A Dream of Eden

The sea is a cold place to survive, and the pressure is enough to flatten a body to the thinness of a cotton sheet. The lands above the sea are much harsher and far colder. Nothing but ice and darkness can survive the temperatures of a starless world.

Earth had a star of its own once, or so they were taught in their classes. Tawna, just Tawn generally, nearly stood out of her seat when she saw the videos of that once green world, lifted by her own excited and aw at the sight of towering city blocks, sprawling forests, and mighty mountains. And, of course, the billions of people who took them for granted. Tawn learned from her instructors about the devil himself, Geisel-22b. The red star that struck through the Kuiper Belt, violated the orbits of the great gas giants, and ripped Earth from her home.

They watched the sun grow smaller in the day, becoming another star at night, and they died. Eventually, all of the atmosphere had frozen and became oxygen and hydrogen snow.

Not all of them died. Tawn and her people lived in the Mariana Trench, far under the ice. Deep in the trench laid the settlement of Dixie, were many survivors lived. ‘Many’ in the sense that a percent of a billion is still a great many people. Ten thousand were awake in Dixie, millions lived in cryo-sleep. The real question, which no person alive could answer, is how many people lived across the world.

Tawn was no longer in her classes, learning of the world forty-thousand years after Geisel. She was in her twenties working, as everyone did, for the settlement. She studied the seas, using what must have been outdated technology to find mineral and resource deposits, and watching out for unwanted guests. People and their weapons. The nearby settlement or Masod was ever prevalent at seeking Dixie’s resources and even her people. Then again, Dixie too was after Masod’s as well.

“You’re tellin’ me Sister just so happened to find a livable world out of the blue?” Evan snapped on the switchboard and watched his screen buzz on.

Sister was S.S.R, the Surface and Space Radar. They scanned the night sky for stars and planets, but mostly watched the surface.

“They knew there was a planet there, it’s just that they haven’t been close enough to know its inhabitable until now.” Tawn turned her console on as well and bundled up. It was cold in Dixie. Cold and cramped.

They had an odd task ahead, and Evan felt off towards it. “I jest don’t get why we’ve gotta stop surveying the sea. Don’t Sister have enough manpower to study the planet alone?”

Tawn shrugged, “Maybe? Jever wants us to help. That’s that.” Jever was the Executive, leader of Dixie. He wanted all eyes to the sky, making sure the planet, named Eden for now, was safe. Tawn would map the known system around it for any imminent threats like asteroids. Like Evan, Tawn wasn’t sure why they weren’t keeping an eye on Mosad. It didn’t matter though. The first rule to Dixie was simple; Never question the Executive.

“When was the last time Mosad attempted anything, anyhow, Evan?” Tawn asked and got to work.

On thermal radar, the outer walls of the settlement blended into the subfreezing sea. The inside of Dixie was often as cold as the winters of a pre-Geisel Earth. The population, no greater than ten thousand, lived in close quarters where body heat shared across a few inches proved their most consistent source of heat.

Not for Jever. He set in a heated office above the pipes penetrating the heat wells of the sea. He liked life. The Dixin’s were cramped, cold, under fed, and often watched as their excess children were wrapped in a Life Support suit to be frozen in cryo-sleep until a planet gets found, joining the ten million others. It was a blessing the settlement choose this over simply killing the unauthorized children.

Jever had no kids. They were a discomfort, and Jever loved living. It was his thought that only he and few others lived, and the population under them just worked. They existed to serve the settlement in conditions Jever wouldn’t dare live in, and then die. No, but Jever had finer food, warmer air, and a real bed. Nothing would get in the way of this life.

“What in all the god damn sea made you think...!” Defense Executive Officer Lyses damn near broke the door from its hinges busting in.

“Shh...” Jever was watching out the thick green windows at the dark of the sea where lights pooled in the bottom of the trench from the glow of underwater lamps, highlighting the settlement and nearby lands. Heat must have poured from his giant windows. Wasteful.

“What gave you the right to do something so stupid?” Lyses demanded.

“Stupid? Oh, you mean order the missile launch?” Jever was as calm as if he couldn’t figure out what the sin was.

“Yes sir. The missile launch. The one targeting US! Are you goddamn mad!?”

“Quite ingenious, actually. Cut the throats of two wolves at once. The people will believe Masod attacked us, allowing us the opportunity to ‘justly’ conquer them.”

“And the second ‘Wolf’ would be?” Lyses watched Jever’s face for any twitch or spark of expression or emotion. Jever had none.

“Sister has found an inhabitable planet close enough to settle on.” Jever said.

“Yes, and?”

“What do you think happens if we do? If Masod or Newhark settled the better places and we were disadvantaged? Or if we find that they settled far away and someone larger settled beside us? The balance could be quite upset, and easily against us. And besides, the balance far down here works out very well...” Jever had walked over to the vent to feel the warmth of geothermal heat splash over him, “for me and you.”

