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Project Juno: The Story

Prologue
In the year 2002, NASA announces that Earth will be hit by an asteroid in the year 2133. There was no panic, but NASA starts their plan in building a series of spaceships to evacuate the Earth. All of Earth's countries join in the operation that will allow humanity to live outside Earth's safe atmosphere. By 2100, all of the ships are ready, and a spacestation is already built near Jupiter. By 2120, all of Earth's populace is evacuated, except 2500 gaians that choose to
remain with their dying planet, to guide her into her death.

In 2133, the asteroid, Juno, approached Earth, and the 2500 inhabitants of Earth could see the massive blue flash when the moon-shaped asteroid destroyed the moon. They were praying. When the asteroid hit the Earth, an explosion with the size of Australia emerged from the west of Russia. The Earth trembled, and a massive shockwave broke every surface on the Earth, before scorching the Earth with a wall of fire. The atmosphere was vaporized, and the Earth broke in more then a billion fragments. Some were very large, but most of them were barely the size of New York. One massive fragment was swung out, along with the majority of the Moon remnants, heading towards Mars and causing the same disaster on Mars, shattering the planet. The remnants of the two planets soon started to gain a steady orbit around the sun, clouding the rest of the solar system by blocking sunlight. The sun was surrounded with a shell of dust and asteroids, along with some gas pockets that littered the endless fields.

After the cataclysm, humanity established space stations behind and in front of the barrier of rocks, named colonies. In the next century, eight colonies were built. Close to the sun was the research colony, New Harvard. Orbiting Venus was the colony Aprodithe. Between Venus and the barrier, the Primary Port colony. Behind the barrier, the Secondary Port colony or the Mining colony, mining the asteroid belt. Orbiting Jupiter was the Zeus Colony, the first colony ever built, as well as the largest colony ever built. Two colonies orbited Saturn, named Saturn-1 and Saturn-2, and Neptune was orbited bythe Poseidon colony.
In the beginning of the colony history, trade routes flourished between the colonies, but quite soon, overpopulation and crime began to take its toll. Poor people that
desired a place to call home massively moved to New Harvard, and Rich people headed to the Mining colony, which was well known for its beautiful mansions in New Rome, a colony sector. Besides the individual problems of the colonies, a new problem emerged: distrust. No colony government trusted the other, almost resulting in a war in 2203. Rebellion against unfair government regimes was a common sight, and in 2208, the Secondary Port Colony's government was overthrown by a progressive movement called 'Zodiac'. There have been many uprisings ever since, but the unfair regime in the Primary Port Colony and the Poseidon Colony was never overthrown, although many people made attempts to save their colony, and Zodiac is even now active in the Primary Port Colony.
The once poor Primary and Secondary Port colonies suddently gained an all-powerful economical status when they discovered so-called 'blue steel', a valuable metal found only on the Earth and Mars remnants, and was prized for its smoothness, mallablitity, ductablility and strength. Rich colonists saw their chance to gain a new status symbol, and soon, the Blue Steel had a primary market value, outpricing gold by being two times as valuable. The beauty of the Blue Steel was discovered as well. When mold correctly, Blue Steel could look like either blue silver or blue diamond. Once again, the Primary and Secondary Port Colonies were not too inclined on sharing the resource, and many 'accidents' during mining operations have happened ever since.

When Pluto's moon Charon was hit by a small asteroid, and scientists confirmed the presence of blue steel on the asteroid to be very likely, the Saturn colonies joined in celebration. They soon built a giant colonizing ship to build the so-called 'Border Colony', and it's sole purpose was research and harvesting of the Blue Steel. After four years, the colony-establishing ship reached Charon and landed on the moon for investigations. Communication was lost, and people in the colonies whispered of aliens and occult curses. A second, quick military reconissance, however, revealed that the 'Border Colony' ship and all that went with it, had simply vanished. Surface research on Charon indicated that the blue steel was no longer present. The Saturn Colonies were disappointed in their loss. After the failure of their expedition, they started to export the noble and reactive gases extracted from Saturn and Jupiter. The Saturn Colonies have never gained any major economical influence, though, and were never seen as a whole. The Saturn Colonies saw their population drop in years after.

