The First Love Of Alipang Havens
- Thread starter Copperfox
- Start date
Copperfox
Well-known member
Evan Rand had finally begun enjoying steady employment through the Secondary Healthcare Workers Union, though he could have wished for a happier situation to provide the windfall. Within eighteen hours after the public announcement of Supreme Court Justices Sherman Lake and Fatima Ruskin being declared guilty of treason, deviationism, extortion and malfeasance, leaders of a large number of labor unions had suddenly grasped the implications of this upset in the judicial branch. Although the Fairness Party was neither suggesting nor offering any kind of compensation to unions which had spent money trying to buy Supreme Court rulings in their favor, unions which had come out on the losing side of such situations could--and did--now start yelling that they had been cheated. Nor was yelling all they did. Prior kinetic negotiations were considered to be subject to a reset.
In Cincinnati, the railroad-related union which had lost out to construction workers last year cunningly struck a deal with two other unions which had suffered similar losses: all three of these aggrieved unions would join forces to launch surprise attacks on their enemies, one after another. Their plan was a tactical success, with more than ten persons in the targetted groups being killed as part of the payback. Battles broke out all over the Diversity States, except in three areas: the Texas District, where the people respected their police force enough that most refrained from troublemaking, the Western Enclave, where the exiles respected GOD enough not to WANT to make trouble, and the Great Lakes Cantonment, where the drugging of the atmosphere continued to keep men subdued enough that they limited their violence to beating women and children at home.
Leroy Lincoln barely made it back to his office in time to avoid being charged with dereliction of duty, as riots began in Great Plains only days later than the earliest instances in this wave of entitlement rivalry. He was soon right in the thick of the action; for with the demoralizing of the D.S. Marshals, plus the intensity of the new fighting, the Party Presidium had cancelled the former jurisdiction policy. Now ANY law-enforcement body was equally authorized, and required, to take action against the rioters. Even Overseers were called upon to help...suffered many injuries as their officers mostly proved unskilled at close combat...and ended up using their particle beams in earnest at last, killing scores of rioters and almost as many innocent bystanders.
Secretary of Indoctrination Arista Penfield would have loved to make up a way to blame the whole situation on God-fascists; but it simply was too well known that Sherman Lake had been a proud atheist, and the holovideo of Christian exile Alipang Havens shielding a young government worker from assault with his body had been seen by too many citizens. Dynamo Earthquake had been replaying the scene often, with eloquent commentary; Secretary Penfield wondered a little about this, but could not find a valid reason to reprimand the news veteran.
Families like the Rands were thus not being singled out for scapegoat status. Evan, free from a threat of arrest, was now making enough money, and earning enough prestige by his work in rehab for persons recovering from brawling injuries, that he could at last quit relying on the charity of the Salisburys (though he and Summer were eternally grateful to them for it). The union local arranged to make a decent apartment available to the Rand family; and enforcer Dobie Marsalis promised to come by frequently and make sure all was well with them.
Dan and Chilena thus found their quarters less cramped when they had to stay indoors for two days, their children and all children in Georgetown being excused from school while two simultaneous independent union-versus-union battles raged all over the city. During this time, the parents seized the opportunity to correct a variety of blatant falsehoods that had been taught to Cecilia, Tommy and Irene; they also managed a holophone call to Harmony, learning more about Emilio's impending assignment in the Enclave. Emilio himself, though back from the trip to Mexico, was not available to talk at this time; he and some other Ranger aviators were on loan to the city of New Orleans, flying over urban battlegrounds to release heavy doses of tranquilizing vapors. "It's the first time Emilio's ever done that," remarked Harmony. "He doesn't particularly like it, but he says it's better than being told to strafe them all with machine guns."
When the riots in Mid-Atlantic subsided, the Salisburys received an unexpected visitor, though he was a man they knew by reputation: Trip Conklin of the Indoctrination Department.
"What can we do for you?" asked Chilena as the shabby writer entered with an armed Pinkshirt woman as a bodyguard.
"You can accept a great new acting opportunity, citizens."
Dan's face tightened. "Citizen Conklin, you know we don't want to be in any Churchbuster movies."
"And I'm not asking you to do that. I can write things besides science fiction. I'm working on a present-world movie script, and it contains nothing that would force you to contradict your superstitions. Thus, you two should have no qualms about playing lead roles in this production."
"Union bulletins we've seen say that you've been meeting with Velvet and Strontium," said Chilena. "Don't you want them to star in whatever this new project is?"
"That option is not available to me," replied Conklin. "Strontium and Velvet--" (he followed Party custom by naming the woman first) "--have been revealed to be close friends of the discredited Supreme Court Justice Fatima Ruskin. They have therefore been expelled from your union, just this morning. I suppose they'll be moving to one of the Collective Dormitories. Anyway, this script will be more to your taste than it would have been to theirs."
"Just what IS it about?" Chilena demanded.
"It's a realistic drama about Biblicals like yourselves. Relax, no character in the story will be depicted as being evil or insane for being a Biblical. Recent events have proven to the Party that EVEN persons free of religious delusions can be threats to society. The bad guys in this movie will all be corporate capitalists, and your characters will be shown as obedient citizens of the Diversity States."
Dan became somewhat less tense. "All right, we can talk. Tell us more."
"I have a complete prospectus with story treatment, here on this tablet computer. Probably the single most attractive aspect of the production for you is....that shooting will be done on location INSIDE THE WESTERN ENCLAVE."
That caught Chilena completely off guard, unable to restrain her emotional response. This response comprised shrieking, whooping, weeping, laughing, jumping up and down, flailing her arms in the air, and hugging everyone in sight, including Trip Conklin and the Pinkshirt guard.
In Cincinnati, the railroad-related union which had lost out to construction workers last year cunningly struck a deal with two other unions which had suffered similar losses: all three of these aggrieved unions would join forces to launch surprise attacks on their enemies, one after another. Their plan was a tactical success, with more than ten persons in the targetted groups being killed as part of the payback. Battles broke out all over the Diversity States, except in three areas: the Texas District, where the people respected their police force enough that most refrained from troublemaking, the Western Enclave, where the exiles respected GOD enough not to WANT to make trouble, and the Great Lakes Cantonment, where the drugging of the atmosphere continued to keep men subdued enough that they limited their violence to beating women and children at home.
Leroy Lincoln barely made it back to his office in time to avoid being charged with dereliction of duty, as riots began in Great Plains only days later than the earliest instances in this wave of entitlement rivalry. He was soon right in the thick of the action; for with the demoralizing of the D.S. Marshals, plus the intensity of the new fighting, the Party Presidium had cancelled the former jurisdiction policy. Now ANY law-enforcement body was equally authorized, and required, to take action against the rioters. Even Overseers were called upon to help...suffered many injuries as their officers mostly proved unskilled at close combat...and ended up using their particle beams in earnest at last, killing scores of rioters and almost as many innocent bystanders.
Secretary of Indoctrination Arista Penfield would have loved to make up a way to blame the whole situation on God-fascists; but it simply was too well known that Sherman Lake had been a proud atheist, and the holovideo of Christian exile Alipang Havens shielding a young government worker from assault with his body had been seen by too many citizens. Dynamo Earthquake had been replaying the scene often, with eloquent commentary; Secretary Penfield wondered a little about this, but could not find a valid reason to reprimand the news veteran.
Families like the Rands were thus not being singled out for scapegoat status. Evan, free from a threat of arrest, was now making enough money, and earning enough prestige by his work in rehab for persons recovering from brawling injuries, that he could at last quit relying on the charity of the Salisburys (though he and Summer were eternally grateful to them for it). The union local arranged to make a decent apartment available to the Rand family; and enforcer Dobie Marsalis promised to come by frequently and make sure all was well with them.
Dan and Chilena thus found their quarters less cramped when they had to stay indoors for two days, their children and all children in Georgetown being excused from school while two simultaneous independent union-versus-union battles raged all over the city. During this time, the parents seized the opportunity to correct a variety of blatant falsehoods that had been taught to Cecilia, Tommy and Irene; they also managed a holophone call to Harmony, learning more about Emilio's impending assignment in the Enclave. Emilio himself, though back from the trip to Mexico, was not available to talk at this time; he and some other Ranger aviators were on loan to the city of New Orleans, flying over urban battlegrounds to release heavy doses of tranquilizing vapors. "It's the first time Emilio's ever done that," remarked Harmony. "He doesn't particularly like it, but he says it's better than being told to strafe them all with machine guns."
When the riots in Mid-Atlantic subsided, the Salisburys received an unexpected visitor, though he was a man they knew by reputation: Trip Conklin of the Indoctrination Department.
"What can we do for you?" asked Chilena as the shabby writer entered with an armed Pinkshirt woman as a bodyguard.
"You can accept a great new acting opportunity, citizens."
Dan's face tightened. "Citizen Conklin, you know we don't want to be in any Churchbuster movies."
"And I'm not asking you to do that. I can write things besides science fiction. I'm working on a present-world movie script, and it contains nothing that would force you to contradict your superstitions. Thus, you two should have no qualms about playing lead roles in this production."
"Union bulletins we've seen say that you've been meeting with Velvet and Strontium," said Chilena. "Don't you want them to star in whatever this new project is?"
"That option is not available to me," replied Conklin. "Strontium and Velvet--" (he followed Party custom by naming the woman first) "--have been revealed to be close friends of the discredited Supreme Court Justice Fatima Ruskin. They have therefore been expelled from your union, just this morning. I suppose they'll be moving to one of the Collective Dormitories. Anyway, this script will be more to your taste than it would have been to theirs."
"Just what IS it about?" Chilena demanded.
"It's a realistic drama about Biblicals like yourselves. Relax, no character in the story will be depicted as being evil or insane for being a Biblical. Recent events have proven to the Party that EVEN persons free of religious delusions can be threats to society. The bad guys in this movie will all be corporate capitalists, and your characters will be shown as obedient citizens of the Diversity States."
Dan became somewhat less tense. "All right, we can talk. Tell us more."
"I have a complete prospectus with story treatment, here on this tablet computer. Probably the single most attractive aspect of the production for you is....that shooting will be done on location INSIDE THE WESTERN ENCLAVE."
That caught Chilena completely off guard, unable to restrain her emotional response. This response comprised shrieking, whooping, weeping, laughing, jumping up and down, flailing her arms in the air, and hugging everyone in sight, including Trip Conklin and the Pinkshirt guard.
Copperfox
Well-known member
The genuine violence washing over the country left law enforcement with no attention to spare for trivial, decidedly non-lethal confrontations. Thus, on the evening of Friday, February 6, the same four women who had clumsily brawled at the Six Moons Grotto in Beijing did not face arrest when they found themselves having an unplanned rematch of sorts.
Moonrose Quickpace and Bailey Melville, not yet having returned to their Enclave job, happened to be dancing in a Party-members-only nightclub on a street untouched by the rioting, when Samantha Ford and Carlota Ruiz came unsuspectingly in. Samantha and Carlota were irritable at the time--not at each other, but potentially at anyone else. For the last three days, they had endured the unaccustomed experience of having to perform productive work for more than six hours at a stretch, though the comms connections in the apartment they shared had allowed them to work while lounging in bed. Their work, on behalf of the State Department, had consisted of taking non-visual phone calls from, and giving referrals and flimsy excuses to, foreign officials who had inquiries about the safety of their citizens who were in the D.S.A. as tourists. Both former ambassadors, though accustomed to apologizing without cause to foreign regimes, had found it galling to have to apologize _with_ cause to individuals.
