Year: 2084
"There is still much talk over who will win the next General Election on the planet Zius." The EBC reporter announced. "The current Zius government feels they could lose to the Global League, who already control the planet Reid and IO. Should this be the case, then they could end up imposing a Feudal status on the planet as has happened on others.
"Zius is going through a series of problems following the loss of an important export deal with Sirus."
I switched the telly off. It was quite interesting to watch Earth news about Zius (pronounced Zy-us), living on Zius. They don't have a clue what it is like up here; at least we don't have smog; at least we have forests!
My name is Samuel, friends call me Sam. My mother, brother and sister moved out here from Earth less than five years ago. I later moved in with my friend Phil when we both started studying at University.
There was talk about the Global League gaining power of Zius over the Citizen's Democratic Party which was in power now, but I didn't think much of it. If, by a million to one chance, they did get in, the people wouldn't stand for any shit. Let me tell you about the Global League.
The Global League is the ruling party of a planet called Xaxis. Xaxis is ruled by women, men are used for slave labour. The women, you see, have special powers, which the men don't.
When members of Earth discovered new planets and began populating them, the planets formed a league of members, and began forming Political Parties. Xaxis and Sirus, were, like Earth, already populated and had their own race. They looked like humans, but had slight differences, magical powers.
When the Allied Space Federation was formed, Sirus and Xaxis put in applications to join, however, their policies for holding men as slaves were frowned upon. In order to gain entry, Sirus released its slaves, and reformed itself. However, Xaxis formed its own alliance with a number of planets. The Xaxian Empire was formed, and a number of already Allied planets signed a contract to join Xaxis too. Why not? Increased funding, etc, what was so bad in that?
Soon the moon/planet, IO, was in elections, with the Global League a clear winner, then followed Reid. However, the Global League still had to abide by Allied rules on the planets, to an extent. Soon Global League made laws which satisfied themselves and the Allieds. The new law stated that all men were free, there would be no camps as in Xaxis; however, male attire was banned, and any male entering into marriage immediately became the property of his wife. This satisfied Xaxis, and it also satisfied the Federation, because men still had the option not to get married. It did not satisfy all men…
Which brings us back to Zius, a free world with little or few problems; except the fact that the state is running out of money, even though resources are high. They built too quickly, spending all funds.
Right now though, uni was more important than the government. I had also just lost my girlfriend, so my concentration was now on uni and uni only!
I was studying in my room one night when I heard the flat door slam. I looked at the clock and noticed it had just gone 2 am. Jesus! It'd be light in a couple of hours. Remembering that 2 am was about the normal time Phil got home from the pub, I ignored the door and decided to get some sleep. My head had just touched the pillow when I heard Phil's voice.
"It's just through there, I'll be right in." He said.
Well…Phil must have pulled! I thought.
"Okay, see you in a sec." Said the other voice; it was a man's voice.
Phil must have bumped into a friend, I thought, probably needed a place to stay.
In the morning, whoever it was was gone.
Two weeks later
"Don't forget to vote, Sam." Said Sarah. She was a gorgeous girl from my class, but she had her head right up her arse! Arrogant bitch!
"I won't. Who're voting for?"
"Global." I should've guessed. She was gagging at the chance to control some men! "You?"
"Mars Coalition."
"Oh, aren't you the capitalist?" She said sarcastically.
"Well, I would've thought you would be too if you are studying Management and Economics?"
She just smiled and walked off. Phil joined me as I walked towards the underground station.
"She's a bitch that Sarah." I said.
"Fit as fuck though, can't say much with a dick in her mouth."
"Aye, you're not wrong there mate!"
We both went to the polling station to place our vote, then got some beers and microwave food from the local shop. At home we sat in Phil's room watching the votes coming in. They would know the official result by three am.
"Who did you vote for anyway mate?" I asked.
"Oh, the Democrats again; didn't really know who else to vote for." He said.
"Right. You could've voted for the Mars Coalition."
"You vote for them?" I nodded. He laughed. "You only voted for them because they plan to legalise drugs!"
"Damn right!"
We sat drinking beer after beer until the official results were shown. Something in the room caught my eye at one point.
"Where'd you get that dressing table mate?" I asked.
"Oh that? It belonged to my mum, I needed something to write on and stuff, so she gave me that."
I made an 'Oh' sign with my mouth.
Soon enough the results were displayed.
"So here they are." Said the newscaster. "Earth Space Alliance, 4%; Mars Coalition, 6%." I threw my arms in the air in surrender.
"Shhhh!!!!!!" Said Phil.
"Citizen's Democratic Party, 29%. Global League, 48%. Others make up the rest. Global League are the clear winners of the Zius General Election. We expect a speech from the new President, Shaya T'haan soon."
"Switch it off mate. No, better yet, I'm going to bed." I said.
Next day at University, Sarah and her friends were giving high-fives.
"Hey slave, how come you aren't in proper female clothing?" She shouted, getting laughter from her friends, and the finger from me. "Ew, I'm going to have to remember you did that. Bet you weren't so happy with Phil were you?"
"What d'you mean?" I asked.
"I mean, he voted for Global too."
"No he didn't, he voted for Citizen's."