Mission Log Part 5

MISSION YEAR 2317


This was a busy year for us.

During our forensic examination of The Believers as a faction someone read from the collected sermons of Godwinson:

“The Morgans fear what may not be purchased, for a trader cannot comprehend a thing that is priceless.”

Oh really?  For something to have an actual value it must actually exist.  All that Godwinson ever offered to anyone was literally nothing.

We seized U.N. Equality Village.  This effectively separates Lal’s remaining bases from Yang.  How Yang responds to this would remained to be seen.

Yang then opened a channel to us. 

First he repeats his demand for the files on Orbital Spaceflight.  I again refused.  I then requested that he remove the units he was going to use to seize U.N. Equality Village from Lal.  He blows up and declares war on us.

It’s about bloody time.  We’ve been putting off solving The Hive problem to solve other problems.

Again, Lal wanted to open talks.  No Lal, We’re still not talking to you.

We then seized U.N. Planning Authority and U.N. Commerce Committee. 

Of course the U.N. has to run commerce through a committee.  One wonders how they deal with sex?

We wrecked the sea base Deep Community with no survivors.  As a result Yang declares on the air that he is looking forward to having me executed.

Fat chance.

Finally we seized U.N. Aid Agency and U.N. Great Refuge.  Lal and his so-called United Nations is no longer a problem.

Good riddance.


MISSION YEAR 2319


We were nice to Santiago, we bought a map of Yang’s dominion from her even though we already had the data.  This allowed us to conceal the fact that have already mapped the planet from space and was a continuation of our Nice Doggy policy.

Nice doggy, Santiago.


We seized U.N. Education Agency from Yang.

We had a meeting after the advance team returned from that base.  It took some gentle prodding to start the conversation as they were all in a high level state of shock. Even the military members of the team were prone to silence.

“It was bad,” said Alice, “very bad.”

Commandant George Strong of the EDC only had one word initially: “Auschwitz.”

It appears that Yang runs his bases as if they were concentration camps from the 20th Century back on Earth.

In material terms the basic civilian comfort level has been eliminated as unnecessary.  The common mess hall still served the flavorless glop from the landing period.  There is no provision for higher comfort level quarters for talents and management.  The security units are squashed into barracks that we would regard as unfit for trainees.  And ordinary workers are crushed into very basic barracks with absolutely no provision for privacy.

In the wreckage a base facility was found that was called the punishment sphere.  It included a mechanism for stapling the nerves of the victims.  In effect it performs an instant lobotomy.  A significant number of people in the base who would normally be drones clearly have scars from nerve stapling.

“It’s as they were simply animals.”  Said Alice.

One of our combat operators asked an administrator why?  His answer was, “there is no why.”

But in reality there always is a why.  It is through the gathering, examination and integration of the facts that we can reach an understanding and thus see the big picture.

The Hive as a whole is simply the manifestation of the will of Chairman Yang,  No other person matters.  To Yang everything and everyone exists only to serve him. The conscious mind and thus the knowledge and goals of the individual are irrelevant to him. 

In The Hive every effort is made to suppress the independent function of the conscious mind.  In practical effect the inhabitants of The Hive are reduced to mere animals. 

Why is this?

The idea that any one person has a right to a thought or a thing is irrelevant to him.  A right is a concept that defines and morally sanctions the freedom of individual action in a society.  A right has the effect of directing and restraining the actions of the state and thus of the leader. 

For Yang to restrain himself and follow the directions of others was an unbearable affront to him.  In practical effect Yang was a predatory animal, for him to function as such he must in turn reduce those under his control to mere animals as well.

We found that there is no culture in The Hive.  All media -- visual, literature and music -- exists only to extol the rule of Yang and to promote the worship of and to obedience to him.  All day -- every day -- The Hive is drowned in the readings of the sayings of Chairman Yang.   In practical effect no functional conscious mind is allowed to exist.  To the extent that anyone lives at all it is virtually on autopilot.

Here’s an example of the noise generated by Yang:

“Learn to overcome demands of flesh and bone, for they warp the matrix trough which we perceive the world.  Extend your awareness outward, beyond the self of body, to embrace the self of group and the self of humanity.  The goals of the group and the geater race are transcendent, and to embrace them is to achieve enlightenment,”

In short reality is unreal. 

This is absolute nonsense.  He has declared that the path to the truth is to ignore the truth.  You are to reject the reality of reality and submit to what is in fact his own fantasies. 

And the way to overcome your suffering in this life is ignore the fact that Yang is the source of that suffering.

The fact that there are other people with active functional minds outside of The Hive is a complete surprise to the inhabitants.  All records of an independent human history, including that of China from which Yang originated, have been erased from existence.  Even the physical storage media that held that information in the captured U.N. base have been removed and destroyed.

