DAY 18, FUCKING DIRT and MORE UPROAR

This night Alice got a little more sleep, (18) but she could have done with a better headline than the one Leo brought with the morning tea. I WANT FUCKING DIRT ON HER! the CEO of Golden Mergers yelled in a meeting. The manager who had leaked the outburst got fired minutes later. The town project wasn’t available for a comment on what dirt the CEO is referring to. In fact, the Media Team’s precise words were: ‘We’ve never heard of this guy. But it doesn’t sound like he’s referring to anything, or he would demand of his team to find dirt, right?’ Ripples news, the town project’s paper, had a nice headline, too: BRIBES OVERKILL. In the past eighteen days, over three hundred members of our town project have been offered bribes, payable the moment they quit the project. The sum of these bribes amounts to several billion pounds. Since we at the project are quite busy, we decided to publish the names of these generous people, and add the details of their offers. We hope that this will discourage further attempts at bribery. As early as seven in the morning, Alice, Megan (agriculture), Ethan (town planning), Seth (business liaison) and Raiden (town simulation) met with the politicians from London, who had spend the night at Jellybridge. They used the library for their meeting where Betsy, the head cook, and her team had prepared a mouthwatering breakfast buffet. ‘I heard you use excellent food as bribe,’ one of the politicians joked. Megan (agriculture) raised her eyebrows. ‘And I thought we made it very clear this morning that we’re not into bribes.’ ‘Indeed, you did!’ another of the politicians returned with a chuckle. What followed was a surprisingly friendly and constructive meeting, and when the politicians left, there were handshakes and smiles. At nine all new business contracts were announced by the mayors of the regional towns. Shortly afterwards, Andy (in his role as Alice’s deputy) and Dennie (security) arrived at Jellybridge from London, and at ten Alice, Jazz (head of Project Security), Anthony (head of Building Site Security), Andy and Dennie met with the local police in the library to discuss potential cooperations. At the end of this friendly and constructive meeting, one of the officers asked: ‘Are you sure you don’t want any of us here with your protesters?’ Jazz shook her head. ‘They’re not radical. But we’ll keep you in the loop.’ Meanwhile the mainstream media demanded an immediate press conference, and the British parliament called for Alice’s, also immediate, presence to explain why on earth the town project would offer contracts to local mayors and to local businesses when there was no reason for the project to believe that they would get the permission to build their town. In response, Heather (media) opened a dedicated online Q & A for the press and informed them that the next press conference would be on Friday, in three days. At noon Alice, Adeola (Jellybridge business liaison) and Seth (overall business liaison) hosted a lunch for regional businesspeople, and more contracts were signed, including contracts for building machinery. The contracts always included clauses regarding labour safety, fair payment, 8h working days and similar. In other words, the companies agreed to play by the town project’s rules. After another meeting with the Building Site Team, Alice, Andy, Raiden, Dennie and Jazz drove back to London. On the way, Alice called Rohana for an update. ‘Who are you? Have we met?’ Rohana asked when she appeared on the small screen at the back of the driver’s seat, smiling broadly. Alice smiled back. ‘Hi! Good to see you. How are you?’ ‘Oh, you mean, how are we leaderless pack? Not only derived of our boss boss but also of our second in command boss. Hi, Andy! How was your day out?’ ‘Good actually,’ Andy replied. ‘It did me good to see the site again. Good to see that this place is worth fighting for.’ ‘Wow? Fiery words from you! Fresh Jellybridge air does wonders.’ Alice chuckled and said: ‘So, Rohana, how have you been?’ ‘Well, where to start? I am fine. The team is great. The campaigns rocked. I mean while you lazed around in forests and lounged on green meadows, the campaigns completed their second week with fireworks of challenges, inspirations and fun.’ Alice frowned. ‘You look as if something bothers you. What is it?’ Rohana sighed. ‘Don’t know where to start. Leo told you about that bleeding CEO who called for dirt on you, right?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Well, later he offered money, a lot of it, for dirt on you.’ ‘Oh. Would I get money if I gave him a list?’ Rohana frowned. ‘Is there anything I should know about?’ ‘Rohana, of course there is dirt. I am human. I did some things in my youth, I am still appalled about. And maybe, it would be best if I just published a list. Yes, I hurt people. Yes, I thieved. Yes, I tried to convince people to believe in a god.’ ‘You were a thieve?’ ‘Yes. It’s a rather typical story, I guess. Kid has no money but wants to have the things other kids have, too. Kid steals. And get’s a thrill because it gets really good at stealing. That I also stole things to give them away as presents probably doesn’t count in my favour.’ ‘Were you ever caught?’ Alice chuckled. ‘Yes. I was caught stealing the sweet cream I loved so much. I wept all the way home in the police car, and when the police handed me over to my parent, he said: “I think, she learned her lesson.”’ ‘Did you?’ ‘Yes, I never stole again. I tried once, just to see whether I could still do it. But yes, I was healed. Which tells us that it’s good for us to experience the consequences of our actions, or that our actions have consequences. I wonder whether we can use that.’ ‘What do you mean?’ Andy asked. ‘Not sure. But while our simulations show some consequences, and that gets some responses, it’s still not the same. It’s not like being caught, having to wait for the police and being driven home in a police car. Can we translate that? Can we give people, at least, the option to experience what the consequences of their actions are?’ ‘Like an immersive play?’ Dennie asked. Alice nodded. ‘Or maybe a kind of chamber of horrors where we experience what it is we do to ourselves, to each other and to our planet.’ Andy nodded. ‘That sound horrible. It might work. Rohana, what happened with the dirt stories?’ ‘Oh. THE has been countering fake stories about Alice all day until they had enough dirt on Mr Golden Mergers to shut him up.’

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2025