Therefore, although Samantha had scarcely given a thought in recent times to the physical fight she had had with Bailey, seeing this former intimate of hers unexpectedly, at a time when she felt grumpy, caused Samantha to imagine that she remembered having resented Bailey uninterruptedly the whole while. Attaching a shouted obscenity to the shouting of Bailey's first name, she delivered the first taunt she could think of: "I guess my son told you he didn't need you in the Enclave; even a _male_ can do the job there better than you can!" She was not about to admit that she had made no effort to keep track of Daffodil's doings, only paying cursory attention even to the incident in which the boy could have died.
Detaching herself from Moonrose, Bailey snapped back: "Daffy gave us time off because we'd been doing so _well_ there! Fact is, he _likes_ us, and he's _glad_ I flattened you in Beijing!"
Spewing more curses, Samantha retorted: "Flattened me? I had you crying for your mommy!"
Not to be left out, Carlota caught Moonrose's eye and shouted, "And I polished the floor with you!"
"Then how come _your_ face had the bruises?" answered Moonrose.
"Care to have me prove who was winning that night?"
"Sure, let's take it outside to save you embarrassment!"
All four women stormed outdoors, not one of them even thinking to put her coat back on as they berated and threatened each other. In their generalized animosity, they did not make any point of selecting the same opponent as last time; Samantha ended up scuffling with Moonrose, and Carlota with Bailey. No one followed them out to break it up, or even to watch; petty skirmishes were nothing new to that club.
After two minutes of unimpressive grappling, with none of the four women suffering any damage worth mentioning, Samantha broke her clinch with Moonrose, panting, "I _will_ have my son fire you!"
"For what, for being his friend? He won't listen to you--especially once you've got no teeth!"
Carlota and Bailey had also paused in their combat. When Carlota heard Moonrose's new threat to Samantha, she tackled Moonrose, leaving Samantha and Bailey to go along with the change of adversaries. They all fought a second round, to no more effect than in the previous pairing off; then, deciding it was too cold to continue, called it quits and went back inside the club, claiming opposite halves of the dancefloor and tables. Samantha and Carlota boasted to anyone who would listen that they had taught Bailey and Moonrose a lesson; Bailey and Moonrose, meanwhile, were making the opposite boast.
No one believed either pair, especially since none of them was really hurt. The only results that came of all this were that Bailey decided she and Moonrose should get back to the Enclave this weekend, not waiting till Monday, and Samantha decided she probably should give her son a call.
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
It worked out for Bailey and Moonrose to catch a plane the next day, arriving in Rapid City Saturday evening and being met by an alerted Daffodil. Seeing a renewed anxiety on the faces of both "his women," the boy told them, "You don't need to worry. Nash Dockerty once told me to keep you in doubt, but he's dead now. Plain and simple: I got a call from Caregiver while you were in flight. She told me for the first time how you two fought her and her current girlfriend in Beijing. Well, I'm a _diplomat,_ by entropy, and I _won't_ let this change our working relationship. If I said what I think about the whole way of life all of you lead, I'd be charged with hate speech; but I refuse to hate you as individuals. Most of the people who _actually_ care about me, the way my mother doesn't, are here in exile; if you two continue helping me try to improve conditions for them, I'll like you fine. Welcome back, ladies."
Bailey and Moonrose were startled at themselves, and startled at the other for doing the same, when they startled their boy boss by both spontaneously kissing him. "I've had much worse things done to me than that," he told them with a smile. "We're going to be all right. Just don't tell the Boston Tolerance House administration about this, they'd have a fit."
The two women shared a relieved laugh at this, and were almost as astonished at themselves for laughing comfortably with Daffodil as for having kissed him.
Moonrose Quickpace and Bailey Melville, not yet having returned to their Enclave job, happened to be dancing in a Party-members-only nightclub on a street untouched by the rioting, when Samantha Ford and Carlota Ruiz came unsuspectingly in. Samantha and Carlota were irritable at the time--not at each other, but potentially at anyone else. For the last three days, they had endured the unaccustomed experience of having to perform productive work for more than six hours at a stretch, though the comms connections in the apartment they shared had allowed them to work while lounging in bed. Their work, on behalf of the State Department, had consisted of taking non-visual phone calls from, and giving referrals and flimsy excuses to, foreign officials who had inquiries about the safety of their citizens who were in the D.S.A. as tourists. Both former ambassadors, though accustomed to apologizing without cause to foreign regimes, had found it galling to have to apologize _with_ cause to individuals.
Therefore, although Samantha had scarcely given a thought in recent times to the physical fight she had had with Bailey, seeing this former intimate of hers unexpectedly, at a time when she felt grumpy, caused Samantha to imagine that she remembered having resented Bailey uninterruptedly the whole while. Attaching a shouted obscenity to the shouting of Bailey's first name, she delivered the first taunt she could think of: "I guess my son told you he didn't need you in the Enclave; even a _male_ can do the job there better than you can!" She was not about to admit that she had made no effort to keep track of Daffodil's doings, only paying cursory attention even to the incident in which the boy could have died.
Detaching herself from Moonrose, Bailey snapped back: "Daffy gave us time off because we'd been doing so _well_ there! Fact is, he _likes_ us, and he's _glad_ I flattened you in Beijing!"
Spewing more curses, Samantha retorted: "Flattened me? I had you crying for your mommy!"
Not to be left out, Carlota caught Moonrose's eye and shouted, "And I polished the floor with you!"
"Then how come _your_ face had the bruises?" answered Moonrose.
"Care to have me prove who was winning that night?"
"Sure, let's take it outside to save you embarrassment!"
All four women stormed outdoors, not one of them even thinking to put her coat back on as they berated and threatened each other. In their generalized animosity, they did not make any point of selecting the same opponent as last time; Samantha ended up scuffling with Moonrose, and Carlota with Bailey. No one followed them out to break it up, or even to watch; petty skirmishes were nothing new to that club.
After two minutes of unimpressive grappling, with none of the four women suffering any damage worth mentioning, Samantha broke her clinch with Moonrose, panting, "I _will_ have my son fire you!"
"For what, for being his friend? He won't listen to you--especially once you've got no teeth!"
Carlota and Bailey had also paused in their combat. When Carlota heard Moonrose's new threat to Samantha, she tackled Moonrose, leaving Samantha and Bailey to go along with the change of adversaries. They all fought a second round, to no more effect than in the previous pairing off; then, deciding it was too cold to continue, called it quits and went back inside the club, claiming opposite halves of the dancefloor and tables. Samantha and Carlota boasted to anyone who would listen that they had taught Bailey and Moonrose a lesson; Bailey and Moonrose, meanwhile, were making the opposite boast.
No one believed either pair, especially since none of them was really hurt. The only results that came of all this were that Bailey decided she and Moonrose should get back to the Enclave this weekend, not waiting till Monday, and Samantha decided she probably should give her son a call.
= = = = = = = = = = = = =
It worked out for Bailey and Moonrose to catch a plane the next day, arriving in Rapid City Saturday evening and being met by an alerted Daffodil. Seeing a renewed anxiety on the faces of both "his women," the boy told them, "You don't need to worry. Nash Dockerty once told me to keep you in doubt, but he's dead now. Plain and simple: I got a call from Caregiver while you were in flight. She told me for the first time how you two fought her and her current girlfriend in Beijing. Well, I'm a _diplomat,_ by entropy, and I _won't_ let this change our working relationship. If I said what I think about the whole way of life all of you lead, I'd be charged with hate speech; but I refuse to hate you as individuals. Most of the people who _actually_ care about me, the way my mother doesn't, are here in exile; if you two continue helping me try to improve conditions for them, I'll like you fine. Welcome back, ladies."
Bailey and Moonrose were startled at themselves, and startled at the other for doing the same, when they startled their boy boss by both spontaneously kissing him. "I've had much worse things done to me than that," he told them with a smile. "We're going to be all right. Just don't tell the Boston Tolerance House administration about this, they'd have a fit."
The two women shared a relieved laugh at this, and were almost as astonished at themselves for laughing comfortably with Daffodil as for having kissed him.
Copperfox
Well-known member
On the same afternoon as Moonrose and Bailey were enroute back to Daffodil, Tonio Formentera--who was in fact oblivious to his eldest son having sneaked away to visit (and make love to) the President of the Diversity States--received a visitor of his own. Assisting him to welcome the Triad representative was his seventeen-year-old daughter, Lupita Formentera. Tonio knew that Cho Kwok-Shu lusted for Lupita, and one day he might let Cho have her.
Some drinks and refreshments were served by Lupita, who as instructed allowed their guest to touch her just a little suggestively while she was near him. Eventually the two men got to business, though the girl was allowed to stay. What Tonio _said_ was that all his acknowledged children were given some training in the running of the regime; what Mr. Cho's eyes said was that he was happy to have Lupita stick around. This did not mean that Cho did not have serious business to address.
"We always face the prospect of casualties. It was my own younger brother who was taken when his attack on the Australian researcher and the Internal Affairs major failed in Hawaii; yet we did gain influence in Hawaii, ensuring that our Venezuelan and Bolivian friends would have access to the islands. But the weather is getting more ominous for us now. The Hemispheric Union has allowed Texas to be armed more strongly; the anonymous international force that Beijing tolerates is thwarting many of the plans of our Islamist and Communist friends; and worst of all, my colleagues and I sense danger at home. It is very subtle, but I believe that the law-enforcement structure is gathering itself to purge out all of our planted agents within the system. I don't know how much time we have left; but we _must_ accelerate the process of enlarging our sanctuaries _outside_ of Greater China. What advances, if any, are you able to report?"
El Presidente smiled. "Do you like stage magicians? I have been working at misdirection. Our provocation raids into Diversity States airspace have appeared, and I've been glad to let them appear, like the way your own country, when I was young, pushed at other countries just to prove it could. In truth, it's good to show that we have _some_ teeth, even though Mexico could wipe us off the map if it came to it. Until you and our allies are able to arm us better, we are not _very_ much stronger militarily even than the Diversity States. But when your country was weaker militarily than the United States, what did you have as a compensating advantage?"
"We--that is, Mao's followers--had an _idea_ that men would kill for."
"Correct. And so do I. Under the trappings and symbols, do you understand what we really mean when we talk so solemnly about 'Solar Influence'?"
Cho Kwok-Shu shrugged. "I've always understood it to be a rhetorical compromise, between invoking Aztec tradition, and still keeping one foot in a technological world."
"It's that, but also something more personal and visceral. We could blend science and paganism without human sacrifices. But the _privilege_ of cutting out a victim's heart is a _reward_ I give to those who please me; and producing the kind of people who _would_ consider this a reward, is my true achievement. I give people _permission_ to be selfish and cruel, I let them feel _good_ about being that way. I let each one feel, while the knife is in his hands, that HE IS the Sun, with life and death revolving around him. Surely you know that pride, the shameless worship of one's own self, the feeling of being above laws, is a greater intoxication than mere pleasure. All the years I was active in the old Aztlan Reconquista movement, selfish pride was what I invoked and appealed to in those who followed me.
