The Iniquity of the Federation (Part 2)
The Year was 4500 of the Common Era and the Federation reigned supreme...
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Big Brother looked through his surroundings. Numbers in white and light green blazed through the black background in quick speed; they moved so fast that the average human eye wouldn’t be able to keep track. But Big Brother was not an average human. He was also in the Central Command of the Federation’s Great Domain. From here, he was able to keep track of practically everything that went on in the Federation. From here, the Federation was able to keep track of the quintillions of souls under its dominion.
From the multitudes of hive cities on the surface to the various planets in the Electrosphere to the pipeline habitations at the Center of the Earth, the Domain had played a part in making sure that everyone was on the same page. Without it, there was no way for the the Federation to rule over its populace with an iron fist.
But to Big Brother, ‘iron fist’ was quite the misnomer. Sure, the Federation was not above harsh punishment, even death. But the Federation preferred soft power. It was why the bunny units were so instrumental in keeping the Federation together. They were simply a weaponization of the most powerful weapon of all: sex.
‘Sex is power’, as was the saying. Even with cloning technology, the Federation still found the traditional means of reproduction to be the easiest way to propagate the next generation. Artificial means tend to be reserved for special units of the Federation, whether they be soldiers or spies or… bunnies.
Many centuries ago, the Federation learned that sexual liberation was the most effective tool for political control. And they used that knowledge to great effect. The downside was the precipitous crash of natural reproduction rate. But hence the second use of cloning, to replenish the populace whenever the numbers drop too low.
Speaking of bunnies, Big Brother had just been notified that Unit 49316 had gone AWOL. He frowned, that unit had been one of his best performing bunnies. She knew the right words to say, and she possessed one of the highest positive rating out of all the bunny units in the Federation, certainly the highest in her local area, Meridian. Her disappearance did not bode well; he could feel it in his digital stomach.
Big Brother put a hand to his head, trying to concentrate. He aimed to fix this issue. But then the whole Domain went haywire: the black background turned white, and the once swift numbers became sluggish in their movements. A tall, bearded figured then appeared in front of Big Brother, he knew exactly who this person was.
“You! Prophet!”
“It’s pr0ph3t, actually. But close enough.”
***
Sixteen wiped away her tears. She gasped, having remembered that she was supposed to be back to work hours ago. She had been AWOL! Big Brother would be upset with this. She remembered the shocking feeling of his disciplinary measures; she shuddered.
“What troubles you, my sister?”
Sixteen perked up, the bunny girl recognized that voice. How could she not – that was Joseph. Her mouth was agape, at a loss of what to do.
“I will say again. What troubles you, my sister?”
This time, Sixteen gazed at the man. She wanted to hate him. She really did. She had the perfect life. Big Brother appreciated her, she played a very important role in the very functioning of the Federation, and all the men loved her. This man, this jerk, this cultist, destroyed all that. By all rights, she should hate this man.
And Sixteen threw herself into the arms of Joseph. The bunny girl expected the man to reject her after their last meeting, but he embraced her.
With tears in her eyes, she looked up to her beloved. “You, you came back for me. Even after…”
Joseph wiped away Sixteen’s tears. “I cannot in good conscience abandon you. Not until I am sure where you stand.”
The bunny girl looked away. She could still turn back. She could still contact the Federation, get Big Brother, and pretend like this was all just a dream. Why shouldn’t she? Her life, for all its faults, was comfortable. Joseph, for his part, was not making a good case for himself.
“Do not misunderstand,” he said. “What you desire, I cannot give. But I can show you a better life. Something beyond what you are used to.”
Sixteen’s face betrayed uncertainty. “I… don’t quite understand. But wherever you go, I will.”
“You do understand that by going with me, you will turn your back on everything you ever know,” said Joseph.
The bunny girl nodded. “I do. I’m sure you have a plan in getting me out of this prison.”
Joseph smiled. “Believe it or not, I have a friend. Someone in a high position within the Federation who sympathizes with the Faith.”
***
At the center of the great information highway known as the Domain, Big Brother frowned. His time had been wasted by the pr0ph3t, his interlocutor. The most powerful man in the Federation would like nothing more than to get rid of him for good. Unfortunately, the codes simply wouldn’t allow him to.
“How many times do I have to tell you this?” Big Brother said angrily. “Everything remains the same, the sterilization, the culling…”
“The culling?” pr0p3t interrupted. He chuckled. “Is that what you call the continual massacre of the unborn now?”
“We are not having this conversation again!” Big Brother responded. “I have told you before numerous times. Population control is necessary for the sustainability of the Terran ecumenopolis. And besides…” The Federation leader hesitated, but then he found the will to continue. “The bunnies ensure that the need to cull the unborn is kept to a minimum.”
“Right,” pr0ph3t said sarcastically. “Was that your conscience speaking?”
