“Yeah, it does,” Dee said. “It’s sad, though. The people we really want, leave.”
“Yes, but they originally signed up for government service and hung in there for six or seven or eight years, so there’s hope we can rekindle their interest. Another pool of candidates is similar – high marks in school, good performance ratings the first five years, and then no promotion – but they didn’t leave, or at least haven’t left yet.”
“So what’s our plan to interview people?” Dee asked.
“We thought of bringing them in for a look-see, but not call it an interview. Just tell them we’re doing a survey to find out why qualified people leave the government. We get a chance to size them up, and we give them the cue to let loose, and see what happens.”
“OK. I like that. Who’s going to do these survey meetings?”
“Could be anybody, really. And likely it will have to be just about anybody.”
“Why do you say that?”
“To hire hundreds of people, even doing computer sorting through candidates’ personnel files as we are, we’re going to have to personally talk to thousands. I figure maybe twenty people a day for most of a year. And they have to be one-on-one meetings if we’re going to get them to open up at all.”
“So if we had twenty people screening, it would be one meeting per day for each of them,” Dee said. “That works, I think. Bring in all twenty at once to one place, then split them up into one-hour one-on-one meetings. Can Val’s group handle that?”
“I think so. The exposure to lots of different kinds of people and their reactions to being questioned about why they left the government is grist for that mill anyway.”
“All right. Let’s go ahead and get that started then. Keep me apprised.”
“Of course.”
“What about the justice system?” Dee asked.
Cindy laughed.
“A couple of people there have decided we need to re-write the laws. The laws pertaining to citizens should be no more than one volume, another volume for corporations, and maybe a small volume additionally for certain professions. Lawyers, doctors, police. That’s about it. Oh, and they should be in English, not lawyerese.”
“Wow. That would be a big change,” Sean said.
“Yeah, but they argue otherwise it’s just not fair. How can anybody obey the law if it’s impossible to know what it is? And that opens everyone up to malicious prosecution. They have a point, and don’t forget there’s still sector law, provincial law, planetary law, even city ordinances. We need to set an example of the law being simple to understand at the Imperial level, and let that trickle down. Right now Imperial law is the worst of them. Byzantine is close, but it doesn’t begin to capture it.”
“Part of that’s the Throne’s fault,” Dee said. “We shouldn’t have let it get so out of hand. What about the corruption issue?”
“Some of that’s being enabled by the convolutions of the law. For the rest, they’re thinking about it. No grand solution yet.”
“Wait. I’ve got a question,” Sean said. “Rewriting the law like that, making it smaller, a whole bunch of things that are illegal now become legal, right?”
“Right,” Cindy said. “Lots of regulatory stuff, lots of stuff that’s really nit-picky, lots of stuff that dictates lifestyle choices. All gone.”
“So what do we do about people in prison for those violations now? People being prosecuted right now? Fines assessed? All that sort of thing.”
“Well, officially, it was an illegal act when they did it, but I would think that we would need to do something about that. What do we do, Dee? Pardon them all?”
“Imperial pardons would work. Fines I’m not so sure about. Do we refund them? How far back? I think I’m going to need some numbers on all that before we decide to pull the trigger on the reforms.”
“Got it,” Cindy said. “I’ll put it on the list.”
“Good catch,” Dee said, and patted Sean’s thigh.
“So that’s pretty much what’s going on with the justice system. What about the weapons acquisition? When do you want to do that, Dee?”
“Cindy, have you been keeping an eye on what Pomeroy’s doing? Is he reforming the system at all?”
“Yes, and no, respectively. He’s not done anything, from what we can tell.”
“He’s gonna be trouble,” Bobby said. “You should remove him, Dee.”
“On what charge? Being impolite? Taking a long time to do a hard job? I need more than that.”
“No, you don’t.”
“Bobby, I want more than that. Once I start picking off Councilors, it’s going to get messy fast. You have a plan ready to go, right, Cindy?”
“Yes. We have our competitive bidding setup, with partial awards to multiple suppliers, all set to go. You just need to give the word.”
“So should I do that before we have people in place, or should I wait until we have it a little more together in terms of oversight?”
“Hmm. Tough one, Dee. I would like to get it done, but I can see where it would be a positive for Pomeroy to know we had people watching.”
“All right. Let’s wait with it, then.”
“How long?”
“Figure at least a year. By then we’ll have a lot of new hires, including the Shadow Councilors, and they’ll be in the new building. That would be the time to push, I think. And the case to push gets stronger the longer Pomeroy goes without doing anything.”
They changed out of their swimming suits in the cabanas and then strolled through the gardens before retiring for the evening. It was a beautiful clear night, though they couldn’t see any but the brightest stars given the light from Imperial City all around them.
Dee missed seeing the stars the way you could see them at home. It seemed odd not to be able to see the Empire from the very center of its capital.
Coronation
The coronation of the Empress Ilithyia II was held four months after the death of the Empress Ilithyia I. It was held in the Throne Room of the Imperial Palace, and broadcast on VR to all the corners of the Sintaran Empire.
