Part 2: Taking Control
Chapter 26: The Greedy and Ungrateful
A few weeks earlier in the Capital Region. Pardi Carvaress was sitting on his sofa with a plate on his lap. On this plate was a seemingly stale donut decorated with the word ‘dad’. His twin daughters, Yassme and Yassmay, were sitting at the kitchen table with a box of cakes in front of them.
‘The ones with the chocolate sprinkles are the best,’ said Yassmay.
‘You only think that because you haven’t tried the blue and pink striped ones yet,’ responded Yassme.
‘You shouldn’t be eating cakes for breakfast. They are not nutritious, and they’ll just make you hyper all day,’ said Pardi as he turned around.
‘Everyone has a right to eat cake,’ replied Yassme.
‘Said who?’ replied Pardi in an annoyed tone.
‘The television,’ responded both girls at the same time as they pointed to the television screen.
The headline, ‘Cake is now a right, not a privilege’, flashed across the screen.
Pardi slapped his forehead in annoyance. ‘Our world is being destroyed with stupidity,’ he exclaimed.
‘I don’t understand how cake could possibly be stupid,’ said Yassme as she pulled a pretend sad face.
‘The cake is not stupid. The decision to give everyone free cakes is stupid,’ responded Pardi in an exasperated voice.
The girls shook their heads in disagreement.
‘Sapiens work so they can earn tokens. They exchange the tokens for cake. If you give them cake, they will not want to work anymore, understand?’ said Pardi as he waved his hands around.
The girls looked at each other and turned to face Pardi. ‘You are wrong,’ they said in unison.
‘One cake a week is not sufficient to keep anyone happy,’ said Yassmay.
‘The sweet taste will be a reminder of what they are missing out on the other six days,’ said Yassme.
‘They will definitely work many more hours and not less,’ said Yassmay.
‘Besides, tokens can also be exchanged for other nice things, such as ice cream,’ said Yassme.
‘We shouldn’t limit ourselves to just one food group,’ said Yassmay.
‘I bet these free cakes taste awful anyway,’ said Pardi just before he took a big bite into Yassme’s blue and pink striped cake. ‘Damn, they taste soooo good,’ he said in frustration.
‘We made you a donut. You should probably eat that,’ said Yassme in an annoyed tone.
Later that day, Pardi visited Representative Collingswaggle. Collingswaggle was a representative from the Cellrebrum Region. His views aligned very closely with those of most of the big business owners. However, he faced strong opposition from the representatives who aligned with the House of Divine Knowledge. He was also struggling to gain support from the more neutral representatives. This resulted in his failing to become a governor.
Collingswaggle had two offices. One in the Cellrebrum Region and one in the Capital Region. He spent more time in the Capital Region as he wanted to obtain as much exposure as possible so that he could gain support from the other representatives. Being in the Capital Region enabled him to have more contact with business leaders such as Pardi Carvaress.
‘I am very disappointed with last week’s debate and even more so with the outcome of the vote,’ said Pardi to Collingswaggle.
‘This one was a difficult one for us to challenge,’ replied Collingswaggle.
‘It feels like every few weeks, a “privilege” becomes a “right”,’ stated Pardi in a firm tone. ‘Last month, it was balcony barbeques. Two weeks before that, it was condiments. The month before that, it was roller skates.’
‘They say it keeps the Sapiens happy,’ replied Collingswaggle. ‘It gives them a sense that we are always progressing towards a better life. I fear this has become an expectation we are not going to easily reverse.’
‘In other words, you are saying this trend of more lavish “rights” is going to continue,’ said Pardi.
‘Well, you are still rich and getting richer, and so are most of the other business owners,’ remarked Collingswaggle.
‘We definitely could be doing much better,’ stated Pardi firmly. ‘However, it’s not all about wealth. It’s about control. We shouldn’t be the ones conceding to the whims of others when they should be the ones serving us.’
