The Oppressed

by Matt Thomas

  “What’s changed?” Jess asked. She kept her weapon cradled in her lap, whereas her captain’s lay on the floor with his helmet.

  “Time. Look, this neighborhood has seventy-three families in it, with a hundred and eighty-two residents, including children. The average age here is thirty-eight. Nearly everyone grew up under the Hetarek. Most of them weren’t even teenagers when the invasion and the Culling afterward happened. Sure, they might remember the Hetarek rounding up everyone, or the mass executions or the exile, but that was a long time ago. And the brutality has just become a way of life. Now everyone has jobs, they all have responsibilities, and they all are relatively well taken care for given the circumstances. Sure, I remember having electricity, and Jared every once in a while complains about how much he’d rather have a washing machine, but it was such a long time ago. The kids have no idea what he means, and he’s pretty good about keeping that stuff to himself. They’re comfortable unless someone tells them that they’re not comfortable. Hell, I know what I’m missing and I’m still comfortable, all things considered. I’m not living in a slum, and no one’s tried to kill me in a couple of years, and, if the Hetarek decide to do it, it’s not like I’m going to be able to stop them.”

  “What about that?” Jess asked. “The Hetarek are brutal. Isn’t there a desire to get out from under them?”

  Anastasia held up a finger. “I’d correct you to say the Hetarek can be brutal, but they’re not all brutal. A couple of times a year they do their ‘Inventories.’ They measure our productivity, the Speaker comes around, he talks to us for a while, he talks to the local speakers for a while, and then they crunch the numbers. If we did good that year, they only butcher a couple of people. It’s pretty fucking horrific, to wait to see who’s going to be used as an example, and then watch the guard stand over them, blade raised, waiting to find out who many people are going to be split down the middle as incentives. Everyone gets pissed about it, but the truth is that it’s the only time we see the Hetarek violence up close. The selection is supposed to be random, but the local speakers usually do a half-way decent job of stacking the deck to minimize impact as much as possible. The local pedophile gets cut in half, people aren’t quite as upset about it. The sick and the people who are about to age-out, I won’t call them elderly because they’re not, but the people who the Hetarak consider to be no longer efficient workers may quietly volunteer because it’s better than starving to death in exile or being taken away and killed for sport or whatever the Hetarek do with them. Besides, everyone here expects it. It’s a way of life. It’s just how it is.”

  She readjusted uncomfortably. “You and I both know about the other stuff that goes on, about the mass executions, and the torture and everything else, but it’s not like anyone sees it. The only time it tends to happen is when people start fighting or pushing back. Then everyone knows about it.”

  “Does that happen a lot?” Bryan asked. “That people push back?”

  Anastasia shook her head. “No. At least, not around here. I tried when I first got released. I was supposed to try, right? For a few years, there was a decent group trying to sabotage and gain some white space on the map that could just be ours. Except for some of the families living out in the middle of the mountains, we got nothing. We ran into the same issues. People get caught, they get brutalized. People see that happen, and they know that help’s not really right around the corner, and they lose the incentive.”

  “Is that pretty common? People don’t feel incentivized?”

  “Generally, yes. Here, on the west side of the mountains, it would take a fair amount to get people pushing back. I can give you maybe a dozen names out here to start with. But we’re so close to the facilities that the Hetarek keep a pretty good eye on us. Them and the Metic Ahai. There’s a lot of Metic Ahai around here doing the administrative tasks. They can be worse than the Hetarek at times when they feel like it, since they’re the ones that control the day-to-day operations.”

  “All the Ahai we work with off-planet hate the Hetarek.” Bryan said. “They have for a very long time.”

  “Really?” Anastasia sounded generally surprised. “Well, the ones here are pretty entrenched. Hardly any of them know anything else. The Hetarek give them cush jobs, and they’ve got someone to pick on worse than they get picked on. You get these pockets of Metic Ahai who know what’s what. Usually they have a parent or grandparent who tells them stories from before they were captured. If you want to link up with them, it would help to find a way to connect them with the Great Collective.”

  “We can do that.” Bryan said. “You can help us find humans who’d be willing to help?”

  “Sure.” Anastasia said. “Not near the city though. There’s so much presence around here that hope was flushed out long ago. We get a patrol through about every day. You get to the other side of the mountains, though, and it’s a different story. It’s all agriculture out there. You get a bunch of these small farming communities who work their asses off to make a good Inventory, but don’t see a Hetarek patrol for a week or more. They don’t live as nice as we do, but they’ve got way more freedom of movement. Most of the disturbances have been out there.”

  “Can you introduce us to anyone over there?”

  “I know a guy over there, MacIntyre, but I’ve only met him a few times in the last ten years. He’s not stellar at fighting back, but what he lacks in skill he makes up for in passion. In fact, when you guys dropped those weapons in about five, six years ago, that’s where I sent ‘em. Couldn’t have them around here. Don’t want ‘em found and no one’s going to use them anyway.”

  “They use them at all?”

