Beyond Fate and the Stars [Self-Published]

Courage: The Monkey's Freedom

by AlaraChan

Genre: Science Fiction

Note to members of Kathbute: Please vote which monkey story you want to be included in our final compilation. Thank you!

I. Stealing Fate

There was no fear left in his heart.

Aman touched the cold glass of the viewing deck's walls. The typhoon raged outside in sheets of torrential rain alternated by claps of deafening thunder. Lightning streaked down and sent garish momentary illumination to the otherwise cloaked evening.

In the far distance, he can see the silhouette of the great stone monument. The San San Anka's massive bulk was a proud testament to the city's wealth and prowess. Standing almost a hundred feet above ground from base to top, the obsidian tower loomed over everything in the city and could be seen in all directions. The dark stone reflected light and shone like a beacon whenever it caught the neon lights of the city's arteries. It is ironic that it also housed the city's working class. All the major production of San Khan Khua is housed in there.

The glass fogged with Aman's breath.

San San Anka was his father's life. He was the chief engineer who designed the San San Anka's mechanized prowess.

"Aman." Sawili's voice drifted to his ears as if from a great distance. They needed to go.

He stepped away from the view deck.

"It's time, Aman."

He followed Sawili's lead, both of them darted with light-footed sureness across the shadows of the darkened hallways of the Academitia. Twice, Sawili had to put a hand on his shoulder before he took another step. He followed his companion's silver gray eyes to the revolving cameras on the ceiling. The cameras can only rotate 270 degrees and are aptly called owls. That weakness gave them a window to slip past detection.

In no time they reached the Victor's Salle. The lights have been dimmed for the night. Aman placed his hand on the marble surface and released the restraints on his bio-detector. A pulse rippled out from his hand outward in a mile wide radius. Several beacons lit up on his internal head monitor. The silhouette of several rats in the Salle earned a snort from Sawili. He dispelled the view and concentrated on his next move.

At a signal from Sawi, they both scaled the twelve-foot pedestals on each side of the Salle. Thank the Goddess for the long-limbed mutation of their ancestors that allowed for such things to be possible. Only the Alpha Class are lucky enough in the biological lottery for the heightened senses, long limbs, modified lungs, and enhanced strength. In Prima Earthea they would be classified with primates on features alone, and indeed that is where the original stock came from, but the Alphas have a hundred times the brain capacity of their chimp ancestors. The Beta class had none of their senses, and the Omegas looked no more than the common homosapien race from the mother planet, Prima Earthea. It was a wonder they could survive the harsh climate of San Khan Khua, with its mercurial weather and daily predators. Omegas have it tough.

Now Aman is reduced to being an equivalent of an Omega. He was stripped of his family title for his father's inability to make the Shanikaya work.

He gazed at the Shanikaya sitting as if on a silent vigil in the middle of the Salle. Its silver wings shone like quicksilver against the weak light reflected from the cold marble of the hall. Its bulk ran the whole length of the pavilion. Billions went to the funding of this project — a beacon that will pave the way once more to space exploration. This planet is dying; the same way Prima Earthea did, and the Academitia has tasked his father to make the impossible: space flight.