Planet Despotism, page 7
CLERK
What do you need?
Rajairus pulls the dinavion coins from his pants pocket, then hands the satchel to the clerk.
RAJAIRUS
I need all the rations this can hold, and a shovel.
The Corvus robot takes the coins from the clerk, places them in the register, then presses a button below the counter, opening the sliding doors behind the counter. The clerk walks into the room of canned goods, dry goods and bags of food. Rajairus sighs in relief as the clerk fills the satchel.
CUT TO:
EXT. GENNAEUS CITY. STREETS OF GENNAEUS. --DAY.
STREETS OF GENNAEUS.
Rajairus steps out of the store, passing one of many merchants lined in the middle of the streets. A single gunshot is fired less than a block ahead and Rajairus looks up at the crowd of angry protestors breaking into a run in all directions.
PUBLIC COURTROOM.
One of the accused males lies in the middle of the semicircle public courtroom with a single bullet through the side of his head. The opened eyes of the deceased male glare up at the irate Chancellor, ensnaring him. The loudness of the raucous crowd breaks the stare between them, and the Chancellor rages at the crowd.
CHANCELLOR
YOU WILL RESPECT MY DECISION!
They yell even louder, pointing their fingers and shaking their fists. They press and tighten the chains looped through the cemented metal posts. The robots standing behind the other accused male wait for the Chancellor to submit his ruling. The crowd boils over the chains before the ruling and break the chains along the semi-circle when they stumble over each other. The crowd bursts into the open court and the Chancellor smacks his gavel on the desk, yelling out...
CHANCELLOR (CONT'D)
GET BACK! GET BACK!
They grab the male awaiting his sentence and the Chancellor lashes out at the crowd, LET HIM GO! The male runs into the crowd when the Chancellor yells out at the robots...
CHANCELLOR (CONT'D)
SHOOT THEM! SHOOT THEM ALL!
The twenty robots fire on the crowd, filling more than fifty protestors with bullets as they pop out of the open court semi-circle in all directions. The protestors trample over each other as the robots fill their backs, arms and shoulders with bullets as they run. The panicked crowd breaks out, fleeing in all directions as the Constables walk behind them, firing multiple rounds in every direction. They trample over the fatally wounded bodies. Some run up the street and others flee down. The robots split up, pursuing them all in opposite directions of the street. The gashing wounds of the maimed and the crippled hinder them and they fall behind. The Constable Robots approach the wounded and fire, taking the stragglers out of their misery, while the other robots pursue those fleeing down the streets.
Rajairus and the citizens around him scatter as the massacre is heaped in their direction within seconds. Those whome were fired on blend into the chaotic crowd of innocent customers and merchants, bringing the plague of bullets with them. Some fall all around Rajairus as she runs down the street, evading the bullets as best as he can. The robots make no concessions or distinctions as they spray the entire street with bullets. Rajairus charges through the hysteria and runs toward the right side of the street as bodies fall around him. A bullet dents the shovel on his back as he disappears around a corner and down a side street.
The gatling-gunned arms of the robots click to empty as they slow to a jog, ending their pursuit. The robot stares down at the dead male prisoner, and the hundred and seventy bloodied bodies lying in the streets. The Constable robots walk back to the Chancellor's open court area and a team of Corvus Antares robots are summoned to clear the bodies from the streets.
CUT TO:
EXT. GENNAEUS CITY. PARTHENON BUILDING. ---MORNING.
Shagree tucks the pant legs of his black fatigues into his black boots and starts up to the entrance door of a concrete gate wrapped around the seven story Parthenon building. A red light flashes across a strip of glass inside the door and he enters. He tilts his head in acknowledgement of the relieved guard, then walks to the guard's cabin in the corner of the campus.
The jet engines of the scorpion-etched helio-craft glide over the building and Shagree rushes out of the shack, running across the huge campus. The craft touches down on the landing pad and Aldron flings open the cockpit door and exits. He speed walks across a lavish courtyard of rose gardens filled with a quincunx arrangement of seven foot tall banzai trees. Aldron walks hurriedly toward the steps when Shagree rushes up to him.
