EMPIRE: Investigation

by Richard F. Weyand

  “It boggles the mind, Governor Derwinsky.”

  “Yes, Governor Turley, it does. And he’s been doing it for more than fifty years. The secret is delegation. Lots of delegation. And not allowing subordinates to bring their problems to him. He has been absolutely ruthless about firing people – or worse – who could not handle the job. He has to be, for it all to work. And that’s what gives him the time to pursue his own goals, like suppressing tyranny in the colonies and corruption in the Empire. All while being a veritable prisoner in the Imperial Palace, which he has not left in fifty years.”

  It was a startling revelation to Turley. For nearly her entire life, the Emperor Trajan had ruled. Redesigned and reorganized the government, won two huge interstellar wars, consolidated all humanity under his rule, and done it all from that single building, the Imperial Palace, which he could never leave.

  “I’m proud to have sworn allegiance to him,” Turley said suddenly.

  “As am I, Governor Turley. As am I. He hesitated to ask me to take up the Earth Sector governorship, because he knew I simply could not refuse him.”

  “Why did he hesitate, do you think?”

  “Because I am in my eighties, Governor Turley, and had already served the Throne – this Emperor, in fact – for nearly forty years. I was the original sector governor for the Essen Sector, promoted from precinct governor to the sector governor position when the DP’s Essen District governor retired at the end of the Sintar/DP war. And even at that, I am younger than the Emperor.

  “Losing the war to Sintar was the best thing that ever happened to the Democracy of Planets, Governor Turley. I was a DP precinct governor before – what in the Empire is called a provincial governor – and it was rife with the sort of corruption you turned up in Earth Sector. In fact, this current situation is a pale shadow of the corruption that existed in the DP. Losing the war and being subject to this Emperor is the best thing that ever happened for the people here. And so I simply cannot refuse anything this Emperor asks of me.”

  Turley nodded, her thoughts running over the history as she knew it. She had been a child then, but old enough to watch it all unfold in real time. And Trajan was still Emperor.

  “Oh. One other thing, Governor Derwinsky. The Emperor has agreed to my request to address the highest-level remaining managers in the sector and provincial governments here on Monday morning. To tell them to carry on, that they will make mistakes because they’re only human, and that’s OK, but corruption is not OK. Everyone’s petrified to make decisions now, for fear of being swept up in all this.”

  “You see, Governor Turley, you make my point. The Emperor will address our reports and tell them it’s all right to decide, to do the best they can. That’s all anyone can expect. Do your best, but you have to decide.”

  Derwinsky looked at her and raised a questioning eyebrow. Turley nodded. It all made sense now.

  She could do this.

  Back in the living room of the townhouse, Gulliver was viewing more interviews when Turley dropped out of VR.

  “How was your meeting?”

  “Eye-opening. Really eye-opening. I recorded it with Governor Derwinsky’s permission, for your eyes only. You have got to see this.”

  Turley shoved him the recording, then went off to the bathroom. Gulliver watched the recording in VR. When he dropped out of VR, she was in the living room with a glass of milk and a few of the cookies from last night.

  “Turns out they had some cookies left. What did you think?”

  Gulliver chuckled.

  “Governor Derwinsky is a treasure. ‘I would certainly give it serious consideration, Governor Turley.’ Ha, ha, ha!”

  “Personally, I liked, ‘From whom do you think I learned it, Governor Turley?’ Much is now clear.”

  “Indeed. I often wondered how the Emperor could rule the whole Empire and still get involved in things like Julian.”

  “The simple answer is he doesn’t,” Turley said. “He delegates everything and then takes care of exceptions.”

  Gulliver nodded.

  “So what’s on your schedule for the rest of the weekend?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?” Gulliver asked.

  “Nothing. I’m going to ignore everything in my inbox until Monday. And I sent all the Earth Sector, Earth Province, and Sondheim Province mails to Derwinsky.”

  “Which he will ignore until Monday.”

  “I would expect so,” Turley said.

  “So then what?”

  “I don’t know. Want to do something this weekend? See a concert or something?”

  “Do you think it’s safe?’ Gulliver asked.

  “Why not?”

  Turley shrugged and a gun appeared in each hand.

  “You really are scary,” Gulliver said.

  As it was, they stayed in and enjoyed a quiet afternoon and evening. Turley actually read something just for enjoyment. A fluffy, light novel. Gulliver, too was curled up in VR, watching some video or other, Turley supposed.

  Saturday dinner began with hot and sour soup, then moved on to egg fried rice and General Tso’s chicken. It finished with ice cream and fresh-baked almond cookies.

  After dinner, they curled back up in their respective chairs.

  “What are you watching?” Turley asked.

  “A documentary of the Emperor’s first ten years in office, from the Council Revolt to the second coronation. It’s actually quite well done, I think.”

  “I remember the second coronation. I was thirteen.”

  “I wasn’t born until the next year,” Gulliver said, “so all this is history-book stuff to me. This documentary, though, is full of videos. Did you ever see the implosion of the Imperial Council Building?”

