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Here we are. Welcome to the Academic district of Esperanza, where all education levels from preschool to grad school can be taken. We have made a great effort to update the contents of all subjects, in order to maximize the usefulness of the knowledge our students are expected to acquire. Physics, Chemistry and Biology now follow the Azulian models; alien languages, whenever compatible with the mental and vocal capabilities of a regular Earthling, are taught since early levels; and subjects such as History, Ethics and SexEd have been carefully tailored to actually be useful in the long run.
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Does that all happen in just this one building? Aren't students cramped in there?
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Sadly, despite our best efforts to repopulate Earth, Esperanza is still pretty low on children and teenagers after the Extinction. But the government hopes to need to expand the city territory in the not so distant future.
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And finally, here is the Administration district, where all the city management occurs, including Civil Protection and the City Hall. Whenever you need to report a problem, be it regarding someone else's actions or a flaw in the city itself, this is the place to do it.
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Those are cool uniforms. Are those police people of some sort?
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That's right. Those are Civil Protection agents, some of which use physical enhancement technology I developed myself.
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Neat. What about the government though? What system do you guys use?
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I will take it from here, Dr Rawhead, if you don't mind.
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Er, of course, miss Krolikova. Let me know if there's anything else I might help with.
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Thank you. Let's walk, miss Falcata.
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Alright, but who the hell are you?
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I am Irina Krolikova, Prime Minister of Esperanza since its independence.
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This is Irina Krolikova, Prime Minister of Esperanza since its independence, whose flawless management skills are one of the main reasons why the city works like a charm. Despite her chronic grumpiness and unsociability, she truly cares about each and every one of her citizens and always seems to know exactly what they should do to maximize both their happiness and usefulness. Very little is known about her past and personal preferences, but rumor says that her favorite color is cyan.
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Wow. And, uh, you just go around talking to all newcomers, with no bodyguards or anything? How do you know I'm not dangerous?
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Are you dangerous?
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Uh, no. Not to you, at least.
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Good, I'm glad we got that settled. I pride myself in taking a hands-on approach to my citizens' needs and worries. If I want the people to accept me as their leader, I don't expect them to just believe that I care about them, I always back up my intentions with visible actions.
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That's good. Pretty impressive. Eh, so have you really won every election since the city was made?
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Elections are for democracies. A governor should not be the boss of its region until someone else steals their throne, by force or by the people's choice. A governor should be an employee of the people, nothing more, and prove their worth through hard work. I was chosen to manage Esperanza and will do so until the citizens find me unfit to do so. As long as they are satisfied with my work, I will continue doing it.
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That sounds a bit like a dictatorship, doesn't it?
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It absolutely is. A citizen-endorsed dictatorship.
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Isn't that, you know, a bad thing?
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Is it, miss Falcata? I spend every waking moment trying to make the most complex machine on Earth work a bit better each day. I don't ask for anything in return, I do it because it is my job and because I seem to be the most suitable citizen to do so. Did democratically elected presidents do that before the Extinction? Was their motivation anything but a lust for power or wealth?
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I guess so.
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Good and evil are deeply unscientific constructs and Esperanza is, at its core, still a scientific station. Intrinsically dangerous elements, such as a dictatorship, can be beneficial for the majority if used in the right way. You would say a knife is essentially a dangerous object, wouldn't you?
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Of course. But it can be used to slice cake, right?
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Exactly. We can find an infinity of examples that prove that the usage of an object, not their essence, determines their moral value. Think, for instance, of a nanobotic intelligent fluid which spreads evenly over a predetermined surface and lights up in different colors to form images.
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Oh, that's the wall projection thingie, right?
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That's correct. Would you claim that such an invention is in any way dangerous?
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I don't know, everything can be dangerous if misused.
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Exactly my point. Suppose that some researchers at a foreign university requested information about this technology in order to replicate it, just a few months prior to when a nanobotic intelligent fluid spread evenly over the American continent, destroying all human life and triggering the Extinction event that ended civilization as we knew it.
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Wow, fuck.
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Fuck indeed. But such missteps can be forgiven, as long as we move on and work hard to rebuild what was lost. As long as we remember that each and everyone of us, including me, are but single agents of a greater system and that, as long as we all do our best, humanity will not die.
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I can't believe it. It really works, doesn't it? The people here really are happy and feel safe.
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That is our goal.
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I see... Can I help?
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I believe you can. You see, since the Extinction, our scouts have swept the world for all the information they could salvage. Books, databases, art, we never know what could be useful in the future and we have a lot of memory space in Esperanza. Within the ruins of a nearby village, we even found some very interesting criminal registries, involving a young Verónica Falcata.
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I am not sorry for what I did.
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Nor should you be. My point is that, given your past, your skills and your personality, I am fairly sure of how you could best help protect our city. You will go back to Dr Rawhead, miss Falcata,
and you will ask him about Project Pentacle. |
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