First of the First

by Andrew Maclure

  “Yay!”

  Mark smiled and spoke to Sha. “Better get on with it right now Sha, it looks like my idea won’t fly. The message needs to be short, easy to read, informative and include the message that the post originated from the Freedom Movement who are the legitimate political wing of the rebels, recognized by Hess An Sur in her position as First of the First Family and she is fully committed to implementing her plan.”

  “People don’t usually read long messages. I’m not sure how we’d get them to read all that.” Sha said.

  “Do you know what clickbait is?” Mark asked.

  “Yes, but I don’t think we’ve got the skills to do that sort of thing.”

  “Tell them to do their best and send it to you.” Mark’s AI said. “The subject is studied extensively by Herassan sociologists. There are a huge number of research papers and books on the subject. I’ve just read them all so I will be able to polish their message up into something irresistible.”

  “You’re not troubled with excessive modesty.”

  “Modesty is a feature of organic intelligence and is related to their concept of self and ego. It is not something which inorganic intelligences are ‘troubled with’, as you put it.”

  Mark relayed his AI’s comments to Sha, she was quite relieved that Mark, or his AI, was going to take responsibility for the message.

  “Thank you Mark, we are so grateful for you doing all this, aren’t we Hess.” she said to Mark.

  “He may have stumbled on something that could be helpful, I’ll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t balls it up.”

  “Hess!” exclaimed Sha. “How can you be so ungrateful?”

  “It’s taken her years to perfect it, but she’s got it cracked now.” Mark said.

  Mike grinned at him. “I have to keep a lid on his enthusiasm Sha. Every now and then he runs away with the idea that he is useful.”

  “Don’t worry Sha, it’s water off a ducks back to me. She’s only teasing. The sooner we can get the message out on JabJab, the better. We need it to go viral – does that expression translate into something meaningful to you?”

  “Yes, a cascade of shares until reaches most people and becomes a meme.”

  “Right, good. I’ve never been sure what a meme is but, that sounds right.”

  Sha looked at Mike and said, “It’s useful having a Friend of the People as a friend.”

  “Yeah. He’s a liability most of the time but occasionally has his uses. Get me a drink Mark.”

  Ignoring her, Mark said to Sha, “We’re coming down to Tefran now, we’ll meet your JabJab team when we get there.”

  He broke the VR connection and said, “Get your skinny lizard arse moving and blink to my shuttle.

  Chapter Sixty Nine

  Getting Social

  On the way down to the Herassan Freedom Movement headquarters on Tefran, Mark received confirmation that Alan was available to meet him. As soon as his shuttle had landed, Mark and Mike stepped out into the fresh morning sunlight of Tefran. He noticed for the first time the sound of birds singing and the unfamiliar but pleasant smell of the Tefran spring air.

  Alan stood waiting for them. Mike greeted him and said, “I’m going to catch up with Sha and see if she’s got a team together yet.” and left.

  “Thank you for coming to meet me.” Mark said to Alan, “Come into my shuttle and we’ll talk.

  “Let us go to a lander, we can be comfortable there.” Alan responded.

  “We can be comfortable in my shuttle.” Mark said, turning and walking back inside.

  Alan followed and looked around at the low table with comfortable chairs around it. “I see you have put your own personal touches on your shuttle.”

  “Why don’t you update your shuttle?” Mark asked. “You don’t need to invert when you take off. You could get rid of those scary hand and ankle cuffs, and your inertial dampening is so out of date. According to my AI, the technology in your shuttle is billions of years old and almost every post emergent civilization could do better than what you’ve got.”

  “You’re right, it is out of date, but it is how I got it and it suits me, so I see no need to change it.”

  Mark sighed. He could see he was wasting his breath trying to get Alan to modernize. Instead, he outlined the plan to raise popular support by using social media to spread the message and explained the need to propagate it as quickly as possible, which could be achieved by using the People’s communication network.

  “That would be a clear case of using our advanced technology to assist in the change of a civilization’s governing regime. If you think about that Mark, you can see that it would violate the People’s non-interference protocols.”

  “But there wasn’t a problem with me setting up the surveillance network to track Major Bryd Sa Dett’s fleet who were trying to capture Mike.”

  “Mike was not wanted by the Herassan government for criminal or political crimes, and at the time she was not directly involved in any political movement. Her status was unusual, not a criminal, a refugee or politically active. You were acting in the interest of a friend, not interfering with the Herassan political processes. We, the People, place a high priority on friendship, we even have a special category of friends, our Friends of the People, who, after a period of integration become part of the People’s society with the same status as one of our own race. You can see the difference between the two cases.”

  Mark slumped back into his chair. “So there’s nothing I can do to help.”

