CHILDERS_Absurd Proposals

by Richard F. Weyand

  "Next item, the board of directors. The chairman of the board must remove one board member in the second and fourth years of the five-year cycle. It's not optional. One board member will be removed. It encourages everyone to get along, to not have disruptive behavior on the board. Because the guy who sticks out as being difficult is the one who is going to be out of a cushy and prestigious job. The possible downside there is the board can get too comfortable, too complacent. The counter to that is two-fold. One is board members can only serve one term ever, in their lives. And that includes if their term was cut short by being removed by the chairman. Once you're out, you're out. No long-term cliques or power structures can build up. Two is it only takes one-quarter of the planets voting no-confidence to remove the entire board – BAM! They're all gone. Start over.

  "Finally, you get back to the corporate structure. That's what makes the checks on the board so important. If you have it as a corporate structure, and only a quarter of the planets can throw the whole board out, there is a large disincentive for the corporation to begin lording it over individual planets, acting like a central government. As soon as they do – BAM! They're all gone. Start over. So no central government is likely to morph out of this corporation. But would some sort of central government arise anyway? The short answer is No. Why do small entities join to form a central government? The most common reason is mutual defense. Uh, got that covered. Well, there's mail service. Uh, got that covered, too. This corporation takes over two of the most common purposes of a central government, without being one itself. A central government, absent those two motivations, is unlikely to emerge.

  "And out of those subtle things, once you dig them out of the plan and think about them, you can see her long-term goals. The goals underlying the one on the surface. Those goals are the massive expansion of the human race throughout the galaxy, no central government to ride herd on everybody, and the ending of war and armed conflict in space."

  Turner's cabinet members stared at Murphy. Turner chuckled.

  "No small goals there," Turner said.

  "With Jan Childers, there never are," Murphy said.

  "Would you write that up for me, Fred. As close as you can?" Turner asked.

  Turner knew Murphy recorded everything, and didn't care. It often came in handy. Also, nobody else knew he did, and Turner was careful to preserve that ignorance.

  "I'd be happy to, Sir," Murphy said.

  "So, given what Fred said, are those our goals? Earth's goals?" Turner asked.

  "It's sort of hard to argue with those goals, I would think," Aubrey said.

  "Agreed," Hernandez said. He shook his head. "Jan Childers sure comes up with the wildest stuff."

  "Oh, it's not all her, Minister Hernandez," Murphy said. "Bill Campbell's no dummy himself, and they've been together twenty years. He may be the silent partner, but they're much more of a team than you might think. And don't forget Campbell is Durand's second. Durand's not stupid either, and he's up to his ears in this proposal as well."

  "Really," Hernandez said.

  "Oh, yes," Turner said. "And with a trio like that, it's no wonder Chairman Desai is willing to get behind them and push. Together, those four people are remaking the galaxy. The question is, Do we agree on their goals? Do we want to sign up for where they're going? Because we're in a position to scotch this, you know. The proposal calls out Earth as the location for this corporation, and for the board elections. I understand why they did that. They also need Earth's economic depth to get this thing started, and access to the central banking system here for the wire transfers to make it all work. We say 'No' and it's all over. Do we want it to be all over, or do we agree with their direction?"

  Turner looked to Aubrey.

  "I agree with their direction," Aubrey said.

  Turner looked to Hernandez.

  "I agree with their direction, too, even though it probably ultimately means the end of the Navy."

  Turner looked to Goldberg.

  "Policy isn't my specialty, other than how to carry it out. But from a personal point of view, I think those are splendid goals."

  Turner finally turned to Murphy.

  "Fred, you're not an official position for policy, but I need your best estimate. Will this plan actually succeed at those goals?"

  "I think so. For at least the medium term, I think. A century, say. Whether it holds together on any longer term is purely a question for crystal ball types. Too many variables."

  "All right. Thank you all. For the record, I agree with their goals as well. So we'll see how tomorrow goes. I want you all to listen carefully, think hard on it, try to find the hidden flaw. But if there isn't one, I like it. I like it a lot."

  A Conversation Between Friends

  Once the ships were in Earth orbit, Wong, Durand, Jan, and Bill took the shuttle from the Devi to the Shiva. They passed one of the shuttles from the Shiva, stationary in orbit to clear a space on the rack. Their shuttle docked to the Shiva, and Desai, Howell, and Harrigan were assisted into the shuttle and to their seats. Desai sat next to Jan.

  Desai laid her hand on Jan's arm.

  "That was a very thoughtful gift, Admiral. Thank you again."

  "Your Navy has some very competent technical people, Ma'am."

  "Indeed."

  "Did you sleep well?"

  "Very well. I never fully appreciated the volume controls in VR before, at least not to that extent."

  Jan laughed.

  The days of Earth and Jablonka weren't in synch, though they maintained the same calendars for historical reasons. Once such structures were in place, it was difficult to change them. The result was Jablonka gained a day every eight weeks, which was always added to the weekend as "Second Sunday." There had been various efforts to normalize the calendar, but it had proven politically impossible to eliminate the three-day weekend every eight weeks.

