Loona’s pad chimed. Her assistant was informing her that Senator Tarsuss and Representative Smit were waiting for her. Loona tapped out a quick response and stood as Pryvani Tarsuss walked into her office carrying her former majordomo who looked like he had been awoken early from his afternoon sleep.
“Sorry Ammer, I didn’t want to wake you.” Loona sighed. “Thank you both for coming so quickly.”
Pryvani sat and let Ammer step off her hand and on to Loona’s desk where he sat down in an identical chair to Pryvani’s only scaled for him.
“You made it sound pretty urgent boss.” He said.
Loona smiled meekly. “You don’t have to call me boss, you don’t work for me anymore.”
“I may not be your majordomo anymore but you’re still the minority leader. And I’m the most junior member of the minority. You’re definitely my boss. Well you and the Avalonian people.”
“He’s got you there.” Pryvani said with a smirk.
“He does. And he’s not the only one.” Loona said, her face hardening.
Ammer leaned forward and Pryvani’s smile faded. The fun part of the conversation was over.
“Qorni has outflanked us. She got the amendment to my department’s budget to fund the rehabilitation and education centres for the liberated humans canned by appropriations!” Loona said unable to control the anger in her voice anymore.
“She’s a piece of work….”Ammer said. “What does she expect them to do? Become professional pets?”
“How much are we talking?” Pryvani said deciding to cut to the nub of the issue rather than vent.
“Tens of billions…” Loona responded.
“Well that’s not too bad…”
“A year.” Loona finished. “And before you even suggest it, my department can’t take money from you as a donation. It violates funding regulations.”
“Shaka…” Pryvani whispered.
“You could always donate to the Aenur Foundation.” Ammer added.
“That’s a good idea.” Loona paused. “And I hate to say it, but if you can throw any to the Human Owners Society…”
“What!? Those guys?” Ammer said nearly shooting out of his chair.
“I hate the idea of giving Lyroo Prenn a single cred.” Loona sighed. “She was on to me this morning giving off about how her organisation doesn’t have the funds to take care of the mess I created.”
Pryvani and Ammer looked at each other.
“Not all former pet owners are as high minded as we are. A lot of former pets have found themselves abandoned. HOS have been taking them in, housing them and believe it or not trying to educate them. Say what you will about Lyroo Prenn’s opinions but she does want what’s best for Humans.” Loona explained.
“Damn…” Ammer muttered.
Pryvani nodded. “I’ll call her when we’re done here. See how I can help. And Yamanu too.”
“Good…good…” Loona nodded. “What do we do about Qorni?”
“Qorni has the majority there. And every one of her caucus sitting on that committee is against us. She hand picked them.” Ammer said.
“Any way we can turn one?” Pryvani asked. “Retable the bill?”
Ammer paused as he thought. “Well none are going to come over to us, even with the best of sweeteners. I’ve some dirt on one or two of…”
“No. If we play dirty and someone runs to Qorni she’ll squeal to the press, pulls down the government and calls elections which we’d probably not come out well in.” Loona surmised.
“You could always walk.” Pryvani suggested. “Tell the media the majority has been irresponsible. Humans have been freed and left to drift in the wind.”
“I almost did earlier. I was ready to march down to the lobby and throw an impromptu press conference telling Qorni to stick it. Ammer? What’d you think?”
“If you call elections and beat Qorni for being heartless it’ll play well with our supporters. But she’ll just beat us right back for throwing the Empire into chaos which will energise her base…toss a cred and a pick a side.”
Loona didn’t reply. She turned in her chair and gazed out of the window looking over the capital chewing on her bottom lip. She should have seen this coming. She shouldn’t have assumed Qorni would wait. She knew she was shrewd. But not ruthless. People could die because of this. It’s possible some already had.
“What aren’t you telling us boss?” Ammer asked breaking the silence.
Loona turned back and half smiled. “You read me too well Representative Smit.”
“It was my job for longer than a lot of Humans live.”
“Qorni has something else to hit us with. She offered to fund resettlement.” Loona said wearily.
Ammer sighed. “She’s a piece of work.”
“She is but it’s all we’ve got.” Loona said looking hard at her colleague, advisor and friend.
“Resettlement?” Pryvani asked.
“She wants to resettle all the liberated Humans on Avalon. Away from any world already claimed by Titans, Avartle, Ler or Dunnermacs.” Loona explained.
“She’s trying to stop the Humans from affecting the existing constituencies. And to stop Titans from seeing Humans progress. To get Humans out of their own so they can be cut off.” Ammer said.
