Christopher Nuttall - Democracy's Light

Colin nodded. The Empire had had a nasty habit of luring entire worlds into debt-peonage, with thousands of descendents scrabbling to pay off debts incurred by their ancestors, debts that were carefully organised to make it impossible for them to escape. Imperial Law had backed the Families — of course — and anyone who defaulted had had to face the SD Troopers. Very few had dared to rebel, but now that the SD threat had been removed they were refuting their debts and trying to stand on their own. Kathy couldn’t blame them — and she felt that it would be morally wrong to force them to continue to pay when the original debts had been paid back long ago — but it was just another nail in the Empire’s coffin.

“We will,” Colin promised. He leaned forward. “And the alien provisions?”

Kathy nodded slowly. After weeks and months of debate, Colin was finally pushing the alien question through Parliament, asking them to remove the Imperial yoke from their worlds and allow them to develop in peace, without further interference from the human race. Some of them, who lived where no human could live safely, would even be allowed to colonise and spread their seed across the Empire. It was the most controversial package in Parliament’s history and bets were already being laid as to the results. The pundits were expecting blood on the walls and riots in the streets.

They might have had a point. Kathy was aware, from her own work, just how anti-alien the vast majority of the human population actually was, even though few of them would have met an alien. Public Information had been spreading horror stories about the alien menace ever since the Empire had been founded, accusing them of everything from cannibalism to attempted genocide, encouraging hatred for the different . An investigative reporter, after the Fall of Earth, had concluded that Public Information had lied repeatedly — although that wasn’t a surprise — and had actually manufactured several alien threats. The human race knew eight living alien races, but Public Information, never ones to let the truth get in the way of a good story, had invented three more, monstrous creatures intent on eating their way through the human worlds. They had found images in old human entertainment programs and given them a reality all of their own.

“The alien worlds add very little to our overall economy,” Kathy said. “The Rock-Monsters help some mining efforts, but others have little to do with the Empire. I suspect that we would be fine if we abandoned their worlds. As long as we don’t pledge ourselves to help them rebuild their economies or anything, we should be fine if we just abandoned them.”

Colin frowned. “And if we did help them?”

“It would be a strain,” Kathy said. She frowned. She rarely offered political advice, but this was important. “It would also be very unpopular.”

“God damn it,” Colin said, suddenly. The frustration in his voice made Kathy blink. “Why is doing the right thing so hard?”

“Because most people don’t think that it is the right thing,” Kathy said, slowly. “The process of re-educating them is going to take centuries, literally, and we don’t have the time to do it for every man, woman and child in the Empire. I think its one of the problems that just has to be dealt with, the sooner the better.”

“I know,” Colin said. “I intend to introduce the bill within a week and then withdraw the remaining garrisons within a month. We’ll keep an eye on the aliens, just in case, but overall we won’t have anything further to do with them. How does that sound?”

“I’m not the one you have to convince,” Kathy said. “I can provide expert economic testimony if you would like, but…”

“I know,” Colin said. “There are times when I wish I could just throw the whole Empire aside and leave.”

“That would condemn billions to death,” Kathy said. She leaned forward. She had never been that close to Colin, but she liked and respected him, enough to want to help him. “Give it a year, maybe two, and the entire Empire will have been reformed. The process will be unstoppable. Isn’t that worth fighting for?”

Kathy wasn’t entirely surprised to see the aircar waiting for her when she came out of the Parliament building, passing the Marine guards and stepping down into the streets. Jason Cordova had said that he would try to come and meet her, but as he’d been working on Earth’s massive defence network, there had been no promises. Kathy had learned to accept that part of their relationship, even though it dragged. When one of them was free, the other might be halfway across the system.

Perhaps we need a holiday as well , she thought, as she reached the aircar… and stopped dead. It wasn’t Cordova. Gwendolyn Cicero looked up as the hatch hissed open and smiled at her, crossing her long legs and leaning back to show off her perfect body. It would have been an alluring sight under other circumstances, but Kathy was too annoyed to care. She had been looking forward to seeing Cordova again.

“Come on in,” Gwendolyn said. Her voice was as perfect as Kathy remembered. “The water is fine, you know.”

Kathy didn’t smile. She had known Gwendolyn from her days before she’d left Earth to try to find her Family’s fortune. Gwendolyn was smart and heartbreakingly pretty, but she was also one of the social queens who had made her life hell. She was over fifty years old, but she looked barely of legal age, even in the Empire. Their paths hadn’t crossed since her departure — she hadn’t met Gwendolyn when she’d come to Harmony as an Ambassador from the Cicero Clan — and she wasn’t pleased to meet her now. In her view, Gwendolyn represented everything that was wrong about the Thousand Families.

“Is it?” She said, as she stepped into the cab. The meeting wasn’t a coincidence. Gwendolyn had gone to some effort to ensure that she met Kathy… and it wouldn’t be for anything mundane. They could have spoken over the communications network for something as simple as a party invitation. Kathy decided to be blunt. “What do you want?”

The aircar, at a muttered command from Gwendolyn, rose up into the air and set course for Kathy’s small house. “Nothing, really,” Gwendolyn said, calmly. Kathy didn’t believe her for a minute. No one would go to so much effort unless they had an ulterior motive. “I was merely wondering if you intend to attend the wedding of Tiberius and Alicia?”

Kathy almost smiled at the scorn in Gwendolyn’s voice. It was no secret that Gwendolyn thought that she should have been the Cicero — it was a fairly common delusion among the second-tier aristocrats — and her dislike of her superior was obvious. It was also unbelievable. The decision to come to meet her wasn’t something that fitted her question.

“I have been invited,” Kathy said. She would have preferred not to attend — she disliked social occasions because of all the backbiting, led by people like Gwendolyn — but Tiberius had invited her personally and that made it almost impossible to decline. “I think I might be attending.”

“How wonderful,” Gwendolyn gushed. Kathy eyed her suspiciously. “Perhaps a blend of silks and satins…”

“Perhaps you should stop the game and tell me what you want,” Kathy snapped, running out of patience. “I don’t believe that you came here merely to question my dress sense.”

“Well, we wouldn’t want a repeat of the catfight between Lady Elysium and Lady Ayasia, would we?” Gwendolyn asked. Kathy had to smile. The two snobs had both purchased the same dress from an exclusive fashion designer. “That was very disruptive…”

“And the real reason?”