Cooper Seipp

Starlit Snowfall

The early morning starlight breaks through the winter overcast of Alpha Antares-3 and into the streets of New Athens, the mid winter snow shining brightly as it reflects the light. Alpha Antares-3 is a colony near the outer reaches of Earth’s interstellar empire, it’s the largest of the outer colony worlds, boasting a population of 923 million citizens and acting as a major shipping hub for the rest of humanity’s outer colonies. The planet’s primary industries are production and dockyard work; raw material comes from the colonies, is refined into usable materials or processed into goods, and then shipped out from its many ports scattered across the planet’s surface. One of the dockyard workers of the planet, as with many, has just begun his day, this worker’s name is Andreas McCarren, aged 27, assigned gender male.

Andreas is awoken by the sound of his 7:00 alarm, which he quickly snoozes as his mind and his body prepare for another living day. It takes him a few minutes to climb out of bed and begin his morning routine, he goes to the bathroom, brushes his teeth, returns to his bedroom, and puts on his Bloodline™ uniform. Andreas’ apartment is decently sized for a company provided one, all of them are, Bloodline™ ensures that all* of its employees have access to comfortable living standards for their 13 hours of rest. Andreas doesn’t take too much time for himself and leaves his apartment as soon as he’s finished getting ready, he heads downstairs to the cafeteria for breakfast alongside many of his coworkers. Due to the prioritization of the U.N. Peacekeeping corps when it came to preserved goods like earth foods, many kitchens in its outer colonies have to contend with second rate chemical compounds or local foods, Andreas’ “eggs and bacon” taste off but it’s a hot breakfast and it’s livable, more affordable than groceries too so long as he has a company pass. There are a number of TV screens scattered around the cafeteria, mostly news and weather stations. The recent Antarean Industry Workers’ Union strike has been the main focus of the media for the past couple of days. The newscaster spoke in a neutral and unprovocative tone, like anyone supposedly stating the hard facts would, “Production of industrial goods has decreased by 72%, and transport of said goods has ceased entirely as members of the Union have blocked haulers and trains from entering factory loading zones, causing considerable delays for shipping companies such as—” Andreas tunes out, same old same old, always the business and never the people.

At 7:45 AM Andreas and the rest of the day shift workers board company shuttles heading to the rail line station, where they then board their respective trains depending on which port they work at, and sit back and enjoy the 45 minute ride. The trains pass through the industrial district and Andreas is able to catch a glimpse of the crowds of Union workers and Peacekeeping Police, they’re distant and fleeting, so he doesn’t get much of a chance to analyze or connect with the situation. Following the recapture of A-Antares in 2493, the colony was barred from possessing a militia of its own due to its insurrection, U.N. Peacekeeping forces now handle all police matters on the planet.

At 8AM the train had reached the port, a few massive cargo liners sat idly in their respective docks, the Bloodline™ logo plastered along their hulls. The ships have yet to receive their cargo due to the strike, so many of the dockyard workers have nothing to do but simple maintenance and data management. Andreas works as an engineer, he is one of the many workers who ensure that the millions of moving parts of the port are up and running. The day goes by slowly, like the rest of them. A brief respite comes at 13:00 PM, lunchtime, surprisingly enough the company cafeteria at the worksite has more appetizing food than the one at the housing complex. Andreas sits next to one of his coworkers and a relative friend of his, Marko. They begin striking up a conversation about the delays.

“Yeah well, if these ships don’t get moving soon it could cause serious problems for us, there won’t be enough space for imports, then people are gonna start losing jobs.” Said Marko.

“Well hopefully this won’t last for much longer.” Andreas replied, he typically tries to be optimistic as often as possible.

“Yeah, maybe if those Union guys see that it’s hurting us too they’ll quit already.” Andreas looked at Mark, a bit puzzled.

“Well I mean… I guess, but it’s their right to organize,we can’t really do anything about that.” He tried his best to stay neutral on the topic.

“No point in it anymore, it’s just causing trouble while we’re trying to get by.” Mark was the more cynical of the two.

