Find Violet Hyde: Secrets In Space

Enough

Madame President Lucille leaned back and folded her long arms, desperately trying to hold her tongue. An electric light buzzed overhead, the small room shook and dust drifted onto the metal table as a transit vehicle passed far above in Genesis. Women and men sat across from her discussing -- no, arguing against -- the Farm Project. All these people do is whine, she thought, they have nothing to contribute.

Lucille laid her hands flat on the table and raised her voice above the chatter, "I do understand your concerns, but-" they continued to speak over her.

A man with a bulbous nose and small eyes tilted his head towards Lucille, his voice rising by the syllable, drowning out any other speaker, "Up there they all worry about runnin' out of room fer themselves, but down 'ere... in tha same city that keeps 'em alive, we have miles of empty homes and businesses and factories and mines and...and when tha people of Ickwall die, who'll be left, huh?" He took a drag off of his pipe then pointed a stubby finger at her, "Tha Genies, that's who! What's tha use in keepin' yourself alive all those extra years if tha next generation is on that stupid rock?" The last word bounced off the mustard colored walls, half the room winced.

She shook her head and tried to regain control of the conversation, "Up there, down here...what about all of us? Don't you want humanity as a whole to live on, long after your generation dies? I am trying to insure that the race lives on, and repopulating old earth is the only hope." She tried to explain her plan in a way they would understand, "With the children of Ickwall and the money from Genesis, we can go back home. Back to the place we came from hundreds of years ago."

"Who really knows what goes on there, you've led our children into danger before..." A woman with short pink hair added through her nose, just loud enough to be heard, her thin lips tightened into a scowl as she waggled a finger at Lucille.

Lucille squeezed the pen she was holding, exhaling through her nose, anger boiling in her gut, but she made her tone soft,"I want something better for your children and it may not seem like it now, but they are better off on old earth. If the Farm Project is a success, hunger, overpopulation, and civil wars will be a thing of the past. Gone will be the days of squabbling over energy and room. Too many people with not enough to go around equals a loss for everyone." The reality was clear to Lucille, she had been studying the problem since she left Hyde House in Ickwall so many years ago.

"...mines're nearly empty, with no one to work'em we are gonna have to shut 'em down and how will we have energy then?" A large man in a bowler hat pounded his fist on the wooden table for emphasis.

"Old earth is close to being healed, soon we will obtain energy there. There will be jobs enough for everyone." She knew this to be fact, old earth would hold untold fortune if they were smart enough to cultivate a future there.

Voices blended together as they argued among themselves, each person louder than the next, all of them pounding and tapping and flailing around the table. All she could do was sit and wait for them to run out of breath. She waited an eternity and when it seemed like they would never be quiet, she finally stood and called across the table.

"Enough!" She was done being disrespected. She took a moment to gather her thoughts, to remain calm, to maintain some semblance of composure. "That is enough for today, we will pick back up on this topic next week. Until then, try to think of ways to improve the situation. I created this council to help me solve a problem and all that you people seem capable of is criticism and disdain for progress." She grabbed her cloak and stood, surveying the room, "When I come back next week, you will...and you must, treat me with more respect. Every one of you can be replaced."

–

Taking two stairs at a time and humming all the way, Frida ran up the winding staircase in what she now thought of as her home. She always looked forward to Lucille's arrival and just minutes ago she had spotted the woman's vehicle circling the estate's flat roof. Shadows darkened the corners of Lucille's stark, spacious home. Polished black marble with silver flecks chilled Frida's toes as she reached the top of the stairs, her small voice echoed through the hall, " Lucille, is that you?"