  “On the contrary. There is much you can do as an individual, but you must learn the limits of the technological support you can give. You must also get used to having to stand back sometimes and watch things evolve in the direction you would not wish them to. You will also have to get used to people, even those close to you, accusing you of being unfeeling, or even blame you for the outcome. It is what you might call the curse of the People, of being in possession of powerful technology and a moral code that precludes you from using it to act like gods.”

  “I understand, Alan. If the People were to direct the affairs of civilizations using your technology, you would end up with a universe of your making. Civilizations wouldn’t grow and change, everywhere would be the same. That would be a nightmarish scenario.” Mark sighed. “I think it’s something difficult to understand from the outside, but now I am, effectively, on the inside, I do understand. It’s quite depressing. It is easier to watch things fall apart when you don’t have the power to change them.”

  “What are you going to do now?” Alan asked.

  “I think I’ll get together with Mike and Sha and chivvy them along getting the message prepared. What are you going to do now?”

  “Sally has requested a meeting. She should be ready now.”

  “Sally has asked to meet you! I, I… I’m lost for words.”

  “I was surprised too. I hope it is going to be a cordial meeting.”

  “Me too. Sally will tell me how it went, but I’d appreciate hearing your perspective too.”

  “Of course Mark. Tell your AI to message me when you are available next. I must go now. I’m meeting Sally in one of the landers.”

  “If you want privacy, you could use my shuttle.”

  Alan looked around at the shuttle again. “Thank you Mark, I’ll message Sally to see if she is agreeable.”

  Mark left Alan in his shuttle and, directed by his AI, went to join Sha, Mike and their team of JabJab enthusiasts in the converted warehouse they used as their headquarters. He found them in a room with pale blue walls and a light brown tiled floor clustered around a wooden rectangular conference table. It made a change from all the standard gray walls, floor and furniture that was so pervasive on all the army and the Peoples property. A large screen on one wall was covered in a script that Mark didn’t recognize, but his AI fed an English translation into his visual cortex that appeared to him to float just in front of the screen.

  Sha saw him enter and quickly int
roduced him to the others round the table.

  Mike listened quietly while the introductions took place, then said to the Herassan team, “My friend Mark is here to help us. As a Friend of the People, he is in possession of all their technology and will give all the assistance he can within the limits of the People’s protocols. We are lucky to have him on our side. If you have any questions, or think he can help, ask him. He is polite and friendly and will do whatever he can for us. I trust him with my life and so should you. Please Mark, sit with me.”

  Mark blinked and surreptitiously pinched himself to make sure he wasn’t dreaming, but when it hurt him, he thought he must be hallucinating instead. He took a seat next to Mike.

  He leaned towards her and whispered, “Am I hallucinating, or have you been taking drugs?”

  “Neither,” she whispered back, “but they need hope so keep your mouth shut so they don’t realize what a moron you are.”

  Mark felt better after she said that. He had thought she may have had a brain aneurysm burst.

  “As you can see Mark,” Sha said, nodding towards the screen, “we’re making good progress. We’ve got the bones of the message; we’re refining it now and adding in a few details. We’ve sketched out a call to action too, which we’ll add at the bottom of it. We should be finished within an hour, then I will send it to you for your AI to work on. Can we have it back for approval before it’s sent?”

  Mark opened his mouth to speak and Mike jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow, saying, “I can handle that Sha, send it to me.”

  Mark jabbed Mike in the ribs so hard he knocked her off her stool. Sha and her team looked shocked, not just that someone had touched the First Born of the First, but had actually assaulted her! As Mike struggled to her feet, glaring at Mark, he said, as though nothing had happened, “Thank you Hess An Sur, but that won’t be necessary. Send it to me Sha, and I won’t be sending it, the message must be posted by each of you on your JabJab timeline and a message sent to all your contacts, whether you think they will be sympathetic or not. The message must go to as many people as possible. Do you have a contact list for all the rebels – I mean Freedom Movement members, and the three million known sympathizers on Tefran? And does the Freedom Movement have a presence on JabJab”

  “We have contacts for all the former rebels,” Sha said. “JabJab is secure so we’ve always used it to tell everyone about meetings and events, but we haven’t got a Freedom Movement presence. We’ll get one set up straight away. We’ve got lots of details of sympathizers, but they are scattered around in different places. Bast An Yark,” she nodded at one of the Herassans seated further down the table, “is pulling them all together so we can message them all, and he’s getting a list of all the JabJab groups that we can post onto.”

  “It sounds like you’ve got it all covered. My AI will respond with some revised drafts for you almost immediately after you send over your draft, you can choose which one you want to use. We’ll leave you to it now.” he said standing up. “Come on Hess An Sur.” Mike glared at him, but stood and led the way out.

  As soon as the door shut behind them she turned and said, “You didn’t have to hit me so hard! You knocked the breath out of me and it bloody hurt!”