This story starts with the bare beginning; a poor man, from the opressed streets of the Primary Port Colony, being transported to an asteroid to mine it for valuable resources. The year is 2246.

Crane's Luck
"Hey, Crane! Are you sleeping, or what?" A gurgling sound next to him indicated that John, his co-worker, was making an attempt at laughing. Crane had been inert the entire journey. He was still wondering why his wife had been killed by the government. But he was powerless. His sad train of thought was interrupted when the room stirred and the transport stopped. He opened his eyes and saw his co-workers put on their helmets and pick up their cheap, Neotokian mining computers and simple gear. He *clicked* the helmet over his head and onto the suit, and picked the bag next to him with his gear. After the entire room was empty, he slowly walked towards the airlock. He rested his hand on the airlock, feeling nothing but the cold glove that kept him from the endless vacuum of space. He saw the bloodstains on the airlock door. A few months ago, Galli, the only woman in their team, was simply sliced in half by an error of the operator of the ship. He accidentally closed the airlock too soon, not looking at the camera, but at a cheap Neotokian monitor running a chipset with a collection of old japanese Anime classics. He could not even hear her scream over the intercom, because he had disabled the intercom. The man had been warned, and set back to work. Anyone with a social status like Crane's would get executed immediatly for such an error, or worse... Crane shaked his head to lose his thoughts and stepped out. As he set foot on the asteroid, he immediatly realised what he had forgot to do. He was blinded by the infinitely bright sun, and quickly turned his head off from the bright flare of the sun. He slided his golden visor down, similar to the visors the NASA astronauts had in the twentieth century. As she slowly gained his bearings and watched the green-blueish spot on his retina, he was called on over the intercom with a creaking sound and an electric shock zapped him straight in his suit. "Come on, Mister Miller, there's work to do." The creaking voice on the intercom said. He felt a deep hate inside of himself, but he managed to stay calm and started to pick away on the asteroid. He took the nearby jackhammer, the rusty apparatus was decades old. He realised how poor the company he worked for was. Rusty machines, rusty ships, rusty pays. Rusty people. As he felt the jackhammer's resistance to the rock decrease, he immediatly stopped, as he had learned in the few lessons the company had financed. He leaned forward, opened his sun-fending visor to inspect his foundings. As his eyes adjusted, he saw a faint blue shimmering. A great joy overmanned him, and he leaned further forward to touch the blueish ore. He could be proud. He was rich. He reached... At the moment his hand touched the material, a flash before his eyes. He screamed, but no sound escaped from his throat. He felt his mind fading, and slowly disappearing.
He was no more.

The Awakening
A flash. Strange shapes, molecular connections shaping and reshaping, arranging and rearranging. Polymers, Monomers forming, isotopes of one kind sprawling over and under me. Advanced chemical processes. And then... pure carbon, cutting away at me. The obvious sense of danger. A flash. I feel the urge of reflex, of instinct. Instinct, like a weak mammal, or even worse: human. What is a human? Unconsciousness. "Crane. Crane, boy. Come on!" An unfamiliar voice. Who... A sudden flood of memories flooded me, and I decided to keep most of it stored for later use. I was human. They were humans. Familiars. Yes. "They'll sell his corpse to the inner sanctum. He looks fine. So that'll fetch a good price." The accent. No normal linguistic pronounciation. Despair. Yes. This man was from Despair. What was Despair? I do not know. A sudden wave of strange heat inside my chest. Anger. He talks about me like I am nothing but money. I will have revenge. A feeling of comfort. Yes. "He's breathing again!" The voice I heard first was clear now, and somewhat... what was the word... relieved. Yes. "Damn. I wanted to make money with him." The hated person was disappointed, but calmly toned. I opened my eyes. A flash. Unimaginable numbers of photons reaching a thin surface, spawning an image. "Yeah, he's alive. We were worried about you, man!" Man. I adjusted my inner neurons and senses, feeling my genitalia. Yes, indeed, I was man. Strange voices. Not strange sonic trembles, but... inside. Better stay dead, better stay sleeping. And I slept.

