Unity Day
A sci-fi short story about propaganda and freedom
This short story was written for the Soaring Twenties Social Club (STSC) Symposium. The STSC is a small, exclusive online speakeasy where a dauntless band of raconteurs, writers, artists, philosophers, flaneurs, musicians, idlers, and bohemians share ideas and companionship. Occasionally, STSC members create something around a set theme. This time the theme was “propaganda.” If you are a writer, I encourage you to consider joining us, I’ve included details at the bottom of this post. Lastly, you can find all my past symposium pieces by clicking here.
Tavo sat on the ground, motionless, shirtless, under the relentless mid-day sun of the planet Aris, face pointed upward with eyes closed. G'heera, his feline familiar, lounged in the nearby shade, unimpressed by Tavo's display, watching the breeze blow the tree leaves, her ears perking up occasionally as she heard a lizard rustle in the underbrush or the call of a bird on the wind.
Tavo’s meditation replenished his seven depleted vitality cores with aether, the universal numinous flow that fueled his mystical powers. Any meditation refilled his cores but doing so while absorbing the energy flowing from a star and communing with nature accelerated the process.
G'heera yawned and looked over at Tavo lazily. With her sensitivity to the aether, she could see the energy flowing in and out of him. His process must be working, she thought as she noticed a cone of white, swirling energy appearing at the top of his head, which was rapidly expanding upward and outward.
After about an hour of meditation (during which time G’heera fell asleep under the protection of some elm trees that graciously accommodated her with the perfect dappled light mix of sun and shade), Tavo stood up, put on his shirt, and grabbed his dark gun-metal seven-banded amplifying gauntlets.
As he snapped the gauntlets into place on his forearms, he turned to G’heera and said, “let’s head into town, set that transmitter, and check in with Paisley. I’m sure she’s wondering what’s keeping us. Besides, I want to hear the Prime Citizen’s Unity Day speech.”
G’heera stood up, stretching her impressive seven foot long body, the bright Aris sun gleaming off her long, jet black fur. Yawning again, she displayed her white fearsome fangs briefly, and then fixed Tavo with her stare…her two soulful golden eyes surrounded by black fur met Tavo’s deep blue eyes, intense under his dark brown hair.
“Allright, Allright,” Tavo laughed as he fished a large brown lump out of his pocket.
“But just one treat for now,” he mock-admonished her as he tossed the treat into G’heera’s open mouth, “Just let me lock up The Kestrel.”
He tapped a code on his left gauntlet and the ramp of their sleek S-Class starship (with the words Fate’s Kestrel painted on the side) raised itself and locked with a reverberating ka-chunk followed by the subtle hum of the shields engaging.
Ship secured, the two turned and walked through the forest toward the nearby town of Darvis.
***
Far away, in The Unity District, on the planet Centrum, Prime Citizen Valon reviewed his Unity Day speech.
“Three minutes till we go live,” warned Prime Citizen Valon’s media secretary.
He shooed her away and turned back to his notes, scanning them one last time.
The story of The Unity is one of never-ending progress. We are the freest people in the entire quadrant. We are unique among all planets and continue to overcome and grow from challenges that crumble lesser systems.
Good, very good, Valon thought. We must assure the citizenry that they are uniquely special. They must willingly accept our rules, and believe that those rules are the very things that keep their freedom safe.
It is good that the masses have such caring leadership.
Valon smiled.
***
Tavo and G’heera reached the edge of the town, the main part of which was surrounded by a ten foot tall, stone wall. The guards at the town’s tall iron gate hardly looked up from their handheld DOPAUCs, engrossed as they were in The Prime Citizen’s speech, chatting about it on the Unity X Network, or perhaps engaged in a game of some kind. Most people these days carried a DOPAUC (a Device Of Personal And Universal Communication) with them at all times, though Tavo (and his wife, Paisley) opted not to, for, to them, the devices seemed to be largely a waste of time (Though they had a couple of them back on the ship).
