| I think I saw that space-sub arrive. Funny crest on its wings. Double headed dragon? |
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Tim543
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>Double headed dragon?
Can''t be. That''d be Russia. The Mer wouldn''t give Russia a peace submarine, they tried to kill their ambassador!
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Tina124
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Tina124, They did, one of the first ones. Something complicated I seem to remember.
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Wombat001
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I heard ''peace submarine one'' on the approach frequency. Does that tell us anything?
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| Scooby98589 |
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Stop pulling my leg, Scoob, Wombat. There''s no way the crown princess of Russia would come here. She''d be afraid of being lynched.
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Tina124
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If it is her, she ought to be.
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Anon54321
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> If it is her, she ought to be.
Afraid? Or lynched? I hope you mean the first. You''re not that anonymous.
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Scooby98589
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No Russian princess is setting foot on my planet without her friends and family regretting it.
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Cantcatchme54321
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If it is her, she''s barely twenty, I think.
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Wombat001
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Looked it up:
¡°Having sworn the same oath as other recipients, to not look into the submarine''s secrets and to work for peace, Tsarevna Svetlana of Russia flew home by Mer peace submarine 1, and got promoted to crown princess by the Tsar in response, deposing her big brother. Big brother permanently removed from succession and inheritance for attack on Mer ambassador. On her promotion to crown princess, the peace submarine was handed over to her.¡±
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Wombat001
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I''ll chip in a kg for a reward fund. Anyone else?
Let''s send her home in a bag.
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Anon98752
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I''m in for 3kg.
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| Cantcatchme54321 |
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Cantcatchme54321, Anon98752, you are permanently barred from this forum. Your registration details will be passed to the authorities. Incitement to murder is a serious crime.
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Moderator
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Moderator, can''t you take down their posts?
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Wombat001
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Not until they''ve been witnessed in context etc.
Sorry.
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Moderator.
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Moderator, I suggest you hide this whole discussion thread.
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Tim543
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Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 16:Public speech
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 16:Public speech
Mars Council chamber, 12:15pm, Monsol 11th March
Each clutching their new breather, tent and claim forms, Svetlana and her entourage were ushered into the Council chamber by Eloise. The podium area had more chairs than normal ¡ª all occupied apart from theirs ¡ª and there was a significant crowd of dignitaries and reporters in the lower half of the chamber.
Mack stood at on podium and said ¡°Your highness, thank you for your patience with our immigration procedures. You asked to address the Council. We are all here. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, her Imperial Highness, Crown princess Svetlana of Russia.¡±
¡°I''m entirely used to waiting for important formalities, Mr Chairman, and very very happy that you felt able to offer me this right of claim. Mr Chairman, honoured Council members, I do not really expect I will ever have the time to practice the skills needed to produce my own first-harvest, but it has long been a dream. Thank you for making it one step closer. It is my greater desire that in the time I plan to be on Mars this trip I''ll be able to make significant steps towards normalising relationships between our nations. That establishment of diplomatic links is, partially, why I''m here.¡±
¡°Partially, highness?¡± Mack asked.
¡°I''m also here on a number of more painful matters. One is I wish to deliver a message from my mother, and also from my brother. I expect that they are necessary, but I also expect they will reopen painful wounds and that they will not be universally well received. My mother''s message is as follows: With others, our nation has done great harm to Mars, and reestablishing of relationships first needs an acknowledgement of fault. Twenty-five years ago, she learned of the tripartite Mars Plan that targeted the Firsters and their descendants for executions. One third of firsters for each nation, allocated by lot at the end of the third year of the colony. As a result, she immediately threatened to cancel her engagement to my father unless the use of Russian assassins was put to an end. It was.
¡°She feels she bears some responsibility for not extracting a promise from my father that he would make it clear that he would not allow anyone to restart it, but she felt she had won her point when he persuaded my grandfather to bring our involvement in assassinations to an end, a few months after her ultimatum.
¡°She was heart-broken to hear, just before Mars gained independence, that once again our nation was seeking to destroy lives, besmirching its honour in the eyes of the world in this manner. She praises God that he answered her prayers and not only protected lives but also she was easily able to persuade my father to remove from power the general who tried to restart that campaign, and cancel the orders given.
¡°The message from my brother is that a privileged upbringing, good teachers, and fierce pride are not enough to ensure wise decisions. He apologises for his youthful encouragement, eight or ten years ago, of that general who felt that Russia''s not keeping to its commitments to other shareholders demeaned its honour. He acknowledges his encouragement resulted in the breather failure of the ambassador for the Restored Kingdom.
¡°I add, from myself, and by way of explanation that my father does not, cannot oversee every decision taken by his trusted advisors. All authority in Russia is his, but he has also been a devoted husband to my mother through her many illnesses that result from the poisoning she fell victim to soon after my birth. He therefore trusts and delegates. This has led to deplorable, unjustifiable decisions. He does not deny his moral responsibility for giving the authority, nor for the actions taken in his name, but I will state that they were not his will, nor did they receive his approval.
¡°Another message I bring from my brother is that of sincere apology to the Council and the Ambassador to Mars of the Mer, for his actions against her when he was general-in-charge of the Imperial Space Force, which includes within its remit all activities outside the Earth''s atmosphere. He offers no excuse himself, but I will state he felt himself under extreme pressure to win my father''s approval, and when the justly condemned criminal Koschev came to him with his murderous and dishonorable plan, he approved it. Again, my father had no knowledge of the plan before it was carried out.
¡°I am now in administrative charge of the Imperial Russian Space Force, though I hold no formal military rank, and I have taken vows that, in as much as it depends on me, I will work for peace. I understand why assassins have been part of Russia''s security service, but I do not approve. My hope and prayer is that I will never be called upon to approve the use of assassination to defend myself and my family. Here, given our terrible history on Mars, I will go further. I publicly reject any use of assassins here. May the Lord God strike me dead before I ever approve any assassinations on Mars. I also state, there are Russian officers who were sent here as undercover assassins. They bear that role no more; I order them to return to Russia if they feel they want to reclaim that title. I also order them to obey the just laws of this planet and the authority of this council, and inform them that their superiors have been instructed to assume their honourable retirement from the Imperial security forces if they do not express a desire to eventually serve as embassy guards. As of this moment, by my Imperial Father''s decree, Russia has no assassin officers on Mars. We have embassy guards on extended standby and retired officers.
¡°On the subject of retired officers, Vasile Vladimirovich Gorbachev''s dishonourable discharge has been overruled by my Imperial Father, and replaced by a reprimand for failing to arrest Koschev for giving an order illegal under the Geneva conventions. His full pension rights are restored.
¡°The wife-beating drunkard and adulterer known as Koschev has long been a disgrace to his family and the uniform he wore. He is discharged without rank or honor. Furthermore, in view of the long list of crimes he has committed, here and elsewhere, his failure to accept aid offered to his subordinate, and his callous declaration that he did not care if Vasile Gorbachev lived or died, Koschev is classed as outlaw and legally dead. May he seek God''s mercy on his soul as he continues to have breath do do so. I leave his actual fate to this Council and humbly ask they not mention of his despicable name in my presence. By my order, in view of the failings of those who were his superiors to protect his long-suffering widow and child until now, these innocents have been classified as full dependants of the armed forces, which is to say that as well as receiving a pension to use as they wish, all their regular and reasonable expenses will be met directly from imperial funds.
¡°I thank the Mars Council, and the representatives of the press for their attention.¡±
¡°Your Imperial Highness,¡± Mack asked, ¡°I know you asked that the press be admitted, but you have not formally stated whether you are willing for your speech was to be broadcast in full. Was that your intention?¡±
¡°It was, and I am sorry for not making it clear. I am also willing to answer relevant questions.¡±
¡°How long will your stay on Mars be?¡± a reporter asked.
¡°I plan on staying more than a week and less than a month. I will not be more precise because of security issues.¡±
¡°We understand your visit was unexpected. May we ask where you will be staying?¡±
¡°One fun thing about making unexpected visits is seeing how quickly things get resolved. I plan to stay in my spacecraft, if other suitable options do not present themselves before this evening.¡±
¡°So you don''t know yet?¡±
¡°I have some ideas of who I might ask. For security purposes, I won''t publicise them.¡±
¡°You seem nervous about security.¡±
¡°My mother was poisoned during a state visit to a friendly nation. My father would have been poisoned at the same time, if he didn''t detest that particular foodstuff. I am not aware of any immediate threats against me, but I know I''m a target wherever I go.¡±
¡°You''re not worried about someone seeking revenge, then?¡± Another reporter asked.
¡°I understand that people might hate my nation for sending assassins here, trying to prevent independence. I would like to add that while the more recent wave were only Russians, the earlier wave of assassins was not, and that it was the efforts of my parents that put an end to that multi-national policy, and we stopped long before they did. The honourable ambassador for the Restored Kingdom''s beautiful song ''code-red'' is not entirely accurate: from the records I''ve seen, there were men and women with lists.¡±
¡°Will those records be made public?¡±
¡°I expect they will be eventually. At the moment, I do not have the authority to publish them unilaterally. I do not know quite how big a diplomatic crisis it would cause if I did. What I can say is that the records do exist, and I have taken measures that I hope will ensure that they are not destroyed.¡±
¡°Was Russia behind the hiding of the missing clauses?¡±
¡°Russia was one of the big-three shareholders in Mars Corp. I do not know which nation proposed that part of the plan, but I assume you realise that the tripartite plan pre-dated the founding of Mars Corp, and incorporated all the major elements: the missing clauses, the failure of breathers belonging to Firsters and Seconders, the deliberate suppression of small-scale hydroponics, the production of goodstuff from gloop. All these elements that have come to light in the last few years. Other elements of that murderous initial plan were not put into effect. Perhaps the selective sterilization of the Firster''s children would have been better than assassination, I am repelled by both. In either case, I rejoice that the plan failed. Mars is a planet of free citizens, and not a planet of serfs and slave-labourers paid in gloop.¡±
¡°Why did Russia keep sending assassins after the plan had obviously failed, and every single one was detected?¡± a journalist asked.
Svetlana wasn''t surprised ¡°I think I have dealt with that in part ¡ª pride. Let me be more clear: not just individual pride, but national pride. Russia tries to keep to its international commitments.
¡°The plan foresaw the possibility that some Firsters or their descendants might successfully hide and then come forward later, and called for increased presence of assassins in that eventuality. Hence on learning that queries were being made about the missing clauses, the general complied. Additional assassination officers were sent. Except for the first one, orders for them to act were never given, as the general was replaced.
¡°I do not defend the general''s actions, I abhor them, but they were called for under that amoral agreement.
¡°You might also ask why Russia has not formed diplomatic links with Mars. Easy, all parties to the plan agreed not to for a period of at least four years after independence.
¡°So might I ask another question in reply? Why did the other major shareholders not keep their part of the amoral international agreement that was the tripartite plan? Why were they so quick to form diplomatic ties with Mars?
¡°If I might take this opportunity to cause diplomatic upset and answer my own question, I personally believe that the only reason that the other major nations did not uphold all their commitments under that tripartite agreement was self-interest. I do not believe it was because they had suddenly found some moral high ground, I have strong reasons to believe they did not in any way take on board my mother''s efforts to stop the assassinations. I expect they were surprised at the inconsistency of our policy, but no question was raised at any meeting about us doing it. The tripartite plan was last re-ratified only eight years ago, in 2270.
"But, it seems they simply decided that keeping their promise to fully abide by the plan was not in their interests any more, so they forgot all about their so-called cast-iron promises.
¡°I do not have the authority to release the records I spoke of earlier, but in response to the unfaithfulness of the other parties, I will be making the whole text of the Mars plan available before I leave. My Imperial father insists that I add the following in case any of the other parties thinks to assassinate me because of this announcement: I remind the former parties to the Mars plan that Russia keeps it''s promises, positive or negative, no matter how inconvenient. An attempted or actual assassination of an Imperial crown-prince or princess has only ever had one response. Your deepest bunkers are not deep enough to hide in.¡±
In a much more friendly tone of voice Svetlana said ¡°Now, I saw a hand raise part way through my long reply. Another question?¡±
¡°Errr, I had planned to ask if you could comment on the current diplomatic relationship between the three major stakeholders.¡±
Svetlana laughed, ¡°Now or just before I announced I would be sharing their dirty laundry? Relationships between Russia and its former partners in the tripartite Mars Plan have not been good recently. One might say a little frosty. I hear they have made claims about talking to Russia about their little charade regarding compensation. I don''t know if they talked to a minor official or just a patch of bare Russian soil somewhere, but word of that conversation certainly never reached my father. So, they were frosty. I expect they''re now a little cooler; like, say, the Martian icecaps.¡±
¡°There has been some speculation that the big three would not have provided the financial support of MarsCorp to the extent they did if there had not been the expected financial return,¡± Someone asked.
¡°I believe that might be the case for the other two. For Russia, space exploration and exploitation have always been a matter of national pride. Some documents I have seen support my belief, but I don''t know.¡±
¡°If Russia''s involvement in Mars is a matter of national pride, how has it become such a disaster for Russia''s international standing?¡±
¡°My brother tried to be competent, but struggled with the bigger picture. The man he replaced believed that asking the Tsar for advice was a sign of weakness. And of course, I am still an idealistic teenager who thinks of things in black and white, so I see it as the inevitable result of agreeing to an evil scheme, and being too pig-headedly proud to try to negotiate our way out of promises that shouldn''t have been made.¡±
¡°I don''t think there''s been an open question and answer time from a member of the Russian royal family for a hundred years. Is this a one-off or do you expect it to be something we should expect to continue?¡±
¡°I cannot imagine this pattern will work everywhere. I prefer openness but there are security concerns, especially at home. So, perhaps I will only be able to give impromptu open press conferences when I make unexpected visits to Mars. I don''t know.¡±
An Asian-looking woman stood. ¡°I am Ai Chen, assistant to honourable Ambassador of China. Does imperial princess say there there is honour in keeping a dishonourable promise?¡±
Svetlana bowed her head in acknowledgement ¡°I greet you, honourable assistant of honourable representative of our southern neighbour. I am young, and perhaps foolishly bring dishonour on myself by speaking rashly. But to my mind there is no honour in breaking any promise, nor is there honour in keeping a dishonourable one in its dishonourable portions. I think when there is a dishonourable promise made, the action of honour is to agree with the others involved that the promise was dishonourable, and should not be held to by any. That path was not taken. When one side breaks an inconvenient promise, and another keeps it, that brings deep distrust. Russia has held to that dishonourable promise, both the violent parts and the inconvenient parts, and because others acted as though breaking it was of no importance, distrust has grown. I have studied some history, and think understanding of a country''s actions is only possible through a knowledge of treaties.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
"That there was some kind of agreement, all know. Some parts of the agreement are not known, and I would find no honour in allowing another to be blamed for what I had agreed to and been a part of.
¡°I follow Christ, and think that confession of sin must come before forgiveness. So I confess on behalf of my nation, and hope that forgiveness can come. Thus, I will release the Mars-plan. But as I speak of honour, I will not allow all the dishonour for the assassinations to fall on my great-grandfather, for I do not believe such an idea came from Imperial Russia at all. I say so for a simple reason: the sterilisation plan is listed as developed by us, as an alternative to the assassination plan.¡±
¡°Do you know why the sterilisation plan was not put into effect?¡± A reporter asked.
¡°The three doctors who were sent to Mars for that purpose all became involved with Firsters. Strangely enough, their loyalties changed.¡±
¡°Three Russian doctors?¡± someone asked.
¡°Bad question.¡± Svetlana said, ¡°I will not say who came to Mars on such a ticket. I believe the law states that all Martians have a right to their privacy, do they not?¡±
¡°Thank you, your Imperial Highness,¡± Mack said. ¡°Regarding the assassins, do you have information on who targeted whom?¡±
¡°I have some. I will be releasing data on when Russian agents were sent, and how Russian agents applied policies. The tripartite plan states that the number of agents from each nation will be the same, I have no information that that was not held to, though of course our agents stopped assassinations twenty five years ago while others continued. Beyond that, I have some information in terms of how the targeting of individuals worked. Registrin'' was a jit thing to do, obviously. Is a jit thing to do, according to people I trust.¡±
¡°You believe there is still a threat of assassins?¡±
¡°In my life there is always a threat of assassins. I was speaking of Marscorp''s ability to keep data safe, however.¡±
¡°You don''t believe that MarsCorp has cleaned up its act?¡± Claudia asked.
¡°I don''t know. Please tell me if MarsCorp has actually proven it has any need for that data, beyond curiosity. If so, please show me the report from the expert systems penetration team that reads ''I''d trust them to know how to access my swiss bank account.'' Because they''re asking almost enough to do that.¡±
¡°I don''t think many Martians have a Swiss bank account, your highness,¡± Mack said, smiling at the thought.
¡°I''m not surprised. But maybe someone has used the data from MarsCorp to open one in your name, Mr Chairman, and are even now running up a huge debt for you, payable in six months'' time.¡±
¡°You don''t think I''m such a jit I''d go and register do you?¡± Mack asked.
¡°My point exactly,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°nor am I.¡±
There was a chuckle from the crowd, and looking around, Svetlana noticed a cluster of mer-warriors, entirely distinctive with their blow-pipes and knives. She was pretty sure the one in the middle was the ambassador she''d very briefly met on arrival. Deliberately, she decided she''d like to talk to Karella''s ambassador once there were no more questions.
Ruth nodded, and Svetlana mentally reviewed the long complex question she''d been filing away. It boiled down to did she think that Russia had anything that Mars wanted.
¡°Yes. For example, I believe that Mars wants more comet deliveries to help with terraforming. Which nation do you think provides seventy-five percent of Mars-Corp''s most powerful fusion engines? That''s to say the seventy-five percent that have an outstanding reliability record, rather than the twenty-five percent that MarsCorp are forced to buy from other sources by their charter, and frequently have problems. I do not doubt that Mer technology is superior ¡ª how could I, after I''ve got here in a week by a Mer vessel? But I have spoken to her Imperial Majesty Karella of Atlantis, and she agreed with me that the mostly boring work of shepherding comets was not a job that would appeal to many Mer. It makes more sense to apply the limited and amazing skills of Mer artificers to tasks only they can do, and to leave boring comet watching and boring mass production work to us landfolk, and I assure you, engine production in Russia is not running at peak capacity. This is just one area of possible trade, of course.
