Those who enter here, lose any hope (Dante Alighieri - Inferno).
Once, Betelgeuse VII was the paradise for transgender people and rare sexual minorities. But now, the star is going supernova. As the economy collapses, people realize that, for most of them, there is no way to get out of here. The former dictators Caligula XII and Caligula XIII managed to terraform a planet at ten light years, which they called The Savior or Betelgeuse S. However, that planet will not open its doors for settlers for ten Earth years, until terraforming processes are finished and until people will have towns and a minimum infrastructure. But many don't believe they will make it.
Usually, red supergiant stars follow a common evolutionary path. After carbon fusion in the core, the carbon is fused in a shell surrounding the core, which slowly contracts until neon fusion starts. The extra heat produced by neon fusion forces a second shell of carbon to ignite, producing a shock wave that can reach the surface. However, the carbon flash occurred, without any neon fusion starting. If the core contracts too fast, when neon fusion will start, almost all the energy will be lost through neutrino emission. The core will evolve very fast into inert iron, then the whole star will go supernova. If that happens, Betelgeuse has less then three Earth years left.
Many people lose their minds. If the end is near, some try to have fun, to die happy. Others start to attack people. Thieves and robberies are on a daily basis. Nobody wants to invest into something, since their doom is very close. But is it?
On Betelgeuse VII, desperation has reached an incredible level. Some people, mainly state employees, want to do anything to get out... or at least to save their children. Money has no value now. Inflation is felt as prices rise almost in each day. Nobody can pay for an interstellar ticket. Nobody can offer anything to a merchant to make it worth. Some rich businessmen offered kilograms of gold and hardly managed to get a ticket. But there is something that is far more worth: the human. Pirates come all over the galaxy, looking for slaves. Pirates make an offer: find 25 people to be sold as slaves and you get a free one-way ticket for a person. This bargain remains in place only if you keep it all quiet. People travel to the orbital station with tickets, like if this is a sign of generosity from humanitarian organizations. But, once in orbit, things are made clear.
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Delta, the dictator of Betelgeuse S, sends its best friend and second in command, Etna, to a visit to Betelgeuse VII. Etna takes its child, Julia, as well as Delta's child, Angela Northern. What Etna wants is to calm down the people, to convince them to wait until the new planet is ready to receive them all.
Etna goes to the ruling dictator, Caligula XV, to talk. They both try to convince people that the star will make it for ten Earth years and once Betelgeuse S is terraformed, everyone will be relocated. The fact that it brought the kids is an insurance that this will happen. It also visits the planet, talks with people and sits in public places, eats and smokes in public, to make it clear for everyone that people of Betelgeuse S are their friends. This goes on for many days.
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A rich businessman, Enoch, is looking for a way to save its child from here, to ensure a ticket to the old world. Enoch took its child, which is born as a hermaphrodite, to DNA modifications and surgery. The child, which is in fact a 17 years old teen, now looks and is completely a boy, named Jim. Enoch convinced 25 people to join Jim out of Betelgeuse. However, there are a few rich people who don't like what Etna is doing on the planet. If Etna brings hope to people, they will no longer want to leave. They will no longer be manipulated to become slaves. Enoch decides to act, to also save its ass from here. It gets to Etna and gives it a cup of coffee with a strong anesthetic. Then, it grabs Etna and the children. Enoch goes to the space station with its child and 50 people. Etna and the children are brought sleeping, among them. They are all uploaded in a cruise shuttle, then sent to the orbital station.
There, Etna wakes-up. Realizing what is going on, it starts shouting and fights. All 50 people manage to get onboard. Angela Northern is also uploaded. Enoch takes its laser gun and fires, killing Etna, but the guards, which are always present in any ISA base, come fast. They immobilize Enoch. Julia manages to escape from the crowd and goes to its parent, crying. Inside, Angela Northern cries and wants the doors to open. Jim, Enoch's child, goes with the pirates in the control room. The spaceship departs, flying as fast as it can.
Julia is token back to the planet. From now on, it will live close to the dictator Caligula XV.
Enoch does not want to say anything. However, the dictator decides to take extreme measures. It interrogates Enoch and tortures it. Finally, Enoch accepts to speak:
"I saved my son".
