Steampunk CTs

Nellie

At the young age of 21, I landed my dream job as a staff writer for the newspaper Lexicon News. The pay isn’t the best, but papa always said it’s about the love of the craft that’ll keep you going when you wanna do something you love!

At least that was the plan…I’ve hit quite the bump in my journey of journalism.

“Nellie…this story you’re sending me is boring as piss.” My editor Ross didn’t even bother sugarcoating his critique. “I mean—come on. ‘Production in zone three at an all time high?’ Who cares?”

“Zone three takes pride in their work and I thought it’d be a good idea to highlight it—” I tried speaking up, but he just put a finger up to quiet me down. “What do you think we’re trying to do here? This story is cute, but you’re not moving anyone emotionally. You’re not invoking action within the average Holian.”

“I don’t think I follow what you’re trying to say, sir.” I narrowed my eyes at my article that laid still on Ross’ desk.

“I’ll make it simpler for you: We sell narratives. That’s not to say that we lie, we take the facts of a situation and make it painfully clear for the layman to understand. Sure, it’s interesting that Zone three is making lightbulbs or whatever faster, but the average worker is just going to nod in agreement and forget about a fact like that the next day. Dig deeper. Why is production faster?”

I was listening so attentively that when he stopped speaking, I realized he was waiting for a response. I quickly flipped through my notebook to track the reason for high production in zone three.

“Because they utilized a new assembly line from Acupos that only requires a single worker to oversee it. Before that, they used Haustorians for cheap labor costs, and before that, Holians—” Ross slammed his desk and I jumped out of fright.

“That’s it! And you’re telling me you just got ‘high production costs' out of that? I got a better one! ‘Another profession lost to the times! Is the heart of Holia changing or its people?’”

That was the moment I finally understood. He didn’t want me to simply state the facts. He wanted me to take those facts and look deeper into why they were like that, while also putting into question what the future holds. Describing the use of technology as “another profession lost” would easily speak to the average worker. The second part of that too… “is the heart of Holia changing?” It invokes a feeling of calling back to what any person reading would think the heart of Holia’s ideals are. And he thought of all this just from the little information I gave him.

“Ross, you’re a genius!” I couldn’t help but say.

“Yeah, yeah. I want you to know, I have a loving wife so any advances you attempt won’t work.”

“Sir, the fact that you thought my single compliment was flirtatious is rather depressing…”

“Just get out there and make something happen already! I’ve given you the tools! Do something with them!”

“Y-yes sir!” I gave him a salute and went rushing out of the door. It was time to show off my skills. After that chat, I did research on all of the social issues and problems Holians believe they face today. After that research and polling, the number one thing that came up was surprisingly: Haustorians. So my plan was to put a spotlight on that with this interview. That’s why I also have some guests with me!

As I stepped through the tent, I made way for two of my interviewees that I wanted to interview alongside Arno and Ori. The first was a Holian girl in a long green dress that had a slit that ran up to her upper thigh and wore a wrist corsage with blue petals. She had her hair in a bun with a few stray strands falling down in various places. She had all of that as well as a soft smile on her face. She was quite the looker.

Right behind her was an Haustorian man with short hair and a varsity jacket on. He had a rather meek appearance about him as he trailed behind the Holian girl.

I looked around the room and immediately started placing a couple of chairs at one side of the hospital bed while I sat in a chair on the other side of it. Without sparing another second, I started the interview.

“First of all you two, congratulations on taking down your first terrorist group. There aren’t many trainees that could say they have the experience you guys have under your belt.”

Ori spoke up first by saying “Well it was mostly thanks to our friends. Everyone had a role to play and because of that, damages were kept to a minimum.”

“Not only did you guys go above and beyond tonight, you and Arno played a pivotal role in zone two’s coup d'etat. There were also reports of people fighting using Holy Power Force costumes. Do you have any connections to that at all?”

“N-no! And I totally wasn’t dressed as Holy Red!” Arno averted his gaze and started sweating profusely. He was obviously lying. I better write that down. Could make for a good side piece to write about. Ori put her hand on top of his. “Arno, I can take it from here. We don’t have any connection to whatever that was. After all, the papers mentioned more than two Holy Power Force vigilantes. Also, the Holy Red vigilante was seen in the same location as Arno so it couldn’t be him. Don’t mind his outburst. Interviews make him nervous sometimes…”

She does have a point. If he was Holy Red, it wouldn’t make sense for there to be two of him in one place. Unless there was a stemata involved…

Oh, who am I kidding? I don’t even know how stematas work really. I’ll just erase that last bit.

“Thanks for that, by the way. My division was expressly told by our instructor not to interfere because we were too close to the entire situation. Opinions of CTs in zone two are already overwhelmingly negative.” The girl spoke up.

“So wait, that means you’re…” Arno looked over as he realized who was sitting with him.”

“Therese Cistra! 20th division zone two trainee. This right here is my buddy, Motley Haustoria. He’s just a civilian.” She wrapped her arm around him.

“Yo!” He gave a playful salute as Therese brought him in close.

“H-Haustoria?!” Arno quickly shifted his gaze to Ori and she let out a deep sigh “No relation. When Haustorians immigrate, if you don’t have a last name prepared, they just default you to Haustoria. I…don’t remember my last name.” Ori said, averting her gaze.

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I said as I flipped through my notebook and got onto my next question.

“What is the definition of a Counter Terrorist? We can start with the civilian Haustorian, Motley. What do you think?”

“It’s someone that works for the BCT and protects the people, right? Yeah, that’s my answer.”

“How about you, Therese?”

“A CT is the model Holian. They’re willing to get their hands dirty to beat those rotten terrorists!”