¡°This seems a good moment for me to conclude. The ships that brought the Firsters here were powered by Russian engines, the ships that brought almost all immigrants here were powered by Russian engines, because MarsCorp prefers to use non-Russian engines on drone ships, because of reliability issues. I do not in any way wish he to downplay other nations'' historical visits or the sad failed attempts in previous generations. But the ships that brought almost everyone here were designed with Russian expertise or involvement. Other nations played their part of course, but I understand the general consensus of space engineers from outside Russia is that Mars colonisation without Russian involvement in MarsCorp would have almost certainly involved several transports lost en-route.
¡°I started by thanking this council for the granting me and my entourage landing permission and rights of claim. Perhaps, to you it was normal, nothing special. But to my father it is most significant that the Imperial house of Russia now has some hectares of land here after our helping to start this colony of the human race. Before I landed I could only speak in my own name, but now, having been granted this land-right, I have authority to speak in his name. It is in his name I acknowledge the sovereignty of Mars; in his name I ask this council and the people of Mars to accept Russia''s sincere regret for ever agreeing to that terrible tripartite plan; in his name I ask you not to lay all or most of its evils at our feet, as some have been tempted to do; and in his name, and the name of all Russia, I ask that you accept full diplomatic ties and at least consider our sincere offer of future friendship.¡±
Turning to the woman in a mask beside her, Svetlana said, ¡°Truthsayer, thank you for your presence and your time. Would you like to comment on what you heard or did not hear?¡±
Cecilia Thornthwaite-Durrel, stepped up to the microphone. ¡°Honoured council members and ambassadors, Frank, if you''re watching, seconders, thirders, fourthers, fifthers, born Martians, immigrant Martians, jits and crims; I listened to her highness''s thoughts all through that. I heard ¡ª and understood - some thoughts in Russian, which is probably why her Imperial highness asked for a truthsayer who knows Russian. Of course she''s been preparing what to say. Wouldn''t you? But she went off script enough and made up enough on the spot that I''m quite sure that what we''ve just heard is truth.¡±
¡°What, all of it?¡± Svetlana pressed.
¡°Highness, as a whole you spoke truth. You certainly said no lie. You were a bit politer than you might have been in places, for example about certain people''s pride and stubbornness. But I think you trod on diplomatic toes harder than I would like to. I heard a desire to balance openness with avoiding offense, but no lie.¡±
¡°Thank you truthsayer,¡± Mack said. ¡°And thank you your Imperial Highness. You have certainly given us much to think about. Shame about the rest of the day''s plans.¡±
¡°I do not expect you to devote any more of your time to me today, Mr Chairman.¡± Svetlana said, speaking into the microphone once more. ¡°Please, do not feel you must leave things undone on my account. I have no definite plans left for my visit, and plenty of things I''d like to do. Ignore me, or quiz me. I am available to this council.¡± With that, Svetlana stepped off the platform into the midst of her small entourage, and together they retired towards a side room the council had made available for them.
Council chamber side room.
Ruth was the first ambassador to come and visit as the council went into closed session. ¡°I understand that one thing on your wish-list is seeking a bed, peace-submarine pilot?¡± Ruth asked. ¡°Of course you can have one!¡±
¡°Not just one.¡± Svetlana said, ¡°I do have five others with me.¡±
¡°The embassy has space, highness, and as you ought to know, you are welcome to it. Will you tell me of them?¡±
¡°The young man trying to keep a respectful distance but with the camera permanently glued to his eye socket is Vladimir Vladimirovich, a reporter. The woman trying to stop him from tripping over chairs as he backs into the corner is his girlfriend, Yuliya, who is here deciding if she wants to become my lady in waiting, like Olga is, or take up another job.¡±
¡°So it''s an extended interview?¡±
¡°More like a trial period. I''ve known Yuliya a long time, since her mother is one of my mother''s ladies in waiting. Anna and Leonid are my token bodyguards.¡±
¡°Token bodyguards, Highness?¡± Anna asked.
¡°Sorry, Anna, a poor choice of words. But we both know that there are many potential threats here that even fifteen bodyguards could not protect me from them all twenty four hours a day. You and Leonid are here to demonstrate my father''s will that I not face threats unprotected, and of course provide protection when I do some particularly risky things.¡±
¡°You are all welcome to the little outpost of Atlantis on Mars,¡± Ruth said, and I would like to introduce my husband, Robert.¡±
¡°Dr Young, as you might guess, I''ve been reading about your plans,¡± Svetlana greeted him, ¡°I hope you don''t mind me tweaking them to my own purpose.¡±
¡°No, your highness. I''m well aware of Mer preferences, and your suggestion isn''t a new one. But without diplomatic or trading ties it has seemed impossible. Do you know if thrusters on a par with the engines of Jupiter-class vessels might be available?¡±
¡°From what I have been told, additional numbers of any currently produced engine are easily available. For past designs, we don''t normally destroy tooling, so that should not be too hard either. I also understand that thoughts of higher thrust versions, capable of coping with cometary reaction mass without such extreme filtering as there''d be for a passenger ship, are also getting the designers excited.¡±
¡°There would be additional costs, presumably,¡± Robert said.
¡°Probably, I''d assume there are good points too. But I won''t claim to be any sort of expert.¡±
¡°Could you put me in touch with some experts?¡± Robert asked.
¡°Robert, love,¡± Ruth warned, ¡°You do need to remember that the Council get to decide how to respond to her highness'' statement, before you can jump into any negotiations. To be honest, your highness, you''re entirely right to think that almost all the blame for the assassinations has been laid a Russia''s door.¡±
¡°And what we publish will be treated with suspicion, as untrusted and untrustworthy villains, only trying to sling mud to spoil new friendships.¡± Svetlana added.
¡°Sorry,¡± Ruth agreed.
¡°And my father''s ''don''t you think of assassinating my daughter'' warning will be portrayed as a ludicrous attempt to lay credence to the documents, will it not?¡±
¡°Not by me, highness.¡± Ruth said,
¡°Thank you. And meanwhile the friends of India and China are probably gathering their friends to protest against atrocities that were not of our making.¡±
¡°Russia did send a lot of people with the assassination liquid.¡±
¡°Not officially, we didn''t. I didn''t want to argue it in front of everyone, but my brother''s predecessor sent some assassins, yes. One or two with the chemical, I can''t remember. The rest without. In any case, it was nowhere near as many as Mars has imprisoned. It''s one of my ''it would be nice things to do'' list, to interview those people and try to find out who did send them.¡±
¡°You think that other nations sent Russian assassins?¡±
¡°I think other nations bribed Russian officials to use some spare time and their official I.D.s to recruit and send people of Russian origin with the sabotage chemical, yes. I don''t know who did it, but it certainly hasn''t helped international relationships.¡±
¡°And you''ve just offered them jobs?¡± Robert asked.
¡°Not the ones in prison, no. That wasn''t my intention, anyway. I meant the sleepers, who I assume someone you know knows all about.¡±
¡°Someone I know?¡± Ruth asked, wondering where this was going.
¡°Yes. The married Martian truthsayer who used her gift to help Vasile Vladimirovich talk to his holiness the metropolitan of Moscow, and so come to a true understanding of faith.¡±
¡°Why do you assume I know such a person?¡±
Svetlana looked at Ruth steadily and decided that Ruth didn''t need Vladimir to hear her say what Karella had said about Ruth''s friend.
¡°Oh, right.¡± Ruth said, ¡°You''re very good at that for a non-thought-hearer, by the way.¡±
¡°I did have a lovely educational time in Atlantis,¡± Svetlana said. ¡°And it''s been quite useful on occasions. But yes, I have good reasons to think you know who I''m talking about.¡±
¡°And the metropolitan of Moscow spoke to you about strange happenings here?¡±
¡°He spoke to my mother, knowing she wouldn''t be in favour of assassination attempts anywhere, and more recently I spoke to him about my visit, and other things.¡±
¡°Oh? Seeking spiritual guidance?¡±
¡°Not exactly, it was easier to talk to the metropolitan than the Institute for the Human Mind. Has Karella told you about my coming to faith?¡±
¡°No.¡±
¡°My mother put her trust in God soon after she was poisoned, so I grew up with a believing mother and unbelieving father. I heard the gospel explained to me quite a lot, but mostly from mother, or her ladies in waiting, which sort of counted as one witness to my mind. I wanted some independent confirmation, and it came in the form of Jake Karella Christoph, just before western Christmas. He and Karella led me to faith under St Petersburg harbour on a construction submarine.¡±
¡°What was Karella doing on a construction sub?¡±
¡°Karella as in Jake''s new wife, daughter of the Mer ambassador to St Petersburg, she was interpreting for me.¡±
¡°Oh! Right, that makes more sense. But your English is good.¡±
¡°It''s improved a lot in the last few months, I''ve been travelling so much. I''m quite looking forward to starting University, it''ll be nice to stay at home and just have one subject to learn. Oops.¡± She turned to Vladimir, and said in Russian, ¡°Vladimir, you know you don''t mention me going to university to anyone, certainly not staying at home, I hope.¡±
¡°I do now, Tsarevna.¡±
¡°Good. Don''t forget,¡± turning back to Ruth she asked, ¡°It''s been lovely chatting, but do you think we should see if there''s anyone else who wants to talk to me?¡±
¡°It''d probably be polite, yes,¡± Ruth agreed, going to the door, ¡°Alice, why didn''t you knock? Your highness, her excellency the ambassador for the restored kingdom. Alice, come and meet a sister in Christ, who''s been telling me some things she didn''t want to get bogged down in out there.¡±
¡°Oh yes?¡±
¡°Not all the captured Russian assassins were sent officially. Unknown powers and corruption believed involved.¡±
¡°That''s.... that''s going to be very hard to prove, your highness.¡±
¡°I know. That''s why I didn''t bother mentioning it. I have a list of eight now ex-assassins sent through the correct channels who are still on Mars, other than the pair who tried to start a war with Atlantis. Two of my eight are in jail, leaving urm, what, ten extra? Or is it more? I doubt the others know they''re not here officially, but maybe they''ve been talking to each other or listening to court proceedings and worked it out.¡±
¡°Why do you say they might have worked it out?¡±
¡°The people we sent were special forces. They trained together, or at least under the same instructors. They knew their rank and serial number, should have known how the Geneva conventions applied, and knew the chain of command.¡±
¡°So there were no whispered conversations in a bar late at night, or clandestine meetings on deserted university campuses, like films show?¡± Ruth asked.
¡°Exactly. And nor were there ''we''ll let you out of jail if you sign up for this mission'', or that sort of thing.¡±
¡°So, in your view, highness. How should the Geneva conventions applied to make it OK to sabotage breathers?¡±
¡°Sorry, your excellency, I over simplified. We also had a pair of secret service agents who might have done the sabotage. They came, after their predecessor came down with an allergic reaction. But when you published about the attack, my mother heard, and the general got fired. So they got no deliveries or targets, and they''ve all left. The assassins still here are specialists in improvised weapons, not poisoners. The sabotaged breathers were of course acceptable under Russian law and even would have been under international law because the missing clauses were declared to be official secrets. They couldn''t be acted on unless published, so anyone thinking of claiming their rights under the charter would have been violating those so-called official secrets. The ability to classify previously public information as an official secret is a loophole that seriously needs closing, I think, but it''s there. The weapons specialists were sent here in case an exit needed to be forced for anyone else. We sent no sabotage fluid after the general was fired.
¡°But I''m confused by something else, your highness,¡± Alice said, ¡°Breather failures only stopped for ten years, but you said your mother stopped them before her marriage.¡±
¡°Officially sanctioned Russian sabotage efforts stopped eight years before certain other countries could be persuaded. One Russian saboteur was convicted of murder after he was found to have disobeyed the order to stop and collaborated with the foreign powers. I can release the transcript of the court case if you wish.¡±
¡°Certainly,¡± Alice said. ¡°But I''m still confused, how did the Russian judicial system have no problem trying a saboteur for a murder that took place on foreign soil? Is that normal?¡±
¡°Foreign soil?¡± Svetlana asked. ¡°It didn''t happen on foreign soil, your excellency. It happened on Mars, a jointly dependent crown territory. Jurisdiction was a bit of a mess, but legally from our point of view just over one undefined quarter of this planet used to be part of Russia.¡±
¡°And so the Russian Secret Service treated breaches of state secrets just like at home,¡± Alice said, as light dawned.
¡°What else did you think was happening, your excellency?¡± Svetlana asked.
¡°I thought it was simply an attempt at exterminating of the firsters and their blood-lines.¡±
¡°That''s what the plan called for. Not even my grandfather approved of that. Our agents were supposed to be more selective than that. My grandfather''s favourite motto was that ''the innocent lamb need have no fear of the most draconian laws.'' My mother''s argument was that if no one hadn''t even hinted that the missing clauses might have been classified secret, how could they consider themselves to be anything but innocent lambs?¡±
¡°Next question, if I may. Didn''t the Russian ambassador try to bring a recording device to the shareholder''s meeting so that the shareholders could be targeted?¡±
¡°Targeted? In what sense? With bullets or unsolicited mail? It would have been easy to drop a kinetic energy weapon on the shareholder''s meeting, would it not, if we wanted to kill lots of people? My brother wanted information. He wanted to know how people reacted, and so on. You, I realise, thought of independence from the supremely incompetent bully MarsCorp, and of Mars growing up and leaving home; My brother thought part of Russia was breaking away. I do not know what he wanted to find out, perhaps he would have suggested that ring-leaders be assassinated. I don''t expect my father would have agreed, since he''d only just fired the general for the sabotage campaign.¡±
¡°Your highness, as you know I''m also a journalist...¡±
¡°I do not claim privacy on anything I''ve told you, Alice, though I do claim privacy on an accidental slip before you came in. But Vladimir has been taking notes, and I''m sure he''d be happy to earn some grammes.¡±
¡°But my English is not very good.¡± Vladimir said, ¡°A joint work, perhaps?¡±
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 17:Reactions
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 17:Reactions
Outside the Council Assembly hall, Dome 2, Mars.
The small crowd had a variety of hastily made placards. Svetlana surveyed the signs as she looked out of the doorway. Lots of them had ''55%'' on them, referring to number of deaths that had been ascribed to Russia. ''Down with Russia!'', ''Tsar = Murderer'', ''Sorry Restoration, we should have aimed at Moscow'', ''Never forget Russian death plan'', ''No welcome for murderess!'', ''Send her to Olympus with her fiend Koscheff!'', ''Vengeance is God''s work, but God works through his people!''
¡°Someone can''t spell, I see,¡± Svetlana said, in grim humour.
¡°They didn''t hear your speech, highness,¡± Ruth said.
¡°I know. Thank you, Ruth, for your support. That one on the right is the most disturbing, I think.¡±
¡°I recognise that man,¡± Ruth said, ¡°He was the flight controller when you landed. He blames Russia for his father''s death.¡±
¡°Lots of people have similar pain, I''m sure. I did think of sending my message from Space, before I landed.¡±
¡°I think it was a lot more effective in person, highness.¡±
¡°That was my hope. I just hope people like that listen. Fifty five percent is the fraction of breather failures they''re ascribing to us?¡±
¡°Yes. India and China are officially not saying anything, but they''re whispering that number.¡±
¡°Lies and distortion, repeated enough, is viewed as unassailable truth,¡± Svetlana said sadly.
¡°You have true information?¡±
¡°It won''t be believed, but I have it. I''ll speak to my father about releasing it.¡±
¡°Shall we go?¡±
¡°Please, but let''s start with correcting that woman''s spelling. Leonid, can you do the honours?¡±
¡°Of course highness, my marker pen is at the ready.¡±
Blog entry, 4pm, Monsol 11th March, 2278
Bodyguard corrects libel, leaves execution demand
After giving an impassioned speech in which she condemned the tripartite plan, and while acknowledging Russia''s involvement in it firmly denied that most of the deaths were caused by Russian agents, princess Svetlana surprised everyone once more, and sent one of her bodyguards to talk politely to a woman waving a placard outside the council hall. The bodyguard then corrected the spelling on it, and changed ''her'' to ''the''.
Probably the woman had wanted to write ''and her friend Koschev'', but she''d spelt his name with a double f instead of the v, and also written ''fiend''. The bodyguard was very happy with that designation, so at the princess''s request made it read ''and the fiend Koschev''.
Interviewed immediately afterwards the protester said that the bodyguard had explained princess objected very strongly to being named as any friend of Koschev (who she''d just declared an outlaw and legally dead), but her imperial highness guessed that calling for her execution wasn''t libel. Though he did wonder in passing what capital crime the princess had committed, other than having the wrong great-grandfather. The protester also stated that, having listened to the recording of the princess''s speech, she felt very ashamed for what she''d written on the sign, and entirely retracted the bit about the princess.
Another protester got challenged on the theology of his placard by the Mer ambassador, who also told him that the princess recognised that a lot of people had suffered from the tripartite plan.
Article for Solar-system wide publication, By Alice F-B and Vladimir Vladimirovich, published 6pm, Monsol 11th March, 2278.
Alice writes As reported elsewhere, Her imperial highness, Crown Princess Svetlana of Russia has stepped off her Peace Submarine and onto Mars. The Mer ambassador got about an hour''s notice, the Council slightly less. My co-author Vladimir was a passenger on board the small submarine-spaceship, sharing a room with Leonid the body guard. If you''ve seen pictures, Leonid is the one with the moustache. And the arms that look like they could bend steel pipe in knots. You never guessed he was a bodyguard, did you? Leonid has a good sense of humour too, claims it''s not fair and he was type-cast. According to his story, when he was sixteen he joined the queue to audition as a ballet dancer, but was told he''d queued up at the wrong door, and found himself enrolled in the Imperial Protection Service instead. Having seen him try to pirouette... he''s in the right job.
What a day of revelations! A member of the one of the most closely guarded royal families ¡ª in both the private and bodyguard sense ¡ª invites open questions and puts herself at the disposal of the Mars council for more questioning. But she has her own questions, too. Who sent so many assassins, for instance? She doesn''t deny they thought they were sent officially, but according to her Imperial Highness, the Russian authorities sent precisely one agent with the sabotage fluid. Then the general who''d re-started the sabotage was fired by the Tsar for breaking with a policy the Tsar had convinced his father to adopt. Someone else sent most of the others. The general had been sacked by then, and the Tsar''s son who took over afterwards swears it wasn''t him. According to Tsarevna Svetlana, lie-detector tests were done on everyone in that department, and there was no evidence one of them sent anyone extra either. No other department had the authority. Her guess? Someone accepted a bribe from a foreign power and sent some extras who''d watched too many spy films. Vladimir writes: You probably don''t believe this. Maybe you are kind, and believe the Tsarevna has been duped. Also, you probably think there was only ever one sort of assassin on Mars, ones who can secretly spray (once-)invisible chemicals onto breathers. The Tsarevna corrected my co-author on this matter also, so you''re in good company. But you actually already know differently; Vasile Vladimirovich Gorbachev, the reluctant almost-assassin of the Mer ambassador, for instance, was sent by Russia. He was sent because he was an expert in unusual and improvised weapons, just like the other officially sent assassins still on Mars; special forces operatives each one of them. There were some Secret Service people on the same transport as Mr Gorbachev, who we can guess might have had training in spraying nasty chemicals. But they left soon after the shareholder''s meeting. They had no role on a Mars made free by the United Nations, since their role was internal affairs.
