"The Unexamined Life," by Bob Latchaw

My name is Vincent Williams. I am 22 years old. I used to live in Stokesville, Florida. It is July 19, 2026. These may be the last days of my life and this colony. I am writing this to inform whoever finds it of the events that took place here and throughout the rest of the world. Three years ago, the entire planet was stricken with a deadly virus. Korenum, as it was named, is one hundred percent fatal. All attempts to make a vaccine have failed. It seems that any amount of exposure to the virus is fatal. It is transmitted by air and physical contact. Korenum attacks the vital organs, causing them to shut down one-by-one just hours after exposure. After Korenum has been contracted, the average person has no longer than eight hours to live.

No one really knows what it evolved or mutated from, but the outbreak originated somewhere in rural China. It spread so fast that no one really had time to react. It is estimated that a million people were dead before anyone was sure what killed them. It was horrifying. Even worse was the panic that overtook almost every country. Looters and gangs ran rampant. Law enforcement and the military were helpless. They had too much on their hands.

As Korenum spread, it wiped out entire cities and towns. Entire countries are considered to be entirely depopulated. The people of China and most other Asian countries were almost completely eradicated within six months. By then, Korenum had spread to every other continent, but we had a little time to counter it as best we could. The militaries did their best to quarantine the capitols and large cities, but there was so much panic that people trying to evacuate only hastened Korenum’s rampage. In a year almost every major city in the world was lost. What was left of the militaries and governments created colonies to contain and protect survivors. It was around that time that we started losing contact with other countries. Because it was so dangerous to leave the Colonies, no one was around to tend to power plants or service communication lines and satellites. We have absolutely no way of direct communication outside the range of our colony’s modified CB radios. When the government set up these last-resort camps, they spread them out enough so that if one colony became infected, it wouldn’t contaminate any of the others. As far as we know, what was the United States has eight remaining colonies out of ten. We are able to remain in contact with these colonies through relaying through the colony that we can directly contact. I currently reside in Colony Two in the northwestern corner of what was Georgia. The colonies were named One through Ten starting in the foothills of the Appalachians near what used to be Maryland and ending somewhere in Eastern California. The colonies recently lost contact with Colony Ten because Colony Nine was wiped out by Korenum, breaking our link to Ten.

Each colony shelters about ten-thousand survivors now. But those numbers are slowly decreasing day by day, and supplies and rations are beginning to run low. Everyone is at least a little on-edge. I fear that if we continue on this path, people will start to protest and riot. I could only get worse from there until Korenum infiltrated our refuge through a breach in the protective dome that covers our colony or by an infected person slipping through the screening processes.

Last week, a mother and her two teenage sons came to the gates of Colony Two. They had been living in the basement of their farm house for almost the entirety of the plague. They had run low on supplies and the father had gone out to search for food and water. He hadn’t returned in a week. The rest of the family assumed the worst and was out of food so they braved the outdoors to find another refuge. At our gates, they begged and pleaded for us to let them in. We had no choice but to turn them away. We don’t have enough supplies for our own people, much less for additional survivors. We gave them a few emergency rations and sent them on their way. Similar happenings have occurred every few weeks for the last several months.

On top of the refugees that come to us, there are two enemies that regularly pay Colony Two a visit every month or so. One is composed of the remnants of The Outlaws and a few other gangs from the area that allied with them. They usually ride motorcycles around the perimeter of Colony Two, firing shots into the air and threatening to storm and raid the complex, shoot a hole in the dome, or some other such thing.

The other group is far more dangerous. They appear to be some kind of cult group, possibly originating from somewhere in the Mississippi vicinity. They call themselves The Selected. From what we’ve gathered from observation and the propaganda they used to broadcast over the radio, they are demented, zealous, and sadistic. They believe that their god sent Korenum to the world to rid it of “undesirables and unbelievers.” They believe that Colony Two falls into that group. They attack us because we defy the will of their god by struggling for survival. They attack us with insane, suicidal tactics. The soldiers and volunteers that protect the perimeter of the complex have no choice but to kill them if they cross the perimeter line. No other attempt to stop them has succeeded. Sometimes it even takes several bullets to disable a single Selected because they are usually in a severe, drug-induced haze when they attack. Their extraordinary tenacity makes them even more terrifying. Each attack from both aggressors becomes more and more belligerent. Luckily for us, our defenders have been able to thwart every attack on Colony Two so far.

I hope and pray to God (if there is one) that we can survive long enough to see the end of this horrendous nightmare. [end journal entry]

***

It had been almost two and a half months since Colony Two had seen or heard from either The Outlaws or The Selected. It was a welcomed pause in the assaults, but the colonists were suspicious. The enemies could not have just given up after so long. They had to be up to something.

