The Edge of Darkness

Chapter Thirteen: Return to Earth

Ten Years Later

The year was 2440. Roughly four hundred years ago, cyborgs were invented. Then, amazingly, when the human race finally woke up and discovered what they had done to their own people, the cyborgs mysteriously disappeared and were replaced by completely human versions of themselves. The Corporation's office buildings were abandoned as their bank accounts showed them suddenly bankrupt. It was as if they had never become the successful multi-international company they were running all over the world. The people employed by the Corporation went into hiding from the thousands of humans that returned to Old Earth on old transport ships with their minds set on justice. The ex-cyborgs left on Old Earth were equally as gobsmacked to wake up one day with all their skin intact. The media suddenly turned up hundreds of reports about the so-called interstellar war being completely faked for the Corporation's profit: the public were getting antsy about turning their friends and family over at the most minor of provocation to become fundamentally altered indentured slaves, and their best course of damage control was to invent an enemy for everyone to worry about. It was a tried and true method of fear mongering, often employed by slightly less popular politicians to push their numbers over quorum.

The history books could not attribute one fact to any one person: the sudden reappearance of completely human former-cyborgs. The Antiquity fleet showed up at the landing bays on Old Earth, demanding clearance. The humans had no ID on them, but could all recite their former designation numbers, and dental and DNA matches proved they were who they said they were.

The Antiquity fleets had been designated for disposal before the humans posing as the alien Authorities took them through the wormhole that deposited them close by the Rock. The government wrote them off and pretended nothing was happening beyond their own atmosphere. Meanwhile, cyborgs were being tortured and experimented on. When they realised the cyborgs wouldn't die by conventional, clean means, they decided on getting rid of them the only way they could that wouldn't leave any evidence behind.

All the theories on black holes had stated that it would absolutely crush whatever came close enough – no one had ever gone so close before as we had. We threw out centuries of research and opened all sorts of questions as to the nature of the universe, and the nature of Nature itself. Years of taking down hard evidence and data from observing the stars was immediately thrown on the pile of "myth busted" simply because we flew through a black hole and came out the other side mystically transformed back to our original selves.

The world worked at getting rid of all evidence of ever having contained cyborgs. The humans assimilated back into the society they had been exiled from, and all ideas about aliens or hybrid robots were soon forgotten. Ignored by the media, politicians, and general public, and thus in turn ignored by the history books, the only tales that keep the myth of the cyborg alive are the word of mouth legends parents told their children – children they delighted in raising and playing with, with such passion no one had ever seen before.

Only when something has been forbidden to you, do you truly appreciate its value.

Ethan and I had three such bundles of joy – our first daughter, Lima, born shortly after we arrived on Old Earth; and twin boys, Lance and Sam.

Ethan and I found a house out on some old patch of land. It wasn't exactly a farm, but it was far enough away from the suburbs yet close enough to a small beach. Governments and companies were throwing money at us in compensation, and I spent my days painting while Ethan surfed. Little Lima would sit in her bassinet and coo at me, heaping me with inspiration. I used every colour there was, painting our house in an insane, crazy way. When we discovered the impending arrival of the twins, we renovated to add extra bedrooms and playing rooms. The view from the house was amazing. It looked over a state forest of blue and green trees and the grass was a lighter shade of green. Rabbits tore around in the field before the forest and left us presents in the early morning. We considered getting some animals and starting a farm – after a few years Ethan decided he wanted access to fresh eggs and bacon whenever he wanted, so we built a barn (still with compensation money, even though I was selling art and Ethan had won some surf competitions), added chickens and pigs, and then as an afterthought added sheep and cows. When Lima grew old enough to ride, we bought a horse.