OR1-EP4: Prelude to the Millennium (12)

Michael McNeil and Jacob Herzog sat near the square, looking up at the tall semi-circular building not far away. This was what was commonly known as the Senate, whose official name was the Council of Forty, and they were the group that held the highest power in the entire EU. Since the establishment of the Senate, after several expansions, the size of the committee has now exceeded two hundred people, but it still maintains the name of forty people. Among these councilors, there was an unwritten rule: the councilors who ranked in the top forty had higher authority, and they were seen as the true councilors, while the remaining hundred or so were alternates used to fill in the numbers.

Governor-general Herzog was hunched over with a cane in his hand, enjoying the cool summer breeze like a common old man.

"I was just twenty years old when I first came here." The Governor-general began to reminisce about the past, "At that time, my father went to the Senate to report for duty, so I followed him here. Time has gone by so fast, almost forty years."

McNeil hoped that all those criticisms of the Senate were false, he didn't want to believe that there were many unresolvable conflicts in the EU today. If the Senate can't do anything about it, it confirms Emperor Charles' famous thesis that the EU is incompetent. Assuming that the Senate didn't want to solve the problems, it undoubtedly showed that the Senate was evil, and I'm afraid that the EU that raised such a bunch of maggots wasn't exactly an ideal country.

"Can I come in?" McNeil asked.

"The out-of-town bigwigs who are reporting for duty can enter with two bodyguards, because there was a previous incident where a councilor openly assassinated another official ... After that, the Senate set this rule." The Governor-general patiently explained, "As for you, don't say a word and watch how I maneuver around them."

It was still early to open the council, it was seven o'clock in the morning, and most of the citizens passing by around the plaza were ordinary office workers who were too busy rushing around to notice these unassuming outsiders by the plaza. Shrouded in the morning light in the Senate through a sacred and inviolable majesty, standing in front of the gate of the axe and bundle of rods marking its inheritance of the traditions of the ancient Roman Republic. Both the short-lived republicans of the Americas and the republicans of Europe looked to Greece and Rome as the source of the idea of a modern republic, and emulated in every way the state founded by these sages. Guards in gowns stood motionless on either side of the road leading to the gates, armed with long swords with gauntlets, and it was their daily job to watch the countless dignitaries go and come back on the not-so-long road.

Michael McNeil had been to similar councils, but the GDI Council gave him a completely different feeling. In his eyes, that place was like a merchant's store, a group of small traders quarreling with each other and fighting for a small profit. He sincerely hoped that the EU Senate here would be worthy of the responsibility it carried on its back; guys who failed the citizens had no business claiming to represent them.

After about an hour, someone finally walked into the Senate in twos and threes. These senators were all in uniform, and approached the gates protected by an entourage of attendants who had been called before and after them. One of them, a young man with a slightly obese figure, saw the Governor-general sitting on the outside of the plaza and hurriedly rushed to the Governor-general at a fast trot to greet him.

" Je ne m'attendais vraiment pas à ce que vous arriviez si tôt." The young man wiped his sweaty head, " Si j'avais su cela, nous aurions dû nous préparer ..."

"Inutile, je suis venu les tester aujourd'hui." The Governor-general replied indifferently, "Come, McNeil, you should know each other. This is Councilman Charles Malcal and this is Mr. Michael McNeil."

"Greetings." McNeil symbolically extended his right hand to shake the other's hand in greeting, "Mr. François Malcal has been a great help to me."

"It's an investment, we never invest in something without a return." Senator Charles Malcal smiled as he warmly invited the Governor-general to enter the venue with them, but the Governor-general declined. The Governor-general explained that, now that he was older, he tended to get out of breath if he stayed for long periods of time in places where there was no air circulation, so he was going to wait until just before the meeting started to go in. Since Governor-general Herzog himself had said so, it was not easy for Charles Malcal to force the issue, and he bid the Governor-general a somewhat reluctant goodbye before walking into the crowd that was pouring out of the main entrance.

McNeil had met Francois Malcal once before, and now he was meeting Francois' second son. If the Malcal family didn't want to invest in people or industries that didn't pay off, why would they bet so much on Governor-general Herzog? The status quo was that Herzog's future did not look good, and he was likely to leave politics altogether at the end of his term, and the Malcal family's actions were certainly a bet on a sinking ship. The only possible explanation is that the total amount invested by the Malcal family has exceeded their expectations, so much so that the cost of abandoning Governor-general Herzog will also hit them hard. It was with the mindset of rescuing the dead that François Marcal continued his alliance with Governor Herzog.

"Young man, I will teach you a lesson today." Governor-general Herzog looked at the joking and laughing councilors, "Those who smile and greet you are not necessarily friends; those who hate you so much that they want to drive you out of business can sometimes become your tools instead."

