Part 27 (2/2)
”I thought TubeCo was a voting member,” said Merri, scratching her head.
”They were. Got booted off last year, remember? It was-”
Jara waved them al to silence. ”They're about to start.”
Everyone in the Committee members' ring rose dutiful y and bowed in unison. It was a stirring sight, something Jara had seen often in Data Sea videos but never in person. For a moment, she felt like she was suspended above Melbourne in the tube car again, watching the reasoned and orderly process of government at work.
The members of the Prime Committee remained standing as a blue light swept around the ring three times like a roulette wheel and final y stopped in front of a nondescript woman from the Meme Cooperative. Apparently this meant she would be the randomly selected moderator for the proceedings. Al the other representatives took their seats again.
The woman spoke. Some feat of aural wizardry al owed her voice to boom across the dome without distortion or reverberation. ”This special session of the Prime Committee, held here on the fourteenth of January in the three hundred and sixtieth year of the Reawakening, wil now come to order.”
There was a brief pause as the Committee members' a.s.sistants shuffled into place beside the representatives and held quick, whispered conversations. Spectators around the auditorium gradual y took their seats, and Council officers took up their posts, though they seemed in little hurry to do so. Jara took a glance at Natch. The entrepreneur simply looked dazed, like a tottering tree that might crash to the floor at any moment.
The Committee moderator continued. Jara got the impression that her words had been prepared ahead of time, that they were only coming from her mouth instead of someone else's out of sheer happenstance.
”We are at an important crossroads in history,” said the woman. ”For the past two hundred years, libertarians and governmentalists have been debating what the proper role of government should be. What powers should reside with the citizenry and what powers should reside with their governments? Should these governments be centralized or decentralized? Elected or appointed? Where does personal liberty end and public welfare begin?
”The Prime Committee cannot pretend to be the final arbiter of these questions.
”Nor is that our job. Though we may be governmentalists or libertarians in our personal philosophies, here we are al simply members of the Prime Committee. We speak with one voice, and we represent every citizen of the Reawakening. We provide oversight; we provide law and structure; and in times of crisis, we provide stability and judgment.
”It is in that last capacity that we sit before you today. The world is in a crisis. Vortexes of information are causing death and destruction from Earth to Furtoid. One of the beloved icons of the Reawakening has died under mysterious circ.u.mstances. Activists have taken to the streets and jammed the gears of commerce. And at the center of everything lies a powerful new technology the likes of which the world has never seen.
”Government cannot simply stand by and watch matters unfold. For better or worse, government must take action.
”Let it not be said afterward that the Prime Committee had already made up its mind before these sessions had begun. Truth walks through open doors, the Bodhisattva once said. We come to this hearing as representatives of the public welfare with no preconceived agenda, and we ask the observers of this hearing to do the same.
”The Committee wishes to emphasize that this is not a trial. As such, we wil fol ow no formal procedures other than simple parliamentary rules of order. The Committee wil cal witnesses as it sees fit, in the order it sees fit, for as long as it takes to satisfy the questions at hand. We hereby command these witnesses to speak truthful y, honestly, and without reservation.
”Such is the agenda of the Prime Committee. Let any objections be entered into the record now.”
Jara peered around the audience, wondering who would have the temerity to speak out against such a high-minded opening. But, of course, objections there were-a representative of the diss, demanding a voice in the proceedings and a seat on the Committee; a robed and bejeweled member of the Pharisee tribes, questioning the legitimacy of the entire centralized government; the outlandishly dressed bodhisattva of Creed Nul , proclaiming imminent doom for al and sundry. The woman a.s.signed to be the Prime Committee administrator nodded without comment as each exception was entered into the record. Obviously they had al performed these steps in the dance many times before. The dissenters even had a smal reserved section to themselves right behind the pet.i.tioners' ring.
When the formal objections were complete, the woman took her seat once again. ”The Prime Committee hereby cal s upon Serr Vigal of the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp to make a statement on behalf of the Congress of L-PRACGs,” she said.
Serr Vigal made his way down the stairs and through the pa.s.sageway that ran beneath the Committee members' ring. The pa.s.sage emerged at the edge of the floor and ended in a waist-high gate of frosted gla.s.s. Vigal walked through this gate and found the center of the floor. Then he promptly rotated in place and gave several polite bows to the Committee members.
”Distinguished members of the Prime Committee,” said Vigal, his voice resonant with a calm that went beyond bio/logics. ”I'm honored to be in your presence today. Usual y when I stand before a government body, I'm there to ask for money. You'l be pleased to know that I plan on making no such appeals today-unless, I suppose, my speech goes very, very wel .”
A chuckle worked its way around the crowd, even levitating the lips of a few in the ruling circle. Jara had to admit that it was a prom ising beginning: disarmingly humble, homespun. She looked over and saw Khann Frejohr and his libertarian comrades displaying bland, pleasant smiles. Natch merely stared straight ahead.
Vigal continued. ”So what better issue to begin my inaugural speech of political advocacy than the issue before the Committee today? I speak of the paramount right of humanity. The force that has guided and steered us for a hundred thousand years or more. I speak of freedom.
”Yes, on the surface, it might seem like the debate over MultiReal is a debate over government regulation or business practice or some other arcane matter. That is certainly what Len Borda wants you to think. The drudges would have you think that this is just a clash of forceful personalities. They would tel you that the issue is the stubbornness of one particular fiefcorp master present here today. Natch, stand up so everyone can see you.”
