Sem Lockdown, Day 10
"Good evening fellow citizens," Tristan read aloud, checking over his script before transmission. He was aware his tone was a bit more fatigued than usual. "Good evening fellow citizens," he tried again and sighed.
The young man got up and paced between the door and an unopened stack of boxes at the other end of his room, a new recording room which wasn't yet set up. He had a camp bed with a makeshift table beside it and an interactive screen wall in his room just like there was in everyone else's. Since his room hadn't been set up yet, he had no desk area to sit at but he'd borrowed one of the new model swivel chairs and had a text-to-speech Dictaphone to plan his scripts out on, which linked to an autocue application on the screen.
He chewed the inside of his cheek as he walked. None of this made any sense. He'd got up early for his daily run and had a wash - not an easy task in the radio station, one just had to do the best they could with soap and the bathroom tap. Then he'd had some breakfast, courtesy of Miles, and got straight to work on his script. So why was he wavering now?
Tension, he supposed. Tension, uncertainty and insecurity.
He called his team, slightly earlier than the usual time.
"Hi everyone," he greeted. They were all facing him this time, even Miles who was caught by surprise.
Kain looked a bit suspicious, "Is everything okay, Captain?"
"Erm yeah, it's fine, I'm fine. Don't worry, nothing's happened."
"Are you sure?" Akira asked, unconvinced, "You sound a little off."
"I suppose I just wanted to ask if this is all getting to any of you too... I mean, it's just, it's stressful, right? Having to put a strong and optimistic face on for the public and filling them in when there's just so little we know ourselves. And we're so far from our families too."
Kain nodded solemnly, Miles looked a bit shifty.
"Look, Captain, we signed up for this duty, didn't we? I definitely relate to you but, if we weren't doing this, there'd be no voice of clarity, no..." Akira started.
"That's true," Kain said, "But no matter who you are, you need to admit we're all sensitive to fear and stress. There's a lot of pressure on the four of us right now. There always will be. Failure to acknowledge it would be failure to do our job. We have a responsibility here. We should recognise that and support each other when times get tough. Remember when we put the mental health statement together? As for our families, I guess the best we can do for now is call them, we will see them again soon." Akira nodded and hummed in agreement, Miles didn't look up from his feet. "So, Tristan, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think I'm fine," he scratched the back of his head, "It just got to me a bit today and I wondered if it bothered anyone else as well."
Akira looked up, a sense of surety in her deep brown eyes, "Yes, I absolutely have. When I feel that though, I just kind of throw my energy back into my work. I know it'll all be fine or, at least, I need to trust that it will be."
"I've definitely felt that too. I've used exercise to burn off some steam quite a few times."
Tristan looked relieved, "Thanks guys, that really helps. What about you, Miles?"
"Oh um, yeah. Yeah, of course I've felt that but, it's fine you know? Totally manageable."
The other three shot each other a look.
"Miles, are you sure it's fine?" Akira enquired.
"Yeah, definitely. Work really takes your mind off it all, you know? … Anyway, I need to head off to translate a message from the Sterculians but, rest assured, my script for tonight is prepared and sorted. Should hopefully be the last one but, they might need me again."
"That's fine, you may take your leave, Schäfer," the Captain instructed and the strategist disappeared. Uncertainty and concern reverberated between the remaining screens.
The young man got up and paced between the door and an unopened stack of boxes at the other end of his room, a new recording room which wasn't yet set up. He had a camp bed with a makeshift table beside it and an interactive screen wall in his room just like there was in everyone else's. Since his room hadn't been set up yet, he had no desk area to sit at but he'd borrowed one of the new model swivel chairs and had a text-to-speech Dictaphone to plan his scripts out on, which linked to an autocue application on the screen.
He chewed the inside of his cheek as he walked. None of this made any sense. He'd got up early for his daily run and had a wash - not an easy task in the radio station, one just had to do the best they could with soap and the bathroom tap. Then he'd had some breakfast, courtesy of Miles, and got straight to work on his script. So why was he wavering now?
Tension, he supposed. Tension, uncertainty and insecurity.
He called his team, slightly earlier than the usual time.
"Hi everyone," he greeted. They were all facing him this time, even Miles who was caught by surprise.
Kain looked a bit suspicious, "Is everything okay, Captain?"
"Erm yeah, it's fine, I'm fine. Don't worry, nothing's happened."
"Are you sure?" Akira asked, unconvinced, "You sound a little off."
"I suppose I just wanted to ask if this is all getting to any of you too... I mean, it's just, it's stressful, right? Having to put a strong and optimistic face on for the public and filling them in when there's just so little we know ourselves. And we're so far from our families too."
