Future Days

Chapter 12: Our Idealistic Heroes Participate In The Round Table

The following is a transcript of the Round Table Discussion between the village-goers of Orito and The Gang of Idealistic Heroes:

Natalie: Hello, I would like to welcome everyone here and would like to thank all of you for coming.

Andrew: Thank you participating in this.

Natalie: Of course. This is the right way to do things.

Andrew: I happen to agree. I would like to introduce Village Leader Lexi.

Lexi: Hello, I lead two of our ten villages here. I have been a Village Leader for over a year now. I am excited at the prospect of working with all of you who are part of the Phoenix Group.

Natalie: Thank you. We appreciate that.

Lexi: Would you like to explain what your purpose as a group is? And why we should potentially offer our resources or people?

Natalie: Well, I'll try to give an answer that makes sense. We want to form a proper and righteous democracy around the galaxy. We plan on having a base on Hielo. Our co-founder, Nathan, is from Hielo. With everything that has happened since the Incident, Hielo has little clean-up. Very few people lived there. The climate is not the best, of course.

The round table laughs.

Natalie: But, it can be a safe place to figure out our organization and the next steps that we must take. Clearly, we need to recruit other planets and people around the galaxy to participate. For those who are still alive. Obviously, we have far less people and resources to work with than ever before. But we believe we can make this work. And we would love the support of the people of Orito. We think you have a special place here.

Lexi: I am prepared to take a vote today with the other village leaders to make Orito another base of operations for this cause. We were no friends of the Lamphis regime. We believe in democracy here. We believe in setting up a peaceful organization of leaders and representatives that give the people a voice because that is exactly what we do here. I very much doubt that many of our members here have many qualms for what you stand for. But what we need to know is if you are truly capable of doing this. We think, as a collective of village leaders, that we can help you set-up this organizational cause because we already have our own mini democracy here.

Natalie: That makes sense.

Lexi: How do you feel about giving us a voice in this situation?

Natalie: I would appreciate giving all of you a voice. I think it would be the right thing to do.

Lexi: Well, alright then. What I want to hear, before we take a vote, is from some of our local villagers. Joseph has graciously decided to give us his time as the opposition. Neko has graciously decided to give us her time as the supporter of this cause. Joseph, go ahead.

Joseph: Thank you for your time, that goes for all of you. I have many reasons for why I oppose this measure but let me make it simple. We have a great organization here on Orito. It is peaceful and we all work together. We have a small organization of local government that works for us. I do not see how we can bring this onto a galaxy-wide stage. It seems unrealistic and far too daunting. Besides all of that, the idea of bringing something like this together after what has happened, after all of those who have died...it seems unreal. I don't see a realistic way to make this work. It seems truly impossible.

Natalie: What can we do to convince you otherwise?

Joseph: I very much doubt you could. I just don't see how to make this work. This new world we live in, it barely even changed us on Orito. We just don't have to deal with the Lamphis regime bullies anymore. In some ways, this whole thing was a good situation for us. We can finally just live together in harmony. The idea of putting together an entire government organization from the remains of that fascist regime seems unrealistic.

Lexi: Do you have more for us, Joseph?

Joseph: I do not.

Lexi: Neko, go ahead.

Neko: Thank you for your time today. I understand where Joseph is coming from. I get it. But people are suffering throughout the galaxy. We have been informed about those humans who have been turned into these...things. We have been informed about all the death and destruction across the galaxy. The idea of leaving these people behind and have them fending for themselves is absurd to me. We need to lend a helping hand to these people. We need to bring some level of structure to the galaxy. I'm sure it won't be long until someone decides to come to Orito itself and reign with chaos. We need to stop that before it even has a real, genuine chance to thrive. Bringing democracy to the galaxy, especially this galaxy after everything, will be a daunting task, but I think, as members of this village, we need to offer our helping hand, whether that means some of us going to Hielo or staying on Orito to establish it as a thriving place for a galaxy-wide democracy. We have a real opportunity in front of us. And I would love to work with the Phoenix gGoup and Natalie to bring all of this together. We can do something new. We can bring something bold to the table. We can change the world...together. Or we can sit in our bubble here on Orito. I can't say I'm interested in doing that.

Lexi: Do you have more for us, Neko?

Neko: I do not.

Lexi: Does anyone have any objections or thoughts before we bring this to a vote amongst our village reps and leaders?

Silence.

Lexi: Well then, we will have our ten village leaders write their votes down and our ten village reps write their votes down and I will read them aloud.

A moment is taken to write down their votes and they are then passed along to Village Leader Lexi.

Lexi: I will now read the village leaders votes aloud. Lexi, Yes. Andrew, Yes. Nicholas, Yes. Benny, No. Nicole, Yes. Antony, No. Alexander, No. Bruce, No. Elena, Yes. Price, No. We have a split vote between the village leaders. 5 to 5. Hopefully, the village reps will help break the vote.

She pulls out the pieces of papers from the village reps.

Lexi: I will now read the village reps votes. Lucas, No. Joseph, No. Neko, Yes. Travis, Yes. Peter, No. Bailey, Yes. Tony, Yes. Joey, No. And our final vote: Pharrell, Yes. The measure passes, 11-9. Orito will be a base of operation for the Phoenix group and the galaxy's new democracy alongside Hielo. Half of our village reps and leaders will be sent to Hielo to help establish it as a base of operations alongside Orito. I thank all of you for your time tonight and I am looking forward to the bright future our galaxy has.

Natalie looked at Nathan with a bright look on her face. They had done it. They had established something new for the galaxy. They were taking it to new heights. Now, they simply had to push further, row that boat faster, and take the galaxy to this bright future.

It was electrifying.