The Elitist Supremacy

by Niranjan K

  “How did he react when you told him you were a ward of the State?” he asked.

  Niek hesitated. “He... he said that I... I can’t trust my guardian, because he would be part of the Elite, and... well... he said some weird things... like I was betraying everything my Dad believed in....” Niek paused and then continued in a hollow tone, “I think.... Alexander, I think my Dad is involved in the Resistance, and that’s why he left!”

  “I had my suspicions,” Alexander said, sighing.

  He tried to tell himself it was good that Niek knew, but it wasn’t good. Niek was a child. He should not be worrying about things that children shouldn’t even be aware of, even if they kept him safe. He shouldn’t be paranoid or mistrustful; he shouldn’t be a loner. He should be having friends, and getting into all sorts of trouble.

  “But I didn’t want to frighten you unnecessarily,” he added.

  “You suspected? How?”

  “The thoroughness with which your father’s identity was erased” Alexander said. Since Niek already guessed, he could tell him what he surmised. “The State has the machinery and the expertise to do it, but they wouldn’t have bothered. Why would they? No one outside Aeras had ever heard of your father, but the Resistance would have had an interest in erasing his present identity, especially if they intended to give him a new one, and they are the only others with the expertise to do it.”

  Of course, he could have done it too, even without Quinn’s help, but those days were behind him, but Alexander didn’t think this was an individual. Most individuals in that line of work were on the State’s radar, except the ones in the Resistance.

  “Maybe that’s why he didn’t have a DNA tracker.” Niek said. “Because if they are trying to give Dad a new identity, he wouldn’t have given his DNA to anyone, not even to track me.”

  “Well, you said he didn’t expect that he would need to track you. I’m sure that no consideration would have prevented him had he expected it.”

  “Lucky he didn’t,” Niek muttered. “Or Beltram would have been here now.”

  “Raul Beltram?” Alexander’s tone was sharp, and Niek looked at him in surprise. “Raul Beltram is the man who came to meet you?”

  “You know him? Of course you know him, he’s a businessman, and somewhat famous. Do you know him, like in person, or from those magazines?”

  Alexander wasn’t surprised that Niek read those magazines. “I know him in person,” he said, trying to hide how much it shocked him to learn that Beltram was associated with the Resistance. He must be very good and really careful, because there was nothing linking him to the resistance in the background check his company had done. “In fact, I’ve an appointment with him tomorrow when we’ll be hashing out the final details of a possible tie up between my company and his.”

  Alexander didn’t want Niek to know more, but now he knew why Raul Beltram was so interested in Ignis. If he was part of the Resistance, it was possible that they were planning to make Ignis their Headquarters. It made sense. The only State presence on the planet was the spaceport and the Defender Base. There was no surveillance, no Elite stationed there. Beltram owned stakes in a few Habitat companies, so it would have been relatively easy for him to get his comrades in the Resistance selected to live there.

  Also, if the planet was under lease to Selwood Corp, the State was not likely to suspect anything. Even if anything ever came to light, his company would be the scapegoat. That was not going to happen, not if Alexander had anything to say about it. He would play along with Beltram for the moment, and if Lucas Hendriks was on Ignis, he would find the man and have a word with him. He would try to get an authorisation for Niek so they wouldn’t need to look over their shoulders any more, but he wasn’t going to be embroiled in whatever plans the Resistance had.

  Niek whistled. “Bet you’re glad I didn’t tell him you were my guardian, huh?”

  Alexander smiled fondly. “I don’t think he would have made any trouble for either of us even if you told him. His company needs mine more, you see.”

  “Still, I am not planning on telling him. Even if... even if he did come from Dad.” He paused, and gave Alexander a slightly nervous glance. “But.. could you.. I mean...”

  “Look, the details we’re hashing out is for a project in Ignis. I’ll accompany my team, and if your father is there, I’ll find him.”

  Niek gave him a wide smile. “Thank you.” he said. “For everything.”

