S01 E02 - Kapital
Photo by Greg Rakozy on Unsplash
Room 101 was full of everyone that mattered. The distinguished, the respected, the wise. Every planet in the galaxy was represented. And everyone wanted to be a part of what was said could be the biggest change in the history of Galaxy Sire.
“I´m so excited” someone said. “Not just for myself, but for my planet.”
“Me too” replied a representative from another planet. “This will be a great day. A great day for our planets, but also a great day for the galaxy!”
You could almost see the excitement building in the room. Building and building and then suddenly, as if out of thin air, the leader of Planet EE entered and the room fell deafly silent. He was known simply as XY. And although many in the room had never seen him face to face before, they had heard of him. Reputations travelled fast in the galaxy.
“Comrades!” XY bellowed the words into the room with such authority that it felt as if every letter of the word had filled up and occupied every inch of space in the room.
“Comrades, these are indeed exciting times!”
The room finally relaxed and one by one, the attendees began to nod their heads in agreement. They began to take their seats at the round table in the centre of the room. XY took the seat at the head of the table and slowly eased himself into the chair.
“Shall we begin with..” someone from one of the smaller planets began but XY cut him off before he finished.
“We all know why we´re here” he bellowed again. “For the prosperity of Galaxy Sire! And as head of the largest planet in the galaxy, I have taken the liberty of drafting the first proposal of how we will mange the distribution of Lore.
Lore was the reason they were all in the room together. It was the name of the new currency that would soon take over the galaxy, a new way to trade with other planets and a way to move Galaxy Sire into the modern age!
An assistant of XY´s had entered the room and was now quietly handing out the 250 page proposal to each person at the table.
“This proposal in front of you, will change Galaxy Sire forever” stated XY.
“No longer will we be the laughing stock of the universe. No, now we will be seen as trailblazers. As innovators. As leaders of the modern age!
The room cheered.
“Comrades I promise you. All planets will benefit. No planet will be left behind. And everyone will prosper!”
The room erupted again. It was exactly what they wanted to hear. The galaxy was full of all sorts of planets; big and small. But what they all wanted was prosperity.
“Now show we vote?”
The room fell silent. They looked at each other.
Then someone from a tiny planet no one had even heard of said: “Should we not read the proposal first”?
XY looked at her with distain. And then forced a smile. “But I´ve already outlined what is in the proposal. As head of Planet EE, I can assure you we have already gone over every detail, slowly and painfully, to ensure all is in order.”
“And we are grateful, however we must be diligent…” she replied.
“My dear comrade!” cried XY. “Time is of the essence. We cannot afford to dawdle. Indeed, our future is at stake. Your future is at take! We cannot and must not be left behind when the universe moves into the future. Your people depend on you! As k yourself - do you want to be on the right side of history?”
The room fell silent again. The heads of each planet again looked at each other and then slowly one by one, nodded in agreement. Because no one wanted to be on the wrong side of history.
“Well then, all in favour?”
YES! came the answer. Even the head of the tiny planet no one had heard of nodded her head slowly.
Within ten years, Galaxy Sire was unrecognisable. Lore had indeed spread to every corner and every planet but not in the way XY had promised. In fact, the galaxy had become more unequal than ever. Most planets had become worse off than before the introduction of Lore. Especially the small planets.
Meanwhile, Planet EE had become more rich and powerful than anyone could have imagined. And because no had read the entire proposal, especially the fine print at the end, Planet BB enjoyed unrivalled and unchallenged supremacy.
Every year, the heads of each planet would meet for the Lore Conference and every year, they would raise their concerns.
“We politely ask for amendments to the original proposal so we can best care for our inhabitants.”
“The current system seems to be wholly inadequate to feed our populations!”
“We must take action to change the system so that it benefits all, not just a few.”
And so on and so on.
But the problem was that every planet had agreed on the original proposal. Including the part which stated that no changes would be made without the explicit approval of Planet EE. And Planet EE was in no mood to change the system.
“Comrades, we must stick together. The system does and will work for all. But we must have patience.” retorted XY.
But 50 years later, patience was wearing thin. Things had only gotten worse for the planets of Galaxy Sire. Their stock piles of Lore had almost vanished and their populations were now starving and fighting each other.
And all the while Planet EE had become so rich and powerful it was building itself a second planet. It was to be called Planet EE-A. It had also built a formidable army. This, as XY had explained was simply to combat the increasingly hostile attitude of some of the rogue planets in the galaxy.
At the annual conference that year, tensions were high.
“Comrades, please! We must stick together, we cannot prosper if we are divided. You will see the benefits, I promise you will,” said XY in his opening speech.
“You have said that for fifty years and for fifty years nothing has changed!” The conference fell silent. It was the head of the tiny planet no one had ever heard of. She looked much older now, tired and defeated.
“I am from the Planet Lobitz” she continued. “Many of you here have probably never even heard of us. We are a small, humble planet and I can tell that we are suffering. My people are suffering! And it is only getting worse. Indeed, we have been suffering since the introduction of Lore.” She flung a dark look directly at XY.
“We can no longer sit idle and…” But before she could finish the sentence two security guards had surrounded her. And then without a sound, she was whisked away and out of sight. No one knew for sure what had happened to the head of Planet Lobitz. But at the following years´ conference she was no where to be seen.
250 years later no one remembered how the current system had come to be. It just was. In fact it had become so ingrained in the galaxy that no one even argued that there could be a different system; a different way of doing things.
By now, Planet EE was so powerful it practically ruled Galaxy Sire. And as they had become richer and richer, the rest of the planets had become poorer and poorer.
But just as it seemed all hope was lost, somewhere out in the far reaches of the galaxy a rebellion had begun. And they had a fearless leader, a true warrior who feared no one. Her name was M. And she was from the Planet Lobitz.
THE END