I slowly adjusted my senses properly. The room I was in was tidy, with a single plant consuming valuable gases for no reason. The plant was nearly dead. There was nobody in the room, and I looked around for clues. Who am I? The single phrase stormed across my mind as a hurricane. I could not think of anything but Crane. Crane Miller. I was a poor man, spent my youth in the poor streets of the colony district Despair. Smoking Neotokian tobacco secretly. Stolen, of course, to prove your worth in your boy-gang. Whistling at a pretty girl passing by the streets unguarded, so your friend around the corner could surprise her and pull her into an alley. I saw images in my memoy. In a flash, I stood in the alley. My clothes were dirty, and the girl stood in front of me. I had a rusty knife in my hand. She trembled, knowing what I was going to do. So did I. I slowly twisted the knife before her, and saw her eyes following the rusty blade. With my free hand, I undid my pants, and quickly slided down my underwear. Her eyes spilled a small tear onto her cheek as her eyes widened when she saw my premature genital standing up. I said, as I had done before."You are going to suck it. Do it good." The girl was in terrible fear and hesitated. "Your little brother and mother will die if you don't." Her eyes widened in surprise of the knowledge I possessed. She slowly tilted her head down, and started to lick my hard, premature penis. She did not do it good, and after five minutes, I lost my patience. I knew that those five minutes had been a hell for her, nearly choking and crying. The warm tears made my few pubic hairs wet. I trew her on the floor, and ripped her underwear open with my knife. I pushed her legs apart. I entered her, and she cried out, clawing, but I rammed harder and harder until I, gasping, retreated my penis, and quickly stuck it into her mouth. My little sperm entered her mouth as I plunged my knife into her vagina, ripping it up to her heart. The harsh sound of bone squeaking and breaking, and blood spilling on my already dirty pants and shirt, as well as on my penis. Then, I quickly dressed and climbed up the roof. I felt proud. In a second flash, I was back in the tidy room, and of pure horror, I threw up in a corner. I hated myself. While I stood there, questioning my nature, I came to realise that *I* was not *me*. I was someone *different*. I felt wrong in this body... wrong with the memories. Like they were... not mine. In a flash, it was clear to me. I was not this person. I realised this, because I was not male, I was female. I had a clear memory. But that was empty. The other memory was not clear, and obviously adapted. At least, it *felt* adapted. I almost lost my balance as the room stirred.
The transport had stopped.

The Docks of Despair
I realised the ship I was on had reached it's destination. Topography, houses, all was in a blur. My memory was slowly escaping from me. Now, it would be a lie if I would say I would love to keep my memories, thinking of my previous flashback, but I guess the location of my house could come in handy. My other memory was virtually gone, but in it's final struggle, it called to me to look in the pocket of my jacket. Of course, I thought, my jacket. What was a jacket? Or a pocket? And where was it? Sudden linguistic networks spreaded through my mind, revealing me a mental image of a piece of cloth. And, yes, pockets. My happy ruse of victory was interrupted by a violent knocking on the door. "Ok, we know you are awake and fine, Miller, go home. No pay for today." I hated the voice, as I recognized it as the voice of someone who wanted to sell me. Well, my dead body. "Open the door, Miller." I merrily walked towards the door and opened it, and quickly hopped past the two men that looked after me with widened eyes. "Where did he get all that energy from?" One asked. The hated one answered. "He hasn't worked today. Guess why he has extra energy." Regardless of the no-pay situation, I was happily walking towards my house. Well, there were quite some obstacles between me and my house. The beautiful, yet old door of the ship was introduced to my forehead with unnerving accuracy when I energetically walked into the transparent fibers. The door opened with a 'hiss' and I, while slowly massaging my forehead, walked out into the Docks of Despair. Once I stepped out of the ship, into the docks, I was dazzled by the size of the colony I stood in. It had a self-sustaining ecosystem, and it was populated by so many people that I first thought the colony was too full. The same men that chatted about me before now said to me I had to get home. Laughing and mumbling
something about amnesia, one of them handed me a small paper with my adress on it. "It was in your coat." I quickly thanked the man, and looked around the colony. I had no idea where I had picked the word from, but it seemed right. There was a massive steel construction near the exit of the docks. I walked over to it, and I was amazed by its ugliness. The small, copper plate under it said "The first construction of the first Blue Steel, by J. Edgar Revooh" When I read the words "Blue Steel", my memory started ramming on my forehead, and I felt my heart beating in my head, in my eyes. Black circles danced in front of my eyes and I fainted. As soon as I regained consciousness, and my eyes met the great clock above the Dock exit, I saw I had been unconscious for nearly three hours, and that no-one had even cared about me. I immediatly realised. I was in Despair. I quickly headed towards the exit, meeting the mass of people, submerging myself into them. I felt like one of them. A collective feeling, I thought, was a certain aspect of human life. Somehow, I did not even feel human either...

