The Fall of the Arkadia The Fall of the Arcadia

by Jennifer Hor

Grandfather, what happened to our species? What did we do wrong? Why are there only twenty of us left? What did we do to make the Remainders hate us so much? Why did they try to kill our people and put you, me and the others in this Prison? Why, why? The ancient man stirs from his doze and tries to focus his sight on the boy. Why? Its a long story. The hatred between us and the Remainders was old when I was born 105 years ago. But didnt you say we were all the one species? You said the Remainders were humans like ourselves before our ancestors left Earth. Yes but that was over a thousand years ago according to our calendar or a million years according to Earth time. We were all one species then. There were climatic catastrophes sweeping over the planet endless storms, droughts that killed hundreds, even thousands, of people and our ancestors made the decision to leave Earth in a fleet of spacecraft and stations. The Remainders are descended from those humans who couldnt afford to escape or werent considered fit to travel and they ended up surviving all the calamities that wiped out others like themselves. While we lived for a thousand years travelling across the galaxies in search of a new home, taking energy from hydrogen gas clouds and dying dwarf stars, the Remainders evolved under the new conditions on Earth and became a separate species, completely alien to us. I dont understand, our ancestors lived in space for a thousand years and the Remainders evolved on Earth for a million years? Adam, our ancestors experienced time at a slower rate than the Remainders did. My grandfather explained something called time dilation when I was your age. It happened when the space stations moved at speeds close to the speed of light. For every year that passed for our ancestors in space, a thousand years passed on Earth. I cant remember all the details he told me about time dilation. My memory isnt as good as it used to be. So why did our people return to Earth? The space stations had outlived their usefulness. They hadnt been designed to last a thousand years. That they did is a testament to the high standards and quality control imposed by the original design and bioengineering teams. In one thousand years, our ancestors couldnt find an uninhabited planet with Earth-like conditions to settle in. The catalyst for our peoples return was the breakdown of the Arkadia space station in which all the air leaked into space so that everyone living there died slowly, horribly and in agony. Thats awful, dying like that. Indeed. So our people returned to Earth and discovered the Remainders, about four million in all, living primitive lives with no agriculture or technology, just gathering seeds, plants and hunting insects and small animals. The physical conditions on Earth had stabilised enough to allow resettlement although the planet was hotter and drier than they realised. Our people were determined to re-establish civilisation on Earth with the Remainders to be part of the revival. My grandfather said everyone co-existed peacefully at first but fighting and quarrelling broke out in the mines and

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plantations, rabble-rousers among the Remainders stirred them up and they declared war on us and tried to get rid of us all. But why didnt the Remainders kill us then? How do I know? Perhaps were harmless to them. Most of the others in Prison are children like yourself, arent they? The boy nods. Perhaps the Remainders want to keep us to study, though for what I dont know. We could be friendly with them again, couldnt we, Grandfather? We were friendly once. Look, the guard is coming over with our lunch. We could be friendly to him. I can let him know we dont hate him Useless, Adam, useless. That guards been delivering our food for the past month and he hates us as much now as he did then. You can see the hate in his eyes, how red they glow! How can a child of ten like you undo a century of distrust, hate and violence? Come here, Adam, its enough for us to survive and make the best of what we have here in this Prison. Stuck in the middle of the Desert Territory with no chance of freedom or escape and all hope gone. Here he comes. Um, excuse me, sir

I hate this work, guarding these feeble Aliens from the sky in this stinking Prison in the Desert Territory, hearing them yell and whine and snore. Im a slave all over again, a slave to the Hierarchy instead of an Alien being or company. Even though we triumphed over the Aliens and killed them all except for this lot, Im still a slave! Bad enough that they come in their sky-ships and claimed our Earth as theirs and made us serve them and change our Earth to suit them! Now our leaders declare themselves the new rulers and we must serve them instead! What happened when we were all equal, when we fought and planned as equals, when we slept as equals? Who said some of us were better than the rest? Who said some of us were not fit to be rulers? And how can the Hierarchy deny me leave to attend Lilitas funeral? We were going to marry! How can Superintendent Saylas attend her funeral and deny me the right? He didnt even know her! If Saylas believes these small and old Aliens are dangerous, why didnt he have them all killed? Lilita, oh Lilita how you suffered so we could all be free! Everyone knows your story: snatched from your people to be a household slave to some Alien family, speaking only their tongue and not our beautiful language, not knowing our culture and our history how did you survive without going mad? How did you survive the abuse by the men of the Aliens? But you did survive, you fought back and killed your abusers. You were sent to this very Prison where I now labour and you escaped and hid in caves with others of our people who taught you our language and culture. You found out that your family was dead and you vowed that no-one should suffer any more what you suffered. You led groups to raid the Alien settlements for weapons. You freed me from slavery in a mine. We fought together, we fell in love and we pledged our engagement. When the war was won, we were going to marry, have our own farm and raise a family. But you fell sick with cancer and now you have joined your forebears in the Land of the Setting Sun. Youll always be a true leader in the way Saylas and the Hierarchy will never be true leaders. You were always selfless and hard-working and you would never force anyone to do anything that you wouldnt do yourself.

