I Only Know What I Know

“Like I already s-said, We aren’t machines. If you’d just give me five minutes to expla- ow!” Avery hissed as another needle pierced his skin. He was grateful that the young girl had unbound his wrists. Yet the predicament he now found himself in contained all the situations he despised in one:

Restricted limbs? Check.

Cramped spaces? Check.

Loud noises? Check.

Needles? Triple Check.

“Geez!” Kazumi, running out of acceptable interrogation techniques, stamped in frustration. Granted, she’d only used one, and that ‘interrogation technique’ was a standard blood test. Her cheeks puffed at her inability to get the boy to talk. “You’re a stubborn one, ain’t ya? Mai got the other one talking in two seconds flat. What gives? Like, seriously.”

“My friend is special. Show him anything to do with the Union and he’ll tell you anything you want to know. He's a little one track minded that way.” Avery smiled to himself. He was very much enjoying role-playing someone who wasn't absolutely shitting their pants right now. He had hoped that teleporting away from Greenhaven was the start of something spontaneous and exciting. He would be damned if he was going to let this girl take that away from him.

“Ah! So, would you like a tour?”

“No.”

“Then what do you want?”

“A lump of cheddar cheese, a Union standard issue bolt pistol and a top hat.”

“Really?”

“No.”

“What can I do to get you to answer my question? Goodness me! The other one was so easy.”

Avery shrugged. “I'm just not interested in too many things. You're able to trick my friend because he's got a thing for all things ship or transmitter or turret. I, however, don't really know what I'm interested in, so at the moment all I really want is some fresh air and a bath. Could I have those?”

Kazumi eyed the boy quizzically. “Not interested in anything? What do you mean? Everyone has interests.”

“Well then, I guess I'm not really everyone. Unless you want me to count not being taken prisoner an interest. Would that help?”

“Nah,” Kazumi grinned. Gotta say, though, I kinda like your style.”

“Thank you?”

“Oh! You almost had it chief, do I detect my superior interrogation techniques finally working?” A blank stare from the boy was his only response. “Guess not. Look, all we need you to do is tell us what your plans are. Do that and you can go." Kazumi played with her pigtails nonchalantly, but Avery could tell that she was acting just as much as he was.

“I told you before, we had to run away. We had some trouble in our village and -”

“Stop lying. We know that the only people on the planet left thirteen years ago. We never saw anyone else.”

“Then you should know me, shouldn't you? If all the humans left, you should have records of me, but you don't. It seems like you're very good at your job, whatever that is. Don't you have people to scout, gather supplies?”

“Nah! We can just manufacture everything we need here.”

“What? How?”

Kazumi held back a chuckle. “3-D printers, duh.”

Now it was Avery's turn to get flustered. He noticed that he had begun to tug at his hair and quickly forced himself to stop. That stuff they showed them when they were captured was just to entice them into telling them what they knew. They didn't actually have 3-D printers, couldn't actually manufacture everything they needed. It was obviously a trick.

Wasn’t it?

“Okay, t-t-that’s it! You either tell me where and what your deal is, or I'm going to leave.”

“Yeah, good luck with that, babe. Scrawny little kid like you ain’t getting past me. I promise.”

Nearing the end of his rope, Avery immediately charged the girl. In the split second that he made contact with her, she used her shoulder to push him against the wall. It didn't hurt that much, she'd obviously been careful, but the sheer effect of him being overpowered by a girl much skinnier than him shocked him into silence. “You ready to talk now? You grumpy Gus? Oh, don’t make that face. I didn't hit you that hard!”

He had been beaten. Avery had to give himself some credit, the act lasted a lot longer than he expected it to, but common sense had prevailed. Besides, he owed nothing to the community that abandoned him.

“I lived in a village far away from here. Still on the same planet it looks like, but we must've always been too far away to reach each other. We live, I mean lived, off the land. We built our houses out of wood and bamboo. And only had the leftover Union technology for emergency support if necessary.”

Kazumi didn't detect any changes in heart rate or body chemistry. This boy was telling the truth, or he was very good at hiding it. She usually had a good read on people. Based on his body language and negative reaction to certain stimuli, she took a gamble.

“So these people you lived with, they’re not Saviours? You didn't live in a Dome?”

“I didn't even know they existed. We were always taught that the Union was evil, technology was dangerous and living off the land was the best thing we could do. We weren't allowed to leave a certain area. There were four villages before you got to the boundary, but you weren't allowed to go past a certain point. Having met you, I can understand why.”

Kazumi’s face softened. “So you’ve been living under a lot of rules, too?”

“Pretty much. I broke the biggest one when I found one of your robots in the basement of my house. Somehow, my dad had captured it, but I wanted it to be free. I could never agree with my dad on anything. He's a bit of an idiot.”

“That was you!? The bot said that, but we thought you'd just programmed it to trick us. Aw, man! I was wrong about you, wasn't I?”

Avery sighed. “I only know what I know.”

