The More It Changes? (Please telegram entry request)

[New Edom]

Saturday, March 30th, 2013
Theme.

FINEBERG TIMES

THE NEW FACE OF DEMOCRACY?

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General Pahath-Moab

Written by Annabelle Barca

FINEBERG, New Edom--Following a number of talks with various political leaders in Fineberg, General Perrin Pahath-Moab, the President of the Council of Ministers of the Interim Emergency Government, announced that he would stand by his initial promises to hold elections as soon as the country is suitably prepared.

"I believe in democracy, in open government, and in political reform, and I believe that a cornerstone of this must be a peaceful but political assault on the moral assumptions of our country," said the General in a press release. "We cannot bring our country into the future without reshaping our understanding of our society into one which is more understanding of the changes that have affected the rest of the world. I believe that gender relations are one of the most significant parts of that."

When asked whether he intended to lead a political party, he replied, "I have served as a soldier all my life--and a soldier can take orders as well as give them. I would be honoured to serve under the best person for the job."

The General's political office stated that there are barriers to declaring elections such as the continued insurgency of Anarcho-Syndicalists in Bara Province as well as the crisis in Gloria Regis. Important items of debate in an election would include New Edomite involvement in the Hutanjian Civil War, women's and tribal rights issues, educational reform, and provincial autonomy.

Sat Jun 14, 2014

To: Secretary Deol
From: Minister of Foreign Affairs Benjamin Kent
Subject: New Edomite Government Affairs
Encryption: Hand delivered sealed pouch placed on the desk of the Adiran Ambassador in Finebeg by courier

---

Dear Mr. Secretary,

I am writing to you on a matter of great importance, which I will hope that you will share with others only at the discretion of your President, which is the desire of my President in turn.

As you are no doubt aware, when President Pahath-Moab took office, he made a promise that he would begin the process of establishing elections, and he made a public statement to that effect.

The President is a man of his word. We have attached to this letter a form describing a company from Callaban which has been hired to oversee a test run of elections in selected communities in New Edom. This is vital as there are still people in New Edom who are semi literate at best and have no experience with any electoral process. It will require our government to initiate a transformative process.

This is unfortunately timed with the Norvenian message of hostility. It is clear from all contact with them that they have a fanatical determination to attack our government and our country. Naturally we are preparing a response which we hope to share with friendly governments including your own soon. However we would like to ask your government’s help in the following ways.

First: in coordinating a measure of public response which will be to the mutual credit of our governments but not that of Norvenia.

Second: in the recommendation and help in enlisting a news network which would help us do a documentary on the initiation of an electoral process in New Edom.

Third: in providing advice as to models for establishing a new process of elections and legislation within New Edom.

I look forward to your reply.

I have the honour to be
Benjamin Kent,
Minister of Foreign Affairs

Impartially Observing Elections World Wide

Democratic Verification LLC. observes elections, plebiscites and referenda using non-violent 'legitimacy teams' to observe election sites.

Democratic Verification LLC. investigates registration and voter education efforts, the uprightness and compliance to campaign law, studies of election laws themselves and transparency of the system as a whole.

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Democratic Verification LLC. can provide 'election readiness' evaluations to assist election officials, parties and the public to address potential opportunities for improvement.

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Democratic Verification LLC. does not take direct part in elections.

Democratic Verification LLC. are not political advisors.

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Hugh Dillon,
The Bottom Line,
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Trent Carr,
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Dale Harrison
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To: Minister of Foreign Affairs Benjamin Kent
From: Secretary Deol, Secretary of State
Subject: New Edomite Government Affairs
Encryption: Sealed pouch hand delivered to the Edomite Foreign Minister's desk

Minister,

Your recent communication indicating elections will be forthcoming in New Edom was welcomed most wholeheartedly here in the State Department. There is a general sentiment of relief that the President is indeed working to follow through with the promises he made upon assuming power.

The Republic will be happy to assist New Edom in the three areas in which you requested aid, that is, a public response, media coverage, and acting in an advisory role. The government can raise the issue in Question Time and release a press statement for the first. Any reputable news provider will likely be eager for a story, though the Adiran National Broadcasting Service likely reaches the largest international audience. The Center for Democratic Progress will fund advisors to aid the reinstating of elections in New Edom.

That said, we are aware of New Edom's sometimes-troubled history with democracy. This department will naturally seek to work closely with the Foreign Ministry of New Edom for the particulars, but a very cursory analysis from our perspective of both the New Day Party and the Free Congress have given us something to go on. For these elections to avoid similar fates, a social contract must be established between all Edomite citizens, which means they must learn to trust that the democratic process will eventually yield the best possible governance. This should be a fundamental goal in establishing a lasting democratic tradition in New Edom.

What Norvenia fails to understand, and somehow believes can be overcome by force, is that there is no such social contract in New Edom. Its past experiences have undermined it. Mention the New Day Party, and Edomites are reminded of endemic corruption, broken promises, and economic stagnation. Had there been faith that the democratic process might reign in some of the Free Congress' excesses, the last civil war may have been averted. Although the state of emergency is still in effect, another thing Chancellor Griffiths fails to appreciate is that the Edomite people, given the choice between the two, would prefer peace and reliable access to the basic necessities of life over democracy.

This is our initial appraisal of the sentiments of the Edomite people. Although this will be a challenge, we do not believe it insurmountable.

Sincerely,
Joseph Deol
Secretary of State, Republic of Adiron

Fineberg, New Edom

“Live news?” said Colonel Cain the Minister of Culture, frowning and putting down his forkful of rack of capybara and staring at Kent.

“Yes, it’s common in foreign nations like Adiron,” said Benjamin Kent. “They live such frantic lives, they are impatient for information.”

“It seems unwise. I think we should veto that.” Cain chewed, shaking his head ponderously. “what does the President think?”

“The President wants the Adirans to handle this their own way,” replied Kent. He sipped his wine, glanced around the dining room that was in the Palace of Justice. “Damn…Judith Been is looking fine today….how do you get any work done?”

Cain regarded him with annoyance and dabbed his mouth with a napkin. Try just treating it as another appendage some time and read your Proverbs, you might get more done. At the end of the day it is only flesh.”

Kent grinned, enjoying needling Cain. “You don’t watch that magnificent bosom and splendid ass moving and think that it’s poetry in the flesh?”

Cain had no sense of humour. “No. I regard it as a physical reaction which to my shame I experience more because of my position. I wish I could go Edenist more. When I am in church I do not have such reactions. When did you last read Psalm 119?”

Kent sighed. “The Adirans can do what they like with their media. You get to do the usual censorship for any actual streaming or display here. Blasphemy, lese majeste, that kind of thing.”

Cain nodded curtly. “Good. Done. It was a pleasure to break bread with you. Remembrance of Him.”

Kent nodded. “Remembrance of Him.” Cain immediately got up and left the moment propriety permitted.

To: Secretary Joseph Deol
From: Minister of Foreign Affairs Benjamin Kent
Subject: New Edomite Government Affairs
Encryption: Hand delivered sealed pouch placed on the desk of the Adiran Ambassador in Finebeg by courier

---

Dear Mr. Secretary,

I thank you for your honest appraisal of our situation. It sums up the overall circumstances fairly well.

Our Committee for Democratic Reform was recently appointed, consisting of representatives of the National Legislature, the Cabinet, the Church/Judiciary. They are currently looking over communities which have the characteristics of a demographic hot spot, and as close to a perfect sample population. We will provide you with a list of names and contacts for this committee.

The proposed television network is acceptable, however we would like to arrange that all releases of news be done through the Ministry of Culture. We will not attempt to censor, but we will insist on being fully informed of stories and newscasts that are sent out, including full transcripts.


I have the honour to be
Benjamin Kent,
Minister of Foreign Affairs

[Hittanryan]

State Department
New Laconia, Republic of Adiron

The Edomite communique was forwarded as fast as email (and the time zone difference in work hours) allowed. Upon reading it, Deol then reread it carefully at least twice. Edomites were known to word things very carefully to obfuscate the truth. It was part of their charm sometimes, and what allowed them to talk circles around people other times. Here they claimed local elections would be held, and they wanted Adiran help.

Upon being satisfied, Deol simply thought 'Huh, they actually planned on having elections after all.' Many in the State Department had cynically given up hope; Pahath-Moab's "state of emergency" could have lasted a half-century, if precedent was anything to go on. He was keeping the lid on the pressure cooker of New Edom's recently-warring internal factions, managing to co-opt, intimidate, or neutralize potential problems as he went. ETC militia were no longer running wild, the Elwe seemed content with a more stable existence, and the monarchy now served as a figurehead.

Elections right now could be a very risky proposition. If things went like last time, one faction would gain the upper hand in the democratic process, push through legislation which benefited itself at the expense of all others, and reignite the same old tensions which caused the last civil war. If that happened, best-case scenario the Boy General's military government would maintain the status quo and be disinclined to give elections another chance. Worst case scenario, it would be civil war again.

After forwarding the message to DeGroot, Deol gave the President a call.

"Mr. President, did you check your email today?"

"What's their angle?" DeGroot asked immediately.

"I'll take that as a yes," Deol replied.

"Well, what is it? Legitimize the Boy General with some rigged elections? Head off some dissent they're worried about? Poke even more holes in Griffiths' bullshit?"

"They're hiring monitors, and they want our press as observers. Asked for us specifically."

"All right, fine. If they want our help, let's make sure they do it right. If they try to throw it, we call them out. The press needs full access, no whitewashing from their Ministry of Culture. Above all, the Edomite people need to accept that the way to deal with an opposing party in power is not violence. That's what needs to happen."

"I suppose I'll be working on the hows and whys of each of those points," Deol replied.

"Or you could stick the CDP on it, get them off this Norvenia bender," DeGroot suggested, referring to the Center for Democratic Progress. There were still occasional Liberal squawks in Question Time about Norvenia ever since they piped up.

To: Minister of Foreign Affairs Benjamin Kent
From: Secretary Deol, Secretary of State
Subject: New Edomite Government Affairs
Encryption: Sealed pouch hand delivered to the Edomite Foreign Minister's desk

Minister,

Your recent communication indicating elections will be forthcoming in New Edom was welcomed most wholeheartedly here in the State Department. There is a general sentiment of relief that the President is indeed working to follow through with the promises he made upon assuming power.

The Republic will be happy to assist New Edom in the three areas in which you requested aid, that is, a public response, media coverage, and acting in an advisory role. The government can raise the issue in Question Time and release a press statement for the first. Any reputable news provider will likely be eager for a story, though the Adiran National Broadcasting Service likely reaches the largest international audience. The Center for Democratic Progress will fund advisors to aid the reinstating of elections in New Edom.

That said, we are aware of New Edom's sometimes-troubled history with democracy. This department will naturally seek to work closely with the Foreign Ministry of New Edom for the particulars, but a very cursory analysis from our perspective of both the New Day Party and the Free Congress have given us something to go on. For these elections to avoid similar fates, a social contract must be established between all Edomite citizens, which means they must learn to trust that the democratic process will eventually yield the best possible governance. This should be a fundamental goal in establishing a lasting democratic tradition in New Edom.

What Norvenia fails to understand, and somehow believes can be overcome by force, is that there is no such social contract in New Edom. Its past experiences have undermined it. Mention the New Day Party, and Edomites are reminded of endemic corruption, broken promises, and economic stagnation. Had there been faith that the democratic process might reign in some of the Free Congress' excesses, the last civil war may have been averted. Although the state of emergency is still in effect, another thing Chancellor Griffiths fails to appreciate is that the Edomite people, given the choice between the two, would prefer peace and reliable access to the basic necessities of life over democracy.

This is our initial appraisal of the sentiments of the Edomite people. Although this will be a challenge, we do not believe it insurmountable.

Sincerely,
Joseph Deol
Secretary of State, Republic of Adiron

[Hittanryan]

Government Office
New Laconia, Republic of Adiron

"See, it's just like what I've been saying," DeGroot explained as Courtney Scott finished reading the executive summary prepared for her. Scott received backing from the Center for Democratic Progress, an SDP-leaning political think tank aimed at promoting democracy abroad. When it sought to promote democracy by combating states such as the Imperium, it was in perfect agreement with the SDP. When it spoke of possible regime change against other states, however, that's when DeGroot did his best to shut them up.

"But they're only doing this now that the Norvenians are threatening war with them. Haven't they simply caved to pressure?" Scott asked, a frown on her face.

"Nothing in this world or any other will appease the Norvenians now, and the Edomites wouldn't let Griffiths get within a thousand miles of these elections after how he's acted. They came to us. They came to us because we've given aid to them, because we do business with them, because we have shown we'll deal with them fairly."

"Don't you think it could be a dog and pony show, though? Pahath-Moab is practically being worshiped over there. He's by far the most visible, most popular, least divisive public figure in New Edom, with the possible exception of the Guy on a Buffalo, who I don't imagine will be running. Suppose he wins with something like 99% of the vote?"

"It's only local elections right now, Courtney," DeGroot reminded her. "Here's where they're at: they need to figure out a way to make elections work in New Edom. They're bringing monitors in, they want international media coverage of it. If they don't play fair, the whole world will know it, and their own country will know it. If it works, there could be real reform on the horizon."

The Assemblywoman looked thoughtful for a moment, before asking "How can we help?"

"They need the CDP in an advisory role. You can't create a democracy out of thin air. They've tried. So far, New Edom's democratically-elected governments have ended in single-party rule, partisan antics, and eventually civil unrest. One faction gets all the marbles early on, forces unpopular policies on everybody, and abuses its power to remain in power. Eventually some other faction gets the support it needs to dissolve the democratically-elected government. That's how it went 20 years ago, that's how it went last year."

"Then they won't trust democracy to work, especially so soon after a civil war," Scott commented. "As it stands, If one party takes power and does something unpopular to a segment of the voting populace, their first instincts aren't likely to be entirely peaceful or legal."

"Well, that's where you come in. I seem to recall one of your publications about social contract theory. Where are they going wrong if that's the case?"

Searching for a moment, Scott answered "Democracy is supposed to be win-win for all groups of society. A democratic government shouldn't serve as a vessel for a small number of interest groups at the expense of others, but should act for the good of the community, province, or nation as a whole."

"And that sounds just like where New Edom has gone wrong in the past," DeGroot remarked.

"It's not necessarily enough to build a social contract, though. Corruption makes people lose faith in the whole process as well," Scott continued.

"Hey, sounds to me like you know more than me already. Think you can communicate all this to the Edomites?"

"I...hope so," Scott said cautiously. Now she was nervous. Too many lives at stake, riding on her and her organization.

"Well, you'll get a bit of time to prepare. Keep this all under your hat for now, but be ready to inform the CDP that they've got some work waiting for them if they want it. We're going to wait until the Edomites make a public announcement, though it'll probably be lost in the hurricane of piss surrounding this Norvenia cluster. The ANBC will start with a documentary, but I'm hoping we can move to live coverage. Like we said, keep them honest."

[Hittanryan]

National Assembly
New Laconia, Adiron

Now that the inevitable Arcologia question was finished in Question Time, it was time for the show. Scott rose from her seat and asked the question DeGroot was waiting for with a smile. "New Edom announced yesterday that it would hold its first elections since the civil war. Since then the nation has been under a "state of emergency" suspending elections and granting wide-ranging executive powers to the President of the Council, a position currently held by Brigadier General Pahath-Moab. If the implementation of these elections is deemed successful, it could pave the way for the restoration of democracy in New Edom. How does the government plan to respond to this?"

Shifting a bit, the President answered "This government is planning on working with New Edom to ensure their successful implementation. This government has been contacted by New Edom's Foreign Ministry and was requested to act in an advisory role, both directly and indirectly through organizations such as the CDP, and election monitors will be present throughout. This government also hopes to establish open media coverage of the election, and the Edomite government has already made the offer to major news organizations to produce a documentary."

"I believe it is important to note that New Edom is aware of its own troubled history with democracy. The New Day Party is an Edomite synonym for "corruption" and "cronyism." Despite good intentions the Touchstone government proved so intensely polarizing that certain elements gained enough support from within the government to stage a coup d'etat. In Gloria Regis, New Edom's reluctant protectorate, the military government completley ousted the elected government and established martial law following the assassination of its premier."

"The point is this: it's not going to be easy to erase some of those memories or convince New Edom that it will be different this time. If this government going to help, we shouldn't expect miracles overnight and we need to be prepared for setbacks, but if this government means to help, then it's going to do so with both hands. If we give it our all and it's still not good enough, then that's how it goes, but we have to try."

