The Order of Today - Part II

8th March

Fort-Leiher Offices, Yttrium Valley, Artemis

To effectively oppose Frank Scuderi's plots and machinations, I need allies among the other five tigers. Out of the other four, Huesong seems like the best option. Hue-Song Jun might be friendly with Scuderi, but I'm sure she'll put family and business before friendship. Anyone would. And with that, Scuderi's independence movement will be destroyed before it begins.

After contacting Huesong, I was notified that Ms Hue-Song would be able to call me back in thirty minutes or so. With nothing pressing to do for those thirty minutes, I left my office to go for a walk around the building. There's no particular reason or even interest for me in doing so. After all, every building in this city is the exact same. Fort-Leiher shares its' Yttrium Valley office block with the Australian embassy, the African Union consul, and NASA. We could've moved into another office block after we'd been established as one of the titans of the moon, but there was no need to. The larger part of Fort-Leiher's staff is based elsewhere, mostly in Iowa and Apollo, so there wasn't any need for us to increase the amount. In the ten floor block we do share, however, the Australian embassy and African Union have a floor each, NASA has two, and Fort-Leiher has the remaining five. The bottom floor is used as a mutual lobby.

While I was walking around, I ran into Dora Qemali. She is second-in-command of Fort-Leiher's lunar operations. She's based in Iowa, where our synthetic meat labs and hydroponic farms are based. Her selection for the hob must have been due to the fact that she is Albanian, I have always thought. It's unfeasible to think she got the job on merit alone. Fort-Leiher employs a large number of Albanians, Mauritians, and now Ecuadorians, in an attempt to improve popular opinion of us in the states that we have acquired. That must be how Dora got the job. She certainly isn't smart enough to have gotten it otherwise.

I'm unsure as to why she is here now. I didn't call for her to come to Artemis, nor did she inform me that she was coming here of her own volition.

"Dora, I wasn't expecting to see you here," I begin.

"Really?" she seems surprised, "Mr Fort, ah not you - I mean the president, asked me to come up here. I assumed he had informed you of my arrival."

"No, he didn't."

This is William's doing? Why would he send her up from Iowa? If I had to guess, it would be to keep an eye on me, but that doesn't seem right. She's not smart enough, nor does she seem to be hiding anything. She told me that William sent her here without me having to work to get it out of her. Does that mean William sent her just as a threat? It seems strange though. I guess I'll have to keep my eye on her. After all, William is the President of Fort-Leiher, not me. She is more loyal to him than she is to me.

Hue-Song Jun's face fills my screen back in my office. Her face is rare in that it is both round and very symmetrical. Quite beautiful, really.

"What can I do for you, Mr Fort?" she asks, even though she probably has a pretty good idea of what I have called her about.

"I'm going to be honest with you. I don't intend to support Mr. Scuderi's plan. I'm hoping you'll help with me, and oppose his plan with me."

"I'm surprised you're being that honest. You know me and Frank have known each other for years. It would only be natural for me to support him."

"You're not the kind of person to make a decision based on personal matters, though, are you?"

She smiled at that, "no you're right. That doesn't necessarily mean I'll support him. But, its' a good deal, isn't it? No other corporations, big or small, will be able to challenge us. The five of us will rule the stars under Frank. Unimaginable wealth, fame, and power. What can you offer me that's greater?"

"What about the same thing, but without Frank? The situation of the status quo is actually quite favourable to us. The limited government of DELOS gives us real power on the moon, and I think that the five of us working together could achieve the same thing, without Frank's help."

Ms Hue-Song thought about it, "it might be true that we would have more power without Frank, but I think you underestimate the importance of government. Without government, there will be disorder. The people will not accept us in the same way they would someone like Frank. He's the leader of the first twenty. The man who singlehandedly dragged us all to the moon. He built all of this. He's a living legend.

The five of us working together would never work without something keeping us all together, all in line. I don't think you can find anyone on the moon, no the world, who could replace Frank this late into the game. Without Frank, we would turn on each other before he's been cremated. The status quo might be favourable in the short-term, but Frank's alternative is much more viable in the long-term."

After hearing that, it didn't seem likely that I could convince her. She seemed to believe that Scuderi's world would be better. But that was wrong.

"Conflict and competition is what leads to innovation and growth. Even if the five of us clash, we will grow. We can achieve all this without Mr. Scuderi."

"Yes, we might still grow in a general sense... but not in the right direction. We will grow only to outcompete each other. To steal, crush, and destroy each other. It will not lead to the type of growth that will allow us to grow and expand outward."

What she's saying... I don't get it. Why can't she see that Scuderi is a problem, not a solution. The world that he creates... would it really be one that benefits us? And it isn't like a world without Frank would be lawless. We could probably install a ruler loyal to us further down the line. I tried to explain this to her, but it seems she won't understand, whatever I say. Perhaps I needed to think this through more before I tried to convince other people to accept this idea. To make them understand. But, I don't have the time for that. Surely Frank is making his move as we speak. I spend almost half an hour trying to convince her, and while she is definitely listening, Ms Hue-Song still seems to believe that Scuderi's plan is better by the end of it.

After the call ends, I think about it some more. Scuderi's plan... it's just too improbable. Even if it could be pulled off, things wouldn't go so smoothly afterwards either, right? It isn't possible. And I can't understand why their all so will to upset the current order of things. Isn't the status quo beneficial to all involved? The only conclusion I can come to, is that Scuderi has lost sight of reality after all this time. I can't really blame him for it. His job is perhaps the most stressful in the world. Balancing the act between ruler of the moon, and Singaporean civil servant, all the while working behind the scenes to achieve some sort of independent lunar state. It's no wonder that he has lost his sanity.