“Well hey maybe if they get the company to back down and change their policies a bit it’ll give us more of a chance too, make it easier for everybody. They’ve got a point about the working hours, who knows maybe if it’s a big enough issue congress can step in.” As Andreas said this, Mark stared at him with a look of mild shock and concern, as their manager had just stepped into the room, able to hear Andreas’ entire statement.

The next day, in the middle of his routine maintenance check on one of the cranes in dockyard C, Andreas is called into a meeting with his team manager and the head of the engineering department. The rest of the day prior had gone off without a hitch, his manager didn’t seem to bat an eye and so they brushed it off, but apparently that was not the case.

“It has come to our attention that your recent conduct has been detrimental to the environment of the workplace, and has threatened the safety and stability of this facility as a result. Unfortunately Andreas, for these reasons, we are going to have to let you go. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors and hope you are able to learn and grow from this experience.”

Andreas’ heart sank, though he kept a smile on his face. He cleared his locker, and awaited the soonest train heading back into the city. As Andreas reached his apartment, he noticed a slip of paper attached to his door, it was a printed note,

“Unfortunately, due to your recent release from Bloodline™ Transportation Incorporated, you are no longer eligible to reside in this complex. You will have up to 3 days before you and your belongings will be forcibly removed. We thank you for your time spent with the company and wish the best of luck in your future endeavors.”

Future endeavors, those words echoed in his mind, is that just the standard corporate farewell? What the hell is he supposed to do next? This was all he had. No, he can make this work, he can find a temporary home, maybe take out a bank loan, find a new job in engineering, he has years of experience and a decent credit score after all. First things first, he needs to find a temporary home, he decides to call up Marko after work to see if he can stay at his apartment.

“I’m sorry man, I really am, but the company’s gonna give me the boot too if they see you kicking around, listen it’s nothing personal- really I mean it.”

Andreas sighed “It’s alright, I get it Mark, see ya around.”

“Good luck man.”

Alright no matter, looks like he’ll just have to use his savings and maybe take out a loan, he decides to go there tomorrow. Andreas has a hard time sleeping that night, he tries to stay calm and remind himself that everything will be alright, it’s getting hard to believe that, but it’s all he can really do.

At 8:00 AM Andreas took a public low speed train into the downtown sector of New Athens, the prices were so high that he was forced to use a majority of his pocket change, that’s what he gets for losing all his Bloodline™ company credits when he “disrupted the environment of the workplace”. As he stepped out of the train station and into Pantheon Square, a wing of VTOL aircraft flew overhead, UN peacekeeping forces doing routine morning flybys. Perhaps they were monitoring the city to ensure the safety of the citizens, or conducting a training exercise to keep some of the many million military personnel on their toes in case of deployment, or perhaps they were sending a message to the people of A-Antares 3, that the U.N. won 50 years ago, and they lost.

As he ventured further into the city center he caught a view of a group of protestors outside the Colonial Senate building, these were frequent, he elected to keep moving. The sky is overcast and gray, the wind is cold, and the signs of an incoming snowfall are ever present. Andreas approached the Capital Trust™ building located at the east end of Pantheon Square, Capital Trust™ and Bloodline™ were allied companies, so his savings account would be found with them. There are 5 armed guards outside the building, with barricades set up 50 feet in front of the building, broken and torn signs littering the ground, with statements like, “Blood money” and “Capital kills” written on them.

One of the guards stops him, “Hold up, what business have you got here sir?”

Andreas looked at the guard, glanced around him, glanced down at his clothes, then looked back up at the guard, “I’m uh… Here to collect my savings, maybe get a loan.”

The guard stared at him for a few seconds, it was tense, “You ain’t dressed like a banker.”

Andreas was taken aback, “Excuse me?”

The guard repeated himself, “You ain’t dressed like a banker, word of advice, you trying to get into a bank, you dress like a banker, otherwise you look real suspicious with that working coat.”

Andreas was a little shocked, he’d never experienced this before, “I- I am a worker, I’m trying to collect my pay, why should I dress like someone I’m not?”

The guard scoffs and steps to the side, “You got thirty minutes, security’s watching, no agitation, no Union talk.” Andreas simply nodded and walked inside.

