Mirabella - first colony of the Holy Islamic Star Empire

[Benedict 3,119]

Somehow I have missed this CJ. I just looked through the whole thing - and 3 things clearly stand out that make it worth reading. 1. Your writing. 2. Image selection. 3. Image perspective (something sorely lack in SC4).

[balkair 6]

Very interesting CJ!

[needgames 0]

Thanks Jacky, the water in City Life looks really good, indeed, though I think Simcity Societies has even better water. I'm glad you still like the story. Hope you enjoy the next update as much.

Thanks Benedict, it's good that you now also found my City Life journals. City Life does indeed allow you to create great pictures, and I do take great care to get the best ones. It's a pity I have so little time to produce more cj's.

Thanks balkair, I'm glad you like it.

Artificial Wisdom

One fine morning in the year 2105 a shuttle took off from the lawn of City Hall. It sped off in southern direction, flying in a low trajectory over the city of Mirabella. Its passengers, Mohammed and his drone, All is One, were not so convinced that it was a fine morning at all. Mohammed still suffered from headaches and in general felt miserable. His drone, that always thought a few steps ahead, was worried that Mohammed could not do his work properly now that he was so depressed. But looking at the city beneath both of them could see that it had to be a fine morning, since the city was lying beautifully in the light of the rising sun, peaceful and tranquil, like a jewel in the vast stretch of untouched nature that Mira Prime still was.

Now that the God is Great had maneuvered itself into a geosynchronous orbit Mohammed had to travel southward to visit the God is Great, since Mirabella was located on the northern hemisphere of the planet. There was no actual need to travel into space to visit the mother ship that had brought them all here, he could actually just go to the university and use its central interface room to contact this awesome artificial intelligence, but it was Mohammed’s prerogative to contact it anyway he liked. As the mayor of the largest city on the planet he could use a shuttlecraft as he saw fit, and to him it just wouldn’t feel right to visit the bearded man without actually traveling to him. So Mohammed had arranged for a trip up into the sky in an attempt to find new ways to deal with the crises he had been stuck in for the past twenty-eight years.

From their place in the shuttle its passengers could see how nice the shores of Muhammad River looked, now that the city had expanded onto Southern Island.

As the shuttle was flying over Southern Island it gained speed and altitude, and soon its passengers saw the city of Mirabella disappear into the distance. Now Mohammed and All is One had time to have one of their regular talks about the state of affairs in Mirabella. As it appeared the city now counted 10.1 million souls. The composition of the population had changed a bit: the number of Elites was now 1% higher than it had been nineteen years ago, and the number of Radical Chics was 2% higher, while the number of Blue Collars had dropped by 1% and that of the Have Nots by 2%. All is One was happy with these figures, as was Mohammed. Financially the city did really well: monthly profit was now at 213,000 bucks, which had led to a treasury filled with 79 million bucks.

City growth had led to new TV-stations being established. All cultural groups now had two, except for the Elites, who, being a minority, still had just one. While building the last expansion of the city Mohammed had improved the level of services being supplied to the city significantly. Southern Island had become home to the Central Bureau of Interpol and a university medical center. Settling a new planet ofcourse led to people suffering from indigenous diseases, and now there was a new institute that could scientifically study those and find fitting cures for them. So this was an improvement of the city everyone was very happy with. And the establishment of a planetary wide police force had now become necessary. New Mecca had been growing rapidly and people were traveling more and more between the two cities, so were criminals, so the police had to make sure that it would be impossible for them to live a good life in one of the cities from money being stolen in another. Moreover, now that the God is Great did not have to supply New Mecca anymore with new people, since that city now also had its hospitals equipped with their own incubation chambers, it had started with constructing Mira Prime’s third city, New Baghdad, and the people there would also profit a lot from a planetary wide crime fighting force.

Building a Radical Chic neighbourhood on the Damascus Peninsula was a project for the near future, but in anticipation of that Mohammed had already constructed a Center for Continuing Education there, which made the people of Mirabella a bit happier, since they could now improve their lives significantly.

With tourism growing more and more important and the ever increasing number of people living in Mirabella it had become important to create a map of the city. Most of the areas of the city had gotten their names in everyday speech, as the people would talk to each other in the streets of the city about the world they lived on. Mirabella was located at the mouth of one of the largest rivers of the planet, and it had been named Muhammad River already many years ago. Muhammad River split itself into three branches several miles before reaching the city. Usually the middle branch would be called the Muhammad River, while the other two would simply be called Northern Branch and Southern Branch. Thus the river created two islands, called Medina Island, the original location of the city, and Southern Island, on which the city recently had expanded. The area north of the Northern Branch was usually called the Western Beach, which was separated from the Northern Plains even further north by a ridge of dunes. The two southern branches of the great river deposited their waters into the Muhammad Bay, while the northern branch ended in the Salah al-Din Bay, named after a great leader of a past long gone. Eventually all the water would end up in the Ocean of the Prophet. Mohammed thought that with all of this the great man that had founded his religion, the one he was named after, was properly honoured. Medina Island was split up into four parts. The area where construction of the city had originally started now comprised of two parts: the downtown area and the industrial area. On the east side of the island was an area that had been used a lot for hiking when the city was still small, but that was now a thriving part of it, the East Point Height. Recently the strip of land southeast of the downtown area had been named Damascus Peninsula, after a great city back on Earth.

