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Terraform - A Sample of Dystopia

🇭🇰Niizawa
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Synopsis
Notice: Terraform is a short piece of prose written for the Writing Prompts Contest #15: Cyberpunk. In a nearby star system, a war had been ravaging two planets and their people, killing off most of the population. Timothy Williams stopped the deaths by forcing the whole star system into a time loop before escaping to the Sol System. Little did he know, some of his greatest opponents also snuck out during the complicated situation... *************** This story is kind of like a prototype that could be used for a long novel series. Of course, since the writing contest was only announced a few days ago, only this piece of prose is submitted. If "Terraform" becomes unexpectedly popular, I might consider serializing this novel.

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Chapter 1 - Terraform α

Rain poured down upon the Capital City, leaving the streets deserted, almost as if no one ever lived here. Timothy Williams walked along the narrow pathway, watching, with his deep violet eyes, the black rain as it fall. He always loved rain, reminded him of his home, which was so far away. Too far away. He walked towards a narrow corridor, hidden within was a staircase. He strolled down, looking at the dirty, disgusting surface of the floor. A floor that had not been wiped for decades, as no one dared to even get outside of their own home. When Timothy reached the bottom of the staircase, there was a ruined, twisted tunnel. It always look like it was about to collapse, he guessed that was what it was like in the Undercity – dark, ruined, and on the verge of failure. The people are the same, all either poor or living below the poverty line. They dreamed about how to get aboveground, to the Overcity, and live happily ever after. But that would never happen, not now anyway.

The High Council Leader walked across the magnificent hall, created by the best sculptors and artists in the world. He greeted other Council members as he walked along the seemingly never-ending doorway. Suddenly, he received a word on his earpiece, and immediately dashed to the right, putting his thumb on Mona Lisa's eye. He was scanned and a doorway opened. He entered into another seemingly never-ending corridor, then, after walking for about a minute, arrived to a facility. There, was the headquarters of the AUTA – the Anti-Uninus and Terrorist Agency. The facility looked like a normal office place, with lots of different small offices zigzagging around. At the end of the zigzagging, was a huge LED monitor that reached all the way to the ceiling. The monitor shows a map of the whole world, with different signs twisting across the surface – dots, lines, signs, etc. Each showing different things.

John King, leader of the AUTA, approached the Leader, and said, "High Leader, there has been an incident."

"What is it that is so important, that you must disturb my time?" The Leader asked angrily.

"There has been an incident – a bombing at one of the terraforming sites – and we linked the bombing to the Queen herself." King replied.

The Leader pulled out a surprise on his face, and said calmly, "Bring her to the throne room, I would meet her there."

The High Council Leader entered another corridor, very similar to the one that he came in – the color white surrounded the corridor, with the symbolic meaning of peace, and looked like it would go on forever. When he walked out of the corridor, he entered the throne room. The room was magnificent, with his chair at the very end, sculpted from the gold of the earth, and purified to the point where it would shine even without sunlight. Next to his chair were two servants, he reached one of them and asked, "Where is my queen?"

"She would arrive shortly, your Highness." The servant replied.

The Leader waited. He was not a very patient man. A personality most people possess nowadays. His despise his impatience because it doesn't make him distinct, unique as the Leader might say.

Queen Amantha entered into the room; she looked directly into the High Council Leader, who was waiting for him. He was sitting on the magnificent chair, and he looked very tall, almost as if he is above anyone else. She spoke, "Is there a problem, your Highness?"

"I think we both know what the problem is, your Majesty." He smiled, sipping his glass of champagne that he ordered from the servant.

"I do not understand." The Queen replied in confusion.

"Tell me, what is your relationship with the Uninus?" The Leader asked.

"Who?" The Queen replied, still acting innocent.

"Guards!" The leader called, "take this traitor away."

As the guards grabbed her, she struggled and snarled, "You can't do this, I would liberate my people from your terrible, wretched reign! I would not let my people suffer!"

"I'm afraid that would be impossible, your Highness." The Leader smiled, and the Queen was taken away, shouting, "You just wait and see."

What is life? Is our lives simply souls trapped inside our bodies? Or are we much more than that? Timothy Williams walked on the Main Street of the Undercity, and he thought of how unfair society is, as people suffer from poverty, and hunger, while others glance, high above, in the Overcity, as they live with they rich royal lives, having anything they wish, and doing anything they want. But little they know that one day, all of Earth would fall, as the acid rain tear apart the whole environment of the planet, slowly terraforming into a worldwide concentration camp.

"The calibrations are almost complete, sir." Ianto Carter said, as Timothy entered the facility. He wasn't a typical man, eccentric people might say. When Timothy recruited him, he saw something different about him – compassion – one of the traits that people rarely have nowadays. Ianto followed Timothy towards the second floor, and said, "Sir, we just received word that the Queen has been captured." A hint of sadness rushed into Timothy's face. He replied, "Get me a coat, an earpiece and a tracker."

"But, sir. What are you –" Ianto started.

"I am going to take care of some unfinished business." Timothy replied. "Get the broadcast ready and release it as soon as possible."

Timothy walked into a seemingly never-ending corridor. All teleportation corridors looked though as if they go on forever. Nothing goes on forever, Timothy thought. The corridor was powered up and a blinding white light shined upon Timothy. He walked towards it, and within moments, he was transported molecularly to the center of the Square, which was considered the city center of the Undercity. The Square was sprawling with people, with people trying to sell food that are long past its expiry date, jewelry that are either ruined or dirty, there are even children for sale. There are babies crying as though saying they should never have been born, people mourning as their loved ones slowly deteriorate from different sorts of sickness – smallpox, Ebola, pneumonia, swine flu, etc. They all look so desperate.

