The hallways of the Building are empty today. After all, the Head Councilman has just returned from a trip to the Outside. He is to give a speech on what he did there, and all of us are terribly curious. The Outside intrigues us in the same way that serial killers and great heists do. It's enthralling in its danger... as long as that danger stays muted and far away. 

It's not that people from the Building aren't allowed to go Outside. We're free people and can go wherever we wish. The question, however, is why would we ever want to? It's safe here in the Building. We know that if we leave, there's no guarantee we'll return in one piece. It's much better to let brave leaders like the Head Councilman do it for us, while we watch from the safety of our living rooms. 

"The Town is changing," the Head Councilman says, his tone grave. A comparison image appears on the screen behind him, divided into two sides: The Town Ten Years Ago and The Town Today. The difference is stark- too stark to have been accomplished in a mere ten years. Now, the once-primitive town is filled with factories and high-rise buildings. The slideshow moves on, showing more images. Workers in a factory, formally dressed people kneeling before a throne. I shudder, as I always do at the sight of Townspeople. They can be categorized as human, sure, but there's something different, something uncanny about them. They're just a little too tall, their limbs just a little too long and their teeth just a little too sharp- just enough to remind us that they are not us. 

The Head Councilman presses a button on the console in front of him, returning to the previous slide and zooming in on the factory scene. With this more detailed view, I'm shocked to see that some of the workers are much too small to be ordinary Townspeople- they're children! 

"Not too long ago, the Town was a savage place with no concept of law and order. In that chaos, one despicable man saw opportunity." The slide shifts to a picture of a lanky elderly man in a military uniform. His unkempt mop of graying hair sits atop his elongated head and his eyes seem to bulge out of his skull. His face is ugly, emotionless... an easy face to hate.

"Pasco Gate- self-declared 'Supreme Leader of the Town'" the Head Councilman spits. I understand his disgust as a fairly elected democratic leader. This barbarian dictator must be an absolute abomination to him! 

"Gate wants the Town to be more like the Building. So he's started to build. He exploits his most vulnerable citizens, forcing them to work in inhuman conditions to fuel his industrial projects. What he doesn't understand is that a society like the Building cannot be brought into being by tyranny. It is a compact that relies on the consent of the governed!"

He pauses for the applause as the slide behind him shifts to a picture of a small, handheld glass screen with a black strip across the top. "But trying- and failing- to become the Building is not enough for Gate and his abominable government. He desires to ruin the Building's economy, by introducing new and potentially harmful products to our market. His technology company just came out with the Solar Phone- a device that runs entirely on solar power. He has already forced almost the entire population of the Town to purchase it, and a large portion of my conversation with him was dedicated to his efforts to sell it in the Building. Of course, I firmly refused this. I will not allow the Town to profit from our success!"

I smile. His efforts to protect us are certainly admirable. At first I'm not entirely comfortable with this... I don't understand why a solar-powered phone is a bad thing. But then I remember the picture of the factory, the poor children whose blood produced it, and am firmly moved to the Head Councilman's side. A product from the Town, no matter how seemingly useful, does more harm than good. 

"My delegation and I spoke to Gate and his advisors for many hours. We attempted to reason with him, to pressure him, but he did not yield. He refused to even budge from his radical position. I believe that this may call for firmer action- although I'm not sure what that will look like at this time."

"Free the Town! Down with Gate!" Someone yells from the crowd. The Head Councilman puts up a hand, smiling enigmatically. "I will speak with my Council. Our decision on this matter will be announced in public shortly. Until then, I advise all of you to avoid purchasing items from the Town. We should be proud to use products produced ethically by our friends and neighbors right here in the Building. God bless you all!" 

The camera follows the Head Councilman as he walks offstage, pulling his phone out of his pocket and pressing it to his ear. For a moment, I think I glimpse a small black panel on the back of it... but that must just be a trick of the light. 

..........................

Try unscrambling the name "Pasco Gate" ;) First person to get it right gets a shoutout in the next chapter!