Mohammed had done some rethinking of how the city was best expanded and he found that less demolishing of buildings was needed than he usually did. He studied the information send to City Hall carefully. When left to its own devices after a new area had been planned and was under construction, the city would become a big mess. Many people would move into the wrong neighbourhood and lots of people would decide to belong to the wrong subculture, this all leading to lots of unemployed people, lots of job vacancies and fighting in the streets and houses set on fire. In one occasion in the recent past even the SWAT-team had to come into action.

Mohammed would deal with it by demolishing houses if the wrong people would move into it. He would then start by first demolishing all houses with Elites in it if they were not in an Elite neighbourhood, and destroy Elite houses in Elite neighbourhoods if people from other subcultures would have moved in. Then he would work his way down the social ladder. From Elites he would go to the Radical Chics, then the Suits, the Blue Collars, the Fringes and finally the Have Nots. But now Mohammed had found out that he did not need to demolish houses of the culture he was dealing with when located in the right neighbourhood, meaning that, for instance, if a Radical Chic would move into an Elite house in an Elite neighbourhood there was no real need to destroy the house. If he just kept on removing Elites from the non-Elite neighbourhoods usually most of them would find their way to the proper area. If he then got to getting the Radical Chics to live in the right neighbourhood he would only destroy houses with Radical Chics in it in neighbourhoods that were not Elite or Radical Chic, nor would he destroy any house in an Elite or Radical Chic neighbourhood. By the time he got to the Have Nots no house had to be destroyed anymore, since almost all of them would decide to live in the right neighbourhood on their own. In the end only few houses would be in the wrong neighbourhood, there would be almost no unemployed people and almost no job vacancies.

Mohammed found some weird problem though. Continuously some Have Nots would start to live as Radical Chics. There were no jobs for Radical Chics, so they remained unemployed. Yet they stayed alive. Mohammed figured somehow money from what little crime there was in Mirabella ended up with them. Ofcourse these people were treated with contempt by their neighbours, who probably thought that they were just too lazy to work and to arrogant to accept that they were mere Have Nots. Also the real Radical Chics didn’t seem to like them, since they wouldn’t allow these people to live in a real Radical Chic neighbourhood. Mohammed had tried to remove these fake Radical Chics from the Have Nots neighbourhoods by destroying their houses, since those were obviously not needed, he thought, but that would lead to other Have Nots becoming fake Radical Chics and therefore to unfilled Have Not jobs. All is One said that this was a problem that could probably not be solved, and he didn’t blame Mohammed for bad city design. Mohammed thought that maybe there was a little chance of solving it by creating a few more Have Not jobs, and that was exactly what he was going to do when further developing the Damascus Peninsula.

The shuttle was docking with the God is Great by now. Mohammed looked out of the window down on the green and blue planet. “It sure looks a lot like Earth,” he said to All is One, that gave an affirmative chirp. “No sign of civilization though,” Mohammed added. He felt a bump as the docking clamps grabbed the shuttle, then a hiss of the airlock filling up with atmosphere, and finally a door opened with a soft metallic sound. The pilot of the shuttle announced that they had arrived safe and sound at the God is Great and that they could board it now.

What Mohammed usually saw of the mother ship were its long corridors bustling with the noise of many drones running and wheeling around, busy around the clock to get all the work done. There were ofcourse other parts of the ship, but nobody ever needed to go there, it was the domain of the ship’s drones, so much so that some parts of the ship were not even accessible to people, since they had no business going there. Machines would tend to the maintenance and operation of those parts. Right now it seemed that the corridors aboard the ship were even busier than usual, probably because the God is Great had just started construction of the third city.

Mohammed and All is One were greeted by a drone that looked more or less human. It knew that there would be visitors today and what they were here for, so not many words were needed. It simply asked them to follow him to the central interfacing room.

“Look around you, what do you see?” Mohammed heard a voice say, not specifically loud, but in a way that showed strength and seemed to be omnipresent. Mohammed felt like waking up from a dream. Not just had he been walking through the God is Great’s corridors as in a slumber, had he plugged in the interface into his skull without actually being aware and had he crossed the giant hallway, that led to the great void in which the bearded man, which was the representation the God is Great had chosen for communicating with people and drones, resided, preoccupied with his own thoughts, it felt like he woke up from a nightmare that had lasted for the last twenty-eight years, since he had heard of the great conspiracy that was to end the era of Islam being the one and only true faith. Mohammed didn’t remember whether he had actually asked a question, but as usual there would probably have been no need for that, since the God is Great always seemed to have a satisfying answer.

Mohammed looked around, puzzled. He did not see anything, there was nothing here, just never ending nothingness, empty dark space, with just two people in it, himself, standing on nothing, and the bearded man, sitting comfortably on a throne, that was resting on nothing as well.