"Does the President believe that Norvenia had anything to do with the timing of these elections?" Scott asked. Tricky girl, that wasn't part of the plan, but DeGroot would roll with the punches.

"That is not the position of this government, no. This government maintains that Griffiths' brinkmanship is counterproductive to emerging democracy. In our communications thus far, the Edomite Foreign Ministry has actually expressed the need to delay elections further if another major crisis breaks out. The Pahath-Moab government has always maintained that the state of emergency, which you alluded to earlier, must remain in place as long as New Edom is faced with major immediate internal and external threats. Their Foreign Ministry claimed this decision was in the works for a while now."

Now the government had set its course officially, publicly. If Adiron could help it, maybe New Edom wouldn't get fooled again. The gears in Saito's head, naturally, were already working. The Opposition Leader rose to follow up the whole staged performance. "While it all would give us warm feelings to see democracy flourish in New Edom, has the President considered that General Pahath-Moab may simply be using this government as a prop? If we sign off on a set of elections rigged in his favor, wouldn't we be propping up an ally to the very threat the President is so quick to remind us of at every opportunity?"

DeGroot very calmly looked Saito dead in the eye and replied with a single word: "No." There were a few snickers from the SDP gallery.

Saito smiled, feigning a slight chuckle himself. "The President outlined a number of considerable hurdles to a functional Edomite democracy, some of which have been so high that they have resulted in civil war. Does he believe that he will be the one to succeed where all others before him have failed?"

The President kept a fixed smile on his face. "Again, no. That is up to the people of New Edom."

"But didn't the President suggest they were part of the problem? What is the President's solution to that?" Saito asked pointedly.

"The Edomite people are also the solution. The honorable member will recall that's how democracy is supposed to work," DeGroot replied.

Saito knew when he was being given the business, and took his seat. Couldn't make anything stick just yet, this was off-the-cuff. DeGroot had promised press coverage. When the media inevitably unveiled the first major stumbling blocks, Saito would be ready.

[New Edom]

Fineberg, New Edom

Professor Aholibamah's dinner parties, held once or twice a year, were always very popular with the intelligentsia of Fineberg and the area surrounding. He liked to have interesting dishes prepared, and eccentrically took part in their preparation. Among upper middle class Barans this was still unusual. Among his guests this evening were Dr. Charleston Ravel (a former bio chemistry professor turned bug hunter), Mr. Nestor Khalkimedes (Director of the National Space Program) and his wife Andrea, Justice Gabrielle Balaam and her 'friend' Antonia Justus (a marketing executive for a publishing firm) , and Dr. Amn Ashren, the Director of the Office of Inter-City Planning—as he often introduced himself.

Professor Aholibamah was an eminence grise of the Free Congress, who had now shifted his devotion entirely to the Boy General—as indeed had all the guests. Count and Countess Nabal had been added at the last moment—having just seen their daughter off on her honeymoon with her new husband, Prince William Holland, the Shalumite Ambassador.


This particular evening the special items on the menu included:
West Baran Chickpea Soup, which had chickpeas, slivers of chicken, peas, carrots, cinnamon, black pepper, a little white wine and bay leaf;
Fresh flying fish roe served on wafer thin toast;
Mint and cream mousse with chocolate shavings.

The villa's dining room was full of the music of cutlery, plate and cup and merry talk and laughter, for it is easy to enjoy an evening when it is accompanied by good food and company. The Professor had recently returned from a directorate of biology at an international research center to act as a consultant to the Interim Government.

It was the Professor's custom to suggest a topic of conversation for an evening. He would curl a smile in his wrinkled weathered face, unecessarily smooth hairs across a lightly stranded scalp and ask what topic of conversation should be offered up.

"Elections, is it?” said Aholibamah. “And Gabrielle, you’re to sit on this Elections Committee? On top of your other duties”

"Elections, what’s the point?" Nestor Khalkimedes asked. “The last experiments in elections we had were disasters. We’ve never had a better economy or government since the days of Adah the Liberator.”

"That's all very well, but that avoids the main point—even if Perrin Pahath-Moab governs well, who is to say what his successors will do, or even if they have the strength to hold things together??" said Maria passionately.

"That’s the main point," said Judge Balaam. A lean woman with short dark hair, a face and body elegantly weathered, she said, “And we need to do this without being partisan—focus on local issues at first.”

Antonia smiled at her, but they had often quarreled upon this issue. They both privately strongly supported women’s issues, but Antonia, better traveled, was more impatient, and they had only recently had a heated discussion after reading the Adiran papers. Nevertheless Antonia felt that Gabrielle should have not taken an official appointment that required her to support a government that did not grant them the right to openly declare their love for one another and receive the rewards another couple might. Gabrielle however pointed to the grim specter of Deadora across the border and said that they had to be careful, that feminism was often used as a front for other things.

Professor Aholibamah said, “So how will it all work?”

”Right now we’re working with a firm from Callaban to find a good demographic area—which has a large enough population where not everyone knows each other, where there is a good sampling of different ethnic groups, religions, economic and educational background that is in a way representative of the country.”

In spite of himself, Nestor was quite interested. “So this firm will help you work out the data, go through census information—how up to date are we with that?”

“Ah, now that’s quite interesting if I might,” said the sparrowlike Dr. Ashren, adjusting his glasses and smiling genially. “I’m actually on the Committee as well! The thing is, we have a lack of a really good census officially, but unofficially we have found out a great deal through things like local taxation, education registration, and churches and recognized native faiths. But!” he raised a slim finger and beamed around the table. “It will in fact involve a local census as part of the process once we start whittling things down.”

“Have you picked a location yet?” asked the Professor.

Gabrielle shook her head. “I’m sorry, the prospects have to remain a secret until we are absolutely sure of where it will take place—but we’re working on it.”

“I wonder if the President really wants elections,” Ravel said innocently, ever the academic.

“Ah now, you are a personal friend,” said Aholibamah to Count Nabal.

The Count paused, his spoon halfway to his mouth, and laid it down and leaned back thoughtfully. “The President rarely says anything he will not back, and he will avoid saying anything if he wishes to keep his options open.”

“A man of his word absolutely, so rare in this day and age,” murmured Countess Nabal, idly toying with a beaten gold bracelet in the Haranese style around her slim wrist. She was beautiful like her daughter but more seasoned. “We all of course owe him the utmost respect.”

“Ah, but I know him as well, Countess,” said the Professor with a dry chuckle, “so my question remains. Does he really? This is a test, so I wonder what the test will reveal to us—and to him.” He could see an uncomfortable silence descending, and said, “Shall we retire to greater comfort, coffee and dessert?” amid a grateful murmuring and gladness to be distracted, they began to get up to leave for the next room.

[New Edom]

The Ministry of Education, Fineberg, New Edom

It was rain slick streets outside, but sunny, and Christina Joram stood for a moment, just enjoying the sunshine after several days of rain, her eyes closed, as trucks and pedicabs, pedestrians and cyclists moved past her. The faint breeze was nicely warm on her bare skin.

She was a slim girl with a slender neck, large wary dark eyes, long dark brown hair and the high olive skin of the Baran people. As she opened her eyes and began to walk down the street, she put her hand in her shoulder bag and came out with a plastic card; heading into a rather modern looking building where reflective windows had replaced the old ones but which still had polished granite walls and teak and brass doors, she came to a security check where painted and equipped officers of the Municipal Militia greeted her politely with nods of the head but watchful eyes as she put her card against the plate. It beeped green.

“God bless your day, Miss Joram,” said the senior officer.

“And God bless your day, Corporal Sharp,” she replied, heading in.

They had redone the interior; it was all sleek warm orange rather than paintings and statuary. She got in the elevator and went up.

The office was all open rather than a bunch of wooden cubicles with frosted glass. There were laptops and slim desktops everywhere, and she sometimes wondered how they had gotten there when the Ministry of the Environment couldn’t’ even afford agriculture quality inspectors. But what she had been told by Dr. Ashren was that they had been donated by the government of the Free Republic of Lamoni, which funded a lot of the Ministry of Education’s work.

Briskly she went to check her inbox at her desk that faced the entryway. It wasn’t really her desk; it was a long table with a cloth to make it look like it wasn’t just a desk, which she shared with three other women. Note attached to a folder. Photocopy for 8:30 Meeting. Without thinking she gathered up the papers and went to the copy room. Space age machines gleamed softly white and beeped and even spoke at times. Courtesy of Lamoni again.

Following this she went through the open room and where at various glass looking plastic desks people were on phones or laptops and began handing out the notes for the meeting. If she had to sum up the mood of the room, it was frustration. While they had all this neat stuff, hardly anyone knew how it worked. They had an IT section that frequently had to contact offices in ViZion, Adiron, Lamoni and Terripin where the fantastical machines came from, and were often on hold. So inevitably she would pass someone with his face in his hands, staring at a screen full of fatal error messages, or someone else crying out, “No, no no…damn it where is that file?”

Arriving at her desk which sat under the logo and coat of arms for “Ministry of Education, Office of Inter-City Planning” she came across Amelia, the auburn haired Cornellian, with her fair colouring.

“You didn’t have time to paint today?” Amelia asked her. She herself was painted blue with green leaves, clearly a fresh job, complimenting her slim body nicely.

“No, I thought I’d be a puritan,” said Christina with a faint smile. And I can’t afford a decent paint job right now.

“Well you’ve at least got the skin for it, I look like a bleached bone without paint,” sighed Amelia, “And you know I don’t tan well either, too much Grossprussian in me I think—or is it Kampfenlander? I can’t tell the difference. Anyway, has she come out yet?”

“No idea, I was handing out notes for the 8:30,” Christina replied, unfolding her towel and sitting in her swivel chair, booting up her desk top computer.

“Well, cover my phone for me? I need to grab some tea—want one?—and have a piss.”

“Got it, and I’ll just have lemon in mine,” said Christina.

A very attractive woman with long raven hair, classic Baran features and blue and white divided paint came out of an office. “Christina…” she looked for Amelia who wasn’t there, “I need you to help set up for the 8:30. Have everything perfect, Dr. Ashren will be there.”

“of course Your Honour,” said Christina. She caught her breath discreetly as

She arranged the tea, coffee and carbonated water for the meeting, arranged on nice silver trays, ice cubes tinkling in the water carafes. As she was finishing laying out notepads (it made no sense, they all had phones or tablets, but apparently Dr. Ashren insisted) they were coming in, and her immediate supervisor, Miss Sharon Armiger, glanced at her. “I think that will do fine, thank you Christina.”

Back to her desk, she went over the report she was preparing.

Report No. 39674 – NE

New Edom – Higher Education Policy Study

Volume I: Strategic Directions for Higher Education in New Edom

---

June 2014
Human Development Sector Unit
Acheron Continental Zone, Cornellian Region

---

Introduction: Competing Globally

1.Countries that invest heavily and effectively in education and skills to produce information and knowledge will benefit economically and socially. The Touchstone Government had stated that one of its goals was to make New Edom “one of the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economies in the world.”

New Edom, in its Ninth Development Plan, aims to increase educational attainment and develop a lifelong education strategy to meet the requirements of a changing and developing economy and labor market. To meet the stated goal goal requires education systems that are more flexible, more effective and more easily
accessible to a wider range of people.

2. Throughout the world investing in education paysoff. Returns to education—private and social—are high for primary, secondary and higher education. For example, the most recent estimates of rates of return estimate a private re turn of 27 percent for primary education, 17 percent for secondary education and 19 percent for higher education.

These estimates also indicate that returns to higher education are increasing. Returns to education are highest for low- and middle- income countries and are higher for females than for males.

3. Educational Challenges and Opportunities
Education and skill levels in lag international standards, including Aurora. As highlighted in figures and discussion in a later section of the pa per on access and equity, results of international tests show poor performance for many students in New Edom and participation in secondary education, as well as tertiary education, is low by international standards. Significant disparities also exist in educational quality and access by gender, social and economic group, and geographic location. For example, 40 percent of 20 to 24 year olds in New Edom had a secondary degree in 2009, one half of the rate for the top producing economies in Cornellia and well below the North Acheronian nations’ mean target of 85 percent. The rates are lower for girls and for certain regions, particularly Raith Immel and Haran. The highest rated, at 48%, for Etruria Majora and Gloria Regis, is still far too low.

4. While educational attainment and skill levels are low in New Edom, at the same time, private returns to education are high.

There are positive impacts for secondary education as well as tertiary education. In addition, the positive impact of education on earnings is even more visible for females than for males. However traditional finishing schools for aristocratic women remain focused on homemaking, entertaining, and ‘marriageable qualities’.

Increasing educational attainment and performance at all levels of education is key to New Edom’s successful integration into the more developed nations of Cornellia in future years. As indicators of educational quality and access are much lower in New Edom than for the top industrial or service sector nations. New Edom faces an even greater challenge in achieving these goals than in some other countries in the region. The issues of educational access and quality are intertwined at all levels of education, with oppor tunities at one level affecting the education occurring earlier as well as later. Expanding and re forming secondary and tertiary education in a balanced and coordinated way will be more effective than focusing predominantly–or sequentially—on one level of education.

6. Tertiary education is an essential part of the solution for New Edom offering opportunities to students who complete secondary education to go on to further educational opportunities and better job possibilities in the future. While tertiary education can provide pathways to future opportunities, it can, if overly constrained, also be a bottleneck for some students and further exacerbate equity concerns. In
addition, options to reform vocational and technical education need to be coordinated across secondary and tertiary education so that all studentsin secondary education have strong general skills with more technical education and training occurring in later years of secondary education or early years of tertiary education.

7. Labor Market Needs
Education and skill levels in New Edom lag behind international standards and present a major concern and bottleneck for New Edom in job creation and competitiveness.

According to the recent Labour Assessment Study done through firms in Callaban, workforce in the manufacturing sector has lower levels of education than nearly all comparator countries.

Almost 60 percent of the New Edomite workforce in the manufacturing sector has less than ten years of education, compared with 9 percent
in the Late Roman Empire , 27 percent in Deadora , 33 percent in Arbites , and 40 per
cent in Lyscania (see Figure 1)

8. Military Education

In 1987, Minister of Education Prince Amenmar established a joint education plan called the Defense Education Initiative through which members of the Armed Forces would also receive education in trades, literacy, computer skills and basic geography, regional history, arithmetic, basic sciences and health. One way for the ordinary New Edomite to obtain an education has been to join the military. However this only accounts for approximately 9% of the current population, and has not significantly improved the above information.

10. Assessment of the Lamonian System..

She looked up alertly. Sharon was talking to Dr. Ashren as they came out of the meeting. Christina took a deep breath.

The last three times she had prepared a report, Sharon had signed her name to it.

Not today. She waited till Sharon was briefly distracted then nodded to Amelia, who said, “excuse me, your Honour,” to Sharon, “But there’s a very important call for you—I’m not sure who it is, he wouldn’t say—it sounds awfully like the Deputy Minister though.”

“The Deputy—“ Sharon glanced at Dr. Ashren, “Well—“

“You’d better take that,” said Dr. Ashren amiably. “I can see myself off, thank you…”

As he headed to his office, Christina came up to him and said, “Dr. Ashren, I’m sorry to bother you, but I had heard you needed a report on the assessment of education study, a summation you can present to the Minister, and I have it here.”

“Ah!” Dr. Ashren beamed happily. “What, already? My goodness, a day before I expected—what is your name, my girl?”

“Christina Joram, Your Honour,” said Christina with a smile.

“My goodness. Well well..” he flipped through the report. “Looks good at a glance. My goodness! This and pretty too, eh? I’ll take a good look. Normally Sharon does these for me, but she must think you’re good at it if she delegated to you. My goodness me, and organized just as the Minister likes it too. Well, well, thank you my dear.”

She held her breath a moment as he went to his office. Dr. Ashren was always very pleasant, but he was a stickler for information; one of his areas of control apparently with the Minister was presentation of information. Wrong data and he’d sent you to the salt mines—supervisor of the mail room or something.

She could barely focus, but she had phones to answer, data to collect and present. Sharon muttered around the office for a bit like Banquo’s ghost clearly wondering if she had missed an important call.

However a little later she came to Christina’s desk like the cat that ate the cream. “Dr. Ashren wants to see you. And, missy, after you’re off the carpet, you’ll perhaps learn not to overreach yourself. Things here are done through careful ascent through the path of honour. This is not some atheist hellhole where you just do whatever you want. Off you go.”

She went apprehensively to the office, her stomach sinking, and found Dr. Ashren just hanging up the phone. His private secretary smiled at her, which was an oddly good sign. She saw him gesture to her to close the door, and did.

