Spiral of Light

Chapter 4: Is that a Sug?

Moloch watched Drydellia slide by. It was a level built with the gaudy vulgarity of a tourist trap. Casinos, taverns, and pleasure houses beckoned to passersby with cheap intoxication that promised a brief respite from the heavy burdens of a troubled past or the painful foreboding of a directionless future. These buildings were cheaply built up and around the original old-world stonework, and they were brimming with out of level tourists and Drydellian employees, in different states of inebriation.

As their traffic lane drifted over a large park-like space, he could see what seemed like a thousand beings mashed together and frantically dancing to music with a hard beat that came down from a floating circular platform above. Every so often the platform would spritz a blue colored mist down on the celebrants. It seemed to cause them to dance harder.

Moloch pointed it out to Salazaar. "What in the void is going on down there?"

"Ah, yeah those are employees who go back to work tomorrow. They are participating in a mandatory "dance release."

"What is that platform spraying on them?"

"It's a cheap blend of euphoriants and speed." Salazaar said.

"What is that supposed to do?"

"Some Drydellian big wigs decided that it would help the employees blow off much needed steam before their work week starts."

"Does it help keep your population calmer?"

"It seems to work well enough. Crime has gone down significantly since the dance release was implemented." Salazaar said.

The celebrants below began to undress each other, as their gondola turned a corner taking them out of sight of the tawdry display.

"What Constable Salazaar means, is that all members of the weak subspecies require regular cathartic release. Should they not receive it, they begin to harbor selfish, deceitful, and insubordinate thoughts. Through a great deal of research, we have discovered that "dance-release" provides the optimal amount of physical stimulus and mental drain. It improves our employee's physical fitness and it is a very cost effective solution, not a cheap one."

Supervisor Rofouscue said from his workstation, having put on a pair of gleaming aurial enhancers, that allowed him to eavesdrop on nearby conversations from the comfort of his bench. His reply came out of a small vocalizer built into the side of the transport gondola. His workstation was built in the prow of the gondola and was elevated over all the other seats, forcing their occupants to look up and face him.

"You're pretty proud of yourselves, aren't you?" Moloch said, unable to stop himself after looking at Supervisor Rofoscue's smug face.

"Why shouldn't we be? We understand the art of rulership. Our level runs as smooth as clockwork and is among the most prosperous in the seventies block. If we had been positioned higher in the pillar city our power and prestige would have been magnified even more!"

"You Drydellians and your operation would be subject to more scrutiny is more like it." Krasus said.

Constable Salazaar instinctively shot him a look as if he wanted to warn Krasus against such antagonistic speech that might inflame supervisor Rofouscue's wrath but then he thought better of it, shrugged, and took another puff on his cigar. It was refreshing for him to see another being give the supervisor the business.

Coming up before them was an expansive compound different from the rest, in that it lacked the garish cheapness of the buildings found in the other quarters of the city. This gleaming large structure radiated opulence from every aspect of its construction.