SHAGREE
MORNING GOVERNOR!
Aldron pulls away in agitation and looks down at the iron bench as Shagree steps in front of him.
SHAGREE (CONT'D)
You're here early.
Aldron washes his hand over his sleepy face, looking at the bench as he speaks.
ALDRON
Justice never sleeps.
Gripping the bridge of his nose, Aldron sighs.
SHAGREE
The guards and I wanted to know if our earnings could be paid in dina--
Aldron interrupts him with a loud sigh while rubbing the bridge of his nose, then plows past him.
ALDRON
My agenda is full and I can't be detoured.
SHAGREE
I understand.
Shagree talks to himself while looking at Aldron's back. The Governor vanishes behind the colossal white pillars imprisoning the building.
CUT TO:
INT. HELIO CRAFT. PARTHENON/UNMARRED ROOM. ---MORNING.
PARTHENON.
The Governor's sandals tap across the marble floors as rays of sunlight shine into the lobby entrance from the seven story glass ceiling. The ceiling sunbathes the bronze columns, polished mahogany guard rails and balconies that enclose the Governor's offices as Aldron walks through the opened space into a hall. Glass doors slide open as he enters a hall with varied chandeliers hanging from the gold-coffered ceiling and walks to the elevator. The monolith statue of a weeping female in a white himation gown with a red and purple sash wrapped around her shoulders. She stands on a pedestal near the crystal glass elevator and glass shaft. Aldron touches the arrow button on the wall of the elevator and the glass shaft quickly fills with pressurized water. Water fills up in the glass shaft above, pressing the glassed elevator capsule down within seconds as he steps in.
UNMARRED ROOM.
Just as quickly as Aldron presses the basement floor button on the elevator, the doors slide open to the basement of the building. He walks to the "UNMARRED" room at the end of the wide hall and into the factory of the Parthenon. Male and female employees work hand in hand with Corvus Antares robots as rolls of twined cotton is pulled through machines.
The employees at their desks perform quality assurance tests on printed rodell bills with a microscope as Aldron walks down the aisles. He looks at the automated machines twine threads of pulled cotton into crisp sheets of brown and red colored paper. Conveyor belts carry the rolled papers to machines that imprint the papers with insignias, print and laser cut the paper into rectangular bills as Aldron walks down the second aisle.
The bills are separated by their numerical value: a one hundred thousand rodell note, a five hundred thousand rodell note, and a one million rodell note.
Robots take the finished slab of bills off the last conveyor belt and stack the bills onto a steel bin with wheels as Governor Aldron watches them work. The robots mule the heavy bins onto a floor scale for weight approval, then drive the heavy bins to a computerized machine that caps and locks the bins in a steel case. Once sealed, the robots push the steel bins into a section of the wall titled "Deliveries" as Aldron walks up the last aisle.
Aldron passes the office of an elderly male, the factory manager. He scurries from his office when he sees the Governor walk into the aisle of the employees. The manager raises the scope glasses over his head and walks to the Governor with two engraving plaques in his hands, the denomination of a 5,000,000 rodell note, and another plaque with a 10,000,000 rodell note. The manager hands them both to the Governor.
MANAGER
I'm working on these for next week.
ALDRON
Still at ninety-eight percent?
MANAGER
I'm afraid so.
ALDRON
So these will be obsolete by the end of next week. Have you started designing the new plaques?
MANAGER
Yes, I'll have those ready for your approval tomorrow.
Aldron gives the plaques back to the manager and says to him.
ALDRON
KEEP PRINTING.
CUT TO:
INT. PARTHENON BUILDING. TREASURY KEY VAULT. ---MORNING.