"This is the real power I am wielding, while the world at large imagines that all I can do or want to do is be the world's second-weakest power bullying the _very_ weakest power. You know that your people, and allies known to you, have been let in on sacrifice rituals; but still others, not known to you, have been invited as well. Not as a matter of my growing away from my alliance with you, but rather to allow those _others_ to feel safe. I have had guest slayers from Canada, Ireland, Zambia, Uruguay, Egypt, Indonesia--many countries! This fact matters more, always mattered more, than whether I delivered bombs onto Wichita, or whether my agents infiltrating the Marshals' Service helped set up our kidnappings of needed scientists and technicians.
"Did you know that in some versions of the vampire myth, a human does not become a vampire merely by a previous vampire draining his blood? While the victim is still a living human, the vampire must allow or force the _human_ to drink some of the _vampire's_ blood! So with all those who find my death-altars alluring: I allow _them_ to taste blood, and _this_ changes them into the monsters I want to create."
Lupita, silent for some while, was alert enough to see a gleam of suspicion in Cho's eyes. Knowing enough of her father's plans to know she spoke the truth, she hastened to supply a reassurance: "Of course, my father plans to let you in on the identities of persons who have given in to this emotional addiction. It is not only we, but you, who are gaining allies."
Tonio, as well as his daughter, could see the hint of Cho feeling better now. "Thank you, Lupita, for clarifying. Yes, Kwok-Shu, this cult, if you care to call it that, will serve _your_ interests as surely as ours. Of course, Islamic terrorists already do much of the same kinds of mayhem as our blood-lovers will do; but unlike Islamist regimes, MY system allows women to be just as cruel and lawless and self-adoring as men."
Cho nodded, running his eyes up and down Lupita. "Very good, Tonio. I'm sure that long-term advantages will come from having these homicidal maniacs on our side; and who more than we Chinese is given to looking out for the long-term advantage? Yet in the short term, we _still_ need new hiding places for Triad members who may very soon be forced to flee Greater China for their very lives."
"Of course. And those whom I have lured into my human-sacrifice fellowship, since most of them are not under suspicion of any crime in their own countries, are all the better suited as helpers to us in creating secure bolt-holes for your members to escape to...."
Some drinks and refreshments were served by Lupita, who as instructed allowed their guest to touch her just a little suggestively while she was near him. Eventually the two men got to business, though the girl was allowed to stay. What Tonio _said_ was that all his acknowledged children were given some training in the running of the regime; what Mr. Cho's eyes said was that he was happy to have Lupita stick around. This did not mean that Cho did not have serious business to address.
"We always face the prospect of casualties. It was my own younger brother who was taken when his attack on the Australian researcher and the Internal Affairs major failed in Hawaii; yet we did gain influence in Hawaii, ensuring that our Venezuelan and Bolivian friends would have access to the islands. But the weather is getting more ominous for us now. The Hemispheric Union has allowed Texas to be armed more strongly; the anonymous international force that Beijing tolerates is thwarting many of the plans of our Islamist and Communist friends; and worst of all, my colleagues and I sense danger at home. It is very subtle, but I believe that the law-enforcement structure is gathering itself to purge out all of our planted agents within the system. I don't know how much time we have left; but we _must_ accelerate the process of enlarging our sanctuaries _outside_ of Greater China. What advances, if any, are you able to report?"
El Presidente smiled. "Do you like stage magicians? I have been working at misdirection. Our provocation raids into Diversity States airspace have appeared, and I've been glad to let them appear, like the way your own country, when I was young, pushed at other countries just to prove it could. In truth, it's good to show that we have _some_ teeth, even though Mexico could wipe us off the map if it came to it. Until you and our allies are able to arm us better, we are not _very_ much stronger militarily even than the Diversity States. But when your country was weaker militarily than the United States, what did you have as a compensating advantage?"
"We--that is, Mao's followers--had an _idea_ that men would kill for."
"Correct. And so do I. Under the trappings and symbols, do you understand what we really mean when we talk so solemnly about 'Solar Influence'?"
Cho Kwok-Shu shrugged. "I've always understood it to be a rhetorical compromise, between invoking Aztec tradition, and still keeping one foot in a technological world."
"It's that, but also something more personal and visceral. We could blend science and paganism without human sacrifices. But the _privilege_ of cutting out a victim's heart is a _reward_ I give to those who please me; and producing the kind of people who _would_ consider this a reward, is my true achievement. I give people _permission_ to be selfish and cruel, I let them feel _good_ about being that way. I let each one feel, while the knife is in his hands, that HE IS the Sun, with life and death revolving around him. Surely you know that pride, the shameless worship of one's own self, the feeling of being above laws, is a greater intoxication than mere pleasure. All the years I was active in the old Aztlan Reconquista movement, selfish pride was what I invoked and appealed to in those who followed me.
"This is the real power I am wielding, while the world at large imagines that all I can do or want to do is be the world's second-weakest power bullying the _very_ weakest power. You know that your people, and allies known to you, have been let in on sacrifice rituals; but still others, not known to you, have been invited as well. Not as a matter of my growing away from my alliance with you, but rather to allow those _others_ to feel safe. I have had guest slayers from Canada, Ireland, Zambia, Uruguay, Egypt, Indonesia--many countries! This fact matters more, always mattered more, than whether I delivered bombs onto Wichita, or whether my agents infiltrating the Marshals' Service helped set up our kidnappings of needed scientists and technicians.
"Did you know that in some versions of the vampire myth, a human does not become a vampire merely by a previous vampire draining his blood? While the victim is still a living human, the vampire must allow or force the _human_ to drink some of the _vampire's_ blood! So with all those who find my death-altars alluring: I allow _them_ to taste blood, and _this_ changes them into the monsters I want to create."
Lupita, silent for some while, was alert enough to see a gleam of suspicion in Cho's eyes. Knowing enough of her father's plans to know she spoke the truth, she hastened to supply a reassurance: "Of course, my father plans to let you in on the identities of persons who have given in to this emotional addiction. It is not only we, but you, who are gaining allies."
Tonio, as well as his daughter, could see the hint of Cho feeling better now. "Thank you, Lupita, for clarifying. Yes, Kwok-Shu, this cult, if you care to call it that, will serve _your_ interests as surely as ours. Of course, Islamic terrorists already do much of the same kinds of mayhem as our blood-lovers will do; but unlike Islamist regimes, MY system allows women to be just as cruel and lawless and self-adoring as men."
Cho nodded, running his eyes up and down Lupita. "Very good, Tonio. I'm sure that long-term advantages will come from having these homicidal maniacs on our side; and who more than we Chinese is given to looking out for the long-term advantage? Yet in the short term, we _still_ need new hiding places for Triad members who may very soon be forced to flee Greater China for their very lives."
"Of course. And those whom I have lured into my human-sacrifice fellowship, since most of them are not under suspicion of any crime in their own countries, are all the better suited as helpers to us in creating secure bolt-holes for your members to escape to...."
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Copperfox
Well-known member
The All-Species Council in Seattle was almost unaffected by the inter-union battles. The personnel who maintained the building, and the handlers of the animals cast as legislators, were all counted as Fairness Party officials, and so they were not members of any particular labor union. Having ample emergency supplies, and acting on the advice of their district police force, they battened the hatches and waited out the storm of struggling human bodies that flooded the streets.
On Sunday morning, February 8, the Chaircreature of the All-Species Council, the deranged boy Tim Govinda, was vomiting onto the floor of the main council chamber. The reason for this was that he had awakened feeling himself to be a Cape buffalo, and had assumed that some hay stored for the horse and the giraffe would also nourish him.
A ringtailed coati-mundi walked up in silent curiosity, sniffed at the puddle of puke, then silently withdrew to the corner it usually slept in. Tim then decided he would be a sea slug for awhile. He had undulated inefficiently for some nine meters across the floor, when a tedious, predictable, same-old-thing human being came within his view. It was a meek-looking man who might have made a decent lap dog.
"Chaircreature Govinda? May I speak with you?"
Tim tilted his head upward more than was comfortable for someone lying on his belly, and replied: "Blug-bladupp-guggle-dub-gub. Yes, I'm the Chaircreature. The collective is all, but I'm a collective all by myself."
"Yes, well, I'm Fluttery Madsen, from the Department of Indoctrination, here to offer you a promotion."
Tim rolled onto his back, used his feet to turn his body 180 degrees in a horizontal plane like an old-time game-spinner, then sat up facing Mr. Madsen. "Just a minute, let me be a fennec fox now, they have better ears to listen with. Okay, now tell me more."
"Here's how it is, Chaircreature. This month, we learned, the nation learned, what a defect it is in our judicial system if all Supreme Court justices are persons of the narrow-minded kind who can only imagine being one species. Our Chief Justice, Sherman Lake, did things that were so upsetting to the harmony of the collective, the trouble is continuing even after we celebrated the completion of Lake's life. Therefore, the Party Presidium urgently needs to fill his seat with someone who can foster open-mindedness in society, who can remind people of the fluid oneness of all being."
"Do you mean me? I can give lots of fluid oneness. I just left some on the floor back there."
"I accept your word on that. The Party bureaucracy for this district has been made aware of our need for you. Animal deliberations in this council chamber will continue, inspired to deeper wisdom by the example you leave in their memories. We need you to come to Washington today, and be part of the healing of the nation."
"Yip yap yip yarrr yip yarrr."
"Thank you for agreeing. The Diversity States will be in your debt; and just as the animals here have human colleagues to interpret their pronouncements for the edification of less-enlightened hearers, so when you are--"
"That wasn't agreeing, I was refusing. Don't you understand plain Fennec Fox-ish?"
"But the collective needs you!"
"I told you, I'm a collective already. I'm needed _here,_ to go on fighting against capitalistic species bigotry. Don't you know that animal-hating Biblicals are plotting to--"
Fluttery Madsen didn't look strong, but he suddenly demonstrated in concrete terms that he was strong enough to grab a wimpy boy by the neck and drag him toward the exit. "You are _going_ to assume a higher position of authority, and that's an _order,_ you little twerp!"
On Sunday morning, February 8, the Chaircreature of the All-Species Council, the deranged boy Tim Govinda, was vomiting onto the floor of the main council chamber. The reason for this was that he had awakened feeling himself to be a Cape buffalo, and had assumed that some hay stored for the horse and the giraffe would also nourish him.
A ringtailed coati-mundi walked up in silent curiosity, sniffed at the puddle of puke, then silently withdrew to the corner it usually slept in. Tim then decided he would be a sea slug for awhile. He had undulated inefficiently for some nine meters across the floor, when a tedious, predictable, same-old-thing human being came within his view. It was a meek-looking man who might have made a decent lap dog.
"Chaircreature Govinda? May I speak with you?"
Tim tilted his head upward more than was comfortable for someone lying on his belly, and replied: "Blug-bladupp-guggle-dub-gub. Yes, I'm the Chaircreature. The collective is all, but I'm a collective all by myself."
"Yes, well, I'm Fluttery Madsen, from the Department of Indoctrination, here to offer you a promotion."
Tim rolled onto his back, used his feet to turn his body 180 degrees in a horizontal plane like an old-time game-spinner, then sat up facing Mr. Madsen. "Just a minute, let me be a fennec fox now, they have better ears to listen with. Okay, now tell me more."
