HPG Goes Down, Cause Still Unknown 8/20/3132
INN - Interstellar News Network
PORT HOWARD—Almost two weeks after the mysterious HPG signal loss, tensions
remain high across the planet. Investors remain hopeful, but many businesses
flounder without access to offworld resources. Meanwhile, the emotional toll is
mounting as Towne struggles in silence, cut off from the rest of the Republic. It is
still unclear how far-reaching this signal failure may be.
Geleina Devis’ story is a common one. This mother, 43, is worried about her
daughter, Zabibi, who studies dance at a university on Terra. “We talked every day
before the silence. Now, I just don’t know. She could be hurt or dead and I just
wouldn’t know.”
Across the globe, the tension has resulted in tens of thousands of assaults, and rioting
in some cities. According to reports, the city of Alkmeenon looks nearly abandoned
due to the martial law and overnight curfews in place for the next week.
Many businesses are paralyzed, particularly the mining and construction industries
which rely on the regular shipment of IndustrialMechs and ’Mech parts for repair.
Without access to the Republic stock market, economic regulators across Towne
have no way of gauging the larger economy. An inflation freeze has been put into
effect as a short-term solution, holding all prices and values at their current rates until
a longer-term solution is found.
In some communities, the silence has brought neighbors closer together. Communities
on Mount Yimsha have banded together in the evenings, talking and playing musical
instruments now that new evening entertainment programs no longer arrive from
other worlds. “I never knew we lived next to such interesting people,” said Serge
Feldon, a Yimsha resident. “Even after the silence ends, I hope we keep doing this.”
This banding together, however, revealed a darker side as interviews with residents
continued. Towne, despite its Federated Suns heritage, includes a large population of
people with ancestral ties to the Draconis Combine as a result of Devlin Stone’s
immigration policies. Another Yimsha resident, Sybil Boyd, said, “It’s good to know I
can depend on my neighbors, but I won’t go into the city. All those snakes just worry
me. I don’t feel safe and I certainly won’t take my kids down there.” Boyd may have
been referring to an attack two days ago on the Federated Suns History and Heritage
Center in Yimsha City by a group of youths of Combine descent. “Snake” is a
pejorative term referring to people of such political and/or ancestral affiliation.
ComStar acolytes sent on an emergency mission to Ozawa are expected to reach the
JumpPoint today. They report through radio transmissions that the mission is going as
planned. They have enough supplies to last for six months in the DropShip. Whether
or when a JumpShip will arrive to pick them up is a source of nervous conversation
among local ComStar engineers. If they are picked up on schedule later this week,
they too will be cut off, just like the rest of the Republic.
INN - Interstellar News Network
PORT HOWARD—Almost two weeks after the mysterious HPG signal loss, tensions
remain high across the planet. Investors remain hopeful, but many businesses
flounder without access to offworld resources. Meanwhile, the emotional toll is
mounting as Towne struggles in silence, cut off from the rest of the Republic. It is
still unclear how far-reaching this signal failure may be.
Geleina Devis’ story is a common one. This mother, 43, is worried about her
daughter, Zabibi, who studies dance at a university on Terra. “We talked every day
before the silence. Now, I just don’t know. She could be hurt or dead and I just
wouldn’t know.”
Across the globe, the tension has resulted in tens of thousands of assaults, and rioting
in some cities. According to reports, the city of Alkmeenon looks nearly abandoned
due to the martial law and overnight curfews in place for the next week.
Many businesses are paralyzed, particularly the mining and construction industries
which rely on the regular shipment of IndustrialMechs and ’Mech parts for repair.
Without access to the Republic stock market, economic regulators across Towne
have no way of gauging the larger economy. An inflation freeze has been put into
effect as a short-term solution, holding all prices and values at their current rates until
a longer-term solution is found.
In some communities, the silence has brought neighbors closer together. Communities
on Mount Yimsha have banded together in the evenings, talking and playing musical
instruments now that new evening entertainment programs no longer arrive from
other worlds. “I never knew we lived next to such interesting people,” said Serge
Feldon, a Yimsha resident. “Even after the silence ends, I hope we keep doing this.”
This banding together, however, revealed a darker side as interviews with residents
continued. Towne, despite its Federated Suns heritage, includes a large population of
people with ancestral ties to the Draconis Combine as a result of Devlin Stone’s
immigration policies. Another Yimsha resident, Sybil Boyd, said, “It’s good to know I
can depend on my neighbors, but I won’t go into the city. All those snakes just worry
me. I don’t feel safe and I certainly won’t take my kids down there.” Boyd may have
been referring to an attack two days ago on the Federated Suns History and Heritage
Center in Yimsha City by a group of youths of Combine descent. “Snake” is a
pejorative term referring to people of such political and/or ancestral affiliation.
ComStar acolytes sent on an emergency mission to Ozawa are expected to reach the
JumpPoint today. They report through radio transmissions that the mission is going as
planned. They have enough supplies to last for six months in the DropShip. Whether
or when a JumpShip will arrive to pick them up is a source of nervous conversation
among local ComStar engineers. If they are picked up on schedule later this week,
they too will be cut off, just like the rest of the Republic.
| August 20, 3132 |