EMPIRE: Resistance

by Richard F. Weyand

  The various groups working on tracking descendants through those birth records had kept the family trees they were discovering updated as they filled in. One group was significantly further than the rest. Who was that? Ah. Matt Houseman. What were they doing? Using up more machine cycles on the big Navy simulator engines, for one thing. Darden looked at the code they were running. Oh, now that was clever. They were dishing off each scraping chore to another processor, so it was massively parallel.

  So the Zoo was making good progress. Of course, the problem got bigger with each generation. They were eleven generations in by this point, and each generation took three times the processing of the previous one. They were three hundred years in with fifty to go, but those last two generations or so were going to take a while.

  Well, that’s what computer cycles were for. If you didn’t use them, they were wasted.

  Ardmore met with Schneider and Darden mid-morning on that Monday, the second Monday after the inauguration. They met in channel 22, and an extra chair gave Burke’s voice an apparent origin.

  “I asked you both in this morning to give us a progress report, as I know you had the computers pounding on this problem all weekend. Milady Empress is attending with a projector.”

  “Good morning, everyone,” Burke said.

  “Good morning, Your Majesties,” Schneider said. “I’ll go first, I think.”

  She looked to Darden and Darden nodded, so Schneider pressed on.

  “We did a first pass on alias accounts, and we came up with hundreds of billions of them. The problem was looking totally intractable until we realized more than ninety percent of them were in Pritani and Provence Sectors. They implemented an income tax, and the alias accounts were apparently intended to circumvent the taxman. We removed those from the analysis, and were left with tens of millions of accounts, only a few hundred thousand of which had large balances. We’ve tagged those accounts and are now tracking and recording deposits and withdrawals. That should start to build us a map of cash flows.”

  “Excellent, Ms. Schneider. And those two sectors? Are we blind there?”

  “For the time being, Sire. But there are two mitigating factors. As soon as any other alias account is touched by one of our tagged ones, we will tag it and then track and record it as well. The other thing is I expect the vast majority of those accounts will be closed in the coming weeks, once the income tax goes away.”

  “That raises an interesting question, Milady,” Ardmore said. “Should we allow prosecution of the owners of those alias accounts for tax evasion?”

  “No, Sire,” Burke said. “As far as I’m concerned, that tax has been illegal all along. There was no statutory authority for it even before Augustus VI reinstated the Law of Ilithyia II.”

  Ardmore nodded.

  “Very well, Milady. And if the sector governors complain about that, or try to enforce it?”

  “Then we should bring up the illegality of the tax, Sire, and suggest the monies collected over the last hundred years be refunded to taxpayers, with compounded interest.”

  “Ouch. OK, Milady. I think that will quiet them down. Carry on, Ms. Schneider.”

  “That’s our current status, Sire. We won’t know more until we start to get some transaction data.”

  “Very well, Ms. Schneider. Ms. Darden, I guess you’re up.”

  “Yes, Sire. We are about eleven generations in to tracking the descendants. About three hundred years. Each generation takes about three times as long as the previous one, so we have some time yet to finish this. We have abandoned all but the three computations that are furthest along, to free up machine cycles, so it will go a bit faster than otherwise, but I like having three as a check on each other.”

  “Any problems there, Ms. Darden?”

  “No, Sire. It became straightforward once we normalized the birth records from all the planets.”

  “All half a million planets, Ms. Darden?”

  “No, Sire. All the planets with descendants. An early breakthrough in our thinking was to start with just the hundred or so planets on which all those hundred and twenty-eight people lived, and only add planets when someone of interest emigrated from one of the original ones.”

  “Ah. I see, Ms. Darden. Smart.”

  “Thank you, Sire. It’s straightforward, and we’re making progress. It’s just a big problem and we’re processing as fast as we can.”

  “Are you using the Navy machines for that, Ms. Darden?” Burke asked.

  “Yes, Milady.”

  “All right,” Ardmore said. “Now here’s what we want to do once the descendant search is done. Certainly we want to find out where these people are, if anyone is in a sensitive or unusual position, all those things we talked about before. The other thing we want to do is, if any moneys are transferred into or out of a tagged alias account to a legitimate account of one of the descendants, we want to track those, too. Also, once you start identifying who those alias accounts are for the benefit of, Ms. Schneider, we want to cross-check those against the descendants list Ms. Darden is building and see if the actual owner is one of our descendants. I think all that will be very interesting.”

  Darden and Schneider both nodded.

  “Of course, Sire,” Schneider said.

  “Unless you have something else for me, then I think we’re done.”

  “No, Sire.”

  “Very well,” Ardmore said.

  When he cut the channel and dropped out of VR, Ardmore found himself back in the private living room with Burke.

  “They’re making really good progress, Jimmy.”

  “Yes. Better than I expected.”

  “It’s pretty amazing, given the scope of the problems we gave them.”

  “In my studies I ran across a note Trajan the Great made in his files,” Ardmore said. “I didn’t understand it at the time. ‘It’s amazing how many times I ask someone to do the impossible and, not knowing it’s impossible, they simply do it anyway.’ I finally understand what he meant.”

