A Game In Progress

During my present writers block I am playing Alpha Centauri.  I finally decided to write a diary of the game so far:

President’s Log:

What the hell was wrong with Morgan?

Seriously, he kept sending in probe teams as if it wasn’t a hostile act.  And I get a reputation of being ruthless as a result of having to go to war with him.  Whereas Santiago was a mere thug.  All I had to do was to make two discounted blackmail payments before we were ready to stomp her out of existence.  But Morgan?  He was a typical African kleptocrat who bought his way onto the Unity.  He was an otherwise complete waste of mass and energy.  We had no choice but to get rid of him.

As to Yang and Miriam?  They are both behaving themselves so far.  Perhaps a ruthless reputation is a defensive value.

Then there is Lal.  We haven’t contacted him yet.  If he’s being a typical UN bureaucrat I would expect him to be a pain in the ass.

And finally there is Diedre, she appears to be the only real friend we have on Planet so far.  But for how long?

-- President Leslie Bates, United State of Planet, Mission Year 2249.

Yes, I'm bored.

Update 5/3 0840 CDT:

President’s Diary:

Mission Year 2250

We finally contacted Lal.  He immediately demanded that we go to war with Miriam and the Believers. While Miriam is a pain in the ass and will have to be put down at some point we will not begin combat operations against her until we are ready.  And certainly not because a puffed up U.N. bureaucrat demands it.

Now that everyone is in contact we held an election for planetary leader.

Why?  It’s not as if the position actually meant something.  Does it really make a difference?

But now that Santiago has been recycled (grin) we had the time to read some of her propaganda.  Some of it would actually be funny if it weren’t for the seriousness of our situation on Planet.

“Men have killed men from the beginning of time, why should the future be any different?”

Let’s see, because robbery and murder is the behavior of subhuman predatory animals and we as humans want to be better?  Predatory action was morally intolerable back on Earth and here it simply cannot be allowed under any circumstances.  Surviving on Planet is difficult enough without having to deal with evolutionary rejects like Santiago.

Mission Year 2262

Swore pact of brotherhood with Diedre.  Declared war on Yang.  Let’s face it Yang has to go.

Mission Year 2272

That bitch finally did it!  Miriam declared war on me because I wouldn’t join her war on Lal.  I’m not about to behave like a subhuman predator animal because a witch doctor in a skirt demands it.  Lal may be a useless U.N. bureaucrat but he was never the waste of mass and energy that Miriam was.

That’s right I said “was.”  Miriam just bought herself a death sentence.

Mission Year 2275

Lal’s gone.  I can’t believe that I miss him.  That bitch Miriam still has to go.

Mission Year 2281

We have taken The Hive, Yang’s home base.  What a mess!  Yang essentially ran the place as if it were an old school Nazi death camp.  Without the showers and ovens that is.  He just sent dissenters straight to the recycling tanks without bothering to properly killing them first. Most of the base was dug in  underground.  Yang, of course, had the only decent quarters in the base.  Middle management were in basic worker conditions.  The security forces were in military training grade barracks.  And the workers were stacked in barracks straight out of Auschwitz. 

Morgan basically bribed his followers by giving them luxury quarters across the board.  What does Yang tell his slaves how to deal with the subhuman conditions he stuck them in?  Pretend that  it’s not real.  Damned good thing we are building better quarters for everyone above ground. 

Mission Year 2282

We’ve taken the first base from the Believers.  Miriam pompously named it From On High.  We’ve renamed it Fire On High. After the 1970's instrumental rock piece.  That should seriously twist her garters.  (I’ve been reminded that garters are considered a naughty undergarment and that Miriam likely wouldn’t be caught dead wearing them.)

Mission Year 2288

We’ve finally got Yang. 

Meanwhile Miriam is being a real bitch, she’s making a very serious effort to hold on to New Jerusalem.  We’ll need reinforcements on her continent real soon.