"Here's how it is, Chaircreature. This month, we learned, the nation learned, what a defect it is in our judicial system if all Supreme Court justices are persons of the narrow-minded kind who can only imagine being one species. Our Chief Justice, Sherman Lake, did things that were so upsetting to the harmony of the collective, the trouble is continuing even after we celebrated the completion of Lake's life. Therefore, the Party Presidium urgently needs to fill his seat with someone who can foster open-mindedness in society, who can remind people of the fluid oneness of all being."
"Do you mean me? I can give lots of fluid oneness. I just left some on the floor back there."
"I accept your word on that. The Party bureaucracy for this district has been made aware of our need for you. Animal deliberations in this council chamber will continue, inspired to deeper wisdom by the example you leave in their memories. We need you to come to Washington today, and be part of the healing of the nation."
"Yip yap yip yarrr yip yarrr."
"Thank you for agreeing. The Diversity States will be in your debt; and just as the animals here have human colleagues to interpret their pronouncements for the edification of less-enlightened hearers, so when you are--"
"That wasn't agreeing, I was refusing. Don't you understand plain Fennec Fox-ish?"
"But the collective needs you!"
"I told you, I'm a collective already. I'm needed _here,_ to go on fighting against capitalistic species bigotry. Don't you know that animal-hating Biblicals are plotting to--"
Fluttery Madsen didn't look strong, but he suddenly demonstrated in concrete terms that he was strong enough to grab a wimpy boy by the neck and drag him toward the exit. "You are _going_ to assume a higher position of authority, and that's an _order,_ you little twerp!"
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Zella
New member
I think I would pick the second option.
Yay!!!!!
That's a very ironic statement.
Copperfox
Well-known member
Chapter 83: Carpe Diem, in the Eye of the Storm
During his convalescence at Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City, Alipang had not lacked for visitors. Besides members of the Havens family, the Energy and Agriculture Undersecretaries had come and told him about the seemingly easygoing woman sent by the Department of Distribution as the new triumvirate member. Having a slight acquaintance with Latin, Alipang had suggested to them that, with the Enclave administration headed now exclusively by women, they could now call it a "triumpuerate." Not commenting on this, Agriculture had urged Alipang to stay in the hospital for as long as he could, "to milk this for all the public sympathy you can get." In reply to Alipang's thanks for the rescue, Energy had looked embarrassed and said, "It was no more than I owed you."
Pastor Ionesco had prayed with Alipang and Kim. John and Lynne Wisebadger had come to tell abundant good news about how the Forest Rangers were getting well established and integrating the Grange in their work. Henry and Huldah had turned up, asking Alipang to give the shepherd girl his own insights on Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Raoul and Annette Rochefort had shared odds and ends of news from Sussex, and relayed such tales as they had heard of Daffodil Ford's efforts to popularize Equalityball. Peter and Lucinda Tomisaburo had visited as well, seeming more interested than most visitors in letting Alipang do the talking about all he had experienced. And a Pinkshirt man Alipang had never seen before, named Fidel North, had introduced himself in a courtesy visit, explaining that he had been appointed to lead the token detachment which was henceforth to be the Indoctrination Department's only full-time presence in the Enclave.
All this being prior to the arrival of the news that outside relatives were going to be able to come inside the Enclave (and this without being prisoners), the most dramatic visit Alipang had received was from the still-persevering Miguel De Soto and his wife. Tilly had shown Alipang a new edition of the Wyoming Observer, whose main feature was an interview with Daffodil Ford; the boy had not told his rescuer that this was being done, wanting the De Sotos to have the satisfaction of telling. Tilly had remarked with a smile: "Miguel designed his questions, and Daffy worded his answers, in such a way as to avoid criticizing the Party, and yet to make you look like a cross between St. Francis of Assisi and Superman."
Miguel could not forego saying something for himself, albeit necessarily in a written form: This edition is taking us _outside_ the fence! The Pinkshirts will transcribe the interview online for me, with attribution!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Also dramatic in its own way was a visit paid by Dr. Ursula Flint. Choosing a time when only Alipang's wife and parents were with him, she softly announced, "Barney asked me to marry him, and I said yes." Alipang, Kim, Eric and Cecilia all warmly congratulated her; this digressed for awhile into Ursula asking questions about Cecilia's own recovery from the heart attack. Then Ursula drew closer to Alipang.
"Barney also has other business in motion. He hasn't said anything about it to you, because he isn't sure how you'll react to it. He doesn't know I plan to tell you, so please don't any of you repeat this."
"I promise, none of us will expose you," said Eric. "Tell us what it is."
"Barney has joined a citizens' committee; and the authorities even letting exiles form any committee is always a hopeful sign. But the purpose of this committee is hardly anything the Fairness Party could object to--which is exactly why Barney is timid about speaking to you about it. You see, some exiles, by their own effort and expense, are going to create some kind of monument, a memorial to the law-enforcement officers, notably Lieutenant Carmen Delgado, who died in the action that rid us of Nash Dockerty."
"I can see why Dr. Jamison is embarrassed to tell me about this," Alipang replied. "He spent decades of his life campaigning to convince people that the United States must never fire a shot in opposition to dictatorship and terrorism. Now, for the first time ever, he proposes to offer an approving tribute to persons who fought in a shooting battle; and the persons he chooses to honor are minions of the same dictatorship that destroyed the United States and now holds us in captivity. He could reasonably imagine that I would tell him his gesture is not only too little and too late, it's also upside-bloody-down and scragging backwards."
"Oh, Al, that's too--" Cecilia began to protest; but Ursula halted her with a gesture. Facing Alipang, almost in tears, she weakly nodded.
Alipang leaned toward Ursula and took her hand. "Dr. Flint, I said that was what Dr. Jamison would _expect_ me to say, not what I actually _would_ say. Jesus doesn't expect any of us to be able to travel back in time and change things we did in the past. Starting from _present_ reality, what your fiance is doing is a good thing; like exile families accepting Daffy's project with Equalityball, it's a way of being conciliatory toward the secular powers _without_ denying the Lord. And it's perfectly true that getting rid of Nash Dockerty and his hitmen was doing us a favor. So, far from being angry at Dr. Jamison, I'm pleased with what his committee is planning."
Kim now hugged Ursula. "I can promise you, Al is telling you what he _really_ feels. And even if he _were_ mad at Dr. Jamison, he would keep silent about it for your sake, because you're a sweetheart. You're so kind and gentle, I can't believe you have the last name Flint."
Ursula smiled. "I _won't_ have that last name for much longer. But since Alipang isn't angry at Barney--bless you, Alipang--we can hold up the wedding until after he's discharged from here and can attend."
"Your general timing's good anyway," Alipang told her. "In their present mood, the authorities won't be likely to charge that your wedding ceremony is hate speech."
During his convalescence at Sioux San Hospital in Rapid City, Alipang had not lacked for visitors. Besides members of the Havens family, the Energy and Agriculture Undersecretaries had come and told him about the seemingly easygoing woman sent by the Department of Distribution as the new triumvirate member. Having a slight acquaintance with Latin, Alipang had suggested to them that, with the Enclave administration headed now exclusively by women, they could now call it a "triumpuerate." Not commenting on this, Agriculture had urged Alipang to stay in the hospital for as long as he could, "to milk this for all the public sympathy you can get." In reply to Alipang's thanks for the rescue, Energy had looked embarrassed and said, "It was no more than I owed you."
Pastor Ionesco had prayed with Alipang and Kim. John and Lynne Wisebadger had come to tell abundant good news about how the Forest Rangers were getting well established and integrating the Grange in their work. Henry and Huldah had turned up, asking Alipang to give the shepherd girl his own insights on Old Testament Messianic prophecies. Raoul and Annette Rochefort had shared odds and ends of news from Sussex, and relayed such tales as they had heard of Daffodil Ford's efforts to popularize Equalityball. Peter and Lucinda Tomisaburo had visited as well, seeming more interested than most visitors in letting Alipang do the talking about all he had experienced. And a Pinkshirt man Alipang had never seen before, named Fidel North, had introduced himself in a courtesy visit, explaining that he had been appointed to lead the token detachment which was henceforth to be the Indoctrination Department's only full-time presence in the Enclave.
All this being prior to the arrival of the news that outside relatives were going to be able to come inside the Enclave (and this without being prisoners), the most dramatic visit Alipang had received was from the still-persevering Miguel De Soto and his wife. Tilly had shown Alipang a new edition of the Wyoming Observer, whose main feature was an interview with Daffodil Ford; the boy had not told his rescuer that this was being done, wanting the De Sotos to have the satisfaction of telling. Tilly had remarked with a smile: "Miguel designed his questions, and Daffy worded his answers, in such a way as to avoid criticizing the Party, and yet to make you look like a cross between St. Francis of Assisi and Superman."
Miguel could not forego saying something for himself, albeit necessarily in a written form: This edition is taking us _outside_ the fence! The Pinkshirts will transcribe the interview online for me, with attribution!
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Also dramatic in its own way was a visit paid by Dr. Ursula Flint. Choosing a time when only Alipang's wife and parents were with him, she softly announced, "Barney asked me to marry him, and I said yes." Alipang, Kim, Eric and Cecilia all warmly congratulated her; this digressed for awhile into Ursula asking questions about Cecilia's own recovery from the heart attack. Then Ursula drew closer to Alipang.
"Barney also has other business in motion. He hasn't said anything about it to you, because he isn't sure how you'll react to it. He doesn't know I plan to tell you, so please don't any of you repeat this."
"I promise, none of us will expose you," said Eric. "Tell us what it is."
"Barney has joined a citizens' committee; and the authorities even letting exiles form any committee is always a hopeful sign. But the purpose of this committee is hardly anything the Fairness Party could object to--which is exactly why Barney is timid about speaking to you about it. You see, some exiles, by their own effort and expense, are going to create some kind of monument, a memorial to the law-enforcement officers, notably Lieutenant Carmen Delgado, who died in the action that rid us of Nash Dockerty."
"I can see why Dr. Jamison is embarrassed to tell me about this," Alipang replied. "He spent decades of his life campaigning to convince people that the United States must never fire a shot in opposition to dictatorship and terrorism. Now, for the first time ever, he proposes to offer an approving tribute to persons who fought in a shooting battle; and the persons he chooses to honor are minions of the same dictatorship that destroyed the United States and now holds us in captivity. He could reasonably imagine that I would tell him his gesture is not only too little and too late, it's also upside-bloody-down and scragging backwards."
"Oh, Al, that's too--" Cecilia began to protest; but Ursula halted her with a gesture. Facing Alipang, almost in tears, she weakly nodded.
Alipang leaned toward Ursula and took her hand. "Dr. Flint, I said that was what Dr. Jamison would _expect_ me to say, not what I actually _would_ say. Jesus doesn't expect any of us to be able to travel back in time and change things we did in the past. Starting from _present_ reality, what your fiance is doing is a good thing; like exile families accepting Daffy's project with Equalityball, it's a way of being conciliatory toward the secular powers _without_ denying the Lord. And it's perfectly true that getting rid of Nash Dockerty and his hitmen was doing us a favor. So, far from being angry at Dr. Jamison, I'm pleased with what his committee is planning."