“Enough of this!” Big Brother said, waving his hand. “I am done with you!”
“As you wish.”
And with that, the bearded figure of pr0ph3t disappeared in a pixelated haze. Afterwards, Big Brother sighed, not that he needed to do so given that he was in the Domain; it was simply force of habit.
Now that the annoyance had disappeared, Big Brother tried to remember what he was trying to do before he was rudely interrupted. With his brain improved a million-fold by the Domain, it only took him a tenth of a split-second before he remembered about Sixteen. He remembered how she had gone AWOL. With haste, he put his hand onto the side of his head, a cue to search for her through the Domain. And as it turned out, Sixteen was back where she was supposed to. Big Brother smiled. Everything was as it was supposed to be.
He was gravely mistaken.
***
Sixteen stared at the man in front of her. The bunny girl was used to seeing strange patrons, but pr0ph3t was something else entirely. His very long beard and white hair reminded her of a wizard from one of her favorite streams, the kind of wizard who wouldn’t approve of her life. But thankfully, pr0ph3t was not here to judge her. Even so, the bunny girl couldn’t help but bow down in front of the old man.
“At ease, young maiden,” pr0phet said to Sixteen. “Don Colacho had spoken highly of you.”
Sixteen turned to her right, Joseph was right there. She gave her a questioning look. He nodded in return.
“Yes,” he said. “Colacho is my surname”.
Sixteen gave a blank stare. “Sur… name?”
“Er, my family name,” clarified Joseph.
But Sixteen’s blank look remained. If anything, she looked more confused than ever.
Joseph smiled, having realized what was going on. Like all bunny units, Sixteen had no concept of family. From the beginning, they were created to be a sex object. No, thought Joseph, they were cloned to be a sex object. But The Creator had a purpose for them, for her. And so, Joseph put his arm on her shoulder, and smiled warmly. He knew that he was taking a huge risk in doing so, given the girl’s obvious feelings for him. But he knew what he had to do.
And as soon as that hand touched her shoulder, the bunny girl’s cheeks turned red.
In response, Joseph gritted his teeth, struggling to keep calm. Yet, he was able to eke out a smile. “Don’t worry about it, Sixteen. You will soon understand what family means soon enough.”
“Y-yes,” Sixteen said. “Of course.”
Joseph then turned towards pr0ph3t. “I trust all of the preparations are complete.”
The bearded man nodded in return. “Yes, Meridian and much of the Federation are now focused on the suff right now. Believe it or not, this is the best opportunity to break Unit 49,316 out of her prison.”
“The suff?” Sixteen said with horror, her eyes widened. “You can’t mean…”
The bearded pr0ph3t nodded. “Ah, so you have heard of it.”
Sixteen nodded, eyes still wide. No doubt she had heard of suff.exe, known colloquially as The Suff. How could she not? That computer virus had been infecting various servers of the Domain from all over the Federation. Whether in the inner parts of the Earth or in the outer reaches of the Electrosphere, anyone physically connected to the Domain through the Federation’s virtual reality systems was liable to be attacked by the suff. Billions had been killed. Supposedly.
“But…,” the bunny girl protested. “The suff is just a myth!”
“Who told you that?” pr0ph3t asked. “Big Brother?”
Sixteen paused, then looked away. Her silence told her interlocutor everything. Of course, there was a reason why she desperately wanted to believe that the suff was not real.
“I understand your plight, my sister,” Joseph interjected. “After all, only people who procure the services of bunnies would be attacked by the suff.”
“Yes,” the bunny girl said. “So it’s true then?” She looked to the two men, eyeing them suspiciously. “Are you Cross Cultists responsible for the suff?”
“No,” pr0ph3t replied, shaking his head. “The suff is a very old phenomenon. Much older than the Federation, believe it or not. Furthermore, the suff is yet another demonstration of a truth self-evident for almost as long as humanity’s existence: the price of sin is death.”
“But enough about the suff,” Joseph said to Sixteen. “Here’s how we get you out of the Domain.”
***
Inside the Center of the Domain, Big Brother was looking through the three-dimensional map of the Earth. His face was calm as ever, but inside he was frantic. The suff attacks had once again surfaced. Numbers popped out of the bluish representation of Earth, with a snap of a finger from Big Brother, parts of it – in the west – turned red. It then popped out a number, there were nine digits to them. The leader of the Federation knew exactly what that meant. Billions have perished of the suff in just Amerigo Region alone, many more billions in other regions. If all the numbers were to be put together, it would number in eleven digits, perilously close to a trillion deaths.
To Big Brother the numbers was not the issue, not even close. Trillions were killed daily to keep the Federation going. The problem was that these deaths got in the way of the very functioning of the Federation, the bunny units – the units who kept the prison of pleasure going. Big Brother was thinking; even as his thinking capacity was improved by the Domain, he was still struggling to figure out a way to minimize the damages. He was close to a breakthrough when he was interrupted by a voice – that of a subordinate.