Alice writes Internal affairs? Another revelation! Under Russian law, 26% of non-independent Mars counted as Russian. Which 26%? No one knew, and therefore in effect the whole planet was considered to be under Russian law where local law enforcement processes were deemed ineffective. For centuries, the Russian Secret Service has operated a policy of internal and ''swift justice'' for certain classes of crime inside Russia. For example, open discussion of official secrets. Which, shockingly, the missing clauses were classed as.
Vladimir writes That''s right. The tripartite plan, which I''ve had the last few days to study, says that all parties will declare the clauses dealing with eventual independence for Mars as official secrets.
Outrageous! But true.
Her Imperial Highness Svetlana declared ¡°The ability to classify previously public information as an official secret is a loophole that seriously needs closing, I think, but it''s there,¡± Where is it? International law regarding assassinations. Or rather, it''s not ¡ª In international law, there''s an acceptance of international state-sponsored assassinations in cases of a threat to the safety of a royal or high official or of the dissemination of official-secrets, but there is no restriction of what can be declared an official secret. A head of state might declare their birthday an official secret, and thus be entitled to assassinate anyone who mentioned it or sent them a birthday card. Not that Mars counted as international, in Russian eyes.
Soon after addressing the Council, the princess expanded on her mother''s intervention, and the effect it had. Twenty five years ago, she pointed out that secret laws make a mockery of justice, and the Martians had no knowledge that the missing clauses were official secrets. After pondering this, the then Tsar agreed, and the ''swift justice'' sabotage of breathers by Russian agents was officially halted in the summer of 2253. After that, no deaths to breather failure should be directly attributed to Russian policy, though of course other parties to the tripartite agreement continued their involvement. I chose my words carefully. It was not policy, but at least one agent carried on: a Russian Secret Service agent was tried and executed for insubordination and murder in 2255 after continuing to collaborate with the assassination programs of other nations. Probably he was the only person tried on Earth in connection to the breather sabotage. Why was that murder, when the earlier ones were not? For exactly the same reason that a soldier cannot shoot without orders.
As soon as the Tsarina read of the re-started sabotage my co-author almost fell victim to, the general who authorised it was removed from power.
The Tsarevna has made records available substantiating all of these claims.
Alice writes
Maybe you think that the Tsarevna is deliberately providing false documentation? Or perhaps that she''s been fed a clever string of lies? I made some enquiries using my other role, and the palace back home authorised a quick search of old confusing intercept records. I can report that the international listening branch of Security in the Restored Kingdom can confirm the recall of the person named in the court records, on a charge of failing to obey imperial orders ending the programme ''fresh air perfume''. They can also confirm that the programme was cancelled before the marriage of the present Tsar, as the Tsarevna asserted. They also inform me that there were a number of other messages linked to this ¡ª until now meaningless ¡ª code:
Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.
1. Operational start in 2226, accompanied with reminders that ''no matter what others consider normal, the Tsar requires documentation and tracking of effectiveness.''
2. Regulations in 2231 banning ''ineffective'' low-level use, and specifying a minimum concentration of perfume in gift-bottles. ''What''s the point of a perfume when you only notice it when all the guests have left the party, and might have even picked up the wrong coat?''
3. Records stating that certain people had tested and whether they were or were not deemed candidates. These were nameless and referenced by a number.
4. A report in 2245 saying ''Although Frank Ghandi has been deemed not a candidate to receive the perfume, others want to reward him regardless''. Immediately a reply was given ''only eligible contestants get to compete. If possible, tell him he''s not eligible and should not seek to take part.''
I asked Frank if that report recorded triggered any memories. It did: in 2245 an ''almost-gorgeous forty year old blond jit with a Russian accent'' he remembers, asked him about the missing verses once. He thinks he said something dismissive about conspiracy theories not interesting him, and carried on trying to chat her up. He didn''t succeed, but a few days later at the same bar and she walked up to him, greeted him with a kiss to the cheek and while he was thinking maybe he had made a conquest after all, she whispered, ''Coming here is a jit thing to do, Mr Ghandi, they know you by sight. Hide, hide well.¡± And he did.
What do I conclude? I conclude we''ve misjudged Russia and laid the blame unfairly. We might not like Russia''s use of assassination, but they were being true to their laws. The Russian Secret Service of the 30s and 40s was not indiscriminate. They did not want a sabotaged breather to accidentally change hands. Nor did they have orders to assassinate every firster or seconder, only those who were heard to talk about the missing clauses. Registering was a jit thing to do, but it seems if you were on Russia''s list, then not talking about the missing clauses might keep you alive when they did find you. At least until someone else did.
To the people who were waving placards saying ''murderess'' to a nineteen year old girl who''s just vowed she''d rather die than send assassins here this afternoon, I ask two questions. Do you plan on saying sorry? The Tsarevna hasn''t killed anyone, and her parents worked to end the assassination program. My second question is what''s the biggest risk you have ever taken? Was it, by any chance coming to Mars? To my mind, for the Tsarevna to come here at all was a massive risk. She knows, after all, how many deaths have been laid at Russia''s door. For her to announce her arrival as she did, making her presence known to the public, was a bigger gamble. For her to request a truthsayer as she addressed the council, ask for reporters to be present, and then invite open questions... wow! And to top it all off, she opened the question of assassinations and has released the tripartite pact.
She expected crowds screaming hatred at her because of her great-grandfather''s actions.
She expected her words to be treated with scorn. But she came, because she thought it was right. Russia is not like my home country, not like most people''s home country. It is ruled by an absolute monarch. The Tsar does not often change laws, but he has the absolute right to. Or perhaps it is better to say his word is law. The Tsarevna described that as a trap: if he intervenes, it is painted by the outside world as him throwing his weight around, if he is passive, he is seen as condoning things he does not approve of. People only rarely present alternative points of view, because it might viewed as criticism, and when his word is law, criticising the Tsar is treason. This is not his will, it is the interpretation of the courts, and if the Tsar tries to override it, as an ancestor once did, he invites other forms of treason in the mind of the ordinary Russian. The members of the princess''s entourage confirm this: Russians expect a firm hand from their rulers in dealing with criminals. So, the Tsar is stuck with absolute power. People wisely fear his displeasure, so hide behind policies, and the Tsar cannot chide without it being taken as changing policy. So, he relies on those who he can speak to privately ¡ª his immediate family ¡ª to interpret and pass on his will with less authority, and more possibility that they will obtain a truthful explanation and real information. Most of all, for this role, the Tsar relied upon his wife, who sadly is still suffering the consequences of an assassination attempt, and rarely leaves her well-guarded rooms. Did the foolish ruler who ordered that attack know how hard he struck Russia''s government? We''ll never know, of course, since Russian agents avoided the almost certain war with their retaliatory strike.
Does her imperial highness take a risk telling us these things? Probably, yes.
But she feels that not being understood is the bigger risk for all Russia. She seeks peace as much as it depends on her, as she vowed she would. I don''t know any of us expected she would carry it this far, when we heard recordings of her taking that vow.
Her Imperial Highness Tsarevna Svetlana grew up with certainty that even among friends, no place was truly safe. Yet she came here, and made herself new enemies. But she has also made new friends. I hope and pray that the enemies are few and her friends are many.
Vladimir writes
I just want to add that her Imperial highness was totally shocked to hear, just after releasing the tripartite agreement this afternoon, that the long-debated trade deals are due to be signed with China and India at the end of this week. Like everyone else, she''d thought there were still months of negotiation to go, and when they announced they were accepting Mars'' position we were more than half way here, reducing our already minuscule radar signature by coming straight at Mars from the sun. Alice and the Mer ambassador witnessed her shock and a truthsayer confirmed it. Their announcement had no effect on the timing of her visit.
As ambassador as well as journalist, Alice of course must be doubly careful what she says about this. I however am just a Russian journalist who''s studied the tripartite agreement, and because I''ve had the joy of getting to know another member of the princess'' party over the past year and a half, I''ve also heard unguarded words spoken at the palace concerning the reliability or otherwise of India and China as partners in other agreements as well as the tripartite Mars plan. I''m allowed to say be careful what you sign, Mars. These countries plan very very carefully. Their surprising to-you decision was probably planned at least a year ago.
Press release from Mars Council, Tuesol 12th March 2278
It is with regret that the Mars Council has informed its negotiating partners, the governments of India and China that, given yesterday''s surprising and detailed revelations by the Tsarevna Svetlana, the Council has not been able to give the time and attention it planned to the final version of the trade deal that has been proposed by these two states. We trust they will be gracious to us as we postpone the signing of the deal until we''ve had time to scrutinise and discuss all its points in the detail deserved by such a significant treaty.
Press release for Solar System distribution, 12th March
The Federal Kingdom calls upon all Nations to support their measure in the United Nations to close the loophole identified by HRH Svetlana of Russia, and applauds her raising of this issue and her rejection of assassination as a tool of political oppression, and calls on all governments and future heads of state to do likewise.
The government of the Federal Kingdom is also pleased to confirm that analysis of our historic intercept reports confirms the recently reported data from the Restored Kingdom regarding Russian activity on Mars. Our analysts also concur with press reports that describe the Russian attitude towards Mars (pre-independence) as consistent with them viewing the colony as being part of Russia.
News report, for Mars and Earth circulation, Noon Tuesol 12th March
Protests across the planet Yesterday''s protests against Tsarevna Svetlana''s presence on Mars continued overnight, with small groups outside the embassies of Atlantis and the Restored Kingdom as well as at the Council Offices and the spaceport. As is to be expected, numbers went down during the night, however there has been little or no recovery so far this morning.
Despite speculation earlier, their excellencies the ambassadors of India and China have not cut short their formal inspection of the Hellas rice field project.
While the flag-flying project was always going to be a gamble, it has recently come under criticism amid revelations that the transparent ''storm covers'', intended to protect the plants from being shredded by a dust storm, are being used on a permanent basis to increase temperatures and reduce water loss. While not totally invalidating the experiment, as the covers are not totally airtight and provide no pressure differential, there have been concerns raised by the designers that the covers were never intended to be resistant to prolonged ultraviolet radiation, and if they are used to make ''green houses'' they will degrade quickly and fail to perform in case of a dust storm. The second accusation, that the covers are being used to reduce the massively underestimated water losses and the inefficiencies of the recovery systems, seem to have been confirmed by data published by the site manager as he resigned his post yesterday, just before the official visit began. In resigning, he also accused China and India of attempting to suppress and even destroy records of water losses with and without the covers in place.
Some people have clearly made a link between these accusations and the claimed lack of records in the tripartite assassination campaign. Protesters with placards questioning statements those governments had made about ''no one keeping records'' were in evidence outside the embassies of India and China.
Blog entry, almost midnight, 12th March, by Edwin Flynn
Soup and answers given to protesters
An hour ago, I witnessed an exercise of Christian kindness, when protesters outside the embassies of the Mer and Restored Kingdom were given soup, by embassy staff and a Russian woman called Tanya.
As well as soup, they also delivered something even more precious: answers. As the dozen protesters were given soup, they were also asked if they had a particular person or people they wanted facts about.
Grinding assertions by China and India that no-one had any records firmly into dust, the soup-providers were, thanks to information released to them by the Russian delegation, able to look up which of the three countries had that person on their list, and if it was Russia then Tanya was able to provide some further details. Tanya and some of the others then offered to pray for the people, that the information would help them to mourn and come through that process.
The protesters I questioned, said they did feel that the answers they''d had would eventually help them come to terms with their pain, and each said they''d felt genuine remorse from Tanya for the things her country had done before her birth. Some mentioned the irony of that information coming from Russia, and one of the protesters said he was fairly sure that ''Tanya'' was actually the princess. Unlike the bulk of those protesting, his father was shown in the records as having been killed by a Russian agent. However, he learned that this was after Russia had ended it''s ''enforcement'' of the secret status of the missing clauses, and so it was he was informed that the Russian agent had been tried for murder, found guilty, and executed.
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 18:Compensation
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 18:Compensation
Mars Council offices, 11am, Wedsol 13th March
¡°This is what India and China claimed we were on the verge of agreeing to, subject to corroboration with our records?¡± Svetlana asked with distaste.
¡°Yes, your highness.¡± Mack agreed, ¡°From what you''ve said and has been published, I presume you''re going to deny the ratios.¡±
¡°Yes. My father has made the assumption that not all of the reports got intercepted. So, here is a complete copy of the reports that the Russian secret service operatives transmitted from Mars.¡± She passed over a small pile of paper. ¡°Here is the complete list of targets or potential targets allocated under the tripartite plan, and here are more detailed records for those allocated to Russia.
¡°It is colour-coded. The names on a red background were executed by Russian forces, those on a blue background died of other causes before testing. Dates are the date of checking, red means they talked about the missing clauses, green they didn''t.¡±
¡°And the dates that are white on black?¡±
¡°Determined not guilty by us, but the date they died of breather failure. You''ll see that for about half the names.¡±
¡°According to rumours spread by India and China, Russia assassinated just over half of the victims.¡±
¡°As long as you make that ''of those executed from Russia''s third of the descendants of firsters,'' we are in agreement.¡± Svetlana said, grimly, ¡°alternatively you could say they assassinated lots of their thirds and then almost as many as we did from our list.¡±
¡°What about the people who are just normal black on white?¡±
¡°Not located, not tested, not executed. Not many are there?¡±
¡°No. I had assumed the fraction of people tested that got killed would be higher,¡± Frank said.
¡°You''ll see there''s an appendix to the list about the testing technique. Unless the interviewee approached the interviewer, the initial test consisted of at least eight hours of trust-building over a three month period. A lot of that would have been just becoming a recognised face. Then a free discussion on the future of the colony or similar topic, lasting at least quarter of an hour, possibly spread over three separate meetings. If there was some doubt, then maybe further discussion, possibly bugging of their residence, and so on. Most people were declared not a problem after that first interview.¡± Flipping through the proposed compensation document, Svetlana spotted something else she wasn''t happy with. ¡°The sum is insulting.¡±
¡°Pardon?¡±
¡°The compensation sum in this document for widows and children. It barely works out to a hundred kilos, does it? `Sorry for our involvement in killing your husband and father, as a token of our sorrow, have a hundred kilos of gloop between the five of you'' No. Absolutely not.¡±
¡°We''re not on the biostuff standard any more highness.¡±
¡°I know. And transport credits are so much more valuable than fertiliser, aren''t they, so I should have said, what, two hundred kilos of gloop? I still think it''s a gross insult.
From the people we executed, I see seventy-five deaths leaving dependants. Think, Mack! The sum total for that isn''t even eight tonnes! Even the firster''s ship, what was it called in English, the Adventure?,¡± Mack nodded, ¡°could carry fifty tonnes, and the Jupiter class can carry four hundred. Just think of things from that perspective, Mack. Please throw that back in China''s face. I won''t be a party to negotiating anything that insulting.¡±
¡°But you are able to negotiate?¡±
¡°I have authority over all of Russia''s activities outside the atmosphere, Mack. I can negotiate. I even can approve, up to a certain closely guarded figure. What I can''t do is promise to stay round until negotiations are finished.¡±
¡°Would Russia be willing to negotiate a separate deal to India and China?¡±
¡°Yes. Personally, I don''t trust them, and would prefer it.¡±
¡°And you are also the person to organise a trade deal with.¡±
Svetlana pulled a face, ¡°Trade deals, trade deals, everyone talks about trade deals, as if there wasn''t enough manufacturing on Earth. It''s not about trade, Mack. Every time someone does a trade deal for extra special price on goods then the manufacturing costs suffer. It''s about buying influence by reducing arbitrary barriers or giving people cheap shoddy goods. Can we do something else, please?¡±
¡°China are offering high quality steel.¡±
¡°Imported from China.¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°And so Mars becomes dependent on Chinese imported steel, never builds its own production, and then perhaps there''s some little thing that China wants and Mars doesn''t want, then suddenly there''s a problem with the quality control at the factory, and they say oh sorry, we''ll have to fix it before we send it on to Mars. And the next thing you know you''re begging them to send you anything and they''ve got you in the palm of their hands.¡±
Mack followed her logic with a sinking feeling; it sounded like so many history lessons. ¡°You have a better suggestion?¡±
¡°Yes. We could build you a proper steelworks here. It''s not like there''s no iron here, after all.¡±
¡°Just like that?¡±
¡°As part of a treaty, of course.¡±
¡°And what would Russia want?¡±
¡°Ah, now you''re starting to negotiate, Mack.¡± Svetlana grinned, ¡°You''ve heard my little speech about what makes us tick. What would you like to offer me? Or at least, what do I want?¡±
¡°You want Russia to be able to hold its head high, not be an international pariah,¡±
¡°Oooh, well spotted. Anything else?¡±
¡°You want a bit of Mars, something like Atlantis is getting. Land in exchange for assistance in terraforming. It''s why you took part in MarsCorp from the beginning.¡±
¡°Are you offering that?¡±
¡°The Mer can help us build a comet catcher, and they can push some comets in our general direction. But it''s too risky to just assume the catcher will work. We need the comets to miss if the catcher doesn''t work.¡±
¡°You need something like the sheepdogs to follow it down the gravity well, and keep it on course. And you want someone around to make sure the sheepdogs work properly.¡±
¡°Yes. And we probably don''t want to afford to pay MarsCorp to do it.¡±
¡°A certain amount of land per tonne of ice delivered then? Russia develops the technology, and trains Martians as cosmonauts.¡±
¡°Why train Martians?¡±
¡°It helps avoid accusations that we''re out to bomb you. Plus it makes more sense for family links, and so on; they''re going to be resupplying here, after all, and it probably costs less, over all. But perhaps we''d ship in some of our trainers. Some would be happy to become Martians, I''m sure. Then of course, once the steel mill is working and other high tech metal plants too, for that matter, it would make sense to do some local construction here, wouldn''t it?¡±
Mack laughed, ¡°I''m sure it would, your highness. I''m sure it would. Do I assume you''d need to at least run this by your father?¡±
¡°Oh, I''m sure I would. I''m also sure that as long as you don''t set the ratio of land to comet mass too low then he''s going to be interested.¡±
¡°How much would you think is reasonable?¡±
¡°I''m guessing we''re talking about a ten year programme, yes?¡±
¡°At least.¡±
¡°Well, the Mer are getting their sea. Which is a lot of land. I assume we can''t get that much out of you. But... if perhaps by the end of it we were getting five or ten percent of what they get? Would that be reasonable? I think there are lots of different arguments that could apply to raise it or lower it.¡±
¡°The Mer sea, once created will have benefits to all of Mars.¡±
¡°Yes. Sea is important to all Mars. So will tundra and taiga be.¡± Svetlana pointed out.