Kim now hugged Ursula. "I can promise you, Al is telling you what he _really_ feels. And even if he _were_ mad at Dr. Jamison, he would keep silent about it for your sake, because you're a sweetheart. You're so kind and gentle, I can't believe you have the last name Flint."
Ursula smiled. "I _won't_ have that last name for much longer. But since Alipang isn't angry at Barney--bless you, Alipang--we can hold up the wedding until after he's discharged from here and can attend."
"Your general timing's good anyway," Alipang told her. "In their present mood, the authorities won't be likely to charge that your wedding ceremony is hate speech."
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Copperfox
Well-known member
The day Alipang checked out of the hospital in Rapid City, the weather was so cold and snowy that he almost turned around and ran back inside the building--especially in view of the prospect of taking a train up to _North_ Dakota Sector for the wedding of Doctors Barney Jamison and Ursula Flint. But go he did, accompanied by Kim and their children--and by Irina Stepanova, who had made it from Wyoming Sector just in time to join them.
A large Quaker family known to Dr. Jamison lodged the Havens family on the night of the wedding rehearsal, while Irina and some other guests were placed in another such household. The next morning, several persons began joking that God was showing mercy to Alipang in particular, because the sky cleared and the temperature climbed a bit.
The actual wedding was very well attended, and the frail but undaunted Miguel De Soto was one of the groomsmen. Any residual annoyance Alipang might have felt toward the doctrinaire pacifist (and it could never be a great annoyance, against the man who had prolonged Miguel's life) was dispelled as the Escrimador grasped more truly the depth of grief Barney Jamison had suffered in his long lifetime. He held Kim closer, his heart recoiling from the thought of losing her as today's groom had lost his first wife.
Alipang was glad to have attended the wedding, but also glad afterwards to get going back toward home--which would be by way of his parents' home in Casper. A telephone message reached him, that Terrance and Harmony were going to be part of a crowd of Wyoming residents riding to Nebraska Sector to take jobs at the newly-opened huge recycling center which had been in the works for a long time. With more phone calls and some juggling, Alipang and Kim contrived to time their own train trip so that they and their children would have a stop at a station where Alipang's siblings would also stop.
This encounter took place late in the evening, but still was a happy one. After the first volley of words and hugs, Alipang and Kim were startled to catch sight of the unforgettable Frodo Von Spock in the contingent of newly-hired workers. "Frodo is going to be the plant manager," Terrance wisecracked, "because he already knows the other end of the recycling stream."
Frodo took literally what everyone else understood as a joke, and replied, "Well, actually, I don't think I'll be placed in management until after I'm familiarized with plant procedures."
Exchanging an amused look with his younger brother, Alipang then told Frodo, "Yes, I'm sure you're being more realistic there."
Kim steered the conversation back to serious matters, saying to her sister-in-law, "Does anyone in the group you're travelling with have experience dealing with Commerce Inspectors?--since we hear they'll be running whatever amount of security is deemed necessary for a recycling center."
"One guy who only got exiled recently had been around Commerce Inspectors on the outside," Harmony answered. "He says they're strict about their department's rules, but their work almost never brings them into contact with either violent crimes or 'hate crimes.' He said that this causes them to have a sort of presupposition that they'll never have to shoot anyone."
"I guess that's comforting to know," said Alipang. "It suggests that they won't be inventing a new fictional menace to take the place of the famous Ku Klux Quakers."
A large Quaker family known to Dr. Jamison lodged the Havens family on the night of the wedding rehearsal, while Irina and some other guests were placed in another such household. The next morning, several persons began joking that God was showing mercy to Alipang in particular, because the sky cleared and the temperature climbed a bit.
The actual wedding was very well attended, and the frail but undaunted Miguel De Soto was one of the groomsmen. Any residual annoyance Alipang might have felt toward the doctrinaire pacifist (and it could never be a great annoyance, against the man who had prolonged Miguel's life) was dispelled as the Escrimador grasped more truly the depth of grief Barney Jamison had suffered in his long lifetime. He held Kim closer, his heart recoiling from the thought of losing her as today's groom had lost his first wife.
Alipang was glad to have attended the wedding, but also glad afterwards to get going back toward home--which would be by way of his parents' home in Casper. A telephone message reached him, that Terrance and Harmony were going to be part of a crowd of Wyoming residents riding to Nebraska Sector to take jobs at the newly-opened huge recycling center which had been in the works for a long time. With more phone calls and some juggling, Alipang and Kim contrived to time their own train trip so that they and their children would have a stop at a station where Alipang's siblings would also stop.
This encounter took place late in the evening, but still was a happy one. After the first volley of words and hugs, Alipang and Kim were startled to catch sight of the unforgettable Frodo Von Spock in the contingent of newly-hired workers. "Frodo is going to be the plant manager," Terrance wisecracked, "because he already knows the other end of the recycling stream."
Frodo took literally what everyone else understood as a joke, and replied, "Well, actually, I don't think I'll be placed in management until after I'm familiarized with plant procedures."
Exchanging an amused look with his younger brother, Alipang then told Frodo, "Yes, I'm sure you're being more realistic there."
Kim steered the conversation back to serious matters, saying to her sister-in-law, "Does anyone in the group you're travelling with have experience dealing with Commerce Inspectors?--since we hear they'll be running whatever amount of security is deemed necessary for a recycling center."
"One guy who only got exiled recently had been around Commerce Inspectors on the outside," Harmony answered. "He says they're strict about their department's rules, but their work almost never brings them into contact with either violent crimes or 'hate crimes.' He said that this causes them to have a sort of presupposition that they'll never have to shoot anyone."
"I guess that's comforting to know," said Alipang. "It suggests that they won't be inventing a new fictional menace to take the place of the famous Ku Klux Quakers."
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Copperfox
Well-known member
The train carrying Alipang's household pulled into the Casper station before sunrise. Alipang had already awakened half an hour earlier, filled with hopeful agitation about the future of all the internal exiles--the more so since the newly-installed Undersecretary of Distribution had briefly expressed approval of making higher education available inside the fence--and he roused Kim and the children just before they had to get off.
They were met on the platform by Sergeant Pasquale of the Transport Police, who greeted Alipang by name and pointed to a large horse-drawn sleigh that was standing by. "A friend of your family offered to take you to your parents' house, free of charge." On the driver's seat of the sleigh was Mr. Ralston, the owner of the big draft horse which had been used in the snow-clearing on the day when the "Churchbusters" tour had come to Casper. That same horse was in harness for this trip, and had no difficulty pulling the weight of all five travellers and their luggage. At the Eric Havens house, Mr. Ralston, interested in whatever news Alipang might tell, accepted the invitation to come in for coffee; Kim whispered to Alipang that the house even _having_ coffee seemed like a sign of better things coming.
Once everyone had been hugged and kissed who ought to be, Cecilia sat down with little Brendan on her lap and remarked, "I'm so glad you came when you did. The house already seems empty with Harmony and Terrance gone."
"It isn't as if they're at a slave-labor camp, Mom," said Alipang. "They'll be earning money, they'll be able to phone you from time to time, and they can quit if they want to, providing they give three weeks' notice."
"And every new piece of industry started up inside the Enclave is more indication that we're not being viewed as trash thrown into a landfill," Eric added, while holding Esperanza on his own lap.
Kim was looking closely at her mother-in-law's face. "Even though you say it feels empty here, you don't _look_ as if you're too despondent. Not that I _want_ you to be depressed!"
"Well, obviously, all of _you_ are a welcome sight; and Al being fully recovered from his injuries is a blessing." But Cecilia's eyes were displaying a gleam such as Kim had rarely seen in them since the downfall of America.
"Okay, Cecilia, is there some _other_ good news you're holding back?"
Cecilia now grinned outright, reaching past Brendan to grasp her daughter-in-law's hand. "Is there ever! And it's equally good news, no, _great_ news for the rest of you! It's clear that you haven't heard yet, or you would have talked about it as soon as you came in...." She paused, glancing at her husband. Eric nodded and made a sort of go-ahead gesture, so Cecilia continued: "Bill and Lorraine were given word by the Energy Undersecretary, who had heard it from someone in Washington.... This is _awesome!_ I can still barely believe it.... Chilena, and Dan, and Melody, and Emilio, and all of their children.... WILL BE ABLE TO COME SEE US IN HERE!!!"
Mr. Ralston's eyes went wide when he heard this. "They're, uh, sorry, I mean, they're not _arrested,_ are they?"
"No, it's all right," Eric assured his neighbor. "Go on, Cecilia."
"You all remember how Emilio managed to come in on official business and see us. But now, he has a long-term _assignment_ in the Enclave, and he can bring his family! On top of that, Chilena and Dan have a deal to make a _movie_ in the Enclave, and they can bring _their_ kids in!"
"Heaven's grace, that's WILD!" exclaimed Wilson. "Too good to be true!"
"Hopefully, it isn't _literally_ too good to be true," said Alipang softly.
They were met on the platform by Sergeant Pasquale of the Transport Police, who greeted Alipang by name and pointed to a large horse-drawn sleigh that was standing by. "A friend of your family offered to take you to your parents' house, free of charge." On the driver's seat of the sleigh was Mr. Ralston, the owner of the big draft horse which had been used in the snow-clearing on the day when the "Churchbusters" tour had come to Casper. That same horse was in harness for this trip, and had no difficulty pulling the weight of all five travellers and their luggage. At the Eric Havens house, Mr. Ralston, interested in whatever news Alipang might tell, accepted the invitation to come in for coffee; Kim whispered to Alipang that the house even _having_ coffee seemed like a sign of better things coming.
Once everyone had been hugged and kissed who ought to be, Cecilia sat down with little Brendan on her lap and remarked, "I'm so glad you came when you did. The house already seems empty with Harmony and Terrance gone."
"It isn't as if they're at a slave-labor camp, Mom," said Alipang. "They'll be earning money, they'll be able to phone you from time to time, and they can quit if they want to, providing they give three weeks' notice."
"And every new piece of industry started up inside the Enclave is more indication that we're not being viewed as trash thrown into a landfill," Eric added, while holding Esperanza on his own lap.
Kim was looking closely at her mother-in-law's face. "Even though you say it feels empty here, you don't _look_ as if you're too despondent. Not that I _want_ you to be depressed!"
"Well, obviously, all of _you_ are a welcome sight; and Al being fully recovered from his injuries is a blessing." But Cecilia's eyes were displaying a gleam such as Kim had rarely seen in them since the downfall of America.
"Okay, Cecilia, is there some _other_ good news you're holding back?"
Cecilia now grinned outright, reaching past Brendan to grasp her daughter-in-law's hand. "Is there ever! And it's equally good news, no, _great_ news for the rest of you! It's clear that you haven't heard yet, or you would have talked about it as soon as you came in...." She paused, glancing at her husband. Eric nodded and made a sort of go-ahead gesture, so Cecilia continued: "Bill and Lorraine were given word by the Energy Undersecretary, who had heard it from someone in Washington.... This is _awesome!_ I can still barely believe it.... Chilena, and Dan, and Melody, and Emilio, and all of their children.... WILL BE ABLE TO COME SEE US IN HERE!!!"
