|
Invasion
by Vikki French
With thanks to Diane Hanse, who told me about Wanda Wilson being a prophet, and to Tim McCleerey, still the only person I know who ALWAYS reads my stories. I'm fast asleep on my perch when my com emits a musical warble. It is the sound indicating a message from the Leader. Oops... I'm sorry... from Our Great and Sacred Leader. "Great" for obvious reasons (mostly because he says so... often). "Our" because who else would have him... (sorry, he's not really "my" favorite leader...) "Sacred" because after the assassination attempt on him six weeks ago, it is obvious to everyone (at least everyone in the Government) that the Powers Ruling the Universe have chosen him for some sacred purpose... The Respectful Name of the Leader edict went out about a month ago, and I haven't yet reprogrammed my half-asleep brain to automatically say the proper (respectful) name. You can be brought to court for that... if you say it out loud... but so far they don't seem to have any way to monitor our thoughts... I think... It's "night" here on Luna, and I decide to ignore OGASL's latest scree. And, yes, you can be brought to court if you call him OGASL... And you can be disciplined if you don't open OGASL's message in a timely manner... The Government of Uralia is going through complicated times. I think I have mentioned that the star in our stellar system is in its red giant phase and has engulfed our original planet Uralia. Several thousand years ago, we fled to moons and asteroids in the outer orbits of our stellar system. Using money from SafeGuard (our company pays high taxes and donates 70% of its profits to the Uralian Government, and this has been going on for about 90 Lunar years) Uralia bought an uninhabited planet (Botslean) three years ago. As you can imagine, buying an entire planet is not an easy process. This required not just money, but years of debates in the Galactic Court, not to mention analysis by the Setow verifying the native bacterial life forms on Botslean were not presently, nor likely ever to become sapient. But, three years ago, the Government of Uralia (headed by OGASL) tied up all the loose ends and began relocating citizens from our (dangerous) stellar system, to the new (hopefully safer) system and our new planet. Of course, not everybody gets to go. You have to pass a loyalty test. Residents of Uralia2 (the capital) went first. And Urans are assumed to be more loyal than Lians (I'm a Lian), so they get priority. And wealthy Uralians are assumed to be more loyal than poor ones. Well, except for the owners of SafeGuard -- we are assumed to be anti-Leader activists. And... well, you get the idea... With a whole new planet populated only by loyal followers, OGASL has been seizing even more power and privileges for himself and issuing edicts regularly which apply to all citizens (whether you live on the new planet or not). To me, these edicts seem uniformly random, arbitrary, intrusive, and reactionary. I'm really glad they can't monitor our thoughts... I hope... My com buzzes again... not OGASL this time. I ask, "Caller?" in the darkness. My com responds, "Dnhns." Dnhns was the chemist, and I was the physicist who developed the SafeGuard system that seals necessary gases (like breathable air) and fluids (like potable water) in supposedly-sealed environments (like the cave cities of Luna) from leeching into space. Dnhns and I have been friends and colleagues for close to a century. OK... if she's calling right after OGASL's edict, it's probably related. And I should investigate (middle of the night or not...) "Play message from Our Great and Sacred Leader," I mumble and settle back on my perch. OGASL's messages tend to be long:
"We're very proud of our new home. I am responsible for this new home. It's one of the greatest achievements. We have the greatest economy in history, and I built the new planet. Those are the two things I say more than anything else. "There could be no higher honor than to serve as Your Great and Sacred Leader. It is a great honor. I look at you, my citizens, you just incredible citizens. To each and every one of you, I thank you for your unwavering devotion to Uralia, to which we've all sworn a sacred oath, every one of us. "We must be so strong that no enemy will dare challenge us, so powerful that no enemy will dare threaten us and so capable that no enemy can even think about beating us. And I actually don't talk about it much, but I think you have to. Our enemies -- they're vicious beings, you know, that we have to fight, you have to fight vicious beings. "Our enemies are different, a different kind of vicious. But they spread all these horrible -- you know, they made up statements, and said what I said about everything, but even about the government. "SafeGuard Corporation -- they're not a good outfit by the way. You know, SafeGuard runs most of our original cities that are in bad shape. We have many cities in great shape too, by the way. I want you to know that. Our new cities on our new planet are in great shape. But it seems that the older ones that are run by the radical SafeGuard Corporation, what they've done to our older cities, they're very unsafe. And they're trying to gain control of our new planet, our beautiful new planet. With their team of incompetents. To destroy our beautiful new planet. "So I am, as of 000 hours New Uralia day 1098, declaring SafeGuard to no longer be an independent corporation, but the sovereign property of the Government of Uralia. These disloyal traitors will no longer be able to steal money rightfully the property of Uralia from Uralians -- our great and loyal Uralians -- they will no longer control what we do and what we think but will be driven from power. "We will vanquish every danger and crush every threat to our planet, because we will fight, fight, fight and we will win, win, win. "I want to just thank you once again and may the Powers Ruling the Universe bless Uralia; The Powers Ruling the Universe bless you all. Thank you very much. Thank you."
