Geosynchron (30 page)

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 resistance 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 of 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!