Juno
The first emotion that struck me when I walked into the streets of Despair was disappointment. In my mental image, Despair was less... dark. I decided that I did not know the way to my apartment, after gazing upon the piece of paper handed to me. Yernegi 36, level four. "Level Four" did not strike me with wonder, because I saw the many levels of streets in Despair. It seemed most buildings reached up high, with about five levels to be counted as a maximum. On the first level, down to the floor, there were bars and shops. The upper levels seemed to be all residential. I walked up to a man, sitting in the doorway of an abandoned shop. The neon sign above him gave off strange buzzing sounds, and released a spark or two in time. "Do you know how I can get to Yernegi 36?" The man looked at me, closed his eyes for a moment. Small wrinkles appeared on his forehead. "That's one stop from here with the rail, then the first street left. That's Yernegi 30 to 40." He vaguely waved to an abandoned building at the end of the street. I thanked the man, and paced to the building. I was aware that I was not safe. Not in Despair. I knew anyone could just step out of the shadows of the alleys and shoot me to get my possessions. I walked faster, and tried to look unsuspicious. It probably made me look suspicious instead. Once I arrived at the strange building, I searched the massive wall for any entrances. I looked up, and to my great anger, it appeared the only entrance and exit was between the two levels, and connected with a primitive rope, hanging out of a window. I walked up to the rope and climbed up with the elegance and agility of a cow. This body was not fit for me. Once I stood in the opening of the window, I looked around the room I had just stepped into. Charred remains of tables and chairs lied around the room. A small, rusty knife was stuck in one of the chairs. I took the knife... it might just come in handy later. When I suddently realised I might had more weapons on my person, I started searching my coat. And yes, I found a small flechette gun, with ten bullets. It was probably not very accurate or deadly, but at point-blank range it would be possible to shoot someone's face off. I holstered the gun again, put the knife in my pocket and walked up to the concrete plateau that started at the end of the room. It was, obviously, a station for a certain type of train. The rails, hanging in the air, had cut the building in two. There was a small vending machine for instant-noodles, and a map with train arrivals and sectors. I saw this was the in-Despair train. I was at D-Docks, and yes, the man was right, Yernegi was one stop from here. I looked at the time of arrival. The final train would arrive at 22:00. I checked my arm to see whether I had a watch. I had no watch, so I looked around the structure for a clock. When my eyes met the clock, I saw the brick that had crushed the clock, freezing it at six minutes past five. Small glass shards lied across the concrete. I waited, walked around the concrete plateau and when I was preparing to leave, the train rolled into the station. The doors slided open, and about four people exited the train. It seemed I was the only one entering. I walked into the train, and sat myself down near a window. With a hydraulic *hiss* the doors slided down and the train was set in motion by the magnetic rail. I looked out of the window. The dark streets of D-Docks looked like a maze of robbery and murder. I saw a small alley, in which an old lady was shot. I quickly looked the other way. The cruelty of the sector was unimaginable. People were raped on the streets, robbed on the streets or simply shot. When I looked again, I saw a man crawling out of a deep manhole. The man had a red hood on his shirt, and as soon as he was out of the manhole, a man with a blue hood ran out of an alley and opened fire. The two exchanged shots and sought cover until they slipped out of my sight. A *ping* sound notified I was near my destination. Usually, a voice-chip notifies you of the arrival and the sector, but the voice chip was probably stolen quite a while ago. I arose from my comfortable chair, and stepped at the door. I pressed the button next to the door, and the door slided open. What I saw disappointed me.

