They are sea of faces, huddled tightly in the darkness as they await the break of dawn. Some pace around in small circles, browned off by the long wait and anxious about the uncertain beyond. Others sit quietly, reminiscing their time in the Cycle, mouthing their final goodbyes to friends and family as they prepare for the drop. A handful have even fallen asleep, probably exhausted from the long journey taken to travel this far.
This is Suna, the only settlement on the desert planet La’Pamul, the lone satellite of the dwarf star Murtec. Technology has long since improved to allow inter-systemic travel, and colonies have sprouted on just about every system in the Universe. But the most prominent achievement of science is the creation of the Cycle. Quantum imprinting at birth made it possible to live forever. If you die in one system, your infant body is just reconstructed, ‘diffused’ as it is called, to another system with all your memories intact. The first few centuries following that was a time of phenomenal growth and prosperity, and many boasted of the number of rounds they had made and the experiences they had collected. A new universal government was formed to keep the Cycle of diffusion running properly.

But we were not built to be immortal, those who were tired of life found it agonising to be reborn into the Cycle over and over again. They wanted a way out, and the government was repeatedly begged to stop the reconstruction of those who no longer wanted to live, but the logistics of selectively disrupting diffusion proved too difficult and they decided against it. Society plunged into a dark age as the first mass suicides broke out. Soon, entire planets were stained red with the blood of newborns, and revolts broke out on almost every system. And then the drop was discovered. Claimed to be bottomless or perhaps a gateway to another universe, no one who jumped in was ever diffused into another system. The discovery headlined everywhere and the surrounding area quickly became a thriving village as the first few generations rushed in the billions to terminate their meaningless existences, but the stream of incoming terminates soon shrank to a steady flow. The harsh and toxic environment of the planet prevented further expansion around the pit so Suna was established as a small village and government workers like me were assigned to maintain the village and the drop. The square gets increasingly crowded and claustrophobic as the last batch enters the gates, but nobody can spare breaking a sweat. The sentries make their final search of the terminates, scanning everyone from wall to wall. No one is allowed to take any goods with them into the drop as that is considered a waste of the government’s resources. When the pit was first discovered, the terminates brought with them all forms of valuable technology and currency, generating large disturbances to the economy. Now, sneaking even a droplet of water through is a Level 9 Offense, but some still do it anyway since the punishment is termination from the Cycle, AKA, getting dropped. It is rather stupid but no one has bothered to amend it for some reason. I take a quick scan at the handful being ushered to the side for a final dehydration. All elderly, as usual, each one diffused at least five times. The young ones never seem to get caught. From the rooftop, I can see a plump, seedy child conspicuously hiding something in his coat, food most likely. The sentries can’t be that blind, they just don’t seem to care that much. They are likely just cutting him some slack, he must have had truly scarring experiences to want to leave the Cycle without a single diffusion. The government cares little for what happens to the goods confiscated by the sentries as long as it does not vanish from sight. As such, they form the bulk of Suna’s income. Most of it is food or water, some of which we keep for the village, the rest we use for trade with nearby systems. Of late, the villagers are slightly more wary of goods that are kept though. Not too long ago, there was a household that insisted on obtaining all the alcohol and tobacco that were confiscated in Suna and they became violent and started attacking other villagers. The White Forces, the main government military, was eventually called in to diffuse all of them to other systems. My second last diffusion was to the planet La’Demul, the secret headquarters of the Lightbulb Arbitrament, the government’s intelligence agency. There, I was briefly trained as a government agent before being diffused to Suna. My job here is to ensure that termination proceeds smoothly and without incident. A collective gasp escapes from the crowd as the walls begin to stretch and swell before coming to an eerie halt. That’s my cue. I send a short message, as I have a thousand times, and La’Demul instantly replies with permission to open the drop. The first rays of light emerge from the horizon the pit expands from a small aperture to a gaping hole large enough to jump through. The crowd is hesitant at first but they soon jump in. A few dive headfirst with all the bravado they can muster in their last seconds, but most of them leave as they arrive; huddled together as they stare into the face of death. Without warning, the dynamic walls that surround the square begin shifting again, this time more vigorously than I have ever seen in all my years. The terminates start to rush into the drop, lest they be diffused before they can die. I immediately inform La’Demul of my status, but I receive no response. This is bad. Before I can tell everyone to calm down, I am thrown off the roof into the chaotic square where everyone is now stampeding to the drop. The first thought that registers in the mess is I. Cannot. Breathe. I try to get a sense of my surroundings, but I cannot stop myself being tossed around like a ragdoll. Somehow, I regain balance and I see the sentries rushing in to help but they themselves are helpless against the relentless push of the pack. Too late, I realise that I too have made no progress against the unstoppable current and am being swept into the pit with everyone else. My heart sinks at the prospect of inevitable demise. Everything now moves in slow motion. I see my lives flash before my eyes as I fall into the abyss. All my experiences and memories explode into nothingness as a brilliant light illuminates my being. A sense of airy weightlessness overcomes me and I am surrounded by an inexplicably endless void of white. Suddenly, I am violently dunked into a huge expanse of murky water and everything fades to black… Bob’s shit sunk to the bottom of the toilet bowl. He had been constipated for quite a while now, as he was like to be since his brush with colon cancer last year, and resorted to laxatives to get it all out. Heaving a relieved sigh, he flushed and cleaned himself up, patting himself on the back for a job well done. He retreated to his room and went back to sleep.