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  © Copyright by Ernest Filak

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  HADES. THE REVOLUTION

  Ernest Filak

  Translated by Karolina Kwasik

  Hades. Revolution is the second volume of the Hadesian cycle, preceded by Hades. The First Steps. It’s a space opera, the story of Pavel Tsenre, a high school graduate, who is sent to the planet Hades as part of his school practice. From the very beginning he gets himself involved in a series of intrigues.

  Hades is a mine planet. Huge concerns fight for full control over its natural resources. Ordinary people are treated almost like slaves. The authority of distant Earth is purely illusory, and powerful corporations act with impunity. Trade unions lead their activities underground and trade unionists are treated like criminals. Finally, the situation becomes too aggravated and a revolution begins….

  Prologue

  The planetary system of Hades. Holovision studio of HHV channel.

  Only seconds remained before going on air. Lora Lock was fidgeting nervously and checking the way her legs were positioned. She knew she looked great. The make-up assistant kept perfecting her eye shadow with final touches. Lora checked whether her breasts were ideally exposed. Yes, everything worked just fine. The fabric of her dress would get transparent with time, and it was enough to make one delicate move to activate the pigment particles. The dress would start shining gold, drawing the viewers’ eyes. She had mastered this art to perfection. She didn’t have to show too much naked body like some starlets did, although she was already on the far edge of good taste. Today her great career was about to begin and she couldn’t mess it up.

  The assistant showed three fingers. She nodded. She was ready.

  Two fingers. She ran her tongue over her lips and her lip gloss shone with scarlet red.

  One finger. She took a deep breath.

  “Good evening everybody! I’m Lora Lock and today I’ll host the first all-system information channel especially for you. I have with me the President of Uroboros Industrial, Linda Collins, and her spokesman, Jim Petersen.”

  “Good evening,” the guests greeted the viewers.

  “Today we’re going to talk about the setup of the biggest operating company in the history of humankind – Uroboros Industrial. Madam President, how did that come about?”

  “There was a market need for it. Getting the mining and shipbuilding managements in one hand is the only way to prevent further price fluctuations. We all know what financial troubles the Earth Government is facing.”

  “Does it mean Uroboros is a cure for all the evil?”

  “That would be an overstatement. The Minister of Finance agreed to creating the company and thanks to that stabilizing the markets. Commodity prices are settled at pretty fixed values. This year’s bonds have all been sold out without problems and with very low rates, which bodes very well for the future.”

  The presenter turned to the spokesman. The slight movement towards the man made the golden shine on her dress cover up her almost bare nipples. Lora smiled flirtatiously at the viewers. She knew that at that very moment thousands of male hearts beat faster. Many of them hoped that next time her movement would be a little bit late.

  “Jim, how come you arrived on Hades? You worked in the InCorporation press office not long ago.”

  “Lora, honey, everybody who has a bit of common sense is already packing their bags to come here! We’re making the history of humankind here.”

  “Hades doesn’t look too good from space.”

  “It’s a diamond in the rough, which has an incredible inside. Uroboros Industrial guarantees great job opportunities and career prospects to everyone who comes here. We’re a stable and fast developing company. At the moment an average promotion time is three months, whereas on Earth it’s thirty-five years! If you are a competent person with an open mind, you can get promoted every three months. Show me another place in the universe where such a thing is possible. Unless of course you’re ready to join the Marine Corps and take part in fighting the separatists.”

  “That’s a rather radical notion.”

  “That’s why signing up with our company is a dream come true.”

  “Aren’t you exaggerating a bit? I heard that work on Hades involves a great risk.”

  “This used to be the case when the place was supervised by various companies looking for one-time gain,” the President again joined the discussion. “Uroboros Industrial has raised health and safety standards, and by incorporating other smaller companies we are enforcing these standards in the whole system.”

  “Not all companies operating on the planet expressed their willingness to abandon Hades and accept the eviction order.”

  “There are always those who will oppose any plan. We’re negotiating a compromise that is supposed to amicably solve the problem.”

  “What if it fails?”

  “It’s too early to speculate about that,” the spokesman interrupted.

  “No! Our company has no secrets,” Linda Collins protested. “The unprecedented pirate attack on Bio&Sonic clearly showed gaping holes in our security system. The Fleet made mistakes, and even if they can afford them, we, who value the good of ordinary workers, cannot. That’s why we have called for inter-systemic law and order forces.”

  “How large?”

  “Excuse me, Lora, but even though I’m the President of Uroboros, I don’t know much about these things. Any journalist interested in the numbers will get the information from our office. By the way, where did you get this dress? Maybe I should get myself one as well?”

  The cameramen focused on the presenter’s almost bare breasts. Engrossed in the conversation, she must have forgotten to move at the right time. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe she acted on purpose. Be that as it may, the first interview on HHV was bound to be replayed all over the universe. Lora Lock was a rising star, and nobody as yet was able to talk her into a naked photo shoot. In truth, nobody could afford it.