Kazumi heaved it deep sigh and pressed a button on a keypad she had with her. The door unlocked and the girl casually skipped out of the room before poking her head back in. “Well, come on then slowpoke, let me show you around! What’s your name by the way, I’m Kazumi”

“Avery, Avery Grove."

***

Avery didn't know which way to look. The glass dome glowed like a rainbow from every angle. Hundreds of people went about their business, some were just chatting on benches. Others were engaging in creative tasks. A cascade of colour enveloped his vision and he couldn't count the number of doors and passageways, each leading to new sections of the Dome. Pottery, music, sculpture, woodworking. It was all here. He was in awe of the relaxed nature of it all. Everyone was free to get on with whatever they wanted, and best of all, nobody got in anybody's way.

“T-T-This is amazing! Everything is so pretty, and everyone seems so… Happy. Can you do anything you want here?”

Kazumi’s prideful grin was wide. “In your free time, you can, yeah. It may look like everyone's having fun doing creative activities, and most of them are. You would be surprised to know that this is actually work.”

“No way! How does this count as a job? It must be so relaxing!”

“It is, well, most of the time. You still got to meet quota if you don't want the Elders coming down on you.”

“What do you mean?”

“This is the Utrecht Dome…In service of the Utrecht noble house… mid-level branch family of the Union, none of these ring any bells?”

As hard as he tried, Avery couldn't place the name. He knew he had heard it somewhere. It was on the tip of his tongue, but with the happenings of the past day or he could really think about was being safe. “What?”

Kazumi sat down and pulled up a chair, motioning Avery to sit. When he did, Kazumi showed him her datapad. The sheer amount of data branches made Avery dizzy.

“Okay, so, do you know anything about the Union? Anything at all?”

“I tried not to listen to my friend when he spoke about it, but he spoke about it a lot, so I know that it is a democracy and I know that lots of different species live there.”

“Okaaaay, not a lot. So basically, the Earth Union is made up of two galaxies. The Milky Way and Andromeda. Most of the species that are non-human have immigrated from across the universe. The only two native are the Ursa and Vinscari, talking bears and insects if you want to be simple, but don't, that's racist.”

“But why do the other species come to the Union specifically? Surely there are much more technologically advanced races out there? Why don't they just take over the Union? Or stay away from it?”

“Porn and gaming.”

“…What?”

“Dude, I'm being totally serious! You'd be surprised how many galactic species even consider the idea of sex for pleasure, It's not that many. And it may be true virtually all civilisations have forms of entertainment, but to be honest, most of them involve blood sports, and the ones that don't just engage in peaceful activities like yoga or fishing. You really are the first civilisation to make a game out of violence, it's actually quite impressive. I'm generalising, of course, but the thing about video games is true, they’re actually a big hit. ‘Video game diplomacy’ is half the reason you could join the Galactic Council.”

“So we got to join the Council because of laziness and degeneracy? Cool, but you still haven't told me about how it works.”

"The Union? Right, so you are correct when you say that it is a democracy, but there's more to it than that."

“Oh yeah?"

“Basically. The Prime Minister can only come from the noble families that first settled space for Earth one thousand years ago. Naturally, you had a head start on economics because the people that left your planet for space were all business people. The heads of those businesses formed a government and then, wanting even more power, noble families. The family names stem from the place the ship launched from. So, for example, the Washington family handles the military, the London family handles economics…”

“You say these names like I understand any of them.”

“Sorry, it's been awhile since I've had to tell anybody this. Most people just know. So anyway, you have the main noble families which launched from the capital ships, and then you have the smaller city ships that launched later. One of them, launched out of Utrecht in Holland, contained the family members of the Utrecht house. They are primarily a merchant family and they have a taste for fine art. Which is why we do what we do.”

“Yeah, I’m still not following.”

Kazumi rolled her eyes. “Main families, capital cities, handle main functions of government and only one of these can be Prime Minister. Sub families, mostly active in the world of business or creative industries, smaller city ships built with the help of private business.”

“I meant, what is the art for?"

“Whatever you want it to be? I think that’s the dumbest question you’ve asked today, dude!”

Avery's heart skipped. He must've been dreaming. He had thought about a place like this ever since he was a child. A place where people can truly be free to pursue whatever they want, not to be tied down to family or duty. What he could see here, among the brightly coloured artwork and the smiling faces of the people, was true freedom. He felt the facade that he had kept up for the sake of survival disappear. He had no need for that now.

“D-d-do you think that I could try something?”

Kazumi beamed. “You mean like a craft? Sure! Man, everyone’s gonna flip if they get to work alongside a Saviour.”

I told you, I’m not a -”

“Whatever, Avery Grove. Just come on!”

As Avery watched Kazumi disappear down the hall, his entire body relaxed. Finally, he was safe and, with a little patience and a lot of luck, he hoped he had finally found a place he could belong.

He followed after her. His world feeling a lot brighter.