Wyd and Aurora meet the Master Manager [my entry to sci-fi & fantasy contest]

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(Edited)

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Wyd and Aurora expected the master manager to tell them something important. At the end of a workday, Aurora was tired and hoped the meeting would be brief. Wyd had a bad premonition.

"Wyd, Aurora, sit please." The master wasn't as cold as usual. His face was so expressionless that it was impossible to read his thoughts and feelings. "The reason I've called you is about your hobby. You're active bloggers on Hive?" Wyd and Aurora nodded. "I appreciate that. But you're not just bloggers, you maintain the blockchain. Witness? Right?" Wyd and Aurora nodded again. "And, you two are among the best witnesses on the Hive blockchain."

"It's not about who's better or worst," Wyd said. "It's about users' support. The reputation of a witness depends on the number of votes by users. Two of us have a high reputation."

"Glad to have people like you in my team," the master didn't hide his satisfaction. "I suppose that your high reputation permits you to get some information before ordinary users."

Aurora didn't like the way the meeting was going. There was something suspicious in the master's intention. She took a quick look at Wyd. He felt the same. She realized it's better not to take the word. Better let Wyd say what both of them think. Men always find the right words to say to each other, even if they're arguing. She had full confidence in Wyd. He was a strong person who talks what's on his mind and wasn't afraid of threats, especially the one to be sent on the poisoned Earth.

"You see, there are some articles on Hive that can damage the reputation of the company", the master finally got to the point. "Since the platform is decentralized and freedom of speech is guaranteed, it is impossible to suppress certain kind of content."

"Contents that contain plagiarism, unverified facts etc. can be downvoted to zero reputation, practically removed," Wyd explained briefly.

"It's not about downvoting," the master said. "It's about posting. There must be some way to disable posting articles of a specified kind, but to convince the authors that Hive is still the last oasis of freedom."

Aurora wanted to stand up and go out, but Wyd held her back.

"You two have to help the company," the master continued. "There must be an app that makes a post simply disappear after clicking the post button. But to be saved as a draft visible only to the author. In that manner, no one should make any suspect to censorship."

"I'm very sorry," Wyd said. "It's impossible to do. No witness would support something like that. Even if you get some witnesses to do that and succeed, other witnesses would build a new platform. So, that action is futile labour."

"So," the master was disappointed. "Does it mean: no?"

"It means: No. We won't do that."

"Okay. Think one more time before you make the final decision. You can take gravely consequences. The worst one is expatriation to the giant red desert. You're free to go now. Think once again."

Aurora and Wyd left the master's office in silence. Both expected this to happen, but not at this time.

Later Wyd found Aurora sitting on the bench looking at the horizon over red mountains. The sky was slowly turning red as the Sun was closer to the horizon. Phobos and Deimos appeared high in the sky. A big star close to the Sun was shining an intensive blue shine.

"You didn't miss any appearing of the Earth," Wyd commented her passion.

"I don't think the Earth is poisoned," Aurora was fascinated by the blue shine. "Hope that I'll do something so wrong to get expatriated to the Earth. I'm sick of this life. Maintenance machines that process users' pieces of information and offer them to clients. I feel like a robot."

"There are free settlements in the red mountains," Wyd said. "Expatriated didn't die in deserts. They started a new life. The rebellion started."

"What about Hive?"

"All the same. They will not take witnesses. No chance to change the blockchain their way."


This is my entry to Writing Club Sci-fi & Fantasy contest.



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Great story and interpretation of the theme! What if someone was sufficiently motivated to ruin Hive by creating massive whales and using their hive power to somehow damage the blockchain from within? Could Hive "fork" them out? If so, wouldn't that defeat the purpose of Hive as non-censorship platform? This is uncharted territory.

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