Planet Defect

Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. If you were unfortunate enough to be sent to the Lost Star Institution for the Mentally Ill and Disabled, you could hear all of the screams of a lifetime.

The best little nut house in space was established back in 2020. The U.S. government claimed that its initial purpose was to keep the disabled and mentally ill safe during Covid, but then it was leaked that they had planned to use it to keep that population out of Earth even before the pandemic. The year was now 2095, and the structure had since been expanded to fit nearly one hundred thousand patients. As long as those patients remain up there in the stars, America was a safe and perfect place to live.

Just about anyone could be sent to Lost Star. Lost a leg in the war? Off to space. Have a chronic illness that will only slow you down? Off to space. Tried to kill yourself because life isn’t fair? Off to space. Even if you looked picture perfect, you could still be shipped off like all the other “defects”. It was this harmful labeling that earned the institution its nickname, Planet Defect, which the patients used relentlessly.

The institution was designed to make absolutely certain that no one could escape, and it remained that way for seventy-five years.

Rebus almost got away with being an autistic Earthling, but she just couldn’t mask her traits hard enough to avoid her teacher's attention. Once she had received her official diagnosis, she was sentenced to life at Lost Star. Her family didn’t even get to say goodbye before she was knocked out and shoved inside a rocket. They had tried their hardest to keep their little girl safe, only to lose her a week after her sixteenth birthday.

Even though the whole purpose of Lost Star seemed pretty inhuman, the social workers set up three different Reward Rooms to make the patients feel like they were in Heaven. If you were on your best behavior for a considerable amount of time, you could pick one of the three rooms. Choose Room One and you could take a luxurious bubble bath in a deluxe bathroom instead of standing aimlessly in a basic shower. Choose Room Two and you could have any food you wanted for each meal instead of whatever was on the cafeteria’s menu. Choose Room Three and you could spend up to three hours in the World of Make Believe, a simulation studio that could send you to any world you could think of.

Since it was now her twenty-third birthday, Rebus was allowed to enter all three of the Reward Rooms if she so desired. Another birthday perk was having little to no supervision, so the tall girl with the fiery red asymmetrical bob started her day by dancing around in her room completely naked. Knowing that she had free reign for the day and that the orderlies couldn’t stop her, she marched right up to the private baths in her birthday suit. She only stopped to talk to Baff, a middle-aged orderly with a tattoo of a snake eating a star on his left arm.

“I thought you were joking,” Baff grunted as he avoided looking at Rebus’s body. “I didn’t think you’d actually parade around in your birthday suit.”

“Never assume that a crazy person is joking,” Rebus said as her friend escorted her.

“You’re not crazy.”

“Right, I’m just stupid.”

Baff swiftly grabbed a towel from the cart he was pushing around and threw it around Rebus’s body.

“You know good and well who you are,” Baff stated sternly. “Don’t let these so-called “experts” tell you otherwise. Now, get your autistic butt in that fancy bathtub.”

Rebus gladly threw floral scented bath bombs into the tub when she arrived. As the room began to smell like a thriving garden, the Birthday Girl smiled out the windows at remnants of a supernova. She could almost walk through the glass and fall right into the breathtaking sight. It was too bad that the lack of supervision didn’t make the place any less escape-proof.

Thanks to the lack of supervision, Rebus pulled her good friend Clover into Room Two with her for breakfast. A week prior to her birthday, Rebus had basically ordered a buffet. The table was decorated with chocolate-chip pancakes, blueberry muffins, eggs, bacon, strawberries, and French toast. A large pitcher of orange juice was set next to a couple of glasses. Normally there’d only be one glass, but Baff was able to swipe an extra for Clover.

Nineteen-year-old Clover had Down Syndrome, meaning that she was destined for Lost Star the moment that doctors examined her in her mother’s womb. Since the doctors didn’t see the point of a “defect” like her being born on Earth, they advised her mother to either give birth at Lost Star and then return home or get an abortion. Orderlies claimed that the poor woman begged to be committed so that she could raise her daughter, but she was forced back to Earth instead. Despite being a contender for the patient with the most tragic backstory at Lost Star, this girl had the biggest heart and widest smile.

“This doesn’t seem right,” Clover said as tucked her blue hair behind her ear. “I haven’t earned my time in here.”

“Relax, you’re with the Birthday Girl,” Rebus chuckled as she piled up her plate with food. “As long as you’re with me, they can’t touch you. Heck, you could go to the World of Make Believe with me.”

“Oh no, that won’t be necessary. Dr. Ursula said that I could pick a room in a couple of weeks due to my excellent behavior. Besides, it’s your birthday. Take in the world that you create and savor it.”

“What do you want to see the next time you visit that room, Clover?”

Clover chose to stuff her face with French toast rather than provide an answer. Rebus genuinely couldn’t tell if her friend was purposely trying to dodge the question or if she was deep in thought.

