First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  “My bum has got better diplomatic skills than you.” Mark said.

  “That might be true. Its where your brain is.” replied Mike.

  “Settle down children.” Sally said. “Let’s pretend that you’re both adults until this is all over.”

  “Do you mind!” Mark said. “I’m older than you.”

  “No you’re not, you just look like you are. We’ve had this conversation before, remember?”

  Chapter Forty Seven

  The Cafeteria Is Busy

  Wearing just her black jumpsuit uniform and army boots, Mike walked along the corridor from the entrance, then turned left toward the cafeteria. She was surprised to find the corridor crowded. She asked the person closest, “What’s wrong, are the doors locked?”

  “No, the cafeteria is full. You won’t be able to get in. You can stay out here with us if you like, Hopefully we’ll hear something.”

  “What are you expecting to hear?”

  “We were told that Hess An Sur is going to speak to us. She’s supposed to have said she’s on our side, she wants to end the rule of the Empire by the First Family and the aristocracy.”

  “What do you think about that?”

  “Her being on our side? That’s unlikely. What has she got to gain from it? And if she says she is, it will only be some fanciful whim from a spoilt and pampered brat. Next week she’ll want to save the Brekkans on Herassa. I’m only here because I’ve never seen any of the First Family in real life before.”

  “What’s your name?” Mike asked.

  “Fayr. What’s your name?”

  “Hess.” Mike replied.

  “Oh, like Hess An Sur.” She smiled. “But you’re not like her.”

  “You’d be surprised.” Mike said, and grasping Fayr’s wrist, said, “Come with me, we’ll go inside, and you can see Hess An Sur close up.”

  Without giving her a chance to reply, Mike pushed her way through the crowd, dragging Fayr with her. After much shoving and, prompted by her AI, some apologies, Mike stopped when they got close to the front of the cafeteria. She stopped and turned to Fayr. “Are you all right?” she asked.

  Fayr was almost crying. “You hurt my wrist. And you made me push past so many people.”

  Mike put her hands on Fayr’s shoulders. “I’m sorry, but this is important. What does the rebellion mean to you?”

  “I don’t think rule by the aristocracy is fair. We’re all supposed to be equal; we’re all supposed to be treated the same, we’re all supposed to be able to get the same things, go the same places, live where we like, in peace. That’s what the Declaration of The First Family says. The First of the First is supposed to uphold our rights and protect us, supported by the aristocracy. That’s supposed to be their burden, but it’s not like that. The First of the First lives in that huge palace and has another Palace on every planet in the Empire. The aristocracy get the best of everything, and if people get together to demonstrate or complain, the police and army attacks them, imprisons them and some are never seen again. It’s just so unfair!”

  “How old are you?” Mike asked.

  “I’m twenty three. I’m still at school. I’m supposed to be able to choose where I go to school, but I’m stuck here on Tefran. I wanted to go to Herassa for my education.”

  “How committed to the rebellion are you?”

  “I would give my life for the rebellion!”

  “Well Fayr, I hope you never have to. I am totally committed. I almost lost my life for the rebellion twice in the last few days. You wanted to see one of the First Family, you can stand next to me when I speak to your rebel comrades. I am Hess An Sur, First Born of the First Family and heir apparent to the throne. I have been against the aristocracy since I was a child, twenty seven thousand years ago. I never wanted to be part of the aristocracy and ran away from the Empire when I was a bit younger than you. Now I have returned to change things, to remove the aristocracy from power, abolish inherited rule, turn the Empire into a republic. I want to see all Herassans free and equal. Will you stand by me when I speak?”

  “You’re, you’re Hess An Sur?” Fayr stuttered. “But you look like the rest of us.”

  “Of course I do. I’m a Herassan, just like you. Now give me your answer.”

  Fayr blinked her eyes a few times, then answered, “Yes, yes of course I will!”

  Mike grasped her wrist again and pushed to the rear wall of the cafeteria.

  “Who’s in charge here!” she demanded in as loud a voice as she could muster.

  “I am.” Mike heard a familiar voice and Sha Ast Ral pushed her way through to her.”

  “Sha, I am so glad to see you are safe.”

  “And I am so glad you have come here and been so violent. What are you planning to say, and who is this?”

  “Violence is second nature to me now.” Mike smiled at Sha, then continued, “That’s not true. It has been so much a part of my life, it’s my first nature now, which is why I can’t stay here. This is Fayr. She is twenty three; she is going to grow up in a fair and just society where everyone is truly free and equal. That’s what I have come to say. I am going to accept the aristocracy’s invitation and replace my father as First of the First and my very first action is going to be to set in motion the changes that will see the end of the Herassan Empire and the beginning of the New Herassan Republic. Last time I asked you for help, you said you weren’t able to give it. I need your help again. We, the people will need leaders during the transition to a free and transparent democracy. Will you be one of those leaders and help put together the leadership team?”

