Hey everyone! I’m thrilled to share a glimpse into my latest short story, set in a sprawling dystopian colony where order is enforced by an all-seeing AI. Meet Eric, the brilliant programmer who crafted this very system – the colony’s most advanced facial recognition AI. It’s designed to keep everyone safe and in line, literally the digital eye watching every single corner. But what happens when a mysterious pastor arrives, preaching a forbidden message, and Eric’s perfect AI fails to detect him? His face is a complete ghost in the system. As the pastor’s influence grows, so does Eric’s fall from grace. He quickly finds himself accused of treason, and now he has to survive in the very system that’s turned on him. I’ve enjoyed exploring Eric’s struggle in this world, and I can’t wait for you to read it!
Erick winced as the light pierced his one eye that wasn’t swollen shut. The man with the raspy voice and the flashlight was back. Erick felt his muscles stiffen, expecting another blow from the flashlight’s handle. On Mars, the flashlight weighed less, but its mass left bruises just as painful.
“You will tell me what you know about Pastor Kim.”
“Nothing,” Erick spluttered. “Nothing. I swear. Please, I really don’t know him.”
“Liar. You helped him. We know you helped him. We know you messed with our facial recognition AI. That is the only way he could have evaded detection.”
“I’m a loyal member of the Martian Security Commission. I wrote the AI. I didn’t mess with it. Why would I want to help someone who is brainwashing people and compromising the stability of our colony?”
Thud. “Don’t lie.”
There was that metallic taste again.
Raspy-Voice held up a tablet with a picture on it. “How do you explain this?”
The image was blurry at first. Pain stabbed Erick’s head as he tried to focus.
After a moment, he recognized a wedding he had attended in the event dome. The starry-eyed couple was surrounded by guests. He saw himself in the background.
“That was the wedding of my brother’s friend. Why?”
Thud.
Raspy-Voice zoomed the image and pointed his finger at a man who was standing in the background, not far from Erick. It was Pastor Kim.
“Who is this?”
“That’s the pastor, but I swear I didn’t talk to him. I don’t even remember seeing him there.”
Thud. “Stop lying. This man evaded our AI three times. He traveled freely between the cities, spreading his lies. Every time, you promised that it wouldn’t happen again. We know the system works. It resists all attempts to fool it. Only this man has evaded it. What do you have to say for yourself?”
“Nothing. I really don’t know him.”
Thud.
* * *
When Erick came to, he was engulfed in the blackness of his cell. He was used to bleak surroundings. The dome was covered with regolith to protect the city from cosmic radiation. But the blackness felt like a heavy shroud. He felt like he was going crazy, and he would have welcomed the dimmest light.
Erick understood the need for control. Mars was not like Earth; one terrorist could kill thousands of people. He had no sympathy for terrorists. If one was shoved into the airlock and left to face the cold, thin Martian atmosphere, then they got what they deserved. But why were they treating him like a terrorist? How could they question his loyalty? Hadn’t he reported his own sister for possessing anti-community literature? But now he was in the detention center with the lowlife that his AI helped to track.
Somehow, someone hacked the AI without leaving a trace. It had to be a set up. He wanted to strangle someone, or at least break something, but the only breakable thing in that dark metal cell was him.
The door opened, and this time it was a guard. “Congratulations, we’re moving you to the clinic. Once you’re fit enough, you’ll be cleaning solar panels. Perhaps your memory will improve. The guard grabbed him and forced him to walk on his underused legs.
* * *
The cleaners sat in the briefing room wearing orange pressure suits with their visors open. Each suit had the prisoner’s number printed front and back in bold. The head guard stood at the front in his white pressure suit. His voice was barely audible over the chatter in the back of the room.
“We have some new members of the unit joining us today, so I will read the safety instructions. Listen carefully, I will not repeat myself. You have violated community rules and will be required to serve the community to make amends for your crimes.
“Your suit has comms built into it and will be monitored at all times. You will have three hours of oxygen in your suits. The so-called ‘free colony’ is at least twenty hours away on foot, so don’t bother trying to escape. Don’t forget to refill your oxygen during your breaks. You can take your breaks in the radiation shelters around the field.
“There are three guards watching twenty prisoners, but don’t get any ideas. We can demobilize individuals or the entire unit with a single voice command. An alarm will sound if a solar storm is detected. When you hear the alarm, leave immediately for the nearest shelter. Don’t interfere with the comms unit on your backpack. They will be checked nightly, and there will be repercussions if yours is tampered with. Any questions?”
The prisoner next to Erick raised his hand, and a tense hush fell over the cleaners in the back.
The guard nodded, and the inmate spoke.
“Why don’t you use bots to clean the solar panels?”
The guard sneered. “Bots are valuable and hard to replace.”
“So, we’re easy to replace?”
“This genius just volunteered to work in the mines. Would anyone like to join him?” The guard scanned the room. “No one? Good.”
* * *
The next few weeks felt like a lifetime. Erick’s neck and arms ached from holding the long poles of the duster that he used to clean the panels. He kept to himself and avoided eye contact with the other prisoners, hoping that no one would find out where he used to work. The boring routine continued until one day, when Erick was working near the far end of the solar array. He felt a jerk from behind, followed by a hissing noise. He let go of the duster and turned frantically to see a tall, bulky prisoner with a bold nine on his suit. It was the prisoner they called Blade. He was holding a screwdriver.