Before McNeil could figure out what the Governor-general was trying to say, the Governor-general had picked up his cane and was striding toward the main entrance of the Senate Building. His square look of senility and fatigue had instantly disappeared, and Jacob Herzog was once again the red-faced Governor. Power is more exhilarating than any drug, and whether it was ideals or power that drove Governor-general Herzog on, McNeil was not at liberty to comment.

The main assembly was in a semicircle, with three podiums set up in the center, and the Twelve Stars and White Eagle insignia hanging in the center. The councilors sat in well-defined areas according to the factions they belonged to, waiting for the main event to arrive. In a few moments, Governor-general Herzog walked into the meeting, came to the podium, and began to give his report on his work.

The French would say that French is the most beautiful language in the world - surely citizens of other countries would consider their mother tongue worthy of that title. Currently, French is the official working language of the EU, and this is supported by linguists who have claimed that French is the most accurate and does not create ambiguity. However, McNeil has never been able to learn French well, having been born in a world where English is the dominant language and he has never paid attention to French in his life. In South Africa, where the African Britannians are especially numerous, English is still the dominant language, and McNeil has no need to use French there. In Paris, no one would take care of his feelings, and not speaking French in a meeting would be tantamount to provoking the entire leadership of the EU.

Governor-general Jacob Herzog spoke for two hours, putting most of the members to sleep, and even McNeil, who stood below as a bodyguard, could not hold out much longer. He could not have imagined that the Governor's tactics are so poisonous, the slowing down of the tactics hard to make the legislators lose the sharpness of the immediate counter-attack. No one would want to go hungry and continue debating with the Governor-general except for those in the opposition who had made up their minds to fight the Governor-general to the death.

"Il n'y a qu'une seule façon d'atteindrenotre objectif. Si nous continuons à ignorer la situation en Afrique, nousperdrons cette colonie. tout comme les Britanniques ont perdu leur patrie. Nousn'avons jamais d'autre choix. Vivre ou mourir."

The Governor-general paused and added:

" Vive les Républiques-Unis, et que la liberté guide les peuples."

The hour hand pointed to twelve noon, and the first half was over. The reprieve appeared to have worked, and most of the legislators looked listlessly at the still-energetic Governor, wanting nothing more than to adjourn the meeting quickly, but the Governor's enemies didn't seem to intend to let the Governor-general get away with it so easily. To McNeil's some surprise, the opposition was spread out on both the left and right flanks of the floor, so it seemed that the Governor's enemies weren't as few as he had made himself out to be.

One of the legislators sitting on the left side of the floor stood up and posed a question to the Governor-general in a caustic tone:

"Pensez-vous vraiment que ce nouveau projet de loi garantira les droits légaux des citoyens indigènes ou africains ?"

" Bien sûr." The Governor-general replied without changing his face.

" Nous avons besoin de calendriers précis, et non de promesses ambiguës." The councilor looked at his peers beside him as if looking for an ally, " Je suis sûr que les citoyens africains partagent notre point de vue. Faire traîner des promesses pendant vingt ou trente ans, attendre de voir ce qui se passe, puis revenir sur ces promesses est une astuce couramment utilisée par de nombreux politiciens incompétents."

" Conseiller Citizen, êtes-vous déjà allé en Afrique ?" The Governor-general suddenly changed the subject.

" Je n'y suis pas allé, mais..."

" Comme vous n'êtes jamais allé en Afrique, vous n'avez aucune idée des coutumes et de la situation actuelle." The Governor-general said in a stern tone, " La feuille de route pour la mise en œuvre du projet de loi devrait être modifiée de manière flexible en fonction de la réalité. Il ne sert à rien de lancer à l'avance un calendrier qui ne pourra pas être respecté. Autres collègues législateurs-citoyens qui n'ont jamais été en Afrique non plus, j'espère que vous n'en ferez pas tout un plat devant les Africains de souche."

McNeil snickered. He fully understood the Governor's mindset; facing pressure from both progressives and conservatives at the same time was a huge headache, and the Governor-general was walking a tightrope. As a governor, he couldn't allow himself to fall completely in favor of either side; then he would lose the very basis of his peace of mind in South Africa. What the colonial officials should do was to maintain the balance, and unauthorized changes to the status quo would only anger the Senate and the consuls more than they would gain.

The progressives on the left side of the room thought the governor's program was too conservative, and could not wait for the next day to see the emergence of a large number of scientists, businessmen, engineers, and even colonial administrators of indigenous origin, while the conservatives on the right side of the room thought that Herzog had shaken up the established order of the colony, and believed that the colony as it stood today did not need any reforms at all.

