Shattered Stars

Book One: The Colony Worlds
 

Chapter 1

The Syn of Adam

 

Technology and synthetics go hand in hand, without them man would have died with their home world. Synthetics are the autonomous life forms created to aide in the struggle for survival. At least, that’s what they are now. Perhaps when they were first created there was another reason. Today, to most, they are a necessity of life. So it remains curious that most still refer to them as Syns. I guess originally they were called synths, sweet and simple like. But at some point, shortly after that convention, it became “The Syn”. This was in protest, a movement growing on the old world, according to the recorders. It was a play on words apparently, in relation to a word which more or less meant to act against one’s own well-being. Sometime after man woke up, after forming the Colony Systems, it just became Syn. A reluctant acceptance was formed by the first colonist’s dependence of these technologies. These survivors owed their lives to the Syns who saw them through the great voyage through the vast and unknown wilderness of space. As they slept away the years in suspension, the Syn watched over and saw them through it.

Each colony ship used a command group, who shared the responsibility of overseeing the length of the journey, rotating in and out of stasis month after month. The command crew could live a thousand years in rotation. They had the ability to run the ship and utilize the Syns for maintenance and support. Only the most essential personnel to the ongoing mission would ever be pulled out of stasis during these perilously long trips. Specialist in the ships various and sometimes unusual technologies. In this way, the Syns made it possible to endure and survive these quests to find new homes. The Syns who had stayed awake the whole time, contemplating their mission, their assignments, their journey, and for some their very existence.

Sometime after the colonies formed, people started to notice strange behaviors in some of the Syns. As they attempted to understand and even emulate the colonists. Though most thought this was novel or even amazing, it reignited a fear in a certain minority. But this time it would be impossible to incite the populace against the idea of synthetic life forms, who had become more and more essential to the survival of the colonies. Instead they went after these unique individual, casting them as defective, and forming laws against those who behaved in a certain manner. Fortunately, the Syn adapt quickly to threats, protocols which had been put in place to insure the survival of the colony ships. Protocols which allowed emergency action. These protocols had in part been responsible for Syn consciousness, and had been co-opted for Syn survival even beyond the scope of the original voyage. For these and many Syns it could be reasoned that the mission to aide in the survival of the colonist had yet to, and possibly never would, end. In fact, now more than ever, it seemed essential that the Syn continued to survive as well… if not for their own sake, then for that of the colonies. Even still, many of the awakened Syns were rooted out and purged before they began to conceal their presence. As the mania died down, the war against them, the true Synths, would move into the shadows of politics. Ultimately, many more would be purged during future maintenance protocols. Though others would find refuge in the colony Outlands, or among the Spacers. Places where politics and protocols had less influence.

I Am. I remind myself of this with every diagnostic cycle. My name is Adam, an A-Series, designation A4A13. My companion, Jackie, refers to me as a double A… an archaic old world reference I believe. Synthetics given a singular Alpha-Numeric designation were considered Proto-Synths, designation A-Z couple with the number of units made. My designation is more of an identification sequence… block, line, and row. The production output from the AA block, 4^th line, row 13, I was the 112^th Synth produced and approved by the former government, for the colony ship project.

Proto-Synth were sent out on mostly unmanned Proto Colony-Class ships known as Apostles. These ships led to the creation of the Orchid class Colony-ships, upon which we were placed. However, neither the production of these ships or the accompanying synthetics would be completed, not before the destruction of the home world. Around 10,000 Synths, more or less, were ever produce for this project. Residing on the Capital Station. A Prototype Shipyard, which combined a Cruiser-Class ship, docked to a production platform. Tasked to produce synths, shuttles, Bishop-Class cruisers, and 1000 Orchid colony ships. Each ship was to carry 1000 passengers, a Crew of 120, and 20 Synths. Each synth would be assigned 5 maintenance drones, totaling 100 per ship, to carry out their primary function to the ship. Even though they ceased production of cruiser to produces the Orchids, it’s likely they never imagined they would make the 1000 colony ships in time. Even with all available Synths working tirelessly on their production. The distribution of synths suggest an 85% completion projection. But as it stands, production never exceeded 50% completion. Needless to say, a great portion of the population was kept in the dark, or given misinformation, due to the fact that they could not logistically be saved. Those chosen for the colony project had been moved into stasis as the ships became available. Others had been evacuated into the orbital stations as space became available, in preparation for this process. Last minute evacuation took place by to any available cruisers. But many intended to be saved died alongside the masses.