  “Oh, thank you,” the presenter twitched and the gold covered all the precious details. “As for the designer, let’s talk off air. I wouldn’t like to be fired on my first day for advertising.”

  “I would never sign such a dismissal,” the President of Uroboros eased her fears. “And how are you feeling? This place is totally different from the Earth.”

  “I was full of doubts before coming here, but they all turned out to be unfounded. I met many fantastic people. They were so good-hearted and patient that I can definitely encourage everyone. Come to Hades! You won’t regret it!”

  Chapter I

  Military Research Center. The border of the Eternal Twilight Zone.

  I’m sitting alone on the floor in the infirmary. I like these quiet moments of solitude. I keep thinking about certain events.

  “You know, Olga,” I turned to the woman enclosed in a hibernating capsule, “truth be told, this whole mess is really my fault. I could have lived peacefully on my home planet. I am sure I would have met a nice girl. We could have been taking long walks to watch the sunsets. They are fucking amazing on KV13. Travel agents organize special trips and there are people ready to pay good money for these incredible sights. I’m sure you’d like them too.

  “There was this girl in my school that I had a crush on. Maybe that could explain my jumped-up graduation paper. Maybe I was trying to impress her. There’s something to it for sure. But my folks are not without blame either. All my life I only heard what a fantastically gifted sister I had. It made me puke.” I sighed. “That’s why I got down to figuring out the new, efficient actuat
ors. How was I supposed to know they were made by InCorp? That’s the beauty of hindsight. And Ed – that one’s a wise ass too. Still, he ended up here with me. And he seemed so smooth-talking and well-connected. Yet he stuck his dick in the wrong hole and now he’s sorry for it. They sent us both here. As a punishment. I’m sure they’re using us at school as an example of total incompetence. And I’m fucking innocent! I graduated with distinction. It’s those bastards from InCorp that blackened me.”

  I can’t bear sitting down anymore so I get up and start pacing around the glass walls. The only built-up wall is lined with chambers for the seriously wounded who cannot be helped here and now. In one of them a marine private had been immersed in nitrox fluid. For the first couple of hours she was floating in it. Later it turned out that staying there didn’t guarantee safety. The fluid was frozen, and special blowers were set up to push oxygen into the crystallized mass. I wiped drops of condensation off the armored glass. In the dark maroon mass I could only see Olga’s silhouette.

  I couldn’t talk with her but nobody could stop me from talking to her. I sat down on the floor again. I leaned against the capsule. In its lower part worked various devices monitoring its valuable content. I could feel the warmth through my vest.

  “Fucking Hades! Your nightmare planet. A crazy miner’s dream. I don’t know how this planet came to be, but the Creator must have been having fun, or feeling very low. Maybe he also makes mistakes. What do you think?” I asked the frozen Marine. Of course, there was no answer.

  “Nothing? I’m not surprised. You’d rather not tease him. Given your state, you’d be better off not tempt fate.”

  Hades is a mine planet, where all the treasures are right there in front of you. No wonder it’s a tasty morsel for all the mining companies of humankind. I ended up here, together with Ed Watt, as a punishment. Right after arrival, still in the orbital station, we were treated like cattle. The corrupt local military, in agreement with the major local business sharks, ran a preliminary selection. For them we’re slave labor and we were treated almost like slaves. The authority of Earth doesn’t really reach that far into space. Here the only measure of success is money or connections. My buddy was lucky. He got a steady job in a refinery. But I shouldn’t complain either. I almost got into the hands of InCorp. Fortunately, at the eleventh hour, Lieutenant Kris Stone, from the Earth Marine Corps, arrived and offered me a job in a newly created research center. Having no other way out, I accepted the offer.

  It soon turned out that the scope of research is strictly connected to the topic of my graduation paper. I was getting into more trouble with InCorporation, the leading arms company. We were supposed to test their newest mech. Somebody in the headquarters wanted to know if it’s worth all this awful lot of money. I was slowly becoming familiar with the work conditions and people living on this inhospitable planet.

  The military base was leased from a small mining company called Bio&Sonic. Officially, I would remain their employee, and I had to sign a three-year contract. Hadesian years, let me add, which are longer than the standard Earth years.

  The concept of time was a completely different story here and was connected with many problems. Hades didn’t really have a fixed trajectory so every year, that is every turn around the central sun, was different: sometimes longer, sometimes shorter. It all depended on the speed and distance from the sun. In the closest position, which was called conjunction, the orbit and axis of rotation of the planet would shift. What followed was increased quakes and tectonic movements. One of the most terrifying phenomena was “the rain.” When Hades was especially close to the sun, the planet’s core would resonate and shoot huge amounts of its mass outside. These fragments would break through the crust and fly into space, destroying everything in their wake. The only hope was to take shelter in Pauli’s emergency capsules and wait praying not to be shot with a “drop.”

