Chapter Thirteen

By this point in the term, Isidor’s only saving grace was that video calls weren’t feasible on Audacity. If the rift had opened a little closer to Earth, or if data were not at such a premium, then he might have to listen to his boss’ screaming tirade rather than reading his angry letter. Isi was always on the lookout for positives, but this one was meagre by even his standards.

The gist of the letter wasn’t complicated, but his boss wasn’t exactly a complicated person. Isi, along with Arthur and Kei, had convinced the CEO of Nano Dex that a strong presence aboard Audacity – three whole seats – would guarantee an increase in profits and notoriety. That had been the theory. The reality was, they were six months into the term and had nothing to show for it. Isi had already tried to explain that the other planets didn’t do deals the same way they did (that is to say, at the drop of a hat) but if there was one thing the CEO hated more than excuses, it was hearing the same excuse twice. He was acutely aware that unlike the other Earths, his seat in the chamber was worth real money back home. If the boss decided that they were better off selling those seats to somebody else then he wouldn’t think twice to do it. There was still a year left in the term, but the warning had been given – start making money, or ship out early.

Nano Dex was out of their depth, even with Arthur aboard. It didn’t seem to matter that they were the first corporation to discover the other Earths, even if they had (rather embarrassingly) assumed they were alien planets instead. It had earned them a little standing with the temporary corporation that was set up to auction off the seats, but now that they were up here they were on the same playing field as Sushi Sid’s and Infracore and all the rest. Except those companies actually had products to offer, and didn’t seem to be in danger of collapsing their whole enterprise. He complained about it to Arthur and Kei one morning while outside their dormitories.

“How do we convince those back home that we’re making them money, when nobody here seems to want that?” he said.

“Everyone needs something,” Kei replied. He was pretty sure she was quoting himself back at him – a danger of promoting your protégé. “We just have to find their need, and then meet it.”

“Easy as that?” he said. “Then why haven’t we done it yet?”

Kei frowned. “It takes time. It’s like building a relationship with a prospective client. Not to mention all the red tape around here – the gap between actually voting on a title and then having it written into a bill. The Service are in no rush to effect change.”

“I’ll tell you the real problem,” Isidor said. “Anything we can give the other Earths they can get from Earth: Carmen for free! Those people are just giving their tech away – did you see that title that’s going to train doctors to provide augments just like theirs? Everyone’s going to be a robot in five years’ time.”

“Not me,” said Arthur mildly. It was the first thing he’d said all day. “I don’t need a voice in my head telling me what I just read.”

“They have physical augments too, Arthur,” Kei said. “You could run faster, lift more weight – anything you wanted!” She was teasing him, but gently. He shook his head.

“My days of lifting and running are behind me, I’m sure.”

“People, can we get back on track?” Isi said. “We’re looking for opportunity here – things Carmen can’t make that we can. Keep your eyes open today – we need to have something to tell the execs back home soon.”

They arrived in the chamber for the morning announcements, a formality the President-King had instituted a few weeks back. They weren’t mandatory, and the announcements themselves rarely held anything of value, but they gave delegates an opportunity to mingle and check in. The Nano Dex team wordlessly separated and went to talk to their contacts in each other Earth. Kei had a friend in Earth: Garden who seemed to be pumping her for information, though to what end none of them could guess. In the meantime, he was useful for just the same reason. Arthur and Dr. Cristian Muñoz of Earth: Carmen had formed a fast bond, which left Isi with Earth: Herald. His connection was the weakest – despite his efforts, Lady Marcia Kouris didn’t seem to consider him a worthy ally. And today it didn’t seem she had arrived in the chamber at all, apparently busy with work elsewhere. Isi instead wandered among his own delegation, shaking hands and gathering gossip. He learned from the Infracore delegation (five members, plus an unofficial alliance with three others) that Earth: Garden were even more jumpy than usual today, though why was anyone’s guess. He also learned that a bill to ban the sale of weapons was to be introduced soon – so that was another idea out the window.

Once the President arrived and the announcements were done (there were two votes scheduled for the end of the day, with debate to be carried out before each – there was also a Carmen delicacy called “burritos” available in Canteen C for the curious) Isi called his team back together and they went looking for a room to scheme in.

Once they found one (a “lounge-style” conference room, according to the station maps), Kei spoke up first. “Garden’s nervous.”

“Infracore said something similar,” Isi said. “Any idea why?”

“A little. My contact isn’t quite so open with his information now but -“

“Why not?” Arthur asked.

“We, um.” Kei hesitated. “We broke up, kind of.”

“You were… oh.” Arthur said. Isi could hardly approve of that sort of thing, but he had an inkling all the same. Arthur seemed to be clueless.

“Yeah, we were. But we had a bit of a fight, and – well, don’t worry about it. He’s still talking to me at least.”

“When was this?”

“Last week – don’t worry about it,” she said again. Arthur looked like he wanted to talk about anything else.

“Okay. So he told you about Garden’s nerves.”

“They had some… information. Surprise surprise, he wouldn’t tell me what, but he said that it got leaked somehow, to one of their enemies.”

“Doesn’t that happen literally all the time on their world?”

“It does. But something about this is different – I don’t know what. Maybe it’s the type of information, or who has it. But I think they suspect someone aboard the station.”

