The Human Condition - Ch 112: Impelled Towards Separation

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“My friend, I ask you a plain civil question; will you give me a plain, civil answer?” - Thomas Chandler Haliburton

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Contrary to Rodah’s expectations and the size of the crowd, she didn't have to wait too long before she got the opportunity to talk to one of the reenactors.

“Hello, my name is Robert Morris, at least for today. I am at your service, madame,” he said, flourishing his arm and bowing his head in greeting. “How might I assist you today?”

Rodah wondered why such wonderful and lively greetings had gone out of style amongst locals. It seemed a bit of a shame, really.

“What do you do for a living?” She decided to start simple with her questions. Just who was this guy?

“I am a merchant and a banker. Throughout my life I experienced both success and failure in my ventures, though in 1776 I am currently at the height of my success,” he answered.

“A merchant, and a successful one at that. Why risk that by rebelling, then?”

“A very good question. A partial answer is that the King and Parliament’s taxes were bad for business. But I also had my personal convictions to uphold, and I certainly spent far more money on this venture than I gained. I personally spent several million dollars over the course of the war directly financing the cause.”

“How much is that in credits?” Rodah asked. Even before conversion, it seemed like a decently large sum.

“That’s a good question. Applying conversion rates is a bit tricky, considering the financial turmoil in the new nation, but you could probably compare the amount favorably to the amount a Governess might spend in a year.”

“So you were like a noble of industry?” Rodah asked. It seemed rather odd to her that some who was basically a noble themselves would finance an anti-noble revolution.

“I had that amount of wealth, perhaps, but no titles,” he replied. “Nor did I desire them. I believe that every man deserves the opportunity to make his own fortune, on his own merit.”

Interesting. A rejection of hereditary titles and privileges, then.

“Is that why you signed this declaration of rebellion? Because British nobles—and the King— didn’t earn their fortunes themselves?”

“I signed the Declaration because everyone else voted for it,” he said, taking her completely off guard.

“Excuse me? Because everyone else voted for it?”

“I voted against the Declaration in every round of voting except the final one, which I did not attend as a form of abstention.”

“You abstained? Why? And if you disagreed with the premise of revolt, why were you here to begin with?”

“Because the Continental Congress was assembled so that the Thirteen Colonies could present a unified front in their negotiations with the King and Parliament. I was influential, and opposed the Intolerable Acts and all their ilk, so I was selected by Pennsylvania to attend. As for why I signed a document I did not vote for, I have previously explained my reasoning in the following terms:

I am not one of those politicians that run testy when my own plans are not adopted. I think it is the duty of a good citizen to follow when he cannot lead. While I did not wish to see my countrymen die on the field of battle, neither did I wish to see them live in tyranny.”

“Huh,” Rodah said. “So, you didn’t vote for it, but you then proceeded to sign it, and then fund the revolt anyway because… it was the direction everyone else chose?”

“As my esteemed colleague Mr. Franklin once said, we should ‘either hang together or hang separately.’ That is to say, if we had acted with disunity, it is unlikely there would have been any chance of success in the war that followed. I did not wish for there to be a war, but now that one was inevitable, I would rather win it than lose it.”

“I see,” Rodah said, tapping her tusk thoughtfully. “So, I assume that you did win, given the holiday.”

“Yes, by the grace of God and the blood of many patriots, we gained our independence. Britain, located an entire ocean away, was unable to sustain a large enough army here to subdue us, and eventually had to concede, though it did take several years.”

“So they did not possess the logistic capacity to win? Did they not maintain sufficient naval power to bring supplies over and land along the coast?” Rodah asked. She was well aware that the Imperium had always put in great effort to maintain its own naval forces for just such a reason. Planets were large and fully capturing one could take a long time, but if you had space superiority, it was practically inevitable.

“They did, at the start. They landed in multiple places along the Atlantic coast,and many major ports were occupied at one point or another during the war, including Philadelphia, which had been acting as a sort of de facto capital for us. But they had their own rivals back in Europe, and we fought long enough and hard enough that these rivals saw backing us as a worthwhile cause. The British were forced to concentrate their forces in the defense of their homeland, and a French fleet was able to stalemate the British fleet off the American coast. Of course, a stalemate is as good as a defeat when your supplies still fail to arrive, and so the war turned.”

“Oh,” Rodah said, her mind immediately going to the uncomfortable parallels with the current situation. If the Imperial Navy was distracted fighting the Alliance, could it sustain the Marines on Earth if they came under siege? It almost certainly could, right? The support fleet above their heads hadn’t moved despite the crisis, and Earth was way too distant for the Alliance to even think about sending any ships here.

