A Kingdom of Desolation
Imagine an immense wasteland as far as the eye can see, stretching in all directions. The air is thick with what appears to be fog but if you were to breathe in your lungs would liquify and your veins would calcify. There is no life here— crumbling buildings dot the skyline, with the immense iron skeletons of skyscrapers jutting from their hollow corpses. The earth is flat until it meets a black sea, thick as oil and twice as dark. What you might have mistaken for sand or dirt is ash. In the distance, you can see a faint brown glow rising on the horizon. You realise it is the sun, reduced to a stain against the grey sky.
This is Earth 1, home of the geniuses of our species. Once it supported life but now the only thing that speaks on the planet is the fading echo of the last transmission sent from the surface— a child, crying out for help that will never come. This transmission has run for a thousand years— we’re all taught what happened there. Yet we keep repeating our past mistakes!
There was a major disaster at Tarkina Mine in deep space today, spilling thousands of unfiltered chemicals into the atmospheres of twelve planets. Seven of these planets create 76% of all food for the systems in the Galactic Federation. The Federation knew the risk of continuing drilling in an area deemed “unstable” but they chose to put their money before the good of their people, yet again. The reported death toll on these planets continues to rise as more planets are effected. The spill is not yet contained and all citizens in quadrant 12 are advised to stay inside with the doors sealed.
Several cruisers have been lost in transit as well, one carrying 300 patients from a health centre on Tarkina’s moon. We at the Space Rock apologise for the harsh tone of this piece, but we are overwhelmed by this senseless tragedy and by the negligence and carelessness of a government that values coin over living beings.