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Article 5, Section 6, Subsection (c), Clause (vii). That is a mouthful, and
no one knows what it says by heart, so Ersence leads the charge to the wall
terminal to find out if the agreement is accessible. “It says I need
authorization for network access.”
Van tilts his head back a little bit. “Okay, they’ve granted it. Go ahead.”
Ersence navigates to her private portal and pulls up the document. “Article
five, section six, subsection-c, clause v-i-i.” She clears her throat.
“Anycandidate, at any time, may end the selection process immediately
upon declaration of a prevailing qualifier.” Ersence leans back a little.
“Declaration of a prevailing qualifier. That just sounds like the competition
ends when someone is chosen. Sure, it talks about any candidate, but
there’s not even any connective tissue between the candidate who ends it and the
candidate who wins it. I mean, this could be interpreted a number of ways, and
it’s buried in the document so deep, no one would have caught it.”
“I caught it,” Tamerlane says. “I always read every agreement I get before I
sign.”
“Then you obviously didn’t understand it,” Ximena points out, “or you would
have declared yourself the winner long before any of us had the chance.”
“First of all,” Tamerlane begins, “Van only gave you the part that explains
the result, not the lead-up. Earlier language specifies that at least
one candidate must be removed from consideration before this clause
is triggered. Second of all, I never wanted to be Superintendent, so even
after Eyrenlander Number One fell off his platform, I stayed quiet. I have
been waiting for someone else to do it. I had money on Jande.”
“Why are you here, wasting our time?” Zanele questions. “If you don’t want
it...?”
“Because I just wanted to be Deputy Superintendent,” Tamerlane
explains. “I declare myself Deputy Superintendent of Thālith al Naʽāmāt
Bida.”
“So it shall be,” Van affirms.
“Oh my God!” Haoran complains. “You can do that too?”
“That’s in a different clause,” Tamerlane says. “Always read the contract.”
“What was the point of any of this?” Kool questions. “If anyone can just say
that they’ve won, why did you hold a competition at all? Jande has had a
little time to prove himself, but he could have had almost none after that
Eyrenlander fell.”
“You weren’t the only applicants,” Van says. “You were only the ones who
received a supermajority of votes from the citizens of Bida. It was a silent
vote. That’s why we asked you to wait two days before announcing your
candidacy. Thousands of others applied; none of them voted either, and
anyone who didn’t apply got to vote for who they wanted in the
running. You’re all winners.”
“That’s not true,” Dare points out. “Nine of us lost, only two of us won.”
“Not necessarily. How many positions of power are left?” Ersence asks Van.
“As many vacant positions as there are on Bida at this very moment,” he
answers.
“Does anyone remember what they are?” Dare looks over at Tamerlane. “You?”
Tamerlane only shrugs his shoulders.
Haoran gets too close to breaking his medical oath when he shoulder-checks
Ersence out of the way so he can look it up. He’s not the only one to think
that way. Kool, Ximena, and even Zanele start fighting for access to the
terminal, hoping to read the list one second before anyone else, allowing
them to declare their consolation prize.
The commotion stops when the terminal shuts off entirely. Dare is on his
knees, holding the main power supply in one hand. He stands. “Jande. Put a
stop to this.”
“He can’t make any decisions,” Van claims. “He has not been sworn in yet.
Until he has, all positions are up for grabs, according to the agreement.”
“All positions?” Dare asks.
Everyone freezes.
“Now, hold on,” Jande says, backing away slowly. “You had your chance to
kill me, and you didn’t do it. Nothing has changed. The prize is still the
same.”
“Yeah. That was you,” Ersence reasons as she’s matching his pace.
Dare, Ximena, Priscilla, and Mireline walk towards him menacingly too.
“We like you, Jan,” Ersence goes on. “You’re a good man. Now we have another
option. It wouldn’t be the top spot, but it’s better than nothing.”
Jande steps between Tamerlane and everyone else. “You’re right, I
am good, which is why I’m not gonna let you kill anyone. Not even he
deserves that.”
“Oh, come on,” Dare argues. “Get real. It’s 2565. Do you actually think that
anyone’s dying permanently? Murder isn’t legal anywhere, not even on
Castlebourne. In fact, no state condones death at all. He’ll be fine.
It will only hurt for a second.”
“You’re outnumbered,” Mireline warns. “This won’t be hard.”
Tamerlane gently takes Jande by the shoulders. “I appreciate what you’re
doing. But the big guy in back will protect me.”
Everyone turns around, and when they do, Tamerlane teleports Jande away.
That’s the second time someone has done that to Jande, and he isn’t used to
it yet. He separates himself from Tamerlane and turns around. “How did you
sneak in the tech you would need for that? They didn’t even let us have
communicators.”
Tamerlane chuckles. “It’s not technology, it’s neurology. These people can
force me into any substrate they want, but they can’t stop me from using my
powers.”
Jande nods, catches his breath, and gets a look around. “Is this your ship?”
“Yeah, it’s not much, but it gets me where I need to go,” Tamerlane answers.
Jande steps over and takes it upon himself to open the nearest viewport.
They’re in orbit over Bida. He presses his face against the glass to get a
look around. “We’re not spinning.” He stands up straight and oscillates his
knees. “How are we not spinning?”
Tamerlane smiles. “Now that is tech. Artificial gravity is nowhere
near ubiquitous, but it’s gaining traction. I’m not in what you would call
the inner circle, but I’m not in general population either, so a
friend procured it for me.”
“Teleportation, AG; this is Teagarden-tier power. And the Teaguardians have
faster-than-light. If you’re on par with them, why are you slumming it here
on the Core Worlds? You could rule your own colony on the Frontier, and you
wouldn’t need permission. You simply get there first with some seed plates,
and start fresh.”
“That’s something a megalomaniac would do,” Tamerlane begins. “I don’t want
power for the sake of it, I want to protect. I want to make up for the sins
of my alternate self. This world is even more sacred than you were raised to
believe. Some very fine people put their blood, sweat, and tears into
building it, and it’s on the verge of destruction. The KBH that destroyed
Eyrenland? It was only the beginning.”
“And you think I’m up for a job that you didn’t even want yourself?”
Tamerlane offers a hand to shake. “I think we can do it...together.”
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