Okay, no reason to panic. The military situation was stable, and the Imperium wasn’t anywhere near the same level as the criminally incompetent British King. Except for the fact that the Hero of Gurathu had been forcibly conscripted into the Imperial Marines, and the fact that the Council had just been dissolved, and the fact that the Imperium had apparently already taken on the same role as the British in the public’s eye during the last few years. Absolutely no reason to worry at all.

“Just out of curiosity, what might have been able to be done to prevent your war? I mean, I guess the British King could just have not done the things that were listed, right?”

“I suppose,” the reenactor said. “The one thing they really ought to have done was to give the colonies representation in Parliament. Even that might not have worked in the end, but one of the biggest rallying cries of the Patriot revolutionaries was ‘no taxation without representation.’ I have no doubt that having our concerns voiced directly in that body would have tempered the most incendiary parts of their Intolerable Acts.”

“Parliament? Was this like an advisory council?”

“Oh, yes. Parliament is a venerable institution, tracing its roots back more than six hundred years from the point I at which I stood. Speaking from the perspective of living in 1776, it is well established that the King listens to Parliament, and that all Englishmen possess certain rights, representation in that body chief among them. It is primarily Parliament that has so far been responsible for our grievances.”

Wait, what? The council had caused the colonies to revolt? That didn’t make sense. Rodah didn’t want to be rude and take forever talking to this guy, but she needed a proper explanation for this shit.

“But you said the King had done all these bad things? And why would he not be in charge? He was surely no Alice, so why would he bother deferring to the council on such bad decisions?”

“Maybe he would have done differently several centuries prior, but by this point Parliament has already removed more than one monarch from the throne for disobeying them. One was even executed for the crime of treason. At this point, they are even the ones paying his salary rather than the other way around.”

“They what? Actually, nevermind how absurd that is, I’ll just take your word on it for now. If Parliament, a council, was really in charge, then why revolt?”

“The same reasons listed in this Declaration,” he said, holding up a copy of the same paper Rodah was still holding on to. “We were not represented on their distant council. They dissolved our local councils, and implemented unreasonably harsh taxes. They sent troops and forced us to house and pay for them. They held unfair trials, another rights violation. When we say that a government is tyrannical, that doesn’t necessarily mean that just one man is responsible. All who participate are guilty.”

“Huh. I guess if you had no say in this council, it wouldn’t actually do anything for you, would it?” Rodah said, her mind subconsciously disregarding the last part of his statement for the time being. It would nevertheless come back to haunt her afterwards.

“That’s the idea. It didn’t help that they were also an ocean away and that most of them had never set foot on this continent in their life.”

“Of course,” Rodah said. That was the same reason the Empress appointed nobles, in order to have someone local making the decisions. Except it would be a bit of a misnomer to really call any of the current governesses on Earth ‘locals.’ 

“So, did I answer your questions about our motivations satisfactorily?” he asked, in a slightly leading manner. She should probably finish this up so that the people behind her in line could get a chance.

“Yeah, I think you did,” Rodah responded, still aware that she had taken a rather long time talking to this guy. “Some of the things you said are still a bit unbelievable, but it was interesting. Certainly some things to think about. Thanks for—uh, did you volunteer to do this or are you getting paid?”

“We’re all volunteers here,” he said, gesturing around to where his colleagues were talking to other guests.

“Wow. That’s certainly something, to volunteer to pretend to be somebody else for a day.”

“Well, I find it great fun,” he said. “Also, it gives people the chance to experience history from a more active perspective. I don’t know what sort of textbooks you had when you were in school, but there are just some things you can’t get just from reading off a page.”

“I agree,” Rodah said. Well, thank you for your time.”

“You are very much welcome,” he said, his goodbye almost as theatrical as his greeting. “Fare well and safe travels.”

