Recreation

The gods walk between us, but they are not subjected to our laws, of course. We have to way to enforce our laws when a deity chooses not to comply.

We should be happy and grateful by the freedom to give laws for ourselves. The gods could rule every aspect of our lives, same way they rule the skies and the Infinite River, instead, they leave us alone to do as we please. Most the time. Is not wise to question their reasons.

Our world was created by the gods more than a thousand years ago. Maybe two thousand years ago. They shaped the lands, the mountains and lakes, gave fresh water to the Infinite River and created the Deadly Desert opposed to the river. In the land right above our heads, but too far away to be seem, in day or night. The gods made the sun as a line between our lands and the Deadly Desert, and they light it and make the sun sleep in darkness to separate day and night.

Also, the gods made us, in their own image. They shaped our time, so we would age and die from old age in around 60 years. So, they could come, and met us, and share our experiences in existence. Then see us die, before we became boring. Allowing them to see our children grow, and share their existence too.

Sometimes they let us know who they are, what they are. More often they pretend to be people like us. Just ephemerals.

Usually, they stay a decade or less in this world.

Every so often they even marry ephemerals, have children with us. Their children are like us, not like them. However, sometimes divine parents give supernatural gifts to their children. Because it pleases them to grant such gifts.

We pray to the deities, and celebrate their generosity, fear their wrath. Notwithstanding, our lives do not revolve around them. We have our own, ephemeral, affairs.

The word is infinite from highriver to downriver, and in the paths where you can travel, if you can survive the Deadly Desert, takes about ten years for a caravan to move around the ring from one side of the river to the opposite. There is little reason to do that, even, since the only lands good for living are the ones chose to the infinite river.

At some points the river is narrow enough for a man standing in one shore be able to see the opposite side. Mostly it is six or seven times larger than this. There are islands here and there, some large enough for small nations stand and prosper.

The world is vast, and the Infinite River has no end in any direction, but some regions near to the river are too dangerous. Deadly forests with monsters no one can fight, poison pollen, mountains too high to travel, regions where the river is so deep that fishes cannot survive, and there is no food to be found in the land. The gods may the world like that to discourage laziness and **** us to value each fertile field, each iron mine, each place of our world where live is possible and prosperity can be achieved by hard work.

Because things are like that, we must build castles, raise armies, and fight for our land. Stronger people conquer the best fields, closer to the Infinite River. Those who lose move through passages between mountains, searching for lakes and fields closer to the Deadly Desert.

Few tribes have learned the art to live from the desert itself. Although, they remain close to its borders, mostly, they have mastered the art to cross the vast dry nothingness when time is favourable for that.

To the gods makes little difference. They visit the tribes in the desert, like they visit the islands in Infinite River. Seldom take sides in any conflict.

I like to hear their priests educating children in the public squares. They do not separate classes by age, and welcome contributions from travellers passing by. I keep my opinions to myself, usually. If we choose to call those “opinions”.

That’s the most fundamental point of this place, I suppose. Allow regular people the experience to walk around “knowing better”.

This place does not actually have one or two thousand years. Interesting mistake, it opened to visitors in the Expansion Age 1000, had been concluded little more than 5 years before and tests had been running for that long. First generation of natives came from different habitats spread thru Solar System. This is 1593, ergo this place has 593 years. The architects kept Earthling 24 hours days, but they needed a way to mark the passage of years, even in the regions where they decided to have equatorial clime. Someone decided to place a “red night” once a year.

That night, instead of going dark the line they have for sun stays active, but its light becomes dark-red. Spooky.

Cannot argue with success, it works. This people have no moon or stars, nights are completely dark here. A event like that catches their attention nicely. We got the “legal year”, Earthling standard, stablished.

The mistake about how old this place is come from the trees, mostly. The Silver Line Park started with fully grow trees, of course, transferred here by robots controlled by AI systems.

From outside this is a spiral line, build around the Solar System. We don’t see but the impression of gravity is given by centrifuge ****, since a internal layer of the structure is constantly spinning. The rings are independent, allowing the administration to increase or reduce “gravity” in sections. Without affect the entire structure. However, for most part Earthling gravity is kept.

The “ephemerals” don’t know this, but their “gods” are as ephemeral as they are, generally speaking. Thanks to the Alexandrine Consensus each human can live only 300 legal years. A bit more than the less than 100 available for this people inside Silver Line, but hardly a “divine” lifespan.

There are exceptions to that rule. Those humans born before the “**** Line” set in Egypt, Earth. The law gave them the right to keep their biological immortality if they wanted.

Most of them decided to embrace the **** Line, voluntarily. Some did not.

Also, of course, subhumans can be made biologically immortal. Those poor fellows inside Silver Line just do not have that luck because the purpose of their existence is better served by their lifespan limited in around 60 years.

That part this fellow priest got right.

I take my leave, to walk a little more before go back to the tavern.

We have access points about everywhere. For maintenance, and to give access to visitors.