  Burke grunted.

  “Yeah, I get that,” she said. “So now what do we do, Jimmy?”

  “We wait. See what kind of data we get. It could take some time. Meanwhile, we make sure we have our guard up against some new action. They could either take the offensive now, or retrench.”

  “Which do you think it will be?”

  “Probably retrench,” Ardmore said. “With a long-term plan, you want to make sure you don’t blow it and waste all that effort. They’ll take the conservative option. But I think it’s the wrong strategy. They should go on the offensive.”

  Burke nodded.

  “You can’t win if you don’t attack. And while we wait?”

  “We still have the tax caps taking effect this weekend. Hard to say how that will go. And we still have the premium nanites issue, including the nanite companies supplying all the updates for everyone.”

  “The nanite companies I don’t worry about,” Burke said. “They’re so cowed now, they’ll tow the line.”

  “I more worry about them going under. Their stocks took a beating, so they can’t raise capital. We might need to give the Imperial Bank some leeway on loan parameters, as a way of ensuring our supply line.”

  “We can do that. What about the tax caps. What will the sector governors do?”

  “Well, today’s press conferences should be interesting,” Ardmore said. “They’ll certainly be asked about it. I expect most of the opposition sector governors will wait to see what von Hesse does.”

  “What do you expect him to do, Jimmy?”

  “I think he’ll buckle. He’s too wily to run against the grain. You set them up, and he knows it, and he’ll go along with it. Otherwise popular opinion would support his dismissal. And he likes being sector governor.”

  “Even with the tax caps?” Burke asked.

  “Even with the tax caps.”

  The first possibility for press conferences after the Empress’s address to the Empire o
n Friday evening were on Monday, and Manfred von Hesse decided to get out in front of it right from the start.

  “I’ll have a brief statement before we begin,” von Hesse told the assembled reporters in the press room of the sector governor’s residence in Heidelberg.

  “The very first thing I want to address is the attempted assassination of the Empress Arsinoe. I condemn this action in the strongest possible terms. While there is a natural and healthy tension between the sector governors and the Throne in our system of government – and I myself have questioned certain policies of the Throne in the past – that in no way should be construed as supporting or condoning this sort of barbarous action. We can discuss our differences, and then of course the Throne has the final say. That is our system, a system of which I have always been proud to be a part.

  “With regard to the hacking of the health maintenance nanites, this is also deeply shocking to me. The adulteration of medicines in such a way as to cause harm to the patient is another form of barbarism a civilized society cannot tolerate. I stand ready to assist the Throne in any way I can to come to the bottom of this and see to it the perpetrators – both of the nanite hacking and of its use in an attempt to assassinate Her Majesty – get the punishment society reserves for such crimes and which they so richly deserve.

  “Finally, with respect to the tax caps Their Majesties have imposed. While it is not the policy choice I would have made, such policy decisions are rightly the province of the Throne. We will of course comply with the Imperial Decree in this matter. That is how our system works. We will be adjusting our activities at the sector level to accommodate this policy, and will work with the Throne and the provincial and planetary governors to coordinate our activities on behalf of the citizens of the Baden Sector going forward.

  “I will now take questions. You there. You’re first.”

  “Governor von Hesse, can you say categorically no one in the Baden Sector government had any part in the nanite hacking or the assassination attempt?”

  “I can only speak categorically for myself, and I had no part in either of those barbarisms and had no advance knowledge of them. What I know of them now I learned from Her Majesty just as you did. If I had had any advance knowledge of them, I would have informed the Throne and the Imperial Guard. With respect to the rest of the sector government, if anyone in my government did have any role, they will face the harshest of penalties, the imposition of which I will applaud.

  “Next question. Yes, you.”

  “Governor von Hesse, with regard to the tax caps, you said it is not the policy choice you would have made. Can you elaborate on that, please?”

  “Yes, of course. Taxation is always a balance between what the government can do with the funds it receives from taxation and what the private citizen can do with the funds if they are left in private hands. I would draw that balance further toward government action than Their Majesties now have. But, as I say, that is their authority and their right to decide in our system of government, and I am as subject to the authority of the Throne as any of you are.

  “Next question. You there. In the blue suit.”

  “Governor von Hesse, do you have any reaction to the news the CEOs and research directors of the nanite companies were apparently receiving large funds for implementing and then covering up the hack of the nanites?”

  “I’ve read the reports, but all I know on this matter is what you yourselves have reported. I have no reaction to that other than to condemn any activity that aided or abetted the adulteration of medicines. Anything beyond that would be speculation on my part. I’ll leave that to all of you.

  “That’s it, everyone. Thank you.”

  Ardmore and Burke watched von Hesse’s press conference together on the projector in the private living room.

  “Boy, he talks pretty,” Burke said. “Do you think he believes any of it?”

  “I think he believes what he said is the best way to stay sector governor.”

  Ardmore considered before continuing.

  “Actually, he probably didn’t know anything about the nanites and the assassination attempt.”

  “Really?” Burke asked.