  Alexander smiled at him, as he patted his shoulder and rose. “I’ll leave you to your homework then, shall I? Pay attention, this time. I still have some work to do. Quinn? Office.”

  As the walls of his office formed around him, Alexander thought he’d never get used to some technology. The Nishati dimension was the most important scientific breakthrough in the last five hundred years, and it had made all sorts of things possible, but only to those who could afford them. When Thaxter had first come into power, and created the Elite, he had passed the law that the monopoly on all scientific discoveries would belong to the State, and when Inira Ife discovered the principle of the Nishati dimension two centuries later, the State had pounced on it. Another century later, Thaxter had amended the law giving inventors a way to own their inventions. He probably found that maintaining scores of scientists just to go through other people’s inventions was counterproductive. Besides, he already owned the two most important inventions in the last thousand years. He must have figured it was unlikely anyone would trump that.

  While Quinn brought his desk and chair from Nishati, Alexander changed his dress manually and sat down, looking through the schematics of the device that Beltram had built. It was small, only about as big as a thumbnail, and the technology was viable in theory. It would use the Nishati to bring water from Hafi to Ignis by using the energy of both planets’ cores, but without an actual test on Ignis, there was no way of knowing how it would affect the planet, or whether it would work in practice. If it did, it could very well be as much of a breakthrough as Nishati was, which was why it was important to keep it low profile. Due to the energy levels required, no one had been able to figure out a way to transfer things through Nishati across planets, and it was quite ingenious of Beltram to have developed something to utilise the energy of the planets’ cores to accomplish it.

  The principle was simple. The device would use energy from Ignis’ core to transport a similar device through Nishati to Hafi, and that device would use the energy of Hafi’s core to transport water to Ignis, again through Nishati. The two devices had to be linked through Nishati to work which was why one was sent by the other. Theoretically, the technology could be used to transport anything between planets, but the cost of manufacturing the device was so high, it had bankrupted Beltram. As he said, the second device could be cloned using the first for a fraction of the cost. If the State got its hands on the device, or even the technology that powered it...

  The cost of manufacturing the first device was not going to be an issue for the State. If Thaxter got wind of it, well... he was the State, and there was nothing preventing him from changing the law again. Though Alexander was not part of the Resistance, and had no plans of getting involved with them, he sympathised with them. He believed in the need for a Resistance, probably because he still remembered a time when democracy existed, but he was not going to risk himself.

  Alexander rubbed his hand across his eyes. Was Sergio aware of Beltram’s true affiliations? It was likely as they were friends. Alexander sighed. He liked Sergio, but betrayal was one thing he could not tolerate. He had made it very clear to Sergio when the man had approached him for a job in the fledgeling Selwood Corp. He had been trying so hard not to revert to his old ways, the way he was back in the 25th Century. He had taken stupid risks and had it not been for Mason, he would have been eitherin Cryo, or in one of Thaxter’s labs. Alexander was incredibly grateful for the second chance he had got, but then he did give Sergio a second chance too, and the man had chosen to betray him.
>
  Was it betrayal though? Sergio could have done far worse to him by telling the Resistance what he had spent the past five centuries hiding, but he hadn’t. Still, he needed to keep Sergio under surveillance, if only to ensure that he wouldn’t betray him. The man was old and in failing health, and Alexander—as he reminded himself occasionally—was different now.

  “Quinn,” he said. “I need the full schematics of Sergio Martinez’s house and grounds. Also, charts of his daily routine.”

  How fortunate that Sergio lived in a company provided house, and that he had no family. It was a pattern with many of the Resistance as also the entire Elite. The Elite didn’t have families because Thaxter would never permit it. The man considered it a weakness. The Resistance because families could be used against them. Lucas Hendriks was an exception, and wasn’t there something in those magazines about Raul Beltram’s engagement? Probably an attempt to maintain his cover.

  If it was a weakness, perhaps Alexander could use it against Beltram if needed.

