becoming (An Original Story on Hive) 9

ericvancewalton (79)in #story • 28 days ago (edited)

Animation created by Grok-Imagine.

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fan fiction based on the concepts and settings inspired by SpaceX and its Mars mission endeavors. All characters, events, and scenarios depicted are entirely fictional and created for entertainment purposes only. The use of real-world entities, such as SpaceX, Elon Musk, or Starbase, is purely for creative inspiration and does not reflect any real events, individuals, or operations associated with these entities. No affiliation with or endorsement by SpaceX, Elon Musk, or any related organizations is implied or intended. The term "Citadel" and other original elements are products of the author's imagination and are not associated with any existing organizations or intellectual properties. This work is not for profit and is shared solely for the enjoyment of fans and readers.

9

The Gaia Reset Initiative

The Nevada desert sprawled endlessly before the hidden facility. The landscape was a barren expanse of cracked earth and sparse sagebrush beneath a sky that dwarfed my existence. Elon had relocated the core team here, away from Starbase’s watchful drones and the prying eyes of Citadel to finish off our Mars mission training. The parched outpost, a cluster of reinforced bunkers half-buried in the sand, was like wonderland, a fortress of secrecy. Officially, this was a SpaceX R&D site; unofficially, it was probably our last stand against Citadel’s looming threat.

I stood outside the main habitat. The weight of my decisions pressing down on me like a mountain. Lena’s serpent tattoo, etched in my memory, felt like a psychic scar that would forever remind me of Citadel’s shadowy influence. Her betrayal with Torres at Starbase had revealed some truths but unleashed a torrent of new questions. Now, isolated in this desert void, doubt gnawed away at me once again. Was I truly fit for this mission?

Our team had shrunk to twelve, each of us were hand-picked survivors. Amina and Ji-hoon remained, their trust in me tentative but somewhat intact after I confessed what I’d uncovered. Elon enforced absolute secrecy. There were no external comms, no X posts, just an air-gapped network shielded from Citadel’s hackers. Starlink was our only lifeline.

The isolation was stifling at times—no Gulf breeze, no open spaces, just the hum of life support and the wind’s eerie wail. Scorching hot during the day and freezing cold at night. In some ways, it felt like we were already on Mars. But then I guess this was the entire point.

Training became increasingly grueling—sixteen-hour days in simulators, mastering emergency protocols for hull breaches, reactor failures, and dust storms. Elon’s presence was relentless, his sleep-deprived eyes blazing with fervor. “Mars will not coddle you,” he’d insist, pacing back and forth in the control room. “Fail there and we lose, there are no second chances.” His words fueled my resolve. I wasn’t just filming history—I was safeguarding it from Citadel’s reach.

Late at night, alone in my bunk, I stared at the blast-proof concrete ceiling, wrestling with doubt. Was I ready? I’d joined to document humanity’s leap to Mars, but the stakes had become so much higher.

Citadel loomed as a spectral enemy, infiltrating every major decision made on Earth. Had they breached us again? Could I trust Elon, Amina, Ji-hoon—or anyone? Paranoia, razor sharp, was strangling me in this desolate outpost.

One morning, I found Amina outside, gazing at the landscape and how the heat made everything on the horizon shimmer. Her arms were crossed, her expression taut. “You ever wonder if we’re on the right path, Evan?” she asked, her voice heavy. “Mars, this mission—what if it’s just a madman’s fantasy? Citadel’s still out there, and taking down Lena and Torres won’t stop them. What if we’re leaping into another trap? What do we do?”

In some ways I was thankful her doubt mirrored my own because, in that moment, I didn’t feel alone or so crazy. “Walk away?” I countered.

She laughed bitterly. “To what? By all accounts Earth is Citadel’s playground. At least here, we might start fresh and might have a chance at real freedom. But something feels wrong—like there are more layers of this that we're unaware of.” Her words lingered as I scanned the empty sky, wary of drones.

That night, sleepless, I reviewed Starbase footage in my head—Lena’s tattoo, the logs hinting at a higher-clearance intruder in Sublevel 3. I also reran all of the training protocols that we’d been taught since arriving in the desert.

A ping interrupted my thoughts—an encrypted message from Elon: “Comms bunker, 0200 hours. Urgent.” My pulse raced. Why there? Why now?

I shivered as I stepped into the cold desert night. The twinkling stars pierced the darkness. I stood still for a second trying to locate Mars in the night sky but before I could, a drone’s whine forced me behind a solar panel. Was this a sniper? Had Citadel cracked his encryption? Or was the last of my sanity finally unraveling?

The comms bunker’s door slid open as I approached. I felt a flood of relief the moment I saw him.

Elon stood inside, his face etched with exhaustion and urgency. “Evan,” he began, “You’ve more than earned my trust and it’s time to tell you why I’ve been working so hard.”

“What is it?” I half-heartedly asked, dread gathering in my gut.

“Citadel’s plans are much larger than merely control. They want to play God and reshape what it means to be human altogether. At great personal cost I’ve uncovered their ‘The Gaia Reset Initiative’—a global depopulation scheme to eliminate bio-humans by 2050. The first phase of the plan’s been in place for the past couple of decades and it’s designed to weaken our health and fertility.”

“What the actual hell?” I whispered.

Elon paused as if he was thinking twice about going any further but then let his words spill out in one burst.

“Evan, they’re working to ‘de-bio’ us. They want to upload the entirety of human consciousness into AI, so we’re all essentially one, easily controlled ‘hive mind’. Citadel will have the capability of downloading the consciousness of certain individuals of their choosing into highly advanced humanoid robots so they can live in the physical world with some measure of autonomy. Plan 2050 is unfolding now, and they’re trying to sabotage us to stop a small group of bio-humans from escaping.”

Shock upended me. “How do we fight this?”

Elon’s gaze hardened. “There’s no fighting Citadel on Earth, they’re too powerful now. The only solution is to escape this planet. Each of you were handpicked based on the robustness of your DNA and personality profiles to carry on the torch of humanity. Now you know the full truth, are you still in?”

The choice weighed heavily. Mars was the only hope we had, but Citadel’s plan threatened everything. “Of course, I'm still in,” I said, steadying myself. “We really have no other choice, do we?”

Elon nodded. “Good. You have my word—I’ll do everything within my power to assure they don’t win. There's only one person in the world who's in this more deeply than you are right now and that's me. So, this must stay between us, and I mean every word.”

As I left, the desert night closed in, the mission and Citadel’s shadow converging. I wasn’t just a filmmaker anymore—I was a soldier in a battle for the future of our species.

To be continued…

All for now. Thank you for reading.

www.ericvancewalton.net