#APC #Spotlight: The Quantum Eavesdropper Volume 1 By Richard Gibney!(9/30)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got Richard Gibney in my APC spotlight, today! Richard is an active and supportive member of the  Authors-Professional Co-op Facebook group and his espionage, thriller, action/adventure, time-travel, science fiction novel, The Quantum Eavesdropper, looks great! Here's the description:

Keir Tremayne and Yadana Osai arrive unexpectedly in New York in 1979, in an advanced space-going vessel. They are assisted in their return to the year 2095 – using physics previously learned from the future Tremayne and his allies – by an MIT professor with whom Tremayne has apparently been in contact from his future...

In 2094, Detective Sergeant Keir Tremayne's wife is brutally murdered in Dublin, Ireland. In 2095, on the lip of a black hole, Keir finds himself in the most incomparable of circumstances: he can now communicate with those living throughout Earth's history—and finds he can right the wrongs in his own past.

On the first faster-than-light manned spaceflight to an alien world, Tremayne, hopelessly trapped on the edge of a black hole, finds himself once more forced into battle with the most formidable of nemeses.

Hidalgo Ingoldsby, a psychotic crime lord from Latin America, is keen to seize power in Ireland by exploiting the country’s Unionist and Nationalist divisions. Teaming up with Tremayne's arch rival, Zhinny Zhao, a Thailand-based, world-traveling terrorist with psionic links to alien life, Ingoldsby plans a mass alien invasion of Earth and the fall of most of human kind.

Zhinny Zhao’s estranged father is a retired US naval admiral with whom she reconciles and ultimately installs as US president. Zhao’s estranged daughter, Yadana, is a prodigious 22-year-old scientist. Like Tremayne, she finds herself a reluctant draftee into Earth’s first faster-than-light space program.

Will Tremayne alter history to save his wife at the possible expense of Earth’s future?

If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)

Advancing Understanding And Increasing Knowledge... 😉

 

Hey Everyone! 😊

Happy Tuesday! I'm back today with another peek at Alyce's efforts to help shed a little light on current events. Enjoy! 😉

Excerpt from Answers from Alyce:

Squid-boy tucked his clipboard under one of his tentacles and bent forward slightly, which I interpreted as a nod. "Yes, the exhibits, such as they are, start in the room beyond." He stepped off the walkway and headed towards the door. "Come this way, please."

I followed Squid-boy into another room full of life-size dioramas and mechanized mannequins, which were all going through a series of seemingly random jerky motions. After watching them for a few minutes, I realized it looked like they were trying to contort themselves into some standard yoga poses.

"What in the pink and purple heck do you have your dummies doing, Squid-boy?"

He glanced up from his clipboard to see what I was talking about and then turned back to what he was typing. "The androids require fine-tune programming to refine their movement subroutines. For 'droids constructed to mimic the physical form of your species, this series of movements has been found to be the most efficient for facilitating such adjustments."

"Intergalactic yoga robots. Who knew?"

He didn't bother looking up at that. "We have not left your galaxy, so the term 'intergalactic' is inaccurate."

I snorted as I continued looking over the exhibits under construction. To be honest, they were strange enough that I had a hard time trying to figure out what they were supposed to represent. Besides, the…people…working on them were a bit distracting.

Climbing all over the exhibits were creatures that looked like Squid-boy's older, scarier brothers. They had so many arms, all of which were in constant motion, that I had a hard time trying to count them. Instead of the cute beak and large, almost cartoonish eyes that Squid-boy boasted, these aliens had multifaceted eyes, like giant insects, and their mouths seemed to consist of long, flexible looking tubes that were currently curled up tight against their tubular bodies. I didn't know for sure, but for some reason I had the feeling that the tips of those tubes would be sharp. The smallest of them was at least seven feet tall, and their skin appeared to change colors to mimic whatever background scenery they were near, which made studying them hard on my eyes.

To ease the strain, I turned my attention to the smaller aliens that were swarming about. The much smaller aliens. None of them were larger than a hamburger patty. They seemed to range from semi-translucent white to semi-translucent gray, and they looked more like large spiders than small squids. Black beads ran from the top of their heads in two rows along the length of their bodies.

"Are those decorations?"

Squid-boy glanced around. "What?"

"The black beads on the little fellas' backs. Are they decorations? Do they have some meaning?"

Looking around some more, his gaze finally settled on the spider creatures. "Do you mean the yruggles?"

"The little spider-looking ones."

He gave a honking snort. "Those are their eyes. They are all highly skilled artisans who are extremely well-suited for fine-detail work."

I blinked. "How can they see to work if their eyes are on their backs?"

He rolled his eyes and returned to his clipboard. "They have a mirror arrangement of eyes along the undersides of their bodies and unusually dense clusters of neural fibers in their extremities."

"Oh." I looked around some more. "So, are we just gonna stand here, or what?"

He glanced up at me. "Or what."

I crossed my arms over chest and glared at him. "Well, then…?"

He gargled at me and then tucked his clipboard under one of his tentacles. "Apologies, young human. I have been responding to the multiple queries that my updates to the records concerning your planet have prompted. But, you're correct, such things can wait." He stretched his tentacles, craning his head to look over the exhibits. "Right now all we need is… Ah! There he is."

At Squid-boy's exclamation, I turned to see what he was talking about and gasped. Coming towards us was what looked like the embodiment of the classic description of Satan. The alien towered above me, at least nine feet of hard muscle and gleaming red skin, and I couldn't help it; I gaped at him. My eyes kept running from the hooves that looked like they belonged on a goat, up those backwards-turned legs, to the thick-muscled thighs that were covered in black shorts, to the washboard abs, sculpted chest and broad shoulders, to the pointed cleft chin, past the full lips and straight, pointed nose right above them, up to the wide, tilted, blood-red eyes that were framed by the black, glittering ram's horns curling out from the top of his head and back again. Even for an atheist like me, the sight of such a creature was…startling.

It took me a minute, but I realized Squid-boy was talking to the Devil incarnate as if he was just another person. "Greetings, Yaxurg, this is the human that was brought to help with some of the exhibits. Are you ready to begin?"

Satan turned to look at me, his gaze showing interest and curiosity. His perusal made me feel like a roast he was considering having for dinner. My eyes widened even more and my heart stuttered in my chest as a forked tongue flickered out past his lips towards me.

"A human female, Paxtiguantialablingondintalblinganham? I've heard of such creatures before. According to rumor, they can be quite…friendly." His voice was a bass rumble that raised the hair on the back of my neck.

Gazing down at me, he grinned, showing a row of pointed, black teeth, and crossed his arms over his chest. I just continued to gape as his biceps bulged and shifted. When I tore my eyes away from his chest and focused on his face again, he winked at me.

Which was like a bucket of cold water over my head. I might not know why the personification of evil was standing in front of me, but I knew I was being rude. And my mamma raised me better than that.

I stepped forward and hesitantly raised my hand. "Sorry for staring; your appearance is astonishingly similar to a mythological creature from my culture and it surprised me for a minute. I'm Alyce."

His grin widened and it was all I could do not to step back when confronted with that mouthful of cutlery. He gently took my extended hand, his large fingers swallowing my own. I think I squeaked when I felt the tips of his curved, black talons dimple my skin, but he was careful not to cut me with them. Bending over, he brought his forehead down to touch the back of my hand, and then released me and straightened.

"My name is Yaxurg, and think nothing of it. I've heard of the mythology on your world that surrounds my kind. There's good reason for it, apparently. Our history documents several occasions in the distant past when renegade members of my species visited your planet and caused havoc. Those incidents have led to some…interesting… interactions between your species and mine through the last few centuries. Perhaps, after our work here is done, you and I can spend some time together and get to know each other better."

