COMPETITION PROMPT
Use the phases of the moon to metaphorically or chronologically progress a narrative.
Feeling In Phases
While walking through the corridors of the Ark, one of the few remaining ships that carries human civilization. Lux finds herself staring at the moon. Being at the edge of the ship, there's a long stretch of floor to ceiling windows, which is exactly why she takes it to get to work every morning. The detour adds 8 minutes to her journey, but Lux never changes her routine. The lack of efficiency seems not to bother her, the seedling of an anomaly within her being. As Lux is the kind of person who calibrates her tools to the micron and eats at a very particular time in the cafeteria, so she doesn't have to wait in line. Lux hates slowness, and knowing that she could improve upon her current approach to things eats at her.
However, she does not feel any need to improve upon her current morning routine as she finds the sight of the moon both calming and energizing at the same time. Maybe it's because she admires it and everything it stands for. The founders of the Ark believed that emotional stability could be achieved by syncing the human brain to predictable rhythms. The moon was chosen as the model, its waxing and waning encoded into the Neural Regulation Interface. A soft implant at the base of every crew member’s skull. Mood modulation. Neurochemical equilibrium. Peace through precision.
Lux wishes she were the one who came up with such a genius plan. Especially since it saved them all from the horrible consequences of the first generation’s failure to adapt.
Back then, before the Interface was mandated, emotional regulation was voluntary. Behavioral therapists ran support groups. Officers handed out synthetic mood stabilizers like vitamins. But nothing could prepare the human brain for generations of confinement. The first wave of passengers, many of them brilliant scientists and pioneers, began to break under the weight of deep space isolation.
Grief became contagious. Paranoia spread like mold in the ventilation shafts. One year into the voyage, three crew members walked out of the airlock without suits. Days later, a research botanist burned half the hydroponic deck after losing a child to a malfunctioning oxygen pod.
It wasn’t just grief. It was the intensity of feeling that killed them. Depression. Delirium. Rage. Love, even, everyone was ruled by their extreme and ever changing emotions.
This collapse in our society led to the Neural Regulation Interface. An elegant and unintrusive system to keep the peace. It didn’t erase feelings, just softened them, recalibrated brain chemistry based on a controlled lunar simulation. The New Moon meant stillness. Apathy. Quiet minds. During Full cycles, mild affection was encouraged as it initiates productive bonding and allows supervised creativity. But anything volatile, obsessive, or unpredictable was filtered out before it could gain momentum.
The result is a balanced functioning society. Something the early generations and people of Earth could never achieve. Here, there is no war or suffering, just people living out their lives, carrying humanity to the next stages of civilization.
Lux feels an inkling of pride at the thought of herself being one of those people. Knowing that she serves a purpose on the ship and has a hand in the regulation of chaos.
She loves her work as an Interface Callibration Specialist, one of the few roles on the Ark that still requires human precision and oversight. AI controls most of the regulation cycle. However, someone still needs to run diagnostics and maintain the infrastructure. Sorting out any anomalies and fine tuning the neural software.
Lux keeps the system running like it's her lifeline, and in a way, it is. She doesn't know what would happen if she were to somehow become unregulated. She thinks back to a group of defectors a few years ago that tried to blow the whole ship up. Saying the interface strips us of our humanity rather than maintaining it. The Ark's President gave a speech on how there was a software malfunction that fried their serotonin and dopamine receptors, causing them to become hostile. It sends shivers down Lux's spine at the thought.
Lux, being so deep in thought, had failed to notice that she had come to the end of the corridor. So, taking one last look at the completely dark, almost invisible new moon, she exits into the main hallway.
......
3 days later
Lux walks onto the Calibration deck, it smells like ozone and sterilized metal. The only sounds to be heard are the whirling of the machines and air coming in through the vents.
However, Lux notices that the lights are a few lumens brighter, and the temperature is slightly higher. It must be the start of the next moon phase, as the Neural Regulation Interface allows minor environmental shifts to keep everyone stimulated. Not overly so, but just enough to stir productivity and mild engagement. The crew will begin to feel more awake and oriented, just enough to encourage small talk.
Lux doesn't mind the shift, however, she is indifferent towards conversation. Since she works alone, there isn't much need for collaboration. The only people she really talks to are her boss and the woman who works in the cafeteria, depending on the moon phase.
Lux sits at her desk and flicks open the diagnostics feed. A soft blue interface comes to life before her. Numbers dancing across the screen in clean, clinical lines. Baselines. Wave frequencies. Serotonin curves. Dopamine plateaus.
One value blinked.
A neural feedback reading from Section C-6. Slightly elevated. Nothing urgent, well within margin, but the pattern was… odd. Subtle spikes during sleep cycles. Increased dream recall. A deviation in emotional suppression response.
Crew ID: Kael Arlen. Security Division.
Lux’s brow furrows. The name meant nothing to her. She reviewed the baseline again. Same result. Slight anomaly. No prior flags. She marks it for secondary review.
And then, hesitates. Instead of closing the file, she opened the expanded log.