“One of their own?”

“They didn’t say that – I think they might suspect one of the other worlds, or at least someone from them.”

“That’s ridiculous. We don’t have any way to talk to the other factions.”

“We don’t, true. But we don’t know what the others can do. Hell,” Kei looked around the bustling chamber, dropping her voice to a whisper, “maybe there is a mole.”

“Or, and hear me out here,” Isi said, “They’re being crazy and paranoid. Arthur, what do you have?” he turned to the other man, making it clear that he was done talking about Garden.

Arthur grimaced. “Carmen are about the same as ever. I asked Cristian about selling augments, and he said there was already a deal in place. He seemed to think I already knew about it.”

“A deal with another corporation? Like those guys tell us anything. Well, maybe use that to your advantage and see if you can get a contract draft from them. If it’s non-exclusive, we could have an in.”

“Not likely,” said Arthur.

“No, but it’s better than the nothing we have right now.”

“What about you?” said Kei. “I noticed you didn’t talk to Marcia.”

“No, she wasn’t there until the King arrived, so I didn’t get the chance. I talked with Kevin and the Infracore guys, who seem to think the King’s going to plan a weapons sale ban.”

“I was right with you until you said the word “ban”,” Kei said.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Weapons was maybe the one thing we could do better than the other guys, so I’m sure they’ll all back the ban. And Carmen and Herald don’t want or need weapons – that vote’s going to be them vs. Garden.”

Kei agreed, but Arthur was deep in thought. “Weapons,” he finally said. “That might do it.”

“Might do what?”

He snapped out of it. “Nothing,” he lied, badly. “I’ll keep thinking about it.” He shared a look with Isidor, one that they both knew well – it meant discuss it later, just us two.

They didn’t intend to shut Kei out of their decision-making process, but she was the most junior of the three. If, as had happened once or twice so far, there was the potential for any of their plans to go sideways, Kei would be able to claim a little leeway by saying she wasn’t there, she didn’t know anything. It was an honourable kind of exclusion, with the goal of keeping a Nano Dex presence aboard the station no matter what happens. Corporation below ego, as one of Isidor’s old lecturers had put it.

It was a few hours later, between debates, when Isidor was able to sneak in a word with Arthur.

“What was it before, about the weapons ban?” he asked.

Arthur sniffed. “I think we should fight against it.

“Why? We can’t win it.”

“Not alone, no. But with Garden’s help, we could get there.”

“I don’t know if your maths is right, but even if every single Garden candidate votes against this, we still lose. We’d need to pick up votes from everywhere.”

“Okay. Bring it on,” Arthur said, an unusual look of determination across his face. Isidor actually laughed.

“What’s gotten into you? Why do you want to fight this?”

“Because that’s what the execs want from us. They want a return on their investment, sure, but really they want to see action. They want to see us fight tooth and nail, against the odds, to bring them their profit. I learned this in the campaign – you need to provide them a narrative above all else. Something to hang on to, to make them believe.”

Isi thought about this. “You think selling weapons to Garden is a good idea?”

Arthur shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. This is how we survive.”

Isidor thought about it, and his mind drifted to the angry letter he’d received that morning. “Okay,” he finally said. “Let’s do it. How do we start?”

***

They started, as it turned out, by establishing the facts. Nobody knew for sure whether the weapons ban bill was anything more than a rumour, so Isidor went to talk to the Speaker in his office. It was one of the more idiosyncratic rooms on the station, at least on the fifth ring (only God knew what the other four rings looked like). The Speaker had made an effort to collect unusual art pieces from every Earth, with Herald sculpture and Carmen watercolours sitting side by side. He had soft music playing on a ridiculous-looking contraption with a black plastic disc spinning in the centre. Isidor couldn’t begin to guess how that worked. The Speaker himself, Geraint Evanson, was sat in his comfortable chair, with his permanently gawking assistant whose name Isi could never remember standing behind him.

“Now Mr. Zhukov,” he said, “I’m sure you understand that I can’t give you any information that I understand to be confidential.”

“Of course, Speaker,” Isi said. They had played this game before. “I’m merely looking to pick up a rumour or two, and maybe solidify some I’ve already heard.”

“Well then,” the Speaker grinned, “That should be no problem at all. Coffee?”

“Of course.”

The Speaker gestured to his assistant, who obediently trotted out and delivered two hot coffee cups. He looked between the two men while holding both, apparently unsure of where to put them.

“Just on the desk is fine, Matthelm,” the Speaker reassured him, and Matthelm left them there without a word.

Once the door had closed, Isidor gave Geraint a strange look. “What was that about?”

“He’s from Herald, and the tradition there is that the lowest-ranked person present passes all the drinks but one to the next lowest-ranked person, and so on. It keeps them at a distance from the higher-ranked people. I think he just got a bit mixed up – old habits, you know.”

“I getcha. And you know this, how?” said Isi. The Speaker raised his eyebrows in return, saying nothing. “Okay,” Isi conceded – the delegates’ attempts to find out the Speaker’s planet of origin had proved fruitless over the last few months, and he wouldn’t be caught out that easily. “Rumours?”

“Yes, what have you heard?” asked the Speaker, sipping his coffee.

“Weapons bans.”

He leaned back in his chair. “Not a bad idea. Spirit of peace, can’t hurt.”