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The Fall of the Arkadia

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Are you begging for more food, Alien? Dont touch me! Go away! You and that decrepit Alien in the corner arent getting any more food. Even as prisoners you still expect us to wait on you! You dare to steal our planet from us and claim to be the true owners and the original humans! Arrogant scum! You should have stayed in your sky-ships. Space is your true home. Our true Earth culture and nature are no more because of what you did to us. We no longer live in peace and harmony with ourselves and with the other beings on this planet. We never needed a Hierarchy before. What happened to the old ways of sharing power that my parents and grandparents spoke of, what happened to people treating one another like brothers and sisters? Weve become corrupted by you Aliens and your ways. Were Aliens too now. So stop pawing me! I have more important things to do than interpret your gestures. Where are your buckets? What a stink! Thats the worst part of being a guard cleaning out your buckets! Then I have to go to yet another stupid monthly meeting and listen to Saylas droning out his usual boring speech. Go away, Alien!

You see, Adam? The guard rejected your offer of friendship. Told you it was useless. Come here and stop being foolish. What made you think you and he could be friends? He seems lonely and I just thought Dont waste any more time on that guard. He hates us, thats all. Hed kill us if he could. Maybe its true what my mother said about the Remainders: they all degenerated over a million years into subhumans. Would you like me to tell you more of what my grandfather told me about the space stations? Oh yes, please, Grandfather! Sit down then. My grandfather spent the first fifteen years of his life on a space station called Ionia. It was one of thirty such craft and each could hold up to 100,000 people. Each was the size of and shape of a dwarf planet or asteroid and was like a mini-Earth with its own atmosphere, climate, landscapes, plants and animals. A special spacecraft would siphon energy from a gas cloud or star and feed each stations power grids. Ionia had bright blue skies and sunshine every day with warm temperatures and the occasional shower the whole year round. Endless summer, my grandfather used to say. The main things grown were citrus fruits, grapes, olives, wheat. Ionia supplied fruit and fruit juices, wines, cooking oil and beer for all thirty space stations. What were the other space stations called? Let me see there was Arkadia which had the tragedy, there was Eldorado, there was Granada and there was Columbus. Thats all I can think of. I have no idea why our ancestors chose those names. Oh, there was one my grandfather said had a funny name Gondwana it was called where the weather was hot and wet, there were big forests and tall grasses and the people were very tall and dark. Was every space station different, then? Did every space station have its own people? Yes, every space station had its own language and culture. But there was a common language that the technicians, engineers, scientists and the politicians in all the stations spoke for inter-station

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communication. My grandfather grew up speaking not just the language of Ionia but the languages of Granada and Columbus. Why the space stations had to be like that, I dont know. I suppose our ancestors wanted a variety of languages and cultures for some reason. You havent touched any food. Arent you hungry? I cant eat and talk at the same time. What did that guard bring us? Whats the bread like? Mmmf too hard! Those Remainders sure cant bake bread. Youd think after 150 years of us trying to bring them up to our standard theyd have learn to bake bread by now. Id love to see a space station. What happened to them all? Our people abandoned them when my grandfather was a teenager. They rediscovered Earth just before the Arkadia tragedy. They left the space stations in stages Ionia was one of the last to be abandoned. For all I know, theyre still floating in space, empty and lifeless and breaking up. Monuments to human ingenuity and ambition. Theyll be there forever. I cant eat this bread. I think Ive hurt my gum. Damn! I cant eat any more. You eat it , Adam, if you can. But its all we have until tonight, Grandfather. Dont worry about me. Im old and tired and I dont care any more. When I was an embryo, there were 130 years of life programmed into me but I dont care if Ive got 25 years or no years left. Everything Ive worked for, fought for, slaved for its all gone. All turned into nothing by a species of primitive apes. We tried to help them, educate them, civilise them. What thanks do we get? Nothing! But we lived in harmony once. Once. When our ancestors arrived on Earth, naturally we were all curious about each other. We recognised that we shared a common ancestry. We all did work together originally. There was even inter-marriage although to my knowledge there were never any hybrid children. The conflict started when my parents were children. Stirrers among the Remainders turned all of them against us. Fighting, rebellion, massacres broke out in the mines, plantations, factories, everywhere where we and the Remainders worked closely together. We shouldve been much harder on the ringleaders. There were bleeding hearts among us who said we were too hard on the Remainders and we shouldnt fight back or use violence against them. The political will to clamp down on the trouble-makers was lacking. We were totally unprepared when the Remainders declared all-out war against us. I took you and your mother into the hills when you were two years old. And youve looked after me since then. Yes until your mother died. Snakebite of all things! I never thought Earth still had snakes until your mother got bitten. And what about the rest of our family? Slaughtered by the Remainders, no doubt. And those savages killed more than just people. They killed our entire civilisation and history, going right back to when people started farming and taming animals. Im so sick and depressed about it all. Im sick of being alive when so much is already dead. Dying is the only thing to look forward to. Adam? Where are you? What are you doing?