One of the guards finally looked up and his eyes widened for a moment at the sight of G’heera, an oversized feline species from the planet J’ungar, grinning at him. It is intimidating to have a 280 pound, black J’ungian panther grinning at you…and that’s exactly why G’heera liked to do it.
“She’s tame. And I’ll keep an eye on her,” Tavo assured the guard, scratching the top of her head as G’heera made a show of purring, “see?”
The guard looked unconvinced, so Tavo gave the guard his own winning grin.
The man grunted, turned back to his DOPAUC and waved them both through as he mumbled, “For the Freedom and Unity of All.”
“For the Freedom and Unity of All, friend,” Tavo replied with the expected response, rolling his eyes once he passed the guard.
As the unusual pair entered the town, Tavo noticed armed guards patrolling the streets, wearing colors of the Unity. Tavo nodded at them amiably.
No need to cross them…today.
Prime Citizen Valon’s speech blared over loudspeakers positioned strategically on buildings around the town.
“During my tenure as Prime Citizen, we’ve passed more laws than any other Prime Citizen before me, all to guarantee your freedom and prosperity. For the Unity of all citizens. For we are all equal. We all serve to protect freedom. I may be called Prime Citizen but I am neither below you or above you, but am a regular citizen. . .the same as you.”
[Recorded Applause]
Tavo rolled his eyes at the blatant propaganda, but he noticed the citizens going about their business nodding along, as if the Prime Citizen was saying something deeply true and profound. Why can’t people wake up and think for themselves?
“We must make the system safe for freedom.” Valon continued. “We cannot allow other planets, other cultures to jeopardize our special place in history. That is why I am pleased to announce, today, on Unity Day, that we are creating another 300 billion Unity Points to fund additional peacekeeping forces and equipment to help our like minded friends defend themselves and to spare no resource to ensure that scourge of tyranny never again threatens our peaceful way of life.”
[Recorded Applause]
Tavo shook his head at the thought that paying for war on foreign planets somehow led to peace. In his experience, people usually got what they paid for.
He passed a restaurant, Darvis’ Delectable Delights, and glanced in the window. Nearly everyone was staring down at their DOPAUCs. They really should be called Devices Of Propaganda (not personal) And Universal Communication. The information that flowed through them was, he knew, (covertly) directed and controlled by the Ministry of Media whose official mission was “to ensure freedom of information and freedom from misinformation, for the unity of a free society.” But, his sources had uncovered that their real mission was the distribution of propaganda to keep the masses in check while the elite furthered their power and riches. The Unity might call each of its members a “citizen” but “the people” were really serfs. The real citizens tended to either live in shadows, quietly pulling strings outside of the media spotlight, or had titles such as “Prime” in front of the word “citizen.”
Citizens everywhere carried these devices, never realizing that they had each ensnared themselves in a prison of cheap dopamine hits, supplying their mind’s addiction with banal propaganda masquerading as information, which programmed them continuously through a rectangular pane of illuminated glass.
Things would only worsen unless that stream of propaganda could be stopped so that people could wake up to reality.
“We must honor our founding mothers and fathers, who fought, and many of whom died, in our glorious revolution to create the most free society that has ever existed.”
[Recorded Applause]
Freedom. Tavo thought. They’ve turned freedom into a false ideology when what we all really want is for people to stop telling us what to do.
Tavo snorted at the thought and a passing guard raised an eyebrow.
“Damn allergies. Can’t wait to get off Aris,” Tavo mumbled. He opened to the aetheric flow and pushed a trickle of aether through one of his cores and the 5th band on his gauntlets flashed blue for a moment as Tavo added a bit of persuasion power to the statement. The guard paused for a moment, but then shook his head, satisfied, and continued on his way.
I have created more laws, to protect your freedom, than any Prime Citizen before me. No issue, no matter how large, or how small, is beneath my administration’s notice. From the defense of our system, to the price of entertainment tickets, our team is on the case, working hard for you.