  “Yes. I watched it in school. I had my own little Emperor Trajan month after the second coronation. I watched all those videos. That, the funeral of Ilithyia II, the wars. The destruction of Olympia was brutal. They were crazy times.”

  Gulliver nodded.

  “This documentary has all those videos. None of the Emperor or Empress except for the coronation, though. Nothing at all.”

  “I know. They make no public appearances. Never have. The empresses before him didn’t either. Didn’t matter to me. I made my mind up then and there to join the Imperial Marines.”

  “What did your parents say about that?” Gulliver asked.

  “I think they thought I would grow out of it. My grades went up, as I knew I had to bring things up to get into the Academy. Officer in the Imperial Marines is a tough row to hoe for a woman, but enlisted is even worse. So I pushed my schoolwork hard. I was a girl on a mission.”

  “I’ve seen you in that mode.”

  “Yeah,” Turley said. “So my parents figured it was all good, and I would outgrow it.”

  “But you didn’t.”

  “No, and here we are.”

  Gulliver nodded.

  “Speaking of which, we could go to bed early tonight.”

  “How many hours of sleep do you need?”

  “I didn’t say anything about sleep.”

  Imperial Guidance, Imperial Justice

  Turley woke up Sunday morning with a glow. She had slept soundly for the first time in a week. The anxiety she would fail – fail her Emperor! – was gone. She and Gulliver were all atangle, and she just lay quietly while he still slept. She was content – fully content – for the first time since arriving on Dalnimir weeks before.

  She ran down her mail inbox while she lay there. She sorted the messages into those from her superiors, those from her military reports, and those from her civilian reports. No messages from her superiors, and no messages from her military reports marked Urgent. There were, of course, messages from her civilian reports marked Urgent, but Derwinsky’s talk of yesterday had put them in perspective. She shuffled her entire inbox to tomorrow, Monday.

  Gulliver stirred and opened his eyes, found himself looking into hers. She was smiling.

&nbs
p; “Well, good morning, Sunshine.”

  “Good morning.”

  “So what’s on the schedule for today?” he asked.

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing?”

  “Nothing,” she said emphatically. “It’s Sunday.”

  “Then what are we up to today?”

  “Well, we could start the day with a bang.”

  She shifted such that her intentions were clear.

  “Again?” he asked. “You’re insatiable.”

  “No, I’m happy. The anxiety is gone. And with the anxiety gone, I enjoy it much more.”

  “Well, then. By all means.”

  After a joint shower that turned into a giggling match, they dressed and drifted down to breakfast. The major domo appeared as they were seating themselves and poured coffee.

  “What would you like for breakfast this morning, Ma’am?”

  “Something different. I don’t know what, but something different.”

  “Crepes, perhaps?”

  “Oh, yes. That sounds lovely. With fruit inside, and some meat and cheese on the side.”

  The majordomo nodded.

  “And you, sir?”

  “The same will be fine, thank you. And lots of orange juice.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  They were sitting at adjacent sides of the table, and held hands on the corner of the table as they waited for their breakfasts.

  “I want you to send me the index for that video,” Turley said.

  “The documentary I was watching?”

  “Yes. I want to watch that today. Maybe some other history stuff, too. I think remembering just how we got here is useful.”

  “Sure,” Gulliver said. “There was some other interesting stuff in that location as well.”

  Their breakfasts showed up, and they were wonderful.

  It really was a wonderful day.

  Early Monday morning, Turley got a call request from Sector Governor Derwinsky. She took the call immediately.

  “Good morning, Governor Derwinsky.”

  “Good morning, Governor Turley. I was planning on sending out the meeting notice for the nine o’clock meeting this morning, but, since you set it up, I didn’t want to step on your toes.”

  “No, Governor Derwinsky, that’s fine. I would prefer you do it, actually. I think it gives it extra import. Will you be telling people the Emperor will appear?”

  “No, Governor Turley. If someone decides not to attend, and must therefore watch a mere recording later rather than have a live meeting with His Majesty, he is that much less likely to ignore some future meeting request I might send.”

  Turley laughed.

  “I learn something from you every day, Governor Derwinsky.”

  Derwinsky smiled.

  “Only one? I’m terribly disappointed. I will see you at nine o’clock, Governor Turley.”

  Turley checked into the meeting at five to nine. The VR venue was a large lecture hall simulation, and it grew as more people signed in. By nine o’clock, there were over four hundred people present.

  Well, that explains why I get so many messages, Turley thought.

  Turley was seated to the side of the speaker’s well, as was Derwinsky. They nodded to each other, then Derwinsky got up and walked to the center of the speaker’s well.

  “Good morning, everyone. Some things happened last week and over the weekend that have disrupted the conditions under which you must perform your duties. We are here today to bring you up to speed on those changes, and to make recommendations for how you may proceed from here.

