yep B&W redux time kill me lmao

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"Humanity was never destined to stay shackled to one planet forever. We explored the land, the seas, and soon after our own solar system. Earth was but a stepping stone for us." -Lawrence Albright, Exploration: From Earth to Alpha Centauri and Beyond


There was a haze all around us, dust kicked up by the impact of our crash. I had to fight to get up, to even so much as stand on my own two feet. Groans came from around me, confirming that at the very least my friends were still alive. I made my way through the wreckage, one arm clutching at another while I prayed not to get tetanus.

Other ships streaked the sky ahead of us, the unmistakable sound of bombing runs being executed ahead of us following in their wake. They were supposed to have made me feel happy, feel proud. Yet all I could do was make it past the last chunk of metal and then fall onto my hands and knees.

Then I began to shake. Yet again my body was rejecting itself, not wanting to be one whole being. I opened my mouth to cry, but instead I began to heave. I was sick beyond belief at what I'd done and at what I'd let happen.

After a few minutes of lying there in the dirt with nothing but tears and bile coming from me, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned with a shudder and saw one of my companions crouched next to me. She seemed to try to say something, but stopped. Then again, and again, and again. In the end she just sat there, next to me, her hand never leaving my shoulder.

Finally I managed to speak after an eternity. "Are-" I stopped. I had to swallow a bit, try and focus all my willpower into even saying just a few words. "Did we do the right thing?"

There wasn't an answer. Not one that came a few seconds or even a few minutes later. Instead she bit her lip, and then just sat there with me staring off into the distance. Still, her silence gave me the same answer I'd already come up with.

"I don't know," she told me wordlessly.

It's funny, in a way, how the memories came back to me. Even trying to remember events from only a few years ago took effort, and a lot of it. Everything from colors to conversations muddled together and I had to piece everything back, focus hard. But it was doable at least

The first, truly clear thing I recalled though, wasn't too much of a surprise. It was the sound of rain pounding against my bedroom window. On my home planet, Emet, rain was the norm. Massive storms would go on for days at a time, floods common all throughout. But it never bothered me. Even that day I woke up to hearing the storm outside I simply stretched, yawned, and got out of bed.

There wasn't much to my room. Bed, dresser, desk, mirror. The walls had a few posters, mostly from movies I'd seen and loved, but were otherwise bare. The mirror had actually been my mother's from when she was a child, and as I passed by it on my way to the bathroom, I stopped to look at my reflection.

Black feathers covered the whole of my body, a bit scraggly from my sleep. They made my name, Kestrel Lopez, a bit ironic. When I was born, my mother had been involved with some sort of naturalist movement. Even though she had a plain, pencil pushing, desk job, she would tend to fall into the weirdest trends. The naturalists would also tend to name any children after animals for various nonsense reasons, so when it came time to name me she picked a kestrel.

After I pulled myself away from my reflection, I went down the hall to the bathroom and took a quick shower. I thought about what I planned on doing that day. Given it was a Saturday I figured I'd try to get a hold of a friend and do something with them. I ran through a list of their names in my head: Alex, Faysal, Maya, and Jorge. By the time I was wrapping a towel around myself I decided I'd try to do something with Maya, probably see a movie or something.

I finished getting ready for the day, and walked into the kitchen for breakfast with a plan in mind. The smell of sausage wafted towards me as I came close, sure sign that my mom was making breakfast. True enough, I was greeted with the sight of her in business casual and an apron.

She smiled at me as she saw me come in, nodding her head towards the kitchen table. "Go ahead and sit down, Kestrel. I'll get a plate for you."

I did just that, sitting across from my father. He held up a tablet in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, taking a sip now and then while absentmindedly scrolling. "Morning," he said. "Any plans for today?"

"Morning." Mom set down a plate in front of me, hashbrowns and toast only. She had always been fantastic cook, and never minded my father and I's vegetarianism much. "Yeah, I was thinking about going out with Maya for a while. Probably head out after breakfast."

He nodded a bit, taking another drink. "Sounds nice. Your mother has work today but I'll be home if you need anything." She was a pencil pusher at some corporate office, while he worked as a technician in one of the mines on Emet.

With a plan relatively set in stone, I rushed to finish the rest of my food before heading for the door. I called out, "Be back later," before running down the stairs. As I descended, my left hand was flying across my wrist.

By and by large, the grease that kept the wheel of society going was the G-Net protocol. I was never sure of the exact mechanics of it, a lot of people weren't. At its most basic, it was considered quantum computing. There was a lot more to it, but to simplify things, it basically allowed for faster than light communication. Oddly enough, it also was what made faster than light travel along with hundreds of other technological advances possible.