Despair was, indeed, a very good name for the colony sector. The houses in Yernegi were just as dark and poor as in D-Docks. Crime, however, was far less common, I realised, when I walked the streets. People minded their own buisness and passed without making a sound. Yernegi was named after the first Optic Chip store in Neotokyo. The name did not seem to fit Yernegi. Yernegi had more markets then shops, and only two bars. It was a small, but relatively peaceful sector of Despair. I walked into the first street on the left and walked up the stairs that would, presumably, take me to the fourth level. I speeded up, and once I was on the fourth level, I was terribly tired. It did not seem right. This was, definately, not *me*. I tried to access a memory. I felt my head was becoming heavier, and my hand grabbed out to the railing to prevent me from fainting. My memories, it seemed, were still inaccessible. I raised my head, and looked into the street. Yernegi thirty to fourty. I calmly walked past each house to see whether it was 'mine'. I saw a beautiful house, obviously rich, and enthousiastically, I walked up to it, ready to enter my beautiful house, when I noticed it said "34". A little dazzled, I looked to my left and saw a small, broken top of a level one shop. The metal was rusted, and several pieces of the roof were shattered across the street. A small, flickering light above the door allowed me to certify: This was my house. I suddently felt myself being overwhelmed by sudden panic, as I did not know how to enter the building. I pushed the door, and it simply slided open with a creaking sound. The door was made of metal, with several scratches on it, and a small sign: "C. Miller". The sign made me feel uncomfortable, and I took my knife to break it off. When I leaned onto the door, the metal moaned, and paint fell down. With a sudden *clank*, the sign fell. I walked into my 'home'.

A wooden table, with two rusty, metal chairs. There was a bottle of cheap wine on the table, it's smell wafting through the chamber. A small bed, in a corner, and a Neotokian client computer. A big window of fiberglass gave me a view of Yernegi. I walked up to the window and saw a small photoframe, lying face down next to the window. I scratched at the frame to pick it up, raised it to my eyes and watched. The photo of 'me' and... a woman. I felt like my 'second' spirit was sucked into the photograph, and I screamed in my head. The connection between me and a... *female*... I was FEMALE! The truth rammed into the fibers of my being as I watched my skin falling off, like hinges after paint. I... female... I... *Juno*. And all became black.

Colony
I breathed heavily. I felt... lighter. I closed my eyes to arrange my thoughts. The strange presence of the other mind... was *gone*. I felt clear in my head, like thick clouds of Despair smog had just been blown away. I questioned my current identity. The word "Juno" was the only clear word that I managed to summon when I thought of my identity. I decided to simplify the matter, and just call myself Juno. I sighed. As I sighed, I noticed that the pressure on my chest had increased. I opened my eyes, and looked down. I looked at two breasts. I felt a sigh of relief passing through my being. I raised my arms before my eyes. Femine arms. Naked arms. I realised I was lying in a room, naked. A slight wave of panic reached my consciousness. There are no female clothes here. Actually, all clothes had just been disintegrated, thanks to my 'transformation', because I was wearing them. I felt my being adapt to the need of clothes, and saw most of my body take a shimmering blue hue, chrome-like. I saw matter form. I felt a lot lighter, but soon, most of that weight had returned, as clothes. I jumped up, and looked into the glass. I saw a black top, woven with extra kevlar layers and some steel. I had strange gloves, obviously intended to match the small, non-Neotokian computer on my left wrist. A small earphone was hovering above my right ear, wired to a small keypad in my right pocket of my black, strapped pants, also reinforced with several fabrics. My shoes were of a strange, metal-like polymer, and the bottom made of isolating fabric, which simply refused to make a sound on most surfaces. The entire outfit looked like it was too complex to be made by human hands. I stood there, content, posing in front of the mirror, when I realised what I had done. I had taken another shape. No, I had used the fabric of my existence to create an entity for me. I realised what was lurking in my mind for so long: I could either take a shape, or use my material to make things. Most of my material was depleted, though, after making clothes. But I could recollect the material and create something new. I decided I was content with my current situation, and strapped the straps on the sides of my pants tight. I was interested in my abilities.

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