The Six
If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if to social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way; if a man is able to serve the State, he is not hindered by obscurity of his condition. The freedom which we enjoy in our government extends also to our ordinary life."
— PERICLES, FUNERAL ORATION
Visella had arrived within the government premises on her first calm summer day there, only to find it was laid out as a ground-level, immense garden: streams, rocks, and sky high bamboo trees brought shade, humidity and many, many singing birds. The executive room was nothing but a wooden table under a wooden temple open on all sides. "What do you do during the rain season?" she had asked. "We see that there is no rain," said Sapient Arbatar with an enraging smile. She stared, then realized: "You are a Five after all!"
"A Six now, with you, Reverend Mother. Can I just call you Visella?"
Around the table the other four had already convened. There was no technology, screens, nothing that she would have expected for a meeting of people, let alone technology-dominated androids. Essential. She had spent the previous three days brushing up on the volumes of reports and data they had brought to her, but the space there was pristine. Not even a communication system or a globe light. And, so pleasing to the eye, thought Visella.
"Welcome, Reverend Mother Visella," Sage Rangrig had quickly introduced the entire room, "we stand so that we keep all our senses sharp and alert but you are, mmh, welcome to summon a chair if needed." She looked around but saw no means to ask anybody about it. After all, did androids need to sit? She focused again on the crimson-dressed Rangrig, red-haired and flashing smile, with an android body looking no older than a human's twenty-something.
"Firstly: Population update. Klondi, ahem, if you please…"
"A riot in the Riala region has ensued after an escalation of resentment against the local government." opened Sage Klondi, a bulky (how could an android be overweight?) man who ceremoniously underlined every word with a gesture.
"Cause?"
"It is a generational shift." continued Klondi.
"Has it been redirected?" asked Arbatar.
"We always count on some mischief to release population pressures. Generational change is overdue, local administrators are at the top 90% of the age range."
"What does this group, mmh, suggest?"
"What is the level of aggression?"
"Mostly ritualistic in nature, no casualties so far. Demonstrations and damages to buildings. Some arson."
"Continue to monitor," chimed another Sage, Avatasuyara. "We know sublimating passions does not work, so emotions need to be expressed and transformed. Our agents are ready to act?"
"Yes. Nonviolent means will be sufficient for the protesters to succeed in their demands."
"Approved." said the Five in unison, and clapped their hands once.
Wait, thought Visella in a blink, what just happened?
She reviewed her memory to reconcile what she heard and the reports she was given.
The conversation moved on, but the pace accelerated. It did not matter who was the speaker, for all voices seemed to follow the same rhythm and tune.
"Rangrig, what do the public committees propose?"
"They, mmh, welcome a human on the council, (nod to Visella), the motion was approved."
"Wait, was a vote cast for my inclusion in this group?" she asked.
"Of course. You will be surprised how, ahem, much voting is going on behind the scenes. Direct votes and delegates are consulted non-stop. Now let's take a look at the strife map."
"Challenge level is peaking for specific ethnic segments in the polity of Chairoshi. I am projecting trouble in the next decade unless we take action."
"What does it mean, please?" blurted a confused Visella.
"Ethnic based xenofobia is rising."
"Among what human groups?"
"Android groups." chimed another Sage, Avatasuyara. "Don't be surprised, my dear, deep prejudice arises in androids and humans alike. The inescapable byproduct of free will."
"How is that possible?"
"Excuse me, Visella? What use is an android that is only conditioned to do good? And based on whose definition?"
"Ha," she paused, "You let your kind learn on its own."
"Only the exercise of freedom leads to maturity. This is a sub-segment of the android population who discriminates against other androids. Unfortunate."
"Fascinating." Visella would have sat if a chair had been there. On the basis of what did androids find other androids inferior?
"There are no bodhisattvas here, only striving beings," Avatasuyara reminded her.
"Humans population employed to dilute android density is a proven dampening factor."
"Then, mmh, healthy population movements from and to Chairoshi and Rhiala will solve this. More mixing. We can find the right economic and social incentives for both man and android."
"I will get this to the local propaganda ops."
"Approved." Clap.
"Next item: our new Sage."
"I am here to serve, but I am no Sage," said Visella quickly.
"And serve you will, mmh" continued Rangrig with his characteristic shrug. "Not us, obviously, but our citizens. You may have absorbed the first concepts of our planetary society. We run an ever-evolving experiment in distributed, representative government across a multicultural, multiethnic, multi-sentient, mmmh, melting pot. Some would almost call it: democracy. I like to stress: imperfect. Mark my words."
Klondi picked it up: "Anyone of us can be demoted with a general vote. There is significant investment in the information infrastructure. Arbatar will go into the details after your first lesson. Meantime, you are appointed to govern our southern continent."
"What?"
