A Charter for the Commonwealth

by Richard F. Weyand

  Westlake recalled she had brought Sandoval – from another wealthy Earth family typically on the Fournier side of things – back to Doma with her when she finished university. That would have been, what, three years ago now? She had not been present for the bombing of Doma. She was twenty-four, he thought. Yes, that’s right. Edmond was seven years older than Suzette, and he and Suzette were a bit older when they had children.

  “Yes, but you came here over interstellar distances, and that raises curiosity,” Westlake said.

  “Uncle Jim, we need to talk. We hoped we could get you and Uncle Georgy together in the same place for a while.”

  “Georgy and Shufen are coming for dinner. We should have plenty of time.”

  As a family tradition, no business was discussed over family dinner. After dinner, everyone retired to the living room with after-dinner drinks. Suzette even forgave Westlake the occasional cigar at such times, especially if he sat in the chair below the ventilation system inlet. Georgy smiled as Westlake made a beeline for that chair, and Suzette sighed, as everyone headed into the living room.

  “So what’s this all about then, Claudette? Not that we don’t enjoy your visit, mind you, but something’s up,” Westlake said once he had his cigar going.

  “Doma wants to disappear.”

  “Disappear?” Orlov asked. “The planet? The whole system? That would be quite a trick.”

  “No, we’re serious. We want to disappear. We came to ask you to write us out of your history. Say Earth destroyed the whole planet, and that was it. Gone.”

  “Earth has to be part of such a scheme, too, if it has any hope of working.”

  “Francois went to see Grandfather.”

  That made a difference. Francois was two years older than Claudette, and was Claude Fournier’s oldest grandchild. He had also gone to university on Earth, and he had had quite a bit of contact with his grandfather. They got along tremendously well. It was a smart move to let him handle the Earth side of this request.

  “That’s a remarkable request,” Orlov said.

  “No, it’s not. You didn’t see it. You think you know, but you can’t. My Nadezhda – my beautiful Nadezhda that I left behind to go to university. When I returned it was five hundred square miles of ash and debris. From the city center, you couldn’t even see anything else. It was bleak and barren and lifeless all the way to the horizon, everywhere you looked. Nothing grew. Nothing stood. It was a scene straight out of hell. My Nadezhda!”

  Claudette was in tears now.

  “And we don’t want it to happen again.”

  “It won’t happen again,” Westlake said quietly.

  “Are you sure, Uncle? Are you absolutely sure? That when one of Andrews’ assholes takes over on Earth next time, they won’t do something like it again? Because we’re not. And we don’t want to take that chance.”

  There was silence for a moment, then Westlake turned to Orlov.

  “What do you think, Georgy? Can we pull it off?”

  “Earth might be able to say Doma was totally destroyed. Doma’s in Commonwealth territory, a hundred and thirty light-years from Earth. It’s not like they’re just going to go spacing by one day. But it’s less than seventy light-years from here, and closer still to several other Commonwealth planets. The problem with the Commonwealth saying it was completely destroyed is it’s not that hard for somebody to go check.”

  “We have to do something!” Claudette said.

  Georgy had a sudden thought.

  “You know, it might be easier to say Doma never existed at all.”

  “But people know it existed, Georgy. It’s in all the records.”

  “Digital records?” Orlov snapped his fingers. “Oops. Gone.”

  “I can’t do that, Georgy. The only time I could do something like that is if it’s a military secrecy requirement.”

  Orlov was nodding his head. “Exactly right.”

  “So tell me how this is a military secrecy requirement.”

  “You know Admiral Sigurdsen has all the technical people we cajoled away from retirement – or from Earth – working on new keel-out warship designs?”

  “Yes, of course.”

  “And you know we are going to have to have a major shipyard to build them all?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you know how much I’ve been worried about where we put that shipyard because of secrecy concerns?”

  “Yes. And if we put it on Doma, you’re saying I have an excuse to hide the whole planet.”

  “Exactly.”