After a heartbeat, my brain caught up with the conversation. My jaw dropped as my eyes ran the length of his body again. He couldn't possibly mean… But when I saw the look in his eyes, I knew that he did. Whoo, boy! I've experienced many things in life, but I never thought I'd be propositioned by Satan. Something he had said before about human women registered, and I rolled my eyes. I guess I could see why getting "friendly" with someone from his species might appeal to some women. After all, wouldn't the Devil be the ultimate bad boy? But that's never been my scene.

I couldn't help it, I laughed. "In the interest of advancing interspecies understanding, right?"

His expression turned grave, but his eyes twinkled. "Of course, what else?"

I shook my head. "Well, Yax, you certainly have the Devil's own charm. But I think I'll have to pass."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Yax?"

Squid-boy chimed in. "She has an aversion to the use of proper names."

I glanced down at him and snorted. "You don't have a 'proper name'; you have a random rearrangement of the entire alphabet."

Yax laughed. "Ah. At least I'm in good company, then." Turning back to me, he smiled. "I understand. But if you happen to change your mind, the offer stands."

I smiled back, but shook my head again. "I promise, if I change my mind, you'll be the first to know. In the meantime…" I gestured towards the exhibits.

After grinning at me for another heartbeat, Yax nodded and turned back to Squid-Boy. "As the lady says, we have work to do."

Squid-boy gurgled at us both. "Indeed. Now that the mammalian mating ritual is completed, by all means, let us get to work."

Yax guffawed and patted Squid-boy on the head. "Now, Paxtiguantialablingondintalblinganham, I wouldn't think a scientist like you would mind the opportunity for close study of the behavior of two such exceptional specimens." He gestured from himself to me.

Squid-boy snapped his beak at Yax and slapped at his hand with his tentacles. "You always did have an over-inflated opinion of yourself."

I couldn't hold it back; I laughed at the two of them together. "Why, Squid-boy, you didn't tell me you have a sense of humor!"

He snapped his beak at me, and then drew himself up to his full height and took two steps away from both of us. "Are you two quite finished?"

Yax grinned, but I just shrugged. "Sure."

Squid-boy held us with his stare for another minute, and then took out his clipboard and stabbed at it with one of his tentacles. "Where do you wish to start?" he asked Yax.

The big alien turned and led us over to an exhibit that looked like it was almost complete. It had several sections, each telling a distinct part of the story. It took me a minute to get it, but once I put them all together it was clear what this particular exhibit was supposed to be describing. The funny thing was, they had it all wrong. But…they also had it completely right.

"How about here?"

I looked the exhibit over again. It was set up like a giant diorama with the background being an office setting on one side and a forest on the other, with a divider in between the two sides. In the office, there were two men wearing business suits. One was sitting behind a fairly standard wooden office desk and the other was sitting in front of it. On top of the desk was a briefcase with the lid open. Inside, there were stacks of money and the man in front of the desk was pushing it towards the other man.

It was pretty clear what the exhibit was trying to portray even without the narration that was playing in the background, especially when combined with what was going on in the forest scene. Part of the forest had already been razed and giant earth-moving machines were digging up the ground with large pipes being laid in the troughs that were created. The rest of the forest was being cut down and the trees loaded onto large, smoke-billowing trucks. A little farther down, where the pipes had already been buried, black sludge was pouring out of the end of one and into a river.

It was all so real I thought I could smell the water and the chemicals polluting it. "How do you make it look so realistic?" I gestured towards where the river seemed to simply disappear into a wall.

"It is a hologram with supplemental environmental control equipment to complete the experience."

"So, I really am smelling the river? I thought it was just my imagination because the image was so real."

"Yes. Scent stimuli are incorporated into the exhibit so that the effect is complete. Some species rely more on their sense of smell than they do on sight or hearing."

"That makes sense." I gestured at the office scene. "So that's supposed to be a politician taking a bribe from the company that is causing this destruction?"

"Correct. We thought that displaying the two scenes side-by-side would help make the connection between them obvious."

"Well, the end result is what happens, but it's not quite as obvious as just shoving a bunch of cash at someone. Usually, the closest most politicians come to taking cash for favors is if they own a business and someone¾generally a corporate lobbying group or a rich individual who wants a favor¾chooses to patronize the politician’s business, which results in them giving the politician money. But it’s under the guise of being a customer and receiving a product or service for their money. Though, under those circumstances, it’s fairly common for the price of the product or service to be quite a bit higher than comparable products or services from other vendors, conveniently enough. Then the politician might look favorably on legislation that might benefit their valued customer or unfavorably on legislation that would be detrimental to them. But even that's not the most common way people bribe politicians. There are other ways that are even less likely to come under legal scrutiny."

"What do you mean?"

I pointed at the office scene. "There are laws prohibiting that kind of thing, and even the type of laundered bribery I just told you about is iffy. Some politicians might break those laws, but there are ways around them that don't carry the risk of going to prison, so that's usually what they do."

"Can you elaborate?"

"Well, the most common way for people to legally bribe politicians is to make campaign contributions to them. They give them money the politicians can use to help them get elected again. But there are laws limiting how much money people can give directly to politicians so, a lot of the time, corporations and rich donors who want favors from politicians will give money to PACs¾Political Action Committees¾that work to help get politicians elected. Technically, politicians aren't allowed to be directly involved with PACs or to coordinate election strategy with them, but they can usually get around that because it's hard to track. Not that anyone tries all that hard."

"So wealthy people give money to these PACs and then politicians allow them to pollute your planet? And why does no one attempt to investigate if a politician is not following the laws regarding these PACs?" asked Squid-boy.

"Mostly no one investigates because the investigations would be done by either law enforcement or the media. Law enforcement works for, and is controlled by, politicians. And almost all politicians skirt those laws, so they don't want to encourage investigations of that kind. Large corporations that sometimes want to be able to legally bribe politicians own the media; at least, they own the media that has the largest audience. So, they don't allow their employees to pursue investigations into violations of those laws, either. Or, more often, they just don't hire people who would be interested in doing those kinds of investigations."

"As for your first question, it's not quite that direct, either. It's not so much that politicians allow certain companies to just pollute, usually. That can happen, but it's not how it's usually handled. What they do is either repeal or refuse to pass legislation that would regulate manufacturing practices, limits on emissions, and waste disposal. So, since there's no law against dumping chemicals in rivers, and it's cheaper to just dump the chemicals in the river than to dispose of them safely, corporations end up polluting. Because from their perspective, there's no reason not to."

"But don't your people wonder why their representatives allow such a lack of regulation when it results in danger to your populace and damage to your planet? How do they justify not having those laws?" asked Yax.

"Well, that's kind of complicated, too."

He gave me his Devil's grin again. "We have time."

"It's a lot of things that combine to allow the status quo to continue. First, people are pretty busy just trying to make a living. It's hard for most people to take the time to really look into what's going on and untangle it all. Especially since, as I said, the mainstream media doesn't do much to enlighten the public because the companies that own them are often involved in the corruption.

"Since people are so busy, they're mostly dependent on what they hear on the news. And, generally speaking, the news just reports what politicians say. It's rare that they do any fact-checking or challenge the assertions politicians make. So a lot of people just think that what the politicians say is true.

"But it often isn't true. A lot of them pretend that there's no scientific evidence showing that the pollution damages the planet or that the changes in the climate aren't caused by human activity. They lie and claim that contaminated water doesn't make people ill, that there's some other reason for people who live in areas where the water is polluted to be sick. Or they lie and say the water isn't contaminated at all and try to prevent anyone from testing it, or if it is tested they try to prevent the test results from becoming public."

"That's incredible!" cried Yax. "How can anyone believe them?"

