Something Broken (short story)

Something Broken was the sixth story in the Bernice Summerfield anthology A Life of Surprises. It was written by Paul Ebbs.

Plot
The Braxiatel Collection receives records from the Collasac Exhibit indicating that Blastertal Galactinational started a war with a fluencegenerator so that they could sell viewing rights to the conflict for a profit. Benny is so outraged that Joseph hides from her in a cupboard, but Braxiatel insists that there is nothing that they can do given that the records were received unlawfully.

Benny arranges for herself to be invited on Blastertal's game show, Eat the Poor, and sabotages the transmitter to broadcast the records to the viewing public. Using the fluencegenerator, she ensures that the billions of people watching will be outraged by Blasteral's manipulation and expects to be executed by the military as a result. However, the military calls off the airstrike and the people rise up against the company, bringing Blastertal down.

Characters

 * Bernice Summerfield
 * Irving Braxiatel

Worldbuilding

 * Blastertal is based on Collasac.
 * Benny was so angered by Blastertal's actions that Joseph locked himself in a cupboard to hide from her.
 * Brax wrote the Mission Statement for the Braxiatel Collection.

Continuity
to be added