"Contact Dnhns!" I tell the com. Dnhns answers immediately. "Did you hear?" "I heard." "Of course, they have to find us first." "There is that," I agree, "and they probably won't want to invade the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo system to seize "their" property." "Probably not," she agrees. "PROBABLY not... We'll need to meet." I sigh. "I'll send out an alert for, well, as soon as possible..." "Why is everything always so hard?" she demands. "Government policy," I respond. Since, as a member of the Board of Directors of SafeGuard, I am already a "not good, vicious enemy, incompetent, disloyal traitor," it seems unlikely that anything I say will make my situation worse. Members of the SafeGuard board are scattered about the known galaxy. To meet at a time convenient (not to mention "business hours") for all of us is practically impossible. Our SafeGuard programmer, Rjnspn, has created a program that finds overlapping "convenient times." My com spits out three "convenient times" within the next Lunar day. I send out the alert to all concerned. I hope everyone will be willing to meet even if inconvenient. I settle back onto my perch. They have to find us first... Of course, that won't be impossible, or even hard. We have a galactic business to run, and we aren't really hiding. But any delay in the takeover will work to our advantage. It is so lucky that we left Uralia2 during the relocation. It is so lucky that SafeGuard has a prophet... *** We are in my "private office." Since the Uralian Embassy doesn't actually extend to such amenities, my "private office" is my favorite table at the FastFood. But I'm not eating anything. Lt. Forbes (of the Luna City Administrative Law Enforcement) is having coffee. He is even more upset than I am. "They've nationalized your company!" "Well, yes, I suppose so, but they can't actually legally do that since the Uralian Government didn't provide any funds for the development of our process and because we pay taxes to the Government. If we were under Government ownership, we wouldn't pay taxes..." "OK, so it's not legal. Would that actually prevent them doing it anyway?" The Lieutenant knows too much about our Government. "No, they do whatever the Leader, excuse me, Our Great and Sacred Leader wants done. Uralia's Primary Court has declared anything the Leader does to be legal." "So you're doomed." "No, SafeGuard is a Galactically-Registered Corporation. The Galactic Courts would never approve of Uralia taking complete control. You see, we pay taxes to the Galaxy, too." "I thought your Leader had everyone cowed to do whatever he wanted." "Well, the Courts did grant the permit for Uralia to buy Botslean. But there's a fair amount of money going to the Galaxy that wouldn't be sent if the company was under Uralian Government ownership. And I don't think he can actually threaten the Galactic Government. Who would he sue? What court could he file in?" Lt. Forbes nods hesitantly. "And, they have to find us first," I continue. "Are you lost?" "We're sort of hiding. We moved from Uralia2 under cover of the resettlements. If they go into our buildings now, they'll find a receptionbot, a couple of securitybots, and a few janotorbots." "And you're "hiding" somewhere outside of Uralian Governmental control?" "We are. In someone else's stellar system. And the Uralian military is not so great, no matter what Our Great and Sacred Leader says. I don't think he would risk war with another stellar system." "Hopefully not. No one wants another Galactic war." "And we're paying THEM taxes, too." "To your hidey-hole system?" "To our hidey-hole system." "Sounds like a lot of taxes..." "It is..." I say glumly. "I hope it all works out for you," he says. "I do, too." The Lieutenant's com buzzes. He listens, looks startled, says, "Yes! Right away," and disconnects. He looks at me blankly. "Luna has been invaded," he says. "Earth-side." "Damn," I sympathize. "Does this happen often?" "Never!" he shouts over his shoulder, running for his skimmer. This does not sound good. All cities on Luna are on the Space-side of the moon. This is because the original settlers were fleeing an oppressive regime on Earth, and they were hoping Earth sensors would not detect them. As time passed, Lunars mined any useful items from abandoned Earth projects on the Earth-side and installed monitoring