In one of the billions of solar systems that make up the 17th sector of the Andromeda Galaxy, the third planet from the sun is known as Terana.
The solar system was formed four-and-a-half billion years ago at the same time as our own.
Terana is a class Z3T planet and everything from its geology, geography, flora, fauna, hominins, language, culture and religions mirrors the Earth’s.
Terana’s continents, seas, countries, cities, towns, mountains, forests and lakes have different names to the Earth’s. Otherwise, the planets have experienced identical evolutions.
Powerful opposing forces are battling to control Terana and the future of its eight billion human inhabitants.
Chapter One
At 10 o’clock on Saturday morning four days after the national elections, Daniel Acer sat down at the famous mahogany desk in the Round Office in the Scarlet House in Jesmanton. A stack of briefing notes was piled neatly in front of him but he didn’t bother to even glance at them. He just reached for the intercom and asked his vice premier to join him.
When Mark Penny walked into the room, Acer said, “Well. What can you tell me?”
Penny, a stickler for good manners, replied, “Good morning, Mister Premier. First of all, Melba Parnell and Leanna Ellison have unearthed a mountain of evidence that Gregory Horus and the usual suspects’ have ties to Prosoc. And they can prove anyone with even the most basic skills could hack into the Prosoc machines and flip votes.
“Melba and Leanne also tell me they have so many people coming forward to say they witnessed skulduggery they are having to take on additional staff to deal with the workload.”
“What about Rory, how’s he getting on?”
“The same story, Mister Moretti is snowed under with whistle-blowers who saw illegal votes being counted and the number of reports of our poll watchers being denied access by the Liberal controlled cities is overwhelming.
“Rory’s also putting together a team of data analysts and IT experts to track down how and where the voting tallies were manipulated.”
Acer stood up and walked over to look out of the bay windows. The massive Scarlet Oak trees that had lined the front drive of the premier’s residence in the capital of the United States of Avalon for hundreds of years were losing their leaves but they were still an inspiring sight.
“And the bad news.”
Penny took a deep breath before answering, “We’ve got a very limited amount of time to put our case together and file our suits. Meanwhile, the media are doing everything they can to convince the people Lydon won. They are calling him the presumptive premier and are claiming there’s zero evidence of vote-rigging. Even Reynard TV say Lydon won fair and square and you should concede.”
Acer turned back to the room and said, “McCloud is a double-crossing shit.”
“Leopards don’t change their spots, Sir. The signs were there before the election. Reynard News has been riding both horses in this race for some time. McCloud always wants to be on good terms with the winner. It’s just business for him.”
“Reynard’s ratings will tank under Lydon and the economy will go into free fall.
“McLoud knows that. He must be planning to buy up empty property and bust companies for pennies on the dollar.
“He’s eighty-four and one of the richest men on the planet, any profit he’ll end up making will go to his kids. He knows they’re so dumb he’ll have to leave them trillions or they’ll end up homeless soon after he’s gone.”
Penny replied, “I don’t know what McCloud’s intentions are, but I am sure he was aware the Liberals had a plan, some sort of insurance policy.
“Jim Lydon hardly left his home in the last six months. That wasn’t an accident. Lydon Tweedy was the weakest ticket ever and the Liberals knew they had no chance with a normal campaign.
“So they wrapped Lydon in cotton wool and spent billions on ads, used the press to attack you continuously and fixed the opinion polls to show Lydon was miles ahead to prepare the public to accept him as the winner.
“All the while they have been working quietly in the background on their insurance policy.”
Acer nodded and said, “Then when I was way ahead in the early counting on election night, they panicked and stopped the counts while they tweaked their insurance policy to find the extra Lydon votes they needed to beat me.”
“That’s what everything points to, Sir. Now, all we have to do is prove it in the courts.”
Click here for -> Chapter Three
Click here for -> Chapter Four