Ceylon's news and such

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

A great number of defensive projects which had been begun some years ago were nearing completion, or already complete.
Among them was the construction of additional radar stations and [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=90657&view=findpost&p=2478833"]networked air-defense[/url] systems.
Two more [url="http://forums.cybernations.net/index.php?showtopic=90657&view=findpost&p=2487940"]ICBMs[/url] were tested, this time with multiple warheads - three and six - and found to work just as magnificently as the first ICBM tested. Further tests would have to be conducted, but at the time, long-range strike capabilities (even though Sri Lanka officially had no nukes) were sufficient.

___________________

[b][Somewhere below Sri Lanka, in an underground bunker][/b]

"Time's coming."
"For what?"
"For the farce to end - at least partially. We both know that Sri Lanka is not really a democratic nation. It's capitalist and corporocratic to the core."
"Yet the people live in better conditions than in most, if not all other countries."
"Even Bengal's standards of living have risen sharply once we took over. Greedy corporations don't care for people because they're short-sighted."
"But the wise CEO is benevolent, making sure the people like working for him?"
"Well, to a degree. Don't want things to get too expenive." He chuckled.

"Well...If we must reveal the actual rulers of Sri Lanka, we should do it only after the moon base and the vaults are finished. If the UFE goes [i]Oh I'm so imperialist and righteous, I'll depose of everyone I don't like[/i], we might have slight problems; Sri Lanka has few friends it is treatied to."
"True. And I see your point. We need to be safe first. I guess we can keep the lie alive for a little longer."
The woman nodded, smiling.

Edited November 18, 2010 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

The Vault in Tiministan, as the first of those having been approved, was approaching conclusion of construction efforts. Right now, the research station was almost fully standing, while the last bits underground were being done, among them the databases and the room for the nuclear warhead, its nuclear material courtesy the black market.
At the time, a heavy transport plane was on the way to Tiministan to deliver Sri Lanka's accumulated knowledge together with a few samples of this and that.

Within 48 hours, the Vault would be finished, the first occupants entering it. Once they all were inside, the warhead would be brought into the lowest level and set up. When this was done, supplies were delivered. Then, everything was concluded, and the multi-ton Vault door was closed and sealed shut.
650 people were within, to live in splendid isolation for fifty or so years...Or until someone with the appropriate authorization opened it again.


Shortly after the Vault was done, the promised factory was finished as well, soon providing work and delicious new gadgets for Tiministan's population, meanwhile enriching the corporation owning the building.

___________________

[b][Still Classified][/b]

In Ursalia, construction was going on a little slower, though there wasn't really any good reason. Perhaps the men were just slacking or something.
Regardless of that, however, four levels were completed and technically, Vault 002 was 'done'. All it needed were inhabitants and supplied, really, then it could already be sealed.
Technically.

Because practically, it was going to be finished, regardless of what happened.

___________________

[b][On the far side of the moon][/b]

Somewhere on the far side of the moon, a place where no nation could watch - unless they had brought a satellite into the precarious and unstable L-point behind the moon - something man-made rose from the rock.
It was Sri Lanka's moon-base, made of sweat, hard work, and billions in funding. Its price exceeded that of the Anuradhapura stations together, and even the [i]Smiling Buddha[/i] station hadn't cost half as much.
Currently, more than 40 people were working on and within it, to make it a place people could live in.

[i]Kshh "When's the next shuttle gonna land?" Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "It's scheduled for T minus two, four-zero hours." Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "About time." Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "Why. You achin' go get back to sim-grav?" Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "We've been for mroet han 48 hours out here, sleeping in the half-finished base. I'm getting anxious, is all." Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "Eh, we'll gonna have to live here for a lot longer once it's done." Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "I know. Still, half-finished ain't gonna help my paranoia." Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "What, you afraid something's gonna cave in and you'll suffocate?" Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "What? It's poss-" "Shut the hell up and get back to work, you useless nitwits. You're not getting paid for mucking around and doing !@#$-all!" Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "Jesus..." Click[/i]
[i]Kshh "Careful, he might hear ya." Click[/i]

They chuckled, and got back to work.
The base was almost finished...In mere hours, the finishing touches would be applied and supply operations could begin.

[Lynneth]

"Ladies,
Gentlemen.