The elevator stops at the fifth floor as Aldron walks down the hall. He stops at the steel scanner inside the walls and ceiling of the hallway. He takes off the computerized wristband and places it on a shelf carved into the wall. Walking through the scanner, he goes further down the hall, then stops at a steel door with a keypad on the wall next to it. Pressing a series of numbers and symbols on the keypad, the steel door unlatches itself as he pulls on the handle. Stepping inside the red carpeted room he walks toward the giant floor-to-ceiling vault in the wall. The three foot thick steel door is opened when he walks into the vault. Looking down at the broken glass within the display podium, he rubs his hand through his short-cropped hair, then walks out of the vault. Closing the steel door, he spins the giant wheel left to right, locking the door into the vault.
CUT TO:
EXT/INT. PARTHENON BUILDING. COMMISSARY ROOM. ---MORNING.
Three guards in black fatigues direct the air traffic as the hovering crafts wait to land on their marked landing pads. The asphalt lot across from the courtyard fills with helio-crafts as the well-dressed Governors pour into the building. Assembling on the steps, some converse with one another before they enter the building. A built-in camera above the sliding doors scans their faces as they enter.
CUT TO:
INT. PARTHENON BUILDING. KITCHEN/COMMISSARY ROOM. ---MORNING.
Water boils the poached quail egg in the chromed pot on top of the stove in the industrial sized kitchen. White gloves press down on the handle of a knife and slice through the large onion on the wooden carving board. Laying the blade on the chopping board, the Corvus Antares robot turns off the stove. Spooning the poached egg into a crystal plate, it sets a few thin slices of smoked salmon on top of the poached egg, then dishes a spoon of beluga caviar on top of the salmon. Adding steamed asparagus to the side of the egg. The robot walks to a counter and sets the plate on top of the counter near the front of the kitchen. And it sets an electronic device with digital numerals in front of the plate.
Taking the plate off the table, the female server palms it onto her tray and walks out into the Commissary room.
COMMISSARY ROOM.
Gliding across the checkered black and white marble floor in a white chiton dress, the waitress feathers past a row of Governors in purples sashes. The Governors slide their chairs into tables made of blackwood from Mbingo trees as she slides by their tables with the tray of food over their heads. She walks to the far side of the room, bypassing the floor to ceiling aquarium and approaches the last table at the wall.
A school of large Beluga fish swim over her shoulder as she sets the plate in between a round table of lively, conversational Governors dressed in purple sashes and black himation gowns. Gregariously smiling and joking with one another, the ten of them over-talk each other loudly. One of them seizes control of the table and they all turn to him when he holds up his gold fork and knife in a clashing jester, and the entire table erupts in laughter. The Governor cuts into his poached quail egg and takes a bite. He forks a few blackened caviar eggs into his mouth as she pours juice from the glass carafe centered on the middle of the table. She retreats from the table and walks across the crowded hall of Governors back to the kitchen.
CUT TO:
INT. PARTHENON BUILDING. GUBERNATORIAL FORUM. ---MORNING.
Shouting and boos spring up from one side of the aisle as an audience of middle-aged males in purple sashes run raucous interference on a speech being delivered. Governor Algethi stands at the podium, swabbing his hand down his red sash as he scans the audience. His fellow Governors are separated by an aisle and their colored sashes reflect their party loyalties. Algethis waits for them to lower their voices, then speaks into the microphone.
GOV. ALGETHI
We must care for our citizens and--
Before he finishes, he's met with even louder shouting from the Governors in purple sashes. Shaking fists of thick rolled papers, they yell at the tops of their lungs. Standing at the podium opposite Algethi, Governor Kaitos revels across the aisle at the frustrated Governors in red sashes. Antagonizing them with a smirk, he turns condescendingly and faces Governor Algethi. Kaitos lowers his palms in a gesture of silence, then addresses members of his own party, the Eridanus party, as they sit clothed in purple sashes.
GOV. KAITOS
Let him speak.
Smirking as he talks to his members, he obliges Governor Algethi to speak when he extends his arm to him. The Governor walks out from behind the podium to address those separated by an aisle of purple sashes.
