NOVGO.NET Chapter 962: Emotional Constipation
Chapter 962: Emotional Constipation
Mars, Stargate Base 47
Streams upon streams of people continued exiting the wormholes, some requiring tractor beams to soften their speed after being thrown as if they were cannonballs.
As their bodies passed through the Stargates, they were fully scanned, their imperial digital profiles updated with new information. For many, diverse tags were added to their profiles: #Needs targeted therapy for PTSD, #Currently in active denial, #Suicidal, #Saw his wife killed in front of him, #Killed a person and feeling guilty, #Abnormal mana waves detected in the body, #On the verge of awakening, #Currently awakening, #Needs a full body rebuild, #Dead, #Weirdly Fine, #Emotiaonal breakdown, #Murderous intent, #Signs of Xenphobia
Some walked through the gates as if they were simply entering a room, while others floated in cocoons, either heavily injured or dead. The cocoons were color-coded: green for those alive but needing treatment and care, black for the dead, whose bodies were taken for storage and restoration before funerals. Then there were the red-colored cocoons, football-sized, containing the heads of living Conclave citizens in stasis. These captives were being sent to have their bodies stored, ready to be rebuilt while awaiting the imperial government’s decision on their fate for what they had done to imperial citizens.
“For those who can walk, please exit the base through this gate to leave space for new arrivals,” a soldier holding a megaphone shouted, pointing toward a large gate leading to the exterior of the base. The base needed to be continuously emptied as more and more people were delivered through the wormholes in these limited number of stargate bases.
……………….
‘Constipation,’ or something similar on an emotional level, that was what Kafuku felt as he looked at everything happening inside the base, having walked through the wormhole just two minutes ago.
Compared to what he had experienced, he felt lethargic, as if a dam had been built between him and his emotions. He had just watched his friend die in front of him on the other side of a door, while the AI running the space station kept the door locked, no matter how much he begged for it to open so that he could rescue his friend.
He tried to feel anger toward the empire and the AI that hadn’t opened the door, but it felt like his brain was on vacation. Sadness for losing his friend felt distant, as if he had been a fake friend all along. Even the anger toward the Conclave for what they had done was being held back, as if he were watching it all happen in a movie. The mixture of emotions he was feeling and how different they were compared to his memories of how they normally felt left him feeling hollow, as if he were trying to cough but couldn’t push it out.
What Kafuku didn’t know was that the base was currently pumping a mixture of air and chemicals designed to inhibit emotions both positive and negative. The empire knew that anyone coming from the other side of the wormholes would be feeling an emotional earthquake, and if left uncontrolled, it would turn the base into a powder keg of chaos, a problem they needed to avoid at all costs. The inhibitors were a necessary measure to maintain that order and reduce the demand for crowd control of very traumatised people.
Wanting to do something, anything, to avoid being left alone with his emotions that felt strange, Kafuku slowly started walking toward the gate. Once he passed through it, he found himself inside a massive imperial medical ship. The interior was nothing but rows upon rows of medipods stretching as far as the eye could see. Soldiers calmly and respectfully directed people into the pods.
{You have just gone through a very emotional and traumatic situation. At the moment, your emotions are being artificially held back to allow us to release them in a controlled and supervised way to prevent lifelong effects from the trauma,} a voice said.
Kafuku opened his eyes to find himself in a serene environment, a large world tree with an extremely beautiful elf standing before him. Her appearance and the environment had been tailored to his preferences, drawn from his life profile, to ensure he complied with her instructions and overcame his trauma more easily.
“Oh, so that’s it,” he said, still feeling lethargic but now understanding the cause of his emotional numbness.
{Can you tell me how everything happened?} she asked, as a vine chair appeared for both of them to sit.
……………………….
As Kafuku and the other rescued imperial citizens underwent treatment, the emperor remained in a meeting, reviewing the rescue operation and the counterattack.
“How long can we hold those planets?” Aron asked, his tone calm, though everyone in the room knew he was anything but.
“We can hold the majority of them for a long time,” one of the advisors replied. “But the planets in the top twenty will face heavy reclamation attempts. Depending on how many forces they invest, we may need to send reinforcements or retreat.”
“How many of them have we arrested?” Aron asked, moving to the next question without giving any directive on the captured planets, as their immediate importance was secondary.
“Seventy million of them are currently stored in stasis, ready for their bodies to be rebuilt when you give the order,” John answered, satisfied that they had not only rescued the majority of their people in such a short time but also captured a significant number of enemy personnel.
“Send out the notification that I will be addressing the empire shortly,” Aron said after taking a deep breath, some of the tension easing now that the rescue operation was over, but in its place was anger for the lost ones and Conclave’s actions.
{I’ve sent out a five-minute notification,} Nova said, already drafting different versions of his speech for him to choose from as complementary to what he planned to say.
“Let’s reconvene after the speech,” Aron said, wanting a moment alone to recollect himself before addressing the empire about the situation they were now facing.