This wasn't another one of those days. Not for Andrei, anyways.
Andrei was tired of life in Zanzari. He was sure life wasn't meant to be lived like it was in a place of this nature; it was of no true value. Everything and everyone were expendable to what the many bureaucratic 'Higher Administrations' of the Zanzari government deemed to be 'the Greater Good.'
He had been planning something beyond the scope of any originality he had ever seen come forth from the sprawling, conformed megalopolis. He was not only going to escape; he was going to show Zanzari what this freedom was, and what this freedom meant to the uncolored, unforgiving, irreversibly single-minded hordes who systematically roamed the streets of Zanzari in the early morning hours, every single day of the week. There was no such thing as life. There was only existence.
He had been working on something in secret for several years; something that had come to mind through the nature of his job as a member of an elite research team.
For 25 years, Andrei had been the lead researcher in the Z.R.P.S.E.* Project, and as such, had gained knowledge beyond any to which was obtainable by any other citizen. Through such thought process, he had realized, this was not what humanity really was, or what it had used to be.
The checks-and-balances placed upon others thought-processes to whom were below him, such as the PI*, SMP*, and BA* techniques, did not apply to him as an Elite, as he was, as the Office of Internal Affairs had coined, a 'harvester.'
Through this granted lenience, Andrei had also become avidly interested in creative drawing, as well as painting, being one of the few granted the right to sketch due to the necessity of drawing for the purpose of research. To paint, he used only black and blue, which were the only permitted colors for industrial paints, traditionally used to give coating to ships of the Zanzari 'Upper Defense Forces.' Exactly what they were defending the city from had always been beyond him.
Andrei was only a couple of days away from completing his very own ship; the first to ever be powered by quantum fission, a discovery he had made 2 years ago, yet had kept it from his research as to apply it to his own interpretation of 'the Greater Good.' It was a rusty scrap in looks compared to the ships of the Zanzari Military, but it was faster and much more maneuverable. He was aware of the effective weapons on the Zanzari ships, but was short of any way to build weapons of such efficiency. As such, he had built a concussive atomic bomb as his one and only line of defense, to which would be released from the reverse-side of his ship if need-be.
The bomb itself was designed to go-off a minute and a half after being released, with a trigger being pulled as it detached itself from between the ships two large, cylindrical, and open-engined quantum-drive motors. With such an added dimension, there was a 50/50 chance that one of the quantum-drives would be torn off from the cockpit during the bombs detachment, which would inevitably lead to the ship spinning out of control, and in all likelihood ending Andrei's journey within moments of the bombs detonation. Andrei, aware of this risk, thought it better to die in such a manner than continue as a tool to the Higher Administration's Greater Good.
This, however, was not the only dimension of his plan.
In the same manner as he had snuck the materials to build his ship, as well as his bomb, he had also snuck just over a thousand sheets of blank-paper and industrial paint, and had been working on a large panoramic painting which he had been piecing together along the length of the apartment block in which he lived; placing then in-order against not only his walls, but the walls of the entire skyscraper over the course of the past seven years.
When he was instead meant to be sleeping, Andrei would simply knock on the doors of 2 places of residence each night, being permitted automatic and unquestioned entry by those inside due to his status as an Elite, and placing each piece of his large painting face-down on the windowless brick-walls in order of the coded-numbering he had placed on the back of each piece of paper, gluing each together from behind using an industrial adhesive. He was completely aware of the different appearance each rooms wall would take on following the completion of each night's work, and that this would be noticed by the Officers of the Peace doing their daily rounds while each citizen was off at their specified locales of labor, but Andrei was a step ahead of them when he over-rided their authority with a secret symbol of the Elite which he would enigmatically place on the back of every piece of paper at the center of the wall, aware that the symbol would automatically trigger the Officer's to disregard such an obvious difference, due to a enzyme that was part of a mind-controlling drug that each Officer was instructed to consume with their morning meal. Due to the blind-nature of the drug, Andrei was one of the few who knew that such symbolism triggered such a psychological response in the absent-minds of the Peace Officers. As such, his work would never be touched, nor discovered by those who may take concern, as no one of any right-minded authority ever entered civilian housing, but instead left it to their absent-minded drones.
It was their loss.
After a night of sleepless final preparations, Andrei did one final inspection to make sure everything on the ship was in the right shape and ready for launch within the next 4 hours, when he would take-off at precisely 5:45 AM, when the citizens of Zanzari were just on their way to work. Double-checking the shatter-explosives placed on the brick-wall he was going to launch through, as to make sure his launch would not be interrupted by damage caused when exiting the building, nor that his launch would endanger the structural integrity of the apartment block, for the sake of its residents, as well as the painting he was going to reveal using the same such shatter-explosives, Andrei finally sat down, and simply waited.
