Dear Mary

The day was like any other, the sky was clean but for a few white clouds here and there to break the monotony, the wind was blowing over the wheat softly and the sound of Dashing’s hoofs on the asphalt were the only sound to be heard.

The stars would soon be out, and Venus would be visible tonight. Mary was happy that she returned in time for tonight’s big astral event. She was carrying groceries in Dashing’s duffle bags, some fresh vegetables and lots of non-perishables, the trip to the local market was too long under the sun to buy too much fresh food at time.

She can see a reflection down the road moving in her direction. It is probably one of those electric cars. Since they don’t need water or rest, they can travel further in a day; She always wanted to have one, but since the factories shut down many years ago, they were too expensive to buy nowadays. Horses like dashing were much more accessible and easier to maintain. Besides, Mary liked Dashing, he has been good company in the last months.

She lived alone with her father, but he was getting older by the day, and that seems to depress him. When she was young, they would spend the nights studying the stars and the way the cosmos behaves. But now he refuses to talk about what saddens him so and keeps quiet sitting in his char, barely talking, barely smiling. He was a good man and loving once, but things have gradually changed to the worse.

Mary could see the house now and, exited to get out of the sun, she moves to a trot. Upon Arriving she tends to Dashing, giving him plenty of water and some oats, removing his saddle and guiding it to the pasture. She called for her dad to help her take the groceries in, she was afraid the plastic bags would rip accidentally, but he did not answer. He was probably taking a nap.

She takes the groceries in and puts them on the kitchen, places any perishables in the fridge and organizes the non-perishables in the cupboard. Then she removes her belt with the dagger she caries for self defense and removed the padding she wore over her clothes. She passes by her small lab that her dad painstakingly built for her to check on some of her experiments. With all the chores she had nowadays there was no time to experiment much, but she would leave some slow cooking experiments running while her other responsibilities were being dealt with

Then she decides to go check on her dad and see if he needs anything. She goes up the stairs and knocks on his bedroom door. No answer. That was not uncommon, he did sleep very heavily. She would have to intrude and wake him up to let him know she came back safely. The door opens with a push and her father is laying on the bed, but when she approaches, she knows something is wrong. She sees the empty pill container and knows what he did. She cries, and shakes him, and tries to make him puke the pills, but his heart is not beating, and his skin is already cold. She knows nothing can be done. She cries for a while wondering why, what could have led her father to this. And eventually she notices the letter over the dresser. She reads the envelope:

“To my dear Mary”

Hoping her answers are in there she opens the envelope; her hands are shaking, and her eyes are watered enough already. A small heart shaped locket falls off the envelope revealing a photo of one of their family trips to observe the stars, she remembers how happy they were that night. A tear falls on the paper smearing the end of the first lines of text.

“Dear Mary,

If you are reading this then I have been too weak to bear my sorrows any longer. I am sorry that I could not be with you, but the choices I made in my past have led me to be divided between the person I love the most and my own beliefs and morals. And I can bear no longer to endure this weight.

So many years ago a made a choice that would affect not only me, but all of humanity and all the generations to come. But I failed to see the effects my decision would cause on the bright children of the future such as yourself. To crush your dreams, like I did… How many more dreams have I killed in that act so, so long ago…

It is time I told you my secret and gave you, the new generation, the choice that I denied you before…

But first I must tell you about the world before you were born. Because you know about the good things that world gave us such as industry and flight and the possibility of reaching the stars you love so much. However, that world had a darker side too. Where killing could be done from inside a windowless bunker on the press of a button and death toll was measured in the millions. A world where war was constant, impersonal and distant. In that world, countries would ship their armies around the globe to wage wars thousands of miles away. Where the public could not interfere, where most people would not care, where all the brutality seemed distant and thus moral does not apply, in their minds at least. These distant wars were fought over false pretenses and the information was controlled to demonize the other side, to make the war feel just, to deny the population their right to judge for themselves.

I was born in that world and, like you, I fell in love with a lady called science. I dreamed of bringing humanity many great things by creating new solutions that would improve people’s lives. And believing that science belongs to us all I made my discoveries public to the world. It didn’t take long for many private companies and even the military to offer me unlimited funding and a fully staffed and stocked lab to work on, but I refused them all, for that would come with too many strings attached. However, that did not stop them from using the knowledge I shared with the world to develop their own technologies, stronger bombs, stealthier jets, powerful projectiles, artillery, and more. When I realised my discoveries had been warped into dark weapons it was already too late. I stopped sharing my research and isolated myself in my own labs. And after many years of sorrow I realized those truths I have told you. I also realized, that moving fast is essential to warfare, especially in the scale we have been seeing. So, I worked very hard for many years to put a stop to that impersonal killing. And in the end, I created a device that would alter the way the magnetosphere of our planet interacts with fast moving objects, especially metallic ones. I used all my wealth building an untraceable lab and erasing my identity. I forged my death so the government could not come after me when it was done and then I deployed it. The Magnetospheric Speed Limit Device. I knew that in order to limit the speed to an amount that would deny the wars their tools I would also cause flight and automobiles to cease existing, although, in my haste, I failed to account that the industry would also suffer greatly at the loss of conventional tooling techniques that made production fast and efficient. However, even after that fact was made clear to me, I still thought it was worth it. Medicine, information, electronics those would be left untouched, allowing humanity to continue its Information Age even if the achievements of the Space Age are nullified.

It was only when you were born and started taking interest in the stars that I realized that I had sacrificed more then the achievements of the past. I had sacrificed the dreams of the future too. For you, above all, know that humanity is nothing if it can’t reach further, look beyond and dream above. When I halted the ability we had to reach the starts, I killed your dreams and the dreams of so many others that wanted, like the young me of so long ago, to reach ahead. It is true that not all advancements have been blocked, but the age of exploration will never again come to be, unless I unleash upon this world all the death that the I sacrificed so much to defeat, all at once.

I do not have the right or the courage to make that choice again. So, I regret that I must leave this choice to you. I have left instructions on how to reverse the process I started, but be careful, the governments of the world will force your hand if you allow them, so share this decision only with those that you trust and avoid the main communication ways as those are still monitored by the government.

So please, use whatever method your scientific mind can and lay judgement upon me. Please decide, did I do the right thing? Because I cannot…

Above all else know that I love you and that I wish I could have taken you to the stars.

your loving father,

L. F. F. M.”





NOTE FROM AUTOR: This is the first version of a short story I am working on, since the time I wrote it I have written another version in the same world. If you are interested in reading more please let me know =)