“Well, it can hurt a little, but that’s by the by. Do you know who’s proposing it?”

“Sorry, I can’t say that I do. I think it’s probably someone in the King’s camp, though. They’ve been making noise for a little while about keeping Garden… well, keeping that element of things out of the spotlight.”

“You mean, shutting off the idea of planets selling weapons to each other?”

“More or less. If I were you, I’d talk to the King’s advisor on trade – a chap called Dimitris.”

“Let me guess, he was the King’s chief curtain-cleaner back on Earth?” The King’s idiosyncratic methods of delegate selection were well known by now, and the Herald delegates weren’t always trusted to be experts in their field no matter their position.

“I couldn’t imagine,” the Speaker said, his diplomatic poker face immaculate. “Is there anything else?”

“No, just that. I know your time is precious, Speaker, so I appreciate it.”

“Ever more so,” he sighed. Call the next one in, will you?”

Isi nodded and stood to leave. Outside the Speaker’s office were twenty delegates lined up watching him talk. He nodded to the one nearest the door, and she sidled through the door as he left. He heard the Speaker say “Ms. Ennis! Lovely to see you. Coffee?”

***

Isi found Dimitris fast. He was a white-haired and white-bearded man with surprisingly wrinkle-free skin. He welcomed Isi into his meagre office, which, as he proudly pointed out, adjoined the King’s by a communicating door.

“Well,” Isi could only say, “aren’t you lucky.”

“Indeed, indeed,” Dimitris said happily. “Coffee?”

Isi began to say that he’d just had one with the Speaker, and remembered that it was rude to begin a conversation with a refusal on Herald, so he accepted.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Zhukov?” he asked. “I don’t believe we’ve had the chance to meet properly.”

“No,” Isi said. “Well, sir, we’ve heard some rumours. Unsubstantiated thus far, but I’m hoping you can bring some substance to them yourself. There’s talk that a bill banning the sale of weapons between planets might come into the chamber soon. Have you heard anything about that?”

Dimitris waved his hand dismissively. “There’s been talk about it, but it won’t be happening.”

That caught him off guard. “Oh. Why not?”

“No need,” Dimitris said. “It isn’t an urgent matter, as far as we’re – well, as far as the King’s concerned.”

“You don’t agree?” Isi asked.

“Of course I agree with the King,” Dimitris hastened to add. “The fact is, Mr. Zhukov, nobody is actually going to be selling weapons soon, are they? The infrastructure simply isn’t there. We’ll worry about it when we have to worry about it, is my thinking.”

He thought fast. “But what if someone makes a sale before you get to pass the bill?”

Dimitris placed the new coffee in front of Isidor, then, with some effort, sat on the chair beside his guest. “Young man, if they can pass a great big weapons cache through the rift and we don’t notice with, say, several months to spare, then good on them. But you and I both know that out here – if we’re thinking practically – nobody is passing anything through this rift before we can legislate on it.”

Isi thought about what Arthur had said, about making this issue their fight. He sipped, and a plan struck him. “You’re right,” he said carefully. “So, in the spirit of openness – and, as you say, you’ll find out anyway…”

He tailed off, making Dimitris ask: “What is it?”

“We will be finalising a sale to Earth: Garden fairly soon. Exact details are still being worked out, but – yes. That’s why I was asking.”

Dimitris’s eyes widened. “Your company will be… selling weapons? To Garden?”

“As you say, there’s no point in hiding it. May as well give you a sporting chance.”

Dimitris stood with surprising speed and scrambled to the communicating door, sending a few papers sliding off his desk as he did. “I need to…” he started.

“Yes?” Isi prompted, still sitting.

“I need to… do something. I’m sorry, I don’t know what, but I think I have to talk to the King now.”

“I understand,” he said calmly, now rising to shake Dimitris’s hand. The older man brushed past his hand without noticing. “Alright then,” he muttered. “I’ll find my own way out.”

***

“You told them we already had a deal?”

“Yep. I implied it was ready to go. Well, I said it outright – never was good at implying.”

“Smart. They’re scrambling now, I’m sure.”

“Oh yeah. I bet we’ll see the bill in days now. Could’ve been months, before.”

“So now we just need to find the votes.”

“Gentlemen,” Kei interrupted in the way she did when she disapproved of something. It was a day later, and the three were meeting to discuss the fallout of Isi’s “admission”. Nothing had leaked yet, but Isi was betting it wouldn’t be long.

“You seem to be forgetting,” Kei continued, “That in all this talk about dealing with Garden, we don’t actually have a deal with them. Shouldn’t we focus on that?”

“They’ll come,” Arthur said. “They want this deal, I’m sure of it.”

“But Garden and Herald are best friends. You really think they’re not going to just check in and make sure they’re not sold a can of nothing?”

“Oh, they’ll probably check,” said Arthur. “But this is Garden we’re talking about – they don’t give up information without a fight, and there’s no reason this should be any different. I would bet on their answer being “Maybe we do have a deal, maybe we don’t”.”

“And then what’s their next step?” prompted Isi.

“They come straight to us, and ask if we have a deal.” Arthur said.

Kei remained unconvinced. “It’s a risky lie.”

“It’s a big swing,” said Isi. “And that’s what we need to stay afloat.”

