Well, now that it’s lunch break from the Town Meeting things sure have been hopping.  Between scrambling for ice, keeping an eye on all the backroom politicians and an ear to the ground for the inside story [can you imagine all the confidences entrusted to the barkeep!], I noticed that Jules looked wan and weary.  “Jules, how about if I have JJ and the girls cover while we grab a sandwich and cup of tea at the tent.”  When he agreed, we walked slowly and quietly to our soft-sided abode. 

“Hanna, I wasn’t going to say anything but I’m not feeling well.  I’m not sure what’s the matter.  But you must have already noticed, dear.  Thanks for getting me out of that din.” 

“Would you like to rest for a bit, sweetheart?  Maybe pulling watch last night and then jumping right into the meeting was a bit much for you.  May I ask Linda to have a look at you?  Maybe the shorter Alchiban days make some difference to your heart med.”

“Good idea.  You know, maybe I forgot to take my tablet last night.”  ……….

After Linda finished examining Jules, she said, “Dad, everything seems stable, and your vitals are fine.  Why don’t you lay low for the rest of the day, and if you feel any worse call me immediately.  I’ll send R. Flo over; what better nurse than Florence Nightingale herself! and we’ll spot check on you too.  Just to be on the safe side, I want you at the Lab tomorrow for a check up. 

And Mom, you should pace yourself.  No need running yourself ragged at the Inn; we’ll get more help for you.”

I moved away from the table where Travis still sat and tucked the bottle into the “Game Pouch” of my jacket. Moving to the bar I passed the ice bucket and my glass to Hanna!

Hanna reached for them and said,“My, but that seemed to go well.” I just nodded and said, “I have more in common with that man that anyone else on or around Alchibah. Command is a lonely place to be! Believe me, I know!”

I moved down the bar to where Histy was holding forth with several people I did not recognize. “Historian, if I may have a minute of your time?”

His surprised look was followed by, “Ladies and Gentlemen it seems business calls.”

He moved to an open table nearby and asked, “To what do I owe this sudden formality Col Stuart?”

“Well, Mr. Moderator. As soon as we reconvene, I would like to introduce a ‘Point of Order” to clarify where we are going here. As I understand the ‘Town Meeting’ concept ‘Roberts Rules of Order’ apply.”

His face cracked in a grin,”Why yes, I believe they do. If I might ask, did you and Capt. Travis come to some sort of accommodation.”

“Well Histy, R. J. damn sure would have known how much we have in common and yes I believe we did! So, do I get my Point of Order?”

“Well certainly but, if I may ask what has you so disturbed?”

“Sure Histy, the very life of Clan Alchibah; that’s all!”

As I turned to leave and ditch the bottle Ash came up. “Let’s get someplace quiet and talk.”

“OK, I was going to put this bottle up so mine and Mariana’s tent should do.”

When we got to the tent he said,”Somebody is running a phishing E-mail scam over the local net and I can’t crack it. It’s damn good and it’s firmware on somebody’s device.  It’s seems like nothing that would have been illegal even back on Earth.  But it has the feel of a well practiced Political Machine.  I don’t know what they are trying to do but, just as the ‘Town Meeting’ is going on. If it looks like a Rat and smells like a Rat, how far can Buchanan be behind it?”

I just stared, “So run a Traffic Analysis nexus on it and document where it came from! We can shove it up his rear later, from a Political standpoint!”

Ash flared up like a defensive Coon Hound, “Cause I don’t have that kind of computing power! Not with the array broken between the Astro search and Med Lab. All I can do is look like a dummy!”

I stood stunned, of course He did not know. “OK, Ash take this.” I said as I reached into my cargo pocket and pulled out the Granddad of the array. “Here, Mariana don’t even know this exists so keep your yap shut!”

He just looked at me and said, “Exactly how much of HP did you say you owned?”

   “The apology went better than I thought it would.” I said to myself as I left the mess tent and walked over to the base of Windmill Hill where as expected Burt Buchanan was waiting. There were robots charging up on top but no one other than Burt within eyesight.

   “How’s it going Burt? Do I win?”

