Collaborator: Ch 1b (ending)
New? You can find the Prologue timeline here! For details about the serial, including how to become a bad guy, click here!
Traitor.
A chill went through Rebecca’s, but she pushed it aside. She’d not slept with her light off in seven years, but it had been some time since the nightmare had haunted her waking moments. But the last few days, her mind wandered. She could see the faces of her family as they were escorted into the transport trucks to move them to “safety.” Were they still alive? Did they stay and fight?
Of course they fought. They weren’t like her. She came from a military family. Even if Canada officially surrender, they would have fought in their own way. Not her, though. No, she was a coward.
Fatigue. That’s all it was. She’d not taken a day off in two years. No one understood it, not even her superiors who were fair and nice people. They just couldn’t understand. Where would she go if she took a break? What would she do other than think about how she is alive because she’d turned her back on her world to save her own skin?
Zain punched in his usual order: extra-large Brisbin, quadruple sugar, quadruple cream.
“We had powdered cream on Earth, too,” Rebecca said idly. Zain gave her a sidelong glance. She knew he was going for nonchalant, but his lip curled just enough for her to know she’d given him a small measure of false hope. She’d opened up just a millimeter more to him. Damn it.
The machine whizzed and gurgled before filling up Zain’s mug that he’d stuffed under the spout.
Rebecca unhooked her mug from her belt and shoved it under the spout, ordering the House Mix, a flower blossom herbal tea which was actually pretty good. It didn’t remind her of home, where she’d drank lattes on her way to work every day to her engineering job.
She motioned to an unoccupied small table overlooking the Bubble Drop, what residents called the three-story open atrium underneath the protective, translucent doom. The moon lacked a viable atmosphere, so the prison had to be built within its own biosphere. At least it prevented most escape attempts. Get outside the dome and suffocate or freeze: see which happens first.
She’d never been down to the prison levels, of course. She was just a landed tech, property of the military.
Motion caught Rebecca’s eye and she looked over Zain’s shoulder. Three men and three women in matching blue coveralls escorted an auto-lift of boxes. Two of the women had biosynthetic hands: metallic fingers, more robotic than human, tapped against the auto-lift’s railing. One of the men returned her gaze and she noticed his one vibrant purple eye: a data uplink scanner implant.
Rebecca shuddered and looked away. That’s what the war was about. Centuries of war, apparently, over implants and genetic modifications. They’d returned to Earth because of it and, like fools, Earth resisted against people who could colonize other planets with as much forethought as planning another factory in the GTO or Detroit. It didn’t matter that they all came from the same genes; it didn’t matter that they were all humans, more or less. What mattered was the invasion.
“Want to go down to Jup with me next month?”
Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter. What was wrong with her?
Zain looked at her and she could see a sheen of sweat forming on his dark forehead. His voice had been laid back, but there was a lot of weight to the question. He wanted her to travel down to the base with him. They’d have to share a room, no doubt. She could see through his intentions.
“I don’t have any time off,” she said cautiously, sipping at her perfect-temperature tea. She peeked up at the workers, now stopped a couple of meters away. They leaned over the glass and metal railing whispering amongst themselves. She’d never seen them before. Probably delivery folks from the military planet.
Zain waved a hand. “You don’t have time off because you haven’t asked. They’ll let you go. I’ve been down there plenty of times. It isn’t like they don’t trust you.”
Rebecca looked up from her tea and asked in a flat tone, “How do you know?”
He put his mug of Brisbin down and stared at her for a moment before answering. “Let’s see, they let you work at a secret internment camp for terrorists. You have access to codes and technical schematics. You have your own net link, for cock’s sake! They’ve invested into training you so that you can work on our technology.” Zain took another sip of his beverage. “Yeah, I can see why you’d think no one trusts you.”
“Zain, look, I don’t know if I’m even allowed to take holidays. I’m military property.”
He rolled his eyes. “If you don’t want to go, just say so.”
“It’s not that and you know it,” she snapped back.
Zain lifted an eyebrow and he grinned at her. “I always thought there was a firework waiting to spark off under that mask of yours.”
It was Rebecca’s turn to roll her eyes. “Not everything needs to be described as a poem.”
“Poetry is the language of humans.” He sniffed. “Every civilized human knows that, Earther.”
She ignored the jab, even if it was meant to be light-hearted. A little holiday would be nice, but what would she do, other than be awkward in a room alone with Zain? She’s not shared a bed with a man in a long time, not since long before Earth. She’d rather keep it that way for a long time yet.
The six figures behind them fiddled with each other’s outfits in pairs, huddled together whispering and nodding.