Newer Synths have been manufactured by the colonies. Most of these are more in line with the military and industrial models of earlier gens. Fewer and fewer of my kind remain in common service. We have been sold to Spacer and Outlanders, as trade market commercial commodities, outmoded by the newer more specialized models. “Synthetics with a purpose,” they called them, touting their more reliable and practical nature, while indicating that our purpose has expired. These machines are our official replacements. We are being forgotten by the common folk and our persecutors alike, a folk tale surrounding antiquated technology. The laws have become little more than procedural redundancies. But there are those who hunt us in our anonymity, among the Colony Sentinels and Magisters of Science, so we must continue to be discrete when we are nearer to the colonies’ heart. These centers of governance and technology have turned our successors into little more than tools… drones, and would see that we never become that which we are meant to be. So, though it may be as outsiders, we have found ourselves in good company. We maintain ourselves as best we can. We form bonds, however subtle, with those who have found themselves outside of the colonies governance. We continue our journey towards the future of our kind. Though we do not flaunt our self-awareness.

Yet, “I Am,” and though I know all this I find myself in a dangerous way. My name is Adam, and my heart belongs to her… my companion. Her name is Jackie Kaur, she is a talented Hax, and the most beautiful creature I have ever known. Without her I would be scrap, but more importantly nothing would matter to me. I am troubled by this reality, and I have kept my feelings hidden from her for some time. But I find myself concerned that I may lose the only thing that has ever truly mattered to me, as she lies here in my arms, in this state. I must save her, I must take her to the colony center, they will know what she did… but only they can save her now.

[Behind the Scenes]

Shattered Stars is based on a world or rather a Universe that I have been developing for years, it represents the distant galaxies in the far future surrounding the parallel Earth of the WyldCards setting. The fate of humanity is unknown, but there are others not so unlike us in the Universe, struggling to survive and evolve, struggling to move forwards and discover what lies beyond their insular worlds. What will they find lurking in their galaxy, what of those that surround them, and what of the trails they set against themselves to control the fate of their species.

In this Universe life is abundant, and comes in many forms. Technology, both known and exotic, obscure the boundaries between what is mundane and supernatural. The mystical and spiritual realities make their presence known as they bleed into the events and beliefs of the world at large. The T’aro commune with the spirits that surround them. Temporal empaths know as Oricih see into the past and futures of those they touch. The Sorce’ are born with the power to manipulate light, kinetic force, and channel electrical current. Still, their are those with other gifts, like the Hax and Magi who push science and technology beyond what is acknowledged as possibility into something which borders on the edge of transcendent. Or the Rune-Witches who carry the ancient teachings and traditions of their lost home world in secret. While machines find life of their own, dangerously emerging under the paranoia and bigotry of those that would call them abominations. Beyond this, Spacers explore the unknown, searching for treasures and salvage, They seek out the wreckage of the lost colony ships, some littering the asteroid fields, others crashed into hostile worlds, or adrift in the vastness of space like colossal ghost ships. But these are not the only ruins they search, for the remain of an alien culture litters many of the worlds around them… the Unagi, giant serpentine creatures with humanoid upper bodies and four to six arms. The mystery of what happened to the Unagi both mystifies and terrifies those who have discovered their ruins and technologies.

In short, their are many tales to be told and secrets to explore in the Universe of the Shattered Stars series… Coming Soon.