{"id":42,"date":"2022-10-20T00:26:37","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T00:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/?p=42"},"modified":"2023-11-27T17:09:56","modified_gmt":"2023-11-27T17:09:56","slug":"42","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/?p=42","title":{"rendered":"To Die Among the Stars [In Progress]"},"content":{"rendered":"

To Die Among the Stars [In Progress]<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n
\n

A sixteen year old girl must work undercover with the same people who murdered her mother to avenge her death.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

“To Die Among the Stars” <\/em>is a psychological cyberpunk horror novel exploring themes of imposter syndrome, the fleeting significance of distance as social media becomes more pervasive in daily life, and the limitless depravity that smart technology enables human beings to succumb to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is currently a work in progress. There will be more details to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n
\n

Chapter 1<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

How to Use Family Trauma to Scare Your Mom Out of the Country<\/strong>
… and Fail<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMom,\u201d said Jasmine as their mushroom-nosed hovercraft zoomed over the roads, \u201cI keep telling you we need to move out of this shithole country. But you never listen to me. We could die if we don\u2019t. What makes you think we\u2019re special enough to survive?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, anak ko<\/em>,\u201d sighed Emilia in the passenger seat of the self-driving vehicle. My child. <\/em>\u201cI\u2019m at my wits\u2019 end with you. I keep saying the same thing over and over again. We\u2019re not <\/em>leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The GPS orb hovered over the driverless steering wheel, showing a holographic rendition of the Google Maps UI. Their current trajectory was highlighted in blue:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

> Date: 27 June 2082 (Saturday)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

> Time until destination: 5 minutes<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

> Destination: Olinger\u2019s Evergreen Cemetery<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today would be a day of mourning the Dalisays\u2019 deaths. Of honoring family affairs. No more ruminating on what could <\/em>be. Jasmine had always preferred the present moment, for the future was void of the three things she craved most in her life. Routine. Order. Predictability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if the present was void of all those things?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been months since you lost your job, Mom,\u201d said Jasmine. \u201cYour savings are draining, and it\u2019s getting more and more dangerous living here. What are we gonna do when you finally become broke? Get kicked out of our condo and join all those homeless cities? Get gunned down in another mass shooting? I\u2019m just scared, Mom. <\/em>You can be suicidal if you want, but why bring me <\/em>into it?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m not suicidal,\u201d said Emilia. \u201cJust tired. And when the hell will we ever do things together without you guilt-tripping me? Putting all these fucked up things over my head?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dad doesn\u2019t even have a job. We\u2019d be leaving him and my brothers to rot and die a whole ocean away, all the way in Abu Dhabi. Thousands of miles away.<\/em> They depended <\/em>on Emilia to provide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe last shooting was just in downtown Arvada,\u201d said Jasmine. \u201cReal <\/em>close to where we live. I heard the bullets in my sleep. I know you did too. But you seem to be okay with it. When\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStop talking.\u201d Emilia stared out of the bottlenosed Podzol\u2019s tinted windows, around the yellow prairies and the Rocky Mountains, which glared over Denver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether or not Jasmine\u2019s whole family lived or died depended on two things: her mother finding a new job, and both of them staying alive. To live, Jasmine had to convince her mother to leave the United States at all costs\u2014the world\u2019s hotspot of random mass shootings and hate crimes against Asian Americans. The average citizen was already in danger of being the victim of a mass shooting, but Jasmine felt that being Asian American painted big red targets on their backs. It was life or death, not just for her, but for the whole family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And nobody seemed to acknowledge this except her. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine\u2019s mind told her, \u201cIf we stay, we will die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But her mother\u2019s inaction told her, \u201cI don\u2019t care.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m staying here for you<\/em>,\u201d Emilia said as if reading her mind. <\/em>\u201cYour future is here. <\/em>Denver Tech Center is literally Little San Francisco now with all the Silicon Valley transplants, ever since the Bay Area sank underwater. And it\u2019s important you get exposed to the highest quality education the world can offer while you can. Colorado is your future, whether you like it or not. We\u2019ll be fine. We won\u2019t die.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine closed her eyes. But how do you know that? <\/em>A voice in her head demanded her to ask, When will you ever understand I have literally <\/em>no interest in pursuing STEM? <\/em>But she swallowed that thought. She never had the courage to admit to her mother that their visions for her future never aligned. <\/em>\u201cWhat if I become miserable?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJasmine, I lost my job. The country\u2019s in a labor surplus, and nobody is looking to hire any time soon. We\u2019re not leaving the States for a long, long time. That\u2019s final.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no point in convincing her to leave America now while she\u2019s all mad and combative with me. <\/em>Thus far, all attempts to persuade her mom to leave the country had thus failed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Jasmine hatched a new scheme. She would use the deaths of the Dalisays\u2014her aunt and cousins\u2014as emotional blackmail. Use their family tragedy as a torch to set aflame the emotional cobwebs that Emilia never dusted out, and incentivize her into action. Take advantage of her mother\u2019s grief as a way to scare her into moving out of the USA once and for all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Evil, but necessary. Desperate times often required heartless measures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

