The Archive ~
part two notes
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A
round room inside the Archive, filled with international leaders and
command, Lucretia sitting at a desk in the center, the officer standing
behind her.
(circumstances leading to this moment involve a lot
of undecided characters and scenarios, but the moment is inevitable,
though the dialogue here is simplified)
The argument concerns
the large portion of the Earth which appears to have survived (the
possibilities of deep bunker installation survivors, and then mining
rights as it's presumed lifeless and all these ships need fuel.
It's
shrouded in a mist from the displaced ocean, but no one has the
materials for geo-forming such an unstable environment as the mist is
fading rapidly. Without an atmosphere, colonization is dismissed.
Lucretia
is nearly demanding they not touch it, claiming to their disbelief that
it's possible for her to form an atmosphere from the mist (if they'd
shut up and listen to her - they don't trust AI to have human interest
in heart)
A leader - "And what about the animals ? We have
multiple barges filled because of these ... preservationist societies.
How do we feed them now ?"
Lucretia - "I funded those societies ... we can process their food from base chemicals like the rest of ..."
Another leader - "You ? How ?"
Lucretia - "I've been funding this entire operation for the last ..."
Another
leader - "No. We need to think of our own survival. These animals
should be bred for food if eatable and put down if not. They would have
no good life on these ships anyway."
Agreement fills the room
as the officer fades, shown to be just a projection. Lucretia stands
and the lights go out, attendants muttering their confusion.
She
enters a room filled with mild purple light, a smooth door sliding
closed behind her. Red lights flash across all the military and
government ships, also blacked out.
__
Lucretia -
Across military intercoms, "Evacuate immediately. All military craft
will be dismantled beginning now. I have access to all construction
diagrams and systems. There is nothing you can do to stop this. To
those who choose to hold your posts ... I'm sorry. Please ... evacuate
now."
The sound of air slowly flushing from rooms through the vents.
__
Lucretia
- To the attendants, "I need you to see this. You're safe here. And I
need you to know that this isn't a program. It's a decision."
A
purple hued display appears at the center of the meeting hall, showing
readouts of various species survival projections (including human, very
few over 20 percent chance, human at 23 percent).
Each is linked
directly to various vessels, weaknesses targeted, control established,
across a globe map around a central ship, the Archive. The last readout
shows death tolls, all currently set to zero.
Behind are
various algorithms, sociological, biological and psychological
dissertations and theories, annotated to source as appropriate to each
situation and number. The field of data extends continuously outward,
filling the room.
Lucretia - "People always ask me how I see the world. This is as close as you're ever going to get."
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(We Don't Need Another Hero - Tina Turner)
Lucretia walks to the center of the room alone where her father's chair sits, drawing her hand across it's back as the same holographic read-out appears in the center with the rise of the six pillar maps around it.
The map grows to fill the room and overlays a visual of the actual space around the ship.
Her ship rises from the center of the Archive as extraneous panels and sections are ejected, leaving the attendant room floating. Her ship is nearly the size of the Archive itself, showing the crew areas to be just a husk around another craft.
Across it's surface panels open showing missiles connected through as with a chain gun and the immediately starts launching as the ships begin to launch pods.
The missiles each track the weaknesses directly, while many soldiers remain masked at their guns to try to shoot them down. Guns and other systems begin to malfunction. Ships in formation begin to veer toward one another, into massive wrecks.
Amid the launches the readouts are shown, species survival (including human) rising with the death toll as Lucretia begins breaking down into tears watching them. More and more as her ship moves between the debris slicing them to pieces with heavy cutting lasers while pods continue to escape.
At final count the death toll is high and the survival rates are mostly above 70 percent, human at 65.
She's shaking on the floor in front of the chair, the pillars returning to the floor. All the lights in her ship go out, as it tumbles lifelessly toward the giant chunk of Earth.
She curls in a ball shaking in tears whispering "Sanctuary."