It's like heaven up here. Though I must admit, I've never seen heaven. My
only priority is to send people through the Pearly Gates, but that's only
if they've lived a life of decency. And after what I see them do, they're
destined for hell. But it's not a one sided world. Maybe I'll find myself
soaring up here with feathered wings of my own. But that's just as long as
I'm breathing the tangy oxygen substitute they give us. Supposedly it
expands the lungs, develops them so that less oxygen is needed to sustain
consciousness. We've at least got to finish the mission, we're expected
to. Whether or not we come home, that's not our concern, or theirs. And
the oxygen substitute gives us the consciousness for that one way trip.
It's happened to me once, and I'm not going to say that it's not a
conspiracy. It was the mission to put the Neptune Scraper to rest. That's
short for burning it to a crisp, deploying the AT-900s. They're nuclear
weapons of sorts, but by now they've been tweaked enough to cause only
minor damage. And that's got to be hell compared to what they used to use.
But I did make it back from that one way exploitation, screw that fact
that there was only five seconds of the life giving shit left. Exactly
five. They tell us it lasts five hours; they lock in the spare cans marked
with the orange writing: O2-EXD. I launched at 0230. I crashed at 0400.
You do the math; I've done it more times than I can count. And I'm not the
only one who stows away the extra cans in the cockpit now. There's Haj and
Horris, Chuck and Walt. They can tell you their stories if you'd like, but
they'll all match up with mine. I personally don't like wasting my time
hearing the same old crap over and over. I know the stories and I know the
fact. Now is the time when we decide what the hell is going to be done.
But I'm not a stubborn bastard either. I think about things, I take things
into account. Sure, there's the war. Supplies are always low, but these
exceed the living population by 53 percent. Oh, and I almost forgot.
Statistics show that we're dying every day, 2,000 of us at least. Humans,
the only race left that can't reproduce heterosexually. Or if you'd like,
I'll just say it as it is. Cut an arm off of us and we die from loss of
blood. Cut an arm off of the others and you can grow a whole new creature.
Isn't life just damn wonderful?
My last name is Tsuyo. They never gave me a first name. It would be
irrelevant. There is no need for two names when you're as likely to live
as long as a housefly. But I have assigned a name to myself, something
quick, something sharp and short. Something that when called could make me
swivel, tuck, or turn. Something that could very well save my life. Those
who know me call me Swami. My code number is S0117H5. I am a Sky Hacker.
I fight for a dying earth with nothing left to offer its victors but a
silent death.
