Nattopia: Home to Green Fields, Clear Skies, and Occasional Riots

Posted on 13 Nov 2013 @ 1:45pm by Ensign Natalie Chevalier & Lieutenant Jacob Pendleton

3,407 words; about a 17 minute read

Mission: Episode 04 - Exodus
Location: USS Galileo - Deck 2, Holodeck 2
Timeline: MD-01 - 1700 Hours

[ON]

Once her Bridge shift was over, Nat decided to destress. She'd spent so much time in the Arboretum lately, though, and she wasn't hungry yet, so she opted for the Holodeck again. On a sudden impulse, she sent a message to Lt. Pendleton's quarters, inviting him to join her. She was interested in exploring his simulation further, and although their last encounter hadn't gone swimmingly, he meant well. She changed into a pale blouse and some jeans, tied her hair up in a loose bun, and made her way to Holodeck 2 to see if he would take up her offer.

The console in Jacob's room "dinged" to let him know that a message awaited him. He strolled over and read the message; surprisingly it was from Natalie! She wanted to meet him again in the sim. He smiled to himself and got dressed in casual clothes then proceeded to the holodeck. He saw her already there about to go in and said, "Well Hello there fellow mayor. Back to tackle the rigors of Nattopia once more?" He smiled at her as he said this.

"Hi Jacob," Nat replied with a smile as his massive form approached. Off duty, she felt more comfortable with first names, though she'd made sure to call him 'Lt. Pendleton' on the Bridge. "Actually, I thought this time I could try out one of your creations, if you'd like? Kind of, I've showed you mine so now show me yours?"

Jacob almost blushed but kept his composure, "Sure.. I'd love to do that." He tapped into the key pad what he wanted. The computer began the program and the door slid open. He waited to allow her in first and followed behind. The scene before them was of a fair sized city. Jacob had put the simulation on pause as they stood at the city hall sign. "City of Fernandez" it read. It was quickly apparent that this city was a true "old school" city. There were streets that were not made of computer grids, just asphalt. Sidewalks were concrete, with curb cuts, talking and blinking lights for those who needed such assistance. Cars, buses, trucks all drove along the streets and roads. Nearby the City Hall was a transit station that housed taxis, buses and, of all things, a STEAM TRAIN that was boarding passengers. He turned to Natalie, "Welcome to my first city, and the Capitol city of my region. Welcome to Fernandez!" He smiled at her as he beamed with pride.

Nat grinned at his enthusiasm. "Fer-nan-dez," she repeated to herself quietly as she stepped past him and looked around. Her smile died, turning to displeasure at the sight of the nearest car. Disgusting inventions, the worst excess of Earth's pre-Unification society. The presence of so many sources of public transit only marginally improved her mood. She pointed to a train, a boarding passenger frozen mid-step by the paused program. "What is that? It has white smoke coming out of the top. I thought trains were electric?"

"That," Jacob pointed to the massive steel machine, "Is a steam locomotive." He continued to beam with pride. "It is the pride and joy of my regional transit system." He saw the look on her face of dislike and realized what she must have been thinking, "If you are worried about the environment, which I know is something very precious to you, you need not worry Natalie... all of the automobiles, trucks and buses are electric/hydrogen/solar hybrid vehicles that I made to look and sound like the automobiles of the past. Every factory in the city is of the highest environmental standards with technological developments to ensure no air or ground pollution can occur. Even my steam train here has a specially created apparatus that will incinerate and desolve any waste that is created by the burning of the coal within its massive firebox. All I have done is faithfully and meticulously created these objects to look like eighteenth, nineteenth, tewntieth and twenty first century items."

The streets were, of course filled with people, Natalie could see they were diverse; however, there were many more people in town who used assistive technologies such as power wheel chairs, manual wheel chairs, walkers, service animals, etc, she might also realize that if there was a majority of an ethnic group apparent, it would be the higher number of Hispanics and Latinos present.

Nat was not overly convinced. "Jump through all the environmental hoops you like, but mass transit is always going to ecologically outpace individual, private means of..." She waved her hand. "But, it's not my place to say. Besides, I like your train."

