Together for a Shared Future

The first rays of the local sun penetrate the room. Under the sound of sandy winds, Alfina wakes up, feeling, again, a shiver throughout her body. This day came. The very day when she is to commit, very likely, a real suicide, for what she is going to do, she is most likely to be persecuted for the rest of her days. Alfina knew what she was getting into when she accepted the money. She knew that she was giving hundreds of thousands of people into slavery. She perfectly knew that many would not survive. Where was her conscience? Her conscience warned, but Alfina refused to listen. Alfina forced her conscience to be silent, but the moment came to pay for it. That hour has finally struck.

It happened twelve years ago. The planet Sersi, the desert planet of the winds, was chosen to host the Galactic Games. There was no infrastructure on the planet, no stadiums for games. Everything had to be created literally from scratch on bare stones. The planet Virginia was supposed to host the Games, but at the last moment a delegation from the planet Sersi arrived, led by its ruler Prince Oman, and offered a huge amount of money for Sersi to get the Games. The Games Committee received a gigantic amount, enough to provide a rich life for posterity for many decades to come. But Alfina received more than others as the leader of the organization.

Sersi became a host of the Galactic Games 4022. In order to build the infrastructure for the tournament, a colossal workforce was brought in by the millions to the rocky-sandy planet from other worlds, much poorer. Millions of the poor have rushed to work in the hope of earning money for their families, who were starving and many did not even have a roof over their heads. The stream of the poor rushed to the planet Sersi, which is ruled by a ruthless dictator and his entourage. The dictator Oman literally sleeps on deposits of hypercrystals – the only source of energy for interstellar spacecraft fly. The most important natural resource in the galaxy. From the sale of crystals, the Oman family made a colossal amount of money and became one of the richest in the entire Galactic Confederation. But over the decades of rule, the Karil dynasty managed to make a reputation for itself as a bloody authoritarian regime for which there are no human rights. A regime that sponsors anti-human military missions on neighboring planets. The more democratic planets became dependent on Sersi for their much-needed hypercrystals. But the blood remains on the hands of the dictators of the Karil dynasty. It cannot be washed away, and many are well aware of this, making agreements with companies from the planet of Sersi.

But one day the Prince Oman decided to "fix" the reputation of Sersi and his family. To do this, he decided to hold the Galactic Games on the sand planet. In order to reveal the wonders of Sersi to the Galaxy and try to throw dust in the eyes and show that the Karil dynasty is not immersed up to the neck in blood.

Millions of people flocked from planets plunged into poverty and endless horror. Millions of souls who hoped to save their families. Millions of workers have come to Sersi in hopes of building majestic structures worthy of the Galactic Games - gigantic stadiums built on rocks and sand. Where the rocks used to be blown by fierce winds, now there will be majestic marvels of architecture and technology. There was a great purpose. An oasis in the desert. But people did not fully understand who they were dealing with. Arriving on the planet Sersi, the workers actually became slaves to the Prince of Oman and his bloody regime. Instead of the promised money for work, the poor from other worlds bent their backs under the scorching rays of Sersi's sun, all for food and housing. Everything was taken away from the workers, they could not contact their relatives. There was no way for them to escape from Sersi. They were prisoners. They became slaves. They worked in inhuman conditions. Under the scorching rays of the star and under the whips of the guards. The unfortunate souls had no choice. To flee into the desert meant to die of thirst. That wasn’t an option.

During the years of construction, hundreds of thousands of slaves were buried in the same place where they did die - under the stadiums. Death from exhaustion. A day on Sersi lasts twenty-six hours, and slaves work eighteen of them. Bad food and shared rooms where ten or more people slept. They got up at dawn. They picked up the tools and they went to work. And they suffered. And they endured the pain. And they fell from exhaustion. And they cried. And they called their families, looking into the starry skies. Their home planets are somewhere, dozens of light-years from Sersi. Somewhere there are families. The pain was monstrous. Slavery is intolerable.

Nobody cared about the sanitary conditions for the slaves. The bloody regime of Oman and his family never thinks about the people. Only about their own accounts. Diseases spread from slave to slave. Stadiums, majestic, grandiose, titans in the middle of the desert, they rest on the shoulders of the sick and emaciated. Slaves that writhing under the whips of a bloody regime that makes mountains of money through the sale of resources. The regime that subjugated the Galactic Confederation. A merciless dynasty that sows fear and destruction.

