EVE PANDORA | News Article: Caldari and Gallente dignitaries attend conference at Crielere

Caldari and Gallente dignitaries attend conference at Crielere - Foiritan causes stir

New Eden News - Wed, 10 Dec 2003 - 00:00

Last weekend emissaries of the Caldari State and the Gallente Federation gathered at the Crielere Research Laboratories to confer about the future and direction of their joint research project, estimated to have cost the two governments in excess of 100 billion ISK in the relatively short period of time since its instatement. Jorouette Duvolle and Otro Gariushi (CEOs of Duvolle Laboratories and the Ishukone Corporation, respectively) played host to attendees, which numbered many high-ranking dignitaries from the halls of Caldari and Gallente government -- though perhaps none quite so high-ranking as the Gallente President himself, Souro Foiritan.

Foiritan, who had not been scheduled to attend the conference, arrived unexpectedly during the second hour of the proceedings and reportedly began by undertaking a three-hour-long tour through the laboratories without a word of greeting to his political colleagues. As the emissaries conferred in closed chambers above him Foiritan traversed the facilities, sharing easy banter with scientists and research assistants, apparently taking great personal interest in every piece of technology he encountered.

"It was amazing," said assistant engineer Karel Flaviane. "One minute I'm sitting there tying up wire bundles on a prototype cargo scanner, and next thing I know the most powerful man in the Gallente Federation is staring at my fingers asking how it's going, like I'm solving a crossword puzzle or something. I mean, that just doesn't happen every day."

"He was so nice, too, and genuinely enthusiastic – not, you know, not like you'd expect a President to be at all," added Flaviane.

At the conclusion of his impromptu tour Foiritan made his way to the conference chambers, where he delivered a rousing speech on what he described as the "limitless possibilities of the work being done here by this amazingly talented coalition of scientists." He concluded his ten-minute speech by stating that were anything done to stifle this project, it would "close the door to the future instead of allowing us to walk through it, heads held high, into a new age of technology."

Senate officials from within the Gallente government immediately rushed to comment on Foiritan's behavior, denouncing it as a "deliberate, and quite frankly rather pathetic, ploy to garner public support by playing himself as the people's man."

If the President's behavior was indeed a ploy, it seems to have worked; latest polls indicate that among the Gallente populace, support for the Crielere project has skyrocketed to an all-time high. Caldari officials, meanwhile, remain as tight-lipped and cryptic as ever, refusing to comment on their stance towards either the President's behavior or the research facility itself. At the conference's conclusion, when asked whether further talks were scheduled, Mr. Gariushi of the Ishukone Corporation refused to comment.

In any case, as the scientific work proceeds and the billions pile up, one thing seems certain: the pressure on Crielere is steadily increasing, and the day of final judgment for this project – be it thumbs up or thumbs down – cannot be far off.