A Tangled Road to Justice

by Olan Thorensen

  Before I could delve into these mysteries, a young nurse with a robotic cart bounced into the room. Well, she bounced, the cart rolled.

  “Time for medication, Edgar. I’m afraid your friend will have to come back tomorrow. Oh! Look at the lovely Econolosia verbarum. How nice! The ones from your other friend, Mr. White, only lasted three days. These look younger and should last a week or more.”

  “That’s Ecolonosia, Miki,” said Millen. “I know they sound and look the same, but they’re quite different genera. Maybe when I can walk, I could show you the differences. I’m sure the Oslo botanical garden has examples of both.”

  “What a lovely idea. I’ve thought of visiting there, but it’s way outside the other end of Oslo, and I’ve never made the time.”

  It was amazing how so few words could express so much. I now knew that Millen was a plant aficionado, that Mr. White had visited bringing Eco-whatever its name, that Millen was on a first-name basis with Miki the nurse and had been hitting on her, and that he was getting somewhere with her. Those observations were followed by the realization that although Miki was on a first-name basis with him, it still hadn’t occurred to me to call him anything but Millen.

  “I’m sorry,” Miki said to me, “but Edgar has to be unconscious for the nanite applications since they cause a bit of discomfort.”

  “Everett,” said Millen, as I acceded to the nurse and was leaving. “Mr. White said he’s expecting you. I told him you did well.”

  The scheduled meeting with Astrild’s Mr. White was the next day at sundown. When I left Millen, I returned to the hotel and took a two-hour nap. Refreshed, I used the room’s comm station to access news, first searching for recent references to Justice. Later, after exhausting relevant hits, I wondered whether anyone had noticed that although Justice was small and of relatively minor importance for the whole of Astrild, any articles mentioning the town had stopped two years ago, Astrild time, several months before Cherkoff took over the Justice satellite links. That had to mean he had the contacts and the resources to start his Justice play from here in Oslo, possibly as part of a larger organization.

  It was disconcerting to sense that Millen and I were buried inside a larger game, where we had no information on the other players. Maybe Mr. White would have some answers, but I had to wait more than a day to find out. In the meantime, I spent my time reading Justice search hits for new information until they became redundant.

  David Ostell had stuck to his reluctant agreement to leave out any reference to Edgar Millen and Everett Cole playing a role in the civil unrest in Justice, a small town near Trondheim. As reported first by Ostell and then in more reports from major news outlets in Oslo and the other large cities, the people of Justice had risen up against a local criminal organization that had been terrorizing the community. The brave actions of Justice’s citizens were being extolled as an example for how people in remote communities could stand together when there was no higher authority to come to their aid. Pro-Unionist factions were decrying how a small community was left to the whims of criminals. Anti-Unionists declared how Justice was proof no centralized authority was needed because it showed how a community took care of itself. You had to love how political spinners cherry-picked facts from the same event for their own purposes.

  Despite Ostell’s carrying through his promise, I was surprised that Millen’s and my presence hadn’t leaked into reports. Some other newsperson and outlet should have easily found citizens of Justice willing to describe the two men who had ridden into town, faced down the outlaws, then gathered a posse to root out the gang from their hideaway.

  Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. This guy has been around Millen too long and is buying into the man’s obsession with United States Western mythology. Maybe you’re right, but so what?

  CHAPTER 24

  The next morning, I had the day to kill before meeting with Mr. White at sunset. For all I knew, Millen and I might be on a shuttle to the Astrild Space Station at any time. My first thought was to tour Oslo because I didn’t know what was coming next. Instead, I spent the day reading about the history of Astrild, the Federation, and various essays and short writings on the political future of humanity. Not that I scratched the surface of what had been written. I only had one day.

  From the eighth-story window of my hotel room, I could watch the sunset. I figured that when the bottom of the sun hit the horizon, it probably had already set on the ground floor. I went to meet Mr. White, who waited at a corner table.

  “Thank you for being prompt, Mr. Cole. I find it sets a good tone to a meeting when all parties stick to the schedule.”

  “Far be it from me to ruin the tone,” I replied, barely able to hide what I really thought.

  “Well . . . let’s get right to our business. I have other meetings scheduled for later.”

  I was dying to know what other meetings the man had, with whom, and on what topics, but I was content to focus on whatever Mr. White had to say to me.

  “A very successful first mission for you and Millen working together. Very satisfying, although casualties among the citizenry of Justice were unfortunate. We may want further detailed reports from both you and Millen, though they can wait until he’s more mobile. When the reports are finalized, I’ll probably want the three of us to sit and go over the details one final time.”

  “Does that mean we’ll be staying on Astrild a while longer?” I asked.

  “Oh, dear me, yes. You and Mr. Millen have more work to do on Astrild.”

  I’d come into the meeting planning to get more information on exactly what the hell Millen and I were doing and our future plans. I thought I’d look for a clever opening, but it seemed my repressed impatience was deeper than I realized.