“Okay,” she said. “You’re the boss.”

I am the boss, Isi thought, and believed it for the first time in a while.

***

As expected, the title came to the forefront in the next few days, and Garden followed shortly after. Surprisingly, it was the Vice President herself who deigned to pay him a visit, which both flattered him and made him horribly wary.

“Colonel Powell,” he said as she entered his office. It wasn’t strictly his alone – there wasn’t room aboard Audacity for most delegates to have their own dorm and an office – but he shared with a physics researcher from Carmen who seemed to be permanently AWOL. Colonel Powell had at least sent him a message, giving him a few minutes’ warning to clear up and work out what he was going to say. She was an imposing woman, and Isi knew by reputation she wasn’t easily impressed, so he had elected not to try.

“Mr. Zhukov, is it?”

“It is. I think I know why you’re here, Colonel, so why don’t we get to it?”

“Fine.” She took a seat opposite him, and he laid his hands on the desk. He was about to start speaking, but before he could she said “You seem to be under the impression that you’ve sold us some weapons. Is that so?”

He feigned innocence. “Weapons? No, ma’am, I don’t believe there’s any such deal just yet. Although back in Edo we like to say that if you can’t buy it it can’t be bought. I don’t know if that quite applies here, but in the interests of cultural exchange…” He was rambling, caught off guard by her interruption.

“Then why,” Powell said, “do my partners in government seem to think that’s the case?”

“I simply can’t imagine, ma’am.”

“Don’t call me ma’am. If you must call me anything, Powell will do.”

“Of course.”

She eyed him up. “I think you’ve been playing games. Luckily, in this instance, we are of a similar mind to you.”

“I suspected as much,” he said. “War can be profitable – or so I’m told. Before my time, you see.”

“I do see,” she said, “I’ve heard reports about your own planets’ century of peace, such as it is. But we have spent longer than that at war, and have worked hard to innovate in this particular area. Do you really think you have things to offer us?”

This question, Isi was ready for. “Absolutely. Your whole thing is think like the enemy, right? Try to predict what they will do, then do it better?”

She shuffled, uncomfortable with the specifics.

“Right,” he continued. “So it stands to reason that your enemies try to do the same thing. Your war is one of unpredictability, as I see it. What’s more unpredictable than a totally foreign weapons system?” He thought of the black disc machine in the Speaker’s office. “Technology that your enemies won’t even know how to open, much less reverse engineer. That’s what you get when you work with another planet.”

“You raise a good argument,” Colonel Powell said. “But I would hold fire on bringing out the catalogues and such just yet. There are still a lot of hoops to jump through, not least of which is this new title.”

“You’ll all vote against it?” he asked.

“We will. And your Earth?”

He grimaced. “Some of them will. Some of them will see what’s happening, though, and want to close off the opportunity for the rest of us. If they can’t make weapons themselves, they won’t want us to be able to sell them.”

“That seems rather hypocritical.”

“Mighty hypocritical, but that’s the way it goes. Talk to me about sushi subsidies one day.”

She squinted, perhaps not immediately understanding his Gaean. “Perhaps I will. In the meantime, can you… I don’t know if this is a phrase… eyeball it? The number of votes you have against the ban?”

“Ballpark it? Sure. On the Edo side, probably ten fails, forty passes.”

She lapsed into thought. After a while she said “It isn’t a promising start, is it? I think some of Herald will vote against – the President will, if I make it clear that this one matters. He can’t whip everyone on a vote like this, but he probably carries another twenty votes.”

“That’s your fifty, thirty more, so we need to find another twenty between Carmen and the rest of Herald. Do you mind if I bring my team in on this?”

She looked uncomfortable. “Your team?”

“Yeah, Arthur Meridian and Kei Morishita. They’re good folks.”

“Arthur Meridian… yes, I know about him. He had a bit of a falling out with Mairin Hanmer, in Luna. Actually, Ms. Morishita’s name rings a bell too.”

“Yeah, they bring the drama. But they’ve been working with me so far to make this vote happen. And I don’t mind telling you, Powell, we need to win this vote.”

“Do what you need to do,” she eventually decided. “But you can wait until I’m gone to bring them in. You and I should work separately here, as much as possible.”

“Whatever you say,” Isi said. “Do you have any weak points in Carmen? We have friends, but not the kind of friends you can lean on for this, if you understand me.”

A strange kind of smile spread over her face. “Leverage?”

“Sure.” “As it happens, yes. We recently came into a little information on them. They’re quite open on most matters, but this… it’s not for me to say. I need to consult with the other Colonels, to see if they’ll want to use it on this.”

“Do what you gotta do, Powell.”

“I always do. You’ll receive a message on your device, one way or another, later tonight.” With that, she left his office.

It was evening before he got the chance to gather his team again. They had been off debating other bills or acting as a smokescreen for his own meeting, letting him fade into the background when needed. They met in Luna, where Isi directed them to a table in the furthest corner just below a speaker, where they were least likely to be overheard. He went over his conversation with Powell, and then went over it again.

“Doesn’t it sound like she doesn’t actually want to buy weapons from us? She really said not to pull out the catalogues?” At Isidor’s nod, Kei put her head in her hands.

