Humans wanted gods to worship. A flaw, most would say, a flaw which damaged our ego. Leaning on faith when we fall. What is there to faith?
Why do we need it? Are we all so far gone that life in the darkness, life without anyone above watching us, guiding us, is impossible?
Or are we merely trained to think of it that way? Such thoughts are what the empire hates. Servitude and strength are what it needs.
So freedom of speech, freedom of thought, is banned altogether. The goddess Hera made sure of it. Many rules, many systems structuring the human mind to bow down and follow orders.
"But that never lasts. Friction comes, thoughts gather, wisdom endures." The chief whispered, watching the screen, seeing all three of them walking toward the working quarters.
His eyes reflected the man with the white hair. "Ethan, was it? Let’s see what you can do."
Meanwhile, in the corner of the headquarters, red hair flared with command, both Ethan and Marcus following like soldiers behind a captain. Unknown to all around them.
Ethan wanted to ask, ask what was happening. He wanted assurance, but how could he? The situation compelled him to silence. The captain nodded while the soldiers saluted.
Finally, the soldiers stopped coming the further they went into the servant quarter, as soldiers hated going there and didn’t need to go there either. Such was that quarter.
"Captain." Marcus called.
She didn’t reply, only walking forward. Marcus’s teeth ground with irritation, but he asked anyway.
"Can we get some clarification here, Captain? We are moving blind. I am one second away from shooting you out of pure fear." He said.
The captain smiled. "You tried, and you failed, Marcus. You were a failure, and still are, so stop wasting time and just follow me." She told him, her words as strict as usual, forcing Marcus to shut up right then and there.
But Ethan spoke right after, getting straight to the point.
"Can we trust you? Just answer that, Captain." He simply asked. Naive as it may have sounded, he asked anyway.
The captain stopped, finally, the giant glass window coming into view as they reached the working quarters.
"Look there, Ethan." She said, nodding toward the people working. "So many workers, working day and night."
"...So?" Ethan asked.
"Haha, I see. You still don’t know. Foolish and naive as always." She said. "What does your data tell you about them, Ethan?"
Marcus stayed quiet for some reason, not even looking at the window. Ethan walked closer to the glass. "They are contracted workers, given full accommodation, full food, a medium salary, insurance. Just simple workers." He said, not even flinching.
She smiled again. "Then they should look somewhat happy, somewhat fulfilled. Somewhat gossiping, complaining about life and their boss. But what do you see?"
Ethan zoomed in, and yes, that should have been the case, but that wasn’t what he saw here. There was gloominess, utter gloominess. Sadness. Eyes empty. Men and women deprived of energy, deprived of something precious.
"What’s happening? Is there something I don’t know?"
"Ask your partner. He knows more than even I do." She said.
Ethan turned to him. "Marcus, is there something I should know here?"
Marcus said nothing still, only activating his screen and sending a batch of summarized data toward Ethan.
Ethan received the message on his hologram screen, many contracts coming into view, and he read through them in seconds, a scholar as he was. His eyes turning hollow like the workers’ with every sentence he read.
"This... this shouldn’t be possible. This wasn’t shown to the public. This... this is..." He said.
"Slavery." Karisa said, as she started walking forward, forcing them all to move as well. "The empire has many faces, Ethan. Many flaws. Flaws which they don’t even care to fix, sinking deeper and deeper into filth." She bellowed.
Ethan didn’t ask more. Those bitter words coming from her lips told everything. Even Marcus, whose fingers had been tiptoeing at the trigger, loosened up.
They understood why she was doing this. They knew that no matter how strict she was, she too had a heart, like both of them.
That was enough.
Finally they reached their destination, the center of the working quarter, where everyone was surveyed.
The scene they had seen from the window was now visible from all angles. Two soldiers sat there watching.
"At ease." Karisa voiced, and both of them stood right away.
"Yes, Captain. To what do we owe the honor?" They replied.
"Leave."
"But..."
"Leave!" She ordered, and the two soldiers simply saluted and left, following orders as they should. "You two..." She nodded toward Ethan and Marcus, letting them sit there.
"Sit here for a couple of hours. Your data will be taken care of. Actually, it must have already been taken care of." She voiced with assurance.
Both Ethan and Marcus looked at each other. The plan they had laid out was coming to fruition far more effortlessly than expected. They had thought they were going to fail miserably when they first saw Karisa.
Marcus checked, going through the files, and sure enough, the file, the mission to terminate Ethan and Marcus, was completely gone. New identities hovered above their new faces.
"It’s that... easy?" Marcus voiced, not to the captain, but to himself.
"Ha..." Karisa scoffed, as she walked toward the window. "Some people are more privileged, Marcus. It’s not easy, it’s called being privileged. Which means you don’t know the depths of this rabbit hole."
Marcus’s brows furrowed, the disrespect creeping into his bones. He too had worked hard, he too had worked himself to the bone. He had even turned down a mission that could have given him a whole new rank, a whole new life.
He looked at Ethan, the man whose life had decided his fate. "Captain," Marcus called. "I appreciate the pressure on my ego, but I too have my limits." He growled.
"Oh, showing your true colors, are we?" She replied, pulling out her gun right away and pointing it at his forehead.
"Captain!" Ethan called, standing up.
"You should have just accepted that prize of yours and gone ahead with terminating Ethan. Then I wouldn’t have had to drag you into this."
Marcus figured it out then and there.
I see... ha...
"So there is a rebellion brewing." Marcus said, watching her eye to eye. He finally knew, or at least got the hint. Something was happening in these headquarters, and things that should have been difficult were turning effortless. He looked at Ethan.
"You lot wanted Ethan for your cause, whatever that may be. But I slipped in, or let’s say, Ethan’s naivety slipped me in."
Karisa didn’t like it, that sharpness of his, but in many ways, Marcus was right. She had hinted at it herself. She lowered her gun.
"Don’t use that word so lightly... and it’s just the start." She said, looking back at the abusive slavery outside.
"Things need to change. And all I want to know is, are you both in, or are you both out?"
That was it. Those were the words Ethan had been waiting for, the words that had hung in his throat. Those were the words Marcus had called insane, ridiculous even. Maybe they had sounded that way when he spoke them, but hearing them from her lips, they somehow sounded...
Plausible.
Can the system mission really be accomplished? Is it really possible?
"Delusional..." Marcus said again. "Ethan, don’t be convinced by those words. It’s blatantly impossible." Marcus said.
But Ethan didn’t listen. Ethan jumped to his feet, walking toward the captain. Now that he had seen the worst cases, even the contracted slavery, he really thought, really wished, that this could be possible.
"Captain." Ethan said, grabbing her hand outright. Karisa was suddenly surprised by his reaction, her eyes going wide. A hint of warmth that no one saw but Marcus.
"Is it really... possible? A rebellion?" Ethan said, leaning in close, so much so she could hear his breathing.
"Huh..." She replied, pushing him away. "Of... of course it is." She said, the words she had prepared fumbling out.
Ethan stepped back. But there was no anger or dissatisfaction in his glowing blue eyes.
There was hope.