Vincent and many of the younger male colonists had grown bored and impatient. Most of them, including Vincent, had volunteered to take shifts on one of the eight defense outposts. Vincent had already taken the two week-long training courses and had been out for three uneventful shifts. Vincent and two of fellow recruits were sitting in the west outpost during what they expected to be another boring morning of sitting around in a hazmat suit watching the knolls just past the perimeter of Colony Two. The volunteers chatted and played cards with the two soldiers that supervised them in order to keep from falling asleep.

The morning was chill and foggy. At about 6:45, something on caught Vincent’s eye.

“Corporal Fisher, movement on the other side of the knolls,” said Vincent in a somewhat startled tone as he reached for his rifle and moved closer to the window.

“Jennings, alert the northwest and southwest posts. Find out if they know anything we don’t,” he ordered the Private.

As he spoke, a large group of people started making their way over the ridge.

Corporal Fisher turned his head to look again and realized who they were.

“God help us,” said Fisher in a controlled but nervous way. “It’s The Selected!”
Corporal Fisher rushed over to the communications console and pushed the alert key to sound the alarm in the colony as Vincent, Jennings, and the other two men took their positions at the window. The enemies lined up in three rows of about twenty just a few feet from the perimeter line, about 200 yards from the outpost, which was in turn about 100 yards from Colony Two. As a reinforcement team of six sharpshooters and two machine gun crews ran from the colony to the west outpost, the enemies just stood there, motionless. The Selected soldiers wore pure white hazmat suits. Their helmets were also white with silver-tinted visors. Each carried an old AK-47, painted white, with a bayonet on the barrel. It was an intimidating sight for Vincent and the other recruits as the tension rose.

As the reinforcement team arrived and took positions, a group of four elite-looking Selected moved from the back of the lines to in front of them. In the middle of the guards was the bear of a man that was the leader of The Selected.

“There’s ‘Big Bear’ himself,” exclaimed Vincent. “I can’t believe he came here in person after that sniper nearly took his head off last time.”

“Big Bear” was what the colonists had come to call the leader of The Selected as he was a very large, intimidating man. He brought a megaphone to the speaker on his helmet and began to address the colony, “Attention, defilers of this planet! The Selected have come to cleanse this area of your presence once and for all! For long, you have been able to foil our attacks, but not this day! For the last month, we have been purifying this land of those barbaric pirates, The Outlaws. We have captured their weapons caches and now we are fully equipped and ready to fulfill our sacred duty. Finally we can perform God’s command and become one with him!”

With those words, he and his elite guards each removed a rocket-propelled grenade launcher from their backs and aimed them at Colony Two. Just one of the RPGs would be enough to blow a hole in the colony’s dome big enough to put the entire population in danger of becoming infected. Corporal Fisher cried out in dismay, “Now! Snipers, take them down!” The sharpshooters opened fire on their targets. Three of Big Bear’s guards fell dead before they had a chance to pull the trigger. Big Bear and the guard directly to his left were hit, but both of their RPGs were fired. Big Bear flinched at the impact of the bullet in his chest and he shot slightly high. His remaining guard was killed, but not before he got a clean shot off. The two RPGs streaked past the outpost towards Colony Two.

There was nothing anyone could do to stop them. One RPG flew straight into the side of the colony, exploding on impact and leaving a gaping, smoking hole. Several people noticed that the RPG that Big Bear had fired had exploded in mid-air. The area in the air started to smoke. What looked like electricity arced around something that was flickering into view. In a second, the source of the smoke was extinguished and the object was in full view of everyone. It looked like, and was about the size of a small skyscraper turned on its side with several cubes bulging out of it.

As the shock of the mysterious object hit everyone, something about the size and shape of a refrigerator was shot out of it towards the spot where Big Bear was trying to stand back up. It landed just inches to his right. An orb of white light was projected from the thing, and Big Bear, as well as The Selected that had gathered around him were gone. The remaining Selected threw down their weapons and scattered away like white mice from a falcon.

Panic, awe, confusion, curiosity, and fear hit the people of Colony Two all at the same time. The dome of the colony had been breached and the Korenum-filled air was rushing in. The few people that carried gas masks with them put them on, but only a handful got them on in time. The two other recruits, Jennings, and the reinforcement team raced back to the colony to do what they could to help the people. Vincent and Corporal Fisher however were transfixed on the object that had just appeared out of nowhere and defeated their deadly enemy.

As they stared in bewilderment, another projectile, similar to the first but larger, was shot out of the object and landed just behind the outpost. Vincent and Fisher both turned and looked at the thing that was just outside the door, wondering if what happened to Big Bear and his men would happen to them. After a minute of tension, nothing had happened, so the two men stepped outside to get a closer look.

As they exited the outpost, the side of the large brick-like object that was facing them slid open with a hiss. Out of the opening stepped a tall, very wiry humanoid with jet black skin and small black eyes. It was eight feet tall and had some kind of electronic devices that seemed to be implanted along its left hand and forearm. It had a similar-looking band that wrapped around the back of its head from eye to eye.