“There’s got to be a way to fight her on this!” Pryvani was fuming. “I could go to the Emperor…”
“He won’t interfere. He backs us but he wouldn’t so publicly get involved in an issue this fractious.” Loona sighed. “We’ve only one option and that’s to beat her at her own game.”
Ammer sighed. He had a feeling it would come to this. “Go ahead. Ask me.”
“Would Avalon be willing to take in liberated Humans?” Loona asked without skipping a beat.
“How many?”
“All.” Loona replied.
“How many?” Ammer repeated.
“Circa two hundred and fifty million…”
“Two hundred and fifty million!?” Ammer shouted and stood up. “Forna Qorni, you are lowest piece of tuppshaka!”
“Will you take them?” Loona pressed.
Ammer paused and rubbed his face with both hands. This was not what he needed to hear on this little sleep. Pryvani and Loona watched him, waiting with baited breath.
“We can take three million.” He said.
“That barely makes a dent!” Loona gasped.
“I can help.” Pryvani leaned forward. “Fund housing, food, education…”
“It’s not about money Senator!” Ammer cut across her. “We’ve spent nearly two Human centuries recovering from the effects of civil war and the knowledge of just what our purpose was! We have fought and struggled and bled to get to the point where we have peace, culture, learning and are ready to step out into the Galaxy as a world! There’s barely ten million of us! If you drop two hundred and fifty million refugees on us we’ll cease to be! There will be civil war! It is not possible!”
“Ammer please…” Loona said.
“Madam Deputy Floor Leader. The Avalonian government has already expressed to me its willingness to accept three million refugees. We consider this generous. We can take no more.” Ammer stood tall and looked his boss and friend in the eye.
“It’s not good enough Ammer! We need more!” Loona’s tone was strained. “It sounds like Lyroo Prenn is doing more!”
“What would you do if every person on every colony in the Empire tried to flee to Archavia!? Would you be able to take them in?” He asked.
“You’re condemning them to death Ammer.” Loona stood and stared down at the desk. “Or worse! To voluntarily return to being pets to get a roof over their heads! They’re your own people!”
“Frak you Loona!” He shouted. “They’re your people too! You stood on that floor as Deputy Floor Leader and said so! Now that it’s suddenly inconvenient they’re my people!? This is your gorram mess! You gorram fix…”
“That’s enough!” Pryvani shouted. “Both of you sit down.” She said in a tone that neither had heard from them before but Pryvani recognised as her mother’s. “This is what she wants. For us to be at each other’s throats. To break us. Don’t give her the satisfaction.”
Loona sighed and sat down as Ammer did the same.
“It’s unfair, unreasonable and impossible for Avalon to take two hundred and fifty million Humans.” Pryvani started. “Ammer, if I offer assistance will they take five million?”
Ammer shrugged. “Maybe, but it’s not just about the money.”
“I know. Will you ask them?”
Ammer nodded. “Yes Senator.”
“Good.” Pryvani turned to Loona. “What’s Qorni offering?”
“Five billion a year for the remainder of this government.”
“Get her to go to twenty, ten at the very least.” Pryvani said.
“What good will that do? We’ve nowhere to settle them.” Loona said still sounding strained.
Pryvani paused and took in a deep breath. “I’ll find them a world.”
Ammer and Loona looked at each other and then to Pryvani in shock.
“Senator, I know you’re rich but that will cost you your fortune!” Ammer said in disbelief.
Pryvani blinked and nodded. “I know. If I have to I’ll sell the company. I have my compound to live in on Avalon. But I’ll find the money. I have some friends who may help out. My sister will insist on it.”
Loona and Ammer continued to look at her in silence. They could see this weighed heavily on her.
“If I get this world can you get Qorni to sign off on it?” Pryvani asked.
Loona paused and thought. “You could gift it to the Human people. Not the Empire. We would take it on as a protectorate. No representation. She’d agree to that.”
“And if she doesn’t, not only will she look cruel but she’d also look to be insane for rejecting such a generous offer and we make that public.” Ammer added.
“Ok. Good.” Loona sighed a little with relief. “Well the appointment of planetary governors comes under the remit of Interior so now we need to find someone suitable to build a colony and took look after two hundred and fifty million helpless Humans. Ammer…can Avalon help there?”
Ammer thought for a minute. “Maybe. We’ve experience in rehabilitating liberated pets and in quick building programs. But we had Titan help. And nothing on the scale you’re talking about. We could provide personnel, designs, power systems…but running a colony of that size is something Titans have more experience with.”
“Can I make a suggestion?” Pryvani said.
“Well, you’re paying for this world. I don’t see why not.” Loona said glibly and sat back in her chair.
“Sorcha Freeman…”
There was quiet for a moment.
