Expendable
April 20th, 2010, 12:48 AM
Warning! Incredibly Depressing Hypothetical Situations Alert! Do not read past this point if you do not want to be exposed to an incredibly depressing hypothetical situation that I have come up with that will probably make you wonder what is wrong with me.
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By the time we saw it, it was too late. A big, fast moving planet-killer meteor struck central Mongolia at midnight, precisely. It was noon on the East Coast. As ancient air raid sirens wailed to life around the world, every human on the Earth blacked out - and vanished.
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You wake up in a white room, still wearing the same clothes, where a strangely accented voice tells you that you are on board a ship of the Monocken (Moh-nok-ken). The meteor that smashed into the Earth was sent by one of their own race and they were unable to stop it. Severe ecological damage has taken place that will take decades if not centuries to recover.
As the voice speaks, pictures are displayed on the wall, showing you the devastation that has swept the Earth. Pictures devoid of people.
The voice tells you that the Monocken were able to save humanity by bringing you aboard their ships as the devastation started spreading around your world.
The voice pauses, then says it will give you time to yourself to recover.
After an hour where the walls totally ignored your screaming and beating of fists on them, the voice returns.
Five Earth years have passed in hibernation while the Monocken debated what to do with humanity until they could return you to Earth. After consulting with your leaders, it was decided to bring humanity to a nearby Earth-like planet whose inhabitants had destroyed themselves may years before in war.
To help you survive in this new world, you have been given specialized medical implants to help keep your bodies healthy and any medical defects have been repaired. Diabetics don't have to worry about checking their blood sugar or insulin shots, missing body parts have been regrown, diseases halted, vision/hearing problems fixed and the paralyzed can walk again.
However, the Monocken will hold onto young children until it is agreed that the humans have settled into their new environment.
Services on the planet will be limited during the initial resettlement to basic necessities in the various relocation camps (shelter, food, water, basic sanitation, medical services). Everyone also gets a smart phone modified by the Monocken to let you to call anyone on the planet and access basic information. This smart phone will also act as your id and credit card.
Also, to help you adjust, the Monocken will replicate almost anything that was commercially available on Earth; however you are limited to 200 pounds (90.7 kg) of personal items.
Welcome, Refugee, to Camp 13.
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There are three alien races in this story -
Monocken
Blue-ish gray aliens, humanoid, looking like furless bears. Most of the Monocken you might meet will be wearing spacer whites jumpsuits, while ground crews prefer green tunics and leather kilts, often with a tool belt. A few Monocken elders wear the bureaucratic blue jackets and formal kilts. They possess very advance technology.
Vaeter
Approximately five foot tall, very human except for their pointed ears, they look like Elves. They're also refugees and share this world with humans, work reluctantly with the Monocken and possess some advance tech, mostly older tech salvaged from the ruins and their employers.
Dvergar
Short, stocky bearded humaniods, the tallest might make 4 foot in height and hate being called dwarves. They live in comfortable caves they've carved out of mountains and hills. The first group of refugees from another world long ago saved by the Monocken but rarely work with them. Often the few Dvergar who will are outcasts.
__________________________________________________ ______
By the time we saw it, it was too late. A big, fast moving planet-killer meteor struck central Mongolia at midnight, precisely. It was noon on the East Coast. As ancient air raid sirens wailed to life around the world, every human on the Earth blacked out - and vanished.
__________________________________________________ ______
You wake up in a white room, still wearing the same clothes, where a strangely accented voice tells you that you are on board a ship of the Monocken (Moh-nok-ken). The meteor that smashed into the Earth was sent by one of their own race and they were unable to stop it. Severe ecological damage has taken place that will take decades if not centuries to recover.
As the voice speaks, pictures are displayed on the wall, showing you the devastation that has swept the Earth. Pictures devoid of people.
The voice tells you that the Monocken were able to save humanity by bringing you aboard their ships as the devastation started spreading around your world.
The voice pauses, then says it will give you time to yourself to recover.
After an hour where the walls totally ignored your screaming and beating of fists on them, the voice returns.
Five Earth years have passed in hibernation while the Monocken debated what to do with humanity until they could return you to Earth. After consulting with your leaders, it was decided to bring humanity to a nearby Earth-like planet whose inhabitants had destroyed themselves may years before in war.
To help you survive in this new world, you have been given specialized medical implants to help keep your bodies healthy and any medical defects have been repaired. Diabetics don't have to worry about checking their blood sugar or insulin shots, missing body parts have been regrown, diseases halted, vision/hearing problems fixed and the paralyzed can walk again.
However, the Monocken will hold onto young children until it is agreed that the humans have settled into their new environment.
Services on the planet will be limited during the initial resettlement to basic necessities in the various relocation camps (shelter, food, water, basic sanitation, medical services). Everyone also gets a smart phone modified by the Monocken to let you to call anyone on the planet and access basic information. This smart phone will also act as your id and credit card.
Also, to help you adjust, the Monocken will replicate almost anything that was commercially available on Earth; however you are limited to 200 pounds (90.7 kg) of personal items.
Welcome, Refugee, to Camp 13.
__________________________________________________ ______
There are three alien races in this story -
Monocken
Blue-ish gray aliens, humanoid, looking like furless bears. Most of the Monocken you might meet will be wearing spacer whites jumpsuits, while ground crews prefer green tunics and leather kilts, often with a tool belt. A few Monocken elders wear the bureaucratic blue jackets and formal kilts. They possess very advance technology.
Vaeter
Approximately five foot tall, very human except for their pointed ears, they look like Elves. They're also refugees and share this world with humans, work reluctantly with the Monocken and possess some advance tech, mostly older tech salvaged from the ruins and their employers.
Dvergar
Short, stocky bearded humaniods, the tallest might make 4 foot in height and hate being called dwarves. They live in comfortable caves they've carved out of mountains and hills. The first group of refugees from another world long ago saved by the Monocken but rarely work with them. Often the few Dvergar who will are outcasts.