Earth To Nole: Return of the Prince (9 page)

“Well, he disclosed Kevin’s existence to roco because he wanted to portray humans in a violent shade. He knew you were with him all the time so there was no point fighting the facts. He announced it himself so that he is seen as a supporter of the king’s rule. Don’t you see? He is a politician. The only way for him to stay relevant is to be a king supporter now.”, Keele again had a good point.

“I get that, but I would feel a lot better if I knew for sure that his smile and support for Kevin is fake right now.”, Boriri said.

“You know I can’t do that. He is still the prime minister. I cannot analyse him. It would be illegal.”, Keele knew what Boriri wanted but refused. Anyways, he didn’t seem to agree that it was necessary.

Boriri stood in silence. He was helpless. A third generation housebot like Keele could easily analyse a person’s gesture, facial movements and heartbeat to detect if he was lying. But it is frowned upon to do so unless the person has agreed for the analysis himself. Moreover, it was illegal to do this kind of analysis on government officers, including the prime minister. Boriri knew it was impossible for a bot to do something which was illegal, even if for the greater good.

To change the topic, Keele started speaking. “I and Kevin have developed a little theory about Igogo. We believe we have circumstantial evidence about how he could have been behind all of this. Including Soboro’s death and humans’ arrival on nole”.

“Let’s talk tomorrow. I need some rest tonight, It has been a long week.”, Boriri responded with lethargy. He looked tired. Seeing that the gala was going as planned, he seemed to have allowed himself a break. Tonight, all he wanted was to sleep peacefully.

Before leaving, Boriri asked Keele to stay back with Kevin as it was his first night at the palace. To this Keele readily agreed. Kevin’s speech was over now. Boriri waited for it to finish before leaving as a very satisfied man.

Everyone was still clapping as Igogo and Kevin walked down the stage. Igogo shook Kevin’s hand one last time and left the hall. Two roco bots stood with Kevin now. They were his personal guards and would follow him everywhere now that he was officially announced the prince.

“Why do I need so much security if hums are not that violent?”, Kevin asked Seriri who joined him after the speech.

“There are others here too, Kevin. Mone is frequently visited by Jaks, Forengs and other species of nearby star systems.”, Seriri responded casually as she posed for the flying cameras along with Kevin.

Kevin was surprised to hear this, he struggled to keep a straight face for the cameras. He asked, “How many species are there?”

“No one knows. The Universe is infinite. We have not found its edges yet. Every civilization has explorers who travel deep into the space and discover other civilizations. That is how we know each other.”, Seriri replied.

“So there could be civilizations much more advanced than hums? I thought you were the most advanced.”, Kevin asked.

“What makes you think that? Of course there could be more advanced species. Although we would never know that. An advanced species usually don’t reveal themselves to the younger species.”, Seriri responded as if it was common sense.

“Who else is here, then? Can you point them out for me?”, Kevin asked.

“Mostly Jaks, I guess. Some Forengs, may be. Forengs are as advanced as us but they are not as mature. And I am not saying this only because I am a hum.”, Seriri said with a wink.

“Why is that?”, Kevin asked.

“They didn’t have a wise race like royals on their side like we did.”, Seriri said. She added, “Although, You shouldn’t take a hum’s word for it when they criticize Forengs, neither should you trust a foreng’s judgement about a hum. We are competitors.”

She continued, “Anyways, I don’t seem to find a Foreng here tonight. Probably they didn’t like that we got a royal back on Mone. You see that group there…”, Seriri pointed out, “...they are Jaks. They look like us but are different in so many ways. You might find them interesting, they are much like humans.”

“Why humans? Are they also based entirely on your gene pool?”, Kevin asked.

“No, not that way. I meant they have similar physical, intellectual and emotional maturity levels.”, Seriri said.

Then to explain further, she started speaking again, “In general a younger species is always more physical, Kevin. As we evolve, we tend to value softer skills like intelligence and emotional maturity over physical traits. Eventually, physical traits lose their evolutionary edge. For example, a hum is no longer as rugged as a human or a jak but is far more intelligent and emotionally stable.”, Seriri replied.

“If Jaks are so young then why have hums revealed themselves to them? Isn’t this against the policy?”, Kevin asked.

“Jaks are one of the first nextgens that we created. We put them on a planet very near to our Karbaka star system. This was a mistake. The other species which were engineered subsequently were put on far off star systems to make sure that accidental discoveries were rare.”, Seriri paused.

“Are they a threat? Is that why I have two bots looking after me?”, Kevin asked.

“Not in particular. Your security is mostly a precaution.”, Seriri dismissed Kevin’s concerns with confidence.

She continued, “Having said that, I must admit that they are not as nonviolent as us. As I said earlier, they are more like humans, obsessed with war technologies and the lust for power. They are driven by emotions too.”, Seriri responded.

“That is never good, right? Being driven by emotions.”, Kevin asked rhetorically.

“What do you mean?”, Seriri asked.

“I mean, letting emotions influence you is never a good idea - right?”, Kevin clarified.

“Don’t get me wrong Kevin but emotions are not a bad thing. On the contrary, they are very useful. Although, being driven by them is bad.”, Seriri explained herself.

“I don’t understand.”, said Kevin confused.

“Emotions are the most powerful force within us, Kevin. They live in our most basic of instincts. They are raw capsules of energy fuelling creativity, motivation and endurance within us. Think of them as potent juices which fill you up inadvertently, without warning. In this state you can either channel this energy consciously and achieve temporary heights of excellence or you can lose control due to its overwhelming force and be carried away like a rudderless boat.”, Seriri explained.

“What are you saying then? Is it good or bad?.”, Kevin asked.