“Farewell,” Rodah said, bowing in return. Despite some of what she had learned today giving her cause to worry, she smiled as she walked away.

~~~~~~

As it turned out, Bel’tara had probably been right when she had described poker as a ‘good way to lose money.’ Lil’ae was certainly glad that she had only lost several of the ‘pigs in a blanket’ that Al had grabbed from one of the folding tables that was being set up with food. Phillip wasn’t faring much better, although he had preferred to knock himself out by eating his last pig-in-a-blanket before it could be lost..

In contrast, to Lil’ae’s surprise, Ralph and Be’ora had been doing the best, and had both accrued a large number of the snacks on their plates. Be’ora’s success had largely been based on a couple of lucky hands, but Ralph seemed to have actual skill at the game, especially when it came to bluffing. Lil’ae genuinely had no idea how he had pulled off winning two separate rounds with such weak hands.

At least he and Be’ora had been generous enough to hand out a couple of their snacks back to the people that lost all theirs, citing the fact that it would be too much to eat all of them by themselves.

“Excuse me,” someone asked from behind Al, interrupting their attempt to resume the game with a new set of snacks. Although the voice was kind of quiet and hard to hear over the background of the now buzzing party, it sounded oddly familiar to Lil’ae.

As Al turned around and moved aside, the reason behind that familiarity became apparent. The person who had spoken was the former Governess-Regent, Alice Cooper! The first thing Lil’ae noticed about her, besides the fact she was short enough to have approached unnoticed, was the slightly uncomfortable look on her face.

“Phillip?” she asked, looking at Lil’ae’s boyfriend, who had suddenly gotten an equally awkward expression on his face.

“Yes?” he responded hesitantly. “How can I help you?”

“I… uh, I know it’s been a while, but I was wondering if we could talk for a bit. Maybe catch up a little?”

Lil’ae suddenly found her mind very conscious of the fact that Phillip and Alice had once dated in high school. Not that she was actually worried about the former governess stealing her boyfriend! That would be silly! And she wasn’t a human, why would she be worried about her boyfriend talking to another girl? But this was still incredibly awkward, and she could feel something unsaid hanging in the air.

“Okay,” Phillip said, glancing back and forth between her and Lilae a couple of times. “You know my friends, Al and Ralph from back then, right? To introduce everyone else, this is Sub-Lieutenant Lil’ae Rell, my girlfriend, and these are Sergeant Be’ora, Lance Corporals Hara and Bel’tara, and Corporal Sae’li. Everyone, this is Alice Cooper, one of my… friends from high school. You might also know her from… well, you know.”

“Thanks, nice to meet you all,” she said, continuing to speak softly. Lil’ae was surprised at how different Alice was now from when she had been the Governess. Back then, all her announcements had been loud and confident, belligerent even. But now she was quiet and polite, almost apologetic. Was there a reason behind this radical change?

“But I was hoping that we could maybe talk more privately? Of course, if you don’t want to, that’s fine, but…” she trailed off.

“Would it be okay for Lil’ae to be there too?” Phillip asked. “I think she would like to hear whatever you have to say as well.”

Clearly Phillip had a better idea than her as to what Alice might want to say. Was it some sort of unfinished business from when they had been dating?

“I would be fine with that, if that’s what you want,” Alice said. “Why don’t we move a little bit this way, where it’s less crowded?” She gestured off sideways along the fence.

“Sure,” Phillip said, first trying to grab Lil’ae’s hand to lead her before realizing that the fence would prevent that.

“Okay, what was it you wanted to tell me?” he asked, once they were clear of the larger group.

“I wanted to say that I am sorry,” Alice said, dipping her head. “Back when we broke up, I wasn’t being very nice, and I said and did some things that I regret.”

“Mmm,” Phillip said. “I also have one or two things I wish I had done differently. For example, being more upfront about my asexuality. I was embarrassed about it, and perhaps even still a little uncertain about it myself, and so I sort of misled you.”

Ah, so that explained why Phillip had pitched it immediately after offering to date her. Lil’ae had been caught off guard then, but she could imagine how much worse it could have gone if she had actually worked up her anticipation for getting to be with Phillip.

“Oh no, please don’t blame yourself for my failure to pick up on what you were saying,” Alice said. “Back then I was absolutely terrible at getting any sort of hint. I still kind of am.”

“Yeah, and I should have known that, given that time I had to literally ask you to hug me, because apparently me holding out both of my arms and doing the ‘come here’ gesture with my hands wasn’t enough for you to get the memo.”

“That only happened the first time,” Alice protested, blushing a little. Lil’ae wouldn’t have ever imagined she could even do that, having previously only seen her as the steely governess. “I figured it out after that. Of course, in the long run I didn’t manage to get any better at reading men, although for a time I thought I had…” She trailed off, frowning.

“I was sorry when I heard what you went through with your ex-husband,” Phillip said. “We weren’t right for each other, but I did want to wish you well. For what it’s worth, I guess I still do.”

“Same here,” Alice said, her mouth turning upwards towards a smile. “And enough about my misfortune. It looks like you’re doing well, and from the way your girlfriend has been looking at you I can tell she loves you.”

Lil’ae was both pleasantly surprised and a little embarrassed by that comment. Her concern for Phillip must’ve been showing on her face. 