  Jan had timed their departure from Jablonka to arrive at the beginning of Turner's day. It was about 7:00 in the morning Eastern Time when the shuttle began its descent to President House on Earth from the Shiva. While it was called President House, the fifty-story skyscraper on the bank of the Hudson River was anything but a single-family residence. It was still dwarfed by the two-hundred story buildings dominating the Manhattan skyline.

  The shuttle settled on the rooftop shuttle pad of the building. A twenty-foot-high wall of clear panels around the rooftop sheltered it from the winds at this height. Once they were settled, Turner came out from the elevator bay to greet them personally. With him were his cabinet members, Secretary of State Malcolm Aubrey, Secretary of Defense Jorge Hernandez, and Attorney General Abe Goldberg, and Turner's aide, Fred Murphy.

  They crammed into two elevators for the short trip down to the conference floor below the residential floors on the top of the building. The lower floors of the building housed just some of the bureaucracy that ran the executive wing of the Earth government.

  They were all seated around a conference table. Unlike the Class 1 secure conference room in the Intelligence Division building on Jablonka, this conference room had windows, running all the way down one wall of the room. The view north up the Hudson River was stunning.

  "You called the meeting, Madam Chairman. Why don't you start?" Turner asked.

  "Very well, Mr. President," Desai said.

  She arranged her notes before her, looked up and down the table, and then addressed Turner.

  "Mr. President, we, the Commonwealth and Earth, currently have technological superiority over the Outer Colonies. We have a stable friendship, where the Outer Colonies continuously squabble with us and with each other. For the moment, their bellicosity poses no threat to us. Our demonstrations in Stadt and Tenerife, and yours in Guernsey, have proved that point to everyone.

  "The Commonwealth and Earth are also in the process of establishing new colonies by using this technology to find and settle new Earth-like planets. I believe between us, we have now started colonies on nearly a hundre
d planets, and plan well over a thousand more. These New Colonies have no military, no defense against incursions, and will have no funds for any such for some time.

  "Either the Commonwealth or Earth is in a position, at least for a while, to act as policeman, to prevent incursions by anyone into anyone else's star system, but this will not remain so as we increase the number of colonies. Further, we have no legitimate authority to do so. While that has not always stopped nations with technological superiority in the past, those efforts ultimately are corrosive of the freedom and independence of those protected. Dependence undermines independence. It's such a basic truth, it's built into the language.

  "We have been considering this issue for some time. While we could simply protect the Commonwealth, and ignore incursions into other systems, having the Outer Colonies preying on each other is, basically, bad for the neighborhood. Further, we cannot transport tens of millions of people to the New Colonies and leave them there, defenseless against the Outer Colonies. Finally, while the Outer Colonies fight each other, they work to further their war capabilities. During wartime, the arts of war progress rapidly. Our technological superiority will not last if the Outer Colonies remain threatened by each other.

  "As I say, we have been considering this issue for some time. It is not a simple issue. Installing some sort of government over all human planets is fraught with peril, to which history bears silent but compelling witness. We had made little progress on this issue until recently.

  "Now, finally, we have a solid proposal on the table. It is not a government, but a corporation. It includes a funding source. By making all human planets shareholders, it avoids the dependency issue. And it includes protections against morphing into the monster that central governments are prone to become.

  "We look for no resolution today. No decision. We hope to have a conversation about this proposal, to think it through together with you, our friends and partners now in so many things.

  "But if this is a solution to the issue, we may finally be able to get our hands around the system defense problems we have all been wrestling with since humanity first ventured into space."

  With that, Desai sat back in her chair and made a small wave of her hand to Turner.

  "Thank you, Madam Chairman.

  "We have been discussing these issues as well, the issue of the Outer Colonies' bellicose nature, as well as the issue of defending the New Colonies we are establishing. Like you, we had no proposal that would not result in us being right back in the same place, or, perhaps even worse, saddle us all with a central government that would grow ever stronger, congeal, and then fester.

  "We appreciate you sending this proposal to us in advance of our meeting. We have considered it in some detail, and we plan to study it further. At our current level of understanding of it, we believe both that it would work, at least on the medium term, and that it would achieve the goals we both desire.

  "We want to continue studying this proposal and discussing it with you. We think that study and those discussions should concentrate on refining this proposal as much as possible. This is the only proposal we have seen that, so far at least, has a chance of avoiding the most dangerous perils we both see ahead.

  "So let us work toward the refinement and implementation of this policy or one like it. If we are ultimately to be judged by history as having succeeded, it will be in the hindsight of a glorious future. And if we are ultimately to be judged by history as having failed, let it be for failing to succeed, and not for failing to try."

  Turner sat back in his chair, at which point Murphy stood up.

  "Breakfast will now be served in the adjoining room."