Kain nodded solemnly, Miles looked a bit shifty.
"Look, Captain, we signed up for this duty, didn't we? I definitely relate to you but, if we weren't doing this, there'd be no voice of clarity, no..." Akira started.
"That's true," Kain said, "But no matter who you are, you need to admit we're all sensitive to fear and stress. There's a lot of pressure on the four of us right now. There always will be. Failure to acknowledge it would be failure to do our job. We have a responsibility here. We should recognise that and support each other when times get tough. Remember when we put the mental health statement together? As for our families, I guess the best we can do for now is call them, we will see them again soon." Akira nodded and hummed in agreement, Miles didn't look up from his feet. "So, Tristan, are you okay?"
"Yeah, I think I'm fine," he scratched the back of his head, "It just got to me a bit today and I wondered if it bothered anyone else as well."
Akira looked up, a sense of surety in her deep brown eyes, "Yes, I absolutely have. When I feel that though, I just kind of throw my energy back into my work. I know it'll all be fine or, at least, I need to trust that it will be."
"I've definitely felt that too. I've used exercise to burn off some steam quite a few times."
Tristan looked relieved, "Thanks guys, that really helps. What about you, Miles?"
"Oh um, yeah. Yeah, of course I've felt that but, it's fine you know? Totally manageable."
The other three shot each other a look.
"Miles, are you sure it's fine?" Akira enquired.
"Yeah, definitely. Work really takes your mind off it all, you know? … Anyway, I need to head off to translate a message from the Sterculians but, rest assured, my script for tonight is prepared and sorted. Should hopefully be the last one but, they might need me again."
"That's fine, you may take your leave, Schäfer," the Captain instructed and the strategist disappeared. Uncertainty and concern reverberated between the remaining screens.
******
"Good evening fellow citizens," Tristan begins, having slightly altered his script, "Before we start this evening, a short reminder to you all to talk to those you love if you're feeling a bit down about having to live in these strange circumstances or, indeed, any of this at all. If you feel you have no one to talk to, please look at the alphalinks on our website, they should help you.
This will get better and the situation is improving by the day. Stay strong, we will make it through this together.
Here, with the news, is Kain Douglas."
******
"Good evening, people of Sem.
Developments have been made with the Sterculians. As of this afternoon, we have made the decision not to pay them and, as you may have noticed, the airships have left our atmosphere. Unfortunately, those with cheese remaining onboard streamed it through their jet engines somehow, basically leaving our skies enveloped in a big, stinky cheese fart. That was nice of them.
8Anyway, the guidelines for cheese smell avoidance have now been lifted so feel free to leave your windows open and leave your house, so long as it's for essential reasons. The smell in the atmosphere hopefully shouldn't reach the ground, though it may last for some time.
There have been updates regarding crāpulavirus, but I'll leave Miles to discuss those."
******
"Thank you, Kain.
We're only four days away from being halfway through this lockdown period. So congratulations to you all for making it this far.
A new prototype for tests is to be released tomorrow. Using this prototype, Kain and I have been ordered to demonstrate how the test works. The tests are then to be manufactured by key workers across various different factories and will be released to you all again in hypoallergenic packages by the military's soldiers.
Hopefully, from the new data, we will be able to lessen some restrictions prematurely in advance of lifting the lockdown. However, this requires you all to continue following the rules so, please, continue to wash your hands regularly, only leave your house for essential reasons and go to bed at a reasonable time instead of having late night parties.
In other news, plenty of you have been asking me questions about what's going to be happening after the lockdown. I understand the reasons behind this, but I don't feel comfortable about answering them at this point in case I give you any misinformation. I have taken note of some of them though and, I will respond as soon as I can.
Here's Akira with the weather."
******
"Good evening, Sem.
Storm Eleanor is progressing from Secat and North Simul Santu down towards the rest of the latter country and the North of Piscanturia. This means that Secat will experience a drier day tomorrow with a temperature of 10 degrees centigrade. There will be some showers in Simul Santu but the overall temperature should remain around 9 degrees centigrade. Piscanturia will be wetter than it has been in recent times with a temperature of 15 degrees centigrade.
There will still be snow at the North Pole, the West Pole will now be drier and the South Pole will be dry too.
Back to you, Captain."
******
"Thanks, Akira.
I hope today's broadcast brought some good news to you all, I'm certainly glad we're through with the cheese situation at long last.
Tonight, I have chosen a song to play us out. I hope you enjoy it. Thank you as always for your attention and co-operation and we will be back again tomorrow.
Goodnight, fellow citizens."
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