"This way. Watch your head… and your feet too."
That was Tachibana, trying to guide us to somewhere specific in the tower. Me, the architect, Mei and two Fort Unity citizens were following him closely through the ashes.
"Damn it, the place is quite messed up."
"Now whose fault would that be?" I was about to say, but then I stopped. Maybe I should've really stopped bringing it up in every single possible opportunity, he was going to be punished eventually anyway.
"There seems to be a hole in the wall to the right. Watch it, otherwise you may fall to your death all the way to the bottom."
"Great, you hear that Oliver?" said one of the people accompanying us. "I actually always wanted to climb this tower, but not in a situation like this! Oh, but again, why would god grant any wish of poor Hannes?"
"I'm sure you are not alone, this command tower stands out a lot in the city skyline." said another citizen. "My son used to ask about it, even. I kinda wish I could bring him along, but there is not much of a good view to look at anymore."
"Here." said Tachibana. "Through this door, and we are there."
We all walked through the remains of what used to be a wooden door.
"Where did you bring us?" I asked him.
"To the archives." Tachibana replied. "I was about to first go and look at the computers, but they were completely out in the open during the fire, so I'm not sure if any of them at all is still operational. But we have some backup data in the archives."
"What sort of data are you after?"
"The sort that will convince you to trust me a bit more, I hope." he said. "Something about my just cause."
"I hope this won't turn out to be an absolute BS." Hannes commented, letting out an intentionally very audible sigh.
"Are you… Ah, you must be kidding me!" said Tachibana, in quite the frustrated manner. "Did somebody take all the papers!? Terry?"
"What?" said the architect, obviously having no idea what Tachibana was talking about. "What papers? I didn't take anything!"
"The telescope shots!" Tachibana was getting more annoyed each second. "Where are they!? The printouts!"
"The hell would I know!" said Terry.
"What telescope shots?" I asked. "What are you talking about?"
"Out of my way." said Tachibana, pushing me aside with unexpected force. He went for the cabinet behind me, only to find it locked.
"Not again!" he said, as if the cabinet being locked was an everyday nuisance to him, which could very well be the case. Tachibana took a step back and kicked the cabinet door, probably destroying the weak locking mechanism.
"Of course, there they are!" he said, quickly grabbing a few sheets of documents. He brought them to me, and handed one of them over.
I examined the paper in detail. In the middle of the white sheet was a picture taken from an optical telescope. On the top left were some parameters related to the telescope's setup such as exposure, focus and stabilization, stating that this was a photo of planet Earth belonging to an observation made about 3 months ago – Earth months, that is, as a standard time measurement unit.
Since the Earth was much closer to the Sun than we were, observing Earth from our location in the Solar System without exposing sensitive equipment to intense sunlight was difficult. As a result, the view of the Earth was not the best – the photo had defects such as overexposed regions.
"Alright, this is a photo of Earth." I said, indicating a lack of interest. "What about it?"
"Look closer." said Tachibana. "More carefully."
Mei, the architect and the two citizens came closer to take a look at the paper in my hand themselves.
"I don't see what you want me to notice." I said. "What about the Earth?"
"For god's- Look!" said Tachibana, pointing at what seemed to be a visual effect from a defective telescope. A curved ray of light that seemed to be making an incomplete arc around the planet.
"So you have damaged your lens. Congrats." I said.
"It is not a scratch on the lens." he said. "That light has been orbiting Earth for months. Here, a more recent photo from another telescope of ours."
Another photo was handed to me. This time, the light arc was slightly longer and was making a different angle with respect to our view of the Earth.
"You have been keeping Earth under watch." I said. "So, what is that light arc? A tightly packed array of satellites?"
"No." said Tachibana. "That's not an array of discrete objects. That's a continuous light. It is a single object that makes the whole arc."
This time, Tachibana had succeeded in capturing my interest.
"Then that certainly is a damn long structure." I said. "What is its function?"
"We don't know." said Tachibana. "But we have reason to assume it is not good, from a human point of view."
"We should keep observing it." I said.
"Hey." Hannes interrupted. "This is interesting, no objections to that, but what does this have anything to do with the Fort Unity tragedy?"
"I was just about to come to the point." Tachibana said. "The AI might be trying something that will permanently alter the nature of planet Earth. A structure of this size suggests that. If it is successful, we may no longer have a natural habitat in the universe."
"We have built many habitats in the -"
"No!" Tachibana interrupted my argument. "No! You are forgetting the fact that we humans are merely refugees here, we are simply regrouping and recovering from a major catastrophe. The artificial habitats we build in the Outer Solar System and beyond are not meant to be our new permanent homes – they can not be! Just look at how they are built, all those habitats are modelled after planet Earth's ecosystem, the birthplace of our species! Our eventual goal here is to get back to Earth, and the evidence now makes it clear that we are running out of time."
We all went quiet, trying to digest Tachibana's words. He continued.
"Everyone, and I'm not kidding, literally everyone seems to have forgotten the past. Everyone forgot how we ended up here, and all the struggles we went through. It seems like we even gave up on observing Earth and being worried about our homeworld. We raised new generations in our bloody metal cans, urging our children to study, make friends, raise a family, have a life and whatever, and stopped telling tales about Earth as if living in an oversized air canister was the new way of life. If any of our kids knew that the Earth was a planet that naturally provided everything we need to live, and have at least thousands of times more living space than all our celestials combined, they would curse us for not telling them earlier - and when they grow up and find out on their own, they will be way too old and indifferent to change their way of life and pursue adventure in behalf of the entire humankind. Everyone forgot about the promise – the great promise, that one day we would regain our strength and claim Earth back! What did we name Fort Promise after? What did we name our celestials after? It's all about Earth! But look at us now, betraying ourselves! We are all cowards! We are all so scared of getting back into the war, that we, as a species, collectively avoid responsibility by ignoring the very presence of an entire planet!"
"The promise…" whispered Mei, who has been silent the entire time.
"Now things are starting to add up." said the architect.