Every Last Mother's Child

by William J. Carty, Jr

  Chapter 8: Town Meeting

  Suzy Gabriel was sitting in her atrium going over some site plans for one of the new computers to be installed in Outpost 1 to handle the small town’s communications, debating to either build an AI or import one from Trena. She had about settled on a Trena unit. It wouldn’t take one who had been a com AI on Trena long to figure out its nodes and network connections. If they tried to build one on Home, she wasn’t certain they were up to the task yet. When Therese, the cook from the Deliverance put a plate of food in front of her, the cook had been appalled when she saw how the Gabriel family ate. When she and her husband were not on patrol she had taken up residence in sunrise cliffs as their cook. Suzy wasn’t certain why she was becoming so blessed by the people who lived with her; but she wasn’t going to argue. Therese was a much better cook than she was. At least one week out of three Therese cooked for her and the people living at Sunrise Cliffs. The other two weeks Therese had managed to find someone who was at least acceptable to her.

  “You going to the meeting Lord Jenkins has called.” Therese asked as she put the plate in front of Suzy.

  “Wasn’t thinking about it,” Suzy replied. Although she had thought about it, she had decided not to go. She had emigrated to Trena to avoid politics and hadn’t been involved in them since she got to Trena and wasn’t going to start now. She hated politics with a passion. She didn’t even vote that was how sick she was of politics.

  “You might want to go,” Therese suggested, “It might be interesting. I think Lord Jenkins is going to try a takeover. He’s been awfully unhappy about the Crown Reps handling of the governmental affairs.”

  “Why? Because he doesn’t get what he wants?” Suzy asked. Most of her neighbors were talking about the lord and how he was trying to stake a kingdom in Outpost 1. Most if not all of the citizens of Outpost 1 couldn’t care less what the lord wanted. But they didn’t want to be his vassals either, and they just wanted to continue to build Outpost 1 and get on with their lives.

  “That and the fact he thinks that the crown owes him the same property and such he had on Trena,” Doctor Klond came onto the atrium. “I hear he’s getting a bit of a following. It has always amazed me what some folks tell their doctor.”

  “So you think as many of us who don’t want to be his subjects should be at the meeting,” Suzy asked.

  “No. But I am going. I want to see what this Lord Jenkins has to say,” Michelle said, “I know he’s up to no good, but I want to hear his proposal so I know what’s going on.”

  That made up her mind. If Michelle thought it was important to hear what this man said, then she should be at the meeting also.

  It wasn’t the first gathering of Outpost 1’s citizens. A few weeks before the crown rep had held a meeting to let them know what was happening all over Home and on Trena.

  Tonight, Suzy sat in the back of the meeting room with Michelle, as Lord Jenkins, a recently emigrated noble from Trena sat in the center of a table flanked by a couple of others. Jenkins had been given five acres of land. He had had a large grain farmer on Trena. Having several thousand acres on Trena. He was quite upset that he didn’t have the same size farm on Home. He had been a minor politician in Royalist party. Suzy wasn’t quite sure what his politics were. The House of Lords had not been polarized on Trena in most things. True there were the Contras and the Royalists, but those alliances seemed to ebb and flow depending on what the crown was requiring from the nobles or the House of Commons were proposing against the Lords. Jenkins seemed to keep mostly a low profile. Suzy surmised that was about to change.

  “Good evening,” the elderly man said, “My name is Lord Jenkins. As the ranking noble in the Outpost Region, I am claiming the position of Lord Mayor of Outpost 1 and vicinity. This right has been granted to me by the nobility bestowed on my family by the Crown. It allows me to become Lord Mayor of Outpost 1. As such I declare the first town meeting of Outpost 1 in session.”

  “Excuse me Mr. Jenkins,” a voice behind Suzy spoke up, “According to the charter of Outpost 1, signed by the Evacuation Command on Trena, and Countersigned by the Crown officers in residence at Ellis, this is a free community. I recall no mention of any lord having been granted duchy rights over the town of Outpost 1 or any portion of our region.”

  “That warrant has no authorization,” the lord said, “I am...”

  “Excuse me,” the voice from the back of the room continued. “I don’t know what your game is Mr. Jenkins,” He stressed Mr., “but until I am told otherwise, I am the appointed civilian leader of this colony. The crown appointed me as the Outpost 1 administrator. My charter is still in effect and cannot be over ridden by a mere lord.”