“I hope you mean Niall’s mother and not his daughter?” Loona said sarcastically.
“No. I definitely mean his daughter.” Pryvani replied.
“That’s not bad actually.” Ammer added. “And Alesia has done for Avalonian education what Niall did for Earth’s energy production. She would do well taking education on the colony. And I can’t see her saying no.”
“Alesia I understand but Sorcha!?” Loona said with utter disbelief. “I love her like she was a member of my own family but she’s not capable! Didn’t she cause a famers revolt on Avalon?”
“Only briefly…and that was her first month on the job.”
“And the Avalonian government did implement her reforms after a vote. It tripled food production. The issue was her trying to push through the policy without discussing it.” Ammer added.
“And this is someone we want to be the caretaker for two hundred and fifty million vulnerable individuals!?” Loona was unconvinced.
“That incident was five years ago. Yes she had a rocky start but if you ask any member of the Avalonian Assembly or Government and they will tell you she has been invaluable to Avalon’s prosperity. She is a Titan who has the brain of a Human. The array of knowledge that woman possesses in unparalleled. She is as clever as both of her parents. She has earned two degrees from The University of Atlantis. One in city planning and administration and the other in public policy. These degrees are now recognised by the Empire. What’s more I can guarantee you that you will not find any person, Titan or Human who can match her passion and drive to see these people free and prosperous.” Pryvani stated very flatly.
“She has two degrees?” Loona asked.
Pryvani nodded. “And she’s working on a third. I think she saw Lessy get her PhD and didn’t want to get left behind. She’s not the same girl that got in trouble on Titan Station…”
“Well now you mention it she only mildly intimidated the waiter who insulted her family the other night instead of breaking his nose.” Loona said.
“I can guarantee you that if a waiter insulted Zhan, any one of his children would have had seen him hounded off the planet.”
“Ok, ok. Representative Smit, can you get me some time with President Haerst? I’d like to get her thoughts on this plan.” Loona said
“Can do.” Ammer said making a note on his pad.
“If she backs Sorcha then I’ll certainly give her some serious consideration. Honestly Pryvani, I’d prefer if it were you.” Loona said.
“I know you would. But I am not the best person for this job. If you trust my judgement you’ll trust Sorcha to do this.”
“Ok. I will give her proper consideration. There’s a few other people I’d like to consider. Not many but a few.”
Pryvani got up. “Well I have a few calls to make. Ammer would you care for a lift?”
“If you don’t mind I’d like to stay and talk to the Deputy Floor Leader in private.” He replied.
“Ok. I’ll contact your office and get them to send someone for you. Good luck to us all.” Pryvani said and headed for the door.
“We’ll need it.” Loona said and turned to Ammer.
“Boss,” Ammer said, as he waited for his ride, “I just…I’m sorry about the outburst…that was uncalled for. I know how hard you’ve worked for us, and….”
“Rep. Smit,” Loona said, curtly, “do you remember about four months into my first term, when the education funding bill was being hammered out?”
“Huh? Yeah, sure,” Ammer said, rolling with the non sequitur. “Stan Pron was leaning hard on you to back the compromise he’d worked out with Zeramblin. You ended up carving out another eighteen billon for Archavia, as a rookie in the minority. If I had any doubts about you, that erased it.”
“Hm. You remember that, but you don’t remember that I almost gave in before I started to fight.”
“Hell, Stan Pron was leaning on you hard. And like I said, you were a rookie. Most new reps would have caved, and no shame if you had.”
Loona smiled. “Right. But do you remember why I didn’t? Why I felt willing to stand my ground?”
“Been a lot of fights, boss. They start to blend together after a while.”
“My majordomo listened to me vent for an hour about how I was hard up against it; the head of my caucus wanted me to cave, and was waving a tubhker and wielding a big stick. But caving would cost my district disproportionately, and even if it wouldn’t be devastating, it would hurt, and I knew it would hurt, and I was caught. And my majordomo said to me, ‘Boss,’ he said, ‘you get your committee assignments from Stan Pron, and that’s important. But you got elected by your constituents, and it’s them you represent. If this trade-off is okay for them, fine, but if it isn’t…Pron can keep you off a committee. Your constituents can bring you back home. Never forget that – you work for them.’”
Loona smiled. “You represent Avalon. You’re their voice in the legislature. You work for them. I expected you to go along with me because…well, you always would, even if I was being a fool, because you worked for me. But you don’t, not anymore. You work for the people of Avalon. I’m sorry I forgot that. Old habits die hard.”
Ammer sighed. “Believe me, Madam Deputy Floor Leader – part of me wants to say, ‘Sure, 250 million, no problem.’ And if that’s what I brought back to Atlantis…I want to say yes. But I can’t.”
