Part 7: We Will Always Rule the World
Chapter 83: The Deal
That night, after Tiberius’ speech in the Downs town square, Orcilla organised a meeting with Tiberius. She also invited Yassmay, Yassme, Vulay, Daily, and L1 Linap. Tiberius invited Duffo, Miro, Jenna, Polly, and Cecil. They met inside the town hall. Orcilla was seated at one end of the table and Tiberius at the other end. To her right were those she invited, and to Tiberius’ right were those he invited.
‘I called this meeting because I want us to come to some sort of agreement as soon as possible,’ said Orcilla.
‘I want exactly the same as you,’ replied Tiberius. ‘The longer we wait, the more lives we put at risk.’
‘I agree we will help you build your new settlements, but you cannot have Downs,’ said Orcilla firmly.
‘My father is not trying to take Downs from you,’ said Jenna. ‘We just need it as a form of temporary residence.’
‘Did you fall out of bed and bump your head really hard this morning?’ asked L1 Linap in a sarcastic tone. ‘Once he takes control of Downs, he’s never giving it up.’
‘Do you know what I find interesting?’ said Tiberius as he looked down the table. ‘You have not asked any original Downs residents to attend this meeting. Why is that? Do you not care about their opinions?’
The room went silent.
‘How much respect do you really have for them?’ asked Tiberius. ‘Or is this just the Orcilla show?’
‘He’s right,’ blurted out Yassme. ‘You should have invited Eugene, Colin, Freddy, and Alex.’
‘They are not here because they would have been manipulated by him,’ said Vulay angrily.
‘That’s sad. That’s very sad,’ said Tiberius, shaking his head. ‘You have no respect for the locals. You’re just here to rule them.’
‘I’ve had enough of this,’ said Orcilla firmly. ‘We’ll help you build your settlements, and you give us the rest of the cure. That’s the deal.’
‘Orcilla, you’re sounding like a dictator,’ said Jenna, shaking her head. ‘Let the residents of Downs decide what they want.’
‘If you had any sense of decency, you would just hand over the cure,’ said L1 Linap angrily. ‘You wouldn’t hold them to ransom like this.’
‘I have to do what’s best for my family,’ said Tiberius firmly. ‘You would understand that if you were really part of it.’
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ replied L1 Linap.
‘She is only here because of her relationship with Demadrian,’ said Tiberius, shaking his head. ‘Her crowning achievement is turning him on his family.’
‘I can confirm that to be true,’ sighed Duffo. ‘She was rotten to me on many occasions.’
‘Let’s keep family business out of this,’ said Vulay in an annoyed tone. ‘Do we have a deal or not?’
‘It’s my deal or nothing,’ said Tiberius as he held his arms out with his palms up.
‘We’re leaving,’ said Orcilla as she got up from the table.
Orcilla’s team left the town hall. They stopped to talk to each other outside.
‘We need that cure,’ said Yassmay, sounding desperate.
‘Jenna is the weak link,’ said L1 Linap. ‘I’ll talk to her tomorrow. I’m sure I can convince her to take our side.’
‘Next time we meet, we need to have at least two original Downs residents at the table,’ said Daily. ‘Otherwise, it looks like we’re controlling the region.’
‘Yassmay, do you mind giving up your spot to Eugene?’ asked Orcilla.
‘If it helps, no problem,’ replied Yassmay.
‘Yassme, do you mind giving up your spot to Colin?’ asked Orcilla.
‘Sure, that sounds fair,’ said Yassme as she smiled.
The next day they met again. Neither side would budge in the talks. Orcilla did not push for a vote as L1 Linap had not succeeded in changing Jenna’s mind, and Eugene seemed confused.
After the meeting, Yassmay approached Colin.
‘Hey Colin, I’d like to ask you about the restocking of medicine at the medical centre,’ said Yassmay to Colin as he left the town hall.
‘You must come to my office,’ said Colin with a smile. ‘I have a super spreadsheet.’
‘That sounds really exciting,’ replied Yassmay in a flat tone.
The two of them walked back to Colin’s office. Colin would not stop talking about his super spreadsheet and his resource board.
They entered the office together.
‘This is my home away from home,’ said Colin as he turned on his computer.
‘Do you spend a lot of time here?’ asked Yassmay.
‘Maybe around twelve hours a day,’ replied Colin. ‘There’s always something that needs updating.’
‘I had no idea,’ said Yassmay. ‘Do you get many visitors?’
‘Not that many,’ replied Colin. ‘Julie comes over around three times a week with the donuts I order.’
‘They are really nice,’ said Yassmay, nodding her head.
‘I have the stock of medication in this file,’ said Colin as he pointed at the screen.
Colin clicked open the file. He scrolled down the page. Yassmay grabbed his arm.
‘This can’t be right,’ she said in horror as she looked at the quantity of Orcilla’s medication remaining. ‘Why is there so little? Who’s been taking it?’
‘I’ll check this file,’ said Colin as he opened another spreadsheet file. ‘I’ll sort by item. Ah, yes, it’s being withdrawn every Thursday.’
‘Who’s withdrawing it? What else are they withdrawing?’ said Yassmay in an angry tone.
Colin clicked on a tab. He looked at the screen and raised his eyebrows.
‘Well?’ asked Yassmay.
