ARC 3: Clear Blue Water

ARC undefinedClear Blue Water is the 3rd released episode of Station Arcadia.

It is the first to take place in the Gannon Islands. It also introduces the main character Axel Moore and other side characters from the Gannon Islands, like Hayyacynth Russel and Caden Acer.

Pre-Story
Kass has problem with the station tech and Jo helps with the issue. Jo mentions that Kass is from Talsoria and asks whether or not they should be good with tech. Kass answers that that is a myth and that Lyssel is the exception to that. Jo then leaves to fill out some paperwork.

Before Jo can leave Kass asks which button she has to press to switch frequencies. Jo says the yellow one and then is gone. Kass says they're blind and then starts the story.

Part I:
The Story follows Caden Acer, a scientist and their connection with politics.

They are not political by nature and didn't follow politics until the last fall when they voted for the mayor of Oko and realized in the process of the gathering information that all the politicians evade answering questions.

They are not exactly dreading the general election that year but they are also not looking forward to it and much less expected to be involved in it, but they are. They were brought into Premieral candidate Hayyacynth Russels staff as a scientist in June the year before.

Madame Russels plan when winning the election is building a dam on island 8 and with it generating loads of energy, the plan would be fine with the fish populations but the problem would be Methyl mercury poisoning.

The story then goes back hundrets of years on the Gannon islands telling the story of a dam created on Island 6. There the methyl mercury build up above the dam and bioaccumulated in the fish and game around. 3 Years after the building of the dam the people noticed the mercury levels and the effect. The politicans at the time told the people living down stream to eat few or no fish but fish is a huge part in their diet and the damage was already done. The people from the village got offered homes else where the village got abandoned and the dam destroyed, the effects of the poisoning lasted decades and the Gannon Island resolved to never make the mistake again. A year before the current time a group of scientists have found a chemical compound that could help with the mercury in the water and Caden was specifilally brought in to say if the plan would be safe.

Part II (after the first part of the transmission):
Kass is surprised that both parts are connected and then reads more of Cadens story.

Caden was exited to work with the compound and figuring out the usage and side effects and long term effects. They spend a lot of time in the lab the following months to meet the goal of having positive results before the first political panel.The results they got didn't make any sense as the by-product should have been harmless and it worked in a test-tube but as soon as Caden did more complex simulations it didn't work. Two weeks before the panel they finally found why, a chemical left over form the invasion by the Empire and it would be impossible to remove it fully and even the smallest amount would create a powerful poison.

If the plan went through the consequences would be disastrous and they barely had a week left till the first panel. They messaged Madame Russel about it immediately and also added their professor and asked to meet them as soon as possible. The next day they meet up and told Madame Russel about it. Madame Russel listened closely and then said that they will find a way to make it save before the dam is finished.

Caden asked if that means that they should try and make the dam a viable option, which would make it a much longer project that would need funding and a proper team and she wanted Madame Russel to not promise anyone that she would build the dam before they knew it would work. She laughed and told them that the people want the dam and if it was theoretically possible she will talk about it and of course she would not promise anything and that it would be better for pubic morale to not mention the results of the tests. Then she left and and Caden remembers why they hated politicians.

Most of the freshwater wildlife specialists came together and Caden explained the situation to them as well amd they all agree that, if madame Russel couldn't be persuaded to abandon the idea someone had to warn the people. That fell to Caden, so they were a minute away from steping onto the podium and taking the mic from Madame Russel.

The story ends there and the second part of the transmission starts.

Part I:
The Transmission is part of a political panel and a PA asks others if they can point them to where someone is. Axel asks who the PA is looking for and they say a candidate named Axel Moore to which she replys it's her and the PA remarks that she is shorter than they expected and then tells her that she is on in 5 minutes.

Backstage they are greeted by Sorren talking about the coming up event. Alex imitates Axel and recited what Sorren is about to say and then walks on stage.

She holds the speech about how she is their candidate and that she and her team plan to reform the island and that they are open to responses from the people.

After the speech Sorren greets her again and says they did a good job but there are a few things to improve and the first part of the transmission ends.

Trivia
Methly Mercury poisening is a real thing and you can read more about it here.

Rejected titles include


 * "Dam it" which Eli Esdi commented with 'This is a stupid pun but honestly the best title ides I can come up with',
 * "The Conference",
 * "Listen to Schience",
 * "??", "Water politics",
 * "I don't knowwww"
 * and "Freshwater, Fresh Blood"