Techy-Ben

Rocks The sun beams down, glaring through Graham's visor. He adjusts his backpack and a robotic arm reaches out from it. While carefully kneeling down, the arm unfolds and it claws at the ground. “Is there anything left out here?” He asks himself silently. For miles across the desert there is nothing buck rocks and sand. Tall mountains occasionally piercing the sand dunes. Small bolders scatter across cracking plains. The only thing left for him to sample are the rocks. He wonders if this sample will be the same as every other time. The arm reaches back and the container is stored in his pack. “Number 5, your time is up.&rd

Metal and Dust Prologue “Why do we build castles in the sky?” A question many young children now ask. “Because the ground is metal, that is why. If we touch it we become dust.” A true, though simple answer. For it simply is not ours any more. We cannot go there like we did before. It is certain for us to say, that is no longer due to simple decay. No, now our entropy is of an accelerated kind. A making of our own mind. While time brings death, a devourer brings terror. Our end is through our own error. A wise person once said “A sleeping dragon you should not awake”. Yet that was our one true mistake. Th

(Epilogue) “Our ancestors were once astronauts. Those looking for fame and fortune. As humans ever do. Eta was just another world to mine and sell. However, the desire for wealth cannot ever be satisfied. To gain more we needed to sacrifice something even greater. To be able to live on Eta, your ancestors sacrificed their ability to breath oxygen. It was a painful and extended procedure but they gained the ability to breath it's air. To keep the project secret, our ancestors sacrificed their future too. Hidden forever from Sol, from earth, and restrained to this dead rock. Who would of ever allowed an entire society to be separated, pe

(Epiphany) “You can't breath it and we can't either?” Jake asks, now taking note of his own breathing, pace and the small amount of condensation on his visor. He grips his air canister. “No.” is the simply reply. Eleanor falls back, almost half slumped over a console. “What was their goal?” She silently thought to herself, for the first time ever, she was lost for what to do next. “Us or you?” She asks. “Which of us has the air then?” “Would we hide if we were the 'different' ones?” The Deputy smiles, implying superiority. The Organiser's message is a difficult one to de

“Well, not the air exactly.” The Deputy explains, stepping forwards, perhaps to face the camera Troy holds. “Shut up, perform your duty. Shoot now!” The commander rants. But to no avail. Same as all along, no one moves. “Do something.” He shouts louder. “I said, it's lost. A soon as they transmitted the stream, Eta knew.” The Deputy responds. “Knew? They know nothing. They know what we tell them.” The Commander insisted. “They know you are here. You'll face judgement on Eta. If not us, those that follow will ask of you. Do you think they don't also want justice?” Eleanor

Chapter 17: Epoch “That look. It's the same as the astronaut. He never took off his mask, and you fear putting it on.” Troy remembers. “But not his mask.” Eleanor realizes, “Our mask. One for the other. But if not a disease from them, a disease from us?” “Mask's clean.” Troy interrupts. “Come on Commander, tell us what's up. Why not tell the world what's up.” At this point the guard snap out of it their dazed shock and raise their weapons. Jake cowers, seeing their faces not showing any desire to delay the now inevitable, he also hears sounds from the corridor. “Wouldn't try t

“The choice is not yours any more.” Eleanor shouts as she holds the helmet up to the Commanders head, she motions to Tycho to take the helmet and readies a canister of air. Fear shoots up into the commander. He leans back in his chair. “Afraid to face the truth? Your judgement by the people of Eta?” she asks. “Look at your own people, how do they judge you now?” The room silent, frozen in fear. How could they ever prepare  their isolated lives to be interrupted in such a violent manner. “They follow my orders.” The Commander maintains. But even as Tycho clamps the helmet down, the commander star

The Commander looked Eleanor square in the eyes. “You have never even lived. Have you seen past the stars? Can you judge us from where you stand? Our authority comes from Earth!” Eleanor stared back just as confidently as before. “I've overcome great obstacles and covered vast distances, do you think you are well equipped to us refuse today?” She paused momentarily, her course of action was definite, “Appeal to earth if you must, but you will stand judgement from Eta also.” With Tycho, Wayne and Troy covering her, Eleanor gets a space helmet ready. “Put it on, your coming back with us”. She insi

Chapter 16: Enquiry Though not silent, the entrance from the side corridor was unobserved. The makeshift airlock, little more than a low pressure plastic crate glued into place, allowed the crew their secret entrance. Eleanor pointed forwards a device. In her hands was a tracker that lead them to the radio chatter from the Command Centre. With the guard preoccupied, the entrance was open. With a surprise rush, the crew burst into the room. Wayne to the left holding his large cutting tool meets up with the Controller at their desk. Tyhco running to the right disarms a lone guard at the door. Eleanor and Troy confront the Commander right in th