Vincent and Fisher stood in perplexity, frozen by the appearance of this being. They were so startled that they both dropped their rifles. Before either of them had the chance to even think about saying anything, the being spoke.

“Greetings, Corporal Mark Jennings and Vincent Williams. You may call me Krit. I am a Tre’i. Our home world is in a galaxy thousands of light years from here. We have been observing your planet for over a year. This is the first planet we have encountered that sustains any life at all. We have learned your languages and some of your culture. We would have continued observing invisibly from the ship, but that explosion disabled our cloaking device. Now that you know we are here, we wish to learn all we can about your race before you become extinct. I would like to speak with General John Porter and Senator Jenna Black.”

“How do you know our names?” stammered Vincent.

“As I said,” replied Krit, “we have been observing Colony Two for over a year now. Now please, there is not much time. Please take me to the colony.”

Back at Colony Two, a council was organized to meet with the newcomer. The council was made up of the various leaders of Colony Two, including General Porter and Senator Black. Vincent and Corporal Jennings were allowed to attend the meeting, but were no on the council. General Porter briefed the group on what had recently happened. Over four fifths of the colony’s population had been infected by Korenum when the dome was breached. General Porter went on to announce that the colony had visitors from another galaxy. At this, mutters and whispers traveled around the room. Porter introduced Krit and motioned for him to enter. The room fell dead silent.

“Greetings. I am Krit, a Tre’i. We Tre’i are an immortal race. There are only 3,165 of us as we do not produce offspring. We left our home world several millennia ago by this world’s time. After our civilization had advanced society and technology to their limits, ended conflicts between ourselves and solved virtually all of our problems, we could progress no further. We could no longer find meaning in existence, so our entire civilization began its nomadic search for some purpose in this universe. We arrived in this solar system more than a year ago. We picked up the radio transmissions between your colonies and began to observe and translate your language. We wonder if this planet holds any clues to the purpose of our existence and wish to observe your society before it is gone.”

Senator Black spoke, “We are pleased to have you here and we will be more than happy to assist you in your observations and your quest. But you must help us. The majority of the people of this colony will be dead within seven hours. Sure, there are other colonies are out there, but their situation is not much better that ours. Surely you can’t just sit back and watch us die off. You must have some kind of technology to save us from this plague.”

“You are correct in your assumption, Senator,” replied Krit. We have developed nano-technology that could be used to make you immune to the virus. However, we have decided that we will refrain from doing such a thing. We-”

“What?” interrupted General Porter. “You mean to say that you’re just going to let us die off despite the fact that you could easily free us from this plague?”

“Please calm yourself, General,” Krit said serenely. “We have decided not to interfere with this because your race will undoubtedly die out someday. That day may be very soon, and it may be somewhere far in the future. Either way, we Tre’i will still be wandering this universe on our quest for purpose. Everything we have encountered has an end, except ourselves. What difference does it make when that end comes?”

One of the other council members suggested that humans are still developing and improving and that it was not their time yet. Another gave examples of artistic and musical accomplishments. Yet another council member made note of the capability of humans to restore their civilization to what is once was and then some in the fields of technology, government, and society. Krit placidly reminds them that the Tre’i progressed in those areas to their full potential and assures them that those hold no lasting value.

Vincent spoke up. “Krit, why do the Tre’i feel that they have no purpose and need to find one? Just because something doesn’t seem to have any value doesn’t mean anything. Just take our race for example. We all strive for progress and survival with the knowledge that we will die someday. By your logic, our very existence, as well as every other finite thing, is meaningless. That’s just not true. If it’s purpose you’re looking for, maybe you’ve been looking too hard for too long. Is it not plausible that life itself is meaning enough? What if part of the purpose you’ve been looking for was to come here and save the human race?” Krit paused for a second. The room had gone completely silent.

“How can life without a purpose be meaningful?” Krit replied. “What else is left of existence when there is no reason?”

“There doesn’t have to be a definite reason,” answered Vincent. “The simple enjoyment of life can be meaning enough. I think that over the millennia, the Tre’i have forgotten that.”

Krit paused again to process this argument. After several seconds Krit tapped several buttons on the pad on his wrist, and then touched the band on his head. “I believe you have a point, Vincent. Maybe we have lost sight of the simple aspects of existence in our quest for purpose. I have just sent this new idea to the rest of my people and requested that our previous decision be corrected.” The committee members, as well as the observers, all felt some sense of hope, but the decision was still up in the air.

After what seemed like hours of tense waiting, Krit spoke. “The leaders of the Tre’i have discussed your argument and have agreed that it is the best course of action to assist you in your survival. The Tre’i greatly look forward to a long future of working with and learning from Humans.”