"That was voted upon, too."
"Wait, when has all of this happened?"
"About five minutes ago, Visella. Do not worry, we trust you will catch up."
Visella's quarters were on the sandy white beach not far from the capital city. A car had driven her and Arbatar back. Presently she was listening to the waves, the sound of the sea soothing her mental exhaustion.
"Arbatar," she ventured, "I have seen no visible government apparatus here! What are you giving me to administer an entire continent? If it's true you have a representative democracy I will be demoted by tomorrow." A robo-server had brought fruity drinks made with icy mango puree and aromatic flowers.
"A cabinet of elected officials and a staff of twenty have been appointed to support you," replied the android, ever nonplussed.
"And I am meeting them?"
"Tomorrow. And of course Leerna will continue to be of assistance, as soon as she is fully recovered," replied Arbatar with her signature accommodating tone. That allowed Visella to focus.
"She still wants to work with me?"
"The stories of what you are and can do are traveling fast."
"What stories? You keep observing me and producing new aptitudinal tests. What do you want to make of me, a popular scapegoat? Your human on strings, for the sake of the people's entertainment?"
"It does not work like that, here. Leerna is very curious to learn from you."
"Everybody has quite the inquisitive mind, down here."
"Sharp as a razor. Now, about the session with the Five today…"
"So we are not the Six anymore?"
"We are. And I am grateful the others are willing to slow down a bit to make sure you can follow."
Visella withheld a gasp. "You usually go faster than that."
"Yes."
"Decisions are made in what, less than a minute?"
"Practice makes perfect."
"A human will never cope with that."
"You will, with some training. But that also explains why so few humans have been sitting at the table. It takes a degree of speed, and it takes a willingness to serve. Do you have that?"
Visella paused. "Things… have gone very fast for me in the last few weeks, but… I exist only to serve."
"Warms my heart, truly."
"Do android hearts beat?"
"Metaphorically, yes."
"Arbatar… explain to me how this government of yours works, if you please."
"We call it the Experiment.
"Direct voting?"
"Billions of people are consulted daily on a wide range of topics. There are sentiment polls, lawmaking polls, and formal votes. Vote delegation is common, mind me. We have set up a public pool of voting delegates…"
"Politicians!"
"Not quite, but close. A transparent competitive system where delegates have equal access to the media, are rated by their constituents and independently funded watchdogs. It's a taxing job, to be clear. Your entire personal and professional record is made transparent. They stand naked in front of everybody's eyes."
"And do you really think that equals democracy? Every government system is about the allocation of power."
"And here we try to push it to individual voters as much as possible."
"Ambitious. Opening the way for demagogues to bewitch the masses."
"Something your Sisterhood has indeed analyzed and learned a few tips from."
"You wound me, Arbatar. We hold no illusions that power is given to the ones who take it. If learning a skill makes us stronger, we do it and the hell with scruples."
"How much experience do Reverend Mothers have governing?"
"We have ruled our planets for thousands of years – Wallach IX, Lampadas, Chapterhouse."
"And the Imperium?"
"Ours is a supranational entity that coexists with local governments – we aid and support."
"Maintaining a hand on the wrist that holds the stick? Without directly involving the population."
"The war has forced our hand a lot, Sapient. We have our own democracy experiment running too. Governing across planets with local and Reverend Mother committees. Our head of State can be removed in one swift vote at the occurrence, and all administrators at the top are camera-monitored." she continued, emboldened by the fresh memories of the Order, and of the familiar worlds she had not seen… for too long. "The Archives and the Proctors act as watch dogs, compile the findings and make them available to the rest of us."
"Ah yes, commendable. I see some similarities here. And still…"
"Yes?"
"Your order is for females only. Your democracy is only inside your Order."
"Our top general is a man whose fame and ability is equal to our Reverend Mother Superior."
"The army is not the government," was the android's dry reply.
She suddenly wondered if Odrade was still in charge. So many years without news from Chapterhouse. Where were her Sisters at? How was the war with the Matres evolving after Teg had been revived? She had left just before the climax!
"Is it true only women can be Reverend Mothers?" continued Arbatar.
"Only a few, well trained, genetically endowed female acolytes can become one."
"The genetic memories are a thing of the females."
"Throughout the centuries, the spice melange has killed all the men who have tried. Well, all but a couple. But you already know that."
"I just observe that men have stopped trying."
"Some believe it is a key genetic difference. The species has evolved to specialize the sexes."
"Thought provoking. And what drove that? Survival necessity?"
"We do not know. Some theorize women who give birth are predisposed to dip their bucket in the well of genetic memory."
"Sex as a genetic differentiator. Or is it the way society endows the sexes with different skills and traits?"
"How about your society? Humans dwell in equanimity with androids?"