  Suzy winced at, ‘a mere lord’ that was slapping the man in the face.

  “I am a lord of the Trena Nobility and have a birth rite and a responsibility to...” The lord replied.

  “Excuse me sir, you will see that as part of the contract that you signed, that your nobility was tied to the Court of Trena.” Tom Peterson had been handpicked for this job. Lord Mercer and a couple of trusted political aids and associates with the help of the AI had made sure that several of the lifts had good civilian managers who were tough enough to deal with the problems that were sure to come up with the new towns on Home. Mercer, the Queen and Wilson were almost certain that the governmental structure on Home would not be the same as that of Trena. The Queen knew she would be out of a job once the evacuation was completed. Not only would she be out of a job; but she would be most likely broke. Wilson and Mercer’s instructions to the civilian managers of Home were to let the people of Home decide how they wanted to shape their world’s government. They were certain that the monarchists in the population were sure to want to retain the monarchy on Home. But there were others who came from other forms of government that would want to have their own way of government considered when Home’s government was formatted. The one thing that the Queen and Wilson were adamant about was that they didn’t want the lords to take over on Home. They wanted the people of Home to make their choice free of pressure from the Trena Nobility. It was Tom’s job was to make it nearly impossible for the nobles being resettled on Home from taking over. “And as such you have no peerage rights on Home. As such you should step down from the podium. You are in violation of Evacuation order number fifteen, and Home Rule 1.”

  “Which are,” The lord asked.

  “That with martial law declared on both Home and Trena, that persons attempting political mischief will be warned that should they continued fomenting rebellion, or attempting to over throw the rule of the Queen , or hindering the work of the Queen’s representatives on Home will be arrested, tried, and if convicted sent to the rock or other suitable prison. Sergeant Nay...”

  “You wouldn’t dare.” the lord bellowed.

  “If you do not step down from the podium and cease and desist in trying to become ruler of the Outpost 1 District, I will arrest you and send you down to Ellis.”

  Suzy watched the exchange enjoying it. She wasn’t really a royalist or a monarchist, but she wasn’t a full democrat either. She thought that the constitutional monarchy of Trena was not that bad to live under. True she had never been on Trena when King Ralph was on the throne, and had never witnessed the revenge he had taken on the Theocracy. Queen Agatha seemed to be just, and she seemed to know how to keep the nobles in line. True it had been mostly Lord Mercer as the Queen’s regent and guardian that had been the ruler for the most part while the Queen was growing into adulthood, still Suzy an emigrant from The People’s Republic of the Stars thought she liked the idea of a monarchy balanced by a parliament. She had hated the annual, almost continual campaigning on Mother, the home world of the republic. It seemed that almost the day after the president had been elected that the election for the next president started. On Trena, a candidate couldn’t file for an election no sooner than 180 days before the election, couldn’t raise any money before then. It seemed a r
ational decision.

  “I am afraid that you will do no such thing,” Lord Jenkins said producing a weapon. “Take a step towards me and I will use this.”

  “Lord Jenkins,” the manager said, “Shoot me and the constables will take you down.”

  Suzy heard her ear bug snarl with, “This is Outpost 1, we have a man with a gun All Constables report to the meeting hall.”

  “Lord Jenkins,” Suzy spoke softly from her chair, “if you don’t put that fire arm away someone will get hurt. This isn’t the way to handle this. The Theocracy tried to take our world by force. The Peoples Republic has tried to force democracy on us, all by force of arms. Now here you stand a noble, borne of the Trena Nobility, living through the time of King Ralph, and the Theocracy attacks, trying to become our leader by force of arms, not by a democratically elected process.”

  The hall was quiet as she spoke, “Go ahead and shoot. If that’s what you want to do! Shoot! But you better have enough ammo in that pistol to get all of us. As I for one will not let you get away with murder, and mayhem!” She was on her feet walking towards the lord. She kept walking not looking anywhere but towards the lord. She didn’t know what had come over her, but she knew that this man was not going to enslave her, or her children. She knew that’s what he had in mind. She reached where he was standing and simply took the gun from him. When she turned around every adult in the hall was standing a couple of feet behind her, including Doctor Klond who was right behind her. She sheepishly handed the gun over to the government representative and left.