Sri Lanka is a relatively young nation. It has been in existence for but a scant few years. Yet, we have achieved what few could.
With more than 350 million people, Sri Lanka is one of the five most populated nations of the world.
With an area of barely 300,000 square kilometres, our population density is among the highest in the world.
Our GDP in old US dollars is more than eight trillion - once more one of the highest on the planet.
We have sent men into space, landed on the moon. We chose not to pursue a policy of nuclear weapons when we could have. We have kept largely friendly relations with most of our neighbouring nations.
We built two large stations in space, each capable of holding hundreds of people for months and years at a time.

But today, I announce to you that Sri Lanka has constructed something few would ever have thought possible.
Today, the base named [i]Jayawardenapura One[/i] has been finished.
[center]
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Sri Lanka is now in possession of a permanent outpost on the far side of the moon."

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/moonbase.jpg[/img][/center]

"Sri Lanka is no longer just an Asian nation. We are both a Terran and a Lunar nation.
And we aren't even close to being done! The base will be expanded, a proper colony and a mining outpost will be established!
All in due time, of course; but eventually, more than a thousand Sri Lankans may live permanently on the Moon!
Truly a historic achievement not only for our country, but perhaps all of Asia, and the world!"

[Il Terra Di Agea]

"We congratulate the Sri Lankans on the monumental achievement. May your people be well lived, both on the planet's surface and in the stars."

[king of cochin]

The Kingdom of Cochin congratulates Sri Lanka on this truly historic and momentous occasion.

[Uberstein]

Kettenheim Inc inquires if you will need weapons on the moon. "I can guarantee our guns won't jam even in that pesky moon dust!"

[Lynneth]

[quote name='Il Terra Di Agea' timestamp='1290393553' post='2519855']
"We congratulate the Sri Lankans on the monumental achievement. May your people be well lived, both on the planet's surface and in the stars."
[/quote]
[quote name='king of cochin' timestamp='1290410625' post='2520144']
The Kingdom of Cochin congratulates Sri Lanka on this truly historic and momentous occasion.
[/quote]
"Thank you very much. We hope that this is only the beginning of a new era."

[quote name='BaronUberstein' timestamp='1290412399' post='2520155']
Kettenheim Inc inquires if you will need weapons on the moon. "I can guarantee our guns won't jam even in that pesky moon dust!"
[/quote]
"Vanguard Industries has that covered, though you are welcome to offer us something that might work better."

[Lynneth]

[b][Public][/b]

"Sri Lanka's traffic lights are about to be replaced, said a representative of the government.
In an unprecedented move, the classic red-orange/yellow-green lights are to be replaced with LED-hourglasses, aiming to increase efficiency and ease of understanding.
Here a short graphic about how it works."

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Corp/81196971.jpg[/img]

[J Andres]

Queen Stephanie is interested in knowing what the Republic of Sri Lanka plans on doing with all the old traffic lights. We no longer have any factories that produce light bulbs within our borders. If Sri Lanka is worried about the environmental impact of disposing such a vast amount of lights within their borders, we could send a cargo plane to pick them up.

[Lynneth]

[quote name='J Andres' timestamp='1290630504' post='2522348']
Queen Stephanie is interested in knowing what the Republic of Sri Lanka plans on doing with all the old traffic lights. We no longer have any factories that produce light bulbs within our borders. If Sri Lanka is worried about the environmental impact of disposing such a vast amount of lights within their borders, we could send a cargo plane to pick them up.
[/quote]
"Most of the old traffic lights were LED already and thus can be converted into new ones over time.
Those that were still using light bulbs will be recycled in northern Ceylon and western Bengal, in appropriate facilities. There most likely will be little that we will have to store for longer than a few months before recycling.
And the program won't happen overnight. There'll be a testing phase in Colombo for a month or so, and if successful, we'll begin replacing all traffic lights in Sri Lanka over the next year or two."

[Pikachurin]

(OOC: )

"The Federation wishes to inquire if we can adopt an identical traffic light system here if this becomes successful in Sri Lanka."

[Lynneth]

[quote name='Pikachurin' timestamp='1290735625' post='2523403']
(OOC: )

"The Federation wishes to inquire if we can adopt an identical traffic light system here if this becomes successful in Sri Lanka."
[/quote]
"Of course you can. This won't be a problem at all."

