Anguish

By Yang Liu

Book one deals with a man and the struggles of anhedonia in the near future.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Yang Liu
• Release date: Apr 24, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215912119

Yang Liu

No gods. No masters.

Book preview

Anguish

Yang Liu

Anguish

By Yang Liu

Copyright 2023 Yang Liu

Smashwords Edition

1: Exfiltration

No, don’t touch that. Said the captain to the girl standing in front of a chest sized rectangular case mounted on the wall. The captain was piloting the airship with his mind. In less than a heartbeat, the girl quickly retracted her hands away from the gun shaped container. It is exactly what it looks like, that is a gun. Although not made from metal but rather bone and muscle, it is great for close quarter combat. It is essentially a pistol but it can also shoot multiple bullets at once like a shotgun. The bullets come out clustered together, all at once like the clustered segments of a peeled orange. Said the captain. The entire airship was made from bone with flexible and tough gray skin membrane holding in the gas to keep the ship a float. The airship was made for low detection and smooth sailing rather than speed.

The gun looked like a cone shell that shot darts used abductor muscles to propel a dart lethally into a target. The gun was shaped like an oval melon with a handle at the end and a barrel exit at the front. The barrel was flexible; it could push out more than a bullet a time should the need arise. The hydrostatic shock from the bullet would render most unconscious, save for the occasional bigger than usual person. The darts would disintegrate once inside the victim, ensuring maximum transfer of kinetic energy. The standard issue for the captain was pistol, rifle, and anti-armour. Pistol was often a side arm for close quarters that could function also like a shot gun or a submachine gun. Rifles were for the battlefield. You can either spray or pray or aim down the sights for as far as a mile. The rifle could function like either a sniper rifle or an assault rifle or even a light machine gun. Anti-armour was rounds filled with glue that could coagulate machinery with moving parts rendering them immobile.

The captain was wearing a gray integrated suits that melded with his thoughts. If he aimed his rifle down the sights to engage a target further away, he would feel his way through by aiming on target which produced the strongest feeling. That way, one could fire without aiming. The suits would send signals to his brain via sensory, cybernetic feedback and once you get enough feelings, an image will appear in your head telling one what the suit is sensing via its sensors. A thick cord connects the suit from the back of the suit to the back of the helmet. One would enter this zone state and one’s perception of time would slow down in the instant you were locked on to your target. During what feels like seconds, happens over the course of a few moments. The suit was covered in chitinous fibers to protect from abrasions, cuts, or small arms fire. The suit also included an air tight helmet shaped like a medieval knight helmet with ample room for the face at the front that allowed the user to swim underwater for extended periods of time.

The air ship was shaped in the size of an oversized tick that has been feasting with a bloated belly full of blood; the entire ship curved outwards. Rather than having fans like one would expect, the airship uses abductor muscles on the side to contract air in its cavity and pushes the air backwards to propel the ship forward like a squid swimming freely at the bottom of the ocean. The whole ship ran on photosynthesis with power reserves enough to last for a year which is enough to outwait even the cloudiest of days or one could rise above the clouds to get some sunshine to power the ship. Besides, the airship was frequently flying above the clouds. Sunshine was abundant. The airship also posses power reserves to convert extra accumulated stored as fat. The ship was covered in a thin layer of carapace which made it impervious to small arms fire.

This ship was designed more for stealth than speed. The ship could fly below detectors, sneaking past anti-air. The ship could cloak itself rendering it invisible to the naked eye. Nobody knows how the stealth technology work as that is classified information. The one of many advantages the free world had over the North Koreans. The North Koreans had technology that were in line with their beliefs and attitudes. Brute force over ignorance. Brutally simplistic yet robust, reliable, effective, and cheap to manufacture. Their ideologies were not popular with many people, most live under their rule out of fear. Even for the advances in biotechnology, the hermit kingdom of the North Koreans is a place that have technology setting it back decades behind.

The airship was transporting a very important person out of the country. This girl was someone who was immune to the bioweapons the North Koreans was using. The bioweapon being genetically engineered viruses that were extremely infectious and lethal with most left disabled after exposure and dying from the inability of self care after exposure. Along with complications such as lung failure and necrosis, death was as swift as it was unpleasant. Being a country at war, there simply was not enough resources to help the sick let alone keep the disabled from dying. The North Koreans resorted to simply burning the dead to halt the spread of the virus even if it meant killing their own. The release of the virus backfiring on their own turf was not something the North Korean anticipated.

