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Today is the day. It’s the final episode of the Rock Meetings. Once it’s
over, the rest of the universe will be up-to-date on everything that
happened to the reality representatives months ago. It’s been a frustrating
experience, having to stay on a prison planet this whole time, but they’ve
not been alone. Not only did a few of them forge new bonds with each other,
across the proverbial aisle, but the whole group has stuck together. They’ve
formed a support structure which will solidify their positive diplomatic
relations moving forward, even more than the official discussions on the
Vellani Ambassador ever could. There, they were coming at it from a sense of
antagonism. Here, they’ve been free to be themselves, and just regular
people. Cosette and Nuadu’s relationship has blossomed, as have Ayata’s with
Andrei Orlov. No one’s getting married anytime soon, but things are going
well. There’s a lingering question of how these relationships will hold up
once they’re back where they belong. They’re literally from two different
worlds. Will society allow them to be happy?
They’re all in one room now, in Andrei’s penthouse, just because it happens
to be on top of the central tower of the building. If they need to meet at
all, the typically choose here, and mostly only for this reason. This time,
it’s for a watch party. It surprises them that it’s the finale, since the
discussions were technically over in the last episode. The only part that
the broadcast hasn’t shown yet are their goodbyes to each other. It was the
whole thing. Everyone on that ship was required to shake hands with, or hug,
everyone else. Which one a pair chose was at their discretion, but they had
to do something to express cordiality and gratitude. Something along these
lines had to be uttered as well, like thank you, or
I respect your position. This finalization ceremony involved not only
the handful of delegates with stake in the matter, but also the other
related representatives, the crew of the host ship, and the mediators. It
added up to 24 people in total, which resulted in 276 farewells. This alone
would have made for a boring final episode, so that’s not all that’s
happening on screen. While the farewells are going on in the background,
final thoughts from the reps have been sprinkled in, through a mix of
off-screen narration, and testimonial footage.
As the seek bar marker inches closer and closer to the end, it becomes
apparent that Cosette’s words will be the ones to conclude the series. Ellie
Underhill says one last bit about how happy she is to share her universe
with the residents of the Sixth Key, and then the video transitions to
Cosette sitting in the booth. The farewells are over, and it’s just her,
smiling regally at the camera. The Cosette from the present day who is
watching the playback doesn’t even recall what she is about to say here. “I
think what we learned from these discussions is, not that we all have
competing interests, but that our interests actually align. While each
delegate came here to represent the interests of their own people, I believe
we all realized that there is really no such thing. Each former reality was
made up of a collection of individuals within communities within subcultures
within larger cultures within worlds. No one has the right, nor the
fundamental ability, to advocate on the behalf of everyone they care about,
and only them. The only way to get anything done is to make the
determination that all peoples deserve happiness and prosperity. When
you only value what you have in comparison, or from the loss, of what others
have, you end up with nothing of use, because you’ve lost the importance of
working towards the greater good. There is nothing greater than
all-inclusivity.
“I’ve heard a lot of people, in Delegation Hall, and from the public
responses, saying that we’ve made progress, or sometimes that we’ve not made
enough. But the truth is that the latter is closer to the truth, because
we’ve not truly done anything yet. The true test will be in the
implementation of our ideas, and the consequences that come from the social
changes that we envision. It’s easy to talk about our ideals from a round
table, and through interactive polls, but far more difficult to put in the
work day in and day out. This is going to take time, and it’s an ongoing
process, which will require tweaks, revisions, and a changing of the guard.
I, for one, am excited about what comes next, but I’m not ready to call us a
success. Maybe I never will.”
No one has ever heard these words before, except whoever was involved in the
editing. As the cast and credits for this reality show roll, the delegates
nod at Cosette. Nuadu pats her on the back. She doesn’t think that it’s that
big of a deal In hindsight, she would have rather been given time to craft a
more succinct answer to the Magnolia’s last question, but what’s done is
done, and now it’s all done, and they can finally go home. Something
else is happening, though. After the playback chevron marker reaches the far
right end, it begins to spin. At first, it stays in place, rotating
forwards, but then it begins to rotate backwards while moving back to the
beginning of the seek bar. This is usually the graphic that runs when
autoplay is on, and there’s another episode. But this shouldn’t be this
case, as this is the finale. Or is it?
The Magical Memory Magnolia Tree that has taken the form of a man named
Tamerlane Pryce appears on screen. He was part of the discussions, and
responsible for recording and broadcasting them to the public, but he didn’t
make very many appearances in the show. He wasn’t too involved in the
negotiations either, since he considered himself an interested third party,
and the supervisor. This must be some kind of bonus clip. It’s only a couple
of minutes long. “That concludes season one of The Rock Talks. And now I
present to you a sneak peak...of season two.”
