The Creation of The Ossuary
Stories of the City #0 - My first entry into The City Repository
Reading time: approximately 6 minutes
Hello, my darlings! 💖 Here is the first of many stories that take place in the City. More fiction, less commentary, as I promised in my previous post. I hope you enjoy it!
Note: To my beloved critique group & beta readers who are kind enough to be subscribed to my Substack: please no spoilers in the comments! Thank you! 💖
TEHAMA, CITY OF THE FUTURE
CITY ORDINANCE #3977
AN ORDINANCE relating to land use and zoning; to develop the substrata and caverns under the City to protect and shelter hybrid citizens.
WHEREAS, a small but growing number of City residents do not conform to the established genetic safety parameters programmed into the City’s genetic scanners;
WHEREAS, residents who fail genetic tests can no longer move freely between the common areas of the City and individual Nations’ residential areas;
WHEREAS, hybrid citizens have become permanently unhoused;
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF THE FUTURE AS FOLLOWS:
Section 1. A new Section 29.5 to the Municipal Code is adopted as follows:
29.5 A Permanent Hybrid Dwelling Space shall be constructed for the future of the City’s citizens.
The Hybrid Dwelling Space shall be constructed in the substrata and caverns of the gorge walls under the current City. Each of the Four Nations represented in the City is responsible for constructing residential spaces under their respective residential areas in the City. The City itself will oversee construction of hybrid common areas under the City common areas.
Plans for the construction must be submitted from each Nation and can only proceed with approval from the City Council. Plans must be submitted within 90 days of the Ordinance taking effect.
29.5.1 Hybrid Dwelling Space amenities.
The Hybrid Dwelling Spaces will have amenities of equal quality to amenities found in the City, including but not limited to: education resources, automated health stations, sufficient and nutritious food machines, recreation areas, individual and family private living quarters, and 3D replicators. Support for these amenities will also come from all Four Nations.
29.5.2 Hybrid Dwelling Space citizen rights.
Hybrid residents of the Hybrid Dwelling Space have the rights to self-organize and self-police in the confines of the Hybrid Dwelling Space, the same as the Four Nations in their own residential areas. The hybrid population will be monitored by the City as required for public health and safety. Hybrid Dwelling Space residents have the right to vote in City elections at the currently established polling places.
Section 2. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force immediately after its approval by the Mayor, but if not approved and returned by the Mayor within ten days after presentation, it shall take effect as provided by Municipal Code Section 1.04.02.
PUBLIC COMMENTS (archive)
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You can’t be serious with this. You know there’s no way I’ll sign it, right? You have to know that.
gemma lee, 6/12/166
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Mayor Lee, the situation has gotten out of hand. Do you like seeing people camping all over the common spaces, with no where to go?
claudira matsumodo, 6/12/166
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That’s even more disingenuous of you than usual, Claudira.
gemma lee, 6/12/166
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Gives new meaning to the phrase ‘bury the problem.’ The City doesn’t do charity. We have a mission from the Four Nations to engineer solutions to fix the climate. There are other places in the Four Nations where advanced genetic work is being done; send them there.
orlan reese, 6/12/166
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This is a bigger issue than the City was designed to handle.
zyre geary, 6/12/166
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We are a community, and our citizens aren’t problems, they are people that we need to support. I can’t believe you all.
abagale simmons, 6/12/166
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Oh and there she is, right on cue. Have you ever once considered thinking for yourself, Simmons? Did you even read the bill? Do you even know how to do anything other than blindly agree with the mayor? How do you keep winning elections? Nobody votes for you.
shaw espinoza, 6/12/166
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We can’t just herd people into what is essentially an ossuary and pretend they don’t exist.
gemma lee, 6/12/166
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That’s hyperbole, Gemma. Stop grandstanding. We need a real solution to house these hybrids and your continued attacks don’t help provide anyone with shelter.
xavis gorecki, 6/12/166
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Widen the acceptable limits on the genetic scanners. Problem solved.
gemma lee, 6/12/166
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That’s not a serious proposal and you know it.
xavis gorecki, 6/12/166
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It sounds like a reasonable solution. If the tech isn’t solving the problem, adapt the tech.
diyana macek, 6/12/166
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You mean, adapt the people. We need to keep the genetic lines stable—that’s why we have the scanners and tests in the first place. If the hybrids don’t pass the test, their genetic code has strayed too far from stability and it’s a miracle they are even alive and have bodies that aren’t trying to shut down. All Four Nations have standard protocols for genetic intervention. Why are we trying to re-invent the wheel here? This is a public safety issue.
zyre geary, 6/13/166
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This is a political issue that will negatively impact real people’s lives.
The whole reason we can’t follow previously-established protocols is because the City isn’t part of a Nation. That was the point of building it—to be the first place where members of all Nations live together and pool resources to fix the climate. Our mandate isn’t just the science, it’s to re-learn how to live together. This is part of re-learning.
abagale simmons, 6/13/166
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Maybe some people need to re-learn with less…enthusiasm. Then we wouldn’t be having this little problem.
shaw espinoza, 6/13/166
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Sure. Why don’t we just brick wall the entire City into 4 quadrants and have no inter-Nation interaction at all. We’ll just throw white papers over the walls at each other every couple of weeks.
gemma lee, 6/13/166
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Do we know why the proposal suggests the new Hybrid Dwelling Space be underground? The City owns plenty of land on the plain and spires above the gorge.
claudira matsumodo, 8/23/166
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Great question. Who submitted this proposal? Do they care to explain themselves? @xavis
gemma lee, 8/23/166
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It was an anonymous submission that came in through the City Council citizen comment network.
xavis gorecki, 8/23/166
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Those are traceable. If you cared to order it. But I guess then we’d all know who keeps proposing all these appalling bills that are thinly-veiled power grabs.
gemma lee, 8/23/166
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I’m serious, @xavis. Don’t put this in front of the Council. It’s inhumane. It goes against everything the City stands for.
gemma lee, 1/17/167
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It’s too late now, Gemma. You should have come up with a better proposal. If you had the votes to push anything through. But you don’t. Which means you haven’t the slightest idea what this City stands for. It’s past time for you to retire.
xavis gorecki, 1/18/167
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If I do, will you pull this bill from the agenda?
gemma lee, 1/18/167
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No.
xavis gorecki, 1/18/167
Session Results
Passed by the City Council the 3rd day of February, Year 167 After Nations Founded, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its passage February 3, 167 A.F.N.
Xavis Gorecki, President of the City Council
Vetoed this 4th day of February, 167 A.F.N.
Gemma Lee, Mayor
Overruled in open session this 5th day of February, 167 A.F.N.
Xavis Gorecki, President of the City Council
Thank you for reading! If you are enjoying your time in the City and would like to go on to the next story, click here to read Postmortem, Part 1. 💖
This is AMAZING.
I am IN.
Wow 🤩 I didn't expect this! It's a very intriguing start, very well written and above all the format is genius! So well fitted for the medium in which you're publishing. I'm really excited that you started writing and publishing your fiction and I'm looking forward to reading more. Well done, great start!