Cinder's Story: a Lunar Chronicles Fanfic

Chapter Twenty-Four: A Monotonous Monologue

"How do you think I became queen, Winter? By killing my family? No- not by that alone.

"What makes the world go around? Morality? Idealism? No- not by a long shot.

"My influence has less to do with psychological manipulation, and more to do with a simple tipping of the scales. You see, the cycle of history works as follows: The rich pay the media to spread fear. The fearful believe that they are in danger of some predatorial entity. They pay the wealthy for power against their predators. The predators retaliate, validating the media and spreading more fear in the process. The military industrial complex continues to put money into the coffers of the rich. It's easier to let lives be taken and profit thereby, than to take action against a lucrative opportunity.

"As for me, to avoid war, I simply consolidate. I pay lobbyists to influence the politicians that people place their faith in, to pass laws that place power into large businesses under my thumb- businesses such as Aperture Science. The extra watevs go to different media outlets and think tanks to produce narratives and propaganda to further my agenda, or obfuscate my presence in the public eye. I advertise for the politicians that people put their trust in, who are influenced by my lobbyists to pass laws that further my agenda. If my subjects are led to believe that I exist outside of their comprehension... that I have no real hold on their livelihoods... and instead that some incurable disease is the true threat- a threat that only the Aperture Science and Enrichment Center can fight against- then no one will pay a second glance to the power I wield."

Levana smiled.

"They say that a love of money is the root of all evil. If that is the case, then riddle me this; if everyone had enough money wherewith to be informed- informed of the tactics of the wealthy, informed of how to rebalance the scale- would they still be evil? Is it not a lack of money that deprives the ignorant?"

...

Cinder wiped away her tears, and moved on to her next objective. She went to her desk, picked up the bug from Nainsi's shell, and plugged it into a communicator she kept in her drawer.

Though the connection seemed dubious, the comm link synched up. Cinder watched a girl's silhouette fill the comm screen. The girl had ridiculously long hair, because her character was based on Rapunzel. Despite the fact that Cinder couldn't make out a face, it wasn't hard to tell that the stranger was excited.

"You did it!" She enthused. "How did you figure out that the supposed bug in the Eastern Commonwealth prince's android was actually a plot device?"

Cinder waved the question away. "When you've figured out that you're the main character in something, the details tend to conveniently fall in place when they need to. How can I help you?"

The stranger started crying. "My name is Cress, and my mistress- Sybil- is mean to me, and the queen is trying to marry the prince so she can kill him, and princess Selene is alive!"

Her explanation made about as much sense as the Avatar Wan arch.

"I don't understand." Cinder confessed (to all but the fact that Selene was alive). "Why would queen Levana want to kill the prince? She's probably at least somewhat nice, once you get to know her."

Cress's sobs began to intensify. "Meheh- niminemeh- iehemeh- ivibihemumeheh-"

"Okay, stop." Cinder interrupted. "Just tell me what I need to do."