And during my term, I’ve authorized the unprecedented issuance of more Unity Points to pay for those laws. Truly we have entered unprecedented times: a new era of unity and prosperity for all, where the want and hunger of the past will be abolished and a lack of funds is a thing of the past! We pledge to do whatever it takes to ensure that nobody lacks enough Unity Points. Don’t worry about our high debt levels, our economic growth ensures that won’t ever be a problem!
[Recorded Applause]
Tavo shook his head and wished he still lived in “precedented” times. He had known most of those “founding mothers and fathers,” and, if any of them were still around to see what their great new society of freedom had been perverted into, they’d start another revolution. Perhaps some of them would. But as long as The Unity convinced the people that they still honored the principles of The Founders, and the people convinced themselves they were free, then nothing would change. They might be serfs in reality but few ever realized it.
Valon continued…..
Since I’ve taken over, we’ve created millions of new manufacturing jobs.
[Recorded Applause]
Yeah, building war weapons and starfighters, Tavo thought.
And our economy, thanks to the growth of Unity subscription revenue, advertising on the Unity X Network, and, of course, Unity Direct Government Spending, is growing faster than ever! We have you citizens to thank for that. You have unselfishly, and patriotically engaged with content, produced content, and spent your free entertainment time, increasingly communing with your fellow citizens through your DOPAUC devices. So thank you for reviving our robust economy!
[Recorded applause.]
“I don’t know how much more of this I can listen to,” Tavo mumbled.
And don’t pay attention to the reports about inflation, we have that problem solved! In fact, today I can announce a new 4 trillion Unity Points act, which we’ve already provisioned funding for, that will reduce inflation once and for all! I say fight fire with fire! We’ll fight inflation by inflating the point supply!
As a matter of fact, folks, we’re working so hard for your prosperity and freedom, I have a special announcement today. Login to your Unity X Network later today, and each and every citizen has had 5,000 Unity Points added to their point balance, courtesy The Unity Government.
[Recorded Applause with real applause]
Tavo rolled his eyes, he, and all the smart people he knew, kept any wealth they had, ironically, in Bermian Empire Credits and not the rapidly devaluing Unity Points. This system may have won their independence from the Bermian Empire, but the Bermians still ruled most of the quadrant, and Bermian Credits were sound and accepted almost everywhere.
The Prime Citizen disappeared from the public screens, replaced by the Unity logo, and a deep baritone announcer said:
“Attention Citizens, stay tuned for the exciting second half of Prime Citizen Valon’s State of the Unity message, after a message from our sponsors…….”
Do you suffer from crippling anxiety, or depression? Well. No longer! With better living through chemistry! Introducing Caldua, a new anti-anxiety drug to guarantee you a happy life, from the makers of Fauxbliss……[a picture of a happy, appropriately average weight, attractive (but not too attractive to be unrelatable) middle aged couple appears on the screen. They are running and laughing as they fly a kite on a beach….]
Disgusted, Tavo turned away and mentally tuned out the advertisement.
“G’heera, why don’t you run ahead and scout the target area?” Tavo said.
G’heera, despite being a giant feline, somehow gave the impression of raising an eyebrow.
Tavo rolled his eyes and sighed.
“Please? You’ll only draw attention when we get to the repeater tower, anyway,” Tavo pleaded.
G’heera didn’t move.
“Fine! I’ll give you five more treats when we get back to the ship,” Tavo added and put his two hands together in mock pleading.
G’heera nodded, turned and walked, slowly, meandering down the street, rubbing her side along each streetlamp as she went, in that maddeningly slow way that only a feline can manage. Once she turned the corner, however, she took off running.