‘It says you’ve been withdrawing it,’ replied Colin. ‘The spreadsheet shows that you added it to your regular withdrawals a few weeks ago.’
‘If I were the one withdrawing it, why would I be asking about it?’ shouted Yassmay as she slammed her fist on Colin’s desk.
Colin fell off his chair in fear. ‘Please, I… I don’t know,’ stammered Colin as he put his hands on his head. ‘I don’t ask. Orcilla gave you unlimited access to resources. Please don’t hit me.’
Yassmay kicked Colin’s desk hard, causing a leg to buckle and for it to collapse. Colin shuffled across the floor to the corner of the room.
Yassmay closed her eyes for a few seconds, and then she looked over at Colin. He was crouched and shaking in the corner of the room.
‘I’m sorry,’ said Yassmay to him. ‘It’s not your fault. I’ll fix your desk.’
Later that day, Yassme was returning home after visiting Hamlet in the Agriculture Zone. Yassmay was waiting for her by the fence.
‘Hey sister,’ called out Yassme. ‘Do you want to pick up some snowballs for dinner?’
‘You’ve gone too far,’ said Yassmay as her face turned red. ‘You’re trying to kill Orcilla.’
‘Don’t be silly! It was just a punch,’ said Yassme, shaking her head. ‘She got over it pretty quick.’
‘What are you talking about?’ said Yassmay as she stood directly in front of Yassme.
‘The time she was ill,’ replied Yassme as a confused look came over her face. ‘What are you talking about?’
‘I’m talking about all those times you impersonated me to make withdrawals of resources,’ said Yassmay as she grabbed Yassme’s arms.
‘Yes, I make things,’ said Yassme. ‘I need resources. You have unlimited access. Colin, let me sign out as you. He’s really nice.’
‘Who are you?’ shouted Yassmay as she began to shake Yassme hard.
‘I’m your sister; that hurts,’ said Yassme. ‘You’ve never hurt me before.’
Yassmay released Yassme. ‘I’d never hurt my sister,’ said Yassmay as tears began to roll down her face.
‘I know, it’s okay,’ said Yassme in a calming voice. ‘You just need to stay calm.’
‘Orcilla is my sister,’ said Yassmay as tears continued to flow down her face. ‘You’re just my clone.’
Yassme stared back at Yassmay with a confused look on her face. Yassmay clenched her fist and punched Yassme in the face as hard as she could. Yassme immediately dropped to the ground.
Yassmay stared down at her for a few seconds. Then she ran off crying.
The next day, another meeting was arranged between Orcilla and Tiberius. As before, they both invited five others to join them. This time, Orcilla invited Eugene, Colin, Freddy, Denise, and L1 Linap, and Tiberius invited Jenna, Miro, Polly, Duffo, and Cecil. Colin was still in distress. Therefore, Alex replaced him.
‘Changing the cards in your deck is not going to make a difference,’ said Tiberius as he looked at the several new faces on Orcilla’s side of the table. ‘Accept my offer, and you can save lives. Don’t accept, and their blood will be on your hands.’
‘I’m from Adoy,’ said Denise. ‘We sacrificed everything to win our freedom. We are not going to give up.’
‘If you value freedom so much, why not put our proposal to a public vote?’ asked Jenna as she looked across at Denise. ‘The cameras popping up everywhere have also not escaped my attention.’
‘We have three Downs leaders at this table,’ said Orcilla. ‘They represent the Downs residents, and they oppose your proposal.’
‘The great freedom-loving Head Enforcer, his boyfriend, and a random fruit guy,’ chuckled Duffo.
‘Freddy is the greatest asset this region has ever had,’ said Eugene as he placed his hand on Freddy’s shoulder.
‘I offer you ten carts of fruit in exchange for the cure,’ said Alex, nodding emphatically.
‘If you’re not serious,’ sighed Tiberius, ‘we might as well leave.’
‘We’ll put it to a vote,’ said Orcilla. ‘My proposal versus yours.’
‘A vote at this table would only result in a deadlock,’ said Miro.
‘I mean a public vote, as suggested by Jenna,’ said Orcilla as she raised one eyebrow. ‘My proposal versus yours.’
‘No, we’re not doing that,’ said Tiberius.
‘What are you afraid of?’ said L1 Linap. ‘Scared you’ll lose. Maybe your proposal is not that good or that fair.’
‘The vote will be our proposal or nothing,’ said Tiberius angrily. ‘You don’t get to control both positions.’
Orcilla looked at L1 Linap; she nodded.
‘Okay, we agree,’ said Orcilla, smiling.
‘That’s great,’ said Jenna. ‘I feel that’s fair, don’t you?’ she added as she looked at Tiberius.
Tiberius frowned.
‘It’s what you just proposed,’ said L1 Linap. ‘Surely you couldn’t have changed your mind.’
‘I have not,’ replied Tiberius. ‘We’ll have a public vote tomorrow.’
‘That’s not possible,’ said Orcilla. ‘The logistics will take at least a week to sort out.’
‘What are you trying to pull here?’ asked Duffo in a slightly raised voice.
‘It’s called respecting democracy,’ said L1 Linap.
‘So it’s agreed. We’ll have a public vote a week from tomorrow,’ said Miro in a chirpy tone.
L1 Linap looked at Tiberius and smiled.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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