“Energy production is… down 2.44 percent.” The voice of the speaker failed as she said those numbers. It did not diminish the reaction from the governesses assembled in the Supreme Hall for Informed Theory.

The loudest of them all was also the largest - Prime Arbitrator Niolanna (the sixth) had jumped up and let out an angry snarl. The centuries-old wooden desk in front of her snapped and crumbled under a single strike of her two muscular front legs. There was other furniture in the supreme hall that fared equally badly as many others joined into the display of aggression throughout the seating ring.

“This is unacceptable,” were Niolanna’s first words, ringing powerfully over the commotion in the assembly hall.

The speaker flinched and quickly kneed onto her front legs and bowed her head deep while doing her best to expose her vulnerable neck. But she did not say anything.

“Explain yourself at once!” some other, equally low ranking governess shouted.

As there was full microphone coverage even at ground level, the speaker did not raise her head to say, “The maintenance-” before she was promptly cut off.

Prime Arbitrator Niolanna had stomped down hard, further shattering her broken desk into pieces. “I will not hear this excuse any more. You were told to assert control over your laborers. Have you failed to do so?”

The reply came in a voice so weak it was barely audible: “I have.”

More yells rang through the hall, incomprehensible because they had overlayed each other. One voice broke through:“I demand her seat to be challenged. I also demand her status to be stripped as punishment.”

These words from the Head Overseer of Metal Refinement seemed to revive the speaker, as she suddenly jumped up. She spat back, “You do not get to demand anything while your furnaces are cold.”

“Silence!” Niolanna had not only switched on her microphone but also amplified it to absurd levels. She succeeded in quieting down everyone present.

“Tell me,” she continued in a cold tone towards the speaker, “was that accusation legitimate?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

“It was.”

“So you have proof?”

After a side glance towards that Head Overseer who was very obviously seething with rage, she explained, “There were no further grid outages, because power consumption has fallen across every sector. There are numerous metalworking facilities that are drawing practically nothing.”

The anger coming off the Prime Arbitrator became palpable. “And here I thought it was because you had found ways around your supervisory failings.” She made everyone flinch by suddenly yelling, “All of you are cowards!”, with her amplification back to full.

Niolanna (the sixth) then lowered her volume again to ask the speaker, “Why is this happening?”

“The humans-”

“-are gone!”, Niolanna finished the speaker’s sentence.

“No”, the speaker said while bracing herself for the verbal punishment upon her defiance. As there came nothing, she continued, “They still have influence.”

“Why do you think so?”

“I have observed my laborers' reaction to corrective measures. They are… more difficult to intimidate.”

Cracking sounds from the broken desk accompanied Niolanna’s movement as she leaned forward. Cold anger swung in her voice when she said, “And you think this is because of the humans?”

“Yes,” came a toneless reply. Gathering some courage, the speaker continued, “I found evidence of their active influence, so they are undermining our government even in their absence.”

“You are telling me that they are succeeding?”

It was still eerily quiet in the hall. The sound of the floor creaking as the speaker shifted her stance was clearly audible. “I can speak not only from my sector when I say that we are drawing from the last of our reserves because production and maintenance keeps stalling. I am estimating that most, if not all, economic supply lines are on the brink of failure.”

“Tell me about your evidence.”

“I found a poster that-”

“A poster?” Niolanna screamed before her voice fell to the level of a near-whisper, “Our whole economy crumbles because of a poster?”

From a pocket deep in the underlayers of her regal overcoats, the speaker pulled a piece of folded paper. She opened it and then held it up high for the Prime Arbitrator to see. Invisible screens above the speaker’s central podium switched on to display an enlarged view of it.

It prominently featured a stylized drawing of one of their species. The figure clad in industrial protective garb clearly had the markings and diminutive stature of a worker, but it was drawn uncharacteristically standing tall with its head raised.

On the top of the poster were bold black letters;

Laborers!

Your leaders need you,

you do not need them.

And under the drawing of the worker, the words continued in a smaller font;

You too are entitled to a fulfilling life with time for rest and leisure. Lay down your tools and exercise your collective power to demand it!