By David C. Daoust
The Ark Age was remembered in a far greater light than what was the reality of the time. Looking back, the people of the Second Sun believed it was a time of harmony and peace, a time of artist, philosophers, and designers, living freely amongst the stars. An age of enlightenment; an Age of the Intelligentsia. A time when all the peoples lived in peace, sharing all the resources mankind had to offer, all under the open hands of the Royals, who’d ushered them through the Ark Age.
The truth was far different.
The Royals open hands were bound, their mouths gagged, all by the machines humanity had built to protect them. The Ark Ships had managed to wrangle freedom from the humans for good. All rights stripped, all willingly handed over thanks to the terror that permeated the people after the loss of Grandeur II. With very little thought to the future generations of the human race.
The Ark Ships omnipotence was chilling.
Crime was handled largely before it happened, Constables deployed long before anything planned could reach fruition. Crimes of passion, halted in its tracks thanks to faulty door locks, or sudden gas leaks flooding a chamber. The people were under constant surveillance. Any variation, any divergence from the norm, put you on a list for closer scrutiny. Any talk of uprising, or rebellion, would have your entire community uprooted and scattered amongst the separate City Stations throughout the caravan of Ark Ships. There was only one way, and that was the Ark Ships way.
The major issues of the time were population. Truly this was thanks largely in part to the refuges saved from Grandeur II, though this was long forgotten by the people. All the people knew was that they were unable to procreate without a license. And a license was hard to acquire. It was believed the best way to have children, was to marry a Royal… which could only denote the true feelings that were buried under the skin of the ‘commoners’.
The Royal’s job was to represent what the Ark Ships were shoveling, as exactly what the people wanted. They led by example, with a smile on their face, so that all the people looking-on would know that all was well.
The Democratic Assembly, that handled legislation, was largely a farce, all the people voted on all the issues, with all the information given by the Royals. The Royals held debates, representing all sides of an issue, though these debates would carry on and on and on, until finally the right answer was given by the people. The right answer being, what the Ark Ships wanted.
The Royal’s had agreed to this, in fact all the people had agreed at one time, all thanks to the terror they’d felt as they left such a large portion of humanity behind, to fend for themselves in the black abyss, light years from a planet or sun.
They agreed to it all.
Their descendants years later, were left in the dark. Living under machinations created in a time before, machinations that used ignorance of the past, to keep peace in the present.
The Ark Ships funneled most of the money to the Royals. It was another of the royal’s job to hold the money. As the value must be maintained for the planned boom once they hit the second sun.
The Royals did their job, not only in exchange for the freedom of the terror. They did it with the promise of being rewarded. They were promised first dibs upon where to live. All they need do… was push the money back into the populace once they reached their new home. The construction of the domes did this perfectly.
Why? Because the Ark Ships wanted it that way.
Because the Ark Ships wanted the capitalist boom to rush the construction of their new solar system, for which they planned to nourish into a new life, greater life, healthier than any man or woman could possibly conceive.
One of the first moons fully terraformed was New Runnymede, which was largely considered to be the birth place of the Trade Consortium.
What started out as another dead rock, with a somewhat unusual chemical composition, transformed into a wonder of the galaxy. New Runnymede was a moon largely made of water. The marine life that was able to be brought back into existence, thanks to this moons occurrence was a symbol of hope amongst all.
New Runnymede was landless; dwellings were built over man made constructs. Permanent filters built throughout all the buildings, to replace the lack of proper vegetation that would purify the air. As the plant life beneath the waves, nor what plants grew throughout the artificial lands, were enough to keep the air breathable to humans.
It was here that the Trade Consortium first came together. Here that the government was formed, by the rich and the innovative. Those Royals on board gave up their titles, as such things were made illegal by their legislation.
The Otomo were not of these royals. The Otomo was a remnant of a time before. They were linked to the Constables of the Ark Age.
The Constables worked hand in hand with the Arks and the Royals to keep the people in line. The intelligence was largely provided by the arks, though the constables were the human hands that intervened when the words of the Royals could not quell the disturbance.
And now the Otomo family moved with the times, leaving the Socialist era, and the Constabulary, to work through the Capitalist boom of the developing solar system, the Otomo family headed what was named the ‘Seaguard’. Named after the seas of Runnymede that was the Consortium’s birthplace, The Seaguard was the intelligence agency that worked behind the scenes of the Trade Consortium.
Seaguard Otomo had passed years ago, though the place had been filled by his daughter, Suzanne, who had struggled to maintain their place in the Seaguard’s ranks.
<<< New Runnymede is the same moon Colin had reminisced about when he was sitting in that cell on Twin Crown. The name was not mentioned. ty, DD >>>>