  “Yes. He’s in power, and major disruptions are likely to displace people currently in power. Minor things? Well, OK. He’ll fight us. As he would have on the tax caps had you not boxed him in. And do those minor things add up over time? Yes, of course. But major disruptions? I think he’s unlikely to be a fan.”

  “Interesting. Maybe there’s an opportunity there.”

  “Mind you, he won’t be on our side on the free trade and military command issues,” Ardmore said.

  “I know. But still. Let me think about it.”

  Waiting And Planning

  They were working almost exclusively in the private living room now, Burke because she didn’t have VR and needed the projector to work. Ardmore worked in VR, but he didn’t want to be far from the doctor’s station.

  Mid-morning Wednesday, Ardmore got a message in VR.

  Burke to Ardmore:

  I think we should take the afternoon off.

  Ardmore dropped out of VR.

  “Take the afternoon off?” he asked.

  “Yes. Upstairs in the gardens.”

  “I don’t want to be that far away from the doctors.”

  She sent him another VR message as he watched, and he realized she wasn’t using the projector to do it.

  Burke to Ardmore:

  My VR just came on line!

  “I still don’t want to be that far from the doctors, Gail.”

  “So? I’m back on line. Have them flush you now.”

  “Oh. Oh, yeah. I could now, couldn’t I?”

  “And with VR, I can see my contraceptive nanites. I am, for the time being, infertile.”

  Ardmore launched out of his chair and went out to the doctor’s station in the hallway.

  They were up in the gardens, on a blanket on the grassy sward overlooking the meadow. Both were naked.

  “Jimmy, after two weeks without, I have a favor to ask.”

  “Sure.”

  “Let’s take turns passing out.”

  Ardmore laughed.

  “Why, of course, my dear.”

  “Oh, that one was best,” Burke said.

  “Not the second one? Or the first? I think the first one was my favorite.”

  “No, definitely the third one. No contest.”

  “De gustibus...,” Ardmore started.

  “... non disputandum,” Burke finished and laughed.

  They were so happy to be free of the constraints of being essentially locked in the Imperial Apartment, they decided to have supper up on the picnic table at the fire pit. Staff hadn’t been planning on that, so dinner wasn’t a picnic dinner, but they assured staff that was fine. They ate sitting together on one side of the picnic table, facing the cheery fire. Dinner was stuffed pork chops with homemade applesauce, a garden salad, and crème brûlée for dessert.

  Afterwards they lay – like spoons, with her head on his left bicep – on the double chaise facing the fire. He stroked her hair absently with his hand.

  “So all the sector governors fell into line on the tax caps,” Burke said.

  “After von Hesse got such good press, yes, they did.”

  “So after all our worries about how to enforce it, it’s not going to be a problem.”

  “So far that’s what it looks like,” Ardmore said. “We’ll see.”

  “And the Zoo is finishing up the descendants tree.”

  “Right. Then they’ll start looking for outliers in terms of where they are and what they’re doing.”

  “That’ll be interesting,” Burke said.

  “Oh, yes.”

  They lay quietly for a while.

  “It’s really weird not having VR,” Ardmore said.

  “You get kind of used to it. Then when you get it back, it’s wonderful.”

  “I’m wondering if I’ll be able to see th
e results of these investigations well enough to be able to have insights about them.”

  “It’s not that bad, actually,” Burke said. “You’ll do fine.”

  “I hope so. I really want these guys.”

  “You and me both.”

  The week passed quietly. Burke was now researching the past Emperors’ private files in VR, while Ardmore was using the projector. It gave both of them a different perspective. They talked about it Saturday afternoon, up on the pool deck, cuddled in the afterglow.

  “Jimmy?”

  “Mmm.”

  “So I’ve been working on the accounting changes, right?”

  “Yeah?” Ardmore prompted.

  “And I’ve compiled a list of everyone who gave Augustus II positive input on it, OK?

  “Yeah?”

  “I already have one for everyone who gave Augustus I positive input on selecting his son to inherit the Throne.”

  “OK. And?”

  “Maybe we should compare those lists to the descendants lists to see if any of them were in place to influence the throne a hundred years ago.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Ardmore said. “Maybe we can even expand on it. Run the descendants of those people to the present, and also run back up their family trees to see if they overlap with the descendants anywhere.”

  “That’s a good idea, too. I like it.”

  “Then you should push it to Ms. Darden. You have VR now and I don’t.”

  “OK, Jimmy. Done.”

  She snuggled back into him.

  “You know, sooner or later we’re going to have to get up.”

  “Easy one, Gail. Later.”

  “OK.”

  For Sunday morning brunch, they were once again – for the first time since the coronation two weeks prior – on the Co-Consul’s side of the Imperial Residence. Burke was now immune to the nanites hack, being on the basic nanites package, and Ardmore didn’t have to stay near the doctors because he had flushed all his nanites, including the premium nanites package.

  “Hi, Gail. Hi, Jimmy. Come on in,” Claire Diener called to them when they came into the Co-Consul’s hallway from the elevator lobby.