The Throne Room of the Imperial Palace was the front door to the Imperial Palace and, as such, was hardly ever used. The massive nine-acre bulk of the Imperial Palace thrust almost thirty stories into the sky. The Throne Room stuck out from that bulk to the south, a gothic stone anteroom to the modern steel and glass building behind it.
The Throne Room was much older than the palace to which it attached. The previous palace of the Kingdom of Sintar had proven inadequate to the needs of the Empire. The prior palace had been razed to erect the new and much larger building, but the ancient vault of the Throne Room and the broad steps up to its formal entrance had been retained.
The gold Throne itself, both in its location and its importance, had never moved. This was the true seat of power in the Sintaran Empire.
There was no seating. Like the ancient cathedrals of old Earth, it was a large, open nave, with the dais and Throne at the palace end. Entering the Throne Room from outside, up the broad stairs and through the magnificent gold-leaf doors, one had a view down the gothic stone nave to the Throne on its dais, lit at mid-day by a shaft of sunlight through a skylight in the roof.
And so coronations were always held around noon, the sun shining down on the Throne and its new occupant.
The Imperial Council was preparing for the coronation in the changing room of the Council Chamber in the Imperial Council building next door. They were all donning their ceremonial robes for the coronation.
“I can’t believe we’re going through all this nonsense. She’s already been acting as Empress for four months,” Pomeroy said.
“It’s simple, Pomeroy,” Saaret said. “People love a nice ceremony. It gets beamed out to all the Empire. It’ll be the most accessed recording in the whole VR system.”
Saaret adjusted his robe, then raised the chain bearing the badge of the Chairman of the Imperial Council over his head.
“It still seems silly,”
“Just play your part, Pomeroy, and do it well. I will be well behind you when you pledge, but I expect to hear it clearly.”
Saaret raised his voice to the whole room.
“That goes for all of you. The coronation of a new Empress is a unifying and binding event for the whole Empire. Make sure you call out your pledge loud and clear. A divided Empire does none of us any good.”
“Oh, the butterflies are having a field day in my stomach,” Dee said.
She was sitting in an anteroom off to one side of the Throne. One door opened into the nave of the Throne Room, the other into the Palace behind it. Her hairdresser was fussing with final touches to her hair. Her makeup artist was finished but standing by in case of emergency. Tears, for instance.
“Oh, just calm down,” Cindy said. “We practiced all this yesterday.”
“Yes, but not with cameras and a hundred trillion people watching.”
“What if someone misbehaves?” Bobby asked.
“Who? Like Pomeroy?” Sean asked.
Dee turned hard eyes to the pair.
“Then he will be the first person to be executed live in front of a VR audience of a hundred trillion people. The coronation isn’t for me, or for them, it’s for the Empire. To disrupt it is treason.”
“I just wanted to make sure you knew your mind on the matter,” Bobby said.
“Yes. No doubts there. And what do you know? Suddenly my butterflies are gone.”
“There you go,” Cindy said. “Any time you feel nervous, just think about shooting Lord Pomeroy.”
Notables began arriving at ten o’clock, ultimately filling the great nave of the large building. The aisle was both marked and held clear by two lines of Imperial Guardsmen, facing each other across the resulting aisle. The lines then turned at right angles across the front of the crowd on each side, marking the line beyond which they must not go.
At eleven-fifteen, a trumpet fanfare signaled the entry of the Imperial Council, dressed in black ceremonial robes and wearing their badges of office on chains around their necks. Lord Saaret led the forty Councilors down the aisle until he reached a point in front of the two lines of Guardsmen. The Councilors behind him split, right and left across the front of the standing Guardsmen to form a line across the nave, with Saaret at its center.
At eleven-thirty, a trumpet fanfare sounded again, and General Daggert entered from a side door, walked across the dais and up its side steps to the top, and then across to the center. He was wearing the Imperial Marines’ Marine Dress Uniform with the gold fourragère of the Imperial Guard. He turned and faced the crowd.
“We are gathered here to witness the coronation of Deanna Dunham Garrity as the Empress Ilithyia II, the twenty-seventh Empress of the Empire of Sintar.”
At that, Dee entered through the side door on the other side, walked around to the front of the dais, and up the stairs. She knelt on a pillow on the floor in front of Daggert. She was wearing a simple long white dress, belted at the waste with a cincture of white rope.
Kneeling in front of Daggert, Dee recited the ancient Pledge of the Empress, unchanged in over three hundred years.
“I, Deanna Dunham Garrity, pledge to perform the duties and responsibilities of Empress of the Sintaran Empire, wielding authority with compassion, justice with mercy, and power with finesse, for the benefit and well-being of the people of the Sintaran Empire, now and into the future, until I die.”
At that point, Ann Pullman and Cindy Dunham entered from the same side door as Daggert had, wearing the same simple white dresses as Dee, and each carrying a square purple pillow with gold fringe and tassels. On one was an intricate plastron necklace of gold mounted with blue gemstones, on the other a woven gold circlet with a single large blue jewel in the center – the Star of Sintar – and overlain with a gold representation of a laurel wreath. They walked around to the foot of the dais in front, and up the stairs to either side of Dee, stopping one step short of the top.