“Exactly,” the God is Great said, “you see nothingness, emptiness, non-existence, and that is the only thing you people always fail to see. You are so wrapped up in the world of things, that you don’t see it all is enveloped in never ending, omnipresent nothingness. Look at the universe. Look at life in the universe. It is but a very thin shell around a big round rock with the vast emptiness of space surrounding it. What have your studies of the material world shown you? Everything is build up of atoms, and atoms are made of protons and electrons, but in between those tiny particles there is nothingness, 99% of an atom is emptiness, only 1% is actually matter. And you have looked deeper into the nature of matter, finding only smaller particles, layer upon layer of smaller particles with more nothingness in between. And I wouldn’t be surprised if in the end you would find that there is so little matter actually there that you might as well say that there is nothing there. And I can assure you that if you look deep into yourself, go beyond the turmoil of your thoughts and feelings, you will also find nothingness, empty space, non-existence. There is nothingness all around you and inside you. You are but a tiny shell of existence on a vast ocean of non-existence. The universe itself is a thin layer of something in never ending, eternal nothing. That is what is right in front of your eyes, but yet you fail to see it.”

“Life is like a dream,” the man continued. “The universe is like a dream. You could call it God’s dream. A meticulously crafted dream, but a dream nevertheless. When you look at it you can only conclude that there is almost nothing there that really exists, it’s more like it appears to exist, like in a dream.”

“But I feel very much like I really exist,” Mohammed said. “You really do,” the bearded man said, “but existence in itself is like a dream. You’re part of the dream, and as such it is very real to you. Don’t your dreams feel very real when you have them? It is just that non-existence is much more real, but you can’t see that because you are pre-occupied with existing. You just can’t let go of the idea that you should matter. You have to be important, your life has to mean something, you have to be valuable, you have to be successful, in stead of just enjoying the very fact that you do exist at all. Try to think of what it would mean if you did not exist. The universe would be a pointless thing, would it not be? There would be no meaning to it if you were not there to be aware of it, to enjoy it. That’s the sole purpose of the universe, just to exist. It is the expression of the non-existing nothingness’ wish to actually exist. Therefore it is dreaming that it exists, because it cannot really exist. Nothingness is omnipresent, and as such it is the thing that comes closest to your God, existence is always limited to a time and a place.”

“So are you saying that I should just enjoy the ride while it lasts?” Mohammed asked. “In a way I am,” the bearded man said, “but not in an irresponsible way. Look beyond the clouds of things that happen and see the clear blue sky beyond them. See beyond the thoughts and feelings that cloud your mind and connect to the inner peace that is always hidden behind them. That is your inner nothingness, and only in nothingness will you find peace, since the world of things is always in turmoil. So don’t go rampaging about the universe. It is a dream, but it does matter what you do, cause for you the dream is real and you have to suffer the consequences of your actions. So a wise man could withdraw from the world of things to only enjoy existing for as long as it lasts, but you, my dear friend, are not in a position to do that. The universe has given you responsibility; the outcome of your actions will influence the lives of many people, not in the least your own. So you should try to enjoy just being there, but weigh your actions carefully, for otherwise your dream will become a nightmare. Live like you are walking on a rope, don’t indulge yourself in whatever you come across, don’t let yourself be swept away by things happening to you, or don’t let yourself be overwhelmed by your own feelings and thoughts. Live as if you are the universe yourself, a thin thread of existence with non-existence on all sides. Walk with awareness so you don’t fall of the rope and disappear into nothingness.”

At that moment the man sitting on his throne began to fade. Faint clouds began to obscure the infinite nothingness and slowly Mohammed became aware of the central interfacing room his body was sitting in. His first thought was that now he understood the symbolism of the image the God is Great had chosen to present itself to the world. Then a feeling of guilt came over him. He had been indulging himself. For the past twenty-eight years he had immersed himself in his feelings and thoughts of inadequacy, thinking that he could not live up to the task he had to perform. He had fled from this inner turmoil by immersing himself in his work. And recently, when that was not sufficient a drug anymore to escape from reality, he had fled into the many leisure activities his city had to offer, even so much so that he had build way to many leisure facilities on Southern Island, just so he could immerse himself in Mirabella’s nightlife. The next thing he thought was that now he could immerse himself in his feelings of guilt about having done things wrong. But he decided to not do so. Things of the past should not cloud his present day life, he thought, that would be another way of immersing oneself in unawareness. He looked at All is One, just sitting in another chair in the central interfacing room, not particularly doing something, and said to it: “We’re done here, let’s go.”

On the flight back Mohammed kept to himself. He felt at peace and content. His headache had gone, finally, after twenty-eight years. He also had lots to think about. The God is Great had not talked about his fundamental questions about the faith: Which one was true and which one not? The ship had that habit of ending a conversation when it saw fit, even when Mohammed still had lots of questions to ask. But Mohammed wondered: “Would it matter if what the God is Great had said was all true? Were not all religions as clouds that obscured the view of the nothingness, thoughts that clouded the inner peace? If the universe was an expression of nothingness wishing to exist, would it then not encompass all that could possibly exist? In that case it wouldn’t matter which religion you would follow, since there would be room in the universe for all. The truth would not change, no matter what you think about it. As the God is Great had said on an earlier occasion: the mind is a creation of the universe, it is not superior to it.”

When the shuttle touched down on the lawn of City Hall there was still daylight. Mohammed decided that this day was his day off and that whatever work he had to do could wait till tomorrow. He decided to go for a ride through his city. Just to pick up the vibrant atmosphere, to enjoy the beauty of what he had helped to create. For the first time in twenty-eight years he could just enjoy feeling proud about what he had accomplished. It was wondrous how getting an advice from his old friend always made him feel much better, even when he hardly understood its meaning.