devices to alert them in case of any activity. For over ten years there had been no indication that Earth was a threat. Now, seemingly, there are indications... ... I go ahead and get an order of chicken nuggets. *** I am on a com-link meeting with the Board of SafeGuard. Once upon a time, we all lived on Lia4 and were all in the same dance group (Uralians, remember, have to move when they hear music). Our mates called us the "tribe" and insisted we had a telepathic connection. Dnhns is there, with her mate Frdjkn, who worked with my mate (now deceased) to do the legal work to create SafeGuard originally. They are still on Lia4, our original home. Lzyrnl, another Lia4 resident, does all of our documentary research and acts as Government and Galactic liason. Of course, the Government she was originally liason-ing with 90 years ago was not OGASL. She HATES the new Government and is dangerously vocal about her opinions. She does not have a mate; that fell through decades ago. Rjnspn, our programmer has moved to Lia6. Her mate (a drunken jerk) is not a part of SafeGuard and never has been. Grtscb, is in charge of efficacy and safety testing. She is no longer on Lia4 but was originally stationed by the Uralian Government on Ratihinaconaxemuwezo as part of an Aid Mission. Even though all Aid Missions have been scrapped and defunded by OGASL (he can use the money better to Aid loyal Uralians -- like himself), she has remained in the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo system. She was instrumental in arranging for our Corporate relocation to the system a couple of years ago. Her mate (like mine) died several years ago. And Wndwls, our Corporate prophet, has also moved to Lia6. Her husband is still on Lia4, but is not part of SafeGuard. Uralians don't divorce, but moving to another planet works out to about the same thing. She is probably the most important member of our team. She is the one who, just short of 100 years ago, airily observed one day, "You know, air and water are leaking out of the Lia4 cavern. Someone should invent something to stop that." Dnhns and I were her audience, and we looked at each other and started working on our new project. And that is how our prophet works: she just sort of mentions something, in passing, and if we ignore it, bad things happen. If we act on it, things work out. When we first incorporated, she said, "We should build on Uralia2." Well, that made sense, it was the capital and largest settlement. Then she said, "We should give 70% of our profits to the Uralian government." That DIDN'T make any sense. We'd be paying taxes, after all. But so far she's been right about everything else. We'll see about that one. And, of course, the present prophesy: nine years ago, she said, "We should move away from Uralia2." Further questions (which don't usually elicit useful information, but which did in this case) indicated "outside of the Uralia system." Well, THAT prophesy has certainly been vindicated. And, when the relocation and resettlement of Uralia2 began, she made another recommendation: buy all the land from those leaving. So, we now own about 85% of dead and (mostly) depopulated Uralia2. Great. That's in the "we'll see" category, too. Lzyrnl, who tries (usually unsuccessfully) to organize our group starts the meeting. "You all know what's happened. Any ideas?" Frdjkn reports he has already filed papers with the Galactic Courts to block Uralia's corporate takover. (Yay, Frdjkn!) Because of our taxpaying status (both to Uralia AND to the Galaxy) he thinks we have a good chance of success in the Galactic Court. Grtscb reports the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo are missing as always from any meetings she has scheduled but that there are banners across the capital city proclaiming "SafeGuard Is Safe Here," (which sounds promising.) And, next to the Gilgot, they have the strongest military in the known Galaxy. They also have practically NO source of income except SafeGuard taxes, so she thinks they will defend us if Uralia (with its poor military) should (unwisely) choose to invade their system. We all look to Wndwls. No passing remarks. We look to Lzyrnl. She closes the meeting with, "Report in if you hear any news. May the Powers Ruling the Universe keep us safe." From her lips to their ears... *** Lunar day 1,974. The Galactic Court rules that