For the sake of practicality our access doors for tourists are located close to points of interest. Sometimes inside villages, bellow some building owned by workers who live fake lives “disguised” as ephemerals. This tavern is one of such places. The door to the elevator opens inside a hidden basement, bellow their basement.

Pretty charming system, but isn’t good for large groups. Half a dozen at the time, does not risk attract the attention of anyone.

This village is at a natural crossing of paths, visitors came and go all the time. Strange faces and accents are very normal thing in the eyes of natives.

The geographic barriers are intentional, as the locals also have figured out correctly.

The architects of this place didn’t wish to see the communities to grow too large populations, and unify the entire line eventually. In a single culture.

Some sections are mostly medieval, like this one. Some are Paleolithic. The most advanced ones are some cartoonish version of early XX century Earth, with steam engines, trains, and even World War 1 airplanes. Administration keep tech levels under close vigilance, never allowing any potentially problematic innovation chance to spread.

Ephemerals are legally subhumans, and subhumans do not have any right. Is easy to catch a bunch of them and erase years of memories from them. Or even kill the population of entire sections, if it is considered convenient. For practical, administrative, reasons.

Place is a experiment, so far successful. Isn’t all populated yet, there is still many empty sections available for new projects.

As Expansion Age advances the resources flowing to Solar System from other stars in this galaxy keep growing in volume. Absurd projects like Silver Line are bond to became more frequent, and even larger in scale. This is the most important star in the galaxy, the birthplace of humanity is a planet in this system. Is only natural that we should have things like that, to signal the special status of this region of space.

Other systems will build their own versions of Silver Line, eventually. By the time the first half decent imitation becomes ready to welcome visitors we must have something even larger and more special here.

Not that I care too much for that game. To me, this job is a necessity.

If I had been born just 2 years before my situation would be very different. Then, I would be able to choose what to do with my life, if anything.

Oh, I had that choice, actually. I made the “wrong” choice, once. Between die 300 years old, as a human, or live forever as property of someone. I decided for immortality.

Now I belong to a large company, and they are kind enough to grant me the illusion of a normal life. As if I was still legally a person. If, and only if, I keep delivering a good job.

Right now, they want to design a new Silver Line.

This one will not be placed around Solar System, but around the second most relevant star in the Universe. Mystery Star.

It is ridiculous, from a conventional point of view. That stellar system has zero inhabitants. No one lives there, because every person who enters there dies.

We cannot take any resource from this system, even drones don’t came back. We have not managed to get pictures, even. Place is as Mysterious now as it used to be during Baby Steps Age. Before the first expedition leave Solar System.

I suppose that is the reason justifying such a large project. Place is a mystery. In a Universe where those are gradually becoming scarce.

For the most part what we found when we expanded beyond this system was what we expected to find. Some microorganisms here and there. Very few ecosystems worth writing home about. Above all, the same physical constants we are used to. Only place that do not plays by the rules is Mystery System.

Of course, this place is bond to became huge. All systems populated by humanity will want to invest some resources to get themselves a foot around Mystery System.

Projects like that take thousands of years to take shape. Will define the economy in the galaxy for hundreds of thousands of years, at least. Possibly even more than a thousand years. When Expansion Age reaches its conclusion, a couple million years in the future, humanity will start its Young Age. Sending seeding fleets to other galaxies. The question in the minds of most people when that time comes is likely to be “will we find another Mystery System somewhere?”.

Assuming we don’t solve the mystery before that.

Taking under consideration that scale of time, and magnitude of importance, makes complete sense to build the second Silver Line project around Mystery System.

Goes without saying: it cannot be just a copy of that one here.

I am studding this place, to help with ideas. To design a unique and even more amazing structure. Exploring the same concept, and design lines.

I have walked through some sectors for years. Made a home for myself, married, got children. Usually kept those experiences limited to a legal decade. Because that is the limit of time most visitors can expend in one visit. A few time I stayed 30 years, and once 50, just to personally experience the problems related to simulated aging in such environments. Few visitors stay for that long in one sector, but we must take those few under account too.

It is tragic, and sad, when I stop to contemplate the situation. Reason why I do not stop to contemplate it when I have the option to avoid this kind of introspection. Around this specific topic.

Outside the habitats build to be the home of ephemerals biological immortality is routine medical procedure. Alexandrine Law is the only thing preventing legal humans to have it. Since those ephemerals are like me, not humans, they could have it as easily as me. Losing nothing by getting it.

Despite that, every children born in those relationships between me and ephemeral women in Silver Line was destined to age and die in less than one century. One quarter of century, more or less, more likely than not.

Our human visitors have only 300 years to live, but they can get themselves a ephemeral or a few, at the end of their visit. Take them home, to show them the real world around the existence they thought to be real. Get them biological immortality, what means they will stay in their spoil after they die, and likely get the chance to meet dozens of future generations of their family. Or end up being sold to a company like the one that owns me.

Possibly end up working in a project like the one where they where born. Some hundreds of thousands of years from now. In some distant stellar system.

On the other hand, that was not the fate of any of my children. Is not the fate of the vast majority of the people born as ephemerals inside those habitat rings.

We live in a imperfect world, that is painfully clear.