A New Divide

They dropped us. We took the gravity tugs; it was our only safe way to the surface with precision. I think they said something in the atmosphere; a constant EMP effect prevented their ships from descending to the surface. I forget because I had not been paying attention. To be fair, I had quite a lot of distractions.

My eyes were closed, but I saw the shades of light through my eyelids. A shade of light I had never seen before. That air I have never breathed before, so clean, so pure. I clutched the long glass with my hands and propped myself up. It took a minute for me to realize the immense beauty of the world before me. A world free of pollution, wealth distribution, and intolerance.

It’s one thing to travel to a different city, different country, or different hemisphere on your planet. If you want to escape—you need to venture off-planet. You will see things that will change your life. Remora did that for me.

“Welcome to Remora kid.” The light reflecting off Virgil’s teeth almost blinded as he helped me to my feet.

“Where are all the ships? The cities? The lights?”

“Ha! You don’t know nothing ’bout the ocean planet, do ya, kid?”

I caught myself looking out at sea, beyond the rolling fields of teal grass. Kilometers of fields full of vibrant-colored flowers stretched to a golden horizon where the two suns rose in the distance. It felt like there was something in the air—like a permanent antianxiety effect.

Love was in the air. And like the soft wind brushing against my face, it was comforting, inviting us to explore its endless pleasures a perfect world calling out to us.

“That EMP pulse in the atmosphere—that’s why we dropped. Ships fly into that; they’d come crashing down from heaven.”

“Where’s everyone else?”

“Drops been scattered, safety for each other and all. You needed a guide, that’s why I’m here, plus this makes drop 3,300—excluding 1,247 combat drops and 200 drills—hard to find someone more experienced with planetfall than myself. Guess I’m your guardian angel once more. We’ll find ’em; then we’ll head to the city of Angelides.”

“We’re walking?”

“Quit your bitchin’, kid. You could use the exercise.”

“Is that a fat joke? I am lean, you prick. PGL body! Old man, you don’t know anything about this.”

“Still full of hot air I see. Look over there. See that mountain over yonder?”

“The temple you told me about?”

“You’re catchin’ on, kid.”

There was a mountain off to our left just above and beyond the line of trees. But unlike formed pieces of earth that rose through tectonic movements over millions of years, it was in the shape of a pyramid, more or less. I could see carvings and etched glyphs even from this distance. My eyes began to adjust to the light of this world, and I began walking in that direction until Virgil grabbed my forearm.

“Whoa. Where you think you’re going?”

“To the temple.”

“Nah, not yet.”

“But—”

We began to walk in the opposite direction away from the temple and up the hill of grass.

“You ain’t prepared to see what lies on that plateau. Father Cyrus ain’t ready for you yet. I’d figure you’d wanna relax, especially considering all you’ve been through these past few weeks.”

“I’m not the type to relax, Virgil.”

“Well, ya got no choice this time, kid. Now let’s see.”

To my surprise, Virgil turned on his holoband and began to scroll through his locating beacons.

“I thought you said tech doesn’t work in this world?”

“Eh, just in the skies. Flight instruments go haywire; digital streams are completely shut off, satellites can’t relay messages through, the EMP is only above, it doesn’t exist down here on the ground. The Remorans have a natural defense system living in this world. Protecting them from foreign invaders who seek to rule this place. It’s one of the reasons they decided to colonize here, and it’s the main reason why Cyrus built the temple here.”

“You keep talking about this Cyrus guy.”

“Founder of the civilization here.”

“He sounds like an asshole.”

“No, Collin, you are the asshole. He’s kind of like a machine god.”

“A god? You’re kidding, right?”

“Nah, you’ll see soon enough. Oh and right on time.”

I tried to figure out what he was going on about—until a massive creature soared over our heads. It scared the hell out of me, and I dropped to the ground for cover. Virgil continued to stand and stare at the bird with that wide grin he often wore.

“Virgil! What’s happening!”

The massive white and gray bird crashed into the ground in front of me. The force of the entity diving into the ground created a shockwave that blew me back a few meters. Then the bird started in my direction. I began backing up, terrified, as the bird cracked its neck, and spread out its gravityball-field-sized wingspan.

“Umm . . . Virgil! HELP!”