The virus mutates every so often much like the seasonal flu. The whole nation the captain has infiltrated is in lockdown with nobody daring to venture outside. The whole nation has been quarantined by other nations with the borders being closed to prevent further spread of said bioweapon. The surrounding nations would shoot on site at anyone attempting to cross the border. These people are essentially living inside a cage with no one entering or existing the nation.

Lucas, the captain of the ship, lived in an age where bioengineering was at its finest. Doctors were replaced in troves by bioengineers who could not only cure illnesses but prevent heritable illnesses such as Huntington’s disease. One quick trip to the clinic and all your problems were solved. Aging still existed. Law makers at the counsel of philosophers preserved the human experience by making sure no one would live forever. All technology and medicine to prolong lifespan was strictly outlawed. As it is the human experience to hand over the world to the next generation. We are merely borrowing the world from the next generation.

It was a fine time for humanity. Disease and illnesses were almost non existent. People neared their twilight years and sprinted and engaged in strenuous activities. People passed away, usually peacefully in their sleep unless a freak accident occurs. Food was plentiful. Plants bioengineered to grow without soil and minimum amount of water and fertilizer or even plants that produced their own fertilizer and pesticides. Hardy and resistant to drought. All that was necessary was to plant the seeds and watch the plants shoot up from the soil like a rocket into the sky.

Petroleum was none existent as photosynthesis was finally replicated in a lab in some remote corner of the world. Everything was biological. Everything was always living and breathing. Bioengineers would engineer crops to attract mosquitos to the fray or other pests humanity found annoying; all done while keeping the delicate balance of the ecosystem.

At a moment notice, Lucas focused his mind using the suit to ship link to maneuver the ship on an upright ascent into the clouds where the large clouds would cover the airship rendering it completely invisible. Transparent fuzzy edges were at times visible like hot air rising from the ground on a hot day. Why have we changed course? The girl asked.

I just detected two bogies on my radar. We are going further into the clouds to avoid being seen by them. The clouds were situated in a mountainous region of the land where rays of sunlight sneaked passed the clouds and pierced the steep valleys in between the mountains. The girl was being evacuated near the Chinese North Korean border. We will land here for a while. Lucas said as he maneuvered the ship into a nearby small village situate on top of one of the mountains. It was rather picturesque to see little houses surrounded by fences and rice paddies on top of a hill like a pie with holes in the middle for ventilation.

Upon landing, the ship opened its bottom to allow Lucas outside. The smell of burnt corpse littered the air. Looks like these folks did not survive the infection. They were all burnt alive to prevent the bioweapons the North Koreans were using from spreading. Lucas saw a pile of bodies being laid in a pile near the village center. A flash of white was visible from the dark charred corpses as the lips had been burnt off exposing pearly white teeth. The village was just a few buildings with farms stretching to the horizon. The girl was petrified with shock as the horrors of war was not her accustomed day to day routine. Lucas on the contrary was a battle-hardened veteran having seen all sorts of combat and the gruesome bits that came with war. Although Lucas had a warm demeanour, his icy cold eyes betrayed his veteran status. Judging from the dental work, this pile of bodies was an entire family from grand parents to children. They were related by their mom. The grandparents had a daughter who married outside the village. She and her husband had three children. They look like they are all somewhere between adolescent to childhood.

How are you not disturbed by this? The girl asked Lucas.

Oh, you get used to the atrocities of war after a while. War between the North Koreans and the South Koreans have dragged on for some time now. After enough times of seeing such things, you become numb to the sight of human suffering and killing. Maybe you can see by the unwavering expression that I have killed to. I did not get to fly this top-secret mission to escort you out of North Korea without an experienced resume. I have deployed many times as a special forces soldier before becoming a pilot to infiltrate into North Korean territory to collect information regarding their nuclear program before they abandoned it in favour of pursuing biotechnology.

I think I am about to be sick. The girl said as she puked head first into the ground.

We will wait here for maybe another hour until the North Korean fighters have passed over our vicinity. You should get back to the ship if all this bothers you.

Yeah, I think I will. I am going to help myself to a drink of water and maybe some food if I feel better. As the girl wandered back to the ship, Lucas lit up a cigar. Casually inspecting the dead bodies as if he has seen dead bodies hundreds of times. The girl went inside the airship and went straight to the back of the airship into the kitchen. The airship was divided into an upper level and a lower level. The upper level was full of military stuff primarily the bridge along with bedrooms, kitchen, bathrooms, and bridge. The bottom level was for storage. The entire upper and lower-level fit into the airship like a wafer in its packaging.