"Some people believe them because they don't understand the science and they don't want to believe the government would lie to them. Most people don't believe them, but they're too busy to think about it much if it doesn't affect them directly. And, again, the mainstream media doesn't do much to bring it to their attention. Anyone who does try to bring public awareness to these problems is discredited as hysterical or unreliable or biased against business. Corporations spend a lot of money ensuring that politicians won't regulate them and they don't want public outcry to override their bribes, so they work pretty hard to make sure that people don't pay attention to what they're doing."

"But I do not understand, how do they hide it? The effects of their actions are being felt by your entire planet," interjected Squid-boy, waving his tentacles around his head.

I shrugged. "The effects of climate change are just starting to be felt by most people. And it's not as if what is happening is new; it's just more intense and happening more often. Storms like hurricanes and tornadoes, droughts, floods, wildfires¾these are all things that have always happened. It's easy for politicians to lie and say that just because the storms are larger and more frequent, or the wildfires happen more often and in more places, it isn't evidence of climate change. Or, if it is, that it isn't caused by anything humans are doing."

Squid-boy made a gurgling sound. "But that is patently absurd! Even your own scientists are in agreement; the evidence is overwhelming that the pollutants your species have been dumping into the environment for more than a century are a direct cause of the changes in your planetary climate. No rational dispute of these facts can exist!"

I snorted. "And what ever gave you the idea that human beings are rational, sugar? A lot of people don't want to believe it because their political opponents say it's true. And the politicians they like say it isn't true. And the media they listen to either says it isn't true or doesn't talk about it at all."

"So they disregard evidence and deny facts? That's nonsensical!" exclaimed Yax.

I gave him a wry smile. "Welcome to America."

Squid-boy looked at Yax. "I'm not certain how to modify the exhibit to reflect this additional information. The exchange of money for political favors is straightforward and common throughout many civilizations, though the fact that it is not a violation of their laws is rather bizarre. But the contortions and convolutions these people go through just so that they can continue to deceive themselves and deny reality is difficult to conceptualize."

I laughed. "Oh, sugar, it can get much more complicated than that."

"It can?" Squid-boy stared at me with wide, round eyes. "How?"

"Well, another way politicians might pay back the legal bribes a company gives them would be to give them 'incentives' to locate new additions to their business in the politician's jurisdiction. They sometimes use tax money to build, or help build, the facility the company needs. Or they waive regulations and allow the company to ignore laws that protect the public from unsafe construction and environmental damage. Sometimes they allow the company to not pay taxes, or to pay almost no taxes, for a period of time. If unions are strong in the area, the politician might try to pass legislation to weaken the unions or help keep the employees of the corporation from joining a union."

"And what possible justification can they give to their constituents for such things?" demanded Yax.

I shrugged. "Jobs, usually. They promise people the company will give them jobs. And since there are a lot of people who don't have jobs, or who have jobs that don't pay enough to live on, they agree to it."

"But if the politicians and the corporations are working to thwart organized labor, those jobs can't pay all that well."

I smiled at the handsome alien. "Yeah, well, somehow that little detail never seems to get discussed."

"And if the corporation doesn't pay taxes, that means the financial burden would have to be transferred to the people. Is that not correct?"

"Yep, Squid-boy, that's right. People pay taxes because we all know we need certain things like roads, police, and firefighters, and then the politicians give that money to private corporations so they can build private buildings that the public can't use. Then, those companies get to come in and hire desperate people at starvation wages. And for that privilege we get to pay their taxes for them, too. A nice, tidy little racket, wouldn't you say?"

"And your people allow this because they are desperate?" asked Yax.

"Some are desperate. Our government has done a terrible job of forcing corporations to pay their employees fairly, so a lot of people have to work two or three jobs just to survive. Also, all the same things that allow corporations to legally bribe politicians to let them destroy the environment apply to this as well. People are busy just living their lives and don't have extra time to think about these things. Or they don't know enough about what's going on because the media doesn't do much to educate them. Also, even when people do know what's going on, they often just don't know what to do about it."

I pointed at an exhibit that was just beyond the one we were discussing. "Not everyone has the energy or determination to do something like that. And those who do often face terrible consequences for trying to fight the corruption."

Yax looked where I was pointing and waved me over. "You know what this represents even without the voice-over commentary?"

"Yes. Though, again, it's not quite right. But I can tell what you were trying to show, here."

Yax nodded, looking at the exhibit thoughtfully. "Can you tell us what parts aren't accurate and what you think needs to be changed or added?"

I followed his gaze. "Well, this, right here, isn't quite true." I pointed at a robot that was holding a sign while doing a fair representation of a tree pose. "This says 'Destroy pipelines!' but that's not what this political action was about at all." I reached for the sign, but my arm wasn't long enough and I bumped into the robot's knee. Shaking my head, I told the robot, "Put your leg down, sugar, and hand me that sign."

It just stood there and looked at me. Putting my hands on my hips, I turned to Yax and raised my eyebrows. That devil, he just grinned at me and gave the robot an order in a language I didn't understand. The robot put its foot back on the floor and brought the sign down where I could reach it. I took it and handed it to Squid-boy. "Look…"

I broke off as the robot took advantage of the fact that its hands were free to shift into a bridge pose. But something must have been wrong with its motion controllers because, once it was in position, it kept thrusting its hips up into the air. It was way too human-looking for that to be anything but obscene.

I looked at my two escorts. Squid-boy seemed not to have noticed, but Yax was almost vibrating with his effort not to laugh. I raised my eyebrows. "This your doin'?"

At that he did laugh. "No. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but that's just a glitch in the 'droid's movement subroutines. It's the reason we have them go through these exercises; so we can find and fix these problems before the exhibits go live."

Squid-boy had caught up by that point and gave me one of his nod/bows.

I just looked at the two of them. "Riiight." Shaking my head, I turned my back on the distracting robot. "Well, that," I pointed at the sign Yax was now holding, "isn't what this," I gestured at the exhibit full of gesticulating robots behind me, "was all about."

"Then what was it about?" asked Squid-boy.

"It had nothing to do with wanting to destroy pipelines. It was about protecting water sources and the rights native peoples have on their own land."

"What do you mean by 'native peoples'?" asked Yax, staring at the exhibit with a thoughtful expression on his face.

I sighed. "It has to do with the way my country was formed. Do you know our history?"

Yax and Squid-boy both shook their heads.

I grimaced. "Well, it's a really long story and a lot of stuff happened. But, briefly, people from several different European countries invaded the continent I live on a few hundred years ago and, over time, killed most of the people who had already been living there."

Squid-boy blinked at me. "Why?"

I closed my eyes and massaged my temples.

"Are you feeling ill?" asked Yax.

"Huh?" I looked up. "Oh, no, thanks for asking. I'm okay. It's just this isn't a fun topic to talk about. Human beings can be pretty brutal, sometimes."

The tall alien nodded. "I knew that from the stories of what happened when some of my kind chose to engage your people over the centuries."

I snorted and shook my head, marveling again at how closely he resembled every classical rendering of Satan. "I can only imagine."

"But why did some of your people kill so many others, young human?" interjected Squid-boy.

I cocked an eyebrow at him. "One-track mind there, huh, Squid-boy?" He opened his mouth to respond, but I waved it away. "No, you're right. Back to business. Why did the Europeans go to the Americas or why did they slaughter the natives?" I shrugged. "Either way, the answer is a variety of reasons."

Squid-boy opened his beak and then closed it with a snap. Gesturing with his tentacles he made a gargling sound and said, "I don't understand."

Sighing, I said, "I could give you the official explanations that they teach us all in school¾God, Gold, and Glory, and all that¾but honestly it all just boils down to greed. The Europeans wanted what the indigenous people had and they were willing to do whatever was necessary to take it. There were also some people from Europe who were fleeing persecution, and who were just trying to find somewhere safe to live the way they wanted to live. But that didn't stop them from trying to impose their beliefs on the natives in the same way those they ran from had tried to do to them. And some of the slaughter was accidental; there were diseases that the Europeans brought with them.