   “Gotta lock on it. Travis going public with his demand for a space jockey on the board will cinch it. Without him saying anything his candidate would have gotten ninety, ninety-five percent. Now he still gets some one on the council but he’s not a force with a huge block of votes to direct elsewhere.

   “Conner Benjamin gets some support but is not a sure thing. His daughter Jaisa will help to win a few votes and hurt with as many or maybe more. Those who figure it’s a lousy parent that has a wild child. His public positions from all the recordings our people have made in conversation with him, or when near enough to catch what he was saying to others, show him to be politically in about the same spot as your public persona. Using targeting software we have gotten position papers generated under your name directed at any that seem destined to vote for Benjamin. The people delivering them are naturally pointing out that two like minded people on a board can accomplish more than one. No one is organized against us so this is almost too easy.”

   “The Historians in… if he wants to be. Not sure he does though. Due to all his work in the E/A, the software, to coin a phrase, ‘Reads him like a book’. We’ll make sure everyone cross referenced as a natural supporter gets something from you showing similar opinions. He comes off fairly neutral and middle of the road at first glance but is actually a bit more complicate but for our purposes that is of little concern.”

   “What should have been a concern looks like it wont be. The small government types, almost half the population, aren’t putting up a fight. Neither Stuart, nor Bartlett, their strongest candidates have any interest in even running. Either or both of them would have gotten elected easily. As it is they will put up someone to act as a puppet who might not even make it. We will do what we can to get a few of those voters to go with us too. Originally I had planned to have proxies nominate a few more small government types to split the vote but the program says without a strong candidate to give em just one to vote for. Many in that camp who would once have given a vote to Travis will now send it our way.”

   “Damn! After this is over we really need to thank the good Captain for coming off as such an out and out authoritarian.”

   “There will be a few more fringe nominations. I even hear there is some support for Kara. We’ll get Jack the Blade up as a distraction cause he makes you look nice. Our hard core supporters will just vote for you and not even cast the rest of their votes thus limiting the total vote count an opposition candidate can receive. Before the nominations close we’ll know if we need to put up one or two more to insure the best mix for splitting up the rival parties and maximizing your count…. The key to this whole thing Les is that we are organized, and have the right political software. In politics organization trumps ideas every time.“

   “Burt you never cease to amaze me with your insight. If you had been running my campaigns back on Earth I would have been the Governor. I never knew those kinds of computer programs even existed”

   “You weren’t supposed to know they existed Les. And yeah your right about being Governor, but back on Earth you couldn’t have afforded me. Let’s finish this up. Here is a list of people you need to talk to between now and when the meeting reconvenes. And here is another for afterwards.”

   I took the papers, glanced at them then shoved them into my pocket. Burt was already heading back to the meeting area. I gave him a few minutes then followed.

Em and I were eating at Hanna’s, just sitting and chatting. Town meeting had just adjourned for lunch. I was really enjoying it (town meeting, that is – the lunch was just so-so). I remember going to a couple when I was a kid, with the whole family. That was back when grampa was governor, and me and dad and mom would go with him and gramma. Grampa was well respected, but at town meeting he was just another citizen, and he always said he wouldn’t have it any other way. And now we were making a government from scratch. Grampa would have loved this.

Anyway, back to what I was saying. Em and I were having lunch at Hanna’s while the twins were eating with dad and Kaiya. That was going to take some getting used to. Since mom died he hadn’t so much as looked at another woman. I want him to be happy of course, but the fact that she’s closer in age to me than to him is a little unsettling, I guess. All right, enough getting sidetracked.

So after a few minutes Lester Reye walked in the tent, obviously looking for something. Us, as it turns out. As soon as he spotted us he started walking over, though not particularly purposefully, stopping to chat with the few people who didn’t think he was a complete douche (he rather pointedly skipped Buchanan and Jack’s table though). Obviously he was up to something, but I doubted he was looking for another fight. You never knew though. I stood up as he got to our table.

“I assume you’re here to apologize?” I asked.

“Yes, yes. I don’t know what got into Burt. I’m just glad you stopped him before he did anything. And Jaisa, I know you did your best in cataloging the plants. It’s not your fault you missed a couple.” He wrung his hands. “I’m so sorry there was a misunderstanding about my intentions. I don’t blame you at all for overreacting when I started to correct Burt.”

