Part 8 (1/2)
The nuclear works on Austragonia were closed down. Mykhyl Eschkhaffar ordered a programme of rationing and priorities to conserve the stock of plutonium and radioactive isotopes on hand, and he decided that henceforth nuclear-energy materials would be sold instead of furnished freely. He simply found out what the market quotations on Odin were, translated that into stellies, and adopted it. This was just a base price; there would have to be bribes for priority allocations, rakeoffs for the under-freedmen, and graft for the business-freedmen of the Lords-ex-Masters who bought the stuff. The latter were completely unconcerned; none of them even knew about it.
The Convocation adjourned until the next regular session, at the Midyear Feasts, an eight-day intercalary period which permitted dividing the 358-day Adityan year into ten months of thirty-five days each. Count Erskyll was satisfied to see them go. He was working on a const.i.tution for the Commonwealth of Aditya, and was making very little progress with it.
”It's one of these elaborate check-and-balance things,” Lanze Degbrend reported. ”To begin with, it was the const.i.tution of Aton, with an elective president subst.i.tuted for a hereditary king. Of course, there are a lot of added gadgets; Atonian Radical Democrat stuff. Chmidd and Hozhet and the other chief-slaves don't like it, either.”
”Slap your mouth and say, 'Freedmen,' five times.”
”Nuts,” his subordinate retorted insubordinately. ”I know a slave when I see one. A slave is a slave, with or without a gorget; if he doesn't wear it around his neck, he has it tattooed on his soul. It takes at least three generations to rub it off.”
”I could wish that Count Erskyll....” he began. ”What else is our Proconsul doing?”
”Well, I'm afraid he's trying to set up some kind of a scheme for the complete nationalization of all farms, factories, transport facilities, and other means of production and distribution,” Degbrend said.
”He's not going to try to do that himself, is he?” He was, he discovered, speaking sharply, and modified his tone. ”He won't do it with Imperial authority, or with Imperial troops. Not as long as I'm here. And when we go back to Odin, I'll see to it that Vann Shatrak understands that.”
”Oh, no. The Commonwealth of Aditya will do that,” Degbrend said.
”Chmidd and Hozhet and Yakoop Zhannar and Zhorzh Khouzhik and the rest of them, that is. He wants it done legitimately and legally. That means, he'll have to wait till the Midyear Feasts, when the Convocation a.s.sembles, and he can get his const.i.tution enacted. If he can get it written by then.”
Vann Shatrak sent two of the destroyers off to explore the moons of Aditya, of which there were two. The outer moon, Aditya-_Ba'_, was an irregular chunk of rock fifty miles in diameter, barely visible to the naked eye. The inner, Aditya-_Alif_, however, was an eight-hundred-mile sphere; it had once been the planetary s.h.i.+p-station and s.h.i.+pyard-base.
It seemed to have been abandoned when the Adityan technology and economy had begun sagging under the weight of the slave system. Most of the installations remained, badly run down but repairable. Shatrak transferred as many of his technicians as he could spare to the _Mizar_ and sent her to recondition the s.h.i.+pyard and render the underground city inhabitable again so that the satellite could be used as a base for his s.h.i.+ps. He decided, then, to send the _Irma_ back to Odin with reports of the annexation of Aditya, a proposal that Aditya-_Alif_ be made a permanent Imperial naval-base, and a request for more troops.
Prince Trevannion taped up his own reports, describing the general situation on the newly annexed planet, and doing nothing to minimize the problems facing its Proconsul.
”Count Erskyll” he finished, ”is doing the best possible under circ.u.mstances from which I myself would feel inclined to shrink. If not carried to excess, perhaps youthful idealism is not without value in Empire statecraft. I understand that Commodore Shatrak, who is also coping with some very trying problems, is requesting troop reenforcements. I believe this request amply justified, and would recommend that they be gotten here as speedily as possible.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
”I understand that he is also recommending a permanent naval base on the larger of this planet's two satellites. This I also endorse unreservedly. It would have a most salutary effect on the local government. I would further recommend that Commodore Shatrak be placed in command of it, with suitable promotion, which he has long ago earned.”
Erskyll was surprised that he was not himself returning to Odin on the destroyer, and evidently disturbed. He mentioned it during pre-dinner c.o.c.ktails that evening.
”I know, my own work here is finished; was the moment the Convocation voted acknowledgment of Imperial rule.” Prince Trevannion replied. ”I would like to stay on for the Midyear Feasts, though. The Convocation will vote on your const.i.tution, and I would like to be able to report their action to the Prime Minister. How is it progressing, by the way?”
”Well, we have a rough draft. I don't care much for it, myself, but Citizen Hozhet and Citizen Chmidd and Citizen Zhannar and the others are most enthusiastic, and, after all, they are the ones who will have to operate under it.”
The Masterly estates would be the representative units; from each, the freedmen would elect representatives to regional elective councils, and these in turn would elect representatives to a central electoral council which would elect a Supreme People's Legislative Council. This would not only function as the legislative body, but would also elect a Manager-in-Chief, who would appoint the Chiefs of Management, who, in turn, would appoint their own subordinates.
”I don't like it, myself,” Erskyll said. ”It's not democratic enough.
There should be a direct vote by the people. Well,” he grudged, ”I suppose it will take a little time for them to learn democracy.” This was the first time he had come out and admitted that. ”There is to be a Const.i.tuent Convention in five years, to draw up a new const.i.tution.”
”How about the Convocation? You don't expect them to vote themselves out of existence, do you?”
”Oh, we're keeping the Convocation, in the present const.i.tution, but they won't have any power. Five years from now, we'll be rid of them entirely. Look here; you're not going to work against this, are you? You won't advise these ci-devant Lords-Master to vote against it, when it comes up?”
”Certainly not. I think your const.i.tution--Khreggor Chmidd's and Tchall Hozhet's, to be exact--will be nothing short of a political disaster, but it will insure some political stability, which is all that matters from the Imperial point of view. An Empire statesman must always guard against sympathizing with local factions and interests, and I can think of no planet on which I could be safer from any such temptation. If these Lords-Master want to vote their throats cut, and the slaves want to re-enslave themselves, they may all do so with my complete blessing.”
If he had been at all given to dramatic gestures he would then have sent for water and washed his hands.
Metaphorically, he did so at that moment; thereafter his interest in Adityan affairs was that of a spectator at a boring and stupid show, watching only because there is nothing else to watch, and wis.h.i.+ng that it had been possible to have returned to Odin on the _Irma_. The Prime Minister, however, was ent.i.tled to a full and impartial report, which he would scarcely get from Count Erskyll, on this new jewel in the Imperial Crown. To be able to furnish that, he would have to remain until the Midyear Feasts, when the Convocation would act on the new const.i.tution.