“The Europeans had some immunity to these diseases, but the people who were native to the Americas hadn't been exposed to them previously and so had no resistance to them at all. They died by the millions. Of course, over time, even disease was turned into a weapon. There were several instances where the Europeans deliberately infected the indigenous people.

"But mostly the killing was done on purpose. It wasn't all at once; it happened over a couple of hundred years, but eventually the native peoples had been pushed back to small areas of land that the Europeans found undesirable for different reasons. Then, as things progressed, the people who had taken over started coveting what little the native peoples had left. By that time, a government had been established in the US and there were some legal contortions that those who wanted to steal from the indigenous people had to go through, but it was all still just dressed-up thievery.

"One of the last examples of this eventually led to what happened here." I gestured at the exhibit again. "The government decided it wanted the land that had been granted to a tribe of indigenous people by a treaty and offered them money to buy the land. The leaders of the tribe rejected the deal and refused the money. They wanted to keep their land. So the government put the money in a trust for the tribe, where it sits to this day, and took the land anyway. But the tribe never accepted the money, so by treaty the land still belongs to them.

"Then, the government gave a private corporation permission to build an oil pipeline on the land that belongs to the tribe. The pipeline runs underneath the river that the tribe uses as their water source. Oil pipelines are notorious for leaking, which poisons the land and the water around them, and the tribe never gave permission for the corporation to build on their land. So they organized to try to protect their land and water. It kind of snowballed when it became a symbol of people standing up for their rights and the environment against government corruption and corporate greed."

"Our records indicate there were some violent conflicts surrounding this incident," said Squid-boy.

I nodded. "There were. But the violence came from the government and from the corporation. The people protecting the water were largely peaceful in their tactics."

"If they weren't violent, what did they do?" asked Yax.

"Well, they formed a large camp near where the pipeline was being built and thousands of people congregated there." I pointed at the exhibit. "That's what you seem to be trying to portray here, but the people in the camp were there to protect the water and the rights of the native people. Not to destroy anything."

"So they just built temporary housing near where the pipeline was being built? Why would your government react violently to that?"

I snorted. "The government tends to react violently anytime anyone points out that what they're doing is wrong. But, no, they didn't just camp near the pipeline. They took action to try to stop construction. Some of them chained themselves to equipment so it couldn't be used. Some of them stood in groups, blocking the way of the construction. There were also marches to try to draw attention to what was going on. Also, after the corporation destroyed the tribe's ancestral burial ground, there was a prayer march."

"Your government allowed this corporation to disturb these people's dead? That's heartless!" cried Squid-boy.

"Why did the corporation object to prayer?" asked Yax.

"They objected to anything that brought attention to what they were doing," I answered. "And considering what the government has done to indigenous people in the past, does it really surprise you that it has no respect when it comes to native cemeteries?"

"But common decency…" objected Squid-boy.

"Isn't something corrupt politicians or greedy corporate officials concern themselves with too often," I interrupted.

He made a buzzing sound in the back of his throat but didn't reply.

"And all this is the result of the corruption you told us about?" asked Yax.

I nodded. "Probably. The governor and both senators of the state the native reservation is in have taken a lot of money from the oil and gas industry." I shrugged again. "'One hand washes the other', as they say."

"And this happens often?" asked Squid-boy.

Grimacing, I answered. "It used to happen all the time, then the laws got stricter and the protections against corporate abuse got stronger. But lately the laws have been going back in the other direction." I gestured at the exhibit again. "What happened here with private corporate security working hand in glove with the police reminds me a lot of what the Pinkerton Gang used to get away with. These fossil fuel companies are pretty aggressive when it comes to fighting dirty to get what they want from land that belongs to other people. Heck, the fracking boys have even been after me and my land."

"After you? They're trying to take your property?" asked Yax.

"What is this 'Pinkerton Gang'?" asked Squid-boy.

"They're trying to force me to give them permission to put a pipeline under my land. I don't want to, but they're pretty persistent."

"Will they win?"

I looked at Yax and shrugged. "Dunno. I like to think I can protect what's mine, but it's hard to fight people who have billions of dollars and the government behind them. I guess it'll depend on if the people in my country are able to take back control of our government or if we fold and just let the corporations run everything."

"Which do you think will happen?"

I shrugged again. "The jury's still out." I jerked my chin towards the exhibit that had already been shifted to better show how a group of regular citizens had joined together in peace to stand up against those who wanted to take their rights from them. "Things like this will answer that question."

I turned to Squid-boy who was gazing at the exhibit with a strange expression on his face. When he realized I was looking at him, he turned his eyes to meet mine. "Your species is at an interesting crossroads. You are a complex people, capable of both astonishing selflessness and devastating selfishness. I hope, for your sake, that the better parts of your nature prevail."

I reached down to pat him on his back. "Me too, Squid-boy. Me too." I took a last look at the representation of some of my fellow citizens' stand against tyranny and turned away. Taking a deep breath, I shook my head and said, "The Pinkerton Gang, to answer your question, was a private security firm that was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were infamous for union-busting, strikebreaking, and intimidating workers into submission. There were several violent conflicts between them and union laborers that resulted in deaths on more than one occasion. Though, they also did other kinds of security work, tracking criminals, and such. They sort of morphed and merged over the years, not being as involved in conflicts with organized labor as the laws changed to protect unions and workers' rights. Eventually, they were bought by a different security company and aren't really called the 'Pinkertons' anymore."

I jerked my head back towards the exhibit. "The mercenaries here were deployed by the company building the pipeline. That company bribed the police by offering to pay for the costs incurred by the police department during this protest, if the police agreed to collaborate with the company’s mercenaries; the company wanted them to share information and collude to create a strategy for how the police would respond to the people trying to protect the water. That kind of shady, cozy relationship between law enforcement and private, corporately-owned armies reminds me of the stories about how the unions used to have to fight with 'the Pinks'."

"At least, no one was killed this time," observed Yax.

I shook my head. "No. No one was killed. But the company did attack the people protecting the water with dogs. And the police used tear gas and water cannons against peaceful marchers, even though the weather was cold enough to make hypothermia likely when their clothes got wet. A woman was permanently blinded in one of her eyes from tear gas and another woman's arm was badly damaged when a tear gas canister hit her. So there was violence, though not by the people protecting the water.

"Also, even though the corporate media ignored what happened, there were several independent journalists who covered it. If they hadn't been there, recording what was happening, the violence from the corporation and the police might have been even worse. Knowing that what they did would end up on the Internet and result in calls to DC might have moderated their behavior, a bit."

The big alien frowned and shook his head. I'd never seen a devil look sad before.

"I still can't believe your government allows private interests to get away with such abuses. Or to influence their own police forces so blatantly," said Squid-boy.

I shrugged. "Like I said before, the corruption in our government is an open secret. The corporations have a lot of money. As the saying goes, 'money talks' and our politicians' hearing is quite good when it comes to that money. Not so much when it comes to everyone else, though."

"But, surely, at some point, the people who elect these politicians must get frustrated and refuse to elect them again," exclaimed Squid-boy, his beak snapping.

I rubbed the back of my neck and winced. "Yeah, that's how we got our current Disaster In Chief. People were fed up with the same old, same old and decided anything would be better, even a monster."

"That doesn't seem like the correct solution to the problem," Squid-boy pointed out.

"Well, now, sugar, I agree with you. Unfortunately, enough people didn't see any alternative that it happened anyway."

"The failures of your current leader aside, though I'd be interested to hear more on that topic later, that still doesn't explain why your politicians would be willing to alienate their supporters for short-term gains. What happens when they can't get elected anymore and they lose their jobs?" asked Yax.

