#280 Oh the Humanity!

During a recent severe storm, the airship CNAS-Hiddenburg caught fire and ended up making a crash landing in Onith Base. Everyone on board as well as several hundred people on the ground were killed in the resulting inferno. Reporter Herb Morris' incredible live coverage of the disaster and the media circus surrounding the safety of such vessels has people looking to the government for solutions.

The Debate

Marlon Imperial, apparent spokesperson for the families of the victims gasps out between sobs, "The only reason this happened is the government has turned a blind eye to the dangers of these vehicles! The solution is obvious: pass and rigidly enforce safety regulations on dangerous industries! Oh, and make the owners of these companies financially liable to the families. I mean, I lost my dad after all, I deserve a little bit of compensation."

"Really now, airships safely make these trips on a routine basis! These people are looking at a tiny mishap and not the bigger picture!" claims Charles Trax, owner of Airship Enterprises, the company that operates airships like the crashed CNAS-Hiddenburg. "If anything, the government should be supporting the industry through this tragedy! You know, 'encouraging' people to use airships so that they learn just how safe they really are!"

"Tiny mishap? TINY MISHAP?" screams Rosalia Zhu, author of the controversial bestseller 'Corporations Are Bad, Really Really Bad.' "Hundreds of people dead, millions if not billions of Imperial Credits in damage to buildings downtown, and these industry goons are trying to just shrug and tell the rest of us 'Oopsie,' and buy their way out of trouble?! They have a huge debt to the society they've harmed, make them work in the trauma centers and see first-hand what they've done!"

Result:

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Airships have proven a useful and cost-effective means of transportation in Cipher Nine, and are supported.