Lyses knew this to be true. Even to free the millions of people below would upset the balance. But for all his comforts, not shared by the population, Lyses knew the end goal and this wasn’t it.

“Do you understand, boy?” Jever looked back at him. The first rule, everyone knew, was nothing disobey the Executive.

Lyses still tried to find any expression in the Executive’s face, but none could be seen. Jever was as cold as the sea beyond that green window. “I... do.”

“Good. The missiles will knock out S.S.R and the people will hear nothing about inhabitable worlds. The Deep Sea Radars are looking to the sky, and won’t see the missiles coming.” Jever had returned to the window and stared into the dark. Lyses knew the conversation was over. Anything further would end in punishment.

Lyses closed with his formalities, “Sir,” and left.

Tawn was scanning the sky for gravitational disturbances that could indicate large objects like asteroids. It’d take a long while to reach the new world, but if it were safe, they’d announce it to the people. She dreamt of this her whole life, as had her ancestors. She was completely blind to what was heading towards Sister.

While she worked away, DEO Lyses sat in his quarters and watched his daughters review their studies. The elder wore her mother’s heart shaped locket. There was no childhood here, only learning to work so you can do a little of that before you die. It’d been that way for his father, and it would be the way for his grandkids.

That was Jever’s problem. He forgot that the mission was to make sure their children didn’t have to live like they had. He didn’t understand this because he didn’t have kids, nor did he live “like they had” either.

And the conquest of Mosad? Damn him. Lyses remembered fighting in the War of the Bend, where nearly a hundred thousand poor souls were removed from cryo-sleep to fight and die for some land around the bend of the trench. It was the war that took his daughter’s Mom away. Only that locket remained.

‘Damn him and his comfort.’ Lyses thought. He’d very nearly said it before remembering his lovely children sitting there. They would have a world to grow up on.

Lyses went to the back of his office and grabbed the radio phone from the desk. He couldn’t get to the barracks in time, but he knew people with the right equipment. The missiles would be on their way back after a long journey out.

“Deep Sea Radar?” He asked when the person on the other end answered.

‘Yes? Who is this?’ The other, Tawn, asked.

“Where is your radar pointed?”

‘T... to the sea? Who is this?’ She lied. Her mission was top secret and would stay that way until they knew Eden was good for living.

“Don’t lie to me. This is DEO Lyses. Now point your radar to the sea.”

‘But...’ She very nearly asked, ‘Did you say DEO Lyses? I’m so sorry sir. Of course.’

From her switch board, Tawn reverted the radars back into the sea. She scanned the area while Lyses explained Jever’s plan to her, to which she asked, “But how would we scan space and the surface without Sister?” He explained that it wasn’t Jever’s goal to ever scan space for new homes.

The radar shot out a loud beep from round speakers above the console, then another. There, on the radar, the two missiles moving in towards Sister.

“Oh God... Wha... what do we...?” She sputtered.

Back from his office, DEO Lyses explained, “They are likely set to lock on coordinates. Do you understand? We need to change the setting. Our radars communicate in the same language, so we can communicate with our weapons, but other settlements can’t. Your radar is the same way. Send a Request_To_Contact order.”

She did as he said. Military programming wasn’t her normal task, but she’d been trained anyways. It was better that everyone who knew how to use the radar was useful to the force.

She replied to him, “It accepted the request, but needs the passcode?” He gave her it. “Okay, what now? It’s giving me all of this info.”

He asked her, “Do you see a line that says something like ‘Track destination set...”

She looked over the screen and read out loud the line, ‘Destination_set_to_track == Coordinates_1.’ She saw what Coordinates_1 was set to, and knew it was S.S.R. “What do I do?”

“Replace Coordinates_1 with Thermal_Radar. Click enter to send.” He said. She did as he said;

Destination_set_to_tack == Thermal_Radar

“That’ll cause it to track by heat. Only one area of the settlement has enough heat and windows to be visible from out there.”

The missiles stopped as they updated.

“What now?” Tawn asked?

“Today? Nothing. Tomorrow, we tell the settlement what Jever had done, and that in a year or two, we’ll have a new world to call home.”

Jever received the call that the missiles had stopped. He knew damn well who betrayed him. When Jever had his hands on that bastard... ‘No one disobeys the Executive,’ he thought.

‘Sir...’ the voice in the radio phone said, ‘the missiles are moving again.’

Jever looked out the windows and saw the torpedoes zooming through the water, drifting up towards his office. Before he could turn to run, they came busting in with a burst of fire and blistering ocean steam. The Executive would no longer get in the way of Lyses’s daughter’s future.

The whole settlement felt the explosion and the doors locked around region to seal it off.

The next day, as Lyses planned, the settlement learned of both the treason of Executive Jever and the new world. Tawn celebrated with the others and drank away the excitement. Lyses stayed home with his precious daughters.

As he always dreamt, they would live on a new world. They would see the sun.