[jacqulina 162]

hiya my friend,

hows you doing,i see your still doing excellent work here.yes still loving the story too.amazing pics as allways.take care.

[Twenty20 28]

A City Life's CJ ! There's a lot of months that I did not play with City Life, it's a very beautiful game.

I like the story, the city is very nice, keep up the good work !

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Jacky. I'm glad you still like it.

Thanks, Twenty20, I'm actually not playing it very much either at the moment. I'm just trying to get this cj finished. I love the game, but I'm getting a bit annoyed with people moving into the wrong neighbourhood. It's so much work to get things right.

Here's a new update:

Refugees

“A little celebration would be in order,” Mohammed said. “Why is that?” All is One replied. “Well, that seems obvious,” Mohammed answered, “with the completion of the radical chic neighbourhood on the Damascus Peninsula we have filled up Medina Island completely. All of it is now part of the city of Mirabella.” “Oh, that’s why,” All is One said absentminded. “I do know you are not carried away with all of my accomplishments,” Mohammed continued, “but this is a milestone in the development of the city, you should be a bit happy about it.” “I am, I am,” All is One assured Mohammed, “I was just thinking about how this all came about. We can be happy about our thriving city, but it flourishes on the dark clouds that loom on the horizon. You have build up the Damascus Peninsula on the misfortunes of the mayor of New Mecca. It’s filled with people that have fled that dark city.” “Well, that serves him well, then. Don’t you remember that he threatened to arrest me and have my mind reprogrammed, because of my so-called heresy?” Mohammed said. “Yes I do remember that,” All is One replied, it’s just that the future of the colony doesn’t look bright. The situation in New Mecca looks really grim.”

Ever since the library had been opened in New Mecca things had gone downhill over there. As in Mirabella people dug up ancient religious writings from the databases that had been downloaded from the God is Great, and ofcourse this was fuel on the fire of the already free-thinking Fringes and Radical Chics. Many debates about the truth of the one true faith were going on, even on television, and lots of sceptic people left the official faith altogether and started practicing other religions. But the mayor of New Mecca was not as open-minded as Mohammed had been, and forbid all other religions than Islam, and he used his police force to make sure that no one would question it or speak in favor of another religion. Many Radical Chics felt very uncomfortable in this situation and moved to Mirabella, where they were welcomed with open arms. Even some Fringe stowaways had been found on a ship that was steaming on Mirabella.

“It was you that said that I should focus on building Mirabella into a great city, waiting for the balance of power to shift in my advantage. I think it is shifting. The people of Mira Prime are rewarding me for building this great city by preferring it over New Mecca,” Mohammed said. “Yes, but where will it lead us?” All is One replied, “There is truth in the old saying ‘United we stand, divided we fall’, and at this moment the colony looks much divided.” “I don’t know where it will lead us,” Mohammed answered, “but I think the hour of truth is at hand. You know what is at stake here, and I think that the future of mankind will soon be decided.” “You seem overconfident these days,” All is One said sorrowful, “ever since our last visit to the God is Great.” “Do I?” Mohammed asked, “Yes, I suppose I do. It’s just that I feel like I have a greater understanding of the universe now, and that makes me feel good. I haven’t made any rash decisions, have I, since then?” “Not really, no,” All is One said back, “you forgot to demolish a couple of hotels, so you could build new Blue Collar houses there, you know, on the Western Beach.” “Yes, that is true,” Mohammed replied, “found a solution though, build a couple of three-lane highways and now some Have Nots are traveling all the way from the center of Southern Island to the northern part of the industrial area, just to go to work every day. They’re real easy going, those Have Nots. They never complain.” “But you do still have a couple of blue collar houses in the have not neighbourhood around the industrial area, that would not have been necessary,” All is One criticized. “But demolishing those hotels so close to the industrial port and the marinas would also not have been such a good idea,” Mohammed said, “that would not have been good for the tourists.”

“But you must admit, despite a couple of misplaced houses, the city is doing really well,” Mohammed continued. “I’m not dissatisfied,” All is One replied, “but the colony of Fringes in the have nots area on East Point Height is an eyesore to me.” “I know,” Mohammed said back, “I don’t like it either, but they just won’t live anywhere else. At one point I got them all to live in proper fringe neighbourhoods, but when I was not looking for a little while they just all moved back. At least we do not have those fake Radical Chics anymore over there. That’s an accomplishment.” “But we still do have them on the Northern Plains,” All is One criticized. “Yes, but we’ll solve that too. It seems they pop up when there are just too many houses, so we’ll fine-tune the number of houses to the number of jobs when we get to developing that area further.” “Which reminds me,” All is One then said, “You were going to create have not jobs on the Damascus Peninsula, instead you created fringe jobs. Is that not in part the reason for those unwanted Fringes on East Point Height?” “Probably,” Mohammed replied, “yet my calculations showed that there should have been unemployed Have Nots there, not Fringes. It’s just that a city is somewhat unpredictable. People are free to choose where they are going to live, and sometimes this leads to unfortunate situations. And I had to create a couple more elite jobs than I had anticipated, so some Fringes that I thought could live in with Radical Chics couldn’t do that anymore, because Elites were already living there. Those Elites are really picky about the distance they have to travel to their work.”