  The base of Bio&Sonic was situated in the zone of eternal twilight. After the most recent conjunction the zone moved and we could enjoy some sunlight. We didn’t see the disc of the sun itself, only some light in the southern sky. All the joy was shattered by the number of casualties of “rain.” On the planet there were two hundred and sixty-five, and three hundred and twenty on the orbit. The Fleet lost a few shield ships. The official number of casualties was never released to the public.

  Hades was definitely not a welcoming planet. The people who lived here did not constitute one nation. There was no talk of being a resident. Everybody was a laborer, subordinate to their company. They had to pay for everything, including air. People were on the verge of nervous breakdowns. I once came in contact with the Organization – an underground workers’ union. I helped rescue a young woman who was in hiding. What she was guilty of and how she managed to get to the Bio&Sonic base remained a mystery to me. I was sucked into the thing by a locksmith, Rob Villa, whose cousin was murdered in full view of the cameras. Rob and I did black market deals together. One of my official duties was to clear air filters. It soon turned out that the crystallized powder from them was used to make flares. It was also painful to discover that after the powder was distilled with the use of solvents it turned into a strong explosive. And that was the fact that kept my mouth shut. I didn’t really feel like maintaining contact with the Organization. To make matters worse, the Bio&Sonic base was attacked. It would have been treated like a pirate act, if it hadn’t been for the photos found on one of the assailants. They suggested that the real murderer was trying to hit the secret research project. My face was also there on one of the pictures. The container that I lived in burned after a bomb explosion. I survived only thanks to the fact that at that time I was enjoying myself in the company of two marine girls. One of them, Olga, was seriously wounded in her leg. It is under her hibernated body that I’m now sitting and thinking. I was lucky. Others weren’t.

  Mery Lonely was killed in a direct attack, and also the family of Igor Guzenko, our research supervisor, his wife and daughter. It was a terrible loss. I knew them personally. Never in my entire life had I been so upset by anything. Michael Lorenz was seriously beaten and he’s now being kept in a coma in the medical center of Bio&Sonic. Ivan Razun was being isolated. It’s not known what exactly the assailants had done to him, but his psyche couldn’t take it.

  “Hi there!” I saw Gina in the door of the infirmary.

  “Hi, Bogey,” I said.

  “What’s with the sad face? Have you been guarding the Sleeping Beauty? Don’t worry – she’s not going anywhere.” Gina, called Bogey by her friends, had an especially morbid sense of humor. She was even worse in action. She turned into fury on legs then.

  She came closer, checked the indicators of the medical equipment, sighed, and sat down next to me.

  “Come on, none of this is your fault. When are you finally going to get it?”

  “They didn’t teach me killing in high school. I have some moral issues with it,” I answered harshly.

  “You’d better hide it then. I saw the corporal. He was looking for you. When he sees you like that, I’m sure he’ll chase you around the obstacle course.”

  “I don’t care. He makes me spend my every free moment there anyway.”

  “Was it your first time?”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “About this fellow you popped with this antique. Why the hell do you carry this junk around?” She pointed to my trophy rifle leaning against the wall.

  “I feel a bit safer. The lieutenant didn’t give us anything better than this.”

  “Pavel, you jerk, a weapon gives you only a false feeling of safety. How many rounds of ammo have you got in it?”

  “Three,” I told her the truth.

  “You made it the last time because the attackers didn’t have good vests. A clean shot through the heart. Pure luck.”

  I shuddered.

  “You had more luck than brains. Next time aim at the neck, or even better the face, the nose especially.” Her instructions m
ade me nauseous. Gina took a small packet out of her pocket and handed it to me.

  “What is this?’

  “A present,” she muttered.

  I unwrapped the foil. I was holding a grey plastic box. When I moved the lid, I found bullets inside. I quickly counted: ten by twenty. I had two hundred rounds of ammunition.

  “Thanks Gina!”

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “Where did you get them from?”

  “You’d better now know. If somebody asks, you bought them on the black market,” she insisted.

  “Sure,” I put the valuable gift inside my vest.

  For a moment we sat in silence.

  “Gina?”

  “What?”

  “How old are you?”

  The marine private stroked her close-shaved head.

  “Nobody told you you shouldn’t ask women about their age, moron?”

  “I thought you were a marine, a killing machine for whom age is just a number in the files.”

  She burst out into a cheerful laughter. She grabbed my hair, pulled me to her side and hugged. There was nothing erotic about it – just the need to be close.

  “You’ve been watching too many movies. I’m twenty-five.”

  “You’re only four years older than me. You look older!” Only after I said it did I realize I blundered.

  “You know what? I’ll hit you in the ear for that,” she threatened. She must have been in a really good mood because my ear remained intact.

  “Where do you come from?”

  “I don’t remember. Besides, why do you even care?”

  “I care about you, I care about Olga and a couple of other people.”

  “I wouldn’t like to disappoint you, but if you think things will work out between you and Olga you are quite mistaken. Don’t get me wrong. It’s very nice of you to spend time around here, and every marine appreciates that. Even the corporal has eased up on you. After all of this, maybe even Olga will feel like a bit of fun, but don’t get your hopes high for a serious relationship.”