‘I entirely agree with you, but we are in the minority,’ replied Collingswaggle. ‘The females have a powerful say these days. They are very much into this equality stuff.’
‘We need to prove them wrong,’ replied Pardi angrily. ‘We need to show them that the average peasant Sapien is greedy, ungrateful, and a potential threat we have ignored for too long.’
Pardi returned to the Carvaress Headquarters in the Capital Region city centre. The building was noticeable for its size and its unique shape. It looked like a large ‘C’ placed on a podium. Pardi’s father, Earl, who sadly died before it was completed, designed the building.
Pardi called his media manager to his office. ‘How are the regions doing?’ asked Pardi.
‘Well, according to each regions’ media, the biggest fear is increasing toxicity in the wastelands,’ replied the media manager as he waved a finger in the air and placed his other hand on his hip. ‘This is a particularly dominant concern in the southern regions.’
‘It’s nice that this story is doing the rounds, but I don’t really need to hear back my own propaganda,’ said Pardi sarcastically.
‘Oh yes, I suppose,’ responded the media manager.
‘Did you intercept any interesting messages?’ asked Pardi with a little impatience.
‘We did indeed. We intercepted several complaints from Sapiens to the local representatives and their departments,’ said the media manager.
‘Okay, let’s hear a sample,’ said Pardi, rubbing his hands together.
The media manager pulled out his handheld computer. He scrolled down the screen for a few seconds. ‘Let me read this one out to you. I think it’s the juiciest one of the week,’ he said. The media manager read out the following message:
Dear Government,
My freezer is on the brink. I took my double scoop of chocolate ice cream up to the rooftop, where I wanted to sit by the swimming pool with my neighbours. I noticed my ice cream was melting much faster than everybody else's. Clearly, their ice cream must have been much colder than mine. Please fix my freezer or replace it. I deserve the same quality ice cream as my neighbours.
Yours Sincerely, RJ.
‘How did the Government department respond?’ asked Pardi.
‘They sent this message,’ said the media manager.
Dear RJ,
We are terribly sorry that your defective freezer is ruining your enjoyment of your ice cream. We will send a replacement over to your apartment by tomorrow.
Regards, Generic Minion.
‘Who the hell is RJ?’ demanded Pardi.
‘He’s an unemployed middle-aged male who likes to blog about ice cream,’ replied the media manager. ‘He recently wrote a post about matching different flavours of ice cream with different types of pies.’
‘So you are saying that this idiot made a ridiculous complaint and the local Government department responded by giving him a brand new freezer the next day,’ inquired Pardi as he grinded his teeth.
‘Better than that. According to the timing of these messages, they responded in fifty-six minutes. The freezer was delivered to his home forty-eight minutes later,’ replied the media manager in a jolly tone. ‘Wow, you’re not going to believe this. They gave him a brand new Carvaress smart fridge-freezer delivered from our regional warehouse. That local Government certainly recognises quality.’
‘Thank you so much; that’ll be all,’ said Pardi as he put his face in his hands.
‘No problem, glad to have been of service,’ responded the media manager as he left the office.
Pardi picked up his phone and called his Head of Security. Ten minutes later, the Head of Security entered Pardi’s office.
‘Any news from the regions we have been monitoring?’ asked Pardi.
‘It’s been mostly quiet, but you might be interested in Adoy,’ replied the Head of Security.
‘What do we have? The start of a rebellion,’ asked Pardi.
‘Not quite. Lots of Sapiens are sneaking around our buildings,’ said the Head of Security.
He showed Pardi some of the video footage from the Carvaress buildings’ security cameras.
‘How often are they sneaking around?’ inquired Pardi.
‘Every few days,’ replied the Head of Security.
‘Good job. At least someone around here is making an effort,’ said Pardi in a loud voice. The Head of Security left the office.
‘Orcille, you are playing this like a pro. Now it’s time to unleash your potential,’ Pardi said to himself. He messaged Orcille to tell him he was going to call him that night.
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