[19] sometimes not knowing is better.

178 48 151
                                    

Beltan News: In Goldhand, the sexy vixen and reigning lingerie mixed martial arts champion, Janice Poundcake, recorded her first loss against the beginner, Sei Hei. Sei had been talking smack to Janice on Flyer for over a year before the champion agreed to a non-title match. The rookie backed her words when she said she was going to knock out Janice in round one.

"The Council has been paying the Venus government millions of credits each month to allow The Forgotten Nuns to own Coupon City and run their organ trafficking business

Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.

"The Council has been paying the Venus government millions of credits each month to allow The Forgotten Nuns to own Coupon City and run their organ trafficking business. I have all the receipts and off-planet bank accounts," Wednesday said through the internet cube's speakers.

"Wow," Victoria said. She had her hands on her head while sitting next to Wolf. "If that's how you're starting, I wonder how crazy this gets."

"It gets crazier."

Wednesday continued. "In an official sense, purification means turning people into cyborgs. But that is not what's happening here. The Forgotten Nuns don't turn you into cyborgs. When you arrive at the entrance gate and give out your I.D., the nun copies your appearance and the Forgotten Nuns create a machine that looks like you before transferring your edited consciousness into it. It's not a clone, per se. They call it a Golem—a shapeshifting alien machine capable of holding human consciousness. It's more advanced than a sleeve. And the craziest part? The Forgotten Nuns control golems through a special device."

A silver metallic crown with thousands of small antennas around it appeared on the screen. "They call this device Jesus Peace, developed by Sofia Augusto to fight off the Robot Evolution—machines had gained consciousness and sought revenge after years of mistreatment—in the year zero-seven."

Wolf massaged his temples, his aching head overloaded with new information. "We were never taught about the Robot Revolution in school. Nor is it mentioned in any history books I've read."

"How many history books have you read, Wolf?"

"Enough to know none of them talks about the Robot Revolution." He leaned back on his chair, continuing to rub his temples.

"I've seen that crown before," Victoria said. "It's in Sister Mary's office. After they lashed me, they took me to her office and its odd appearance caught my eye. Sister Mary had seen me looking at it and said: Men and women have killed each other for this, and Empires and Kingdoms have fallen and risen because of it. It may seem like junk, but trust me, it ain't. At the time, what she said didn't make sense."

"Wednesday, please continue," Wolf insisted.

"Once The Forgotten Nuns transfer the human consciousness into a golem, they harvest the human body. The organs are then sent to their clients... Wolf, you have to see this." The screen changed from the documents she was reading to a clientele list. "Look at the names."

The list had the names of the most powerful and influential people in the system. Most of them were high-ranking government officials in charge of developing the system and caring for its people.

CoyoteWhere stories live. Discover now