″For those who live life at the brink!″[1] The holographic text advertising mediocre soda as gaudily vivacious as it is laughable in the cold understated irony of shattered ambitions. Erika Thorne found it almost tragic to think that at some point, thousands of years ago anyone truly believed that Styris could be more than a desolate rock, utterly insignificant in anything beyond its location. That it would be a place for daring adventurers and not just a doomed colony waiting to crumble. A person looking for thrill would surely not survive in this quiet desert of nothingness and the misguided idea of trying to inspire some kind of styric identity around intrepid daredevilry couldn′t help but strike those who first came here as profoundly tragic and those who were born on this blackened abyss at the edge of existence as farcical. She knew why no one had considered the possibility, of course she did. The planet was simply too symbolically resonant. A possible colony at the actual edge of the galaxy, the ability to claim its entire radius for the empire was far too good propaganda to pass up. It wouldn′t matter if it failed. By the time such news got back to the heart of the milky way, a thousand years would have passed, and they would have long since been forgotten about. There were never any possible consequences, any repercussions. None that mattered at least, and she almost gets a sardonic chuckle out of the certainty that there is nothing but an uncaring void in both directions, not just the empty one, without quite knowing how correct she is. ″You′re doing the face again.″ ″Ah, right, terribly sorry for the ineffectual seething. If it′s more to your interest I think I might want to do the ″arm″ next″ ″The wha- No wait Erika, stop!″ ″Too late″ It was not of course. By the time of Safi′s remonstrance, the rock was still firmly in her hand and all it would have taken to prevent the untimely shattering of a projector lens would have been to not let go of it. A miniscule amount of restraint that the ″comet of Styris″ often found herself unwilling to or incapable of exercising. ″We are so dead. Oh god why? Why did you do that? Why do I allow you to be in the vicinity of objects? In general. Any objects. You do know they can see this, right? Of course they can see it, that′s kind of the point of advertising.″ ″In my defense, it is also the point of vandalism in an analogous manner.″ ″Yeah but-″ ″And while you may object to my use of objects, I similarly find your implication that for the instigation of mayhem I would require an object objectively objectionable.″ They sigh. ″Can we at least get away from here? They′ll know it was you one way or another.″ ″Without even complementing my aim first?″ ″Erika!″ ″We could loiter around the central hall?″ ″Absolutely not.″ ″And why′s that?″ Erika tries giving a seductive smile to alleviate the tension a bit, but having apparently slightly overplayed her hand, they′re not having any of it. ″Cause A: There′s too much stuff for you to break and too many people for you to fuck with and B: You promised me a proper date. We′re going to the cliffs″ ″Never thought I′d hear such a commanding tone out of you. It′s cute″ ″Shut up.... Nice throw″ A gentle kiss palliates a minor dispute in the same way in which the sudden, unexpected, and, if some analytically paranoid sources were to be believed[2], suspicious death of the entire intergalactic council, safe for the vastly popular minister of information and media in the early 549h century of ″natural causes″, assuaged rebellious sentiment. That is to say; very effectively. It′s moments like this one in which Safi Labrude would typically get lost in the similarities and parallels between historical events and their personal life. They would attempt to ground themselves in a perfunctorily objective context; that of past political machination and insurgency to then apply such tactics to their teen-drama before getting caught up in doubt and double-guessing. As a lifeline to save them from the ever-spiraling vortex of politico-historical analogy served only the mental strain required to not look flustered and uphold a woefully misplaced image of sangfroid poise in the presence of the even more menacing gyre personified within their date[3]. It is a testament to the unique nature and youth of the Styris-colony[4], that Safi could not only make the confident guess, but know with certainty that their childhood friend was in fact the scariest person on the planet by a longshot. A truth they couldn′t honestly claim to not consider a huge turn-on. For a planet with only one city, it is odd how much the cliffs often seem like the sole spot where some genuine serenity could be had. The scenery around the 1.000 meter drop could surely be somewhat improved if there was anything but black sediment on Styris, but despite this it certainly qualifies as majestic. A fascinating formation from the days when the planet still bolstered tectonic activity. Very intriguing. Many settlers have chosen to throw their now useless time at hobbyist geology in the years since the colony′s founding and equally many have chosen to throw their now useless bodies off the fascinating bit of rock. For Erika and Safi, it is nothing but a pretty landmark and a quiet place to escape to from time to time. ″Why is it always so windy?″ ″Yeah, leave it to our parents to take a hellscape with perfectly pleasant non-weather and ruin it by making an atmosphere.″ ″Controversial move. I don′t know if I need air if it comes at the cost of having hair blown in my face.″ ″So what′s the alternative here? Decrepit old space helmets?″ ″Why not? They have a kind of old timey charm.″ ″you look goofy enough already, Saf″ ″Ouch, and here I was...″ ″Plus, I couldn′t do this″ Another kiss. This one more sensual and involving the almost smooth transition from sitting side by side to being pinned to the ground and stripped of one′s shirt with all the grace that the uneven terrain at the edge of a cliff face allows for. Safi did not care to complain of course, in fact they considered this compensation for being once more roped into their girlfriend′s bullshit earlier in the day. She kisses the side of their neck twice before the teeth come out. That is the usual pattern. Safi in turn digs their fingernails into her back. Neither of them draws blood, not today[5]. The first time they had heard Erika moan, they thought the sound must have come from somewhere else. They simply could not reconcile it with this extraordinary girl made of nothing but fire and sinew they had known since childhood. The comet of Styris. The sweetness of that sound. They don′t think the associated dissonance will ever stop sending shivers down their spine. A hand finds its way into Safi′s pants and they respond by allowing their fingers to slowly trace downward along the strangely angular contours of her figure. ″Safi?