“Clover?” she tried again. “Is everything ok?”

“Yes,” Clover said with her mouth full before swallowing. “Sorry, I was thinking. I don’t know what I’d see.”

“What did you see last time?”

“Um, I’m afraid I don’t remember.”

Back when Rebus first arrived at Lost Star, she was terrible at picking up on social skills. Sure, she still had some work to do, but this time she quickly picked up that Clover really didn’t want to tell her the truth. Instead of interrogating her any further, she poured herself a second glass of orange juice.

“What do you plan to see?” Clover asked.

“I want to see something that I know I’ll never see in person,” Rebus replied before taking another sip of orange juice.

“Right this way, Ms. Rebus.”

A delicate-looking woman dressed in pink unlocked the door to welcome Rebus to the World of Make Believe. She was so beautiful and perfect that she looked like she could break with just the smallest touch like a porcelain doll. Even her blonde curls looked like they would fall out if someone were to gently stroke them. This human doll was named Chlo, and she was the gateway to whatever world you wished to visit.

“I trust that your day has been to your satisfaction, Miss?’ Chlo asked as she led the patient to the center of the room.

“I got to walk around naked, and no one did anything,” Rebus said with pride.

“Really? Nothing at all?”

“Ok, some people stared, but no one tried to stop me.”

“Interesting. I’ve set up the simulation based on what you’ve requested. I hope it’s to your liking. Just stay where you are and I shall begin the program. And remember, if you wish to leave early, just shout “abort mission” and I’ll let you out. Ready?”

I’m not stupid, Rebus thought. I know how this all works. Just shut up and start already.

The Birthday Girl nodded and waited patiently for Chlo to leave and go to her station. Back when she was on Earth, she lived in the middle of Tennessee. There was one place that she had always wanted to go to, but her family never had the time to take her there. Accepting the fact that she was never getting out of Lost Star, this was the only way she could go to her dream location.

Seagulls gawked at each other as waves tickled Rebus’s feet. The simulation was so advanced that she could smell the ocean as the sun rose in the distance. Rebus walked further from the shore and deeper into the water, smiling as she took in all the beauty. She continued to walk until her feet could no longer feel the ocean floor. Her feet rose to the surface, making her float on her back and gaze at the sun in the sky.

Sink, she thought to herself. You know you want to go further.

And that’s exactly what she did. Her backside led her under the surface as if it were attached to a dumbbell. The saltwater drew over her eyes like curtains right as she took in the direct sunlight one last time. Given that this was all a simulation, she could breathe just fine. In fact, she swore that she could breathe easier underwater than she could on land. She smiled as she sunk deeper and deeper.

Bubbles danced in the sunlight that penetrated through the water’s surface. Just when Rebus was feeling lonely, a pregnant seahorse greeted her with a nudge against her face. Suddenly, a whole pack of seahorses joined him in what appeared to be a dance. Rebus swore that she hear them serenading her as she continued to make her way to the bottom of the ocean.

What am I even looking for? What’s the point of all this? Am I longing for anywhere that’s not this version of Hell? Is this the closest I’ll get to floating in space outside of my prison cell? What am I hoping to find at the bottom of the ocean?

Soon, the seahorses disappeared, leaving Rebus all by herself. The more she sank to the bottom, the more she felt like she was falling through an endless black hole of regret. Wasn’t this simulation meant to send her somewhere that made her happy? What even was this? Having enough of this, she finally stopped and sat up at the halfway point. There was absolutely nothing in sight.

Rebus was ready to yell “abort mission” when another traveler finally came into sight. A manta ray glided over to her and faced upwards, revealing some scars on its right fin. At first, Rebus was hesitant to do anything. Just as she finally reached out to touch this mysterious stranger, everything vanished. Instead of floating, she was standing up straight with her feet on the floor. She could also hear a siren in the distance. What was happening?

“Rebus, I’m sorry,” Chlo’s voice ranged out on the speaker. “The emergency alarm is going off and I’ve been advised to shut this down early. I shall escort you to your room immediately.”

“What?” Rebus asked with a confused look. “Why? Is someone dead?”

“No time to explain. They didn’t tell me much. I’m going to open the door for you. Please follow me as calmly as possible.”

It wasn’t uncommon for nothing to be explained to the patients, so Rebus just went with it and didn’t expect to know exactly what was going on. For all she knew, someone was trying to escape again. Maybe they took a hostage this time? And did they have to pull this stunt on her birthday? Couldn't they have saved this for tomorrow?

Just as the two ladies turned the corner to Rebus’s room, a young man with a missing arm ran out in front of them. None of them had time to say anything before a guard fired a taser, causing the young man to flail out. He landed face first at Rebus’s feet and shook like crazy before finally lying still.

Welcome to Planet Defect.