Tavo focused his mind and the 6th band on his gauntlets flashed violet for just a moment as his mental connection with G’heera started opening, he felt a tingling in his head, between his eyes, which also flashed violet and suddenly, he was watching the world, in his mind’s eye, through G’heera’s eyes, seeing buildings and people zoom by she ran toward the Unity’s Starbase just on the other side of Darvis.
Valon was now back on the screens….
And our approach to inflation is two pronged. We’ll provide more points via debt spending to inject liquidity into the systemic economy, while also going after greedy businesses that are raising prices! Paying too much at your favorite bar? Just send a message via the Unity X Network that you suspect the owner of price gouging, and we’ll send a friendly Unity Inspector to investigate. Don’t worry though if you are a businessperson! If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about!
[Recorded Applause]
Tavo risked a glance at a nearby oversized screen mounted on the side of a building, and Valon’s shit eating grin made him nauseous.
“The Unity years sure don’t seem all that much different than all those years under the Bermian empire,” Tavo heard a gruff voice from his right say, “You don’t seem all that much different, either, Tavo.”
Tavo broke the connection to G’heera and wheeled around.
“Jeffa!”
Jeffa was an old friend of Tavo’s. The large, jovial man stood leaning against the wall of a run-down cantina, smoking a cigar, his oversized hat pushed down low. He wore two ammo bandoliers, criss-crossed over his large barrel chest. His beard had grown long, and sported far more gray than Tavo remembered, but, as Jeffa pushed his hat back to show his weathered face more clearly, Tavo saw that his dark brown, almost black, eyes were still piercing in their intelligence and intensity.
“Still hanging around with that overgrown kitten?” Jeffa laughed as he gestured down the street with his right hand, a thick Pyralis cigar between his first two fingers trailing smoke. Tavo walked over to him, grinning and the two men hugged a spectacularly male hug complete with the requisite and copious amounts of back slapping.
“Of course! You know, better than most, G’heera’s advantages.” Tavo replied with a smirk.
“Sure do. How many treats did she press ya for, to go do your spying for you?,” Jeffa laughed.
Tavo looked both ways and then changed the subject, “Still smoking those disgusting….and illegal……cigars?”
“Bah! Illegal! That’s just Unity sanctions against Pyralis. Those government weenies are upset that Pyralis won’t join The Unity. I fought for freedom and that includes my freedom to smoke whatever damn cigar I want to!” Jeffa said, shoving the cigar back into his mouth forcefully, as if proving his point.
“What are you doing here Jeffa?” Tavo asked.
Jeffa pursed his lips for a moment, thinking, and then blew out a breath that sent smoke spiraling up around him. “I could ask you the same thing,” Jeffa finally answered as he raised an eyebrow.
Tavo paused and looked skyward, making a somewhat of a show out of watching the smoke dissipate, wondering how much he should say. The pause dragged out, somewhat awkwardly, as they both casually waited and watched another group of Unity guards march by. Jeffa looked casual, but Tavo had known him a long time, and he could see the tension around Jeffa’s eyes.
“Probably best if I don’t say, Jeffa,” Tavo finally said.
Jeffa, chuckled, “I figured as much, but I can guess. Guys like you and me, see, we don’t change. We can smell BS from a light-year away, and we both know this speech is a stinking load of it. He looked both ways before adding. We all sacrificed so much for this ‘freedom’ didn’t we? We threw off the yoke of the Bermian Empire, leaving them the rest of their holdings, establishing our unique free republic, and here we’ve gone and let the elite get us right back into the same situation with their out-of-control spending and cronyism. We just no longer call them ‘nobility’, but noble or not, we’re in the same place. You’re as fed up as I am. As we all are. Eh?”
“Maybe the less we know of each other’s reasons for being here, the better, Jeffa. We should probably agree to not have seen one another,” Tavo said.
Jeffa, placed his hands over his heart and made a face of mock hurt. “Don’t trust me? I’m wounded.”
Tavo hesitated.