  “God damn it, White. Enough of this shit of doling out information. I was told I’d eventually learn more. I think that, after Justice, eventually is now.”

  “Fair enough, Mr. Cole. I’m sure you can appreciate that the first part of our association involved a comprehensive evaluation of whether or not we could appropriately work together. Based on the outcome from Justice, Mr. Millen’s report, and my own assessment, I think we can consider your probationary period over.

  “As for what comes next, I’ll reiterate what you were told before. We believe a number of situations here on Astrild are inimical to establishing a planetary society with enough cohesion and norms to put the planet on a path to potential membership in the Federation. That’s assuming the planet desires that association.

  “Pardon me if I say anything already known to you, but not all planets join the Federation or, if they do, not on the same timetable in their development. If you can imagine a three-dimensional model of humanity-settled space, you would see a sphere of colonized star systems. As you move out from Earth, the concentration of currently inhabited systems gets sparser for a given volume of space. However, since the total volume of space increases with distance from Earth, the number of settled systems continues to rise.

  “Baldur, Astrild’s sun, is fifty-two light-years from Earth and is a G-type sun, like Earth’s Sol. There are over five hundred similar stars within a hundred light-years of Earth, although not all have even marginally inhabitable planets. In addition, there are a thousand K- and F-type stars and thousands more M-type red dwarfs, all of which, while not optimal for earthlike planets, have exceptions. It was to humanity’s surprise how many of these star systems had planets where humans could survive if supported by various levels of technology, ranging from minimal to enclosed environments. Naturally, colonization favored the most Earth-like, and those are the colonies that flourished the most.

  “Another distance relationship is Federation membership. The closer a planet is to Earth, the more likely it will become a member. Again, there are many exceptions—for example, planets that for religious, ethnic, philosophical, or perceived economic reasons choose not to become members.

  “At the same time, the planets closest to Earth tend to ha
ve larger populations and more advanced economies and infrastructures because they were colonized first—not that there aren’t many exceptions for a variety of reasons.

  “The Federation never compels membership and officially stays completely out of the internal affairs of any systems choosing to go their own way. The exception is that no Federation planet or candidate planet can be attacked or annexed against its wishes. Any non-member planet with designs on another system has the problem of being surrounded by Federation members that would come to the aid of a beleaguered planet.

  “It becomes trickier farther from Earth, where Federation membership and population size both decrease. The danger is that a colony could develop an aggressive culture and impinge on neighboring colonies beyond the influence of the Federation, thereby creating a potential conflict focus.”

  I was tired of his circumlocutions. “In plain language, I think you mean it’s possible human civilization splits into multiple camps that could become future enemies.”

  “I believe that’s what I was saying,” White said in an annoyed tone. “To continue, one way to counter potential drift away from more benign cultures is to seed select colonies at the periphery of the human sphere with attitudes more collegial to the Federation. For example, there is a considerable gap between the nearest Federation member and the vicinity of Astrild, which is in a cluster of six other colonies within ten light-years. Astrild is the most advanced of the seven, and if Astrild develops a positive relationship with the Federation, chances are greatly enhanced for the other colonies to follow Astrild’s lead.”

  I felt irritable. “You know, it would have been nice to have heard more of this right from the start, either on Earth or on Thalassa—or at least after arriving on Astrild. It would have given me a better idea of what I was getting myself into.”

  “There are two answers to that,” said White. “As you should be able to guess, our purpose and actions would not always be positively received in some quarters, both on Earth and on the other worlds. We keep the lowest profile possible on Earth and the core worlds. Since it was not determined whether your association with us would work out, it was best to give you only enough insight to get you onboard. As of now, we believe you are a good fit for our mission, and it is time to give you more of the promised information—although you will not yet be privy to certain topics. Also, we’re outside the core worlds, and the necessity to keep a low profile, though still important, is not as critical. I assume you’ve concluded we’re an agency working for the future good of the Federation. That should be enough to satisfy you for the present.”

  It didn’t escape me that he referenced my conclusion without confirming its accuracy.

  “Then there’s the other answer,” said White. “If you’d known more earlier, would it have changed any of your actions since arriving on Astrild?”

  He already knew my response. I hated being that predictable to someone who irritated me.

  “No. I wouldn’t have changed anything.”

  “Fine, then let’s move on. How did you find working with Edgar Millen?”

  “Depends which day or hour you ask me. I’ll admit Millen seems to know his business and is good at predicting people’s behavior. He’s also someone I’d want beside me in a tight spot, but he’s a little too willing to take unilateral action based on expediency. I’d feel better if I thought he had more reservations about some of the things we did. Then there’s his fetish about Wild West mythology and old books and vids. I gradually got more used to it, but it pops up at times when it’s almost like he’s trivializing situations.”

  “Well . . . we all have hobbies or interests that can seem odd to other people,” said White. “It’s part of what gives each of us a distinctive flavor.”

  “Maybe so, but at times it’s like he’s assuming the lead character in one of the stories.”

