Der Angst
17-02-2006, 18:23
Former North-West Antarctica, Antarctica
Ice.
And snow.
And Ice. And, of course, snow.
White wherever one looked, with the odd black dot - Usually a rock or a penguin.
And, of course, temperatures that lacked some ten or twenty Kelvin to reach the melting point of water - it wasn't just 'A bit' cold, it was outrageously cold.
Tanja Ferodow didn't seem to care much, though, being dressed in what was essentially a light summer dress - However, she was horribly bored by the endless white. And she didn't particularly like the penguins, either (Though they were cute, in a way).
"Well, lets get this over with, shall we?"
She wasn't talking to anybody in particular - she was alone, though she suspected that the Taraskovyans were somewhere nearby, in what her map called Settlement IX b - one of their sectors.
"Now, where is that entrance... I hope they didn't paint it whi- Ah, no. It's green. What a surprise."
It had been a while since NWA's government had collapsed - Apparently, whatever Spike Spiegel clone had been the head of state at the time had decided to go 'offline' for a while (Tanja suspected that he was now hopping through sol, searching for his soulmate or his ultimate sacrifice or something like that), and the North-West Antarcticans had decided that in the absence of a 'proper' leader, local self-governance was the best choice.
Now, one had to admit that the average Antarctican dealt remarkably well with this new situation - There was no violence to speak of (Though their supply with assorted consumer goods was lacking - But that had been the case before the collapse, too, and they had never seemed to mind it particularly much, preferring more intellectual pleasures to widescreen TVs), and the smallish communes were fairly effective self-regulating entities. Again, hardly surprising, given the level of political freedoms (And education) they had had before the central government's collapse.
Given this, and the relative lack of international-scale violence in the areas they occupied - NWAs colonies in Sisgardia as well as its territories in Antarctica proper - it was actually kind of overreacting (And considerably bad timing, given how long they'd taken to decide upon this) when DA and GDT had eventually decided to provide a modicum of protection through technically-still-valid SFN ties - but then, past experience had demonstrated how fast such times of peacefulness cold turn into somewhat annoying international incidents.
Of course, the local Antarcticans would likely object to excessive gun-emplacements in their vecinity, even if placed exclusively for their protection, pacifism be damned.
However, the goal wasn't so much a military presence - At best, it'd be superficial, at worst irritating, and given the orbital assets floating about, it'd, in any case, be mostly pointless - but a political presence: NWA may be (Semi-) gone, but Sisgardia's still here, and representing its interests.
The door opened. Easily so - It hadn't been closed to begin with. Sometimes, their idealism scares me. A few steps in - Temperatures increase, and her body's micro-implants reduced their activity: They were no longer required to make the body feel like it's 20°C when it's -20°C and the body's owner decided to wear a dress that falls barely short of fanservice.
A few children seemed to be busy playing a rather obscure game - Tanja couldn't really tell which one, the Antarcticans were odd this way (Well, in most of their ways, really) and Tanja walked past them, orienting herself in the surprisingly bright light. This isn't what underground settlements should look like... Ah well.
About a quarter of an hour and perhaps a dozen polite questions later, she stood before what she supposed was the mildly anarcho-communist 'Government' of this particular settlement.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen - I have a few things to discuss with you, if you'd like...?" For a moment she wondered what the looks this people gave her mean, but then she recalled - They don't often get visitors, here.
Find one (Or several) local VIPs that 'Run Things', talk to them, convince them to acknowledge some SFN-related things - Namely, SFN supremacy with regards to international issues coming up that may involve NWA territores, until such a time that NWA re-establishes its own, proper, and nationwide government, and in the meantime, keeping them informed about assorted developments and asking for their opinions whenever possible (Respect has to be given where it is due, and here it is) - a few minor things ('Would you mind a bit of ordinance there? Okay, so no ordinance - Communications? Okay? Good, thank you very much!') and the likes.
It's a bit of a pain - Four billion people make for a lot of underground settlements, and take a while to catch up with. But overall, Tanja supposed that it was worth it.