The interior of the bank was clean, and empty, it did just open after all, and by the looks of it another protest just occurred right outside its walls. That’s odd, last time Andreas was here to set up his account it was bustling, he supposes it’s just an off day, nobody collects pay in person anymore anyway, he’s just booted from the company network.

Andreas walks up to the teller machine, powered by CashFlow™. He inputs his banking information, identification information, fingerprint, sex, race, nationality, political party, etc. He has over $180,000 dollars in savings, he attempts to withdraw it to his checking account, however an alert pops up on the screen, “Alert! Unfortunately, your worker credit score is below the required amount in order to conduct such a transaction, you may only take out an amount equivalent to your credit score, your current credit score is 0.4%.” Andreas checked his credit record, in his 5 years of working at bloodline he was able to increase his credit score to 16%, however his recent firing had decreased it by 15.6%, his “Non workplace environment friendly conduct” apparently reflects poorly on the bank. Andreas stands over the machine for 30 straight seconds, the sterile air and white noise of the machinery circulate around the room. After his brief moment, Andreas took a deep sigh, and accepted the 0.4% transfer, $720, of course there was a 1.2% tax as well.

Andreas exited the bank defeated, as he got further and further away he could hear the guards conversing, one distantly snickered. A steady snowfall had begun to befall the city, to those with central heating it was a beautiful and calming sight, to those out in the streets it was another harbinger of coldness and an inconvenience to their day, or for some of the extremely unfortunate, a threat to their life. Andreas began walking back to the train station, when something suddenly felt off, as if the cold breeze itself was telling him that something horrible was to happen. He brushed it off, must be the anxiety of his situation catching up with him, he continued walking to the train station, another squadron of U.N. VTOLs flew overhead then another, this is odd. It soon dawned on Andreas what was occurring, the protest outside the capitol building had just escalated to a riot, and the Peacekeeping forces were pushing back against the rioters. Andreas was confused and more than a little terrified, he had never seen anything like this before, the station was right there and the crowd was a ways away, maybe if he got there in time he could be out of there quickly.

Andreas hurriedly crossed the square and jogged towards the station, the crowd was getting closer, and closer, and he was running in their direction, the rumbling sound of running footsteps, the blare of sirens and loudspeakers, dread continued to build in Andreas’ very body. As he reached the entrance of the station and hurried down to the platform, he saw a line of Peacekeepers had already formed in the station, they were equipped in military gear and had their intimidating M-555 Assault Rifles produced by Colt™ Arms Manufacturing at the ready. Andreas stopped as he reached the bottom of the steps, they stared him down, one of them spoke up,

“This station is off limits, find a different place to go.” Andreas sighs and catches his breath for a moment, the officer speaks up again, “The sector’s gonna close in about 5 minutes civvie, you might need to get moving soon.”

The rumbling was getting louder and louder, Andreas needed to run.

As Andreas once more returned to the surface, he saw the details of the chaos approaching. Peacekeepers were firing canisters of tear gas into the crowds, protestors were running as if their lives were in danger as those who fell were detained or left on the ground to writhe, many began dispersing in all directions to escape it. He continued to run, trying to make it out of the square and either out of the sector before the full lockdown initiated or simply to shelter to wait it out. The ear splitting bangs of the gas canisters bursting combined with the earth shaking chorus of hundreds of boots stomping against the ground rattled Andreas’ mind, he was in pure fight or flight mode at this point. He made his way down a small street heading eastward away from the square, but it was too late, he could see a wall of soldiers blocking it a few hundred yards down. Most of the stores nearby had been abandoned and locked up, yet it seems the staff and clients of a nearby convenience store had fled in a hurry, Andreas rushed in as fast as possible, cowering behind the shelves. He was shivering, exhausted, and scared to his core, the glass provided an illusion of safety, which was soon metaphorically and literally shattered as the crowd had reached the street, the concussive force of a gas canister blew out the store’s windows. Andreas’ ears began to ring, and he found it difficult to breathe, he tried his best to cover his face and wait it out, his eyes were in stinging pain as well. As Andreas cowered, dozens fell to the force of the Peacekeepers, the entire downtown sector of the city had been totally sealed off from every angle, leaving everyone inside trapped, anyone who was found inside by the Peacekeeping forces were detained, including non-protestors who were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The city’s downtown sector had fallen into virtually martial law; this was the largest riot the city has ever seen since the revolution of the 2400s, with over 30,000 participating across the city.

