Ephialtes (Ephialtes Trilogy Book 1) (8 page)

“You’ve
spoken to the board?”

“No. 
I’ve sounded out Mike Summers.  He’s not happy.”

“You should
take this to the board.”

“I know what
they’d say.  I’m going to take it to the people.”

Christina
looked at him blank-facedly.  “What?”

“I think we
should run a plebiscite to ask the people of Mars what they think.  I’ve
got a pretty good idea what they’d say, too.”

“This is
crazy.  None of this is legitimate.  What about the garrison? 
The USAN will have you thrown in a cell before you get anywhere with this.”

Venkdt lay
his cutlery down.  “Firstly, I don’t think they’d dare.  And
secondly, we have our own security division to prevent that from happening.”

Christina
shook her head, her shoulders slumping.  “Are you serious?  People
could get hurt, things could turn nasty.  This is nuts.”

“A little
nuts, maybe, but necessary.”

Venkdt patted
his face with a napkin while Christina drained her wine glass, quickly pouring
another.  “Nuts,” she said again, under her breath. 

Charles
Venkdt was beaming.  “Dessert?” he said.

There was
only one non-disclosure agreement prepared.  It was a silly
oversight.  Although only Jack Karjalainen had been invited to the meeting
it was well understood that he would be too ill to attend.  For a number
of months his legal team of
Oatridge
,
Strich
and Philips had been acting on his behalf. 
Their daily briefings at his hospital bed had become something of an irritant
to the hospital staff.

“I’m so
sorry, could you just wait here a moment while I sort this out?” said
Venkdt’s
assistant.

The lawyers
nodded politely as the PA left the room, embarrassedly pointing out the
refreshments available and making further apologies.

“What do you
think?” said
Strich
.

“I don’t
know.  A buyout, maybe?”

“No,” said
Oatridge.  “He’d wait for the old man’s passing before trying that
trick.  And there’d be no need for the NDAs.”

“It’s
probably just some new tech.  Maybe he’s willing to license it to
us.  Something to do with mining in the asteroid belt, or something like
that,” offered Philips.

“Whatever it
is, we just nod and smile.  We take it back to the old man before we do
anything else,” said Oatridge.

Philips
twitched.  “Can you please not call him ‘the old man’?  He’s our
employer and I think he deserves our respect,” she said.

“I’m sorry,
Toni,” said Oatridge.  “I meant it affectionately, that’s all.”

Philips
pulled a quick tight smile and nodded in acknowledgement.

“Here we
are,” said
Venkdt’s
PA, slightly breathlessly. 
She placed two additional sheets on her desk and, quickly moving to her side of
it, she grabbed pens and offered them to the lawyers.  “If you could just
sign and date here,” she said, pointing.

Oatridge
,
Strich
and Philips
dutifully signed their agreement not to disclose any details of the meeting to
any third parties.  “Of course,” said Philips, “we will have to discuss
this with Mr Karjalainen.  We’re only here today as his proxies.”

“I’m sure Mr
Venkdt understands your position, legally.  Under any other circumstances
Mr Venkdt would be meeting with Mr Karjalainen directly.  All this would
be dealt with by a handshake or
somesuch
, but we have
to protect ourselves.  I hope you understand.”

“We
understand,” said Oatridge.

The PA
ushered them into the boardroom.

Venkdt was
seated at the head of the conference table.  He was working on some
notes.  When the delegates entered he cheerily acknowledged them. 
“I’ll be with you in just a minute, I’m just finishing up on this,” he said.

To Philips
this was perfectly reasonable.  Venkdt was just putting the finishing
touches to his presentation.  To
Oatridge
and
Strich
there remained the possibility of a premeditated
slight.  The lawyers sat down at various places either side of the
conference table.  They prepared their devices and note-taking
equipment as Venkdt finished what he was doing.  Presently, Venkdt placed
his pen at the side of the document he had been working on and waited for the
others to settle before he began.

“Gentlemen,
Ms Philips, first of all thank you for coming.  I guess you’re all aware
of the upcoming hundred thousandth live birth on Mars, which we expect to take
place sometime within the next two months.  This is as good an occasion as
any, I feel, to proceed with a plan that may have momentous impact on all of
our futures, and the future of the colony that we, and our forebears, have
established here at great cost and effort.”

None of the
lawyers had a clue where he might be going with this, but they kept their best
courtroom poker faces on.

“I intend to
propose a plebiscite be held, within six months of this day, asking the people
of Mars if they would like to proclaim independence from the USAN and, thereby,
independence from Earth itself.”

‘
What’s a
plebiscite?’
Strich
discreetly messaged to
Oatridge.

‘
An
election.  For plebs
,’ Oatridge replied.

Venkdt
continued, “If the plebiscite returns a positive vote for independence, with
more than a two-thirds majority, I will propose that we secede from the
USAN and adopt our own constitution, written from the ground up to serve
Martian needs and ideals.  I’ve had plans for such a constitution drawn
up, and in the event of a vote for independence we would run further elections
to our own senate and presidency which would go on to provide the governance
for an independent Mars.”

Strich
and
Oatridges
’ message
conversation had continued as Venkdt had been speaking.

‘
Is he
nuts?’
messaged
Strich
.

‘
Probably,
’
Oatridge replied.

‘
What do
we do?’

‘
Nod and
smile.’

“On whose
authority would this plebiscite be held?” said Philips.

“It would be
run under no particular authority,” shrugged Venkdt.  “It would be a grand
survey of opinion, nothing more.  And the two-thirds majority would
be absolute to the population, not to votes cast.  Anyone opposed just has
to get out and vote.”

