Chapter Three ~ Central Authority
[Section 3.1] The next chapter of Nova Interit.us begins here.
◄ Previous Section 2.6
As time unfolds, so must the spirit of the universe. The great soul tends inevitably toward individualization. Yet the more we perceive of the cosmos the more we recognize an all-pervading unity in it. It’s soul must be one, not many. The divine power that made all things is not itself multifold. How to reconcile ever-increasing divergence with an eventual singularity is a problem at present transcending our generalizations.
~ Percival Lowell 1903
[THE WESTERN TRIDENT CAPITOL IS LOCATED IN SEATTLE. THE CENTRAL TRIDENT AUTHORITY IS LOCATED IN DENVER. THE EASTERN CAPITOL IS STILL IN WASHINGTON.]
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Winter 2046-2047
It’s snowing in Denver on the winter solstice. A new year is turning. The Central Trident Commissioner is standing with hands clasped behind his back, looking through the wall-sized window, out into a monotone view of bare trees deadened by the season. This scene paints the entirety of his northwestern wall with 8’ panes framing the cavernous space. He loves this office, he had it converted from a conference room a year ago.
“This happened back in July?!”
“Yes, sir. We had no idea what occurred. It made no sense until our internal investigation. It still doesn’t make much sense, but the investigation is ongoing. That’s why the local commissioner queued me in.”
“So, go over this again. The camp was raided, but it wasn’t really your official camp. The locals overran your armed contractors and left no evidence. Except for eighteen naked bodies?”
“Yes. That’s what it appears. Plus one fully clothed body, shot far away from the pile of others. They raided in the middle of the night at 3:57am on a new moon, there was no light. We know the exact time because that’s when our mine server went offline from the regional network. It was an organized operation. Trained professionals. Like the Wyo black shirts we’ve hired up north. But we think they’re locals. We don’t know who. Their city council is still being cornered and questioned. Not all of them have been easy to track down. But we can only do so much with our standardized contract authority. This looks to be in retaliation for an operation we ran last year.”
“Well fuck. Do I even want to know about that?!”
“Probably not, sir.”
“So you did?! You still had a mine server running calculations after a supposed evacuation from that local station? This isn’t good, Thomlind. Do you have any understanding how fragile this situation is now?!”
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