A thousand pairs of eyebal s pivoted toward the entrepreneur, who had seemed not to be paying attention. But at Serr Vigal's cal , Natch's face suddenly lit up with humanity as if he had received a charge of electric current. He rose and delivered as warm a smile to the crowd as Jara had ever seen him deliver. Across the floor, Jara could see Magan Kai Lee's icy glare and Rey Gonerev's dour frown.
Five seconds later, Natch was seated once more, his comportment robotic, his skin pale.
”I'm sure many of you have heard the tale that the drudges are spinning,” said Vigal.
”You've heard the rumors and innuendo that High Executive Borda has leaked on the Data Sea. You've read selective bits of Natch's personal history and the accusation that he is ethical y chal enged.”' The neural programmer made a flippant clicking noise with his tongue. ”It is impossible for me to be objective about Natch's moral fitness-a topic that was my primary responsibility for eighteen years while I was his legal guardian-so I won't pretend otherwise. I also hold an advisory position in the Surina/Natch MultiReal Fiefcorp, so my subjectivity about the company is similarly compromised.
”But these rumors about Natch and his business practices are merely a distraction. A diversion from the real issue at hand. I propose we dispense with such irrelevancies and skip to the heart of the matter instead. The part Len Borda doesn't want you to talk about.
”What is the central issue here? As I said before, the central issue is freedom. Let me draw your attention to one of the adages of the first Bodhisattva of Creed Objectivv: Knowledge wants to flow to freedom like rivers want to flow to the sea.
”It's not for nothing that we cal our vast compendium of knowledge the Data Sea. It's no accident that al the droplets of wisdom humanity has learned over its history have ended up here. Because information wants to flow Seaward. I'm not speaking of want here like we want money, or like some of those in the Council desperately want me to stop talking.”
Another rumble of laughter. Even Lieutenant Executive Lee raised his eyebrows in amus.e.m.e.nt.
”I'm talking about the natural laws of the universe, the tendencies built into its very structure. Gravity pul s things down. Water flows to the sea. And knowledge flows to freedom. That's simply how things work.
”But you can't own the sea, can you?
”Oh, sometimes you can control its flow. You can erect dams; you can bottle up the water and keep it in a safe place. But these are only temporary solutions, aren't they? Eventual y the dam decays. The bottle breaks. Those you have entrusted to keep the water safe wander away, or they grow old and s.h.i.+ft al egiances. And when al else fails, water evaporates and is reclaimed by the sun.”
Vigal gestured toward the top of the dome, and many eyes fol owed his gesture as if they might actual y see something besides the dul stone of the curved ceiling.
”High Executive Len Borda has been vigorously pursuing the Surina/Natch Fiefcorp's MultiReal technology,” said the neural programmer. ”Why? The high executive does not say. But it is widely believed that he wishes to bottle up MultiReal. He wishes to cask it and store it safely in his private vaults.
”Again I ask, why?
”We hear many rumors from the drudges, and sometimes it's difficult to separate fact from fiction. I have read articles claiming that the high executive plans to weaponize MultiReal and put it in the hands of every officer in his Defense and Wel ness Council. There is a suspicious memorandum circulating on the Data Sea which claims that the high executive wil use this technology to conquer the recalcitrant Islander and Pharisee territories once and for al .
Some of the protesters on the streets right now have an even more radical idea-they think Len Borda wil use MultiReal to do away with you, the august members of the Prime Committee.
”Let me suggest something that might surprise you, coming from someone who represents the libertarian wing of the Congress of L-PRACGs. I suggest we give High Executive Borda the benefit of the doubt.”
In the libertarian delegation, Speaker Khann Frejohr let out a hearty laugh. Jara couldn't tel if he was laughing at the absurdity of trusting Len Borda or at the coy way Vigal had proposed it.
”High Executive Len Borda,” said Vigal, extending a hand toward the group of Council officers. ”The man entrusted with the safety and security of sixty bil ion people. The man who steered us through the Economic Plunge and the Melbourne riots and the Islander wars. High Executive Borda, who has faithful y served the Council and the Prime Committee for nearly sixty years. The man who, incidental y, handed a very green programmer named Serr Vigal his first government subsidy some forty years ago. We have no reason not to trust Len Borda, do we?
”So let us dismiss these conspiracy theories about the high executive's intentions and a.s.sume he intends to do the prudent thing. Let us a.s.sume he intends to seal up MultiReal forever in the depths of the government's vaults, never to be touched by human hands again.
”There is too much rancor in modern politics. I say, let us trust him!
”Good ladies and gentlemen of the Prime Committee, I ask you this question: how long can Borda hope to keep MultiReal bottled up?
”The high executive keeps many secrets, but I a.s.sume the secret of immortality is not one of them. Someday-let's hope it's fifty years from now!someday Len Borda wil slip into the Nul Current like we al must, and a new high executive wil be appointed. Maybe you wil be the ones to appoint that high executive, or maybe that task wil fal to another group of equal y dedicated Prime Committee members. You know in your hearts that you're good, decent, honest people. Your dedication to the public welfare is beyond question. But what about your successors? Do you know what wil lie in their hearts? Do you trust them to keep the secrets of MultiReal hidden?
”Then one day, those government servants too wil go off to join the Prepared. Another crop wil rise and enjoy its day in the sun. Do you trust them?
And then another crop wil fol ow. Then another. Fifty, a hundred, two hundred, five hundred years wil pa.s.s. Do you stil trust that every single man and woman to occupy those chairs for time unending wil have the same goodwil and common sense that you do? What if another Zetarysis the Mad worms her way into power? Can you be so certain that none of your thousands of successors wil one day decide to uncork a bottle of that prime vintage of information Len Borda laid down in his cel ars?
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