Earth To Nole: Return of the Prince (11 page)

“What kind of license?”, Karbaka asked back, he didn’t seem to understand.

“You know… a certificate that says I can fly.”, Kevin tried to convey what he meant by a license.

“A certificate? For whom?”, Karbaka asked again.

“Never mind.”, Kevin gathered that the concept of a driving license was not known to him.

“Have a safe flight!’, Karbaka said closing the door. He then stepped back a few steps to let the vehicle lift off.

Kevin pulled up the vehicle once again and hovered for a while before speeding towards the stream of flying vehicles in the sky. Karbaka saw Kevin fly away and then turned around and started walking.

Several minutes would have passed by as Kevin continued to fly as per the route shown on the screen in front of him.

“You have arrived at your destination.”, a mechanical voice said as Kevin flew nearer to his destination.

“The vehicle can be parked either in front of the building R34 or on its roof. The roof has 3 spots left.”, the mechanical voice added as Kevin slowed down over Boriri’s apartment building. He finally decided to land in front of the building instead of the roof. The roof looked too tricky for him. Afterall it was only his first day flying.

Moriti, who was taking a stroll as always, recognised Kevin as he got off the vehicle. She looked pleasantly surprised on seeing him fly on his own. She said, “Oh my! Is this the new prince in his royal vehicle?”

“Yes! it is.”, Kevin said with a large smile on his face.

“Looks like you are not afraid after all.”, Moriti asked.

“I am. But only when someone else is flying.”, Kevin replied, he didn’t seem much concerned about it.

“Oh, there is a word for that…”, Moriti paused as she tried to recall the word. “...Amaxophobia, I guess.”

“Is it a hum word or a human word?”, Kevin asked.

“I believe it has its origins among the hums.”, Moriti replied.

“You are not alone Kevin, Boriri has travel anxiety too. Although amaxophobia is not just travel anxiety, it’s related to the fear of losing control.”, she explained.

“I don’t care. I am glad you made me do this.”, Kevin said thankfully.

“Me too, you look more and more like the royals everyday.”, Moriti smiled.

“Maybe, I will win the elections who knows…”, Kevin joked.

“Oh, maybe you will. You are ready for the throne.”, Moriti added with confidence.

“The throne…?”, Kevin acted surprised.

“A metaphorical throne, Kevin. There is no real throne, I hope you don’t expect one. Just the notion of a king’s rule.”, Moriti explained.

“The king’s rule is a myth.”, Kevin said what he had learned so far. He continued, “The king only appoints scholars and researchers to do his job. Why can’t a democratic government do that?”, he asked as they began walking towards the building entrance.

Moriti began to explain, “It’s the ‘scale of time’, Kevin. I hope you have heard the phrase from Boriri.”

“What does that have to do with it?”, Kevin asked, almost dismissing Moriti’s argument.

“Everything. You see, even though democracy lasts for 25 years once elected, the democratic panel is reelected every 5 years. This puts an immense pressure on the democratic panel to make policies which give results in a short period of 5 years. Otherwise they wouldn’t survive the next panel elections. On the other hand, royals have 25 years to show results. Once king’s rule is elected, it lasts for 25 years and there are no panel elections. The ministers, which are largely nominated by the king, are free to take hard calls which have long term benefits. Basically, they could make long term investments which would seem harsh expenses to the naive in the beginning but in the end pays off better than those short term 5-year plans.”, Moriti explained.

“But then it seems you have handicapped democracy on purpose. It is designed to yield only short term gains which would always be smaller than the long term gains.”, Kevin argued.

“Very good Kevin. You understand it completely now. We don’t want a democracy, we want a meritocracy. The democracy is only there to keep the meritocracy in check. Generally, we want the best scholars, scientists, chronomists to lead us, not some politician whose only agenda is being reelected in the next panel elections. And, a meritocracy needs time so that it is not bound by the need to appease the population in the short term. Having a short term meritocracy is pointless.”, Moriti paused.

Kevin seemed to get the argument. He added, “But you cannot trust the scholars and the scientists for longer periods of time because knowledge does not guarantee intent. What if they turn out to be bad people. That is why you need a king in meritocracy.”.

“Yes, you get it now, don’t you? The king makes sure that the scholars and scientists are given the right balance of constraints. That they are given the right problems to solve. It is very rare for a smart king to misuse his powers. Even if in the rare case where he does, the 25 years are going to run out quickly for him. Followed by centuries of agony and shame”, Moriti explained.

Kevin agreed with Moriti, He said, “Moreover, messing up during his rule is a personal failure for him and his family. The point in giving it to a family is that they would always feel responsible for what their fathers did and what their sons would do.”

“Absolutely correct. And you can generalize it too, it need not be a family thing.”, Moriti explained.

“It just needs to be a group of people with a sense of ownership. The only requirement is that the people nominated should have a lot of reputation and fame independent of them being in the government.”, Kevin understood the generalization it seemed.

“Can you say why?”, Moriti’s eyes sparkled with joy.

“That’s his collateral. Because, a man who is nothing if not a prime minister will prioritize being the prime minister over making good decisions. But a man who has independent name and fame to lose would prioritize making good decisions and claiming good results over being the ruler.”, Kevin finished with a smile. He now understood the concept of a meritocracy with a democratic failsafe.

“Very good, Kevin. You see, our’s is not as bizarre a system after all.”, Moriti smiled with a sense of pride and achievement. She was glad that Kevin finally understood the delicate dynamics of running a meritocracy.

“Are you coming in?”, Kevin asked.

“No. I will continue my walk around the neighbourhood. Maybe, I will see another miracle.”, Moriti smiled and waved at Kevin as Kevin walked inside the building.