Not protocol. Not necessary. But something about the curvature of the wave pattern looked… beautiful. Almost Deliberate. Like it was alive.
Her implant gives a faint pulse of warmth.
Her hands shoot to the back of her neck. Touching it and feeling its warmth radiating. A key sign that someone's implant is working extra hard to regulate their emotions. Lux didn't feel any different, though?
In a panic, she closes out of Kael's log files and continues to monitor for anomalies, praying that her name does not get flagged.
......
3 days pass
Lux has never dreamed before. She couldn't remember the images, just the feeling, warm, aching, real. When she wakes, there’s pressure behind her eyes and a faint ringing in her ears. Her hands are already reaching for her neck.
The implant hums beneath her skin, too active for a still phase. Regulation should’ve silenced that dream. Should’ve flattened the emotion. But it didn’t.
Once at work, she starts logging the incident but deletes it a moment later. It was just a small irregularity, she tells herself. No need for any flagging.
She starts on her work, halfway through recalibrating a cluster of implant nodes near the central relay, when she hears the door slide open behind her. Heavy boots. A slower gait than her boss.
Unphased, she says, “You’re not cleared for this deck,” flatly.
“Security audit,” a voice replies. Calm. Deep. Measured.
She turns.
A man stands in the doorway, hands clasped behind his back. Broad shouldered. Clean uniform. No expression. But his eyes... they linger. Observant, not passive. The kind that reads you before you speak.
Lux nods once. “No anomalies to report.”
He takes a step closer, slowly. “That’s good to hear.”
She takes this moment to read the name on his uniform, Arlen, Kael. It's him, the anomaly! She thinks to herself, now slightly anxious being in his presence.
He scans the room, then her.
“You’re Lux, right?” Her pulse jumps. She masks it with a breath.
“That’s me.”
“Your name came up during my shift log,” he adds. “Calibration specialist. Impressive position.”
Lux raises a brow. “Is that part of your audit?”
Kael doesn’t smile. But there’s something in his face, an almost smile. “Curiosity’s not prohibited. Yet.”
She doesn’t know what to say to that. Silence stretches between them like a wire. Then his implant hums the faintest sound, almost missed. Her gaze flicks to the base of his neck.
He notices.
“What?” he asks. Lux hesitates. “You should get your system recalibrated. Your neural activity is running warm.”
Kael tilts his head, unbothered. “Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
Then he turns and walks out, just as quietly as he came. Lux exhales, steadying her hands. Her own implant thruming beneath her skin like it's listening.
......
5 days pass
After a particularly intense and vivid dream, Lux finds herself walking through the Ark to her favorite corridor.
She knows she shouldn't be out at this time, but needs the comfort of the moon after such an overwhelming experience. Her dream once again lacked images, but it left her waking self with an ache in her chest and an overly active mind.
While staring out at the waxing gibbous moon, almost full, deep in thought, she doesn't hear Kael approaching until he calls out to her.
"Lux?"
Startled, she whips around to find him feet away from her in his uniform. He must be on patrol.
"Please don't write me up for this, I just couldn't sleep."
He smirks as if the thought of being written up is humorous.
"Bad dream?" He asks her, taking a few steps closer.
"How'd you know?"
"I get them too sometimes." They stand there for a moment. The moonlight catches his face just enough. He’s still expressionless, but his eyes she can see there’s something in them now. Less guarded. She looks away, but only briefly. She’s not used to being looked at like she’s not a variable to be managed.
“I think it’s getting harder to regulate,” she says. “The system.”
“Maybe we’re not supposed to be regulated forever.”
Lux's breath catches. She doesn’t know if it’s fear or agreement. The silence between them is different now. Not strained. Charged. When he steps closer, just slightly, she doesn’t back away.
“You want to see something?” he asks.
She nods, curious to see what intrigues him.
And then they’re walking, side by side, into a part of the Ark she’s never had reason to enter before this moment.
....
28 minutes later
They stop in a forgotten observatory, a sealed dome above the Ark’s old power grid. No surveillance. No sync pulses. Just silence, and a massive, curved window wrapping the stars.
The moon is full now, glowing and alive in all its glory.
Lux feels it before she even realizes it. Her chest tightens, breath quickens, heart pounding in ways the Interface should’ve flattened by now.
Kael stands beside her, close enough that she can feel his warmth. Neither of them speaks.
When he turns to her, she knows. It’s not a decision. It’s a release.
He kisses her.
Not careful. Not measured. Real. Her hands find his face, his collar, anything to ground herself as everything she’s ever suppressed rushes in at once. The Longing, awe, and complete unanchored joy.
It's so overwhelming that she feels her eyes get glossy.
When they part, Kael’s forehead gently rests against hers. They’re both shaking.
“We’ll be flagged,” Lux whispers.
“It doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is us and what we are feeling right now.” Kael whispers in her ear before kissing her again.
Outside, the moon remains still. But inside, something has changed, something uncontainable. And for the first time in her life, Lux feels completely, terrifyingly, gloriously human.