¡°And you have expertise in restoring and managing both ecosystems,¡± Mack said.
¡°So, our hope would be to provide an ongoing benefit to all Mars, and in return would want a treaty of friendship similar to the Mer.¡±
¡°The Mer have requested that their own law prevails in the sea.¡±
¡°You would not want Russian law, I assume,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°I will not insist on that.¡±
¡°Thank you, Tsarevna. What would you want?¡±
¡°We would want the right to determine who extracts wood from the taiga we plant and how much, who has rights to do anything on the tundra ¡ª it''s a fragile ecosystem, after all. These would be for the environmental benefit of Mars, but not the economic benefit of illegal loggers or uncontrolled tourism, so we would want them to be treated as claimed land.¡±
¡°That sounds reasonable to me at first hearing. And it gives you an ongoing benefit, so I can see the appeal to you.¡±
¡°Something else you have agreed with the Mer is the council of unity. I said at the beginning it is all about influence, so, let us be honest and open about it, not underhand. I ask that Russia be represented on that council. I also ask that you and the Mer lay down hard and permanent rules about what determines a nation''s eligibility to be on that council and make sure that the pressure of economic or military blackmail can''t be applied to get a seat on it.¡±
¡°You don''t think that tying all these things together constitutes economic blackmail?¡±
¡°I leave that determination to you and the Mer, Mr Chairman. I offer our strengths, and our honest friendship in exchange for prestige and a small voice on the future of this planet. I want Mars colonisation to work, and not be vulnerable to a blockade. Oh, speaking of blockades, get breather production here, please. Just think what would happen if LunaCorp decided to apply pressure.¡±
¡°Russia has a significant shareholding in LunaCorp. Is that a threat?¡±
¡°No. It''s a warning from... well I hope you will consider me a future ally, even if you don''t yet. My brother suggested it a few years back, but mother and I convinced my imperial Father not to listen.¡±
¡°Highness, hearing you speaking like this, I realise how much the individual matters. It''s... shocking I guess, to realise how much policy can change from one ruler to the next, or one advisor to the next.¡±
¡°It can, yes. Beware of the weak absolute ruler, tossed and turned by any plan. This is one reason the world can be glad we keep our treaties almost as well as the Mer do. Otherwise, the fate of the world might hinge on whether my father is happy, angry or sad. And be glad my mother is by his side, for he does not stay angry for long when she''s near.¡±
¡°And you may be glad that the Tsarevna has her ladies in waiting,¡± Olga added, ¡°because we are always ready to hit her over the head with a pillow if she starts getting silly. If I may interject, highness, I think you have given the chairman enough to think of now.¡±
¡°I thank my advisor for showing me the total respect due my position,¡± Svetlana said, with a grin. ¡°Mr Chairman, she''s right, I believe. I suppose I should say, though, that while the steelworks project could be a government project, it could equally be a commercial one.¡±
¡°Really? You think that there are commercial companies who''d want to set up here?¡±
¡°It depends on lots of things, but yes, I''ve seen quite a few petitions which basically read ''please sort out the politics so we can start talking to the council about expanding on Mars.''¡±
¡°She''s signed one of them, too.¡± Olga chipped in.
¡°What''s wrong with that? You did too,¡± Svetlana said, then explained, ¡°My Grandma left us both shares in the company.¡±
¡°You don''t feel that there might be a conflict of interest?¡± Mack asked.
¡°Between it being a government-sponsored project earning good will and a commercial project which might eventually earn some money?¡± Svetlana asked. ¡°Absolutely, I''d much rather have the good will.¡±
¡°Perhaps you ought to talk to the steelworks management then,¡± Mack said, ¡°because so far, as far as I understand, there have been no offers of the sort of investment needed to let them produce decent steel.¡±
¡°Oh? I''ll try and visit them some time I''m free, then.¡±
¡°And you''re really planning to visit the prison this afternoon?¡±
¡°Assuming that''s acceptable?¡± Svetlana asked.
¡°Yes. Just make sure your body guards are with you.¡±
High security prision, Mars, 2pm Wedsol 13th March
¡°This is Vladimir, he''s a reporter. If you don''t want him here, just say. If you don''t want me here, just say, for that matter.¡± Svetlana told the prisoner.
¡°And if he goes, you go, imperial highness?¡± The prisoner asked, assuming she was making sure he didn''t say the wrong thing.
¡°Not at all. But if I go, then he goes. I am the one with questions for you, Vladimir is a responsible young man who does not want to be banned from the palace. He is trusted to keep secrets.¡±
¡°I understand, highness.¡±
¡°So, you are detained because they found you with sabotage fluid.¡±
¡°Yes, highness.¡±
¡°Do you know how it was found?¡±
¡°They used a truthsayer.¡±
¡°What interrogation techniques were used against you?¡±
¡°They just asked me some questions, highness. Stupid questions, two plus two, who won the first world war, who was Shakespere, who used the first neutron bomb, what is the chemical formula of water. I guess I started trying to guess when they''d ask about the sabotage fluid. Then they asked ''where is it?''.¡±
¡°And the truthsayer reported on what you thought?¡±
¡°No. She told them I was lying.¡±
¡°So they let you incriminate yourself.¡±
¡°They showed me my luggage and asked yes-no questions. Is it in there? I said no, she said ''a lie''. They found it.¡±
¡°Cunning. Which section were you assigned to, my records don''t say.¡±
¡°Section forty-two.¡± he replied.
¡°Forty two? Imperial Space Force section forty-two is catering. Someone''s idea of a joke ¡ª the answer to life the universe and everything is a full stomach.¡±
¡°Secret Space Service, section forty two.¡±
¡°How did you join?¡± Svetlana asked, not missing a beat. The Secret Space Service was a fictional agency in a cartoon series she''d last seen when she was ten, about hyper-intelligent mice who reported directly to the Tsar.
Ten minutes of explanation and questioning later she asked, ¡°Did you ever think that the ''Secret Space Service'' might be entirely fictional?¡±
¡°Well, yes, as a child, highness.¡±
¡°But now you''re an adult you think there are mice who fly spaceships?¡±
¡°No, highness, but the...¡± he stopped, ¡°The news said a general was sacked for restarting the assassinations?¡±
¡°He was, yes. And you''ve just told me of Indians being involved in recruiting you. Didn''t that ever strike you as odd?¡±
¡°But...¡± he didn''t finish.
¡°There is no pension scheme for the Secret Space Service, because it does not exist, except as an animated cartoon series. You''ve been tricked into joining a scheme which plotted murder and has discredited Russia and my Imperial Father. Someone has committed treason, but I do not believe it was you.¡±
¡°But... you said you had records about me.¡±
¡°Yes. I have your school record, and you passed your driving test on the fifth try. You then left your job and emigrated to your lovely prison cell on Mars for no apparent reason. Thank you for filling in the gap. There is almost certainly nothing I can say that will reduce your sentence here.¡±
High security prision, Mars, 5pm Wedsol 13th March
¡°Section forty-two,¡± the fifth prisoner replied, just like the others.
¡°Of the Secret Space Service?¡±
¡°''Super-Mice can fly!''¡± the young man quoted. ¡°Highness? Is it real? I thought it was all a big joke, and I went along with it. I didn''t mind the training courses because it was crazy and fun and I was looking forward to seeing everyone''s face when the reporter jumped out of the dustbin, or something. Then I got the ticket, and the real sabotage fluid, and I really got on a ship to Mars, and that bit was excellent since I''ve always wanted to come, but still no camera crew came, and this jail is real. Is section forty two real?¡±
¡°Section forty two is the catering department of the Imperial Space Force, since, according to someone, a full stomach is the answer to all a spaceman''s questions. I know of no other section forty-two, nor do I know of any Secret Space Service except the one that employs mice.¡±
¡°I was terrified it might have been real, highness. I never wanted to kill anyone.¡±
¡°Did you tell that to the authorities here?¡±
¡°I was afraid it might put me on a hit-list.¡±
¡°Do you recognise any of these pictures?¡±
¡°This man is the one they called the general,¡± he said, looking through the pictures carefully, ¡°This might be the woman who recruited me. This man looks familiar, but I don''t remember why. This woman I''ve seen in the news, about the cars parked in Monaco. She looks quite like you, highness, except for the shape of her eyes and the mole. Is she a relative?¡±
¡°Princess Claire inherited her title from my grandmother. You have good memory skills. This man again?¡±
¡°Was he connected to the Secret Space Service films?¡±
¡°Well done,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°very well done. What would you have done if you had got to Mars and been told to kill someone?¡±
¡°I planned it out. I would have been clumsy, and made sure I got caught, somehow. I had another spray bottle, identical; one for the murder fluid and another for water. I can do slight of hand. Anyone watching wouldn''t notice, except when the person targeted didn''t die.¡±
¡°I see. I will speak to the council on your behalf, but I have no authority here.¡±
Russian Princess feeds protesters, gives answers
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Taking the biblical injunction ''if your enemy is hungry, feed him'' literally, Crown Princess Svetlana of Russia donned her mars-suit instead of her royal robes, and under the false name ''Tanya'', helped embassy staff deliver hot soup and nutrient bars to the protesters who were outside the embassies of Atlantis and the Restored Kingdom late last night. As well as delivering soup, she and staff also delivered answers. Grinding assertions by China and India that no-one had any records firmly into dust, by the time they''d finished their soup the protesters knew which country ¡°ought¡± to have killed their relative, and if that was Russia, then which one actually did ¡ª according to the records ''Tanya'' had, the other two nations were not happy with the semi-judicial process that Russian agents went through, collecting evidence that they were actually talking about the missing clauses to people, rather than just killing them on discovery.
One man discovered that his father had been killed by a Russian agent after the then-Tsar had ended the ''enforcement'' of this unpublished ''law''. The criminal agent was arrested, dragged back to Russia in chains, tried and executed for murder. All secretly of course.
The Mars Council have now been given the records, and the princess has begun the process of negotiating Russia''s compensation of surviving relatives. Her first act in that negotiation was to dismiss the sum proposed by India and China as an entirely insulting slap in the face to the victims'' families.
The Indian and Chinese ambassadors remain at Helas, attempting to rescue the floundering rice field project, however a spokesperson for India stated that it was very convenient for Russia that they had such detailed documents, and he hoped the ink was dry.
The veracity of the records is of course an important issue. If they are accurate, then Russia is responsible for approximately thirteen percent of the victims, rather than the fifty-five percent previously attributed to them by rumours.
Mack Fischer, the Chairman of the Mars Council, has stated that he has a lot less faith in convenient losses of data and rumours than in records that contain details that agree with intercept data, jogged people''s memories and made them say ''Oh, but that''s not right'' check with friends and in the end agree, ''oh yes, it is right, I''d forgotten that.'' That is to say, every bit of the Russian records he''d checked bore up to scrutiny.
When asked about when the long-awaited trade deal might be processed he stated that having had a break from thinking about the details and looking at the bigger picture, he will not be recommending any trade deal to the Council that increases Mars''s dependency on imports from Earth. This is clearly a massive blow to China, whose trading position was based upon them importing high quality steel more cheaply than Mars can produce any grade of steel at present. Mr Fischer explained that while there would be continued issues with tool production until quality local alloys could be produced, he was working for an independent Mars where there would be local production, and it was a step backwards to export Martian jobs to another place.
The staff at the Mars steel works were overjoyed at this change of stance.
News Report for Earth and Mars circulation, Wedsol, 13th March. By Vladimir Vladimirovich
After a closed session this morning discussing the question of compensation for victims of Russia''s involvement in the tripartite plan, her imperial highness spent this afternoon at the prison, where she interviewed five prisoners arrested for possession of the sabotage chemical. A number of similar elements emerged from each one: they had been in a bar discussing politics and expressed a desire that Mars be more Russian, somewhat drunk, and as they left had been approached by, depending on the case, a man or woman who looked roughly Indian, but spoke good Russian. They were then spoken to by someone referred to as ''the general'', although he wore no uniform.
After a ''selection process'', when they were scored against some unknown criteria and unknown opposition, they were told they had passed and were now part of a top secret wing of the ''Secret Space Service'', and would receive a significant pension. They were then given instructions in sabotaging breathers. They had their tickets to Mars paid for by ''the general'', and were informed they would be given a list of targets on their arrival on Mars.
Tsarevna Svetlana then informed the five prisoners that there was no such organisation as the Secret Space Service except in fiction, and that they had been part of a treasonous plot to discredit Russia. On hearing this, two of the prisoners reacted with anger, shouting that she was denying them their pension rights, and had to be restrained and sedated. Two prisoners were stunned that they''d been taken in. One said he was relieved, and he''d hoped her imperial highness would tell him something like that. He claimed he''d only signed up because he had been so desperate to get to Mars, and had fully planned on turning himself in to the authorities when he got here.
News Report, Russia Today, Wednesday 13th March.
Disgraced former-general Sakarov arrested on charge of accepting bribes and treason
Reports are emerging that the former general-in-charge of the Imperial Space Force has been arrested on charges of: accepting bribes from a foreign government; of perjury before an imperial investigation committee; of acting against the express will of the Tsar; and of secretly recruiting a private army of assassins, an act of high treason.
If found guilty on any charge, the death penalty will apply.
News report, for Mars and Earth circulation, Noon Thursol 14th March
Tsarevna discusses steel-works deal
Unconfirmed reports are emerging from the Mars Steelworks of a series of meetings taking place this morning between Tsarevna Svetlana, senior management and workers representatives. The rumours suggest that the princess, also a major shareholder in the RusSteel corporation, is in favour of bringing not just tool-grade steel production to Mars, but aiming for top quality alloys, such as space-grade stainless steels, an area where RusSteel has reportedly reached its production capacity. RusSteel management are also said to have been in contact.
For Mars SteelWorks, a deal would obviously mean new plant, increased workforce and many new markets to explore. For RusSteel a deal would presumably mean they were able to satisfy orders with production from Mars as well as Earth and gain access to Mars Mining''s readily available ores. If the interest in producing top quality alloys is genuine, it means good news for a whole host of local industries, and raises the interesting question of whether the RusSteel subsidiary and MarsCorp''s spacecraft maintenance contractor, RusSpace, might also be interested in setting up a base here.
Correction to News report, for Mars and Earth circulation, 1pm, Thursol 14th March
Apology, Steelworks deal hopes
We wholeheartedly apologise for an editing error which mis-labeled RusSpace as a merely a maintenance contractor to MarsCorp. RusSpace is of course a long-standing spacecraft design and construction company, with a long history of innovative designs to its name, including the ever-reliable Celestia class and the Alpha-class ultra-capacity transports which played such an important role in the early stages of population boost. Also, it was a RusSpace-designed and built high-thrust courier ship that in 2272 halved the speed record for manned Earth-Mars transit, and still holds that record for conventional reaction-mass thrust vessels.
We thank RusSpace press relations for their gracious response to our error and for confirming that RusSpace management are extremely interested in a Mars branch, and hope that all the necessary agreements can be reached between the Mars Council and other parties that would allow them to start their own negotiations with the council. RusSpace press relations also stated that they already have a small design office on Mars and while of course we are still in the realm of ideas and not of promises or contracts, RusSpace see no fundamental reasons that they should not eventually be able to extend all operations to Mars, once support industries are in place.
Embassy of the Restored Kingdom, Mars, 7pm Thusol 14th March, 2278
¡°Thank you, Alice for cooking this for us,¡± Svetlana said, surveying the meal. ¡°It smells and looks lovely.¡±
¡°It does,¡± Olga jumped in, ¡°We''re going to need to diet on our flight home, I think.¡±
¡°I was about to say, sadly I think I actually need to refuse all but a mouthful. I''m not really feeling hungry.¡±
¡°Are you OK?¡± Alice asked.
¡°I''m coming down with a bit of a headache. Just too much excitement in the last few days, I think. Don''t look worried, Olga, I''m fine.¡±
¡°You''re sure?¡± Alice asked.
¡°Yes,¡± Svetlana insisted.
¡°No,¡± Heather said, ¡°Princess is sick. She''s yucky green.¡±
¡°Heather, what have Mummy and Daddy said about saying what you see about people?¡±
¡°Only in emergencies. Like now, princess is emergency. Look, mummy!¡± and Heather pressed her hand into her mother''s.
Svetlana looked between the four year old and her mother, and said, ¡°Err, is this where I pretend I''ve not seen reports about you being relieved about people wearing gloves, your excellency?¡±
Alice laughed, ¡°Gloves are wonderful. You knowing makes that part of it easier. The mer call Heather a seer,¡± Alice said, ¡°that''s to say someone who sees things others don''t. She sees you as significantly ill, highness.¡±
¡°I''m pretty sure it''s just sinus pain.¡±
Heather shook her head and repeated ¡°Nasty yucky green head.¡±
¡°Highness,¡± Simon said, ¡°Heather hasn''t learned it''s rude to use her gift on every other person she meets yet. So she''s seen plenty of people with colds and the like. I''d recommend that if she says it''s worse than that, you take it seriously.¡±
[Simon, what would you guess?] Alice thought to her husband.
[Serious infection in her skull, and I''m not just talking sinuses. Meningitis maybe? Shall I tell her I can see it too?]
¡°The ''nasty yucky green'' she''s seeing isn''t just sinuses, either,¡± Alice said, ¡°Your highness, do you have any other symptoms?¡± Olga asked.
¡°Well, I might be starting influenza, I guess.¡±
¡°Not influence,¡± Heather insisted, ¡°yucky green head, like Rodger.¡±
¡°When he went to hospital?¡± Alice asked.
¡°Yes. Princess sick, like Rodger.¡±
¡°Rodger''s one of the reporters Alice works with,¡± Simon told Svetlana and her friends, ¡°He came down with meningitis a few months ago.¡±
¡°Highness,¡± Leonid said, ¡°it is my duty to your imperial father to ensure that you get to the hospital for tests if there is any chance of you having that.¡±
¡°Then I guess I''m going to hospital,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°but I don''t feel like I''m an emergency at the moment so I''m going to insist on my friends eating first.¡±
¡°I have a better idea, highness,¡± Simon said. ¡°You allow your friends to bully you into the MarsMobile, and then they allow you to bully them to eat on the way.¡±
¡°Princess sick. Very sick,¡± Heather declared.
