Chapter 3 Addendum: Concern CEO Solomon's Radio Address

"It has been fourteen years since the Tragedy of the Meadowbrook. Fourteen years since the unspeakable acts of destruction wrought by Leviathan Twins killed many innocent men, women and children and fourteen years since the death of Algonquin Brahm, the Chief Mariner of the Ascendancy. It is on this day, the sixteenth of April, that we celebrate the remembrance of those that have fallen not only on the Meadowbrook, but those who are currently in the war against the Imaginos Alliance in Dimension Zero-Ten.

This Remembrance Day is different than the others. Many people are worried. Worried about the possibility of the defeat our men and women at the hands of the Imaginos. I will not lie to any of you; the situation on Central Earth is dire. Both the forces of Avian and the enemy are locked in what seems to be a tenuous stalemate. There is one thing that favors us in this situation however; experience.

The Imaginos Alliance are, in many ways, similar to the Celestial Four. They have power and plenty of it, but they lack the finesse and grace to wield that power correctly.

Much like the Celestial Four, we extended a hand of friendship to the people of Zero-Ten. We tried hard to introduce them to the vastness of the dimensional neighborhood and to bring them out of the meandering stupor they had been trapped in for so long. For a time we believed we were helping them, teaching them the civilized manner of life that should be the standard of all humanity. Yet much like animals, there lies an innate, instinctual behavior in those that have been in the dark and alone for so many years.

The Four could never learn true humanity. They were, for lack of a better term, monstrosities and mistakes of ours. The Imaginos and the people of Zero-Ten, while true humans, are remarkably similar to our failed Four. They are forever trapped in the fathomless depths of their own ignorance, lost to their most base instincts of survival to notice that we were trying to only help them. We were only trying to teach them.

They blame us for the Ziz. Even after we brought the Skylark there to personally assist in humanitarian efforts, they assaulted us. They lobbed their stones, threw their spears, yelling at us for our mistakes even after our attempts of redress. We tried over many months to reason with them, but all they wanted was payment in blood. And so as we were withdrawing, preparing to leave the dimension, their assassins made their way into the Skylark and killed James Grander, my dearest and oldest friend.

That insult alone was not enough. That one eye was not enough. More payment had to be made, this time by the citizens, the shareholders, the consumers of the Concern. They ravaged Central Earth. Massacred billions in the name of revenge.

And now they report their victories to their dimension. Claiming that this is vengeance for the Martian Genocide. They report that they have me personally trapped and that the 'end of the Concern is nigh.' That statement couldn't be any farther from the truth simply because of one fact: We have experience. We have conquered nature and beaten it at its own game. We have created dimensions, moved planets and we have even seen the birth of a universe. Yet throughout all of this, throughout our numerous successes, we have remained flawed. We have remained human.

The people of Zero-Ten are human, too, yes. But they have created and done so little in comparison to what we have done. While we weave the grand tapestry of the universe, they can only hope to grasp at a thread. That is what they are forever doomed to. That is their justified fate. Our experience makes us more human. Their experience has only made them more single-minded, more chaotic, more animal than civilized. A sad, pitiable existence.

And so, on this Remembrance Day, recall what it is that makes this endeavor one to die for. Your forefathers, grandparents, parents, brothers, sisters and neighbors have all sacrificed in some fashion to continue our way of life. Use this day and every day to personally thank each and every member of the Ascendancy and of the Concern that you see for allowing you and every one else the opportunity so many people in other realities will never get to experience.

Do this for the memory of the Meadowbrook, for the members of Avian and for all Mankind. Thank you and God bless."

Recorded by Ebenezer S. Solomon, Chief Executive Officer of the Macrocosmic Concern