Geosynchron

by David Louis Edelman

  "Sometimes. But if you do it the right way and use the right software, you can also break through deadlocks and find new solutions."

  Jara nodded sagely. She had studied intervention consulting; in fact, she had taken an entire course on it two years back at Natch's direction. She hadn't consciously been trying to apply that philosophy today, though she supposed it must have been lurking in the back of her mind. Jara gave Robby a silent thank you and dove back into the Envisage program with renewed energy.

  But the fiefcorp master wasn't used to working in the Islands, where technology often sat behind barbed fences. She kept running afoul of these peculiar unconnectible user interfaces, replete with unlabeled buttons and tactile-response surfaces that worked off a completely alien set of rules. It felt like a grown-up version of initiation. After another hour of mostly silent concentration along with the occasional bout of fiefcorp bickering, Jara decided to walk the City Center in search of something to eat. Merri, who had consumed nothing but inedible OrbiCo bundled "meals" for two days, went with her.

  "So how's Bonneth?" inquired Jara, struggling to find polite small talk as they strode through the square, again with a security detail shadowing their every step.

  "Stubborn as always," said Merri with a shrug.

  "What is it this time?"

  The channel manager seemed to be wrestling with how much detail to give. She glanced around at the enormity of the square and apparently decided they would be out here for a few minutes. "Well, I've been trying to convince her to move back Terran-side, like she promised a few years ago. You know how inconvenient it is to live up there if you're not one of the tycoons. Living on Luna was only supposed to be a temporary solution until we had her Mai-Lo Syndrome under control. But now Bonneth's decided she wants to stay."

  Jara hurriedly found a bio/logic program to stifle her impending yawn. "Sounds like quite a dilemma."

  "I think I've found a reasonable compromise, but Bonneth doesn't want to hear about it. Ever heard of `dualists'?" The fiefcorp manager shook her head. "It's a new trend for long-distance relationships that Creed Objectivv is all abuzz over. Instead of trying to move one place or another, we'd rent two apartments, one on Earth and one on Luna. Each of us would live in the apartment we wanted, and we'd trade off days in multi."

  Jara tried to imagine such a solution with Horvil, if they ever decided to take that next step in their relationship. "So what does this have to do with Creed Objectivv?" she said, suddenly intrigued.

  "Well, take a look at the logo." Merri withdrew the pin with the trademark Objectivv swirl from the left breast pocket of her coat and held it up. "Black and white, distinct, unmuddied. Each one strong and clear. It ties into the whole creed philosophy about dealing with conflicting truths-you don't choose either black or white over the other ... and you don't dilute the whole thing into a mess of gray. Truth has many facets, that's what the Bodhisattva said. So you find a way to respect the black and the white, both at the same time. That's the dualism trend in a nutshell. Each companion gets to live where he or she wants. There's compromise, but you don't really even have to meet your partner halfway."

  Jara stopped in the middle of the square, causing the three men of their security detail to suddenly put their hands on their weapons. The fiefcorp master felt as if a clarifying lens had suddenly snapped into place in her thoughts.

  Islanders and connectibles. Len Borda and Magan Kai Lee. Quell and Margaret Surina. Josiah.

  A new solution.

  The fiefcorpers gathered with the Islanders in a room that might have been designed as an object lesson in state propaganda. An enormous mural to Jara's left depicted the founding of the Free Republic of the Pacific Islands in a romantic and surely exaggerated fashion, with the Band of Twelve standing in defiant, self-important poses. An equally impressive mural to her right showed a highly stylized rendering of the Technology Control Board at work, with several sharply dressed bureaucrats making simultaneous speeches to an assembled committee. Apparently the business of regulating technology involved a lot of grandiloquent hand waving.

  Jara folded her own hands on the sizable conference table and studied Quell's son. Had this been any other man at the dawn of his twenties, Jara might have wondered whether he was prepared to step in front of several hundred million people and attempt to sway the course of an entire civilization. But not Josiah. He possessed that precocious look that the Surinas all possessed, a look that conveyed the ability to see beyond the Earthly scope of any human endeavor-or at least, to appear that way.

