Humanity Endures

Part 1 - The Expeditionary Fleet | Chapter 1

Squinting every half second due to the harsh rays produced by the array of ornate lights surrounding him, Velan marvelled at the sights — not because they were gorgeous, and they were, but because some of the military personnel he saw seemed to be more dressed-up than the politicians stalking the gilded halls. Indeed, these two vastly-different classes of people inhabited the Capital Complex together, for the building was not just the home of the Empire's military, but also its civilian administration. Things like the over-decoration of everyone reminded Velan nearly every day as to why people from Tehkria — or any other practically-minded planet — laughed at him and his world of Earth; after more than a year tied to the blasted, ostentatious, bureaucratic rock, he couldn't say he disagreed with them. It wasn't like he could change it though. Indeed, he had to dress just as ostentatiously as the next officer, if he wanted to advance his career.

As he had taken a hypersphere to a location near the one he wanted to reach earlier, Velan's walk was brief, and as his commander's office — a needlessly grand office set amongst an entire seven-mile tall atrium filled with needlessly grand offices — came into view, he hoped to put this rock behind him for good.

Rubbing his eyes, which had become irritated from his constant wearing of contact lenses, Velan proceeded past genetically-engineered plants that oozed an aura of dispensability, and pushed through mobs of unimportant civil servants engaged in mind-numbing conversation. Much of this conversation was centered around the fittingly banal event of the day: a set of anomalous signals from the ominously named "Light's End" black hole system. Considering it for a moment, Velan had to forcibly stifle a laugh: it was truly the sign of a bored society when that society creates a crisis out of mildly intriguing scientific phenomena, but if people wanted to go around fearing a simple celestial body, he could hardly stop them. Nodding respectfully to the two people in the room he knew, and receiving piteous gazes in response, Velan soon came to the door of his superior's office; as he exhaled exasperatedly, the door detected his intent to enter by interfacing with his neural implants, and it burst open, revealing the messy room and its unsightly occupant.

"Ah, Velan... And to think I was having a good day," the man inside stated, his abrasive, snobbish voice making Velan's ears threaten to bleed. Velan had to muster all of his strength to avoid recoiling in disgust — before him sat living proof that even with all the mandatory genetic engineering in the human galaxy, and with all of society's emphasis on discipline, there was still such a thing as an ugly, lazy bastard. To make matters worse, this ugly bastard had been interrupted whilst eating. The rude, ineffective bureaucrat was the exact opposite of the model officer that Velan prided himself on being; to think that he was outranked and supervised by such a creature caused him to lose no small amount of faith in the military hierarchy — along with much of his desire to keep his lunch. The only thing more repugnant than the man's visage was his personality, which was spiteful, hateful, idiotic, outdated, and haughty: in short, he was everything Velan despised about Earth's culture.

"The pleasure's all mine, Itivan, I assure you," Velan replied, trying to force a grin, and failing.

Wiping his food-stained hands on his wrinkled uniform's pants, despite the perfectly functional sanitation device within reach, Itivan remotely shut the soundproofed door to his office with a thought-command, and, speaking whilst still chewing, he commanded, "Before I speak another word, to make certain you aren't recording anything I'm saying, open your thoughts to me. Now."

Velan visibly recoiled in shock.

"You expect me to open my mind to you?!" Velan stammered, repeating what Itivan had stated as if to confirm he had, in fact, said it, "Half the married couples in the galaxy don't trust their spouse to see what they're thinking, and now you ask me to open my mind to satisfy your insane paranoia?"