ICHaFBI 8

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=I, Corvus; How a Fool became Imperator of the O'Reillys - Chapter VIII -=
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----<Character & Faction Directory of I, Corvus>----
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===Quiet conversation between peers===
Nkrumah Hall, University of Niops
Sagan City
Niops VII, Niops Association
19th April, 3031
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Corvus opened the door for Magistrate Sato. She bowed as she entered, and as she raised her head stopped in amazement. “My, they’ve given you the royal treatment, haven’t they?”
 
Corvus chuckled and began to lead her on a tour of the small mansion they called the Alumni House, “Y-y-yes indeed. In theory, it’s available to any graduate who wants to rent it, but I have my doubts. The woman who runs the place says I’m the third guest all year.”
 
“Truly incredible. I’ll have to read some of your work when I get the chance. I’ve heard your lectures have been going exceptionally well. Even in the capital building they all want to discuss you.”
 
They had agreed on the DropShip down to assume that any lodgings were bugged and that they would both be followed. Corvus was technically not here as part of the talks and didn’t have diplomatic privileges. He took her words to mean: the professors are as well connected as our intelligence shows, keep it up.
 
“Ah, it’s such an honour! I wish I c-c-could stay here, it will be a shame to return to the palace after living in a place of such learning. I’ve made so many friends here at the university.” I’ve convinced a large number of them that annexation is in their best interest.
 
“Maybe you won’t have to leave after all. I’m sure the Imperator would approve of an extended stay here, maybe you’ll even be able to teach a little as a visiting professor.” The annexation talks are going well.
 
“Oh, do you really think so? I should ask him. Perhaps you could write to him for me on the next sent of dispatches?” Any news from home?
 
“That reminds me, “ she pulled out a stack of papers, “Our latest diplomatic bundle arrived today. There are a few letters to you from Lucia.”
 
It was a lie, Lucia was nowhere near an HPG as she jumped system to system on the way to Terra. The letters were pre-written and sent with every bundle, as a way to give him notes without suspicion. He sat in a reclining chair and beckoned for her to sit. “Give me a moment please, I’d like to read them.” Just as he suspected, there were notes clipped in between. Facts and figures mostly, mining output, crop yields, crime data, economic indicators. Not at all what he was expecting. He took his time looking over them and started making the connections.
 
“Ah, my little star. She always knows exactly what to say to brighten my day.” This is exactly what I needed. “I’ll write her a response later. I have to prepare for my lecture tonight.” I know exactly when to use it.
 
“Well, I shouldn’t keep you then. Good luck tonight, professor.”
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===Mental Dueling===
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The sixth and final lecture had gone off near-perfectly, and Corvus was as glad to be over as he had been exhilarated to start. He’d been working sixty hour weeks just to get each lecture written, eighty if you count the required socializing. He wondered how the professional professors managed.
 
Even with the last lecture finished, there was no rest. A crowd of dignitaries filled the atrium of Nkrumah Hall for the reception. The congratulatory speeches were over and people were mingling. He would have to work fast, before the dignitaries had too much to drink.
 
Corvus sipped on Banana Liquor. Corvus hated drinking. A life spent desperately trying to maintain control over your worst urges did not lend itself to drink. But he needed to keep up appearances, and ricks would have to be taken. It tasted like pure sugar, but it was the least alcoholic thing he could find.
 
Around him were many of the elite of Niopian society. He’d heard that Niops was ruled by the descendants of scientists and scholars, but nothing could have prepared him for this. Almost every politician and bureaucrat either had been or still was part of the network of professors, researchers, and administrators at the University or one of the major research institutes or think tanks.
 
“All I’m s-saying is that I was amazed how similar our societies were. I mean, Dr. Sinclair, you’re a sociologist, imagine the work you could do trying to find out how the Hegemony and Association managed to create such incredibly similar societies, with such divur-vur-vurgent histories. Freedman, you and I could write the history!”
 
Freedman smiled and raised a glass to that. Corvus had grown tired of the man, following him around like a puppy, but he was also an advisor to the director of foreign affairs. Sinclair was being groomed for a promotion to Associate, only a step down from the head of state.
 
“Just think! You have your educated c-c-class and your worker class, both of them hereditary. Oh, d-d-don’t look at me like that Sinclair, your own work shows that it’s true. How many of your students come from the lower orders, hmm? We have our plebs and our patricians, same as you.”
 
“One thing we don’t have, is slaves. I think that makes us different enough.” Natalya Rajkumar. He hadn’t seen her appear.
 
Corvus conceded the point and moved on. She’d outmaneuvered him on political topics before, best to move to other areas. “There are differences of course, but compare our cultures to that of the Free Worlds League, or Circinus, or Astrokazy. Culturally, we are far more similar than we are different. But while we prize learning, we have nothing like this! Imagine you could all be deans and presidents of your own universities, shaping the minds of twelve billions souls.”
 
“We might flourish alone like that for a generation, Corvus, but we could have done so at any point in the last three centuries. We have a master purpose here, to be the guardians of civilization. Every single man woman and child in Niops works towards this purpose. One day, when the sphere is ready, we will bring civilization back to”
 
“And w-w-why not now?” he asked.
 
“Look around you at the chaos we see. War on a scale not seen in decades. The galaxy isn’t ready, they wouldn’t listen even if we tried.”, Natalya told him.
 
“The Hegemony is listening.”
 
“The Hegemony is the world war-monger of them all. Joining you would mean the end of the master purpose, and three hundred years would have been for nothing.”
 
Corvus nodded along and rubbed his chin, trying not to show his pleasure at the opening she’d walked him to. “I see what you mean, you have your core values, and nothing should change that. But as Dr. Sinclair knows well, societies evolve to meet new challenges. When Niops opens up the world a decade from now, who will it reach out to?”
 