  “But people have been there, Georgy. Lots of people. People have relatives there.”

  “What percent have been there do you think, Jim? Of the whole Commonwealth population? I don’t think it’s one percent. I don’t think it’s even close to one percent. Interstellar travel is too expensive. And those who have relatives there are even fewer.”

  “But if Earth says they destroyed it –”

  “Lies. We cleaned their clocks in three head-to-head space battles. They’re just trying to claim some sort of victory.”

  “But we said Earth bombed it.”

  “Are you sure, Jim? Check those digital records. Oops.”

  “But people will remember we said it.”

  “War-time propaganda. To get people mad at Earth and supporting the Commonwealth. Besides, if you think it really existed, where is it, eh? Look up the coordinates, right? In digital records? Oops.”

  “The archives people will have a fit.”

  “Buy them off. They’re underpaid. Fire the ones who complain. Better yet, ship them to Doma. Really nice place, I’ve heard. And they’ll need archivists, too, I imagine.”

  “Somebody who’s been there is going to go to the newsfeeds with it. It’ll be a big conspiracy.”

  “Conspiracy theories are great. Nobody believes them but crazies. You can hide anything in a conspiracy theory. As for the legitimate news organizations, ask them not to cover it. Military secrecy. Dammit, Jim, we need that shipyard. And this is perfect.”

  “What about Doma, though? Claudette, will people on Doma sign up to be the Commonwealth’s naval shipyards?”

  “As long as we can remain hidden. And that will give us foreign trade, which was one issue we were worried about. Some things are just easier to buy.”

  Westlake sat and smoked his cigar, staring across the room, eyes unfocused. Claudette was going to say something, but Georgy lifted one hand on the arm of his chair, and she subsided.

  “What about the treaty with Earth, Georgy? It specifies thirty-three planets.”

  “Not if you and Claude Fournier both agree it doesn’t. Sign a new one, pitch the old one.”

  “Do you think Claude will go along on his end?”

  “Are you kidding? Claude is going to love this. He can say Arlan Andrews’ faction destroyed an entire planet, in a huge war crime, because that’s just the kind of bastards they are. They’ve sullied Earth’s reputation in history forever. He’ll keep them out of control for thirty years.”

  Westlake nodded, sat a while longer.

  “What about the Charter, Georgy? The Doma representatives signed the Charter.”

  “When did you last look at the actual Charter, Jim?”

  The Yards

  Fernando and Claudette Sandoval stayed on Jablonka several months, which allowed several cycles of mail between and among Jablonka, Doma, and Earth. The night before they were to leave, the three couples once again had dinner together. Once again, business waited until after dinner.

  “We’ve certainly enjoyed your visit, Claudette. Fernando. We’ll miss you,” Westlake said.

  “We’ll miss you, too, Uncle. All of you,” Claudette said. “And we really appreciate your help in carrying out our mission to hide Doma.”

  “It will disappear into the mists of history. By the time your grandfather loses control on Earth, it will be gone. You will be safe.”

  “Will it really work, though? Can it work?” Suzette
asked.

  “I think so,” Orlov said. “Earth has removed the mail relays from Doma, so it’s cut off from the general mail system. Anything sent to Doma will get a ‘no such address’ response. We’ll put in a dedicated link for military use only.

  “Earth has also pulled all their people out of the reconstruction project, which is so far along at this point your people are the main drivers anyway. You two are going back with a trio of understaffed battleships, two of which will remain on Doma for any travel back and forth. Some of their crews have volunteered to move to Doma, so they will be the core of the crews for those ships. No ships from here will ever make the trip again.”

  “A lot of our ship engineering and construction people will be making the trip with you,” Westlake said. “Most of them couldn’t afford to retire to Doma before. Now they’ll move there, help you build the shipbuilding industry, and then retire there.

  “What about the names? Is that decided?”

  “Yes, we’re going to call the planet The Yards, as Uncle Georgy suggested,” Claudette said.