Jacob smiled, "Thank you. It took many long hours to create it; I even 'recruited' several of my Academy friends who were training as engineers to assist me in making it exactly to my specifications." He walked down the track area inspecting some of the cars that people were entering. He took some careful inspection of one car that had a hydrolic lift so that a person in a wheelchair could use to board the train. "So, how goes Nattopia?"

Nat gnawed on her lip: she'd hoped he wouldn't ask. "Oh, well, uhm, I guess I still have a few things to learn about city planning. Everything went pretty well on the first day, but on the second, the people started rioting, and now they've imposed some kind of mob rule. I think I need to make a few tweaks to the subroutines concerning civil disobedience. But!" she chirped up. "They only burned down buildings, no trees! And they didn't use any of their axes on the local wildlife. Just, you know...each other."

Jacob patted her on the shoulder, "No worries, lets go over it, have you provided hospitals, firehouses and police? If so, I assume you put in schools? If there's no problems there, make sure your tax rates are fair... I usually keep them around ten percent, and provide jobs, entertainment and possibly attractions if you can." He chuckled a bit, "I lost three cities before I really got the hang of the simulation, so don't worry, you'll do just fine. I believe you will make an excellent mayor."

"Taxes? No, no, in Nattopia, all property has been abolished. It's a communitarian state," Nat said emphatically. She regarded private property as one of the worst aspects of ancient Earth history, and was fiercely supportive of Federation policies in that regard. "But you may be right about not providing enough services. I tend to forget that a pile of sticks and a muddy pond isn't enough for everyone." She scuffed her toe against a nearby grav-chair ramp. "Care to show me how it's done? Some of the features of Fernandez?"

Jacob smiled and motioned to her to walk with him into City Hall. The building was a very nice brick, marble and columned building. No steps or other barriers could be seen, all doors were automatic, sliding and plenty wide for anyone to access. He walked up to one of the terminals which sat on pedestals that could be raised and lowered to just about anyone's desired height. He accessed the overall city demographics and pictures. "Here we go Natalie," He showed her the screen which was an overview shot of the city. (OOC: http://i159.photobucket.com/albums/t130/masoniclight/Fernandez_zpsf5be136a.png) "As you can see here, I have areas with zones of residential and commercial both on the hill and plateaued area as well as on the right hand side of the picture here. Services like firefighting, police and hospitals are spread strategically throughout the city, schools are well." He pointed out several of the city services, "I made sure to have not only large capacity roads for tourism, work connectivity, and industry, but also smaller roads for neighborhoods and small business. I've made sure to have all of the industries be put away from most of the population... even if they are clean, high tech industries that look like older styled factories in some cases.." He pointed to the far left and southwest corner of the map. "And here is the bus station at the far south of town, while the train stations are in separate places on the map."
(OOC: Not that way currently in the pic, I still have to set my train transit lines as they are quite expensive to build and maintain lol)

Jacob watched Natalie's face carefully, "Fernandez is a city of about sixty thousand people, unemployment is about two percent or so, and I am planning to put in a large amusement park to be the main attraction for tourism. My city taxes stand at eleven percent for everyone but I plan to reduce them for the working and middle class residents soon."

Nat gave him a quizzical glance. "Jacob, I appreciate you showing me all this, and it's obviously very impressive, so please don't take this the wrong way: but what is it with you and amusement parks? I remember you suggesting I add some in Nattopia, and now you're planning one here. Is there some - I don't know, a personal connection or something? I'd never exactly considered a few anti-grav rollercoasters and some popcorn stands to be the centrepiece of urban planning before."

"Because Natalie, people, almost every species in the galaxy, need entertainment of some kind. I have used Casinos, Hot Air Balloon Parks, Monuments and other other such tourism and entertainment options in my other cities and I want to try one with the Amusement park option." Jacob pointed to the far left open field near the main highway, "I think that spot right there would be perfect for it."