Kevin quickly climbed the stairs to Boriri’s apartment. Keele opened the door for Kevin as soon as he reached it. Kevin was not surprised. He knew Keele could listen up to hundreds of meters and would have probably heard his conversation with Moriti as well.

“So, I hear you can fly now!”, Keele said implying that he indeed heard everything.

“You know, for a bot, you are too much of a show off.”, Kevin indulged in a friendly war of words.

Boriri heard it from his room and said, “Really? That is great. I thought you didn’t like flying, much like me.”, as he walked into the common room hearing the news.

“Well, he is royal. What did you expect?”, Keele added.

“He could fly me around now!”, Boriri joked.

“What would Keele be good for, then?”, Kevin continued his friendly fire.

Boriri looked at Keele with a smile and patiently waited for an opportune moment to begin the serious talk. Keele knew it. He stood there in silence too. Kevin was a bit surprised when Keele did not respond to his last ‘attack’. He guessed that they had something important to discuss.

“Should I sit down, then?”, Kevin asked.

“It would be best if we all sat down.”, Keele said. He went ahead and sat down before anyone else could. Boriri and Kevin followed.

“Kevin…”, Boriri began, “... we have made good progress here. I guess I anticipated more road blocks in bringing about the changes I wanted to bring on Mone but it all has went smoothly.”, Boriri said. “Too smoothly, I would say.”, he murmured towards the end.

Kevin didn’t understand what this was about. Even Keele looked surprised. He said, “Boriri, let’s talk about Nole. That is what you wanted to talk about, right?”

Boriri appeared distracted. He seemed to be worried about something else. He finally began with what he and Keele had decided. He said, “A couple of days ago, Igogo had his bots deployed on Nole. We didn’t tell you because of the gala. I am sorry I had to hide this from you but I can assure you that no harm has come to any human there and I do not anticipate any in the future too.”

Kevin was not surprised. He looked sad though. He said, “And he appeared to be my biggest supporter last night, knowing very well that he was doing everything he could to hurt me behind my back.”

“That’s Igogo for you, Kevin.”, Keele added.

There was silence in the room. Boriri expected a steeper reaction from Kevin so he kept looking for it but Kevin was thinking about a solution.

“Now that I can fly…”, Kevin started speaking, “...can I visit Nole? I really need to talk to my friends.”

Boriri leaned back on the couch with despair. He wanted to help Kevin but knew that this was not possible. He looked at Keele for help. Keele knew it was his turn to explain.

“Flying is not good enough, Kevin. I would have happily flown you both ways if it was just that. The thing is, you would still take hours to reach Nole and the whole world would know that the future king is visiting the notorious humans.”, Keele paused, he realised that Kevin did not like the word ‘notorious’. He explained, “You know what I mean, don’t you?”

“Just tell me when I would be able to visit them?”, Kevin asked with some frustration in his voice.

“Once you win the elections and have earned the trust of your people here. You should be able to visit them. Or better, even invite them over here.”, Boriri replied.

“But that is at least six months, Boriri.”, said Kevin frustrated by the situation. But he knew he had to follow the plan. He sat quietly for a while and then spoke again.

“Can’t we put Igogo in roco’s custody? We have a good theory about how he has been hurting the hum society for centuries now.”, Kevin said with some excitement.

“Keele told me about your theory, Kevin. It is good stuff but still just a theory, not concrete evidence.”, Boriri replied.

“Yes, but it fits with all the facts. Let me explain…”, Kevin began but Boriri interrupted.

“You don’t know all the facts.”, said Boriri.

“What do you mean?”, Kevin asked surprised. Keele looked at Boriri with surprise too.

Boriri had not planned this conversation for today but he felt it was time. He began reluctantly.

“You already know that in early 28th century I went to the Earth in search of the royal descendants. It was a difficult job because humans in the Union had started reproducing through the birth system. Only the engineered genes were left in the system. I quickly realised that I would not find any royal descendants there. Then I met Holum, who was a young angel back then. It was the year 2747 to be precise. I used to travel frequently between Peele and Earth and took help from a select few angels to look for the royal descendants. Holum and his friends found out that there could be some families in class 4 and 5 colonies who might have the royal genes intact. After all, class 4 and 5 colonies were still reproducing the natural way.”

Kevin was listening carefully. He knew all of this already but was keenly waiting for the new information Boriri was about to share.

“We began looking through these colonies one after the other. It was not easy to do so. Hums have had their influence in the Union for long. I could not risk revealing my plans to Igogo, for obvious reasons. Angels were the only ones who could help but not all of them could be trusted. With limited resources, I carried out the search as effectively as I could. Then I met Kean.”

Kevin’s eyes grew wider. He had never heard Boriri mention his father before. He wanted to ask a million questions right away but Boriri insisted on continuing.

“In fact, I met both of your parents. Kean and Julia were both, angels. Your father, Kean, belonged to the innermost cult of angels. A group of families who had always kept their distance from the Union and its ways. These families were once wealthy and powerful. They were believed to be the founders of the angel society. But when I met your parents very few knew about the origin of angels. Much of their history was destroyed. I was introduced to your father by Holum, he knew them well. Kean was helping me look for the royal descendants in his colony. He and your mother, Julia were both undercover angels there.”

Boriri paused, his face had a faint smile now. He began again, “Sometimes, what you are looking for, falls right into your lap. That day I was showing the bracelet to them. I had told them how it worked. Normal humans would show 15 to 20 percent on the the bracelet. A Hum would show up around 70 percent. As an example, I wore the bracelet and showed them. Holum also tried it to verify. But we were all shocked when Kean tried it. The bracelet showed perfect 100 on the display. The search was over even before it could begin properly in your father’s colony.”

“So, my father was the original royal candidate?”, Kevin sounded surprised but it should have made perfect sense.