  “‘Where did that ship come from?’ ‘From the yards.’ ‘Where’s that?’ ‘It’s a secret,’” Orlov said. “It’s perfect.”

  “And more to the point for me, ‘What’s this large defense expenditure?’ ‘It’s for the yards.’ I agree. It’s perfect,” Westlake said. “What about the cities?”

  “We’re renaming them as well. In case anyone trips over us, so we won’t be associated with Doma. Nadezhda, Vera, and Istina will become Phoenix, Athens, and Carthage.”

  “The Phoenix rose from its own ashes. Poetic,” Westlake said.

  “You want us to do what?” Senior Archivist John Nicoli asked.

  “Edit the archives to remove all references to Doma,” Westlake said.

  “Edit the archives? Are you serious?”

  “Yes. I want all references removed. If Doma is the subject of the article, remove the whole article. If Doma appears in a list of planets, remove Doma from the list.”

  “But I can’t do that.”

  “You don’t have a way to fix errors in the archive? Corrupted files and the like?”

  “Yes, of course. But –”

  “Mention of Doma is a corruption of the archives. It doesn’t exist and never did. Fix them.”

  “They will still exist in other archives, though.”

  “No, I want you to propagate the fix through the mail system.”

  “That will work in the Commonwealth, but Earth doesn’t accept propagated fixes from outside.”

  “The Earth archives are being handled separately.”

  “You’re really serious.”

  “Yes. I already said that.”

  “But you don’t have the authority to order that under the Charter.”

  “Yes, I do. It’s the one exception. Military necessity, as long as it’s confirmed by the Council in private session, as it has been. Check with your attorneys if you want. And then do it.”

  Westlake met with Ann Lowenstein at her project headquarters, a temporary building on the construction site of Commonwealth Center.

  “It’s a change order, I’m afraid,” Westlake said.

  Lowenstein rolled her eyes.

  “I know, I know. But we’ve been pretty good about limiting change orders. And this one is a requirement we didn’t know about before.”

  “All right. What is it?”

  “Ninety-six desks in the Council Chamber, not ninety-nine.”

  “Oh, thank God. For a minute there, I thought it was going to be something big.”

  “So, no problem?”

  “No problem at all. I think it’ll probably be easier. Ninety-nine is a bugger of a number. All odd factors. Makes it hard to lay out. Ninety-six will be easier.”

  “Let’s see it,” Westlake said.

  The curator of the University of Jablonka Museum, Yvonne Jacobs, opened the cabinet and brought out the glass case containing the original Charter of the Commonwealth. She set it on the table in the center of the room. Ultimately it would be hung in the Council Chamber above and behind the Chairman’s desk on the dais, but it was being kept here in the meantime.

  Westlake looked at the document critically. The text was printed in small type so it would all fit on one large sheet. There at the bottom were the signatures, arranged in eight columns of eight signatures each, with ‘For Doma’ and the signatures of the Doma representatives centered below the rest on the bottom. Arranging sixty-four signatures in a straightforward way was easy. The extra two had been centered on the bottom, and those of Doma had been picked for that treatment because they were the host planet.

  “I want you to cut it off right above ‘For Doma’, straight across.”

  Jacobs gasped. “But you can’t. This is an heirloom.”

  “It’s four years old. It’s not an heirloom yet.”

  “But, but you can’t.”

  “You don’t understand. I have to.”

  Jacobs looked at the treasured document in its case, and her eyes were bright with unshed tears.

  “It won’t match the case. It’ll be at least two inches short.”

  “Professor Ansen was never good with dimensions. Do it. Or I’ll do it with a scissors.”

  Jacobs shuddered.

  “Yes, sir. I’ll do it. But I’ll have nightmares about it.”

  “One more change order,” Westlake said.

  “Oh, God. Now what,” Lowenstein said.

  “In the center of the circular drive in front of the Council Center, we want to put up a monument to the signing of the Charter. Right in the center.”

