Chapter 93: The Decline
James and Waldo appealed to Twaldi and Percival for James to be heavily compensated for his long prison sentence and loss of assets. James was compensated by the exact amount that was taken from him. However, James was still frustrated, as this wealth had been greatly eroded by inflation, caused mostly by the huge increase in the supply of coins. He did not have enough wealth to rebuild his empire on his own. Jeff made James a joint owner of the Pound Ball League. James made an alliance with Waldo, Ginger, and Maskameera Wolf, the teenage founder of Wolf Media. They worked together to heavily promote Marlon’s candidacy for governor. However, this was not sufficient for him to win the election. Randall, the House of Divine Knowledge candidate, won easily. Marlon’s connections to Tiberius greatly discouraged voters.
After losing the election, Marlon decided politics was not his thing. He used his wealth to start his own technology company, which he named the Carvaress Company. There was a huge void in the industry after the collapse of Carrington; the existing technology companies were not sufficient or competent to fill this void. Marlon dedicated a department to finding the cure to the genetic illness that was plaguing the new Linap.
Randall might have been the new governor, but he was really only Etnad’s puppet. His first task as the governor was to erase everything about Tiberius. All statues were removed, and any buildings or wings of buildings named after him were changed. On all official documentation, his name was replaced with just Governor. He was removed from recorded history. His crimes were so horrendous that many were in denial about what had actually happened.
With the erasure of his name, the House of Divine Knowledge chose to modify history. They claimed the period of the not-to-be-named governor was a golden era of prosperity. They described how Sapey had gone from a continent of scattered districts to a great country. There was no mention of slavery and segregation based on the division of their species, and there was no mention of the contributions of the Alset family. They credited their own education system for the advancements and creation of wealth for the younger generations.
They claimed the era ended because of the greed and corruption of the older generations. They blamed the Government’s departure from the values taught by the House of Divine Knowledge. They claimed the House of Divine Knowledge was going to restore these values through Randall’s great leadership. They claimed the world they lived in would reach new heights. The world would now be known as Sapia.
Randall dramatically raised taxes to fund a cure to the genetic disorder and treatments for the various ailments it caused. The Government paid these taxes to the pharmaceutical companies in the Business Sector. The owners of these companies cared little for the House of Divine Knowledge. They wanted the governor to be one of their own. Therefore, they put no effort into researching a cure. Instead, all the funds went into treatments for the ailments. These treatments were sufficiently successful to demonstrate progress, but none of the sick recovered. Their lives were prolonged, but their quality of life was dismal. This caused Randall’s popularity to fall and the Business Sector to become richer from the continuous payments for these treatments.
Percival remained the Head Enforcer for several more years. He played a major role in gradually replacing the senior enforcers loyal to Tiberius and Sanguine with senior enforcers loyal to the House of Divine Knowledge. Enforcer departments were also significantly downsized and were no longer equipped like an army. The House of Divine Knowledge wanted resources to be diverted elsewhere. Once they were satisfied that the enforcers would no longer pose a threat to their new Government, Percival was relieved of his duties as Head Enforcer. He did not receive any reprisals for his role under Tiberius. Instead, he was given a cottage on the other side of the lake from Waldo’s cottage.
Four years later, there was another election. Randall’s popularity had significantly fallen, but he still managed to win the election. The Business Sector was divided over two candidates. Most of the Business Sector was behind Jason Bramley. He was a new Linap. He was the son of the owner of the largest pharmaceutical company in Sapey. He was also two years younger than Marlon. Marlon and Ginger had a strong dislike for him. They found him ruthless and greedy. They believed he and his family were profiteering from the health crisis.
In opposition to Jason, Ginger decided to run for governor. James, Jeff, and Maskameera fully backed her candidacy. They used all their media power and influence to back her. This caused the votes to be split between her and Jason. This led to a narrow victory for Randall.
Randall’s second term went worse than his first. There was no progress in finding a cure for the genetic disorders of the second generation of new Linap. Resources shifted to funding the pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare facilities were rapidly draining the economy. More than half the population worked in these industries. Many others could not work at all as they needed to look after the sick second generation. The population was on the verge of drastically falling, as most Linap no longer wanted children, as they knew that they would become very ill or even die. Large parts of the cities began to close down as those not employed in healthcare needed to focus on maintaining necessities.
Carvaress Company was the only business dedicated to searching for a cure for the genetic disorders. Sadly, they had no success. This research was placing a huge drain on their resources as revenue from their other products was drying up. Ginger partly subsidised the costs to help. Marlon, with the permission of the House of Divine Knowledge, accessed research notes from Alset facilities that were located outside of Carrington. He found a copy of an interesting but incomplete paper written by Locum before he died. In the paper, he highlighted the problems with the proposed genetic upgrade. In the paper, he claimed the only way to reverse the damage was something he described as back breeding.
After another four years, there was another election. The House of Divine Knowledge chose another candidate to replace Randall. Jason Bramley soundly defeated this candidate. This was despite strong opposition from Ginger, Marlon, James, and Jeff. Maskameera Wolf had distanced herself from the Yensid brothers. The popularity of Pound Ball had fallen dramatically. There was also a shortage of young athletes. Maskameera used Wolf Media to promote Jason. Jason promised change and a return to the golden years described by the House of Divine Knowledge. He used the House of Divine Knowledge’s own propaganda against them. He claimed the rapid decline in society was entirely their fault.
The House of Divine Knowledge was going through a period of great change. Both Etnad and Shamrock had recently died. Trafalgar and Gettering replaced them. Trafalgar was the new Head Philosopher, and Gettering was the new Head Theologist. They were both new Linap. Senior members decided it was appropriate that the new Linap should lead the House of Divine Knowledge. Reveileb strongly opposed their candidacy, but they were strongly supported by most of the regional leaders. Therefore, they received the majority of the votes. There was little Reveileb could do about it.
Jason told the Business Sector to dedicate a significant portion of their research to finding a cure for the genetic disorders. When such a cure was found, it was to be kept secret and only be used for the children of the Business Sector elite. No such cure was found. The Linap were heading for an inevitable population crash and possible extinction of their entire species.
Marlon had begun a secret back breeding program to create a new/old Linap hybrid that would not carry the genetic disorders of the second generation new Linap. Unfortunately, spies within the industry found out about Marlon’s secret program. The news got back to both leaders of the Business Sector and the House of Divine Knowledge, and neither side was pleased.
Sapien Loop: End of an Era
Sapien Loop: Frozen in Time is the sequel to the book Sapien Loop: End of an Era. Sapien Loop: End of an Era is available on Amazon, in collection series on my @spectrumecons account, and in individual chapters in my @captainhive account.
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