There comes a time when innocent people refuse to be held accountable for the sins of the past.
The Hunter family, renowned for their reckless bravery, felt this especially keenly. They did the last thing anyone ever thought they would do. They reached not for the sword but for the pen. They pulled together Camp Lamplight and went to the Sheriff to help them write what they could not write.
The Howlers alone protested. Ever since the founding of Camp Lamplight they have controlled the radio and by doing so have placed themselves in a position of power. The secrets of the ancient radio are theirs alone and with it they control Camp Lamplight. This single message threatened to strip from them the power they had hoarded by monopolizing not just the radio, but all information about the supply drops coming with precious food and medicine.
But everyone answers to the sheriff and the sheriff does not deny the prisoners their rights.
The Hunters wanted to apply for outpost status. Camp Lamplight had been founded two hundred years ago as a prison colony by planet Sunrise. No one alive in the Camp today had been sentenced for any crime worse than being a descendant of prisoners.
So one fateful morning, written by the sheriff’s hand, the application was sent.
That was ten years ago.
No one heard anything and soon life in Camp Lamplight went back to normal. The Howlers tightened their control and the simmering feud between the Hunters and the Howlers saw more frequent flare-ups, but otherwise nothing changed in Camp Lamplight.
Until a month ago. A message came in informing Camp Lamplight that their application had been processed and that they would be sending an ambassador shortly. There’s a lot of rumours about what happened around that message, rumours about cover-ups and murder plots. The only thing we all know for sure is that the boy tending the radio that evening hasn’t been seen since.
But Camp Lamplight is on a dangerous planet. Reckless people go missing all the time.
Either way, despite rumours abounding, the message did reach the sheriff’s ears. With the sheriff involved there’s nothing anyone can do to stop it. In a month the ambassador will be there to finalize processing the application.
The rules were simple. Live as you always live. But should anything happen to the ambassador, planet Sunrise will abandon the costly prison altogether. No more sheriff, no more guards, no more supplies. It would be the end for all of you.
Still there’s those who would love nothing better than watching the application fail. Others will do anything to make sure it succeeds. Camp Lamplight is on a knife’s edge and for those of you who have yet to pick a side … it’s high time you do.
And as the world around you falls apart ...
Never forget to keep the lamps lit.