Plutonian

Chapter 2

This is probably the most affection I have received in years and a lump forms in my throat and I force myself not to cry. Luckily the bell rings just in time and we all stand for our daily pledge.

Grateful for the distraction I say the words that I don't mean loud and clearly.

A loud Plutonian voice blares from the speakers guiding us from word to word.

"We, humans are forever thankful for the mercy shown upon us and our planet. We thank our ancestors for inhabiting our planet during the dark ages and bringing Earth to its full glory today. We thank the Plutonians for giving rise to our species, for without their colonization we would not exist. We are honored to have been chosen to serve our creators for the rest of our lives. We pledge our allegiance to the Plutonian Empire, the rulers of the Galaxy and the creators of human kind. We are proud to be at your disposal."

The more I say those words, the angrier I get because I am not proud to be at their disposal and I do not serve them by choice.

According to Plutonian scriptures, the Plutonian race, a highly advanced civilization colonized almost all inhabitable planets in our solar system millions of years ago.

It was during the Ice Age that Plutonians inhabited Earth, hoping to build a base there but they were unsatisfied with the environment and at the time there were other better prospects for a military base.

So instead, they dumped all the traitorous and unwanted Plutonians on Earth, thinking they would die there eventually. However, those Plutonians colonized the planet and slowly brought Earth and its inhabitants into the golden age of technology and advancement which is the Earth we were born in.

Due to the reduced oxygen content, sun exposure and warmer temperature, the Plutonian descendants became smaller, their skin darker and thinner, more fragile. Variations in eye and hair color were apart of evolution and a new species was eventually formed.

Humans.

When the original Plutonians found out about this treacherous occurrence a million Earth years later they were furious and they wanted to destroy Earth as revenge on their ancestors. The humans begged for mercy and made a pact with the Plutonians.

Every year they could take five hundred humans back to Pluto as slaves and to rebuild their diminishing population.

This is what I have been told since the day I arrived here. It is a pledge that has divided us slaves and made most of us untrustworthy.

I have always believed the scriptures were made to brainwash us but most slaves do not think that way. When I was thirteen I told my then best friend Stela that I wanted to escape. I was punished the very next day, placed far in the South with my bare back exposed to the blistering cold. It was only thirty seconds but the exposed skin necrosed and had to be removed and surgically altered once I was back. My back has never looked the same since.

The only reason my life was spared was because they were lacking manpower at the time.

As if by instinct my eyes find Stela in the crowd. Unlike most of us, she is jovial and laughing while she eats her food. Her pale skin and bleach blond hair makes her more Plutonian than the rest of us and I know she is proud of it. She turned eighteen this week too and I can guess what her choice is going to be.

I am about to finish my food when the speakers blare once again.

All the names announced kindly make your way to the human affairs office in the square.

A few numbers are announced and then I hear my own. I get up and am surprised to see the girl who wished me stand up as well. She must have turned eighteen this week as well.

There are only a handful of us and we move swiftly not wanting to irritate the officers that stand by the walls.

The human affairs office is a small building located a few yards from our quarters. A glider train waits for us outside the cafeteria and takes us to the front entrance. We walk in and are made to wait in a small room with benches on all sides.

I take a seat and Stela sits across from me. She narrows her eyes when she catches me glaring at her.

After a few minutes a relatively short Plutonian walks in and gives us a small briefing.

They will call us by our numbers and one by one we will walk into the next room and tick the box of our choosing. There will be three boxes. A tick in the first box would mean we choose hard labor, a tick in the second box would mean we choose to fight in the pits for a chance to join the army and a tick in the last box would mean we choose to become a Plutonian's paramour.

Once we have given our choice we must immediately exit the building and go back to work. Those who have chosen the second two options will be relocated to different quarters later at night.

We nod our heads and while the others whisper about their decisions I remain silent. I realize my hands are shaking when a hand goes over mine. I look up into the green eyes of the girl who wished me happy birthday.

"Happy birthday," I mouth to her and I squeeze her hand as the nerves get to me. There is nothing happy about today but there is something satisfying about having a choice in my fate.

They call her number and she leaves soon after. The absence of her hand in mine makes my palms sweaty. I wonder what she has chosen.

"I'm guessing you are going to choose to remain a slave," Stela's voice pierces the cold air like a knife and I see her cold calculating eyes fixed on my face.

"And I don't need to guess your choice," I reply bluntly, eager to end the conversation. Her tongue darts out and I am reminded of the blue serpents we sometimes find on the tracks. Cold and deadly poisonous.

She smiles knowingly, looking pleased with herself. It is just like her, ever ready to please the Plutonians. If they were to hit her until she died, she would bleed to death with a smile on her face.

"I think it's the only logical choice for you. I mean who would want to bed you? You are dark and undesirable and too skinny to fight a blue fly," She chides and I ignore her. If anything she is jealous of my color.

Most of the slaves have lost their color to the cold, persistently gloomy weather but some of us retained it. My skin is fair but it is not ghostly white like most of us and it is something we both know the Plutonians find desirable.

Thankfully, my number is called and I do not have to listen to her for another merciless minute.

I enter the brightly lit room and see a translucent table in the center. 

The number 7203 is displayed on the screen in the table and my face floats on top of it.

I am instructed to place my finger tip on a small green dot. It reads my finger print and immediately the screen changes and three boxes appear.

The first box has the word 'Industrious' written on top with a picture of a human figure bent over carrying a bag over its back. The second box has the word 'Bravery' plastered at the top with a figure posed in mid combat, it's right hand held above its head, holding a spear and the last box displays the word 'Procreation'. Right below it sits a figure holding a bundle close to its chest. I look closely and realize that the bundle is actually a baby.

"Place your finger and tick the future of your choice," A voice resonates from the screen.

I swallow my nerves and lift my finger but it freezes in the air. A rush of fear runs through me as I wonder if I am making the right choice. Will I be strong enough or will I fail and die like so many others? Or should I choose the safer option and remain helpless forever.

A bead of sweat rolls down my forehead and the voice repeats itself. There is no time for second thoughts.

I bring my finger down and tick the box of my choice. I then leave the room with my heart hammering in my chest.

Fun fact (Okay I dont know about fun but it's interesting): Pluto rotates much more slowly than Earth so a day on Pluto is much longer than a day on Earth. A day on Pluto is 6.4 Earth days or 153.3 hours long.

Anyway thank you for reading. If you liked the chapter please vote/comment and share this story, your support means alot :) :)