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The Fall of the Arkadia

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Im over here at the window. Those guards are having a meeting in the quadrangle. I wonder what theyre talking about. I wish they didnt talk so fast when theyre together. They must talk five times faster than we do.

Greetings all from Saylas. Time again for our monthly meeting. We have a new guard, Ogros, who starts today. He replaces Semmil Duyud. Orgos, you are to address me as Superintendent Saylas from now on. No standing on ceremony here! Is that clear? Good. Not much news from the Hierarchy about how long were on duty here. Could be weeks or months. Know that the Hierarchy values your work highly and supports each and every one of you. As you know the Hierarchy is restoring order in the Urban Territory and creating a new society out of the wreckage the Aliens made. Patience, patience! We must all have patience. Zikyels Lisha, where are you? Ah, there you are. The Hierarchy has heard about your complaint of being denied leave to attend Lilitas funeral. But you must realise your work here is of far more importance than a mere friend. Yes, she was a hero and an inspiration to us all. Thats all in the past now. Whats important is the future. Im sure youll get an opportunity to pay your respects to her. By the way, the Hierarchy has declared the date of her death a public holiday. That should be consolation enough. Eiblis Pol? You? The Hierarchy advises your daughter has recovered from her operation and is recuperating very well. You will have an opportunity to visit her soon. Sollamy Petis? You? Your wife Naiyom is undergoing treatment for depression. Fret not, the Hierarchy has ensured that the Hospital will assign the best doctors and nurses to her care. Look to Zikyelss friend Lilita who endured a childhood of suffering and abuse to become one of our great heroes. You must have hope! Now the Hierarchy advises that it requires the Alien prisoner Adlai Adam Beck for a study on memory and brain function. Whos in charge of the section where he is located. Zikyels? Come forward. The Research Centre is sending three officers tomorrow to collect the prisoner. Youll take them to the prisoners cell, unlock the door and make sure he does not resist. One less prisoner to look after, eh? The study is six months long and then hell brought back here. What else do you want to know? No, the prisoner Abraham Adam Beck stays here. The Research Centre only wants one subject. You cant be greedy. Its up to you to keep both prisoners quiet while the officers do their work. What? I dont care what names the prisoners call themselves. Theyre all stupid Aliens as we know. Any other questions? No? Good. Well, its time for me to go to the Capital. I have a meeting with the Minister of Prisons. Ill be away for two days. All right, the meetings closed. My secretary will distribute copies of what we said tomorrow or the next day. Now back to work. Did you understand what they were saying, Adam? No. I think that fat guy and our guard mentioned our names. Im not sure. Their language is so fast, I can hardly follow. Its full of clicks and pops. Their gobbling is as primitive as they are. Im going to sleep for a while. Play quietly.

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The Fall of the Arkadia Are you all right, Grandfather?

by Jennifer Hor

Fine, Im fine. Just very tired, thats all. Im 105 years old after all. Just occupy yourself for a while. Dont you have your exercise in the yard soon? Yes but in another hour Grandfather? asleep already.