  "I realize you're not typical consultants," said Josiah, all piety and seriousness. "My father trusts you. He brought you out here at great expense, and it's clear to me that he thought your opinion in this matter would be worthwhile."

  Chandler, wearing a pair of open-toed sandals along with his olive green representative's uniform, was not in the mood for the typical Surina grandiosity. "So lay it out for us already," he said.

  "Okay," said Jara, appreciating Chandler's directness. She gave a sidelong look at Benyamin, Merri, and Robby with an expression that said Just sit tight and follow my lead. The three of them sat still as statues with no indication that they intended to interrupt her. "Let's get one thing out of the way first. It's pretty clear that the only reason Quell isn't still in orbital prison is because of Magan Kai Lee. Magan must have finagled a way to get your father out of prison, and Magan must have brought him to Andra Pradesh to testify in that trial. Magan's paying the consulting fees for my fiefcorp. So plainly the lieutenant executive believes that my being here helps his case before the Islander parliament."

  Josiah nodded. "Agreed."

  "On the other hand ... Quell knows this fiefcorp. He knows me. He's perfectly aware that I have no tolerance for bullshit, and I won't let politeness or politics sway my opinion. More than that, your father knows that we have no vested interest in the outcome here. We've got grudges against both Len Borda and Magan Kai Lee. And no matter what the parliament decides, we can always pack up and go back home."

  Chandler interrupted her with a wave of his hands. "You trying to say that Quell's not really working for Magan?"

  Jara shook her head. "No. I think the two of them struck a deal. But Quell didn't want to stack the deck in Magan's favor. He wanted a legitimate, considered third-party opinion about what the Islanders should do here. And for whatever reason, Magan thinks that serves his interests."

  There was more than a little bit of Quell in Josiah's gruff gesture that he understood and to please continue.

  "So let's look at the three alternatives one at a time," said Jara. "Side with Len Borda, side with Magan Kai Lee, or refuse entry to either of them.

  `Gorda knows you've got no reason to trust him. He's got a history of animosity against the Islanders, and he knows that his best weapon right now is fear. Which is why he's gearing up to invade-or why he's trying to make you think he's gearing up to invade. That said, if there's one thing Borda understands, it's leverage. He knows the public is against him now, and he needs some good news. I'm sure you could make a deal with him to end the attacks and the harassment and the blockades in exchange for allowing him a temporary military base behind the unconnectible curtain. And I think the high executive would honor it, at least in the near term.

  "Lee is a more complex case. He's the first viable challenger to Len Borda's authority in decades, so that automatically scores him some points. He's clearly more inclined to negotiate than to use force, which also helps. But don't give him too much credit-if what I'm reading in the drudge reports is true, he doesn't have the strength at this point to successfully invade. He has to negotiate. Either you let him in peacefully, or he watches Borda take the Islands by force. So what's the downside to acquiescing to Magan's request for a base behind the cur tain? Simple: he's got nothing to offer you. He can make all the promises he wants, but until he triumphs over Len Borda and gets appointed high executive, they're just empty words.

  "As for re
sistance to both parties? Let's be frank-this would not be just a symbolic resistance. Given the momentum of Magan's rebellion, both sides are at the point where they're willing to be unreasonable if they have to. The Council might not stop at just crippling your armies and pushing you into retreat this time. Putting up an armed struggle against Magan and Lee would involve serious sacrifice on your part, and in the end you would lose."

  Jara paused to give the Islanders time to take in her analysis. Again Chandler and Josiah shared one of those knowing stares that certainly looked like a Confidential Whisper conversation. For the first time, Jara started to wonder if the connectibles had lost something by enabling mental conversation.

  "Well," said Bali Chandler, pushing himself back from the table far enough to put his sandaled feet on it, "I'll give you credit for one thing. Your analysis so far pretty much matches our analysis."

  "Which gives us some reassurance as to your skill as a consultant," continued Josiah. "But it still leaves the central question unanswered. Do we side with Borda or with Lee? Or do we resist any encroachment on our territory?"