She would wait until they arrived at the funeral home to execute her plan. Emilia always broke down when she faced the dead, and Jasmine wanted to isolate her mom at her most vulnerable\u2014when she was the most susceptible to persuasion\u2014while she did weird emotional things, like cry at her sister\u2019s grave. When Emilia was on the defensive like she was now, nothing <\/em>could be said to sway her mind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the ensuing silence, she thought about the recent events that turned Colorado upside down, which the entire world now coined the \u201cBloodbath State\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mass shooting in Thornton King Soopers leaves thirteen dead<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>\u2014Harvester terrorist hubs found in phyClaves all around downtown Denver, UC Boulder, Lakewood, Westminster\u2014<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MSNBC: \u201c\u2026 there\u2019s always some kind of mass shooting that happens in every corner of Colorado. Tourists and potential transplants, DON\u2019T COME. Leave Denver and Boulder if you can. Avoid these cities at all costs. Nobody is safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine recalled a comment she read in a subreddit thread, r\/HarvesterStories: \u201cThe Harvesters are the Al-Qaeda of fucking wetbacks and leftist sjw communists. They claim to be fighting for all the workers suffering under \u2018third-wave neocapitalism\u2019. Sure, overthrow the rich and the exploiters\u2026 at the expense of who? <\/em>The lives of innocent citizens?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, nanay<\/em>,\u201d said Jasmine as she kept her head down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>\u201cIt\u2019s alright,\u201d said Emilia. \u201cLook. From now on, let\u2019s stop arguing, okay? It\u2019s your aunt\u2019s death anniversary. Your tita\u2019s <\/em>and your cousins. Let\u2019s not disrespect the dead by arguing on their own day. We\u2019ve already seen enough crap in all the past weeks. Hell, we\u2019re even fortunate that we can travel like this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The longer Jasmine lived in the USA, the harder it felt to breathe. To travel. To move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine did not know how long she could stomach the danger and suffocation\u2014the constant uncertainty, the constant anticipation\u2014until she decided to kill herself. She\u2019d rather have control over her own death than let some crazed person\u2019s Second Amendment-loving hand decide for her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Podzol swept over the roads as mother and daughter rode in silence, each picking up on the other\u2019s tension, staring as the grass-green globe rotated and rotated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A holographic prompt flashed over their heads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CHECKPOINT IN 1.5 MILES<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A voice spoke from the Podzol roof: \u201cEach vehicle passenger must transmit three government-issued identification documents to the first TSA officer.\u201d A raspy male Australian Siri. \u201cAlong with an SBP log of your social media activity from the past three years, a birth certificate, proof of citizenship, and employment history\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the hell?\u201d Jasmine said as dread crept through her innards. \u201cThey\u2019ve gotten a lot stricter. Why the hell do they need our proof of citizenship? Can\u2019t they just get all that info by running our eSpacio IDs through their\u2026 global database thing?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShh!\u201d hushed Emilia. \u201cI got your papers, anak. <\/em>Don\u2019t worry.\u201d The Podzol approached the checkpoint: a row of toll booths, each with its own cobalt-masked TSA agents. Before them, a black-clad agent holding an orange baton redirected them to an empty spot, through which a Tesla hovercraft had just passed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is literally Mexican border control in suburban America. All we want is to just go from one fucking neighborhood to another. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Podzol rolled down its windows once it passed the detection perimeter of this toll booth; bulky Teslas, needle-thin Nissan LEAFs, and other colorful hovercrafts and Apple iCopters lined up behind them. Nobody dared to honk, not especially around these armed agents. These checkpoint TSA agents were much, much more aggressive than the ones at the airports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three agents approached either side of the Podzol windows and pointed their assault rifles at Emilia\u2019s and Jasmine\u2019s faces. Neither flinched, for they were much too used to this protocol. Jasmine constricted her throat and maintained a superficial sense of cordiality that could be broken with the slightest utterance of the wrong word. Their family\u2014the Mendozas\u2014had a relatively clean history, so Jasmine saw no reason for them to stall for too long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOpen your neuroports for records transmission,\u201d barked the officer on Emilia\u2019s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd port 455 of your Google Lens,\u201d said the one leaning against Jasmine\u2019s ear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine was a minor, being only sixteen, so she was not allowed to have Internet-on-Demand cyberware installed into her spine or brain. Instead of a hovering personal Androrb or Apple Orb, she opted for smart contact lenses that would project her into augmented reality at will. \u201cWearable Internet,\u201d <\/em>they coined such devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine blinked, and a shimmering eSpacio dashboard appeared before her. She opened her local port settings and set the DOCKING PERMISSION value of port 455 to \u2018true\u2019. She dropped a zipped copy of her \u201cimportant_id_docs\u201d folder into port storage, which the TSA agents temporarily locked as they scanned it with their own neuroports. They shuffled through their IDs, logs, and the cybertrails of their digital footprints, sniffing for Harvester involvement using anomaly-scanning AI like canines sniffing for crack cocaine at an airport.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then it hit her. They can already mine the information they need using our eSpacio IDs. They just want us to give them our documents to find inconsistencies. See if we\u2019re lying. If we\u2019re hiding something.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the Mendozas had nothing to hide. Besides some family trauma, their family life was boring. Painfully average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd what\u2019s the purpose of you passing through I-70?\u201d asked a third agent who spoke through the passenger window.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going to Olinger\u2019s,\u201d said Emilia. Calm. Even. \u201cMy sister and her family died two years ago today. It\u2019s their death anniversary, and we\u2019re just going to mourn them. It\u2019s a tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBlessica Dalisay,\u201d said the officer on Jasmine\u2019s side mockingly. \u201cBoys! Look at their chat log here. I\u2019m pulling it up. These girls are telling the truth. But\u2026  Blessica. <\/em>HA! Some cheeky dumbass named their kid Blessica!\u201d<\/em> The agents cackled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a Filipino name, you xenophobic fucks,\u201d snarled Jasmine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emilia turned her head to look at her. Her eyes were so angry that they burned into Jasmine\u2019s skin. Why can\u2019t you just shut up when you <\/em>need to? <\/em>they asked. Jasmine immediately regretted her thoughtless words. She wanted to sulk and disappear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t let you through,\u201d said the agent on Emilia\u2019s side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy not?\u201d asked Emilia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A virtual prompt sizzled before them all. It showed a post that Tita <\/em>Blessica made on Facebook only three years ago:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