GOV. ALGETHI
Our citizens haven't a clue about what is going to happen and what we are doing is not right. The truth has been drowned in a puddle of lies. And if they knew what we were doing in here, they would hang us from the highest ceiling. We have failed our them at every critical turn and we have an obligation to help those whom elected us.
The purple-sashed members of the Eridanus party glare at Algethi with contempt as he speaks.
GOV. ALGETHI (CONT'D)
A moral obligation and passing this bill will allow us to build shelters, protecting them from this storm of radiation. I implore you to vote for their future.
Governor Kaitos arrogantly claps his hands slowly three times while Algethi walks back to his podium. Kaitos addresses his contrarians; the red-sashed Governors of the Seginus party.
GOV. KAITOS
We're tired of your rhetoric, Governor. You evoke religiosity into the argument: moral obligation. Why do you try to make us feel guilt for being privileged? We are not Messiahs, Governor, we cannot save any one. It is not our fault that they are unaware. It is not our fault they find themselves in this precarious situation. I do not claim a faith, nor do I wear a falsehood of religion on my sleeve. If I were to assess responsibility for their dire state of affairs.
Kaitos looks over at the Governor and then points his finger to the sky as he speaks.
I would not place the onus on anyone in this room, but I will, however, evoke a religious phrase. Whatever happens to the citizens of Gennaeus, it is His Providence; His divine intervention.
Members of the Seginus party take offense and turn their thumbs down, shouting loud "BOOS" as he evokes religious jargon into his speech. Governor Kaitos raises his voice into the microphone. Speaking venomously, he succeeds in suppressing their annoyance.
GOV. KAITOS (CONT'D)
We are burdened with overpopulation and our penal institutions cannot accept ANY MORE of these ruffian peasants. We are beyond repair, Governor and, for the last three years, you've wasted our time on legislation that we all know will never pass. The cost of building these shelters would cripple us for centuries to come. And we will not build any walls for them. Let them die in the streets. For some, death would be a welcomed ally in conjunction with the lives they've lived.
Thunderous applause erupts from the aisle of the Eridanus party as Governor Kaitos walks from the podium to join them. Governor Algethi speaks into the microphone on his podium.
GOV. ALGETHI
We shall commence voting when all members are present.
A member of the Eridanus party walks to the podium, then throws the thirty page bill of loose papers at the face of Governor Algethi. The loose papers swirl around Algethi as one of the Governor shouts out....
GOVERNOR
That is my vote!!!!
Thousands of sheets swirl the air and flood the floor when the Governors in purple sashes toss their bills up in objection to the vote.
CUT TO:
INT. PARTHENON BUILDING. GUBERNATORIAL FORUM. ---MORNING.
Governor Aldron walks out of the side door and into the Gubernatorial forum. He walks into a chaotic room of yelling and taunting as the thousands of sheets of paper trash the floor. Aldron quickly walks to the podium and shouts into the microphone at argumentative governors.
GOVERNOR ALDRON
HONOR EACH OTHER WITH CIVILITY!
Looking across the littered floor of the forum, he overpowers the room when he speaks.
GOVERNOR ALDRON (CONT'D)
What have we become? In a moment of crisis, I find you bickering with one another.
GOVERNOR ALDRON (CONT'D)
Covaniah, our Chief Governor has been murdered along with E'dan, Tizner, Tolorell and Raetner by Claymoulus Rebels last night.
His message shifts the room into a somber silence. The Governors look at each other and Aldron in a haze of befuddlement. Aldron looks out at them and begins to expand on the night in question.
ALDRON
They were on a peaceful mission to distribute food to the poor in the Falluz forest when they were ambushed and killed by Claymoulus rebels.
GOV. KAITOS
Did they bring any of the Cyborgs to guard them?
GOVERNOR ALDRON
I'm afraid not.
The Governors whisper amongst themselves. After a few moments of quiet reflection, Kaitos stands up and addresses the other side of the aisle, directing his comments to Algethi.
GOV. KAITOS
These are the times we're living in. Ruffians have killed our own as we sit here and debate whether or not to break the treasury to accommodate them. It is simply us against them.