Damn the Hierarchy! Damn Saylas! Im supposed to be glad that Lilitas death will be celebrated as a public holiday! How about her life? As if those idiots are more glad that shes dead than when she was alive! Mere friend indeed! She was my soul-mate! And then Saylas skips back to the Capital while I have to hang about for those Research Centre people as though Ive got nothing better to do. If only there was someone here I could talk to. Ive got a bad feeling we guards are not only being exploited but weve been set up to spy on each other. But Eiblis, Sollamy, they all seem so loyal to the Hierarchy. They didnt dare speak up at the meeting. Hey? Whos that there? Who are you? Youre from the Research Centre? But Saylas said youd be here tomorrow! I dont understand I must see your licence and the order! lets see collect Alien prisoner Adlai Adam Beck from the Heroic Martyrs of the Revolution Detention Centre at 16:00 hours on 14 Martyrs Uprising month hmm, thats today. Where is the Ministers stamp? I must see that there it is. Well, dont rush me, come this way, through this passage here here we are. Ill unlock the door Look, he is sleeping already in that corner. How long are you using him for? Only two months? I was told six months. No, I didnt hear wrong, Saylas said so. Well, he isnt here at present. He said he had to go to the Capital I beg your pardon? The Minister hasnt been elected yet? Whats going on? Hey, look, Im just doing my job too. Get back here, boy! Are you taking the boy? No? At least there is something you and Saylas agree on. Hey! Boy, stop struggling! These people are taking the old man for two months only, do you hear? Do you understand? He will be back! I wish you were going too but these people do not want you. Stop struggling!

Grandfather, wake up! Wake up! The Remainders speak among themselves. One of them takes out a white box from its satchel and from the box removes an evil-smelling pad which it places over the old mans head and shoulders. The other Remainders pick up the ancient body and the guard, holding the boy tightly, looks on as the visitors carry their prize out of the cell and down the passage. Grandfather, wake up! The boy begins to sob.

I wish the Alien would stop weeping. Stop, stop! They are only taking the old man away for two months. They will do him no harm! Stop, stop! Everything will be all right Why am I saying this? This is an Alien after all, this is my enemy, his kind enslaved mine. But I cant bear to see him mourn the loss of this old Alien fossil even though he will be gone for two months. Whats come over me? My eyes are wet too. It must be that Lilita looked the same way as that old Alien did when she

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was being carried away from her death-bed. I can still remember that scene. I didnt have the chance to weep for her. I cant help myself

Whats this? The guard has let me go hes sad too but what for? The boy stands astonished as the guard releases him and shuts the door on him. He can hear quiet sobbing sounds behind the door.

Two months pass.

Greetings, all. Time for the monthly meeting again. Be assured the Hierarchy esteems all your work very highly. Zikyels Lisha, the Hierarchy has let your shocking treatment of the Research Centre officers pass. If you treat any of the Hierarchys representatives abruptly again, you will be disciplined severely. The Hierarchy does not tolerate insubordinate behaviour! No buts! By the way, the prisoner Adam Adlai Beck died in the study. An experiment involving electrical stimulation of the nerve endings went wrong and he went into shock. You might say his brain was fried, heh-heh. Well, he was only an Alien after all? How many of the Aliens are left here now? I know last week four Aliens left for a factory experiment so that must leave fifteen Aliens here now. If the Research Centre keeps taking them away, there wont be any of the damned Aliens left and we can all go on to more pleasant duties. Eiblis Pol, your daughters home now and shes looking forward to seeing you again. Be patient, Im sure an opportunity for leave will come soon. Sollamy Petis, your wife still isnt well but shes under constant observation. Theres a lot of reconstruction going on at present in the Capital and the Hierarchy is discussing plans to rejuvenate the Urban Territory. As for the Desert Territory, the Minister has only just been elected so nothing as yet is definite. Anything else you want to know? The situation with the election was very confused for a while. What else do you want to know? Any more questions? No? Good. Tonight Ive got to see the Minister for Agriculture so I must be off. Now back to work.

Insubordinate behaviour! Hmmf! I was just doing my job. Its Saylass fault that he got his information wrong. And Ive had to pay for it. How Id like to smash his teeth into his face! As for the Hierarchy, what difference is there between them and the Aliens government? do this, do that, dont question us, dont complain. Eiblis once said there were Aliens who owned their own people as slaves before the Revolution. I can imagine there must be slave-owners in the Hierarchy pretending they were once slaves. Maybe Saylas is one of those. So what am I to tell this young Adam about his grandfather? He has been asking me neverending questions about the old man and when he will return. How can I tell him the old man is dead when I have been repeating the propaganda from the Hierarchy about the old man still being alive? What can I say? Adam, I have bad news for you no, that will never do but damn! Should I be

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direct? I wish I could talk to one of the guards about this but everyone might laugh at me for caring about an Aliens feelings. Well here I am. The boy is waiting. What can I say?