“Will you push your government to aid us? To help with this colony, if we start it? Not with money, but with know-how, manpower?”
“You have my word, Madam Deputy Floor Leader. And I know there will be help. We want the humans in the Empire to live free. That benefits everyone.”
Loona nodded. “All right. And Sorcha?”
Ammer frowned. “She’s gonna need someone with her to help her deal with the politics of it. Probably Lessy, she’s a born politician. Sorcha isn’t. But Sorcha has gotten very good at the nuts-and-bolts part of it. I doubt you’ll find anyone better.”
“All right. Do you have a way back? Other than walking, I mean. I have to make a few calls, but maybe Inna….”
“Madam Deputy Floor Leader,” Ammer said, “your time is far too valuable to tote me around, and so’s your chief’s. Joram just got here, he’ll take me back.”
“Good. And Representative…I’m glad to see we both remembered who your real boss is now.”
“Yeah, I know, but Representative…Loona,” he said, quietly, “I wouldn’t be here if not for you. I won’t ever forget that.”
“Yes, well, I wouldn’t be here if not for you, Ammer. And I won’t forget that, either.”
There was a knock at the door. “Well, my ride’s here. Thank you for your time, Madam Deputy Floor Leader.”
“Thank you, Rep. Smit,” Loona said, opening the door. “Thank you.”
Loona returned to her desk and searched through her contacts on her pad, selecting Sorcha’s rather stern picture and transferred it to the monitor on her desk. It didn’t even feel like two seconds had passed before Sorcha picked up.
“Hey Loona, what’s up?” she said cheerily.
“I wanted to run something by you. A hypothetical scenario.”
“Ok. Shoot.”
“Say you had a few million liberated Humans to resettle. How would you go about doing it?” Loona started.
“Well…Avalon…” Sorcha responded in a manner that suggested she was trying to hide how dumb a question it was.
“And say Avalon isn’t an option?”
“Can they assist at least?”
“Some assistance. The Titan government would also be offering funding.” Loona added.
Sorcha furrowed her brow. “Are you sure this is hypothetical? It doesn’t sound it…”
Loona held up her hand. “Humour me.”
Sorcha’s face switched quickly from one that was cheery to one that meant business. Loona could easily see Niall’s face in there. Despite inheriting a lot of her mother’s look she had the manner of her father.
“First of all you need to look at infrastructure; homes, power, roads, food. That sort of thing. We’ve plenty of prefab, modular designs left over from when Atlantis and Aventine went through their massive expansions. They should be pretty cheap for the government to manufacture and they’re pretty easy to install. Non-skilled Titan labour would work well and would keep costs down.” Sorcha started.
“Go on…” Loona said.
“Would they be farming their own food?” Sorcha asked.
“Eventually we’d like to think they’d become self-sufficient.”
“Ok, in that case you’d want to get some Avalonian farmers over. Teach them the basics and get some automated farms set up. If it’s automated correctly five people can feed fifty thousand.” Sorcha said flicking through her notes.
“Wow, that many!?”
Sorcha nodded. “Avalon is a small population and most of that is focused on expansion and development. Farming isn’t a priority for them.”
“Ok. What next then?”
“Ideally we’d want the Avalonians to supply mentors. They’re basically teachers and guardians. They stay in accommodation with groups of liberated pets. Nowadays most of them are liberated pets themselves so they’re able to relate pretty well. They teach them the basics, help them day to day, go through group counselling…lots of stuff. It’s really Lessy’s area. She’s been pretty involved in their program here.” Sorcha said and paused.
“You think this is all doable?” Loona asked rather impressed by just how much Sorcha was able to rhyme off the top of her head.
“I wouldn’t just dump a few million Humans, no matter how bad it is. Start with one hundred thousand. Spend three or four months settling them, teaching them and starting the groundwork. With a bit of luck from that you establish a good base of mentors that can help the transition for a larger group.”
Loona’s eyes lit up a bit. She was impressed. But she wasn’t keen on delaying given the problems that existed already. “And what if we can’t? What if we just have to drop a few million on a fresh world?”
Sorcha grimaced. “Look, Loona this doesn’t sound hypothetical. Reading between the lines it sounds like Qorni has screwed you and you’re trying to pull a plan out of your ass. Avalon don’t want to take all the liberated pets which is fair enough given all they’ve been through already. But I’m telling you. If you drop all the Humans you have on a world, even with plenty of Titan minders and as many mentors as Avalon can give you, it will end it riots and all sorts of mayhem.”