  “That’s a lot to take in, but as long as you have a sensible plan, the answer is yes. If you’ve got something to say, you’d better get on with it. The crowd is getting restless and they’re likely to start leaving soon if nothing happens.”

  “There are more than I expected. There must be over five hundred crammed into here. How many are there in the rebel movement?”

  “On Tefran? About three hundred thousand who are committed activists, millions more who support us. Hundreds of millions more throughout the Empire.”

  “That’s a lot more than I expected! The change should be fairly easy with that amount of support.”

  “Don’t discount the army Hess, they have aggressively suppressed uprisings before.”

  Chapter Forty Eight

  Mike Inspires

  Sha got together a few helpers who pulled some of the cafeteria tables together to make a stage for Mike to speak from. While Mike and Fayr stood on the floor at the side, Sha stood in the middle of the stage with a floating microphone in front of her.

  The crowd quietened as she started to speak. “You all know me. I want to introduce you to a friend. A friend who has twice risked her life to come here and confront Brel Edd Senn and his thugs. The first time, she was almost killed. The second time, she fought his henchmen, killing several but was ultimately outnumbered and overpowered. Brel Edd Senn was going to murder her while she was tied up, but she persuaded him to fight him in unarmed combat. The coward agreed but kept a knife while my friend was unarmed. She didn’t escape injury, but she beat him and killed him. All his thugs are now dead or held captive. She has freed us from his oppression. My friend, who is going to speak to you now, is Hess An Sur, First Born of the First Family.”

  An angry mumbling came from the crowd. Not all them were happy to have the heir to the throne of the Empire talking to them about freedom.

  Mike climbed onto the stage and reached down to help Fayr up. Sha walked over to them. “Tough crowd. They’re all yours now.” Sha said.

  “No,” Mike said. “You stay with me, by my side. Fayr will stand on my other side.”

  Sha shrugged, and didn’t look pleased, but they walked together to the center of the stage. Mike stepped in front of the microphone and shouted: “I am Hess An Sur, First Born of the First Family of the Herassan Federation of the Five Planets.”

  An angry roar emerged from the cr
owd. The rebels were in no mood to show deference to the future leader of the aristocracy.

  Mike grasped the microphone, speaking into it to make herself heard above the noise of the crowd. “Your future is in your hands, the hands of the citizens of the Herassan Empire! You are the pressure at the bottom of our society, pressing upwards for change. I am going to be the pressure from the very top, pressing downwards for change. You will never be able to make change yourself. The power structures and vested interests of the aristocracy are too entrenched. I will not be able to do it myself, for the same reasons.” She moved to the front of the stage, standing right at the edge. “But between us, working together, we can rip apart the fabric of society and re-make it as an open and transparent democracy. Do you know the way the People govern themselves and regulate their society? Anyone can propose anything. Everyone who is interested will hear the proposal via their AI. Everyone will have a vote; every vote will be equal. Any proposal can be challenged, any proposal that is adopted can be overturned at any time if there is a majority to do it. There are no leaders, no government to make decisions for all, no place for tyrants. It is a pattern that has been copied many times in the galaxy. That is my vision for the future of our Herassan society. Is that what you want?”

  The crowd had quietened by now, and when Mike stopped speaking, a susurrus came from the crowd as people started talking to each other. Mike let the volume grow, then, holding the microphone close to her, bellowed: “Is that what you want?”

  The cafeteria quietened again. Then a voice called out, “Why would you want that? You have most to lose!”

  Mike took half a step forward, balancing on the edge of the stage, “I was born into my position. I had no say in it. I was kept a prisoner as a child. No friends, no brothers or sisters to play with, just my armed guards, or carers as they were called. My earliest memories are of being indoctrinated with the creed of the Empire, the First Family, and how one day I would become the Emperor!” she paused, “Free to do exactly as I was told by my aristocratic advisors. Free to go where I was told and when I was told. Free to rule precisely within the rules laid down for me by my ‘aristocratic’ advisors. I never wanted that; I wanted no part of it. But I couldn’t step down and become an ordinary citizen, that wasn’t an option for me. So when I was sixteen, not fully grown, I escaped. I had planned it for years. I got off-planet and managed to get a regular shuttle into Gretton space. The Grettons were kind and welcoming. To them, I was just another reptile, like them. A commune took me in, and I stayed with them for nearly a year, until a contingent from the Herassan Palace Guard came for me. They assaulted some of the members of the commune and dragged me away. They thought I was a soft and harmless child, but I had learned some self-defense in the Palace, and had learned even more in the commune. When I was left alone with just one guard, I knocked her out and escaped again. In Gretton space it was easy to get on a passenger ship with no identity checks, so I got on the first one I could, and was lucky that it took me far across the galaxy. I spent the next few thousand years constantly on the run from the Palace guard. Then I found I was safer as a soldier in an independent army. At least, until someone found out who I was, then it didn’t take long before they ratted me out to the Herassan aristocrats – they had put a reward out for anyone telling them where I was. Then I had to leave and find another army. Three and a half thousand years ago I joined Sally’s army. Colonel Sally, as she was then, got to hear who I was and offered me her army’s protection. She became not only my protector, but also my closest friend.

