you say so,” Patrick leaned back in his chair with a faint smile. “When I leave here, all I want to do is sleep, if I can.”
“You’ll adjust,” Skylar said with confidence.
He gave her a sideways glance, “You’ve been saying that for three months.”
“Even if you don’t,” she countered, “We’ll be on Colony Alpha before you know it. With your feet firmly back on the ground since you seem to like that so much.”
“And real food,” Patrick said with longing in his voice.
“I saw pumpkin seeds on the inventory list. Can you imagine? Real pumpkin pie!” Skylar exclaimed. “None of that synthetic stuff from back home.” The seeds were genetically replicated from the emergency stores back on earth. Since synthetic food could care for all nutritional needs and finding enough land or facilities to grow in was difficult, the seeds languished in storage, waiting for an effort such as this.
“Don’t tease me,” Patrick warned as his mouth watered. “It makes the rest of the trip seem like an eternity.”
“Colony Alpha is such a boring name,” Skylar changed topics abruptly, leaning back and propping her feet up on one of the consoles. She stared out the giant windscreen and decided, “That should be the first thing we do. Give our new home a good, proper name.”
“Like what?” His tone was dubious.
“Like… like,” She thought hard for a moment – “I don’t know. What would you name it?”
Patrick shrugged. “No idea. Though if the ‘Powers that Be’ back on Earth had named it, it’d probably be called iPlanet with a trademark symbol.”
That made Skylar laugh, which made Patrick laugh because of how infectious hers was. Despite his moments of exhaustion, Skylar somehow always managed to energize him again, if only for a short time.
“Next Gen OMNI,” She suggested when she got a hold of herself.
Patrick chuckled, “Exxon Prime.” He added.
“That’s a good one,” Skylar admitted. Their ship was fueled and partially sponsored by Exxon, making it all that more surprising as to the fact the ship wasn’t named after them. “It’s a new world,” she reminded him. “It would need an inspiring new name without any of the baggage of home.”
“Libero, then.” Patrick said.
“Like, the astrological sign?” Skylar asked.
Patrick shook his head and turned it to look at her directly, “No, Libero means freedom in Latin.”
“What’s Latin?”
“A dead language a people called the Romans used to speak.”
Skylar knit her eyebrows together in confusion, “First I’ve ever heard of them.”
“Most people haven’t. A lot of the histories were lost in the war of 2040.” The war of 2040 had been a religious one – so devastating that the winning world powers decided they should discard religion and all the limitations and backward thinking that came with it altogether – and focus on the future and the future alone. The Romans having such a large role in establishing Christianity were erased from history – made easier by the destruction of much of Europe and the Antiquities.
In lieu of functioning governments, which had been wrecked by the havoc that was modern war, Corporations came together with all their money to privately fund the rebuilding of civilization. From physical rebuilding – entire cities had been razed, including New York City, Dubai, and Tokyo – to psychological rebuilding. Entire servers of history data were deleted and reformatted, effectively cutting off access to the world’s heritage since books had been largely abandoned a decade before.
No longer did corporations need to represent their interests in government – they were the government. Fundraising became obsolete as corporate profits went directly to world leaders and market competition was left in the past with religion. Instead of running a worldwide monopoly, the priority became creating a sustainable quality of life for all in an attempt to reduce the kindling for
“You’ll adjust,” Skylar said with confidence.
He gave her a sideways glance, “You’ve been saying that for three months.”
“Even if you don’t,” she countered, “We’ll be on Colony Alpha before you know it. With your feet firmly back on the ground since you seem to like that so much.”
“And real food,” Patrick said with longing in his voice.
“I saw pumpkin seeds on the inventory list. Can you imagine? Real pumpkin pie!” Skylar exclaimed. “None of that synthetic stuff from back home.” The seeds were genetically replicated from the emergency stores back on earth. Since synthetic food could care for all nutritional needs and finding enough land or facilities to grow in was difficult, the seeds languished in storage, waiting for an effort such as this.
“Don’t tease me,” Patrick warned as his mouth watered. “It makes the rest of the trip seem like an eternity.”
“Colony Alpha is such a boring name,” Skylar changed topics abruptly, leaning back and propping her feet up on one of the consoles. She stared out the giant windscreen and decided, “That should be the first thing we do. Give our new home a good, proper name.”
“Like what?” His tone was dubious.
“Like… like,” She thought hard for a moment – “I don’t know. What would you name it?”
Patrick shrugged. “No idea. Though if the ‘Powers that Be’ back on Earth had named it, it’d probably be called iPlanet with a trademark symbol.”
That made Skylar laugh, which made Patrick laugh because of how infectious hers was. Despite his moments of exhaustion, Skylar somehow always managed to energize him again, if only for a short time.
“Next Gen OMNI,” She suggested when she got a hold of herself.
Patrick chuckled, “Exxon Prime.” He added.
“That’s a good one,” Skylar admitted. Their ship was fueled and partially sponsored by Exxon, making it all that more surprising as to the fact the ship wasn’t named after them. “It’s a new world,” she reminded him. “It would need an inspiring new name without any of the baggage of home.”
“Libero, then.” Patrick said.
“Like, the astrological sign?” Skylar asked.
Patrick shook his head and turned it to look at her directly, “No, Libero means freedom in Latin.”
“What’s Latin?”
“A dead language a people called the Romans used to speak.”
Skylar knit her eyebrows together in confusion, “First I’ve ever heard of them.”
“Most people haven’t. A lot of the histories were lost in the war of 2040.” The war of 2040 had been a religious one – so devastating that the winning world powers decided they should discard religion and all the limitations and backward thinking that came with it altogether – and focus on the future and the future alone. The Romans having such a large role in establishing Christianity were erased from history – made easier by the destruction of much of Europe and the Antiquities.
In lieu of functioning governments, which had been wrecked by the havoc that was modern war, Corporations came together with all their money to privately fund the rebuilding of civilization. From physical rebuilding – entire cities had been razed, including New York City, Dubai, and Tokyo – to psychological rebuilding. Entire servers of history data were deleted and reformatted, effectively cutting off access to the world’s heritage since books had been largely abandoned a decade before.
No longer did corporations need to represent their interests in government – they were the government. Fundraising became obsolete as corporate profits went directly to world leaders and market competition was left in the past with religion. Instead of running a worldwide monopoly, the priority became creating a sustainable quality of life for all in an attempt to reduce the kindling for
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