"Mule…"
Summary: My AU version of the Asimov tale from his collection of Foundation and Second Foundation tales.
Even as civil war threatens the mighty but flawed Foundation, the Galaxy's greatest power since the Fall of the great Galactic Empire, its road to eventual triumph as the reuniting force in the Galaxy yet (supposedly) guaranteed by the quasi-mystical Seldon Plan, a mysterious warlord of a new and rapidly rising power is maneuvering to seize domination of the Galaxy in defiance of Seldon.
Part III…
At the zenith of the High Empire under the Cleon I clone emperors, the popular culture figures drawing by far the attention of most of the Galactic populace were entertainment stars…Singers of various genres, actors, to a lesser extent artists, particularly those expert in holography and the ancient two-dimensional painting forms, and finally, writers…Though of course even under the "so-called" democratic Empire of the Height, some censorship was practices under the banner of protecting public safety. In any case, a small percentage of such figures were often not only able to achieve great wealth and fame, and even a degree of political and public influence, but might be idolized, even worshipped by their fans. As decline set in, the need for such actually increased, to where some cultural icons achieved considerable political power…After the end of the Cleon I dynasty, a handful even became emperors, one, Hadron (Hady Banks, a former wildly popular singer/actor) I, ranked among the best of the Decline Emperors. However as civil war and general decay increasingly fractured the Empire, people turned increasingly to quasi- and then declared religious figures who promised either peace and stability in the midst of turmoil, or a joyous, paradisical afterlife. A few of these became important influencers, several became powerful cult leaders, acting for the most part as negative forces on Imperial stability, a handful even challenging the Empire for control. But until the rise of the Terminus Foundation, with its emphasis on Science, even as a new cult, and its large percentage of engineers, technicians, and theoretical scientists among its population, scientists and thinkers in general were rarely, though occasionally, popular icons or cult figures.
But, with the rise of Terminus and the collapse of the Imperial economy, Science became a cherished possession and, in many sectors, a jealously guarded cult. Terminus and its Foundation played a key role there, using a cult of Science to control its first conquests and to establish a feeling of awe throughout the Terminus sector which eventually attracted the attention of the famed Imperial general Bel Riose, the last great Imperial conqueror, under the great Cleon II.
As time went on and science rediffused somewhat into the Galactic culture, Science became science once again and other older-style popular figures began to regain their old prominence. However, particularly within the Foundation and those subject or even in direct opposition to it, scientists, engineers, and thinkers in general retained a certain cachet and remained, to some extent, important popular culture figures. Hari Seldon, naturally, at the top of the list, though as much a quasi-religious figure as a heralded scientist.
And three hundred years after the founding of the Foundation, apart from Seldon himself, there was no more prominent figure in scientific popdom than Dr. Ebling Wesin Mis of Terminus. A prodigy at 12, winning nearly every scientific prize offered on Terminus and the lesser ones still available in the Outer worlds, his family background…His father a mere technician, his mother a minor writer and amateur painter…Only made his genius shine more brightly. Indeed, some held…And while Mis modestly declined to (publicly) agree, he did not deny…Him to be even Seldon's intellectual superior. The fact that he was an open critic of the Indbur government and had faced imprisonment and the all-too-likely threat of execution as a young man, under the brutal Indbur II…Spared only by the untoward death of the said Indbur while engaged in private activities with a lovely secretary at advanced age…Added a bit of the rebel to his persona. Having given up monogamy and two successive wives at an early age, he was said to find no deficiency in obtaining ready female companionship…Though some claimed his relatively steady companion of current note, his very attractive young assistant Mylin, had been designed and built by him, even if she'd amusedly displayed her full medical records to a popular culture holojournal. Biobot clones with artificial brains had after all been the favored and generally trustworthy consorts of Emperors for thousands of years. As one rather gushing holoreporter put it, there was no one who could combine the genius of Seldon with the audacity of a Devers and the kick-ass rocking style of a Hady Banks like Ebling Mis.
His relationship with Indbur III was rather schizophrenic. Though he despised the Indburs as an institution and was about as openly a member of the Democratic Opposition as one could be and keep from prison, he professed to a certain sympathy for the poor fellow, a first-rate clerk forced by an ambitious mother and a doting if brutally ruthless father to autocracy. Indbur III, he maintained at the many parties he attended or gave, was not really a bad fellow, just utterly out of his depth. And on Indbur's side there was a bizarre mixture of respect, even liking…It had been he who'd immediately freed Mis from prison on his father's untimely but long-hoped-for demise…Coupled with annoyance and a degree of fear. The scientific elite of Terminus, on which part of Indbur's authority somewhat uncomfortably rested…That and his father's military, of course…Was generally favorable to Mis and his antics so long as his fine mind kept Terminus' science well ahead of the Galaxy, which played a role in Indbur's acceptance of Mis' provocative acts, but in fact Indbur was somewhat in awe of the man and had been since they attended school together, with his father pressuring Mis constantly, with the usual threats, to help his feeble idiot of a son and heir to improve his grades and become less of an idiot.
As Mis liked to note, for Indbur II that was true fatherly love.
But current conflicts with the Trading Worlds and Indbur III's attempts to demonstrate firmness by cracking down on the Democratic Opposition had led to an increasingly public rift between the two. And while Mis was quite willing to defy the government, he felt a need to try to keep his old semi-friend and student somewhat on the rails, if only for the sake of the Foundation and the Plan and continued to offer Indbur advice that was not always, and increasingly, welcome. While on the other hand his colleagues among the Opposition, while grateful for his acts to intercede for and protect them, were somewhat discomfited by his relationship with the man they saw as the Enemy. Mis, for his part, continued to follow his own path between the two…Secretly aware, by his calculations in psychohistory, that neither the Opposition nor Indbur were likely to win out in the end, though the resulting, coming Seldon crisis should be beneficial, if handled deftly.
