The Great Divide

BEEP! BEEP! The sound of my alarm ringed in my ears. I slowly climbed out of my rock-hard bed. It was Christmas day, but it was impossible to tell. There was no tree, no snow, nothing to give the slightest clue that it was the holidays. Well, in real life at least. Unfortunately, for the last ten years I’ve been living on the spaceship, the “Spatium Regem” (The King of Space). Life on this ship has been nothing short of dreadful.

Myself, and one million other humans, were lucky enough to get onto this ship after escaping the utter destruction of the Nexus 3-F, the most realistic android ever created by humans in 2150. The android was everything a human was, except that it was made of circuits and wires. At first, humans and the Nexus 3-F had gotten along, until the androids began to see how humans were a pest to earth. They sought to rid the Earth of humans and by the end of 2164, there was only 12 million humans left on the planet. Luckily, the United States military was able to build a spacecraft for the surviving humans in the US. My family had gotten the news via radio transmission in our bunker, which we had been in shelter for 3 years. I will never forget what it was like to see my beloved planet one last time as we rocketed into space, searching for refuge.

Life on the Spatium Regem isn’t exactly luxurious. Because the ship has over 1 million residents, space is extremely limited. Each person is assigned to a small room that is 10 feet by 10 feet. The essentials for life are in each room: a toilet, a sink, a water bucket used for washing ourselves,a bed, a desk, and a computer hooked up to our virtual reality pod. As most of the ship was made up of these prison-like cells, there wasn’t much to do besides use the computer. If you do not use your computer, you are considered a madman.

Our computers are the last thing we have that make us feel humans. With the invention of the finest virtual reality back in 2028, we are able to do anything we want in our tiny compartments. It is how we doing everything. From communicating to playing sports, to even eating, in which the daily pink pill we are given everyday is programmed to be whatever we want to eat. For me, the virtual reality pod has somewhat eased the pain of leaving Earth, but I still miss actually chewing food in my mouth and hugging my mom and dad who I haven’t seen in real life for 3 years. Back on Earth, my dad was an engineer for the company who made this exact ship, while my my mom stayed home looking after me. They always wanted the best for me and our bond was unlike any other. There was nothing more that I wanted than to return to how life used to be. I thought about saving up my pink pills and searching for them, but realized it would be pointless. The ship is far too vast for me to travel all the way to their pod and survive.

Most people stick to their room, unless they die. When someone dies aboard the ship, the body disposer assigned to their section, in my case, Jedrick, a beefy, middle aged man with black hair and a ponytail, flies to their room in a tiny pod-like ship that allows them to travel the entire Spatium Regem at high speeds. They then take the body to the end of the ship where it is burned to ashes and released into space. I always think about what it would be like to steal his pod and see the rest of the ship, but I know the consequences would be very grave.

II

After a fun time skydiving with my parent’s, we headed home in our hovercraft. Dad was talking to mom, when suddenly he told me something that would change everything I knew about this place,

“Son, if I tell you this, will you promise not to mention it to anybody, including your friends?” he asked.

“Tell me what?” I asked in a very confused manner.

“Do you remember when I was part of the team that designed this ship?”.

“Yes, of course. Why?”.

“Well, when we were designing the ship, there was a part different from the rest: the front. It was made for who the world leaders believed were the most important people, the aristocrats, anyone who was worth over two hundred billion dollars. In the front of the ship, virtual reality isn’t needed and there is plenty of room. It is like a paradise in space”. My mouth was gaping wide open. What he had just told me left me in disbelief.

“Why is no one else but you aware of this dad?” I asked frantically.

“Well, isn’t it obvious? The people at the front of the ship don’t care about you, me, or anyone who doesn’t have a big dollar sign next to their name; and honestly, I think they are afraid of an uprising”.

