DAY 34, PARTY REACTIONS, book 4, building

The next morning greeted the project team with headlines like: Town project brings homeless man to business party // Indian cock woman, personal assistant to Alice Adler // Will Jack Harris be the star of the town’s sex temple? // Genius programmer, the mastermind behind the town project? How dangerous is Andy Lawrence? // Hachiro Anabuki offends all ladies. Anabuki, only half a man, self-obsessed dot.designer, tells more than twenty women that their outfits are inferior, and he could dress them better. // Town project want people to starve! // The Hub causes mass unemployment // Never sit again, says Nigerian beauty // Farms kill, yells Swedish ecologists. // Town after our phones // soap opera’s Gary glitters and slithers, shiny gay-talk about cosmetics doesn’t impress // No cars. Back to the middle ages. // Jack Harris brainwashed // Adler shines, her minions disappoint. // Heather shook her head. ‘What happened at that party? I thought it was businesspeople not a bunch of yellow press minions.’ The party-goers, still tired, shrugged and Alice said: ‘It was just a party, talking, laughing, dancing. Nothing special. Much. Most people seemed relaxed, few bigger questions. And why was I let off?’ ‘It might actually be a clever move,’ Marita said. ‘To bash the whole team is like any generalisation, it lacks grip. But to say that you are great, only unfortunately you surround yourself with losers, makes you seem—’ ‘—harmless,’ Alice finished the sentence and grimaced. Heather sighed. ‘I’d better get Tabansi— No, I’d better get the whole ripples news team to help us write the responses.’ In the early afternoon, the project countered some of the headlines. Highlights were: Homelessness is not a disease, sometimes it’s a necessity by Ef (toys around the world) and Heather (media) // Easy guide to human biology: about body parts, hormones and other characteristics that make a human by Skye (care) and Rohana (coordination) // The Challenge Garden — a different approach to fighting by Tilly (health team) and Alice // The sex temple, a place to learn by Robin (education) and Jack (film) // Our masterminding is teamwork for the planet by Andy (campaigns simulations), Raiden (town simulation) and Navarro (society) // The beauty of dot. — an apology by Hachiro Anabuki // The art of staying in motion — and sitting, by Adeola (Building Site Team) and Alice // The Hub has drastically reduced the number of exploitative jobs by Andy (campaign simulations) and Devery (Hub) // Why soap opera doesn’t want to impress by Gary (soap opera) and Dana (ecology) // Economics needs a rethink, just like most systems and ideas of our time by Marita (economics) and John (business) // Land of plenty, we can produce all the food we need without destroying our chances to harvest food next year, too. About simulations, earthworms and biodiversity, by Dana (ecology) and Andy (simulations) // When will we listen and act, when will we hold destructors to account, when will we rise to demand a future? — that’s what it sounds like when I yell, by Dana (ecology) // Be the master of your phone and save resources while you’re at it by Hayley (tech) and Raiden (town simulation). // Food security, food monopolies, food speculations and food waste by Dana and Ef. Afterwards Alice and Raiden discussed which questions from the party could be picked up by the simulation team to prepare visual examples for the negotiations. Raiden smiled. ‘We could start with a simulation of a Challenge Garden.’ Alice laughed. ‘To insinuate that we are ready to take them on in a Challenge Garden?’ Raiden shook his head. ‘No. Or maybe. But to break out of a narrow respectability box. Yes, we give room to fights. Not for amusements, not for bets but in acknowledgement that some humans sometimes need to fight. I think that says a lot about our project.’ 

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2025