“Well…I found out that you actually stepped across Sharon’s bow to submit that report.” Dr. Ashren tapped the report. “However, I have to ask you a straight question. Did you write her other reports?”

She felt almost faint. “Yes, Your Honour.”

Dr. Ashren swiveled his chair. “I thought as much. You know I can recognize a literary style, and I did a little looking. Otherwise I would have supported her in dismissing you. Can’t have bucking the ranks, can we? Well, you have been doing excellent work for this division, and I am grateful. Because of this, I want to offer you an opportunity, my dear. I am currently sitting on the Elections Commission, and I need someone to act as my assistant—in particular in the area of information analysis. You’d have to tra el a fair bit possibly, even to remote locations.” His eyes gazed into hers keenly. “Do you think you’re up for the task?”

“Oh, yes sir, it’s what I’ve dreamed of, a real opportunity,” Christina exclaimed.

Dr. Ashren smiled. “I am most pleased to hear it! Then I will have the position formally declared. You are part of an important social experiment my girl, ordered from the highest levels of government. I shall expect your very best work, and you now know—I examine such things closely.” He nodded to her. “That’s all for now. I’ll need you to report to me tomorrow morning at 7:30 sharp. Your last task in this office for today: find a suitable replacement for yourself from the general secretarial pool.”

Christina fairly skipped out. Sharon, who was waiting, was looking at her triumphantly but the expression slipped, and Christina’s bow was verging on insolent.

Oh, but she’d have to watch that one. Sharon could still make trouble for her as Office Administrator. She’d have to make sure everything went to Ashren directly, never through this office again. And it was dangerous—now her flag was nailed to his mast. She was sailing now, not residing in the castle, and they were casting off at predawn into unknown waters.

[Hittanryan]

Pine Terrace Apartments
Valles Port, Adiron

Chris Olsen found himself pacing at night again. The Adiran National Broadcasting Corporation's resident lantern-jawed cynical investigative reporter was restless, always had been. By all standards he should have been on top of the world, his face on millions of Adiran televisions and monitors as he delved headfirst into Cornellia's trouble-spots.

Women were drawn to his athletic build, deadpan sense of humor, and the fact that he willingly charged into the region's darkest places armed with nothing but a camera and a microphone. There was a marked tendency for them to fall for him when he cleaned himself up and wore a suit to a press function. Of course, every woman he met had left him when he inevitably dropped off the face of the planet while on assignment. Maintaining those ties was just not something he made time for, though he did try to warn them all when it happened.

Nothing seemed to keep him occupied. He kept trying to find hobbies, but he never seemed to be patient enough for them. Homebrewing took too long; kept you occupied for an afternoon then wait a long time. Gardening was too sensitive for Olsen; after killing any number of pepper and tomato plants while trying to figure out how much water to give them, how often to water them, when to take them in from the rain, when to move them into the sun, he gave up. He was detached from any professional sports, even big events like the Cup he couldn't see why they mattered. The video games Rikkers tried to make him play just seemed to waste time while getting shouted at over an Internet connection. Only his workout routine seemed to stick.

Embedded during the war, Olsen kept trying to find the stories that mattered. 'There had to be another side of the coin,' he had been naive enough to believe. The killing in Ceti might seem limitless, but it wasn't like that everywhere, right? Then came New Edom's civil war, religious fanatics vs. corrupt royalty. Who do you root for there? Then Deadora tried to bum-rush Gavinium Magnus and got away with it. The Imperium colonized part of Damoclea; all those years of war hadn't crippled them at all. New Edom's violence continued in Gloria Regis. Government crackdown on dissent is all that was, probably set the whole thing up themselves. New Othman smashed its way through Central Acheron, the embers of which were still smoldering. The White Knights, meanwhile, were tilting at windmills and getting beaten up by traders from Toledo. Alliance crumbling, fractures between every democracy in Aurora, all because Cornellian tyrants and dictators called their bluff.

It was the same everywhere. Nothing gets better without a price. Nice guys don't even finish last: they stay home from the race and hide under their beds. All of the stories he worked on, no matter where he went in Cornellia, just seemed to reaffirm it. As easy as it was to criticize Adirans for their inaction and ambivalence, from their vantage point on the western edge of this part of the world, maybe it would be best if they all just looked out for them and theirs.

Maybe then Olsen could just report on the simple things in life. Local government, the kind with safeguards and, if not immediate responsiveness, at least fear of the electorate. Or maybe take a desk job, editor maybe? Find a wife, didn't really matter who, just someone in the bar. Have a kid or two down the line...

...and maybe, while he was at it, he could just chain himself to his computer and become a 150 kilogram blogger.

As if to purge the brooding from his mind, his smartphone began buzzing on the coffee table. Caller ID said it was the network. He'd said he was done covering Norvenian antics, this had to be something new. Maybe, maybe this time...no, who was he kidding?

Hofmann Park
Outskirts of Stasburg, Adiron

Clouds. There had been a solar flare, they said. There was supposed to be a brilliant aurora visible from central Ceti, they said. Fat lot of good it did when it was cloudy out. Oh well. Such was the life of the amateur astronomer. Packing up his telescope and shouldering his tripod with a sigh, Travis Rikkers admitted defeat. Back to the tea leaves, tarot cards, and magic 8-balls needed to divine the reasons for his new solid state drive's incompatibility with the rest of his computer.

Rikkers had a mop of coarse hair, a thick full beard, and a slim build with a bare minimum of wiry strength. He wore clothing fancier than jeans with a t-shirt only on pain of causing offense or inflicting great damage upon his career. The network didn't pay him to look pretty, after all. They paid him to edit footage and work miracles with the A/V equipment so that it kept functioning in horrendous conditions and fit the prima donna directors' exacting specifications.

He glanced at his phone, clumsily leaning the tripod against the side of his hatchback while delicately setting the telescope on the ground. The tripod nearly fell over as Travis answered the phone, hastily making a grab for it. Chris.

"Y'ello," Travis greeted his friend.

"Network called, said there's a documentary in the works. Short notice, looking for anybody who can go right away," Chris said.

"What's it about?" Travis said, dropping his keys as he tried to unlock his car.

"New Edom's having elections. Isn't that lovely?"

"Fuck, New Edom again? You know how much pixelating, splicing, and recuts I'm going to have to do in post for the international markets?"

"Come on, don't you want to be the first team to report how Glorious Leader General Pahath-Moab's party won 98% of the vote?"

"No, I don't want to edit the footage twenty different times for different standards and practices. You realize almost every country has their own rules? Country A will show ass, but not tits, dick, or pussy. Country B will show ass and tits, but not dick or pussy. Country C will show tits, but not ass, dick, or pussy. Country D will..."

"Got it. If it's that much of a pain in the ass, maybe you can get the network to do the rest of the editing," Olsen remarked.

"Ever hear the old saying 'if you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself so some intern doesn't cut corners and show the same stock footage three fucking times in ten minutes?'" Travis asked.

"Yeah, sage wisdom. Anyway, that's the job if you want it."

"You want it too," Travis remarked bluntly, having finished packing up his car.

"Might turn it down," Olsen said flatly. He was being quiet, meant he was begrudgingly resigned to it already.

"You might, but you won't," Travis predicted as he hung up. Olsen was a glutton for punishment, one who just happened to have taken Rikkers along for the ride across most of the region. They'd seen a lot of things together, including both the natural and manmade wonders of the region as well as some of the worst humanity had to offer. Their cynical banter and gallows humor was what made their friendship work, even as they were filming the worst of the worst.

Rikkers was an explorer, always looking for something new. He was an Army brat, following his father around before the wars started. As a kid he wandered into the Hellas Desert from Dalton AFB, gotten lost in the Adir Mountain forests, and roamed the streets of Tau City. Olsen had a nose for finding the new and the interesting, and it took them to interesting places. Where Olsen seemed to be in denial that he had any motivations whatsoever, Rikkers was in it to see new places and meet interesting people.

ANBC Network Offices, the next day
Puerto Rojo, Adiron

ANBC had trouble. Right after the Edomite announcement and Question Time, ANBC was contacted by the State Department with word that New Edom wanted a documentary on the upcoming elections. Since ANBC had the broadest international audience of all the Adiran news networks, they were the first choice. The network would have been crazy to say anything other than "yes," or a competitor could snatch it up.

There was just one problem though: the network didn't actually have a full crew to put on the story, and the network knew it going in. ANBC's old standbys for reporter and tech, Olsen and Rikkers, were both on board. They were reliable. It was directors who were in short supply. Sure, the network had plenty of them, but they were all on schedules. None of the directors on vacation wanted to cut them short to spend a few weeks in New Edom of all places.

Eventually, murmurs of the word "freelance" began cropping up. The two guys on board were veterans, they'd worked together before, and surely they'd have picked up a bit of directing knowledge by osmosis (or so the producer hoped). Olsen and Rikker would at least know a bad director when they saw one, hopefully, and if the outsider was a dud, at least ANBC would have a foot in the door on the story.

A spy in the ANBC office picked up on this notion of an emergency freelance director. Not an industrial spy, though. A redheaded, pretty secretary picked up her own smartphone as soon as she caught wind of the crisis. "Holly, they're looking for someone on short notice. Haven't gone public with it yet. Get your butt in here. If you get it, I want those shoes..." the woman said cryptically.

One hour later, a woman walked into the lobby of the ANBC's Puerto Rojo office and gave the secretary a nervous thumbs up. Her dark hair extended below her shoulders in soft curls, and her bright blue eyes seemed to light up. She wore a snug black skirt which stopped just above her knees that very nicely hugged her hips, paired with a blue v-neck blouse that accentuated, but didn't flaunt, all the right curves. Not bad for having flung off a tank top and yoga pants an hour ago before showering in a rush. Some of the men in the office did a double take, one nearly falling out of his chair as she passed. That felt good.

Her name was Holly Lemay, an actress from the Adiran film scene desperately trying to make a name for herself. She'd flirted with directing before, after all, actors often make decent directors, but her experience was limited to looking over somebody's shoulder and effectively following orders. Although her acting chops were mostly reported as solid, her roles so far were limited to a few extra parts in major network shows and a number of web shows ("Not THAT kind!" is what she would always clarify if someone was ready with a snide comment).

With a cheerful smile that seemed to brighten the entire office, she managed to corner the suit-clad producer alongside a human resources guy. "Hi! My name is Holly Lemay, I've been involved in the film scene here for two years now, and I'm looking for work as a director. Would it be possible to schedule an interview?"

The man and the woman looked her up and down for a moment, both of them looking a bit skeptical. Holly just kept smiling. "Do you have any previous experience?" the woman, the producer, asked.

"I've co-directed several episodes of the web series 'What Have you Done for Me Lately,' co-directed three Frogscast specials, and was an assistant director for Cave Story," she explained, not mentioning that the last one she basically followed the director's lead. That was not to say, however, that she hadn't learned what was required of her. Scheduling film sessions, working out the delivery of the script, and she was even told she had a real eye for setting up shots. Holly had been painting and doing amateur photography for years, so framing and lighting just seemed to come naturally.

"Have you done any documentary work?" the producer asked.

"Not credited, but yes," she lied. She worked on a couple, but didn't direct.

The producer glanced at the man, before she asked Holly to wait a minute. The two disappeared and re-emerged within five minutes. "I'm not sure if we have any openings, but would you be willing to work independently on a one-time contract?"

"Oh, sure!"

"The project we're looking at is overseas and we need to get over there as soon as possible. Are you open?"

"Absolutely!"

"Fine, talk to Jennifer at the front desk to schedule a meeting," the producer said, handing Holly a business card. "We'll go over the details then. You'll be working with Olsen and Rikker on a skeleton crew in the field. It's in New Edom."

'Wait, what?' she thought.

"Will that work for you?"

"Sure, I'll see you then!" her mouth said before her brain caught up. Still, it looked like she got the job. On the way out, she gave a big goofy grin to Jen, who replied "Oh my god, congratulations! You're going to be great! Hey wait, does that mean..."

"Yeah, yeah, the shoes..."

[Hittanryan]

Gordi International Airport
Puerto Rojo, Republic of Adiron

Olsen had arrived at the airport first, dropped off by taxi. He had assumed they would all get through security separately and meet up, but ten minutes ago, Rikkers texted that he was two minutes away in the shuttle. Just after heading inside to appreciate the air conditioning, Olsen received another text: 'Every goddamn red light, pulling in now.' Hauling his bag back outside again, he saw Rikker on the curb with the shuttle driver trying to help.

Travis seemed to flinch when the driver went to set one of the bags down less gently than he would have liked. He grabbed the handle just as the man placed it on the curb. "Ah! Uh...sorry, fragile stuff in that one."

"And you're flying with it?" the driver asked with an eyebrow raised.

"It's for work, couldn't help it," Rikkers explained briefly. Travis then thanked and tipped the driver, who drove off leaving a pile of bags for Travis to figure out how to carry. As he reached down and put one over his shoulder, Olsen approached him.

"You got it?"

"Yeah!" Travis said, trying to lift another bag onto his other shoulder. He didn't look all that sturdy.

"You sure?" Olsen asked as the first bag's strap slid off Travis' shoulder while he tried to pick up another.

"It's mine! Think I'm gonna trust you after last time?"

"That happened in flight or on the tarmac. I linked you that video, remember?" Olsen remarked as his partner gingerly bent down and picked up the last bag with a single finger.

"Not taking any chances," Travis explained. As he tried to walk with all of the bulk, however, all of the bags suspended from his hands banged against his legs with every step. Out of care for their contents, he was slowed to a snails' pace in the middle of a crowd in the middle of Adiron's largest airport. For the first five seconds, it was funny, then it got sad, then it was briefly funny again, but finally it drove Olsen crazy.

"Would you gimme one of those bags?" Olsen finally said impatiently.

"We got time," Travis argued.

"We've got an hour and a half. At the rate you're going we'll make a flight tomorrow. Gimme," Olsen prodded.

"No, I got this! Hands off!" Travis stubbornly argued.

"Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?" Olsen said as he walked up to Rikkers and plucked two of the bags out of his hands. Turns out he couldn't do a damn thing about it, being weighed down by all of the remaining bulk. He did, however, set some things down to shift them around so he could walk normally.

The two of them hauled their bags and suitcases over to the baggage claim. There was already a line. It was off-holiday, and on a weekday, so most of the passengers bound for New Edom were strictly on business. You saw light suits, appropriate for the tropics, or you saw people dressed as comfortably as possible in sweat pants in preparation for the rather long trans-Tartarian flight. Any number of them were fiddling with their phones while waiting on line.

Travis struck up a conversation once he could breathe again from his impromptu weightlifting session. "So, I heard this director of ours is freelance, started in the film community, and, or so I heard, is barely our age."

That gave Olsen pause. "What?" he asked flatly.

"I'm thinking...flannel, legwarmers, maybe a beanie," Travis listed off, trying to think of as many hipster features as he could.

"Damn..." Olsen said, seemingly agreeing with Rikker but actually distracted with other matters.

"Wanna wager whether she'll have more tattoos or face piercings?" he asked with a grin.

"No, I don't care about that. This isn't a field trip, we're going to rural New Edom. Did somebody break it to her that there might not be indoor plumbing on location some days?"

"Or terror birds. Oh I can't wait until we get to eat! Imagine if she's a vegan or something and they sit her down for some double soup?"

"Yeah, or we'll be in a village, and according to hospitality, they'll give us some of what little food they have. Imagine if she turns it down? You're making jokes, but this could be a substantial issue here," Olsen reminded him.

"Sir, next in line!" a hurried baggage claim attendant yelled to the pair of them.

Once their bags were checked the two wondered if they should wait for the director or keep moving. Given that they still had to get through security and customs and there was no one who approached them, they erred on the side of caution. Better only one person on the crew miss their flight as opposed to all of them. They did the whole metal detector scene, had their passports approved, and finally made their way to the terminal where they bought some overpriced coffee, bottled water, a donut for Travis, and an apple for Chris. Chris remarked that Travis shouldn't be as skinny as he was for eating like shit all the time.

While trying to pass the time, Travis looked up from the driving game he was playing on his phone to spot a very attractive brunette joining the crowd of passengers at the terminal. Bright blue eyes, long dark brown hair just a bit wavy and mussed, and what a body! She wore a cyan tank top and black yoga pants, both of which were snugged up neatly on her figure. He could see the slight sway of her hips, the subtle bounces, all of the contours of her soft curves...