Loona sighed. Sorcha had a point. Loona had forgotten for a moment it was people they were dealing with. People who would be traumatised, uncertain and afraid.
“Sorcha I think I owe you an apology.”
“Why?” Sorcha asked confused.
“When I asked Pryvani who should run this colony she recommended you and I near laughed her out of my office.” Loona half smiled.
Loona expected a witty retort or a smug grin from Sorcha. She did not expect a look of terror.
“Me!? Are you mad!? I can’t do that!? I’m a consultant! I don’t know the first thing about managing a colony! People will end up dead Loona!”
Loona held up her hand to the screen again and Sorcha stopped her ranting but still looked terrified. “Pryvani recommended you. I’m just testing the waters. I don’t even know where to begin here myself but you seem to know.”
Sorcha shrugged. “I’ve always been quick with this stuff. I pick it up without trying. I’ve learned a lot from Avalon but I didn’t build it. The Avalonians did with Pryvani’s help. Me and Lessy just helped put the gok’ma on top of the kaek.”
“She speaks very highly of you. She said the Avalonian Government do as well.”
“Dunno why. I piss a lot of people off.” Sorcha emphasized the words ‘a lot’ with her eyes.
“I heard about the famers’ revolt.” Loona smirked.
“And your first call was me?”
Loona leaned back and tented her fingers. “Sorch, if there’s one thing I’ve learnt from being in government, no matter what you do you’re do you’re going to piss people off. I’m pretty sure there’s a few dozen protestors outside today with my name on their signs. Pryvani also told me you basically devised Avalon’s whole farming system?”
Sorcha nodded. “Yeah it wasn’t hard. Simple matter of looking at what’s needed, what is in place and what needs to change? Implementing that while keeping people happy isn’t really my thing…That’s why I just stick to coming up with the ideas and implementing them. The politics is for better people.”
Loona smiled broadly. “You get things done.”
“I do what I can.”
“I’m going to check some references and speak to a few more people. Can you do me a favour and start putting a plan together? From the sounds of it we’re about to build a whole world from scratch here. This is something that hasn’t been done for over a century. I’m not saying it’ll be you but you seem to know what you’re talking about.” Loona said.
Sorcha nodded uncertain. “Ok…ok, I’ll see what I can come up with.”
“Thanks Sorch. I’ll be in touch.”
The screen went black and Sorcha held her pad in her hands and just stared at the darkness for a few seconds before she could even vocalise what she felt.
“Támíd suas crompán an chacamais gan chésla!” Sorcha whimpered. “Mummy! Help!”
(Author’s note: Kudos to DX for providing the Ammer/Loona make up exchange in the middle)
Man, seems like humans just can’t win for losing. Loving the story though. Can’t wait for the next update!
“Qorni has the majority there. And every one of her caucus sitting on that committee is against us. ”
What committee was Ammer talking about?
I’m assuming it’s the Budget Committee.
Yeah Sorcha is an odd choice but maybe Pryvani sees something else, something that gives Sorcha an edge over the other hybrids out there.
As to Sorcha though, I’d react that way too if I were suddenly given that job.
I was a bit surprise that Sorcha was the only one they could think of, she is not the only hybrid around and don’t say because she is the first hybrid, while that may be true, I find the gap between when she was born to when the next hybrid born not very long . We haven’t really got to know about the others, I would like to see more on them. How about Pryvanni’s kids am sure that one or two are up there with Sorcha and that they are Pryanni’s kids and should have her mind set and know how to run things and for things to work out.
Anyway, so far the story is not what I thought it would be, sounds more like The Debate part. 2, all the politics parts not fan of it, has yet to really have any fun chapters, like the stories of Physics, Exile had. I only say this is because I hear enough about politics in real life and to read a story that is a lot of politic heavy is more of a headache for me to read and makes it hard to really enjoy.
Not bad mouthing it, just saying its not as fun as the earlier stories or even some of the side stories that are going on. Am just not a fan of the politic side of the story.
My favourite thing to write is one on one character books. Niall and Naskia, Luke and Aisell. That sort of thing. Hybrid was never going to be that type of story.
When DX came along and added a layer of politics it got incorporated into Hybrid. I think it actually compliments the story very well. The plot hasn’t changed one bit from the original plan 2 years ago. What has changed is the background to it is more detailed. Personally I like the mix of politics and action and it definitely works for what the story is supposed to be (in my opinion).
Though I do love my one on ones.
Well, I an contractually obligated to state that *looks down at paper* “Sorcha-Free-man, is the best person for the job.” *Looks up and gives a toothy smile* “She…is..a..dear…and…is…perfect…for the position….look at readers and smile….” *Looks at readers and smiles*.