Hopefully. She really didn't like penguins very much.
Ice.
And snow.
And Ice. And, of course, snow.
White wherever one looked, with the odd black dot - Usually a rock or a penguin.
And, of course, temperatures that lacked some ten or twenty Kelvin to reach the melting point of water - it wasn't just 'A bit' cold, it was outrageously cold.
Tanja Ferodow didn't seem to care much, though, being dressed in what was essentially a light summer dress - However, she was horribly bored by the endless white. And she didn't particularly like the penguins, either (Though they were cute, in a way).
"Well, lets get this over with, shall we?"
She wasn't talking to anybody in particular - she was alone, though she suspected that the Taraskovyans were somewhere nearby, in what her map called Settlement IX b - one of their sectors.
"Now, where is that entrance... I hope they didn't paint it whi- Ah, no. It's green. What a surprise."
It had been a while since NWA's government had collapsed - Apparently, whatever Spike Spiegel clone had been the head of state at the time had decided to go 'offline' for a while (Tanja suspected that he was now hopping through sol, searching for his soulmate or his ultimate sacrifice or something like that), and the North-West Antarcticans had decided that in the absence of a 'proper' leader, local self-governance was the best choice.
Now, one had to admit that the average Antarctican dealt remarkably well with this new situation - There was no violence to speak of (Though their supply with assorted consumer goods was lacking - But that had been the case before the collapse, too, and they had never seemed to mind it particularly much, preferring more intellectual pleasures to widescreen TVs), and the smallish communes were fairly effective self-regulating entities. Again, hardly surprising, given the level of political freedoms (And education) they had had before the central government's collapse.
Given this, and the relative lack of international-scale violence in the areas they occupied - NWAs colonies in Sisgardia as well as its territories in Antarctica proper - it was actually kind of overreacting (And considerably bad timing, given how long they'd taken to decide upon this) when DA and GDT had eventually decided to provide a modicum of protection through technically-still-valid SFN ties - but then, past experience had demonstrated how fast such times of peacefulness cold turn into somewhat annoying international incidents.
Of course, the local Antarcticans would likely object to excessive gun-emplacements in their vecinity, even if placed exclusively for their protection, pacifism be damned.
However, the goal wasn't so much a military presence - At best, it'd be superficial, at worst irritating, and given the orbital assets floating about, it'd, in any case, be mostly pointless - but a political presence: NWA may be (Semi-) gone, but Sisgardia's still here, and representing its interests.
The door opened. Easily so - It hadn't been closed to begin with. Sometimes, their idealism scares me. A few steps in - Temperatures increase, and her body's micro-implants reduced their activity: They were no longer required to make the body feel like it's 20°C when it's -20°C and the body's owner decided to wear a dress that falls barely short of fanservice.
A few children seemed to be busy playing a rather obscure game - Tanja couldn't really tell which one, the Antarcticans were odd this way (Well, in most of their ways, really) and Tanja walked past them, orienting herself in the surprisingly bright light. This isn't what underground settlements should look like... Ah well.
About a quarter of an hour and perhaps a dozen polite questions later, she stood before what she supposed was the mildly anarcho-communist 'Government' of this particular settlement.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen - I have a few things to discuss with you, if you'd like...?" For a moment she wondered what the looks this people gave her mean, but then she recalled - They don't often get visitors, here.
Find one (Or several) local VIPs that 'Run Things', talk to them, convince them to acknowledge some SFN-related things - Namely, SFN supremacy with regards to international issues coming up that may involve NWA territores, until such a time that NWA re-establishes its own, proper, and nationwide government, and in the meantime, keeping them informed about assorted developments and asking for their opinions whenever possible (Respect has to be given where it is due, and here it is) - a few minor things ('Would you mind a bit of ordinance there? Okay, so no ordinance - Communications? Okay? Good, thank you very much!') and the likes.
It's a bit of a pain - Four billion people make for a lot of underground settlements, and take a while to catch up with. But overall, Tanja supposed that it was worth it.
Hopefully. She really didn't like penguins very much.