Nat wasn't really convinced. "I agree that most species need entertainment, but haven't most species found ways of entertaining themselves without needing to blight the local landscape with some massive construction work? No matter how environmentally-friendly you claim all of this is, any kind of large landscaping is going to change the ecological balance of the region."

She followed his gaze to the large open field. "What used to be there? What will the park be taking the place of? That's why I suspended all construction developments in Nattopia: I don't want people just obliterating an entire ecoculture to put up a few buildings."

She was in full ranting mode, theatrical hand gestures, red face bringing out her freckles, small feet stamping on the ground.

"It is a nice, open space. Don't get me wrong Natalie, I love the environment, I grew in up in rural southwest Wisconsin on a farm so nature is very important to me. When building a city, a balance can still be had. You mentioned riots going on, have you asked your citizens what they want? Maybe they can lead you to the balance your city needs."

Nat did not know where Ouisconcon was, but she frowned at the mention of a farm. Such institutions had a far from unmitigated history of environmental soundness. "I tried listening to them, but it's a bit difficult when they keep shouting and throwing glass bottles. And I even went to the trouble of putting in recycling units - such a waste." She shook her head at the tragedy - of the wasted bottles, not the city-wide rioting. "At least things look peaceful here?"

"Well they are 'peaceful'," Jacob replied, "But I still get complaints as one might imagine. Running a city is very satisfying and pleasurable, but it is also hard work." He looked into her eyes, "Would you like me come over to your city and talk to your citizens? I can sometimes be persuasive."

"No, no. I'd like to try to figure this one out for myself," Nat deflected. "But if it gets any worse, I might have to ask again. For now, I'd like to take more of a look around your city. Does the train work?" she asked, intrigued.

Jacob offered her his arm and walked up to the massive locomotive. "Yes it does, using the most raw of power from the simplest formula: boling water." He chuckled, "Amazing that such a raw and rudimentary scientific reaction of making steam and building up pressure could power a vehicle huh? Here let me unpause the simulation." He commanded to the air, "Computer, resume the city." The entire place came to life. People went about their lives like any city anywhere. Almost everyone stopped, nodded, tipped their hat or curtsied to Jacob. Many of them said a hello or gave a good day to him including some of the women who would give him some flirtatious or coy looks. Some of the men gave Natalie some nice, flirtatious smiles as well as they went to and fro.

He led her to the mighty Iron Horse. The wheels were eighty four inches in height and the entire engine and tender just dwarfed over all vehicles nearby. Steam poured out of its stack and from pipes at the side. The engineer peeked his head out of the window and waved to Jacob, "Howdy Mayor Pendleton! Looks like its gonna be a great day for a nice run to Villegas. You and your pretty lady friend gonna join this jaunt?"

Nat looked around suspiciously. Friendly as the people were, she was not oblivious to the undercurrent of attraction that seemed directed their way. For all the wondrous benefits of Fernandez Jacob was so keen to extoll, it seemed a very heteronormative environment, all the women looking at Jacob, all the men at Nat: she wondered how tolerant and inclusive it truly was, what values lay beneath the nominally shiny surface he was trying to present to her. Rioting they might be in Nattopia, but at least the LGBT Centre had remained untouched by the flames of the arsonists.

"His pretty lady friend has a voice, you know," she snapped at the rather rude man, "And she can answer for herself. Yes, we'd like to take a ride on the train." She glanced at Jacob for confirmation.

Jacob smiled at Nat and then gave a nasty scowl towards the man who spoke to her, "Indeed she DOES have a name Mr. Curtis, and I suggest you treat her with the upmost respect. You KNOW I do not tolerate such disrespect towards anyone." The man lowered his head, "I am sorry Mayor Pendleton." He turned towards Nat, "And I am sorry miss, I was out of line." He tipped his hat and went back to checking his gauges. Jacob walked over to the Lounge car (which was the first car behind the coal tender) and since the platform was at the same level as the door, made it a no-step entry. The door itself was forty inches wide and slid open as they approached. He stepped aside to let her in first.

