A Protogen's Misadventures

The Revolution (Part 1)

We walked around for a while, following Vitrex. “So, where do you think he is leading us?” I asked Jack. “Not sure, but I feel like it’s important,” he responded. “I think so too,” I added. After another minute or two, we came to a seemingly empty wall. I started at the wall then back at Vitrex. “Is this what you wanted to show us?” I questioned. “No, this is.” He pushed something on the wall and it suddenly started to open up, revealing a relatively large room. It was kind of like his office, but more open. The walls were a light grey, with yellow stripes near the bottom. A large table could be seen within the middle of the room. Large lights in the ceiling illuminated the room. Other doors could also be seen. “What is this place?” asked Jack. “This is the planning room,” answered Vitrex. “Planning for what?” I said. “The Revolution.”

A Revolution? This place doesn’t seem THAT bad to warrant a revolution. But, from what I’ve heard, apparently it is. Now, I don’t know why he trusts us to know about this, even though we just got here. I had a lot of questions, but those would have to wait, as it looks like he is going to say something. “Now, we’ve been planning this for quite some time now, and almost everyone here knows it’s going to happen, except the security personnel, because well, obviously. Why would we tell them?” He said, laughing. “Anyways, I’m the leader of the soon to be revolution. Over there, sitting by the wall, is my close friend, Maricio. He is the Recruiter and second in command. I’ll introduce you to everyone else later, but for now, let me show you my favorite part about this place,” he finished. We walked over to a metal door with a keypad. He inputted some code and the door unlocked and slid open. “Behold, the armory!” He shouted. The room was full of every type of firearm you could think of. You had rifles, handguns, light machine guns, and even explosives. “How did you get all of this?” I asked. He chuckled. “We’ve been importing them in from all over, sneakily of course, as to not alert the guards,” he said. This was certainly going to be something interesting to witness, and potentially, be a part of.

“Wait, why do you have so many guns? Is this going to be a violent revolution?” Jack asked. “Yes, why are you asking?” said Vitrex. “Well, why not do a peaceful one instead? Wouldn’t that be better?” he said. He sighed. “Sadly no, we’ve tried that before, and it didn’t end well,” he answered. “Can you elaborate?” pressed Jack. “Fine. Here, sit down and I’ll tell you how it went down.”

“Years ago, when I first arrived here, things were different. Everything was simpler and much more relaxed than what it is now. Because of how many planets are starting to come up dry, the GMC has been ramping up production on planets that still have some materials left. That includes this one. More prisoners started showing up, and most of them hadn’t even committed crimes. The GMC started creating these weird laws, and if you broke them, then you were sent to one of the existing planets. I saw families get torn apart, friends separated for who knows how long. See people, people were getting angry, and so was I. I had a lot of experience from the training I went through, leading groups of people, so we tried to do a peaceful revolution. But, they didn’t appreciate us doing that, and...started shooting at us. I lost many friends that day.” A sad look appeared on his face. “The few people that were still a part of my group decided that enough was enough, and began preparations for a real revolution. As you’ve seen, we’ve collected enough firearms to arm most of the people here, and we have trained them in secret, to prepare for what is coming. But, before we can start, there are a few things I’m going to need of you two,” he said.

“What is it?” We asked. “I’m going to need to go and gather some intel on things happening around here. Here, take this list. I’ve written down things I needed to get down, but you two should be able to do it for me. You guys up for the task?” He questioned. “Yes, but I have a question,” said Jack. “What’s up?” said Vitrex. “I’ve never fired a gun before,” he said. “Don’t worry, we’ll give you both the proper training before it happens. Any other questions?” said Vitrex. We shook our heads. “Splendid. Well, off you two go, and remember, be safe, and be aware.” We walked out and he closed the door behind us. “Well, no point in wasting time, let’s move!” exclaimed Jack. Let’s see what things were going to get up to.