“Liar.” Emily breathed, standing up. “You w-” I touched her arm. As she glanced at me I shook my head slightly and started talking.

“Of course, Lester. We both overreacted a bit. Let’s just call it a wash, all right? I’m really sorry if I hurt your wrist, and I appreciate you understanding about the plants.” I clapped him on the shoulder, gently squeezing a pressure point. He winced. “I’ll see you around, alright?” I turned around, sitting back down dismissively. Em took my cue and did the same.

“Why did you let him get away with that? We both know that he was going to shove me, at least. And now he just gets off the hook?” Emily asked, almost whispering. The tent was packed with everyone who just got out of town meeting and noisy as hell, and none of the slackers or snakes were near us, so I figured there was no harm in talking about this here.

“That’s the thing. You know and I know and so does my dad, but other than that that’s not what people saw. I realized what he was doing and reacted. Even the people looking right at us wouldn’t have been sure what happened. So now it’s the three of us and whoever believes us, which means Sinopa, the Stuarts, my family and your family basically. Maybe the Yamasaks, Kara, Joe, Bart and Janie as well, but that’s it. Beyond that as far as people are concerned I did overreact. The best we can do is downplay it and move on.” I laughed. “That’s not to say we can’t have a little fun with it though. I bet he’s fuming after we just dismissed him like that.”

“But…now you look like the bad guy.”

“Yup, and it’s my fault. If I had waited instead of just reacting everyone would have known what he was doing.” I shrugged, “Live and learn. I’m not used to all this politics crap.” I noticed Maylin and Liza coming over.

“What was that about?” Liza asked, putting her tray down and taking a seat.

“Reye just came over to ‘apologize,’” Emily said, obviously still smoldering.

“Ah. By your tone I assume the apology, um, wasn’t one.” May commented. Em nodded glumly. “Oh don’t worry about that little pissant bureaucrat. What goes around comes around, and that’s never more true than when you’re in the minority. And with this pit bull watching him,” she jabbed her thumb in my direction, “he ain’t gonna try nothin!” That prompted a giggle from Liza and an eye roll from me.

“Look, fresh meat!” May nodded towards Kaye, the white haired youth who got me to trip over my own tongue, the Reyes’ teen son Mike (who I had so far avoided meeting) and another boy (man?) I had seen around but not met yet. He was Asian and looked not quite twenty, probably six feet and you could just tell he was ripped even through his t-shirt. And handsome besides. May raised her hand to wave them over.

“No, don’t!” I hissed through my teeth, grabbing her hand down. “Kaye by himself is bad enough, but if both of them came over here at once I think my brain would just turn to mush! Oh god, they’re coming over.”

“Poor Jai. You could beat em up but you can’t talk to them. Aww.” May said. They laughed, while I turned red.

“I call dibs on the hottie,” May whispered, giggly.

“Which one?” Liza asked dreamily as they walked over.

“Mind if we join you ladies?” Kaye’s friend asked.

“Terribly, terribly. No, of course not! Take a load off.” May laughed. “I’m May, and let me introduce you to these lovely ladies of Liberty. This is Jai, the one with the temper – you may have heard of her,” she gestured towards me, “and this is Emily and Liza.”

“Ryu. It’s a pleasure to meet all of you. I think you already know who Kaye and Mike are.”

“G’day,” Kaye nodded.

“Hi,” Mike raised his hand awkwardly. “Don’t hold my parents against me, ok? They’re basically good people, but they’re in over their head. And I don’t know what dad just said to you just now, but he really is sorry for the other night. They sure managed to make a lot of people mad at them, so just pretend I’m an orphan or something, k?” I was expecting a mini Lester, but he didn’t seem all that bad, really.

“It’s good to meet you Mike. And you too Ryu.” Emily said. “I won’t hold your parents against you Mike, if you don’t hold their opinions against me.” She smiled.

