The Strike

"What do we want?" A tall skinny man in a tattered brown coat with a speaking trumpet stood on a short wall in the old residential neighborhood facing a large crowd.

"More pay!" The crowd chanted in return.

"What do we want?" The tall skinny man yelled again through the speaking trumpet.

"Fewer hours!" The crowd chanted in return.

A few people in the crowd were carrying signs that read, 'We need more pay and fewer hours.' Emily and the city guard turned the corner and started walking toward the crowd, "George, thank you for escorting me here, would you be a dear and split up with me here. I need to talk to some people and you'll make things harder because of your uniform."

The city guardsman nodded with a bright smile, "Of course Ma'am, I'll head to the front. If you need me just rush up to the front." Emily slipped into the crowd and found some people she had met on one of her walks.

"Hello, Mr. Smalley wasn't it? I don't know if you remember seeing me before, I am Emily." She smiled and waved.

"Oh! Hello miss Smith, it's nice to see you again. Are you here to join in for the protest?"

She nodded, "I am, are we supposed to check in with anyone? I understand that there is a way to be paid if we do?"

He moved close to her and said just soft enough to be heard over the crowd, "That's right, you see that man over there in the fancy suit? That's Mr. Wilson, he is the community organizer. He handles the headcount and will personally give you one Sprite for attending. If you are willing to carry a sign, you can get double, but the signs go quickly, you have to get here before sun up for one of those."

"Oh, what a shame. Who are we protesting? Mr. Duke? He's the one who owns the factory right?" She smiled and batted her lashes at Mr. Smalley.

He grinned and then said softly, "The new city lord."

"Is the new city lord that bad?" She replied at the same soft volume.

He shrugged and then replied, "Mr. Wilson said he is, that's why we are all here, well mostly because we get twice as much for the strike as we would for working." He chuckled and then said, "Once you check in with Mr. Wilson, come back over and I'll help keep you safe if the city guard breaks up the crowd."

"Oh! Does it usually get dangerous at a strike?" She asked with an expression of fear.

"No, not usually, although they rough up some of the men at the front from time to time."

Smiled at him and curtsied, "Thank you so much, Mr. Smalley, I might just do that." After parting with Mr. Smalley she walked over to Mr. Wilson. She held a fan in front of her face waving it rapidly the way most ladies would do in a crowded area, "Mr. Wilson? I was told that I need to see you, to get my pay?"

Mr. Wilson broke out in a wide grin, "Yes indeed, it is so wonderful to see a member of the fairer sex out here today to protest against the unjust city lord." He took out a one Sprite bill from his money clip.

"Is the new City Lord such a terrible man?" She asked innocently.

Mr. Wilson raised his finger in the air and said emotionally, "This new City Lord expects us little folk to slave away and build a majestic new city with almost no pay and double the hours, and for what? Well, I'll tell you, the new City Lord is actually a Windsor Kingdom Royal. This new city will just mean less pay and more hours to work, does that sound like a fair City Lord to you?!"

She giggled and put the one Sprite bill away in her purse, "But Mr. Wilson didn't Mr. Duke really pay for this strike so that he could keep his estate? So that you could also keep your estate?"

Mr. Wilson suddenly looked closely at who he was speaking to, "Well, well, if it isn't Lady Connaissance herself. How do you like my community action?"

She smiled at him and replied happily, "I'm actually very impressed. You have so many people here, and they all look so engaged! Do you have any more of the signs left, I would like to earn the extra Sprite while I am here."

"You know we are protesting you, right? Why would you want to protest yourself?"

"Mr. Wilson, you are mistaken about many things. Would you like to go somewhere quiet, I would be happy to give you the details Mr. Duke left out when he hired you." She lightly touched his forearm as she leaned against him. "Or we could wait for my shift here at the Strike to end."

"This way Lady Connaissance, I have an office over there on the corner." Mr. Wilson bowed like a gentleman and offered his arm.

Once inside, Mr. Wilson opened a drawer in his desk and took out two glasses, "Care for some Brandy, Lady Connaissance?"

"Please, that would be wonderful, thank you."

He took out a bottle, uncorked it, and poured two glasses of Brandy. He then placed one in front of her and took the other in his hand and lifted it, "To the City of Connaissance."

She lifted her own and little tapped it against his, she smiled at him, "To the City of Connaissance." She took a long drink and then looked over at him, "Mr. Wilson, I wonder, what kind of future would you truly like to see for our city?"

