2175 C.E.

XIX: Calamity of Calamities

"But why," I asked him, "has your mind bent to this sudden animosity against the Grushan? They have been Terran allies for a century and a half."

"But they slighted us in favor of the Novan rebels. They patronize our every action, they enforce meaningless sanctions for the project of peace, they belittle our fleets and our borders. But more than that, they lack the peace and unity that we are on the verge of achieving. In less than a year's time, we will be able to eliminate poverty, conflict, all divisions between humans. We will create heaven on earth. In hundreds of years of space faring civilization, they have done nothing such as this. Their planets are governed by petty nation states which still go to war with one another. The Senate is an oligarchy of tyrants and corporate overlords. Their leader is 'praetor,' an imperial guardsman. The military regulates all trade within the Federation. How can this be a just system? They call it a federation, but it is more of a dictatorship. The Grushan need human enlightenment to rescue them from their innate barbarity, human wisdom and guidance. With the Zaha-Katchem on our side, the time for this renewal, this salvation for the Grushan people, may come at last."

Here I turned away. I could no longer look him in the eye, for his face had become wild, as if transfixed with visions of his own ambition. He ranted on, and the Terrans became the just regulating masters of the Grushan, and elevated them above the poverty and feudal lifestyle and superstition that have defined their race for centuries. And the Zaha-Katchem, pleased with the wisdom and strength of man, joined the Hegemony in its continual expansion across the stars. And we would become one great race, divided by evolution but united by hearts and minds. And I could say nothing or break in to his endless monologue of ambition.

Then, I saw a specter, perhaps, or some like thing. I know not what the vision means. For as Yan An-Sing, President of the Terran Hegemony, spoke on, I felt my Interlink device fail once again and deactivate, as it often has over the past weeks. Then I heard the voice of the president cease. I took it as a break in his chain of thought and turned to raise one of the many objections in my mind. But as I turned, the words I would have said died in my mouth. For the President was no longer where he had been, when he had risen from his desk in his agitation. And in his seat, where I had seen him but moments ago, was a worm-ridden corpse in the shape of Yan An-Sing. Stench filled the room and settled on my senses like an enormous fog. Flies darted this way and that, eating flesh from the President's body. The corpse must have been nearly three weeks old, for the skin was clammy and pale and insects had begun to grow. Its face was frozen in an expression of such horror that I drew back, not simply startled, but genuinely afraid, as if some predatory animal was stalking me. I hid my face. Then, I felt my Interlink reactivate, as it always did, and behold, the voice of Yan An-Sing filtered through my ears, continuing on with his rant as though he had never stopped!

I do not remember what he said after that moment. The vision was something too horrible to think of anything afterwards. And yet I ask myself; which was the vision, and which reality? Was my Interlink really disabled, or simply hijacked? Have I been speaking to shadows for these past weeks? Who has made this illusion and why? My thoughts in this last question rest immediately upon Shen Wai-Fun; if anybody could do such a thing, it would be him. And he profits by it, for it has been in these past three weeks that the President's Interlink push has occurred, and this will profit Ambience Corp. greatly. But why the sudden animosity against the Grushan? And why would they fail in keeping me in the dark? Or if the corpse was the illusion, then who would want me to see it and why? To force me into some action or dissuade me from another, perhaps. But why this and why now? And what do they stand to gain?

I have no answers for these questions. But I am afraid.

08/01/2175

I have spent a long restless morning in thought. Yesterday's vision has shaken me and made me afraid, and dawn brings me no closer to a clear answer.