Dale Mettam

by The Pub at the Center of the Universe (retail) (epub)

  “Okay. What can you tell me about this Sevres Prime?”

  “Sevres Prime. Administrative center of the universe. Population, approximately 83,500,000. This includes the core of the Universal Parliament, as well as ambassadorial representatives.”

  “Is it a democracy then?” asked Kirk. “In the truest sense,” said Lu as she sat up.

  “What do you mean,” asked Kirk.

  “I did a little reading about your planet. You seem to have the right idea, though there are a few of your countries that haven’t got with the program yet.”

  “I’m not sure what you mean,” Kirk said. “Not all countries are democratic but the ones that are, really are.”

  “But have you ever noticed that usually, the day to day mechanics of government carries on regardless? You know, there will be an election, a major change in the people running things, yet everything remains pretty much the same?”

  “I guess.”

  “Ever wonder why?”

  Kirk shrugged, no.

  “Because behind the scenes, all the people who really make things work and run smoothly, stay the same. Oh, sure. Every now and then there’ll be someone in the back room that moves on, retires, or just gets tired and moves to the private sector, but the mechanism stays the same. It’s like you painting a swooper a different color. Doesn’t change what goes on in the engine. Doesn’t make it faster or slower. Doesn’t even affect the comfort level of the flight. It’s just a different color.”

  “So the politicians aren’t important?”

  “Well, in a way, they’re the most important part. If you didn’t have elections and that kind of thing, how would anyone know that they lived in a free, democratic society? Here, anyone can grow up to be President.”

  “That’s just the same as back on Earth,” Kirk said.

  “Yes, but here, the rest of us don’t have to worry that the kid who grew up to be President was that same kid that smelled of cheese, was bad at sports and seemed to enjoy the dissection class in biology just a little too much. Anyone can hold the top office. But what makes it work is that there’s little risk of the wrong person causing serious problems. And let’s be honest, anyone who wants to get into politics is likely to be just the kind of person who would cause serious problems.”

  “But...” Kirk was having trouble with this whole concept.

  “Look, say you decide to run for office. You win your local election and suddenly you’re in charge of everything. Commerce, agriculture, health services, military and policing, the entire legal system. Still with me?”

  Kirk nodded.

  “Now there’s a chance you might have some specific knowledge about one of those areas, and remember, there are many more than the ones I just listed. You might even have some idea about a couple more, but in less detail. However, you can’t possibly know enough to steer your community, let alone an entire planet, system or galaxy.”

  “Ah,” said Kirk. “But you don’t. You have ministers that handle the day to day stuff.”

  “Good point, but let’s say you’re asked by your President to take over the Ministry of Defense. You can’t turn it down, because your President asked, and you don’t say no to that, even if youwant to. Also, you ran for office, this is an office, this is what you wanted. So what do you do?”

  Kirk pondered this. “Well, I guess you would have advisors, people to handle the details.”

  “Exactly!”

  “Okay, I can see that,” said Kirk. “But how is that so much more definitive an example than that of a government back on Earth?”

  “Out here, if a person wants to enter politics, run for office, become a part of the government, they simply enter an electoral race. Pretty much, if they’re serious about it, in a very short time, they’llwin an election and they’re in.”

  “What do you mean? Doesn’t that make for an ever-increasing government?”

  “It does tend to grow, but not as quickly as you’d think. Politicians die, get old and retire, or simply lose interest in the job and return to the real world. The important thing is, we know where they all are.”

  Kirk gave her a worried look.

  “Oh come on.” Lu looked surprised at his reaction. “Are you seriously telling me that pretty much all the people in your governments back on Earth are the kind of people you would want to buy a used Swooper from? Are they the kind of people you would want to have a drink with after a long day at work? Would you trust your kids to be looked after by them?”

  Kirk considered this and reluctantly agreed. “I have to say, back on Earth I had reached a point where I thought it was better not to vote for politicians. It just seemed to encourage them.”

  “Well here, we took that to its natural conclusion. We do encourage them, that way we know where they are and know they can’t cause too much trouble. I mean, seriously, do any of those people look like they could be trusted running their own bank account, let alone anything like a country, a world, or even a universe?”

  Kirk was finally beginning to see her point.

  “So what could be a better solution? We have elections and prove to ourselves and others that we’re a free democratic society, which we are. We make sure that all the people who can run things in the most efficient manner possible are working behind the scenes making sure that everything is, in fact, running smoothly. Finally, all the people who you just know would screw things up are elected to the government where they can do the least amount of harm, and yet they’re happy thinking that they’re making a difference. Everybody wins.”

  “But what do the politicians get out of it?”

  “Well, they’re generally the kind of people with pretty insecure egos, and this is kind of a therapy. It lets them feel important even if they aren’t. It isn’t all plain sailing for them though. There is a risk.”

  “How so?”