[Lynneth]

OOC: Disclaimer - If there's more typos than usual, I apologize, but I'm writing this on a keyboard I'm absolutely not used to typing on.
Also sorry about the shortness.

IC:

[b][Public][/b]

"The traffic light project has been a full success. Traffic in Colombo has been streamlines considerably, almost to the point that you could say there's barely any traffic jams at all!
The Government has thus decided to eventually replace all of Sri Lanka's traffic lights over the course of the next months and perhaps years, with tens of thousands of them requiring updates and replacement.

A quite ambitious project, but no more ambitious than the underground train network that's been built or the moon base we have!
Surely nothing is impossible for Sri Lanka's architects and engineers?"

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

"All vaults are finished, Laura."
"All three?"
"Yes. The one in Tiministan is already filled with people and sealed.
The Vault in Ursalia is being prepared right now. People are being brought over there, and the nuclear warhead will be finished soon."
"Excellent."
"The factory promised to Tiministan is completed, as well. Same with the Ursalian factories. Both nations now have access to holoPCs and all the apps and programs that come with the. SHOUT and my company, Oberone, have established almost a dozen branches already. Especially Ursalia is a huge market."
"And Disparu?"
"The Vault there's only waiting for the paint to dry. People are being prepared, the nuke's going to be given to us by their government according to our specifications."
"I'd prefer us using our own warhead...But eh, they insisted on it, didn't they?"
"Indeed they did. Now, we've already started establishing branches over there as well, same as with the others. SHOUT has two in Ferinh and SkyCity, my company's got one nearby. More will be made over time, of course."
"And more money will start flowing in."
The man nodded to her.
"We're still nowhere near done. So much to do."
"So little time."

[Lynneth]

[b][Semi-Classified][/b]

Following the OU's permission to move into Australia's former Antarctic holdings as protective power, a part of Sri Lanka's navy was dispatched together with civilian ships loaded to the brim with humanitarian supplies, as well as transports to deliver 20,000 men for policing duties.
All in all, almost 60 ships of various kinds were on the move southwards to enforce the protectorate and give the people down there an opportunity to leave, should they choose to do so.

While this was the first time Sri Lanka had obtained a protectorate, they were determined to make it successful.

[Shadowsage]

OOC: Just a personal comment, every time I see this thread I misread it as 'Witty Subcontinent'. Lol.

IC: The Empire has no comment on this Antarctic development.

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

Work, work.

There always was something to do, especially because the expansion of Sri Lanka's lunar base was continued without mercy.
It would, of course, be almost fully automated and pressure-sealed, the latter to prevent dust from damaging the refinery and a great number of other facilities that were under construction - once they worked.
Various other security measures would be put in place as well, though none would be communicated to the outside world. It was expected that no nation could possibly infiltrate this base. And if someone was crazy enough to do so, then he would have to battle at least thirty astronauts, all of whom had been living for quite some time in microgravity.

Truly, this was a massive project, especially because it was done by Sri Lanka alone, without outside help.

"But someone has to walk the first step.
The first step on the stair to the stars."

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/Explorer_Corps_Lounge_by_MagyarEagle.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_Explorer_Corps_Lounge_by_MagyarEagle.jpg[/img][/url]
Walking slowly, as if his shoes weighted tons, Alexander made his way to the center of the room, which was part of the Anuradhapura 01's central structure.
[i]Amazing[/i], he thought to himself, [i]what modern technology can accomplish...[/i]

___________________

[b][Public][/b]

On the planet, a series of laws were passed in Sri Lanka's legislature.
Alone, they wouldn't be of great note...But together, and paired with other laws from previous years, these laws began to paint a dangerous picture...

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/12850251223.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_12850251223.jpg[/img][/url]

In the streets of Sri Lanka's cities, few people - if any - realized what was happening right before their eyes.
More and more power left the government, coming into the hands of another party, one that wasn't part of the government and oftentimes didn't care much for the common man.
This third party was fully visible - but none saw it. Its power.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/128493793341.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_128493793341.jpg[/img][/url]
And while somewhere in Sri Lanka households were raided for this and that, the reasons almost always in a very grey area...