But the bird then began to scratch behind its ear. It was never going to hurt me. Then I heard a laugh, but it was an obnoxious laugh; it sounded like the guy was wheezing. A large man jumped down from the bird and moved over towards Virgil. He smiled at me as the giant bird began to approach us.

“Leave me alone! You stupid oversized pigeon!” I shouted as I threw a rock at the flying behemoth, which seemed completely unaffected by the rock striking its furry chest.

“Mr. King! Relax! She’s just curious,” the large man exclaimed.

“This is your pet? You can call her back now whoever you are! Is this your idea of a welcome?”

“Nope, just a local. Let her do her thing, kiddo.”

I clenched and turned my head away as the bird lowered her head to my own. I looked back, and I felt like I was caught in a trance, as I stared into her three warm and wild blue eyes. The bird then lightly brushed up against my face; despite the fact, her head was twenty times the size of my own, she was incredibly gentle and subtle. Suddenly, I began petting her. Like she was a giant flying puppy dog.

“They don’t harm people. Lucky for us they dislike meat.”

“That’s an interesting way to say hello,” I replied as the bird began to back up and chew on the grass behind her. I wiped off my pants, and the wheezing guy ran up and hugged me.

Yeah, it was weird.

And when he lifted me off my feet, it felt like he was crushing my windpipe. “What are you doing!”

“Mr. King! I’m so glad you’re alive! I am Vice Admiral Silas Andrews! Anything you need I can get it for you! I offer many services in this place.”

“Let me go before I suffocate you, idiot!”

“Such hostility. I am sorry if I came on too strong.”

“Very strong. You know something? I am almost afraid to ask what services you offer.”

Virgil laughed, and I began backing up from Silas as he attempted to approach me again. “I only want to shake your hand, Mr. King.”

“No, you know what? Don’t! Don’t touch me. Just stay back.”

“I’ve heard great things about you. Please do me the honor of a handshake.”

“I’m sure you have. Three months ago a stripper told me that I was a great man as well.”

I shed my temper for a moment and hesitantly shook his hand. Again, too strong. It felt like he was crushing my bones in my palm. “Ha! You never fail to be amusing, do you? I’m the general that deals with the Remoran soldiers. I don’t like violence; I prefer the diplomatic approach.”

“Oh, I get it. You’re a coward. You don’t like getting your hands dirty, all the hard work involved.”

“Not . . . necessarily. You’re not afraid to voice those opinions of yours, are you?” I could tell by the tone of his voice that I offended him. I was glad.

“I just call them as I see them. How tall are you, and have you ever heard of exercise?” He was seven feet tall and nearly four hundred pounds—he was a very big boy. Unlike his sister. “You said your name is Andrews? You can’t be related to her; there’s no way.”

“Ah Victoria, my dear sister.”

“I would hardly call her dear, Silas.”

Virgil then shouted to us as his holoband began flashing yellows and blues. “I hate to interrupt y’all’s bonding, but I got the bearings of the others. We got a schedule to keep to, gents.”

“So then shall we?” Silas said to me as we began heading towards the giant bird tearing chunks of earth out with its razor-sharp talons, swallowing grass and dirt whole.

I didn’t care that those birds were vegetarians, they terrified me. Would you trust a creature that was thirty times the size of your house? I sure as hell didn’t, and I still don’t.

“No. No, way man. I’m not getting on that thing.”

“Well, partna, Angelides is about forty clicks from here, so that’s either a day’s walk or a five-minute flight.”

“She won’t hurt you I promise. They love us, well unless we disturb their nests, which are ALL the way on the other side of the planet. Trust me, Mr. King, you needn’t worry.”

“So let me get this right. I’m about to get on a giant ferocious creature—riding with a drunk who is older than time itself and fat-ass huge boy. I’m pretty sure that you exceed the weight limit of that dumb bird.”

“He is a jerk, isn’t he?”

“Collin! Stop being an asshole! Get on the bird or stay here, alone.”

I did not want to go anywhere near that bird, though I knew it was a gentle creature. I didn’t like trying something out of the ordinary. I used to be a routine kind of guy, a creature of habit, and changing that aspect of my life was scary. But I would’ve hated to walk even more. So I sighed and climbed onto the bird’s massive back with Silas and Virgil. And slowly we began to lift off the ground.

“Whoa! Whoa!”