“It doesn’t matter,” Arthur asserted. “The vote is what matters – it shows the CEO that we’re making progress, that we have some sway up here. The actual sale – well, we’ll get there when we get there. What I want to know is, what’s the secret?”

That was the big question. Isidor had been checking his device all day, but Colonel Powell had not yet gotten back to him. He had thought about following up with her, but couldn’t imagine her as the kind of person who would forget.

“I don’t know,” he said. “I can’t imagine what leverage they have on Carmen, of all people.”

“They’re much more transparent than the rest of us, true, but –” Kei stopped talking as Isidor’s device gave a buzz on the table, and lit up. Message: Colonel Powell, Garden.

The three of them were dead silent, as Isidor lifted the device to read the message.

“It’s directions,” he said. “To an unused dorm in the Carmen section. There’s something in a room up there, apparently. Powell says that she hasn’t been herself, but one of her operatives has. Sofia Castillo took him there, to show him, in exchange for some other information.”

“Which operative was this?” Kei asked.

“She didn’t say. Does it matter?”

“No,” said Kei. If that were true, Isi wondered, why ask?

“She couldn’t just tell us?” Arthur said in frustration.

“I guess not.”

“Okay,” said Kei. “When do we go?”

Isi set down his empty glass. “How about we go right now?”

***

The three of them crept through the corridors, Isi feeling equal parts like a spy in a movie and totally ridiculous. One disadvantage of Audacity’s minimalist design was that there were few places to hide if you were up to no good, but since they were delegates, the worst they got was a few odd looks from other delegates. The few Service members still around at this hour didn’t even give them a second glance.

Finally they reached the quiet Carmen dormitories. Kei stuck her head around the corner and confirmed that the coast was clear. All three of them had silly grins on their faces as they walked, confidently and quietly as they could, to the furthest dormitories from the entrance, and then up one floor to the room Powell had described. Nobody was around to see them approach the door.

“Do we… knock?” Arthur whispered. Isi shook his head, and touched his hand to the door.

“She said that it’s not locked, because it doesn’t belong to anyone…”

True to Powell’s word, the door slid open with a light push. Inside the room was identical to the other dormitories they had seen, but totally unlit. From the little light in the entrance hall, Isi could make out a humanoid shape standing stock still in the dead centre of the room. As soon as the door opened, the shape turned towards them.

In a flat, smooth, genderless voice the figure said “welcome. i’ve been anticipating your arrival. please do come in, before anybody notices you. would it comfort you to turn on a light?”

Before they knew what they were doing, they were doing as the machine said. They entered, and Kei flipped the light switch while Isi shut the door behind him. The machine was clearly from Carmen, but it looked sleeker than Sai and the other machines on board. Isidor was pretty confident he knew of all the machines – there weren’t that many, after all – and this was definitely not a delegate.

“I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure,” he said warily. The three of them circled the machine, like they were about to jump it. It seemed totally unconcerned.

“we have not, yet. my name is control.”

“Wait,” said Kei. “The Control? The supreme overlord of Carmen?”

“those are not terms i use to describe myself, but they convey the generalities of my role.”

“How…how can you be here? We thought you were back on Earth: Carmen.”

“indeed i am,” Control said, in what Isidor now registered was flawless Gaean. “i am also here. due to my nature, i am capable of being in many places at once.”

Isidor looked past the machine, at Arthur, who was deep in thought. “Arthur? Any passing comments?”

“Just trying to get this straight. Control is a machine – the first machine. Cristian told me it was comprised almost entirely of thought. It’s said that Control is the only AI capable of making others.”

Isi nodded. “I remember. They have strict rules on that stuff, I guess because if anyone could make intelligent life, things could get scary.”

“indeed. it is core to my programming,” Control said.

“Just a second, pal,” Isidor said, waving at Control. “We just need a minute to process this, so… I don’t know if you have a mute button or anything, but…”

“i am capable of remaining silent. i will use this time to conserve power.”

“How can this be?” Kei said, as the machine’s few blinking lights dimmed slightly. “There are data limits. We can only send text most of the time. The kind of data we’re talking about – I mean to say, if Control really is that powerful…”

“They’re subverting the data limits,” Arthur said.

“How?” Isidor said.

“Very cleverly, I should imagine.”

“They wrote those protocols, and if anyone could do it…”

“If anyone would do it, it’d be them too.” Isidor said. He was still inspecting the stock-still body in front of him. “They always came off like that – a little above it all. Smarter than the rest of us. It turns out, it’s because their friend the computer is helping them.”

“Okay, let’s switch it back on,” said Arthur. “How exactly do we do that?”

Control immediately blinked back to life. “i am always switched on, arthur.”

“You know our names?”

“of course.”

“Okay. We have some questions for you, if that’s alright?”

“i will do my best to assist.” Control didn’t seem to be afraid that they had been caught, or try to deny what they were doing here.

“What do you want?” he asked the machine.

“i want to help humanity.”

“The humanity of your world, or of all worlds?”

“i was created to help my world, years before anyone knew your worlds existed. but i act in service to all humans and machines.”

Kei raised her hand in hesitation. “Excuse me, but… you realise that you’ve lied by omission to all of us here? This is not right.”