Mr. Ralston's eyes went wide when he heard this. "They're, uh, sorry, I mean, they're not _arrested,_ are they?"
"No, it's all right," Eric assured his neighbor. "Go on, Cecilia."
"You all remember how Emilio managed to come in on official business and see us. But now, he has a long-term _assignment_ in the Enclave, and he can bring his family! On top of that, Chilena and Dan have a deal to make a _movie_ in the Enclave, and they can bring _their_ kids in!"
"Heaven's grace, that's WILD!" exclaimed Wilson. "Too good to be true!"
"Hopefully, it isn't _literally_ too good to be true," said Alipang softly.
Copperfox
Well-known member
Up in Sussex, Peter Tomisaburo had been doing plenty of thinking in these early days of February.
Back when Alipang's Grange buddy Henry Spafford had been missing, Peter had been one of a handful of people who learned what Kim Havens was contemplating. The first clue to it had been her seeking pieces of cardboard. It had turned out that, being aware that surveillance satellites from China and other nations could always see down into the Enclave, Kim had thought of printing a message in large letters--with paint, ink or whatever--on flat pieces of cardboard, to lay out on the ground where satellite-control watchstanders would have been able to read them easily. The message would have said something like: "GRANGE MAN MISSING WHILE WORKING FOR ENCLAVE ADMINISTRATION. ANSWERS BEING WITHHELD."
It would have been a long-shot gamble, hoping that someone would have cared to lift a finger on the missing Citizen Spafford's behalf. Peter was glad that his neighbor had not been driven to such an extreme risk, whose most likely result would have been to get her arrested.
But right now, Peter was mightily tempted to print such a message himself, asking Beijing to extract him from the Enclave.
He had been here for what, almost five years? He had gathered as much information as he could in his circumstances as a common exile, and sent it out in whatever way was possible; his information had helped his government to keep track of the intrigues involving the Overseers. But now those intrigues had led to disaster for the intriguers; things were being cleaned up in the four sectors of the reservation. And with the illegitimate military installation in the Big Horn Range eliminated, Peter saw no need for China's intelligence network to keep an agent on the ground in a territory that it could watch with satellites anyway.
A physical sign on the ground, however, would be visible to imaging satellites other than the Chinese ones; and Beijing would accept no excuses for its agent having told the world, "Hey, look, China's had a secret agent in the Diversity States Western Enclave all this time!"
And there was the little matter of Lucinda and the children NOT KNOWING that Daddy was a Chinese infiltrator. It would not have been the first thing to occur to Lucinda as she married a Japanese man. Even if the intelligence service were willing to get Peter out, Lucinda and the children might not be ready to go live someplace in Greater China just like that--which the Chinese chain of command would surely require them to do. But Chinese leaders had thrown away millions of lives in the past when it suited them; they were not likely to take pains to rescue one agent who was not being asked to die, and who indeed was living in reasonably tolerable conditions.
No, as long as the Western Enclave existed, there was no foreseeable way that Peter was going to be able, by his own initiative, to do anything that would persuade Beijing to extract him--not counting if he gave himself away openly, in which case Beijing would have him killed.
So here he would continue to be stuck. Well, Alipang and his family didn't want to be here either, yet they endured it well. That was thanks to their faith, of course.
Peter decided that he needed to be more serious about the same faith, so he wouldn't go crazy from being here.
Back when Alipang's Grange buddy Henry Spafford had been missing, Peter had been one of a handful of people who learned what Kim Havens was contemplating. The first clue to it had been her seeking pieces of cardboard. It had turned out that, being aware that surveillance satellites from China and other nations could always see down into the Enclave, Kim had thought of printing a message in large letters--with paint, ink or whatever--on flat pieces of cardboard, to lay out on the ground where satellite-control watchstanders would have been able to read them easily. The message would have said something like: "GRANGE MAN MISSING WHILE WORKING FOR ENCLAVE ADMINISTRATION. ANSWERS BEING WITHHELD."
It would have been a long-shot gamble, hoping that someone would have cared to lift a finger on the missing Citizen Spafford's behalf. Peter was glad that his neighbor had not been driven to such an extreme risk, whose most likely result would have been to get her arrested.
But right now, Peter was mightily tempted to print such a message himself, asking Beijing to extract him from the Enclave.
He had been here for what, almost five years? He had gathered as much information as he could in his circumstances as a common exile, and sent it out in whatever way was possible; his information had helped his government to keep track of the intrigues involving the Overseers. But now those intrigues had led to disaster for the intriguers; things were being cleaned up in the four sectors of the reservation. And with the illegitimate military installation in the Big Horn Range eliminated, Peter saw no need for China's intelligence network to keep an agent on the ground in a territory that it could watch with satellites anyway.
A physical sign on the ground, however, would be visible to imaging satellites other than the Chinese ones; and Beijing would accept no excuses for its agent having told the world, "Hey, look, China's had a secret agent in the Diversity States Western Enclave all this time!"
And there was the little matter of Lucinda and the children NOT KNOWING that Daddy was a Chinese infiltrator. It would not have been the first thing to occur to Lucinda as she married a Japanese man. Even if the intelligence service were willing to get Peter out, Lucinda and the children might not be ready to go live someplace in Greater China just like that--which the Chinese chain of command would surely require them to do. But Chinese leaders had thrown away millions of lives in the past when it suited them; they were not likely to take pains to rescue one agent who was not being asked to die, and who indeed was living in reasonably tolerable conditions.
No, as long as the Western Enclave existed, there was no foreseeable way that Peter was going to be able, by his own initiative, to do anything that would persuade Beijing to extract him--not counting if he gave himself away openly, in which case Beijing would have him killed.
So here he would continue to be stuck. Well, Alipang and his family didn't want to be here either, yet they endured it well. That was thanks to their faith, of course.
Peter decided that he needed to be more serious about the same faith, so he wouldn't go crazy from being here.
Copperfox
Well-known member
The time Alipang had spent in Sioux San, and then the stopovers on his family's train trip home, had meant plenty of time for people to hear news of him and be ready to welcome him back to Sussex. The arrival at the Sussex platform occurred while there still was daylight remaining, which facilitated the welcoming committee. This included the Tomisaburos, the Forresters, the Rocheforts, Pastor Ionesco, Sylvia Lathrop, Sumerico Bivar... and the former Overseer, Phosphorus Andrews, who now wore the uniform of a Commerce Inspector. "My brain-scan verified my not being any part of Dockerty's treason," she told Alipang and Kim; "so, be it reward or probation, I'm allowed to stay here. In fact, I'll be occupying an office in one of the buildings Mr. Rochefort and Mr. Tomisaburo worked on renovating over in Kaycee."
When Alipang, Kim and their children, walking by choice, came within sight of their house, it had a cordon of smiling Amish people in front of it. Teenaged Esther Reinhart, cousin to Ransom's sweetheart Lydia, ran out ahead of the others and exclaimed, "Guten tag! We're so glad you're all back safely; there's a big supper prepared, plus food for your breakfast tomorrow!" As happy small talk proceeded from this beginning, Esther's little brother Ethan and Lydia's little brother Seth asked Brendan and Esperanza to join them in making snowmen.
Ransom and Lydia themselves appeared moments later. The young man embraced Alipang, Kim and Wilson in that order, then said, "Everything's arranged with the Amish community. I'm going to live at Ulrich and Greta's house while I get my Amish basic training. I'll be using Esther's room, and Esther'll be over at Hezekiah and Lois' house, sharing Lydia's room."
Lydia smiled. "NOBODY, not even anyone Amish, believes for a minute that either my boyfriend or my cousin would do anything improper just because they were in the same house; but moving Esther does make the respectability airtight, as well as providing space for Ransom. And more important, Esther and I will be able to trade silly talk every night about Ransom and Caleb."
"Caleb's an Amish boy, of course," Esther explained. "He hung close around me at the last two Singings."
"It all sounds great," said Kim; "but let's continue this indoors. Poor Al is tired of snow and cold air."
The thawing out of Alipang Havens, and the feeding of everybody, got underway. The next person to speak more than trivially to Alipang was Sumerico, who told him: "We're seeing the Forest Rangers making good on their promise to blend in with Grange work. One of the new Rangers shot a wolf with a rifle, night before last."
Alipang smiled. "But how that wolf got a rifle, he'll never know." When Sumerico stared blankly at that, Alipang added, "That's my variation on an old Groucho Marx joke. You know, he shot an elephant in his pajamas?--Never mind."
Nearly every corner of the house was pressed into service for people to sit and eat. Ransom, who had kept the list of dental patients who would be wanting to see Alipang once Alipang was able to resume work, had to go with him to the adjoining dental office to talk in peace, and get this information turnover done without being delayed any longer from his move to the Ulrich Reinhart farm. And once Alipang had the list and had asked all questions he felt a need to ask, Ransom asked a question of his own:
"Alipang, have things really turned a corner? Is peace winning somehow?"
"I want to believe so, Ransom. Or more accurately, I hope that FREEDOM is winning. Peace by slavery isn't much of a peace, because the slaveowner can kill the slave anytime he feels like it. But the chains appear to be loosening. God has been with us; let's hope for the best."
When Alipang, Kim and their children, walking by choice, came within sight of their house, it had a cordon of smiling Amish people in front of it. Teenaged Esther Reinhart, cousin to Ransom's sweetheart Lydia, ran out ahead of the others and exclaimed, "Guten tag! We're so glad you're all back safely; there's a big supper prepared, plus food for your breakfast tomorrow!" As happy small talk proceeded from this beginning, Esther's little brother Ethan and Lydia's little brother Seth asked Brendan and Esperanza to join them in making snowmen.
Ransom and Lydia themselves appeared moments later. The young man embraced Alipang, Kim and Wilson in that order, then said, "Everything's arranged with the Amish community. I'm going to live at Ulrich and Greta's house while I get my Amish basic training. I'll be using Esther's room, and Esther'll be over at Hezekiah and Lois' house, sharing Lydia's room."
Lydia smiled. "NOBODY, not even anyone Amish, believes for a minute that either my boyfriend or my cousin would do anything improper just because they were in the same house; but moving Esther does make the respectability airtight, as well as providing space for Ransom. And more important, Esther and I will be able to trade silly talk every night about Ransom and Caleb."
"Caleb's an Amish boy, of course," Esther explained. "He hung close around me at the last two Singings."
"It all sounds great," said Kim; "but let's continue this indoors. Poor Al is tired of snow and cold air."
The thawing out of Alipang Havens, and the feeding of everybody, got underway. The next person to speak more than trivially to Alipang was Sumerico, who told him: "We're seeing the Forest Rangers making good on their promise to blend in with Grange work. One of the new Rangers shot a wolf with a rifle, night before last."
Alipang smiled. "But how that wolf got a rifle, he'll never know." When Sumerico stared blankly at that, Alipang added, "That's my variation on an old Groucho Marx joke. You know, he shot an elephant in his pajamas?--Never mind."
Nearly every corner of the house was pressed into service for people to sit and eat. Ransom, who had kept the list of dental patients who would be wanting to see Alipang once Alipang was able to resume work, had to go with him to the adjoining dental office to talk in peace, and get this information turnover done without being delayed any longer from his move to the Ulrich Reinhart farm. And once Alipang had the list and had asked all questions he felt a need to ask, Ransom asked a question of his own:
"Alipang, have things really turned a corner? Is peace winning somehow?"
