The Name's Oliver - Ben Oliver. Ch. 159: Duty vs Ethics, Pt. II

[ladybug53]

Oh no ... not an other one ! 

[RaiaDraconis]

Well my theory is now right out the window. These last few chapters have been amazing. The plight of these prisoners is heart-wrenching, if you really think about it. Whatever happens, I hope that Ben will be able to find some way of righting the terrible wrongs that are taking place here!

[Schipperke]

Thank you for the comments!

And I feel I should say something about why this episode ended when it did.  There's a lot of information Ben doesn't know and needs to find out, and really the only way for him to get the information is by talking to the inmates.  I was worried that it would be boring to read a long chapter that's nothing but two Sims talking to each other, so it seemed to me that breaking this part of the story into shorter bits would make it less of a hassle to read. 

This prison sequence is proving a challenge in several ways.  The whole story takes place on one lot, with a limited number of characters all dressed basically the same - so I take a bunch of screenshots and they all look pretty much alike.  Plus I feel the screenshots need to be taken walls-up, because it is a prison and the walls are omnipresent.  Taking screenshots with walls up, especially in small rooms, is definitely a challenge for me.  So between the lack of visual variety in the screenshots and the fact that there really isn't anything for Ben to do except talk to someone, I am trying to find ways to keep the story interesting.  And if it can't be interesting, at least it can be short. 

But you will be getting answers soon.  They are coming, I promise.

[Swirl-Girl]

Recently two musical geniuses in my town started a band. They called it "Pounding F5". I believe this is applicable. (They also do Beatles covers)

[Schipperke]

Recently two musical geniuses in my town started a band. They called it "Pounding F5". I believe this is applicable. (They also do Beatles covers)

You just lost me.  Applicable in what way?

[Swirl-Girl]

The F5 key refreshes the page you are on, so if you are in anticipation for something, you would repeatedly press it in hopes of something new. I thought it was very clever.

[Schipperke]

The F5 key refreshes the page you are on, so if you are in anticipation for something, you would repeatedly press it in hopes of something new. I thought it was very clever.

Oh, I see.  Yes, it was very clever - too clever for me! 

[Swirl-Girl]

Aw, don't feel bad, downloading my new pattern might cheer you up!

[Schipperke]

Aw, don't feel bad, downloading my new pattern might cheer you up!

New pattern?

*sound of running feet*

[Audren]

It can be very difficult to make updates full of conversation interesting, especially when you don't have a varied environment to complement the words. However, I find that the quality of the words, and the story that unfolds from them, is more than enough to carry through. Giving the readers time to gobble up tiny pieces of the plot at a time is extremely clever on your part.

[Wiry]

Schip, I envy your writing skills. I think the only way I can maintain readers is that they keep reading out of revulsion, I don't offer anything as riveting as what you've written, honestly the screenshots are second to the awesome dialog in yours 

[Schipperke]

Awww ... thank you very much, guys!

Wiry, I very much doubt that your readers keep reading out of revulsion!  Your poetry and riddles are surely big draws as well.  Not to mention the continuing suspense of wondering what Wiry's evil geniuses will get up to next.   

[Schipperke]

Blood Island, Part X

Diary Entry

"What is going on here?" I demanded of Brian.  "Tell me!"

"Well, it's the blues," he said.  "They're in charge."



I assumed he meant Warden Blue, and the other guards I had seen at a distance.  All of them had blue skin.  So what?

Brian gaped at me and repeated, "They're blues.  We're oranges."  Brian seemed to think the situation was self-evident.  Not to me, it wasn't.  Little by little I pried the story out of him.



Brian said that he and the other prisoners came from a small isolated town hidden in the hills.  He told me the name of the town, but I had never even heard of it.  In the town there were people with blue skin and others with orange skin.  A pernicious form of racism and discrimination had developed over time, with the "blues" becoming increasingly wealthy and powerful, while the "oranges" became second-class citizens.  Laws were passed ensuring separation of the two groups and securing the power base of the blues.

When the town of Barnacle Bay put out a call for tenders for someone to manage the prison, the blues from Brian's town saw an opportunity.  They bid low and gained the contract.

"And since then, they have used this place to incarcerate troublesome oranges," Brian finished up.



I couldn't believe what I was hearing.  Institutionalized racism?  "But I thought this place accepted prisoners from all over!" I said.  "What about them?"

Brian said, "They never stay very long.  The Warden finds some way to transfer them out to another institution.  I think he also tells people this place is full and can't accept any more prisoners."

If Brian was telling me the truth, the situation here was dire.  I asked him how he came to be here.

"I used to be an artist," he said sadly.  "A painter.  I loved to paint - that feeling of picking up my brush and creating something new - it was what I lived for.  What I used to live for, before I was convicted of creating subversive art and sent here."



Subversive art?  What on earth was that?

"I painted pictures showing blues and oranges mixing together as equals," Brian said.  "They said I was promoting subversive ideas that were dangerous to the social fabric.  The jury was unanimous in their verdict of guilty.  Of course," he said dryly, "the jury members were all blues."

I needed to think about all this.  Could I believe what Brian had told me?  I knew it would be a mistake to just believe whatever the prisoners said, but if he and Darren were telling the truth, Blood Island Penitentiary was perpetrating terrible abuses against the prisoners.  It seemed to me it amounted to genocide against the orange race.  IF it was true.  I needed to find some way to check on their stories.  I remembered that I needed to call De Luca while I was outside.  But my phone didn't seem to work in the courtyard either.  I asked Brian if he knew why the phone didn't work.

Brian led me around the corner and pointed out an object nestled against the building.



"But that's an air conditioner!" I pointed out.

"Air conditioner?  You think they'd waste money on air conditioning for us?" Brian said scornfully.  "It might have started out as an air conditioner, but they replaced all the inside workings with some sort of device that jams cell phone signals.  There is no way to call out except from the guards' phone."

Just then a loud buzzer sounded, signalling the end of the recreation period.  We had to go in.  My head was swimming with all I had been told. 

[Audren]

I had been wondering what was up with the orange and blue. Opposite colours on the colour wheel, so I suppose it makes sense (in a horrific way) that they'd have issues with each other. IF he's telling the truth, of course. 

[ladybug53]

This is quite interesting information . Ben needs to find a way to use his cell phone . He seems a little trapped in there but he's neither orange or blue . Good luck Ben !