Lord George Mountbatten

[Unseelie]

"George Mountbatten. We met, once, when I was young. Twenty third in line for the throne, even...assassinations would have been easier. Well...where to begin...
Right. The average lifespan on Leeds is 42 years of age, not 55. We've structures in the clouds that look like stars, which get lowered out of the smog on 'clear' nights...there are never any naturally clear nights. That leads to all sorts of distortions in the public information...population and population growth, average socioeconomic conditions...Nearly all of the information on the public cortex about the current state of Bretonia, and for the last hundred years, is falsified in some way or another.
We arrived last, of course, and were unlucky enough to land in the worst patch of Sirius...Three planets, systems with very low mineral density...We built up London as far as the swamp would let us, and then spread to Leeds, fed it from Cambridge...By the time we were earnestly competing with Liberty, they had twice the industrial capacity we had, so we overdeveloped Leeds. It was a clean system. We built it with coal, George, bloody coal, which was the only fuel that we had enough of. So we burnt it all over the planet, and in the system. Completely destroyed the algae and microorganism ecology that was struggling on Leeds, and filled the system with an immeasurable quantity of smog clouds...BMM created the most hellish world mankind has ever settled, and we awarded them for it. Even today, we've three worlds. Liberty has five, and another being settled. Rhienland has six and Kusari has four. Gaia does not count....Gaia is a treasure. Its a gem, and we aren't capable of understanding its potential worth. We're not setting foot on it. Cambridge...well, it still has problems with widespread exotic diseases..MOX, you know...We need Harris, which is why we're fighting this war. I can't give the populists anything because I need them to revolt...I need them to give me reasons to seize more powers in the media so I, and my successors, can continue to hush this, because if word gets out, the economy collapses. People have to have hope, and they have to think things are going well, or they don't buy. If the consumer base doesn't consume...everything fails, and we're teetering on the edge of disaster as it is. Bretonia has nothing saved, and very little infrastructure to fall back on. We maintain our status because the flow of currency in, and right out, is enough to keep this sick beast afloat, and a dynamo that keeps itself running. We cannot upset that balance, or it will collapse. George, I need help."

The miniature hologram flickered shut, and Richard Windsor closed his first briefcase, opening another. The old man slid a few documents, including a nondisclousure agreement and a pardon of some sort.
"Carina wants to trust you, for some gods unknown reason, and so you're in. Welcome to the Spider's Web."
The man stood up, years older than his age, and carried his cane out of the cell. Steel doors slammed shut behind him.

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