The girl took a glass from the cupboard which was located above the sink. She filled it up with water from the faucet and drank the water collected via condensation of the ship’s inner walls. All filtered and 100% pure. The water did not have any impurities. This water was not the hard water that clogged arteries with accumulations of mineral deposits which made hearing, and seeing or perceiving with the five-sense difficult for even the healthiest of individuals.

The supposed cure to clogged arteries was a diet consisting of additional plant proteins above the daily recommended protein intakes with extra salt to increase blood pressure. The extra protein and salt will acidify blood and slowly melt away the deposits like how oil and vinegar is combined to make salad dressing with the salt providing extra pressure to clean the deposits in the blood vessel like cleaning a dirty wall by soaking it in an acidic solution first then cleaning it with a pressure washer.

The girl felt a sense of relief as the calming soothing water fell down her throat. The water was so refreshing that it was enough to clear her mind of the worries and sick feelings in her stomach that manifested from the burnt corpses. Her nerves were once again strong again: she did not feel weak or fatigued from the weight of the situation. She immediately wondered what Lucas kept in his kitchen. Although it was supposed to be a short trip, there was still plenty of food packed on board. One to help ward of hunger and the other to keep up moral. The girl looked around the kitchen for food. She was left with many bags of food on the small round table enough to seat 4 maximum in the middle of the kitchen. In these large rectangular bags made from some kind of fiber that felt smooth to the touch one direction and was also providing grip when brushed in the other direction. One was labelled ration and the other labelled civilian. The rations were your typical meal ready to eat. Big portions that you would only have to eat once a day since you do not always have the time and would give you a little bit of constipation as you could not poop on the battlefield. The civilian bag on the contrary were filled with junk food and conveniences of the modern world. Popular items such as the banantaloupe was common in the bags. As were bags of chips and candy like chocolate bars such as wafers and caramel bars. The girl took a banantaloupe, peeled the fruit like a banana, and began munching on the fruit with great zeal and enthusiasm. Little orange droplets of cantaloupe flavoured juice began falling down her cheeks. She unpeeled the fruit completely leaving the peel in the garbage container under the sink designated for biodegradable packaging. Everything during this age of bioengineering was biodegradable. Space is a luxury few nations can now afford due to a growing population that was in part due to the longevity brought on by bioengineering.

Lucas this entire time could sense the girl’s where about through the biocybernetics link in his suit. A three-dimensional model was projected in his mind showing where the girl was at in red. At least he knows now that this girl is true to her words and is not rummaging though his private quarters or touching the gun that was locked away in the case. The ship was linked to Lucas’s mind and he could turn off or turn on any part of the ship with a thought. The ship was custom built for this mission: to escort this girl out of North Korean territory. It had all the amenities of a hotel room where you could cook your own meals on the top floor and a bay on the bottom level that harboured emergency escape vehicle which were a plane that was built for speed and a four-wheeled drive should the need ever arise to escape on land. The trip was supposed to be a short trip as they were flying low and slow to avoid detection by North Korean air forces.

Lucas bought out a small transparent rectangular screen to view sports. Sports in this age was played via neural link: time would slow down for the player should an opportunity arise much like the combat suit Lucas was wearing. The result was simply sport with more highlights both offensively and defensively. Lucas favourite sport was basketball. The perception of time slowing down meaning the even slightest of split seconds was an opportunity to score or block a shot. Of course, America with its grandiose capitalism had some of the biggest leagues in the world.

The players would be in a skin tight suit much akin to the ones found in the military. The suit except was lighter and barely weighed anything except for the light layer of skin that wrapped around the body. There was not a helmet except a link to the temples running from the back of the suit to the temple like an antenna with a flattened-out sphere at the end. The suit was more like a shirt and boxer briefs underwear then a full suit with bullet proof capabilities. For basketball purposes, the suits were tank top.

Soccer was the still the biggest sport in the world. In the free world where soccer was the dominant form of entertainment people would flock to the crowds to see star players penetrate defenses in the mere split seconds the suit allowed them to act. Star players would still get paid millions of dollars to play their sports. The suits were endorsed much like shoes by the players who made millions dollar endorsement deals from sponsoring the suits.

All of this was the will of the Followers who left a legacy of accomplishment behind in the world. The biggest plot twist to the Followers was not all the impact they had on the entertainment industry but instead they proved communism does not work. They made a very simple argument saying that the accumulations above the foundation dissipates to become the necessary structure to conduct matter and energy at a certain rate resonating with the power source. Communism on the contrary did not allow for advanced, sophisticated, or specific accumulation to build up and thus be released at the top as the foundation was at its most basic. The similarity in the natural world was down syndrome as the supply only eclipsed the demand at the most basic level which did not allow the afflicted to develop the unique shape that is a human face. That was what the Followers suggested why all people suffering from down syndrome has the same facial features. That the down syndrome facial feature is the fundamental face for all of humanity.

