Jan watched all of the Orbital Platform Blocks delegations to the Government Seat immediately trigger their Vote of No Confidence, in solidarity with their fellows, as those that lived on Orbital Platforms were known to do.
The Orbital Platforms vote was expected by Jan as they had been the hardest hit by low agriculture output throughout the entire Federation. As the planets experienced drastic reductions in goods and products, the Government Seat had placed greater and greater demands on the Orbital Platforms to produce the majority of the agriculture products for the planet based citizens of the Federation. This had a dramatic impact on the Arcology's volume of exports to the Upmanc Conglomerate, which was the largest source of their income, which was the same for everyone else in the Federation.
With the Orbital Arcologies having populations only slightly larger than those found on the Orbital Manufacturing Platforms in stationary orbits around the Federations four gas giant planets, the income reduction and increased work load had a double impact on the daily lives of those in the Blocks.
There was a momentary pause after all of the Block delegations had signaled their position and the room fell nearly silent, only the sound of harsh whispers filled the auditorium as the other delegations consulted with one another or made hasty Streams to their home planets for instructions on how to proceed.
In moments the lights over various delegations around the auditorium began to signal their agreement with the Vote of No Confidence.
Jan rose to his feet and went to the podium, knowing that the time in which a disaster could still be averted was almost lost.
"Delegates to the Government Seat of the Phoer Federation, I ask that you postpone your votes for a moment." Jan said as he stood at the podium Orthor had just vacated. "I, Jan Doris, of the Select Council, ask that we all listen to a brief report that I have Streamed to the Government Seat's Recorder desk." Jan said to the delegates in the auditorium.
He was pleased to see that the vote had slowed down and the Delegates were giving him their attention.
Jan looked downward at the ring of functionaries that sat in a well separating the Select Council from the various Councilor Delegations. "Recorder, please read out the report I have submitted to the recorded memory of the body?" He asked simply while slightly turning his head away and down, as if listening intently to the reading of the data he had submitted.
One lone Sep'Talist woman with gray hair tied back in a neat bun, wearing her dark green with yellow trim robes of office, stood from her seat in the middle position of the Well. She was the official Recorder for all Government Seat proceedings and held the responsibility for maintenance of all documents generated by the Delegations and their individual Councilors.
Her confidant voice was amplified by her Data Port, allowing her to be clearly heard by every individual in the auditorium. "The Phoer Federation has experienced a sixty eight percent reduction in all agriculture production in the last five annual cycles, as measured by the rotation of planet Nearous around star Nearous. The loss in income to the Phoer Federation has resulted in a dramatic increase in production requirements from all Orbital Platforms. All Orbital Platforms have lost a combined eighty seven percent of their revenues in sales to the Upmanc Conglomerate due to the government mandated need for feeding and maintaining the basic needs of the Phoer Federation population."
"Current Government projections indicate that the situation will continue or worsen for an indeterminate amount of time." The Recorder concluded in a flat tone. No member of the Governement could deny that they heard her final words being delivered with a slight trimmer in her voice.
All of the Delegations had fallen silent with the verbalization of data they all knew.