At about 1:00 p.m., the doubts about the bill itself diminished and were replaced by differences of opinion about the handling of the current situation in South Africa. At this time nearly sixty per cent. of the members of the assembly were asleep, and only a small number of energetic fellows were still debating with the Governor.

During the past hour-long polemic, the Governor-general had shrugged off most of his opponents by constantly avoiding the issue. But if he intends to realize his original ideas, he will have to be proactively exposed, and this is the key moment when he is most vulnerable to the flak of his political opponents.

"They are fully aware that the root cause of the indigenous problem is economic, not political." The Governor-general whispered to McNeil, "Yet they are all so united in their belief that passing or rejecting a particular bill will solve everything, I don't know if they're just pretending to be stupid or if they're really idiots."

"Maybe it's idiots pretending to understand." McNeil replied with tongue-in-cheek humor.

"... Compte tenu du fait que la Rhodésie est hors de contrôle ..." three councilors on the right side of the floor proposed a new program, "Nous proposons que la région où se déroule le chaos soit temporairement séparée de l'Afrique du Sud. L'Afrique du Sud ne peut pas s'occuper de la Rhodésie, alors nous laissons à l'Afrique du Sud-Ouest, à l'Afrique centrale ou à l'Afrique de l'Est le soin de nettoyer ces Britanniens qui sont à la limite de la rébellion ouverte."

Fortunately the two different opposition factions themselves quarreled first. The Conservatives wanted to continue to strengthen the governing institutions of the African colonies until the whole of Africa was consolidated into one super-plantation. The Progressives, by contrast, were wary of similar initiatives, arguing that the root of the problem was not that the Governor-general or the high commissioner had too little power, but precisely that these men had too much power and were unchecked (and that the commissions were null). For this reason, the Progressives' approach was to simply abolish the existing institutions and divide them up again in detail, with no idea of who would bear the costs.

It wasn't until the opposition was down to a handful of people bickering with each other that the Governor-general came up with his program without a fuss.

" Citoyens du Conseil, que pensez-vous qu'il se passe en Rhodésie ?" The Governor-general knocked on the podium, " Ils ont ouvertement déclaré leur intention d'adopter une monarchie et d'amener un noble britannien comme roi, et j'ai déjà envoyé les preuves relatives à cela aux tribunaux. Nous avons affaire à un groupe de bandits qui complotent pour se rebeller, la chose à faire est de concentrer toutes nos forces pour écraser la rébellion, et en ce moment il y a des gens ici qui blablatent sur le fait que tout ce chaos est dû à la tyrannie du corps dirigeant de la colonie - ouvrez les yeux et voyez qu'au nom de Dieu ils vont demander aux Britanniens d'être leurs maîtres, pensez-vous que les Républiques-Uies sont inférieures à l'Empire Britannique ?"

No one dared to refute the Governor's remarks. If someone admitted that the rule of the EU was inferior to that of the Britannian Empire, such a person would immediately lose all prospects. The legislators on the right were very happy, it seemed that the Governor-general had finally gotten the hang of it.

" Mais les problèmes de l'Afrique du Sud doivent être résolus par l'Afrique du Sud elle-même." The Governor-general looked at his watch, speculating on whether his off-site allies had accomplished their mission, " Il a été prouvé que les Commissions du Sud-Ouest africain, de l'Afrique centrale et de l'Afrique de l'Est ont secrètement soutenu les canons libres qui ont mené des actions de sabotage en Afrique du Sud au cours des derniers mois."

McNeil's realization dawned on him, and he finally understood why the Angolan region had been populated by outlaws who went around looting without being curbed - they were supposed to be tools raised by the Colonial Commissions to create chaos in South Africa. Perhaps the Colonial Commissions had given them a blank check and let them think they could gain something from it. But what would other colonies gain by deliberately endangering South Africa? Perhaps they want to take the minerals of South Africa into their own pockets ... This is certainly a losing proposition.

Nothing was discussed at that day's meeting, and Governor-general Herzog's greatest triumph was that he succeeded in stopping the impeachment against him.

"As long as we get ahead of the other side's impeachment of us and sentence him first, they'll be left to fend for themselves." The Governor-general talked excitedly about his response on his way back to the hotel.

"Is that evidence real?" McNeil was a little skeptical.

"No one cares if the evidence is real or not, if everyone believes in something, a fake is real." The Governor-general said smugly.

TBC.

Chapter Notes:

If you consider that the EU references the First French Republic, then the correct translation of the Japanese word 「四十人委員会」 would be Council of Forty (as in Council of Five Hundred), not Committee of Forty.

Here, the left and the right still represent their original meanings. Progressives sit on the left side of the floor and conservatives on the right.