“Corvus, we’re self-sufficient. There are no plans to open ourselves, not to you, or to anyone.”
 
“Oh...I...I’m sorry. I, just assumed that’s how you would solve the shortage.”
 
Natalya narrowed her eyes in confusion, then they widened. Freedman took the bait instead. “What shortage, Corvus?”
 
“Well, I mean, I was talking to the agronomy department earlier, and they’re struggling to find new fertilizer to replace the d-decl-clining potash yields from Niops V. I m-m-mean, without that, they’re looking at food shortage within the dec-cade. And it’s not just the potash, but the iron, helium, some others too. Five hundred years of extensive extraction will do that to a world, and let’s face it, these were marginal worlds to begin with. It’s a testament to your ingenuity that Niops has flourished in such conditions. Dr. Park, you studied the Mica Majority as Niops’ nearest peer, three worlds in the same system, relatively isolated, relatively high technological base. When their mineral wealth ran out, how did they survive?”
 
“Tourism.”
 
“And when the Succession Wars killed the tourist industry, what happened to the Majority?”
 
No one spoke, they’d all read Dr. Park’s dissertation. None wanted to think about a decline that steep and that barbaric.
 
“Niops will need to open up, but will it be on your terms, or someone else's?”
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===Invitation to a Park===
Southbank Park
Niops Station, Planetary Capital
Niops VII, Niops Association
11th February, 3031
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Corvus sat on a hill overlooking the river that ran throughout the heart of Niops Station, the capital of the Niops Association.
 
This place felt to Corvus like the best parts of Logan Prime and Alphard IV mixed together. All the comforts of the city, but with lush greenery at every turn. The capital of Niops VIII had a quarter of the population of the Imperial capital, yet they covered the same area. The urban planning made provisions for green space and open-air exercise equipment on every block, even the poorest plebeian tenements.
 
It was hard to imagine a city like this growing from a time research station and a refugee camp. But then, was it any stronger than a city of ten million springing up from what was, essentially, an abandoned warehouse complex?
 
He’d declined the High Associator’s offer of a planetary tour. After so much hard work, a few weeks of rest ambling through an unfamiliar city, relaxing with his own thoughts sounded much more inviting.
 
He closed his eyes and enjoyed the breeze off the river, lay down on the grass, and thought of the Imperial garden and his family. Vibius would have loved the place. Lucia would have to see it one day, maybe even study here.
“Corvus?” Came a voice he couldn’t quite place.
 
Corvus opened his eyes and smiled, “Ah, Natalya! I didn’t expect to see you so far from the University.”
 
She smiled and sat down next to him. “I don’t work there, you should know that by now. The Institute is only a few blocks downriver. Here, take one.” She held out a hand with a cut of ice cream.
 
He smiled back and grabbed the chocolate one. “Why th-thank you.”
 
“I want to thank you for coming here, Corvus. I don’t think I’ve conveyed that from our earlier conversations, but I really do appreciate having you here. You’re not that different from the people here, but you’ve got new ideas. They’re interesting, if often wrong.” She stopped to chuckle to herself. “But it’s been fun to spar with someone who holds a genuinely outside perspective. It’s rare, in my line of work.”
 
“‘It has been an absolute pleasure to get to know you too, Dr. Rajkumar. When p-people disagree with me at home, there’s usually a lot more shouting, and I’m rarely allowed to finish my sentences. Thank you for letting me finish my thoughts before eviscerating them.” He told her.
 
She laughed back at that. “I think it’s your honesty that’s most disarming. The people here, they like to tell you they’re looking for the truth. But they’re not. Only following their agenda. You’ve no idea how many truths are strangled in the cradle here behind closed doors. You, I think you’ve told the truth every time you’ve opened your mouth on this planet, and you’re able to make the unvarnished truth further your agenda regardless.”
 
“Oh, I d-d-don’t know about that.” Corvus said.
 
“No, it’s true I think. That’s what’s dangerous about you, Corvus. How do you like the ice cream?” she asked
 
“It’s lovely.” 
 
“Is it really? We’ve never been able to grow cocoa here. I don’t think the people who made this have ever tasted the real thing. Does it really taste like this?” she inquired him.
 
“Not quite, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t good. The c-cream is real, isn’t it? The swill Dairy Primus sells as ch-chocolate ice cream c-contains neither chocolate nor c-c-cream, but their molecular gastronomists manage to make corn and oats into something that tastes exactly like the original.”, he explained.
 
She laughed and shook her head. “It’s strange, the ways in which your people are more advanced than ours. We never would have thought of something like that..”
“Ten billion minds c-c-can produce more than forty million, even if we don’t m-make use of ours as efficiently as you do with yours.” he remarked
 
She grabbed his cup and stacked it with hers. Then she got up, slapped Corvus on the back and walked away. “Enjoy the rest of your time on Niops, Corvus.” She called after him.
 
He looked out over the river and closed his eyes once more, but the serenity had faded. His shoulder blade itched where Natalya had touched him. He reached around to scratch it. His skin felt wet with sweat. Strange, he thought, it wasn’t hot outside.
 
He felt the itching worsened, almost unbearable and he scratched harder. The itching transformed into an ache in the muscles. It spread to his chest and by the gods, did his chest hurt. Something was wrong. Was there something in the ice cream? He fumbled around for a sample. Clumsy as he was, he must have spilled something on his toga. “Help me!” He squeaked out. It came out weak, his breath was already getting short. He struggled to his feet, then fell immediately. “Help…” he begged, to anyone who would listen, then the darkness closed in.
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ICHaFBI 8