*Throws paper over his shoulder in crumpled heap* I won’t lie, I hate that character nearly as much as I hate Quendra from Nomad. But the characters in universe are sort of right. She’s the only hybrid with the gall to take the job, and the only one who’s fool hardy enough.
I don’t like her, I think she’s a spoiled little brat with an attitude, but I trust Pryvani knows what she’s talking about.
*Sighs*
Oh, and I give cudos to OHH for sticking to his guns, remember when Hybrid was dreamed up, there was no Contact, it was to be the story that followed Exile, D.X wasn’t in on the fun, and none of the other Hybrids existed. I think, personally, OHH has done a wonderful job keeping the integrity of his original idea, while adapting to all the curve balls thrown his way by Contact, and the addition of the host of other Hybrids who’ve been added to the mix.
All I can say is, I think he’s got a good handle on this.
*bows, then throws darts at a picture of Sorcha*
That’s a good explanation as to why we know so little of the other Hybrids. From a story telling perspective Sorcha is the right choice to go with, we are most familiar with her and she represents the next generation and beginning to turn the page on main cast. She’s passionate, strong willed/headstrong, smart, but has some glaring flaws that can hinder her, but that is what makes a story more interesting. Readers don’t want a perfectly well adjusted, completely in control character. By the way, I’m not saying that is what you mean Dann. If a character comes from a good home, good family, with all the privilege and opportunity in the universe and is angry, not in control of her emotions and occasionally her physical actions (occasionally…all the time….same thing), and spoiled it can grind on others because it is sort of unrealistic.
However, I think the source of uneasiness in people over the choice of Sorcha is partially because the author/authors know her much better than the readers do. From our perspective we’ve actually had very few times to get to know the character.
Let me explain. We’ve only seen Sorcha in 3 stories. She was in 1 chapter of Physics, at the end, with a short speech and little development. A good intro of the character and teaser for Hybrid, as it was conceived then, and rightly so. We see her again in a brief cameo in Campaign, as a young girl, not much to go with there. Finally, we see her in Contact. However, Contact is not Sorcha’s story. First, it is one of the shorter of the “main” stories, and is compacted to be a bit more of a sort of action story with explanations on both ends of history. Second, a large portion of it is to catching the readers up to the next storyline and has significant focus on Earth and on updating us on the history of our old main characters during that time. Third, it has a large cast. In fact, due to the large cast and introduction of new characters she plays an important contributory role, but probably not a main one. Yes she has some chapters that focus on her, but they are not the main focus. Also, due to the fast pace and compacted timeline of the main story, until the time skips at the end, the reader is only seeing her over a few days. We hear briefly about her time helping Avalon, but other than a couple of brief references to events there we have no feel of what that experience was like, and what kind of impression it left on her and what valuable lessons she may or may not have learned that will prepare her for this next step.
Now, coupled with the time skips at the end of Contact and throughout Debate, we arguably don’t even know Contact Sorcha very well. It has been 5 Titan years. People, particularly adolescents like Sorcha, can change in that kind of time. Especially people like Sorcha who don’t operate like normal Titans. We already know from her that she always felt out of place with Titans, partially because she developed physically and mentally faster. So while she may not think of it as 30 years like a Human would, she probably perceives it as longer than 5 years. That’s a notable amount of time for her to change, and 5 years of experiences we didn’t share with her because the focus of the end of Contact and Debate was not on her.
My point here is that judgments of Sorcha’s readiness, and indeed her whole character, are flawed because our knowledge of the character is limited (excluding writers like Dann who can dislike her because he knows it all :p). We know she’s smart, we know she’s defiant, we know she’s got a short temper, we know who her parents are, and we know that she did some sort of planning/development work on Avalon. But there seems to be so much more to this character we don’t know, and couldn’t be expected to given her limited on page time. We’ve peeked through the windows, time to get a full tour of the house. This is the story where we will get to know her like we know some of the other mains, and I look forward to that.
Regarding humans getting carried around by titans. What’s up with that? The titans have had gravitics for six thousand years that we know of. Humans have developed them independently already. I get that we don’t have a hoverboard in 2015. I’ve made my peace with that. But in the empire in 2127? They should have some kind of magic carpet thingie to allow humans to travel around buildings made for titans. Heck, people are trying to scale up quadcopters to make personal transport that is admittedly obnoxiously noisy, and they’re doing it in 2015. On Earth.
There is a quick mention in chapter fifteen of The Debate dat Ammer has a hovercraft. My guess is that humans are usually carried around because the Empire has yet to adapt to humans as citizens. A hovercraft is all well and good, but it won’t get you past the average closed door. There is also the risk of crashing into a titan who failed to spot you.