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/128493591657.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_128493591657.jpg[/img][/url]
A resistance that didn't know what it was fighting against began to form.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/kitty_barracuda___opening_act_by_elpinoy.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_kitty_barracuda___opening_act_by_elpinoy.jpg[/img][/url]
It began cultivating itself.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/policestate.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_policestate.jpg[/img][/url]
And it began to grow in influence.

Yet they still didn't know who they were fighting against. But they knew:
There was somebody.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/steel_trees_by_steve_burg-d2xic82.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_steel_trees_by_steve_burg-d2xic82.jpg[/img][/url]
Hiding in their palaces of steel.




[quote name='Shadowsage' timestamp='1292117489' post='2536957']
OOC: Just a personal comment, every time I see this thread I misread it as 'Witty Subcontinent'. Lol.
[/quote]
OOC:

[Lynneth]

[b][Public][/b]

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/Azureus_Rising___City_Vista_2_by_Hideyoshi.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_Azureus_Rising___City_Vista_2_by_Hideyoshi.jpg[/img][/url]
Sri Lanka has always been a city of many faces, one of many faiths.
Its population reflected that, with many hailing from all over the world, having dozens and dozens of varying religions and systems of belief.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/Azureus_Rising___City_Vista_by_Hideyoshi.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_Azureus_Rising___City_Vista_by_Hideyoshi.jpg[/img][/url]
The mindset of its population reflected this, as well.
Anarchists, communists, capitalists, liberals, conservatives and who knows how many more political opinions were available if one asked ten or twenty people.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/Citadel_by_epson361.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_Citadel_by_epson361.jpg[/img][/url]
There's a saying: "Put two people into the same room and you have three opinions."
In Sri Lanka, this was more than true. Only there were three hundred million people and as many opinions.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/128493576932.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_128493576932.jpg[/img][/url]
Some said that democracy couldn't possibly work for long under these conditions.
Others said that this was the perfect environment for democracy.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/IHD_by_RudyDieudonne.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_IHD_by_RudyDieudonne.jpg[/img][/url]
Still others were completely apathetic, fleeing into the embrace of cyberspace.
There, they could create worlds for themselves and starve their real bodies of sunlight, social interaction and sanity.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/a139305c287d98b20c6c8b95e6fce9e3.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_a139305c287d98b20c6c8b95e6fce9e3.jpg[/img][/url]
It was little better in rural regions. Even there, technology was everywhere, if not always as advanced or seemingly amazing as elsewhere.
Still, it was at least a [i]little[/i] better...Even if the Government began controlling these regions harder than the cities.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/tim_w_04.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_tim_w_04.jpg[/img][/url]
One thing that was sure, however, was that the Status Quo couldn't be upheld indefinitely.
Even now, the borders of order were crumbling. Slowly, but noticably.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/APC.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_APC.jpg[/img][/url]
And as they did, many various groups in the nation began to try and gain more power.
There was much to be had, for everyone. And the Order wouldn't always break where it was lit by the spotlights of the international stage.

[url="http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/Enviro28.jpg"][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v284/Lynneth_del_Serpentas/AE/CNRP/Possible/th_Enviro28.jpg[/img][/url]
"Move, move, move!"
And sometimes, the government failed to uphold it in the shadows of the massive buildings scraping the sky.
This was especially bad when this failure resulted in a planted bomb detonating in a densely populated district of Colombo, killing hundreds.
These cases were almost always the ones where terrorists were blamed, but where the government itself failed to see that the blame lay with itself - and its many failures.

[Lynneth]

[b][Colombo][/b]