So it was that Mis felt no hesitation in entering the Mayor's office unannounced on the morning after the Union of Worlds formally declared war on the Foundation. An announcement that produced no fear whatsoever among the populace, even considerable amusement, with comedic holoshows immediately lampooning the ridiculous blowharded ruler of the "Union" as a typical, posturing, overfed buffoon of a warlord who would shortly be shown the exit door of History.
Indbur III, at the nerve center of the Foundation's war machine, as he liked to put it…In other words at his well-maintained, neat desk, was mildly annoyed at the arrival of his yet not entirely unexpected guest.
"Dr. Mis? Do you have an appointment? This is a busy time for me."
Mis eyeing the full but far too neat desk and the lack of any activity in the room, only the usual guards watching carefully, grinned.
"Well, I'd hoped you'd find time for me, my old friend. Mr. Mayor." He added the title but refused the protocol bow.
"Yes? Refer that to Admiral Ming." Indbur told a glowing holoimage of a young secretary who'd just visualized on his desk with a question.
"Pretty." Mis eyed the woman's image.
"Do you have a reason for being here, Doctor?" Indbur frowned.
"Well, I thought…What with a war on…You might need my help."
"Thank you. But your place is at the Science Institute. I'm sure you can be quite helpful there."
"Indbur…Mr. Mayor." Mis leaned on his desk, Indbur eyeing the hands on his pristine desk. "We're approaching a Seldon crisis."
"I'm quite aware of that, Doctor." Indbur eyed him coolly. "Every self-professed expert on psychohistory as well as you've mentioned it over the past two years. And I am dealing with it. The Opposition and the Trading Worlds will be suppressed, and the Foundation will continue on course, following the Plan."
"You've been listening to bad advice…It isn't that simple." Mis noted.
"Yes. I know you and your friends would have me make reforms, negotiate. But you are not the only expert on the Plan, Dr. Mis." Indbur fumed. "I've been told that I need to stand firm, that these so-called reforms would weaken the Foundation at a critical time and delay the Plan. I agree with that assessment."
"The Opposition and the Traders can't win, entirely. But their voices need to be heard, Indbur. I am not saying this so much to save them as you. Show a little sense, man. You'll be bowled over by History if you don't. And while individuals may not matter to Seldon and his Plan, I'd be rather sorry to see you go down badly. You can still put things right."
"If I surrender…" Indbur, grimly. "What would my father say to that?"
"Your father was a brutal fool who succeeded because too many benefitted from his brutality. Indbur, you're not your father. And I mean that in a good way." He eyed Indbur's frosty look.
"I'm not so violent, yes. However, when firmness and authority are required…" he frowned, pausing. Another figure, more anxious, in military uniform appeared.
"Excellence…The Sagosian system is lost. The Second fleet has had to withdraw and our ground forces surrendered!"
"What?" Indbur stared at the holofigure, while pressing pads on his desk. A map of the Sagosian sector appearing in the space above his desk, he and Mis regarding it. Several officers hurriedly entering the office as he did so.
"The Mule…" A beribboned admiral had come to desk. "Sorry, Excellence." He bowed. "The Mule has some sort of new weapon. It depresses atomic power. Our ships lost power and were adrift, only a few escaped Sagosian space during the Kalganian attack. And the troops on Sagosa were betrayed, sir."
"Betrayed?"
"Several leading members of the Sagosian government were in secret negotiation with the Mule. They sabotaged the missile defense system and the atomic depressor prevented our shields from coming up. The troops then surrendered."
"In less than a day? Without a fight?" another officer eyed the speaker.
"The commander declared resistance was impossible and surrendered."
"Eviens? Impossible." The officer who'd questioned stared.
"Traitors and treason." Indbur shook head, pressing buttons. Several uniformed figures in Security garb now entering.
"Captain? I want a thorough investigation into the loss of Sagosa. Check the records on every senior official of the government there and the officers of the Foundation leading the troops and fleet. Admiral?" he turned to face the beribboned admiral. "I want a plan for a counter-offensive to retake Sagosa as soon as possible. Have a presentation ready by the end of the day!"
"Yes, Excellence." The admiral bowed.
"Well, Dr. Mis." Indbur faced Ebling. "It seems you are in the wrong place. I want you at the Science Institute researching this weapon of the Mule's. Immediately."
"Curious." Mis shook head. "An atomic power depressor. Remarkable. I'd never of thought Kalgan could produce something like that."
"Our own fault…" Indbur frowned. "For allowing Foundation technology to be spread out into the Galaxy. Someone was bound to take advantage. Well, we'll need to stop such dissemination at once. Major Ota?" he turned to one of the security officers who'd entered at his summons. "Martial law is imposed on the press, particularly regarding scientific information. Nothing is to be released without my express approval."
"At once, Excellence." The Major saluted and left.
"That's nonsense, Indbur." Mis frowned. "How can we know what the Mule has if we don't allow a flow of information?"
"That's what intelligence is for." Indbur replied. "But it's the treason that concerns me. There is no way the troops should have surrendered like that. And the government of Sagosa was vetted by us. We have been infiltrated. And I know by whom." He grimly eyed Mis. "The Traders and the Opposition have deliberately betrayed us, to weaken us. They're in alliance with the Mule. It's the only answer. Well, Dr. Mis?" he eyed him. The various officers eyeing Mis as well.
"Well…What?" Mis stared back.
"You're a known member of the Opposition. And you recently brought a Trader citizen and a woman suspected of being a member of the Opposition back to Terminus, with the very Kalganian who's kidnapping was grounds for Kalgan's declaration of war. Do you think me a fool, Mis?" Indbur rose. The officers eyeing both men.
…