Schultaria Prime
16-04-2005, 02:33
HIFEX NEWS AGENCY: SCHULTARIA PRIME, SCHULTARIA PRIME
(Live News Feed)
-----
Panning across the endless throng of people packing the streets and parks of Schultaria Prime, diligent reporters and camera workers did their best to hide their emotions and perform their duty to the international public. With time slowly creeping forward, the tensions within the crowd began to wind like a coil without any hope of release; most reporters, many of whom had never covered a story such as this, tried to make idle observations in order to pass time. Nonetheless their emotions became one with the crowd's as the clock slowly inched forward with ever slower repetition. Boisterous conversations turned into quiet chatter, and then chatter into subdued whispering; from the silence, one voice wafted under the soft white noise of the collected mass. It was a male voice; one that exuded the virtues of age and wisdom, but yet seemed as familiar as a mother's touch.
"Hello, and welcome to the Grand Mall of Schultaria Prime. People have been gathering in the streets for the last forty eight hours in anticipation of what the government has called a 'day of most dire importance'. The National Assembly and Central Directorate have been in closed session for the last three days with seldom a word save for a small press announcement two days ago. As this crowd of about six million continues to build, we can only wait for the convening bell of National Assembly which will sound in roughly five minutes."
With the reporter signing off for a brief repose, the cameras continued to slowly capture every inch of the city surrounding the chambers of government as if they were waiting for some inexorable sign to snap to attention. The crowd lay as still as the cold stone facade of the National Assembly while two hundred and fifty story skyscrapers cast their ominous shadows across the grand reflecting pool and oak lined parkways. The quiet began to breed unease; the unease grew into a sliver of fear.
Fear for the future...
-----
Inside the plush and richly adorned central chamber of the National Assembly, Chairwoman Jenna Karlow and Central Director Elliot Schultz stood in the center of the recessed forum. Above them, five hundred of their colleagues stood in stony silence as Elliot signaled the control booth overhead. As the room darkened, a holographic representation of the Earth floated over the heads of the assembled group. Jenna, nodding to the operator's booth, gave the order for a constellation of satellites silently hovering over the globe to align themselves for one final call. Meanwhile the holographic globe unfurled revealing the territories of Schultaria Prime and Granzi in high relief; above each land mass stood the complete history of their international relations with the faces of Prime Minister Bolash and Central Director Schultz in astonishingly lifelike detail.
"It's your call Director," Jenna said in a depressed whisper.
"It's a call I thought I wouldn't have to make again."
Lifting his head skyward, the aged shell of the Schultarian head of state looked substantially worse for wear. Three days without rest and proper nourishment had given the staunch head of state a gaunt, almost ghostly, appearance to his face and slight tremors in his arms. With determined resolve, and a touch of hopelessness, Elliot climbed up the levels of the Assembly forum until he reached halfway. With his back to his contemporaries, he uttered the three of the most painful words any Schultarian could utter.
"Cenanna almeay etxos..."
The friend is gone...
-----
"It is now five in the evening Schultarian Standard Time and the bell calling for the closing of Assembly has rung and we are now waiting for them to depart from session. As we wait for the delegates to exit the... here they come!"
The reporters and crowd let out a collective gasp of fear and lamentation as their Directors and Assemblers left the building in traditional flowing robes of black with the Schultarian crest embossed in silver thread. They did not wear these garments out of political ceremony, nor were they ever regularly seen by the public's eyes. Seldom were these garments used by the national government, but when they were the public stood up and took notice. These were not ordinary robes.
These were funeral robes.
As the five hundred officials stood in an organized chorus behind their leader, a shaken and frail looking Central Director approached the plateau of steps, golden tome tucked underneath his left arm. Bowing, he called for their audience and the public obliged; nary so much as a cough could be heard a dozen blocks away from the Grand Mall as six million souls strained to hear the amplified words of their duly elected leader.
-----
"Friends and citizens of Schultaria Prime, it is with great sadness and reticence that I should have to ever have to deliver news of such catastrophe to you, the kind and gentle people of this nation. For the last three days, our nation has tried to reestablish contact with one of our closest allies and international friends; as you may know, they were something of a sister nation to us and we thought imperative to give them the benefit of the doubt. Though they had been afflicted with problems before, we knew and admired their strength and resilience in combating such afflictions; in times of extreme distress, we had always come to their aid in order to assist them. In time, even though our nations were already strongly bonded through tongue and treaty, we earned the powerful and rare bond of trust.
Unfortunately they suffered from a calamity so devastating and so complete that despite our best efforts to reach them through all available methods of communication, their nation has simply vanished from our capabilities to contact them. It is my regrettable duty that I have to inform you dear citizens of this event, but it is a duty that I can not shirk as your leader.
Granzi was a nation close to us through years of respected international negotiation and mutual benefit. When our nation was abandoned and without any allies, it was Granzi who had come to heed our call and help secure our nation's first truly international Treaty of Protective Union. Out of respect for them, we made it our utmost duty to support them however and whenever possible; from the support of their national shipyards to the rehabilitation of their national industries, we in Schultaria Prime shared a wonderfully symbiotic relationship with Granzi. Unfortunately, with international circumstances as they now appear, this relationship has come to a sudden and terrible close. Gone is our closest ally and dearest international partner; once again do we face the world in approximate isolation.
As a sign of honor and respect, I present to you the treaty of Protective Union signed by both Prime Minister Bolash and myself nearly twenty five years ago. No longer do its words hold any affect or its stipulations receive active support because of this terrible transpiration of events; though in light of all recent things, all we can do is hope that the citizens of Granzi find security and happiness as members of a new national family. While we will continue to hope and pray for their safety, we offer the displaced citizens of the Nation of Granzi citizenship and a loving home in Schultaria Prime.
