Hade and Collector agree on crushing measures
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Collector and Hade discuss the threat of the Ajack conspiracy and the need for increased manpower to suppress it.
Hade suggests a five percent increase in protection tax to repay the Company, which Collector finds tempting.
Collector agrees to provide half a division of his Inner Retinue as additional manpower and orders a three percent increase in the daily PCM dosage.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Feigned deference masking strategic triumph
Gatherer Hade maneuvers through the tense interview with honeyed servility and calculated precision. He deftly frames the Undercity rebellion as a cost to productivity and persuades the Collector to authorize increased coercion. His manipulative civility masks ambition as he calmly secures troops and a tripling of PCM dosage, while ending the meeting with ritualistic respect despite the harsh terms.
- • Persuade the Collector to authorize increased coercive measures against rebels
- • Secure additional manpower and chemical control to preempt rebellion
- • Suppression maintains productivity and profit
- • Mercy toward rebels undermines Company authority
Externally composed, internally assessing compliance with fiscal targets
The Collector sits at the monolithic black desk in his austere office, responding to Hade with crisp, curt approvals and cold calculations. His eyes remain focused on fiscal outcomes, with no visible concern for the cost in lives. Giving a five percent tax hike and approving a half division of Inner Retinue, he coldly terminates the meeting when his approvals are granted, showing impatience at any hesitation.
- • Recover fiscal losses caused by rebellion through tax hikes
- • Maintain seven percent gross planetary product growth next fiscal period
- • Human welfare must be subservient to fiscal productivity
- • Rebellion is a cost to be crushed, not a political grievance to be addressed
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The PCM dosage authorization is the climactic tool secured through Hade’s manipulation and the Collector’s approval. Rising from three to nine percent by volume, it transforms the corporate breath of the Undercity into a heavier sediment of control. The document, ink barely dry, becomes the operational directive for suppressing dissent under tomorrow’s work shifts.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Collector’s Office functions as the institutional chamber where fiscal terror is formalized into policy. Its austerity reinforces hierarchy, muffling dissent with carpeted silence while the vast window exposes the mechanical sprawl of Company power. Within its cold geometry, humanity is priced, and life is discounted—where rebellion is not a moral question but a rentability problem.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Pluto Corporate Authority’s presence is felt through the meeting as its policy of fiscal dominance is enacted. The Collector, as its apex enforcer of profit, authorizes Hade’s requested escalations to recover losses and crush dissent. The organization’s goals—growth at seven percent, suppression at all costs—are codified in tax hikes and troop deployments, embedding cruelty into fiscal regimen.
The Inner Retinue is activated through half a division being allocated to Hade’s command, deploying as an elite coercive force under crisis conditions. Their presence symbolizes the Company’s readiness to neutralize dissent before rebellion propagates. As the Collector’s direct enforcement arm, they are dispatched not for justice but for suppression, embodying the living edge of fiscal tyranny.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Hade's suggestion of a five percent tax increase and the Collector's agreement to deploy elite forces (beat_f09a246cdf667211) escalates the Company's aggressive stance, which is later echoed in Hade's 'Morton's Fork' plan to eradicate the Undercity rebels (beat_ff535d420c194343)."
Hade unveils Morton's Fork strategy"The Collector's authorization of increased PCM dosage and elite forces (beat_9b84f3e323dd66ce) exacerbates the threat to dissidents, which Cordo reports to Leela, intensifying the urgency of their mission to rescue the Doctor (beat_d4b5eac4e974a6fe)."
Rebels rally after Doctor captured by CompanyKey Dialogue
"HADE: Your Pinnacle, a five percent increase in protection tax would repay the Company, its name be praised."
"COLLECTOR: Good thinking, Hade. You tempt me."
"HADE: Also increase the daily PCM dosage three percent by volume as of now."