Space Cowboy

Contains themes of inexplicit gore, substance abuse, and mentions of self-harm.

Contract Day; the day that most people looked forward to. An interruption to my mundane life, living on this half-dead rock, hurtling through space. I huffed a deep breath through my nose trying to calm my climbing nerves.

Our whole lives lead up to this moment. From birth we were accompanied by an Observer. It was their job to research us; analyzing our intelligence, interests, physical and technical abilities. With the data they collected, Contracts could be created.

A Contract was your entire existence. It determined your livelihood, your class status, your love; even the day you die was etched in.

It was unknown how the value of a Contract was calculated. Sometimes kind and honest people were offered the worst ones, while those who were vicious and selfish basically hit the jackpot. Because the criteria was unknown, people often did their best to get on the Observer's good side in hopes of getting a decent offer.

Before, you could take your chances and remain a Natural, signing a waiver to relinquish any potential Contract benefits without ever knowing what they are, and living life according to your own will. Those people didn’t even bother to attend a Signing. I would’ve preferred to be like that too, except that last year, the law changed to outlaw Naturals. The government cited it as leading to too many unproductive and non-contributing members of society. Outlawing them would bring us closer to a state of harmony, says the newspaper.

There were also those few who attended but refused their Contract, and were exiled to the Lower City. The Unsigned often succumbed to a horrid fate there. Either fighting amongst themselves over the scarce resources or falling ill to Mutation.

In the Lower City, waste lined the streets and infectious vermin festered in droves. People would fall ill from ingesting the tainted flesh and occasionally Mutated into goo-dripping, braindead creatures. They weren’t violent or bothersome, just really gross and apparently the goop had adverse reactions on the living. Some said it was a hell of a psychedelic.

That being said, the City was overrun with grackheads hallucinating.

At last year’s Signing, a guy had been offered a Contract giving him a job as a high paying athlete. The problem was that it came with just five years to live and a painful death. The man decided to take his chances in the City. Three days later the remains of his corpse were registered. He was cannibalized by some of the slime suckers tripping balls.

Basically, if you got a shit offer, you were better off killing yourself. At least then you’d go on your own terms.

“Silence.” A calm voice ordered over the microphone. The man who stood at the front of the pavilion was tall and plain looking. His short brown hair was combed neatly to the side and his unremarkable face was set into a pleasant, yet eerie smile.

A hush fell over the crowded room, and suddenly it was so quiet only breathing could be heard. “Today is the day you gain purpose. We have been watching you all very closely, and are certain the offers ahead will suit society well. By participating in the Signing, you will become what you were meant to be.”

The taste of bile rose in my throat. So this was it. In a few minutes my decision would change everything.

“Please assemble in single file lines in front of an Assistant’s desk ; groups of 10 please.” The man looked across the sea of people, and for just a moment, it seemed his gaze focused on me.

There were at least 300 people in attendance. Most were my age, a bunch of 20 year olds who were eligible to Sign. A few were older, though. These were the people who held onto old beliefs until the law forced them to do otherwise. Last year was also when they passed the bill stating all citizens needed to participate in the signing at the age of 20. All those who had been Natural were now forced to join in or be sent to the Lower City immediately.

We all sorted ourselves into neat, 10 person deep lines and waited for the staff to call each person at the front. Assistants were the lowest rank in office; they were glorified servants to the Observers, and basically carried out any and all tasks assigned to them.

“Let the Signing commence!” Ordered the man. With that, the staff members called for the head of each line. One by one, cheers of victory and cries of anguish erupted in the air.

My place at the back of the line crept closer to the front, much faster than I would’ve expected. The staff members were trained to explain the conditions of the Contracts so that we understood clearly what we would be gaining or giving up.

To my right, a middle-aged woman fell to her knees in shock. Her husband apparently signed his Contract, and in the offer, it determined he would be rich and married to another woman. That’s what I could understand between the sobbing and screaming. In a heartbeat he threw away their entire lives with little thought, and a swift scribble of his pen.

On my left was a girl from school that I knew. She was the oldest of 12 and was the sole provider for her younger siblings. Unfortunately her parents had passed from goo overdose. They lost their minds and ended up on a long walk off a short cliff.

She was weeping too; tears of joy I presume from the jumping and squealing as she clung tightly to her Contract. It was nice that some people would have a burden lifted today.

Before I could look around further, my turn came.

“Next.” Called a chipper voice.

The man before me was unlike any other staff member I’d seen before. His hair was bright green, and his smile actually reached his eyes. I approached with caution. This was it.

