"A Constitutional Crisis, Part 4"
9th Naomi, 6 (2183)
Naomi Of Unity
Odoos preens his feathers before opening. "What we cannot ignore is that there is a huge split in how we are approaching the task of leadership. Many of us want to build something new together, others want to work together until we can split off. Until we have a successful method for resolving this, we aren't going to have a functional colony."
Ykrett rumbles. "Perhaps a dual-citizenship model?"
Shendredie turns from looking out the window. "As loathe as I am to say it, all of us know that Naomi's vision is what we will get." He looks at me impatiently. "So go on."
"Well, I have some ideas."
He stared at me.
"It's been suggested that I simply crown myself Queen and get on with ruling on the basis that I am the state. Which is distasteful to me. I think about who will come after me, and while I can be trusted, having absolute power invested in a single individual is unwise."
Buri yawns. "Equally, we know democracy didn't work out."
"The thing is, as dictator, my objective is the prosperity and growth of my people. We need a leadership structure that incentivises the same pattern in future leaders; if we have that, it doesn't really matter how leaders get appointed."
"But which is best? Imperium, Dictatorship, Oligarchy or Democracy though?"
"There's a fifth option."
The table looks at me incredulously.
"There is. A Megacorp."
Odoos complains. "You can't be serious."
Shendredie liftd his hands as he interrupts. "Let's hear her out."
Sor-Gor joins in. "Naomi, we're not here to joke, we're trying to solve our problem."
"Think it through. Take our enemy - Minamar Specialised Industries. They have a MegaCorp governance model in which Shareholders appoint the Board, and the Board appoint the CEO. MSI's structural mistakes are one, that not all their citizens are invested in the company, and therefore, the company inherently cannot benefit all citizens, and two, unequal distribution of shares among shareholders effectively creates a plutocratic oligarchy."
"So why base ourselves on them?"
"We do it differently. Make everyone a shareholder, and allow only one voting share per person."
"What difference does that make?"
"It means that the prosperity of the people is the dominant factor in getting into political power, instead of the prosperity of a certain few at the top. It becomes a Worker Cooperative."
"Can it work?"
"It's what Yehoshua HaMaadimi did to build the Iriphubliki. It's what he proposed to do about governance on Mars."
Buri nuzzles me. "Mars is one of the other planets? I hought he wanted to colonise your moon for profit?"
"Yes. But Luna was only ever a scheme to pay off the backers and anyone who just wanted to make money. He always intended to burn to Mars with just the people who shared the vision he had."
"So, those of us who want to go our separate ways would leave at the Luna stage?"
"Yes."
"What would life be like for us though?"
"We're already splitting the proceeds of our labour equally, which is what I suggest."
Odoos thinks, before standing. "My question is this. In war, who will lead? Let's face it, our enemy having a military run by moneymen is exactly what our strategy depends on."
"A clear chain of command that is not responsible to either the people, or the board."
"Not responsible?"
"Yes, not responsible. A military that answers to the people will not do what needs to be done to defeat MSI. We are not free until they are no longer operating as a free state. We should absolutely build for peace, but the Neumann capable WarForms Yehoshua designed were planned in case he ever had to fight a Martian independence war, and likewise until Unity is free, so must we focus on our independence war as our military priority."
"And how do you propose to organise it?"
"I will."
Rhizome interjects. "But you are going to be CEO, naturally."
"CEO and Commander In Chief must be different roles, even if in principle they could be held by the same person."
Sor-Gor has his doubts. "That means having to trust you with all martial force."
"Except defence subcontractors of course."
"The thing is Naomi, if they don't answer to the CEO, or the board, or the shareholders, who does the military answer too?"
"Me. And when I'm gone, Rivkah. Someone who can be trusted to break the shackles, and to live for more."
"It has dangers to let one person decide all military strategy."
"But equally, it avoids the dangers of split leadership."
Odoos rubs his head. "We're all familiar with Naomi's military plans, and provisionally we are all in agreement about the broad strokes of how to prosecute a war. But the fact remains if we adopt a corporate governance model, what is our company going to do?"
Shendredie carries on staring at me. No one else interjected.