As for this tired tome, I must make the walk to the Grand Hall of Perpetuity alone."
(Live News Feed)
-----
Panning across the endless throng of people packing the streets and parks of Schultaria Prime, diligent reporters and camera workers did their best to hide their emotions and perform their duty to the international public. With time slowly creeping forward, the tensions within the crowd began to wind like a coil without any hope of release; most reporters, many of whom had never covered a story such as this, tried to make idle observations in order to pass time. Nonetheless their emotions became one with the crowd's as the clock slowly inched forward with ever slower repetition. Boisterous conversations turned into quiet chatter, and then chatter into subdued whispering; from the silence, one voice wafted under the soft white noise of the collected mass. It was a male voice; one that exuded the virtues of age and wisdom, but yet seemed as familiar as a mother's touch.
"Hello, and welcome to the Grand Mall of Schultaria Prime. People have been gathering in the streets for the last forty eight hours in anticipation of what the government has called a 'day of most dire importance'. The National Assembly and Central Directorate have been in closed session for the last three days with seldom a word save for a small press announcement two days ago. As this crowd of about six million continues to build, we can only wait for the convening bell of National Assembly which will sound in roughly five minutes."
With the reporter signing off for a brief repose, the cameras continued to slowly capture every inch of the city surrounding the chambers of government as if they were waiting for some inexorable sign to snap to attention. The crowd lay as still as the cold stone facade of the National Assembly while two hundred and fifty story skyscrapers cast their ominous shadows across the grand reflecting pool and oak lined parkways. The quiet began to breed unease; the unease grew into a sliver of fear.
Fear for the future...
-----
Inside the plush and richly adorned central chamber of the National Assembly, Chairwoman Jenna Karlow and Central Director Elliot Schultz stood in the center of the recessed forum. Above them, five hundred of their colleagues stood in stony silence as Elliot signaled the control booth overhead. As the room darkened, a holographic representation of the Earth floated over the heads of the assembled group. Jenna, nodding to the operator's booth, gave the order for a constellation of satellites silently hovering over the globe to align themselves for one final call. Meanwhile the holographic globe unfurled revealing the territories of Schultaria Prime and Granzi in high relief; above each land mass stood the complete history of their international relations with the faces of Prime Minister Bolash and Central Director Schultz in astonishingly lifelike detail.
"It's your call Director," Jenna said in a depressed whisper.
"It's a call I thought I wouldn't have to make again."
Lifting his head skyward, the aged shell of the Schultarian head of state looked substantially worse for wear. Three days without rest and proper nourishment had given the staunch head of state a gaunt, almost ghostly, appearance to his face and slight tremors in his arms. With determined resolve, and a touch of hopelessness, Elliot climbed up the levels of the Assembly forum until he reached halfway. With his back to his contemporaries, he uttered the three of the most painful words any Schultarian could utter.
"Cenanna almeay etxos..."
The friend is gone...
-----
"It is now five in the evening Schultarian Standard Time and the bell calling for the closing of Assembly has rung and we are now waiting for them to depart from session. As we wait for the delegates to exit the... here they come!"
The reporters and crowd let out a collective gasp of fear and lamentation as their Directors and Assemblers left the building in traditional flowing robes of black with the Schultarian crest embossed in silver thread. They did not wear these garments out of political ceremony, nor were they ever regularly seen by the public's eyes. Seldom were these garments used by the national government, but when they were the public stood up and took notice. These were not ordinary robes.
These were funeral robes.
As the five hundred officials stood in an organized chorus behind their leader, a shaken and frail looking Central Director approached the plateau of steps, golden tome tucked underneath his left arm. Bowing, he called for their audience and the public obliged; nary so much as a cough could be heard a dozen blocks away from the Grand Mall as six million souls strained to hear the amplified words of their duly elected leader.
-----
"Friends and citizens of Schultaria Prime, it is with great sadness and reticence that I should have to ever have to deliver news of such catastrophe to you, the kind and gentle people of this nation. For the last three days, our nation has tried to reestablish contact with one of our closest allies and international friends; as you may know, they were something of a sister nation to us and we thought imperative to give them the benefit of the doubt. Though they had been afflicted with problems before, we knew and admired their strength and resilience in combating such afflictions; in times of extreme distress, we had always come to their aid in order to assist them. In time, even though our nations were already strongly bonded through tongue and treaty, we earned the powerful and rare bond of trust.
Unfortunately they suffered from a calamity so devastating and so complete that despite our best efforts to reach them through all available methods of communication, their nation has simply vanished from our capabilities to contact them. It is my regrettable duty that I have to inform you dear citizens of this event, but it is a duty that I can not shirk as your leader.
Granzi was a nation close to us through years of respected international negotiation and mutual benefit. When our nation was abandoned and without any allies, it was Granzi who had come to heed our call and help secure our nation's first truly international Treaty of Protective Union. Out of respect for them, we made it our utmost duty to support them however and whenever possible; from the support of their national shipyards to the rehabilitation of their national industries, we in Schultaria Prime shared a wonderfully symbiotic relationship with Granzi. Unfortunately, with international circumstances as they now appear, this relationship has come to a sudden and terrible close. Gone is our closest ally and dearest international partner; once again do we face the world in approximate isolation.
As a sign of honor and respect, I present to you the treaty of Protective Union signed by both Prime Minister Bolash and myself nearly twenty five years ago. No longer do its words hold any affect or its stipulations receive active support because of this terrible transpiration of events; though in light of all recent things, all we can do is hope that the citizens of Granzi find security and happiness as members of a new national family. While we will continue to hope and pray for their safety, we offer the displaced citizens of the Nation of Granzi citizenship and a loving home in Schultaria Prime.
As for this tired tome, I must make the walk to the Grand Hall of Perpetuity alone."