Image by Ruth Archer from Pixabay

Bianca sat in the ruins of her family’s home, clutching the cracked holo cube of her family. She no longer had a holo projector to put it into, and being cracked it would probably no longer work. But she didn’t care. It was the only thing she had left after the bomb shattered her world.

How long had war been raging? She didn’t know. Certainly as long as she’d been alive. Her parents had never known a time without war either, from their stories. Mankind had been trying to destroy itself for centuries. It seemed, as she looked around with her ash covered face, that they were succeeding far better now than they had ever before.

The last war had decimated mankind. So few planets still had a viable population that it was rumored that whole worlds were dead because of terrible weapons of mass destruction. Technological and medical advancements were lost with the destruction of databases that had once given humanity copious amounts of knowledge. The scientists and engineers who’d supplied them with that knowledge were also dead, leaving humanity struggling to put together the pieces.

Bianca looked up as a massive number of ships appeared in orbit. She shuddered, wondering what new fresh horror was descending on Elara now. Smaller ships descended to the world and soon she could hear the booming voice ordering all the citizens of Thenophilis to gather.

Bianca tucked her holo cube into the pocket of her torn pants and made her way to the center of town. There, a man stood surrounded by soldiers. So few people gathered that at first Bianca thought some must still be in hiding. But a short while later, some soldiers appeared. “That’s all of them, Your Imperial Majesty,” one of them said.

“So few? This is one of the worst ones yet,” the man said. He looked incredibly sad. “I am Jeven, Emperor of the United Empire of Humanity. We will do what we can to aid you. The wars are over. I will tolerate no more violence in my empire.”

“What can you do to help us, Emperor?” a man spat. “Can you bring back my dead daughter? Can you resurrect those that have died here because of men like you?”

Jeven didn’t take offense. It seemed he was used to such questions. “No, I cannot. I cannot undo the sins of the past. I can only provide for the present and make way for a better future.”

“Your Imperial Majesty, please,” a woman stepped forward with a badly injured child. “My son. He was hurt in the last bomb drop. There are no doctors.”

“Get my medical team out here. Right now,” Jeven barked. One of his soldiers ran for the ship. “Madam, we will tend to your child right away. We do not have all the technology we once had, but we will do our best to help him.”

Bianca watched as this man began to bring out food and clean water, something she and her fellow survivors hadn’t had in weeks, and other necessities. They were given clothes, showers were set up that let them bathe when there was no running water anywhere in the city. Their needs were met for the first time since the last bomb dropped and Bianca came out of the area feeling like a person again.

“Excuse me, miss, this was in your pocket.” One of the soldiers handed her the cracked holo cube. “If you talk to that gentleman right there, he might be able to pull the images off of it onto a fresh holo cube so when you do have a new holo projector, you can see them again.”

“I can see my family again?” Bianca stared at him with wide eyes, clutching the holo cube close to her chest. He smiled and nodded. Bianca went to the person he directed her to, feeling that perhaps this new emperor might not be such a bad person after all.