And one of those advances were G-Net bands. They were wrist mounted devices, a bit like old smartphones but a hell of a lot more powerful. At their most basic they allowed portable access to the internet along with an interface for all G-Net connected technology, which was vital given that sometimes even toasters ran off G-Net. But with enough modifications and money, some bands were able to be cut down from the size of an old phone to a bracelet and even project holograms.

But, not paying much mind to the complex intricacies of the technology I was using, I finished pulling up a video chat with a friend of mine and put an earpiece in my left ear. "Hey, Maya."

I was greeted with a finger raised up against the screen. "One second!" There was the sound of cans being crumpled and paper being shuffled before her face on screen. Her black hair was greasy, pulled into a ponytail, and she had dark circles beneath her eyes. "Oh, hi Kestrel. Sorry about that, got me in the middle of something. What'd you need?"

Rain hit my head as I stepped out the door of our apartment complex and I quickly pulled my sweatshirt hood up. "I was wondering if you wanted to do anything today. Could catch a movie, get something to eat, whatever."

Her hand rubbed at her face for a few seconds before she responded. "Uh, yeah, yeah, sounds fine. Sorry, I'm half awake right now. Spent the better part of," Maya trailed off for a moment with her head tilting in thought. "These last two nights on a project. Go ahead and head on to my place, I'll just make some coffee."

The screen flickered out without so much as a goodbye, but that was fairly normal for Maya. She was usually pretty busy; having lived on her own since she was about twelve, she relied on her skills with hardware to earn a living. It was usually upgrading or fixing computers, as well as tinkering with Unity bands. While most G-Net bands didn't allow much in the way of hardware changes, Unity bands allowed for full alterations. They were some of Maya's favorite things to work with, and that was really saying something.

Hell, my first impression of Maya had been walking into class on the first day of third grade. In the front was a little lioness twiddling about with some spare band parts. I asked her what she was doing and even thinking back on it later, I still have no idea what she really meant. But, we still managed to hit it off because even if I didn't quite understand what she was doing, it was still pretty cool.

As a small mercy, Maya didn't live too far from my place. It was only about a ten minute walk, which was hell in the rain, but I figured I'd survive. While I started to walk, I glanced over at a small memorial: a bronze statue with three figures posing heroically. The memorial was dedicated to the original founders of the planet, a group of Pacifican researchers. Even though the old governments had united into the Council long before I was born, a lot of the culture of each founding country remained in the territories they once owned. And even though my family had Brazilian ancestry, Emet itself was a historically Pacifican planet.

Not too much later I finally ended up outside Maya's apartment. It was a smaller building than ours, with faded tan bricks and windows repeating on and on. A shiver ran down me as I headed inside; the rain had been fairly light however, so I wasn't completely soaked through thankfully. I climbed up the stairs, to the second story, before stopping outside her door, raising a wet hand, and knocking loudly.

"It's open, Kestrel!" Maya called out from inside. I shrugged as I headed in, instantly feeling heat washing over me as I did so. Mind you, the warmth wasn't from any heater; instead it came from the massive amount of electronics sitting in her living room. Countless bands, PC's, and tablets were strewn about, a mess of wire connecting most of them to the mains. There wasn't even a couch, just a few wooden chairs in front of a TV screen; it was flat, mounted onto the peeling wallpaper.

I caught sight of Maya in her half kitchen, a pot of coffee in her hand. There were more than a few dishes piling up in the sink, and what almost looked like half cooked and forgotten meals sitting on the stove. "Hey," I said with a smile. "You mind if I sit down?"

She rubbed at one eye, nodding towards one of the chairs. They were secondhand, chipped and worn, but sturdy enough. "Sure. Go ahead and hang your hoodie up too." I did as she said, ruffling a few of my feathers as I got the wet top off. "You want a cup?" Maya asked as she poured her own. She had on a coffee-stained shoulderless sweater and a pair of black leggings, her usual comfort wear whenever she was burning the days long oil.

"No thanks. You want me to put anything on?"

"News please; Obex Network."

"Sure thing." I raised my right wrist up and tapped at my band a bit. Being Maya's friend, I was already connected to her personal network and able to use anything she had hooked up to it.

The Obex News Network came on as the TV flickered to life, a young reporter on the screen. "-ill not commenting much on the recent food shortages, but a press release by Milton Jones claims that they are, quote, 'Nothing more than rumors to stir up trouble.'"