On a TV screen that covers most of the roof of the Undercity, it came to life. There was at first, a flashing white light. Then came blackness. After that, a face appeared, Timothy's face, speaking. "Hello, fellow citizens of the Undercity, as you know, I am Timothy Williams, head of the Uninus Terrorist Society. Although you may think of me unwise, or treacherous, think about your lives. What part of your lives is not treacherous? I am merely trying to make your world a better place. Think about it, all the people, rich and prosperous, living on the Overcity." A beautiful video showing the surroundings of the Overcity was showed. "While we rot and wait to die in these sewers of the Undercity." He showed the ugly, grotesque view of the Undercity. "Can you really tolerate that?" Timothy's face showed up on the screen again. "I promise you, I would make things a better place, I would let all of you be a citizen of the Overcity. Just imagine how you can cure every disease in the world. How many of your family died because of cancer, smallpox, and swine flu? How many more will die in the near future? We can cure them. We can also make it so that your descendants would be happy – your sons, your grandsons, your great-grandsons. All living like gods among the Overcity. Please, if you support our course, join my hands, and join hands with those next to you, and raise your hands up high and proud, and let us go forth in victory!"

Two people next to me found my hands, and raised them up, and people next to them did the same, and people all across the city have done the same.

"Thank you! Now, let us march towards the Overcity, follow my lead, and go forth to victory!"

Timothy shouted, "Everybody, follow me!" Everybody followed him as they ran towards the staircase leading up to the Overcity.

"Sir." A voice said to the earpiece of the High Council Leader. "I am detecting a Uninus signature and a lot of human signatures in the Western part of the Capital."

"Capture the Uninus only, and let the local police deal with the rest." Leader replied.

The Leader smiled. "What have you got planned now, Timothy?" he thought. He leaned across the window of his bedroom, and sees the beautiful blood red sky, created by his terraforming devices around the world. "I am almost ready." He laughed, as he strolled back to bed, smiling as he sleeps.

Timothy didn't even struggle as a helicopter came in and dragged him away. He was trying to get himself into the High Council building anyway. They arrived at the building, and guards dragged him towards the main hall, to the throne room, where the High Council Leader sat. "Leave us." Leader told the guards.

As the guards leave, the High Council Leader smirked, he said, "So, Timothy, you have finally revealed yourself."

"I did what I had to do." Timothy replied.

"You would not mind if I bring the Queen here would you, to hear you… explain yourself." Leader said.

Timothy pulled up a surprise on his face, as the Queen entered the room, she was shoved onto the ground, just like Timothy. "How dare you treat me like this, you slug!" the Queen cried.

The Leader laughed. He said, "It seems like everything is coming to an end, like the relationship between you two."

Timothy glanced at the Queen, and replied, "What are you talking about?"

The Leader answered, "That is, in fact, not the main topic here, the main topic is what are you doing with the telecommunications tower east of the city?"

"To use this!" Timothy took out what seemed like a TV controller.

The Leader looked surprised, and said, "You are not really going to use it are you?"

The Queen frowned, and asked, "Timothy what is that? I demand to know!"

"It is the detonation switch to the time loop device on Alpha Centauri."

"I do not understand?" the Queen frowned again.

"Once upon a time, there were a race of peaceful beings called the Dinus, they are connected to the main computer – the planet itself. One day, an alien species tried to invade the planet, the Dinus defeated them, but leaving the home planet scorched and ruined. We then formed two governments – the Uninus, who believed in peace and that the Dinus should make peaceful treaties with other species to create an intergalactic peace, while the Trinus wanted to create ships and weapons of mass destruction to destroy every single species so that the Dinus can remain safe. Therefore, the two governments scattered towards other planets orbiting Alpha Centauri. A few years later, they declared war on each other, and the Trinus almost won. When they are about to destroy the main computer of the Uninus, I trapped them in a time loop, with a device set in the sun itself. The destruction of the main computer would go on and on without end, until I detonate the device, causing a black hole enveloping both Dinus nations."

"It is a perfect little speech you have there, but just think about what you are going to loose, using that device." The Leader said.

Timothy thought of the beautiful mountains of Uninus, standing golden, tall, and proud, above everything else. He thought of the City, standing on top of a large ocean, everyone in it, happy, and love every single day of their lives. The trees, filled with fruits that tasted like heavens, and looked like angels. The flowers sprawled across the air, making everyday so beautiful.

Timothy snapped out of the picture of his home world, he said, "I am not going to let you enslave mankind, making them pets, and forcing them to create weapons of mass destruction where you are going to destroy the universe with."

"We shall see about that." Leader laughed.

Just then, a huge bunch of people swarmed into the throne room. The Leader frowned, "What is this?"

One of the people replied, "Leader, we are stopping you! We would not let you enslave us or to make us live any harder than it already is!"

Another person said, "How dare you treat us like animals, as we rot in the Undercity, living everyday crying, or afraid what is going to come tomorrow! We want to live happy, and we are going to do that even if we have to flip a whole mountain to find it!"

"You see," Timothy said, "It is not about me, look at these people, so hopeful and determined, and yet yesterday they were hopeless and toppled down. It is not about me, it is about the world. It is about equality. It is about how you sacrifice to make the world a better place. Therefore, I must do this, for the good of mankind, and for keeping the universe safe, and happy, and prosperous forever until the universe ends."

Timothy pressed the button, far away, a sun collapsed, sucking all the nearby planets in with it, Timothy's eyes went black, he fell down, and the last thing he saw was Queen Amantha, standing up, and fighting the guards for control.

Queen Amantha stood on the High Council building, he looked at the sky, it was blue, filled with stars glistening across the sky, as if they are singing towards her. She then looked at the city, everyone is sleeping soundly and happily, without having to worry what they are going to face the next day. It is like paradise, it is beautiful. Just so beautiful.