  “Quinn, get me all the details you can about Isabel Duran,” he said. “Queue it for viewing after Sergio Martinez.”

  Ten

  Sergio could not help a feeling of satisfaction, not to mention relief. The final meeting between Raul and Alexander had gone well. A technical team from Selwood Corp had been identified and the necessary approvals for the test in Ignis had been applied for. Selwood Corp would be building the second device under Raul’s supervision. Sergio could not help but feel more than a little justified in his little deception. Alexander was a shrewd businessman, but he would not have touched Beltram’s invention with a ten foot pole had he known of his connections to the Resistance, not even if it was a profitable investment.

  He knew there was a possibility that the company and Alexander would get into trouble if it ever came out that Ignis was the Headquarters for the Resistance, but Zain had assured him that they would do everything humanly possible to ensure it wouldn’t happen. The heat of Ignis could not be tamped down, but there was the habitat technology, and now they could bring water there, grow food, have living spaces. Selwood Corp would have a monopoly on everything connected to Ignis, and would make a profit that would more than justify their initial investment, even if they paid Raul back what he had spent on building the first device.

  The alarm panel on his desk beeped, jolting him out of his thoughts. He looked at it, and then at the time, and swore softly. Hell and damnation! He was going to be late to his own party! Not that it was much of a party. Raul was coming over, and he was bringing Isabel, whose assignment in Hafi had finished earlier than expected. There was also Colin Blythe, also from Hafi, the brother of one of their late members and George Savin, an up-and-coming reporter, newly recruited into their ranks. New in the sense he had been in the Resistance for less than ten years, though he was recruited by Zain himself and was on a first name basis with him. Sergio rose, and touched the panel to call Kaya.

  “Kaya,” he said. “I’m heading home early today. I have guests coming over.”

  “Yes, Mr. Martinez,” she smiled at him. “Have a nice time. You wouldn’t need a date, would you?”

  “If I did, I wouldn’t be looking at someone young enough to be my granddaughter,” he answered, smiling back.

  “Ha ha,” she said. “As if I’m that young, or you that old.”

  He chuckled as he looked at her fondly. Kaya had been with him for over two years now, and in his twenty years in Selwood Corp, he had never had someone who was as good, which was why he didn’t mind her flirting even though he knew she wasn’t serious about it.

  “Hold the fort,” he said before swiping his hand across the panel, making it go blank. “Miley,” he said, “Take me to my car, will you?”

  “Mr. Selwood has requested your presence in his office,” Miley replied instead of complying with his request.

  He frowned. Why the hell had Alexander used the Sentient to deliver the message instead of his assistant?

  He swiped his finger across the panel again, “Kaya,” he said. “Are there any messages for me from Mr. Selwood?”

  “No, Mr. Martinez. Why?”

  “Nothing. Bye. I’m leaving.”

  He turned off the panel again.

  “Miley,” he said, grimacing. “Take me to Mr. Selwood’s office.”

  “Yes, Mr. Martinez,” He nearly closed his eyes before remembering that teleportation hadn’t been the same since Nishati. There was no need to close his eyes against the disorientation any more, but he did it anyway, out of habit. The Nishati might have been in use for centuries, but Sergio had not used it before he came to Selwood Corp. Twenty years still wasn’t enough for him to forget all that had happened before, and as he opened his eyes and looked at the man before him, he felt a surge of gratitude and warmth that he made no attempt to conceal in his smile.

  “Sergio,” Alexander smiled at him from behind his desk. “I wanted to go through something with you. Did I catch you at a bad time?”

  “Do I have one?” he quipped. “It’s just that I had some guests coming over, but I can send them a message if it’s urgent.”

  “No need. This won’t take more than five minutes. Have a seat. I just want you to have a look at these data from our meeting yesterday.”

  Alexander waved his hand, and a 3 dimensional hologram of a planet appeared between them.

  “Ignis,” Sergio said, sitting on the edge of the desk, twirling his cane absently.

