Vol. 3 Chapter 79: I Didn't Forget

Vol. 3 Chapter 79: I Didn't Forget

“About that...”

“Yes?” Merkovah asked.

“I found Vig.”

There was a long pause on the line.

“Tell me everything.”

Truth did so, including how frustrating he found not making contact. Merkovah sounded relieved at the end of it.

“You handled that exactly right. Exactly right. In theory, it might have been better not following him, but this adds another layer of plausibility to the illusion of a vast nationalist uprising.”

“Great, super.”

Merkovah sighed. “Sorry. That was insensitive of me. I was just concerned. You are almost painfully pragmatic, but I know how much you love your siblings.”

“The messed up thing is, I can’t even tell him to go do something safer. Right now, short of building a doomsday bunker or something, what is he supposed to do that’s “safer” or a better use of his time?”

“He is doing meaningful work, or at least work that is meaningful for him. Nothing wrong with that.” Merkovah sounded soothing.

Truth was going to point out that this “meaningful work” consisted of attacking public buildings, but stopped himself. Felt too hypocritical even for an overprotective big brother.

“I have been wondering about something, though. What do we want the world to look like at the end of all this?” Truth asked instead.

“Pardon?”

“We kill Starbrite, wipe out the C-Suite, the System Astrologica gets to enjoy the Masticating Juicer enchantment before its dissolution, and we save the girl. Then what? Some of us get off planet and try life in a new world, but for this world, or whatever place we wind up in, what do we want that to look like?”

“A difficult question, given the inevitable collapse.”

“I’ve been thinking about this a lot. Imagine you were starting from scratch, and the rules were up to you. What does that look like?”

“I suppose the Siphios of my childhood. With a few notable changes. That’s old age and nostalgia for you.” Merkovah said. There was a touch of whimsy in his voice.

“Your best plan is an absolute monarchy which is also a religion, overseeing aristocrats and the vast majority of people are peasants? That is the best the world can be?”

The communication altar was silent for a moment. “I think I see where you are going with this. If we don’t have cultivation levels, and all the societies and governments collapse, all that will be left are a few powerhouses and gangs of the powerless. In less than... perhaps a hundred years, probably much less, there won’t even be the powerhouses. So without the model of the hierarchy of cultivation, what does government look like?”

“Or whatever, yeah. Someone pointed out to me yesterday that money is just bookkeeping, records of someone’s time and work. You get food and shelter in exchange for your time and work. Don’t work, don’t eat. I can’t imagine any other way of doing things but we all know how bad my education was. Can that really be the only way?”

Merkovah chuckled painfully. “My education was, and is, excellent. I really can’t think of any other way, but in the vastness of the universe, surely other ways must exist. On this world, God ordained the creation of Temple and Throne. Perhaps there could be some system where God ordained the provision of food and shelter to all.”

“But he didn’t.”

“Debatably he did. You could certainly interpret various passages of scriptures and the testimony of some prophets that way.”

“But he didn’t. If he did, it wouldn’t be a question of interpretation.”

Merkovah laughed long and hard at that. “Oh no, that is where you are wrong. EVERYTHING is a question of interpretation. Especially the things that aren’t up for interpretation. Did you know the prohibition on eating freshwater fish may actually be extended to snakes?”

Truth shook his head violently. “Because they both have scales?”

“And no legs, and are not salt water creatures, yes.”

“But... there are... snakes aren’t even related to fish, right?”

“Only biologically. Religiously? That is the subject of serious debate right now.”

Truth grasped for an answer to that, and shifted tack. “What are we going to do about the enrollment? And the change over to credits?”

“That’s the current best theory. I think Borges was trying for something similar. Based on what you said, I think he wanted to cover the world in those floating flowers and use them, somehow, to trigger a shift in reality around them. Not just rewriting the world that is, but rewriting what was, too. Projecting an artificial world and making it real on the structure of the “old” real world.”

Truth tried to imagine it. He remembered what the bodyguard had said- something about being able to make more books. Were they importing books from this created world of theirs? Trying to seed reality with it, the way he could prime people to accept his “reality” when he used Incisive?

“The sheer scope of it...” Truth murmured.

“As I said. I dearly, dearly wish I could have met him. Spoken with him. However necessary his death was-”

“Say useful instead,” Truth murmured. “I can’t believe it was strictly necessary.”

Merkovah sighed at that. “Defining necessity at the end of days. Anything else I should know?”

“Yes. I am making progress on your assignment. At the very least, I think I’ve found a new way to study the question.”

“Pardon?”

“What is a human? Right now, I have been a slumrat, a mercenary, an armed robber, burglar, murderer, terrorist, bodyguard, boyfriend, rich prick and I am currently investigating being a prince. So far, the prince is the one that has resonated the most strongly, recently.”

Merkovah sounded interested. “I assume you are using Incisive for this?”

“Yes, constantly.”

“Mmm. I will think about that some. When you say it has resonated the most strongly with you-”

“I find myself thinking like a prince. I am not entirely sure what a prince is or does, but this is Jeon. We are all working off some scry drama notion of princely behavior.”

“I won’t spoil the fun by telling you what actual princes are like. Having tutored dozens.” Merkovah’s voice was desert dry. “You have probably picked up on the raw power dynamics, but I bet you are missing a subtle piece of the mindset.”

“Oh?”

“All this is “your” stuff. All the people around you exist to enrich you and protect your stuff. In a feudal mindset, the people in your domain are under your protection, true, in the same sense that you would guard your cattle. It is, purely and entirely, exploitation. Land, cattle, people, buildings, industries, they are all part of your personal income, and despite the fact you, or your family, likely acquired them through violence, they are now yours by God-given right.”

Truth gave the altar a hard look. “Don’t you work directly for the King?”

“Oh yes. I wouldn’t say we are close, but I do have his full trust.”

“A trust you clearly are worthy of.”

“I am. I have never ceased my diligent service to Throne and Temple for centuries. None of this is considered a controversial opinion in Siphios- it’s why the Temple exists as a separate, but co-equal institution. It is only by the ethics imposed by the Temple that the secular powers are restrained. Compelled to do what they would otherwise not- care for the public as their own people.”

Truth stared at the altar. “A long conversation, I suspect.”

“You have no idea. Right, that should wrap things up.”

“No, two more items. I need the address of a company. Actually, someone will need to do a little research to find the name of the parent company of the company I am looking for. An outfit called MegaShroom.”

“May I ask why?”

“You want the experts on exploitation and mental manipulation? They are some of the best in the entire world. I want to see if I can use them. In the alternative, I want to exterminate the top of their pointy pyramid.”

“Ah. Well. I’ll look into it. If it doesn't interfere with the plan, I can include it in your next dead drop. The next thing?”

“How is Etenesh doing?”

“She is doing well. She had a small relapse a while back, but has been showing steady improvement. Although, speaking as a student of theology here, her doctrine is completely incoherent and needs a lot of work.”

“She’s smart. I’m sure she will make a lovely religion for me. Ah, relapse- she attacked someone?”

“A small disagreement escalated. There was some physical contact. Nobody died. No one was permanently injured. Etenesh was unharmed. Impulse control problem, I expect.”

Truth was vividly remembering his dream of Etenesh- the only dream he could remember having. It could have been an impulse control problem. Or someone could have stolen her apple.