On a well-settled Mars, the five major city Council regimes
struggle to meld into a stable, working government. Embracing an official
Unified Faith In Humanity, the Councils are teetering on the verge of pogrom
directed against Christians, Molesters , Jews, Rapists, Buddhists, Murderers, Muslims,
Thieves, Hindu, Embezzlers and Artificial Humans – anyone who threatens the
official Faith and the consolidating power of the Councils. It makes good
sense, right – get rid of religion and Human divisiveness on a societal level
will disappear? An instrument of such a pogrom might just be a Roman
holiday...To see the rest of the chapters and I’m sorry, but a number of them
got deleted from the blog – go to SCIENCE FICTION: Martian Holiday on
the right and scroll to the bottom for the first story. If you’d like to read
it from beginning to end (70,000+ words as of now), drop me a line and I’ll
send you the unedited version.
Aster
Theilen, most recently, Consort of Mayor-for-Life of Opportunity Dome, Etaraxis
Ginunga-Gap, and the original daughter of known religious radical, Abedne
Halle-Theilen; said to the underground gathering of Artificial Humans her
father had led her to, “Members of the Artificial Human community, oppressed by
those of us who are natural-born, I request and require,” she turned slowly
meeting the eyes of every Artificial Human she could see, then said, “that you no longer take your orders from my father. You take
orders only from me – or a duly appointed mouthpiece of mine, who will only act
when he or she presents a sigil representing my Voice.” She looked at her dad
and said, “Sorry. It’s necessary for the plan.” She spoke loudly, “Please
signify your understanding and acceptance of my request and requisition by
raising your right hand.” A moment later every hand was raised, every face
solemn. She turned to her father and said, “Sorry, Daddy. You’ve been voted
out.”
Abedne scowled at his daughter then
nodded. “Good. I was getting tired of leading them. About time you took over
the family avocation.”
She nodded, then turned again in a
circle, taking in the blue faces. She said, “I’d like to work with a smaller
group of ten of you. If each one of those has some connection to the other
major Domes and stations, that would be best. We need to create…”
Her dad leaned over and whispered, “There’s
already an inter-Dome network. You don’t think we’ve just been sitting on our
hands for the past ten years, do you?” He smiled to take the sting out of his
words.
Aster nodded, “I hadn’t dared hope as
much. The groundwork you all have created is exactly what I’d hoped to find
here.” She looked around. “Who are the leaders?”
Abedne sighed. “Speak to the entire
group, Sweetie. They’d rather not identify themselves – in case any Security
forces are recording our meeting.”
She blushed, nodded, then said, “So,
Dad, I need to ask you to leave. Those same Security forces have you identified
– and likely monitored.”
He held up his hands, bowed, and said, “I’ll
see you later, then.” He headed out of the meeting area.
Aster pursed her lips, wondering if any
of the group would come closer. She waited a moment, then started speaking. She
told the group about the plans for the Orphan’s Ball. She wanted Artificial
Human children to be part of the celebration. Artificial Humans were part of
the future of the planet.
Her father and many of the First Humans
were not happy with how Mars had turned out. Scattered among the Domes and
living in the High Desert of Mars, most had become pariah to the common
humanity that lived their lives out hardly noticing that they were aliens on an
ancient world
While she’d never been the fanatic her
father was, she loved the Triune God and wanted to serve Him, she was now in a
place to do some good and she had allies. Undermining the status quo had never
been her dream, but if she ever wanted to see a Mars unified and equitable,
someone had to start something somewhere. Martian society needed to be
responsible for lifting them up. FardusAH, with her network of assistants to
all of the other Mayors of Mars, would be her most powerful ally.
vo’Maddux was another issue. In her
mind, the Mayoral Consort should stay in the Pylon. But Aster’s father’s “blue-collar”
workers and FardusAH’s allies – men and women who listened to her dad, attended
his secret Christian churches and who kept Opportunity Dome from falling apart;
along with the Artificial Humans her father and FardusAH worked with – all needed
to know that what Aster had planned wasn’t “a stunt” by the Mayor’s Office.
A union of Martians, is what she wanted
– a union against the current power structure – was something she was ready to
work for. She suddenly realized that she wanted to do it, no matter what it
cost her. Up to and including her life.
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