I reached to pick up the pen and his hand shot out to stop mine. Confused and suspicious, I looked up into his misty blue eyes and furrowed my brow.

“Not yet. We gotta read it and make sure it’s what you want.” His voice was warm but firm.

“What does it matter? What does any of this matter when either way, my fate is decided by someone else?!” I snapped. My chest heaved and I huffed a bitter laugh.

Ignoring my outburst,the man picked up my offer. A low whistle sang from his lips in an appreciative tone. “You got it pretty good I’d say. Looks like 68 more years ahead, a big house in a nice neighborhood AND they’re offering a position on the inside.”

At that I snatched the paper from him to look for myself. As he said, it was all right there. Death Day was set as a week before my 89th birthday, a house address was listed for one of the top housing developments, and right below that for career it said-

“An Observer?!” I couldn’t contain my shock. They were basically the top of the chain; the salary was so high that money would never be an issue. My stomach turned as I toyed with the idea. It wasn’t a bad setup at all. I could live comfortably, and though the work was questionable, it didn’t seem hard.

Still though, could I be happy going so against my personal beliefs?

Before I could answer, the man spoke again.

“It doesn’t suit you.”

The crease between my brows deepened with my annoyance.

“What?” I asked as evenly as I could.

“It doesn’t suit you. You seem like the type that finds the suits stuffy. In my humble opinion, you seem like a wild, uncaged kinda girl. Like an old-fashioned cowboy, riding freely the horse of righteousness instead of submitting to the shackles of the system” he said wondrously, while stroking an imaginary beard at his chin.

I stared dumbfounded at the man. Was he just messing with me, or did I really come across that way?

Before I could ask, the man gently placed down a second piece of paper. It was plain and had a set of numbers listed in the middle.

“This here is a ticket for a third option. If you’re interested, I’ll take you there myself. The catch is, though, you can’t sign that Contract.”

I stood there, mouth agape. What in the cosmos was going on?!

At the edge of the once again forming crowd, the normally unassuming Observer could be seen cutting a sharp line through. He towered over the masses and his mouth was set in a barely concealed snarl.

He was probably less than a minute away. On the other hand, the green-haired man seemed to smile more smugly with each step the Observer took. “Tick. Tock.”

Without much thought, I grabbed the paper and managed to stuff it in my pocket just as the Observer closed in on the desk booth.

“It seems you’re taking awhile to make a decision; is there a problem with the offer we gave you?” The Observer asked pointedly. His brow was furrowed in irritation, probably from the civilian before him not groveling on the ground with gratitude from said offer.

“I was just thinking it through.” I replied, calmly.

An indignant scoff escaped the man’s sneering lips as he looked me up and down with sincere disbelief, “What is there to think about? The most crucial and honorable job in our society isn’t enough?”

I couldn’t help but to clench my fist around the paper in my pocket. What was wrong with these people? It was far from honorable what they did. They got to determine a person's worth and purpose, and for whose design was it for? What was the purpose of life if it was dictated by someone else’s determination?

It made me sick.

“Apologies; you’re so right! What is there to think about?!” I exclaimed dramatically. Before the Observer could finish rolling his eyes, I had the Contract in my hands and was ripping it down the middle.

The Observer’s mouth hung agape as the shredded pieces multiplied and fluttered to the ground. To my left, the green-haired Assistant’s eyes danced with an unbridled glee as he took in our scene.

“GET HER OUT OF MY SIGHT! TAKE HER TO THE LOWER CITY AT ONCE!” screamed the fuming Observer.

Without missing a beat, the Assistant had moved around the booth to envelope my wrists in his grip. Before I could react, the cold zap of his electro cuffs ran along my skin as they snapped into place. The Assistant gently, yet firmly guided me to a seat inside a waiting hovership and we were off instantaneously.

Within five minutes we were in the atmosphere. To be at level with the horizon was incredible. The light from the Suns beamed down and refracted off the different particles, creating a stunning display of colors. In the approaching distance, the colors seemed to intensify into deeper shades of red-orange swirls, pink and purple clouds, and blue-green edges.

The beauty was astounding, especially as it wasn’t something you could see from inside the manufactured layers of the Upper City’s aerosphere.

Just below the ship, was an enormous asteroid. On the surface, piles of junk and debris could be seen lining dirt pathways and small patches of what appeared to be water bubbled suspiciously.

“It started as an experiment, you know. After the 5th World War when resources were tainted and limited, space exploration became the new frontier once again. The government was funded by the 1% to find a suitable alternative in case things got too bad. With the development of the Contract System, it was easy for them to manipulate resource distribution and so they ended up not needing to flee.”