"Oh, that's all tied up nice and tight for them. It's the other part of the bribes they get. Like I said before, the bribery that happens in our political system isn't usually just a bag of cash shoved at someone. When the politicians who have allowed the corporations to legally bribe them leave public office, the corporations hire them."

Squid-boy blinked at me. "Hire them to do what?"

I shrugged. "Anything. Nothing. It doesn’t matter. It isn't about them doing an actual job; it's about paying them back for the job they've already done."

"And this is legal?" gasped Squid-boy.

"Yep."

Squid-boy waved his arms around his head. "No wonder our researchers decided representations of your political system belong in our Museum of Galactic Oddities. If I hadn't met an at least nominally reasonable example of your species," he said, gesturing towards yours truly, "I'd be tempted to believe you're all insane." He pointed several tentacles back at the exhibits we'd been reviewing. "The system you describe is certainly bizarre enough to support such a hypothesis."

I rubbed the back of my neck again. "Well, now, sugar, I can't rightly argue with you much, there."

Yax cleared his throat and Squid-boy and I both looked at him. "While I sympathize with my colleague's dismay," he said, nodding at Squid-boy, "we do have a number of other exhibits to get to. Perhaps we can all continue this discussion over refreshments later?"

Squid-boy's beak snapped and his head turned a light purple. "Of course. I'm being unprofessional. Young human, if you will?" He gestured towards some more exhibits farther down the row.


Want to find out what other delights are in store for Alyce? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊 

Answers from Alyce

A Fritter For All Ages #Recipe!

 

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I'm back with another summertime recipe for you! Enjoy! :-)

Ingredients:
1/4 cup flour
1 large or 2 small zucchini grated
3 large carrots grated
4 tbsp chives chopped fine
1 tsp cumin
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1.5 tsp sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 cup vegetable oil
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and pepper to taste

Toss the shredded zucchini and carrots with half a teaspoon of salt and let stand 10 minutes. Wring the veggies dry in a clean kitchen towel and then put them in a large bowl and mix in the egg, flour, chives, cumin, and cornstarch. Season the batter with salt and pepper to your taste.

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Drop 1/4 cupfuls of the veggie mixture into the skillet. Press down with a spatula to flatten a bit.  Cook until golden and crisp and turn over and cook the other side to the same doneness. Put the fritters on a paper towel-lined plate and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Serve warm.

In a separate bowl, mix the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, and red pepper flakes until the sugar is dissolved. Serve as a dip for the veggie fritters.

You can add some frozen spinach that has been thawed and drained and/or some finely chopped onion to the fritters, but you'll need to adjust the amount of flour and egg to fit the additional vegetables. Also, you can add some sriracha to the batter, if you'd like to add a little kick to it.

Bon Appetit!

Morning Fun And Games... 😉

 

Hey Everyone! 😊

Happy Friday and congratulations on making it through another week! To celebrate the weekend -- slow, lazy weekend mornings -- I thought I'd share a little peek at how the Fae like to start the day. Enjoy! 😉

Excerpt from Captivated by the Winter King:

Kate opened her eyes, confused about where she was. Looking around, she saw the remnants of a fire glowing in the fireplace and a large expanse of well-muscled chest. Raising her eyes, she saw Ankou's face still relaxed in sleep and the memories of the night before came back to her.

They had started her recitation of her history on opposite ends of the sofa, but when she told him about the first time Erik beat her she hadn't been able to control her tears. Ankou had moved closer to comfort her, and it had felt so good she hadn't moved away. Somehow, the horror of the past few years seemed more distant when she was in his arms. She didn't remember falling asleep, but it seemed they both had.

Thinking about that, Kate realized she wasn't upset about it. It was nice to wake up next to someone and not be afraid. And she wasn't. It took her a moment's reflection, but she determined that she felt relaxed and content. The absence of fear in another person's presence was a heady sensation, and it made her feel bold.

For a long time, she had craved a connection with another person. She had always wanted to be close to someone who would stand by her and love her for who she was. Such a relationship had eluded her for her entire life, but she still yearned for it with a desperation that often left her breathless. Her doubts lingered, but she hoped that Ankou might be that person for her. He claimed they were soulmates. Did a deeper understanding of another person exist? Maybe, finally, she had found someone she could trust.

Ankou's full lips were just out of her reach, but by stretching just a little bit she could meet them with her own. Did she want to? Did she have the courage? Her desire for touch and affection burned within her, and she decided the answer to both questions was yes. Reaching up, she grazed his mouth with her lips and inhaled his scent. He smelled sweet and spicy at the same time.

Feeling warm and relaxed, Ankou came awake to find his Anamchara's mouth hovering over his own. He waited to see what she would do, not wanting to rush her to do more than she was ready for. When her eyes met his, he saw the question in them and silently gave her consent to proceed if she wished; leaving the decision in her hands. The moment she made up her mind, her lips met his in a gentle caress and he groaned his approval.

The teasing brushes of her mouth against his caused his body to react, and he was aware of every point of contact between them with painful acuity. The feel of her lying against him, her body melting into his, made him want to tear the clothes from her and explore every inch of her delectable form with his tongue. But he knew he couldn't do that. If anything had been made clear during Kate's description of her relationship with the odious human male who had tried to claim her, it was that this woman needed to know her needs would be considered and her limits respected. A precipitous coupling would not give her that reassurance. So he would be patient and proceed at her pace.

The gentle butterfly kisses she gave him progressed to soft nips and firmer contact between their mouths. After some hesitation, she eased her tongue between his lips and he met it with his own. As their kissing deepened, she ran her hands experimentally over his body. He mirrored her actions; careful only to follow where she led. In time, his patience was rewarded as she moaned in satisfaction and shifted so that the contact between their bodies increased.

Changing the angle at which his thigh lay, he pressed it between her legs and was delighted when she rubbed herself against it. She slid her hands under his tunic, and he shivered as her slender fingers teased his nipples.


Want to find out what happens next? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊

Captivated by the Winter King

#APC #Spotlight: A Web Through Time By Niki Livingston! (9/23)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got Niki Livingston in my APC spotlight, today! Niki is an active and supportive member of the  Authors-Professional Co-op Facebook group and her young adult, science fiction, time travel, action, adventure novella, A Web Through Time, looks great! Here's the description:

Meet Alex. Ordinary. Quiet. And she plays by the rules.

However, her entire life shifts in an instant, when a blue-eyed man walks into her place of work and discloses a ludicrous story to explain the mystery of her forgotten past. Despite her resistance and demands to be left alone, she’s forced into a world where her future becomes her past and the governments of Earth are searching for her execution.

Will she embrace her true nature or succumb to the threats of her parents’ enemies?

The tumble through the webs of time has just begun.

 If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)

Easy Spring Roll #Recipe!

 

Hey Everyone!! :-)

This recipe is perfect for those late summer days when it's just too hot to think about eating anything warm. Enjoy! :-)

Ingredients:
8  rice paper sheets (spring roll wraps)
1.5 oz uncooked rice vermicelli noodles
8 oz extra-firm tofu drained
1 cup Chinese cabbage thinly sliced
3/4 cup shredded carrots
1/2 cup shiitake mushroom caps sliced
2 tbsp mint leaves chopped
1/2 cup basil leaves shredded
4 green onions sliced thin
5 tsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp dark sesame oil
1.5 tbsp hoisin sauce
2 tsp chili paste (optional)
1.5 tbsp chunky peanut butter
1 tbsp water
Salt and pepper to taste

Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Drain and rinse with cold water. Drain and set aside.

Cut the tofu crosswise into 4 slices. Put the slices between several layers of paper towels. Put a sheet pan or something heavy-ish on top of the paper towels. Let it stand for about ten minutes. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on the tofu and cut it into cubes.