“Oh, thank you. Yes, I do love him very much,” she said, trying her best to match the confidence that had slowly returned to Alice’s voice over the course of the conversation. It remained a continued irritation that the fence prevented her from holding Phillip’s hand.

“Good for you,” Alice said. “And I hope you don’t feel intimidated or insecure just because I randomly became important for a little while. I was never particularly special, just a bit lucky for a time.”

“You kept saying that anyone could have done all that, but I don’t think so,” Lil’ae said. “You were a good governess, unlike the current one.”

“Thanks,” Alice replied. She paused in contemplation for a second before elaborating: “I guess that means something to me, because I didn’t expect to be convincing many Shil’vati to listen to what I was saying.”

“It’s not just me,” Lil’ae said, encouragingly. “You had a bunch of us here rooting for you. Some of us are still rooting for you.”

“Yeah, I’m still rooting for you too, Miss Iron Tits,” Phillip added.

“Oh God, not that stupid nickname,” Alice said. “I still can’t believe people actually called me that. It had to be ironic, right?”

“I don’t think it was,” Lil’ae said. “You impressed people, and it’s not hard to see why. You walked right into the middle of an active revolt and negotiated it down. You upstaged Lady Lannoris at a memorial service that ought to have been a propaganda win for her. Sea of Souls, I don’t know how upstaging someone at a funeral could ever be the more respectful option, but that’s exactly what it was, and you managed to pull it off”

“Hm,” Alice seemed genuinely surprised by Lil’ae praise. “Well, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be doing anything nearly so dramatic again.”

‘“Why not?” Lil’ae asked.

“Because my time in the spotlight is up. It’s Cor’nol’s show now, and though I might think he’s making a gigantic mess of it, I can’t do anything about it.”

“Yeah you could,” Lil’ae said. “There are plenty of people who would back you again given the opportunity. All you would have to do is give the word.”

“But would it actually accomplish anything? I would either get myself killed or have to spend the rest of my life in hiding. Besides more bloodshed, there is little I can hope to achieve that way.”

“I didn’t necessarily mean going that far,” Lil’ae said. There was a reason why she and Phillip had both decided their own resistance would be covert. She had been at least halfway considering some sort of grand revolt, though.

At this point, the conversation was then unceremoniously derailed by the arrival of two energetic children:

“Hi! Are you Mom’s friends?” the boy asked excitedly, breathing heavily after running up to them.

“Sorry for interrupting, Mom,” the girl said as she caught up, moving at a more reasonable pace.

Based on the fact that they were calling Alice ‘Mom’ and the fact that she had seen pictures of them before on TV, Lil’ae felt pretty confident in identifying them as William and Juliana, Alice’s adopted children.

“Hello,” Phillip said. “I’m Phillip Hallman. I went to high school together with your mother. This is Sub-Lieutenant Lil’ae Rell, my girlfriend.”

“Hi,” Lil’ae said. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I’m Will!” the boy said enthusiastically, holding out his fist for a bump.

“I”m Jill,” the girl said, doing the same.

“Are you a sailor?” Will asked, surprising Lil’ae with his accurate observation.

“Why yes, I am,” she responded. “How did you know?”

“Marines wear black, sailors wear gray. I learned that when we were in space!”

“Oh, you’ve been to space?” Lil’ae asked him, crouching down to get closer to his level. His smile and enthusiasm were infectious, and she found herself smiling in return.

“Something bad happened to the purple–” he was interrupted by Jill swatting him on the back of the head.

“Shil’vati,” she said. “Purple is rude, remember?”

“[Something bad happened to the Shil’vati woman who was supposed to be our mom,]” he repeated, this time in pretty good Vatikre. “[So we got to go to space because it was safe, and then we met our real mom there. We lived on a spaceship for a couple of days, which was really cool! The women there taught me the difference between Navy and Marines, because the Marines are lame and they don’t get to fly spaceships. I’m going to join the Navy and fly a spaceship when I get older!]”

“[That’s certainly ambitious,]” Lil’ae said. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to encourage him or discourage him, because she herself wasn’t sure if she personally regretted joining the Navy or not. There had certainly been plenty of downsides and bad moments, but she had gotten to come to Earth and meet Phillip.

“[Being in the Navy can be very difficult,]” she explained, trying to take a middle ground. “[You have to do a lot of work before they let you fly a spaceship, and you might be sent very far away from home for a very long time. It can also be dangerous. But if it’s what you want, I certainly believe you could do it.]”

“[I will,]” he replied, nodding emphatically.

“Was there a reason you two came over here?” Alice asked, switching the language of the conversation back to English.

“I wanted to meet your friends!” Will said. 

“I followed him,” Jill said.

“I see,” Alice said.

“Well, it was nice to meet you,” Lil’ae said, feeling like the conversation was at a natural ending point.

“Yes, it was nice to meet you two and talk,” Phillip said. “I hope you have a happy rest of the Fourth.”

“The same to you,” Alice replied. “Will, Jill, did you guys see the kids over there playing? They look about your age. You might end up going to school with them in the fall.”

“No, where?” Will asked.

“There,” she said, pointing.

“Oh, let’s go meet them! Goodbye Miss Lily,” he said, turning and waving at Lil’ae as he ran off.

“Watch where you’re going!” Alice called out to him. Luckily, he followed her advice just in time and managed to dodge the portable cooler that had been in his path.

“Why do we need to run everywhere?” Jill asked.

“You don’t need to run anywhere if you don’t want to,” Alice said. “We can walk over there at a normal pace.”

“Okay,” Jill said as they left.

~

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