As the Assistant went on, I felt my blood boil and chill over this information.

“Still, they thought it was a waste to not utilize the research opportunity, so they selected a group of society’s dregs to test run survival off the bare minimum. Turns out it was more so an entertainment exploit than a real study. After the first few rounds of people began to die off, the Higher Ups ordered the release of Goo into some of the watering holes. Eventually the contaminated wells dried up, but not before infection spread. The trash that was constantly disposed of in the Lower City was riddled with vermin. You already know what happened after that.”

The Assistant’s eyes grew cold and faraway in the rearview mirror. His jaw clenched slightly as he continued. “It wasn’t enough to make them sick. Once starving people started eating the tainted meat, the High Ups wanted to see the difference between ingested consumption vs total absorption.”

The pit of my stomach trembled with fear and disgust at what I knew was coming next.

“Others were injected in small, controlled increments with pure Goo. As the injections became regular, the brain function of the recipient slowly decreased to zero. In that time frame, a number of experiments were conducted on the recipient to see how much cognitive and physical function they maintained. Apparently the goo had been developed for war. A serum that could make the enemy mindless yet suggestible. They even went as far as to see if the effects would extend to a second generation via DNA.”

The ghost of a smile danced across his lips as those weary eyes made contact with mine. “Luckily for me, the only thing that seemed to pass was my color palette.” He finished with a wry laugh.

“So even out here, everything is by design.” I whispered, horrified at the realization.

His gaze softened as he took me in. “Pretty much, but there’s a silver lining.” The ship shook slightly as we landed on the surface. Upon stepping foot into the barren land, the restraints fizzled into nothing.

“Down here, they don’t watch as closely.” Before I could react, he grabbed my hand and we were running.

The piles of trash gave way to grassy patches, and then wildflowers. Beyond the flowers was a large pile of scrap metal, and in the middle of that pile sat another hovership. This one was much smaller and most definitely holding on for dear life.

“Bessie’s sturdier than she looks.” he answered before I could ask. He pulled me up into the hidden ship and closed the door. “Remember when I said there was a third option?”

Without further notice, he started up the ship and, to my surprise, we began to lift off the surface once more. This time, we skated along the downward orbital current to the dark side of the asteroid.

“Like I said, down here we aren’t watched as closely. The Higher Ups don’t give a damn if the people live or die, and they’ve run their experiments for long enough that they no longer find it interesting. As far as they’re concerned, once you’re down here, it’s the Wild West. Every man for himself.”

All around us, stars glittered in a rainbow of iridescent colors.

Against the pitch black of space they were dazzling; I understood why they called it being starstruck.

I turned from the window to face my escort, only to find him looking at me already.

“You know, I chose you because you could see what the others couldn’t. You feel what they don’t feel. It’s the reason the Observers wanted to recruit you. They hoped keeping you under a close, watchful eye would snuff out that rebellious spirit.”

At the mention of them, my hand instantly went to my pocket for the paper. “What was that code you’d written down anyway?” I asked.

With a mischievous grin, he turned back to the wheel. “Nothing. I just needed to give you a reason to come.”

Somehow it was the least surprising detail of the day.

“You see, in the City we make our own rules. We live life based on our own decisions and actions. Even being exiled out here, we keep alive that fire of rebellion because not even the cold vacuum of space can snuff out what lights our souls. Everyone in the City is just waiting for the day we find our paradise. I recognized that same longing in you at the Signing.”

The ship had stopped its descent and now hovered in the center of the asteroid bottom. A push of a button had us slowly but surely moving upward.

We were inside the asteroid, and it was beautiful. Walls glittered with crystals of different hue and shape. People milled about happily, playing games or enjoying conversation. It was like nothing I’d seen before. The ease at which people conducted themselves was just so normal.

I couldn’t help the tears that welled in my eyes. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is. Which is why I needed your help.” That got my attention.

“The City’s running out of room, and sooner rather than later, the Uppers might catch a view on what’s going on here. Because of that, we’ve been searching for a place that we could settle on.”

I couldn’t hide the surprise that gave me; my eyes widened as I took in what he meant.

Basically, they were trying to beat the Uppers at their own game by finding a new, sustainable planet to live on first.

Space code explicitly states finders keepers was law of any land.

“I was hoping you’d join me on my exploration to find it?”

Considering all the things I’d experienced in the short time of meeting this man, I figured it couldn’t hurt to see how far I could go.

“I suppose I’m down for a ride.”

A grin as dazzling as the stars we saw earlier burst onto his face, “Buckle up, Space Cowboy.”

Fin