Proscription (a short story)

Submitted as an entry in the NeoGAF Creative Writing Challenge, #103.

“Welcome to Independence Square,” I read the sign aloud. But he remained silent.

In our childhood though, it was known as Levantine Square. Now it was a public stage for all of the Independence on Pergamum IV. There I was with prisoner in hand. The marines flanking me let me through onto the centre area.

“Today is a Red Letter Day!” rang over the speakers in the square.

I remember my first visit to the mansion that overlooked the square. That was when Alexander and I first met as children.

--

“Now be polite, Jonah, the lady we are meeting is the new planetary governor.”

“So she’s your boss, daddy?”
“Yes, yes she is.”

“You know, Jonah, Governor Featherlea has a son too. Alexander. You should show him around, he’s new here.”

I didn’t know it at the time, but he was trying his best to keep his cool. My father was expected to be the first colonial to become governor of Pergamum IV. But then the Earth Colonial Office decided to appoint someone else in his place. Maryann Featherlea came from a prestigious family of planetary governors, so it must’ve meant that our planet had Earth’s attention. My father kept his post at the Office of Planetary Affairs but losing the position slowly took everything out of him.

“Hi, I’m Jonah. You must be Alexander.”
“Hi.” Alexander was shy back then.

“So I hear you are from Earth? Is it like Pergamum IV?”
“Sorta. Where I live it is blue and green but it’s very gray and brown in a lot of places.”

“Man, your mom’s job is so cool! I would do anything to be in charge of everyone on this planet.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
“Wow! Is that a model of the Pilgrim? That’s like the coolest spaceship ever!”

From that moment onwards, it was like Alex and I were joined at the hip; of course we outgrew model spaceships and other toys. There were a few hiccups along the way. The biggest one thing I’ll never understand was Tracy Martin. She wasn’t the prettiest girl but she was smart, funny, a brunette. I guess I wasn’t expecting Alex to like that all the same things I did. Up until then he went for the prettiest but dumbest girls.

“So, what about Josie Seville?”
“She’s hot, I’ll give her that, Jonah, but no.”
“What about Hiddup’s granddaughter, Erin?”
“Man, I could go on all day about her assets, but another girl has my eye, Jonah.”

“C’mon man, I can’t guess all day. Tell me!”
“Alright, it’s Tracy Martin.”
“Listen,” Alexander continued, “I know you used to be close, but that was a long time ago. So you mind if I take a crack at her? With your permission, of course.”
“Yeah, sure,” I answered. Looking back, I was half in shock from his response, but the other half of me was confident nothing would happen. I figured Alexander would get freaked out by her father and her uncles, who all were military men.

The last time Alexander and I really spent any time together was on the flight to the Solar System. He was headed for some prestigious university on Earth I couldn’t afford, though Mars University was the next best thing. For some reason, I never visited him or kept in touch after that. Sure, I went down to Earth – it was only a two-hour flight – but always alone. Earth was hideous. It was as Alexander described it all those years back – it was being choked by smog, but anyone could afford to recreate what it used to be like in their own backyard. Earth had to import everything from its colonies to keep itself running.

I remembered a speech my father would always tell me since I could understand it all. He only told it to me once more before I left for Mars; it was the only time I didn’t interrupt him and roll my eyes at him.

“Son, I know you don’t like to hear this, but I just want you to remember that you will need to convince Earth natives that colonials like us matter. They will look down on us as if we are different. But they are right, we are different. I’m sure many of them are good people, like Alexander’s mother. She has done a good job but she’s not really looking out for us. When push comes to shove? We’re nothing more than a way for them to keep living on that barren rock they stripped bare centuries ago. Colonies like ours? Most of us out here could be self-sufficient if they let us. But Earth isn’t any more. So they need US, not the other way around.”

I assured him (as usual) that I took his lesson to heart. I was going to visit him and mom on breaks, I reminded him, no need for any parting words. Mars was one of the top schools for colonial law, and if I planned on becoming governor of Pergamum IV one day, the Solar System was the place to be in order to get familiar with the people who could get me there sooner rather than later.