"Would you like something to drink? Tea, coffee?"
"Don't worry about it."
"Then let me unpack a proper chair at least."
"You don't have to do that just for me. I was in the area by happenstance, please don't trouble yourself on my account."
"Please. No time could've been better." Warren Moto knew that he couldn't just turn the man down. Chen Li, his visitor, knew that he had come at a bad time, as Warren had only just begun to unpack his things. He had moved into the building only two days ago and aside from a few kitchen chairs and the coffee machine, few things were unpacked. But even with the machine unpacked, he had no filters and no ground coffee. The coffee grinder was still in one of the many boxes standing around in this and the other rooms. Moto suddenly remembered the bottle of grape juice standing by the window. It had probably developed intelligent life by now, after two days in full sunlight at 35+ degrees Celsius.
"I came by at the wrong time."
"Most certainly not."
"I can't just impose myself on your kindness." It was a game of sorts, one which required a lot of patience. Chen was the friend of a friend, who had asked Moto to investigate a case for Chen Li. This friend, Thilanga Thennakoon, was vice-COO of SHOUT and the two had been playing golf in the outskirts of Colombo when Thennakoon told Moto about Chen's problem. Of course, being friends, Warren had to agree to at least meeting the man.
[i]"It wouldn't be the first time she vanished, but...The girl does tend to leave a note for me, Li or at least one of their friends about her absence,"[/i] the corpulent man had said. [i]"This time, however..."
"So she forgot this time?"
"Perhaps. Or she didn't have a chance to do so. Li is incredibly worried, quite rightly, in fact. But let me be honest with you. Yoyo has a habit of angering the wrong people. Or, perhaps the right people, from certain points of view."[/i] With this, Thennakoon had outlined the problem in his way.
And now Li was here, sitting on one of the least comfortable chairs in Moto's possession. The 'duel of courtesy' could be continued for hours, but neither of them ahd the time. Thus, Warren decided to ambush the chinese-born man, standing up and walking to the toolbox besides the desk. He rummaged in it, taking a box cutter out and began opening the foil around one of the more comfortable chairs. Startled, Chen lifted his hands.
"Please, Mr. Moto! It is embarassing beyond all measure -"
"Doesn't have to be," said Moto joyfully. "To be honest, I'm speculating that you might help me. There's a second knife in the toolbox. What do you think about working together and making this shack liveable?"
It was a way for Chen to get out of the mess he got himself into. Help me and I help you, even if it's necessary that you help with the move so we both can sit comfortably and you keep your face. Quid pro quo.
Chen was unsure. He scratched his head, but then got up, fishing the knife out of the box and went to open the other chair's packaging. He relaxed visibly while cutting the duct tape.
"I thank you again for your hospitality, Mr. Moto. Thilanga found no opportunity to mention your move."
Meaning so much as the idiot didn't say anything. Moto shrugged and pulled the foil from the chair.
"He didn't know."
That was a lie, but it gave the two the opportunity to talk about more important things. One after another, they pushes the armchairs in front of the desk.
"Doesn't look half bad after all," said a grinning Moto. "Now we just need some refreshment. What do you think? I could go get some coffee. The lobby has a -"
"Don't trouble yourself," interrupted Chen. "I'll get it."
Ah, yes. The game.
"Certainly not."
"Of course."
"It's my pleasure. You're my guest."
"And you received me despite my early arrival. As I said -"
"But that's the least I could do. How would you like your coffee?"
"How would you like [i]yours[/i]?"
"Awfully nice of you, but -"
And so on. Finally, Moto yielded. "Just a normal cappuccino would be great. It's just down on the left."
Chen nodded.
And suddenly, he smiled, as well. The skin on his face tensing so that Warren thought it might rip, but it was in fact a well worth seeing, friendly smile that only petered out in the cracked desert underneath the eyes.


[size="1"]OOC: Disclaimer: The plot (if I develop it further) is inspired by [Limit] by Frank Schätzing. Some names are taken from the book as well, because making up Sri Lankan names is a chore. [/size]

Edited December 16, 2010 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

OOC: Edited the previous post. Read, please. Superior.

[Lynneth]

[b][Colombo][/b]