  “First, let me introduce myself. I am Eugene Derwinsky. I served as Essen Sector Governor for nearly forty years before retiring a few years back. I have been asked to step in to act as Earth Sector Governor until a permanent appointee can be named and can travel to Earth to take the reins. I will also be acting as Earth Province Governor and Sondheim Province Governor until permanent appointees can be in place.

  “In these roles, I am splitting the load with Lieutenant General Ann Turley, seated there, who has for the last week been acting Earth Sector Governor and acting provincial governor over all four Earth Sector provinces: Earth, Sondheim, Dalnimir, and Esmeralda. That has been a huge lift for anybody. If we didn’t need five people, after all, there would not be five positions, right? General Turley will continue to serve as acting provincial governor for both Dalnimir and Esmeralda, as well as sector commander of Imperial forces, until permanent appointees can be in place.

  “All of which leaves you with very thin supervisory support, I’m afraid. Several layers of administrative personnel at the top are missing, and you must additionally share merely the two of us across the five major executive positions. I know many of you are wondering ‘What’s next?’ or ‘What happens to me if I make the wrong decision?’

  “In order to best explain to you how to proceed under these difficult circumstances, we have asked His Majesty to address you this morning. Please stand for the Emperor Trajan.”

  Derwinsky walked away from the center of the speaker’s well to sit with Turley. He was replaced in the center of the speaker’s well by the avatar of the Emperor, standing, dressed in a business suit and wearing the Sintar Cross, the Empire’s highest award for valor – honestly earned in the Wollaston Insurgency sixty years before – on his lapel.

  The audience jumped to their feet in astonishment. Most of them had never seen more than the recording of the annual address of the Emperor. To see His Majesty live in VR was, for them, unprecedented.

  “Be seated, please,” Dunham said.

  The audience took their seats as if in a dream.

  “Last week, at my orders, many people in the upper levels of administration and justice within the Earth Sector and its provinces were arrested on official corruption charges. Those arrested received payments to bend their decision-making to benefit the corporations and individuals making the payments. They thus betrayed their oath to the Throne to exercise their delegated authority on behalf of the people of the Empire. Many will pay for such treachery with their lives.

  “It is not me they abandoned or betrayed. I also am sworn to the Throne. It is the people of the Empire who are their victims. Their salaries, their positions, their authority all flowed from the people, from the taxes they pay, from their willingness to surrender some of their autonomy to a government that looks after their interests.

  “There is no greater betrayal. It will not go unpunished.

  “That leaves us where we are now, you and I. For my part, I am working to name replacements for the sector governor and provincial governors. Such selections must be done with care, to get the best people in place we can. In the meantime, I have asked Sector Governor Derwinsky and Provincial Governor Turley to step in to tide us over, and they have graciously agreed. Both are talented administrators, and I ask that you give them every consideration as they take on such huge duties.

  “For your part, what I need you to do – what the people of the Empire need you to do – is to continue to carry out your duties as best you can in difficult times. To honor your oath to the Throne. To act in the best interests of the people.

  “Now it is only natural you would ask, ‘But what if I make a mistake? What will happen then?’ Let me draw a distinction for you. To make the wrong decision for payment from special interests is official corruption, and it will be dealt with harshly. To make the wrong decision in error is merely being human. You and I, Governors Derwinsky and Turley, we are all human. We make mistakes. Government is a human enterprise, and it cannot be otherwise. Yet we must decide, you and I. We must make decisions every day, the best decisions we can, with the often limited and flawed information we have. We will often make mistakes, you and I. Yet we must try. Our oaths demand it.

  “So as you take up your duties today, keep it ever uppermost in your mind. What is the right decision for the people? What do the people expect? What do the people deserve? It is they whom you and I are pro
ud to serve.

  “But you cannot shirk your duties. You must decide. The three of us – Governor Derwinsky, Governor Turley, and myself – cannot make your decisions for you. You must make the best decisions you can, track their effects, and correct if necessary. There is no punishment for error, only for corruption. Do the best job you can for the people we both serve.

  “In the name of the people of the Galactic Empire, I thank you for your service.”

  Dunham spread his hands to his side and bowed to the audience, then dropped from the channel. Derwinsky walked to the center of the speaker’s well.

  “That concludes this meeting. Thank you for attending.”

  Derwinsky and Turley dropped from the channel.

  When Turley dropped out of the meeting, she was back in the living room of the townhouse. Gulliver looked up at her.

  “So how did the meeting go?” he asked.

  “You’ve got to see this.”

  Turley pushed the video to him and answered mails while he watched it. Most of the mails she answered with ‘Make the best decision you can for the people.’

  Gulliver dropped out of VR.

  “So what do you think?” Turley asked.

  “He’s a remarkable leader.”

  “Yes. We got lucky. All those years ago.”

  “We sure did,” Gulliver said.

  Gulliver was silent for a while, lost in his thoughts, before he continued.

  “What happens when he’s gone?”

  “I don’t want to think about it,” Turley said.

  Turley’s mail volume dropped way off after Derwinsky took the sector governorship and after the Emperor’s talk to the highest-ranking remaining bureaucrats. She had time now to review what had gone on over the weekend.