“Hey, shorty. No slimy screws or snoops out here. The network doesn’t work so well either. By the time they find you, no one will know what happened. They’ll think you tore your suit on something.”
Blade pushed him to the ground. Erick could feel the temperature begin to drop in his suit.
“Come on, I didn’t do anything to you.”
“I know who you are. You used to work for the snoops. Your sick friends killed my wife. She was a diabetic, and they held her for days without giving her the shots she needed. They didn’t even check her insulin levels.”
Erick struggled in vain to reach the hole in his suit. He was starting to feel cold and faint.
The compressor in his suit whined as it struggled to maintain pressure.
“They’ll recover my comms unit and play it back.”
“Not if your comms unit is smashed. They will think you broke it trying to escape. It doesn’t matter anyway, I’m beyond caring what happens to me. You snoops have taken everything I ever loved.”
Blade wrestled with Erick, trying to stab his comms pack with the screwdriver.
“Help, help!” screamed Erick. “Someone help me. I’m in Sector Twelve near the edge of Dragon Crater. Blade is attacking me. Someone help!”
A static garbled voice responded, but Erick couldn’t make it out. He repeated his cry for help. The wrestling and the pleading for help continued. Erick’s lungs ached from the increasing cold and the slow drop in pressure.
Eventually, he heard a voice over the coms. “Demobilize prisoner nine.”
Blade convulsed like someone having a seizure, then lay motionless on top of Erick. Hate oozed from his glaring eyes. Blade’s mouth moved, but Erick couldn’t hear a word.
* * *
Erick was in the clinic for four days. His ears ached, and his breathing felt like it did when he had pneumonia. On the fourth day, he heard a new patient call out from behind the curtain in the bed next to him.
“Hi there, how are you?”
“I’ve felt better.”
“And who do I have the pleasure of talking to?”
“Just call me Erick.”
“Good to meet you, Erick. You can call me Kim.”
“Pastor Kim?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
Erick sprang up and ripped the IV from his arm. “You’re the pastor wanted for unauthorized travel.”
“I have the only authorization that matters. I go where I am meant to go.”
Erick tugged the curtain aside. Pastor Kim had bruises and looked weak, but was smiling at Erick. Erick felt his face flush. “How do you do it? Did you hack the AI? How did you fool the system?”
“I haven’t touched the system. I just go where I’m told to go, when I’m told to go there.”
“Look at your bruises. You couldn’t evade capture.”
“I’m exactly where I am meant to be, and I will not be here a moment more than I need to be.”
“What are you talking about? Why would you need to be here?”
“I’m here to tell you about true freedom.”
“You’re a prisoner just like I am. What can you tell me about freedom?”
“I know that a man can be in a prison of his routine. Even when he thinks he is free. I know you won’t be free until you let go of who you were, and become who you are meant to be.”
“You’re not making any sense. I’m a programmer. I studied for years, and I’m good at it. I’m meant to be a programmer.”
“Really? A programmer for people who aren’t interested in freedom? People who are only interested in controlling others? Do you really want to be part of that? Now that you have seen it from the other side, is that who you want to be?”
Erick grabbed Pastor Kim and started shaking him.
“They tortured me because of you. What did you do? How did you hack our system?”
“I can only tell you what I know. I don’t know anything about your system.”
Some guards rushed in and dragged Pastor Kim and Erick to solitary.
Pastor Kim was in the next cell. Erick pounded on the wall. His fists throbbed, and his lungs ached from screaming.
* * *
Erick sat in the blackness. He lost count of the days. Finally, the door hissed open, and Raspy-Voice came in with his flashlight.
“Pastor Kim has escaped. You helped him. Tell us what you know.”
“What? How? I don’t know anything. How could I help him? I was here all the time.”
Thud.
“What did he say to you?”
“We were in the clinic of the detention center. I know that everything is recorded there. You know what he said.”
Thud.
“The recording is not very clear.”
“Please. He told me he didn’t interfere with the system, and I don’t know who did.”
Thud.
Raspy-Voice’s tablet chirped. He tapped on it and read for a moment.
“It seems that Pastor Kim has stowed away on a tourist ship that departed for Earth from the free colony. How did he get there?”
“I don’t know,” Erick whimpered. “I really don’t know.”
“Well, the Commission has given its verdict. You have been found guilty of aiding a dissident. You are sentenced to five years in the mines. Your membership of the Commission and your position as a security officer are permanently revoked. Perhaps working in the mines will rehabilitate you.”
A guard came in and moved Erick back to the clinic. As Erick rolled over on the bed, he noticed that the pillow felt lumpy. He felt inside it and pulled a small book from it and opened it to a random page, and started reading.
Whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
The words stood out from the page and reminded him of what Pastor Kim had said. He thought about all the people that the Commission had imprisoned for nothing more than reading the wrong thing. He thought about how uneasy that used to make him feel. And now he knew how it felt to be punished unfairly. Suddenly, he was glad that he would never be part of it again. He felt a heavy weight lifted off his shoulders. He felt free. He was no longer a cog in the machine. Would he survive five years in the mines? He didn’t know if anyone had, but he never felt freer.