Maya finally sat down next to me, both hands holding her chipped 'Best Dad in the World' mug as she sipped and shook her head. "Ugh, Milton Jones. Half his funding is from the Niagara Foundation. Wonder how much of it is hush money to keep the food shortage under wraps.

I raised an eyebrow. "Does Niagara even have a claim on any of the settlements? Because I can't imagine while else they'd be trying to cover up food shortages."

Maya rolled her eyes a bit and took another long sip. "Yeah Kestrel, they do. They have the deeds to at least four of the planets." Then she added, "But you'd know this if you took a moment to read half the stuff I send you.

"If I took the time to read half the stuff you send me, I'd probably be at home right now trying to catch up on whatever you sent me last week."

She scoffed but let it go with a smile. After a few moments of empty silenced broken only by the news and the slurping of coffee Maya asked, "So, any ideas for what we should do?"

"Like I said, maybe a movie? Nothing I really want to see is out, but we could just pick something at random." I gave a small laugh. "Remember Sunbathing in Fluorescence?"

Maya's face scrunched up. "Oh god, never mind then. I'd rather stay in then risk choosing something that bad again."

I nudged her shoulder. "Oh come on, it won't be that bad. I don't think it's even possible to be that bad again, honestly."

"Fine, fine. But you're paying, got it?"

"Deal." I stood up, turning off her TV as I did so. "Might as well get going now, before the rain gets worse.

She nodded in agreement and got up as well. Maya went over to a pile of clothes that had been building in a corner of the room and dug through them, stopping when she had found her leather jacket. "Knew it had to be in there somewhere."

I led us out after grabbing my hoodie, Maya locking the door behind us as we left. Unfortunately it appeared that we hadn't left fast enough; as we headed down the stairs what sounded like a monsoon was pounding against the roof. I didn't even bother waiting until we were outside to pull up my hood, as good as it would do. And sure enough, the glass door to the lobby was impossible to see through, rain slamming against it while thunder rumbled outside.

"So much for leaving before it rains," Maya mused. "Well, do you want to call a cab? Or should we just suck it up? God, I knew I shouldn't have stripped my umbrella for parts.

I remember figuring that the movie theater wasn't too far away, a few blocks at most. "If we sprint it'll only take us a few minutes. Probably get hypothermia but, you know, whatever. Not worth hiring a taxi."

Maya shook her head and grumbled, "God, the things I do for you. Alright, fine, we'll run for it." She rubbed her hands together in anticipation before telling me, "Whenever you're ready."

I nodded and gripped the door handle before throwing it open. Right away the sound of rain reached my ears, my body cringing as I started to suddenly regret choosing to run. But I was a man of my word, so instead I shut my eyes for a second before dashing out the door.

There wasn't a split second of feeling dry, instead the downpour hit me with the force of a freight train. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" I shouted, voice barely audible against the rain, as I began to question a lot of the choices I made up to that point in my life. Thunder rumbled in the distance and it seemed that with every lunging movement I made, the downpour only got larger. But I tried my best to narrow my mind and focus on the singular idea of making inside to a nice and warm building. I
knew I was overreacting but when the rain drops actually stung when they hit me, I honestly didn't give a damn.

Thankfully, no matter how long my mind tried to prolong the experience, the theater did eventually come into view. Neon lit, glass covered posters were on the walls outside showing off the various films they were showing. None of them got my attention as I blazed past them, hurrying to the lobby doors and throwing them open. The singular thought of being somewhere warm was the only thing my mind was really able to focus on

Maya came crashing through the doors a few seconds after me. Water was dripping off her while she gave me what could only be described as the dirtiest look imaginable. She came towards me with her shoulders hunched up and told me in a voice dripping with venom, "If this movie is bad, I'm killing you as soon as it's over."

I gave a nervous grin and sucked the air through my teeth, then took a last glance at all the posters. "Huh. Didn't know Glenda Peterson had a new movie out."

"Oh shut up," Maya said, eyes rolling faster than I thought possible. She shook some of the water off herself, and removed her jacket. "We both know you'd marry that woman if you could. If you wanted to see one of her movies, then you should've just said so."

"No, really Maya. I didn't know she had one coming out." I was telling the truth. Glenda Peterson was by and by large my favorite filmmaker, her cinematography, writing, and directing all breathtaking whether she was creating a documentary or just some romantic comedy. Usually I kept on top of following whatever projects she was working on, but somehow an entire film had slipped past me. "It's just titled Rose. Wonder what it's about."

"Well, we wanted a surprise, right? Come on, let's buy our tickets."