News report, for Mars and Earth circulation, 9pm Thursol 14th March
Tsarevna in hospital for tests
After a hectic four days of meetings, press interviews and public speeches (including time out to feed people protesting her presence), Tsarevna Svetlana has been admitted to the Mars hospital suffering from increasingly painful headache, nausea and a fever. Medical staff said that the evidence so far pointed to meningitis, but test results were not yet back. Her chief lady-in-waiting informed reporters that her Imperial Highness thanks God that she allowed four year old Heather Findhorn-Bunting to persuade her to cut short her planned discussion and to not delay seeking medical attention, and that she is certain that she is now exactly where she needs to be and is in good hands.
News report, for Mars and Earth circulation, 11am Frisol 15th March
Council agrees unified negotiating position
While Russia has decried as insulting the compensation plan that India and China claimed some months ago were ''as good as signed'', and refused to enter into joint negotiations involving the other two parties, the Mars Council has today decided that the compensation offered to the families of victims of the tripartite plan must be entirely equivalent.
Russia''s position, that the other two nations have displayed a lack of faith and a trivialising attitude to their involvement and the ''immoral even if not illegal'' killings, is clearly uncomfortable for the other two ambassadors, especially since the princess has the authority to agree to negotiations, as is her statement that she will not be a party to Russia paying any compensation plan that ''is so small it might get accidentally overlooked when unloading in a hurry.''
Her allusion is clearly referring to last cycle''s embarrassing incident where the Saturn was delayed after a forty-tonne factory unit for Mars delivery was not noticed by cargo handlers until the vessel was being re-loaded for its return flight. India and China''s previous position, often-stated to the Council, had been that they would gladly offer more, but Russia would not accept a higher compensation package than twice the ''accidental death'' sum for space-workers. Based on the numbers from the Tsarevna''s list this would come to a total cost to Russia of about eight tonnes.
Clearly that figure did not have any actual support from anyone in authority in St Petersburg, and the Tsarevna''s comparison suggests that she''s thinking of a sum considerably larger. Whether she actually intended a strict comparison and the compensation package to be at least five times larger than India and China''s position is uncertain.
In either case, the Council''s decision and the princess''s illness clearly combine to give the opportunity for them to reassess their negotiating position.
News report, for Mars and Earth circulation, 1pm Frisol 15th March
Tsarevna appoints prospective lady in waiting as negotiator
The life-long friend of Tsarevna Svetlana, Yuliya Mihaiovna, described previously as ''seeing if she wants to be my advisor/lady in waiting or would prefer another job'' was today appointed as the Tsarevna''s negotiator in the compensation deal. The Tsarevna herself is undergoing treatment for bacterial meningitis, a potentially life-threatening disease, but is determined that she wants the compensation package to be agreed upon soon.
Further to our earlier report, Miss Mihaiovna has been in contact to state yes the Tsarevna had meant that she''d grudgingly accept a compensation package that meant Russia transported forty tonnes, if that was the best India and China were prepared to offer. She also stated that the Tsarevna was not in favour of haggling over people''s pain and loss, and while she fully understood the Council''s position of requiring equal treatment she hoped it would not turn into a long and complicated multi-way dispute.
Mars Council Chamber, 3pm Frisol
¡°Miss Mihaiovna?¡± Mack asked, after the long-winded presentation by India''s representative about how they''d negotiated with someone they believed was a true representative of the Russian government.
¡°I thank the Indian ambassador for the additional list of charges to be laid at the feet of a traitor and his controlling nation. But if I might, I would like to suggest this is irrelevant to the discussion at hand.
"I understand China once said they would be willing to pay compensation of ten times what was then on the table; Well, so is Russia. The tripartite plan was wrongly made and can easily, from Mars''s perspective, be considered a murderous conspiracy. Under the laws of Russia, the actions of our agents were legal, but many of the actions of the agents of other nations were not legal. Russia acknowledges that the complexities of jurisdiction meant we did little except warn people who were at risk. So, I notice this is the judicial chamber of Mars. I am sure the Council are used to juggling the issues of justice, mercy and retribution as it considers fines and compensation. I ask for mercy on behalf of my country, for I do not feel we bear the brunt of the blame nor are we as numerous as some, but I humbly suggest this sovereign court take control of this case. Since when did the killer and his accomplices set his own sentence?¡±
¡°You call that negotiating?¡± the Ambassador for India exclaimed.
¡°I call it a very constructive attitude,¡± Raul said. ¡°And yes, I most certainly remember that India also concurred with the figure from China of how much they''d like to set as compensation.¡±
¡°Me too,¡± Mack said. ¡°Do your excellencies wish to quibble?¡±
The Chinese ambassador gave a sad smile, ¡°I would love to be able to accept, but unfortunately I would have to seek ratification from my government.¡±
¡°I believe I am able to accept that figure, split equally between each party to the accord,¡± the Indian ambassador said.
¡°So your agents murder people we had determined not guilty and you expect us to compensate their relatives?¡± Yuliya asked, outraged.
¡°Your records are so very convenient for you,¡± the Chinese Ambassador said, ¡°unfortunately we do not have as much faith in them as you do, and prefer an equal distribution.¡±
¡°I''m sure you do. You preferred it when you were blaming us for half the deaths, too.¡±
Mack smiled, ¡°Your excellencies, madam negotiator, I have heard very good things about the information gathering skills of the Restored Kingdom from a number of sources, and I''m sure you''re aware they are absolutely obsessive about not throwing data away that might have some bearing on a royal promise. I''m so sorry that neither India nor China have still not been able to rediscover their records but, fortunately, the lost data is not altogether lost. So, this council will base our decisions on what we know.¡±
¡°And where you do not know?¡± the Indian ambassador asked.
¡°Where we do not know, Mr ambassador,¡± Claudia said, ¡°we will use statistical methods to determine the reliability of the data available, and when that fails we will use the principles of proportional blame.¡±
Yuliya, who had a fairly good idea what that would result in, suppressed a smile, and said seriously ¡°Russia would prefer that our unedited historical data be accepted without question, but we accept this principle.¡±
¡°I believe we can accept this principle,¡± the Chinese ambassador said.
¡°I too,¡± agreed the representative of India, reluctantly.
¡°One issue that has not been mentioned is the question of killings where there are no surviving relatives on Mars,¡± Mack said, ¡°I believe the most appropriate solution is that the same payment be made.¡±
¡°Who to?¡± the Indian ambassador asked.
¡°Where appropriate, next of kin off Mars. Otherwise, the council will accept it along with the fines this court will levy. I hope no one finds that an unacceptable principle to communicate to their government.¡±
¡°I''m authorised to say that Russia accepts this principle,¡± Yuliya said. Based on the data she''d seen, it was just one extra death on Russia''s account.
¡°Fines?¡± China asked.
¡°Clearly,¡± Mack said, ¡°as long as a nation''s actions are legal and within it''s own territory, what it does to its own citizens is not a matter for international review. But when law is trespassed and no jurisdiction has been claimed, as I believe to be the case, it''s a different matter, is it not? As the court with jurisdiction over the territory where alleged unlawfulness occurred, I believe we have a responsibility to act. If your governments prefer, of course, and fear that your nations will not be treated fairly, you may refer the cases of extra-judicial, extra-territorial and unjustified killing recently brought to our attention to the international criminal court. But in any case, this is a totally separate issue to that of compensation for loss of a relative.¡±
Yuliya nodded in absolute agreement.
¡°Of course it is,¡± the Indian ambassador said quickly, as the Chinese ambassador was about to reply, ¡°with the compensation we distance ourselves from past wrong-doings and demonstrate that we are good, trustworthy friends to the people of Mars.¡±
His Chinese counterpart recovered quickly and said ¡°And by not protesting the Council''s decision to issue fines, we demonstrate that we recognise the legitimate government of the planet.¡±
¡°And here I was thinking like the rash and cynical teenager I used to be, that you would want to buy some good will for the sake of a better trade deal,¡± Yuliya said, ¡°and avoid the excruciating embarrassment of a being held accountable before the world''s press. Thank you so much for correcting my unworthy thoughts, your excellencies.¡±
¡°Young woman,¡± Mack reprimanded her, ¡°I think the members of this council have no need to be educated in teenage cynicism, or even that of those in their twenties. We still have some of our own. So, while our honourable ambassadors leave to inform their governments how you have acted as if you''re on the side of the victims rather than the defence, I at least would like to hear what motives you would like us to ascribe to your own so-called negotiating stance. Unless your excellencies have anything to add?¡±
They didn''t, so started to gather their papers. Yuliya didn''t wait for them to leave before she answered.
¡°I think the princess has already spoken about this, and I thought I had too, honoured Council members. We acknowledge what guilt is of our nation; we repent of it, and we want to do what is right. Russia does not have a reputation for repenting over past sins, I know. But our negotiating stance, if you can call it that, is to do all we can to redress the wrongs of the past.¡±
¡°For what motive?¡± Claudia asked.
¡°Because the past relationship between Mars and Russia has been controlled by an evil agreement the princess wants nothing to do with.¡±
¡°Policy changes happen, yes.¡± Mack said.
¡°Right and wrong don''t. Her Highness genuinely wants Mars and Russia to become friends, and quickly.¡±
¡°What''s the rush?¡± Raul asked.
¡°I will happily tell the Council, but the Princess has expressed some distrust of certain other governments, so I''ll wait until those leaving have actually left.¡± Yuliya said pointedly. The ambassadors, she''d noticed, had been shuffling the same paperwork for most of the past few interchanges.
Once they''d gone she launched straight into her answer.
¡°I''m asked why the rush. Can I ask, why delay? If you must find some selfish motive, then consider that honest, genuine, study for a royal princess in Russia is exceedingly difficult. On the one hand lecturers would have a terror of causing upset and future reprisal for honest and deserved criticism, and on the other hand there is the sort of lawlessness that comes with corrupt police and judges. To be safe, she would need to be unrecognised or surrounded by a major security force. I''m not saying she will study here, but she''d like the option. Other places on Earth are rather easy for would-be attackers to get to. And if you want another selfish motive, then consider national pride. The princess has argued since she was ten that our policy here was destroying our international reputation. Now she has the authority to reverse that policy.¡±
¡°Hmm. I suppose I can accept that,¡± Raul said, ¡°but it seems a bit thin to me, especially since her request for a seat on the Council of Unity can''t be negotiated until the end of the Mer embargo.¡±
¡°Yes, it''s thin. I don''t believe these selfish motives are what drive her.¡±
¡°Then what does? What''s the profit motive?¡±
¡°Her imperial highness wants Mars to be a self-sufficient planet, fully impervious to the sort of things envisaged in appendix six of that evil plan, where all MarsCorp operations cease, all shipping ceases. Now that you have the Mer as allies, she is sure a blockade will not be total, so it no longer makes her wake up in tears like it has done since she was twelve. But my friend, my princess, wants to annihilate her nightmare of a planet full of starving Martians with no breathers cursing the nations that made them so dependent on imports with their dying breaths as tyrants and murderers. Quite simply, this has become a personal matter for her and she wants to make things right. She doesn''t care about making a profit, she wants breathers made here, tools made here and excess crops grown here.¡±
¡°Breather manufacture needs complex processes best done in low gravity. It would be prohibitively expensive to make them on-planet,¡± Claudia said.
¡°According to MarsCorp, who have only just stopped telling people to pour bleach their heaps, and LunaCorp who make a profit on every sale, yes.¡±
¡°You mean it''s propaganda?¡± Claudia asked.
¡°Princess Svetlana has been talking to a number of materials scientists at home, I believe the council should too. Hopefully she will be well enough soon to tell you of her ideas in person once you have done so.¡±
Compensation shock: Russian negotiator says Council decides
In a shock move which entirely pulled the rug from under China and India''s feet, the Tsarevna''s negotiator first suggested increasing the compensation by a factor of ten and then suggested that any compensation for surviving relatives or fines were not a matter for international haggling, but that as a judicial body it was for the Mars Council to decide and the guilty parties to pay.
That figure of ten times the ''insulting'' amount rejected earlier this week by the Tsarevna had been mentioned in press conferences by the other negotiators, who had suggested that they''d be happy to arrange for ten times the amount they claimed ''Russia was prepared to offer''. Obviously the Russian negotiator views that whole negotiating stance as nothing more than trying to win favour and paint Russia in a bad light. Russia, she declared was also happy to pay that as a token of their sorrow to relatives of those their agents had killed, calling their bluff, and raising the possibility that the compensation package as a whole will take an entire Jupiter-class transport to deliver.
However, it is her second statement that will no doubt cause the biggest issue for India and China.
The shift from a voluntary ''good will'' payment to a judicially arbitrated settlement caught everyone by surprise, but opens the way for both a speedier process and brings the strong possibility that ¡ª assuming the Council agrees Russia''s records are valid ¡ª additional charges might be levied against India and China for ''international assassination''. Martians are today finding out that crown Princess Svetlana''s viewpoint ¡ª and thus Russia''s ¡ª is remarkably similar to their own: while there might have been legal loopholes, it ought to be treated as a crime.
Also, regarding the killing of those on ''Russia''s list'' by other nations, Russia''s viewpoint ¡ª both with hindsight, and as evidenced by their issuing warnings to people that they should hide ¡ª is that by dividing up the targeting lists based on their relative involvement in the Mars Project, the tripartite plan ascribed jurisdiction over the settled parts of the planet to the different nations based on who was where. By killing people on Russia''s list, India and China thus crossed a line in international law. They overreached whatever flimsy basis they might have had for claiming their actions were an internal matter and stepped into the realm of an external action.
The Russian representative, who has recently attained her masters degree in international law, stated it was clearly the Council''s prerogative to try the case as the internationally recognised judicial body over the territory in which the crimes occurred now they have come to light. Unless of course the two nations decide to declare that the court is unjust and biased against them. We can all imagine how that will sit with the Mars Council, and what it would do to their hopes of being Mars''s ''best large friends''.
The legality or otherwise of international assassinations depends upon the exact circumstances. Much like a public interest defence, once the court has decided who did it, then it becomes necessary for the acting party to prove their case that they were acting in accordance with the law. The repeated assurance from China and India that they have no records means that if they are found responsible then they have no defence, and the assassination is necessarily judged as being a crime under international law.
Should they suddenly uncover some documentation that saves them from whatever punishment the Mars Council determines, they''ll find themselves needing to explain why it didn''t exist previously and also quite possibly find themselves at the top of every Martian''s ''most hated foreign power'' list.
Just what this is doing to relationships between Russia and the other two nations is something we can only speculate about.
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 19:Implications of Friendship
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 19:Implications of Friendship
Mars Council offices, 9am Monsol 19th March, 2278
¡°Madam Ambassador! You look distressed, is there a problem?¡± Eloise greeted the Chinese ambassador.
¡°I present to you this document as evidence, honoured Council secretary, and as I do so, I ask that my claim no longer be considered the embassy of China, that my status as ambassador of my former people become null and void, and that I be granted political asylum. I hereby renounce my Chinese citizenship. I also ask that you increase protection tenfold around her Highness Svetlana of Russia, and grant me and my former staff some too. They also resign. We will not have any part in what this calls for.¡±
¡°Urm, I cannot read this, honourable lady.¡±
¡°It declares that the crown princess has breached our country''s state secrets, declares itself a state secret, and then cites passages of international law that justify an assassination in cases of breaching state secrets. The implication is clear that we should arrange for the princess to die but it is worded in such a way they can say we misunderstood and acted on our own. There are no specifics of course, except that it asks me to report on Chinese citizens who work in the hospital. So, as I give you this, I commit a capital crime. But I do what is right.¡±
¡°Honourable lady, have a seat and let me make some calls,¡± Eloise said.
¡°Alice,¡± Eloise said to her wrist unit, ¡°the honorable lady, the former ambassador of China is extremely concerned about a recent communique she received concerning the Tsarevna. Could you please check with your government if they happen to have intercepted anything from China, arriving here at eight this morning, or from India, and if so could they pass it around appropriately?¡±
¡°Former ambassador?¡±
¡°I understand the embassy staff have resigned en-mass. I hope you don''t mind checking.¡±
¡°The document concerns Svetlana''s safety?¡±
¡°Among other things, it apparently asks if there are any Chinese citizens at the hospital. Svetlana''s being moved.¡±
St Petersburg, 19th March
[Nadiya,] Alice called, [More news about your cousin.]
[She''s all right?]
[Yes. She''s recovering from the infection, able to get up for short periods. But in case her father asks, she''s now staying in a very secure part of the Mer embassy.]
[There is some kind of problem?]
[The official communication link from China sent a message which made their ambassador and embassy staff resign.]
[A threat to Svetlana?]
[From what I understand, implied, and deniable. A clear threat to the embassy staff if they told people what it said. I presume your secret services are decoding it now.]
[If they notice it.]
[I do know when it was sent. But if they read it, I expect there will be repercussions. So please, if you tell the Tsar anything, tell him what I''ve said is for his reassurance, not so he can react too hastily, before all the facts are known. Svetlana''s winning friends here.¡±
[Svetlana''s winning friends for Russia in lots of places.] Eliza chipped in.
[Hello, Mystery.] Alice asked [Should I leave?]
[No. Could you ladies please tell the Mars Council and the Tsar that that their Majesty''s ambassador to the U.N. has called for an emergency meeting of the Security council. A unilateral response by Russia would, I think, be premature.]
[I don''t know the Tsar knows what you''re talking about, my lady,] Nadiya thought.
[Someone''s just not believing the translation of it in what I presume is your secret service''s underground decryption bunker,] Alice supplied.
[Don''t tell me!{fear}] Nadiya thought.
[I didn''t see where it was, don''t worry. I think you should go and see his imperial Majesty, and see if you can avoid him doing anything like triggering world war four.]
[Oh thanks!] Nadiya thought back.
[Would you like my Martian friend or me to stay in contact with you?] Eliza suggested.
[I have a suggestion,] Alice said. [I could persuade some thought-hearing Mer to ask Svetlana to send her dad a message, and relay it to you faster than slow photons. Would that help?]
[Probably, yes.] Nadiya agreed.
[And another suggestion,] Alice said [The Tsarina is quite well today, not at all too sick to go with you. I''ve just checked.]
[{relief} That''s an excellent suggestion. Thank you.]