We finished up lunch, talking about everything from what we’d been doing (sounds like Mike had actually helped out on the town hall, so he had one up on his dear old dad there), to where we had all come from to who we were thinking of voting for for the council. It looked like the voting age was going to be sixteen, which meant that all of us but Mike and Liza were going to be able to vote, and we weren’t taking the responsibility lightly. Buchanan and company might want to dismiss us as “kids,” but I think we get as well as anyone here the enormity of what we’re doing. We kids are going to be contributing members of our little society, whether everyone likes it or not.

 
As Histy called for the lunch break, I held back from leaving until Travis was walking by me.  “Travis, if you will meet me in Hanna’s place in about five minutes I owe you a drink as I recall.”  I took his puzzled look and nod as a yes.

Making a speed run to the tent, I grabbed the full bottle of Ash’s donated Beam Daniels Grand Reserve and headed for Hanna’s Place.

Entering through the side flap, I saw Travis coming in the front entrance.  “Hanna, ice and glasses are all I need please!”  She handed me a bucket and two glasses with a questioning look, I just gave her a grin and a nod in Travis’s direction; her look showed even more confusion.

Walking over I said, “Glenn, as promised I am buying.”  Again that nod we had all come to know as agreement!

I sat down at a table in the farthest corner put some ice in a glass and poured three fingers of booze, then gestured at Travis.  He moved over took a glass with ice, poured himself about three fingers and gestured with the glass.

“Sorry to have hit you that way about Military separation but, it headed off some crap I was hearing at Buchanan’s table.  To be honest, there have to be some differences between the ground and space environments just to be safe!  Care to discuss me backing two cities; Liberty, Alchibah and Mayflower, Alchibah?”

Travis took a slow pull on his drink, thought a moment, and then said, “Here’s the thing, Andy, a ship – even one the size of the Mayflower, can’t be a democracy.  It just can’t and never in the history of all ships, water bourn or space bound has a democracy worked.  Oh, I captain with the lightest of touches but in the end, I have to be the final decision maker, arbiter of disputes, and sometimes, as was needed on the voyage here, cop, prosecutor, judge, and jury.

“Now,” he continued, “We have every intention of doing our best to protect you folks because firstly, you’re our friends and secondly, it’s in our own interests.  What threatens you threatens us. And we will work with you to those ends, without asking for anything in return.

“But realistically, our society will never resemble yours on the planet and just as we cannot – should not – presume to tell you how to run your town, so too, we need autonomy to run our lives as we see fit.”

It was my turn obviously, “I could not agree with you more Glenn, what we have to do is head off the idiots who do not understand Command Authority or why it is absolutely necessary.  So if you agree I am going to go back into that meeting and propose a Federal type system.  The council we are discussing is the Federal level and Mayflower has to be represented.  Then each city-state Liberty and Mayflower have their own councils and sets of rules!  How you have to gig a crewmember for leaving an air-tight hatch open should be none of our business.  Just as how we have to convince a ground bunny not to go out of protected areas without something big enough to drop a slizzard is our problem!

“Anyone who can even begin to understand the concept of a gravity well is going to realize that the bulk of the defense for Alchibah is going to have to come from Mayflower.  However, we don’t want the ground dwellers worrying about that.  They are going to have to learn their own survival skill set as I am afraid many of them do not understand how hostile a frontier can be!

“We are going to need each other but, we don’t need to be in each others business!”

“Exactly,” Travis said, “And that is why, from a governmental sense of things Mayflower and Liberty need to be considered as separate entities.  I’m sure that trade between the two of us will be profitable for both.  For instance,” and he paused, giving Stuart a pointed look, “I’m hoping you will support a little proposition I will make to the town leaders once land issues are decided.  In exchange for the four lifeboats – converted to have much greater range, shielding, and such armaments as we can currently provide, I’m hoping the colony will grant us a few acres of land in your town.  After all – I can’t very well deny my crew the occasional shore leave.

“There are many things that each colony can trade with,” he continued, “For instance, we will certainly welcome fresh foods, once your agriculture is up and running.  And it would be nice to have some real wood to work with here – if just to panel the cold steel walls of our ship’s cabins.  In exchange, we can provide the H3 and deuterium needed by you all to run those ships.  To that end, by the way, Hibbes is working on a safe storage system for fuels that can live by the landing area.”