Whisk together one tablespoon vinegar, one tablespoon soy sauce, the sesame oil, one and a half teaspoons of hoisin sauce, and the chili paste in a bowl. Add the cabbage, carrots, mushrooms, and mint leaves. Toss the ingredients together to coat.

Prepare the rice paper sheets according to the directions on the package. Sprinkle some of the basil leaves on the bottom third of each sheet. Add a couple of the tofu cubes and about 3 tablespoons of the cabbage mixture. Top with about two tablespoons of the noodles and an onion slice. Fold the bottom of each sheet over the filling. Then, fold the sides of each sheet over the filling. Starting with the filled side, roll the sheets into spring rolls and gently press the seams to seal.

Place the rolls, seam side down, on a serving platter, and cover them to keep them from drying out. Serve chilled.

For a dipping sauce, whisk together the rest of the vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, the peanut butter, and the water in a separate bowl. Serve the sauce chilled in a  small dish or bowl wide enough for dipping.

Bon appetit!

#APC #Spotlight: Forever Desired (Vampire Brides) By Ariel Marie!(9/16)

Hey Everyone!! :-)

I've got Ariel Marie in my APC spotlight, today! Ariel is an active and supportive member of the  Authors-Professional Co-op Facebook group and her vampire, fantasy, interracial, paranormal romance novella, Forever Desired, looks great! Here's the description:

He'd waited an eternity to find her.

Athena captivated her audience every night. Her husky voice, sensual moves and megawatt smile, packed the nightclub where she sang. It was her name on the lips of her audience. Everyone wanted a piece of her—even him.

One song and Sorin was enthralled by the beauty on the stage. Her voice awoke a part of him he had thought to be dead long ago. She had no idea of the power she wielded over him with one glance, one smile and one kiss. Never one to pursue a human before, he couldn’t ignore the hunger that burned for her. Only she can satisfy him, but he will first need to protect her from the ones who want him dead.

If you think this sounds like something you might enjoy, go ahead and grab your copy here:

Thank you all so much for stopping by! Happy reading! :-)

#Agent Thoth's #Personal Log: Day 1372

Hey Everyone! 😊

Agent Thoth discusses more of the trials and tribulations associated with living with hominids. Incidentally, if you've missed Agent Thoth's earlier entries, you can find them here: Thoth's Journal

Department for the Preservation and Confirmation of Intelligent Life (DPCIL)

Agent Thoth's Personal Log

Day Thirteen-Hundred-Seventy-Two:

The temperatures at the coordinates where I am stationed on this planet are once again decreasing, on average, as the planet moves into the portion of its revolution around the local start when the planetary tilt results in this part of the planet being slightly further from the star than it is during other portions of the planet’s revolution. As is her habit, my hominid-servant is using these lower temperatures as an excuse to help warm my domicile by experimenting in the preparation of various new edibles. The scents that result from this experimentation are often delectable; however, my hominid-servant has not been at all cooperative in assisting, or even allowing, me to gain a vantage point from which I might properly observe.

Naturally, this obstruction only makes me all the more determined to discover just what sort of delicious delicacies, precisely, my hominid-servant is concocting. I am determined to persevere in my efforts to explore, examine, and most importantly sample the fruits of my hominid-servant’s labors and, as always, I will report back with any further developments. Thoth-out.

Hominids! 😉 You may have noticed that Agent Thoth has a new look. I hope you like his new picture as much as I do, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, either way. Feel free to let me know what you think in the comments. 😉 Happy reading, everyone!

Social Control And Manipulating The Masses...

 

Hi Everyone!! 😊

Happy Tuesday, and congratulations on making it through Monday. To celebrate, and help us all navigate the corporate rat-race for the rest of the week, I thought I'd share a little peek at Petri's corporate hellscape. Enjoy! 😉

Excerpt from Rainbow Dreams:

Even though she knew it was silly, Petri couldn't help but feel like the eye of every guard was on her as she moved through the Upworld pedestrian traffic. It was earlier in the day and there were more people around than the night before. Some of the other people on the path moved away when they saw her, but most of them just gave her odd looks. She knew it wouldn't be long before someone reported her presence and the guards came to investigate. Clutching her pass in her hand, she increased her pace.

Many of the residents of Upworld were sensitive about having dealings with underworlders. The society of Upworld was extremely stratified, with an enormous gap between the lowest levels and the highest levels of income. People who lived on the lower rungs of the Upworld salary ladder were usually only a paycheck or two away from becoming underworlders themselves.

Trying to fit in better, Petri surreptitiously observed those around her and tried to ape their mannerisms.  One thing she couldn't help but notice was that quite a few of her fellow pedestrians had the same sort of obvious, artificial augmentation as Per Mirna had for his eyes. Almost all of even the low-level jobs that Upworld citizens did required the tech to facilitate interfacing with the computer systems they used. It was possible to camouflage the enhancements of course, and even create them out of organic tissue. Most executives at least concealed their accessories, and many used the biotech instead of the straight tech. But those types of cosmetic upgrades were expensive, so most junior employees made do with the less sophisticated models.

Residents of Under City weren't allowed to possess that kind of tech, so anyone who lost their Upworld citizenship had their tech augmentation removed. Petri had seen people in Under City missing eyes, ears, hands, arms, legs, and other body parts. She knew that sometimes it was because they had sold part of themselves to the grinders, but now she realized that some of them were probably also people who had lost their tech. It hadn't occurred to her before because almost no one who was low enough in rank to have to use the unconcealed tech would willingly travel to the underworld.

The companies that ran the Upworld government made sure to keep the majority of the populace on the margins of survival. They needed a small, relatively stable, and educated pool from which to draw employees who they could work to death, but they also needed to maintain control. Making sure that most people were entirely occupied with making ends meet was the easiest way to keep them from pursuing a more equitable distribution of power. Any remaining energy the drones might have, the companies strove to get them to focus on investing in the belief that they were better off than the underworlders. If any citizen did have the temerity to show the slightest hint of disloyalty to or rebellion from the companies, that person would immediately be banished from Upworld and relegated to the slums of Under City.

This culture of conformity and fanatical devotion to the companies resulted in a tendency among the rank and file of Upworld to resent any effort from the underworlders to improve their situation. After all, their one comfort in life came from the fact that there was someone else who was worse off than them. Without that, it was hard for many of them to face the emptiness of their existence. So they clung to their perceived superiority fiercely, and did everything in their power to protect it.

Of course, Petri was only superficially aware of the complex social dance that took place among those in Upworld. What she did know was that if she stayed too long, or stood out too much, the people around her would either kill her themselves or call the guards to do it for them. She needed to get to the transfer station to Western sector fast.

Want to find out if Petri makes it to safety? Grab your copy at the link below. Happy reading! 😊

Rainbow Dreams

Corn Salad #Recipe!

 

Hey Everyone!! :-)

Here's another salad recipe for you that's perfect for this hot summer weather. Enjoy! :-)

Ingredients:
4 cups corn kernels frozen or fresh
2 bell peppers (any color) diced
1 red onion diced
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and chopped
4 green onions chopped
2 roma tomatoes diced
1 cup red cabbage shredded
1/2 cup basil leaves chopped
1 cup cilantro leaves chopped
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
Salt and pepper to taste

If you're using frozen corn, thaw it and drain it thoroughly. If you're using fresh corn, boil or grill it and cut it from the cobs. Put the prepared corn kernels in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients except the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper, cumin, and garlic. Toss the vegetables and herbs together.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients and pour the dressing over the salad. Stir it to coat evenly. Sprinkle the salad with parmesan or queso fresco, if desired. Serve chilled.

Bon Appetit!

Conditioning And Culture...

 Hey Everyone!! 😊

I'm back, again, with another peek at Alyce's take on current events. Enjoy... 😉

Excerpt from Answers from Alyce:

"But how does your legal system set up such a dysfunctional dynamic?" asked Squid-boy.