Despite outrage over the lawlessness on Sersi, not a single team from all over the galaxy boycotted the tournament. Teams battled to get into the competition as fans watched closely, en masse, as they prepared to fly to Sersi, ignoring slavery and the horror that hangs like a bloody shadow over everything an authoritarian regime touches. People don't care. For them, only entertainment truly matters. And for the sake of entertainment, you can ignore the real tragedy and shame.

So, twelve years have passed and the Galactic Games are already here. Day of the Opening Ceremony. Sandy winds blow. The rocks themselves froze in anticipation. The gaze of space is riveted to the sandy planet. Hundreds of billions of people across the

Confederacy are watching with watchful eyes, for the spectacle is about to begin. And Alfina is ready to take the risk. Conscience no longer whispers, but screams, reminding her of what she is directly guilty of. It's time to pay for greed. It's time to punish the bloodlust.

As the Opening Ceremony began, the Prince of Oman spoke first. At Sersi's main stadium, where two hundred thousand people had gathered, he, the dictator, he, the murderer, greeted the people and they applauded him. Billions followed online. He spread his arms in a welcoming gesture. The spirits of death swirled around him. Standing next to him, one could catch the aroma of the grave and even hear the echoes of screams of unbearable pain. The Prince Oman spoke, and the people began to listen.

“I, Prince Karil Oman, the ruler of Sersi, welcome you all here on our amazing planet!”

A wave of applause fell upon the prince. Oman continued only when the people, little by little, calmed down.

“Twelve years ago we won the right to hold the 4022 Galactic Games. And we promised the whole galaxy to organize the best tournament that people could imagine. And now, we are all here! Welcome to Sersi! A deep bow to all the workers who allowed the titans of architecture and technology to grow here! Huge thanks to everyone who worked on this wonderful project! We are glad to everyone, everyone who will watch the Games here on our planet, and at home, online. Each of you is involved in what is happening here. You are all our family! Thank you! You let this happen!”

Demonic smile. He knows what to say. He feels the crowd. He sees right through the crowd. Lips soaked in blood. The people rage in a fit of ecstasy, delight from involvement in something so grandiose.

“And now I want to give the floor to the head of the Committee of the Galactic Games, Miss Alfina Norton!” .

The minute has come. Alfina is ready. The entire Confederacy is watching. They will hang on her every word. Everything she says. Now or never.

Fear gripped the woman. Once you start, there will be no going back. Limbs ache, fever, palpitations. Human lives matter. For this, you can take this step. Let it be.

"I'm Alphina Norton and I'm the head of the Games Committee," the woman began, barely able to keep the trembling out of her own voice. “I want to tell you all how the planet Sersi got the right to host the Galactic Games.

The expression on the face of the Prince Oman instantly changed. He became gloomy, like a thundercloud at dawn, ready to bring down a grandiose downpour.

”Planet Sersi won the right to host the Games through corruption on an unprecedented scale. We, the Committee, are all involved in what happened here. For huge sums of money, we sold the rights to the regime of Prince Karil Oman. We have sold hundreds of thousands, millions of people. So many people have died here. Many people are buried in this very stadium. People, unfortunate workers from poor planets, worked in inhuman, cruel conditions.

“Stop her,” whispered Prince Oman, not daring, however, to rush at Alfina in front of the crowd.

There was deathly silence. Two hundred thousand people froze. Two hundred billion online too. The shock hit everyone.

"Slavery and corruption," continued Alfina Norton. "Blood and mayhem. I can't lie anymore. I don't want to lie anymore. All these stadiums are built on blood. On a lie. On horror. I want everyone to know what happened here. I have no right to ask for forgiveness for what we have done. We have sold ourselves. I'm ashamed of what happened here. Death and terror hang over Sersi. And all because we let it happen. People did not protest or resist. We have the power to change. We just have to unite. There is nothing more important than human life. No amount of money is worth murder and slavery, now I understand. I want you to know everything that happened here on Sersi. Do not be silent. Thank you for your attention."

With these words, Alfina walked away, leaving the crowd in a state of complete shock at what they had heard, and Oman and his entire family in a wild rage. It doesn't matter what happens next. It doesn't matter what happens to her later. Maybe Alfina is finished. This will become clear soon. But she is pleased that she decided to take this step. And now there is no turning back. Now people know the truth.

Now people must decide for themselves whether human life is important or not.

Together people can fight for freedom. Together people have strength. Together people are capable of anything.