Travis completely lost track of the fact that in the game on his phone his car had been consumed by a spectacular fireball. "Well, I hope she's not getting a waiver..." Travis remarked sleazily, elbowing Olsen, who rolled his eyes in response. The woman, however, suddenly made eye contact with Olsen and held his gaze. Olsen slapped Travis on the arm and motioned in her direction. Suddenly, she smiled and made a big friendly wave clearly directed at the two of them. Olsen and Rikkers both casually returned the greeting, though neither had any idea who she was.

"Oh man...uh...you know I didn't mean anything by that waiver remark, right?"

"Relax, never seen her before. Wait...you said she was young..."

"No...she's our director? Son of a bitch..."

Holly had suddenly recognized the face she'd seen on the news (and had watched several videos of online). She bounced over to the two of them with a bubbly "Hi! I thought I knew your face from the news. I'm Holly Lemay, it's nice to meet you, Chris."

"Nice to meet you, Holly," Olsen replied, offering a handshake.

Travis, meanwhile, was tongue-tied, even though he was really the one who needed to introduce himself. "I, uh..." he started, then stumbled. Luckily Holly didn't seem to hear it.

"HI, I'm Travis Rikkers, nice to meet you," he finally mustered, forcing out the word 'Hi" so that it was just a bit too loud. One of the passengers nearby threw a bewildered glance his way.

"Oh, nice to meet you too, I'm sorry. So you're the guy behind the camera in the middle of all those stories," Holly said.

"Yeah, anywhere he's gone, I'm trailing behind hauling a camera and a mike," Travis proclaimed, suddenly trying to pump itself up.

"Attention passengers, Flight 376 to New Edom is now boarding," the speaker system announced serenely. Olsen watched as Rikker started trying to impress Holly, their new director. Every flight to New Edom was long, but this one was going to be looooooong...

[New Edom]

Fineberg International Airport

A slim bodied young woman with dark olive skin wearing a red scarf, white gloves, red high heels and a little jaunty red cap smiling greeted new arrivals as they got off their plane. Those items were all that she wore. “Welcome to our glorious God blessed capital of Fineberg in the Allied States of New Edom!” she said in a chipper voice.

The airport, completed during the time of William Touchstone, was a glittering construction of concrete, steel and glass. Several major airlines from around the region and outside it regularly came here. There were even dirigible flights from Cacerta on occasion. Travelers—other Edomites, Adirans, Romans, Nalayans, Gylians—were busily disembarking and heading to customs. Staff with their bodies painted in the Griffon Airlines colours swept floors, examined luggage, gave directions. Soldiers in urban camouflage BDUs with submachineguns and pistols acted as security.

A blonde woman with fair skin and sunglasses stopping to talk to a much taller brown haired man, talking casually and clearly about whether to rent a car or to take a taxi, the man demurring and saying, “I’m not sure, I mean when we arrive at the university we don’t want to seem like snobs…”

A man walking briskly by with a shoulder bag talking on a cellphone, saying, “Yes, I’m about to go to the gate right now, I’m sure he’ll be through any moment…no traffic hasn’t been too bad..”

Four people sitting at a table in a café inside the building, a dark short olive skinned slim brunette woman with her glasses up on her head, listening gravely; a lean brown haired man with similar skin tones talking with animation moving his hands, while a very fair skinned red head sat between he and the brunette, a man with a military looking tattoo on his shoulders sipping from a cup as he listened in turn; his hair however was not of military cut but was medium length dark brown.

A woman carrying an athletic bag, walking in high heeled sandals, her fair hair dancing on her shoulders, looking serious and like she was in a hurry to be somewhere. Many of the people at the airport were in an edenist state, though not all.

All the disembarking passengers were moved by rope barriers to where there were a small group of other people, unlike the attendant and a number of others in the airport (who apart from their ordinary behavior of reading newspapers, using public phones, gathering luggage were naked except for a few items like hats, footgear and watches) were fully clothed in military looking uniforms of light brown double breasted jackets, sam browne belts, peaked caps and boots. They stood behind a long table and there were lines going in two directions around them. Behind, at the behest of customs officers, clearly a group of travelers were being instructed to strip to the skin in front of everyone. “Gentlemen, ladies. I am to inquire as to the reason for your traveling to the Allied States of New Edom.” One of the officer speaking was a middle aged man with olive skin stretched tight over a bony face, his eyes hooded under his brows, his nose narrow and thin, lips barely there, chin like a wind weathered rock. “Please present your passports, travel visas and your waivers.”

[Hittanryan]

Fineberg International Airport

Another long flight across the Tartarian to the mangled warzone of South Acheron. At least, that's how Olsen and Rikker viewed it. Holly had only been abroad once to Wielkilas, so a lot of this was still new to her. Unfortunately for her two coworkers, she knew next to nothing about Edomite customs other than that they went naked a lot. Some of their etiquette was easy, especially for a personable individual like her. Always accept hospitality and begin with appropriate small talk. Try to avoid politics. Bow instead of shaking hands. More subtle things though, even Olsen and Rikker weren't always clear on, so she'd just have to learn for herself.

Olsen passed the flight trying to plan out some topics, keeping himself busy the entire time. Rikker's job required he get most of that set either before or after the flight, so he was free to read or play with his phone or try to chat up Holly. After they hit what was supposed to be bedtime in their time zone, Holly couldn't get to sleep for hours. She woke up not long before landing, stymieing efforts to make sure she was fully prepared for what they were about to experience.

Upon arrival, Olsen and Rikker passed through the airport like any other travelers. Their previous assignments in New Edom had desensitized them to nudity, though owing to their culture's predispositions they still found a naked body more arousing than a clothed one. Holly didn't have that kind of experience. She didn't fully appreciate just how public nudity was in New Edom. Back home you bared all at the beach, and there was a general understanding that you weren't supposed to look too hard. Now naked people were everywhere, just going about their business in an airport. Compared to the other two, she had her gaze fixed just above eye level, though her eyes strayed a couple of times. Now it hit her, though, they'd have to film people like this.

Eventually they hit customs. The three of them each presented their passports and travel visas which indicated they were filming a documentary for ANBC, and were doing the story at the request of the Foreign Ministry of New Edom. Their waivers excused the crew for various health reasons, claiming that none of the passengers had any resistance to malaria, Holly and Rikker were predisposed to melanoma, and Olsen had a skin condition that was potentially contagious during outbreaks.

[New Edom]

The King Josias I Race Course

“Good afternoon, I’m Uriah Nunn and welcome to racing at King Josias I. It’s a wonderful day, a few light clouds and no sign of rain. They're about to go into the stalls for the 3:30 so, over to you, Marcus.”

“And hello, I’m Marcus Camillo, and it is indeed a lovely day, and I’m looking down at the best track of the country, in superb condition. Thank you, yes, the seven runners for this first Pollux Handicap are just coming to their starting gates. That's Thunder Cloud, n'very much on his toes and beautifully turned out, he really looked a picture in the paddock. And just coming into our picture is Lily of the Valley. Lily is one of the two fillies in the race, she's got very good opening speed. That's The Black Bull, going to the stalls. A steady performer, The Bull, but he tends to be a bit one-paced. Just going in is Storm Wind. And, Storm Wind, a big colt, blinkered for the first time. And there's our favourite The Green Count. Goodness he’s rearing, but this is characteristic, he often seems to need to get some uncontrollable energy out of his system, but he doesn’t need to be hooded…no his rider, Glabius Horn, has good control over him. These two have been together for two years, very solid team. Now going is the outsider of the field, the seven year old Ship of the Line. Ship, he's been tailed off on his last three outings, a rather disappointing horse this. You might say he’s been listing lazily. Haha. And one of the last to go is Tower on the Hill a steady performer, very steady..."

There were a lot of people in the stands, many of them elegantly painted, it was de rigeuer that you did not wear civilian clothes to such events, so while there were many elegant hats on the ladies the paint was very artistic, everyone wanted to look their best. Olympia Hesperinus was no exception, painted to look as though she was walking through tall grass up to her lower thighs, above that startling sky with clouds and butterlies. It had taken five hours with her favourite painter doing the work. Her lacy hat shaded her face; she wore high wedge sandals that left her feet as bare as possible, and she had a maid carrying a parasol and her purse.

“Ladies and gentlemen: we will now sing the national anthem.”

She stood up, with Lavinia on one side, her husband on the other, and placed a hand over her heart.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! All the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who was, and is, and evermore shall be.

Holy, holy, holy! Though the darkness hide Thee,
Though the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy Name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

“Count Lalery keeps looking at me,” murmured Lavinia when the anthem was over and the riders were off, the gates crashing open and the horses thundering down the track. She was bored by this, she’d seen it a zillion times.

“I wouldn’t go there,” muttered Olympia back. “He’s a real bastard.”

“Oh come on, he just likes to tease..” Lavinia said, smiling. “I’m sure I can handle him.”

“Just don’t,” she advised. She glanced up at the Royal Box part of the stands. Mara was not there, though Jocasata was, and she beamed and waved to her. Olympia nudged Lavinia; they both waved back.

But she couldn’t sit still; she was restless. Her husband virtually ignored her in public; in private he ate as though she wasn’t present, disdained her conversation no matter how she tried to help him with matters political and social, and took his pleasures of her as though he’d bought her. Not brutally, just…impersonally. She hated to show this, she felt mortified still remembering questions about her marriage from others—things were fine. How could they be otherwise? Should she admit that her husband now and then just bluntly asked her, “are you pregnant yet?”

She got up and began to stroll towards where there was a wine bar under the shade. Her eyes stung…she was so trapped. Even in her ‘relationship’ with General Adams. He was more kind, more friendly, but Hesperinus had warned her that he’d do a DNA test when she was pregnant, and she must take precautions. Discovering what these were…well the end result was hardly pleasurable, though it was simply not degrading. Her mother was right: sex was just plain nasty. But at least she occasionally had a good dinner companion now.

As she was heading there though there was a racket of barking; someone’s cat, hissing, went leaping and scrambling, narrowly avoiding scratching her barelegs—(who brought a CAT? Honeslty!) and then she realied it was fleeing a big brown ad black Airedale terrier, who was about to corner it. She quickly knelt and put her arms aroud the dog’s neck; it struggled and she began to pat him.

“Good dog, good…” she glanced down, “boy…”

Shadows loomed over her; she looked up. One man, an army NCO, smiled. “Thank you, dear young lady…we would not want Rover to slay someone’s poor cat.”

The other man was the President. “Rover, here,” he aid. “My goodness, so rowdy today. I’m sorry…who are you my dear?"

“I’m Countess Olympia Hesperinus, Excellency,” she murmured, rising, bowing her head.

“You?” Perrin Pahath-Moab nodded to her. “Very good reflexes. Married to Hesperinus, are you.”

My husband hates you. she thought.

“Thank you very much.” Perrin said. “Are you a dog person or just lucky?”

“Oh, I love animals, actually, dogs and horses mostly…” Olympia said. The woman who owned the cat was gushing her thanks suddenly, and Perrin looked at her and nodded. “My apologies for my dog’s over enthusiasm,madam. Well. The races. Did you place any wagers, Countess?”

“Isn’t gambling a sin, Exellency?” she asked.

He laughed. She liked his laugh. “Yes it is, which makes it all the more pleasurable for some. I do not judge—much.” He winked at her. “Well. And didn’t answer my question at all.”

Olympia laughed. “No, Excellency, I did not, but everyone says you are a very perceptive man.”

“Do they? What a relief!” Perrin said chuckling. “Come and sit with me. I find racing boring.”
“Then..why do you attend?” she asked.

“To show my respect for athletes and for the horses too of course,” he said. He cocked his head. “Are you refusing my invitation?”

“I thought you would lead the way, Excellency,” Olympia said. Why was she doing this? But he seemed unfazed, seemed merely amused by her. “Will my husband join us?”

Perrin paused, glancing at Hesperinus, and said, “I think not. I see enough of him.”


Olympia laughed, and realized, startled, it was her first real laugh in months.

[New Edom]

Fineberg International Airport

Christina Joram got the giggles when she was talking to Tim Stanton. They both stood with a sign saying "ANBC" near a poster for "Football for Retards" showing a group of people with box cages on their heads running with obvious ineptitude after a black ad white ball.

“Let me get this straight—an ANBC news crew is coming her to film us, and you’re going to take pictures of them and observe them?”

“It’s not an uncommon practice,” he said with a grin. “But yes, when you put it like that.”

Tim had a cocky sounding Lookinghaven accent, was a nice fellow, it seemed, had a beautiful organ like a gift from God, and was a famous reporter. It was odd standing beside a famous person.

When she was sent to meet the news crew, she was a bit taken aback, but she would apparently be working closely with them. So she had splurged on some decent body paint—just a simple white and blue dividing her body, while Tim was a purist, had the tan for it certainly.

Holding up her sign, she felt herself blushing. These people had no doubt famed kings and presidents; she hoped she didn’t say anything stupid. And…a gorgeous woman with them, wearing expensive clothing that completely fitted to her body like a dancer at Quality Bay. She barely knew where to look. And men in sturdy civilian clothes. Big Adiran men like on television.

“Hello welcome to New Edom, I am Christina Joram I work for the Elections Committee, and I am to take you to your first meeting. This is Mister Timothy Stanton of the Fineberg Times, he is your media contact. We all felt that you’d be happier with a fellow journalist and he will be covering the Election Trial from our end. I hope you are well and that you have left your families and homeland in good spirits.” She had a good speaking voice, and in site of her embarrassment showed no sign of it, her voice clear, her manner friendly and charming but direct, after all she worked for the number three man in a government ministry, directly now.

“How do you do?” Tim asked. “Nice to meet all of you. Wait…haven’t we met before, in Bethel in Bara?” he said. “Sorry, I tend not to recognize people in clothes easily.”

As they were exchanging words, greetings, Christina made sure they got their luggage, and were led out to where they had an SUV--for a bunch of foreign journalists!--waiting, guarded by two soldiers. Christina's dimpled bottom wriggled as she moved, and the two soldiers had to force themselves to be alert, shocked by Holly. One of them caught his breath at the sight of her. "Is she some kind of princess?" he asked Christina in Baran.

"Don't be an idiot, she's an Adiran, they don't have royalty," she said with a faint laugh. "And speak a language they understand."

[Hittanryan]

Fineberg International Airport

Holly was the first one to spot the "ANBC" sign. Pointing towards Tim and Christina, she started to alert the other two but cut herself off. "Hey look it's our--oh my God," she said, putting a hand up over her mouth, staring at the large "Football for Retards" poster right over them.

"Yeah, better get used to that. They're not big on PC here, if you know what I mean," Travis said wryly as they approached. Holly had stopped listening however, as she was now impressed by Tim Stanton's impressive member. One glance was enough. At first look she was hopeful that the woman was wearing something, a leotard maybe? Then she got closer and...nope, paint. Definitely just paint. They didn't make any clothes that tight.

"Hello welcome to New Edom, I am Christina Joram I work for the Elections Committee, and I am to take you to your first meeting. This is Mister Timothy Stanton of the Fineberg Times, he is your media contact. We all felt that you’d be happier with a fellow journalist and he will be covering the Election Trial from our end. I hope you are well and that you have left your families and homeland in good spirits."

Holly went first and overdid her bow. She bent about 45 degrees at the waist, and spoke while her head was still down. "Hi, Christina, Tim. I'm Holly Lemay, It's very nice to meet you. We're all doing fine, thanks."

"Nice to meet you both, I'm Chris Olsen," he said with an incline of his head.

"Travis Rikkers, nice to meet you, Christina, Tim," the tech said before making a stiff bow. He then started rolling his neck after. "Man, that trip never gets any shorter, does it?"

"How do you do?" Tim asked. "Nice to meet all of you. Wait…haven’t we met before, in Bethel in Bara?” he said. “Sorry, I tend not to recognize people in clothes easily."

"Yeah maybe. You did a lot of articles out in the bush, though right?"

"They didn't let us out there too often," Travis remarked with a few satisfying cracks of his spinal column, before something dawned on him. "Oh, you got stuck babysitting us? I'm sorry, man."

While they were getting their bags, the Adirans made small talk with their Edomite hosts. Holly couldn't help but ask Christina about body painting; since her usual small talk frequently included discussions about fashion, this was the Edomite equivalent. 'How often do you get it done? Does it rub off? Do you clean it all the way off before getting a fresh coat? Does the paint really go on everywhere?' Travis barely stammered a scant few responses while listening in on that conversation. Chris was asking Tim if he knew anything about the election area, if it was safe, if it had running water, what the people thought of the whole thing.