It hadn’t turned out like I wanted though. Granted, I did well – top five in my classes by the time I graduated. But most of my classes were filled with Earth natives. For a colonial, it was hard enough to get any my foot in the door anywhere, even with my aptitude. It only could’ve been Alexander’s family connections that let him have any pick of whatever planets he could travel to and intern there. Gemini VI, Apostle’s Grasp, Rygar II – those were just a sampling of the many opportunities he was afforded while I spent most of the time supervising low-level bureaucrats.

On every visit home, my father would always express his frustration about how I was not allowed to advance as far as I should. He always made the best of it though, introducing me to many of his friends and connections at Planetary Affairs. The same people that had helped him keep the planet running as smoothly as it did back in the day. At the very least, I could take over as the head of Planetary Affairs when he retired.

It was Christmas break when the news came that changed everything. I was at the terminal waiting for a ride home from Titan. Headlines everywhere read: “Governor Featherlea of Pergamum IV narrowly survives assassination; Earth Colonial Council incensed, military action authorized.” I could only get in touch with my parents a few times, especially the two-hour delay on communications from the Solar System to back home.

“Mom, dad, tell me everything is okay. Why is Earth sending a fleet? Do they know who tried to kill Alex’s mom? I’m on Titan right now, trying to get back home. Let me know what’s going on over there.”

“Jonah, it’s crazy over here. The news keeps telling us some radical anti-Earth faction was responsible for the bombing. A few more bombs went off. Your mom is off at the hospital trying to help the others caught in the other blasts. I’ll call you back when we know more. I don’t know why Earth is sending a fleet for us. I’d stay where you are right now.”

I fell asleep at the terminal. A few hours later, another message from home arrived:

“Jonah, first things first, please make sure no one can see this transmission … Jonah, you can’t come home. It’s too dangerous. Apparently the fleet from Earth is coming to conduct pacification operations. Your mother and I are joining some others and we’re heading underground. They are targeting me and other members in Planetary Affairs because they’ve decided those responsible could only be colonials that had high-level access. I love you, son. Take care of yourself.”

“Jonah, I love you, honey. It’s not safe. Keep yourself safe. We have to go.” That was mom.

That was the last message I ever received from my parents. For the next week, my eyes were glued to the television screen in the terminal bar. Operation Spring Cleaning, they called it. Troops stormed into homes of colonial bureaucrats and dragged them out in the middle of the night. I watched as the ESS Ozymandias fired at suspected hiding places in the mountains of Pergamum IV – places where my parents were probably hiding. They weren’t resistance, or terrorists or whatever. The sight of that made me sick to my stomach. I had nowhere else to go, so I caught the next shuttle out to the Panama Cluster.

I spent almost two years eking out a life in the frontier colonies. I wasn’t being hunted, but I wasn’t exactly welcome back home either. In that time, I had discovered Alexander had married his high school sweetheart Tracy, the same girl I had once loved. He had been appointed as governor of Pergamum IV after his mother passed away. “I promise to continue my family’s legacy of exceptional governance,” he told the media outlets. More like another of Earth’s pet dogs. How fortunate I was to find out an old friend of my father had survived and escaped off planet to join the Independence Movement.

“Jonah Maxwell? Is that really you? As I live and breathe! It is so good to see you!”
“Mr. Metcalfe, I could say the same about you.”
“Call me David, please. I’m sorry about your parents, they were good people. We got separated during the initial days of pacification. I wanted to look for them but by then—”

“It’s okay,” I stopped him and let the finality of the news of my parents sink in, “so I hear you are part of some rebel uprising these days.”
“No, Jonah, not some simple uprising. Earth wants to paint us as nothing more than a nuisance; we are more than a bunch of malcontents on the border of known space. A few men including myself have organized a coordinated independence movement.”
“Earth has fleets. At best you have are border patrols, local militas, David. You aren’t exactly heading into any fair fights.”
“Wait until you meet our secret weapon of course: Admiral Lucius Strumbrad defected to us. The smartest military mind Earth has. Or had, rather. Let me introduce him to you.”