"Oh, there are lots of ways. One is the drug laws we talked about before. They criminalize normal human behavior and then selectively enforce those laws. People will take drugs because it feels good to them to take drugs, and it doesn't really matter what the laws say. The people in power know this; that's why they make such laws. And they're careful to only criminalize the drugs that poor people tend to prefer; the drugs that are more common among the rich are either not illegal or there are less severe penalties associated with possessing them."

"So, they set up a situation where police feel they have a right to peer into people's private affairs," said Yax.

"Yep. And, let's be honest, just making laws like that is a huge overstep of authority by the government. After all, it's one thing for the government to regulate the manufacturing of goods or to mandate certain warnings be issued about the likely effects of a given substance. But who are they to tell consenting adults what they may or may not put into their own bodies? Why should free citizens allow their personal, private behavior to be controlled like that?"

"So, the laws surrounding these mind-altering substances only exist to create tensions between law enforcement officials and the rest of the community?"

"Pretty much."

"Then why do your people allow these laws to exist?"

"Well, that goes back to the divisions that have been created between people with different skin colors and between people from different parts of the country. Again, the drug laws aren't enforced equally and they don't apply equally to all drugs. The government uses propaganda to make it seem like some drugs are more dangerous than they are and those are generally the drugs that are typically used by people who are poor or who have darker skin or both. Which makes people with lighter skin or people with slightly more money start to think that the people in the communities that are associated with the drugs the government has convinced them are dangerous are dangerous themselves just because they live in those communities. So, they vote for politicians who want to keep the drugs illegal because they think that will protect them from the people who use those drugs. Also, the corporations that manufacture pharmaceuticals want other drugs to be illegal because they are competition for those corporations. And, so, the corporations bribe politicians to keep those laws in place. In other words, there’s more than one reason for the laws."

"But can't the people who live in the communities that are most affected by these laws organize to change them?" asked Squid-boy.

I nodded. "They can, and some of them have started to do that, but it's not easy. Those tend to be the communities that are the most disenfranchised. The laws we talked about before that keep people from voting tend to affect those communities the most. Plus, they are generally poor, which means most of the people who live in them work two or three jobs just to put food on the table, which doesn't leave them with a lot of time or energy for political engagement."

Yax frowned. "That seems awfully convenient for those who are in power."

I snorted. "Of course it is; that's how they designed the system. Also, you have to keep in mind what happens when the people in those communities finally do come together to protest." I pointed at the robots dressed like militarized police in the exhibit we were standing in front of. "This doesn't usually end well for the protesters."

"So, they are protesting because of the laws that keep them from voting," said Squid-boy.

"Like I said, yes and no. That's part of what got them here," I gestured at the scene. "But the specific thing they're protesting is the fact that police have repeatedly murdered unarmed civilians in their communities and then haven't been held accountable by the legal system."

"What?" the two aliens chorused.

I nodded. "Yeah, it's a complicated issue; everything ties into everything else."

"But how can law enforcement authorities be allowed to murder members of the community they're supposed to protect and not be held accountable?" asked Yax.

I shrugged. "Think about it. The system is set up so that police are constantly inserting themselves into the private lives of citizens without invitation or any real legitimate cause. Which, naturally, breeds resentment against them in the community. Being no more than human, the police respond to that resentment with resentment of their own. After all, from their perspective, they're just trying to do their job and enforce the laws. Also, keep in mind that police are often recruited from the communities that have been propagandized by the government into thinking that the poorest communities and communities that people with darker skin live in are dangerous. So, they're predisposed to distrust the people they're supposed to protect. Add to that the selective enforcement of the laws, which tends to reinforce their prejudices, and you have police who view the people they're supposed to protect with fear and contempt."

"But there must be some law enforcement officials who come from poorer communities."

"Yes. And they're inducted into the culture that's fostered in the police force to protect each other at the expense of the communities they're supposed to serve. Add to that the training that most police receive that teaches them to automatically regard other people as threats and to always take action to protect themselves and not take any risks, and police officers who come from the communities that tend to have an adversarial relationship with police usually either shift their loyalties to their fellow officers or they quit."

"Again, that seems like a system that has been set up specifically to cause trouble," observed Squid-boy.

I shrugged. "It has. And it's succeeding admirably. Again, most people who become police officers are good people who only want to help. But the way the system is set up, they're almost guaranteed to find themselves at odds with the public. And, of course, law enforcement is a dangerous job; there are a lot of people who have bad intentions and who are violent. It's not unreasonable for the police to want to protect themselves from harm when they have to deal with the most vicious members of society on a regular basis."

"Logically, it seems as if members of law enforcement would do more to protect their own safety if they formed good relationships with the communities in which they work. They would be far more likely to receive assistance and information about threats if the people they worked amongst didn't fear them more that they fear the predators."

"Yep. That would make sense, Squid-boy, and it would result in those communities becoming safer for everyone, not just the police. But that wouldn't serve the interests of those in power, so it's not likely to happen."

"And, so, this," Yax pointed at the exhibit, "is because people are angry that police have murdered members of their community?"

Sighing, I rubbed my temples. "Yes, that's the immediate reason people are marching. But it's all part of a larger picture."

"Please explain," said Squid-boy.

I sighed again and sank down to sit on the floor. Taking off my shoes, I rubbed my aching feet. "Ya know, y'all should install some chairs or benches or something."

"It would be difficult to design a rest station that would be suitable for all the occupants of this station, but I will make a note of your suggestion," said Squid-boy. "In the meantime, will you explain the 'larger picture' that this," he pointed at tentacle at the exhibit, "is a part of?"

Rolling my eyes, I put my shoes back on and crossed my legs over each other. "I'll do my best. Where was I?"

"You explained how the dynamic was set up that pits law enforcement against the communities they are supposed to serve and that the people of those communities are upset about the number of unarmed civilians who have been killed by police," reminded Yax.

I nodded. "Right. Well, that's a problem that has been going on for a really long time. It goes all the way back to before the Civil War, when some police forces were formed just to chase down slaves who ran away and return them to the people who owned them. After the Civil War, there was a long period of time when people with darker skin weren't slaves anymore, but they were still not treated equally under the law. Not even officially, never mind in practice."

"You've explained some of that, already."

"Okay, well then, like I've said, the details changed over time, but the basic, underlying inequality didn't change that much. And it still exists now, though there are people who like to claim that it doesn't, and one of the manifestations is police brutality. Now, don't misunderstand, police have certainly abused people of all colors of skin, though they generally limit themselves to poor people, but the abuse has disproportionately affected people with darker colored skin."

"And all of your law enforcement officials do this?" asked Squid-boy.

"What? No! Of course not. Haven't you been listening? Most police officers are good people and they just want to help others. The majority of police never abuse anyone and they help a lot of people and do a lot of good. Unfortunately, there are some police who¾either through malice, or bad training and immaturity, or because they're lazy and don't want to put forth the effort to do better¾do abuse people in the communities they're supposed to serve. And, the way the system is set up, the rest of the police force tends to try to protect those bad police officers rather than admitting to the crimes and aiding in their prosecution."

"Which just makes the community mistrust law enforcement that much more," said Yax.

I nodded. "Exactly. And, then, if by some miracle the bad police officers are prosecuted, which doesn't happen often, they are usually not convicted."

"Why not?"

"It's a combination of the way the laws are written and how the cases are prosecuted."

"What do you mean?" asked Squid-boy.

"The laws are written so that almost anything a police officer does can be excused if they just say that they felt that their life was, or the lives of others were, in danger. So, in order to convict them, the prosecutors have to prove that they're lying if they say that. And it's kind of hard to prove beyond a reasonable doubt what another person did or didn't feel."