  “Well, we still have crazy folks who don’t get the system and blame the politicians for the way things go, there are still assassination attempts, despite our best efforts. And while our elected officials can bask in the glory when things go right, occasionally we have problems, and these guys are in the front line to take the heat. Which, all things considered, works out pretty well.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, if there was a problem with, say, the economy, and the government was blamed and got replaced, and everything changed, it would take forever to turn things around. This way, the figureheads bite the big one, the machine carries on and things get resolved much quicker. Like I said, a much more efficient democracy than you’re used to.”

  Lu smiled.

  Kirk could feel a headache coming on.

  “Anyway,” said Lu, pointing out of the window. “Sevres Prime. We’re almost there.”

  Kirk looked out in the direction Lu pointed and saw one of the most beautiful things he had ever laid eyes on.

  The pod hurtled towards the green planet of Sevres Prime. Kirk was suddenly aware that the star field he saw was filled with ships of various sizes and designs, either orbiting the planet or making their way to and from the surface. Behind Sevres Prime he could see a cold, barren planet sinking out of sight as the orbits ran their steady path around the central star of the system.

  “What’s that one behind?” Kirk asked as Lu took control and began preparations for landing.

  “That was Sevres. Still is. It used to be the center of the Universal Parliament but over the years, the planet was destroyed. Pollution, neglect, environmental abuse. It all resulted in the effective death of the planet. Well, death in the sense that no one could live there in any degree of comfort. I’ve heard there are still some settlers who manage to eke out an existence there, but I don’t know how.”

  She pointed to the planet they were heading for. “This was the sister planet. When things g
ot too bad, the administration moved here, but the backroom people ensured that the same thing would not happen again. Strict rules and regulations were imposed. While the hydrogen engine is by far the best, it is not the only means of power, but if you want to land on Sevres Prime, you’d better not be using anything other than hydrogen.”

  “How come they’re so close to each other?”

  Kirk asked.

  “They used to be like your planet and the next one out from the center of your solar system.”

  “Mars?”

  Lu nodded, yes. “Millions of years ago there was some major collision with an asteroid, and that pushed Sevres Prime off its orbit. Since it was close to Sevres when it happened, they kind of got caught in each other’s gravitational fields. Close enough to orbit each other, but far enough away so as not to actually pull each other together.”

  “Like a satellite?”

  “Historians suspect that it caused a major evolutionary upset on both planets. Tidal systems were thrown into chaos, the planets electro-magnetic fields were all over the place. The dominant species of both planets were thrown into immediate extinction. A real mess.”

  Kirk studied the rapidly growing planet and became aware that the greenness he saw was in fact lush verdant forests. “Are you sure this is the right place?”

  “The trees?” Lu smiled. “Part of the policy to make sure that what happened to Sevres wouldn’t happen here. Once we get closer, you’ll see that the forests are not complete, and you can carefully navigate through the tree canopy to land. Larger vehicles need to go to landing ports on the poles, but we can go pretty direct. All the same, better fasten your safety belt.”

  With fluid ease, Lu put the pod into a steep dive and headed straight for the canopy of green leaves that was now hurtling towards them at an alarming rate. As Kirk watched he became aware that the dense foliage was actually layered and that while from a high altitude it looked like a solid canopy of leaves, the closer you got the more holes could be seen through. It was still something he wouldn’t want to try and fly through, given his limited time piloting, and he was glad to see Lu relaxed, even if he wasn’t.

  As they neared the tops of the trees, he could see beneath the shady limbs of the giant trees was a bustling city. Now more of the planet’s surface was visible he was amazed at how expansive the development was.

  “We’re heading into Port Chah,” Lu explained as she leveled off their descent and wound through the upper reaches of the giant trees. “It’s the capital city of Sevres Prime.”

  Now they were through the upper boughs of the forest, Kirk could see that the tree trunks were actually very large and quite well spaced apart. The trees themselves reminded him of pictures he had seen of the giant redwoods in northern California, but the tops spread wide and were closer in appearance to oaks.

  As the pod zipped through the giant trunks Kirk noticed a few other ships, either the same size as the pod they were in, or a little larger, but there weren’t as many as he expected.

  “So where are the flying cars?” He asked.

  “What?”

  “Flying cars. I thought all advanced civilizations had pro-gressed to the level of flying cars for the whole family.”

  Lu gave him a suspicious sideways glance. “Is this another one of your Pangaean fancies?”

  “Well why not?” asked Kirk defensively.

  “Think about it for a minute. You have all these flying vehicles going here, there and everywhere. Roads don’t mean anything because you don’t need them. You might be able to ensure that the flying cars stay below a certain height to ensure they don’t hit anything big, but how do you make sure they don’t all hit each other? How do you make sure that no one is taking a short cut through your backyard, or worse, that your house is suddenly under the main route in and out of a commerce section of the city?”

  “Well....”

  “You humans still have a way to go before you’ll be ready to join the wider community.”

