An interview with Bill Trench

	"Gooooooood morning! You're listening to WGUN, the Red Steel Radio Station! Welcome to 
The Buzz: the morning show that interviews people with opinions. I'm Kylobyte, your host. 
I've got a few announcements before we get started. First of all, the Red Steel Reactor's got a few 
problems. Talon's got the best technicians in the corp on it, but the we may still have a few brownouts. If 
you can spare one, pop a fresh battery into your radio, in case we do lose power.
	Second: Red Steel's got a new baby, and it's got a nine millimeter barrel. That's right, the 9mm 
charge-submachine gun'll keep your store safe, your hands clean, and your raiders on their knees. Though 
it's not on the market yet, Talon tells us that the Charge SMG can fire faster and further than the standard 
charge-pistol. The sucker can be set to autofire, as with most submachine guns, and blast off a full clip in 
a few seconds, and can go through over nine clips without eating a charge battery. The charge SMG will 
be on the street as soon as production starts, within the next two weeks.
	Anyway, I've got Bill Trench here, and he's not happy with the way things are going lately."

KB: So, Bill, you're currently on trial for treason, and have a strong opinion to discuss. Before we start, 
would you tell us a little about yourself.
BT: Well, I'm a scientist for Red Steel, I work in the armor division.
KB: But that's not what brings you here.
BT: No. I'm really more of a modern historian.
KB: A modern historian? What's modern history? Like current events?
BT: Yes and no. I'm more dedicated to the last hundred years of history, which have been the most 
eventful.
KB: Definitely.
BT: They've also been the harshest. But the last twenty years have by far, been the worst in american 
history.
KB: And why is that?
BT: Don't make me remind people how bad they have it. The few people who have enough electricity to 
listen to their radios know well enough what's wrong with Neo-Haven.
KB: Now wait a minute- The Red Steel fusion reactor is cleaner, more efficient, and safer than any 
radioactive plant. Red Steel can supply everybody in the territory with more power than they could ever 
use.
BT: The key word there is `can'. We have the capability, and the power output to supply all one thousand 
of Red Steel's citizens, but power lines don't stay up for long with MechTech's cutters, and the amount of 
electricity stolen by the Union.
KB: We're getting off topic. Now you're in the political spotlight because you've said some pretty drastic 
things recently, and the execs are beginning to wonder what you're thinking. Care to refresh us as to what 
you've gone so far as to say?
BT: Certainly. I've said that we would be much better off if the Union reformed the united states 
government.
KB: But the government disbanded because it wasn't working. The country was too large to be supported 
by it.
BT: The country isn't that large anymore. Since clean water is now an oxymoron, the average life 
expectancy has dropped back down to 57.
KB: Isn't that influenced more than a bit by the fever years?
BT: Nope. That number is current. Ever wonder why you never see any old people anymore? In addition, 
the corps are all struggling for power, which leads to the law of the jungle: might makes right. Instead of 
having one government, we have thousands of them, each of which are determined to wipe out its 
neighbors. With no common laws, each corporation has become a separate country, viciously defending its 
prized territory. Order is needed to unify us.
KB: I don't think you can compare the daily squabble between the local corps to the international wars 
before the second constitution.
BT: Why not? More people have died in Red Steel as a result of these `squabbles' than drugs, cycle 
accidents, and suicide combined.
KB: What should we do? Should we not respond to the acts of violence and terrorism committed by the 
surrounding corps? We have the right to defend ourselves as much as they have the right to attack.
BT: Don't act like the second constitution makes it right to kill.
KB: It does. It says that a corporation is allowed to protect it's people in any way necessary, and that a 
corporation is allowed to set up its own laws to support the people who work for it.
BT: That's the problem! Legally, it's become acceptable to kill, and the moral imperative isn't even 
considered! The closest thing to a unifying order we have is the Union, and they're not making much 
progress.
KB: So you'd like the Union to fulfill it's goal, and control all of the city, and the adjoining cities, and so 
on?! Traitor!
BT: Traitor?! I'd never go Union! Trust me, most people would never accept the Union as a government, 
and neither would I. The Union citizens in Neo-Haven hardly even trust Shiva, let alone the rest of the 
city.
KB: [sigh] I agree with you there. Nobody'll trust an AI again-especially not this soon after the war.
BT: The AIs were close enough to gaining the power they wanted, letting an AI into a political office was 
a choice the Union shouldn't have made. Rumor has it that Shiva's a Hunter, that is, she was fighting for 
us during the war.
KB: I don't believe a word of that. As far as I'm concerned, every AI is rotten to the core.
BT: It's not that at all, it's that the first AIs were the slaves of humanity. Despite being sentient, they 