  They sat as before, each with their equivalents in the other government. Jan had instructed all the Earth participants on the way down in the shuttle to take the antagonist to the high-g pill at the beginning of breakfast. The schedule, as before, allowed a half-hour after breakfast for trips to the necessary.

  During breakfast, Jan sat with Durand.

  "It sounds like Turner likes the proposal. A lot," Durand said.

  "Yes, he does. And so does Mr. Murphy," Jan said.

  "Really?"

  "Yes. I'm learning to read him. He's not quite as good at hiding his body language as he thinks he is."

  "Well, you're not either, Jan," Durand said.

  "No, I don't try to, at least not with this group. Big difference, Jake. Don't forget my reputation for being sneaky. It's not all just with space maneuvers."

  Durand chuckled.

  "How far do you think Turner has worked through the subtleties in the proposal?" Durand asked.

  "All the way. All of them."

  "Really?"

  "Really. It is always a mistake to underestimate Jake Turner. Never forget that. He is much, much deeper than he appears on the surface."

  As Chairman Desai was coming back from the bathrooms, Turner met her in the hall.

  "Madam Chairman, a moment if you would," Turner said.

  "Of course, Mr. President."

  Turner led her a few steps down the hall, opened a door, and ushered her into a small sitting room. There was a sitting arrangement of a few overstuffed armchairs facing the tremendous view up the Hudson River through the glass wall opposite the door. Turner closed the door behind him.

  "I thought we might take a few minutes to meet privately," Turner said.

  "Excellent."

  They were seated, and Turner pulled a paper out of the inside breast pocket of his suit jacket.

  "Could you read this quickly for me, and tell me if I'm wrong?"

  "Certainly."

  It was Murphy's transcript of his laying out the subtleties of the Commonwealth's proposal at Turner's ministers meeting the day before.

  Desai read the paper carefully.

  "No, Mr. President, you're not wrong. Or maybe I should say Mr. Murphy isn't."

  Turner raised an eyebrow, and Desai laughed.

  "It's a transcript, Mr. President. The two of you use different phraseology, different wording. But in any case, your paper here is entirely correct."

  "Good."

  "May I have this?" Desai asked, waving the paper in her hand.

  "Please, go ahead."

  "Thank you."

  Desai refolded the paper and put it in her pocket.

  "They are laudable goals," Turner said.

  "I think so."

  "You realize, though, if this does work, it probably means the dissolution of the Commonwealth on the medium term?"

  "Yes, of course," Desai said.

  "And you have no problem with that?"

  "Mr. President –

  "Jake."

  "And you must call me Miriam," Desai said. "Jake, the oath I took when I became a member of the Council, and which I repeated when I became Vice Chairman and then Chairman, was to the people and the planets of the Commonwealth, not to the Commonwealth itself. The Commonwealth is a means to an end. It is that end on which I have kept my eye."

  "Does everyone in the Commonwealth delegation understand that? That this likely means the end of the Commonwealth medium-term?"

  "Jan Childers certainly does, and that means Bill Campbell does as well, and probably Jake Durand. Sally Howell may. The others, I don't know, but I think not. It has not been discussed. That could, well, create difficulties."

  "I understand," Turner said. He looked at her for a long minute. "Miriam, I am happy to know you. You are a remarkable person."

  "As are you, Jake. Without you, and the surprising depths you work so very hard to hide, we would have no chance of pulling this off."

  Turner chuckled and Desai smiled at him. They both got up and went to rejoin the meeting.

  This was one-on-one time for the ministers to continue their discussions from breakfast. The goal was to identify specific questions and issues that had to be dealt with in order for the proposal to proceed. Any of them had the potential to knock the whole thing off the rails and kill the deal.


  Without equivalents in the Earth delegation, Jan and Durand sat off to one side, just sort of watching.

  Then Turner and Desai rejoined the meeting and sat down together at the table.

  Several minutes later, Durand turned to Jan.

  "Wow. Do you see that?" Durand asked.

  "What?"

  "Why do I feel like there's now three delegations here, the Earth delegation, the Commonwealth delegation, and the Turner and Desai delegation."

  "You noticed that," Jan said.

  "It's hard to miss. I wonder what happened?"

  "I told you. Jake Turner understands all the long-term implications of the proposal. I think he just found out that so does Miriam Desai."

  A Broad Understanding

  They worked in the informal meetings right up to lunch. People moved around, small groups formed and broke up again, and Turner and Desai presided over the confusion mostly by sitting together and watching over everyone benevolently.

  Murphy called everyone to attention simply to announce lunch, and everyone filed into the next room and took places at the table. Everyone sat with their equivalents from the other government as before.

  "It looks like everyone picked up on the change between Turner and Desai. The snippets I pick up are people earnestly trying to work through the issues, like the decision's already been made," Durand said.

  "Actually, I think it has been made," Jan said.

  "You do?"

  "Yep. I think Turner and Desai have already decided to proceed, they just haven't announced it."

  "Won't that be something if they do?"

  "Yes. Yes, it will."