My only question is… What does “Támíd suas crompán an chacamais gan chésla” mean? :3
“We’re up the creek without chésla chacamais” according to Google translate.
I guess chésla chacamais is either Archavian or some part of Irish that Google doesn’t know about
Irish level 1 – Curses: http://www.memrise.com/course/346022/irish-by-zurn/1/ (It says something that Curses are level 1, and Basics is level 2)
“We’re up shit creek without a paddle” is what it means anyway.
Yup, but the translator seems to think the first part is Portuguese.
Well isn’t that strange :3 Probably should’ve just plugged into a website translator though to be honest
Regarding Earth potentially providing significant help, a reminder that the person who said this…
““Oh, that’s not surprising,” Elaine said. “The Titans are there. We’re here. Long as they don’t bother Earth, most people don’t honestly care what happens to the humans in the Empire. Always been that way, always will be, I’m afraid; it’s why people traded with South Africa during Apartheid, or Saudi Arabia when they were oppressing women, or Mandé during the West African War. That’s someone else’s problem. I want my gold, or oil, or what have you.””
Is the current Secretary General of the UN.
Whoa. I didn’t think Loona would lose it like she did just now. Qorni’s actions really caught her by surprise.
*****************
You know, this situation strengthens my belief that the Empire needs humanity if it is to survive long-term. This situation should never have caught everybody unprepared. It’s one thing to say that humans should be (officially) people. Words don’t cost credits. The same can’t be said for the measures necessary to turn humans from abandoned pets into self-sufficient citizens. So this situation was far from inconceivable even without Qorni lobbying to turn human emancipation into a disaster in hopes of getting it reversed. There should have been contingency plans ready for this and other possible reactions to the Zeramblin Act. It’s not like there wasn’t enough time; around eighteen years* have passed since First Contact. Anyway, the fact that no contingency planning apparently exists shows how hard it is for titans to even anticipate the unexpected, let alone deal with it unprepared. Humans on the other hand are adept at quickly adapting to whatever happens.
*: Okay, that’s less than three Archavian years, but that excuse only carries so far. Titans don’t think 6.5 times slower than we do, they just deliberate on how to proceed longer. Eighteen Earth years or three Archavian years, it’s more than 150.000 hours either way.
I remember hearing that currently 1 in 3 people in Lebanon is a Syrian refugee. Ammer is right, a colony of 10 million taking is 3 million is very generous. Even with the extra help, I can see going 5 million only if the extra are transitional.
Sorcha, I hope you are up for this. I guess the planet on the cover wasn’t Avalon or Archavia after all. Earth found a nice world on the way to Avalon, wonder if they would object to it becoming a dumping place for former pets like some kind of reservation or ghetto. It’s still pretty close to Hive space, but also close enough that Earth might also be able to help with aid workers and such.
Sorcha is also right about needing to stair step the migration to this new world. Maybe between the Aenur Foundation, HOS and Avalon they can give the liberated humans the basis of an education before sending them off.
Part of the joy in coming into this series completely in the dark is chapters like this…we’re really going to try to build a world from scratch…well shit.
Also love Loona’s initial reaction to Sorcha, just brutal.
fIRST! oK nUtZ……
*eRP stupid cap lock button*
Farmer’s revolt? Hmmm did Sorcha use her father’s well known interpersonal skills here? 🙂
One would think that Pryvani is a novice billionaire industrialist…Jeez…..First rule of doing anything in the biz world is OPM …
There’s one word that is glaringly absent from this conversation : “Earth”. Did Loona, Pryvani and Ammer ever heard of it ?
They don’t even thin Earth would take some refugees ? Offer technical help or advice ?
Or is it so important that all those humans remain within the Empire and if so WHY ? (it’s not like they’re gonna stay on the planet they are currently living on anyway)
As for the plan : buying a whole planet ? OK, but surely there isn’t any that’s completely terraformed already ? At the very least, check, then transform the flora and fauna to be safe for humans (remember Izzy’s disease !).
If there is terraforming work to be done, why not Mars ? Or the planet closest to Earth, around Alpha Centauri ?
Given the current government of Earth was pretty dismissive of fighting for pets in ‘debate’ I would expect their help to be little more than a drop in the bucket.
Riiiiight… Earth – currently outraged with the pet issue – with its 11 billion people, high technology and resources, would be less help than Avalon, an 8 million people world, less advanced technologically.
Sure.
Well, the European Union with its half-a-billion people is struggling with just over half a million refugees right now, and that is the richest region on Earth. So 11 billion people might well struggle with 11 million people, let alone 250.
