Cosmic Void: The Origins of Luna

Sydney Australia, April 29th 2225

"Check it out guys, it's one of the pigs who raided Lenny Rossman!" a shady looking young man shouts to his friends.

Three young men approach the table Luna's family is sitting at and begin knocking over glasses as they taunt the family. Feeling frightened, Luna tightly grasps the hand of her brother Kory.

Luna's father Christopher calmly places down his knife and turns to face the young men, "If you don't mind I'm trying to have a meal with my family."

"Lenny was also with his family when he was killed by a racist cop!" one of the men replies.

With a look of outrage in her eyes Lia attempts to defend Chris, "How dare you, my husband is a good man! Why would a racist marry a Korean women such as myself?!?"

"Honey it's fine let me deal with this. I'm sorry about what happened to Lenny but we were just doing our job and I'm not the one who-", Chris is abruptly interrupted before he can finish his sentence.

"Don't give us that crap, you willingly took part in it so that means you're a fascist just like the rest of them!"

Sensing that the situation was escalating out of control, Chris stands up from his seat as one of the men reach into their jacket and pulls out a gun. Without thinking Chris instinctively applies his training and attempts to disarm the thug but the maneuver fails and a scuffle ensues as Chris tries to seize the weapon.

As the men grapple for control of the gun it suddenly discharges and everyone instantly stops moving. A look of horror falls over Chris as Kory screams out in pain. The group of young men quickly attempt to flee after realizing what has happened but the AI security system had already notified the police, and the suspects are quickly detained right outside the restaurant.

Tragically, it would take another few minutes for an ambulance to arrive and it would not be fast enough to save the life of Kory. Witnessing this traumatic event at only 12 years old would forever change the way Luna would view the world. Seeing her brother die before her eyes instilled a deep drive to help save lives and reduce suffering in the world.

In Luna's eyes her father would always be a hero who saved many lives regardless of what anyone said about him. However, Luna was much more sensitive than her father and knew that she wasn't cut out for law enforcement work. Instead she would become a well respected doctor and researcher, known for her work in the fields of virology and pandemic analysis.

... 18 years later ...

"I'm sorry Luna but if you refuse to follow the new guidelines we will have no choice but to revoke your medical license."

Luna clenches her fist and starts to raise her voice in anger, "I've been working here for 6 years and I've followed every ridiculous guideline put in place, but this is going too far. We can't forcefully implant an ID chip into every child without parental permission, it's unethical!"

"You already give every child dozens of vaccines every year without any consent because it's the law, why is this any different? It's for the protection of our children, the data clearly shows how effective the implants are."

"I've told you before I think we could cut the number of vaccines in half, but some of them prevent pandemics so I could live with it. However there is a line I can't cross, I became a doctor to heal people, not to enslave people. You'll have my resignation letter by the end of the day."

Luna was a single parent with a 6 year old son at the time of losing her license to practice medicine, so it came as a large blow to her pride and her ability to provide for her son. In frustration she resorted to releasing steam on the internet by writing anti-implant articles and even articles questioning the need for the large number of mandatory vaccines.

Her writings quickly drew a lot of attention and although she tried to remain anonymous it wasn't hard for the authorities to trace the articles back to Luna. This would cause her social credit score to drop even lower and was the final blow to her hopes of ever working in the medical field again, or any other well paying job for that matter.

... 2 weeks later ...

Luna is falling asleep in front of the TV when she hears a loud crashing noise and turns to see her door flying off the hinges, "Police! Get down on the floor!"

"What the hell is this, I haven't done anything! You're going to wake my son!", Luna frantically grumbles while being handcuffed, "I'll have you know my father was a Sergeant on the force for 2 decades! I demand to know what crime I'm being arrested for!"

"Mam please calm down, we're just doing our job. The warrant states you've violated the Bio-security Information Control Act" the commanding officer explains.

Unfortunately for Luna these crimes were enough to place her in prison for several months and her son would be sent to live with his father, a strict and short tempered man.

After being released from prison Luna finds that her reputation as a doctor has been shattered beyond repair and her low social credit score makes it hard for her to see any path forward on Earth. Luna decides her best option is to legally acquire residency in the UCM colonies of Mars where she opens her own small clinic, slowly gaining the trust and loyalty of the local residents.

The scarcity of resources in the underground cities of the UCM and the lack of trained doctors made it easier to get a medical license and gave Luna a lot more freedom to practice medicine the way she wanted. Of course she would still travel back to Earth periodically to visit her son but for the most part her home and her heart was now in the UCM city of Mazpoc.

... 3 years later ...

After a normal day in the clinic Luna is about to close up shop when the door swings open. In walks Zark and his brother, tagging behind them is a girl Luna doesn't recognize. Zark is wearing his usual red tank top and blue baseball cap with the logo for his own Spacecraft company; Dark Halo Industries, and his scruffy light brown hair poking out the sides.

Luna was always slightly amused how Zark walked with such long strides, while wearing baggy spacesuit-styled pants along with similarly styled boots, not to forget his leather racing gloves. He had an odd sense of style but it was unique and Luna respected that. In the 3 years since moving to Mazpoc she had grown quite fond of the people and their care-free life style.

Luna walks over to greet the brothers, "Let me guess, another hover-bike accident? That's the 3rd this year, you really need to be more careful Zark!"

Zark looks at Luna with his typical reckless smile, "Hey come on now, my middle name is careful. I told you those accidents weren't my fault, everyone knows I'm the best pilot around!"

Luna smirks back at Zark, "Mmmm... well I'm glad to hear that, so what brings you to my little hole in the wall then?"

Zark steps to the side and introduces the girl standing behind them, "Tessa here says she's from Earth and needs a tracking implant removed, you still do that sort of thing right?"

For those who may have missed it: Cosmic Void: The Origins of Tessa

Got bored and decided to draw a sketch of Zark (age 26) on my tablet. Tried to give him a fairly tall lanky build since he spent most of his life on Mars and the gravity is quite a bit lower than on Earth.