"We have been coexisting on this planet for centuries."
"Are you consciously imitating human traits? Klondi. A fat android? Oh, excuse my manners."
"We indulge in optics as well. But in this case, there is a reason. The ego-self is known to grow attached to the body, so we change it to negate it. Beautiful and ugly, thin or fat, it all can be a source of experience."
"Always stretching beyond comfort?"
"Cultivating awareness. Training for future adversity encompasses things large and small."
"And so, no dangerous demagogues?"
"You will be surprised at the calming effect androids have on humans and vice versa. It dampens the most extreme behaviors. Dangerous trends lose momentum."
"Are you saying the cognitive and emotional differences are complementary?"
"See for yourself. Aren't we?"
"Us?" her body jumped in surprise. "There is a 'us' now? Where is the equality? So far you have held the strings and dispensed the rewards. I am a student on a short leash."
"Your leash is… as long as the southern continent." The android paused. Visella looked at the mottled light patterns that kept moving on the surface of the waves… a hypnotic action that made her mind drift. "Do you know? My home planet was… is… Buzzell," she whispered, "Warm Buzzell, islands of white sands just like this place… pearl and soostone divers…"
"You should try diving too. There is quite the reef a few hundred yards out."
The thought was tempting. Visella went back into her attack: "So you are telling me that an android-assisted form of government that by nature of its operations can only support inorganic intelligence at the top, is now a form of progressive democracy?"
"An experiment."
"I'd rather call it a crypto-oligarchy, and one based on the segregation of the biological from the silicon!"
"Then," replied the Sapient raising a glass, "Your Sisterhood is a gerontocracy, a junta made of old people! And a gender-segregated one. I will believe you have a democracy only the day I see a Bene Gesserit Father Superior."
"You think we are a ruling class made of old shrews? How little do you know of what our Memories do!"
"They stabilize you, we think."
"True," conceded Visella, "but look at yourself! You Sages are planetary plenipotentiary with untold constitutional powers. I observed you providing orders to your propaganda operatives to move entire populations!"
"And yet, this is all transparent to our citizens. Nobody is misled. Messaging and incentives."
"It is transparent that your Sages are but a carefully cultivated elite too! You need a new word, the automata-cracy!"
"Maybe, and still, we come and go like the breeze. Did you know four of them were not in charge twelve months ago? Dismissed by popular vote?"
"You are accelerating your speed with technology, but does that produce a balanced form of government?"
"Your Sisterhood is constantly swayed by internal currents no matter how balanced you try to be! Factions and squabbles!"
"But our principles are sound, Arbatar!"
"Yes! So are ours."
"I will choose mine over yours every day! But I concede that it all depends on how the principles are implemented."
"We have learned on this planet that the way a government operates depends on the principles of its governed and of its governors. What is a decadent democracy if not a society where people have lost faith and leaders have lost purpose?"
"Where is the solution to that?"
"Attention to the individual. Education. Growth. Mindfulness. Taking an active role in society. Each and every one of us."
There was a pause as the Reverend Mother was thinking how to respond.
"Arbatar?"
"Yes, Visella?"
"I am starting to really like arguing with you."
"I am glad you find entertainment value in it."
They laughed, human and robot, sipping their drink made of some non-descript exotic fruit and ice-cream.
Visella had to admit that the place broke all the molds. And while she was captive, life nevertheless remained interesting. She raised her head, resolved to be deliberate, while feeling a drop of fear entering her bloodstream as she whispered: "Arbatar, I am a trained Reverend Mother but I am a Missionaria operative, not a head of State. I won't last three minutes in this government of yours. I am… trained in the black arm of the Sisterhood. I can single-handedly shift the balance of an entire society so that it lands flat on its muzzle, lock my legs and arms on top of it, and force its ears to listen to my songs until I possess its hopes and fears down to the bones. There, I said what should not be said."
"The gift of candor. Thank you. Let me think about this," Arbatar said, then after just a moment: "The way I see it," the android gently replied, "a knife can be a tool, or a weapon. It depends on its owner."
"I have conditioned millions to wait for the coming of one of my sisters in the guise of a prophetess."
"That was bad? Good?" asked the Sapient, leaning closer. "Whether magic is black or white depends on the moral compass of the sorceress."
Arbatar stood up from the chaise-longue, in a swirl of the gown.
"I will leave you now while the sun is up. You are ready. Your lesson starts at sunset."
She almost had forgotten. "What lesson would that be again?" It felt more tempting to stare at the sea with an empty mind until the night breeze grew cold.
"At the training dojo. Mind and body need to act in unison. You can't be expected to govern with the habits you have picked up in the Scattering."
"Dojo? Habits? But I am a trained fighter!" Visella protested.
"Fighting? Who talked about fighting?" mused the android, and left laughing.