This was going to take some time and research in order to make this proposal. While the muse was with her, she recorded all of her ideas and reasons on her tablet. Chastity would help with the research, but she also had to have a solid reason why it was needed.
The Council was set in their ways; they needed someone to shake things up and show them a new way of doing things. That person also had to sound intelligent when the concept was presented, and so she worked until her eyes just wouldn’t stay open any longer.
She crawled into bed without changing out of her clothing. The moments before sleep took her, she remembered her conversation with her mother, how she had wanted to have more children but wasn’t permitted to. How Gita spoke to her with tears in her eyes after being sterilized.
It was never a strong desire of hers, but she could empathize in a way. If Colin had stayed and if she had been allowed to, she may have eventually wanted to have a child. At least the thought had crossed her mind after meeting Ursa.
This was the right thing to do, not just because it would make people happy, but because they really did need the population to increase. Who knew what could be waiting for everyone on that colony world, or whether there could be diseases or infections that could come through the transport device.
Her eyes opened well before the alarm. It wasn’t even light out yet. This was the part of being head of State that was going to take some adjustment. Sleep was a luxury. It was becoming commonplace for her to sleep less. There was no need for an alarm; it was as though her body knew that she had too many things to do to have time to sleep. Her eyes would suddenly pop open, and there was nothing she could do to close them.
There was not a single sound or movement in the house when she would get up and exercise, just herself. She would exercise, shower, dress, and be in her office before any of the workers arrived for the day. Looking back, she remembered Victor always doing the same. She didn’t know whether he exercised or not, but he was always there working before others arrived and long after they left.
When she turned on her tablet, she found Chastity had already sent over some of the information she had requested. Apparently, she wasn’t the only person who didn’t sleep much. A lot of the information Freya didn’t understand; it was on population and housing, food supply, energy consumption, all data on a system already in place. What she had really been hoping for was for something to side with her proposal.
Looking through the information, she knew her only course of action would be to stick to what she had written the previous night. She had to convince them of a need not because of what they knew, but rather based off what they didn’t know. They knew how much each life consumed in resources and space, that was clear. What they didn’t know was what was waiting for them on the colony world. Fear had made it possible for them to rule the people; perhaps she could use that same tactic against them.
Chapter 13
The Council meeting was about to start. Freya’s stomach felt as if it were doing backflips. She was not an eloquent speaker like Victor had been. Will I even be able to sway the Council toward any idea of mine? It had worked with the location of the transport device, but that was relatively small. Increasing the population was something that might not be possible, or at least it would be risky.
She had pored over the data about consumption; she wasn’t entirely sure there was enough power or food to accommodate for these extra bodies. She needed to focus on the why factor, why they needed to increase their population. If she could convince them of that, they would figure out the how. She was not a strategist; there were people far more capable than her in that endeavor.
Chastity turned on the monitor; it was time for the meeting to start. They went through the formal start, and when it was time to discuss the items on their itinerary, Freya took a deep breath and took charge of the meeting.
“If I may have the floor, I have a pressing topic in need of review.” She didn’t wait for their response, or permission.
“With the Colonization project about to come into fruition, it is necessary we begin to increase our population, immediately.”
A murmur rippled through the monitor. It was an incredibly bold maneuver, one that would normally take years of research and data to strategize and implement. But they didn’t have years, and so she needed to throw proper protocol into the wind.
“We are facing far too many unknown factors. There is no data on what those colonists will be facing when that ship touches down—we don’t know enough about the planet they are about to inhabit. There could be bacteria or a disease we don’t currently have a vaccination or antidote for. Our people have been in a clean environment for so long, we lack the immunity to fight off new threats. The planet has a climate much like ours with vegetation and animals, but we don’t know what kind of predatorial animals or insects that could possibly feast on the new arrivals.”
“And the spacecraft could crash on impact and kill them all instantly. We already knew the risks when we started this project over thirty years ago,” one of the Council members interjected.
“Yes, it could. But I don’t think it will. There is something I am even more terrified of than all of the colonists being wiped out. I am more afraid of them being successful in landing and building the transport device before the threat has been fully discovered. I am afraid of them unwittingly carrying this threat back through the transport device and killing the majority of our population under the dome before a solution, cure, or weapon is discovered. This could set us back to the beginning, when there was so few of us trying to survive complete annihilation. Our population needs to increase immediately, it needed to increase before that spaceship ever left the ground. I fear we have been reckless, and I pray we have not already waited too long.”
