Sather: Thank you for coming Representative.
Representative: Now you’re sure I’ll only be referred as Representative?
Sather: Certainly, the last thing SpacerTimes would do is damage your reputation.
Representative: Good, good. I can’t lose my position right now. Now where should we start?
Sather: I guess why you called us for an interview?
Representative: Well I guess if I must say it in a simple way. The planet of Wolkon Sharp is going to be stripped mined.
Sather: Strip-mined?
Representative: Well I can’t say it any better. The council has found it that Wolkon can be utterly consumed for solid core of silver and gold. It was almost 100 percent! Maybe two or three Representative’s attempted to protest this, absolute travistity!
[The representative pulls a Nerox pack out of their pocket and takes a strip]
Representative: Sorry, I’m getting worked up. The point is we still don’t know if there are any groups on that planet. And I know that the air could support carbon life; and I know that the radiation would leave anything living humans on that planet so messed up they might not want to live. But we’ve seen humans live in worse conditions, thrive! Even.
Sather: Did they find any humans?
Representative: No, but that scan was two-hundred years ago. The amount of Life Holders in space could alone show that humans had time to get used to the planet’s harsh conditions. But now, in this year the planet’s core will be used to enrich the council that much more.
Sather: Well, the war effort is floundering. This could be a good thing.
Representative: Good for who? The head council sure, maybe the troops get new socks. We don’t even know how much gold there is or if it’s even if it is gold. You know, it’s funny they’re more than willing to do scan after scan and get basically no results; you know a near eighty percent chance of failure. But a bio scan, something that has a only a forty percent chance of failure to be used. I’m sure my words will be picked apart. Even now you don’t want to listen.
Sather: Of course not Representative I’m just talking about it with you.
Representative: No, and I understand why take on this pet cause. And I don’t know why? The council handles more volatile cases than a couple hundred “maybe” people. Last week we had to decide if dumping Droxe into a dying planet’s air to ensure that we don’t have war refugees settling there. I guess it just broke me.