Influencer Dh

Influencer

Given Name Only

Age 20 E-E

(Influencer Dh sits across from me at the table, messing with the neck chain.)

CN: Name?

Dh: Influencer Dh.

CN: Profession?

Dh: Influencer.

CN: Preferred pronouns?

Dh: Given name only.

CN: Age and by which planetary standards?

Dh: Twenty years by Eas-Enerang, don-chad-know.

CN: Don-chad-what? Is there something wrong with your translator?

Dh: Oh, I just made a cuppa, two, tree adjustments here and dare to make myself sound more like I belong to da Midwest region dat is host to – what I believe – is da greatest city of pre-conquest District 1, Chicago. Archaeological records showed it was da heavy metal capital. Imagine what da population center would have been like back den? Elevated railways, da Art Institute of Chicago, da Columbian Exposition. I hope I get a chance to make pilgrimage to da ruins before I die, don-chad-know.

CN: I see that you are wearing clothing like that of human attire.

Dh: What about it, eh?

CN: Anuh-Kaj do not normally wear clothes.

Dh: It gets cold in dese human and huwaty establishments. Besides, I believe my life energies must have belonged to an ancient Chicagoan because I feel a real connection, don-chad-know.

(Dh puffs up the jacket.)

CN: Right…so what does an influencer do?

Dh: Basically, a marketer who uses product knowledge and relationships on da mass communication platforms to sell tings offered by sponsors to audiences. In my case, da audiences are migrant workers who I must convince to spend what was hard earned on what amounts to junk.

CN: Why do you have a job that focuses on customers purchasing items? Is it not a job that humans and huwaty get because of close relations to monetary exchanges? Not to mention the requirement of a certain amount of dishonesty that comes with marketing, which the Anuh-Kaj have difficulty reaching alone.

Dh: Usually, but it is a position I was given upon my leaving da bivouac. I do not like it because it is a profession dat plays on customer impulsiveness to keep people in poverty but like every oder subject, I get needs and establishment access for da time I put into my work instead of currency like non-subjects. If I do not do da job I was given, da sponsors report me, and all my access gets revoked. Va was able to utilize accumulated connections and resources to adapt to an existence witout services from da Apiary, but many of my kind lack such, don-chad-know. We would end up being condemned to a witering premature death outside of our society’s readily available and largely monopolized amenities, dough dat might change as non-subjects and anuh-kaj come to understand each oder more over time. For da lying bit, anuh-kaj are surprisingly sought after since our inability make our content highly trustwordy to our followers and valuable to our sponsors.

CN: I noticed that there currently appears to be visible division within the Anuh-Kaj for the first time in your species’ recorded history. Do you possibly know why this seems to be the case?

(Dh points at the cybernetic devices sitting above the eyes.)

Dh: You see dese tings, eh?

CN: Yes.

Dh: Dey are da reason, don-chad-know. We anuh-kaj transfer all our mental information between each oder telepatically, but we cannot do so wit members outside of our species. Da closest of which we achieved was da sharing of emotions trough da creation of dese telempatic devices. Dare were many of my kind who accepted dese inventions wit da belief dat making it easier for subjects and non-subjects to understand each oder, would furter advance da Apiary. Many more of my kind rejected da devices, wit da belief dese inventions treatened to take away da societal privileges we have.

CN: Are the fears founded on reality?

(Dh shrugs.)

Dh: Ehh, somewhat. Fairly gained privileges are in no danger, while unfairly gained privileges are being targeted. Unfortunately, dare is a lot of unfairly gained privileges among Apiary subjects, don-chad-know. For instance, my kind are born wit privileges dat everyone else will never get, since da Apiary’s system never had da foretought to include da possibility of alien races. Dare is no law to distribute dose privileges in a balanced manner among everyone because it has been a matter of fact da Anuh-Kaj was always born into. I believe I and oders who got telempatics implanted never noticed dis, until we felt da misery of dose born witout dose same privileges being preyed on by da system. I realized dat not using what I have at my disposal to help da marginalized, knowing what I know now, would only serve to continue da injustice and makes me complicit. For da ones who refused da implants, it was done due to da fear of seeing and feeling what our people did as wrong.

CN: Did you explain that it is not what you are born with that makes you good or bad, but what you do with it after it is learned about?

Dh: Oh you bet-chad, absolutely. Dose folks just do not want to feel da shame over benefiting from someting dat worked out for us at da expense of oders quite well overall. Very open about wanting noting to change, so instead I’m called a race traitor, don-chad-know.

CN: How do the reactions of other highly privileged Apiary subjects compare to the reactions of your species, when found out that you seek to undo unfair privileges?

Dh: Nearly more of da same for da most part…except for when you get to da human subjects, don-chad-know. When confronted wit having unfair privileges over non-subjects, human subjects will become very defensive and more so dan any oder of da Apiary. Goes even as far as to straight lie to your face even when confronted wit undeniable evidence – claiming to be from or at equal disadvantage, or da real victim – to vindicate one’s own narrow self-benefit playing a role in conserving an unjust system. Da Apiary’s cetacean and huwaty subjects have been known to partake in dese claims too occasionally, but human subjects are da worst to da point of being habitual. Dose folks even try to say dat getting rid of unfair privileges or giving da marginalized a better chance to achieve universal equity, would somehow be what is called da – da…what is it called? Ah right – “slippery slope,” where it would end in da elimination of all privileges or give da marginalized all da unfair advantages, don-chad-know.

