Total pages in book: 137
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130317 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 521(@250wpm)___ 434(@300wpm)
He’d expected Mia to shut down—to refuse to answer the question. Instead, she surprised him by shaking her head.
“I don’t know,” she’d admitted, a look of misery on her face. “He promised he’d change after we left the…after we left. But he hasn’t—at this point, I don’t think he’s capable.”
“After you left what?” Sev had asked. But she’d only shaken her head.
“Mia, you deserve better than that asshole,” Sev had told her.
“I know,” she said simply. And then she had turned the conversation to other topics. But the next day she’d started divorce proceedings. So maybe what Sev had said to her had an effect after all…
“Have you heard of them?” Commander Sylvan’s question cut off Sev’s train of thought and he realized he’d missed something.
“I’m sorry—heard of who?” he asked, sitting up straighter in his chair.
“Of the PPP—the Peaceful People of the Prophet—that’s what they call themselves,” Sylvan clarified. “They have ads all over the Outernet.”
“Sorry, no,” Mia said and Sev shook his head.
“We only have access to the Internet down on Earth,” he told Commander Sylvan. “And it only covers the one planet.”
“Wait—so what does this ‘Outernet’ cover?” Mia asked, frowning.
“It’s a bit like your Internet,” Sylvan told her. “But it connects most of the planets with sentient beings in the rest of the galaxy. Anyway, The Peaceful People of the Prophet do a lot of ads and post them on the Outernet. Here—watch.”
He pointed to the viewscreen mounted on the wall of his office and it flickered to life.
The first thing Sev saw was a vast, shining dome in what appeared to be the middle of an enormous, sandy desert. The sand dunes were all shades of gray, making it look colorless and lifeless. In contrast, the dome shimmered like a giant rainbow bubble.
“Out of darkness…light,” a deep male voice intoned. “Out of the barren desert…life!”
Then the camera drone which must be filling the spot zoomed closer and suddenly they were inside the shimmering dome. The drone flew over rows and rows of orderly white domiciles—which were also shaped like domes—interspersed with lush, well tended vegetation.
“Here in the barren, airless T’zgarian desert, the Peaceful People of the Prophet have crafted a paradise,” the narrator informed them. “Every couple who lives here is given a Smart Bungalow—a residence fitted exactly for their personal needs and desires.”
The camera zoomed lower and suddenly flew right into one of the dome-shaped white domiciles. Inside it was minimalist and ultramodern with sleek, molded furniture in shades of white and tan and nothing hanging on the walls. The camera flew through the food prep area—what humans called a “kitchen”— and showed off various conveniences and appliances all made from dark, tempered plasti-glass and gleaming brass.
“Our specially pre-programmed food storage and preparation units will feed any hungry male and help any female who struggles with self control to finally achieve balance,” the narrator informed them.
“What is that supposed to mean?” Mia demanded and Sev saw that she was frowning. “That they’ll feed men but put the women on a diet?”
“That does seem to be the implication.” Commander Sylvan nodded. “That was what my own mate, Sophia thought too.”
But the commercial was still going. The camera flew through the bathing and sleeping chambers next, talking about how even the water temperature was calibrated to each person’s needs and how the “smart mattress” would perfectly cradle sleepers to their exact requirements.
So far—except for the sexist remark about feeding males but “helping females with their self control”—Sev thought the ad looked mostly like a real estate commercial for smart homes. But then the camera drone left the domicile and zoomed through the air to what looked like a large communal park area.
“But the PPP doesn’t just offer state of the art living facilities—we also offer community,” the narrator informed them. “A community of like-minded people—people you can trust! Meet your new neighbors!”
The camera panned over a crowd of people, all of them waving and smiling. There were all different kinds of humanoids represented, though Chakiouns with pale blue skin and silver hair, seemed to dominate.
Sev noticed that all the males were wearing black trousers and white shirts and all the females had on long, loose white dresses that swirled around their calves. Also, it looked as though the men were wearing shoes but the women were barefoot—an odd detail, Sev thought.
The last thing he noticed was that many of the women—at least half of them—seemed to be pregnant. Though it was hard to tell how far along they were along due to the baggy white dresses they wore. So it wasn’t just a resort for couples—there must be children too. But where were they?
At first he didn’t see any…but then the camera panned left and he saw a group of youngsters from infants all the way up to older teens waving and smiling as well. They were a little distance from the adults, as though they weren’t supposed to mix, he thought. He wondered why they didn’t simply put the children with their parents instead of dividing them up?