Lucky Lucius was an impressive gain indeed; a household name amongst colonials. A shining example of how far and distinguished a colonial could aspire to in the service of Earth’s colonial rule. The men and women under his command – all colonials – were disgusted with the pacification on Pergamum IV. He told me that following that, he and other fleets were sent with explicit orders to engage in pacification operations in other systems. He and two other admirals defected and headed further into the frontier.

In a few months, the Independence had grown large enough that we could begin to liberate planets from Earth’s control. I suggested we start with Pergamum IV. Metcalfe and the other leaders agreed with me.

“That was a gamble to expose ourselves so early, Admiral,” Metcalfe sounded stern.

“It was of almost no risk, sir. Both Rainier and Hutchinson are old friends of mine. No love lost for Earth. And now we can liberate Pergamum IV unmolested.” Lucius made an announcement to the fleet: “Let it be known the Appalachian and Gobi, and her men are now part of the Independence Liberation Fleet.” Cheers erupted on the bridge of the Damocles momentarily.

“Good to see home again, Jonah. It’s been far too long.”
“Far too long, David.”

“Well, thanks to Admiral Strumbrad, we don’t have to face a protracted siege. This is vital if we want to retake and consolidate the other systems under Earth Colonial control,” a list appeared onscreen, “our next objective here is to capture all the members of government with ties to Earth. They are now enemies of the Independence.”

“Right there,” I pointed to the top name on the list, “I want to deal with that personally, Metcalfe.”

“Alexander Featherlea … very well. Make sure he arrives at Levantine Square unharmed. We have something planned for him and the rest of the Earthlings.”

The cramped shuttle brought me and a squad of marines planetside. The governor’s mansion offered no resistance. We found Alexander in a room with a view overlooking Levantine Park.

“Alexander. It’s me, Jonah.”

“I guess you’ve come for me, haven’t you.”

“Yes, I am. Where is Tracy?”

“I sent her to visit her family off planet.”

“I don’t know how a girl like her could ever love an Earthling like you.”

“That was a long time ago, Jonah. You can’t just take her back like that.”
“That’s not what I’m here for; it’s the Independence that wants you,” I signalled for the marines, “place governor Featherlea under arrest.”

He may have been a friend at long ago, but every Earthling was the same, like my father said. I wasn’t entirely sure why I wanted to find him. Maybe I wanted to help him get off planet? Maybe he deserved that, but it was too late for that now. He and his family had become a symbol for everything wrong with Earth’s colonial policies. I hated him and everything he was to me. He got everything I wanted while I always had to settle for less simply for being a colonial.

“Today is a Red Letter Day! Citizens of Pergamum IV! Whether you are at Independence Square or watching at home, rest assured, the Independence will keep you safe. Earth is no longer our masters. We make our own destiny now! From this day forward, we will make it our singular mission to free the rest of our colonial brethren from the yoke of Earth’s rule. These men you see before you have had the displeasure of subjugating the colonies. These Earthlings must be taught a lesson! Earth must be sent a message!”

Metcalfe turned to me after his rousing speech, “I believe you should have the honours, Jonah. Sergeant, your sidearm, please.” He handed me the pistol, “this is what your father would have wanted.”

“You’re better than this, Jonah.”
“This, coming from an Earthling? You’ve never understood us colonials. And you never will.”

“Just get it over with,” Alexander began to weep; he couldn’t take the pressure of his impending death any more.

I placed the gun against his head.

“I’m sorry that it’s come to this, old friend.”

I pulled the trigger. That was a cue for the other marines to shoot the others. I felt a sense of calm wash over me, but also a sense of dread. This was what I wanted, what I deserved. Everything that he had was now mine. He was no longer in my way, a thorn in my side. In the back of my mind, I hoped this was what was necessary. A quick death; maybe he deserved that much, at least.

“Congratulations on the promotion, governor,” Metcalfe said as he removed the sidearm from my still quivering hand.