  “In the center of that circular lawn there? No problem. I just need the design spec for the footings, so it’ll fit your monument. Otherwise it’ll settle funny.”

  “I’ll get that to you.”

  Fifteen Years On

  They were sitting out on the patio behind the Commonwealth Chairman’s residence, looking out over the beach to the Voda Ocean, smoking cigars. The Earth-import cigars, without all the extra duties and taxes, had become much less expensive as trade with the Earth had actually doubled from its level before the Commonwealth.

  “Happy anniversary. Again,” Orlov said.

  “Which one? Thirty-three years since coming to Jablonka, or nineteen years since the signing of the Charter, or twelve years since moving the government into Commonwealth Center?”

  “All the above, I guess. They all turned out. Our plans.”

  “Yes, they did. They truly did. Amazingly enough.”

  Westlake and Orlov had been planning the independence of the colonies for decades, first as a lark in school, then in earnest when Westlake was posted to Jablonka by his father, joining Orlov in Jezgra. And, unbelievably, they had pulled it off.

  “That was a nice gesture, renaming Jablonka Fleet Base.”

  “He deserved it. He planned and built the original Navy. Won the battle of Earth and secured the treaty. Spent fifteen years as Chief of Naval Operations. Built up the CSF and gave it the sort of traditions and culture that will carry it into the future. We owed him a lot.”

  “Sigurdsen Fleet Base. Has a nice ring to it.”

  “Sigurdsen Military Hospital, too.

  “Also has a nice ring to it,” Orlov said with a smile.

  “And the new Navy he designed has been coming out of The Yards for five years now. I’m glad he was alive to see it.”

  “And all beam weapons. No more of those rock-throwing mines.”

  “Admiral Sigurdsen said the battles with the Earth ships proved the inefficacy of any weapon that wasn’t speed-of-light. Waste of money, according to him.”

  “I miss him,” Orlov said. “What’s it been now. Couple years?”

  “Yes. He didn’t last two years once he retired. I think building the CSF kept him going.”

  “There’s a lesson for you. Never retire. It’s bad for your health.”

  “Well, he was almost ninety years old.”

&n
bsp; “Yeah, he had a good run.”

  The sun was angling down toward what promised to be a beautiful sunset. It was a beautiful day, at a beautiful spot.

  “Oh, I meant to tell you,” Westlake said. “I ran into Mineko Kusunoki at the rededication ceremony at the base. She’s finally given me permission to put a statue of Ansen on the monument to the signing of the Charter in front of the Council Chamber.”

  “She finally gave in?”

  “Well, I had given up on it. But she stepped down from the Council two years ago – the Jablonka planetary government would have let her serve as long as she wanted – and she’s OK with it now.”

  “She probably just didn’t want to look at it all the time, going to Council.”

  “That may be it. Anyway, she gave her permission. And we’re agreed on the pose for the sculptor.”

  “That’s good. A nation needs its heroes.”

  Appendix

  Inhabited systems (capital city)

  Earth (New York City)

  Members of the Commonwealth of Free Planets:

  Anders

  Bahay (Kabisera)

  Bliss

  Boomgaard

  Calumet

  Courtney

  Hutan

  Jablonka (Jezgra)

  Kodu (Linn)

  Meili

  Mountainhome

  Natchez

  Pahaadon

  Parchman

  Saarestik

  Shaanti

  The Yards [Doma] (Phoenix [Nadezhda])

  Valore

  Waldheim

  Some of the Drafters and Signers of the Charter of

  the Commonwealth of Free Planets

  Gerald Ansen - Jablonka

  Roman Chrzanowski - Saarestik

  Jacques Cotillard - Valore

  Willard Dempsey - Mountainhome

  Nils Isacsson - Boomgaard

  Ikaika Kalani - Hutan

  Aluna Kamau - Courtney

  Manfred Koch - Waldheim

  Mineko Kusunoki - Jablonka

  Anderson Lail - Bahay

  Donal McNee - Bliss