The Collective
The antagonist of the story is a group calling itself the Collective. They believe that the only way to correct the long history of wars and brutality on earth is to eradicate all conflicts and disagreements between people. Assimilation into a like-minded hive of thought is the answer to solving the problem. In theory, this sounds logical but somewhat sinister. The sinister side of the argument wins out as the irony of the Collective’s means of attaining this perfect harmony is to engage in the same practices they want to end. It is only through ruthless measures including genocide that this dream of unified singular thought can be achieved.
Downloadable Cognizance
Because the trek through space to colonize a planet similar to Earth will take hundreds of years, a program called Downloadable Cognizance is created and utilized to educate children while in suspended animation. The purpose of the program is education based on facts and objective truths. Ironically, the program is hacked in such a way that it winds up being indoctrination based on a prejudicial agenda dependent on falsified facts and subjective truth.
Not the Last One
Cuentista is a Spanish word that translates into English as “storyteller.” The title becomes ironic because the protagonist is, for a time, the last person on the spaceship capable of telling stories she remembers from her time on Earth. The Downloadable Cognizance program has erased all memory of actual Earth history from the minds of everyone but Petra. By the end of the story, however, Petra is no longer The Last Cuentista because her storytelling has facilitated the recollection of those memories thought to be erased in the other children.
On to the Next
After all the planning, centuries of travel, subversion of the Downloadable Cognizance, and extreme acts to ensure that the new planet can become a more perfect earth, the Collective ultimately ironically abandons the new planet, Sagan, and heads off into space. Part of the irony of this situation is that they have no specific plans for a replacement for Sagan. It is intimated that they will be traveling through the galaxy from one solar system to another in a vain attempt to satisfy their expectations of perfection.
Chancellor Nyla and Her Relics
The first irony associated with the leader of the Collective, known as Chancellor Nyla, is that an organization seeking utopian ideals by purging all individuality would have a single leader. Beyond that, however, lies the greater irony. Nyla is merciless in her agenda to keep all the space pilgrims from remembering the actual truth of human history. Ironically, however, she keeps a secret collection of “relics” from Earth. Among these objects which point to the lies of the Collective is the most forbidden of all, a book.