  “If we’re so backwards,” Kirk snapped. “How come you need me here?”

  Lu gave him a slight smile. “You got me on that one.”

  They swung around a large tree trunk in a smooth arc then coasted under the roof of a small docking bay that looked to Kirk like a small parking garage he used when at his first job after leaving school. He assumed that the architecture was either very strange, or it did indeed look just like that parking garage.

  With the grace of a swan landing on a pond, Lu brought the pod to a gentle stop and sank down into an empty bay before powering down.

  “Come on. We have a lot to do before we can get some rest tonight.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  As they left the hanger, Kirk was amazed by Port Chah. The buildings, while seeming not quite right, were not that strange. There was the occasional place that suggested the designer had a very poor understanding of the basics of gravity. Yet the builders obviously knew something Kirk didn’t, for while the buildings suggested they were mere seconds from collapse, not only were they intact, but appeared to have been that way for many years.

  Lu was preoccupied as they walked through the streets. Since they left the pod, she’d asked her F.R.B. to patch her through to headquarters. From then on she’d been in an almost constant conversation with what Kirk assumed were either colleagues or superiors. At first he’d tried to keep up with the conversation, which began with a request for the pod to be returned to the Star Slug before it left the system. After that she began making a report about what had happened since she picked up Kirk. His mind wandered, and knowing the story already, he had no real desire to relive most of it.

  He stared at the broad canopy of leaves waving gently in a breeze that was obviously stronger several hundred yards higher, but was quite pleasant down on the streets. As they approached the planet, he assumed that down on the surface, things would be quite dark, and light must be generated by some alternative source other than the system’s star. However, now that he was down under the trees, he was amazed at how light it was.

  While the leaves did shield out a great amount, much more than he would have suspected, the light still managed to wind its way through the upper boughs of the giant trees. What also helped was that the leaves seemed to allow light to travel through them. While they appeared dark and lushly green from above, underneath, the leaves appeared almost transparent and gave the distinct impression they even glowed slightly. The resulting effect was that the entire world had a calm, restful green hue to it. Not enough to make everything appear a different shade of green, but gave the feeling that nothing was as harsh or sharp as it might really be.

  “What kid of trees are these, Cas?” Kirk asked, mesmerized.

  “Hurons,” replied the F.R.B. “They grow across the universe, but they only grow to this magnitude on Sevres Prime. There is some speculation that the binary planet orbital status of Sevres and Sevres Prime has something to do with it.”

  “They’re amazing.”

  “There are some species that cultivate a bonsai variety of the tree, which in addition to being something that is quite remarkable to look at, makes an interesting talking point in a room, and is also a very energy-efficient bedside reading lamp.”

  As they walked on, Kirk also noted the variety of aliens he saw were not that diverse. There seemed to be an abundance of Aweddi, though they were not all the same as Dexter Sitee. Most were smaller and when dressed, it was in much more tasteful fabrics.

  The curious thing was that a great many of the Aweddi he saw were quite obviously luminous in nature. Out on the street this was not immediately apparent, but if one walked into a shaded area, it was clear that they were emitting light themselves.

  Mostly what he saw were humanoid, which suggested that these aliens were in fact close to human in appearance, or they were much stran
ger than anything he had ever seen.

  Finally, after what Kirk guessed was around a mile, Lu ended her report and stopped outside a large building.

  “Arrangements have been made for you. You’ll be sworn in as a member of the Universal Securitat tomorrow, when we’ll get a full briefing from the Chief.”

  “A what?”

  “You’ll be a Field Agent of the Universal Securitat,” Lu said. “Usually there would be seven years of training and working as a back-up agent before you attained the full rank of Field Agent. But in light of the situation and that your previous occupation was in the field of law enforcement...”

  “My what?” Kirk said.

  “Your previous occupation was, I believe, Head of Security at the Kohl Brothers department store, was it not?”

  “Well, yes, but...”

  “Then, considering the other complications, this has been deemed an acceptable alternative to the training usually completed.”

  “Do you have any idea what I did while I was Head of Security?”

  “I don’t have the slightest idea, but it has been approved by my superiors, and I’ve no reason to question their judgment.”

  Kirk started to protest, but could see it was pointless.

  Lu led them into the building and as they walked through the lobby and out into a large courtyard beyond, Lu explained more.

  “This is the accommodation that’s been organized for you. If at some point you wish to find something more to your liking, that can be done, but for now, it was felt this was the best option. I might add that this apartment complex is one that many people would like to live in.”

  Kirk looked around the courtyard. He had to admit it was much nicer than his old house back on Earth. There was a large pond with an ornate fountain in the center, and smaller trees were planted at even intervals. Now that he was closer to the leaves, Kirk could see they did indeed glow underneath. Passing a particularly low branch, he reached out and held a hand over the top of a leaf and watched as it glowed underneath in the shadow of his arm before slowly dimming and going the same color as its top.