"Her name isn't really 'Yoyo'," explained Chen while the two were drinking coffee. By now, air conditioning was running and made the room's temperature somewhat bearable. Chen was sitting in a way as if the soft leather chair would throw him off any second. However, compared to the man who had crept through the door just fifteen minutes ago, he seemed to be almost in balance.
"What's her real name?"
"Yuyun."
"That's...Jade cloud?" Moto lifted his eyebrows appreciatively. "A beautiful choice."
"Oh, I thought for a long time about it! It was supposed to be a light, fresh name, full of poetry, full of..." His look seemed to blur and wander into the distance.
"Harmony," added Moto.
"Yes, harmony."
"Why does she call herself Yoyo?"
"I don't know." Chen sighed. "I know too little about her in general, but that's the problem. You don't understand a person just because you label him. Labels don't make the content. I ask you, what are names, anyways? Rallying calls for the lost, at best. Despite this there's hope for the occasional exception, the own child, and it's like you're stunned. As if names could change anything! As there had ever been veracity to to names!" He noisily drank some of his coffee.
"And Yoyo - Yuyun has vanished?"
"Let's stay with Yoyo. Aside from me, nobody calls her Yuyun. And yes, I haven't seen nor talked to her for two days. Hasn't Thilanga Thennakoon said anything?"
"Only a little."
For some inexplicable reason, this factor seemed to delight Chen. Then it dawned on Moto. During their conversation, Thennakoon had mentioned, [i]I'm tempted to say she trusts me more than her father.[/i] Whatever brought Chen and Thennakoon together, how close the bond between them may be - this inclination of Yoyo's stood between them. Just now, Chen had gained the warming certainty that Thennakoon didn't know anything, either.
"We had agreed to meet," he continued. "The day before yesterday for lunch in the [i]Liaoning Lu[/i]. I waited for more than an hour, but she didn't appear. At first I thought it was because of our argument and that she's still angry, but then -"
"You argued?"
"We avoided each other for a while after she had confronted me with the circumstances of her moving out, ten days ago, out of the blue. Neither did she bother to ask for advice nor did she want me to help her."
"You didn't agree with that?"
"She seemed to act hastily in my opinion, and I told her as much. I made that perfectly clear! That there's not the slightest cause. That she's in certainly better hands with me than in this den of thieves in which she's hung out for years. That she's not doing herself a favour, with these guys - well, that it's not smart -," Chen stared at the cup in his hand. For a while, it was silent. Universes of dust formed and withered in the sunlight. Moto's nose itched, but he supressed the stimulus to sneeze. Instead he tried to remember where he had read the name Yoyo Chen before.
"Yoyo has many talents," Chen resumed. "Perhaps I did restrict her too much. But I had no choice. She incurred the displeasure of certain prominent circles and it got more dangerous. Even five years, she had been arrested - because she hadn't followed my advice."
"What was the crime?"
"The crime? She threw my warnings and caution to the wind."
"Yes, I know. That's no crime. Why was she arrested?"
Chen blinked warily.
"I didn't say it that explicitly."
Moto furrowed his eyebrows. He leant forward, laid his fingertips on top of each other and looked directly into Chen's eyes.
"Listen, I don't want to push you. But we're getting bogged down. You most probably are not here to tell me that the party in power gave Yoyo a medal, so let's be quite clear. What did she do?"
"She -" Chen seemed to be looking for a wording in which terms such as regime criticism didn't appear.
"May I venture a guess?"
Chen hesitated. Then he nodded.

[Lynneth]

[b][Colombo][/b]

