Metropolis Fanfiction- The Mediator

‘The mediator between the head and the hands is the heart.’

Karl was a practical fellow. Over a decade of managing the central power house taught him not to waste his breath and efforts. Although formidable as a worker, he bore fools without judging them and thus his co-workers had taken his occasional measured reprimands as one would if one’s uncle were to give an enlightening telling off. Karl had little time for hatred. Anger, most definitely. But even that didn’t usually go on for long.

In this manner did Karl approach the settling of the events that had swept the underground factory complex and the workers’ City. Joh Frederson was much more convivial these days and had even invited Karl to speak at the newly formed Metropolis City Council. The workers delegates numbered a third of the council assembly and listened to Karl’s speeches with cautious acceptance.

The most pressing issue at the time was the construction of a large array of housing units for the workers. This was a topic for debate. Essentially, due to the tumult that had led to the reforms and social contract between the elite and the workers, the underground dwellings were unfit for living.

There had been a rushed and haphazard sheltering of the working population since the floods and explosions in many of the factories’ key loci of control. All this was organised by the roundtable Provisional Reform Committee where the workers’ committee members made up one half.

Controversy arose among many of the council members over the issue of whether the workers should continue to be put up in Metropolitan apartments as boarders for the duration of the construction process and moreover whether the units should be built as quickly as possible in order to lessen the time spent by the workers in the apartments of their former enemies.

‘By Maria!’ raged Urs Gotewald. ‘These elitist parasites were the cause of our ruin. They facilitated our miserable oppression with their complacency and indulgence. We cannot be like them! Did the great Maria not speak to us? Did she not find us worthy of her Teaching? These beasts in makeup and finery may appear superior to fools who have no concept of life beyond cloistered luxury but we have suffered too long under their dreaded yoke to accept their charity! What humiliation! Why, I heard one family were confined to their bedroom for meals and were refused the use of the restroom while accepting the so-called hospitality of these louses.’

As heads were raised in alertness in the converted hall of the planning department on the 48^th floor; a young delegate, Ernst Traven, raised his hand. The convenor gave him the signal to stand.

‘The respected delegate is not ill-informed. It is well known to us that these new circumstances have caught us unprepared. We are not used to this. The elite has long suppressed us, we have toiled away under the ground living in ignorance and drudgery. The generations which preceded us never questioned their place. But things have changed. Yes, among the elite there remain attitudes that must be corrected or at least we must erect a defence against them. Among the workers, we are all together on this. Convenor, may I ask the respected delegate a direct question?’

‘For the sake of discussion, you may. Although in future, questions and statements must be addressed to the chairperson’

‘Do you propose that the workers live in hastily built slums or cities of the future?’

Urs answered. ‘By Maria, you know as well as I do that we workers deserve nothing but the best after all we’ve been through. However if it means grovelling at the feet of an elite who value us so poorly, then we must choose dignity!’

Ernst replied. ‘The plans are almost finished. They require the signatures of all of two thirds of the delegates. If the workers vote en bloc against the plan, it will be scrapped. The foundations of the workers quarter are almost finished and it is the consensus of the entire council that has ensured they will be impeccable when completed. After all, the underground water canals in that area make it impossible to build substandard foundations lest they endanger the rest of the city.’

‘I put it to the entire council that the plans are unsatisfactory. The apartments are drab, made of leak-prone material. What’s more the rooms are poky and look as if they are made for dwarves.’ The room murmured with laughter.

‘But gentlemen, this is serious. I say we call a meeting of the workers bloc and discuss the issue this evening at a private session.’

A few minutes later the hall was empty and the workers made their way down the elevators and out into the street.

Karl stopped at the newspaper stand where Ernst was contemplating an issue of ‘Maria’s Call’.

‘You speak well, lad. What do you make of this nonsense?’

He replied. ‘There is only one thing to do at the moment. It’s what comes afterwards that matters. That idiot Urs is not going to resist their seeing sense, I’m sure of that. He can’t win on tonight’s vote. But how do we make sure we get our houses?’

‘It’s a tough job laddie, let me think about it. What do you say to a pint in that tavern there?’

The two men strolled into the upmarket alehouse, confidently and seriously. The glares were few in number. The overalls that were their kit in the pre-flooding days had been replaced with management attire. The barman forced a tepid smile.

‘What can I do for you?’

‘Two pints of amber,’ Karl enunciated with businesslike decorum.

Once they had sat down Ernst spoke. ‘We have to get another reform passed. We’re at deadlock. They’ve come a long way but it just can’t stay like this. Otherwise our brothers and sisters will fall into the hands of stuntmen like Urs.’

‘You’ve said it. We have to consider the options. If you don’t act carefully, you’re likely to inflame Urs even more. And the last thing you want to do is sound like you’re soft-pedalling the elites.’

‘It’s absurd that that crazed activist is warped enough to even think that. It seems like everything exists for his personal glory. I’m sure all he wants to do is split off a group of us and go on some half- baked misadventure endangering all we’ve worked for’

Karl’s brow furrowed. ‘You don’t know that. We must deal with what we know. And what we know is that if this delicate peace is to remain and our rights to be preserved, we must get the reform passed.’

The task was to reformulate the council so the workers had not only the power to veto acts but also the power to pass them. They needed either to acquire somehow a majority of seats or overhaul the managed democracy Frederson had conceded to them.

‘A strike is out of the question’ Karl declared. ‘We may need that weapon later.’

‘What is needed is that we get unity among our lot first and make sure we know what we’re doing. We will get a veto tonight. And the last thing we want to do is stir some of the Metropolis elite’s old guard. Some of them are pretty one-eyed about Frederson’s redemption.’

Ernst took a draft of his ale and looked around at the clientele. Some were lounging back in their chairs looking nothing in particular, languidly contemplating the general air of the place.

A group of metropolitans were engaged in dialogue with one man sitting back in self-possessed disdain, another pointing to the table in a gesture of earnest debate while the rest passively listened with varying degrees of seriousness.

Ernst exhaled, watching the afternoon sun pick its table with soft light rippling only as two well-dressed women strode past the ale house gracefully abandoning it to its half-hearted composure.