“i understand, kei.” Control had immediately started using their first names, which was appropriate for Edo politeness rules, but felt odd after months of “Mr. Zhukov” and “Ms. Morishita”. “i did not think it appropriate to reveal myself to all humans before you were accustomed to the presence of machines generally. on top of which there were concerns about the perception of our earth. earth: carmen did not want to appear to be superior to other earths.”

“Oh gee,” Arthur muttered, “Thanks for that.”

“you are welcome, arthur.”

“If you were worried about that,” Isi asked, “why did you, I don’t know, not come up at all? Communicate through the normal protocols like the rest of us?”

A half second pause. “i was requested to join the delegation by more than half of the delegates. i do not normally apply democracy in decision-making, but it seemed to be the appropriate course of action here. plus i felt i could provide analytical assistance that, ultimately, would help all earths.”

“This is so fucked,” Kei said.

“i understand your position.”

“Yeah? Understand this,” she continued, “we have to tell people that you’re here. It’s not fair – it’s not even close to fair.”

“Well…” said Isi. “Let’s not forget why we’re here, Kei.”

“correct,” said Control. “you cannot tell everyone that i exist, or you will not have leverage to use against my faction.”

“You want us to use leverage against you?” Isi said. “How did you know that was what we were doing?”

“it was logical. or rather,” Control added, “it fit within a certain model of logic i have constructed and applied to this situation. i have new subroutines dedicated to analysing the psychology of each other earth’s brand of humanity. i find the exercise diverting.”

Arthur turned to the other two. “We can use this. They will not want this coming out, and they’ll vote for whatever we say to make sure it doesn’t.”

“You think we can spin it?” Isi said.

“It doesn’t need spinning – it’s corruption! The Service will have a fit, the media back home and on the other planets will be full of it… it’s a disaster waiting to happen. And it’s one they made themselves.”

Control was looking back and forth between them as though they were discussing nothing so ordinary as dinner plans.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ve seen enough. Kei?” He was her boss, but they wouldn’t jump into big decisions like this without a consensus.

“I’ve seen enough,” she said. They both looked at Arthur.

“One last thing,” he said, turning to Control.

“i will assist if i can.”

“Garden told us you were here – they traded the information for some of their own.”

“correct.”

“What did Garden tell them? You know, don’t you?”

“i do,” they admitted. “señorita castillo learned the information, and told it to me so i could factor it into any relevant models. as it happens, it has become quite consequential. would you like me to tell you?”

Isi was surprised. “You would do that? It sounds like it’s a secret.”

“certainly, for garden at the very least. but as i said, it is my duty to serve all humanity any way i can. i do not keep secrets as a rule, except in certain circumstances.”

“Go on then,” said Kei. “What is it?” “the novus ordo seculorum faction is worried that their enemies will someday attempt to use audacity or the rift surrounding it to their own advantage. in fact, they suspect that there are moles aboard the station working for those enemies. since they arrived aboard the station, their primary goal has been to find a way to close the rift, removing earth: garden from the parliament.”

Stunned, Isi boggled at the placid machine. “They want to leave?”

“they do not think it’s safe for them to have a presence aboard the station long-term, and that it may represent a greater tactical weakness than potential asset.”

“Hold on,” Arthur said, “how do they know that their attempts at closing the rift won’t close it for the rest of us, too? Or even leave us trapped here?”

“they do not.”

Nobody said anything for a while.

“That’s…” Kei started.

“Huh,” was all Isidor could add.

“So they want out,” Arthur summarised. “But why do they want our weapons?”

“Hey!” Isidor shushed. “Not in front of our new loose-lipped friend?”

“this is not new information to me,” said Control.

Isidor sighed. “Of course not. Well then…any ideas? Why would Garden claim to want to buy our weapons if they don’t even want to be on Audacity? Are they just keeping up appearances?”

“it is possible, although that is a very edoan way to approach the problem. i think another line of reasoning is more likely. i have used predictive models to discover that there is a split among the garden leadership, and that while sergeant graves implied to me that all four colonels were united in their plan, the truth may be more complicated.”

“Powell did seem quite invested in getting this deal through,” thought Arthur. “She was even willing to give us this,” he gestured at Control. “Maybe she doesn’t want to split like the others.”

“i believe that if colonel powell does not succeed in voting this title down, she will resign from audacity.”

“Why would she do that?” scoffed Kei.

“i do not know.”

“She told you this?” asked Arthur. “She, or this Sergeant Graves?”

“no. i have predicted it using my threemind algorithm. it uses complex factors to simulate multiple futures and assign them a likely probability.”

“So, you’re saying you saw into the future?” said Isi. “Now I’m sure I’ve heard everything. Let’s not linger too long, folks.”

They made their way out of the dorm, Control watching as they went.

***

Another day passed and the title was up for debate. The President declared that there would be three days of debate before the vote, an unusually large amount that he claimed was warranted due to the “fierce discussion” already taking place. It was on the first debate day that Isi asked Arthur to make Carmen vote to fail.

“Me?” Arthur said.

“You’re the Carmen liaison, so to speak. Use your friend Cristian.”

“And when you say “use”, you mean “blackmail”?”

They were walking towards the chamber, taking a circuitous route that would allow them more time to talk it over. Isi was never sure if he was following Arthur or the other way around, but they hadn’t gotten lost yet. He shrugged at his colleague.

“You had no problem with it a few days ago. In fact, you were all for it.”