“Madam Head of State, I mean no disrespect to you by saying this, but we have not been reckless, and we do have a contingency plan for such a travesty,” the same Council member interjected again.
“As you are relatively new in your position, you might not be aware that we do have a space functioning independently from the dome. It is in the mountain where our people originally retreated during the nuclear war. It is still populated and functional, as it is where our team of scientists live and work to develop new technologies and medicines. The very reason this facility is used in such a way is to avoid a contamination or an outbreak. If one of their experiments goes wrong and they blow themselves up or create some virus or super bug, it will be contained in the mountain. If a threat comes through the transport device, it will be contained here, and they will work to eliminate the threat in a safe environment. They follow strict protocol to avoid incident. In fact, when they were testing the transport device, it did blow up once, but they were testing it outside which significantly brought down the number of casualties.”
Freya nearly lost the pit of her stomach. She could do nothing to contain the flushing color of her face, her clenching jaw, or the sour look on her face. How was she ever going to lead when they didn’t share such a critical piece of information from her?
“I will, however, concede the validity of your point. We don’t want to return to the beginning and lose our colony and we especially don’t want to lose the population inside our dome. We should proceed with an investigation to see if increasing our population is a viable option.”
She wanted so much more than an investigation, but knew she had no solid ground to stand on. At least not without exposing her ulterior motives.
She swallowed hard and began again. “Yes, thank you Councillor. We will table all other matters until we receive the data of that investigation.”
Chastity switched off the monitor and looked at her.
“How did I do?”
“You spoke well, but you are not going to move a mountain in a day,” she replied.
Freya nodded. She was being ambitious with the Council, but someone had to. Their entire way of life was about to change, yet the Council was keeping up wi
th the status quo—even keeping pertinent information from her. If someone didn’t have the nerve to speak up, who knew what would happen. There was a time for the Council to act and think how they did, but that time was coming to an end.
***
Patience was never a virtue which Freya possessed. Waiting for other people to do the research for the proposal was enough to drive her insane. She was edgy and distracted from her work. This was one of the most important steps she could possibly take as the head of State, yet even as the leader, she was still at the mercy of others.
She tried to do some of the research herself, but her mind couldn’t process any of the information. Every time she tried to read, her eyes went out of focus or her mind just couldn’t comprehend what she was reading. She was too close to this situation, too emotional. Part of her knew what the real problem was: if she was not successful, then she would have lost Lewis and committed murder for nothing. This just had to work, or she could not live with herself.
The Council finally contacted her, and their next meeting was scheduled. She looked into the blank monitor, sitting on the edge of her seat.
“Good afternoon, everyone. We have the results sent back to us in regards to the inquiry about increasing the population. Based on the information presented to us, it does not look like it is possible at this time,” the voice said out of the monitor.
“Why not?” Freya shot back quickly.
“Madam head of State, we leave these decisions up to our team of scientists. They analyze the data of our current living situation, and they come up with answers based on fact. We do not have the space for more reproducing couples at this time.”
“Space? The issue is space? It is not oxygen, or food? If the issue is space, can’t we make more space?”
“We only have the infrastructure in place to support the number of reproducing couples that we currently have.” He paused. “We cannot build any new structures to accommodate more reproducing couples at this time.”
“Are you seriously telling me the reason we can’t increase our population is because we don’t have enough two or three-bedroom apartments to house them? That is not a good enough reason.”
“I understand how that may sound, but we have always provided equality for our people. How could we possibly tell one couple they could have a larger apartment, and another that they have to fit their family into a smaller space? It would cause friction among the people.”
“Again, that is not a good enough reason. The threats facing us far outweigh the chance of a few people grumbling about equality.”
“How would you recommend we go about this?” the Council member said. “We are open to suggestion if you have something on your mind.”
The invitation didn’t sound friendly; it hid a threat behind the kind words. Let her speak her mind, and if she didn’t have something brilliant, she would lose all credibility. Is this a trap? Do they want me to fall flat on my face? Or are they really asking for ideas or answers?
“We ask for volunteers,” she replied sternly, feeling the need to sound confident. “We openly disclose the situation; we give people the choice. If they were not going to be chosen for reproduction and this would give them that option, some will take that small apartment for their families gratefully,” Freya answered.