"Yoyo is a dissident." Moto knew that this was the case. Where the hell had he read her name before? "She's criticising the system, probably in the Internet. She's been doing that for years. Occasionally she was noticable, but until yesterday, things were relatively fine. Now something may have happened. And you're worrying that she's been arrested."
"She said I should be the last one to reproach her because of this," Chen whispered. "But I only tried to protect her. We had arguments because of this, many times did we argue and she yelled at me. She said it was hopeless, I wouldn't let anyone close to me, not even the own daughter, and how I of all people - She said I was like a rooster ranting against crowing."
Moto waited. Chen's facial expression hardened.
"But that's no stories I want to bother you with.," he ended. "Fact is that I haven't heard anything from her in two days."
"Maybe it's more harmless than you think. It wouldn't be the first time that kids vanish after an argument. They crawl under covers with their friends, play dead for a while, just to teach their parents a lesson."
Chen shook his head. "Not Yoyo. She would never use an argument as cause to do such a thing."
"You said yourself, you don't know your daughter well enough -"
"Regarding this I know her quite well. We're similar in many things. Yoyo hates kids' stuff."
"Did you ask the authorities?"
Chen clenched his fists. His knuckles turns white, but his face stayed without expression. Moto knew that they were closing in on the crucial point, why Thennakoon had sent his friend here.
"You [i]did[/i] ask - didn't you?"
"No, I didn't!" Chen seemed to chew the words before spitting them out. "I can't! I can't ask the authorities without risking to set them on Yoyo's trail."
"So it's not assured that Yoyo has been arrested?"
"The last time I'd been left in the dark for weeks about the police station she'd been kept at. But that she [i]had[/i] been captured, that I was told about mere hours after the arrest. You have to know, I established a number of contacts over the years. There are people who are ready to use their influence for me and Yoyo."
"Such as Thilanga Thennakoon."
"He and others. Only thanks to that I even knew that Yoyo had been placed under confinement. I enquired about this with these - friends, but none of them claimed to know anything about her whereabouts. It wouldn't suprise me if she had given the authorities further grounds to hunt her, but maybe they simply haven't picked up on this yet."
"So you think Yoyo got spooked and decided to keep a low profile for a while."
Chen kneaded his fingers. To Moto he looked like a tensed bow. Then he sighed.
"IfI were to go to the police," he said, "I might sow suspicion on the field of ignorance. They would put Yoyo once more into the crosshairs, whether she did something or not. Any excuse would be fine by them. Yoyo avoided provoking them for a time, it seemed that she had learned her lesson and made peace with the past, but -" He looked at Moto with pearly, dark eyes. This time, he didn't blink. "You understand my predicament, Mr. Moto?"
Moto considered him silently. He leaned back and pondered. As long as Chen was circling around the issue, they didn't really get anywhere. Until now, his guest stayed with insinuations. Moto doubted that Chen was aware of this. He had internalised this sidestepping to a point where it probably seemed to him as if he was walking straight forward.
"I don't want to push you, Mr. Chen - but could it be that you would be the wrong person to approach the authorities in connection with anti-state activities?"
"What do you mean?"
"I'm merely voicing the assumption that Yoyo isn't being being chased for her own sake."
"I see." Chen stared at him. "You are right, not everything in my past is working to Yoyo's advantage. I'd do her a disservice by going to the police. Can we leave it at that?"
Moto nodded.

Edited December 23, 2010 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

[indent]Up in the sky, further than many ever gaze for long, there were the many billions and trillions of stars that existed not only in the Milky Way, but in the entire universe. With a powerful enough telescope, one might be able to watch the past, to see galaxies and stars that were billions of years old, eventually reaching back to a point where no light, no star was left.
There, in this incredible distance so far away, both in time and space, a [i]something[/i] created the [i]everything[/i]. [/indent]

[indent]But that's a little too far away. There is something similarly interesting, mere hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from the small blue dot where man walks: Luna, more commonly known as 'The Moon'. It is tidally locked to its larger neighbour, always showing it the same face. All the time, and without exception.
This makes the other side - sometimes called the "dark" side even though it was bathed in light just as often as the side seen by man on Earth. A more proper name would be the 'far' side, a term used by most scientists of repute.
On this far side, some of man had come and built a sizable construction, in order to live there, to make Luna theirs, in essence. It was part of man's history, laying a claim to whatever he could get his hands on. This was the case here as well, only that these men were just a scant few, intent on exploiting as many of the resources found on Terra's satellite as they could. [/indent]

[indent]For this reason, they had first built a 'base', where perhaps one, two hundred of their kind could live. Its expansion had been ongoing for a long time, with additional constructions and buildings being made, some finally finished.
Thus, they had added a 'mine' to their base. From now on, the resources of moon lay open to them like a banquet where one could eat as much as they wanted.
'Capitalism' had found the far side of the Moon, and it would work hard on using the resources found up here. They would be used to build more...So much more. [/indent]

"So much more, Laura...Now that we have a mining station on the moon, almost completely automated, together with refineries and factories to use these resources, we'll be unlimited in the scale of building things. Only patience is what we need now."
"Patience needs time. And that, we have plenty of."
"Indeed."