It was 5:30 AM when Andrei finally climbed into the ships cockpit and began the launch-procedures; this time being the first and only time he had ever done so outside of the theory which he would recite in his head, night after night. Flipping the quantum pre-drive designation switch, he felt the ship begin to vibrate as a blue flame ignited from the rear of the quantum-drivers. He knew he would be garnering the attention of others in the building now, as the vibrations grew stronger and much more prominent; so strong and prominent, in fact, that Andrei only noticed the smashing at his door just in time to draw his hand away from the ships controls and turn his palm towards the heavily-armed Peace Officers who had just forcefully entered his home, flashing the palm-tattoo of the secret Elite symbol at the Officers, causing them to stop dead in their tracks, relaxing their hold on their weapons as they simply gawked in brainwashed ignorance.
Finally, the final phase of lift-off was set in motion when Andrei hit the final switch, which sent an electromagnetic wave forward to detonate the shatter-explosives just in-time for the brick wall to fall to pieces and grant Andrei and his ship free-passage.
Andrei felt the force of the take-off push him backwards towards his seat as he maneuvered slightly upwards, looking down in awe at the Zanzari skyline in the light of early morning, and watching the people down below move like ants from building to building, street to street.
Flipping another switch, he sent another electromagnetic pulse through the air, and listened as the walls of his former apartment block shattered to reveal his grand work of art in its entirety.
Maneuvering to the left only slightly, Andrei marveled, for the first and only time, at his one and only triumph, which showcased the silhouettes of a large crowd of people following close behind the silhouettes of several slightly larger people, each holding a sheet of white into the air with a letter on it, coming together to spell the word: "Freedom." It was the first time Andrei had ever smiled, as well as the first time he had ever cried. Glancing downwards, towards the street, Andrei watched as those distant ants all became still, and watched as they turned to face his work of art. What they were thinking, he couldn't tell, and would probably never know. At this point in time, with a grin reaching from ear to ear, he maneuvered upwards, towards the sky, pushing forward on his joystick and increasing his speed. He didn't know exactly where he was going; he had never thought that part of his plan through. In all honesty, this plan had never been designed with him in mind. Before he could finish that thought, he heard the wine of something, persuing him from behind, and, before he knew exactly what was happening, there were plasma-bolts flashing past his ship, one making contact with the rear of his cockpit as he began his evasive maneuvers. Twisting the ship in every direction possible, Andrei finally peaked behind him and saw what looked like an armada of military fighters not very far behind him, and to add to this dilemma, he took prominent notice of a Zanzari capital ship in the background of the shroud created by his many pursuers. The capital ship was large enough from this distance to block out most of the city, and Andrei knew exactly what he needed to do.
After taking a couple more hits from plasma-bolts, he daringly flipped the only switch left untouched, and heard the hiss of the detachment tubes as they unhitched themselves from the rear of the nuclear bomb. Attempting to keep the ship under control, Andrei felt the blood rush to his head as his whole world turned upside down in response to the bombs pull as it tore away from the ship; he was ready for anything that could possibly happen at this point.
Finally, realizing the pull was no longer in effect, Andrei maneuvered the ship out of its short free-fall and quickly pushed the quantum engines into overdrive in the direction of where he had been told outer-space was located.
In his mind, he did a mental countdown to when he expected the bomb to detonate if all went as according to plan. All of a sudden, he noticed the sky was not only getting closer, but the clouds were becoming less and less realistic and more pixelated. Confused, Andrei considered turning back but realized that was now impossible, and continued on his crash course into.. whatever it was he was looking at.
With ten seconds on the clock, Andrei knew he was on the border of life-and-death. He had no idea what was about to occur.
Five seconds on the clock, and Andrei closed his eyes as what now seemed more like a very large computer screen came closer and closer, as if what he thought had been life was about to kill him. Two seconds and-
He looked behind him and saw the epicenter of the explosion first crush in upon itself, pulling hundreds of the closest fighters inwards, immediately decimating their numbers, and then-
Andrei felt his ship boost forwards through the sheer force of the explosion behind him as the epicenter spread outwards in an incredible force of energy, destroying every ship in orbit just above the streets of Zanzari, and immediately tearing the capital ship into bits of molten iron.
Out of what seemed like nowhere, the pixelated clouds disappeared entirely, revealing instead specs of light in the distance; stars, he assumed. He had learned about them during his training as an Elite... but the Administration had told them all they were simply a myth created by the civilization of liars and bigots whom preceded the Zanzari utopia. Andrei didn't know exactly what to think at this point in time as he finally entered the domain of outer space.
All of a sudden, Andrei was gasping for breath, and just as more and more stars became entirely visible in the backdrop of this newly discovered empty void, he took his final breath, and realized Zanzari had lied to everyone; even the so-called Elites.
He hadn't been aware that their was no oxygen in space.
Inexplicably, he smiled once again from cheek to cheek as he felt the veins all across his body begin to swell-up; in his last thirty-seconds alive, Andrei opened the cockpit, undoing his safety-belt and simply let himself float forwards into the never-ending.
He watched as the stars faded; or, perhaps, as he faded, from what truly is.
He simply let infinity take him. It was never the end.
*Z.R.P.S.E.: Zanzari Rocket Propulsion and Spacial Exploitation Project
*PI: Partial Information Technique
*SMP: Selective Memory Prevention Technique
*BA: Brain Alteration Technique
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