“I gotcha, kid!”

Virgil grabbed me and pulled me up onto the bird’s back. I gripped its soft fur extremely tight, closing my eyelids even tighter. It was partly because of brightness. My eyes were still adjusting to this world’s significant vibrancy.

“Collin?”

“What! I just can’t wait for this to be over!”

“Open your eyes.”

I slowly cracked my eyes open and gazed upon it. We were flying roughly two or three kilometers above the earth, our visions stretching over the horizon. Ahead of us, there was a lake covering an entire plateau.

The crystal-colored water poured over the hundred-foot cliffs and back into the all-enveloping ocean. In the center of the lake was a sprawling stone city of no lights, and no ships, with bridges that led to the mainland of Remora’s largest island. The earth and stone-carved city in the middle of the lake floated there, in harmony with the nature around it.

It took up almost the entire horizon when we began to see over the mountains. It floated atop the crystal lake, and this one and only occupied continent housed over a billion people. A massive and beautifully, artfully crafted city. From under the lake, in the hillside, and over the water they resided.

“That’s the ocean city, Angelides. It’s the home to everyone who lives on this planet. Homes stretch to even these mountains we are flying over.”

“I’ve never seen . . .”

“That city, Mr. King, is the result of what universal peace can bring—progression.”

It was magnificent, benevolent, everything about this place struck me as odd, but it always felt so right. I tried to put up my walls around me, but Remora was able to shine through them, no matter how hard I tried to hold my feelings back.

“Hey, kid?”

“What?”

“This is for calling me a drunk.”

That moment had lasted only a few seconds before my breath was taken away, literally, when Virgil kicked me off the bird.

I tried to grab hold of the bird’s sides, but the fur had very little traction. I fell, staring at the ground that was closing in, fast. The bird quickly noticed and grabbed me with its right talon, far before I would have hit the earth.

I heard Virgil and Silas laughing hysterically; yeah, real funny. I didn’t quite understand the Remoran sense of humor at that point, I suppose. I remember shouting at the top of my lungs how much I hated that drunk old fool. Later, when we landed, he told me it was to teach me my first lesson about Remora. Something will always be there to catch you. No matter what, here, in Remora, you are safe.

The bird dropped me above a small plaza made of limestone and brick, where five others were awaiting our arrival. I wasn’t so concerned about them as I was glad to be back on the ground. I kissed the ground and thanked Eden that the little ordeal had ended.

Virgil and Silas jumped off the bird, and she flew away, bathing us with a soft breeze. I just glared at Virgil, who was still laughing. I began to steam while he giggled and I ran towards him, tackling him to the ground.

“Virgil! I’m going to kill you!”

“Ha. Why? It’s all good fun, kid!”

“That’s what you consider fun! You wrinkly old bastard! I’ll show you what’s fun!”

“Collin King!”

My struggle with Virgil was interrupted when I heard Mark call out to me. Victoria was sitting on a rock gazing out at sunset, which began to glaze over the city of Angelides. The other three, I couldn’t see very well. A young woman was standing behind Mark, but just her silhouette, a shadow—for if I could have seen her first, I would not have been able to pay attention to anything else.

Another woman, to Mark’s left, dressed in an incredibly elaborate dress, which almost looked as if it was composed of light. Next to her was a shorter man who wore a tattered vest, and large bulky glasses.

“Come on, kid.”

When Virgil began leading me toward them my anger for him had entirely ceased. It was the anticipation. Commander Mark Wyman had a gift; he could completely captivate anyone’s attention. Maybe it was the natural presence that came with him; I don’t know. I had only met one other man that could do that, but they had quite the opposite intentions.

“Who are those people, Virgil?”

“Better to let Mark introduce ’em. I just do what they tell me to, sport.”

We made our way up the stone steps. With every stride, I could see my footsteps flash, each time my feet hit the surface of a dark slab of marble. Just a testament to how different this world was than the one I once knew.

See, when Arcoh destroyed Minerva and all but a few billion Raydenites, he didn’t just destroy the people, and places we loved—he destroyed over five hundred years of progress that we as an independent collective of humanity had created. He destroyed all of the culture, all of the memories, and all of the dreams of our once great society. All of us Raydenites, me more so than most considering my “condition,” we all had lost our identities, our pasts now repossessed by the still burning inferno on Minerva.

