CHAPTER NINETEEN

“We’re going to vote.”

“Do what?” Cak demanded.

Mike had set up a meeting after the first six days they’d been on the planet. They’d been here a month. This was their fourth meeting. On the ship, Mike had started the process of turning the colony into a democracy. He knew to always have his allies primed to support him at key moments.

Karsh and Cak, who was turning out to be Karsh’s biggest ally, had demanded to know why they were having meetings and votes. Mike had said, “To let you know what’s going on, and so you have a say in what happens to you.”

When Mike had first explained how he was going to conduct the meetings and how they were going to make decisions, Karsh had said, “We’ve never voted before.” Cak repeated the same thing now.

Mike kept the tiredness and irritation out of his voice as he said for what seemed like the thousandth time, “Don’t you want a voice in what happens to you?”

Most of the men looked confused. Mike didn’t want to be snotty and condescending.

Mike resumed where he’d left off before Cak and Karsh’s interruptions. “Yes, we’re not being run by who is richest. We decide what we want. We decide what we want to do. We pick who we want as leaders.”

“We could throw you out?” Cak asked.

Mike hadn’t expected to face incipient rebellion. He said, “Sure, I guess.”

Joe said, “I nominate Mike. Anyone else want to be in charge?”

“How come you two get to be in charge?”

Mike said, “Just lucky, I guess.”

“Bullshit.”

“If you don’t like that answer,” Mike said, “ask the ones that put us here.”

“They aren’t here now.”

Mike just wanted to get the job done. He didn’t need assholes from the colony making his life bleaker than it was, although he wasn’t sure it could get much bleaker. Which reminded him of the old Earth joke—one person says cheer up, things could be worse, and the other one says so I cheered up, and sure enough, things got worse.

Karsh looked ready to bust. Cak and all the other men kept quiet.

Karsh pointed a finger at Joe. “And you! You’ve broken all the rules. You are…” Karsh seemed to run down.

Joe supplied, “Having sex with an Earthling?”

“That’s disgusting,” Karsh said.

“Have you tried it?”

“Certainly not.”

“Why do you care what I do? What effect does our having sex have on you?”

Neither Karsh nor Cak had an answer to this question. A few inarticulate sputters later from them, and then Mike moved the meeting on to the next item on the agenda.

Karsh said, “Why are there no women on this planet?”

Mike gave him a dumbfounded look. Did this guy practice stupid in his cubicle at night?

Mike said, “I’m not in charge of collecting us. Are you saying they should only collect us in politically correct proportions?”

“What I meant…”

Mike interrupted. “Great, you tell the people in charge of the most evil holocaust in this part of the galaxy they’re doing it wrong. You want to be put in charge of who goes when?”

“No.”

“Then why bring it up?”

“Something should be done.”

Brux said, “If we do it about you, I’d vote for it.”

Karsh subsided, but then Cak started up. “And why is charter revision on the agenda?” he demanded. Being an argumentative asshole came naturally to Cak and had been a valuable asset in his chosen profession.

Why did they include a lawyer anyway, Mike thought? This one isn’t good for anything. Cak argued interminably about everything in a most condescending manner.

Mike said, “It’s within our power to revise the charter.”

“That’s what we always hear from you Mr. Chairman. If we do something that angers them, those in the central government could cut off our supplies anytime they want.”

Joe said, “It’s about time we did something to show those yahoos that we can stand up for ourselves. Why do we have to do as the Religionists say? It’s a simple change to our system of making decisions.”

Mike often relied on Joe’s rational comments when Cak and his faction were at its most lunatic.

Coof, another of Cak’s troublemakers said, “All you do is dare them to cut us off. We should not challenge them in any way.”

Brux said, “That’s what we said when they rounded us all up and put us in the camps. We did next to nothing, and they took us.”

Karsh said, “Some protested. They died.”

Krim spoke up. “We didn’t all die. I’m glad I protested.”

There was a few moments silence.

Joe said, “We’re not protesting. We’re not dying. We’re just making a decision after a full discussion.”

“The charter is law,” Cak reiterated.

Mike wondered at moments like this if who was chosen might have been a joke from Bex saddling him with contrarians. Or maybe a qualifying test was given for obduracy and stupidity. Mike kept quiet about the fact that he’d seen the same pointless contentiousness in gay groups and straight groups he’d worked with on Earth.

Another dreaded universal concept.

Cak wound up his latest oration with, “This discussion is a waste of time.”

Brux’s voice was harsh in response. “It’s not a waste of time, and it would do some good if it wasn’t for your stubborn opposition.”

Cak said, “The charter is not democratic and you know it. You want to change it.” He pointed at Mike. “Even though you have absolute power under it, don’t deny it.”

Mike didn’t bother to deny it or to get upset. He said, “We can have considerably more democracy here than is called for in the charter and considering our situation, almost a miraculous amount.”

“But you have absolute veto!” Coof shouted. Coof was in the agricultural sector. He always spoke at yell level. Maybe he was partly deaf, Mike thought. And he was always angry. If Coof was on Earth in the United States, Mike would have pegged him for a member of the Tea Party.