Suddenly, I heard a slam on the door next to me. I took off my headset and got up out of my virtual reality pod. I quietly walked over to the door to my room and slowly slid open the slit in the door so I could a glance at what was happening. Jedrick was attempting to get into the room next to me, but it wouldn’t budge. I shut the slit in the door and walked quickly over to my bed. This was a chance I may never get again. The likelihood of Jedrick showing up near my room again was slim to none. That thought that I had always suddenly came back to my mind. If I was able to steal Jedrick’s pod, I could uncover secrets that no one else on this ship would ever know. However, if Jedrick caught me, my fate was certainly death. My heart was racing, sweat was streaming down my face. I went back to look again. Jedrick continued to slam the door, until crashed open. This was my cue to make a move. I slowly opened my door, crept outside and shut it. Then with all my energy, I sprinted and jumped into Jedrick’s pod. Jedrick was leaving the room with a body in his arms when he saw me in his pod. I was trying to find the key that could start the pod. My hands were shaking, now my heart felt as if it were about to explode. I looked over to Jedrick again and was surprised to see him with a smirk on his face. He dropped the body. Then he reached for his pocket. While sniggering, Jedrick dangled the key with his hand in attempt to taunt me. I thought I was a sitting duck, until I remembered why I was lucky to have a dad that engineers ships. I smiled back at Jedrick who was now confused and started to run towards the pod. I looked at the dashboard, looked for what would bring me to safety. With time running out, my eyes caught the all important key pad which acted like a master control for and started ignition. I was free. At least that is what I thought.

Just as I began to fly away, Jedrick jumped and grabbed onto the pod. He was dangling on the back of the tiny ship. I knew that there was only one way that he was going to fall off. I put my foot down and sent the pod into overdrive. The pod was traveling faster and faster, the little cells started to look like a blur as we whizzed by them. Jedrick began to climb up the pod; I needed to get this ship to top speed or I certainly wouldn’t live through the end of this. Jedrick kept climbing, until he was on top of it. He clinched both sides of the pod with all of his might. He then looked at me through the glass roof and started banging on it. Once again, fear had filled my body, the glass covering started to crack. Just as Jedrick was about to bang the glass again, I had hit top speed. Then, I slammed my foot as hard as I could onto to the break. Jedrick flung forward off of the pod and fell hundreds of stories of cells to his eventual death.

“Haha, take that sucker”, I said. I exhaled. Now that Jedrick was gone, I set out for the front of the ship.

III

After three hours of aimlessly flying forwards, I thought I was never going to reach the front, but then the last of the cells stopped and in front of me was a giant wall. Was that it? How was I supposed to get past it? I scanned the wall, looking for any sight of an opening, but there wasn’t any. I decided that my only other option was to fly up to the wall. As I started to fly closer and closer to the wall, it became more and more translucent. I could to see through the wall. Suddenly, the wall slowly started to disappear until it was completely gone. All I saw was blackness, but I decided to carry on. After a couple minutes of flying in complete darkness I saw a light ahead. What I saw next made me feel sick. As I flew into the front of the ship, I saw what really looked like “paradise in space”. People were laughing and playing on a beach, drinking wine in beach chairs and playing beach volleyball. Instead of a gloomy, dark, and lonely spaceship, I felt like I was in the Bahamas. It was the complete opposite of the life at the back of the ship. How could these people make us live like prisoners and not feel any sort of guilt while they live this luxurious life at a resort?

I decided to land the pod behind this enormous hedge of a naked man. It looked like a grassy version of those sculptures in museums that I visited when I was younger. As I got out, I inhaled the cool, beachy air. It was by far the greatest feeling I have experienced on this ship. It felt like home. Because I looked so out of place with my ragged clothes, I snuck into a villa not too far from where I landed and put on a nice yellow polo and some khaki shorts. I also grabbed some sunglasses for some added intrigue. I felt so cool, like an undercover spy on a daunting mission.

As I hadn’t tasted a real drink in what has felt like an eternity, I decided to go over to the beach bar and order a drink. As I was undercover, I did what any cool, kickass british secret agent would do,

“One medium dry martini, lemon peel please. Shaken, not stirred”. The bartender slid the martini across the table. Ahhhh. I was in paradise. All I needed now was a very attractive lady and I really could be James Bond; and to my surprise, a very attractive lady sat in the stool right besides mine. She had wavy dark blonde hair, eyes as blue as the sea besides us, and a face that made every man’s head at the bar make a subtle turn.