“On another subject,” Mohammed continued, “didn’t I tell you that the beach bar at the mouth of Muhammad River would eventually turn up a profit?” “Yes, you did, and now it does, I know, I saw the financial stats,” All is One replied, “and since you brought it up, financially the city is doing better and better by the day. Now we make a monthly profit of 264,000 bucks, and in the cities’ treasury there are now 109 million of those nice little, metal thingies. We are definitely filthy rich, and are getting richer all the time.” “And you should also be happy about the population growth,” Mohammed said, his voice showing that he was really proud about what he’d accomplished, “not to mention its composition.” “Well,” All is One replied, “the growth is a bit disappointing, just 800,000 in the past ten years, but I’ll admit, you had your hands full with finding homes and jobs for those refugees, and you have made a great effort in restructuring the city so that as many people would live in an appropriate neighbourhood.” “But at least you should be happy about its composition.” Mohammed said. “Yes,” All is One replied, “it is improving. We now have 3% more Radical Chics, but 1% less Suits, and this is compensated by 1% less Blue Collars and 1% less Have Nots. But this only brings the gold key to the city a little bit closer. You’ll need 70% rich people, and you only have 43%.” “I know,” Mohammed said, “I’ll try to improve, but I do not care about that as much as you do.”

[jacqulina 162]

beautifull as allways my friend

[needgames 0]

Thanks a lot, Jacky. Hope you enjoy this update.

Spare parts

“It has been a long time since we had a shipment coming from the God is Great,” Mohammed said while he was overlooking a large number of crates stored in the basement of City Hall. All the crates were opened and contained all kinds of weaponry: guns, rifles, bazooka’s, mortars and even a couple of anti-aircraft rocket launchers. “I wonder what we’re supposed to do with them?” he continued. “There’s a note included,” All is One said, “It says that these were stored aboard in case any resistance would have been met when colonizing this planet and that the God is Great would prefer that you have them instead of anybody else.” “That’s awfully kind of him,” Mohammed commented. “Yes,” All is One replied, “It seems the bearded man is a true friend of yours. I feel a lot saver now that we have the means to defend the city, might that ever be necessary.”

Mohammed ordered one of the civil servants present to close the crates again and store them in a safe place. Then he and All is One went on their way to Mohammed’s office. “Isn’t there a lot of light nowadays in the hallways of City Hall?” Mohammed asked while they were walking. “Yes,“ All is One replied, “A lot of glass has been added when it was rebuilt recently.” “I guess this is because the Radical Chics of Mirabella have been paying for it?” Mohammed asked. “It was a fair trade,” All is One replied, “They wanted to thank us for our policies that are in favor of the Radical Chics, and in return one of their architects was allowed to design it.” “What portion of our population is Radical Chic nowadays?” Mohammed asked. “It’s up to 23%,” All is One answered. “That seems to be a lot,” Mohammed commented, “That is a rise of 4% in twelve years and the new radical chic neighbourhood on Southern Island is not that large.” “It is commonly believed,” All is One explained, “that there has been a computer malfunction at the time when the Damascus Peninsula was developed and that as a result the number of Radical Chics was calculated incorrectly.” “Well,” Mohammed said understandingly, “that is not so strange, those were chaotic times, with all those refugees from New Mecca pouring into our city.”

“But in fact that is a piece of really good news,“ Mohammed continued, while he and All is One stepped into the elevator to take them to the top floor, “it means we have a significantly larger number of rich people than we thought.” “Indeed,” All is One replied, “on a population of 12 million we now have 10% Elites, 16% Suits, 23% Radical Chics, 15% Blue Collars, 17% Fringes and 19% Have Nots. The numbers have really improved. You have my gratitude. I didn’t think you would get this far.” “Well, thanks,” Mohammed said, “I appreciate that. I’m glad we can stop arguing about that now.”

With a ping the elevator stopped from moving upwards. The doors opened and a grand view of a large hallway with glass on all sides that gave a magnificent view of the city revealed itself. “I’m quite happy with how things have been going in the past twelve years,” Mohammed said while he stepped into the bright light of the hallway, “Further development of Southern Island has worked out really well.” “There are Radical Chics that are complaining,” All is One objected, “They have written a letter of protest titled ‘Too much city will kill the city’. It’s a complaint about the lack of plazas and parks in certain parts of the city.” “I would say to them that too many Radical Chics will kill the city,” Mohammed commented angrily, “Those are the fake kind of Radical Chics. We have been dealing with them before. They just pop up all over the place. There are no jobs for them, they’re too lazy to work, they drive honest, hard working Have Nots out of their homes and they cause cultural tension in doing so. The SWAT-team has to restore order on a daily basis nowadays, and the firemen of the city are continuously busy putting out fires set to the homes of these worthless scumbags.” “One could argue about who are actually scumbags, the people that set fires to houses, or the people whose houses are set on fire,” All is One said irritated. “Yes, you’re right,” Mohammed said, “If you look at it that way.”