Mer Embassy to Mars, 19th March
¡°This is weird, sending a message home with someone else in the room, knowing that Nadiya''s going to hear it and pass it on,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°Well, I''m here, in the Mer embassy. I''m recovering from a meningitis bugs I probably picked up a couple of weeks ago, and only gave in to when it seemed like the crisis here was pretty much resolved. As for the latest crisis... please don''t leap to conclusions. Top officials in the Chinese government have apparently been in contact with their ex-ambassador saying ''What message about the princess?'' So, I think someone''s playing ''tweak the dragon''s tail''. I''m fine, I''m well guarded, and I''m also assured there''s no one planning to harm me on Mars at the moment. What else shall I say? Working for peace seems like a good move from my perspective, father. I love you lots. Bye! Recording''s off now, but Nadiya, hopefully you''re still on the line, can you suggest Krista asks the Mer ambassador there if sheets of what the Mer call crystal might be for sale in the Mediterranean area? The ambassador here is selling the stuff, but maybe that''s just Mars. Thanks.¡±
¡°Your Cousin says OK, she''ll ask, the person with the gift says you''re let off that extra thought and that your mother is very glad to hear you''re well protected,¡± the mermaid thought-hearer ¡ª named Pania ¡ª said, then asked,
¡°What are you planning to do with sheets of crystal, highness?¡±
¡°Princess Claire of Basse Monaco might want to use it as lovely insulating windows for some lovely insulating walls she''s getting made.¡±
¡°Oh, OK. She hasn''t thought of it as a structural material, then?¡±
¡°I''m pretty sure she hadn''t thought it would be available,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°Oh, well, highness,¡± Pania grinned, ¡°I do have a brother who''s quite the expert in programming the extruders. If she''d be interested...¡±
¡°I expect so.¡±
¡°Not to mention a cousin who''s a trader. He actually idly speculated that you might happen to have vast tracts of forest to your name and perhaps be interested in exporting some top grade paneling to Atlantis.¡±
¡°Hmm, I expect other people have had that idea too. And he could walk into pretty much any town in Russia and find enough wood fill any Mer boat I''ve seen.¡±
¡°Yes. His little twist was the thought that hand-carved panels might be quite valuable anywhere, it''s just getting the contacts that''s hard.¡±
¡°He''s interested in carving or buying carved?¡±
¡°Buying carved.¡±
¡°OK, that might be interesting, too. I presume there''s no link between the two trades?¡±
¡°Well, I''m sure that if you offered hand-carved wood for the work with the extruder.....¡±
¡°You might get a gem or two in commission from your brother and your cousins.¡±
¡°Or a gem and the odd piece of wood-panelling.¡±
¡°I''ll make some enquiries. Any favourite themes, or would something geometric be preferred?¡±
Restoration, Thursday 20th March 2278
¡°Hello? Have I got the right number thing? I''m told this is the number of an architect called Zara.¡± The voice on the phone said.
¡°Who said that?¡± Zara asked.
¡°Tsarevna Svetlana of Russia told my sister you were doing a project for someone she knows called princess Claire.¡±
¡°Sounds complicated. But no matter how good the recommendation, I''m afraid I''m not taking new commissions at the moment.¡±
¡°Oh, urm, no. I''m calling to give you some details about what we call crystal, in case it fits the project you''re working on for princess Claire. On the Monaco beach. You are working on it?¡±
Zara decided this was either some kind of marketing attempt or he was trying to extract data from her; that had happened before too.
¡°If you believe that then you''d better talk and I''ll listen then. Be aware that your network I.D. has been automatically recorded. I will not give away details of any commissions I may or may not have contracted to do.¡±
¡°Err, but you are Zara the architect who''s working on Princess Claire''s youth hostel?¡±
¡°I am called Zara and I am an architect,¡± Zara said carefully.
¡°But you won''t tell me if you''re the right Zara?¡±
¡°I have no desire to fall for some kind of confidence trick.¡±
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
¡°Oh. Urm. You''re not expecting my call are you?¡±
¡°Should I be?¡±
¡°I don''t know. I mean, Pania ¡ª she''s my sister, said the Tsarevna was wondering about crystal sheets for windows to start with, but then they talked some more and she said she''d make some calls, but maybe I''m too quick off the mark. Crystal isn''t really a crystal of course. Would you like numbers? If so what units do you prefer?¡±
¡°What sort of numbers?¡± Zara asked. Wondering what was so special about this new type of glass he wanted to sell Claire via her.
¡°Structural, thermal. Are metres, kilos, seconds and watts OK? I''ve got a converter thing if they''re not, just I''m not very confident it gives sane values, because I don''t ever use anything else.¡±
¡°That set of units are fine.¡±
¡°Oh great, well, lambda, you use that, yes? Watts per metre kelvin? Zero point zero three. Density is about twelve hundred.¡±
¡°Hold on, you can''t quote lambda for a window, in any sane window you''ve got multiple layers,¡± Zara protested.
¡°I suppose you could make it multi-layer if you really wanted to, I guess you''d gain insulation but lose structural strength... it''s not a compromise I''d make. But window, wall, it''s all the same stuff.¡±
¡°That density''s not right for glass, either,¡± Zara pointed out.
¡°Of course not. It''s crystal. You know, keeps warm air on the inside and the cold, the sea and the sharks on the outside.¡± the voice said.
Zara felt that something in this conversation wasn''t adding up. ¡°Sorry, you''ve lost me. What are you talking about?¡±
¡°Urm, have you been to Atlantis, or at least seen pictures?¡± the voice asked.
¡°Atlantis? You''re talking about mer crystal?¡±
¡°Who else makes it?¡±
¡°I assumed you were talking about some new type of glass. You''re mer?¡±
¡°Yes. Didn''t I say?¡±
¡°No. Nor your name.¡±
¡°I didn''t? Oh, I hate these telephone things! Let me start from the beginning will you? I''m Xavier Renata Tulag, I walked together with the Tsarevna''s lady in waiting, Olga, for a while but that turned out to have been based on an embarrassing misunderstanding. Which was a shame, she''s a lovely person. So, anyway, the Tsarevna heard that the Mer ambassador was selling crystal on Mars, and she knows about princess Claire''s building plans, and gave me your number via my sister who''s on Mars.¡±
¡°And you''re offering Mer crystal to land-folk?¡±
¡°To princess Claire du Basse-Monaco, anyway. I mean, she''s part-Mer.¡±
¡°She is?¡±
¡°Of course, so''s the King of Monaco, they''re distant cousins of mine. The grandmother of the first princess of Basse-Monaco ¡ª that''s to say the grandmother who married the king of Monaco ¡ª was my great-great-great-grandfather''s cousin. Urm, maybe they don''t know that, actually. I guess I''ll have to ask.¡±
¡°I guess you should,¡± Zara agreed.
¡°So, anyway, her highness can have crystal if she wants it, and if the architect she''s got wants to try to incorporate it into her designs.¡±
¡°As I understand it, Crystal is rather hard.¡±
¡°Harder than diamond, yes.¡±
¡°So how on Earth do you get it the right shape?¡±
¡°Oh, well, you make sure it''s made into the right shape to start with, or you just cut it with a rock-cutter.¡±
¡°So, easy to work with if there''s a Mer around with a rock-cutter, and pretty much impossible otherwise?¡±
¡°Err, I guess so.¡±
¡°But on the other hand it''s fire-proof, from what I understand. What about bullet-proof?¡±
¡°Depends how thick, but probably. It can break.¡±
¡°Shattering into tiny pieces like toughened glass, or cracking like normal glass?¡±
¡°Urm, that rather depends on other stresses involved. Generally more like normal glass, I suppose.¡±
¡°OK. Can you tell me about what shapes can and can''t be made?¡±
¡°It depends on the extruder, but... pretty much any shape you can think of a wall being, really. Gaps are a bit of a pain, though, and don''t expect a perfect point on the top of a cone.¡±
¡°And there''s no problem with sun, wind, rain, or anything someone might decide to try to clean up messes with? Acids, alkalies, soaps, detergents, and so on?¡±
¡°Ultra-violet ought to be OK, but we''ve not had masses of time to test that. Oh, hold on, yes, we have. No problem there either. But, you''d get too hot in summer if you had it as a roof, I expect. It''s too transparent.
¡°But you can make it opaque.¡±
¡°No. You can paint it, but if you try adding colourants or light absorbing inclusions then the other properties don''t work so well.¡±
¡°And you have the technology to stick it together?¡±
¡°If you get two perfectly flat edges with no contaminants and in a perfect vacuum, and squash it together with a few gigapascals and then flash-heat the joint area with an infra-red laser to white heat, it''ll stick. But it''s easier to extrude it in one piece.¡±
¡°How well does your paint stick to it?¡±
¡°Reasonably well. We''d repaint a floor every few years.¡±
¡°It''s not slippery?¡±
¡°The paint helps with that, too.¡±
¡°Hmm. So... I understand concrete, steel, bricks, plaster and wood. I''ve mixed them and cut them and worked them and abused them until they bend or break or splinter. I like the sound of your crystal, but ...¡±
¡°You want to touch, feel, and break some? No problem. If you can bring appropriate safety gear for high speed sharp edges, I can bring a little extruder to Basse-Monaco next time you''re there. Just name the date.¡±
Message to Zara, from Krista, 20th March 2278
Dear Zara, Claire asked me to let you know that a Mer expert in shaping their crystal will be in contact with you. His sister''s been guarding the Tsarevna, apparently. Thought one is it might be lovely insulating windows, thought two is would you use it for anything else significant? Please try to get him to quote prices. The price on Mars is apparently ''what the market will bear'', which is rather vague. Sorry, no one''s told me his name.
Message to Krista, from Zara, 20th March 2278
Dear Krista, His name''s Xavier Renata Tulag, and he claims a past queen of Monaco ¡ª grandmother of the first Princess of Basse-Monaco ¡ª as a distant cousin of his. He mentioned this as a reason that he could provide her highness with Crystal. He also claims to have gone out with the Tsarevna''s lady in waiting, and seems sorry it was all based on a misunderstanding, whatever that means. I''ll be meeting him on the beach when I go down and check on the foundations.
Message to Zara, from Krista, 20th March
Hi Zara, I know Olga ¡ª we''re almost neighbours ¡ª when you said Xavier seemed sorry, does that mean he''s sorry they started ''walking together'' or that they broke up?
Message to Pania, from Xavier. 21st March 2278
Hi Pan, do you see much of Olga? What''s your impression of her? I''m thinking that if you''re running into her, then maybe it''s not as hopeless as we convinced each other when we broke up. Also... if you''re on chatting terms with her imperial highness, can you ask her how you go about asking royalty if they know their ancestress was a Mer.
Message to Krista, from Zara, 21st March 2278
Hi Krista,
Sorry for the slow reply, I was on-site at my other project. He said something like ''it''s a shame it was all based on a big misunderstanding, she''s a lovely person.'' So, yes, I got the distinct feeling he was sorry they broke up.
Mars Embassy of Atlantis, 22nd March, 2278
¡°Tsarevna? Can I ask some advice?¡± Pania asked.
¡°Of course,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°Would you expect an important land-person to be upset to learn that an ancestress five generations back was Mer? And if my brother told her they were relatives, might that be taken badly?¡±
¡°Probably not. Depends what he was about to ask for.¡±
¡°Oh, I don''t think he''s going to ask anyone for anything. Well, actually... by the sound of it, if Xavier runs into Olga again he might ask her for a date, but I''m more thinking of ''By the way your majesty, did you know your great-great-grandma was half-Mer? And by the way she was my great-great-great-grandfather''s cousin.''¡±
¡°Your brother''s that Xavier? I thought he dumped her?¡±
¡°From hearing him talk, it was more like she said ''you thought I''d asked you out didn''t you?'' then he replied ''Yes. I was really surprised, but...'' draws deep sad breath, ''it''s not going to work is it? You''re going back to St Petersburg with the Tsarevna,'' and she agreed and said ''And we''ll probably never meet again.'' And then, knowing him, he probably said something about it all being his fault and how sorry he was and walked away before he embarrassed everyone by bursting into tears.¡±
¡°And she probably interpreted that as him saying sorry he wasn''t really interested. Hmm. You think he''s still interested?¡±
¡°He asked me what I thought of her, which I''m taking in the sense of ''would I recommend he tracks her down and asks her to walk with him.''¡±
¡°I won''t ask you what you''re going to say to that,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°But the way they were getting on together certainly made me realise that I''m too reliant on her. But back to your question, am I allowed to ask who''s the royal is?¡±
¡°The king of Monaco.¡±
¡°Really?¡±
¡°My great-great-great-grandad''s mother''s brother fell for a pretty girl from near Monaco, and his daughter married the king of Monaco. Her granddaughter became the first princess of Basse-Monaco.¡±
¡°Who then met and married the duke of Moscow and had three daughters, one of whom married the Tsar, cousin.¡±
¡°Oh! I didn''t realise! Sixth cousin isn''t much of a relationship, but I had no idea at all!¡±
¡°I realise that,¡± Svetlana smiled at her discomfort.
¡°So no wonder you know what princess Claire is up to! She isn''t just a friend. Is she your first cousin? Or.. she''s not your sister is she?¡±
¡°Better if you don''t ask that question, Pania,¡± Svetlana said, seriously. ¡°Or I''m duty-bound to tell my father you know a secret that could be dangerous to princess Claire.¡±
¡°You made a decision there, Tsarevna Svetlana,¡± Pania said, equally serious. ¡°And unfortunately I have been learning some Russian. If you are duty-bound to tell your father, then tell you must; tell him I am Pania Renata Tulag of the mer, and by my oath, I will do all I can to keep my distant cousin Princess Claire''s dangerous secret.¡±
Message to Olga, from Xavier, 23rd March
Olga, I''m coming to realise that I''m an idiot, and if I hadn''t been so sad about it all being based on a misunderstanding and trying to apologise for not realising, I should have said something like ''do you know any way that a designer of crystal structures might earn his living in St Petersburg?''
Is it too late to ask that now?
Missing you a lot,
Xavier.
Embassy of Atlantis on Mars, 24th March.
¡°I choose that other job, highness, if you really think I can do it,¡± Yuliya said.
¡°I wouldn''t have asked you otherwise, Yuliya,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°Sorry, am I interrupting anything? Lunch is ready.¡± Ruth asked, sticking her head round the door.
¡°Nothing private,¡± Svetlana said, grinning at her friend. ¡°Yuliya has just agreed to take on the position of ambassador.¡±
¡°Oooh! Welcome to the club,¡± Ruth said, offering a warm handshake, then she looked suspiciously at Svetlana. ¡°I hope you''re planning to give her a proper cargo package, soon.¡±
¡°I told her she could bring a hundred kilos with her just in case and she brought her boyfriend...¡±
¡°''Lana!¡± Yuliya protested, ¡°You suggested he come along.¡±
¡°I know, just teasing. Anyway, yes, Ruth. As our ambassador, Yuliya will have access to start up funds as befits her station, there''s a carrier drone on its way already with boring stuff like furniture, and she also has first call on that high-thrust courier vessel the space force pilots are vying with each other to fly.¡±
¡°All right, all right. Just having been ambassador in name but stuck eating gloop with hardly a change of clothes and the feeling that the others are laughing at you... It wears out really quickly, you know?¡±
¡°She brought some cargo with her, particularly clothes and freeze-dried food.¡±
¡°Oh, yummy,¡± Ruth said, ¡°But it''s better than gloop. Far better.¡±
¡°And if you remember, one of the first things we did when we got here was order a complex,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°OK, OK. You win, you''re not abandoning her here without any support.¡±
¡°Glad you agree. But now that is settled, I''m going to ask if, given that I''m going home soon, there''s anything, or indeed anyone, that you''d like me to take to Earth. It seems the least I can do, after all the Mer hospitality and generosity you''ve given.¡±
¡°Pania.¡± Ruth said, decisively. ¡°Lovely girl, I hope you agree, but really, she needs to go back to Atlantis.¡±
¡°Oh? Problems?¡±
¡°Missing home too much. No, that''s not quite right. She''s a bit too scared of storms, a bit too worried about air leaks, that sort of thing. What''s worse is she knows it. She''s constantly on edge and it''s wearing her out. She was going to be going home on the next scheduled flight anyway, but if you''ve got space...¡±
¡°Of course. Anyone else? I''m assuming that you want to keep Vladimir this side of the solar system, Yuliya?¡± Svetlana asked.
Yuliya blushed, ¡°A bit closer than that, highness. We did discuss things with our parents too, and decided that one decision really meant the other too.¡±
¡°Pardon?¡±
¡°It doesn''t make much sense for us to set up homes individually on a new planet. We''ve um, ''had an understanding'' as they used to say, for a while.¡±
¡°You''re engaged,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°Not officially. Vladimir was only on a trial contract, you know? We didn''t really want to get engaged when neither of us had a stable job and we''d no idea if we''d be be able to get married in six months or six years.¡±
¡°Hmm, well! In that case... option one, pick your own time and deny anyone who''s known you very long the chance of sharing your happy occasion, option two, be stupidly fast and take vows before we leave, option three... I could come back in August, I think, with up to four parents.¡±
¡°You''d do that? Just for me?¡± Yuliya asked.
¡°Yuliya, silly, you''re my friend!¡±
¡°What about... you know who? Won''t he moan about missing you?¡±
¡°He''ll survive, I''m sure.¡±
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 20: Dates
Diplomatic Effects / Ch. 20:Dates
Restoration, Thursday 11th April, 2278
Sarah sat down after a tiring day of running a multi-national corporation while looking after a seven month old who''d discovered the joys of self-propulsion. Little Maggie was a joy who was intent on becoming a handful, but Sarah was also very glad she had discovered that the world had interesting things apart from her mother''s thoughts to investigate.
Sarah turned on the news for the first time that day. Ten seconds later, during a piece about a visiting royal, she called ¡°John! Come and listen!¡±
St Petersburg, Russia, Thursday 11th April
¡°I don''t think you''re going to Monaco this weekend,¡± Olga told Svetlana.
¡°No, Krista and I are going to Switzerland by commercial jet, remember?¡±
¡°Monaco, Switzerland, whatever. It''s still probably cancelled. Your parents'' choice, of course.¡±
Restoration, Thursday 11th April, 2278
¡°He''s got a nerve, hasn''t he?¡± Sarah asked her husband, ¡°do you think he was drunk?¡±
¡°Well, he is a prince, and she''s a princess.¡±
¡°So? There is something seriously wrong about publicly declaring that his up-coming state visit means he''s going to be the first prince to go on a date with her.¡±
¡°Especially since it''s not true,¡± John said.