There has been criticism of my policy toward Yang and The Hive.  This is right and proper in an actual human society.  The ideology of The Hive was never a secret to us and it was obvious through open examination of the known effects of those doctrines that we have a clear picture of the conditions within The Hive.

So why haven’t we acted on this knowledge before?

We are subject to limits.  The material aspect of our being is subject to material limits.  Even under the best of conditions we must establish priorities in the goals that we pursue.

Furthermore we as political authorities must solve the most dangerous problems first.  This is true for all sides, while it was clear that Yang had treated us in the “nice doggy” mode, this was due to the limitation of his resources.  Including the ability to project power.  Once we were physically on his continent and within his reach he immediately went into the predator mode.  In due course we shall deal with him as a predator.

Another criticism is that we have acted as if we were a mindless stream of water.  That by following the policies of “Nice Doggy” and “One War At A Time” in dealing with our opponents we have followed the path of least resistance instead of determining a course of action and forcing our way on to it without regard to cost.

So are we supposed to do everything the hard way?

Again, our resources are limited, and some of those resources are the people we send into combat.  Soldiers do die in battle.  I am not Yang, I will not and cannot treat our people as if they were a mere material resource.  They clearly are not tools to used and disposed of when they wear out.

As the political leadership of our nation I am under the obligation to identify and pursue our national objectives at the least cost in lives.

There is simply no other way to do this.

Final question: If we are stomping out the oppressors each in turn why don’t we remove the obvious militarists such as The Spartans?


Simply because they have left us alone.  They are certainly aware of our military strength and would reasonably not want to engage it.  Or they could as survivalists simply want to left alone.

Which is good enough for me.

We continued combat operations by taking Sea Collective intact.


MISSION YEAR 2321


The Hive is doing a major buildup of forces east of Education Agency.  We may be facing as possible Stalingrad.

We also seized Hole Of Aspiration.  Who names these bases?

On examination of further data it appears that grabbing Hole Of Aspiration right away may have been a mistake.


MISSION YEAR 2322


We finished The Theory Of Everything project at Primary Base. This will have a positive effect on out research efforts.

We also massacred Yang’s buildup outside The Hole.


MISSION YEAR 2325

We have begun combat operations out of The Hole.  We seized fellowship City, Socialism Tunnels and Great Collective. 

It appears that Yang has in fact lost a large chunk of his army.

We then took Paradise Swarming and Huddling Of The People.


MISSION YEAR 2327


We’ve taken Seat Of Proper Thought and Laborer’s Throng.  We have also hacked into The Hive data network.



MISSION YEAR 2328


Yang offered a very pathetic bribe for us to stop stomping on him.  He apparently does not understand that energy credits are simply a means to pursue self interest and that it is our general interest as Human Beings to remove him from existence.

There was a drone riot at Pavlov Biolab.  I really should pay more attention to our internal issues.


MISSION YEAR 2329


We overran Deep Passages, no survivors.  We also seized The Leader’s Horde.


MISSION YEAR 2330


We’ve completed The Living Refinery.  This project uses genetically engineered microbes to extract minerals.  Why didn’t we do this on Earth?

We seized Manufacturing Warrens and also seized Yang’s headquarters base, The Hive itself.

Santiago then staged an election for the post of “Planetary Governor” with the apparent intent of taking it herself.
I won the election, as if it made any difference.


MISSION YEAR 2331


We’ve finished two major projects, The Longevity Vaccine and The Efficient Virtues.

The benefit of The Longevity Vaccine is obvious.  A wider availability of life extension at lower cost.  The Efficient Virtues is a different story.

As originally proposed it was a bad idea and I had to reject it.  Of course the boffin who drew up the proposal wanted to speak to me.

“Sarah,” I said, “this is a social engineering project.  In the history of Earth the practice of social engineering almost always led to a disaster.”

I could swear that she was just staring at me. I continued.

“And I have serious doubts that you actually understand the concept of ascetics.  In Terran history the various doctrines of ascetics would actually ignore the nature of human life.  When put into practice they would result in suffering for the practitioners.  In actual effect asceticism was in practical effect a form of moral nihilism. If we were to actually adopt asceticism we would have to give up our fight with Yang and surrender.”

She was stunned.

“Sir?”  She said. “I was thinking in terms of efficiency.”

“Sarah,” I replied, “efficiency is simply making more with less.  And that’s is actually a benefit to us.  Why don’t you think more of what it takes to be efficient.  Redraw your proposal, and I’ll look at it again.  Okay?”

“Yes, sir.”

So that’s how we got The Efficient Virtues.

Later in that year we took Yang’s last base, Communal Nexus.  He has been downloaded and disposed of.
In the end there were only the Spartans remaining. To resolve this we held a vote. 

Our argument to them was essentially this: “You have without question survived, but have only survived, we have thrived.  We are living full spectrum Human lives, come and join us.”

It worked.

Now we all look to the future.