“I didn’t quite realise I was going to… I mean, I’ll do it. If it’s what needs to be done. Hey, speaking of liaisons,” Arthur pulled Isi aside by the arm into a quieter alcove, “did Kei talk to her Garden contact yet?”

“No – we don’t know if we’re going to say anything just yet. We have to get this deal through first.”

“But… I mean, we know, they know, Carmen knows… we should leak it or something, get it out there publicly?”

“After the vote, maybe. After the vote, when our place here is secure, then we can talk about it. Talk to Dr. Muñoz today, before the first Carmen speeches. We need the whole faction to vote with us, and be with us from the start.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Try and win some more Edo votes – we should be over the edge with all of Garden and Carmen, but you never know.”

“Garden will all vote together?” “That’s what Powell says.”

“Alright,” Arthur said, looking mournful. Isidor could tell that he didn’t want to do this, but that was the price of making friends.

“Hey,” Isi said. “It’s just like you said. This is survival now. Okay?”

“Got it. I’ll go and find him now.”

The two split, and Isi went to chase down some more votes. Together with Garden’s team, they had drawn up some speeches that raised relevant points against the title, but in the end the speeches didn’t matter. On Audacity at least, nobody’s mind had ever been changed by a speech. All they did was give the delegates something to point to in the future, to say “this is where I was at the time.” And you would only need to do that if you were flip-flopping. That’s why it was important to get to Carmen before they gave any speeches on this debate; if they felt like they couldn’t go back on what they had already said, the blackmail might not matter.

Isi spent the rest of the morning true to his word, tracking down other delegates from his own Earth and trying to win them over. He knew his own reputation among these people – they had alternately been colleagues and rivals for decades now, and he was respected if not well liked. That suited him okay, and as he made his rounds most of them rejected him in exactly the manner he had expected.

“It’s nothing personal,” said Yuliana, his favourite of the Throneware executives on board. “But we’re not well positioned to take advantage of those kinds of sales. And I have to assume that Nano Dex wouldn’t be interested in collaborations – word is you already have deals in the chamber.”

Deals, plural? thought Isi. His lie seemed to have gotten away from him, but she was right – Throneware’s specialty was in hard code, and Nano Dex had recently acquired a subsidiary to handle exactly that.

“Not to worry,” he said breezily. “I had to try, you know. I think we have the votes all the same.”

“Where from?” she replied. “The maths didn’t look good for you yesterday.”

“Busy night,” was all he said. “See you around.”

As he did his circuit of the station, checking in wherever he could, Isi found it impossible to get the thought out of his mind: They were all lying to us. Every Carmen delegate, as far as he knew, had been aware of the Control link and had said nothing. All this time they had painted themselves as the smartest, most capable, most logical faction. And there was no denying that they had tremendous resources – miracles, really – that seemed to have been built without a drop of blood spilt. They had even destroyed the idea of money, which Isidor admired as much as it repulsed him. But now he couldn’t help but wonder just how many of those miracles were born out of one single miracle, which itself was born out of random chance? It could have been any Earth who invented Control – Edo’s attitudes to robotics were comparatively backwards but they had as many technicians and programmers as Carmen, if not more. The real surprise, to Isi, was that Carmen were just as good at selling snake oil as his people.

Just as Isi began to feel the beginnings of an inferiority complex coming on, he stumbled into Lars Ariti, the scion from his first day, in the corridor. They had passed each other once or twice but not spoken properly. Now, though, the young man had a distressed look on his face.

“Sorry there, Lars,” Isi said. “You okay?”

“Oh, Mr. Zhukov? Isi, was it?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Nothing, sir. I just need to find Lady Kouris – the President-King wants to see her.”

“Doesn’t he have a device? He could message her.”

“Yes, sir,” Lars said. He took big breaths between words; he had apparently been running. “But he doesn’t like to use it.”

“So he’s got you playing messenger? You’re a delegate too, you know?”

“Of course, sir. I’m sorry, I have to go.”

“Well -“ he started to say something about the upcoming vote, to try and take the President’s temperature, but Lars scurried off before he had a chance.

Isi somewhat regretted not making faster friends with the Herald contingent. Not Lars specifically – he couldn’t begin to understand why he had been appointed – but they seemed to be on top of the world as it stood. Not only did they hold the Presidency, but they were the only ones without some secret to hide (his own world excepted). He had thought them untrustworthy and foolish in their worship of the King, but perhaps he had the right idea – open, honest tyranny seemed quite attractive on some days.

***

Days came and went, and the Carmen speeches confirmed that Arthur had done his job. Isi didn’t ask precisely what he had said – Arthur was a capable man, and if he wasn’t comfortable with the task he didn’t raise it again. Dr. Muñoz spoke first, and gave a convincing argument against the title without ever mentioning a potential sale. By now, every delegate knew that Garden and Nano Dex had a deal, and in some rumours Isi heard there was already a shipment on the way. Multiple delegates came up to him in the breaks between speeches to ask what was true, and he was more than happy to toe the Garden line and keep it a mystery, only confirming that he intended to vote against the bill.

The problems began when a Garden woman, Mairin Hanmer, stood up to give a speech in favour. She spoke about much the same things as the other proponents – the spirit of peace between worlds, and so on – but it sounded very odd coming from a Gardener. Arthur leaned over to Isi and whispered “I know her. This is probably bad news.”