“Big Brother, bad news….” He screamed, interrupting his own words. Electricity was coursing through the subordinate as the Federation leader had snapped his finger.
“Can’t you see I’m busy?” Big Brother said, his voice calm as ever.
“My apologies,” the subordinate replied with fear. “B-but Unit 49,316 had disappeared.”
Big Brother’s face remained impassive. “So she’s gone AWOL again. She’ll be back. I have more pressing issues to deal with. Now begone!”
The pitiful subordinate did not need to be told twice; he disappeared pixel-by-pixel.
***
Sixteen opened her eyes, she could see grey metal all around her. It was all… cramped. She wanted to move her hands but realized that her arms was held in place by wires. She looked around, and saw more wires, and a pair of pipes inserted into the side of her torso. The girl panicked. What is this place? She was ready to scream; but thankfully, the ceiling, being so uncomfortably close to her, began to open. Unfortunately, it was more grey metal that greeted the girl. But hope returned to Sixteen when saw the face of her beloved.
“Joseph!”
To the girl, the most surprising thing about the man in front of her was how similar he looked to his Domain form. It was as if he simply chose his physical form and did not bother to change anything about it. For Sixteen, that was simply unheard of. Why would anyone even do that?
The man reached out his hand and began to take out the wires and tubes attached to her. Then, he pulled Sixteen out of her claustrophobic habitation. As soon as she stepped down from the tiny structure, she looked back, curious of what she had been in.
“That was your pod,” Joseph said, as if responding to Sixteen’s thoughts.
Sixteen simply nodded, grateful for the information but not knowing what to do with it.
“This is how one enters the Domain,” Joseph continued. “I’m sure you’re also curious about the wires that was around your body.”
“Yes,” Sixteen replied. “This is all new to me.”
“So you don’t remember anything out of the Domain?” Joseph asked.
Sixteen shook her head.
“I see.”
“All I know is the Domain,” Sixteen said. “I’ve been plugged into the system for as long as I can remember.”
Joseph nodded. “You’ve been in this prison since you were just a baby. The tube that was attached to you was responsible for your nourishment.”
“I’m not just a prisoner of the Domain,” Sixteen said with sadness, “I’m also a warden. If it wasn’t for bunnies like me, then the people would not accept their prison.”
“That is behind you now. Let us not dwell too much on that.”
Having wholeheartedly agreed with her interlocutor, Sixteen looked around her surroundings. Everything was black and grey. With her bare hands, she touched the wall close to her. It was cold, but she liked it. It was real, not a simulacra like with the Domain. But then, she remembered why she was here.
“How do we get out?”
Joseph smiled. “Right now, Big Brother and the Federation are busy tracking down the suff. If it’s anything like their previous attempt, it will be unsuccessful. Meanwhile, pr0ph3t disabled all of the alarms in this side of Meridian. We should be able to sneak out of Meridian and into the outside world.”
“Meridian?”
Joseph grimaced. “Right.” He paused. “It’s… where you live physically. The bunny units, at least the important ones, are placed here. This is the capital of the Federation. Now let’s get out of here.”
And with that, Joseph and Sixteen made their way out of the chamber. In this place, Sixteen gasped. Countless of pods lined up, evenly spaced both horizontally and vertically. From Joseph, she learned that everyone here were bunny units. The whole place seemed desolate and dead, but only because everyone was plugged into the Domain. There were usually lasers to detect intruders, but thanks to pr0ph3t, those things were deactivated. Joseph and Sixteen easily left the place.
What greeted the two was a vast and empty hallway. As Sixteen looked around, she could only see a jumbled mass of grey, green, and red. She had no idea how to describe these things. Obviously, they were meant to maintain the Domain and the various inhabitants in Meridian, but she had no idea how. Joseph told her of machine spirits, beings whose bodies have been reduced to very little, their presence limited to the digital world of the Domain.
“The machine spirits are the rulers of the Federation,” Joseph said. “They are the descendants of people who gave up their humanity to be machine. But they could never get rid of their humanity.”
“Is Big Brother a machine spirit?” Sixteen asked.
Joseph nodded. “Yes. So is pr0ph3t.”
As Sixteen looked up, she could see the glowing blue of various boxes above her. It looked like it was hanging dangerously off the ceiling. “And those are?”
“Data servers,” Joseph said. “Inside each one there are thousands, perhaps even more, connected to the Domain. You may think this place is dead, but quite the opposite. It’s brimming with life. The only reason they don’t know of our presence is because they are busy with their own lives in the simulacra. That, and pr0ph3t masking our presence.”