“But where is
the legal basis?”

“As an
independent planet we’d make our own laws.”

“But we’re
not an independent planet
now
.”

“Not
now.  But if the people vote for it we’ll secede quietly and honourably
and start out anew.”  He smiled broadly at his last remark.  “Any
more questions?”

Strich
was receiving another message from
Oatridge.  It read, ‘
Illegal and immoral
’, and ended with a frowny
face.

“What you’re
proposing is illegal and immoral.  It just won’t work,” said
Strich
, smiling apologetically.

‘
Don’t
antagonise him!’
came
Oatridge’s
instant message,
instantly. 
Strich
couldn’t help the smirking
glance he shot across the table to Oatridge.

Venkdt
shrugged.  “Illegal, maybe.  But it is moral.  And it will
work,” he said.  “Why wouldn’t it?”

“Because no
one is above the law, Mr Venkdt.  I would strongly advise you against
taking this course of action,” said Philips.  “You’re a respected
businessman of good standing.  Why throw all that away?  Even with
the support of the Martian population the USAN could never let this
stand.  What you’re suggesting is, after all, tantamount to treason.”

Venkdt took a
few seconds before replying.  “Ms Philips, what I’m talking about here is
bigger than the law.  Out here on Mars we’re way beyond the reach of the
greater USAN.  Of course, that doesn’t give us license to act as we
please.  But Mars’ destiny is as an independent state, and I feel the
whole planet is behind me on this.  We have the opportunity here and now
to make a clean break.  In order to do that we have to forego the niceties
of law in the strictest sense, just temporarily on this one important
issue.  Don’t get me wrong; I appreciate that the rule of law is
essential.  If I lose the plebiscite I will hand myself over to the
courts.  But I - we - have to do
this.  Our destiny is calling us.”

“What does
any of this have to do with
Hjälp
Teknik
?”
said Oatridge.

“I was hoping
to talk with Jack Karjalainen directly.  This will have a major impact on
Hjälp
Teknik
, however it pans
out.  I guess in some ways I just wanted Jack to know.  We’re both
old.  I feel a kinship with him, despite our history.”

“We’ll relay
your thoughts to him.  Is there anything else?”

“No,” said
Venkdt.  “The announcement will be soon, in the next few weeks, I hope.”

“Thank you,
Mr Venkdt,” said Oatridge, standing.  “I’d like to wish you good luck in
your endeavours, but I’m afraid my conscience won’t allow me.”

“I
understand,” said Venkdt.

The
Hjälp
Teknik
representatives left
the meeting in amused shock.

“We should go
straight to the garrison,” said Oatridge, melodramatically.

“He’s
insane,” said
Strich
.

Philips
simply grimaced.

“This is
treason, plain and simple,” said Oatridge.  “He should be locked up for
it.  Hell, they could lock us up just for having been a part of that
meeting,” he said, unsure if he was joking or deadly serious.

“It won’t
fly,” said
Strich
.  “It’s just some crazy
stunt.  No one will take it seriously.  I doubt if even he takes it
seriously.”

“He’s serious
alright,” said Philips, “and he will do it.  So we’re going to be dragged
into this whether we like it or not.”

The other two
thought about that.  The three of them made their way from the building to
the car park, where they walked the short distance to their driverless
car.  At the car they stopped and Philips spoke again.  “Venkdt is
going to run this plebiscite and he’s probably going to win.  That’s going
to leave us in a very difficult position.”  They got in.

“I want you
to look at all of our options, legal and practical, if this goes ahead,”
Philips said to
Strich
.  “And I need you to look
into every damn way possible we can make it not happen,” she said to Oatridge.

The more
Oatridge thought about it the less amusing it seemed.  He noticed that the
smiles had left
Strich
, too.

They sat in
silence on the drive back to
Hjälp
Teknik
.

St Joseph’s
Hospital was situated in the heart of Marineris.  Like the majority of
Martian buildings it was mostly underground.  It covered three
floors.  The lowest was for maintenance and services.  The next floor
up was theatres, clinics and treatment rooms, catering and the transport
hub.  At the surface were the wards and private rooms.  They had the
luxury of daylight, which was seen as a therapeutic plus.

Jack
Karjalainen was in one of the largest private rooms at the furthest end of the
hospital.  He had been one of the hospital’s greatest benefactors and had
personally paid for scholarships and bursaries to encourage bright young
doctors from Earth, as well as Mars, to come to the hospital.  He had used
his waning influence on Earth, earned through
Hjälp
Teknik’s
respected medical division, to form solid links
with one of the major teaching hospitals on the home planet at Calcutta.

Jack was
proud of his philanthropic endeavours.  He had always thought of himself
as a moral being who had deep respect for other people and the rule of law, and
he served them equally.

In his youth
Jack had worked for voluntary organisations in the non-aligned
countries.  He had seen for himself the terrible conditions that some
people lived in, and experienced at first-hand the folly of the fools who
perpetuated such misery.  It had forged in him a steely resolve to always
do the right thing.  To stand up and give a voice to the oppressed.
 To talk back to the pompous and the belligerent.

He had formed
Hjälp
Teknik
on his return
with the idea of developing effective and cheap solutions to problems affecting
the poorest sectors of society, both at home and abroad.  Nutrition, coms,
education and transport were all areas where
Hjälp
Teknik
had an interest.  Products aimed at the poor
had small margins but large client bases, and
Hjälp
Teknik
worked that angle.