The interviewer packed up her camera and departed, leaving Charles Safreth sitting behind his desk facing the frowning expressions of his campaign manager Arthur Norris and PR director Carol Tolbert.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell,\u201d said Arthur at last. \u201cThat could have gone better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat did I do wrong this time?\u201d Charles asked.<\/p>\n
Carol rolled her eyes. \u201cSeriously? Charlie, this isn\u2019t your first campaign, you ought to know enough to realize when a reporter asks a question out of left field they have a reason in their pocket.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles had seen both Arthur and Carol making panic-eyes at him when the question came up, but couldn\u2019t figure out what they were worried about. He frowned. \u201cI ran unopposed for Colony Congress two years ago, so it actually is my first real campaign. I plead amateur status. Now tell me, what was wrong with a reporter asking about my surname?\u201d<\/p>\n
Arthur said, \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong is that you\u2019ve tied your campaign for governor one hundred percent to the referendum on an offworld continental directorate. The Taylor campaign is already painting the referendum\u2014 and you along with it\u2014 as disloyal to our parent continent. They\u2019ve been pushing hard on proud North American heritage, purple mountains majesty, amber waves of grain, et cetera, et cetera.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you happily tell your little homespun story about how your Dad, when he moved your family offworld, changed the family name to \u2018Safreth,\u2019 which he made up himself because he wanted to sever all ties to the planet he left behind. Don\u2019t you see how that plays directly into Taylor\u2019s narrative? I can write his next campaign ad for him: Charles Safreth, the candidate whose very name means \u2018disloyal.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNot to mention it\u2019s just kind of weird,\u201d added Carol. \u201cIf he\u2019s making it up, where\u2019d he get something like \u2018Safreth?\u2019 Why not \u2018Orbitson\u2019 or \u2018Rocketman\u2019 or something that makes sense?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBecause those sound like something out of a pre-spaceflight sci-fi video about space cadets. He played around with the sounds of his original name, which was Schaeffer.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou should have said that instead of talking about severing ties. \u2018My Dad decided to symbolize his new home by giving his name a modernist-sounding spin.\u2019 That\u2019s at least marginally better than \u2018wanted to sever all ties.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cLook.\u201d Charles found himself getting annoyed. \u201cCouldn\u2019t this actually help us with our supporters? After all, the referendum really is about severing ties with the continents.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cNo it isn’t,\u201d Carol said. \u201cNot if you want to win, anyway. Polls show the continental directorates are viewed favorably, and cultural ties to the continents are overwhelmingly popular\u2014 even when you only count strong supporters of the referendum. That\u2019s consistent across every Colony toward every parent continent, not just Star City and North America. Supporters see the referendum as a move for efficient government of the Colonies, which have needs and priorities in common, not as a rejection of the directorates. Change the wording of the poll question to even imply that it\u2019s about separating from the continents, and support plummets. That\u2019s what Taylor is going to use, against you and against the referendum.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough that may be a moot point anyway,\u201d Arthur added. \u201cThe planetside population so outnumbers the offworlders that the Colonies could be unanimous in one direction or another and it wouldn\u2019t affect the overall outcome. What we have to worry about is how the vote goes in Star City.\u201d<\/p>\n
Charles rubbed his eyes and leaned back from his desk. With eyes still closed, he said, \u201cIf the question only came up in the interview because the reporter already had something, that means Taylor already decided on it, and leaked to the press it was coming. I\u2019ve told that story to plenty of people over the years, if I tried to hide it now he\u2019d just call me out for lying about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could have spun it better,\u201d Carol said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it\u2019s done. What do we do about it?\u201d He opened his eyes and looked at his two chief advisors for ideas.<\/p>\n
There was silence for a moment. Finally Arthur said, \u201cTry to turn it around on him. If he does bring it up, we say it proves how desperate he is, to try an argument that\u2019s nothing but a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a joke all right,\u201d Charles said.<\/p>\n
Carol shook her head. \u201cSaying so might work, but the reality is that it\u2019s going to matter. Almost everyone agrees on the substantive issues about the referendum. This is going to be an election about emotion, about how much we value our cultural heritage over practicalities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFewer than ten percent of the offworld population was born planetside,\u201d Charles said. \u201cThe Colonies are<\/em> our cultural heritage.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t let anyone outside of this room hear you say that.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles sighed. Would it really make a difference if he was Charles Schaeffer instead of Safreth?<\/p>\n Dust it, I <\/em>am Charles Safreth. Safreth!<\/em> He was six months old when his family moved offworld, into the temporary housing for the construction crews on Star City, construction still less than a year underway and four years from completion. He had no memory of any prior surname, no memory of any prior home. His father worked in Colony engineering, his mother was a doctor in the construction clinic and later in Star City\u2019s first hospital. As far as he was concerned, he had no ties outside of a history book to North America or anywhere else on Earth. Surely people in the offworld population felt the same?