OOC: Moon mine wonder GET. :3

Edited December 31, 2010 by Lynneth

[Lynneth]

[b][Classified][/b]

"So the world drowns, once more, in the screaming light of Einstein's legacy."
"Many have been hit. The Holy American Empire..."
Alexander's expression turned into one of disgust. "Bah. They're not worth the air they breathe. It is the same with Korea, the inbred fascists with their racist policies to [i]purify[/i] their people from anything non-Korean or non-Japanese!"
"They One is horribly overstretched, the other comically weak and split into minor states that seldomly agree with each other."
"And England? Apologist and anti-technology, in my opinion. They deserve having their capital reduced to dust and ashes."
"Perhaps, but don't say that too loud. Someone not intended to hear this might overhear."
"Frankly, I don't give a damn. If they're offended because a corporation's CEO voiced his opinion, they deserve this even more."
"Alex, Alex. You need to control your temper a little more."
"I've no interest in that. However, I'm enraged that Nod has been hit - even if it was only a single nuke. The detonation's shockwave was measured even here with ease. What did they estimate, how many Megatons?"
"Ten, dear. Around ten Megatons, roughly the same we can build when we put effort into it."
"Goddamn."
"What about J Andres?"
"Unfortunate, but it seems whoever did this actually intended to hit the old, fascist J Andres."
"What luck it is that only fascists have been hit and not our liberal-nationalist Sri Lanka, isn't it?"
"Ha! If they knew what's going on behind the scenes, who has the actual control...They'd have hit us as well."
"Possibly. They deliberately aimed for civilians."
"If Colombo got hit...Well, that's a good percentage of our population gone, right there. Megacities are somewhat vulnerable to nuclear weapons."
"Hence why we tend to keep quiet on the international stage and just do our thing on the moon."

Alexander nodded. Finally, he had calmed a little, getting a little more relaxed as the topic shifted towards Sri Lanka's Lunar assets. "So, how is the resource extraction going up there?"'
"Quite well. According to the latest reports, we can begin building a lunar launch loop soon, and it'll be so much cheaper than the Terran one."
"Even though we didn't build that one."
"Well, we did build one in the HAE. But they're not using it, it's just running without doing anything."
"Heh, true. They're too stupid to use it properly."
"Perhaps. Anyways, we'll probably have the lunar loop running within five or six months. Then we can begin the actual work."
"I wonder what the moon will look like once we've removed all that mass from its surface..."
"It'll look bad, but even if we removed several gigatons of material, that's only ten to the power of nine. The moon weights more than a trillion times that. I don't even think the english language has a word for that size, other than 'to the power of so and so'."
"No idea, but I don't care, either. Those plans are huge. Incredibly huge, I can barely comprehend the magnitude, to be honest."
"I can, if barely. This project is going to bankrupt the country, though..."
"Hence why we're ultra-capitalist and earn more money than anyone else."
"Mhm. True. And we can always take control of everything and use slaves or something."
"Slaves in space? That's a new one."
"Worth a try if things get too expensive."
"Perhaps."

[Lynneth]

[b][Colombo][/b]

"You know the main area of my work?", he asked. "Did Thennakoon fill you in?"
"Yes."
"My hunting grounds is the 'net. I guess he recommended me because Yoyo became active there."
"He holds you in high regard. He says, you are the best."
"That honours me. Do you have a picture of Yoyo?"
"Oh, I have more than that! I have videos." He reached into his jacket and brought a cellphone to light. It was an older model, still without 3D-projection capabilities. With his already familiar blinking, Chen began tampering with it, pressed some buttons one after another, but nothing happened.
"May I help?", Moto suggested.
"Yoyo gave it to me, but I don't use it often.." A semblance of embarrassment showed momentarily on Chen's face. He handed the device to Moto. "I know, it's ridiculous. Ask me something about cars. Old cars. I know all models, but these things -"
These things, thought Moto, have gone out of style already, just in case you didn't notice.
"You are interested in cars?", he asked.
"I'm an expert! [i]Historical Beauties[/i], in the Colombo Pūrva Saraka. Never been there? I head the service department. You have to give me the pleasure of a visit, just the previous month we received a silver-coloured Rolls Royce Corniche, with wood and red leather seats, a gem. It came from Germany, an old man sold it. Do you like cars?"
"They're useful."
"May I ask what you drive?"
"Code2."
"Hybrid?"
"Fuel cell." Moto turned the cellphone in his hands and looked at the ports. With an adapter, he could have projected the content onto his new holoscreen, but that would only be delivered towards evening. He dialled into its memory.
"May I?"
"Please. There's only three videos on it, all of Yoyo."
Moto focused the gadget onto the opposite wall and activated the integrated video projector. He focused the size to that of a current flatscreen TV, so that its brilliance was appropriate despite the incident sunlight, and played the first video.

Edited January 18, 2011 by Lynneth