“Is that why they turned on Plausious?”
“I do not know the inner workings of your House, nor do I want to, but it seems pretty obvious that once he learned of the lightside he had to be removed. Sounds like some of your bedrock lies were in jeopardy of being disintegrated, intentionally or unintentionally.”
“What happens when a civilization built on lies falls?”
“The truth shows itself in one form or another. Insanity is not stable, and inevitably destroys itself…and those around it. You witnessed that here first hand. The silence that remains speaks no lies.”
“It is reset through annihilation,” the Neofan said in a moment of understanding.
“Indeed. What is your name?”
“Bmu.”
“Well then, Bmu, learn from what happened here and do the same within your own mind. Take down everything, assume nothing, and start over with what small pieces of truth you can find, and lean on those to sustain you. Follow Plausious if he is truthful, but not if he lies. Let your loyalty be to the truth rather than to him. If your faith in him is legitimate, then there will be no conflict. But do not blindly follow anyone. That, in a way, is a type of lie.”
“I do not know how to function without my loyalty.”
“Make your loyalty to the truth. Shift it rather than destroying it. Make your civilization earn your support, rather than expecting it of you. Only a firm foundation will see you through what is coming. Loyalty without that foundation will fail, eventually. When immense pressure is placed upon you, even a small crack will see you fall. You must be perfect, and then, and only then, can you weather the storm. Search for cracks and eliminate them within yourself. That is how you first strengthen your civilization. You are a pillar within it, and you must become flawless in order to support the weight thrust upon you.”
“Wise words from one so young,” Bmu said appreciatively. “I will heed them.”
“Good. Now what do you guys have around here in way of training equipment…”
4
December 12, 158399
Toyland System (Vinshen Kingdom)
Terapye
Darren Greoni rode in a dropship alone, confined to the cargo hold and unable to speak to the pilots. He wore nothing but a basic uniform with survival jacket, plus a backpack with supplies as he watched the snowy surface pass by underneath on a datapad as they traveled across a mountain range. There was some rock showing, and a lot of green trees popping up through the snow, but he could see nothing of the ground itself, and that worried him.
His clothing wasn’t made for this environment, except for the jacket, and that wouldn’t do anything for his legs and thin casual shoes. His socks would get soaked trudging through the snow, and the cold was not going to relent if the ground was solid white. That meant it rarely got above freezing here, and soon he was going to be dropped off into this environment on his own.
It was the first time, actually, that he had been alone. At least beyond some short training exercises. He’d always had his family with him before…the other 99 offspring of Greg-073 and Oni-081 that Darren had spent the last 31 years with in a special maturia, though to be honest he didn’t know what a normal one was. He knew a lot about the rest of Star Force, but had never been able to see it. Not in person, anyway. He’d been told that in other maturias, when you graduated you got to choose your path and people would stop telling you what to do, but not him. He was a Furyan, and the offspring of the military leaders of Star Force. He’d met his parents only twice during his life, for a few weeks at a time, but now they were off fighting the Hadarak War, though where he didn’t know. There was a lot he wasn’t allowed to know, and when he asked why he always got the same answer.
He was too young.
He’d always scoffed at that, except right now, looking at the harsh snowy landscape he was about to be dropped off into, and he was forced to agree. He wasn’t ready for this.
A klaxon made him jerk as two lights above the closed boarding ramp started blinking. That was the sign that they were nearly at their destination.
Darren clenched his teeth. His instincts were all over the place. Part of him was afraid of the unknown, another part was eager to jump into the challenge of it. He was pretty sure the second part came from his parents, for it didn’t seem real. He missed his brothers and sisters, wishing they were here with him, but he was going to have to find them out there, for they were all being dropped at different locations with a simple tracking device to find their way to their destination.
And there was no going back. The maturia was closed to them now, and on a different planet. He didn’t even know the name of this one. He wasn’t allowed to know, except for the fact that the days of him being trained were over. From here on out he was in charge of his own destiny…for he had to craft it for himself, in concert with his Furyan class, in order to survive out here on their own.
There was no emergency beacon in his pack. No one looking over his shoulder this time. His trainers had deemed him ready, along with the others, and now that would be