Mike said, “Which I have never used, and I can be overridden.”

Coof snorted. “Yes, if all the rest of us vote unanimously against you. Your toadies and those who drool over you will always support you.” He gave Brux and Joe spiteful looks.

Mike held up his hand when the man tried to continue and others began to growl at his comment.

“No,” he said firmly. He glanced around at the men in the room. Mike continued. “Free Forum discussion is last on the agenda as always. We can continue this discussion then. We need to deal with other matters first. The most important is the request from the energy people for more man-hours. Brux, explain please.”

Brux nodded. “You know the progress we’ve made on the solar conductors.” Joe and several of the others nodded. He continued, “I’ve found a way to set them up so that we could be self-sufficient in energy production within a month.”

The men murmured in astonishment. Mike let it die down. He too had been surprised when Brux told him the news earlier. Brux continued, “As you know having control of our energy supply has been one of our main goals.”

“Not approved in the charter,” Coof said.

“Not mentioned in the charter,” Brux corrected. “Because they never dreamed we’d set so unbelievable or unrealistic a goal, and a goal decided on by the members of this colony unanimously at our first meeting.”

Brux and Coof glared at each other.

Cak said, “And Brux doesn’t even work in the energy sector.”

“So what?” Joe asked.

“It’s not his area of expertise.”

Brux said, “I showed you the specs in detail. Are you saying they won’t work.”

“No.”

Brux snapped. “Good.”

“Go on with your explanation,” Mike prodded.

“In my spare time I’ve been tinkering with some ideas on how we could increase energy resources, in case something happened to the supply ships, if they simply decided to abandon us here to die. Even if we seem to have been living the worst that could happen, it still doesn’t hurt to prepare for the unthinkable.”

Mike tuned out the rest of Brux’s technical explanation. He’d heard it once already and hadn’t understood it then. If Brux vouched for the technical aspects, Mike was ready to agree. Mike had come to trust his abilities. Mike wanted the colony to be completely independent so the men could then look forward to some degree of security. Energy self-sufficiency during the sunny months was a start, and if it worked, a miracle. For now they were totally dependent on the arrival of the supply ships from the government.

Brux finished, “So with a hundred extra man-hours a week allocated to the Energy Corp, we could do it in a month, maybe less.”

Sry, head of the mining section objected. “We can’t spare that kind of man-hours. We have only a brief period of time before the next shipment of colonists arrive. We’ve been getting a few new men with each supply ship. Who knows what they might decide to send. To be ready, I need every man hour that I’ve been allocated. If anything I need more, not less.” He shot a look at Cak. “I don’t disagree with the goal. It’s a practical question. Many of us are on the point of exhaustion. Can we really ask more of ourselves than we already are?”

Mike knew it was a circular debate. The energy, agricultural, and mining groups were always requesting more work hours allocated to their sector. The work was rigidly allocated. All of them were expected to do minimal labor of ten hours a day. They had been doing so since they arrived. The amount of work that needed to be done in starting up a colony was staggering. The actual reality of life on6743-0A had been nearly overwhelming although the men’s spirits remained high. So far, they were still willing to endure the back-breaking labor involved.

When Mike found out men often put in more than the required time, he’d been worried about the danger of physical breakdowns, no matter how strong the motivation for work. Mike looked forward to the arrival of the new colonists, if for nothing else it meant the killing workload would be reduced.

He turned his attention back to the meeting. Mike had told Brux earlier he’d only give him fifty more man-hours. Fortunately that compromise number was emerging from the group. There might be grumbling about greater man hour allocations for the energy sector but they all shared the hope that they would be energy independent and were willing to sacrifice to get it.

Brux said, “If I can get fifty, I’ll take it.” He knew his energy system would work, if given the time and man-hours.

After disposing of several minor items on the agenda Mike announced the beginning of the weekly Free Forum. It was a time set aside at each meeting when any member of the colony could speak on any issue. The Free Forum parts of the meetings bored Mike silly. He couldn’t imagine how people who worked so hard could have the energy to talk so long. And then they would argue for hours about some of the most useless topics. He located the list of speakers. Cak, as usual, had signed up first, but there were only two other speakers listed. Maybe he’d get to bed before midnight one night his week.

“Okay, Cak, you’re first,” Mike said.

Cak began, “Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I rise to speak tonight to an issue this group continues to ignore and was brushed aside earlier tonight. Why are there no women on this colony?”

Mike tuned Cak out. The best way to handle Cak, Mike had discovered, was to say nothing. Other colony members had begun to catch on and Cak’s pronouncements were most often met with silence nowadays. Mike wondered how long it would take for Cak to catch on to what was happening.

Brux touched Mike’s shoulder and pointed to the computer screen embedded in the desk in front of him. The communication light blinked. He punched the readout button. The computer screen printed – ULTRA SECRET MESSAGE FROM THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT – then went blank.

Cak wound down five minutes later. Mercifully the other men who spoke were brief and discussion stayed at a minimum.