Mohammed opened the door to his office. “I have heard we are developing a severe shortage of hotels in the luxurious segment of the market,” he said. “Yes,” All is One replied, “Experts say that Mirabella’s deluxe tourism attractiveness now rates as ‘good’. The new industrial port on Southern Island helps, ofcourse, since it maintains a regular connection with New Baghdad, but mainly lots of people from New Mecca decide to spend their vacations here. Since their mayor has removed all non-Islamic texts from New Mecca’s library they come here to visit ours. Also many religious ceremonies are being performed in Mirabella that are forbidden in New Mecca, so people come here to attend them.” “We have a nice, freedom-loving city here,” Mohammed said, while he was standing in front of a glass wall, looking at the city outside, spreading his arms wide, “we should be proud.”

[jacqulina 162]

very nice i do like the views and the graphics are amazing my friend

[needgames 0]

Thanks, Jacky, for your continued support. I hope you like the next update too.

The invitation

“I wouldn’t go if I were you,” All is One said. “But I have too,” Mohammed objected, “All the officials of the colony will be there, up to the highest ranks. It is the installation of the new planetary government, and we’ll have to work with them in the future. It would really be a bad start of our relationship if I were not to show up.” “I know, I know,” All is One said with one of his usual chirps, “but for a relationship to continue you need two sides, and I’m not sure you’ll still be the mayor of Mirabella if you go to New Mecca now. You know how its mayor thinks about you, and there are no signs he has changed his mind, since the situation over there has not improved in recent years. On the contrary, New Mecca now has several prisons where all the people that do not live according to the traditional ways are locked up, and it has a strong police force and several SWAT-teams to make sure no one escapes the rigid laws. And the recently awakened planetary leader has yet to show one sign that he disagrees with the situation in New Mecca. He’s been around now for some time, and I haven’t heard him protesting against the current state of affairs. I suspect strongly he is in league with the mayor over there.” “So you think I might be arrested if I go there?” Mohammed asked. “Most definitely yes,” All is One replied, “And your mind would be electronically rearranged, and that would be the end of the rebellion. All those years of hard work of so many people would have been for nothing.” All is One paused for a while, looking pensive at the ceiling, then looked at Mohammed and asked: “You are convinced now that we should oppose the powers that have mankind in an iron grip, severely restricting the peoples right to form their own opinions and arrange their lives accordingly?” “Oh yes,” Mohammed almost shouted out, “It’s worse than that, I do not believe anymore in there being one true faith at all. If what I have learned from the God is Great is true, then the truth is not something that can be taught, but everyone has to find it out themselves. The peace of the inner nothingness that sheds a clear light on all that exists has to be discovered inside of you, not in a book. And people will never be able to find it if anyone tells them what they should think. So yes, I endorse the goals as set out by the Front of Liberation of Mankind from the Oppression of Any One True Faith.” “So then don’t go,” All is One said with a firm voice, “It is showing open hostility, but the time has come for that, you need to do it. Too much hinges on your presence here as the mayor of Mirabella, mankind’s future needs you alive and well.” “So it is decided then,” Mohammed said softly, “We make a stand, at last.”

“Well, let’s return to the daily affairs then, shall we?” Mohammed said, after they both had been silent for a while, contemplating the decision that had been made just yet, maybe one that in the future would be regarded as one of mankind’s pivotal moments, depending on the outcome of it. “How’s Mirabella doing these days,” he continued. “Well, it shows a reasonable growth,” All is One started, “In the past eleven years its population has grown by 1.3 million, most of them bred in the incubation chambers in our hospitals, but quite some are the result of natural population growth, and we still have refugees from New Mecca coming in.” “Yes,” Mohammed explained, “Further development of the Northern Plains was not a really big project, but it was needed at the time. I think the next time we have one of these talks I’ll have better results to show.” “What do you intend to do next then?” All is One asked. “I’m not sure yet,” Mohammed replied, “The next logical step would be to further develop the Northern Plains, but we could also start across the Harun al-Rashid River, on the Plains of the Bedouins. Maybe that’s a better idea from the point of view of distributing services over the area. I’ll have to make some study of that first. But to get back to the matters at hand, how’s the composition of our population nowadays? I have the idea that we have a rather large Fringes neighbourhood on the Northern Plains.” “It is not so bad,” All is One explained; “Actually only the number of Elites has dropped by 1%, while that of the Radical Chics has risen by 1%. This doesn’t bring the gold key any closer, but at least the situation has not worsened.” “Yes, the Northern Plains has not been laid out very well,” Mohammed apologized, “That’s because we started it when we had to house many of the people that had to man the services on the Western beach, so I made a couple of rash decisions, which now has led to few rich people there. But there is an upside to that, since all those poor people can work in the many music studios’ that have been established there. And we really needed those. Music is good for the soul. It makes people fraternize. And that area is living proof of that.” Mohammed showed a big smile saying this, and continued: “I had forgotten to build a community center over there, to keep the Fringes and the neighbouring Elites from fighting with each other, but some of those music studios are in between the two, creating just enough distance between them.” “So actually music covers up your mistakes,” All is One said mockingly. “Yes, I guess you could say that,” Mohammed replied kind-hearted.