But the boy already knows from seeing the guards face. Grandfathers not coming back. Hes dead, isnt he? The guard looks down at the child and nods. He feels his own eyes cloud over with tears for a lost one. He swallows hard and sits beside the boy. Yes, your grandfather is dead, he says, his voice thick and strange with sadness.

Four weeks pass. None of us guards can bear this Prison any longer. Even Orgos who hasnt been here long is fed up. We see nothing, no letters, no news from our loved ones and we cant write to them either. The Hierarchy speaks for our families and Im sure the Hierarchy never earned that right. And our communicators dont work anymore now that batteries are no longer being supplied. Stealing energy from the sun, Saylas says. Rubbish! How can you steal what is freely given? We are so cut off from everything beyond the Prison apart from Saylas who spends every moment he can away from here to have a good time in the Capital. Hello? Orgos, is that you? Thank the gods! Whens our meeting? Tonight at ten? Good? Whats the plan? We force Saylas at the monthly meeting tomorrow to admit whats been happening with the food and our supplies and what he and the Hierarchy have been up to over the last four months. Good, good! Anything else? Have we got enough weapons and ammunition stored? Wholl give the signal to shoot? Aaah then we release the prisoners, torch the Prison and we all clear out together. Eiblis is in charge of stacking the fuel, is he? Remind him to tell us where it is tonight. Good. See you then. Dont get caught. Now to Adam I must see how he is Adam? Are you all right? What were you thinking about? Lilita? Well, yes, Lilita was an orphan just as you are now except she had hostile people around her. Hey, look what I brought you, it was growing on one of the trees outside the Prison. Do you know what it is? Its an apple. Small but definitely an apple. Have you never seen an apple before? Its something your people brought back from the stars. Try it. Do you like the taste? You can have it all. Im not hungry. I have to go soon. I must prepare for our night meeting. I cant say anything about what were discussing. I promise therell be surprises for everyone tomorrow. Ill see you later tonight.

Greetings, all. How the time flies! Time for our monthly meeting again. Be assured that the Hierarchy values all the work you do here and whats this? What are you doing? How dare you point your weapons at me? What have I done to deserve this? I am your Superintendent! You will do as I say! Put down your weapons! I order you to put down your weapons! Are you deaf? Go on! Put them down! Im appointed by the Hierarchy as your leader and you will you must obey me! Do as I say! I demand from you the proper respect as your leader and representative of the Hierarchy. Youll be reported for this allow me passage! Go on! Let me through! I dont know whats wrong with you

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all are you deaf? Lets be reasonable. I know its hard here for everyone and the Prison is isolated but lifes been tough for everyone. The Hierarchy has an enormous burden to shoulder. Everything takes time, patience is needed. We can be reasonable what do you want to know? Please dont shoot! Ill tell you what you need to know. News? What news? Dont shoot, please! Ill tell you the Hierarchy has received news that a part of the Aliens space station called the Arkadia is going to crash somewhere in this country. No-one can stop it or turn it around. Nothing in the Aliens technology can neutralise it. We only found out it was coming here from one of the Aliens satellites still orbiting Earth. Its due here in a few days. Let me go? Spare me, please! I dont know about your families, everything the Hierarchy told me to tell you about your families was lies, I admit it. I dont know whats happened to Naiyom! The Hospital no longer exists, the Hierarchy closed it down after a disease outbreak. I lied, I know, I lied, I had to, I need my job, Im sorry, please please dont shoot! Spare me please! Ill tell all you need to know, yes, the Hierarchy is corrupt, everyone knows that, everyone knows the Hierarchy wants to keep the Aliens technology for themselves while we all go back to being primitives. Please, please dont put that weapon into my mouth! Nooo uhh argghh

The bastard! Eiblis, dont clean up the mess. The rest of you can put down your weapons. One bullet was enough for this fat bloated creature. Wait a bit, maybe we should clean up. Saylas did say this piece of the space station Arkadia was going to crash in this country. No use leaving the Prison then. Anyone who wants to leave, you can do so. Take Saylass vehicle, he left it in front of the office. Im staying here. Ill stay with the prisoners. Theres nothing more for me outside this Prison. Ive lost Lilita and Ive lost my faith. Im not taking any chances under the Hierarchys rule. You heard what Saylas said. Go if you want to! Ill free the prisoners. Theyre too small to do any harm. Farewell to you all. Adam, Adam! I must tell you something! Yes, we killed that prison superintendent. We dumped his body in the desert. And something else too some part of one of your sky-ships is crashing here in a few days. I dont know exactly when or where. Come with me and help your fellow prisoners. I am freeing you all, yes! The superintendent is gone forever. Most of us guards have gone but I think Eiblis will remain with us. Yes, you are free! I can hardly believe it myself. Free, free, free!