With the conversation having died down, Joseph and Sixteen continued on their trek to escape Meridian.
To say that Sixteen was unnerved by her surroundings would have been a severe understatement. To her, the whole place seemed unnatural. She was not against metal, but the whole place was nothing but metal. Its desolate emptiness didn’t help either. It felt like she was in a horror stream. The girl couldn’t help but grab onto Joseph. To her relief, he let her.
It was not a long walk before Joseph reached a large elevator-like structure. This was a good thing since Sixteen looked ready to collapse. They had only walked for about ten minutes, but the girl was already gasping for air. This was to be expected; she had spent her entire life plugged into the Domain. But pr0ph3t had accounted for this. They were not meant to make the whole journey on foot. No, the Meridian Monolith was a huge place; there was no way pr0ph3t could have kept the security system disabled long enough for Joseph and Sixteen to get out on foot. Not even with the suff taking Big Brother’s attention.
What looked to be an elevator was actually an escape pod. It was only meant to be used should the Monolith be in danger of being destroyed, either by a meteorite or an enemy bombardment. The reason why Joseph and Sixteen needed to make a ten-minute walk was because this pod was not meant for the bunny units.
Activating the escape mechanism was child’s play for Joseph, especially since pr0ph3t had given him the instructions. Meanwhile, Sixteen was looking for a place to sit but couldn’t find any. The girl held on to what looked to be a handle. She found the whole structure to be uncomfortable.
Sensing the girl’s demeanor, Joseph spoke up: “pr0ph3t told me that this escape pod was not meant for organic life.”
Sixteen nodded to acknowledge. That was clear, even to her – someone who had spent virtually all her life on the Domain. The escape pod looked more like a place for people to put their stuff without regard for creature comforts. This pod was not meant for her. The girl could feel a pang of regret deep in her psyche, but she steeled herself. “I’m ready!”
Thus, Joseph started the escape sequence. It was high time for Unit 49,316 to escape Meridian. Unfortunately, it was not a smooth ride for her. Not even close.
As soon as the pod began to launch, Sixteen lost her grip on the handle; with great force, she was launched back. The last thing she heard before her head made contact with the wall was the sound of Joseph screaming for her. And then everything went black.
***
Sixteen opened her eyes. She saw Joseph’s face – his handsome face. It was strange: when she first met him, he looked plain, forgettable. But now, she could appreciate his finer features. Especially when he gave her that smile.
“You’re awake now.” Joseph sighed in relief. “Thanks be to God.”
“What happened?”
“You hit your head and was knocked out. You were out for so long… I feared the worst.”
Sixteen could feel her head aching; her back, too. This was a whole new experience for her. Pain did exist in the Domain, and the girl was no stranger to that. But pain that lingered, that wouldn’t go away in just a few seconds?
The girl tried to get back on her feet, but her body did not cooperate. Thankfully, Joseph was there and helped her up. Once up, she moved her arms around absentmindedly.
“Where are we?” she asked.
“Good news. We’ve escaped Meridian. Right now, we’re on the Atlantic Sea, waiting for a shuttle to pick us up,” Joseph then took Sixteen by hand, bringing her to the door they had entered through. “You can see for yourself.”
The girl entered through the door and gasped as she saw the sight in front of her. It was sunset in the Atlantic. Sixteen had seen the sea before in the domain, but that was nothing more than simulacra. She could see the azure blue waters; the cloudy sky was reddish yellow. More importantly, everything was calm. Even the sea was calm.
She looked to the still water below, the waterline was only a few feet below her. She was hoping to see fish, but instead she saw what looked to be a strange humanoid creature, it has a human face, but dried and wrinkled. She put her head close to the water, hoping to get a closer look at it. But to her surprise, the creature was also getting closer to her. And then it hit her, that was no creature.
It was her reflection.
Sixteen screamed. Then, tears fell from her eyes. So focused she was on escaping that she forgot that her actual body was much different than her own Domain form. Though her thoughts were interrupted by Joseph who rushed to her.
“What’s wrong?” Joseph asked.
“This was why you rejected me, wasn’t it,” she said, tears still in her eyes. “You knew my true body, my ugliness.”
But Joseph smiled; he took her in a hug. “Not at all, my sister. You see, I have promised myself to the Almighty, to live on this Earth as the angels in Heaven.”
“I… don’t understand.”
“You will in time.”
Then, the two looked on at the sunset-filled horizon in silence. As she did so, Sixteen thought of the new life ahead of her – one free from Big Brother and the Federation. But the black, square-shaped Meridian Monolith stood far behind her, opposite to the sunset. And Big Brother, located within that imposing structure, had no intention of letting her go.
To be continued…
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You've woven the story of Ruth into the story perfectly. From Ruth to the prophets to the suff to the real world. Every piece you put out just gets better and better. I'm impressed.