I began to feel somewhat nervous; it was performance anxiety, I think. Three weeks deprived of sleep may have been a factor as well. We were about ten meters from the others when Virgil and Silas bowed. I just stood there, confused at the situation; then again I was the only person in our group who had never been to Remora. You could imagine how I felt when the woman dressed in light began to walk towards us.

“Cal-halte, my friends!”

“Cal-halte, my lady!”

I couldn’t help but stare directly into her eyes. She stood over seven feet and had darker skin. It wasn’t that she was beautiful, it was her eyes. She had these haunting eyes. A cold blue and gray color, and like the bird, I felt I was in a trance when I stared up at her. But she just smiled.

I felt a nudge from behind me that turned into a slap in the back of the head, courtesy of my friend Virgil.

“Bow your head, dumbass,” he whispered to me, and I did so. But I still never broke eye contact with her. I peeked up the entire time.

“So this is the boy?” said the man in the bulky glasses. He also glared at me in my trance.

I turned to Virgil and muttered, “Boy? Who is he calling boy? Sure as hell not me. Four-eyes.” Virgil grabbed both of my shoulders and turned me towards him with a scolding look in his eye.

“Listen, Collin! These people have lived in harmony for over a thousand years. I know, man, I know it will take some getting used to, but that’s okay. So you’ll appear a little odd, but show these people the same respect you would expect.”

“Is this a lecture, Virg?”

“It’s advice, partner. Use it.”

“What is your name?” she asked, with a very soft voice. Her presence was almost angelic, a divine experience.

“Collin King.”

“Please, my lady, save your words. I will speak for you.” She simply nodded then looked away from me and backed up behind Mark. When we broke eye contact I shook my head and felt almost lightheaded; the trance was over.

Mark stepped forward dressed in his fancy commander suit and shook my shoulder.

“Hey, relax, take it one step at a time.”

“Thanks.”

He took a second to clear his voice and took the time to absorb the expressions on all the faces around him.

“Collin King?”

“Yeah?”

“You have been graciously invited by Father Cyrus to attend him into entering the temple.”

“Great. Let’s fly back.”

“Ha, I’m afraid you’ll have to walk there. You can take a few moments to think it over.”

“You are joking, right? I was just there!”

Virgil interrupted Mark and again firmly grasped my shoulder. “All right, kid. Here’s the deal: no human has ever set foot in the temple itself. What lies beyond those hundred-foot stone doors is something far beyond almost anyone’s comprehension. This has never happened before. The journey to the temple will prepare you for it. Do not screw this up—I saved you to give you this chance, kid.”

“What is your choice?”

“Yeah, sure. I accept.”

“Okay then, he’ll need a companion. Collin King? Let me introduce to you, my colleague.” I looked on in amazement as the short woman who was standing behind Mark turned around and walked towards me.

I have never been one to be struck by a woman. I was the PGL MVP for four years in a row. I could’ve had anyone I wanted. It was one thing to be drawn into a trance by a woman. But this one, the shorter woman with dark brown hair and pale blue eyes, had completely captured my attention. I felt like I was in another world, already in a new world, when I first laid my eyes on her.

Foolish is a man who does not believe in love at first sight. Love, at first sight, doesn’t mean that one instantaneously falls in love with another; it means that you know that you will fall in love with them. It’s that sixth sense, the personal sense, the sense that great things are about to unfold, and you just know it. It is the missing half, born together, destined to find each other again. She was my missing half—at first, I couldn’t believe it.

I was so nervous when she approached me that I started to babble, I completely forgot how to speak.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. King.”

“I uh . . . buh . . . umm . . .”

“Hi! I’m Helena Roland. I’ve been studying the possibility of a genome reaction for some time now. It’ll be a thrill working with you, I’m sure.”

“That’s so great. So great.”

Mark saw my dilemma as I’m sure he could recognize the situation. So he barged in between us and pointed out towards the sun setting over the city.

“What do you two say? A night out on the town, on me. You can leave on your journey tomorrow morning.”

Victoria jolted up when she heard this and made her way over to us. “Now that sounds like a plan, Mark! What about you, candy-ass? Are you coming with us? Or are you going to cry all night in your room?”

