Written by Shan-Mei
Beatrice’s house has been uncovered by the police of the city. Apparently, it was built illegally, and she is in court as of now. The police had mercilessly demolished her house and she is desperately appealing to the higher courts in the city to have her case heard better.
The desert is owned by the city. All our houses were built illegally, as we built our own houses. We are clinging onto the hopes that the fact that we live in the desert means that the police cannot raid our town. However, if the police finds any one of our houses, they will find all the houses together because we are a town where all the houses are decently close together. This is why all the town are so shaken by the discovery of Beatrice’s house, as the officials may make an emphasis on discovering illegal housing.
The town still prepares ourselves for the worst. Tom has drafted up a ranking of how close we are to war with the police. They are namely Defcon 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, Defcon 5 being the least threatened and Defcon 1 being on the verge of war. At the moment, the town is at Defcon 4.
Defcon 1 is named “Cocked Pistol.” In this Defcon, we are preparing for a certain war against the police. The houses will be temporarily demolished (we are fast builders) as we hone our skills against the police.
Defcon 2 is named “Fast Pace.” We prepare disclaimers in our houses and we also justify why we should keep our houses, even though they are illegal. We also start to expect war against the police.
Defcon 3 is named “Round House.” The police have a set of things that we aren’t allowed to add in our houses. These include information about the police, mentions of the police and other city officials, and mentions of people’s names. We thoroughly help each other review the contents within our house.
Defcon 4 is named “Double Take.” We remove all explicit references to the city and the police from our house. We also must be cautious of what goes into and out of our hosues.
Defcon 5 is named “Fade Out.” This is where everything is normal and we break the above policies to our hearts’ content.
Beatrice will have her trial tomorrow. We will have to see how she goes - all the town is extremely nervous for the outcome.
Beatrice has gone into court today with all cameras on her. After some questioning looking at remnants of her house, the judges decide that they will legalise the house, provided she doesn’t put up information in her house about a section of the officials namely “science.” The judges were also impressed with her design and her house and they support her in the project of publicising uncommon info about the officials. However, Beatrice decided to not build her house in the same place, and the judges did not mind being not knowing where she will build her house.
The town rejoiced at the news. We were moved back to Defcon 5, however we must still be cautious that we do not get found out by the city folks.
Yes, Beatrice decided to relocate to the town!! She was invited in with a huge welcome (acceptance rate at 100%) and she was immediately overwhelmed with the amount of activity that happened in the town verses in the city.