The crimson curtains of Kailus’ office swayed from the light breeze that
flowed openly through his balcony doors. The dazzling light of noon bleached
the room in sunbeams that caressed the fine furnishings that a man of office
could comfortably afford. The overall mood was of euphoria as Kailus reclined
in his gratifying chair, in full exposure of the pale, warm sunlight, with the
thought in mind that he was soon to have almost everything a man could ever
want.
The call with the police commissioner had put the icing on a very large
cake. Kailus struggled to hide his idiotic grin from the hologram sprouting
from his desk as it described its support for his cause. Kailus barely even
needed to explain his idea of revolution, as indeed the police were tired
themselves of the prolonged state of affairs. Now Kailus had the support of two
thirds of the planet's populace after his busy month of rallying, with the added
expertise of Jarren’s police force.
He pulled out a draw in his desk and produced the gold cigar box
he reserved for special conditions. Striding to the balcony and whistling a dry
tune of his beginning triumph he began to light one of the decades-old cigars,
leaning against the marble balcony railings and looking out into the cool air.
Supply ships criss-crossed the sky in their hurried fashion with revolution on
the crew’s minds. The mighty chimneys of Jarren’s industry pumped white fumes
listlessly into the sky.
This is what Kailus had wanted since he was a young boy on Uran.
Dreaming of galactic conquest was a thing that had been a pastime to him where
all the others worried themselves over their ability to fasten an ammonia
radiator for a generator, or write boring poetry, purposely dull as to not to
ignite one’s imagination. Uran was not suited to kailus or his goals as he rose
to be politician. It was a planet of intellect and culture, not the dishevelled
industry and discontent that had consumed planets in the likes of Jarren, of
whom craved revolution. With these factories and their sprawling machines and
chimneys, Kailus thought to himself,
each planet would fall to its knees
before him.
‘Rather nice day, I might say.’ A gruff voice came from behind.
It was Franklin, the minister of
industry.
‘Ah Franklin, my man! I was just thinking
when you were to turn up. Are things well in the factories?’
‘Aye, sir. All managers have finally
agreed to the terms. They say the “sports equipment” shall begin production
very soon.’
‘Excellent. How many workers do you think
you’ll need for it?’
‘Well, er, lets see. We have five
factories producing the equipment, another two working for their usual
purposes. We will only need a little over half of the workers for production. That
leaves you with about nine to ten thousand men for your services. I assume that
is why you ask. If we can boost efficiency in other sectors we may be able to
offer more men if need be.’
‘No. That number should be sufficient, as
long as the rest of the populace are willing. Anything else that may need to be
brought to my attention?’
‘We may have a GU inspector coming at
some point. We should be able to hide some of the weapons but the ones being
produced will be plainly in view.’
‘Then tell them you are making weapons.’
‘Sir?’
‘Well the ones that they see. Tell the
inspector that there were signs of small rebellions brewing and we needed to
assure the public that the police force will protect them.’
‘Of course sir. May I also suggest that
we actually produce some of the sports equipment we say we are doing?’
‘That would be brilliant, Franklin. Helps
train our men and still makes it look like we are up to nothing. I am due to
have a conference in Equeous; I could propose a sporting event there to keep up
our friendly appearances. Now that we have gone though those formalities do say
you will stay for a drink?’
‘Could do, not like the world’s gonna go anywhere.’
No comments:
Post a Comment