  “You didn’t have to hit me at all. And it shut you up, so it had the desired effect.”

  “What, so that you could speak and demonstrate your idiocy?” Mike spoke with some venom, still cross with Mark after he had elbowed her in the ribs.

  “I’m sorry Mike. I hadn’t intended to hurt you, but will you stop treating me like a child that can’t be trusted to speak in the company of adults?”

  “I will when you stop acting like one!”

  “To the best of my recollection, I never have acted like one.”

  “Sally thinks you have.” she retorted, with a trace of a smile.

  “And she thinks you are too, which puts us on the same level.” he replied.

  Mark checked Sally’s status, but she was still talking to Alan. “Let’s go and see how Seltet is getting on with the six rebels who are going to be in your honor guard.”

  “They’re not rebels now.” Mike corrected him. “They are Freedom Movement members.”

  “Yeah, but that’s a bit of a mouthful. We’ll have to find something else to call them that’s shorter.”

  “Oh poor Mark. Is saying all those long words wearing you out?”

  Chapter Seventy

  Expecting The Unexpected

  They found Seltet and her trainees at the side of the warehouse, five Herassans marching along the dusty concrete between their warehouse and the windowless lights-out factory twenty meters away. Seltet was standing with her arms crossed, watching the five closely.

  “They seem to be keeping in step pretty well.” Mark said to Seltet.

  “Yes, since they’ve stopped carrying weapons and wearing body armor their coordination has improved dramatically. Sha was already the best of them, so having her missing for a while hasn’t been a problem.” Turning to face Mike she said, “You will be proud of them tomorrow when they follow you into the palace.”

  Mark thought that in their pale green jump suits, they looked more like Chinese factory workers preparing to welcome a government official than soldiers, but as they didn’t want them to look threatening, that wasn’t a bad thing.

  “You’re sure they’ll be ready for tomorrow?” Mike asked.

  “Absolutely certain. Orange and Simon are bringing all the other recruits round here at mid-afternoon so my team,” Seltet said, nodding towards the six Herassans marching in perfect step, “will have a few hours to get used to keeping in step with their eyes forward while surrounded by noisy and unruly onlookers. At least, I expect Simon and Orange to be noisy and unruly, the other recruits will probably be subdued and polite.”

  Mark’s AI told him that Sally’s status had changed to ‘available’, so he sent her a message to say he and Mike would meet with her in his shuttle.

  “You’re doing a great job with them.” Mark told Seltet, before he and Mike left to walk back to his shuttle.

  “Is the weather controlled on Tefran?” Mark asked Mike as they walked. “It’s been sunny and warm since we’ve been here.”

  “Sometimes, when it’s necessary, but it’s better not to. If you change the weather in one place, it has knock-on effects at other places. This is natural weather, and the forecast is that it will stay like this for several more days before it rains again, so there’s no need to interfere with it.”

  “Is this springtime here?”

  “Yes, but there isn’t much seasonal change on this planet. It has very little axial tilt.”

  Mark had no idea what axial tilt was, or what it had to do with seasonal change, but he’d try to remember to ask his AI later on.

  Sally met them at the door of the shuttle and said, “Let’s sit outside in the sun. We don’t see much of it when we’re in space nearly all the time.”

  “I’ll get some seats.” Mark said.

  “We’ll sit on the ground.” Sally said and sat down. Mike dropped to the ground facing her.

  Although not as keen on sitting on the dusty concrete as they were, Mark joined them.

  “What do we need to do to prepare for the raising ceremony tomorrow?” Mark asked.

  “Just two things.” Sally answered. “I want to practice marching in formation now that we’ve got the six Herassans with us, and we are meeting with Major Bryd Sa Dett at the Palace this afternoon, so we don’t have any misunderstanding like we did last time. When that’s done, we’ll all eat together on board the Swift – including the Herassans. Fortunately, Mike’s enthusiasm for over designing everything she does on the Swift means the dining room is big enough to accommodate all of us. I’ve asked the Swift to prepare standard trooper accommodation for Sha and her team, so they’ll stay with us overnight and until we’re all finished at the raising ceremony tomorrow.”

  “Is everyone on the same sleep cycle?” Mar
k asked.

  “No, most of us are already on sleep suppressors, but if you’re not, get some sleep tonight, just in case something happens, and you need to take them for a few days.”

  “What sort of thing are you expecting to happen? There won’t be a problem with rogue rebels, Major Bryd Sa Dett and Colonel Drad Ki Jass are on side, so the army won’t be a problem and if the aristocrats are uncooperative or turn on us, you and I can handle them. What else could happen?”

  “We thought that last time. I was at fault for not being prepared. That’s not going to happen again. Alan has provided a small tracker for Mike to swallow that uses the Peoples subspace communications which cannot be blocked, so if she is taken again, we’ll know exactly where she is.”