> Blessica Yu\u00f1oz Dalisay<\/p>\n\n\n\n

> \u201cI think the Harvesters are doing a good thing. Like\u2026 I really don\u2019t like my job. It\u2019s not right what all these CEOs are doing, and they need to learn that we\u2019re humans, not robots. We\u2019re not disposable cows lol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine narrowed her eyes in disbelief. \u201cThat\u2019s it?\u201d she spat. \u201cThat\u2019s <\/em>the reason we can\u2019t pass through? Because of a fucking thing my aunt said three years ago? She didn\u2019t mean it. She\u2019s too dumb to even keep up with current affairs. Reread it carefully. She doesn\u2019t know what the hell she\u2019s even saying. She\u2019s the type to follow the crowd.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a zero-tolerance policy for any display of Harvester sympathies. You\u2019re lucky we did not arrest you by mere association.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut my aunt<\/em> said that, not me or my mom. Who the fuck are you\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJasmine\u2014\u201d Emilia started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c \u2014to stop us? All we want is to mourn their damn deaths. This tragedy has fucking torn our family apart from the inside. It\u2019s literally just thirty minutes of visiting them before going back home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>If we don\u2019t get to the mausoleum, there\u2019s no chance I\u2019ll ever convince Mom to escape this blood-ridden country. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine\u2019s heart raced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/em>I can\u2019t let that happen. I want to stay alive.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat isn\u2019t our problem.\u201d The assault rifles dug deeper into their faces. A hot searing pain flared through Jasmine\u2019s right cheekbone. \u201cTurn back now, or we will be forced to detain and question you both for alleged Harvester affiliations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t fair,\u201d said Jasmine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing in life is, little girl,\u201d said another cobalt-faced officer, their voice reeking of coal. \u201cNow go back home. Don\u2019t you have homework to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo,\u201d Jasmine shouted, the rage inside her now at a full boil. \u201cIt\u2019s our fucking family<\/em>. You people have no IDEA<\/em>\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, officers,\u201d said Emilia as she commanded the Podzol to roll up the windows. The GPS globe rotated as it recalculated a new trajectory back home, redirecting them to the nearest exit. \u201cShe can get unruly sometimes. I just need to have a word or two with her. I promise this won\u2019t\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSHUT UP! WE NEED TO GET TO OLLINGER\u2019S!<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Jasmine\u2019s voice like that of a buzzing bee)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2014happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The agent on Jasmine\u2019s side said, \u201cTwo females, one adult, one child. Podzol Mini 2076.  License plate: 4TY-04H. Code Gray. Over.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jasmine slammed herself against the Podzol\u2019s doors, bruising and beating herself, screaming at the car to open its doors so she could jump out onto the highway. But the car has its own mind. It won\u2019t listen to me if I abuse it. <\/em>She imagined running to the checkpoints, past <\/em>the checkpoints, and her own mother would have no choice but to park somewhere and run after her, following her all the way to the mausoleum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Emilia had master control of the Podzol\u2019s functionalities, and Jasmine had no power over whether she could leave or enter the vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And thus, with Emilia\u2019s usual silence that came with these usual bouts of rage, Jasmine simmered down. Defeated. quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s only one thing we can do,\u201d said Emilia. \u201cI know attending their death anniversary virtually isn\u2019t the same, but\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c…it\u2019s the only choice we got,\u201d said Jasmine, completing her mother\u2019s sentences from habit. Although they irritated the hell out of each other, they both shared a telepathic type of communication that did not exist with anybody else. \u201cBut I don\u2019t want to, Mom. We shouldn\u2019t have just let the officers talk to us like that. That was cowardly\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat was the only <\/em>thing we could do, anak.<\/em> We could\u2019ve been arrested for giving them attitude. <\/em>We need to go back home\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo. <\/em>Why can\u2019t we find another road?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause the checkpoints are everywhere. Look at Waze. See all those red dots? Those are all checkpoints. They\u2019re swarming all the roads. It\u2019s a TSA beehive out here. And thanks to you, we\u2019ve been Code Grayed. Now we can\u2019t go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks to her photographic memory, Jasmine had remembered what Code Gray meant. She once perused the list of TSA codes that the officers liked randomly assigning to people passing security checkpoints. Code Gray meant that she and her mom were blacklisted from all the checkpoints around the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fuck. She and her mother couldn\u2019t go anywhere in the USA anymore, thanks to her potty mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut\u2014\u201d started Jasmine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook. We need to stop arguing. Seriously. Especially on a day like this. Now, it\u2019s thirty minutes back home. I\u2019m not letting something stupid like a checkpoint stop me, okay? I will visit the Dalisays\u2019 graves virtually, with or without you. And you need to learn to be less impulsive, less explosive. Maybe things will actually <\/em>go the right way if you learn to be calm and keep your mouth shut for once.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFine.\u201d Jasmine could not lose sight of why <\/em>she wanted to attend the Dalisays\u2019 death anniversary. I don\u2019t really care about them. I never really knew them. So I don\u2019t need to feel guilty for using them to leave this shithole country.<\/em> \u201cI\u2019ll go with you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Silence came between mother and daughter as they logged into the eSpacio homepage of Olinger\u2019s. Using their eyes, they projected a 360-degree virtual reality mesh around them, entering their own private augmented worlds as they authenticated themselves into the Viewing Room of the Deceased.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A sixteen year old girl must work undercover with the same people who murdered her mother to avenge her death. “To Die Among the Stars” is a psychological cyberpunk horror novel exploring themes of imposter syndrome, the fleeting significance of distance as social media becomes more pervasive in daily life, and the limitless depravity that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,6,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-novel","category-sci-fi","category-wip"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=42"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":334,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42\/revisions\/334"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=42"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=42"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcoangeloauthor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=42"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}