CN: You are not afraid of that possibility?

Dh: Nah. No anuh-kaj are. Dare are anuh-kaj afraid of losing deir unfair privileges, but not all privileges because we all know how ludicrous dat notion is. Non-subjects are marginalized because day have little say in da Apiary, since my people have been and still are its rule makers. My kind will surely always continue be so in some shape or metod, even if it means having to share power wit alien races. What could possibly devolve into da slippery slope feared in dis situation? It is always directed against people trying to fight against injustice, never da ones causing da harm in da first place, don-chad-know. Notice da ones who tend to supposedly worry about da slippery slope are da same who just happen to be living better dan oders because of how da system currently functions; or at da very least, hope to attain dat type of life one day.

CN: With something seen as such a threat to the Apiary’s power structure, how did the Anuh-Kaj scientists manage to create and release the telempathics to the public?

Dh: It revolves around our species’ ability to telepatically transfer information. Da Anuh-Kaj share all personal toughts, feelings, and information via direct in-person eye contact, which is why we never had a written language. As some important bits would disappear for good whenever certain individuals or groups would die off, using A.I. to store audio and visual records at Memory Trace Libraries became da norm, don-chad-know. Around da beginnings of Colonial Tir-Torzor however, entire sections of libraries were restricted, and communication between da public and select personnel witin our society were forbidden. Eye contact between dese personnel and oder anuh-kaj risked telepatic connections dat could reveal classified information, so da offender or offenders had to be immediately executed to keep secrets. Included among dese restricted personnel are our scientists, wit many kept in isolated facilities troughout da rest of life to run experiments.

A lot of experiments took place in facilities on Tir-Torzor for different reasons and varying degrees of etics, don-chad-know. You had goals dat were not all too defined because da experiments were purely out of da sake of curiosity, like tainting da water supply of indigenous populations wit dangerous hallucinogens to see da effects, or da creation of da ogi-ni.

CN: Ogi-ni?

Dh: Da hexapedal machines operated by intelligent slime molds. You probably saw a few wandering around during your visit here to dis planet. Dose are everywhere on Tir-Torzor.

Den dare were reasons wit clear goals, like making lobsurtle more aggressive to produce higher organic resource yields or testing a weapon dat generates tornadoes to clear da natives off lands wanted by da colonial autorities.

Den, dare was da experiment dat resulted in da creation of telempatic devices, like dese over my eyes. Wit only several scientists running operations inside each facility wit no constant contact wit da overall anuh-kaj population, da sense of what was deemed acceptable was informed less by intimate mass tought and became more reliant on personal experiences, don-chad-know. Da scientists behind telempatics developed da desire to invent da devices, believing dat making da Apiary more inclusive would improve everyone’s lives. However, da scientists figured dose in charge would not approve, so da devices were formed in secret in between da assignments ordered. Da personnel had meticulous scientific notes and building instructions for da telempatics recorded by A.I., which in addition held records of every experiment da facility was involved in – harmless and harmful. Once finished, all da records were smuggled out and disseminated somehow witout knowledge by autorities.

Sorry, but da way it was done made it impossible for da Anuh-Kaj not involved to know da exact details, don-chad-know.

CN: That is okay. I am curious, why did the scientists also reveal a bunch of evidence of the Apiary’s experiments?

Dh: For da sake of accountability and to help convince anuh-kaj to help non-subjects fight against da status quo for da cause of universal equity. By da time da autorities noticed what was going on, a sizable amount of my people was using telempatic devices and trying to find ways to help da marginalized, don-chad-know. It was too late to do anyting about da security breach but sadly, da scientists responsible for it all were bombed in retaliation after being convicted in absentia of treason. Da tought of da sacrifice dose scientists made still inspire me to take risks for people who need da help.

CN: How do you help non-subjects on your end of things?

Dh: I was born into a position of privilege, and whatever activism I do is polluted by career interests. I am a terrible model of what a true revolutionary for change should be, but it does not mean I cannot still find avenues dat place brands and career below doing what is right, don-chad-know. I try to slip in dedicated segments for stuff dat promotes PROHU causes and events, witout getting cracked down by my sponsors. Sometimes I get sent coded messages by anonymous PROHU activists, which I find ways to broadcast in my various promotions. I do not know what any of da messages mean but it must be working because I still get contacted by dose activists, don-chad-know. Recently, my human friends are teaming up wit me developing an educational talk segment for anuh-kaj on how to work wit non-subject humans. Our first one is going to be discussing words to avoid and deir history…slurs to be more exact. Like, verman –

(Dh tries to cover own mouth out of sudden realization of the mistake.)

Dh: Whoops.

(Dh is accosted by A.I. Unit#1312’s elderly charge by the name of Tad Foster, who angerly expresses deep offense to the word’s utterance. Dh tries to apologize while Unit#1312 holds Foster back, who is now starting to cry. The A.I. unit pulls Foster away, then states that it will return for its interview after dropping him off back at the nursing home. Dh soon talks with a calm Rajitha Bakshi, Nic, and Jamal Little-Summerhill, about what sounded like long simmering issues. Afterwards, Dh quietly sits back down at the table stunned before removing the hat off the head.)

Dh: I feel shame now. I apologize but I need to go and make some self-improvements. Good day and tanks for inviting me. It was an honor.

CN: Thank you for your contribution.

- End of Recorded Interview -