General Daggert first took the necklace, and clasped it around Dee’s neck. He then took the crown and placed it on her head. Pullman and Cindy backed down the steps and stood to either side at the foot of the dais.
Bobby and Sean entered from the same side door as Daggert had, carrying between them an accordion-folded purple cloth. They were also wearing the Imperial Marines’ Marine Dress Uniform with the gold fourragère of the Imperial Guard, together with the full-size version of the Sintar Cross on their chests, hanging from purple ribbons around their necks. They walked around to the foot of the dais in the front, and up the stairs until they were on either side of Dee, one step down from the top. They held the cloth up to Dee’s shoulders, and Daggert took a clasp from each side and fastened them in front of Dee’s neck. Bobby and Sean unfolded the cloth by lowering it to the floor, revealing an imperial purple cape, chased at the hem, plackets, and collar with an intricate design in gold thread.
Bobby and Sean backed down the steps and stood to either side of the dais next to Pullman and Cindy.
Daggert walked to one front corner of the dais and stood facing Dee.
Dee rose and stood. She walked forward to the Throne and mounted the one single additional step in front of it. She knelt before the Throne and bowed deeply to it, then kissed the end of the left arm of the Throne, then the right. She stood and turned to face the crowd, bathed in the sunlight streaming through the skylight above. Her blond hair shown, the gold of the crown and jewels and cape glinted, and the sun in her eyes lit them with a blue fire that matched that of the jewels laid out across her chest and the Star of Sintar on her forehead.
Daggert called out, “The Empress Ilithyia II.”
Daggert, Bobby, Sean, Cindy, and Pullman all went down on one knee and bowed their heads as the trumpets started the Imperial Fanfare. Saaret and the Councilors all went down on one knee and bowed their heads, followed by the crowd. The two lines of Imperial Guardsmen, who had been standing at ease, turned toward the Throne and came to attention, then, as one, saluted and held the salute through the fanfare.
When the fanfare was finished, Dee sat down on the Throne.
“Please rise.”
At her command, everyone rose.
“Lord Saaret,” Daggert called out.
Saaret approached the dais, climbed the stairs, and knelt on the pillow. He bowed to the Empress.
“I pledge my obedience, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Lord Saaret.”
Saaret rose and returned to his place.
“Lord Galbraith,” Daggert called out.
Galbraith repeated Saaret’s actions.
“I pledge my obedience, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Lord Galbraith.”
Galbraith rose and withdrew.
Daggert proceeded through the Call of the Imperial Council, and each Councilor came up to the Empress to kneel, bow, and pledge their obedience as they followed the ancient ritual. Even Pomeroy made a good showing of it, not mumbling the pledge or skimping on the bow.
When Daggert had completed the roll, the Imperial Fanfare sounded again, and Dee stood. Everyone went down on one knee and bowed as she walked slowly off the dais down the side stairs and out through the door Daggert had entered from.
At the end of the Imperial Fanfare, everyone stood.
The coronation was over.
Lord Pomeroy and Chief Stanier were at dinner not long after the coronation.
“Hey, Larry, I saw you on VR. That was pretty impressive.”
“What a bunch of nonsense. Oh, she looked great up there and all, George, but it just emphasized how young and inexperienced she is.”
“You’re still worried about her.”
“Of course. Nothing’s changed. She’s still hiring, and building her big new building, all the better to interfere with t
he workings of the government.”
“Anything affecting you yet, Larry?”
“No, but it’s only a matter of time. It’s maddening, George. Defense is the most important function of the government. It’s not something for amateurs to go messing around in.”
“Aren’t her husband and brothers in the Imperial Marines? She’s got some experience on tap there.”
“They’re both captains. Dime a dozen. George, there are over a billion uniformed personnel in the Imperial Marines. Do you have any idea how many captains there are?”
“A lot, I guess.”
“Millions. And none of them have any overview of what’s going on, how the Defense establishment works. And neither does she.”
“But you pledged your obedience, Larry.”
“I know, George. And that’s just what I’m going to do. I’m going to keep my head down and maintain a low profile and just do my job.”
“And when she interferes?”
“I don’t know, George. I just don’t know.”
“Wow. You’re in a tough spot there. So far, I have no indication from Newsom that she has anything in store for me. Oh, by the way, Larry, thanks for talking to Newsom about the military hardware issue.”
“No problem. Are you getting hardware now?”
“Not yet. We’re working through what we think we need. We don’t want to just grab a bunch of stuff at random. But at least we’re talking about it. So it’ll happen eventually.”
“Great. Well, I’m glad I could help.”
Shadow Court
Andrew Forsythe was invited to take part in some of the discussions of the justice system within Valery Markov’s new ideas group. He also had access to a lot of the research that had been done on corruption within the justice system. He found the extent of it depressing, but the idea that someone was working on it and intended to fix it was exhilarating. It was a heady mix.
One of the things that shocked him was to find that even the High Court was involved in corruption. Even the justices of the Empire’s highest appellate court could be bought and sold like machinery.
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