Their first stop was the Majestic Hotel to drop off their bags, clean up and unpack a bit, and form a game plan. Tim and Christina were invited up to their rooms if they wished, and they suggested that the driver of the SUV and the two soldiers go on break if they wanted. Two of the Adirans worked while the other showered and changed. Chris put on a fairly sharp jacket and slacks, no tie. Travis threw on a button down and khakis. Holly wore her snug black skirt and a sleeveless white blouse.

In terms of people, they were going to start with the Committee. There were a number of them in Fineberg, which was where they were right now. As director, Holly was going to be the one to contact each of the people on the list, schedule talks, give them an overview of what was going to be discussed. In addition to that, they wanted a collection of ordinary Edomites, and try to filter out the ones angling for attention. Olsen wanted to get an honest look at how Edomites were handling things; show how they lived, follow them through the process of the elections, and demonstrate what was so hard about bringing democracy to New Edom.

Their first debate came regarding the questions posed during interviews. Olsen wanted to ask about specific events and how they might impact the election, many of which were reported internationally but had since faded into the general narrative of New Edom's civil unrest. Touchstone's rise to and fall from power, Admiral Rand's coup, Elwe attitudes, the ETC's considerable influence over the Free Congress. Most of his questions focused on the political climate during the elections and the civil war, and how those same groups might behave in the upcoming election. All of it left Holly a bit confused though, and she spoke up after Olsen had gone through them all.

"Well, they're good, but...would people back home really be able to follow all that?"

"There were articles on the ETC militia a little while back, there are Adiran aid workers in Glasstower, the civil war was pretty recent and there was plenty of coverage there..." Olsen replied.

"Yeah, but what about people who didn't pay attention to all that? It's like..." she struggled to come up with a way of expressing herself. "...if you're making a movie based on a book, you can't just leave stuff out and assume everybody has read the book. It has to stand up on its own."

There was a brief pause while they tried to process Holly's somewhat inarticulate response, until Travis said "OK, yeah, that makes sense." Olsen glared at him, believing he was trying to butter up their director. Travis returned his look and said "What? I've seen that done badly before. You're right, we need context."

"That's it!" Holly said, realizing that would have been a better way to put it.

"It doesn't have to be that long," Travis explained, "just some general exposition I can throw in near the beginning."

"Or at the start of a segment," Holly pointed out.

They continued trying to plan out their film. If Tim or Christina joined them, they likely would have been asked if they had any input of their own. Opinions would have been welcome, though potential contacts would have been as well. Eventually, however, the group would have needed to get to the meeting Christina mentioned earlier, and would have piled back into the SUV freshened up from their flight.

[New Edom]

Fineberg International Airport

"They didn't let us out there too often," Travis remarked with a few satisfying cracks of his spinal column, before something dawned on him. "Oh, you got stuck babysitting us? I'm sorry, man."

“It was no great hardship,” said Tim. “It was nice to get a break. I hope you got to see at least one of my articles about the evacuations and the Triangle, that was some pretty hot stuff. But then this will all be old hat to you, so we can get caught up on watching a few matches on the TV now and then without busting our backsides. Let me make sure you have my card…”

'How often do you get it done? Does it rub off? Do you clean it all the way off before getting a fresh coat? Does the paint really go on everywhere?'

“Oh it depends, I’m ETC,” explained Christina, “So properly speaking, I’m all painted up for today, but only casually, it’s a street job,” she whispered, “Just went to a corner shop and had it done, but see, you want nice clean lines at least. So this will not peel in the sun but warm water and soap washes it off, and the street brands are usually bug repellents and sunscreen too. You should see the fancy ladies of quality, they spent hours in a salon getting painted! You can touch it up, and most of us really do that, but you know how it is,” she dropped her voice to a whisper, “You want to seem enticing but not a slut, right? So yes, everywhere. Now of course foreign ladies like you can get away with tan lines and be just as exciting as someone in the best paint—you can tell women in the army or of quality because they often have tan lines, though military people usually have a broad tan, at least knees to neck, while a fine lady will have pale bottom and bosom. But of course you have a waiver—it’s nothing catching is it?”

Tim and Christiana were both dismayed, and of course they accepted the invitation, but they both had other things to do. They hid their confusion and spent some time helping the three news people get settled, making sure they had telephone numbers for buses, taxis, themselves, and the Committee’s main office, and did a pretense of a light meal (sipping a little red wine and nibbling some flatbread, olive oil and red vinegar with salt and herbs before spending approximately fifteen minutes saying goodbye with a great show of reluctance to part, promises of hospitality if they visited their homes and so on.)

The Committee

Dr. Ashren murmured, “What the devil, you’re late girl,” to Christina as she slipped in behind him.

“I’m so sorry Your Honour, my repentance is vast, but I was invited to stay with the ANBC people in their hotel room for a bit, they wouldn’t let us go. I think the lady feels a bit lonely for her family,” which made sense really.

“Of course, you did well. Make them comfortable, above and beyond,” he whispered back.

The Deputy Minister of Culture, Captain Marcus Cotta, was reading from something. “…Democratic Verification LLC has done a series of relatively small, short, cross-sectional studies of the New Edomite electorate. The Democratic Verification LLC’s data undergoes a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. DV LLC also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, the company performed the following processing steps for this data collection: analysis spreadsheets and power point. And downloading for your databases of your respective offices, which is to be confidential within this Committee,” the Captain said, glancing up at everyone, “Is not to be shared outside of it.”

People were blinking as if roused from sleep--hardly any of them knew what he was talking about, except that it was apparently part of how the foreign company had been discreet.

“Well, what if it is?” asked the white bearded Bishop Arminius, the Vice-Chairman. “Compromised or shared outside of it.”

Captain Cotta drew a finger across his throat. Several people around the table blinked, exclaimed, but then he laughed. “No, I’m just joking—we’ll have all wasted our time then, so will everyone who works with us, and we’ll have to start again, and we’ll all look incompetent.”

“A fate worse than death, at times,” said Jacob Onan, the wrinkled withered Governor of Bara Province, perched gnomelike across from Cotta. A few people chuckled. Christina thought she heard a few crickets though. That one’s older than my grandpa.

Vice-Admiral Shalmaneser sat with his eyes hooded and gloomy, and said, “My tea is cold.” One of his aides came forward to replace it. “Let us now hear of the fortunate community.”

“The community Democratic Verifiation selected had to have the following characteristics: being representative of the general labour demographic of the country, have only recent access to public schooling, general education, and public transport, but nevertheless have at least two major industries that provide jobs to the community. It had to have a diverse religious demographic in which one of the Five Churches was not the principal source of charity or government. It had to have experienced recent but not explosive economic growth while still experiencing issues with social services, labour, transport, health, education, and have experienced war recently but not so devastatingly that the population was deplaced or the community entirely destroyed or rebuilt.” Captain Cotta smiled. “And the winner is…”

“I was not aware that this was a contest, Captain Cotta,” said Admiral Shalmaneser with disapproval.

“I was just making a joke, Your Highness.” Captain Cotta might be far far outranked by him, but he was a Deputy Minister, royal or not, and he wasn’t going to take crap from the Chairman. Only he found it hard to look the man in the eye—he had no idea what he was thinking, what he might do. What made him tick. It was like a painting had come to life.

“Ah, a joke.” Admiral Shalmaneser nodded. “Unfortunately I do not think it was particularly amusing, Captain Cotta. If you must joke, please ensure that your jokes are funny before hand.”

“I…”

“Please continue.”

“Anyway the community selected was Carnmag, Western Raith Immel.”

Carnmag? Where the hell is that? Christina wondered.

“Ah, Carnmag,” murmured Dr. Ashren. “How exellent.”

“Do you know it?” she asked, surprised.

“Never been there in my life, but it does have an extraordinary grove of Home Trees that are supposed to be on a list for Heritage Sites. There’s a waiting list. I hope they don’t get cut down or something or sold.” Dr. Ashren shook his head. “But demographically it is quite interesting. A traditional Elwe community but it also has a fair number of people who moved for work or because they were displaced during the 3rd Elwe Uprising and the Anarchist Insurgency. It also has a strong focus on greenhouse gardening, hydroponics, food preparation and infrastructure to support them. They supply for health food markets around the region. You’d better read up on it and look over the DV report yourself.”

“Yes, Your Honour,” said Christina. Rural Raith Immel. She hoped she owuldn’t have to actually GO there…

“It’s going to be Carnmag, Western Raith Immel,” Tim told Travis over the phone. “You can release the information now—the study’s been done and everything. We’re forwarding to you the basic information. I think it’s a good story—a community somewhat damaged by war, influx of refugees, mixed churches, faiths, ethnicities, troubles and trials because the test subject for New Edomite democracy. You need anything please let me know. I’m staying with my parent’s while I’m here but I can be at the hotel in fifteen minutes.”

[Hittanryan]

Fineberg, New Edom

One by one, the ANBC crew was able to schedule appointments with the National Elections Trials Committee. Olsen was often the one doing the talking, while Holly set the times and locations. Almost all of the interviews would be conducted in their offices for convenience, unless they could be persuaded to have it somewhere more scenic. Holly was determined to have at least one interview set against the backdrop of a recognizable Fineberg view. However, they knew most of these interviews would be used as audio clips over other footage they shot. In scheduling everything, she had to remember to allow for the standard time of refreshments and small talk. Olsen and Rikkers found Holly very useful for chewing through that mandatory hospitality period, and she seemed to get a number of the interviewees to relax and speak naturally.

As was typical for bare-bones documentaries, Holly, the director, did the talking during the sit-down interviews. Olsen did most of his talking off-camera at this point, trying to figure out what could and couldn’t actually be said on-camera. As befit his job, he was the one doing the digging, figuring out what the interviewee was supposed to know, and match them up to the questions they wanted to ask. Soon they had a proper script, and spent the next few days trekking around Fineberg with Christina as their guide. They might have worked at a pace just a bit more hectic than the average Edomite was used to, cramming lunches in between interviews and working through meals. After all, the elections were coming up, and they had to be in Raith Immel for that, not Fineberg.

Colonel Jezreel (Director of Communications and Transport for Raith Immel)

We're looking to get a better picture of the province of Raith Immel for foreign audiences. As Director of Communications and Transport for Raith Immel, how would you describe the state of the province's infrastructure, in particular the area around Carnmag? Was it damaged during either of the civil wars? Has it since been repaired?

Colonel Jezreel, a thin faced man with wire rimmed glasses wearing a dress uniform with tie, jacket, trousers and polished shoes, explains. “There were some attacks by militias with mortars, machine guns on Carnmag itself, as well as some nasty attacks in outlying villages. Damage to roads, railroads, and power and telephone lines, of which there were not very many. Peacekeepers from Norvenia did a lot to help repair infrastructure in the area, as did the National Council for Refugees following, and the Government helped funnel a lot of micro loans in the area.”

Colonel Jezreel, What is the most common means of long-distance transport in western Raith Immel? For instance, walking, horseback, automobile, train? Is travel avoided? Is the countryside generally safe? Is there a significant amount of commerce conducted through Raith Immel?

Colonel Jezreel: Rail travel is the most common mass transport, followed by trucks and land rovers, then bicycles, then plane last and most uncommon--planes in the area use roads and fields to land and take off from. Growing and producing for the international health food market is actually the main industry i the area. The countryside is generally safe in that area--there are crimes but I would say not on a wide scale. You’re more likely to be in a road accident or attacked by a Griffon than shot. Well--there is the danger of undiscovered land mines, but there is an international agency from the WA still working with our militia in the area on that.”

How do most residents of towns like Carnmag stay up to date on current events? Would a citizen in Carnmag do any of the following daily: read a newspaper, listen to a news broadcast over the radio, watch a news broadcast on television? If not, is it due to lack of interest or lack of access?

“Oddly enough,” said Colonel Jezreel with a smile, “Apart from radio and usually a few days out of date newspapers one of the most common is through the internet--Kingston Wireless Telecommunications and Broadband has a couple of towers in the area.”

Have any refugees displaced by the fighting in Bara Province settled in the area near Carnmag?

“Approximately 1600 refugees permanently settled in the area from Bara Province, and 8,270 from other parts of Raith Immel. These are ones who remained in the area following the end of the wars, and have taken up trades, intermarried with locals and so on.”

High Prince Findi Lamat (High Prince of the Hcagurg Elwe, Raith Immel)

Your Highness, for the benefit of international audiences, I would like to begin with a few questions about the Hcagurg’s political positions. Did the Hcagurg take sides in the last two civil wars? If so, whom did they side with and why? Were there divisions?

“During the last two civil wars and the 3rd Elwe Uprising as it is called, the Hcagurg were divided. I sided with the Free Congress--others with the EIO. It was messy. Very messy.” said High Prince Findi Lamat, a man in his late thirties with light brown hair, fine Elwe features with a combination of painted hands and face to resemble leaves, a mantle that was draped like a chiton around a lean body, but also wearing an expensive looking gold watch.

In the interwar years, did the Hcagurg generally support the policies of William Touchstone?

“I did, and others who followed me--some did not.” He smiled. “We are at peace now.”

Since the modern-day provinces of Raith Immel and Teman were conquered by New Edom a century and a half ago, the Elwe have often been at odds with New Edom’s central government. The Hcagurg in particular have serious grievances with the monarchy over the suppression of the Uprising 20 years ago. Do many of the Hcagurg nobility or general population support Elwe Independence? If so, what would an ideal independence settlement look like?

“Our current Governor--Princess Fuamnach--supported the EIO--she was their principal delegate at the Imperial City Peace conference. I’d say enough support it to be of concern. But what does a settlement look like? The problem is just that--no one knows. The EIO have long had an ‘independence first, constitution later’ idea. We’d be trapped right between two New Edomite provinces and Magna Lacuna, and in a sense even more vulnerable than if we were independent. I have been for that reason outspoken in wanting recognition of our religion, culture, history and right to internal self governance.”

Count Nabal (Marshal of Nobility, Teman)

A large eyed middle aged man wearing a tropical suit.

Following the first civil war, the monarchy and by extension the nobility formed a coalition government in which they were obliged to share power with an elected legislature. As sitting Marshal of the Nobility and head of the Nabal family, can you comment on the nobility's attitudes towards constitutional monarchy in general following those experiences? Do they have any concerns regarding this test election?

“I am among those members of the aristocracy who are strongly in favour of a constitutional monarchy. I believe it is a good balance of our traditions with looking towards the future.However for some a strong monarchy has been one of the few ways that we have historically maintained our national strength, and this is frustrated by the feeling that Mr. Touchstone should not have, in their words, rebelled against King Mark. Thus,” he smiled, “There is some division among us on the subject.”

The local election in Carnmag is intended as a test. Does the nobility have any concerns regarding a democratically-elected national government?

“I think that there are some concerns about the fact that conservative tribal leadership has sided with the aristocracy--and the Monarchy--for a few generations, and there are worries aobut upheavals from radical militias. While I don’t think that should stop this process, they are legitimate concerns.”

If elections are adopted on a wider scale, will the nobility’s interests be represented by any particular political party?

“That is likely to, perhaps ironically, be reflected in both the Elwe Independence Organization, largely led by Elwe nobility, and possibly by the ETC, though with that--the leaves fall where they may”

Those would largely be umbrella associations. Is there any mainstream political party which advocates strengthening the monarchy?

“There is still tacitly the Monarchist Party, but right now as with the Free Congress they are mostly only voiced through their involvement with the Interim Government via the cabinet.”

Prince Luachair Dedad (High Prince of the Imed Elwe)

Your Highness, for the benefit of international audiences, I would like to begin with a few questions about the Imed’s political positions. Did the Imed take sides in the last two civil wars? If so, whom did they side with and why? Were there divisions?

An old man, but strong looking, fine featured, long haired, wearing a light green mantle. “The Imed took part in the First Civil War with militias, but not the second; during the second we were still recovering from an outbreak of Ysbadden Valley Fever. It was terrible. There was no official tribal support, no, but some of our young hotheads wet to join the Red Branch, the Green Branch, the Black Branch...the White Thorns--militias who fought with the EIO, you see.”

In the interwar years, did the Imed generally support the policies of William Touchstone?

“Yes, Mr. Touchstone had some policies I did not agree with but generally I strongly approved of his ideas for provincial autonomy.”

Since the modern-day provinces of Raith Immel and Teman were conquered by New Edom a century and a half ago, the Elwe have often been at odds with New Edom’s central government. Do many of the Imed support Elwe Independence? If so, what would an ideal independence settlement look like?