“Nothing can be categorically good or bad, Kevin. Except, maybe, for intentions.”, Seriri said. She then continued, “Being too emotional is as bad as being emotionless. A boat in the ocean is threatened equally by shallow waters or tall waves.”

“Is it about balance then? Not too much, not too little.”, Kevin wondered if it was as simple as that.

“There are three types of responses an individual could have towards emotions. Based on these he can be classified as naive, fool or wise.”, Seriri said turning towards him. The cameras were all gone now.

She continued, “Kevin, The naive are helpless in the face of emotions. They do not understand it, let alone be able to control it. They float like rudderless boats, without direction, riding on the random waves of emotions. This is what I meant by ‘being driven by it’.”

“The fool thinks he understands emotions. He perceives it as a storm which has come to push him off course in an otherwise calm sea. He drops his anchor and clings onto reason and sanity in an effort to avoid being swayed by emotions. He may remain unmoved in the storm but he risks being torn apart by it. I call such individuals fools because they are the worst impacted by emotions.”, Seriri paused.

“And the wise?”, Kevin asked.

“The wise prepare for the storm and look forward to it. They keep their sails ready in anticipation. When the storm is through, the wise are always better off. They never risk being torn apart by it because they never resist it. They merely channel it to accelerate towards their goals.”, Seriri finished explaining.

Kevin stood in silence trying to understand Seriri’s theory.

Seriri added, “It's not only the balance, the difference is in how you use it. A nuclear bomb and a nuclear cell both work on the same principles but one is disastrous and the other a gift for any civilization.”.

“I get it now. Emotions are not bad, not bad at all.”, Kevin said.

Seriri stared at Kevin as he wrapped his head around her philosophy. Meanwhile, Moriti walked up to them and asked, “If you guys are ready, scholars would want to meet the prince now.”

“Let’s go.”, said Kevin and began walking towards them. Moriti lead the way for Kevin while Seriri followed him happily. She was enjoying the limelight more than him.

Kevin was excited to be among the scholars. He enjoyed talking to them a lot. Although he didn’t fully understand why each and every one of them wanted to leave their contact information with his guards, he liked the attention he got from them. Usually, he had felt that people with knowledge, like scholars and scientists are difficult to get access to. He had tried engaging with such people in the past but failed frequently. Scholars and scientists were mostly busy with what they did and seldom entertained stray queries from enthusiasts like Kevin who were looking for answers. He respected such people a lot but also knew them for their absenteeism and closed nature. Now that he was surrounded by them, his curious self rejoiced thoroughly.

They talked about the real problems Igogo pointed out earlier and how those can be solved. The chronomists among them had ideas on market reforms which could fix their economy, the scientists wanted to look into evolutionary mechanism of jaks and compare that to the humans while the physicists wanted to research cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. Kevin could understand these motivations very well. They were similar to those of humans, although much more advanced. Kevin also realised while talking to them that they thought very highly of Boriri. Some of them were even taught by him when he was a visiting faculty to their schools. Others trained under him when he was in the planning department. And almost everyone had read his papers on chronomics. Kevin realised that Boriri was a legend among the academists.

He talked to them for almost an hour and lost track of time. He didn’t realize that Seriri was getting bored and growing jealous of his current company. One of his guards prompted him discretely that it was time to move on. He needed to spend some time with other groups as well. It was hard for Kevin to disengage himself from such intriguing conversations but he took their leave and promised to invite them for deeper conversations later.

As soon as he started to walk away, Moriti appeared again and got hold of him. Seriri didn’t find it acceptable and intervened.

“Where are you taking him now? He just spent the last hour talking to your friends.”, Seriri asked Moriti.

“My friends?”, Moriti was mildly shocked, “They were not my friends, they were Boriri’s. I had to introduce him to them. After all he has to appoint several of them into ministries in the coming months.”, Moriti explained calmly. She expected Seriri to understand.

“What?”, Kevin asked. He looked confused.

‘Where is Keele? This looks like one of those ‘explain it to Kevin’ moments.”, Moriti giggled.

“Here I am.”, Keele appeared suddenly from nowhere.

“Do you always keep eavesdropping on our conversations?”, Seriri asked Keele. She still was a bit on the edge.

“Not just yours, I am hearing all of the conversations. Recording them, analysing them and dropping only those which are illegal for me to analyse.”, Keele boasted.

“Then you already know his question, right? Why don’t you get started, we don’t have all night.”, Moriti said with a smile.

“The elections are in six months Kevin, and if monarchy wins then the best researchers, scientists and scholars would need to be appointed for the ministries. It’s a meritocracy, remember?”, Keele said to Kevin.

“Oh! Now I understand why they kept dropping their visiting cards with my guards.”, Kevin understood the connection now.

“What visiting card?”, Seriri sounded confused.

“He means contact information.”, Keele explained.

“But how do I select among them? I am not an expert!”, Kevin asked.

“You should begin with appointing a prime minister, Kevin. Someone who is an expert in such matters. You can select anyone, they need not be an elected member of the panel. In fact, there would be no panel all. It’s just you.”, Keele said.

“So, a king’s job is to nominate people with merit for all ministries, that’s it?”, Kevin asked.

“Yes, although that is a very simplistic view of his responsibilities. Remember that they report only to you so you are responsible for what problems they work on and how much they spend solving those problems. You own the priority, the resources and the results.”, Keele said.

“But I don’t know how to do all of this.”, Kevin honestly pointed out the obvious.

“We know. That is why you have to nominate a prime minister first.”, Moriti repeated what Keele had already said.

“Who? I don’t know anyone.”, Kevin seemed confused.

Keele smiled. He said, “So you are saying you don’t know anyone who is an expert in hum matters. Someone who enjoys a lot of respect from all scholars and scientists. Someone who has experience of working in the government and has proven in the past that he has good intentions for the hum society.”