“Rotten, huh?” Ori muttered under her breath. Therese took note and continued “Yes. Rotten. If you’re pathetic enough to get violent just because things aren’t going your way, you deserve whatever’s coming to you.”

“I disagree!” Arno spoke up. “The Rosarians…their battle started way before tonight…I’m certain of it. The people that we fought were people that exhausted every option they had to live in a country that didn’t want them. They had to compromise their hearts and souls and when they lost everything because that wasn’t enough, they became frustrated. Understandably, frustrated.”

“What Arno is saying is right. I think a CT needs to be more than some weapon that kills whoever the higher ups tell them to kill. I think it’s important to ask the question: what birthed the enemy in front of me?”

“That’s a dangerous ideology you have there…” Therese sighed and shook her head. “The moment you think of your enemy as a person, you’ll start pulling your punches. That’s when you’ll lose and die. You’re overcomplicating things with that nonsense. The simple fact of the matter is this: they weren’t Holians, so they were doomed to fail from the beginning.”

I was taking down notes on every thought they had. This is why I gathered these four. You wanted me to dig deep? Well, I’m digging to the center of the planet with this one! Can you see it, Ross? A narrative grander than anything the paper’s ever seen is taking shape in this very instant!

“That leads me to my next question! What does it mean to be Holian?”

“A simple question!” Therese shifted how she was sitting by putting one leg on top of the other. “When thinking about what it means to be Holian, we have to be honest with ourselves. The first Holians didn’t look like a Rosarian. They didn’t look like a Haustorian. They looked like you and me. The prime manuscript was written with this in mind. And funnily enough, the prime manuscript—what the kingdom was founded on—clearly states ‘reap whatever benefit lies beyond the horizon. They are yours.’ Pretty much what I'm trying to say is that Holia is a land of uniformity. Any outliers simply don't have a chance due to the barbarism in their DNA.”

This isn’t the first time I heard about this way of thinking about non-Holians. Holians pride themselves on their uniformity and when someone is too different from them, they find it difficult to share the same space as them. This Holian is different though. The average one would try to have a shouting match with the Haustorians in front of her. She’s a lot more methodical with her rhetoric.

“H-how could you say something like that?” Arno looked appalled by her answer and was about to go on, but Ori stopped him and asked.

“So does that mean you’ll never accept Haustorians? Even if they’ve successfully become migrated citizens?”

“The thing is, Haustorians need to understand that there’s a totem pole. And they’re at the bottom. They’re free to do whatever they wish, but at the end of the day, they need to recognize that they’re subservient to us. You are subservient to us. You work for our benefits. Our flag represents a shield over these lands and you guys are indulging in that shield. So just stay in your lane and don’t bother trying to become a leader or builder of anything. Just listen to us and everything should be fine.

“Ahhh yes. Because everything’s going oh so well under the ‘Shield of the world’ Holia. Remind me, why are the four disasters running rampant? It’s not because of the Haustorians. Your shield is rotting from the inside out and the proof is an era of terrorists so crazy they’re referred to as ‘disasters.’ Now we’re not asking for free handouts or anything. We just want equal footing. The fact we have to pay three time the price of a house when we make half the average Holian income is absurd and that’s just scratching the surface. I’d like to answer your question, Nellie!” Ori turned to me as I was furiously jotting down every direction this conversation was swerving in. “Y-yes?!”

“I believe a Holian is someone that is open to any and all people in Holia working for the betterment of a peaceful space to pursue their happiness. Beit a farmer or governor, I should be able to pursue that as easily as a Holian. It’s as simple as that.”

“Sweetie, I’m just trying to save you from all the struggle and heartbreak. Motley thought the same way, but he moved over to my side eventually.” Therese sat back in her chair and let out a loud sigh.

“Seriously?” Ori looked over to Motley with disbelief.

“I…am more aligned with Therese’s view. I’ve seen what lies in the heart of Haustorians. I’m obviously included in that. It’s nothing good. And for that, we deserve to stay right where we are.”

Ori looked disgusted with the Haustorian in front of her. It was almost as if she’s never encountered someone like this.

“Then we’ll prove you wrong.” Arno spoke up. “This festival was just the beginning. We’ll soar to new heights with each passing second. Because we’re worth way more than someone like her says we are. And when you finally see the wave of change be possible through us, you’re free to ride off of our coattails. We’re doing all of this for our people after all.” Arno said with a resolute smile. Motley shook his head and looked the other way while Therese’s eyes widened. Ori simply laughed and brought Arno close to her. “That’s my boyfriend, guys! I didn’t even know he had lines like that in him! Hahaha!”

“A perfect opportunity to show what you’ve got is coming up isn’t it?” I brought up.

What I’m referring to is the Cross Zone Finals. A fierce competition where teams of each zone’s trainee division are pitted against each other in a series of battles and challenges. If they wanted to prove just how capable they were. That would be the perfect place.

“What’s that?” Arno tilted his head in confusion while Ori just patted his back and said she’ll explain later.

“I’m already excited!” Therese sprung out of her chair and walked towards the entrance of the tent. “I can’t wait to put you right back in your place and swat you like the bugs you are!”

“T-therese!” Motley called out her name disapprovingly. “Sorry! Just a bit of trash talk!”

Ori retorted with a smile “It’s okay! When you find out a couple of Haustorians are simply better than you in every metric, I wonder what face you’ll make, Therese Cistra.”

As Therese and Motley left the tent, I wrote down notes for every last bit of the conversation. I can already feel it on the horizon! A scoop that’ll launch my career! A narrative spinning that’ll have all of Holia enticed. The tradition of what it means to be Holian versus the new way of thinking! The country and what it is versus the possibility of what the country could be! All along with the purpose of the Haustorian!

My heart’s racing just thinking about all of it!