¡°I don''t know what he thinks he''s playing at, but I''m pretty sure that it''s going to be dangerous. And since he is just down the road, I''m going to find out.¡±
¡°Sarah! You can''t just invade his privacy!¡±
¡°I firmly believe he''s doing something dangerous, John. So for his safety, I''m going to check.¡±
The Palace, St Petersburg, Russia, Thursday 11th April
¡°There is no way that I can agree to this, mother, father. He''s a slimy little creep, I''m not interested in him at all, we''re almost at war with them, and anyway, he''s not even a Christian.¡±
¡°I know, daughter,¡± the Tsarina said, ¡°unfortunately, your love-life remains a necessary secret, so you can''t just tell him you''re not single. He knows you''re a Christian, I guess he doesn''t care, and if you diplomatically call him a slimy little creep, then it might not be taken very well.¡±
¡°So I have to accept the attempted wooing of this... self-invited and unwelcome visitor?¡±
¡°This peace-offering from our large southern neighbour, yes.¡± the Tsar said.
¡°In what way is this offer a peace offering? His father hopes that by this... so-called dynastic date... they gain a lever over the imperial throne of Russia. One way or the other.¡±
¡°It''s a high stakes gamble, certainly,¡± her father said.
¡°A high stakes gamble?¡±
¡°He''s betting that either you insult him somehow, or you do actually fall in love, but just think what happens if he insults you. We have another justification for any action we take.¡±
¡°The Emperor has just insulted me. He assumes that just because I''m of age, his slimy creep of a son can publicly declare his intentions to woo me and I have to play along.¡±
¡°Stop calling the prince that, Svetlana,¡± the Tsarina chided, ¡°you can''t judge by reputation.¡±
¡°I''ve met him, mother. And I can''t believe you''re going along with this! He''s a self-professed atheist.¡±
¡°You will give him the opportunity to talk matters of state with you, daughter,¡± the Tsar said, ¡°since that''s what he''s asked for, and what we agreed to, no matter what he''s telling the press.¡±
¡°But, given his publicly stated intentions it is, of course, only proper that you be accompanied by a chaperone as well as a body guard,¡± her mother said.
¡°Hmm. Do I get to choose my chaperone? If so, I''d like Pania.¡±
¡°Your newly discovered Mer cousin?¡± the Tsar asked.
¡°Yes. I think a thought-hearing Mer warrior woman makes quite a good chaperone, don''t you, father? And she is my cousin. Oh, and since none of this affects Claire du Basse-Monaco, I assume she can still catch her flight?¡±
News report, International News, Friday 12th April, 2278
Last night''s surprise declaration by Prince Han, the heir to the throne of China that he was planning on going out for a date with the Russian heir, Tsarevna (Princess) Svetlana caught the world leaders by total surprise. Undoubtedly if China and Russia were united politically then there would be a major shift in world politics, however analysts have described such an event unlikely, even if the two young people do marry.
The tone of news reports from Russia suggest that nothing has been said on the matter by the royal house of Russia, but the recent tensions between the two countries, and the total cessation of trade means our Russian contacts say it is rather unlikely that his plan has met with the Tsar''s approval. The universal wall of silence over the reason for these tensions seems entirely unbroken, except for some rumours from Mars concerning the resignation of the Chinese ambassador.
Our Mars correspondent points out that during the Tsarevna''s massively successful recent visit to Mars, she made frequent mentions of her Christian faith, a fact that does not bode well for any romantic entanglement with atheist prince Han. Unkind commentators have suggested that the prince might be doing no more than making a cynical attempt to deflect the international media attention from the legal issue currently before the United Nations, of whether there is a statute of limitations on illegal extraterritorial assassinations.
The Palace, St Petersburg, 9am, Friday 12th April>
¡°Could you say that again, Imperial Highness?¡± the Mer ambassador asked.
¡°I would like to formally ask her Imperial Majesty to lend me my distant cousin, Pania Renata Tulag, as a chaperone for the visit of a slimy self-professed atheist who''s publicly stated that he wouldn''t mind wooing me and thus uniting the Empires of Russia and China. I think Pania has all the right qualities; she''s good at being discreet, she''s my relative and as a Mer she''s got well-known opinions about dangerous sharks and how to deal with them. Her presence ought to ensure that he doesn''t even dare to think about trying to woo me.¡±
¡°And if she does deal with this dangerous shark, you can blame us for the diplomatic crisis?¡±
¡°No, I wouldn''t do that. Oh, I didn''t say, did I? I intend to meet him with all due ceremony blah blah blah on my parents'' oversized yacht.¡±
¡°May I ask why?¡±
¡°Because it''s just the thing to demonstrate that we don''t need or want a union with China.¡±
¡°I''m afraid I don''t understand, Tsarevna.¡±
¡°It''s a fusion powered naval vessel and a floating palace. China have nothing like it. I''ll nominally be granting him a favour only rarely offered to heads of state, but if he''s got any sense, he''ll realise that I''m also re0minding him about traditional Russian power-diplomacy. In other words I''ll be denting his pride. Plus of course if he should try anything then there''ll be enough burly sailors to flatten his honour guard. And we''ll be in the deeps that China have just formally recognised as your territory if Pania decides some Mer law needs to be applied. I wouldn''t want her to feel at all constrained not to do her duty as a warrior.¡±
¡°If you want him dead that much, Tsarevna, then you have your own assassins.¡±
¡°Of course I don''t want him dead. That would cause a war, not peace. But if he decides to insult my faith in God, I might not be very diplomatic in my reply, and that might not help peace, either. I want him thinking seriously about avoiding the whole subject.¡±
Arrivals area, Bonn Airport, Friday 12th April.
¡°Bonjour, Claire,¡± Rudolph greeted Svetlana with a kiss to the cheek and bunch of flowers, ¡°I worried you might not come.¡±
¡°I told you I can be persuasive,¡±
¡°What did you do, give your father an ultimatum?¡±
¡°Of course not. Come on, we''re blocking the way.¡±
¡°How was the flight?¡± Rudolph asked as they moved through the airport.
¡°A bit cramped for Krista,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°A booking error by the airline,¡± Krista explained, ¡°the lady beside me
knew she didn''t really fit in one seat, so she''d booked two, but some genius put her two seats on opposite sides of the central aisle.¡±
¡°And no one else would swap seats with her so she could use her two seats?¡±
¡°Not without kicking someone else off the plane.¡± Svetlana said, ¡°The issue was flagged up when she''d checked in, but by the time we''d boarded, the computer had counted passports and decided there were two empty seats, and let a newly-wed couple on-board who''d been on standby. Apparently they''d missed their flight this morning.¡±
¡°Overslept?¡± Rudolph asked.
¡°No. They''d been advised to book using her old name because her I.D. wouldn''t have been updated, but by the end of their honeymoon it had been, and the dunce at the security gate decided that she was trying to travel with false paperwork.¡±
¡°But you didn''t have any problems?¡± Rudolph asked.
Krista laughed, ¡°nothing a call to the dunce''s superiors didn''t solve.¡±
¡°What happened?¡± Rudolph asked.
¡°The dunce discovered that some people with diplomatic passports don''t like being bullied.¡±
¡°He tried to bully you?¡±
¡°Oui, I think he actually wanted to be offered a bribe, or failing that to make a young woman cry. I was not interested in playing such games.¡±
¡°Am I going to learn what happened actually?¡± Rudolph asked, still in the middle of the terminal building.
¡°He claimed there was a problem with my I.D., because it did not give my full details, and that I would have to be detained until it was sorted out. I asked him if he had read the bit that said diplomatic passport. He said he couldn''t trust a suspect document. I pointed out that no senior diplomat had their full address on their I.D., let alone a royal.¡±
¡°And then when he tried to march her highness to the interview room,¡± a young woman added, stopping to butt in, ¡°And it got really interesting.¡±
The woman had just followed Svetlana and Krista out of the arrivals area, and was positively clinging to the man beside her.
¡°I just called for security, and demanded to speak to his superior.¡± Svetlana said, dismissively, ¡°Bonjour, Adelle, Yves. Rudolph, the newly-wed couple I mentioned.¡±
¡°Your highness,¡± Yves bowed to Rudolph.
¡°Bonjour! Which news channel are you with? I can''t remember.¡± Rudolph asked.
¡°Switzerland Today,¡± Adelle replied, then added to Svetlana, ¡°And I am sorry for not making it clear that we''re reporters earlier, your highness.¡±
¡°It would be much better if you made no mention of her highness''s relatives when you write up your experiences,¡± Krista said, quietly, ¡°Assassination and kidnapping risks, you know?¡±
Svetlana gave an apologetic smile, and added ¡°Plus associated questions from the imperial secret service about why you think putting me at risk is a good idea.¡±
Yves tried to think through what that would do to the article they''d drafted. It would need a lot of rewriting; they''d been planning to suggest a headline for the story with something like ''Incompetent I.D. check reveals powerful connections of Prince Rudolph''s girlfriend.'' He and Adelle had been kept near the security area, waiting for notification that they could board the plane. They''d heard the whole dispute.
¡°Perhaps we should talk about what can be safely published about you, Claire?¡± Rudolph suggested. ¡°Somewhere more secure?¡±
News article, Switzerland Today, Saturday 13th April
Don''t try to bully Royalty in Russia
After what we thought a rather unpleasant end to our honeymoon, involving changes of name on I.D.s, petty bureaucrats, detention areas and missed flights, we found ourselves glad it had all happened. The same petty bureaucrat who seemed determined to ruin our flight from St. Petersburg home met his match in the shape of a young woman not yet out of her teens. The bureaucrat decided it was intensely suspicious that the name on my I.D. had been changed by our efficient civil service while we were still on our honeymoon, and held us for questioning despite us having our marriage certificate with us. Our plane had left by the time he was satisfied, and we were left to wait in an area near the departure check area, until the airline had decided what to do with us.
The casually dressed young woman we saw from the detention area at St Petersburg airport presented her diplomatic passport, and expressed surprise when he demanded her I.D. as well. He insisted, and she handed it over. He then requested that she provide an iris scan. She pointed out that she was a protected person under a certain law, had a diplomatic passport, and was wearing anti-scan contact lenses. She politely suggested that he contact his superior if he was not used to dealing with diplomatic passports.
We had a growing suspicion that her face was familiar, although she clearly was not dressed to attract attention. He decided she wasn''t familiar at all.
¡°Right,¡± he said in the ''you''re in trouble now'' tone he''d used on me, ¡°I find your documentation suspicious and you''re going to wait in the detention cell until I have time to interview you.¡±
¡°No, I am not.¡± she replied, calmly. ¡°Instead, assuming you enjoy your job, you are going to return my diplomatic passport and I.D. and call for your superior if you are not able to process me yourself, then I would recommend you seek remedial training, in case you''re called up for a disciplinary hearing.¡± For good measure, she then repeated herself in fluent, if accented Russian.
By this point, I must say that an awed hush had fallen on the passport control area, and everyone heard her call for security when he twisted her arm behind her back to manhandle her towards the interview room. Her words, shouted in Russian, were, I''m informed, ¡°Security! Under imperial law you must prevent this violation of a royal person''s rights or face imprisonment or execution.¡±
It is indeed the law that any royal has the right to call for that protection, but we''ve been unable to find out when the law was last invoked. But then, the manhandling of a protected royal person is not exactly a common event, either.
Needless to say, the security forces stopped enjoying the show and snapped to action. Guns were drawn and the bureaucrat found himself handcuffed for the violation of her noble person. Whose royal person? Princess Claire du Basse-Monaco.
Unlike us normal people, Princes Claire is not afraid of what a bureaucrat might do to her, instead her fear is what a bureaucrat, overstepping his authority, might do to himself, as this one did. She finds it frustrating when they don''t heed her warnings and realise the danger they''re in, but as certain car-owners have learned, she is not afraid of asserting her rights. But she doesn''t like to. Some commentators have, we know, expressed puzzlement about where the princess lives when not visiting Monaco or Switzerland. We can give you a partial answer: Russia. What, you want more details? The fact is, information about any royal person is considered dangerous in that country. Curiosity is not considered a justification for invading her privacy and putting her at risk of assassination or kidnapping. There have been cases in the past, less than a decade ago, where a person known to have links to the Tsar was killed in a botched kidnapping attempt. Does the princess have links to the Tsar? It is a matter of record that the previous princess of Basse-Monaco married the duke of Moscow. The laws of Monaco state that the title princess of Basse-Monaco is to be passed down to an unmarried female relative, and that she will be heir to the throne of Monaco after any direct descendants of the king. It''s also a matter of record that the duke and duchess of Monaco had three daughters, one of whom married the then-Tsesarevich, i.e. his Imperial Majesty the Tsar. So, yes, there is certainly a link to the Tsar. She is a relative of the previous princess ¡ª whether by descent or being a distant cousin we do not know, but there is certainly a strong enough link for it to be dangerous to publish more, and sufficient that the Princess sought advice before making all of this clear to us. Her advice is not to get too curious; knowing too much about her family without a need to know can get you in trouble, and the Russian secret service have a protective attitude towards their Tsar and all those, such as the Princess, who can claim a family tie to him. The princess is who she is: outgoing, charming, honest, very sure of herself, and entirely capable of blending with the crowd as long as there are no misguided probes into her identity. We can see what our prince sees in her and we wish them every happiness together. We did ask ¡ª what reporter wouldn''t ¡ª if there might be a royal wedding in the future. Their answer was simultaneous ¡ª ¡°God willing, but we''re too young. Certainly not before graduation.¡±
Imperial yacht, Sea of Nippon, near Vladivostok, Tuesday 16th April
For reasons best known to himself, rather than the expected helicopter, the heir to imperial China had chosen to approach the imperial yacht on what was ostensibly a bamboo sailing ship, with space for perhaps twenty crew on board. Pania pointed out to Svetlana the tell-tale ripple-pattern that showed that under water it boasted a hydrofoil. However, right now it was travelling by wind power, or rather it wasn''t: the wind had dropped from a gentle breeze to dead-calm, and the Chinese vessel was wallowing about five hundred meters away, slowing with every wave that it crested.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
¡°Is waiting for him to get here supposed to be romantic?¡± Pania asked.
¡°I don''t know,¡± Svetlana said. ¡°Perhaps it''s supposed to say that sanctions are hurting and he can''t afford the fuel.¡±
¡°You don''t want to go and meet him?¡±
¡°You''re the one who pointed out he''s got engines.¡±
¡°Unless they''ve been taken out to make room for extra torpedos,¡± Pania said, shrugging. ¡°But I doubt they''d do that.¡±
¡°Torpedos?¡±
¡°It''s one of their disguised naval ships, I thought you knew.¡±
¡°I must have missed that briefing.¡± Svetlana admitted.
¡°So, you''ve got a fusion powered demonstration of power and opulence, complete with a forcefield dome and rail guns; he''s got a fast-attack torpedo boat subtly disguised as a piece of tourist frivolity.¡±
¡°Hmm. That''s probably a metaphor isn''t it?¡±
¡°Probably. You''re both displaying your cultural preferences, perhaps? You''re happy to make brute power comfortable, he prefers to hide it?¡±
¡°What about you?¡± Svetlana, asked, indicating Pania''s clothing.
¡°Oh, I''m just wearing my barbarian warrior-woman stuff to help you make your point that you''re not planning to violate your faith, distant cousin. I''d much prefer a dress. Especially in this weather.¡±
¡°Oh! Thank you for the thought, Pania. If you''re more comfortable in something else, by all means change. We don''t need to shout Mer warrior at them, after all.¡±
¡°I''ll go and change then, if that''s OK, it looks like I''ve got plenty of time.¡±
¡°Of course. Just don''t leave your pipe in your room.¡±
Pania smiled, ¡°Of course not, cousin. And I''ll bring my knife too. Just... a bit more concealed.¡±
St Petersburg, 16th April
¡°Olga, you look beautiful,¡± Xavier said, ¡°and I''ve missed you.¡±
¡°You like this dress?¡± she asked, pleased at his reaction.
¡°And your hair and your eyes and everything about you, and most of all that we can spend some time together again.¡±
¡°Back in Atlantis... I thought...¡±
¡°I am not good at expressing myself, am I? I''m sorry for not understanding and not expressing myself. This time I want to be clear. Very clear.¡±
¡°How clear is very clear?¡±
¡°I like you a lot and I''m looking forward to getting to know you better, so that ...urm...¡± He drew a deep breath, ¡°One day ¡ª knowing me probably in a couple of years ¡ª once we know each other enough I can ask you to be my wife, and I''ll hope that you will say yes. Is that clear enough?¡±
¡°That''s a pretty clear statement of intent, yes. And it sounds like quite a good plan to me. You''re really planning to move here? Just because of me?¡±
¡°Do you think I shouldn''t?¡± Xavier asked, nervous that he''d misunderstood her again.
¡°I''m.... flattered, Xavier. I''m amazed, and I''m not sure what you see in me. But thank you, I''m very glad you''re not making me choose between you and working for Svetlana.¡± She smiled at him, and added ¡°It''d be hard for her if I had to.¡±
Imperial yacht, Sea of Nippon, near Vladivostok, Tuesday 16th April
The formal statements of position by the prince''s aides were long, ornate and deadly boring to Pania. It boiled down to Russia''s trade restrictions were hurting everyone, so could Svetlana please urge her father to end them.
Pania could have said that in less than a minute even with some ornamentation. So far it seemed like they''d droned on for quarter of an hour.
[Pania, I have the gift, and a reason to call you.]
[Hello?] Pania didn''t recognise the mental voice.
[The Tsarevna has chosen you as her chaperone?] Sarah thought.
[Yes.]
[I''ve met her, she''s a good person,] Sarah thought, [Now, pay attention, there''s some things coming you should hear, but I''ll call later.] The same aid was still talking about the benefits of trade, but then he went on to ''explain'' that how now that China had signed the treaty with the Mer, they had a powerful ally they could call on to trim Russia''s claws, in case the present tensions increased.
¡°I find that a fascinating observation, don''t you Pania?¡± Svetlana observed, interrupting.
¡°I''m sure my queen will find it a most interesting interpretation of our treaty with the Empire of China.¡±
¡°Karella still resists the title of Empress, then?¡± Svetlana asked. ¡°I''m sure she''ll come round one day,¡± she addressed the prince, who was looking stunned that Pania, introduced as Svetlana''s distant relative, might be Mer.
¡°Your imperial highness, does this underling speak your words, or are they his own? You''ll remember, I hope, that I''ve sworn an oath to work for peace, and I find this lecture a little needless. I expect that my sixth cousin, on the other hand, finds his use of her peace-loving people as a veiled threat to be something verging on the offensive.¡±
¡°He has deviated from the text which I agreed to, your imperial highness,¡±
Prince Han said, failing to admit his own responsibility for the passage in question.