  “Indeed,” Alexander concurred as he rose and walked over to it. “Now, this,” pointing at one spot on the globe, “is where our technical team wants to conduct the test, but I’ve gone through all the data. I feel that in order to take maximum advantage of the energy of the planet’s core, we should be conducting it here.”

  He pointed to another spot on the other side of the planet.

  Sergio frowned. “Yes, but if you read the reports, you also know that the core at that area is considered unstable, and hence it is a risk.”

  “Sergio, if a limited test is a risk, if that is likely to destabilise the planet, then the full scale implementation will probably destroy Ignis. If we cannot risk it now, I’m not certain we should go ahead with this.”

  Sergio sighed. Alexander was right of course. If there was a risk here, it was better to know at the testing phase than at the implementation stage. There was an expression on Alexander’s face, an intensity that reminded him of Amir when he was working. That was probably what drew him to both men, except Alexander had already been an adult when he had met him, so they had become friends, whereas Amir had been a child and had become a surrogate son.

  “I agree with you,” he said. “I’ll convey the message to the technical team. Is that all?”

  “Yes. Also, tell them I’ll be accompanying them to Ignis.”

  “Oh,” Sergio said.

  He hadn’t expected it, but he wasn’t averse to it either. Alexander liked to be in the thick of things, and to know firsthand what was happening. It did mean that they would need to be extra careful while on Ignis. He would warn Raul tonight.

  “I’ll tell them.”

  “Good. I won’t keep you from your guests then. Good night.”

  “Good night, Alexander. Miley? If you could just take me to my car?”

  “Of course, Mr. Martinez,”

  He closed his eyes and opened them to face his car. Of course, he could have had Miley transport him directly to his house, but he preferred to drive. He still had an old fashioned hovercar, which he prized.

  “Hello, Carmine,” he murmured, stroking its hood as the door opened in response to his touch. He slid in. Perhaps he shouldn’t be making fun of Alexander for naming his Sentients.

  “Where to, Mr. Martinez?” The female voice asked.

  “Home, Carmine. As fast as you can.”

  He sat back and relaxed. June, his Sentient, would have taken care of all arrangements. That left him with nothing to do except to change his clothes and converse
with his guests. June and the little army of bots were part of the house and though initially, he had been wary of them, he was, by now, as used to them as he was to Carmine. There were times when he toyed with the idea of renaming June, of making her more personal, but somehow he had never got himself around to doing it. Sentients were Alexander’s thing anyway.

  Carmine stopped, hovered and then gently set herself down in front of his door. He got out and said, “Thank you, girl.”

  He was glad to know that he was not late, but if he didn’t hurry, his guests would be arriving before he had time to change. He hurried into his house, answering June’s greeting as he rushed to his room.

  Eleven

  George Savin was feeling bored. When he accepted this invitation to Sergio Martinez’s house, he had expected something more. After all, Martinez worked for Selwood Corp, and George was intensely curious about Selwood. He had some suspicions about the man, but Martinez had laughed when he’d asked and had recommended he spend his time more profitably.

  “There’s no story to be had in Mr. Selwood’s life,” he’d told him rather patronisingly.

  George was disappointed, not because he thought his suspicions were wrong, but at Martinez’s attitude. For someone who had been part of the Resistance since adolescence, Martinez appeared to be more concerned for his employer and his company than for their cause.

  How long did one stay for a party before making their escape? Strictly speaking, this could not be considered a party, more of a get-together, but i was boring, regardless. The only lady happened to be already taken, and the men were not George’s type. All of them were probably straight as well. Raul’s fiancée was attractive, and she didn’t seem interested in being here either, but George wouldn’t try and flirt with her. He couldn’t do it to Raul. Though Raul and his fiancée kept exchanging gazes and smiles every now and then, it was evident that she was uncomfortable. She probably had no inkling that her fiancé was a member of the Resistance. He could sense constraint between her and Raul, but he did not bother too much about it. He was a reporter, not a gossip columnist, and Raul was old enough to take care of his own affairs.