  So you ask me why I want this? Because I want freedom, just like you. I want to be free to travel where and when I like without having to rely on other people to keep me safe, to not constantly have to evaluate every situation and judge if there is anyone who poses a threat to me. To not have to plan an escape route from every bar, restaurant, city, town or village I visit. Is that enough for you?” she demanded. “Or do you want more? Do you want to know about the attempts on my life from the Herassan revolutionaries? Or the unauthorized assassination attempts by rogue elements of the aristocracy? Or how much I miss my home but cannot return safely? she said, bitterly.

  A voice came from the crowd, “That’s all very well, but what you have described, it sounds like anarchy!”

  “That’s exactly what it is! No government, no one in authority over you. Everyone with an equal voice. It is a state of anarchy that has worked for the People for millions, no, billions of years! It has given their society stability and their people are free. They do not need policing, it may be different for us, but we, the people, will decide who the police are and how we are to be policed.”

  Another voice called out: “How will we control the democratic process? Do we have the technology to ensure that votes aren’t manipulated? How do we stop someone from taking over the voting system?”

  “We may need some outside help with that. I have friends who can help us with it.”

  “What friends? Your so called friends could take over the whole Empire!”

  “I don’t think the People would want to do that.”

  “You are friends with the People? Why don’t you get them here to force the change on the aristocracy and the army? No one can stand up against them, and they could make it happen overnight.”

  “Do you really want to have change forced on us by outsiders? By aliens? What would that make us? A fallen Empire crushed by the might of the People. I would rather hold my head up as a free citizen of the Herassan Republic, proud that we, all of us, made the transition from rule by a few to rule by all. What would you prefer?”

  “Rule by all!” a voice called out. It was quickly picked up and repeated. The shouts of “Rule by all” turned into a chant that filled the cafeteria and the corridor outside.

  Sha came up to stand beside Mike. “I think you’ve won them over.” she said.

  “Now all we’ve got to do is make it happen. We need some protection in case the army or police don’t want to cooperate.”

  “They won’t” Sha said.

  “Are there any in the rebel movement with military experience, or ex-police?”

  Plenty, but they’re not like you. None of them have seen real action. All they’ve done is control civil disobedience or unruly crowds. There are probably some who were in the elite police and army squads who were involved in the more violent crowd control, but even they haven’t been up against other soldiers or police – and they will keep quiet about their past anyway. They wouldn’t be popular with the rest of the rebels, even if they have changed their politics.”

  “Can you put the word out. We need as many as possible to volunteer. Maybe ‘need’ is the wrong word. I hope we won’t need them, but we should be prepared, just in case.”

  “I think we will get volunteers, but where will we get weapons and armor?”

  “Don’t worry about that. I need to leave. I want my father and representatives of the aristocracy to hear this from me before they hear the rumors from the rebels. Will you look after Fayr please, Sha? If she wants to, I’d like you to involve her in this. She can be a voice to the young people. They will have to grow up in the New Republic whether they want to or not. Now, Is there a rear entrance I can slip out of?”

  Chapter Forty Nine

  Alan And Stochastics

  Mike opened the emergency exit from the cafeteria kitchen and started to walk along the side of the building to the front. Mark and Sally came around the corner walking towards her.

  “I can find my own way back.” she said.

  “We thought you’d like some company.” Mark said.

  “We watched your performance, I had one of the cloaked drones in there with you. You handled it well.” Sally said. “Was that your AI prompting you again?”

  Mike smiled. “No, that was me, speaking from my heart. I didn’t know what I was going to say until I opened my mouth, then it just all came out.”

  “That’s a side of you I haven’t seen befor
e.” Mark said.

  “There’s a side of you that I rarely see.” Mike said. “Your backside. It’s not pretty.”

  “So you’ve still got your infantile sense of humor?”

  “You’ll never take that away from me.”

  “That’s a pity.” Sally said.

  “I’ve messaged Alan to set up a meeting.” Mark said, “We need to find out if you can honor some of your promises. I guess you won’t want to be there Sally.”

  “I’ll be there. I can’t trust you two together by yourselves. You’d probably start an intergalactic war.”