N O T • E V E R Y T H I N G • I S • A S • I T • S E E M S
Daiya's mood settled as the holo-vid began, her hunger and nerves forgotten in the moment. It was just shortly after she'd received the invitation for this beach outing that she and Zenie hatched their plan. They had scoured the holowaves for clips and information, arriving early to get their own footage from a few close-call passes from her ship. Daiya was pretty happy with what they had put together, but a shuddering breath leaving her body told her that she was still worried about something.
It took a moment for Daiya to realize that the worry didn't come from her, but from the teen's younger friend tightly grasping her hand. She glanced down at the little heiress, even in the absence of the bright lighting Daiya could tell that Zenie's eyes were shut, her face twisted —whether in pain or concentration she couldn't tell— and her mouth moving silently. The girl shared Zenie's consternation, using her free hand to rub her friend's shoulder for reassurance.
The better means of reassurance arrived behind her, two and some meters tall covered in shaggy fur. Daiya felt her own muscles relax as she caught sight of him in the dim light, carrying towels draped over his arms that he offered to his teenaged charge. The girl took them, spying the large duffel bag that Tawrro also carried, but busied herself by wrapping first Zenie, then herself, in dry towels their damp forms had needed for a while.
Daiya's thoughts never left the duffel bag her partner carried, even as her eyes drifted up to the screens. The holo-vid had begun at last, playing on the same screens that had offered a vivid illusion of a seaside beach before. Only knowing the general dimensions of the Indoor Visitor Center made it possible to distinguish life from life-like playing on the holo-screens around them.
The scene begins in dim light, barely better than darkness. As the illumination improves, the view is still hazy and blurred by rain. It doesn't look like anywhere on Belazura, the colors are grey and muted while the landscape seems very dull. Somber music plays in the background as the scene's clarity improves, giving shape to vast industrial plants and form to the mob of workers who appear like swarming insects from this distance. The surroundings are bare, there's very little foliage in sight, and what ground that isn't occupied by gravel-marked roads or piles of raw material is dry and cracked.
A youthful voice can be heard now, speaking over the scene as the workers toil away in the footage, which changes between long shots of the whole complex to close-ups keyed to what the voice talks about. "This is the Ferassonn Enterprises Refining Plant in Drynth province right here on Belazura. This land used to be a camping ground, where no high-tech devices or HoloNet access was allowed, a place for beings who wanted to unplug and 'get back to nature.' But six months ago, it was bought out by the Corporate Mining Union and this plant was built instead. All the plants and animals who once lived here are dead and gone, all the wonderful experiences to be had here are now replaced with this. Imported beings from other worlds, performing unending work, in a lifeless place." The voice is careful, the words spoken slowly enough without over enunciating, but doesn't sound dry or distinterested at all.
As the voice ends, the scenery lingers for a few more moments in silence, offering time for reflection. It transitions to a new landscape, this time a mountain far unlike the strikingly beautiful variety for which Belazura is known. It is stripped of life, like the ground was near the refinery, and marred by a gaping wound in its side. Speeder and ground trucks roam the wound, following spiraling paths of cut rock and compacted dirt down into a nest of automation hacking away at the mountain's soul. Machines and droids chip away at the exposed rock, mining valuable minerals to be carted away by the vehicles, separating them far from their home beneath the earth.
"This mountain doesn't have a recognizable name, it's not on a top ten listing, but it's part of the Intara mountains on the southern continent. You've probably seen it standing by its cousins on holo-cards and promotional vids for Belazura, the Intara mountains is one of our prettiest sights. People come from all over to pose in front of them, climb them, or have picnics in their shadow. Well, no longer. That's all restricted now, tourists aren't allowed to visit anymore, and the land is all owned by the Corporate Mining Union. Who are doing this to it, killing the face of the mountains to strip-mine it for minerals. What could possibly be more valuable to Belazura than its beautiful mountains? Whatever it is, I hope it's worth selling our planet's very soul for."
Now the scenery changes again, this time with more color and bustling activity. It's easier to see now that this is on Belazura itself, this could even be the street outside of the Indoor Visitor Center. Yet the vid's shots are closer now, focused less on the action or alluring attractions and more on the people staffing them. They appear tired, overworked, barely able to keep up the facade that their customer-facing jobs require. The vid plays a montage of these shots, following the staff home to squalid conditions compared to the standards upheld in the shiny hotels and condos rented out to the Belazuran affluent. Tiny, cramped apartments inside densely-packed highrises, tucked away on the other side of the city from their jobs and the resorts, far from the picturesque lives shown off to visitors.
"Almost a year ago, the minimum wage guarantee was revoked and a lot of businesses started to change how they paid their workers. Thousands of beings in the service industry, who make your meals or sell you souvenirs, can no longer afford the homes they used to have. New developers stepped in to buy them to rent out for absurd amounts, and they used the profits to invest in these low-income housing projects. Now, almost half the working class on Belazura have to live in these projects or cram by the dozen into homes that used to be for a single family. They're no more than slaves now, stuck with no mobility, no vacation time, and no chance to enjoy, themselves, what Belazura offers to the galaxy."
The vid changes one last time. Now it shows a young girl, not quite a teenager, with blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. She holds her head up, not uncomfortable with the camera at all, hazel eyes looking straight through at her inevitable viewers. She talks knowing her audience, acutely aware of the impact she'll have, "My name is Zenitha Chuma. My father was Kjell Chuma, the Governor of Belazura until almost a year ago. Belazura is my home, its citizens are my people, and my father always taught me that those things mattered above all else."
She beams at this statement, clearly proud of her heritage and outlook. But the girl's face changes quickly, Zenitha has tears in her eyes now, real tears that demonstrate her real love for the planet, and its people, that her father once governed. Her pained eyes turn hard as she levies her accusations.
"But now Belazura is run by another man, a man who has made everything you saw today possible. He had my father assassinated. He sold away pieces of my world. He ripped away the subsistence of my people. And he has brought ugliness and horror to the beautiful world I grew up on. And for what? To make money. He tries to hide behind contracts and bribery, behind the flag of the Corporate Authority, but today I want you to know clearly who is responsible for the Belazura you saw right here. Diviak Manfloon, whose greed knows no bounds."
When the vid ended, the screens dimmed once more. The hack had gone off flawlessly, hijacking the pleasant beachside scene to deliver a message warning of the exploitation of the world under their feet. It was everything she and Zenie had wanted! Yet as Daiya stood by, waiting along with others for the facility's technicians to restore the idyllic illusion, she was hit by the same fears that Zenie had felt earlier. What now?
Turning to Tawrro, Daiya gestured to the bag he held. "
I think we'd better get that unpacked. In case CorpSec decides to show up and ruin this party further."
That was their contingency plan, assuming all things went wrong. Yet as the lights returned around them, and the beachside views appeared once more, it seemed as if the plan was unfolding smoothly.
The lights flickered once, the illusion interrupted once more, before it returned to normal. But for the several minute interlude and the reaction of the crowd, it was hard to tell there had been any interruption at all.
Across the city, atop a building that had once suffered the indignity of having its penthouse floor cut off by an irksome band of criminals, a series of explosive patches linked up and set off their charge. The result was loud and carried a shockwave that disrupted nearby buildings, but it dealt no damage to the structure or its inhabitants. Its victims were the electronics and digital storage kept in that building, an EMP that wiped out all the records and plans maintained by Diviak Manfloon's government on Belazura.
The final piece of Zenitha Chuma's message to the mastermind of her father's death.