He scrunched up his face in thought, "I came to the city to teach at the old college. I taught here for many years, you know. When the people rejected the college and forced its closure, I had nothing left to do. I thought that I might be able to help some of the poorest here to fight back against the oppressive cost of living and the horrible wages, but after a while, it just seemed like people couldn't be bothered to look after their own self-interest. They would jump to take the quick Sprite and ignore the future entirely at every chance I fought to give them. That's when the wealthy approached me. They started paying me to hold protests at their competition's factories and businesses ahead of them coming in with an offer that these men could use to escape the threat of bankruptcy.

I know that doesn't answer your question, but I just wanted you to know I wasn't always a piece of shit, excuse my language. I have always hoped that the college would return, that real science would return to the city and allow me to go back to the hard research and teaching that fed my soul."

She nodded and then set her glass down on the desk, "What Mr. Duke and his associates are hiding from you is just that. When I came from the Windsor Kingdom I brought with me, inventors and scientists. Men chasing after the dream of Connaissance. We are tearing down this city and replacing it with the city of future that we have always dreamed could exist if people tossed away mysticism and the supernatural and just followed the scientific method of systematic observation, measurement, experimentation, with the formulation, testing, and modification of hypotheses."

"You've been taught by someone from the college! Who was it, Dean Martin or Dean Wormer?" He thought for a moment, "No, neither of them would go to the Kingdom again, was it that lad, Jerry Hathaway?"

She smiled and nodded, "It was indeed Professor Hathaway. He said that if I had been able to attend college here, I might well have been the head of the mathematics department by now."

"Professor! Of course, of course, he did graduate. How old I have gotten, how is Professor Hathaway these days?" He took another drink of brandy.

She finished her drink and then set the empty glass back down, "He was executed by the Church. I made the mistake of calling the Church the opiate of the masses in front of Cardinal Windsor, so he had my teacher executed and had the Kingdom's army come to Connaissance to make sure that science was completely rooted out of here. My uncle tried to shield me from the truth, but I knew it all. As punishment for what I did, my uncle had me sign away my claims to the throne and my Royalty. He expelled me from my father's Kingdom and had me take the City Lord position here in order to allow me to understand just who my words had hurt and to atone for my crimes by rebuilding this city."

Mr. Wilson leaned forward, "I'm sorry young lady, someone as young as you should not have to live with such a heavy debt. If you truly mean what you said about rebuilding that Connaissance, I would ask that I be allowed to chair the restoration of the college. I am still in contact with much of the faculty and could gather most of the best and brightest here in a few months at the worst."

Emily nodded and blinked a few tears away, "Thank you, Dean Wilson, I must ask that you please do take on that responsibility once again."

He stood up and straightened his jacket, "You may stay here until you feel like you are composed, I need to address the crowd now."

She watched as he walked out of the corner office and walked over to the man with the speaking horn and took it from his hands, "My brothers, my sisters, I have met with the new City Lord, she has listened to our pleas and heard your anger! We will from this point forward be working fewer hours for better pay, thank you, each of you for coming and making your voices heard today!" He raised his finger in the air to emphasize his point.

The crowd erupted into cheering and then slowly dispersed. He straightened his jacket, shook a few hands, and then headed back into his office. "What will happen if their hours or wages don't change?" She asked softly.

"I never identify an exact number. Most of them can't understand math or even read. This city has become a place built to house slaves who can't even see that they are slaves. It is enough for them that they think they have won. They will go out, get drunk, and be back at work tomorrow." He sighed and then slumped back into his chair, "Jerry Hathaway was one of my finest students you know. He wrote a fascinating theory about creating an alternating current that could be used to power things like electric lights and machines."

Emily nodded, "Yes, I helped him create several working models. Our first practical application was for spotlights used for wagons to travel at night. I also brought plans for a large scale application we'll be using here in the city for street lights and the interior lighting for all buildings in the city."

"Incredible! How did Jerry solve the problem of the lights burning out?"

"Professor Hathaway used an inert gas inside of a bulb that contains a wolfram filament along with a small amount of bromine gas. He called it the Wolflight. You should come to see them, we have them on my wagons." She motioned toward the city gates.

"What?! You mean you have brought working models with you right now!" He leaped up out of his chair, "Please, I must see this!"