Right now it is no longer a pet issue, it is now a refugee crisis, completely different animal. See current events in Europe for an example.
And part of the rage on Earth was that they could be considered animals as well, now that is no longer the case are they still going to keep that rage going?
Earth, while populated is probably pretty stable in terms of population. As they noted Avalon has just gone through continued rapid growth for 150 earth years. I suspect Avalon is able to absorb millions easier than Earth. Also, Qorni may have been angling to force the refugees to Earth simply to permanently get them out of any possible of being voting citizens of the empire. Now the question is which super-Mu world does Pryvani have in mind? Tau Ceti E?, Vulcan?,Pi3 Orinis? Excluding the ones in ice ages or with other issues like Ibanez there are some that we know little about including a couple in the Lakar system. The authors will have Pryvani surprise us with someplace we haven’t heard of before.
I think I can guess at a few of your questions:
As for why not ask Earth. Earth is a foreign nation. It would be like a country in our world asking to dump a large number of people they don’t into another country. I just don’t even see the act of asking a possibility. Related to that, Everything inside Saturn’s? (I believe, might be Jupiter or elsewhere) orbit is territory of the Earth, so would fall under the same principles.
As far as technical advice, we don’t know who all Loona has in mind for contacts, we can’t really rule out her asking individuals from Earth for advice, but it’s unlikely she knows many. (Even we, the semi-omniscient readers, don’t really know very many people there.)
Regarding the other issue, finding a planet, while it may seem strange to us, probably isn’t as bad as it sounds. While the analogy on our own world would be countries, all humans have essentially the same land requirements, and hence are in competition. However, I’m sure there are many charted worlds in the Titan empire, that while unsuitable for Titans, are fine for a mostly Human population. (The Super-Mu class)
The last thing I’m wondering about tho is, 250 million humans seems really low. I thought there were billions of humans in the empire?
250 million is just from shelters and pet stores. That number is also climbing due to titans abandoning their former pets at shelters.
The census Loona mentioned in Chapter Four found just 225 million humans. It was estimated to be off by at least ten percent, but I find it hard to believe that it didn’t count privately owned pets.
250 million seems really low to me too, but Loona would know better than us, seeing how she was part of the Tarsuss Committee. I’m pretty sure that “billions” did get mentioned once or twice, but we never got anything definitive before the census. Most likely “billions” was just a guess. I was recently trying to find the number of pet cats on Earth and could only find rough estimates that varied wildly.
Well outside of Kumbayaville Earth would still be dealing with itself 170 years + in the future..And 11 bill seems to be a tad low given the current rate of reproduction..sooo 250M extra humans would be uhhh a problem…
Mars would take waaay too long to be a reasonable settlement. Unless transforming activities were already undertaken and ongoing for (at least) 100 + years..
The planet may or may not be in the empire..If Earth is legally considered to be outside the empire then why not one of the suitable Terran planets recently discovered…may even be politically advantageous for Earth
I actually thought about it, but 11 billion actually lines up with projected population growth rates.
I dont think that Pryvanni would have to buy whole new planet… Im not sure, but there is propably a new colony settlement program in Empire, and besides, Earth could give a list of handful of worlds ready (more or less, at least the terraforming isnt needed) to settle on… And im pretty much sure there are other planets/moons/rock chunks, that Titans thought as viable, with the exception of gravity.
I dont think that estabilishing a colony by imperial settlers required buying whole world by them… So avalonians as citizens of Empire could officially do all the formalities, and i guess that Earth would donate some minds as well, since (i suppose) they would also want to start the colonisation, and a joint Earth-Avalon colony, as a shelter and education place for former pets seems logical.
Regarding buying a planet, I’m sure that it’ll be one that won’t need terraforming. No sense in getting some Mars-like world when the Empire has a number of Super Mu worlds that are very much like Earth and only lack development because the bigger species can’t handle the gravity. Like Avalon must have been before the Tarsuss family started bringing humans from Earth. However, even the best world will still need farmland, houses, factories, etcetera.
A planet does not need to be bought. Pryvani could raise the funds though her connections or various fundraisers..She knows a lot of rich people with resources who would be willing to contribute to the cause..
In the meantime all these refugees need training and education. Just can’t go out and plob (plot? …plub?… boink?) on any ole’ uninhabited Super-Mu planet
Uhhh on 2nd thought why buy anything at all…Just find a suitable planet, secure legal rights and off ya go…Probably would need coupla shekels for infrastructure and settlement and all that jazz….
Talking to myself again…weird eh?
Yup. I’m sure even Qorna will be happy to set aside a mu class planet as a refuge for humans provided it doesn’t become another Imperial province.