The rocket’s engines roared to life as crowds of beaming, wailing, and anxious people waved. The man sitting in the pilot’s seat, attractive, strong-bodied and stronger-chinned, smiled. His teeth, like the rest of him, were perfect. He waved back to the masses.
“For America, and the whole human race!” His voice emanated from speakers that had been peppered around the launch-site.
The rocket’s flames grew in intensity, and with a small jolt the vessel began its ascension toward the heavens.
Standing in the control room, Marcus Fielders smiled, and waved, and smiled, and waved…
…Then once the ship was out of site, he dropped his hand and frowned.
“Well?” Tyze Erin asked after over the din of the crowd.
“Well what?” Marcus grumbled.
“You know he’ll be back.”
“Centuries from now… And that’s assuming he doesn’t find a home with the Alpha Centaurians.”
Tyze sighed. “Even if he does, they’ll just foist him back on us once they invent decent rocket tech… Or they’ll try launching him into their star.”
“Just like we tried… Remember?”
Tyze shook her head. “No… I mean, I read about it, but I wasn’t born yet.”
“Mr. Immortal was able to gather metals from the heart of the Sun, fashion them into a giant stellar sail, then rode the solar winds back to Earth.” Marcus shook his head. “No, death won’t work on him, because he can’t die. He was born to-”
“-born?”
Marcus shrugged. “Born, or created, or spawned from the depths of hell, or maybe heaven… Wherever he came from, he seems drawn toward leadership… Absolute, unquestionable leadership.”
The pair walked under a banner. The same smiling face that had been plastered a billion different times across the globe, the face that had just been launched into the universe, stared warmly out at them. Beneath his flawless visage the phrase ‘The King’s Triumphant Mission to the Stars!’ declared the immortal man’s mission a success before he’d even left, but that didn’t concern anyone. There was no question in anyone’s mind that he’d survive, and someday, he’d certainly return.
The immortal man had been there for eons. He’d taken over every country and had survived every assassination attempt levied at him. It was lucky he was benevolent, and simply wanted power for the sake of leading mankind optimally. If his intentions had been anything less than pure…
Marcus shuddered at the thought.
“I hear the New-Chinese coalition plans to start constructing tunnels a half-mile down… Big enough for their whole population to survive so that if he comes back-”
“-When he comes back.” Marcus interjected.
Tyze nodded. “When he comes back, they’ll be able to remain autonomous.”
“It’s a waste of time.” Marcus huffed. “He’ll find them. He always does.”
“I think they plan to make it look like they’d been destroyed in nuclear war.”
Marcus nodded. “He’ll still find them.”
“Well what do you suggest?”
Marcus shrugged. “Nothing. We have centuries.”
Tyze looked annoyed. “So you don’t want to think about it? You’d rather foist that problem off on your grandkids?!”
“More like, I think we’ve got other problems to solve first.” Marcus said. “We’re going to have to figure out who’s going to lead us. The King’s always been the cornerstone of governance, but now? Do we elect a parliament, or find a new dictator, or let AI take over?”
“You really think politics will be that big a problem?” Tyze asked. “Don’t you think it’ll work itself out?”
Marcus shrugged again. “Could be. Maybe without fear of the Immortal Man’s brand of justice, we’ll descend into anarchy… Or maybe we’ll all agree on every solution and there won’t be any problems and we’ll be able to build a fleet of ships and escape Earth before he returns.”
“A fleet of ships?”
Marcus nodded. “That’s what West Canadia plans to do. They think they can hide out on Mars for a bit.”
The pair continued walking through the crowd. Each person seemed lost in thought as they considered the future without the Immortal Man.
“Suppose we really do find it hard to govern ourselves… Do you think that maybe it would have been better if the Immortal Man were still here?”
“No.” Marcus said quickly, as if trying to convince himself as much as Tyze. “I mean, we had peace and prosperity, but we didn’t have-“
“-Freedom.” Tyze interrupted.
Marcus nodded. Most people on Earth agreed. It’s why they were able to get Operation Centauri Exploration built. It’s why no one told the Immortal Man that his mission to space wasn’t to save the Alpha Centaurians, but rather an attempt to get rid of him once and for all. It was nice living on a peaceful planet, of course, but after decades and centuries of totalitarianism, after generations of unspoken conflicts bubbling just beneath the surface with no way to settle their issues, it was refreshing to be free…
…Free, even if it meant the occasional war. It was worth it…
…Right?
Marcus was about to tell Tyze that he expected things to get worse… War would indeed follow, as would terrorism and general violence and strife… But he didn’t want to bring down the mood. The day was one to be celebrated.
Instead Tyze, staring skyward, was the one to break their silence. “He came from space, right? I mean, they say he arrived a thousand years ago to guide us?”
“That’s what we were told, yeah.”
Tyze continued looking toward the heavens. “Maybe he appears on a planet and enforces a peace that allows a species to grow advanced enough to invent spaceships. After that, they send him off and it’s up to that species to continue living in peace. Maybe he’s some sort of extraterrestrial test…Maybe he was even created by a God.”
“I guess we’ll never really know.” Marcus said. “Even if he decides to come back, it’ll take him centuries.”
The pair tried grappling with their newfound feelings of freedom. The crowds around them tried dealing with the same. All over the Earth, the human race felt anxious and excited and a bit frightened. For the first time in a millennium, for better or worse, they were a species set free.