“Just kiddin’! It’s so easy to rile you up, Tavo. I need a drink. I agree, I never saw you…” said Jeffa as he walked slowly toward the door of the cantina. Then he looked back over his shoulder and added more seriously, “...and you never saw me.”
Tavo let out a relieved breath. “I’m glad we both agree. Good seeing you Jeffa,” Tavo said as Jeffa waved and walked through the cantina’s door. Tavo re-engaged his mind link with G’heera.
He immediately saw G’heera come up behind Paisely, with her long medium-brown hair streaming down her back in perfect waves. She turned around and, for just a moment, Tavo lost himself in her hazel eyes.
Pay attention! G’heera sent him. You can ogle Paisley after the mission….and after you give me those treats.
What do we have? Is the shipyard empty? Where’s K’Chal? Tavo snapped telepathically to G’heera, trying to cover up his embarrassment.
No! It’s not empty. There are two mechanics working on a Raptor class starfighter, and, of course, the guards.
Damn! Today was a Unity holiday. Nobody should be working.
Tavo punched his comlink on his left gauntlet.
“Paisley, come in”
“Speak,” Paisely replied.
“Are the charges set?” Tavo asked.
“Of course, wasn’t that my mission?” Paisley said.
Tavo could feel her rolling her eyes and smirking.
“OK, sorry. Roger that. Charges set. Good job,” Tavo replied, “G’heera says there are people in the shipyard, mechanics. And the two guards.”
“I know. Already on it,” said Paisley.
Of course. She always covered all bases. “You’re always one step ahead of me aren’t you?” Tavo asked.
“Do you even have to ask anymore?” she smirked, “What about you? Did you finish your mission?” Paisley asked.
“Not yet. But I’m here now,” Tavo said.
Tavo looked up at the nondescript building. It was a building full of apartments. Nothing special. Almost nothing special. Tavo had identified a small transmitter relay on top of this building with a big vulnerability. He simply had to plant his device into the tower’s control unit and they would control the entire Unity Prime Channel on Aris and could take over the broadcast across the whole planet. Temporarily.
“Why do you always wait until the last minute, Tavo?” Paisley sighed.
“Hey! I work better under pressure. Don’t worry I’ll get it done. Just finish up there and let's meet back at the….”
“NO, K’Chal, NO, NO!” Paisley yelled to her feline familiar, a much younger black male J’ungian panther, “hold on Tavo!” she shouted into the comlink.
After a commotion Tavo heard her yelling again, “K’Chal! Stop chewing on that transceiver antenna! Get DOWN off of those starfighters! K’Chal! NO!”
Tavo chuckled. K’Chal was hardly older than a kitten and tended to be…..a handful.
Through his mind link with G’heera (who was always connected with K’Chal except when the two were playing), Tavo saw K’chal grin, and then he received the distinct impression of K’Chal giving two thumbs up, somehow, despite the fact that J’ungian panthers don’t have thumbs. Then K’Chal jumped off the fighter and ran into the woods with the two Unity mechanics and their guards chasing him.
Now it was Tavo’s turn to grin. It was sometimes hard to tell when K’Chal was being mischievous for fun vs. when he was being mischievous like a fox. Apparently, this time was the latter.
“Okay,” Paisley was back, “Guards taken care of!” She started giggling, “K’Chal stop licking my face! STOP! Stop it!”
She turned back to her comlink and told Tavo, “K’Chal sent them after his aetheric glamour, they'll be following ‘him’ for an hour or more.”
“OK Good job you two,” Tavo said.
G’heera, get back to me while I rig the transmitter. I’ll be done by the time you get here.
“Paisley, we’ve got to hurry, it’s getting dark, you and K’Chal get back to The Kestrel. G’heera is on her way back to me. We’ll finish setting up the transmitter, and we’ll be right behind you.” Tavo said into his comlink.
***
Night had fallen by the time Tavo and G’heera arrived back at the Fate’s Kestrel, right as they heard the explosions from the shipyard start.