“It has to be understood that the Imed had received far better treaties than other Elwe tribes, to the frustration of some radical members, and some people who feel our situation is too static. For instance during the time of David the Lawgiver our people had trading routes as far as Tartarus and Deadora. Our people have been craftsmen, merchants, farmers and leaders in their part of the Allied States, but traditionalism has been something which we cherish and yet which at the same time some say holds us back. Increasingly our young people migrate to the cities for work. In a sense, our war has been more cultural and economic than anything else. We do not need independence in my opinion--we need to adapt for the future without losing our very selves in the process.”

Bishop Arminius of Glasstower (Church, judge)

Your Grace, Glasstower was in the Triangle, arguably one of the single worst-hit areas of Bara Province. It faced, and likely continues to face, a serious refugee crisis and is working to rebuild vital infrastructure. The Trial Election is going to be held in Carnmag, which faces a number of similar issues, albeit of a lesser magnitude. How would you expect this to affect the community there based on your own experience? How many people rely on charity or aid for basic survival needs? In your role as a judge, what sort of law and order issues would you say communities like Glasstower and Carnmag commonly face?

The bishop was a white bearde hale and hearty man wearing a long black robe, and he said, “There isn’t really a comparison, my dear girl. You see: Glasstower was overwhelmed with refugees fleeing the worst kind of guerilla warfare--entire villages attacked by vicious communists and anarchists. People mutilated, raped...horrible. The suffering was horrible, spiritual and emotional as well as physical. Added to that was utter destruction of sources of power, water purification, sanitation, communications and transport.

“By contrast, Carnmag while suffering from direct militia attacks and outlying villages having some atrocities and attacks was also defended by peacekeepers and by their own militia rather successfully. I think that compared with Glasstower only 10% of the people have to rely on charity, as compared with 45% in Glasstower.

“The greatest issue with law and order is that civil society is disrupted by civil wars. Many young people are armed and used to wielding arms as a way of dealing with challenges. The process of law is disrupted or interrupted. Our militias have needed a lot of retraining to become either parts of their community, municipal police or soldiers, and that is a long and hard process. “

The End Times Church has been faced with a number of challenges lately. In what might be seen as a blow to the Church’s traditional autonomy, the military is attempting to assume direct control over Church militias. Has this affected the Church’s relationship with the government? What platform might an ETC candidate run on? What policies do you believe they would pursue?

“I think one problem you will find is that in the outer parts of the provinces the adherence to the law can be shaky and based on local interpretation, and we are about to find out how much so. There is a very conservative element in the End Times Church. It might surprise you to learn that traditionally it is a scholarly church, led by learned men, comprised of industrious men and faithful women. But you see people can become impatient for the Kingdom of Heaven, and so I think it is possible that a candidate might run on a platform of wanting to maintain the Morality Act--even at all costs. But they could just as easily focus on community values of charity and cooperation.”

Dr. Nimshi (Ministry of Finance)

Doctor, for the benefit of international audiences, what can you tell us about the income level of the average person in western Raith Immel? Is there any data on the poverty rate of the area? Do many of the people rely on charity to get by? Is there a large gap in income level between the rich and the poor?

“There are approximately 6,700 people in Carnmag living below the poverty line, out of 37,557. Too many you might say.” Dr. Nimshi, a man with visibly healed burn scars and only two fingers on his left hand said. “However there could be others that receive charity in other ways, we are still collating data on it. You will find the farther you get away from the big cities, the more the wage or income gap narrows. The average family lives with at least one part of a extended family, perhaps more. Food is often simple; access to running water, toilets, electricity, is spotty.”

What are the area’s major industries? Are they primarily locally-focused? Are there major national-level industries there? Are they geared towards exports?

“The major industries in the area are the greenhouse, farming and hydroponics which are grown by collectives that provide them to the health food market, as well as a cannery and food packaging plant, and of course the infrastructure to provide it. It is also a major shipping junction for the other small towns and villages in the area via the rail station.”

Dr. Amon Ashren (Director, Office of Inter-City Planning, Ministry of Education)

Doctor, what educational opportunities exist in western Raith Immel? Primary school? Secondary school? College? Post-graduate? Are they public or private institutions? If private, who runs them?

The little birdlike bespectacled man was very amiable and friendly. “Western Raith Immel is typical of New Edom broadly in that major rural educational reform is vitally needed. Primary school becoming common to the average person was a massive effort by the Touchstone government which has generally been a success. One of my staff put together a report which I approved on the need to improve secondary and tertiary educational opportunities--right now students who want them have to go out of the district.”

In your estimation, what is the highest degree earned by the majority of the province’s population? In the course of earning this degree, are there any courses offered in introductory civics, economics, or history? If no degree is typically earned, are these subjects learned from other sources?

“The majority of the population receive approximately 6 years of schooling--so what you call Grade 6 is most common. Most skilled trades and workers receive about 10 years. However it is not properly speaking a degree. A form of trade schooling is available where foreign industry has provided it in Glasstower and Dundabend, the two largest cities in the Province. Courses that teach on economics, history are available, but nothing resembling what you call civics. Actually a new initiative has been introduced by my own department for Carnmag as an educational study. This will provide students with a comparative history and workshop on how different forms of democratic systems work in the region. The main subjects focused on as examples are Adiron, Lazodiria, Wielkilas, Gylias and Thesum. The idea is to introduce the notion of different approaches of government and to encourage the students to study them on their own.”

Justice Gabrielle Balaam (judge)

Justice Balaam, in your role as a judge, what sort of law and order issues would you say communities like Carnmag commonly face?

“Probably extortion, receiving and selling of stolen goods, petty thievery, vengeance duels, things like that,” replied the Judge. “But we’ll see some violence maybe even a mob or two before this election is done. Mark, my words.”

What sort of police forces are present in urban and rural areas in Raith Immel? Are they publicly-funded? Private militia? Military?

“There is now a Provincial MIlitia that provides local policing, but you can’t stop the tribes and faiths from having a certain form of it without disarming everyone--and how can you do that in a rural district ? The best thing is to have them remain aware of the nearest military base right now.”

You seem to think violence is inevitable. Does that mean rural police aren’t up to the task?

“We’ll have to see, won’t we? It’s one of the elements of politics here. Hopefully their training will pay off.”

Captain Marcus Cotta (Deputy Minister of Culture)

Captain, for the benefit of international audiences, what exactly are the Ministry of Culture’s duties? If you wouldn’t mind, please be as specific as you can.

Captain Cotta, a handsome young manin his early thirties, dark haired and strong sholdered, wearing a uniform jacket, pants and boots, beret tucked into an epaulet, smiles and says, “You are a real lovely lady. I am delighted to make your acquaintance. Well the Ministry of Culture exists to help New Edomites have access to entertainment, information and to also encourage national unity through greater bonds of fellowship. Sport and entertainment are a great means for that.”

What role will the Ministry play in the Test Election?

“We will mostly be recording it for posterity.”

Critics often charge that your Ministry controls New Edom’s media, skewing media coverage of the President, sanitizing stories which might brew discontent, and censoring viewpoints critical of the government. Would you care to comment on these allegations?

“People say that? Really? I find that quite funny--I wish we could accomplish such a thing…” he leaned forward and in a conspiratorial stage whisper said, “If you can think of a way, let me know!”

Count Ekron (First Prefect of the Archives)

Count, would you mind commenting on some of the demographics of Carnmag? What we know so far is that it was a predominantly Elwe town with a growing population of refugees from Bara. Has the influx of refugees subsided or is the population still growing?

Count Ekron’s back was seen going through a door that closes and locks after him. Holly turned to Christina for an explanation with a confused look on her face. “Was it something we said?”

“Some people in this country are a bit camera shy...you know, I’ll get you the information, you can maybe do a voice over…”

Jacob Onan (Governor of Bara Province)

Governor, this Test Election is on the local level in a smaller community. Suppose the test is successful as well as other local elections. As governor of Bara, which contains New Edom’s capital of Fineberg and is the country’s most populous province, what sort of issues would you expect to crop up in moving from the local to the provincial level?

The wizened gnome like Governor replied, “The simple fact that the average citizen doesn’t know what an election is in the sense that an Adiran knows it. Think of it this way: the average Edomite has some idea of what the Bible contains, regardless of how well they understand it. Well it’s the same for your people with the notion of a social contract about voting. We don’t have one. that’s going to be our biggest challenge.”

Professor Constanza Delmar (Christian Socialist Party of Gloria Regis)

Professor, in response to unrest in Gloria Regis, the Pahath-Moab government declared martial law, established a media blackout, and has actively clamped down on all elements of the protectorate’s former political leadership. Observers also noted that feminists and communists were in power at the time, who espoused views that the Pahath-Moab government is opposed to. There are fears, both from within and without New Edom, that if a government is elected which proves unpopular with the military, it will be deposed in a similar manner. Do you believe that this scenario could be repeated in the event of, say, a municipal or provincial election bringing an unpopular leader to power?

Professor Delmar, a bald woman shaved completely smooth, with a light olive complexion and no eyebrows which gave her a startled look, said, “Not in this case. That’s why you’re here. It was a different situation completely, you know. it was not that the elections were disapproved of, but rather that foreign agents were swarming around antagonizing everyone, getting people stirred up. I’m making a movie about it by the way.”

Aurangzeb the Wise (Governor of Haran)

Governor, this Test Election is on the local level in a smaller community. Suppose the test is successful as well as other local elections. As governor of Haran, home to a lucrative oil industry but also considerable income inequality, what sort of issues would you expect to crop up in moving from the local to the provincial level?

“The Earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof. To man has He given the stewardship of the Earth, to dispose wisely. Yet man is as grass which is put into the oven and baked. Vanity, vanity is the way of man, and ever mindful of pleasures and seeking after gaudy things. Verily it was written that we should seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things would be added unto us.” said the dark olive skinned balding man with the short neat dark beard and the divided white and blue body paint.

Vice-Admiral Prince Elijah Shalmaneser, Governor of Etruria Majora, Chairman, National Election Trials Committee

Admiral, what are your duties as Chairman of the National Election Trials Committee?

“My name is Vice-Admiral Prince Elijah Shalmaneser. I am the Governor of Etruria Majora and Chairman of the National Elections Trials Committee because President Pahath-Moab asked me to be.”

But what responsibilities do you have as Chairman of this committee specifically? What do you preside over? Do you oversee anything specifically?

Admiral Shalmaneser looked at Holly thoughtfully and sipped his tea. He said quietly, “I preside over the committee.”

“Um…” Holly looked at Christina blankly, who returned her bewilderment with a slight shrug. She decided to simply move on.

Did you find it peculiar that a Vice-Admiral was named chairman of an elections committee? Why did they name you in particular?

“I am a highly qualified naval officer, and have been Minister of Defense of Dengali as well as Governor of Eturira Majora.”

But...in what way is that related to running an election?

“I will carry out my duties faithfully as I have always done. It is a matter of honour.”

“But…” Holly began. This was going nowhere fast. Was this guy a robot or something?

There are concerns that politically-motivated violence is possible in the run-up to or wake of the election. Is the Committee prepared for that eventuality? If so, how?

“The militias must learn discipline. Sometimes chastisement is a kindness.”

Can you comment on why the President decided to explore elections at this time? Is there serious talk within the Edomite government about ending the State of Emergency?

“I did not ask the President why. I assume he has his reasons.”

Majestic Hotel
Fineberg, New Edom

Staring at his laptop with headphones on, Travis had one thing to say about the footage he was currently watching: “Vice-Admiral Shalmaneser...did not give a fuck. I don’t think we can use this...”

“Well we need to figure out some way to put him in,” Olsen pointed out as he finished slicing a mango. “He’s the chairman.”

“Yeah, and that’s all we know still even after interviewing him,” Travis retorted.

“He’s weird,” Holly said, plucking a mango slice off the plate.

“Well another one bites the dust. Any luck deciphering what the governor of Haran was trying to say?” Travis asked.

“Other than vanity is bad, I can’t be sure. He might have said something about environmentalism. Stewardship over the Earth or something. Seek a Kingdom of God...I don’t know, maybe it was all a bunch of Christian stuff,” Olsen replied.

Holly was putting a pair of earrings in. She had a red halter top on with a pair of tight jeans. “Well, guys, let’s head out. We probably shouldn’t bother trying to edit the whole video before we have all our footage.”

“I don’t like the idea of you being out alone at night in Fineberg,” Olsen cautioned her.

“That’s why you’re coming with me,” Holly said with a wink. “These locations won’t scout themselves, you know.”

Chris looked over at Travis, who seemed to very reluctantly put down his laptop. “You’re the camera guy, yes, you have to come with us,” Holly said, preempting his complaint like his mother might. The three of them then tried to hit the town, with the intention of being back before nightfall with either some locations (or some alcohol) in hand.

[New Edom]

“WOO HOO! On to the semi-finals, yeah!” screamed a black and white painted man, pumping his fists with a bunch of other fools and making Christina flinch. People were almost rioting in the streets—they never thought they would have gone so far.

Screaming yelling, excited football fans were exciting the train in droves, coming to central Fineberg from outlying districts. People waved Griffon puppets and waved flags, and nearby preachers railed against obsession with sports and gambling and urged people to repent and praise God. There was an altercation farther down the platform as people got into a fight for whatever reason, city militia suddenly storming through the crowd with riot batons. “Get back, get back there!”

“You look beautiful,” she said to Holly truthfully when they got to their first class compartment. “You look like a movie star. Whew, sorry, it’s a Cup weekend, people can get a little crazy.”

Christina was wearing her ‘daisy’ outfit, for traveling—painted a simple green with yellow dots, and carrying her shoulder bag and mantle. She had a lot of reading to do—one thing that concerned her was the anger that still smouldered in the area they were going to—it might not be with mortars and machineguns now, but it was there. She was also intrigued to find that the President had met personally with some of the candidates and members of the Committee in Brightwater in 2012. Should she tell the foreign news crew?

Just in case—you never knew, instead of a suitcase, she had a backpack in which she had bottles of water, towels, extra socks, band-aids, and ointment for blisters, insect repellent, some basic body paint for sunscreen, and some NE-IMP rations in case they got lost. She also was well prepared to take lots of pictures, with her brother’s 35 mm camera, a borrowed telescopic lens, the Ministry had lent her a digital camera, extra rolls of film, and an extra memory card.

Tim joined them, looking cheerful, and said to Travis, “Listen, I want to compare notes with you on your footage, I have a lot of pictures of Fineberg and Bara if you want to go through my portfolio, and cross referencing could mean you not reinventing the wheel—but I do want credit for my part in the production if you use my stuff.”

“How has that been going anyway?” asked Christina, slipping her mantle under her bare bottom. She smiled in relief at the noise of shrill whistles and the snarling of dogs—the militia had arrived in force outside and were clearing the platform. Also outside she could see Marcus Cotta, Bishop Arminius and Governor Aurangzeb, who were leading the committee’s representation for a meeting in Carnmag. She wondered if any of them had been there before. Admiral Shalmaneser and the others were seeing them off. The Admiral looked handsome but very serious in his white uniform. The three men genuflected—Cotta saluted neatly, his heels coming together, Arminius and Aurangzeb both bowed deeply. The Admiral returned the salute and turned around abruptly and headed back towards his car. People were cheering for him; he acted like it was rain.

A friendly female voice said first in Baran, then in English, “Attention, your attention please! We are about to leave the station! Please remain seated until you are advised that it is safe to move. Please be advised that prayers for our journey were said today by the Presbyterian Synod of Fineberg. Please enjoy your time on the New Edomite Rail Directorate’s Northern Line through Silver River, Dundabend, Brightwater and Carnmag!”

[Hittanryan]

Train Station
Fineberg, New Edom

After returning with a variety of new stock clips to use, the crew started preparing for their trip to Raith Immel. The network told all of them to expect rugged conditions, so they were all more or less prepared. All of them had water, packs of energy bars, bandages, disinfectant, bug spray, sunscreen, hiking boots, extra socks, rain ponchos, and a large number of plastic bags to keep the equipment wrapped in. Once they returned to their hotel room, Travis commandeered all of the room's electrical outlets to charge up spare batteries for his laptop, phone, and cameras. Couldn't work without them.

Somewhat impractically, however (and only discovered after they were already in Fineberg), Holly had brought a hair dryer and a curling iron. If they had electricity, maybe they could make use of the hair dryer in the event a downpour soaked everything, but nobody could think of any possible use for a curling iron aside from its intended purpose. She also asked Travis if she could borrow "only a couple" of bags to seal her nicer clothes and shoes in. Olsen watched as Travis caved before she even finished her sentence. He hoped they wouldn't need those bags later.