“Have I seen you before? My names Jude by the way”

“Nice to meet you Jude. I’m not sure if have met you before. I don’t talk to people much though.” I said trying to sway her from figuring out who I was.

After a little bit of small talk, she asked me if I wanted to go get dinner at this luxurious restaurant by the water and without even hesitating I agreed. It had not occurred to me that this might have been a bad idea until I realized where I was. I was a poor man compared to this woman. I would have to lie to her and hope she didn’t realize who I was if I was going to stay undercover. Luckily, for me I must have been a pretty good liar because she didn’t suspect a thing.

“So how did your dad make his money?” she asked suddenly.

“What do you mean?” I said. My heart started to beat a little faster.

“What do I mean? Everyone on this ship that is young is the son or daughter of some wealthy, influential person. So what did your dad do?” She was really interrogating me. She looked at me with an uneasy stare. In my mind, I was praying that she did not know what I was up to. After this edgy staredown, I told her the most believable rich kid background story I could think of. I told her my dad started his own company, it grew exponentially, then he sold it for billions, etc. Surprisingly, she bought it, at least, that’s what I thought.

When we were done talking about what food to order and our history, she asked me if I heard about the big news, to which I shook my head no. She informed me that the front of the ship was going to be disconnected from the rest of it in a few days because the it was taking up far too much fuel and energy if they were going to make it to the new planet.

“What planet?” I asked her.

“Polaris silly! How have you not heard of this? This is the entire reason we are on the ship in the first place, to find a new home!” she giggled, “Those dirty peasants on the filthy part of the ship deserve to die anyway, serves them right” she said with a grin on her face. I couldn’t believe it. I wanted to scream as loud as I could and spit all of her face but I had to keep cover. I told the girl that the dinner was lovely, but that I had to go. She looked at me as I got up and began to leave. Suddenly, I felt her hand wrap around my arm, squeezing it very tightly. She started to drag me outside. Shoot. My cover was blown for sure. Life had served me a good twenty-two years I thought. When we got outside, the sun was almost hidden under the horizon. She brought me to the edge of a long, wooden dock on the water and told me to sit.

“Look,” she said, “I know who you are.”

“I---”

“It’s ok, I’m from the back of the ship too” she interrupted. This day just kept getting crazier and crazier I thought to myself.

“Then why would you say those horrible things about us?” I asked.

“How else was I supposed to tell if you were from the back of the ship? Your reaction was what told me.” I couldn’t believe another person like me was here too. “Look, I saw you fly in. Luckily, I was the only one. Anyways, now that I know who you are. I would like you to meet some of my friends” she said. A big smile emerged from her face.

On our way back to Jedrick’s pod, I noticed a group of fifty people standing around it. I didn’t know what to do until they spotted me and signaled me to come over.

“Hello my friend! Don’t be shy, we are just like you. My name is Conor” he outreached his hand towards me. I shook it firmly.

“Like you, we all stole a pod from a body disposer and found our way to the front of the ship” he said with a chuckle. “The body disposers are androids you see. So if something goes wrong, say that get thrown off their pod into a black abyss of cells, a new one is created here and dispatched”.

“How did you know about the front of the ship?” I asked.

“We got lucky. My friend James here decided to just drive the entire ship, see if there was anything new and he found it. Lucky, huh? Look, we need a large group, as many people as we can get to help us get to take this place over and stop the front of the ship from disconnecting. You in?”

It took me a minute to think.

“How are we going to fight them? I haven’t seen any weapons, guns at all during my time on this ship”, I said.

Conor went over to his pod that he landed next to mine and opened the trunk. Every kind of gun imaginable was stuffed into his truck. “The poor rich people trusted us too much, let us have access to their weapon supply. We got another forty something pods filled just like this. All we need is the people. All we need you to do is help these guys transport people willing to fight across the wall and we can save the millions of people on this ship”.

And without another thought tracing my mind, I replied, “Let’s do it!”.

“That’s the spirit my friend!” Conor was ecstatic. Jude came over to me and gave a sharp kiss on the cheek. For once, in the many years that I have been on this ship, I was truly happy. Not only because I was able to embrace other people, but because of something more important of that. It was time for the uprising to begin.