"Where is that ship going?" asks the dictator, beating its stomach with its foot.
"UV Ceti".
Everyone knows what that means. Slavery. All those people will be sold as slaves. Everyone knows that UV Ceti is the hell hole of the galaxy.
"You sent fifty people to slavery?" asks the dictator, burning its skin with a lighter.
"To save my child", answers Enoch. "It was the only way to get it out of here".
"Fifty lives for one? This is not fair. I say, not a single human sacrifice to save a million people".
The dictator takes a knife and starts cutting Enoch's skin on its hands.
"You should be skinned alive. All those people that you sent to slavery will suffer more then you. I've been to the body farms myself. I know what it means to be there. You are nothing but an ugly pig that deserves to be barbecued in hell for eternity".
"You don't have children", says Enoch, suffering from pain.
"Oh, I do", answers the dictator. "I have two. And with Julia, now I have three. I could send them out, but I didn't. You know why?"
"Because you love yourself more then your children".
"No", answers the dictator. "Because people voted me and I have a great respect for them. So should you. And do you have any guarantee that your child will not be sold as a slave either? I know the pirates. They killed my parents for a few clothes. Are you sure that your child will not end-up as a slave with all the others?"
Enoch looks like desperate. It never thought about such a thing.
"Listen, fat pig! I should kill you right now, but I won't. Not because you deserve to live another day, but because something tells me that there are many others like you. Tell me how you got contact with the pirates, how they work and how other people did what you did. Do this and you will live, free".
"I won't. That's the deal, that if I say anything, they will kill my child".
"Your child is already dead", shouts the dictator. "Understand? Dead. Right now, it is on its way to UV Ceti, where it will be sold as a slave. There is no way you can find it, ever. Have you ever been to UV Ceti? I did. Some are sold as slaves, others work in the body farms, while others are killed for pleasure or for selling organs".
Realizing this, Enoch decides to talk and tells everything. From that moment, the dictator orders that the access to the surface base and to the orbital station to be locked. Only people with diplomatic passport will be allowed to pass. The Interstellar Agency, ISA, which owns and operates space stations and bases through the galaxy, has always been against slavery. They understand the situation and blocks access immediately.
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Far away, on Betelgeuse S, Delta receives the news. It asks to be left alone in its room for a day, to mourn its child, Angela Northern. Then, it orders that Etna's body will be returned to Betelgeuse S and buried in a funeral. Works stop on the planet. Delta orders a large funeral. However, it gives no interview. It says to the press:
"When you lose a parent, you are called an orphan. But when you lose a child, there is no word in the dictionary. The pain you feel is beyond anything. Please, understand me and let me alone. I need time".
Delta knows very well that, once Betelgeuse S is terraformed, it will reign as a dictator for the next five Earth years, then will be elections. But until then, it must continue its job. Alone in its room, it cries:
"My sister, Caligula XIII, sacrificed its life to save the people that killed her. They did the same with Caligula XII, which ruled before. And now, they killed Etna, my best friend, which went to their planet to bring peace. But my child? Why did they sell my child as a slave? What bad thing can a child do?
I grew on that planet. I had friends, that hated me for what I did here. Since my sister told me that Betelgeuse will explode, I sacrificed my life to build those people another home. Now, we are almost done. But do they deserve this? Do they deserve all what we did here? Do they deserve the blood that they wasted?"
After a few days, Delta decides to go back to its office. There is work to do. A dictator cannot have a vacation. However, it decides to build, just between the space station and the dome city, five statues. Each statue will be made of iron, covered with stainless steel. Also, each statue will be a few hundred meters high. The first one represents Caligula I, the founder of Betelgeuse VII, holding the iron crown in one hand. The second statue represents Caligula XII, holding a small neutrino telescope in one hand. The third statue is of Caligula XIII, which holds the planet Betelgeuse VII in one hand and the planet Betelgeuse S in the other. The fourth statue represents Etna, with a sheet of paper where the Pleiades are drawn. Finally, the fifth statue and the smallest of all, is of Angela Northern, which has wings like that of an angel. All five statues are placed on a large platform of iron, covered with stainless steel. On the platform, it is written in all languages:
"The ones you killed are the ones who saved you".