"Habitat construction, terraforming, uplifting and genetic engineering. Life2.0."
"Why?"
"In order for us to catch up, we need orders of magnitude more people. At the moment, we only have one planet, and if we want to make a proper go of setting ourselves up to either work together or develop separately, we need more people and we need more places to live on."
Ykrett rumbles. "She's got a point."
Rhizome countered. "Equally, we have to keep in mind that races adapted to deserts are a lot more common among us than any other type of world, and with so many different races, it would be very difficult to keep our populations proportionate. Some of us take decades to mature, yet as we are already seeing from Rivkah the next generation of Xenaya are already stepping up; we wouldn't be here talking this through if it wasn't for her. I don't mean to be harsh, but statistically we are going to be a Xenayan dominated polity in only a few decades."
Odoos nodded. "I agree that we do need to take steps to keep our basic common principle of equality. Although, I also see that this itself feeds into Naomi's suggestions though, as it gives more reason to develop our abilities to build new homes."
Ykrett interjects. "Or take them."
I feel a little unnerved at that suggestion. "As for the Xenaya, it's worth remembering that they're hunter-gatherers who haven't actually developed settled agriculture yet, and having talked to them extensively, they aren't looking to develop it as they prefer their predatory lifestyle; they have a physiological need for the chase-kill sequential hunting behaviour. Food supply is therefore limited for Xenaya in a way that doesn't apply to the rest of us."
Buri nodded. "If it wasn't for valuing shared mealtimes with Naomi, we would barely eat together because of how long it takes for her to cook her food."
Rhizome looked thoughtful. "I suppose. My analysis assumed that you would change their culture to support higher population density feeding methods."
"If all else fails, we can also consider cloning under-represented races."
"Cloning?"
"Why not? Give clones the liberties and obligations of naturally made members of our society and the issue largely self-resolves."
"We don't know if it's possible."
"It is."
"What makes you so sure?"
Hmm. Oh well. "My great grandmother cloned herself parthenogenically and genetically enhanced the clone, and my grandmother cloned herself parthenogenically to make my mother, and then implanted my great-grandmother's egg cells into my mother so that my mother could have natural children. I know it's possible otherwise I wouldn't be here."
Everyone looks at me shocked.
"What? The circumstances of how we come to be are irrelevant, it's what we do with the gift of life that determines who we are."
Odoos rubs his head. Again. "I don't mean to be insulting, but I would like an adjournment to get my head around that."
The others leave too. All but Shendredie.
"Naomi. Recent events have put me in a difficult position."
"Look, about Rivkah, I sent her away from the colony to keep her safe, I was shocked that she was there."
"She prevented my followers from being slaughtered by Buri's followers. Which I'm grateful for. But you and I both know that you know about certain indiscretions while aboard the ship."
"Shendredie, the truth is that we need a balancing voice. Ykrett and Rhizome will chat casually about carrying out genocide on the Minamar. I know we don't agree on a lot, but I have no desire to let their bloodlust wreck our very fragile position either. It's the reason I won't say about why I want supreme command, I don't want to risk them trying to do something rash that wipes out our power projection capacity."
"So you aren't holding it against me?"
"If I was to have you arrested for yesterday, I'd also have to arrest my husband. We were all just trying to survive, you had an opportunity to better yourself, which you had to take because the basic rations weren't enough to sustain your people. I know a lot of your people starved on the ship because of that, and I've heard of cannibalism because of it, although I'm not sure it's true. Even without that, I'm not holding it against you because I would like us all to build for the future instead of the past, and MSI's actions can't be allowed to define us."
Shendredie lifts a limb the size of my body. Mind, I'm so slim that's hardly much... Buri's thigh is wider than my waist. "I believe your people make agreements with handshakes."
"What are we agreeing exactly?"
"Being outwitted, and humbled, by your daughter has shown me that I'm better off joining you than opposing you. I've thought it through, and I'm hoping you are the woman you portray yourself to be."
"We both have our regrets... I'm very glad last night worked out the way it did."
"Likewise, in the end."
I smile, and wrap my hand around a finger.