"That seems like a poorly designed legal code," observed Yax.

"I agree. And I think it should be changed, but that's the way things are now. You also need to take into account that the lawyers prosecuting bad cops are the same prosecutors who have probably worked with the cop they're supposed to prosecute for years. It's not uncommon for them to know each other, or at least for the prosecutor to be friendly with the police department, in general. So, there's plenty of incentive for them to not prosecute as aggressively as they might prosecute someone else. And the same can often be said for the judges who preside over the cases, who often also have the same biases as the police when it comes to the people who were murdered.

"In fact, there was one case where the police officer who murdered a man was recorded on tape saying he was going to kill the man he ultimately murdered because he was angry that the man was running away, which forced him to have to chase after him. After the police officer murdered the man, he was prosecuted, but he claimed that the man he killed had a gun. The gun that the man who was murdered was supposed to have had was tested. His fingerprints weren't on it and only the police officer's DNA was detected on it. But the judge found the police officer not guilty because he didn't think it was likely that a drug dealer wouldn't have a gun."

"That seems like a gross miscarriage of justice," said Squid-boy.

I gestured at the scene behind him. "Lots of people agree."

"But won't things like this just deepen the schism between law enforcement and the communities they're supposed to serve?" asked Yax.

"Yep. The people in the community are angry because they're not being treated fairly and they feel like their lives are in danger."

"From what you've described, that seems like an accurate perception."

I nodded. "And when they protest, the people in power send the police out to 'control' them, which really means stop them. The police already feel like the protestors are against them, and so they aren't usually inclined to be tolerant towards a protest they feel is criticizing them. So, they're already on the defensive, and then they're told to keep the protestors from getting out of line. Guess how often their interpretation of where the line lies tends to be less than liberal?"

"Under those circumstances? I'd say most likely quite often," said Squid-boy.

"And this dynamic is manufactured solely so that the powerful can use the police to control the rest of the population?" asked Yax.

"Not solely, but that's a big part of it. After all, if all the poor people begin marching in the streets because they can no longer afford to buy food, who do you think the powerful will look to for protection? It's in the interests of the powerful to keep the police divided from the communities they're supposed to serve."

"How does all this tie back into the laws that keep people from voting?" asked Squid-boy.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. "Well, it goes back to how laws get passed and who decides what policies will be enforced and how. The people in power want to stay in power and they know that people who have been disenfranchised by them would most likely vote to get them out of power. So, they try to make it difficult for those people to vote. Which means, of course, that those people are denied a voice in choosing their elected representatives. And that means that the methods by which those people are able to effect change is limited." I pointed at the exhibit next to us. "This is the most peaceable of those means. But when the government uses the police to disrupt peaceful protests, and the people who are suffering get angrier and angrier, things can get ugly, fast."

"And when that happens, it just gives your government the justification it was looking for to suppress dissent," murmured Yax.

I nodded. "Almost 60 years ago now, we had a president, named John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated while he was in office. During one of his speeches, he said, 'Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable'.^* He was talking about other countries, but it's a universal truism when it comes to human beings."

"Who killed him and why?" asked Squid-boy.

 I shrugged. "Ostensibly, a man named Lee Harvey Oswald, though there are several theories that either he didn't do it or he didn't act alone or of his own volition. As for why, no one really knows for certain. Oswald was murdered, himself, only two days after he was arrested. And a lot of what he said while he was in police custody sounded crazy, so who knows what was true and what was just in his head? Or maybe it was all true and we just lack the context to make sense of it. Or maybe he didn't do it at all, I don't know. No one really knows, except maybe some government spooks somewhere."

"Do you have an opinion on the matter?" asked Yax.

Sighing, I shook my head. "Not really. I haven't looked into all the evidence enough to really have formed an opinion; I just know the basics that everyone knows."

"Not even a guess?"

"A guess? Well, if I was going to guess, and if JFK wasn't just shot by a crazy person who got his hands on a gun, then I'd guess that it might have been because he was trying to change things. The speech I quoted was about other countries, but JFK had been championing changes in the US, too. Particularly with regards to how people with darker colored skin were treated. He also supported economic policies that helped the poor, so it's possible he pissed someone off who had enough power to do something about it. But I don't know if that's actually what happened."

Yax nodded. "A mystery."

"The convolutions of your history are fascinating," interjected Squid-boy, "but did you mention that quote because you believe your people are headed for violent revolution?"

 I shrugged. "I don't know. I hope not. But this," I pointed at where the robots dressed like police wielded their batons and shields and faced off against the robots dressed like protestors, "just makes the people who are disenfranchised more desperate. If the government won't give people room to express their discontent peacefully, then it's pretty much guaranteed they'll do so less than peacefully. That's what people who are angry, frustrated, and scared do. And that's how revolutionary wars get started."

"Might that be for the best?" asked Yax. "Wouldn't it allow your people to restructure your political system into something that works for more people?"

I shook my head. "No. I don't think it would be for the best; I think it would be a disaster. Violent, undirected change? Who knows what we might end up with? Who knows if the disenfranchised would even win that war? Yes, there're more of us. But the people in power are the ones with the fancy weapons and the trained military. The underdog rebels always win in the movies, but things don't always work out that way in real life. In reality, the government calls those who take up arms against it 'terrorists' and it wages a propaganda war against them and villainizes them in public opinion before exterminating them while the rest of the world sighs in relief. And then it passes laws to 'protect the public' that makes it even harder to express dissent. We might end up with something far worse than what we have now. And, no matter who won or whether or not the government we ended up with was better or worse, a lot of innocent people would be dead. I hope with all my being that we can be smarter than that."

Yax nodded. "That makes sense. Though, I'm not sure what means that leaves you with for effecting change."

I gestured at the exhibit again. "This. Eventually."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, this will work, eventually, if the protestors are persistent in both their protest and their non-violence. When videos of police beating up unarmed, non-violent citizens go viral on the internet, it makes for a far better narrative with regard to public opinion than if the government is able to post videos of protestors destroying property or hurting people."

"Ah," said Squid-boy. "I see. The protestors will publicize examples of abuse by your law enforcement in an attempt to sway the opinions of enough people that eventually your government will not be able to ignore the matter or refuse to fix it."

I nodded. "Yes. Though, the government will still use misdirection and disingenuousness to attempt to obfuscate the matter."

"That is when they'll pretend that the problem is something other than what it actually is, like you said before," said Yax.

"Yes. Or they'll try to blame the victims or create a lot of hoopla about some other issue to try to distract everyone. They have a lot of methods for deceiving people, and the public tends to have a short attention span. That's why it's such a battle to get any meaningful change. But it has happened before, so with hard work and persistence we can make it happen again."

Squid-boy wrapped his arms around his head and clacked his beak a few times. Looking at Yax, he said, "It seems as if we may have been mistaken in including this exhibit. Though the logic is somewhat circuitous, it seems as if the humans are behaving rationally here. Or, at least, as rationally as their irrational system of government allows them to behave."

The big alien nodded. "I concur. I think we will need to remove this one."

Squid-boy turned to me. "Will the laws that keep some of your people from voting be changed once the protestors are successful?"

"I hope so. That's one of several changes I'm hoping for, sugar. But the only way to find out is to keep fighting."

He turned to look at the protestors and, even with his squid face, I thought I saw compassion in his expression. "I hope so, too," he murmured. "It's important for people to have a voice in their government."

"I agree. In fact, that's one of the primary principles our country was founded on. It's just that, somehow, we seem to have forgotten that fact."

Yax stepped forward and put a comforting hand on my shoulder. "Hopefully, your people will start remembering soon."

I reached up to cover his fingers with my own. "I hope so."


*The quote by John F. Kennedy regarding revolution was from his March 13, 1962 Address on the First Anniversary of the Alliance for Progress speech.

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