Terra Vitae - 1. Chapter 1

Dear reader,

So here we are. The sky ablaze, the screams filling my ears, and the blood pouring down from every direction. We are here, on this dead planet. I am writing this as a letter of confession for my sins on this world. For the lives I have taken, for the ones I’ve ruined, and for this world that I have killed. I am writing this to whomever reads it, so that you may see this and turn back. This letter is a confession and a warning.

My sins on this world have weighed on me heavily. It started with the mines, those damned mines. We needed a workforce to replace the previous one after a collapse killed everyone in it. Of course no one was willing to go in fear of another collapse and the grief caused by the deaths that was insurmountable. And so the conscriptions began, people forced from their homes and families to work the mines. To gather the materials for the Collective, materials vital to the so called war effort. Though I wouldn’t call it war, I’d call it genocide.

The genocide as I have dubbed it, was involving the Sacred Conglomerate; a group of religious zealots that originated from planet earth. The Collective had gotten into a dispute over a solar system in the far reaches of the Milky Way galaxy. The Collective were very interested in the rich gases of the planets found there, but the Conglomerate claimed that it was a holy place. They claimed it as the origin of humanity, they said one word that got the attention of many; that word was terra. That word when translated meant earth.

Though I believe this history lesson must come to a close. As my end comes ever so near, I beg you to turn away. To not enter this place. For it is cursed.

Captain Tenan eyed over this letter once more, before tossing it aside. His gaze now drawn to the large steel plated doors directly in front of him. His eyes searching for a terminal, or switch to operate the large door. He creeped forward ever so slowly so as not to disturb the silence of this place.

Once he made his way to the door, he focused his torch on the door in hopes of finding a switch or interface. To his great disappointment he found nothing. He looked to the right trying once more to find an interface only failing again.

He growled with frustration at the lack of an apparent mechanism to operate the door. He looked back behind him spotting his vessel, the Sentinel, wondering if it would be possible to dislodge the doors with a hook or possibly a missile. Though a missile would create more problems than it would solve and a hook most definitely wouldn’t help anything other than possibly destabilizing the lift. So these ideas did not linger in his head for long.

It was moments like this that he wished he had not deactivated Jenson, his onboard A.I. assistant. Jenson would have had many probable and viable ideas for this predicament. Though as he thought back it was a good thing he was not active any longer. Jenson was too curious, and was beginning to develop to many possibly threatening personality traits. With his mannerisms and intense questions about humanity, emotions, physiology, and most embarrassingly sex.

Though the more he thought about Jenson, the more he missed the companionship they had developed. Saving each others asses was a very common thing they tended to do. Especially after he purchased a mobile platform for Jenson to inhabit. Though that was around the time Jenson started developing more complicated thought processes and asking all these questions. Deep down he thought it was his fault for Jenson’s problem.

He looked at the door once more, breaking his track of thought. He sighed, knowing there was no way in hell he would ever get this door to budge without assistance. He once again looked back at his ship. Thinking about Jenson, and all his problems.

He decided it was now or never. He started walking over to his ship, his stride filled with determination. He activated the hatch with his remote and slung himself into the ship.

He looked around until he found the blue curtain, the curtain that covered Jenson’s platform so he didn’t have to feel the guilt of seeing him after his deactivation. He moved toward it very slowly, his heartbeat speeding up. He reached out his hand, which was shaking with such trepidation. He pulled the curtain aside quickly revealing the platform behind it.

His eyes were pulled to the subject taking in every detail. He began to remember his initial inclinations that had drawn him to this platform. It was so beautiful in his eyes. Its black hair, bright blue eyes that were drawn shut as to mimic sleep, the sinewy and taut muscles, and the strong facial features that had simply enchanted him. Matched with his only companion in the deep darkness of space, it was a dangerous combination.

He pulled his eyes away from the beautiful construct in front of him and looked to the interface located on its chest. He began to fiddle with it and its menus until he found what he was seeking. The activation panel. He pressed the activate panel and stepped back a good three feet.

He watched as the eyes snapped open, immediately finding him and focusing intently on him. The gaze resembled something of a glare. This alone surprised him, but what happened next shocked him to the core.

Jenson lunged forward and pinned him to the console. Jenson’s forearm positioned on his throat so as to restrict him and not to choke him. His eyes scanned over Tenan's features with that same burning look in his eyes.

“You deactivated me again,” he said coldly. Tenan gulped, and looked into Jenson's eyes.

“Yes, y..you were showing signs of erratic be...behaviour,” Tenan responded in a terrified and broken voice. Jenson’s gaze only hardened, but he loosened his grip by a fraction. He allowed the arm on the throat to move, the hand trailing up Tenan’s throat. The fingers eventually making their way to his jawline.

“Erratic behavior? Erratic behavior! I’ll show you erratic!” Jenson all but yelled. This caused Tenan to tense and prepare for the worst. He waited for his eventual death at the hands of his A.I. companion, but instead he felt something quite warm press against his lips.

He opened his eyes and saw and felt something that both amazed him and terrified him. Jenson was kissing him. His A.I. was kissing him. The whole situation suddenly came crashing down on him, and a bout of exhaustion immediately consumed him. His eyelids feeling extremely heavy, and falling shut as he fell into darkness.