------------------------------------------- --1/2:begin_burst_historical_transmission-- ------------------------------------------- {period transfer} {entry begin} File Summary: This historical transmission is intended to serve as an enclosure of supporting information to file #iso-342107 (caution: file referenced not found). It documents the important resultant political and social events following directly after the Human/Pfhor war.
{begin file contents 1/2} Only a few short months after the long Human / Pfhor conflict came to a halt, a horrific plague broke out on numerous outerworld UESC planets. This disease, called the Achilles virus, was unlike any other previously discovered in human history. Achilles devastated whole populations of humans, quickly spreading across worlds. By the time the UESC adopted a reactive stance, the plague had already reached Mars, Callisto, and Triton. When the first cases appeared in Europe, the UESC unanimously voted to sterilize the entire subcontinent via low-orbit satellites.
Similar tactics were used against the outbreaks on the Venusian colonies and the floating cities above the gas giants. Wherever the plague appeared, UESC sterilizations were sure to follow. All human planets, outposts, and stations came under military quarantine. The UESC's draconian measures against the plague slowed its spread enough for the Dangi Corporation to find a vaccine. {entry endsegment} {period transfer_getnextEvent&} ------------------------------------------- ---1/2:end_burst_historical_transmission--- -------------------------------------------
------------------------------------------- --2/2:begin_burst_historical_transmission-- ------------------------------------------- {period transfer} {entry begin} Although hailed at the time as medicine's finest hour, the Achilles vaccine that the Dangi Corporation developed was used for sinister purposes. With the Achilles vaccine as a bargaining chip, the Dangi Corporation maneuvered itself into a position of power that gradually evolved into an all-out corporate dictatorship lasting nearly three hundred years. The conspiracy behind this coup remained a secret for many centuries, carried to the graves of the powerful men who were responsible for its execution.
The UESC victory on Pfhor Prime in 2862 may have been the most costly in human history, but it was also the most complete. The High Pfhor Council was defeated, and with it the foundation of Pfhor society. The slaver empire would fade into the background of history, never to rise again. {entry endsegment} {period transfer_end&} ------------------------------------------- ---2/2:end_burst_historical_transmission--- -------------------------------------------
Maybe fate likes fools. Or maybe fools are the only ones smart enough to like fate. Simple game theory dictated that they couldn’t fire on me. I had the formula in my mind and they’d have to tear it out one neuron at a time. They would, so I ran. Out the door, past the cameras, past the guards, and into the alleyway. Living it all as though I’ve done it before, and as though it couldn’t have happened any other way. Down into the sewer, back out onto the street, and running towards the horizon.
The horizon never gets any closer. You run and you run and the only thing you can think of after three days is the knife strapped to your shin. And then it’s all you can do to keep yourself from reaching down in the split second of that insanity they call heroism, pulling out the knife and cutting your own legs off, knowing that if you don’t you’ll keep on running. You can’t run away forever.
interlevel teleports