Excited by the prospect of the journey, Nat jumped up into the car and waited patiently as a stewart helped a man with a cane find a seat in the area reserved for persons with disabilities. She walked down the aisle, and picked out a pair of seats midway down, with a window view, turning to Jacob with a smile of approval.

"I've not been on something like this before. The mag-levs I've been on were so cold and functional. This feels more like a lounge on wheels."

Jacob smiled at her across the table. The big picture windows of the lounge car allowed for great views. Soon there was much chatting and waiters and waitresses taking orders and much movement. Soon though the well dressed Conductor came into the train car's entrance; he called out to the station in a powerful voice, "All aboard!! Last Call!!"

The massive steam engine gave a loud blow of its steam whistle and the bell in the front began to ring; then the mighty ten wheeled iron horse began to move with a very slight lurch forward and then the entire thirty car train inevitably made its way down the tracks. Slowly at first but the pure energy of the raw power could be felt as the speed increased. The rhythm of the "click-clack" of the wheels as they road over the steel rails was subtle but apparent to anyone paying attention, as it was obvious that Jacob was estatic riding his train, as it was apparent by the huge smile on his face.

Nat was somewhat less enthused. The cabin had seemed inviting and the initial thrill of something new had given her a surge of enthusiasm, but the novelty was already starting to wear off as they pulled out. The click-clack sound was rather irritating and a bellow of steam give her a momentary fright; yet, looking out, it seemed as though they were barely getting going. It seemed churlish to complain about the speed, but she couldn't help but wonder how much quicker a good mag-lev would have got them on their way.

"How were the track thingies - what are they called, 'railroads'? How were they built here in Fernandez?" she asked, turning to the grinning Jacob. "I think I read once that a lot of the ones on Earth were built using slave labour."

Jacob smiled at her, "I simply had the computer code place them at first and once the population began to grow, I offered the jobs to those wanting to build them. I have made sure they have excellent wages, benefits, given accolades and other such positive things. I am very proud of all my people in all my cities and I try to make them feel wanted, given respect, and making sure that my cities have all the support and foundational things that allow people to live the lives they want to live. As to the history of the railroads, yes, there were slaves and so called 'unwanteds' that were forced to make the rails but I would never allow such things to exist in my worlds."

Nat shrugged. "Fair enough, then. But this is all starting to sound a little like Omelas. Where's the downside to Fernandez? Everything can't be perfect in your city, can it?"

Jacob smiled gently as the mighty train was now roaring down the tracks at a pretty incredible speed near one hundred miles and hour! "Of course not Nat. I have some people who don't like my tax structure, some who don't want the city to grow further, some who think that the city spend more on education while others think we should spend less and the like. My current approval rating is at sixty eight percent, which means that thrity two percent of the population either has no opinion about my leadership or don't like my leadership choices altogether. Nothing is perfect. It can't be. I created a simulation that is as close to reality as programmingly possible and if the citizens of any of my cities decide they don't want me as mayor, then I will be voted out of office, simple as that."

"Yes, but democracy is such an imperfect science," Nat insisted. "Powerful lobbies, manipulative push-polling, incomplete flow of information, and the perennial silence of the disenfranchised. Sometimes it's difficult to assess what the people truly want without resorting to generalisations that just end up solidifying the tyranny of the majority." She looked out of the window again: the landscape was rapidly disintegrating into an incoherent blur. "But I will admit, your people do appear to be happy here."

Jacob shrugged, "I'll take that chance with representative democracy. I will trust it. I created my cities with laws and rules generated from the best of works of civilization that I know about including the Constitution of the United States of America, the Universal Document of Human Rights, the Constitution of the Federation of Planets, the Accepted Treatise of Galactic Social Justice, the tenets of the Independent Living Philosophy and other such documents. It isn't and can't be perfect but that is all right by me, I wouldn't want a perfect world because that would boring and not in line with my own personal sense of freedom, justice, dignity and respect and love for differences and uniqueness."

[TRUNCATED]

--

LT Jacob Pendleton
Chief Science Officer
USS Galileo

ENS Natalie Chevalier
Ecologist
USS Galileo

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