewhere, so that life, as many people put it, could go on. The joys and beauty of the city would be remembered, but the ruins they had become would be locked away.
Deirdre sat in her command shuttle, the physical pain of her torture now only a dim throbbing. Of course, the mental horrors of her suffering would probably remain vivid in her mind for eternity. Her hideously disfigured half of her face was hidden by a green synthmetal mask, the slanted diagonally across her face. AS much as she had protested, the masked face had become the new symbol of the Gaian faction. The rose had been stripped away, for it had failed to save them. Instead a silent testament to their leader served as their banner, as their rallying point.
Lady Deirdre of the Gaians, Saviour and Deliverer, Protector and Guardian. The Mistress of the re-named Garden of Sparta, Lindly's Rest and Pacifist's Defiance. All these titles that heralded her greatness, thought Deirdre, and not one of them meant anything anymore. Whenever she felt like she was regaining her hope, that evil sentence trailed across her thoughts: Landing is gone.
She shuddered, and as she did, the shuttle began to shake. It was time for her to leave the First Base, to leave the point at which she had come onto Planet, the point at which a new life of hers had begun, when she had rejected the nihilism of Earth, in return for the fulfilment and joy of Planet.
She gave a cynical laugh. Nothing ever went to plan, did it?
Her faction was leaving their cities, every city was going to be dismantled, and taken to New Island, so aptly named by Deirdre and the colonists. A new beginning would be made on the island, a beginning of a new Gaian policy.
The minority of the Senate had created four new guidelines. All other Senators had been executed as Spartan traitors, as Harbingers of Landing's End, as the event had begun to be called.
Four points from which a new society for the Gaians would be directed: as always, a striving for peace came first, as well as the Green Party policies, much of which were left over from the Scottish Government of Earth. Now though, her faction would follow isolationism, a removal from the events of other factions, a removal from the Council, and a removal from the bickering and wars. Time for Gaia's Stepdaughters to grow, to nurture a generation used to peace, to begin anew the purpose of her faction. A new, greater city would be built, with a simple name: Gaia.
Among the unspoiled island, the largest non-continental landmass on Planet, her faction would prosper once again. The bases acquired from the Spartans would be dismantled too, taken to the islands. In a sense, Gaia was retreating, retreating from war and bloodshed, from hate and despair, to begin a new age of hope, peace and renewal. Deirdre would have like to remain optimistic, but unfortunately, she had been through the 'fresh start' routine for too many times.
Like everything, something was bound to go wrong.
Fifty years passed. The Gaian Faction settled the New Island, aided by the Council, who paid for almost all that Deirdre wished to be done. A sense of guilt perhaps, had made the Council offer the leader of pacifism aid, but nobody was so naive anymore. Whatever reasons they had for aiding the Gaians, were their business. As long as the harmony of Planet was upheld, nobody minded.
The Spartan Vendetta had ended, and all Factions, bruised and bloodied from war, began their own withdrawals from the Council. They still attended, but things were much more subdued. The war had lasted for years, and every person living on Planet wished to recuperate.
The University under Zakharov continued to offer aid to Deirdre, and did the Council, but, as she had said, she did not wish to rely on the Council, and so ten years after the occupation of New Island, the aid stopped, but by then, the Gaian Faction had recovered.
Gaia, the new city had taken the full ten years to build, and all the technology of the six factions had gone towards making it the most splendid city upon Planet, a reality that far outshone the memory of Landing.
The groves were created once again, as were the climatic domes. The river that ran through this city was cleaner, brighter. In almost everything, everything about this new life was better.
Deirdre and Zakharov remained good friends, although that friendship never again sparked into romance. The business of reorganising the new order of their factions occupied too much of their time, and they could not pursue anything other than close friendship.
Hale returned to Deirdre, half-dead after months of torture at the hands of Santiago. He had come close to unearthing the treachery of Abdim, and only a betrayal on the inside of his network had undone him.
It was one of the greatest jokes of Gaian history that occurred twenty years after the settlement of New Island. Hundreds and hundreds of mindworms seemed to sprout from the xenofungus fields, and the consciousness of Planet had told Deirdre that help had arrived. There was not a straight face in Gaia, when their leader explained that the help that Planet had offered while New Glasgow had arrived, seemingly in the nick of time. It remains, to this day a hilarious story told at least once in every day.
Deirdre gradually recovered from the mental affects of Landing's End, and her own torture, and she learned to come to grips with her own appearance. People worldwide saluted her strength of character, and praised her courage. The Gaian people hailed her as a national hero, and erected monuments to her in every city, likening her now, instead of the Virgin Maiden they had served, to the Wise Mother. Peace flowered in the New Island, and Gaians remained out of the affairs in the world.
Wars flared up occasionally outside the island, and political manoeuvrings changed the positions of almost every faction, but the Gaian faction always remained unchanged, hidden away as they were in the forests and mountains of New Island. The location of any Gaian base other than Memory of Earth remains a closely guarded secret to this day; for fear that an event like Landing's Fall might occur again.
And so, it came as a complete surprise to Lady Deirdre when Provost Zakharov contacted her one summers day, offering something terrible.
