Shortys 2024 Anthology

The Tip

Half of the names on the list had already been crossed of. I was starting to think I'd never find the girl. That maybe that anonymous tip from months ago was a hoax, like everyone around me kept insisting. Capturing her would win me immeasurable respect from the other Interstellar Agency Corp officers, but that wasn't why I was doing this.

It was that darned picture.

The picture was from the cover of a palm-sized pamphlet that had been printed decades ago, but whose effect had been insufferably damaging and continued being so.

Thirty six years ago, when the aliens descended from the skies as humanity faced the apocalypse, many people saw this as the true end, even thinking to blame the extraterrestrials for the Coronal Mass Ejection. But the solar flare was a natural phenomenon that we weren't ready for and the Quielax saved us from our nescient planetary defence systems, or lack thereof.

They were our salvation.

When they left, many of us believed that they would be back. We further believed that the energy towers they constructed before they left, giving every human on the planet access to almost unlimited electricity, were a gift and a chance to prove ourselves before their return. And with this one chance, humanity had done well so far. The greatest advancement was the cessation of most wars and global disputes, with many governments now realising that there were much more powerful forces to face as a United Human Race rather than fragmented tribes.

There were a few governments that didn't agree to this outlook, of course, but they were effectively shunned and ostracized, and their technological improvements quickly trailed everyone else who worked together to propel the fastest technological revolution in history.

The creation of Urban Hamlets was the zenith of this revolution. These were four hundred story skyscrapers that span the base area of a city block, providing homes, employment, sustainably produced food, state of the art educational facilities, apprenticeship opportunities and so much more. For the first time in human history, every person on Earth had the chance to have every single one of their primary needs met.

So why did the woman on the pamphlet cover feel the need to threaten this?

We had one chance to clean up house before the Quielax came back. One chance to prove Earth's worth. One chance to present our value to a galactic community. We didn't know when they would come back, didn't know how much time we had, but we needed to practice an extreme sense of urgency and agency in efficiently utilizing this one chance. This was the main reason for the creation of the Interstellar Agency Corp, and why I joined as soon as I was allowed to at fourteen.

One of IAC's tasks was to track down individuals and communities hellbent on sabotaging this one chance at building a human society worthy of an intergalactic collaboration with who knows how many other alien civilisations in addition to the Quiellax. In the last few years, this woman on the pamphlet cover had quickly become the greatest threat to this noble endeavour. This anonymous tip on how to find her would finally end that.

That's why it irked me that I was absolutely taken by her.

Obsessed, even.

And why, upon seeing her now in real life for the first time ever, I could barely keep my breath steady. I really hoped she couldn't hear my heart bashing against my ribs, even though I was pretty sure the officers on the moon station could hear it.

"Found you." I said, walking up to her. "You're surrounded. There's nowhere for you to go, Safiya. Not this time."

We were in the main Urban Hamlet of this city, at the recreational space of the three hundred and seventy eighth floor. Every floor had one and they looked exactly the same – a relatively massive open space that could be divided into smaller meeting areas using mobile walls or opened up into a convention-like centre as it was now. The room was decorated with beautiful splashes of colourful flowers, compostable ribbons, biodegradable balloons and recyclable, fashionable, elegant galaxy themed furniture that was printed exclusively for the event.