  Jara looked at her fellow fiefcorpers. Benyamin gave her a face of encouragement. "Your father hired us to come up with creative solutions," she said, "and I believe we have one."

  "Which is?"

  "None of the above. The problem is that you're asking the wrong question. The important thing is not who the Islanders support-but which one of them will support you." Jara folded her arms over her chest. "You've walled yourselves off here in the Pacific Islands for almost two hundred and fifty years. You've tried to pretend that what happens in the outside world doesn't matter to you. Well, the time's come for the Islanders to decide what they really want. The time's come for you to be bold and let the Council bend to you.

  "You may never get another chance like this one. You need to seize it.

  20

  To the citizens of the FREE REPUBLIC OF THE PACIFIC ISLANDS; to the citizens of the PRINCIPALITIES OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGHTENMENT; to the citizens of the CENTRALIZED CONNECTIBLE GOVERNMENT; to the members ofthe PRIME COMMITTEE;to the members ofthe CONGRESS OF THE LOCAL POLITICAL REPRESENTATIVE ASSOCIATIONS OF CIVIC GROUPS; to the factions of the DEFENSE AND WELLNESS COUNCIL represented by HIGH EXECUTIVE LEN BORDA and LIEUTENANT EXECUTIVE MAGAN KAI LEE.

  From JOSIAH SURINA, Representative for the Fourth Ward of the FREE REPUBLIC OFTHE PACIFIC ISLANDS.

  In times of crisis, the purpose of leadership is to choose direction. Elected leaders are expected to put aside prejudice and predilection, to debate between various courses of action, and to develop a consensus for that action.

  It is in that spirit that I address these words to the citizens of the world, from Earth to Furtoid, connectible and unconnectible alike.

  Make no mistake, the world is in crisis. As I write, the Free Republic of the Pacific Islands is under siege by two separate factions of the Defense and Wellness Council led by HIGH EXECUTIVE LEN BORDA and LIEUTENANT EXECUTIVE MAGAN KAI LEE. An estimated four legions of High Executive Borda's battle hoverbirds have taken up position on the seas northeast of Manila; an estimated three legions of Lieutenant Executive Lee's battle hoverbirds have staked out territory on the waters southeast of Manila.

  If nothing is done to contain this crisis, one or both Council factions will soon invade the Pacific Islands. Their objective is to secure land behind the unconnectible curtain for use in conducting warfare on each other. Both factions believe that this land is necessary for establishing a base that cannot be penetrated by enemy multi projections.

  There will be those among you reading these words who will say, The travails of the Islanders do not concern us. Their lands are for away and isolated from the rest of the world. To you I say, be patient, for this crisis affects us all, as I will demonstrate shortly.

  Let me begin by stating that the navy of the Free Republic stands prepared to repel any invasion into its territory. We have never suffered an enemy force to breach the Islands. Our armed forces led by GENERAL CHERONNA stand nearly one million strong in all, and our military technology rivals that of any force in human history. If the Council chooses to test the will of the Islanders, they will find us firm and resolute.

  I do not say these things to threaten. I say these things to emphasize that I write from a position of strength and not a position of weakness.

  But I firmly believe that it is the duty of leadership to stand forward and proclaim, without hesitation and without fear, that the power of the word is stronger than the power of the gun. Conflicts that begin with differences of opinion can be resolved by consensus of opinion. That leader who orders the first shot of warfare to be fired is a leader who has failed his people.

  Over the past two hundred and fifty years, humanity has diverged onto two separate paths. The society of my mother's line chose a world of dogged scientific advancement, no matter what the cost.The society of my father's line chose a world of skepticism towards, and careful retreat from, technology. And now here I am addressing you, the product of two cultures, both connectible and unconnectible.The convergence of two paths.

  I proclaim myself to be the son of the late MARGARET SURINA, bodhisattva of Creed Surina, honorary chair of the Gandhi University and inventor of MultiReal technology; and QUELL, citizen of Manila and former chief engineer of the Surina Perfection Memecorp.Those who have seen my resemblance to my grandfather, MARCUS SURINA, have little doubt that I am who I say. But for those who require more definitive evidence, I have made genetic proof of my heritage freely available on the Data Sea.

