《The Collected Short Stories of Necrontyr525》Republic
Advertisement
Caleb Porter sat at one corner of the long table. Down the sides of it sat the heroes of the Chainbreaker Revolt. Wolves all, bonded in blood and sacrifice, now kept from each other's throats by the presence of only one man. He sat at the head of the table, head still bandaged where it had been burnt, shirt still stuffed with bandages. They knew him only as Alpha, leader of leaders.
But as Caleb looked up and down the table, he knew this moment was a fragile one. The Squids were gone, thrown off world, their fleet in orbit rendered harmless without any crews. But each of the mega-cities that these men represented had its own population, its own problems, its own Wolves itching so fill shortages with the supplies of others. Only Alpha held them in check, only Alpha could prevent civil war, but he sat and said nothing.
Caleb knew he was the least of the Wolves in the room. He had risen in the fighting, survived when others had died, and come out as a leader almost against his will. His people had looked to him, sent him here to represent them. He had been ignored in the debate so far because no one knew him. But as Alpha silenced another exchange of insults with a glare, Caleb saw something. He would never know exactly what it was: a tightness in the shoulders, a weariness in the eyes, but it told him everything he needed to know. Alpha had no desire to rule, and without Alpha to lead the Wolves, they would slip the bonds of civilization and turn on each other.
Calem squared his shoulders, sipped his water, and stood to speak. A Wolf started to tell him to sit, but Alpha raised a hand. "We have all had our say and we have gone nowhere. Speak Caleb."
Advertisement
Caleb inclined his head, "thank you Alpha. Who here remembers the Republic?"
Blank stares answered him.
Caleb cast his arms wide, "who here remembers how we governed ourselves before the Squids came? It has been a hundred years and more, but we did do it. We ruled ourselves fairly and well, with a central government, with rights and freedoms guaranteed for all. It was, perhaps, not a perfect system. But it was not an authoritarian or abusive system either. All of us here have seen the abuses that unrestricted, unchecked power comes to. So why are each of us seeking that same power for ourselves?
The Wolves were looking at each other, confused. What was this Republic that Caleb spoke of? All they knew was the system that the Squids had imposed and enforced, that they had shattered in the past few weeks.
But Alpha nodded. Only once, and only slightly, but it was there. "I remember."
That stilled the Wolves.
"I remember." echoed from the speakers. A hologram appeared, the garishly dressed SinderRose taking a seat at the far end of the table from Alpha.
Caleb took another sip of water, "then perhaps we should learn from that Republic, and from those it was based on. We should not be ruled by a dead document rummaged from the dustbin of history. But neither should we should we forget what those documents codify.
"We dozen men and women in this room are the powerful here on Earth. What legacy do we want to leave our children when we die? Our grandchildren? Our great-grandchildren? Do we want to leave them a legacy of blood and slaughter? Or do we want to recognize our inalienable rights, a constitution that enshrines them, a system of real courts that defends them, and a military that protects them?
Advertisement
"If we want that for ourselves and our children, then we need to begin anew, here and now. We must learn anew from our past, that we do not make again the mistakes we made before."
SinderRose sat just a bit taller. " 'We hold these Truths to be self evident...' I want that. I want that very much. I many not be flesh and blood any more, but I will still stand for the rights of humanity."
Alpha stood slowly, " 'To no one will we sell, to no one deny or delay right or justice.' I am Adam X, and I too would like such lasting peace to be our legacy. It seems we have some learning to do. I do not doubt that there will be debate and arguments aplenty in our path, all the more so as we will hold our deliberations in public and seek the advice of the people as we work. but I also know that we will succeed. We owe our dead, our brothers and sisters still living, and all of humanity yet unborn nothing less."
Advertisement
Puppet Lord
In the year 2142, humanity’s technology has developed to the point of cybernetic and neural implants. People all have neural receptors attached to the brains, allowing for unfettered, 24 hour a day, global access to the neural net. A string of attempted break ins to a secure facility has authorities scratching their heads. Every few days, a new person is caught trying to force their way through checkpoints, reinforced doors, and cyber security. None of the perpetrators have any criminal history, and all are seemingly unconnected. Their methods are random, and worst of all, none of them have the foggiest idea why they there in the first place. Detective Jon Peld finally finds the common thread linking all the perps together, a vr mmo known as Istrius. Mind jacking is an outdated crime, one thought to have been completely eliminated centuries ago as the neural implant tech was perfected, but all the pieces fit. He can't convince his boss though, so there's only one thing left to do: investigate from the inside.
8 124The Wise Old Dragon
What happens when a boy, raised on old stories, meets a dragon who is dreaming of his younger days? I will tell you, they spend their time doing chores around the farm and running away to far off lakes. That is until the boy is no longer a boy and the dragon is, well, he is still an old dragon. More importantly, what happens when a young man and his wise old dragon lose their small farm tragically? When the young man’s grief is not met with loving words from his mother or stern words from his father. And when the fires of burning buildings drive the old dragon to remember times that should be forgotten. What will they do? Maybe they will run off into the mountains hiding from all that would do them harm. Or maybe, just maybe, they will enter a world that has not seen such a pairing in a very long time. Join our story as we try to have the patience required for old bones to move and young minds to learn as disaster and adventure appear hand in hand. Friends will be made as well as enemies, battles will be won and lost, and some legends will be proven to be true. A truth that should scare all of Elleton.
8 234Sherds
Linus falls into another world, arriving on an archipelago. This is a story about exploration, and archaeology is a major theme! Studying history and pre-history is a favorite of mine, so this is a project using my research to build a world. One of the magic systems has rpg inspired elements, but this isn't a litrpg at its core. I'm an art student and haven't written much, but I like telling stories. This is largely just for fun, my own spin on the RR other world formula. (Placeholder cover is from the Palazzo Massimo in Rome)
8 254Levitation ME By Travis Willier
A civilization on a planet starts to discover it's past Loriane gray head archeologist leading a team of researchers some hired guns and AI to study ancient ruins of a lost civilizations past.
8 190Terror Infinity- Contamination
Want to know the meaning of life? Want to live… a real life?†The world changes when you click YES. In God’s dimension, you have to keep getting stronger, keep evolving to survive one horror movie after another. Do you kill everyone in your way to reach the end as a lone king? Or fight along with your comrades and survive through the support of friends? Everything was just for staying alive. Until you find the secret of God’s dimension. Who is the real enemy?Having awaken in a random movie, Terry finds himself surviving in Movies, Animes, Manga,s Books and more as God wills for the people to survive and evolve. He is now part of Team Outback
8 108A world that divides us mha/bnha
✨completed as of 12/12/21✨⭐️97k+ words⭐️🌞 finished editing as of 1/2/22🌞🧀you can see my writing get better throughout this book lol🧀When Izuku come face to face with death can his quirk finally finally reveals itself? What happens when things take a sharp left turn? Is this the quirk he's longed for, or is he victim to another mans quirk? Ah yes your prays have been heard, There is dadzawa in this.And something like todobakudeku someone suggested it so I thought I'd give it a shot. Warnings as I won't be putting them above chapter:Death /Main character deathInjuries &Gore Physical Abuse & Mental manipulation Experimentation / medical processes Mental health issuesCreepy old men/ non con medical procedures ^^Descriptive detail of all above^^Cover art by @oksopi12 on Twitter! Story overview on chapter ⓪Started: 25 JanuaryFinished: 12 December
8 171