A thought then struck her, one that was so obvious she was angry at herself for not thinking of it sooner. “I would like to request information from our scientists,” she added. “I would like to know if it is possible to reverse the sterilization process. I do believe that if a woman wanted to have a child and then was sterilized, she would not have a single issue with the apartment space once she had that child.”
“I am a doctor; I don’t need a consultation with the scientific team. Yes, most women will still be able to conceive a child if we were to reverse the process,” a different male voice chimed in.
“That is wonderful news,” Freya replied. “I think I could address the nation, and propose a questionnaire be sent out. People could indicate if they would be willing to live in a smaller apartment and have their procedure reversed.”
“I think we need to proceed with a little more caution,” replied the more familiar voice. “We still need to keep genetic screening involved. If we open it up to just anyone, we are going to see a large increase in disease in the future.”
“What would your recommendation be then?” Freya asked, feeling a little smug about being able to turn this back around on him. “Are you saying it should not be made public? I think if we were to keep this a secret, it will create more disgruntled civilians.”
“I suppose you are right,” he said. “I think we still need to use the same genetic screening process. People must still pass the health requirements for reproduction.”
“Great. So the next question is, what is the age limit of women who can have children?” Freya asked.
“I think it would be best to set an age limit that is fairly young. A woman’s likelihood of conceiving after we reverse the procedure will go down. We would risk wasting medical supplies if we reverse the procedure and the woman is not able to conceive.”
“Would you recommend a different age limit for women who we will need to reverse sterilization verses women who had not previously been sterilized?” Freya asked.
“Theoretically yes, but you ask that question as though everyone will be having multiple children,” the doctor replied.
“Would it be such an issue if some couples did have multiple children?”
“It will raise health concerns in some individuals.”
“Could we not leave the number of children allotted up to the same medical criteria then?” Freya asked. She didn’t suppose that most people would want to have an excessive number of children, but if they were healthy enough and a population increase was needed, why not let them if they chose to do so?
“Are you saying that every woman capable of having multiple children will be required to do so?” he asked.
“No, not at all. We need to be sensitive to space restrictions and housing concerns. I think everyone should have a choice in the matter. If they want multiple children, they can do so, choosing to have them in the allotted space provided, whether that be a one-bedroom home or a three-bedroom. If they want a bigger home, then perhaps they could have the choice to move to the colony world to raise them.”
After Freya spoke, there was utter silence on the other side of the monitor. What she had just said was a totally radical concept, yet it flowed off her tongue so easily. Have I just given myself away? Would the Council step in and overrule me? Or even worse, have me replaced? She was going to have to be more careful. She needed to make changes slowly over time; this might be too much too quickly.
So much of her wanted to inquire whether their infrastructure could be expanded. Seeing the deer made her want to inquire into the scientific data about the environment outside, and what would happen if they were to expand the dome, exposing foreign vegetation. If the human had adapted, then all life forms must have evolved also.
Part of her had wanted to bring it up at this Council meeting, but it would simply have to wait. It would be far too easy for the Council to have her killed and blame it on the rebellion. Perhaps that was what had always been done. Was there really even a rebellion with a violent threat, or was this always just a fabrication of the State?
“I, of course, am not a scientist—I am a visionary. I have ideas about the direction that our civilization could move in now due to the opportunities the colony world will open for us. I believe that population increase needs to be our number-one priority as we do not yet know what kind of threats await us once the colony world is open.” She paused.
It was imperative she appear humble to the Council, and possibly even give them a way to say no to her without creating conflict.
“The only reason the human race has survived this long is due to the State taking the correct actions when needed. I believe a new action is neede
d for our survival. I do not pretend to have all the answers, which is precisely why the Council exists. I share with you what I think we need, and I need you to figure out how we can go about doing it, or if it is possible. I need to rely on you and your teams to do the research and come up with the answers. So please, conduct the necessary analysis so we may together do what is now necessary for our survival.”
There was still silence on the other end. Have they shut me out? Was there a conversation going on I can’t hear? She looked over to see Chastity. Her body looked more rigid than usual, tension written all over her face and posture. Freya needed to keep her end goal in mind moving forward. If she couldn’t change the State, she needed to stay in position long enough to let the rebellion through to the other side before the transport device was destroyed.
It was her greatest desire to keep both planets together under one rule, but she accepted it just might not be possible. Only time would tell whether the State truly protected the ecosystem, or whether it protected its own interests. It had been so obvious to Freya that Victor was more interested in power than the ecosystem, but was that just him, or was that how the entire Council felt?
The State Series Box Set Page 63