The evacuation of Gaia's Landing was very subdued, a quiet gathering of all surviving Gaian citizens, who were then boarded onto shuttles the Council of Planet had provided. The City was a black scar upon the land now, an empty, charred wasteland that seemed to fester within the minds of every Gaian, reminding them of their failure and loss. It seemed prudent to leave Landing, to leave the loss behind, to lock the memory away in some unpleasant Datalink somewhere, so that life, as many people put it, could go on. The joys and beauty of the city would be remembered, but the ruins they had become would be locked away.
Deirdre sat in her command shuttle, the physical pain of her torture now only a dim throbbing. Of course, the mental horrors of her suffering would probably remain vivid in her mind for eternity. Her hideously disfigured half of her face was hidden by a green synthmetal mask, the slanted diagonally across her face. AS much as she had protested, the masked face had become the new symbol of the Gaian faction. The rose had been stripped away, for it had failed to save them. Instead a silent testament to their leader served as their banner, as their rallying point.
Lady Deirdre of the Gaians, Saviour and Deliverer, Protector and Guardian. The Mistress of the re-named Garden of Sparta, Lindly's Rest and Pacifist's Defiance. All these titles that heralded her greatness, thought Deirdre, and not one of them meant anything anymore. Whenever she felt like she was regaining her hope, that evil sentence trailed across her thoughts: Landing is gone.
She shuddered, and as she did, the shuttle began to shake. It was time for her to leave the First Base, to leave the point at which she had come onto Planet, the point at which a new life of hers had begun, when she had rejected the nihilism of Earth, in return for the fulfilment and joy of Planet.
She gave a cynical laugh. Nothing ever went to plan, did it?
Her faction was leaving their cities, every city was going to be dismantled, and taken to New Island, so aptly named by Deirdre and the colonists. A new beginning would be made on the island, a beginning of a new Gaian policy.
The minority of the Senate had created four new guidelines. All other Senators had been executed as Spartan traitors, as Harbingers of Landing's End, as the event had begun to be called.
Four points from which a new society for the Gaians would be directed: as always, a striving for peace came first, as well as the Green Party policies, much of which were left over from the Scottish Government of Earth. Now though, her faction would follow isolationism, a removal from the events of other factions, a removal from the Council, and a removal from the bickering and wars. Time for Gaia's Stepdaughters to grow, to nurture a generation used to peace, to begin anew the purpose of her faction. A new, greater city would be built, with a simple name: Gaia.
Among the unspoiled island, the largest non-continental landmass on Planet, her faction would prosper once again. The bases acquired from the Spartans would be dismantled too, taken to the islands. In a sense, Gaia was retreating, retreating from war and bloodshed, from hate and despair, to begin a new age of hope, peace and renewal. Deirdre would have like to remain optimistic, but unfortunately, she had been through the 'fresh start' routine for too many times.
Like everything, something was bound to go wrong.
Fifty years passed. The Gaian Faction settled the New Island, aided by the Council, who paid for almost all that Deirdre wished to be done. A sense of guilt perhaps, had made the Council offer the leader of pacifism aid, but nobody was so naive anymore. Whatever reasons they had for aiding the Gaians, were their business. As long as the harmony of Planet was upheld, nobody minded.
The Spartan Vendetta had ended, and all Factions, bruised and bloodied from war, began their own withdrawals from the Council. They still attended, but things were much more subdued. The war had lasted for years, and every person living on Planet wished to recuperate.
The University under Zakharov continued to offer aid to Deirdre, and did the Council, but, as she had said, she did not wish to rely on the Council, and so ten years after the occupation of New Island, the aid stopped, but by then, the Gaian Faction had recovered.
Gaia, the new city had taken the full ten years to build, and all the technology of the six factions had gone towards making it the most splendid city upon Planet, a reality that far outshone the memory of Landing.
The groves were created once again, as were the climatic domes. The river that ran through this city was cleaner, brighter. In almost everything, everything about this new life was better.
Deirdre and Zakharov remained good friends, although that friendship never again sparked into romance. The business of reorganising the new order of their factions occupied too much of their time, and they could not pursue anything other than close friendship.
Hale returned to Deirdre, half-dead after months of torture at the hands of Santiago. He had come close to unearthing the treachery of Abdim, and only a betrayal on the inside of his network had undone him.
It was one of the greatest jokes of Gaian history that occurred twenty years after the settlement of New Island. Hundreds and hundreds of mindworms seemed to sprout from the xenofungus fields, and the consciousness of Planet had told Deirdre that help had arrived. There was not a straight face in Gaia, when their leader explained that the help that Planet had offered while New Glasgow had arrived, seemingly in the nick of time. It remains, to this day a hilarious story told at least once in every day.
Deirdre gradually recovered from the mental affects of Landing's End, and her own torture, and she learned to come to grips with her own appearance. People worldwide saluted her strength of character, and praised her courage. The Gaian people hailed her as a national hero, and erected monuments to her in every city, likening her now, instead of the Virgin Maiden they had served, to the Wise Mother. Peace flowered in the New Island, and Gaians remained out of the affairs in the world.
Wars flared up occasionally outside the island, and political manoeuvrings changed the positions of almost every faction, but the Gaian faction always remained unchanged, hidden away as they were in the forests and mountains of New Island. The location of any Gaian base other than Memory of Earth remains a closely guarded secret to this day; for fear that an event like Landing's Fall might occur again.
And so, it came as a complete surprise to Lady Deirdre when Provost Zakharov contacted her one summers day, offering something terrible.
