Lucid Waking

Sad State of Affairs

    “Are you sure you want to know about the state of affairs?”
     “Yes. It’s crucial, no? If I want to be a citizen.”
     Celina sighed and took a sip of her tomato juice. Ejina was probably never going to be a citizen of earth, but it didn’t seem to matter if she knew what was going on.
     “Well, it started with World War III the other war to end all wars. No one’s really sure how it started but the old newspapers mention something out oil and terrorism. Anyway it started and it’s still happening.
     “So the world is divided by alliances and they’re given funny names. Well, the names are forgotten and everyone starts calling them by their uniform color: Navy, Green, Gold, Scarlet, Black, White, and Violet. I don’t remember which countries belonged to which group, but by now it doesn’t matter. The groups are constantly fighting each other so much that each country pretty much has a uniform. Common people not in politics have picked a side and statistics show that about a quarter of the world’s population switches sides everyday.”
     “That seems like a lot.”
     “It is, but while they don’t change their uniforms (because you could be lynched for that) they change their point of view. It’s hard to rule when you don’t know whether or not you’re going to be killed because you’re minority. People live in constant fear of their own country, let alone others.
     “So they passed the Color Match act that stated there were only two instances when cruel and unusual punishment would be waved: if you killed someone based on uniform color without government consent, or you were a traitor. The goal was to get people to where their colors without being afraid of being brutally murdered. And for the most part, it worked. Here in the U.S., while the navies are discriminated against, they just lash out by making their own restaurants and houses wherever they want. It works pretty well.”
     “But the government can take advantage of that.”
     “Well, hopefully the militia won’t be killing random citizens wearing the wrong color, but if they do, they’re stripped of their title and license. So they become one of us. It’s like a warning, so to say, and the next time, you’re tortured.
    Ejina winced.
    “A lot of people switched colors because they didn’t like the torture aspect; gold is the only one not to pass that law, and I guess because of it, they don’t have any traitors. People there never got beaten for their colors, anyway. Well, I guess you know what’s going on…”
    “Not quite. How did we come in?”
    “Intergalactic stuff? You found us, we didn’t find you. Someone just showed up and went, oh, look, a pretty planet. Let us join you. Be part of our embassy. And that’s sort of how it happened.”
    “Oh.”
    “Not quite what you thought, huh?”
    “Not really.”
    “Well, it’s the truth. Now that we’ve got aliens though intermingling, it makes life a little different for those on the front lines. Anyway, you still want to be a citizen?”
    “I’m thinking not.”
    “I wouldn’t either."

“Not much between despair and ecstasy”

Sad State of Affairs