I ignored Victoria’s rude question. Even my dislike for her couldn’t break me away from the moment I was having with Helena. “I’d follow you anywhere. Uh! I mean—”

“Ha-ha, relax. We’ll have all night to talk.”

She wasn’t wrong. From there we walked down the streets of Angelides until we had reached a club that was near our temporary housing. By the time we got there night had already fallen upon the city.

The further we walked through the streets of Angelides the more I got to see how unique Remoran society was. People that live on Remora, for the most part, are the families of the original colonists who first settled here with Father Cyrus. It is a society where everyone’s philosophy of life has reached around this island, and world peace formed in that way.

They called it a “Triangle Society.” The basis of it being that the triangle is the shape of progression. The triangle provides perfect stability. The exercising of every person’s individual freedom of expression and governance, without judgment or resentment, creates love and sanctuary for all, coinciding with three parts that make a whole—the triangle, the perfect shape. Just like light, time, and gravity.

Everyone in Remora understands each other. There is no crime, there is no wealth, everyone is equal, and everyone is happy. No one is divided.

To be accepted into the Remoran culture, you must think of a way to change their world, and be able to be understood. To be passive is easy, thanks to the chemical balances in the air particles of Remora’s atmosphere. Affecting everyone who breathes in the air, it would be a chore to get angry—or to even think of harming someone or something else.

Every house or structure, therefore, has been earned by the individual, with Remora having a populace consisting of artists, philosophers, and innovators: they are all decorated and sculpted in unique ways. No building was the same shape, color, or form. It was a sight for sore eyes for sure. Eye candy—nothing but fields of color with very ambient light floating around the city streets.

We stayed at the club for a while. I only had a few drinks while I watched the rest of them. Virgil was having the time of his life, dancing like a complete idiot with an older woman over the main floor. Mark was enjoying himself, surrounded by Remoran locals. Victoria was flirting with a man three times her size, and Silas was attempting to gather a mate for the night.

For the first time in my life, I think I was glad that nobody knew who I was. Remorans had no contact with the outside world, other than the military force of the moons that Mark commands. If they have never heard of gravball, then they have never heard of me—it brought me solace because all I wanted was to relax and sip on my drink.

After about two hours of sitting on the bar stool, and staring into the bottom of my half-empty glass, I decided to get some fresh air. I walked out of the club to the top floor (the fourth story), which was taller than almost all the buildings in Angelides, even across the mountain and countryside. The ocean breeze hit my face so softly, and I had an incredible view.

I had always spent my life in densely populated areas, so it was strange to stare up and see so many stars. Our Milky Way galaxy could be seen bleeding through the Celerian nebula. It was a sky that no matter where you were in all of Eden would never be as clear as it was here. The proof was directly in front of me. I stared up at Gannon, the capital planet of the GDR. It was far off in the distance. Even considering the Remoran moons that were hovering on the horizon, it was still the third-brightest object in the sky—after Eden’s binary suns.

The city of Arcadia, humanity’s’ greatest city, covered over half the planet and emitted light as bright as a miniature sun. It never relented; it never dimmed.

I could see four of Remora’s moons substantially spaced apart, at opposite edges of the sky. Different variations of the Suns’ ending light reflected off of them and projected onto the endless ocean that waved very calmly. In sync completely with the surroundings. Astounding how peaceful of a world I had been brought into, that moment of realization truly moved me.

I originally walked out to the railing, so enticed by the wonderful essence of the air that I failed to notice that Helena had been out here all along. When she spoke up, I almost dropped my glass over the railing.

“Hey. Whatcha doing?”

“Shit! You! You scared me!”

“Maybe if you wouldn’t walk around so starry-eyed and oblivious, I wouldn’t have.”

“Yeah. Maybe. This place is a lot to take in, you know?”

We stood in silence there for a little bit, taking in the night air. I could never think of anything to say to her, which is why I am glad she always had something worthwhile to tell me.

She moved over closer to me and pointed towards the glowing reef in the ocean over the crystal lake’s flowing cliffs.

“See that? In the water over there? The glow from the shoreline?”

“I was curious.”

“It’s the coral reef. The different coral plants are communicating with each other. Bioluminescence, its mating season. I always thought it was a romantic scene. You’ll certainly never see anything like it anywhere else in this system.”

“You sure won’t.”