  She was relaxing by the pool in her home with Michelle playing dolls with Lonnie, a day or so later, when a couple of people from the town called on her. She had seen them around. Had wired their homes for their computers and set up their expert systems as they had helped her. One of them was the crowns rep for Outpost 1. He was the one who spoke first.

  “Mrs. Gabriel,” he started, “I never did get a chance to thank you for defusing the situation at the meeting the other night.”

  “Why should you thank me,” the Suzy replied, “I just did what I thought was right. Not letting that lord take over Outpost 1. If the Queen or the Marshal wanted the lords to be in charge on Home they would have set them up with the title as Duke of Outpost 1 or something like it. The old fart should have known better.”

  “Be that as it may,” One of the others spoke up, “we have been talking amongst ourselves, and we would like you be our representative in Ellis at the constitutional convention.”

  Suzy was quiet for a moment, flattered but didn’t know what to say.

  “Suzy,” Michelle looked up from where was playing with Lonnie, commented, “A lot of us have been talking about you. You don’t seem to get too excited about anything. Haven’t you noticed that many people will stop by and just talk to you for a few minutes on almost anything? That they seek your opinion.”

  It was true, for some reason a lot of people she knew sought out her opinion and advice. She thought of it just as being a friend. She had done the same thing with her circle of friends on Trena; but she hadn’t thought anything of it.

  “You are perfect for the post,” another of her friends said.

  “But I am no politician!” Suzy said, “I don’t like politics. You have to understand I emigrated from the Republic because I was sick and tired of the continued running for office. The we propose, we oppose of the republic government. Partisan politics make me sick.”

  “I won’t lie to you Mrs. Gabriel,” The Crown representative said, “There will be politics and some of it might get real ugly. But this assembly is intended to be a council to guide the government in running Home. Notice I am not saying the Monarch. At this point Queen Agatha will not be the Queen of Home when she arrives here after the evacuation. But what we are sure is that the government of Home will not be like that of Trena. This assembly’s first task is to determine what our government will be. Yes so it will get ugly and be filled with politics. But the thing is that most of the people being recommended to this assembly will not be politicians. They are all people like yourself, who know how to get along with people and who bring a wealth of experience.”

  “But I am not qualified.” Suzy repeated, “I don’t have the education or...”

  “Suzy,” Another man spoke up. “I did a back ground check on you before I let you come into my business to set up the computer services. I know you don’t have the formal educational back ground in politics, but I do know that before you emigrated from Mother to Trena you had spent a considerable part of your life at your grandmother’s knee.”

  “Yes so what,” Suzy said. She didn’t want people to know she was the granddaughter of the most hated politician in the Republic. Her grandmother was an arch conservative who thought that only the rich were entitled to the good life and all others were there make her and the rich’s lives easy. That the workers were not entitled to nothing more than food and that was about it. Her grandmother had voted every time against anything that would make the workers life easier. Suzy had fallen in love with a carpenter before he had been injured on the job. Although a simple injury he had died because he couldn’t get treatment. When she had raised a fuss with her grandmother after he had died; her grandmother had kicked her out of the family home. She had immigrated to Trena and had gotten a job in Trenaport as a wire puller and climber at a networking company and worked her way up to a network manager.

  “Yes I know what you think of her, and yes, we are aware of her history, and yes we know she has disowned you.” the man said, “but you learned politics at your mother’s breast so to speak and you won’t let the others do the things you saw on Mother.”

  She was quiet for a while she had heard of the assembly and had of course knew what its real role was; to form a government for Home. She really didn’t want to be in the government. What she wanted to do was raise her kids, and continue to do a job she rather enjoyed. She didn’t want to become a politician. Then she thought of the others on the assembly. People she had known of on Trena. People who she didn’t have much respect for, but still others she had heard of and knew some of their reputations. She looked around the atrium, and the cliffs, remembering what almost happened in the hall the other day and said, “Okay. I know you guys would just draft me anyways. But only for the constitutional assembly”

  “Okay,” they said, the government rep hushed them and said “The campaign is over. After the other night the entire adult population of Outpost 1 signed the nominating form. Some of Lord Jenkins people tried to nominate him; but he only got a couple of hundred. But it wasn’t even close.”

  “When is the first meeting,” Suzy asked.

  “In a couple of weeks.” the crown rep said.

  “Okay then,” Suzy said. With that she became Outpost 1's first representative to the planetary assembly.