Deadline

Sunday, August 3, 2183

TRANSCRIPT (excerpt):

The Sunday Morning Debate, North American News Net, 0900 EST

HOST: Good morning and welcome to the Sunday Debate, I’m your host Sarah Kruger. Major developments are expected today in the ongoing controversy over the offworld colonies. President Monroe is scheduled to give what his press secretary describes as a “historic” speech on the colonial issue. NANN will carry that speech live at 1500 eastern time, 1400 central. That’s 20 hours GMT, for viewers in other parts of the world or on the Colonies themselves. The administration has kept the contents of the speech a close secret, with no preview copies or even general outlines provided to the press as of this time. But joining me in the studio to discuss what we might hear is Gregory Barrett, Chairman of the North American branch of the Born to the Earth party—

BARRETT: Good morning, Sarah.

HOST: Thank you for coming, Mr Chairman.

BARRETT: Glad to be here.

HOST —and joining us remotely, from his office in Star City, Star City’s congressman, Bradley Cutter.

CUTTER: Good morn—

BARRETT: (muttering) Doesn’t want to soil his feet on the lowly Earth, does he?

CUTTER: Good morning Sarah.

HOST: Thank you for coming, Congressman.

CUTTER: Thanks for the invitation.

BARRETT: (muttering) Didn’t even bother to show up in person.

HOST: We didn’t quite catch that, Chairman Barrett?

BARRET: It’s just typical of these arrogant offworlders. Doesn’t want to soil his feet on the lowly Earth, I suppose. The so-called congressmen and senators from the offworld states won’t even come down from their sky palaces to do their duty when congress is in session.

CUTTER: Because of the expense of travel to and from offworld—

BARRETT: Expense? What does expense matter to—

CUTTER: (louder, overriding) —most of the offworld contingent attend legislative sessions by telepresence, which is authorized by—

BARRET: —living in luxury while the people of Earth are starving—

CUTTER: —authorized by the Constitution of the North American Continental Directorate as well as that of the Terran Federation.

BARRETT: What do the Colonies care about the Constitution? Has anyone forgotten that in the last election they voted to secede from not only North America, but every continental directorate? Fortunately the people of Earth said “No” to their treason, but look at the polls— the offworlders were for it all the way.

CUTTER: The continental referendum was based on the idea that the Offworld Colonies had both problems and interests in common with each other, more so than with their parent continents, and it simply made practical, economic sense to create a single offworld directorate to—

BARRETT: To better exploit the Earth for your own gain, unchecked by having to answer to an honest, Terran administration! It was a transparent attempt for these would-be overlords to further enrich themselves at the expense of the starving people of Earth who for the last twenty years have—

CUTTER: —have suffered economic problems caused by the Sun’s irregularity damaging Earth’s ecosystems. Storm damage and crop failures are not our fault. Blame the Sun. And while it’s true the offworld economies have been more stable than Earth’s, it’s ridiculous to call us rich. The average family quarters in the Colonies—

BARRETT: Oh yes, complain about how the beds in your sky palaces aren’t as soft as you’d like. Tell millions of desperate people, out of work, with nowhere to live, all about it. And then go on to tell them how you’re prospering, and they’re starving, but it’s all the Sun’s fault, certainly not that you’ve been hoarding their money while at the same time stealing their air, water and food.

CUTTER: Supplies to the Colonies have no impact on Earth’s ecosystems! The amounts are trivial compared to natural cycling— the Earth loses more mass to natural atmospheric escape and sequestration than the Colonies use, by orders of magnitude, and if it didn’t we’d have an atmosphere even more dense than Venus. The Colonies are a ripple on a tidal wave when it comes to Earth’s biosphere. What does make a difference is that we keep the toxic waste products of industry, things the Earth’s biosystems cannot absorb, away from the planet.

HOST: Perhaps we can focus the conversation on President Monroe’s upcoming speech. Any thoughts on what he might say? Chairman Barrett, let’s hear from you first.

BARRETT: I have no doubt that the President will respond strongly to the outrageous and illegal act of the NAC in continuing to supply their six Colonies with supplies, in defiance of his executive order halting such shipments. Supplies vitally needed to maintain the health of the Earth, stealing the very air from the lungs of innocent children and—

CUTTER: It was Monroe’s order that was illegal, the Terran Federation has no jurisdiction over trade within a single continental directorate.

BARRETT: It does when that trade directly affects the whole Earth.

CUTTER: But I do think that’s what Monroe will address in his speech. He’ll have some fresh executive order, or a legislative proposal for the Parliament, to try and block the NAC’s action. But it won’t work. Short of an amendment to the Terran Constitution— or a finding from the International Court, which won’t hear the NAC’s case until November— there’s nothing he can do.

BARRETT: President Monroe will not allow the Offworld parasites to continue draining the lifeblood of the Earth. He was elected to put a stop to it, and he will do it. The people of Earth can rely on that.

END TRANSCRIPT

 

VIDEO MESSAGE: Jenny Terrell to Linda Ryder

Well, I got here, but I haven’t gotten to MIT yet. I’m still at the spaceport, in a hotel. I was supposed to get onto a low-atmosphere ship (they still call them airplanes down here, I heard someone use the word) to Boston, but there were protestors everywhere and it was so violent that security had to escort all of us over to a hotel, they’ve got the whole place under guard until they think it’s safe for us to go on. I guess I should have expected that of course there’d be protestors at the spaceport, but it was still scary as dust. Excuse my language. They were all shouting and screaming and calling us all sorts of names. Watching the news you think the kind of things President Monroe and the other Earthers say sound crazy, but it’s nothing to the crazy I heard from these people. I guess that’s how he got elected.

Anyway, it should be better once we can get away from the spaceport. I mean it’s not like I’ll be carrying a sign that says ‘Hi, I’m an offworlder,’ right? And once I’m on campus it won’t matter. Although this guy at the hotel desk said I have an offworld accent. But us coming Down is what all the Earthers want, right? So they shouldn’t be too upset with someone who actually did it, once I get past the crazies who actually go to protests.

Anyway, I’ll send you another message once I get to Boston.

 

Excerpt from the speech given by President Alexander Monroe, 2000 GMT, August 3, 2183

“And so, faced with the grave ongoing threat to the survival of the Earth itself, and with the defiance of the greedy and corrupt government of the North American Continental Directorate aiding and abetting the offworld menace, I have no choice but to take action.

“In accordance with article thirteen of the Terran Constitution, I declare a state of planetary emergency and invoke the emergency powers granted under that article. By that authority, I hereby order the complete evacuation of the offworld colonies by a date no later than January 1, 2184. The four months from now until that date offer ample time, if evacuation ships operate at full capacity, to return the entire offworld population to the Earth.

“I further order, in my capacity as Commander-in-chief with emergency powers, the Terran military to employ all necessary force to interdict any further shipments of supplies, from the NAC or any other location, to any offworld facility, effective immediately. I warn the shipping companies, the NAC government, and the Colonies: any ship that attempts to transport supplies away from this planet will be shot down.”

 

TO BE CONTINUED