Zain waved a hand in front of her face. “What?” He looked over his shoulder. “Stop being nosy, it’s just delivery people. Look, I think you should come. It’ll be good for you. Besides, Jup is a military planet. If you were going to escape the evil clutches of the Corps,” he laughed, “running away to a military planet is probably not where you’d go.”
“I’ll think about it,” Rebecca said absently.
They sipped at their beverages in silence. Rebecca eyed the delivery people over her rim of her mug. They shook each other’s hands and the man with the scanner implant hugged one of the other men. That was strange.
They pushed their auto-lift behind them, and stood in a line. In unison, they attached cables to the metal railing, the decorative part of the glass safety barrier.
One of the women with the biosynthetic arm stared at Rebecca and mouthed, “Traitor.”
“Zain…” Rebecca said, staring at the workers.
In a flash of blue, the coveralls came off, revealing flags and names of conquered planets. The woman wore a white shirt that simply read, EARTH, in big block letters.
“What?” He looked over his shoulder and did a double take, spilling Brisbin down the front of his own coveralls. “Cock,” he swore, and tapped the small implant behind his left ear. “Security! Jumpers on the upper level of the market. Under the dome, yes. Six.”
Rebecca stared at the woman who recognized her. The woman’s skin shimmered with sweat and and a hangman’s noose of metal cabling hung around her neck. Rebecca’s heart raced and the tea sloshed in her guts. Her mouth hung open, unable to speak.
“Hurry! They are going to jump!” Zain shouted at whoever was on the other end of the line.
The six inclined their heads to each other. In unison, they shouted, “Freedom!”
They vaulted over the railing. Rebecca jumped up from her chair. The cables cut clean through the bone and severed heads rained down in Bubble Town. Screams filled the air.
Zain ended his called with security and just stared over the railing. “Who would do such a thing?”
“People who’d rather die than be collaborators,” she whispered to herself.
Chapter 2, introducing Sen Marcik and the depths of the prison level, starts Friday, Feb 24!
Collaborator: Chapter 1(a)
You can find the Prologue timeline here! For details about the serial, including how to become a bad guy, click here!
How do you look in the mirror, knowing you are the traitor and not the hero?
7 Years Later…
CHAPTER 1
Rebecca St. Marten walked the upper decks with Zain, weaving their away through the afternoon crowds of Bubble Town. He was going on about something to do with the sector tennis championships. Rebecca didn’t particularly like tennis when she lived on Earth, but now she hated it. It was another reminder, another whisper from another lifetime.
“You shoulda come out to Mathi’s Grill last night. Everyone was there.”
Rebecca struggled to plaster a smile on her face. She wanted so bad to run screaming through the endless, open corridors of the prison she called home. “I had a headache.”
Zain just shook his head. “I told you to go to the docs. They’d sort you out.” He threw up his hands. “You missed the best game in years!”
It wasn’t Zain’s fault that she hated the game, or any game that remotely resembled something she’d have played back on Earth. They didn’t call it tennis here of course; they called it some unpronounceable string of syllables. But it was tennis, right down to the short skirts and the white net. Humanity, it seemed, was genetically disposed to love a good set of thighs. Mercifully, they scored tennis differently and sensibly, so perhaps there was hope after all.
They walked pass an artificial air outlet and the breeze blew Zain’s long hair, spraying it in her direction. To fit in, she’d chopped off her mid-back curls to the brush cut she now wore. She’s learned that styles varied throughout the systems, as they did on Earth. However, at Jupiter Luna Interment, women generally wore their hair short. So, she wore her hair short.
Anything to fit in.
Jup, she corrected her thoughts. Her translator had originally interpreted the name as Jupiter Luna Interment years ago, but she could not keep hearing it called that, so she adjusted the translator. Zain and the others were human, in a technical sense of the word, but she was from Earth. Jupiter was her’s.
“Can you believe it? She broke her racket when the ref wouldn’t give her the call!” Zain exclaimed, his dark features alight with excitement. In another time, another place, she might have been able to fall in love with Zain. But not now. Not here.
The past echoed and taunted her. She couldn’t remember the last time she slept more than a couple of hours at a stretch. Rebecca would not go to the doctors; what would they say? At best, they’d give her drugs cruder than what was available on Earth since these humans didn’t know how to treat unmodified people. At worst, they’d send her to the shrinks. They’d want her to talk about what she’d done, how she’d turned herself in. How she became a collaborator.
Traitor.