We did so, settling in to our seats with a half hour to spare. The theater was mostly dead, the darkened room empty except for two or three other people scattered about. I wasn't sure if it was just how early it was, the weather albeit how used to storms we were, or if the movie was just bad. As much as I loved Glenda, nobody was perfect, and a few of her movies tended to be rather boring at times.

And, unfortunately, that was the case. As it turned out, Rose was about Rosario Brasher, a poet from the 2200's. I figured that it must've been a passion project, given the fact that maybe only a few hundred people were interested enough in Rosario Brasher to see a film about her. For instance I'd constantly catch Maya idly playing with her band out of the corner of my eye, and I sighed to myself in guilt over dragging her there.

When the credits finally began to roll over somber pictures of Rosario's family, Maya was all too quick to stand up. "Well," she began, drawing the last few syllables out. "That was interesting?"

I just stayed in my seat and raised my eyebrows towards her. "Was it really that bad?"

"Not bad, just," Maya shook her head. "I'm sorry, I was just really, really bored. I'm not a fan of documentaries anyways."

I got up and started walking out with her. The few people that were with us in the theater were milling about the lobby, idly chatting much the same as us. "Don't worry Maya, it's fine. Honestly even I didn't think it was that interesting."

She smiled a bit. "Surprising. I would've thought you'd be busy praising how well done that scene with her childhood home was, or the way they showed her grave."

I glared at her but decided to let it go. We got to the doors of the cinema, but it was still pouring down rain outside so we held back from opening them. Neither of us were sure what to do next with our Saturday so we just stood around for a bit. Meanwhile a few of the other moviegoers milled around as well, holding their own conversations.

"Look, all I'm saying is that I'm so sick of it. Backwards thinking all around."

"You just don't get it. It isn't about backwards thinking, it's about nostalgia."

"Yeah well, if the good old days were really that good, we wouldn't have moved on."

A scoff came from the other person before Maya cleared her throat. "Kestrel? You hear me?"

I blinked a few times. "Sorry, was spacing out a bit. What's up?"

She jerked her thumb towards the door. "I was saying that maybe we should get something to eat. Rain's let up a little bit anyways, probably won't get soaked again if we head out."

Glancing outside, I saw that Maya was right. The downpour had turned into more of a soft drizzle by then. "Alright, yeah. Let's go." Truth be told, I was still full from my breakfast. But the day was still young and I figured if I paid for whatever we got, it could at least be an attempt to make up for almost putting Maya to sleep.

We left, cold air brushing past us. More people were outside, going about their weekend business. For Emet, that day was really rather nice. The small spout of rain was practically nothing, and a bit of a chill was better than the nasty near freezing cold we'd frequently get.

Maya and I passed her apartment building. I figured she probably wanted to stop at her favorite cafe, a small little non-chain place she adored. I remember she always raved about their coffee, but really I'd been more of a tea person my whole life. Their tea was alright though, had to be really considering the Pacifican influence Emet had.

"Hey, mind if we sit for a moment?" Maya asked. It was a bit sudden, out of the blue. We were passing through the park at the moment and had a few benches around us. "Sorry, I hate to be a bother, I'm just getting a call from a client right now."

"No problem to me." I sat, wincing a bit at feeling my pants get soaked with the rain. "Just try and be quick?

Already her hand was sticking her earpiece as she told me, "Oh yeah, don't worry. No problem." Her finger tapped on her band a few times, after which she sat next to me. "Hey! Yeah, yeah, it's almost done. Maybe about a few more days? Well-" Suddenly Maya stopped, frowning a bit. "That's weird."

I tilted my head. "What is it?"

"The call dropped. They're not traveling though, they're right here in town."

"Maybe their band is on the fritz?"

She shook her heard. "Impossible. I was working on it myself just last week. Hell, look," Maya shoved her band in my face. Clearly on the screen was a message I'd only seen once before in my life: 'G-Net Connection Unavailable'. G-Net was satellite based in most cases, including Emet's. The fact there was no signal bespoke of something ominous.

My expression changed from one of questioning, to one of immense worry. "What the hell is happening?"

Maya opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. A low rumble began to shake beneath us, the people around us yelling out in panic. The shaking went on for what felt like almost a minute before stopping, a great shadow then looming overhead. A ship, probably the largest I'd seen in my life was hovering above the city. Several more began to fly out of it, seemingly landing in various parts of the city. There were no military symbols, no PMC markers, or even any corporate insignias on any of them either, just cold metal hovering above us ominously. And as we, everybody on Emet, looked up, static began to emanate from every one of our bands.

"These aren't bandits," Maya whispered

And to all of our horror, she would be quickly proven right.