“You’re not very conversational, are you, Collin?”

“You should know—I have been through a lot these past few weeks since you are assigned to study me.”

“I knew about you before I came here to Remora. I watched you play every game for two seasons.”

I smiled and looked at the ocean, down into my nearly empty glass, and shook around the capsulate that rolled around the bottom of my drink.

“Really? So you weren’t born here?”

“No, I’m from the independent world of Farfalla. I came to the Remorans a few years ago when the PGL civil war reached our home there; it got ugly. I know pain too, Collin. You are not the only one who has seen the true damage we humans do to one another. But yes, Collin King, number 19, started out as a forward rush, moved to jumper in 1532 D.E.—and you’ve been the MVP for the last four years.”

“Now all of it is gone.”

“No, you learned from it. I am sure you can go back to gravball if you wanted to—but would you really want to?”

“It would be familiar, but I can’t. I can’t stop thinking about my people. I want to help. I want to kill the man who destroyed everything I knew. Now I know nothing, lost in the struggle for my identity.”

Helena paused for a second and then moved closer to me and touched my chin up, so I looked directly into her beautiful eyes. “So many men are so obsessed with being great, serving out justice, as you and Arcoh, or leaving something behind. You want to know something?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s all bullshit, none of that matters. Not the material things like money, or status. If you want to learn what it is to be great, follow us on this great expedition. I think you could find your place among us.”

I turned around and pressed my back against the railing. I was intrigued that someone had finally begun talking about the Good Commander’s plans.

“What is this great expedition?”

“Remora is a place comprised of individuals who wanted to change the world. And they all did, in their way. That’s why they live in peace and harmony with everything around them. Mark wants to expand Remora’s idea of a Triangle Society around Eden, but I don’t think he quite understands the brevity of that request.”

“So what about you? What did you do to change the world?”

She looked away from me and smiled as she gazed into the star drowned sky. I haven’t seen so many stars since I visited Rayden’s countryside as a boy.

“I live on Dilo. I am not a citizen yet; I was only brought to Remora to meet you.”

“Why me though? Just what the hell is so special about me? This stupid reaction sure has all you nerds interested.”

“You are not a stupid reaction; you are an answer to a question that mankind has asked for a very, very long time.”

“Whatever. I am so tired of hearing this shit,” I muttered as I lit up the cigarette Virgil gave me earlier. Helena then walked up directly next to me and pulled it out of my mouth.

“You are childish. You have to start thinking about who and what you want to be. What do you want to be, Collin?”

“How the hell am I supposed to know when I don’t know anything about myself!”

“You will learn tomorrow, I promise.”

“What do you want to be! Do you want to expose my condition? So you can live in this paradise?”

“You have a very negative opinion concerning my motives. You want to know what I want?”

“Yeah. I said that. That was a question; I didn’t stutter.”

“All I want is to be happy for the rest of my life as if that were so much to ask for.”

I took a step back, had to catch my breath—she stole it. It wasn’t just that she was beautiful, she was smart, and I felt like I could trust her. Then she would say things like that. Those words stayed with me, like a scar from before the genome, I would carry those words with me for life.

She ran her soft hand down my arm continuing to study my tattoos; I could not help but ask her the question.

“Why are you so interested in me?”

She smiled and backed up slightly. “You have this presence to you, I can feel it. You’ve already inspired billions upon billions of people, making history in the PGL. You can’t let that go to waste. I just know we launched this expedition to find you. Arcoh stumbled upon you by—”

I gently removed her hand from my own and gave her my direct attention.

“Unfortunate coincidence—let’s leave it at that; Helena, I’m not what you are looking for.”

“Collin, this world, this galaxy, is ours; if we don’t shape it, somebody else will. For what it’s worth, I think all of the humanity would agree that someone like you should shape it over a monster like Arcoh.”

“I just don’t know how I could ever gather the courage and resources to face him.”

“Mark has the resources, don’t you worry about that. You said earlier you’d follow me anywhere. Is that still true?”

“I am a man of my word, Helena.”

“Then follow me to the temple, and maybe we can both gain some insight on what to do in this life. Promise me you’ll do this.”

“I promise.”

“Then let’s go to bed, tomorrow is going to be the longest day of your life. Possibly literally—a Remoran day lasts seventy-six hours.”