For linking the similarity between down syndrome and communism, the Followers received a Nobel Prize in economics. Many nations decided to abandon the pursuit of communism as an end goal of their economical system. Nations like China and Cuba began fully embracing capitalism with the markets becoming free from government interference. It was a truly bright time for humanity. Even though America was no longer the dominant world power, it now existed in peace with several other super powers as their people adopted similar attitudes towards existence. China and America became a united and like-minded super power against rogue states like North Korea.

Despite proving communism does not work, North Korea was still dissatisfied with the theories of modern economics. The Kim dynasty wanted to stay in power and communism was the best way to ensure they would stay in power. Kim illegally invested in life prolonging technologies to make sure his rule would reign supreme for the centuries to come. Whenever the world saw Kim Jong Un on TV he would not seem to age as the years go by. Though he did not become any slimmer due to his insatiable love of food. Rumors has it he would chow down a platter of cream puffs piled high like a small mountain. Life was good for Kim Jong Un, despite all the hate and sanctions he receives from now an united China and America.

Lucas walked around the ship to see if everything was intact. He inspected the rectangular air intake situated at the front of the ship near the bottom but to the side of the hulls linked to the abductors propelling the ship to see if anything was clogging the intake. He met-up with the girl in the kitchen. He opened a beer and looked at her. You know Laura, I miss the busy streets of Vancouver. Downtown Vancouver especially. I would have breakfast at Canada Place on the weekends, go grocery shopping, and catch a movie afterwards. By the time the movie was done, it would be mid-afternoon. I would go for a walk downtown afterwards and maybe eat poutine for dinner or have falafels. Unlike this desolate place where they burn their own people to prevent the spread of the bioweapon, they unleashed inwards, they do not even have a cure to this bioweapon they created. Really did not think ahead.

Laura was eager to get to know the captain Lucas a tad bit better. She listened intently while all together stopped eating her banataloupe. She asked Lucas Is it not expensive in Vancouver? A condo in Vancouver costs a million dollars. Even with the rise of biotechnology, there simply is not enough space to go around. Laura was a short girl with almond eyes. All this inquisition has made her wonder what Lucas was really like beneath the calm, battle-hardened exterior.

I make about close to six figs and that allows me to afford a mortgage in Burnaby for around 700k. It’s one bedroom, nothing glamorous like a house in Alberta. For a time I wish I lived in Edmonton. I like the cold too. The cold in Alberta is this dry cold, I am okay with that. I really like meatballs, I would get them every Sunday after going to Church with my friend Eric.

You are religious? Laura asked Lucas.

No, not quite. I was invited to go to church by Eric. Having nothing better to do, I obliged and went. These people were against magic of all sorts. They are truly a small slice of humanity. Mennonites to be specific.

So, you just went for the car rides and the baked goods they had at the end?

No, it was out of my friendship to Eric. I eventually stopped going.

So, what happened between your relationship with Eric?

I have not talked to him after I stopped going to church with him. He is old and I fear his mortal days are nearing an end. He believes he will go to heaven when he dies that living till his eighties is a long enough of a life. I at times think of him and wonder what will happen to the cabinet factory he owns.

Did you used to work for him?

Yes, that is how we met; I was an employee at his company for about a month. There was this guy called Dennis who was my manager in the shipping department who some would say have anger issues.

What happened?

I left because I thought my schizophrenia was getting the better of me all of this was way before I received treatment. I worked at a bivalve hatchery before joining the military to become a special forces soldier. I eventually received treatment after sometime. The cure to schizophrenia is not a quick tap and you are cured in a matter of weeks. The cure to schizophrenia was a parasite infection to alter your bone marrow and you would be out cold for a couple of months. Eventually after treatment, my motivation returned; I felt like anything was possible. I worked for some time more. Before I worked at the bivalve hatchery, I worked at a fish plant. My manager at the fish plant was a man covered in tattoos with his head shaved and tattoos all over the back of his head. He was one of the nicest men I have ever met. His name was Adrian. He told me that should I ever be back in Vancouver, I am welcomed back at the fish plant I used to work at. I eventually packed up the comfortable living to join the military. I left that life behind to pursue my hopes and dreams.

"Was the