  She nodded. “Definitely. About three years ago there were a couple of ambushes, harassing attacks. They’ve got no idea what they’re doing, so it didn’t make much of an impact than increase Hetarek presence for a year or two and up the number of public executions. They asked me if I could give them some training, but the Hetarek watch me pretty good. My job’s in one of the facilities in Seattle. They notice when I’m not there. But we can run over the mountains one night, introduce you, and get back on my recovery day. I’ll connect you guys.”

  “Thanks. Do we need to worry about patrols?”

  She shrugged. “You’ve always got to worry about patrols, but the thing to keep in mind is that this place is a backwater for them. For us, it’s home. For them, it’s a shithole. Sure, they have to grow generations here, but everyone that’s here knows they’re here because there’s someplace better elsewhere. They stay here and fight here because it’s how they bring glory to their clan, so one day their descendants can go back home. The first generation, the one that actually invaded and knew how to fight large scale, they’re all dead. This is a new generation that’s been nothing but an occupation force. They’re here to protect the mines and all the infrastructure that goes with ‘em. You run into a patrol, they’re either going to be so green they’re going to have no idea what to do, or they’re going to be already pissed off they’re here in the first place and they’re looking for someone to take it out on. They see this region as pretty secure.”

  She took a sip of tea. “But you all have been listening to my reports for all these years.” She shook her head in disbelief. “For the longest time, I had no idea anyone got them. This has been a one way conversation. I want to know what’s been happening out there. What happened when everyone got free?”

  Bryan shrugged. “Well, first of all, not everyone got free. Hardly anyone did. The final tally when we got off the planet was, what Jess?”

  “Fifty-seven million.” She answered. “And change. Basically if you were off planet, so a fair chunk of the various corporations and the military, a lot of people on the stations either closer to Earth or lucky enough to be in orbit around Saturn, which was on the other side of the Sun from the Hetarek invasion, were able to get out. On Earth, unless you lived away from one of the major impact sites and close enough to a
major base that could help pull you out, you were done.”

  She thought about it for a moment. “Any idea how many are still on the planet?”

  Jess frowned. “Well, the population at the time of the invasion was about twelve billion. We’ve only had observation satellites in orbit for the last thirty-eight months. Our best guess right now is somewhere around thirty-two million under Hetarek control, and maybe another fifteen spread thin enough that they’ve avoided attracting attention. There are some pretty remote areas in China, Russia, Central Asia, a bunch of remote islands, where we’ve seen some evidence of people living. But that’s about it.”

  “So out of eleven billion there are only a hundred and four million humans. They killed ninety-nine percent of us?” She had known, intellectually, how bad it had been, but numbers had always been elusive. “They had me, in those first few years. I didn’t know what was going on outside. They’d always talk about culling humans. I didn’t know how bad it was until they dumped me out. There were clusters of people like here, but... Ninety-nine percent just gone...”

  “Well, we did a good job of killing each other, too.” Bryan said.

  “Let me guess, the Corporate War somehow survived the Hetarek invasion?”

  Bryan nodded. “The Ahai were just opening up wormholes wherever they found clusters of human ships, and it didn’t matter if they were from the same side. They just focused on getting us out, and left us in open space to reorganize.”

  “And that’s when the fighting began.” Jess interrupted.

  “I was just a kid, I don’t remember who started shooting, but people were upset about why certain ships made it and others didn’t. You had that Russian group...”

  “Sadko.” Anastasia provided.

  “That’s right. Just goes to show how much it means to us now. Anyway, they started the war because of the Ahai opening the wormholes, and blamed everyone else for every Russian left behind even though there were just as many from every other nation. There were some shoot-outs until the Ahai returned and told us we could fight amongst ourselves or come with them.”

  “Gracious of them.”

  “We wouldn’t be where we are without them, that’s for sure. So they calmed us down.”

  “Who’s in charge? The US? Russia? The corporations?”

  Bryan sucked air in through his teeth. “Well, there’s no United States, or really any other country, for that matter. We ended up breaking everything down by ships. The Ahai took us back to their fleet and let us tag along from place to place. The humans keep mostly separate from the Ahai though. Different ships have different cultures still, but on the military side everything’s so cross-loaded it’s hard to tell who started where. The corporations are sort of still around, Ephemeris has been building all of our ships for this operation, Qinlin still mines resources when we come across them, and most of the transports still have Sadko’s logo on them, but they’re really just arms of the Council now.”

  “The Council?”

  “The Free Human Council. It’s kind a corny name, but it’s what’s evolved over the years. Someone needs to manage the fleet. There’s representatives from the various ships, countries, and entities, and they all get together and make most of the big decisions.”

  “How has the fight been against the Hetarek?”

  “For a long time, there wasn’t much of a fight.” Bryan answered honestly. “The Ahai have been pretty good at hiding from the Hetarek for generations, so they helped us hide. It’s only been in the last ten years the council agreed to devote resources to taking back territory. About five years ago we tried to take back Aquinas...”

  “The colony planet?”

  “What was left of it. The Hetarek had really dug in there. We didn’t get it the first time. The Council nearly canceled the whole operation afterward, but we eventually got it back. There have been lots of little space skirmishes since then. We’ve taken four of the Hetarek-occupied systems along their supply route. They were supposed to retake the Gemini since we got here, but I haven’t had word of that.”