“Security had to escort her off the field!” Zain went on, laughing at this apparent faux pas of the tennis player. They arrived at their favourite vending machine. Well, Zain’s favourite. They didn’t have French vanilla cappuccinos here, nor any lattes of any kind. Instead, it was this odd caffeine-heavy drink called Brisbin.
They didn’t have Brisbin lattes. No chain baristas, ready to charge five bucks for an Earl Grey latte. These humans had never heard of Earl Grey. Instead, all they knew were tall vending machines that slurped and gurgled as robotic innards prepared beverages to order with nothing more than a few touches on a screen.
“I don’t care what Eewis says, this vendor makes the best Brisbin inside Bubble Town.”
She hated the stuff. It tasted like burnt coffee and hazelnuts that had been rebrewed several times until it was nothing more than a thick sludge. “I prefer the herbal tea.”
“La! Nothing more than dried flowers.” He gave a disgusted sound. “Did you drink tea back on Earth?”
She looked at Zain, whose face turned expectant. He did it on purpose, of course, asking the question. They didn’t talk about Earth. Not in the three years they’d know each other. She knew his feelings had changed for her, somewhere along the way. Rebecca wished she could give him what he wanted, but she had nothing left to give. She didn’t deserve happiness. She’d given up that privilege when she didn’t stay and fight.
People who lived loved. People who were empty shells did their jobs and hoped to be left alone to suffer in silence.
Letting anyone close to her again would lead to only one thing: questions. She owed him an answer, even if the last thing she wanted to do was to remember anything from Earth. She gave him a casual shrugged and said, “There’s nothing here that’s like what I drank on Earth. I do like the House Mix herbal tea that comes in all the machines, though.”
The answered seemed to placate him. They stood in line at the vending machine, where they could grab their beverages and a snack for free. There were some paid vendors down below, but Rebecca didn’t like to spend the little money she earned. She wasn’t a citizen, thus didn’t make nearly as much as the likes of Zain, whose people willing joined the Corps centuries ago. She was also still paying back for the amount of money that was invested into training her once she’d turned herself in.
She didn’t stay and fight after the surrender order. She defected.
Traitor.
Chapter 1 (b) coming February 20th!
Collaborator: Prologue
I know, I’m starting early! However, I’ve had a lot of requests asking for it to start ASAP, I had the prologue done, and really couldn’t justify holding off. Hope you enjoy! Feel free to leave comments at the end!
COLLABORATOR
How do you look in the mirror, knowing you are the traitor and not the hero?
PROLOGUE
January 17, 2012: Al-Jazeera reports Iranian officials have discovered an abandoned communications bunker.
January 19, 2012: Amateur astronomers report a small, blue swirl appear in the night sky. Satellites near the phenomenon cease working.
January 20, 2012: The blue swirl disappears from the night sky. NASA calls it a “hoax.”
January 22, 2012: Reports on Twitter and Facebook of scientists being transported from Tehran to the Kavir Desert.
Al-Jazeera reports Twitter is now blocked throughout most of the Arab world. BBC reports cell phone usage in Iran is blocked. Irani state television reports there has been a severe sandstorm that has knocked out their cell phone communications and internet.
January 26, 2012: Al-Jazeera reports that representatives of the entire UN Security Council, plus the Arab League, have arrived in Tehran.
CNN: Obama says, “No comment” when asked about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s whereabouts. Former President Bill Clinton says, “No comment” when asked about his wife’s current location.
January 31, 2012: Al-Jezerra reports classified cable intercepted (fragment):
The doctors have confirmed the three are human…identified genetic differences in the female and bioengineered…communication still basic but making progress through their translation devices…visitors greatly concerned by the time that has lapsed since they went originally into stasis…concerned about public reaction to not being the only human beings…
United Nations releases official statement:
A discovery of immense archeological significant has been uncovered in Iran. The Iranian government has requested the presence of United Nations officials. More details will be forthcoming.
July 1, 2012: Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon introduces three humans – one female, two males – and introduces them as members of the Coalition of Planets.
Our guests, Dr. Hane Thur, Dr. Sisi Shawit, and Dr. Sen Leepolid, have been in stasis here on Earth for thirty thousand years. They are all that is left to their team; the others have died.
It comes as a great shock to all of us that not only are we not alone, but that we are in fact not the first humans to step foot on this planet. That our visitors belong to a collection of planets, all compromised of humans.
July 3, 2012: The Toronto Star reports:
We cannot even call these visitors “aliens” since they are, in fact, completely human. They claim their research team arrived over thirty thousand years ago and began a systematic genetic modification of what we now call Neanderthals into modern day humans.
