STARLIGHT UNBOUND by Deus Ex Machina - HTML preview

STARLIGHT UNBOUND

Pascal gestured. “Go on.”

Elbows resting on the table, Carter leaned forward. “He predicted what would happen when religion collapsed. When people stopped believing in God, if they didn’t replace Him with anything. No higher values, no structure. Just... emptiness. That ’s why the Age of Discord spiraled the way it did. No moral compass left to guide anyone.”

Leona ’s curiosity deepened. “And you think AstroSYS filled that void?”

“Exactly.” Carter’s voice turned thoughtful. “It gave society something tangible to follow. Something real. The stars don ’t lie. They’re constant. Reliable. And visible.”

With a satisfied smile, Pascal picked up the thread. “AstroSYS didn’t just give us a compass—it gave us purpose. Real, calculated purpose. That’s why it works. The stars don’t care about greed or ambition. They care about alignment.” She turned to Lucien, eyes sharp. “You must see it, right? As a numbers guy, it’s all there—logical, efficient.”

Caught off guard, he hesitated. “I see how it works. And it is... accurate. But that doesn ’t mean it’s perfect.”

Silence stretched between them, the gentle clink of Leona ’s stirring spoon the only sound in the room.

A frown tugged at Leona ’s lips. “What do you mean?”

The rim of the coffee cup felt cool beneath his fingertips. “It’s all interpretation, isn’t it? We’re assigning meaning to patterns that might not mean anything at all. What if the stars don ’t care? What if we’re...” A vague gesture filled the space between them. “...projecting?”

Pascal’s smirk returned, but her tone remained measured. “The stars don’t have to care, Lucien. That ’s the beauty of it. They don’t need to. AstroSYS isn’t about what they feel—it’s about what they are. Patterns. Order. Alignment. And alignment works, whether you believe in it or not.”

A laugh broke the tension as Darius clapped him on the shoulder. “Don’t mind him, Pascal. Lucien’s always been like this—skeptical about everything. That’s why he’s good at what he does.”

Pascal studied him before shrugging and returning to her tea.

The conversation flowed into lighter topics, but Lucien stayed quiet, thoughts stirring uneasily beneath the surface. Carter ’s words echoed in his mind, mingling with Pascal’s unwavering certainty. The math works. The system works. Why does it need to be more than that?

Eventually, he set down his empty cup and rose. “I should get going. Early morning tomorrow.”

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