[Translation] Defective by Priest

Chapter 2

Five years later. 

New Star Calendar year 275, Galaxy Eight, Planet Beijing Beta.

"Beijing Beta" was a commonplace planet name. Every galaxy had a series of planets called "Planet Beijing", "Planet London", and "Planet Zimbabwe", not unlike the the choice of roadnames like "Nanjing Road" or "Washington Avenue" during the ancient ages of Earth.

Possibly because of its name, Beijing Beta had a rather eastern feel. Many of the residents were of Asian descent. Yet in a shit-hole like Galaxy Eight, even descending from ancient dragons did not guarantee you a comfortable life.

Apparently a tenth of the mainstream media headlines in all the other galaxies would be a sob piece about the extreme misery of residents in Galaxy Eight. They had a nickname for this place, "The Wasteland."

The Union had a total of eight galaxies. Galaxy One, which housed the capital planet Virtuo, was naturally the top of the resource chain. The further you went from Virtuo, the poorer the planets. By the time you reached Galaxy Eight, you were in society's sewer.

Galaxy Eight had become a "wasteland" for a combination of natural and historical reasons. On the one hand, it had a dearth of natural resources and transportation infrastructure. On the other hand, history had left it a complicated legacy.

Two hundred years ago in the age of the Old Stellar Calendar, the Union was battling Interstellar Pirates left and right. The members of the interstellar pirates were actually descendants from ancient Earth too, as opposed to being an alien species. In the beginning, they were neither named so ominously as "Interstellar Pirates," nor a unified power. After the Union government gained control of the majority of galaxies, they conveniently came up with simple name for all the remaining governments refusing to acknowledge them--"Interstellar Pirates".

Galaxy Eight was geographically isolated. Compared to the other relatively close-knit seven, it was a pitiful solitary island. To withstand the onslaught of the powerful Union, the tiny forces of anti-Union powers were forced into a reluctant alliance, holding out in the faraway Galaxy Eight. Since the beginning of the New Stellar Calendar, Galaxy Eight was occupied by Interstellar Pirate organizations until its re-annexation by the Interstellar Union Commodore Lu Xin in NSC 136. Only then did they re-establish transport passages with the other seven galaxies.

During those 136 years, the beacons of humanity and science had made light speed progress in the Union. Galaxy Eight remained a war-torn mess amidst civil war and chaos at the mercy of its various pirates organizations. The societies at the two respective ends of the hyperspace passage gradually became separated by an insurmountable difference, comparable to the difference between modern Union man and ancient Earth gorillas.

After Commodore Lu recovered the lost territory, the Union sent an expedition down. Finding nothing of value and no people worth controlling, they decided to allow Galaxy Eight to "democratically self-govern," a polite way of telling these gorillas to go fuck themselves.

Whenever the Union had important occasions that required the attendance of each galaxy's magistrate or representative, those from each of the other seven galaxies had their name on a placard. Only the representative from Galaxy Eight had no name. The placard read "Galaxy Eight." Now this wasn't geographical bias. It was because these gorillas were so prone to in-fighting that their magistrates and governments were single-use only, and their representatives changed on a daily basis. Nobody knew who was who, thus one could only refer to them by "species."

Anyone with means had immigrated. Those that were left were pathetic wretches deserted by the times.

Beijing Beta was the most populous planet in Galaxy Eight. It was chaotic and depressing, but there were still a handful of industries and some semblance of transportation infrastructure operating on life support, generating barely enough to keep its citizens alive. This made it one of the more habitable planets in the galaxy.

Under Beijing Beta's night sky, a slow moving public shuttle trotted along its route, carrying a bus full of sleepy passengers. The body of the shuttle once read "Galaxy Transportation." But the paint had long peeled, leaving only the letters "G a y sport". The artificial intelligence operating the shuttle was more akin to an artificial idiot at this point. It's fault rate had reached 95%, leaving only a single selection of "Hyper safety mode" useable. Slower than a turtle's crawl, it sounded its horn once every five minutes. The shuttle did not have a single window left intact—all shattered by the grumpy residents on its route woken up by its horn.

There was no one to fix it either. Galaxy Transportation Company had shut down two hundred years ago. Its only legacy was this persistent urban transportation system, stumbling along on autopilot.

It was winter. Beijing Beta's orbital patterns gave it long winters that lasted three years of the New Star Calendar, but the urban heating system had shut down due to lack of funds. Harsh winter gales invaded the human settlements and whipped through the shuttle's windows. The bus full of poor passengers held on to their shabby jackets, looking like swallows with their heads buried under their wings.

The passengers of such free public transport were mostly the poorest of the poor. Many of them were homeless, their age and genders obscured by filth. Fortunately the bus was far from air-tight, or the odor emanating from the passengers could have formed a biological weapon.

On the last row of "G a y sport" sat a drunken girl, whose age was rendered inscrutable by the blurred makeup on her face. She seemed not to fear cold and wore her jacket unzipped, revealing a strange-looking bra. She even had a skull tattooed on her hip—judging by appearances, this was a gangster you wouldn't want to mess with.