Delta inaugurates the statue, then orders that work should be continued on terraforming and infrastructure. A few things change. The main rail station will be moved to a point where the statues are clearly visible. The base will have only one way out, towards the statues. Asked why did it do this, the dictator answers:
"When people from Betelgeuse VII will come here, they will understand what they have done. For a day, I wanted to let them die and invite other people here. But that is not the way. The statues will be here for millennia, so that they will remember and never forget. And maybe, among those who will come, there will still be alive some of those who participated in the executions of the two dictators or in the murder of my friend and my child".
However, on Betelgeuse VII, people think that, after Etna was killed, Delta will not keep its promise, to relocate the population.
**********
The pirates close the door. They maneuver the spaceship away from Betelgeuse, as fast as possible. When they are at a safe distance and know that no ISA patrol can reach them, they go to the cargo area, where people stay crowded. There, they tell everyone to undress completely and enter the cryogenic chamber. Jim, Enoch's child, does the same. One by one, people are frozen and placed into a tank with liquid helium. Pirates throw away their clothes and objects, to make the ship lighter. Only Jim's clothes remain. The trip takes 60 days. Then, Jim is the first to wake-up. The boy puts its clothes on and goes to the cabin, with the pirates, while all the others, one by one, wake-up and find themselves alone and naked in the cargo bay.
The ship stops, somewhere in UV Ceti. The door opens and slave traders force people out. Each new slave is sold for 500 CC. People realize what is happening. They cry, they try to run, but there is no way to resist. Traders cuff the slaves to a long iron chain and bring them all out.
"Welcome to hell!" says their new owner.
Jim, in the cabin, sees the sky. Ships are lurking all around. Inside them, there must be merchants, looking for slaves. Its heart beats like wild. Are they going to sell him too? No. The pirates take him to the nearest solar system, Tau Ceti. There, they upload him in an escape capsule with a parachute.
The capsule flies towards a planet, it enters the atmosphere, then deploys a parachute, landing somewhere in a corn field. Jim gets out and looks around. There is nobody. He starts walking, looking for someone. He can see a town nearby.
But, once he enters in that town, he finds out that everything is different. There are no hermaphrodites here, no cross-dressers, no transgender people. His parent told him that outside Betelgeuse, transgender people and people from sexual minorities are discriminated. People look like the same. They move on the streets, like robots. Some of them even hit him. The air is polluted here. The plants seem to be affected, some are dried, some are showing signs of sickness. All buildings seem covered with a layer of dark polluted materials. On the streets, there are many buildings.
With no identity card, with no money and with no food, soon, Jim looks for a way to talk with someone. He desperately wants something to eat and to smoke. When he tries to talk with nearby people, they simply don't listen, they move away. Nobody wants to talk with him at all.
When it is getting dark. Jim is very hungry and tired. In the end, he finds a pretzel on the street and an unfinished cigarette. Then, he goes to a park and lies on a bench, trying to sleep. The police finds him. They take him to a station and interrogate him. Realizing that he is an immigrant with no money, they just throw him out on the street.
Having no alternative, Jim has to be a street rat. He finds very hard to adapt to this new world. After many days, he finds another street rat, another fugitive from Betelgeuse, another teen, former hermaphrodite, which undergone surgery, to become a woman in all aspects. Her parents also exchanged the lives of many for her ticket out. Both have no other option then to live as street rats. Only after a long time, they manage to find something to work, hard and for less money.
They form a family here. During the day, they work hard to sustain themselves, hiding from police squads. During night, many times they go out and watch the night sky. From here, Betelgeuse appears as a bright copper-red star in the constellation Orion. Sometimes, they look for hours, thinking about the paradise they once lived in, bout the time they were hermaphrodites and they could dress in anyway they wanted, about the clean air and water and about the friendly people that live there.
"We lost the paradise", whispers Jim, with a tear in one eye.
"I know. But now, our lives are cursed, for those who were sold as slaves, so that we can live".
"It would be much better if we remained. We should have died there with everyone in the supernova. Here, everyone hates us and everyone keeps distance from us".
"Betelgeuse didn't explode... at least yet".
"We are now fallen angels. There is no way for us to go back up there".
