Crisis of Faith

Tears

Peace River, 01.AU.35

For the first time in cycles, Nicosa allowed herself to cry. The tears rolled down her cheeks and blurred her vision; she barely saw her digital wall clock change from 35:59 to 00:00, the date changing to 2 Autumn 1935. That this horrible day was over was cold comfort - a long night was about to begin.

"Trideo: off," she whispered once she had composed herself. SNS reporter Fionna Galo was cut off in mid-sentence; she had been offering yet another analysis of the day's "tragedy." Nicosa walked out onto her balcony to get some air.

A dry desert wind was sweeping across the Karaq Wastes, making for a pleasant evening in Peace River. From her apartments in the First Terrace of the city's habitat core, Nicosa could see people milling about Longchamps Park. She saw lights on in most homes - no one could sleep knowing the news. People in the streets seemed confused and ill at ease. Some people huddled in groups, couples holding onto each other for some measure of comfort. Others walked alone, desperately trying to get their minds off what had happened.

The odd silence was shattered by the roar of Dragonfly hoppers overhead. The sleek craft dropped from the airfield above the core, and raced at low altitude toward the Prospects, Peace River's toughest neighborhood. Their red and blue flashing lights and bold markings identified them as Peace Officer Corps craft. Nicosa knew immediately that a riot had started, confusion and frustration exploding into violence.

It only made sense, of course. It had been almost twenty cycles since Terra Nova had fought off the invaders. Those two decades had been filled with promise and hope. Sure, other battles had happened and forces had clashed in the Badlands, but despite their own troubles, Riverans had gotten used to living in peace. Now all that was over - it had to be.

Nicosa went back inside. Sitting down at her desk, she powered up her personal workstation. She had worked so hard to avoid this, playing one faction against another in order to keep everyone too busy to stage an all out war. Now a single death had sealed the planet's fate - she had to find out why.

Somewhere in the background, someone was pulling the strings. But manipulation always left signs, it was just a matter of finding the patterns of influence. For that you needed information, and luckily Nicosa Renault had access to a lot of data.

She opened the first document and began to read...