  As the last heir to the line of scientists and freethinkers that includes SHELDON SURINA, PRENGAL SURINA, MARCUS SURINA, and MARGARET SURINA, I represent the interests of that family and all its assets and businesses in Andra Pradesh.

  As the son of the prominent family of politicians and journalists that includes QUELL, SHARIF QUM, and LENARA, and as elected representative of the fourth ward of the Free Republic of the Pacific Islands, I also represent the interests of the unconnectible peoples in the Free Republic.

  Too long has the world been boxed in to these false dichotomies. Connectible and unconnectible, governmentalist and libertarian, Terran and offworlder. Islander and Surina. Len Borda and Magan Kai Lee.Too long have we been told that division and conflict are the natural order of things.

  And now I am in a unique position to say that these divisions between us must fall.

  The citizens of the Free Republic whom I represent have spent their lives in a state of enforced isolation. Because we do not blindly embrace every technological edict issued by the Prime Committee, we have carved out a corner of the globe where we can live by our principles. We are subject to a system where we must specifically opt out of the technologies we find objectionable by filing so-called DOGMATIC OPPOSITIONS with the connectibles.The Prime Committee has never remitted a single credit to fund the bureaucracy required to track bio/logic programs and file these Dogmatic Oppositions.

  When we venture out from behind the unconnectible curtain, the policies of the Prime Committee require us to wear obtrusive copper collars. While these collars connect us to the networks that connectibles can access directly through neurological machinery, they also mark us as separate and distinct. They needlessly reinforce our isolation.

  But I submit that it is the connectibles whose freedoms are threatened by these indignities.

  It is the connectibles who are required to obey the often-bizarre rules of the multi network. It is the connectibles who are required to submit to the powers of strange new technologies like MULTIREAL. It is the connectibles who suffer from the ravages of black code, lethal programming, and infoquakes.

  I say, let us extend the hand of freedom to the connectibles! Let everyone have the choices that the Islanders take for granted. Give everyone the power of the Dogmatic Opposition!

  Let the citizens of Shenandoah choose which OCHRE machines to install in their newborn children! Let the people ofVladivostol< opt in or out o
f the multi network as they desire! Let the offworlders on Allowell and Patronell and Furtoid decide whether they want access to the Data Sea! Let the inhabitants of London determine if they will be subject to the powers of MultiReal!

  In return, the Data Sea will flow unimpeded through the Pacific Islands once more.The citizens of Manila will have the option to step on the red multi tile, to avail themselves of the full range of bio/logic software, to sign up for the L-PRACGs and creeds of their choice.The Islanders will rejoin the community of the connectibles as an autonomous entity and abide by the laws of the Prime Committee and the Congress of L-PRACGs.

  I say this to the connectibles:

  Do you want progress? Do you want the continuing advancement and betterment of the human race towards perfection, as my ancestor Sheldon Surina desired? Then know this: the evolution of humanity cannot proceed on the backs of the Islanders, the Pharisees, the offworlders, and the diss.

  For better or worse, we are all one species. We are all one people. We are all connectibles, and we are all Islanders.The human race must rise or fall as one.

  We invite those of the Defense and Wellness Council who wish to participate in this GRAND REUNIFICATION to join us in Manila and cooperate with our military in the defense of the Islands.Those who come to the Islands seeking unity will get unity; those who come in the spirit of division will get only division.

  The choice belongs to you.

  2I

  "I accept your proposal," said Magan Kai Lee. "Reintegration of the Islanders into society and the power of the Dogmatic Opposition for everyone, in exchange for allowing me a base in the Islands."

  It was literally the first thing out of the lieutenant executive's mouth after the requisite greetings and formalities had been dispensed with. Jara had expected some quibbling over definitions or some complaining about the overly broad proclamations of Josiah's manifesto. At the very least, she figured that Magan would couch his acceptance in some ambiguous wording. But no, the lieutenant executive's visage had hardly appeared on the viewscreen before he was expressing his eagerness to come to terms with the Islanders.