Andreas sat in that store for what felt like an eternity, in reality it was roughly 45 minutes. He was frozen, out of pure fear and literally freezing, the snowfall had gotten far worse, and temperatures were rapidly dropping. After a while his eyes felt better, and he could hear a bit more clearly, and the fear had subsided a bit. He stood up, peering around the shelf and gazing at the carnage outside, he didn’t notice anyone nearby, and the commotion had subsided. The sound of VTOLs swarming the area was still very present, voices over loudspeakers giving instructions to those in the area,

“ALL LAW ABIDING CITIZENS SHOULD HAVE IDS ON HAND AND READY TO PRESENT TO AUTHORITIES, RUNNING WILL BE CONSIDERED AS AN ACT OF INCRIMINATION, HIDING WILL BE CONSIDERED AS AN ACT OF INCRIMINATION.”

Andreas stepped out, hardly paying attention to the broadcast, he was paying more attention to the sky, looking at the snow falling, and the brief glimpses of starlight shining through the clouds which made them shine like diamonds. He could hardly feel his hands, or his nose, or most of his body, but he still took time to admire the beauty of the world around him, even if it seemed as if there was none left.

Andreas was quickly shaken out of his trance by a loud voice yelling at him from behind, “LET ME SEE YOUR HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM” It was a U.N. Peacekeeping officer, several in fact, all with rifles raised at Andreas, as he looked at the barrels of their guns, it felt as though he were staring into the mouth of a dragon. Andreas was slow to raise his hands, still dazed and thoroughly exhausted.

The officer shouted again, “HANDS! NOW!”

He quickly raised his arms, they were sore and felt like they could give out at any moment, Andreas tried to speak, “I- I’m sorry I-”

He was quickly cut off by the officer, “What the hell are you still doing in this sector? Citizens should have evacuated 15 minutes ago. What are you hiding or something?!”

Andreas shook his head, “N- No I wasn’t- I was just trying to-”

He was interrupted again, “Let me see your ID!” Andreas dropped his arm, and the world froze.

Around Andreas stood the figure of New Athens, a city named after the great capital of Greece, a hub of art, culture, and philosophy. New Athens too was once a proud city, a bustling port, a hub of revolutionary ideals, the spark of the revolution, though not its capital. It now stands as a ruin, like the rest of the nation, many of its historic buildings remain tattered and broken, the colonial government unable to afford repairs for many, and those which have been bought out by private contractors being converted into monuments of the greed which had caused this beautiful world to fall into disrepair. New Athens, as well as Alpha Antares 3, are on their last legs, their ports sacked by the vultures that are transport monopolies like Bloodline™, their buildings crumbling and fading into the sands of time, and all those who could remember the days of glory dying out. And yet, as the vultures circle, as the sky turns dark, as the frost takes hold, despite everything, the light of the Antarean star shines brightly through the clouds, and illuminates the snowflakes, like beautiful stars of their own, as if each and every one of them had a spirit of their own in ignition. The sky may be gray, but the stars still shine, and even if the last one is to one day, in a far, far, far, far future, one further than we could ever fathom, if it is to finally extinguish, it will do so in the brightest, most beautiful and tremendous fashion, and it will ignite with a force far brighter than anything a human has laid eyes on before, or ever will.

Andreas saw this beauty, as the last sight he ever saw, staring up into the sky with his heart rate slowing to a crawl, his blood spreading across the ground from the hole ripped into his chest by a 5.56mm bullet, and his eyes growing dim. Rather than feeling his life fade, and his body grow cold, his mind could do nothing but see the beauty in the wintery city, the snowfall in the sky shining bright like stars in the void. And Andreas did not die with fear, nor defeat, nor sadness, he died with a smile, and with beauty in his mind, for he could see nothing but beauty in a snowfall lit by the stars.