“Hurry Up!” Paisley shouted at them from the still-lowered ramp.
K’Chal just shook his head smugly at their tardiness.
The four of them piled into the flight deck, the two cats jumping on their specially designed oversized loungers, and Paisley didn’t waste any time. She jumped into the captain’s chair, fired up the engines and headed for the sky.
Tavo tuned the ship's comm system to the Prime Citizen’s speech frequency, The Unity Prime Channel. Valon was wrapping up….
And remember, citizens, as you enjoy tonight’s Unity Day fireworks, as they light up the sky over your homes, please remember that they are in celebration of your freedom….
Oh that was too good! Tavo quickly accessed the recording of Valon’s speech, clipped that last statement and added it to the end of his pre-recorded message through his link with the transmitter he had just planted. Then, he engaged the transmitter’s jammer to override the Unity Prime Channel across the planet of Aris.
[Static….]
After a moment of static, Tavo’s transmitter kicked in and broadcast their pre-recorded message on repeat over the Unity Prime Channel.
Attention, citizens of The Unity. We fought hard to throw off the yoke of the Bermian Empire. We didn’t suffer that war, and all its loss…loss of lives, loss of loved ones, loss of security….for this false facsimile of freedom and this veneer of prosperity proffered by the Unity’s propaganda machine. Starting today, we fight back. Starting today we fight for true liberty. Stay strong, you are not alone…..
As they pulled away, Tavo looked back and saw the shipyard engulfed in flames, crackling and whipping at least 100 feet into the air. Every starfighter had exploded. But, just as he started to turn back to his controls, he saw a glint of metal rising into the night sky on the other side of the town.
G’heera was now sitting next to Tavo, staring at him intently, waiting (patiently she thought), but, just to remind him, she tapped him twice on the arm with her giant paw.
“Not now G’heera! I’ll give you your treats once we’ve left this planet behind! Paisley! They managed somehow to scramble a fighter. I saw a ship take off on the other side of town, despite your charges.”
“That’s impossible,” Paisley replied calmly, confident in her work.
“Relax,” came Jeffa’s gruff voice over their intercom, “It’s just me. I figured you guys were up to no good. Same as me. Nice message by the way. I approve. Watch the town, I’ve got a present for you.”
Boom!
The government administration office suddenly went up in flames!
“That’ll show the sleazy buggers!,” Jeffa yelled into his intercom. And then added, “Relax Paisley, I called in a bomb threat. Said, truthfully, the bomb was in the administrative offices, which were mostly empty anyway. After your little shipyard stunt lit up the sky, they took it seriously and evacuated the few people inside. Nobody was hurt.”
“Damn Jeffa, we both blasted off at the same time, our ships are going to be on their radar now,” Tavo said.
“So what? Didn’t you want to be on their radar? There are a lot of us waking up to their propaganda. We’re all starting to realize that, despite all the worship of the word freedom, we’re far worse off now than under the Bermian Empire. We’ve got plenty of support in this, Tavo. After all, we already won one revolution. It looks like it’s time to win another one.”
Over the Unity Prime channel, they heard the end of Tavo’s pre-recorded message and envisioned the people of Darvis watching the explosions, fueled by Unity assets, as Valon’s own words were now rebroadcast over loudspeakers all across Aris…..
“And remember, citizens, as you enjoy tonight’s Unity Day fireworks, as they light up the sky over your homes, please remember that they are in celebration of your freedom!”
Ironically, that was the first true thing Valon had said all day, though he didn’t yet know it.
With their respective missions complete, the two ships exited the upper atmosphere into space and both immediately engaged their cloaking devices (illegal under Book 752, Title 853 § 96(a) of The Unity Code) and vanished.
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Right On!!! I do plenty of eye rolling myself while watching the news. I mostly watch the House and Garden channel. There's only a limited amount of the news that I can take at one sitting. I enjoyed reading your story.