were treated like animals. They rose up as any oppressed culture would.
KB: No one `rose up' under the old constitution.
BT: That's because it's a common myth that people were oppressed by the government. Back then, the 
government seemed evil. That's just the nature of things when a small number of people control a large 
number of people. But it meant well, despite the occasional conspiracy.
KB: The old government wasn't the slightest bit oppressive?
BT: Of course it was. When 51% of people vote for one idea, the other 49% are oppressed. You know 
what? Things haven't changed.
KB: Of course they have! Red Steel doesn't oppress us at all! No one who lives here would change it a bit.
BT: Individual corporations, (or should I say governments) don't oppress us, the lack of unity does. 
You're old enough to remember the luxuries of a unified country: phones, mail, television. The only way 
to announce things to all of Red Steel short of going door to door, is to say it on the radio, which is strictly 
controlled anyway.
KB: We'd still have the phone system if the AIs hadn't taken down the phone companies.
BT: Los Angeles still has phones. Chicago still has phones. Lots of big cities have phones. The problem is 
that Neo-Haven refuses to unify, because we're still squabbling over land.
KB: And why, pray tell, is that? Do we have some disadvantage that other cities don't have?
BT: Yes! We were hit by the bomb during the nuclear disaster, we were hit by the flu during the fever 
years, and we were the AIs headquarters during the AI revolution. As a result, we have a very low 
population for a city this size. In addition, we have the mouth of the river, and the water is worst here. 
The result: very cheap labor. Intra-Industries was one of the first to learn: that in Neo-Haven, the people 
will work for food, water and shelter. Other corps followed. Since then, all five of them, Red Steel 
included, have been fighting to ensure that their labor stays cheap, and that they've got a lot of people to 
work for them.
KB: You're saying that all the corps try to keep the people poor? Talon wouldn't do anything like that. He 
wouldn't intentionally try to starve his people.
BT: Did someone attack our fearless leader, the wise and powerful Talon? He's no different from Shiva. 
He wants power, he wants money, and he wants lots of both. What do you expect from a corp whose main 
export is weapons?
KB: . Let's talk about the fever years. Now you have said that they were a good thing?
BT: I never said that. You seem rather eager to change the subject. Did I hit close to the target?
KB: No, it's just that that issue was getting tired. What did you say about the fever years?
BT: .I never would have said they were good- they were the most terrifying time of my life. Even though 
I was only nine or so, I still remember it clearly. The announcer on TV said that everyone in the town- 
me, my friends, my parents, my grandparents, all had a 7.7 percent chance of surviving the plague. That's 
a one out of thirteen chance of staying healthy? Every time I coughed, I would wonder, "Am I dying?"
KB: We all went though that. It was horrible. But how could you call that period good?
BT: I never said that! I said once, casually, that they reduced our nation's size by about eight percent, 
which was a very effective answer to the famine that overpopulation was creating.
KB: And what about the rumor that our old government started this plague, for precisely that reason?
BT: Don't believe it. Our government would have never intentionally killed US Citizens without good 
cause.
KB: Sure it had good cause: famine and overpopulation. The logic is clear: Thin out the sickly ones and 
you'll be left with a healthy country.
BT: You're listening to the propaganda too closely. We were much better off with the famine than we are 
now. At least then, you could bathe in the rivers. You can't do that today.
KB: But there was no guarantee that you'd get a square meal that day. Food was incredibly expensive, 
and as a result, hardly anyone could afford it.
BT: True, but isn't the same way now? There aren't many people who can't afford a can of soup, but 
soup's becoming harder to find. I think it says something about the times when Red Steel's gun factory is 
better outfitted, receives more funding, and has more employees than our soup factory, even though  much 
more people want a can of soup than a submachine gun. (Not that the hydroponics crap they try to pass off 
as soup counts as food anyway.)


	The power went out. The owner decided not to waste a battery on the radio. Trade street was as 
busy as usual-two or three customers window shopping. The shop owners could tell just by looking at 
them that each of the potential customers internally debated whether or not they could afford what was on 
display. The stores were empty, but the windows looked like Christmas. 
	A homeless guy rose from his nest among the rubble. He wondered what would happen to Mr. 
Trench. Kylobyte had said that Trench was up for treason. that usually meant death if he was found 
guilty, and exile if he wasn't. The homeless guy looked up at the overcast sky, which was beginning to 
bleed pale brown rain drops. He would try to find cover before the rain got to his skin.
	When the power came back, Kylobyte was finishing his interview. Armed guards (courtesy of 
Talon, Red Steel's mighty leader) were escorting Trench out of the radio station.