<\/p>\n Carol said, speaking slowly as if turning over a new idea in her head, \u201cCharles Safreth runs against Charles Taylor, in whose previous administration he worked as Senior Colony Engineer. Comedians and political cartoonists have been calling it the divorce of Charles versus Charles for a while now. What if we embrace that? Start telling some of those jokes ourselves, make Charles Versus Charles our own. Don\u2019t even try to answer Taylor if he brings up the family name business, we just make it a first name only race. Then he has to insist on using the last names if he wants to make his argument and comes across as a guy who can\u2019t take a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s even sillier than Taylor making an issue of my name in the first place,\u201d Charles said. \u201cWhat time is it? We could think about it over lunch.\u201d<\/p>\n He looked around for his handscreen to check, but before he found it Arthur said, \u201cIt\u2019s about twelve thirty.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOkay then, let\u2019s\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n The lights went out.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, dust, what\u2019s this? A power failure?\u201d Charles asked.<\/p>\n After a few seconds, the emergency lights came on.<\/p>\n \u201cHere\u2019s another wonderful surprise two weeks before election day,\u201d Arthur said, looking up at the dim, battery-powered lights. \u201cYou\u2019re running on having been Colony Engineer, this better not trace back to some problem you ignored then…\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s happening on Taylor\u2019s watch,\u201d Carol said.<\/p>\n But Charles was no longer paying any attention to his political team. Past engineering experience had taken his attention. Power failures happened from time to time, there was always such a thing as malfunctioning equipment or accidental overloads\u2014 especially as the Colony\u2019s population continued to grow and the systems had to continually adapt\u2014 but there hadn\u2019t been an outage in years. Most of the population would probably see it as a mere inconvenience, but Charles knew Colony lifesystems maintained a delicate biological balance and even a few hours down could cause damage that might take months to recover. Months that would have to be covered by increased supplies from Earth at a time when, down below, the Born to the Earth party was making an issue of every oxygen canister.<\/p>\n But it was even worse than that. After a minute or so, he heard shouting outside and then a staffer burst into the room yelling, \u201cIt\u2019s the Sun! The Sun\u2019s gone out!\u201d<\/p>\n Charles, Arthur and Carol just stared at him. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m telling you! People started saying it, and everyone\u2019s going up to above-decks to look. It\u2019s dark everywhere, you can see the Sun in the mirrors and it\u2019s just black and red!\u201d<\/p>\n Charles didn\u2019t believe it. This had to be just hysteria. The Sun mirrors must have lost tracking, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n All? That\u2019s a disastrous malfunction.<\/em> He dashed around his desk and headed down the corridor at a run, his advisors and the rest of the campaign staff\u2014 those still in the office\u2014 trailing behind.<\/p>\n The elevator would be no use in a power outage. Charles made straight for the stairs and headed upward taking three steps to a stride. He shoved his way past other people milling around, some heading back down and relaying the same news: \u201cIt\u2019s the Sun, the Sun is gone.\u201d<\/p>\n He emerged into the above-deck reception area. Glass walls gave him a clear view out into Midway. Even in a power failure the \u201coutdoors\u201d should have been flooded with light, reflected into the Colony by the Sun mirrors. But it was dark as planetside night.<\/p>\n Charles was aware of Arthur and Carol catching up to him as he continued on out of the building, onto the sidewalk and then half walked, half stumbled out onto the manicured lawn, staring upward, paying no attention to his footing.<\/p>\n Up above he could see the vast transparency that normally let in the sunlight, and through it he could see the Sun\u2019s disk, reflected by the mirror outside. It was black, with a red corona. It was true. The Sun had gone out.<\/p>\n This wouldn\u2019t hit just the recycling systems, it would halt oxygen production in its tracks. The algae in the lifesystem tanks might survive as living organisms for quite a while in the dark\u2014 Charles didn\u2019t know how long but certainly down on the planet they\u2019d have to survive a long period of night every 24 hours\u2014 but they wouldn\u2019t be doing any photosynthesis, and that meant no oxygen getting produced, right now. If this darkness lasted…<\/p>\n Suffocation in the cold dark within days. For everyone.<\/p>\n But the moment the thought occurred to him, there was a blinding flash. He was looking right at it and the pain seemed to stab right to the back of his skull. Though he reflexively closed his eyes and turned away in an instant, at first all he could see were shining afterimages, accompanied by a sudden pounding headache.<\/p>\n \u201cDust!\u201d He rubbed his eyes. \u201cDust, what the bloody dusted hell just happened?\u201d<\/p>\n As his vision cleared, Charles saw Arthur sitting on the grass, trembling, his skin an unhealthy gray color. He was also rubbing his eyes. Carol stood nearby, bent forward, her hands on her knees. Other people stood scattered around, trying to make sense of what they\u2019d just seen. It took Charles a few moments to realize he was seeing all of this in restored, seemingly normal daylight.<\/p>\n \u201cI think… I think…\u201d Arthur laughed suddenly, and too loudly. \u201cI think the apocalypse just happened, and then someone decided to call it off.\u201d He squinted up at the Sun for an instant. \u201cIf it really has been called off.\u201d<\/p>\n Charles let himself drop to the grass beside Arthur, and knew he was more collapsing than sitting. He glanced toward Carol and tried to find something to say.<\/p>\n All he came up with was, \u201cSo how do you think that\u2019s going to poll?\u201d<\/p>\n TO BE CONTINUED<\/p>\n \n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The interviewer packed up her camera and departed, leaving Charles Safreth sitting behind his desk facing the frowning expressions of his campaign manager Arthur Norris and PR director Carol Tolbert. \u201cWell,\u201d said Arthur at last. \u201cThat could have gone better.\u201d…<\/p>\n