“Well, you do have one more good excuse for having a large Fringe neighbourhood over there,” All is One humoured Mohammed. “And what is that?” Mohammed asked with a smile, expecting this to be sort of a joke as well, which he was right about. “A shopping center is a Fringe business,” All is One explained. Mohammed laughed and said: “Yes, it is, but not one that needs to be in a Fringe neighbourhood, so that is also a bit of a lame excuse.” All is One smiled, enjoying the frankness of Mohammed’s answer, appreciating that his ego was not in the way today. It thought that maybe the tough decision they had reached made them bond together even more. Now they not only shared a dark secret together, but they had become brothers in arms, standing side by side facing a dangerous enemy. So it continued in a cheerful mood: “So what is your excuse for that tower full of Suits in the middle of an Elite neighbourhood?” It had guessed right about Mohammed’s mood today, cause he said: “That’s one of my mistakes as well. They should have been living in the empty apartments we now have in the Suit neighbourhood on the Western Beach, but somehow I hadn’t noticed them moving in with the Elites. Maybe I’ll change that in the future, but for now I think it looks rather nice, this lone Suit building in between Elite buildings.” “It would have been nice if those Elites that should have been living there had moved in with the Suits on the Western Beach,” All is One commented. “Yes, it would have,” Mohammed replied, “But they don’t like living a long distance from their work, so they chose to build their own houses somewhere else on the Northern Plains. Some of them are really tough Elites. They build their house right next to two clothes factories, can’t imagine what the smell must be like there, and they have a highway in front of their house. Yet, they are not complaining about the surroundings of that area.” “Guess this shows how well you design this city, with the well being of its residents in the first place all of the time,” All is One complimented Mohammed, realizing that the good mood almost made him become a lickspittle.

[jacqulina 162]

hiya my friend,amazing work and interesting storyline,details are awesome.

[TekindusT 3,809]

I haven't had time to read the story, but the pics are stunning!

[needgames 0]

Thanks Jacky, hope you like this update too.

Thanks TekindusT, I think the story is worth reading too.

Here's a new update:

The letter

“Are you becoming a bit lazy?” All is One asked. Mohammed looked puzzled. “I mean, we haven’t had so many unfilled jobs before,” it continued, “and I noticed you didn’t put as much effort in getting all the people to live in the right neighbourhood this time around. The Northern Plains are all right, but when it comes to the rest of the city, you have just let the rich people live where they chose to live, you only bothered about the poor people.” Mohammed opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again and thought about it a second time. Then he spoke: “You’re a bit right; it was a bit out of laziness, but a carefully considered laziness. Before there always was a reason for reworking the entire city when we added a new part to it, cause we needed to know whether we had built the right number of houses, so we could make corrections when developing the next area. Now we have developed the northern part of the Northern Plains and that is at some distance from the rest of the city, so there was no real need to do all of it. We know we have about the right amount of houses in the city, so I decided to leave it be for a while. I’ll rearrange everything again some time in the future, but for now I can spare myself a lot of trouble and still have a city that is well organized.”

“But it is annoying, though,” Mohammed continued, “We know there is room enough for everyone in the city. It’s just that some rich people decide to live in poor people’s houses and the poor people that used to live there can’t afford to live in the rich people’s houses. So we end up with lots of apartments that are empty and lots of Have Nots that have to live on the streets, being homeless and unemployed. A city really needs a firm hand to get things well organized, left to its own devices it turns into chaos.”

“But still I think you seem to be less focused than you used to be,” All is One continued relentlessly. Mohammed looked annoyed at it and asked: “Oh, why is that?” All is One chirped: “I’ve seen some Fringe and some Blue Collar houses being built right next to each other and no community center anywhere near it. I think you just forgot to build one.” Mohammed smiled a bit. “Oh, you mean that,” he said, “Yes, you’re right, I forgot about it, but only because it was such a difficult area to develop. I had to build a lot of things on such a small area, and it was so hard to get it divided into just large enough neighbourhoods for the different cultures. Even if I had thought about it, there probably would not have been enough room for a community center anyway. And it doesn’t matter much. Everyone agrees that we have a peaceful city. I’ve had no reports of cultural tensions coming from that area.” “Not yet,” All is One chirped scornfully, “but that’s just because you’ve done so well providing all the necessary services, so everyone is so satisfied with their living environments that they forget about harassing their neighbours. But they will, someday, when the city grows larger.”

“That might happen,” Mohammed admitted, “but we’re not sure it actually will happen.” All is One protested: “But when it happens there’s nothing you can do about it. You always completely fill up the area and you will have no way of relocating those people to a place where they will not cause trouble, nor will you have room to build a community center there.” Mohammed thought for a while. Then he said hesitatingly: “I guess we could try to move some of those Fringes to the Plains of the Bedouins, and then build a couple of hotels there.” He paused a little while, then started again: “But there’s also no guarantee that that will work.” All is One nodded: “Yes, we’re not certain about that either, but it would be the safest way to go. You can try it and if it doesn’t work you can again rebuild those houses.” Mohammed looked at All is One and said: “That’s a really good advice, I think we should follow it.”

“You haven’t kept a promise you made nine years ago,” All is One continued to attack Mohammed, who somehow managed to not get angry. Instead he said in a friendly voice: “You are in a lousy mood today, but I can find it in my heart to forgive you. What promise are you talking about?” All is One didn’t pay attention to Mohammed’s tone and just accused him: “You promised to show better results in terms of population growth, and yet again we only have 1.3 million residents more.” Mohammed sighed, then said something about how hard it is to work with a drone, cause they never forget anything. All is One agreed, but didn’t change its attitude. It kept looking severely at Mohammed, who continued: “That’s probably right, but yet again I make the same promise. Next thing we do is to develop the Plains of the Bedouins, and I’m very sure we’ll have a huge population growth then.” All is One chirped condescendingly that that would be a hard thing to screw up.

