The Speech Writer

Everyday Pearl would walk past the statue in town's square glistning a dark obsidian with crystal clear water elegantly pouring out. Pearl hated that statue, with a wide smile she knew was fake, and black hair flowing around the serene peace of art, it was too perfect, too peaceful. The lady sat on her knees in the middle of shallow water, the source coming out of her outstreached hands. Pearl had to admit it was beautiful, but that wasn't the real problem, the big problem. The problem was, in all its glory, that the statues eyes seemed to follow her wherever she walked. They stared at anyone who would walk past, daring them to break a law, speak in protest, or even say something bad about her. The problem was that the statue was an exact depiction of Mars' new queen, Her Majesty Queen of Mars, Uma the first.

Queen Uma was one of those rulers who would later be remembered as a tyrant. Someone who kept separation between the wealthy, and the poor. Queen Uma didn't let her subjects talk to eachother, nor did she have them all live under one cyber-dome. There were rumours of more than 100 existing cyber-domes, though nobody knew that forsure as it was a well-kept secret. The people from the outer domes were poor, the people from the most inner domes were rich aristiocrats. Everyone was expected to comply with The Queen's rules and as a reminder well-armoured millitairy agents were heavily spread throughut the city. Of course if that wasn't enough, there were the black statues.

Pearl lived in one of the sectors closer to the middle. She was educated to know enough of the higharchy, but just the basics. She was taught just enough to know there were people suffering more than her, and enough to be schooled up until age 16. Then she started work for the queen as a speech writer. It was a ole in her sector labeled SM1-1. It stood for Sector Manegment one out of one. Her sector was a small one, with one massive school. The smartest people there were called to do special jobs for the queen. It just so happned that the smartest were also the most loyal. The Queen didn't want anything to go awry. It also just so happned that the smartest of her year wern't only smart and loyal, they were good at acting.