Travis paused to finish off his drink and then said, “Also, until you folks have your own foundry going, we will, with our modest one, be able to provide steel goods for you once the fitting of the lifeboats is complete.”

I leaned back and finished my drink, “Might as well take a refill with you.  People generally trust someone with a drink in their hand to not be up to skullduggery.  As to your proposition, we are going to be the two halves of a whole.  I can see that as equivalent to a New York corporation having a resort in Arizona for their employees.

“Now if you will excuse me, Captain, I have to go play some backroom politics.  While we were on the Mayflower, I had a chance to return the favor and dig into your records.  In my opinion if there is a better, man alive to become Commander (Space) for Alchibah.  I have never met him!  Have a good day.”

Day 7, Mid-Day

As the morning session of Town Meeting broke up, I walked over to Historian and said, “You surprised me! I thought you’d support having one of us represented on the council.”

He smiled and said, “I do, but it won’t do to rile up the natives so early in the day. Things will work out, you’ll see.”

We walked out together and Andrew Stuart came up to me. Historian drifted off…

Now, Article 3: How shall we select that council? By nominations and a vote? By lottery?

The floor is open to discussion.

Town Meeting, Continued…

“I think we’ve reached a consensus here,” the moderator, Historian said, “and one, I might add, that I am most pleased with. Henceforth, we declare to the heavens and to all who come here in the future — invited or uninvited — that the founding fathers have declared this town to be the City of Liberty!”

There was a round of grateful applause and cheering from almost everyone in the Town Hall.

“Now…” he continued, “Comes the interesting part!” — some laughter — “Article Two considers the form our government might take. I know that Captain Travis worked several hours with The Reporter to come up with the agenda for this meeting and I tip my cap — if I was wearing one — to them.”

“Uh-oh,” Travis was heard to say, “I suspect a big ‘but’ coming up.”

“Well,” Historian said, “It’s a little like putting the cart before the horse. I believe something has been left out.”

Travis smiled and said, “Probably a lot has been left out…”

“Yes,” Historian said, “With all due respect, Captain, you are a starship commander. There, your authority is absolute. You make the rules and you enforce them. Here on our new world, in our town called Liberty, things won’t be all that black-and-white. Before we can decide on a government and who will be that government, we need to decide upon what we want that government to do for us. Or not.”

There was general murmering amongst the colonists and even Travis was nodding in agreement.

Historian paused until it was quiet again and then said, “What do we as a people expect from our new leader or leaders? What are they responsible for and what are they not responsible for? What is their purpose? Their job description? What are to be the limits of the powers of our new government? When do we want them to stay the hell out of the way?”

There were some titters and discussion between the colonists, especially from the group where the Reyes, Buchanan, and Jack the Blade were holding court.

Historian continued, “Perhaps, before we hand over the keys to the ignition of our town, we’d better hand them a well-marked map so they don’t stray off the road. I think a simple constitution or bill of rights is in order!”

Buchanan rose and said, “Listen, Mr. Moderator, maybe you have all the time in the world to chat about this stuff but some of us have work to do!” There were nods and scattered applause from his crowd.

Ash said, “Really, Buchanan? You’ve actually decided to do some work?” Much laughter followed.

Historian rapped the makeshift gavel and said, “If you need to be somewhere, Mr. Buchanan, don’t let us keep you. As for the rest of us, for as long as it takes, I open the floor to discussion.”

Day 7
. . . Travis continued, “The first order of business is to choose a town moderator. This is someone who will simply run the meeting, and any future meetings, for one year, or until the next town meeting involving elections. It’s not considered a position of authority other than to maintain order in the meeting itself. Rocco and I will assist as temporary “sergeant-at-arms” if things get out of hand. So,” he paused, “Are there any nominations?”

There were a few but in the end, almost by default the job went to Historian himself. Travis and Historian switched places and Historian looked out almost sheepishly and said, “I would like to start off with one item not listed in the warning. Could we, perhaps, give this town of ours a name?”

There was some laughter from many and potential names began to fly.

At this point, I, as the Historian, am going to switch the proceeds of the Town Meeting to individual recordings as each piece of business is considered. . .

I said to all, “So, what shall we call this wonderous new city, the birthplace of our future history?”