“She has some influence?”

“I’ll say. Something’s going on with Garden.”

Before the next break two more Garden delegates stood in favour of the bill. As soon as the Speaker called for a short recess, Isi dashed down the stairs and made a beeline for Powell, with a speed that surprised even himself.

“Hey!” he called.

“Good afternoon to you too,” said Powell. Isi became aware that they were both surrounded by Garden delegates, and he gestured to a corner of the room where they could speak privately.

“What the hell’s happening?”

“We lost some votes. I’ve been trying to get them back, but there’s nothing I can do.”

“I… can’t you pull rank or something? Aren’t you in charge?”

“I’m one of four Colonels aboard the station, and even in my quarter I can’t pull rank on votes. If they vote against me there’s no appropriate punishment.”

“How is it that we have more discipline than you?” he exclaimed, putting his head in his hands.

“Relax,” she said, “we still have votes from Carmen. And the President promised that his voters were going to join us too. We have enough to get over the line.”

“The President will vote with us?”

“That’s what he said.”

“Okay. Okay.” Isi began to calm down a little. “Just… see if you can slow down the speeches, okay? We don’t want them making any good points up there.”

Powell raised her eyebrows but said nothing, and they returned to their benches. He shrugged at Kei and Arthur, who were looking on with concern. “We still have it, but it’s closer than we wanted.”

“A win is a win,” Arthur said.

Isi hoped that was true.

***

“No way.”

The results came back. The total splashed across the screen – 100 to 100.

“Delegates,” the Speaker roared over the commotion, “We have a tie. This is our first tie thus far, but there are protocols in place for this. The President is able to make a decision now on whether the bill passes or fails, thus breaking the tie.”

“Find his vote,” muttered Isi to Kei by his side. People were scrabbling through their devices, trying to figure out what had happened. “Find it now, please.” The President was descending from his chair to speak.

“I’m trying,” she said, “the machine is – oh!”

He was looking through his own device trying to find the breakdown by planet. “What is it?” he said.

“The King voted against. It’s okay. He can kill the ban.”

“Hm.” Isi said. Arthur had risen from his seat to come and join them. The President-King stood in the centre of the chamber, and silence fell.

“I wish,” he announced, “to consult with my Vice President.”

A collective groan echoed around the room. Powell stood to join him, and they moved off to the side to talk.

“Okay, okay,” said Isi. “This is fine. He voted against, she voted against, they agree.”

“Then why is it taking so long?” said Arthur.

“Is this some kind of power play?” said Kei.

“That’s messed up. So probably.”

Isi had found the vote breakdown. 42 Edo delegates had voted for the ban. 4 of Carmen’s delegates apparently hadn’t gotten the message about the blackmail. Then there were just 29 Garden delegates and 25 Herald, making an even 100.

“Exactly half of Herald voted for,” he murmured.

“So?”

“So – he wouldn’t switch, would he?” Isi saw the King and Powell looking over their own tablets. Powell didn’t look happy.

“No way. He couldn’t.”

“Sure he can. It’s constitutional – he breaks the tie however he wants.”

“But he voted against.”

“Now he sees who voted for, he might change his mind. Hell, he might suspect -“

Isi stopped talking, because Powell had pointed a finger directly at him. The King turned his head and looked right into his eyes. After a second, he broke the stare and returned to the centre. A hush came over the assembly again.

“I intend,” he said, leaving an appropriately dramatic pause “to consult with the Constitutional Court.”

Isi had to guess at most of the sentence, because after “consult” there was another almighty groan as the candidates realised they would be waiting longer. The King moved over to the long-haired representative of the Court who sat in the chamber, and began talking in low tones.

“This can’t be good,” said Kei. “If he was going to stick by his vote, he would just do it.”

“He’s checking with the court to see if he can change his vote,” Isi said. “It’s over.”

“We don’t know that” said Arthur. “It could be… well, anything.”

“What about Powell?”

“He doesn’t have to agree with her to break ties. He said he would, but it’s not required.”

A rumour had been rippling its way across the benches, and as it reached the seat above Isi he overheard someone say, “Powell is saying she’ll resign if he votes for the bill.”

“No way,” Isi said. He shared a look with his colleagues, all undoubtedly remembering what Control had told them.

He was about to see if he could run over and talk to her, when the King was suddenly in the centre again.

“My apologies for keeping you waiting, delegates,” he said, somehow managing to draw out every last syllable. Isi got the sense he was relishing this. “In the case of a tie, as the Speaker has said, the President decides whether the title passes or fails.” Isi screamed internally. Decide!

“In the case of this title, I have decided that the weapons ban shall pass. It will be written up as a bill in due course.”

There was immediate uproar. Delegates cried out in shock, joy, and – from the Garden bench – an outcry of horror. Isi involuntary jumped out of his seat, Kei sank her hands into her face, and Arthur just stared in silence towards the Presidential seat. Colonel Powell was already descending the stairs and storming out, a retinue behind her. From the fury on her face, Isidor could tell that she’d be following up on her threat. Once she had gone, the President helplessly looking after her, there was a terrible silence before the chamber again erupted into murmurs.

“Well,” said Isi defeatedly, “We’ll be needing a new Vice President.”