"I want to believe so, Ransom. Or more accurately, I hope that FREEDOM is winning. Peace by slavery isn't much of a peace, because the slaveowner can kill the slave anytime he feels like it. But the chains appear to be loosening. God has been with us; let's hope for the best."
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Copperfox
Well-known member
Chapter 84: Reassessing the Repression
"Sir, you don't _actually_ believe that the planet itself has a mind and feelings of its own, do you?" asked the Mid-Atlantic Federal District policeman who was acting as bodyguard to the Vice-President.
Carlos Anselmo took a drink of Joy Nectar from a flask before answering. He was not the only high-ranking Fairness Party member to make a point of doing this _before_ going indoors. Respectable though Joy Nectar was, those drinking it this morning did not want to be seen doing so by too many others, because they didn't want to appear as if they needed to deal with nervousness. To look nervous now, so soon after the first big in-Party purge in Diversity States history, could be dangerous. And there was no problem of suffering from the cold here; Collective Dormitories all over the district went short on electric power so that weather-control projectors could keep the winter air warm around the important government buildings in Washington.
"No, of course I don't. Molten rock has no such stable and complex structure as RNA molecules, to be able to store information. Therefore the planet has no brain, therefore there is no Mother Gaia. But remember: I go a long way back with the progressive movement. I was a cell director for W.A.L.N.U.T. before the Fairness Party appeared and absorbed it. Already in those days, in our circles, a man showing interest in women ran a risk of being accused of harassment. In order to pick up women safely, I had to talk the talk they wanted to hear, so they wouldn't _think_ of my advances as harassment. Earth-Mother talk enabled me to get next to some hot mommas. Kid, if you want good hunting, act as if the Nature-Goddess song-and-dance is the sweetest music you ever heard."
"I'll remember that, sir." The cop checked his data bracelet. "I think it's time to go inside."
The former United States Capitol Building was physically not far different from what it had been while there had been a United States. The selection of sculptures and paintings, though, had changed since 2021. Portrayals of early American patriots had been supplanted by portrayals of such persons as Jean Rousseau, Karl Marx, John Dewey, Margaret Sanger, Iosif Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Jane Fonda and Saul Alinsky--the role models of the building's current users.
The Fairness Party Presidium held sessions in what had been the meeting place of the House of Representatives. The Senate chamber was used for overflow seating with holovideo of the meetings, whenever more people were allowed to be present than the larger chamber could contain. But the Senate chamber was not in use when a Presidium session was called around the time that Alipang Havens returned home to Sussex, Wyoming. President Jessica Trevette, who had called the session, did not want any aspect of the day's deliberations to become known to non-participants prematurely.
When Anselmo took his seat on the platform, President Trevette shot a glance in his direction, as if to say to him, "You've called enough Presidium sessions to order--this one's mine."
Then she turned to face the Party's top-echelon membership, and to face the cameras. Although there was no live transmission of today's meeting, there might be future occasion to put parts of it on streamcast. As was her custom, the already-gorgeous President had the cameras programmed to revisualize her face and hair with a _different_ gorgeousness.
"Members of the true collective! We are that collective which is all; so--?"
Her expectant pause was rewarded with a mass outcry of "WE ARE ALL!"
"So we are. But all too recently, some were not so all as we are all the all. You know how Supreme Court Chief Justice Sherman Lake, Associate Justice Fatima Ruskin, and many other holders of responsible posts were unmasked as un-mutual deviationists. One thing the offenders had in common was that they DID follow the Party line with respect to opposing tribal supernaturalism. Not one of them was by any stretch of imagination a Biblical. Yet we see by the event that this did not prevent them from pursuing self-centered aims at the expense of...the collective."
A meaningful sweep of her seductive eyes across the chamber was the cue for planted persons in the seats to start up a chant of "THE COLLECTIVE IS ALL! THE COLLECTIVE IS ALL!" When it subsided, she continued:
"At the same time, it cannot be denied by the most militant Overseer--or should I say, by the most militant _living_ Overseer--that those very same Biblicals whom we wisely isolated in the Western Enclave, have conducted themselves in so prudent a manner as to make them look more harmonious than some atheists. Accordingly, the first order of business today is to discuss whether it would be expedient to relax some of the restrictions under which internal exiles live and work."
Carlos Anselmo was all attention. Though he revered no deity, he had maintained for years that when carefully watched, Biblicals could be allowed some freedom and produce results _beneficial_ to society....
"Sir, you don't _actually_ believe that the planet itself has a mind and feelings of its own, do you?" asked the Mid-Atlantic Federal District policeman who was acting as bodyguard to the Vice-President.
Carlos Anselmo took a drink of Joy Nectar from a flask before answering. He was not the only high-ranking Fairness Party member to make a point of doing this _before_ going indoors. Respectable though Joy Nectar was, those drinking it this morning did not want to be seen doing so by too many others, because they didn't want to appear as if they needed to deal with nervousness. To look nervous now, so soon after the first big in-Party purge in Diversity States history, could be dangerous. And there was no problem of suffering from the cold here; Collective Dormitories all over the district went short on electric power so that weather-control projectors could keep the winter air warm around the important government buildings in Washington.
"No, of course I don't. Molten rock has no such stable and complex structure as RNA molecules, to be able to store information. Therefore the planet has no brain, therefore there is no Mother Gaia. But remember: I go a long way back with the progressive movement. I was a cell director for W.A.L.N.U.T. before the Fairness Party appeared and absorbed it. Already in those days, in our circles, a man showing interest in women ran a risk of being accused of harassment. In order to pick up women safely, I had to talk the talk they wanted to hear, so they wouldn't _think_ of my advances as harassment. Earth-Mother talk enabled me to get next to some hot mommas. Kid, if you want good hunting, act as if the Nature-Goddess song-and-dance is the sweetest music you ever heard."
"I'll remember that, sir." The cop checked his data bracelet. "I think it's time to go inside."
The former United States Capitol Building was physically not far different from what it had been while there had been a United States. The selection of sculptures and paintings, though, had changed since 2021. Portrayals of early American patriots had been supplanted by portrayals of such persons as Jean Rousseau, Karl Marx, John Dewey, Margaret Sanger, Iosif Stalin, Mao Tse-Tung, Jane Fonda and Saul Alinsky--the role models of the building's current users.
The Fairness Party Presidium held sessions in what had been the meeting place of the House of Representatives. The Senate chamber was used for overflow seating with holovideo of the meetings, whenever more people were allowed to be present than the larger chamber could contain. But the Senate chamber was not in use when a Presidium session was called around the time that Alipang Havens returned home to Sussex, Wyoming. President Jessica Trevette, who had called the session, did not want any aspect of the day's deliberations to become known to non-participants prematurely.
When Anselmo took his seat on the platform, President Trevette shot a glance in his direction, as if to say to him, "You've called enough Presidium sessions to order--this one's mine."
Then she turned to face the Party's top-echelon membership, and to face the cameras. Although there was no live transmission of today's meeting, there might be future occasion to put parts of it on streamcast. As was her custom, the already-gorgeous President had the cameras programmed to revisualize her face and hair with a _different_ gorgeousness.
"Members of the true collective! We are that collective which is all; so--?"
Her expectant pause was rewarded with a mass outcry of "WE ARE ALL!"
"So we are. But all too recently, some were not so all as we are all the all. You know how Supreme Court Chief Justice Sherman Lake, Associate Justice Fatima Ruskin, and many other holders of responsible posts were unmasked as un-mutual deviationists. One thing the offenders had in common was that they DID follow the Party line with respect to opposing tribal supernaturalism. Not one of them was by any stretch of imagination a Biblical. Yet we see by the event that this did not prevent them from pursuing self-centered aims at the expense of...the collective."
A meaningful sweep of her seductive eyes across the chamber was the cue for planted persons in the seats to start up a chant of "THE COLLECTIVE IS ALL! THE COLLECTIVE IS ALL!" When it subsided, she continued:
"At the same time, it cannot be denied by the most militant Overseer--or should I say, by the most militant _living_ Overseer--that those very same Biblicals whom we wisely isolated in the Western Enclave, have conducted themselves in so prudent a manner as to make them look more harmonious than some atheists. Accordingly, the first order of business today is to discuss whether it would be expedient to relax some of the restrictions under which internal exiles live and work."
Carlos Anselmo was all attention. Though he revered no deity, he had maintained for years that when carefully watched, Biblicals could be allowed some freedom and produce results _beneficial_ to society....
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Copperfox
Well-known member
Reltseotu Smith, now Ambassador-At-Large for the State Department, still did not know that an unauthorized microchip in her body was reporting her location to the secret army's cryptologic facility in Uganda. Still less did she know that improvements in parasitic links and relays were now enabling the chip to pass along her words in coded electronic packets through the D.S.A.'s own fiber-optic trunk lines and beyond, thus also to be heard in Uganda. She merely knew that, while her Party seniority was not on a level with her governmental job, her experience as a journalist had led to her being entrusted with scripted spontaneous questions. Waving her hand as if an idea had just come to her, she let the technicians lock on to her with a parabolic sound pickup, then said:
"Comrade President, will expansions of privilege for God-fascists begin in the Enclave and later be considered for implementation outside the Enclave? Or the reverse? Or neither?"
"The current discussion," Jessica Trevette replied, "affects only the Enclave, except insofar as the Enclave itself affects outside religionists. That is to say, one proposal which all of you soon will see downloading into your tablet computers is to allow outside Biblicals to visit exiles on some kind of scheduled basis. The trial run for this indulgence, as is appropriate, concerns that very same exile who has distinguished himself by good behavior, namely Alipang Havens. Two households having a connection with him and his domestic partner will be allowed for a substantial period to dwell inside the Enclave, without themselves being designated as exiles. If no undesirable incidents arise from this, more leeway for visits may be granted.
"One other way that the Enclave will affect the outside is that outside media will be allowed to see the content of an old-style hard-copy newspaper which exists in the Wyoming Sector. The Department of Indoctrination, of course, will exercise comprehensive censorial power over this. Otherwise, all the possible new measures pertain exclusively to local conditions of the Enclave."
The Party Presidium's Clerk of Labor Relations now stood, and his question actually was spontaneous: "Comrade President, since industrial activity inside the Enclave is being increased, how soon does the government intend to place the whole exile workforce under the leadership of the unions?"
"That question is under study," Trevette replied smoothly. Her sarcasm was almost imperceptible in what followed: "Note, however, that atmospheric tranquilization of the Enclave renders most exiles not disposed to perform kinetic negotiations in the normal union fashion."
It cost Carlos Anselmo nothing at this point to lend his superior a bit of support, saying to the union advocate, "The specialized structure of the Enclave administration, by its own nature, already operates in a fashion close enough to modern unions. The more so, now that the Distribution Department has been awarded a seat on the triumvirate there. I'm sure the honorable Clerk does not mean to imply that three eminently-qualified Cabinet Undersecretaries are not competent to keep labor organized."
Denying any such un-mutual intention, the Clerk sat down. Reltseotu then posed the other question she had been instructed to ask:
"Comrade President, in the event of outside relatives being allowed to visit inside the Enclave, what will happen to our policy of not letting the general public know how much of our nation's electricity is actually generated by exile-operated powerplants?"