After the day the guard freed us all, everything passed in a blur. Yet I remember the night when I saw a part of the Arkadia steak across the midnight sky and disappear over the eastern horizon. I was in the watch-tower on the eastern wall of the Prison with the other freed prisoners and those guards who elected to stay on. The night was warm and that watch-tower was cool and spacious plus we could watch the sun rise whenever we slept there. Anyway we heard a noise and we woke up in time to see a huge ball of glowing yellow fire travelling across the sky with a tail of intense red and gold sparks trailing behind. The whole night sky lit up. The noise was loud, incredibly loud, a deep screaming sound, unlike anything Ive heard before or since. Some time after we saw it disappear over the eastern horizon, in the direction of the Capital and the Urban Territory, we saw the sky light up again as if the sun were rising even though it must have been midnight. Brilliant shades of rose, orange and gold rose from that point in the horizon where the ball of flame disappeared. Then there was a huge boom, a loud cannon boom. Everything shook with the force of that boom. A wild wind swept across from the east. We huddle in the watch-tower as dust and sand flew over our heads. It

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was so noisy we could hardly hear ourselves speak. We were all clutching each other, frightened for our lives. I tell you, Adlai, it was an incredible experience but one I would never wish on anyone. My grandfather wouldve loved to have seen it. He used to talk about the space stations my ancestors lived in for a thousand years when I was small. He never talked about being on one himself so I dont think he ever even saw one, except maybe in pictures in reading machines my ancestors used to have. The next three years after the crash were hard. The weather turned cold, winters brought heavy snows which Id never seen before. Summers were chilly. It was a miracle we all survived. We were pretty good at scavenging for food. Zikyels and the other guards looked after us. I dont know why they did. There was no reason for them to stay on at the Prison and help us. There was no reason for them to like us after our history of distrust, violence and warfare. Over time people came to the Prison to beg for food and to stay. Most of them had fled the Capital. It turned out that the Capital was the very place where part of the Arkadia crashed. Thousands of people died during the stampede out of the Capital. Thousands died from burns, exposure and disease. Rumours spread that the Hierarchy had known for a long time that part of the Arkadia would crash and kept that knowledge secret. A lot of people suspected to be members of the Hierarchy were lynched. So many people came to the Prison that it became a small town. The Prison itself became accommodation for refugees. We built huts and houses, we planted trees, we set land apart for animals and for orchards. We did everything for a whole new community to grow. I left that community when I was about twenty-five. I needed to find my own way in the world. Zikyels understood. Nothing lasts, he said. We said our goodbyes and I left with two other young men like myself. We wandered from camp to camp until I came here, the very place where the Capital once existed and met your mother. That was twenty years ago, Adlai. We began fostering a lot of orphaned children like yourself. And as we did with you, we adopted some. Youre named after my grandfather Adlai Adam Beck because we found you playing in the ruins of that piece of the Arkadia where it struck the earth. You were so tiny then. Now look at you, head and shoulders above me! Father, what was your grandfather like? Did he look like you? Yes, he did. I was very fond of him. I dont think he liked Earth people much. He thought of Earth people as primitive. It never occurred to him that the so-called primitive way of life could involve as much effort and intelligence as a civilised way of life. And do you think more of the Arkadia will fall here? What about the other space stations still orbiting this planet? I dont know. Who does know? Is there anyone alive who can use the technology to find out? When that part of the Arkadia landed here, it destroyed a lot of the technology that detected it and tracked its path. I suppose the others are still wandering in space, all empty and lifeless. Eternal monuments to my species over-reaching arrogance and ambition. Adam Beck opens his palm to reveal to Adlai a small lump of material from the space station the Arkadia: the very lump he had seen the youngster play with when he first saw him in the ruined shield. Its yours, Adlai, he says, take this as a keepsake. Remember your mother and me by it as you go through life. My ancestors history and culture are as much yours as the Earth peoples history and culture. Adlai takes the lump and holds it hard in his fist against his lips.

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END Approximately 5,960 words

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