“What the shit?” General Medley of the Seventh Stage exclaims.
A trailer for the second season begins to play, with the Magnolia as the
narrator. “On a world...built for criminals and protected witnesses, a group
of nine diplomats will find themselves trapped together in a prison of their
own making. To protect the cosmos from a temporal paradox, they’ll sacrifice
their normal daily lives as civilization moves on without them. They’ll have
to learn to live together in paradise, unable to leave, but given all the
tools they’ll need to live safely and insulated from outside influence while
the greater population fights to protect their future from decisions made by
the delegates in the past.”
This is all intercut with b-roll—including shots of the various worlds now
crammed together in this half of the new universe—and quick out-of-context
bits of dialogue. “I know how to raise an army,” Ingrid Alvarado of the
Fifth Division says.
“You don’t know a damn thing,” General Medley says, making it look like he’s
responding to Ingrid, even though those two comments were made weeks apart,
and not even in each other’s company.
“I think I might possibly, in at least some ways, be falling for you,”
Cosette says. While Nuadu’s back is to the camera, viewers can probably
guess who she’s talking to.
More completely unfair, and highly edited, remarks are put on display for
people to make assumptions about before the tree comes back. “Drama...
Intrigue... Romance. Nothing will ever be the same. Season Two of The Rock
Talks, coming September of 2449, only on MagnoliaTV.” The last thing is a
live shot of the delegates. They’re all staring at the screen in shock.
Andrei’s second-in-command, Selma Eriksen lifts her hand up, and begins to
wave it around to make sure that—yep, this is definitely live.
Cosette stands up, and points to the invisible camera hidden somewhere by
the screen. “Turn it off, now. End the feed.”
Maybe as a coincidence, or maybe out of obedience, the trailer ends, and the
screen goes black. Ayata grabs the remote, and escapes from fullscreen.
Comments from other viewers are flooding in. Everyone wants to know what’s
going on, and whether this was planned, and if the subjects of this
docuseries consented to more scrutiny. They did not.
Cosette certainly doesn’t need her experiences on Hockstep to be
broadcast for everyone to see. It is an invasion of privacy. They were all
very personal, and she had no idea that she was being recorded. No one is
above the law, not even a magical tree.
Cosette steps away from the group, and begins to talk into the aether. “I
demand immediate audience with the Memory Magnolia. We need to talk about
this season two bullshit right this instant.” She waits, but there’s no
response. They don’t know if he’s listening to them right now, but probably.
There’s a chance that he severed the connection, or it could be that he only
turned it off for the nine of them. The rest of the universe could still be
seeing all this happen in realtime for all they know. That’s why it’s such a
violation. They have the right to know when they’re being watched, and when
they’re safe and alone. Everyone has that right. It’s inalienable. “Answer
me. Right now!” she insists.
No one else is trying the help, not because they’re apathetic to the
situation, but because they trust her to handle it for them. The tree is
mysterious and powerful. If he doesn’t want to respond, he’s not gonna
respond, no matter how many people express their outrage at this travesty.
Cosette continues to speak out, but nothing is happening.
“Maybe we should go to your pocket dimension?” Andrei suggests. He has spent
a lot of time in Cosette and Ayata’s penthouse, in order to get to know the
latter. “Do you think we’re safer there?”
“It’s not a bad guess,” Cosette replies, “but it’s probably pointless. I bet
he can see us anywhere. He lives in another dimension himself. And he’s...a
sentient tree. How do we argue with that? How do we fight it?”
“You don’t,” comes a voice from the entrance. It’s the Magnolia’s cohort,
Princess Honeypea. “You also don’t need too.”
“Explain,” Cosette urges.
“That may have looked like the Pryce Tree, but it wasn’t him,” Princess
Honeypea insisted. “We didn’t record you nine on this planet. It’s none of
our business, and we wouldn’t dare risk the security of you, and everyone
else living here. Another force is at play, and I promise to do everything
in my power to get to the bottom of it.” She’s usually quite bubbly and
delightful, but she’s very serious right now, and a bit unsettlingly stoic.
“What can we do?” Cosette asks. “How do we protect ourselves, and our pasts?
Can we get this show cancelled?”
“At the moment, what you can all do is come with me,” Princess Honeypea
offers. “Whoever is responsible for this, I assure you that they cannot
reach you in the Garden Dimension. The tree will protect you.”
Cosette looks around the room to gauge everyone’s reactions. They don’t know
what to make of this, but they seem to feel that Princess Honeypea’s idea is
the only viable option. Cosette would have to agree. She looks back. “Okay,
let’s go.”
They’re overwhelmed by technicolor lights, and spirited away to the Garden.
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