the Government of Uralia cannot legally declare the privately-owned corporation SafeGuard to be their sovereign property. Thank you, Frdjkn. Apparently they found the fact that we were donating 70% of our annual profits to the Uralian Government in addition to our annual taxes to be compelling evidence that we were not cheating the Government out of anything they were owed. Thank you Wndwls. My com is warbling again. I consider throwing it on the floor and stomping on it. Instead I put on my "patriotic martyr" face and give a listen. It is not a response to the SafeGuard ruling (that would be a loss, loss, loss not a win, win, win, so it is to be ignored until vengeance can be arranged.) Instead, in his usual inimitable style, OGASL announces that Uralians have ALWAYS lived on this planet (I'm assuming "this planet" refers to Botslean, which Uralia only got access to 3 years ago). And this planet is Uralia, the only TRUE Uralia. If anyone says or writes anything different, it is a LIE! (And a whole planet of Uralians, who have moved to Botslean in the past three years, nod in agreement -- yes, we've always been here -- yes, this is the only Uralia there has ever been.) And Uralian colonies in the system with the red giant star are NOT the responsibility of the TRUE Uralian Government. And the TRUE Uralian Government rejects any ownership or responsibility for these colonies. OK, so I'm from a Uralian colony in a red giant system... Which is no longer called "Uralia"... Am I still Uralian? And, if the Uralian Government is no longer responsible for this red giant system, I'm assuming the Government is not paying for their expenses... How can they support themselves? And, am I still the Uralian Ambassador? Clmntr, my Ambassadorial colleague is beating on my door. *** My life has devolved to nothing but meetings. I am now meeting with the Lunar Government (not Luna City Government - the whole moon's Government!) at the request of the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo prisoners (who were the Lunar invaders - whew! Not Earth after all!) That is, when they were apprehended and arrested, they demanded counsel by SafeGuard, and I guess on Luna that would be ME. It is possible that this is the only meeting with alien beings that the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo have actually attended. Of course, the prisoners are NOT Ratihinaconaxemuwezo officials, so maybe they don't count. They explain (through a com interpreter) that their planet is suffering an environmental crisis that could lead to extinction of their species on that planet. (Admittedly, that sounds serious.) Their atmosphere is undergoing a chemical transformation (unknown reasons). It is changing into something unbreathable by the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo populace. (And that DOES sound serious. But not a problem SafeGuard can solve. We stop leakage, not chemical transformations. Why am I here?) There is a chemical compound that, when micronized, can be spread throughout their upper atmosphere and slow the transformation. It is even possible that, over time, continued treatment might stop the transformation altogether. BUT, the compound is RARE. All known sources within the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo system have been depleted. AND (this is the critical point) a deposit has been detected on the Earth-side of Luna! (Ahah, now we know why the "invasion" has occurred. Still don't know why I am here.) The Lunar Government expresses sympathy and support but tries to explain that, from their point of view, any activity on Earth-side Luna might attract the notice of Earth, and is therefore too dangerous to be allowed. The Ratihinaconaxemuwezo argue environmental extinction. The Lunars argue invasion extinction. I am chatting with one of the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo (the one who seems to be a scientist). I enquire why they asked for SafeGuard when they were arrested. Apparently Grtscb told them there was a SafeGuard contact on Luna, and that if they got into any trouble, they could contact me for help. Then I ask exactly what chemical compound they are looking for. He tells me. I am not a chemist, but it sounds kinda familiar to me. I call Dnhns on the com. I explain the situation to her and hand the com to the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo. He