Rather than taking a plane, which admittedly would have been faster, Olsen and Travis pointed out that few Edomites if any would take a plane for a relatively short trip like that. If they wanted more clips of everyday life, the train would be the way to go. Holly had initially favored the faster plane ride, but she changed her mind when the other two explained their rationale. After all, she had wanted more clips. Chris wore a light button-down, Travis wore a t-shirt, and Holly wore the same halter top from last night. All three of them wore khaki shorts of varying length.

Travis considered shipping the equipment ahead, but after hearing more about Carnmag he wasn't sure there would be anybody to receive his stuff. He was going to try to impress Holly by carrying all of his bags again, just like at the airport. Olsen nipped that in the bud, grabbing several of the bags and encouraging Holly to do the same. Travis would be moving so slow and be so helpless that all of his pockets would likely be picked before they even made it to the station.

Eventually the three of them rendezvoused with Christina and Tim. Travis kept trying to get a few shots of the scene on the platform, but Olsen mentioned it was Cup fever. It wasn't always like this, not representative of every day at the train station. Still, Travis said that didn't matter and persisted, at least until he started getting jostled around by the crowd. The guy painted in black and white nearly punched the camera clear out of his hands. Fearful for his equipment, Rikker relented but not before catching shots of the train station's exterior, the train itself, the preacher surrounded by the crowd, and the Committee members.

When the brawl broke out, Holly nudged Chris and in a worried tone said "Um...guys?"

"Just stay out of the way," Chris advised. She gasped as the militia started shoving their way through the crowd. They thankfully made it onto the train. Getting Travis' equipment stowed away posed a minor hassle, but eventually they joined Christina and Tim in their compartment.

"You look beautiful," she said to Holly truthfully when they got to their first class compartment. "You look like a movie star. Whew, sorry, it’s a Cup weekend, people can get a little crazy."

"Oh stop it!" Holly replied with a giggle, shifting the straps on her top after setting her handbag down. "I'll be a mess in an hour or so, if I'm not already! Ha!"

Tim preoccupied Travis for a while. "Good idea. Oh and of course I'll credit you, Tim. Last things I want is to worry about now are the ugly sides of ethics and copyright law," he replied to Tim's statement. After weighing his battery life options, he pulled out his phone and accessed an online storage service where he could view the photos and videos he took yesterday. "Here, I'll pull up the shots I took of Fineberg and we'll see if there's overlap. Lighting could have been better on some of these, we took them around dusk..."

Olsen had other concerns, namely the general atmosphere amongst the people in Carnmag. While Tim and Travis were engaged and when there was a break in whatever small talk Holly and Christina were up to, he decided to ask their liaison a few questions.

"Hey, Christina, do you think there could be any trouble out in Carnmag? Some of our interviews with the Committe, well, some of them seemed a bit nervous," Olsen started. He then motioned to her reading material. "Is that information on the area? Is it confidential or would you mind if I took a look at it? It won't go on record."

"Is it all right to do that?" Holly asked him.

"Well, I don't know, that's why I asked, but I'd like to have a better idea of what to expect so maybe we can plan this out a little better," Chris explained.

[New Edom]

“Well,” said Christina, “This is something interesting. In 2012 Carnmag was occupied by Norvenian peacekeepers. The EIO candidate in the area—Liath Duv—is the half sister of the Green candidate, Nennog N’a Uthecar. And you know who used to be the Area Commander right at the end of the 3rd Elwe Uprising up till the start of the 2nd Civil War? The President.”

Then she looked up, puzzled. "sorry, wait, what? I haven't heard anything like that..." she looked a little worried. However when she looked over what some of the interviewees had said, she was even more puzzled. "Sounds pretty normal to me. I was thinking you were worried about a tribal war up there or something--or is there something you haven't told me?"

Tim shared his image files, they showed for instance that New Edom’s capital was both very modern in parts and yet very old and rough in other parts. You could as easily find an eight lane main street lined with street lights, traffic lights, modern looking stores, hotels and office buildings as you would dirt roads and clapboard shacks. You could as easily see a swanky outdoor café as you would be to find people lining up for church charity baked and broiled on big oil drums cut in half.

There were pictures of women sweeping broad dirt roads before spread out bungalow housing complexes, of public showers on the one hand and the Forum Idumeum Mall with its great glass and steel front and interior water gardens. Soldiers in full dress and stiff tall Griffon feathers on their shakos marching stiffly down the street, and camouflage painted militia with combat webbing and boots.

Tim had a vivid picture of the damaged National Legislature Building, a Cornellian Senate style building with a portico, colonnade gallery, broad polished granite steps, still being rebuilt, surrounded by scaffolding, and another of it having been recently bombed surrounded by firemen, city militia, troops, and a grim faced Perrin Pahath-Moab with other leading cabinet members looking at it.

The train rumbled northward, on its 450 kilometer journey. They left the city, went north through Bara Province, the tracks passing on hills overlooking the broad flowing Silver River dotted with Yerg Elwe villages that were surrounded by green fields. They at one point saw a big bridge project, a huge labour camp and barges floating materials.

“Anything you think you can use?” Tim asked Chis.

[Hittanryan]

When Christina answered Olsen's question about trouble in Carnmag, he simply replied "Oh, then I guess there's nothing brewing other than what the Committee already told us. What was that about--"

"Um, can I ask something quick? Sorry," Holly interrupted. She had overheard Chris' inquiry. "If it looks like there's going to be a risk of violence, how do we get out of the city?"

Chris glanced over at Holly, wondering if she'd been paying attention. "There's always going to be some chance of fighting. Remember what Judge Balaam told us about police?"

"But we're not going to stay if we think there's going to be a riot or something?" she asked, a bit concerned.

"Well...that's sort of the risk you run going out here. There's a bit of tension. For New Edom, that's normal," Chris explained. "Otherwise, well, if we left town just because we thought there was going to be a riot, then we don't make the film."

Holly suddenly grasped the magnitude of the job she had accepted in haste. "Then...if there is trouble, do you know where it might be safe for foreigners, Christina?"

Olsen waited until Holly had her answer before continuing where he left off. "Anyway, what was that about the President? He was the area commander before the civil war? Wonder if he built any reputation with the locals. Probably a base commander though, couldn't have seen much of him," Chris mused, looking thoughtful. Something seemed to don on him. "Question for Christina and Tim: was General Pahath-Moab a known quantity before the last civil war? I know he was promoted during the first Civil War and fought in the Samnite invasion, but had people in general heard of him before he became a famous Free Congress figure in the second Civil War?"

After either of the Edomites answered, Chris asked "And the EIO and Green candidates are related? Both Elwe too, though I guess it's a mostly Elwe town...do Duv and Uthecar come from noble backgrounds, do you know?"

Meanwhile, Travis kept browsing through Tim's photos. It was a study in contrasts, rich juxtaposed with poor, old with new, clean with dirty. Tim had known where to look better than the three Adirans, though for the short time they spent scouting they had still found a number of interesting scenes. There were a few duplicate scenes of the area immediately surrounding the Majestic Hotel, in some cases Tim's were better, in other case's Travis' were better.

“Anything you think you can use?” Tim asked Chris.

"These are all good, Tim," Travis replied, "just not sure which ones I'd want specifically right this minute. A bunch of them would line up nicely with some of the interviews already, but we've still got more to shoot and we might use others later. Anyway, whatever ones we use, you'll get credit. Here, I'll give you my contact info and our contact in the ANBC Copyright Office. When we're in the editing stage, I'll get hold of you and let you know which ones we used. I'll give you the information you need, and the Copyright Office will make sure you get paid."

[New Edom]

“Brightwater is a short distance away,” replied Christina. “You’ll see it in an hour or so…it’s a logging, milling town…and there’s an army base there, so it will be fine.” she was going through her notes, but heard the notes of worry, and looked up again at her and smiled at her. “Don’t worry, it’s just different…people are used to taking the law into their own hands a bit more here. But it won’t be a problem. And you’ll be in luck—Raith Immel isn’t totally full of ETC who rarely see anyone who’s not an Edenist.”

Tim chuckled. “It’s new to you of course but yes. You know before he was called the Boy General, he was the Hero of Harbourtown. In the First Civil War They were besieged by Monarchist forces, and they were being starved, it was a siege of about 100 days at that point, and then Pahath-Moab found a weak place in the lines thanks to brave partisans who slipped out to pass him the news, and he broke through and brought in a supply column; it galvanized people and it broke the siege. There was still heavy fighting until that first armistice but mostly around the outskirts of the city. He was still a lieutenant-colonel then.”

“He did make a reputation, I would gather. He was at a major series of meetings about putting the cease fire into practice, so he’d know some of the major candidates. Then too, his troops put down a riot in Brightwater in 2012. They used rubber bullets and tear gas from what I remember, so nothing too bad.”

After either of the Edomites answered, Chris asked "And the EIO and Green candidates are related? Both Elwe too, though I guess it's a mostly Elwe town...do Duv and Uthecar come from noble backgrounds, do you know?"

“They’re from the same clan—they’re Niradnis Elwe;” said Christina. “Both elated to Uthecar, who is the Duke, as they call their clan heads. It’s an old Cornellian title they have retained. Yes, they form a significant amount of the voting block, but it’s not even a simple majority in the area anymore. The EIO could have some frustration about that, right now it’s about 43% of the local population. But still, the single largest in number.”

"These are all good, Tim," Travis replied, "just not sure which ones I'd want specifically right this minute. A bunch of them would line up nicely with some of the interviews already, but we've still got more to shoot and we might use others later. Anyway, whatever ones we use, you'll get credit. Here, I'll give you my contact info and our contact in the ANBC Copyright Office. When we're in the editing stage, I'll get hold of you and let you know which ones we used. I'll give you the information you need, and the Copyright Office will make sure you get paid."

“That sounds very fair, thank you,” said Tim. He took the information down, and glanced at where Christina was talking to Holly. Blood surged to his loins a little; he hastily thought of other things, and looked out the window.

Passing Through Dundabend

Dundabend was a smallish city and was the Provincial Capital of Raith Immel. Though the area was generally very forested, for about 50km or so around it this forest was broken up by farms; lumber camps were surely making inroads into this forest, but the work had slowed down due to insurgent attacks.

Dundabend was a city that had not be homogeonized into a typical plutocratic place, but instead had many handsome tree lined boulevards, cafes, theatres, and homes in the Edomite colonial style of varying sizes in the wealthier districts.

Most of what had happened around Dundabend during the 2nd Civil War and 3rd Elwe Uprising had been acts of terrorism and raids on patrols in the more rural and forested areas. However Elwe terrorist acts had been devastating in some particular cases--particularly attacks on bridges, railroads and roads, telephone communication and power wiring. There had been rolling blackouts, food and fuel shortages and the general panic that would accompany them. Because of this, General Hesperinus had ordered the 9th Division under General Romain to do a sweep and clear around the city for 25km, and gave the Council Police in the area a free hand in arresting whomever they felt might be a possible dissident.

A Nalayan unit had set up a refugee camp, and Colonel Sam Daniel, the Area Commander during the 3rd Elwe Uprising, had refused to conduct reprisal raids.
There was a quiet sense of tension in the city. But it was as nothing compared to the countryside. The countryside was disturbed; thousands of people had been displaced, and had fled stuck between the New Edomites and the Green Branch that occupied the areas to the north. The Green Branch had been a little more weary of the conflict and mostly wanted out for a time; they had fought from the very beginning. People had begun streaming in to the Nalayan Camp and the Red Branch Camp. The result of this was a shantyown spread around the city, hazed over by thousands of cooking fires. People seeking work up north where the government was building a new port city on Magna Lacuna were all trying to get on the train, but new regulations demanded that the newer faster trains not be overloaded—nevertheless anyone looking out the window would be able to guess that it would be standing room only in the second ad third class cars now. As the train came to a stop, dozens of Elwe move towards the first class car and were holding up bottles of soda, pieces of capybara and guinea fowl and chicken on a stick, offering goat kebabs for sale, plums, almonds, peaches, little baskets of berries, bottles of insect repellent, all of them in combinations of colorful arm and face paint mingled with rock band t-shits, pink tank tops, towels around necks, army camouflage shirts. They rapped on the windows and smiled eager to offer their wares.

[Hittanryan]

"Ugh, I've got to stretch my legs a bit, gonna go for a walk," Travis said, getting up and stretching. Though that was true, between Christina and Holly he was sure he had spent the entirety of the train ride so far in a state of frustrated half-arousal. Holly was driving him crazy; her long dark hair just a little mussed from what he assumed was the humidity, her skin glowing from the heat, those long legs, and that top that left her shoulders and back bare. Then, right next to her, Christina, who was cute and naked as the day she was born, the paint not hiding nearly enough for it to matter to Travis. It was like the two complimented each other, Holly provided teasing hints, and Christina out there in all her glory. The tech was going to need a stiff drink or three at this rate.

Holly smiled and tried to look reassured, but violence and "home-brewed justice" simply were not a part of everyday life in Adiron. Unless you were a seasoned international traveler or were old enough to remember the Civil War, when you had a problem you called the police, end of story. Here there wasn't necessarily a police, at least not in the same sense as home.

“He did make a reputation, I would gather. He was at a major series of meetings about putting the cease fire into practice, so he’d know some of the major candidates. Then too, his troops put down a riot in Brightwater in 2012. They used rubber bullets and tear gas from what I remember, so nothing too bad.”

'Wonder if the Boy General has connections here still, maybe that's why they picked here?' Chris wondered.

His train of thought was interrupted by Holly. "They needed rubber bullets and tear gas?" she replied to Tim's comment on Pahath-Moab putting down a riot. "It sounds bad."

"As opposed to live ammunition, Holly," Chris reminded her. She mouthed the word "Oh..." in response, cringing just a bit.

"What were the riots over?" Chris asked Tim.

When Tim talked about the Elwe, Chris seemed to chew on a thought for a bit. "Niradnis...we didn't interview any of the Niradnis so far. They weren't represented on the Committee even though there are so many of them around? What's their story?"

Dundabend

Chris rode the train out like it was an everyday commute while Travis spent his time worrying about getting blue balls. Holly, on the other hand, was something akin to a small excitable dog when they stopped Dundabend. She seemed to find the people fascinating in particular, or at least for the context of their job. "Hey! They're Elwe, aren't they? This could be good, let's go get a couple of shots," Holly said, rising from her seat.

"Wait, hold on, we don't want to get left behind," Travis protested.

"Left behind? Haven't you ever ran to catch a subway?" she asked in a playful condescending tone.

"There's a ton of people trying to get on the train. We don't want to lose our seats," Travis said, motioning to the window.

"We won't lose our seats, we'll be back in a couple of minutes, I'm going with a camera if you're not," she said.

Travis looked at Chris and replied "Good luck," to Holly. When she left with a smile, a digital camera, and a few dollars from her wallet, Travis rolled his eyes around in the back of his head. Chris had been watching the vendors outside; he'd been undecided on going for photos and was looking for any opportunities. When he next looked back, he noticed a familiar-looking piece of paper sticking out of the front pocket of Holly's bag.

"Isn't that...uh oh," he said, reaching over to inspect it closer. "Yep, Holly's ticket...and probably almost all of her money, and I would guess her phone. Well...guess I'd better go find her before she's stranded in Dundabend. Uh...anyone want to help look for her before the train leaves her behind?"

Travis replied "I'll stay here and reserve our spot. I'm not getting off this train unless all our equipment is coming with me," he said.

"Fine. Tim? Christina?"

[New Edom]

Dundabend

Tim shrugged. “Why did they riot? Well…”

Mon Apr 30, 2012: Riot in Brightwater

"ECO-TOPIA! ECO-TOPIA!" a group of the protestors on the Elwe were shouting.

"RIGHT TO WORK! RIGHT TO WORK!" loggers were shouting.

Amidst this faint shouts could be heard, of "help us!" "help her!" "Get a doctor!" and wordless shrieks of pain and fear; the tear gas earlier flung by some panicked police officers had mingled with dust and fire hose spray to make a swirling fog. People clambered onto one of an APC that was trying to move into the crowd and in some cases were sprayed off by hoses, smacking the pavement. The crowd surged around a police car, shoving it over onto its side with a mighty crash and a shattering of glass.