¡°How... disappointing that our discussions should be soured in such a way,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°Please accept my apologies for my aide''s poorly phrased speech, highness,¡± Han said.
¡°I accept them, but I think you''ll find that you need to do better than that when you apologise to the Mer. Am I correct, Pania?¡±
¡°I think his highness and his aides would be well served by re-reading what the treaty does and does not promise, and what it is contingent on. But from what I witnessed on Mars, your Imperial Father is honouring your vow to seek peace and as you requested he is being patient in response to China''s aggression, Tsarevna.¡±
¡°Oh, I agree,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°So you see, your highness, I don''t think we need to waste our time on any of this. Why don''t you just tell me who sent the message to Mars, and hand them over for questioning? Along with who ever told them to send it, of course. Oh, and come clean about Mars. Then we can let all the soldiers have a well-earned rest.¡±
¡°You are overly blunt and this is not a topic to be discussed in front of aides, Tsarevna,¡± prince Han said.
¡°Oh? They don''t know about the official message that made the honourable ambassador decide she needed to denounce her nation and seek asylum in order to preserve her honour? Perhaps you should tell them so they don''t waste everyone''s time on useless speeches.¡±
In response, prince Han growled ¡°the message was not official,¡± and then dismissed his staff from the room.
¡°So hand over the criminal to the United Nations court,¡± Svetlana repeated as they left the room. His body-guard stayed.
¡°Tsarevna, I wish to speak with you on this topic and other matters of great importance.¡±
¡°Oh, by all means, speak, highness.¡± Svetlana said, in a carefully contrived bored tone.
¡°Alone,¡± he added, angrily motioning his body guard towards the door.
¡°Guards, station yourselves outside the room, ensure no one listens,¡± Svetlana commanded.
¡°And your distant cousin?¡± the prince asked.
¡°The point of having a chaperone is she does not leave me alone,¡± Svetlana pointed out reasonably.
¡°The point of a chaperone is to limit the passions of youth so you don''t embarrass your parents,¡± he corrected her.
¡°I hope you''re feeling limited, then.¡± Svetlana said.
He looked at her for a while, taking in the set of her jaw and the rigidity of her posture, and shook his head. He lounged back in his seat and said ¡°I am not your enemy, Tsarevna of Russia.¡±
¡°Feel free not to expand on that thought,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°But I hope you will not take it the wrong way if I add that nor have I ever wanted to be your lover.¡±
¡°What might be the wrong way?¡± Svetlana asked, relaxing noticeably. ¡°Kissing you out of relief? Don''t worry, I have more self-control and sense of decorum than that.¡±
¡°So, can we talk?¡± Prince Han asked, ignoring the insult.
¡°Please, talk!¡± Svetlana agreed.
¡°Alone.¡±
¡°Imperial highness,¡± Pania asked the prince, ¡°will you accept my presence if I first give my vow of silence over what you say?¡±
¡°You have a queen who is attributed to have the ability to lift it from your mind. Any vow you take would be meaningless.¡±
¡°Your lack of faith in my queen saddens me. She would not do such a thing!¡±
¡°I envy you your na?vety.¡± He tried another track: ¡°You claim to be a peace-loving woman of the Mer, do you want peace between Russia and China? I do; my lover expects my child, but my father despises her. Without his permission, I cannot marry her. I am not even be sure my lover will not be executed for daring to conceive and telling me she had done so. Believe me that I cannot talk to the Tsarevna where what I say will be overheard. If what I wish to say is spread about, then there will be assassinations and war. If I cannot talk to the Tsarevna, I am sure Russia will continue to insist on what it sees as its rights, and there will be no peace. I do not believe in much, but I believe the Tsarevna is the only person who can solve this.¡±
¡°Your imperial highness,¡± Pania started, about to say it was her duty to stay.
[The prince has no desire to date her, marry her, harm or dishonour her, I''ve checked.] Sarah interrupted [You don''t need to stay from that point of view. The talk of taking her on a date was no more than a clumsy attempt to arrange a private talk with her. He does need to talk to her.]
[You know what''s on his mind?]
[He''s hiding it quite well,] Sarah thought, [you probably won''t catch anything of it even if you shook hands with him. But Svetlana does need to hear it. Feel free to tell them I''m butting in.]
¡°Urm, highnesses, ¡± Pania said, ¡°one with the gift has just told me I don''t need to be here, and his highness''s desired conversation must happen.¡±
¡°Must is a strong word,¡± Svetlana said.
Prince Han looked at Pania in horror, ¡°You''re a thought-hearer?¡±
¡°I am a warrior, imperial highness, not a gossip. I have not heard your secret. I have the clear impression the gifted one knew exactly what you wanted to talk about, but she didn''t tell me.¡±
[Of course not,] Sarah thought to her [I''m a truthsayer who has signed the full ethics statement.]
¡°She says she''s a truthsayer who has signed the ethics agreement,¡± Pania relayed. ¡°With her highness''s permission I could withdraw for a minute, or two? Or perhaps I could stand on the other side of the room with my fingers in my ears, singing? Would something like that be acceptable?¡±
¡°If prince Han will agree to getting a slap in the face, I will allow you to withdraw, if I must listen to what he has to say.¡±
¡°A slap in the face?¡± Prince Han was confused.
¡°You don''t want your guards to speculate about what you''re really talking to me about, I presume? So, say your piece and then I will indignantly slap you in the face for making an unwelcome suggestion under the pretense of a matter of state and storm out of the room as though highly insulted, and saying something of the sort.¡±
¡°Ah. I suppose I can cope with that, in the interests of peace and secrecy.¡± he agreed.
¡°And I''ll try and leave you with all your teeth, in the interests of peace.¡± Svetlana said.
¡°Very droll,¡± the prince said.
¡°And there''s nothing else you can talk about?¡±
¡°Now that is agreed... I would like to add my personal appeal to you to intervene with your father to prevent war, Tsarevna. And as a token of my desire for peace and improved relationships, I offer you this humiliating crystal of documents. Treated with a level of privacy similar to what people on Mars might expect, they represent, I believe, a peaceful and less public resolution to the Mars assassination issue than the continued degradation of my country in court. I thus trust my nation''s world standing to you in this matter also, Tsarevna Svetlana. Of course if you publish it, we would probably claim your secret services created them to dishonour us.¡±
Svetlana accepted the crystal, ¡°you wish the court case to just end?¡±
¡°Yes.¡±
¡°And you expect the Mars Council to agree to this?¡±
¡°I believe it is called an out of court settlement. I trust that you can persuade them, Tsarevna, and that you will, as you have vowed to work for peace.¡±
¡°I see. So, you think you can use my vow to get me to do your bidding?¡±
¡°The court case dishonors my country and thus my father. And we both want peace. If your chaperone will leave us now, I will tell you of the message to Mars.¡±
¡°OK, Pania,¡± Svetlana agreed, ¡°Give his highness two minutes, no more.¡±
¡°I will leave, and ensure no one listens.¡±
¡°Thank you cousin.¡±
¡°I will speak quickly,¡± Prince Han said quietly, as the door closed. ¡°I learned my lover was pregnant almost two months ago, and having failed to persuade my father to relax his disapproval of her, I went to my grandmother, the queen-mother, thinking that perhaps she could convince my father to let us marry. You were on Mars, making waves. Not the best timing, I admit. Grandmother said she would speak to her alone. My father was distressed at the plans you were breaking, but my grandmother was more so, and saw an opportunity. My lover works at the communications office, you see. I think you can guess the rest.¡±
¡°Your grandmother ordered your nameless lover to send the message,¡± Svetlana guessed.
¡°She told her she would approve of our marriage if she did it, and ensure she did not live to give birth if she did not. And she held a knife to her throat while she sent the message. Grandmother is old, but still strong.¡±
¡°So, the noble queen-mother of China wishes me dead.¡± Svetlana said.
¡°I think she does not now. My father was extremely angry about the message.¡±
¡°And you wish to save last month''s lover.¡±
¡°My heir and my future queen, who would be my wife if it were up to me,¡± he corrected. ¡°Who was under extreme pressure. If you assassinate her, my father will be glad but I will be your implacable enemy. I hope you see the real guilt lies with my grandmother. But if Russia assassinates grandma, there will be immediate war; there must be war.¡±
¡°And of course some guilt lies with you, for presenting your grandmother with the perfect opportunity. You are in an impossible situation, ultimately caused by your your falling out with your father, and taking her to your bed against his wishes or good moral sense.¡±
¡°Yes.¡± he admitted.
¡°Renounce your title,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°What?¡± he was shocked.
¡°Take your lover to Atlantis, marry her, and tell your father you''ll renounce your claim to the throne if he doesn''t accept her, and claim asylum in Atlantis.¡±
¡°I''m the only heir to the throne. I cannot do that, I have my duty.¡±
¡°You have three duties. To the woman you''ve lured to your bed, to the child you''ve fathered and to your country. Let your father deal with the constitutional crisis he''s caused. Your sister is a good woman, and if you had not been born she would be heir, would she not?¡±
¡°Well, yes, but...¡±
¡°So, take a trip to Atlantis, abdicate in favour of your sister, I''ll convince my father that she had nothing at all to do with the assassination attempt and while there might be some tensions while your father continues to rule, peace will certainly reign as soon as your father vacates the throne. Otherwise, turn your lover over to me.¡±
¡°What?¡± he asked, even more shocked.
¡°She did send the message, after all. I can''t fully guarantee her safety, but I fully can''t guarantee mine either. She''d be an honoured guest, but your father need not know that, and it would certainly imply to your father that we knew who was responsible, wouldn''t it? And I''m sure it would de-escalate things on the border while you persuade your father to offer us something more than words in exchange for his mother''s safety. You could of course visit her whenever you like, if that''s what''s worrying you. Or your sister and some of her staff could have the apartment next door and ensure she''s treated properly? I would welcome the idea of getting to know both ladies better. Think about it, prince.¡±
¡°Why not just lure my sister into being your hostage? I''d much rather it was her than Yin Li.¡±
It was not only a demonstration of his self-centred attitude, but also a perfect opportunity to end the conversation, so Svetlana grasped it. ¡°How dare you!¡± She said loudly, slapping him in the face. Storming out of the room she shouted over her shoulder ¡°You claim you want peace, and a discussion of state matters and then suggest that? You disgust me! Guards, the prince is leaving.¡±
Royal suite, Imperial yacht.
¡°So,¡± Pania asked, ¡°Any summary from that conversation I can take back to my queen?¡±
¡°Urm, at heart, he''s a selfish toad, but he does seem genuinely concerned for his lover, but maybe not enough to abdicate and seek asylum in Atlantis. That was one of the options I suggested.¡±
¡°He sent the message?¡± Pania asked in surprise.
¡°No.¡±
¡°Then it was her? Is that what you''re telling me?¡±
¡°I''m not saying anything,¡± Svetlana said primly.
There was a polite knock on Svetlana''s door.
¡°Yes?¡±
It was the captain of the guards; ¡°Sorry your Imperial Highness, but a member of the prince''s party is refusing to leave with him. As soon as you left she started screaming abuse at him and tried to scratch his eyes out. After she was restrained she collapsed in tears. So, it looks like a domestic argument, but we''re not sure what to do with her.¡±
¡°The prince has left?¡±
¡°His body guard bundled him down the gang way, away from her claws, but his ship is making no signs of moving off.¡±
¡°Hmm. Pania, would you accompany the captain and find out if her name is Yin Li? Oh, that might have been a deliberate misdirection, of course. Anyway, if she is the prince''s lover, then I''ll be happy to talk to her. Captain, on your way please pass a message to the steward instructing him to prepare a guest room fit for the future Empress of China, in case she does choose to stay.¡±
St Petersburg, 17th April 2278
¡°Daughter, you brought back a clearly Chinese woman, without any documentation. Your mother and I ask that you please tell us who she is?¡±
¡°Our guest is called Yin Li, imperial Father, mother. According to His imperial highness, prince Han, she is his future wife. Apparently, according to his father, she''s a dangerous person who has beguiled his son, and my reading of things is that he''d be very happy if she had an accident. Oh, she''s also carrying the prince''s child.¡±
¡°What game are you playing now?¡± Svetlana''s mother asked.
¡°Politics, mother. Peace-making and politics. She was rather upset with prince Han, as he was leaving, and so once she''d stopped trying to claw his eyes out and I''d convinced her that he was still very much hers, we got chatting.¡±
¡°And the result of the chat?¡±
¡°I told her that I wasn''t going to hold her responsible for the message she was forced to send, and she decided to accept my offer of secure housing away from Chinese assassins.¡±
¡°The message. She sent the message?¡±
¡°She had a literal sword at her throat, father. I have been told who held it there, and I hope there will be no direct reprisals. Yin Li''s welcome here sends a message to the Emperor of China that we are not barbarians out to start another nuclear war, but that there will be serious repercussions.¡±
¡°Such as?¡±
¡°I leave that to you, father. A non-governing member of the imperial family decided I was being too insulting, and over-reacted.¡±
¡°The only reply is an assassin, daughter.¡±
¡°Father, if there must be an assassin, then let him or her deliver a letter, not death, a demand the emperor can answer, and preserve honour. I had thought of Hong-Kong or Shanghai, but perhaps that''d be too much.¡±
¡°It was not his his wife then,¡± the Tsar said, stroking his beard.
¡°I will keep you uncertain and not tell you more, father. It was a member of the royal family whose assassination would without doubt spark war. Mongolia''s not interesting to me. What would you think of accepting the titular rule of Taiwan?¡±
¡°Pardon?¡± the Tsar asked.
¡°Interesting idea, dear,¡± the Tsarina said. ¡°Explain.¡±
¡°You know how independent they are. The mainland has only actually ruled there about a decade in the last two centuries, and that was only because of that disastrous marriage. And of course, we''ve lent the Thai government support in the past to keep things that way. I wouldn''t mind adding that flag to the imperial crown, I don''t think they''d be much trouble.¡±
¡°Before you suggest it to China,¡± the Tsarina said, ¡°see what the Taiwanese think of the idea, daughter. They might not like the idea of being a bargaining chip.¡±
¡°They are a bargaining chip, and a thorn in China''s side,¡± the Tsar replied. ¡°They have been for centuries. In some ways this would cause a de-escalation of tension.¡±
Taiwanese Embassy, St Petersburg.
¡°Thank you for seeing me so quickly, Mr Ambassador,¡± Svetlana said.
¡°I admit being at a loss to explain your request for a meeting, noble Tsarevna.¡±
¡°Partly, Mr ambassador, I''m working for peace, and making some introductions. I present to you my guest Yin Li, who has found herself thrust into the cutting edge of international relations of late. I believe she is technically absent without leave from her work in the diplomatic communications department, but I expect prince Han will be able to deflect any problems there, eventually.¡±
¡°I greet the probable future Queen of mainland China,¡± the ambassador bowed low. ¡°And I apologise for not recognising you, noble lady.¡±
Svetlana smiled. The Taiwanese were always well informed; they had to be. ¡°As you''re aware, Mr ambassador, there have been some tensions between us and mainland China.¡±
¡°Tensions with mainland China are a normal state of affairs, Tsarevna, from our point of view.¡±
¡°Yes, that annoying claim they make to your island. Well, tensions from here are a little more... acute, shall we say? Now, we don''t want to hold Yin Li responsible for a message that was none of her creation,¡± Svetlana said, ¡°But I don''t believe any of us would appreciate the consequences of assassinating the author. And, since the attempt to persuade honourable people on Mars to take stupidly rash actions failed quite so spectacularly, we can''t really claim half of the country as an alternative to the thermonuclear option. But Father would appreciate some kind of apology that doesn''t float away on the tide of time. I wonder what you and your government would think of a formal transfer of your island to my family? That''s to say, mainland China permanently gives up all formal claim in our favour, there''s an appropriate adjustment in territorial waters and fishing rights, you agree to fly the imperial flag alongside yours and we agree you are a fully autonomous vassal state within the empire.¡±
¡°You''re serious?¡±
¡°As you discuss it with your government, please point out that it would mean that mainland China would then be invading the Russian empire if they chose to cross the straits, which we would of course react most strongly to. And while I imagine that we''d need to work out some kind of defense contribution, I''m quite sure it would be small compared to your current military spending. There''d be no objection to you maintaining your own local defense force, coast-guard and so on, of course. I assure you I''ve no desire to have to respond to accusations of being an occupying force.¡±
¡°And matters of foreign policy?¡±
¡°Might need some adjusting. Internal policy would remain a matter for your government, within certain reasonable limits.¡±
¡°Those limits being?¡±
¡°The normal ones; torture, rape, detention without fair trial are unacceptable, as are corruption and abuse of power. Declaring yourself an independent republic is unacceptable. Constitutional amendments would need approval.¡±
¡°From the Russian parliament, you mean?¡±
¡°No, direct from the Tsar or ruling Tsarina.¡±
¡°And imperial secret services would function in Taiwan, just like here.¡±
¡°Lurking in bars and drinking cheap vodka?¡± Svetlana suggested, with a laugh. ¡°Probably not. It''d make them rather obvious, wouldn''t it? I''ve quoted my grandfather saying that the innocent have nothing to fear from rapid justice, Mr Ambassador. But allow me to correct my earlier statement. No detention /or punishment/ without fair trial, except of course that law-enforcement are allowed to use appropriate levels of force to protect the populace. Oh, and let''s add freedom to convert to any non-abusive religion. Sorry for making this up on the spot. I really doubt there''d be any need to move any more of our secret service there.¡±
¡°So you offer an end to fear of mainland invasion, and consequent reduced military expenditure, a continuation of government, but for this to happen you ask our king step aside.¡±
¡°Not at all! I ask that he acknowledge my father as his emperor, and father signs a treaty that guarantees his right to reign.¡±
¡°Then I don''t see what you gain.¡±
Yin Li bowed, ¡°Mr ambassador, she punishes the arrogant actions of one otherwise above the law, and sends a message that others will not ignore ¡ª that Russia will not lose face. She demonstrates to the people affected that Russia''s empire is no monster, and so she gains prestige and honour, and her people love her. What more should she want? And since Taiwan has been in moral debt to Russia since the idiot in the Federal Kingdom changed policy on you, let this suggestion be presented to the people of mainland China as an idea from yourselves, as a noble sacrifice for the peace of both Chinas. Then the Emperor of China is merely acknowledging what a fiction the claim to your island is, and he can pretend he is not actually conceding land to gain peace.¡±
¡°I thank you, noble lady, for these wise words,¡± the ambassador said. Perhaps everyone did win, in public at least.