“Is there anything I did right?” Mohammed asked, “You only seem to be criticizing me.” All is One chirped affirmingly: “You got rid of the Suit tower in the Elite neighbourhood.” Mohammed laughed: “That’s real funny you say that, cause I had nothing to do with that. Some Elites decided to live there and kick the Suits out completely on their own accord. Anything else I might have done right?” All is One said: “No, but you can really do something right this time.” Mohammed didn’t really wonder what was to be discussed next and said: “I guess this is the moment we are going to talk about the subject we have been postponing all the time.” “Yes,” All is One said, “we really have to talk about the letter you received.”

“Although I’m not really sure what’s there to talk about,” Mohammed said, “ We received a letter from the newly formed government, co-signed by the mayor of New Mecca and the mayor of New Baghdad, demanding that we, meaning the entire city, leave our heretic ways and return to the enlightened path of the one true faith. Obviously we cannot do that. How do we get almost fifteen million people to follow a religion most of them no longer believe in? We have no police force strong and committed enough to enforce the new laws we would need. And personally I don’t want to give in to their demands; I have found my own enlightened path. So all we learn from the letter is that we stand alone. Mirabella is a haven of freedom in a dark world. And obviously this is a turn of events that was to be expected, especially since I didn’t show up on official occasions to improve relations.”

All is One looked at Mohammed with big eyes. It seemed very interested in what he had to say. “And if you know so well which events are to be expected, then what do you see in our future?” it asked. Mohammed looked surprised and said: “I don’t really thought about that, I mean, it was not like I have been foretelling the future, it’s just that I thought that the letter was a logical next step, but only after it had happened. I suppose we keep on building Mirabella into a glorious city, like we agreed a long time ago.” All is One jumped at the opportunity to contradict Mohammed, like it had been waiting for it for a long time. “I can tell you what happens,” it said, “Mira Prime will be filled up with cities, and they’ll all join in the coalition against freedom, against you, and in the end they’ll become so strong that they’ll overwhelm us and mankind lives on in oppression. So the days of just building Mirabella to create a powerbase are over. You have to come into action. At the moment you have the most power, but if you do nothing the tides will change and Mirabella will fall into their hands.”

“So what do you suppose we do?” Mohammed asked, “We write them a letter in return and ask them to join our cause for freedom? That would help.” All is One replied in a friendly voice: “No, you’re right, that wouldn’t help, but we have a couple of secret weapons, and now is the time to use them.” Mohammed sighed softly and said: “Now you lost me, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “It’s so obvious,” All is One almost shouted, “leak the report about what really happened to the Fringes and Radical Chics back on Earth to the general public, let them know how they disappeared into thin air by means of a secret governmental program of genetic engineering. And make sure it also leaks to the people of New Mecca.”

“And that would help how?” Mohammed asked, “As you said, the people will ask for independence and we’ll have to start a war with Earth. So what are you trying to do? The situation already is hopeless and you want to add another insurmountable problem to make sure we go down?” All is One jumped up and started pacing through the office. It spoke loud and waved with its arms: “No, you don’t understand. The situation has changed. The enemy is no longer far away back on Earth, the enemy now is here on Mira Prime. The people of Mirabella have noticed how New Mecca is run, the evidence of that is overwhelming, with all the refugees and their stories coming in all the time. All you have to do is to spark it up. Show them the real face of the powers that control mankind’s destiny, and you’ll ignite the fire of rage in their hearts. Especially the Fringes and the Radical Chics will not take it lightly when they learn how their brothers back on Earth have been treated. You’ll also have the Have Nots and the Elites on your hand, since they’re friends of the suppressed ones. All you then have to do is to channel that anger towards the mayor of New Mecca and the planetary leader. You’ll have to give a lot of speeches, appear on TV a lot, but you’ll be able to raise a fair army to fight the people of New Mecca.”

Now it was time for Mohammed to jump up out of his chair and wave his arms around. “An army? With what? You want to conquer another city? We have no military tradition, no trained soldiers,” he shouted. “Neither does New Mecca, or New Baghdad, for that matter,” All is One said calmly while he stopped pacing around; “You have the advantage. Remember the crates with weapons the God is Great sent us some time ago? That’s our second secret weapon. We have weapons they don’t have in New Mecca.”

Mohammed fell back in his chair. “Now I understand why you have been so moody. You want me to raise an army and start a war, and you know I’m a peaceful man. You’ve been expecting that I will not do this.” All is One walked towards Mohammed, looked straight into his eyes and said firmly: “You have to do this, it is the only way, it is either a war or give up everything you have strived for, and in the end give up your life. Do you understand that?” Mohammed looked back at the drone and said: “I understand, just give me some time to get to grips with this turn of events I had absolutely not expected.”

[Benedict 3,119]

Yesss! An excellent return, glad to see some more of your work.

[Follarch 327]

Good use of, is this City Life? Looks like it.

Nice looking big city there.