"A good question, Ambassador Smith. My answer is that any visiting arrangement will stipulate that visitors can only be present in defined areas, out of sight of any major energy-industry sites. And exiles privileged to have outside visitors will be briefed against having any detailed conversations about that industry as it figures in Enclave life."
Reltseotu inwardly reflected on what would have happened if Sherman Lake had succeeded in his bid to control all of the Enclave's electrical power output. In that eventuality, leaders of both her past and present professions would have been tasked hard to prevent the whole world from knowing just HOW dependent the Diversity States was on Enclave energy production. She suddenly hoped very fervently that the exiles themselves never took it into their heads to seize control of the power grid. Then she wondered whether Trevette was talking about improving conditions for the exiles out of fear that, if angered enough, the exiles WOULD attempt exactly that.
But Reltseotu did not speak these thoughts out loud. They were not in the script.
And eventually, she knew, the day would turn more amusing, with the confirmation of a certain Tim Govinda as the new Chief Justice. This absurd appointment would serve to cripple the Supreme Court as a seat of meaningful political power. And that meant more security for the President and Vice-President. Which led a journalist and politician to wonder how much harmony and oneness there really was between Jessica Trevette and Carlos Anselmo.
Again, a subject absent from the script.
"Comrade President, will expansions of privilege for God-fascists begin in the Enclave and later be considered for implementation outside the Enclave? Or the reverse? Or neither?"
"The current discussion," Jessica Trevette replied, "affects only the Enclave, except insofar as the Enclave itself affects outside religionists. That is to say, one proposal which all of you soon will see downloading into your tablet computers is to allow outside Biblicals to visit exiles on some kind of scheduled basis. The trial run for this indulgence, as is appropriate, concerns that very same exile who has distinguished himself by good behavior, namely Alipang Havens. Two households having a connection with him and his domestic partner will be allowed for a substantial period to dwell inside the Enclave, without themselves being designated as exiles. If no undesirable incidents arise from this, more leeway for visits may be granted.
"One other way that the Enclave will affect the outside is that outside media will be allowed to see the content of an old-style hard-copy newspaper which exists in the Wyoming Sector. The Department of Indoctrination, of course, will exercise comprehensive censorial power over this. Otherwise, all the possible new measures pertain exclusively to local conditions of the Enclave."
The Party Presidium's Clerk of Labor Relations now stood, and his question actually was spontaneous: "Comrade President, since industrial activity inside the Enclave is being increased, how soon does the government intend to place the whole exile workforce under the leadership of the unions?"
"That question is under study," Trevette replied smoothly. Her sarcasm was almost imperceptible in what followed: "Note, however, that atmospheric tranquilization of the Enclave renders most exiles not disposed to perform kinetic negotiations in the normal union fashion."
It cost Carlos Anselmo nothing at this point to lend his superior a bit of support, saying to the union advocate, "The specialized structure of the Enclave administration, by its own nature, already operates in a fashion close enough to modern unions. The more so, now that the Distribution Department has been awarded a seat on the triumvirate there. I'm sure the honorable Clerk does not mean to imply that three eminently-qualified Cabinet Undersecretaries are not competent to keep labor organized."
Denying any such un-mutual intention, the Clerk sat down. Reltseotu then posed the other question she had been instructed to ask:
"Comrade President, in the event of outside relatives being allowed to visit inside the Enclave, what will happen to our policy of not letting the general public know how much of our nation's electricity is actually generated by exile-operated powerplants?"
"A good question, Ambassador Smith. My answer is that any visiting arrangement will stipulate that visitors can only be present in defined areas, out of sight of any major energy-industry sites. And exiles privileged to have outside visitors will be briefed against having any detailed conversations about that industry as it figures in Enclave life."
Reltseotu inwardly reflected on what would have happened if Sherman Lake had succeeded in his bid to control all of the Enclave's electrical power output. In that eventuality, leaders of both her past and present professions would have been tasked hard to prevent the whole world from knowing just HOW dependent the Diversity States was on Enclave energy production. She suddenly hoped very fervently that the exiles themselves never took it into their heads to seize control of the power grid. Then she wondered whether Trevette was talking about improving conditions for the exiles out of fear that, if angered enough, the exiles WOULD attempt exactly that.
But Reltseotu did not speak these thoughts out loud. They were not in the script.
And eventually, she knew, the day would turn more amusing, with the confirmation of a certain Tim Govinda as the new Chief Justice. This absurd appointment would serve to cripple the Supreme Court as a seat of meaningful political power. And that meant more security for the President and Vice-President. Which led a journalist and politician to wonder how much harmony and oneness there really was between Jessica Trevette and Carlos Anselmo.
Again, a subject absent from the script.
Copperfox
Well-known member
There was no department in the Trevette Cabinet more coldly materialistic than the Department of Distribution. It was, after all, the department which contained the Health Rationing Agency and the Genetic Health Service, and which regulated the Physicians' Union and the Secondary Healthcare Workers' Union, commanding fertility, life and death according to who was considered useful to the collective. For all this, however, the Distribution Undersecretary newly assigned to the Western Enclave--a woman midway in age between the other two Cabinet Undersecretaries whom she was joining in Rapid City-- was oddly superstitious. Her superstitious inclinations rose to the surface the first time she was faced with attending a meeting on the same floor of the same building where Nash Dockerty had met his end. She insisted on exchanging all furniture on this floor with furniture from other floors, lest she sit on or touch any chair, bench, desk or table that a corpse might have fallen on. Complying with this, Energy and Agriculture didn't bother telling her that combatants had also died on the other floors when this building had been stormed.
When the three women sat down in privacy, Distribution hastened to utter a little prepared speech: "Thank you for the honor guard that met me at the airport. And thank you for showing confidence in me when you holoconferenced with the President. I believe we now have the optimum administrative structure for the Enclave: all three of us firmly planted in the real world. The other departments have their place, of course, but they are a means, while our departments pursue the ends. We live by volts and amperes, proteins and carbohydrates, pesos and centavos. Hard reality! No caving in to fantasy! The material world first and last!"
Energy waved fingers vaguely in the air--unlike the moment when she had shot Nash Dockerty, a moment when her fingers had been steady and precise. "Please remember that the exiles do not require a harsh hand; the Party deems them to be doing no harm by their superstitions, given the already-established safeguards."
"Of course," Distribution assured her. "I didn't mean that we should revive the same heavy-handed intimidation and coercion that the unlamented Deputy Commander of Overseers practiced; rather, that we must use our enlightened _example_ to lead the Biblicals out of delusion."
"Well and good if we can do that," said Agriculture; "but exactly as they are, the Biblicals here _already_ show commendable performance in all types of work entrusted to them, even, um, even..."
"Even in a controlled degree of entrepreneurship," the less timid Energy Undersecretary finished for her.
"I understand, I've listened to plenty of reports," Distribution said. "And not only do I understand their usefulness; I also support wholeheartedly an initiative that Carlos Anselmo has been promoting to the Party Presidium." She made eye contact with Energy. "This affects your department. Please don't be affronted that I knew this before you did; the Presidium, having approved preliminary actions, judged it expedient simply to let me inform you as I settled into my post."
"Preliminary actions for some further development in the energy industry?" The older woman was privately thinking about how China had been allowed to help itself to America's interior petroleum deposits, oil being more maligned in America than other fuels. "Do these involve more....sharing of resources with other members of the global community?"
"Not proportionally more so than is already the case. The Vice-President was arguing, and the President accepted his argument, that an expansion in type, and in geographical extent, of energy-resource exploitation--"
Agriculture's eyes went wide. "You mean YELLOWSTONE?"
"Why, yes, exactly. The Presidium is looking into moving the perimeter, enlarging the Enclave so that Yellowstone Park will be _inside_ the fence. Then, under close supervision, exile workers can be provided with _plenty_ of additional opportunities to serve the collective, as geothermal powerplants are built around the Yellowstone Caldera. If it can be safely and efficiently harnessed, all that magma heat will mean a gigantic increase in our national energy supply."
"That's ambitious, I'll give them that," murmured Agriculture.
"Which is why the Presidium is only in preliminary stages with the idea. Something we already have in motion will help us to judge whether the exiles are competent to hold jobs in a project as big as Yellowstone."
"You mean the Nebraska recycling plant?"
"Yes, it represents increased variety in the employment afforded to exiles. And in this context, if you two agree, I'd like to have someone join our deliberations now..."
When the three women sat down in privacy, Distribution hastened to utter a little prepared speech: "Thank you for the honor guard that met me at the airport. And thank you for showing confidence in me when you holoconferenced with the President. I believe we now have the optimum administrative structure for the Enclave: all three of us firmly planted in the real world. The other departments have their place, of course, but they are a means, while our departments pursue the ends. We live by volts and amperes, proteins and carbohydrates, pesos and centavos. Hard reality! No caving in to fantasy! The material world first and last!"
Energy waved fingers vaguely in the air--unlike the moment when she had shot Nash Dockerty, a moment when her fingers had been steady and precise. "Please remember that the exiles do not require a harsh hand; the Party deems them to be doing no harm by their superstitions, given the already-established safeguards."
"Of course," Distribution assured her. "I didn't mean that we should revive the same heavy-handed intimidation and coercion that the unlamented Deputy Commander of Overseers practiced; rather, that we must use our enlightened _example_ to lead the Biblicals out of delusion."
"Well and good if we can do that," said Agriculture; "but exactly as they are, the Biblicals here _already_ show commendable performance in all types of work entrusted to them, even, um, even..."
"Even in a controlled degree of entrepreneurship," the less timid Energy Undersecretary finished for her.
"I understand, I've listened to plenty of reports," Distribution said. "And not only do I understand their usefulness; I also support wholeheartedly an initiative that Carlos Anselmo has been promoting to the Party Presidium." She made eye contact with Energy. "This affects your department. Please don't be affronted that I knew this before you did; the Presidium, having approved preliminary actions, judged it expedient simply to let me inform you as I settled into my post."
"Preliminary actions for some further development in the energy industry?" The older woman was privately thinking about how China had been allowed to help itself to America's interior petroleum deposits, oil being more maligned in America than other fuels. "Do these involve more....sharing of resources with other members of the global community?"
"Not proportionally more so than is already the case. The Vice-President was arguing, and the President accepted his argument, that an expansion in type, and in geographical extent, of energy-resource exploitation--"
Agriculture's eyes went wide. "You mean YELLOWSTONE?"
"Why, yes, exactly. The Presidium is looking into moving the perimeter, enlarging the Enclave so that Yellowstone Park will be _inside_ the fence. Then, under close supervision, exile workers can be provided with _plenty_ of additional opportunities to serve the collective, as geothermal powerplants are built around the Yellowstone Caldera. If it can be safely and efficiently harnessed, all that magma heat will mean a gigantic increase in our national energy supply."
"That's ambitious, I'll give them that," murmured Agriculture.
"Which is why the Presidium is only in preliminary stages with the idea. Something we already have in motion will help us to judge whether the exiles are competent to hold jobs in a project as big as Yellowstone."
"You mean the Nebraska recycling plant?"
"Yes, it represents increased variety in the employment afforded to exiles. And in this context, if you two agree, I'd like to have someone join our deliberations now..."