The brawl happening south of the river was not a huge issue to deal with; the one to the north of the river was. It was in an open park area and shouts and flailing signs and swiftly moving fists and feet, clubs and roars and screams were heard as the crowd swirled around. A woman was being pulled back by an anxious faced young man, her face bleeding, the man calling out "Someone help!" But there was no one person--clearly the police were trying to put out fires here and there but were unable to be everywhere at once--breaking up a fight here, trying to hold a line of plastic shields there. As far as Second Lieutenant Adah Weber could tell, there had been two groups of demonstrators, two political groups--one made up of angry lumber and mine workers, one made up of Elwe Independence supporters. The EIO had gained enormous ground over the last two weeks and it was infuriating and frightening the working class inhabitants of Brightwater. Many of the people struggling were possibly people panicking, but it looked like a big swirling scrum, moving down the street and back and forth like a river. In the midst of it were people who were either hysterical, looters--it was hard to say but some nearby shop windows were being smashed.


Hussars

The regiment spread out around the area to control the streets. Lieutenant Weber ordered her platoon, which consisted of 4 APCs and a scout vehicle, to go and cut off one road in. She could see even as she moved up to block the street a large group of Elwe in a group of pickup trucks approaching, wearing a mix of modern clothing and forest paint and feathers. One of them called out, "Our people are getting brutalized up there, we just got the call! Let us help them!" the man looked outraged. Weber saw phone cameras pointing at her.

Shit, she thought. She made her face expressionless, almost wishing for a balaclava like the Norvenians had. "This road is blocked off by the New Edomite Army! You are ordered to return to your homes immediately!"

There were angry shouts of derision at this, and hands and fists waved in the air. "We're streaming this!" the man shouted at her. "We want justice done!"

Weber raised her megaphone. "This city is still under martial law and the government of the Allied States of New Edom. There is a riot in progress and you are interfering with the dispersal of it! You have ten seconds to return to your vehicles and return home, or you will be charged with formenting insurrection and treated accordingly!"

The Elwe began to sing a chant, while the man said, "We are peaceful protestors, engaged in civil disobedience against military government in a city in our own land..."

Weber checked her watch and then hopped down from the APC. "Sergeant, fix bayonets."

Normally what you were supposed to do was walk march up to them, but Weber was fed up with being jeered at and fed up with trying to reason with those who could not reason, and anyway she had her orders. As she walked to the front of the line she unslung her own rifle and fixed her own bayonet neatly. "Platoon--atten-tion! Ready! En-garde!" the platoon shouted a traditional Baran battle cry that gave pause to the protestors. It had never been given without bloodshed in the history of the regiment.

The Elwe protestors began to get back into their vehicles, but the man shouted, "This is not the last of this! You'll hear from us again, you Baran bitch!"

There was a loud hissing sound, and the three fire trucks began to spray the crowd, bowling people over, forcing them back, splitting them up. It was being done tactically, with Captain Shobal, watching dispassionately, then ordering another platoon into the mix to break people up into still smaller groups. His main purpose was not yet to arrest anyone, merely to stop the rioting. He noticed here and there people not moving much--injured or possibly dead, he didn't know which yet. His main purpose was breaking up the crowd. The fierce water began to play over the crowd, though some, defiant, tried to pick up riot shields discarded by retreating police to act as a barrier, though it was like holding up armor against a monsoon.

Norvenians

The three Norvenians arrived with cameras and sound equipment. The park seemed a solid mass of writhing humanity, and the din was almost deafening. Lauren brought her car to a screeching halt just behind the New Edomite APCs. The doors flew open and the two journalists piled out, both brandishing their press passes. Lauren shouted to make herself heard over the noise of the riot: "Press! Press!"

She didn't like the looks of this. The riot police were being forced back, and the only other option for keeping order seemed to be the skirmish line of soldiers; Lauren shared with most Norvenians an abhorrence of chaos, but she hated the idea of unarmed civilians being gunned down in the streets even more. 'Power of the press, ' she thought grimly. Norvenian media coverage had shaped the course of events in Raith Immel once already; she could at least hope that it could do so again. 'The soldiers may be less willing to shoot if they know they're doing it live on international television.'

Like any frontline correspondents, Tim and Lauren had rapid setup down to an art. Within sixty seconds, as Rozsara dove into the crowd, Tim had his camera up on a tripod covering the roiling mass of rioters, and Lauren was speaking quickly, almost shouting to be heard over the din. "This is Lauren Russel for NCB News, live from Brightwater in Raith Immel Province, New Edom, where riots appear to have broken out between local Elwe protestors and the largely non-Elwe loggers who have been out of work for some time. The violence here" - Lauren adroitly ducked a stone - "is almost unbelievable, and the New Edomite authorities appear to be responding with even greater force: behind me, you can see soldiers and armored vehicles from the New Edomite Army, and it appears that fire hoses - yes, fire hoses - are being used against the rioters." She took a deep breath. "There are clearly a lot of people already dead or injured, but there is still no reliable information on how many, or what the trigger was for this outburst of violence..."

Hussars

Lieutenant Weber received her orders. She snapped them out to her unit. "Platoon--masks!" the squad leaders relayed her orders; they put on their breathing masks, and waited as the apcs began to fire gas grenades from their launchers into the crowd. Soon the crowd was facing the swirling bitterness of tear gas. Moments later the order to fire came. Panic whipped through the crowd as they began to hear the sound of rifles firing; unaware that they were rubber bullets, they ran this way and that through the smoke, some of them falling from the pain of the impact, and mashing together like fleeing sardines from sharks they began to tumble as a mass--some were trampled and crushed.

People rushed by the side street towards where Lauren was, but already the platoon commander there had ordered his 30 troops forward into an advancing line, their gas masks giving them an insect like appearance, their rifles firing into the crowd. .

For the crowd, there was no way except into the open ground of the park behind them that led to open fields and farm country. Every other street they faced soldiers in gas masks with APCs backing them up.

General Pahath-Moab, to New Edomite Journalists

“Near as we can figure out from the militia reports, there were two political marches that blundered into one another, and words and then blows were exchanged. But I've been getting reports from my officers in the thick of it that some of the rioters seem to have been somewhat organized. I have a suspicion that someone wanted a fight and got one.”

“That’s about it,” said Tim. “Nalayan peacekeepers, Norvenian, Shrailleeni and Ali-Zebu helped provide medical assistance. It was a mess, tempers were pretty high. A lot of the Norvenian information was exaggerated, they tended to freak out about everything, overdo everything. Nice people but...very foreign." he grinned. "Even more than present company."

He noticed a little later that Holly was gone. “We don’t have forever, where’d she go?” he exclaimed. “That was a damned silly thing to do…well I’ll help you, Christina—“

“I’m staying here,” she said curtly, thinking Holly was trying to get attention. She wanted to like her, but she secretly resented her a bit, flaunting her wealth fancy clothes, getting all the attention, Miss Big Foreign Film Director. She didn’t like how that made her feel about herself though and let it go for now as best she could, busying herself in her work.

Tim and Olson meanwhile had to move through the busy crowd; unfortunately there were other clothed people around—foreign aid workers, eco-tourists with backpacks ad long lanky hair, soldiers, New Edomite clergy.

Meanwhile, several Elwe posed for pictures (for a small fee of course) showing their leaf pattern paint on arms, legs and faces, their flowing side locks and modified ears to good effect. She also got shots that were unposed—Elwe selling food at the side of the train, an Elwe with a wheeled cart pulling a cage full of young Capybaras, another Elwe, milky eyed and blind, being led by a young boy whose hair he grasped firmly in hand, walking robed and dignified, the crowd not making a big deal but giving him room.

Then a man painted blue with yellow stripes across his belly and chest, holding a clipboard, with a utility belt, was demanding her ticket of her. When she did not have it, he shook his head and said, “Then you must buy one. Though you can buy one on the train if you ride third class. I am sorry, dear lady…all aboard for Brightwater! All aboard for Brightwater!”

[Hittanryan]

Dundabend

When Olsen and Tim left, Travis was left alone with Christina. Not wanting to sit there like a lump, he tried to strike up a conversation. "Is it just me or is Holly not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed? She probably means well, but you ask me, she's probably never left Puerto Rojo before coming here. So, where are you from, Christina? How did you end up working for this elections Committee?"

Chris and Tim spent a fruitless effort trying to find Holly in the crowd while she enjoyed herself taking pictures. "How hard can it be to find one Adiran woman on a train platform in New Edom?" Olsen muttered as they kept looking.

After browsing the market for more footage and buying a small bunch of berries from a vendor, Holly realized she needed to get back. She made her way back through the crowd and got in a short line. Then a man painted blue with yellow stripes across his belly and chest, holding a clipboard, with a utility belt, was demanding her ticket of her. When she did not have it, he shook his head and said, “Then you must buy one. Though you can buy one on the train if you ride third class. I am sorry, dear lady…all aboard for Brightwater! All aboard for Brightwater!”

"Sure, I've got it...here..." Holly said, rifling through her pockets one by one. "Oh my God...um, sir, I have a ticket, I'm riding with four other people, can I get on and I promise I'll be right back with the ticket?"

"I'm afraid not, and please do not take the Lord's name in vain," he said with disapproval. "And where's your waiver?"

Her heart started pounding as he said the word 'waiver.' "It's in my purse, on the train...I'll be right back..." she said, backing away. The attendant shrugged; he was a rail official after all, not a militiaman, and let her go, giving her an irritated look. Holly was kicking herself. They said not to carry around a purse, especially in crowds. But that was where she kept all her stuff! Pockets were too small for most of it.

The attendant, however, said you could get on the train and buy a ticket afterwards if you rode Third Class. If she could just get on the train, maybe the others would find her. She made her way down towards the Third Class cars at a brisk pace as the crowd thinned a bit.

Olsen and Tim were still looking for her near the vendors, when they heard the call to board. Olsen was just about ready to start tearing through the crowd, when he finally saw a woman making a run for it in a red top. That certainly looked like Holly, but she was heading for Third Class. Probably realized she was missing something by now. At this point she was too far away to catch without Tim and Chris missing the boarding, and it looked like she was getting on the train. He would just have to navigate his way down to Third Class with her ticket.

"Damn it..." he said, turning to TIm. "Are city girls this much trouble in New Edom too?"

[New Edom]

Christina smiled at Travis. It was still odd to see someone in real life she had only seen in foreign television. "I'm from Aphek, which is a little town outside Fineberg. It's weird, growing up it was a really long bicycle ride, now I'm used to traveling that distance in minutes. Aphek only had 1600 people. I moved before it got shot up by peacekeepers. Anyway I got a scholarship for being a good student and got to go to Fineberg U, then I got a job interning at the Ministry of Education. I got a paid job finally and I was working for Inter-City Planning. I mostly write analysis reports. I know..." she laughed, her teeth flashing, "Not the most exciting job in the world. I guess it stood out enough that Dr. Ashren asked me to work with him directly for the Elections Committee. I've mostly been working on educational development, so I guess it fits."

Tim thought of his own wife. “They can be,” he said. “You’ll have to do it from the train—why is she going down there, why didn’t she come and rap on our window? Come on, last boarding call.” How would they film without their director?

Meanwhile, Holly found herself climbing up the steps and into a car with simple row seating, but the aisles were busy with people. There was an immediate wave of scents, sounds ad feelings as others were clambering on behind her. It was like a zoo and a crowded locker room all at once.

A heavily pregnant Elwe girl, painted all over with leaves and flowers, her mantle exposing her huge belly which was painted with a coiling serpent, looked up at her in surprise, then looked away and whispered to a young Elwe sitting across from her holding a toddler in a cloth diaper on his lap. An older couple sat nearer the window, dozing, their withered bodies painted as well, mantles draped around them loosely. Across the aisle a rawboned looking woman with long dark hair entirely Edenist sat holding a large muttering chicken on her lap partly wrapped in burlap, while a middle aged man missing one leg below the knee and half a hand sat staring ahead into nothingness. A pair of soldiers, both looking very young, perhaps barely eighteen, were talking quietly and sharing a cigarette. They looked at Holly, smiled at her, and then spoke in a Haranese dialect to one another.

“Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all powders of the merchant?…” one said.

“Like a thread of scarlet…a piece of pomegranate…” the other agreed, giving her a sly second glance.

There were railings to hang onto if you didn’t have a seat—in front of her a young Cornellian couple were talking in rapid accented latin, they both had light olive skin, fair brown hair, he was a man in his early thirties with a lean body and he looked into the woman’s eyes tenderly; they had just put their shoulder bags up in a rack above the nearest seat. They were both natural edeinsts clearly from their all over tans and complete exposure. Every movement had normally private areas bobbing and swaying. The woman kept touching his arm and hand softly, and they seemed to have a hard time taking their eyes off one another’s faces. The woman at one point as the train began to move bumped backwards and seemed startled by Holly--she leaned forward and muttered to the man, "Femina transmarina cotaris est..." The man shook his head and gave her a hug.

There were racks for light luggage; a man was arguing with a sweating train attendant about it. “This has to weigh at least thirty kilos, I want it in the baggage compartment now.”

“but I’ll miss my train—you don’t understand, I have to be at that job fair in Brightwater! Have some compassion!” shouted the man. “Do you see this tyrant in his blue paint, good people?”

“Hey, enough, the rules are posted everywhere and we announce them over the loudspeaker!” shouted the attendant back. “I have work to do, don’t pester me, and get that bag off there!”

“Come on, there’s nothing else up there, just move it at the next stop,” said a round faced bespectacled man wearing construction worker’s vest, safety boots and coveralls.

“Give a man a badge he’s like a dog with a bone—“ said a woman a few rows down loudly like a greek chorus, not addressing anyone particularly.

“Shut up, mind your own business!” yelled the attendant. “Alright, shut up, tickets! I want tickets now!”

“Let the man leave his suitcase there,” said the soft voice of an Apostolic priest in threadbare black robes, his bare feet looking tough as leather, his face seamed but strong with age. “What is the harm?”

“If he ask thy cloak, give thy shirt also,” agreed one of the young soldiers.

“Fine, alright, tickets, now, tickets!” he moved and shoved his way along. “Fifteen coppers to Brightwater, fifty to Nass!”

[New Edom]

Fineberg, New Edom: Four Days Earlier

Cigar and cigarette smoke hung in a haze in the air; the room smelled of the smoke, of cologne and weariness.

Judge Balaam, got up to move around a little bit; Bishop Arminius puffed on a cigarillo and examined the last points made. “Well, what we have thus far is agreement on one person, one vote, and one voting district, one election. And are we agreed on the single transferable vote system?”

“I think we’re agreed on that,” Balaam said. “I think it’s the best way to end the threat of sectarian violence—in this test scenario.”

“We all know it’s a test. Stop saying it like ‘in accordance with the prophecy,’” said the governor of Bara irritably, stubbing out his cigarette.

“Excuse me for living,” said Justice Balaam testily.

“Let us all be as friends,” suggested Bishop Arminius. “So that brings us to the quotas.”

“I have a question,” said Professor Delmar. “Who gets to vote? Household heads? Every individual over a certain age? There are many views on how this ought to be done. And I think it should be made clear that regardless of that that women should be considered eligible to vote. After all, more households than ever are now headed by women.”

“Ah!” exclaimed the governor of Bara.

“Hm…” said Count Ekron thoughtfully.

“Good point!” exclaimed Count Nabal.

“And age—we must have justice with regard to age, at least in this test,” said Deputy Minister Cotta, ignoring the groans that followed this. “So let’s settle on—14?”

“Fourteen is unacceptable,” said Governor Aurangzb. “When our Saviour went into the Temple—“

“Thirteen,” said High Prince Findi Lamat firmly. “How can we say that a citizen of Raith Immel may marry, carry arms, start a business, but cannot vote? It’s absurd.”

“Truly, the foreign lands extend childhood, but we cannot afford to do so among the Imed either.” Luachar Dedad agreed.

“The Elwe and Haranese agree?” exclaimed Dr. Ashren. “How exciting—do you realize, we’re having our own little version of a vote, an election right here! How delightful!”

“Women, fine—what about retards? After all, retards are people, just like us—“ said Deputy Minister Cotta.

“No! Forget it! Out of the question!” those who shouted this down had nothing against the mentally handicapped per se—but they did want to block one of Cain’s initiatives wherever they could, feeling Cain stood too high in the favour of the President already.

“Fine,” said Cotta curtly.

“Very well then. We have a general plan,” said Admiral Shalmaneser, suppressing a yawn. “Thank you all. We shall resume tomorrow.”

“Wait, we haven’t tallied the voting yet,” protested Bishop Arminius.

“We are not a democracy yet. I am pleased with what has been proposed, and as Chairman, I declare that we shall use a proportional single transferable vote system which will admit all citizens of the voting district aged 13 and over, excluding the insane and retards. Thank you all.”

Vice-Admiral Shalmaneser rose, the others did too, and gratefully made their way to the door, to bodily relief or nourishment or rest.