″ His voice rings disappointed and a touch annoyed as the two teenagers quickly disentangle themselves. ″Y-yeah?″ ″You′re a good kid, I don′t know why you...″ An exasperated sigh ″just go home, I′ll handle her.″ ″Eat a dick, Dan.″ ″Can you not make a scene for once and simply come with me?″ ″Why? Huh? Why do I have to be locked up over that shitty advert? Did you need it for anything? Is anyone in this heap-of-shit city unaware that Styrade exists? If so, I′d sure like to trade places with them.″ ″You know it′s-″ ″Yes, I know it isn′t about any actual harm I caused but about your perverse desire to roleplay law-enforcement despite the existence of security drones and despite the fact that all I did was save us some electricity and significantly improve the ambience.″ ″Erika″ ″Fuck, Dan, we don′t even have an economy. Nobody buys soda in case you haven′t noticed, so who in the absolute shit is benefitting from that ad?[6] The moths? We don′t have moths! It′s all just more shitty role playing.″ It′s not quite clear to Safi whether Styris′ one-man police force[7] had noticed Erika reaching for a rock before they did, or if Dan had simply run out of patience. Either way their girlfriend goes stiff with the push of a button and they only barely manage to catch her before she hits the ground hard. The distinct possibility of injuries resulting from such a thing does not seem to occur to the officer who has already started talking into his communicator. ″This is Daniel Martinez speaking, I found the comet and I′m bringing her in in a few minutes. She had to be immobilized to prevent further damage to persons or property, so send a transport-bot over.″ ″You know it′s dangerous to use that kill-switch[8] so often.″ ″It′s dangerous to resist an officer. Go home, Labrude.″ ″Eat a dick, Dan.″
[1] Victorious slogan in the 55555 marketing competition to advertise Styrade™, an oxygen and Allocypriol enriched fizzy drink that was to be exclusive to the Styris-project, the most daring colony experiment in all of spaceflight. In the celebratory year of 55555, limited quantities of Styrade™ were distributed to events on the prime colonies and to prominent donors. The last documented sale of a bottle within an online marketplace is dated to 55820 for the approximate price of a moderately sized solar system. Bottles (though only two of them unopened) still exist in prestigious historical museums, most famously that of the university of Praesperis. ↑back [2] That the assorted conspiracy theorists, most notably self-proclaimed messiah Robert Ensana, were correct in their skepticism of the events that transpired on that fateful third of August is of course a well (though not universally) accepted fact within modern academic circles. While this has, especially recently (as of 75972) become a talking point against the re-established empire′s legitimacy among the worryingly growing voices of its critics, prevailing wisdom holds that a covert execution and subsequent dissolution of the council was the only way of upholding the people′s collective will. Ensana and others may have incidentally stumbled across a genuine truth in their ravings, but the motivation of their misgivings toward the emperor is to be regarded with great suspicion and many have, in retrospect, found it easier to forgive past scholars for wrongfully discarding such drivel than for being correct by listening to it. It is not our place to make value-judgements about such a stance but merely to document its existence. ↑back [3] In the 27 Years since the colony of Styris was established, Erika Thorne has spent more time than all other 1633 eligible persons combined within the colony′s juvenile-holding facility and the codeword ″comet″ exists specifically for security drones to alert the public of Erika Thorne-related incidents. ↑back [4] Styris (/ˈstʌɪrɪs/) was established in 77482 with the landing of a φ-Era colony ship transporting 100.000 colonists, primarily couples, from the prime colonies. Half of the settlers were handpicked based on various criteria while the other half was selected through lottery from a pool of applicants. The initial settling of Planets occurred with the sending of at least fifty, though typically far more colony ships of comparable size during the start of the mission, making the number of settlers on Styris beyond miniscule in comparison. This conservative seeding becomes more understandable when one takes into account that Styris was, when the mission started, more than twice as far away from the closest colony as the entire diameter of the empire at that time and thus next to nothing was known about it. Even in 77400, Styris was still farther from the closest imperial colony that the second outer-most colony was to the empire′s center. The existence of the colony, should it exist, has become a historical footnote, though the phrase ″[something being] a styris project″ lives on to denote extravagant publicity stunts divorced of its context. ↑back [5] While such marks barely register amongst the plethora of scars and bruises on Erika′s body and while no one would care even if they did, the same is distinctly not the case for Safi to the intense annoyance of their parents.↑back [6] It is standard practice for outpost-colonies[6.1] to forego the implementation of a market system until some amount of on-planet industry is established. Until such a point is reached, the colonists subsist off of the rations which are allocated to them. Colonies rarely take more than four years to pass this stage, though it is unlikely that Styris ever will due to its specific local conditions[6.2]. ↑back [6.1] Planets not within a two week supply-range at the time of settling. ↑back [6.2] There is nothing on Styris. ↑back [7] There is heated discussion about when and where the last properly human police force existed, but the occupation had almost certainly become sporadic shortly after the destruction of Earth 1 in 2708 if not before that and became functionally extinct by the early four-thousands even on the poorer frontier-colonies. There were various revivals of the practice, often to attract tourism, all of which inevitably resulted in a return to much cheaper and much more efficient drones. Media portrayals of such forces on earth 1 have strayed far from what historical records suggest they were. ↑back [8] Standard cargo aboard φ-Era colony ships were paralysis chips which could be implanted into the nervous system (or equivalent) of local fauna to aid in domestication. The practice has long fallen out of favor due to humanitarian concerns[8.1] and due to such domestication efforts becoming less fashionable. ↑back [8.1] Sudden full body paralysis induces significant stress in most species and the devices can cause permanent nerve damage upon repeated use especially in more complex lifeforms. ↑back