  “You think you can do it this time?”

  Bryan smiled. “With your help, absolutely. You’re why we’re here. There’s a whole generation out there who’ve never set foot on Earth, and we’ve spent a lot of years prepping for this. If you can help point us in the right direction, we’ve got a whole lot of friends who are ready to come back.”

  She shared the smile, but distantly, like he described some unachievable fantasy. “You certainly know how to woo a girl.”

  “I try.”

  For a few moments, she seemed to examine her surroundings, taking note for what may have been the first time the cracks in the wall and the worn-out furniture. She stared at the food in front of her, something basic and sustainable, but the meal of someone not in control of their own life. “Look,” she finally said. “I’m under the microscope so much I don’t know I can do a lot to help you. Even after all of these years, they still don’t trust me. Which I guess they shouldn’t since I’m talking to you. The most I can do is make some introductions. I’ve been keeping a low profile for so long I can’t guarantee much. I’ve fed you all the intel I can, really. But Lucas knows me. I tried to help him out back when people were still fighting. I know at least he’s still alive, because people like to tell me about his grumbling and bitching about how we’re not doing anything. I’m surprised the Hetarek haven’t cut him in half yet, but I suppose that’s lucky. I’ll take you myself. Lucas might take things a bit more seriously if it’s me.”

  “I’d appreciate that.”

  “Can you strongpoint here for a day? I’ll take you out tomorrow night after I get back from work. I can get you over the mountains and it’s easier at night.”

  Bryan nodded. “We can do that.”

  She looked at his clothing. “You look too clean. I’ll get some more clothes for you and some of your people. Is there anything else you need?”

  Bryan looked back at Jess. “Trucks.” She said. “And fuel. If you have any to spare.”

  She frowned. “I can drive a few of you in my truck out there, and I might be able to get another. Fuel is hard to come by, though. Most of these trucks are retrofitted for solar charged batteries. The Hetarek don’t like us having large caches of fuel.”

  “We’ll take whatever we can get.”

  She stood up from the table. “I’d offer to let you all strongpoint in my house, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea. There’s a house just just around the corner, a dark blue one that has a pretty good overwatch position for the rest of the area. It’s hard to miss.”

  Bryan laughed. “Yeah, we know. That’s where our overwatch is now.”

  “I guess great minds think alike. I’ll send someone over to get you tomorrow night after I get back. Hopefully with some clothing we’ve gathered up.”

  She took a long look at Bryan. “I’m in a little bit of disbelief you all are actually here. I never gave up, of course, but, well, it’s just been so long I didn’t know how much I could do.”

  “You’ve done a lot. You took a lot of risk to send those messages over all of those years.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, but what else was I going to do? I gotta keep working.”

  “Thank you.”

  “No, thank you.” She emphasized, the relief in her eyes showing the words were not perfunctory. “Get some sleep. I don’t know that I will, but someone has got to be alert tomorrow. Stay alive.”

  “You too.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  A stranger wearing an army uniform stood at the front of the briefing room when Jean and Sasha entered. He wondered why the army folks felt the need to wear fatigues constantly like they could be in a gun fight at any moment. It seemed ridiculous, particularly since only a small handful of soldiers had seen combat since the evacuation of Earth. Predominantly, the war had been fought in space, with only a few battles on the ground or in space stations, the most r
ecent operation in the Twins excepted. Most of the army folks found spread amongst the various warships were far more likely to die in an accident, or when the Hetarek destroyed the ship they merely booked passage on. They eagerly awaited their first taste of combat in a massive invasion like the Twins or, hopefully, one day Earth. To most of the space forces, especially the pilots, soldiers ranked just above the guys who sat at computers to remotely operate the Baseballs.

  That was the general feeling. Looking at the Major standing casually in front of them, however, with his lightning-striped arrowhead on one sleeve and an eagle’s head on his other, the weary, distant look in his eyes, the slump of his shoulders, all told Costeaux that this officer had not spent his entire career confined to ships. He would bet his paycheck that the man before them had been amongst the few to see combat more intense than their dogfights.

  Only Jean, Sasha, Dauod, and Quinn made it to their chairs in the briefing room before the space forces intelligence officer who usually gave shut the door. Then she locked it.

  “How’s it going?” The stranger began, leaning back against a table at the head of the room. He stared off into the distance, not really focusing on any of them, speaking more plainly than any officer Jean had encountered in a long time. “I’m Xander Gretter and I’m the Two for the Joint Special Task Force on Columbia. Before we get started, there’s a non-disclosure agreement by each one of your chairs. If you could sign those and give them to me I’d appreciate it.”

  It had been a while since Jean had signed something on paper, yet there was a print-out with his name, serial number, and the date filled out already. At the top of the sheet in block letters read the title: OPERATION AENEAS. The words directed him to never disclose anything he was about to learn, under penalty on spending the rest of his life in the brig. Costeaux signed, as did the others, and passed the papers back forward. The army officer stuck them in a folder and locked them in a small briefcase.