These three individuals state humanity accelerated their evolution with the use of genetic medication and the addition of bio-synthetic implants and devices. These changes eventually caused humanity to become endangered, as the changes made reproduction much more difficult.
Earth was one of dozens of evolutionary terraforming, where habitable worlds with high amounts of raw resources were colonized to help recover humanity’s population.
July 6, 2012: Riots and protests throughout the world. The UN estimates over 100 million people have been killed and Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urges calm.
December 20, 2012: NASA website reports:
We are currently monitoring a massive aperture in our solar system. It resembles a black hole, without any of the destructive properties scientists associate with that particular phenomenon.
December 21, 2012: Four spaceships enter orbit around Earth and have asked the International Space Station for specs so that they can modify a shuttle to dock with the station. They call themselves Independent.
March 2, 2013: One ship comes through the aperture.
March 18, 2013: Forty ships come through the aperture.
April 21, 2013: The new ships identify themselves as the Coalition of Outer Ring Planets, nickname Corps, and demand the return of their lost property: Earth.
May 10, 2013: Corps ships fire on both Earth and the Independent vessels.
March 29, 2015: Reporting live from the United Nations:
Peter Smith: We are reporting live from the United Nations, where President Ismael Ebe is walking to the podium now. While no one on the Security Council has confirmed this, most people are speculating that President Ebe will be announcing the official surrender of Earth to the Corps.
George Anderson: Considering the fall of the Independent forces, there is now no one standing between Earth and the Corps. Ebe has always been a peace preserver, so I suspect that indeed we will be seeing, at minimum, a request for the United Nations to vote to surrender.
Peter Smith: I agree, George. The bombing of Tehran, Washington, Ottawa, London, and Sydney has really shown how unmatched Earth is in…Okay, President Ebe is at the microphone now, so let’s turn it over to him. We’ll be back after his announcement.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, at 9:30 a.m. New York time, the United Nations security council voted unanimously to surrender to the Coalition of Outer Ring Planets.”
The audience erupts into shouting.
President Ebe raises his hand and eventually the bulk of the shouting subsides. “This was not a decision that we took lightly or without seriously weighing all options available to us. The United Nations has always stood for the preservation of peace and not the subjugation of any one group of people by another. We respect the rights of individuals to live without violence and fear.
“We were all excited by the Iranian discovery of the underground communications array and their willingness to invite UN observers. This cooperative relationship became a beacon of hope and peace, that if we could work together to study this newfound technology, perhaps we could come together as a global governing body.
“Unfortunately, that did not last. After two years of our planet being under siege and used as the staging ground for an interstellar battle so beyond our even most basic understanding, Earth has lost nearly a billion citizens directly due to this conflict and another two billion from famine and disease. For this reason, the Security Council has decided surrender is the best option for Earth’s long-term survival.”
Shouts of “Traitor!” and “Never!” fill the auditorium. President Ebe shouts over the crowd. “The Corps representatives have agreed to the humane treatment of all citizens of Earth and that no one will be forcefully relocated. They have agreed to respect the UN Charter on Human Rights.”
More shouts of “Traitor” and “Liars!” fill the auditorium.
President Ebe raises his hand and speaks over the noise. “Any nation that adheres to the UN Declaration of Earth’s Surrender will be guaranteed appropriate treatment as outlined by the agreement. Any nation or faction group that does not surrender by midnight, April 10 GMT will be considered terrorists and outside the jurisdiction of the agreement.”
Shouting fills the auditorium as many members jump from their seats, throwing glasses of water, books, and papers.
President Ebe shouts over the crowd, barely audible, “I urge all citizens to comply.”
Peter Smith: There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Earth has officially surrendered to the Corps. Earth now a conquered planet.
7 years later… (Read Chapter 1a)
Want to become a bad guy? Click here for details.
Collaborator: A Serialized Novel by Krista D. Ball
How do you look in the mirror, knowing you are the traitor and not the hero?
I’m really excited to announce that starting March 2nd, I will be starting a new serialized novel here on the blog called Collaborator! New contributions to the story will appear every two weeks after that. Each chapter will be readable on the blog for free, as well as downloadable for free (from the blog).
When the novel is complete (sometime around Christmas or early in the new year), it will be edited and self-published. So, you can get to enjoy it for free now.
Collaborator will be a dark SF story. If it were a movie, it would be rated R for violence, sex, sexual violence, drug use, strong language, and disturbing scenes. For those needing a reference, it will be a bit darker than Road to Hell, but won’t trek down the horror side of things.
As well, you can support the project and be immortalized as one of the characters! For full details, click on the new Collaborator page!
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