All things must flow from their own dynamic.

Jan Amos Comenius

Orbis Unum

Section 3: South Africa

W3N Weekly

Author: William Frank

Part 3-published June 30, 2035

The closer one moves towards the poles, the lesser the extent of tiberium contamination. It therefore shouldn't come as a surprise that South Africa was the country least affected by the green crystal on the continent, but was also the site of GDI African Command (AFRICOM). Situated in Cape Town, it was where I was headed for. Thankfully by plane over the South Atlantic Ocean-quicker than land, and much safer.I was seated beside another newbie journalist, Cassandra Blair, who intended for her magnum opus to be the situation in the country, specifically its jails. Crime and poverty had been marked issues in South Africa, even despite its status as an emerging more economically developed country (MEDC). I didn't really agree to tag along per se, but it certainly got me interested.

Upon clearing security (a process that only took about three hours), I headed for a jail that had been converted for Nod POWs. It wasn't something GDI widely advertised. The Brotherhood was supposedly dismantled and even if it wasn't, it was officially a "terrorist" organization. In essence, no exchange of prisoners or formal dealing. It seemed like a ridiculous notion, especially since the result was overcrowded prisons like the one I found myself observing.

I wasn't allowed to interact with the prisoners, but did strike up a conversation with a kid who looked even younger than I was-a corporal apparently. He spoke with the usual clichés, how tiberium was the destiny of humanity and all that, but apart from that, he was perfectly likeable. He hoped to be a doctor, and would pour over the few books that the jailers allowed him to get his hands on-fear of devising bio-weapons from a microbiology textbook for those entering secondary school or something. I didn't get further than that until a felt a jailor's hand on my shoulder and heard the words "no talking with P.O.W.s, but it didn't matter. The boy's fate was sealed. I couldn't do anything to change it.

At this time of writing, in a dingy motel in Cape Town with barred windows, a stuttering fan and a feeling of isolation, I remember the north of the continent. People flooding into Europe across the Mediterranean…or what's left of it. It's a journey that's practically suicide, but when robbed of all other options, it's a chance many are willing to take. Maybe that's why the boy joined the Brotherhood-robbed of other options, of the chance to follow his dreams. I don't know. All I know is that this continent is being left to the wolves. And that those wolves may come around to bite us as well. That this is one world...and what happens on one continent will affect the rest of our planet...

InOps Analysis

Source: Classified

Again, nothing new to report, apart from stating the obvious. We're shuffling off people all over the world to live in confined areas. We're drawing lines when they don't have to be drawn yet. I know what orbis unum means-one world. It is something that we may be forgetting as the world's boundaries are changed. This world is our home. And a house divided cannot stand.

A/N

Well, that's that done. What started as a oneshot expanded into a multi-chapter, albiet a short one. Not much else to say, bar shameless plugging. At this point in time, there's no other Command and Conquer fics on my to-write list, though with the series being taken over by Victory Games, that's fine by me. Just as long as we don't have another Tiberian Twilight on our hands...