tells her the compound then hands it back. "It sounds familiar to me," I suggest. She snorts. "It should! It's the most common compound composing Uralia2." "The planetoid we own 85% of?" I enquire. "100% of, now that Uralia has divested itself of their previous stellar system." I'm stunned. "You mean, Our Great and Sacred Leader's..." "Not MY Great and Sacred Leader," Dnhns corrects me. I'm more stunned. "Yes, not OUR..." I pause. "Just to be legally safe, we should pay the other 15% to whoever owns it." "Exactly what Wndwls said. Are you campaigning to become prophet?" "Never." I change the subject, "Get Frdjkn to set up a new company." "New company??" Dnhns sounds startled, perhaps dismayed. "For the mining of Uralia2 by the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo who need that compound to stabilize the chemistry of their atmosphere." "Can do," says Dnhns, relieved that I am not recommending messing around with the SafeGuard contract. The Galactic Court has already ruled that contractually we must continue to pay the Uralian Government 70% of SafeGuard profits, but that we are no longer liable to pay taxes to them. I close the connection and mosey back toward the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo (environmental extinction!) and the Lunars (invasion extinction!) "I think I have a solution to your problem," I tell them. It appears that Wndwls was right about buying Uralia2 after all. *** Chaos happens. New Uralia has chaos (they deserve it - they caused this mess, after all...) Old Uralia (MY Uralia) has chaos. Luckily, with the new contract with the Ratihinaconaxemuwezo, my Uralia will have an income. Our new company is called Botslean Corp, to honor the planet that made all this change possible. While the native bacteria might not care, I think it would be a shame if the name of their planet was completely forgotten. The Galaxy also has chaos. All those maps have to be changed! Legal documents must be modified and addend-ed. When order is restored, I am not from Uralia at all. I am from the Lian stellar system. Uralia2 is now Lia2. And the capital planetoid of the Lia stellar system is Lia7, the most populated of our planetoids (none of which are very highly populated after the resettlement of the loyals.) Clmntr, although a Uran, is too skeptical of OGASL to be welcome in Uralia (the new one, not the-old-Uralia-now-called-Lia.) So she, too, chooses to be from the Lian system. After all, she WAS born there! So neither of us are Uralian Ambassadors anymore. But, com docs for both of us have just arrived offering us positions as Lian Ambassadors. I think I'll accept the offer. Clmntr seems agreeable, too. The door buzzer sounds. Juan goes to answer it. (Yes, I KNOW it's Juan. When Clmntr first arrived, I had name badges made for Juan and Wan: "So it will be easier for the new Ambassador to know your names." I hoped I could talk them into wearing them permanently, but I didn't need to get involved at all. Juan and Wan seem to think wearing the name badges adds to the "tone" of the place.) But now I'll have to get them remade from: "Uralian Embassy staff" to "Lian Embassy staff". Lt. Forbes comes into the Ambassadorial Offices. "Hello Ambassador P! Hello Ambassador Clementour!" he greets us. (Somehow, he has never gotten the hang of my name's pronunciation: Ptsgbw.) I glance over at Clmntr on her desk perch. "Are we Ambassadors?" I ask. She smiles. "Indeed we are, I guess." Lt. Forbes looks puzzled. "I think we have both just accepted appointments to be the new Ambassadors from Lia," I explain. "Ah, yes, how things change and yet stay the same. I just wanted to tell you the Ambassadors from Uralia have arrived. I brought them here to the Embassy, but they have left in disdain. They are going to a realtor to find a property more suitable to the dignity of Uralia." I can see how the (new) Uralian Ambassadors would probably not want our dinky, remote, old, not to mention still slightly blaster-damaged Embassy. We can probably buy it from them cheap. They can then build a new, gold-plated Embassy near the Park. (Their Leader likes gold plate...) "We need to celebrate," suggests Lt. Forbes. I agree. "Clmntr," I say, turning to her, "it is high time you were introduced to a Lunar delicacy." We all shake hands, get our transports and go to the FastFood.
|