  “Let me suggest a slightly different interpretation, “said White. “What if he sometimes uses it to calm himself when facing stress?”

  “Like getting shot at?” I said.

  “I think that would qualify as stressful. After all, isn’t that what the old advice to take a deep breath is doing? The same with some meditation practices. However, I’ll admit that it’s perhaps somewhat more complicated with Millen. He grew up in extremely difficult times in a society that, shall we say, did not value individual human lives or independence as much as the ones you and I experienced. In Millen’s case, he managed to leave, but he was inevitably influenced by the norms he saw.

  “You’ll have to talk to Millen about more details, but I can tell you that since joining the agency, he has made major contributions to operations where he was part of a larger team than the two of you. More recently, he was tasked with working alone. Although he usually accomplished the assignments, concern arose that he might favor direct action a little too easily over more subtle options. It was decided to try teaming Millen with a partner who might buffer some of his more aggressive tendencies.”

  “Me? I was supposed to help calm him down? What idiot thought that up?”

  “The idiot is somewhere higher up the food chain than either of us,” said White. “But someone with an admirable track record in finding the right people to solve problems, some of which were considered intractable.

  “But let’s look at it a little differently. As you saw in Justice, there are times when dealing with other persons necessitates harsh measures. It is not desirable to take such measures too easily or to be too hesitant when they’re called for. Some level of balance is needed. Unfortunately, planning for such balance is impractical because every situation is different, and humans are too complex to consistently predict how they should or will react. One avenue to solving this conundrum is through empirical experience in finding combinations of people who can act in a balanced manner, using harsh methods only when necessary to carry out the assignment.”

  I wasn’t impressed. “Doesn’t sound like anything except pissing in the wind and hoping the wind doesn’t shift before you’re finished.”

  White smiled. I watched to see if any cracks appeared in his face. Amazingly, none did.

  “Your and my opinion of this approach is acknowledged but doesn’t change anything. In your case, either by incredibly good luck or ingenious planning, you and Millen seem to form a good team. In addition, we anticipate your taking a larger role in planning tactics and strategies in future assignments. How this develops is up to the two of you, but it can fall anywhere along a spectrum of Millen continuing to be the lead, the two of you sharing the lead role, or you assuming that role. It also doesn’t have to be fixed. It can change with the assignment and situation. It’s largely up to the two of you.”

  I didn’t know how to react. I’d assumed Millen was my immediate boss. He had more information, longer experience with the agency, and the magic card. Besides, I wasn’t sure I was ready to start ordering Millen around or whether he’d even pay any attention.

  “Is this how it’s always supposed to be? You shove an assignment at Millen, me, or both of us, and we’re supposed to run off and perform miracles?”

  “No and yes,” said White. “Taking the ‘yes’ first, I personally wouldn’t call them miracles, but if they were easy, then we wouldn’t need you and Mr. Millen, would we? As for the ‘no,’ although it’s a favorite trope in many holovids and novels that the secret agent is given a mission he is obliged to accept, we follow the strategy that assignments have the best chance of success when our agents have a choice. Assignments are not casually formulated. However, in the same way that you have considerable latitude in carrying out assignments, we believe your input is important on whether assignments are reasonable. It also provides a perspective from the ‘people on the ground’ and a check on planners who have a more distant view and nothing personal at stake.”

  Again, I needed a plain language translation. “So . . . if I don’t believe an assignment is doable or justified, I can refuse to accept it?”

/>   “That is basically correct. However, in the future, it would need to be a joint decision by you and Mr. Millen. We find that most assignments are accepted, sometimes with revisions, but the decision is always yours. Now, I suppose you will ask what happens if you and Millen consistently decline assignments. In that circumstance, a higher-level evaluation would be undertaken to determine whether our association should continue and under what conditions. However, this would seldom occur because you and Mr. Millen would have worked on any issues as they came up.”

  It was a lot to take in, but I felt a sense of relief that I’d have more control than on this first assignment. Not that I didn’t have questions.

  “Is Justice going to make it?” I asked. “Cherkoff is gone, but if he was only the tip of a larger organization, are they going to try again?”

  “Of course, that’s possible, but it seems unlikely. Cherkoff’s success was based more on the people of Justice gradually ceding authority, rather than being victims of a sudden assault. Now that they’ve come through their Cherkoff experience, thanks to you and Mr. Millen, they’ll be more alert in the future. I can also tell you that the effect shows signs of spreading outside of Justice. Since the initial reports came out of Justice into Astrild’s news outlets, at least two other towns with similar problems, though to a lesser degree than Justice’s, have been stimulated to take action against elements that might have developed into full-blown Cherkoff-like situations. There’s a reasonable chance that this will spread elsewhere on Astrild and lead to our abandoning the tactics used with Justice.”

  If true, White’s news addressed the nagging question of whether what we did in Justice had any wider effects or was just an insignificant dollop in the agency’s plans for Astrild.