Prophet of ConFree (The Prophet of ConFree) (13 page)

"So the System collapsed, fragmenting into many separate entities, which we will discuss shortly. But why didn't ConFree collapse? We were expanding, battling the System's evil empire. Didn't that make us an empire, too? For awhile it looked like we might become one. But then things changed. We're immortals, you see. Many of us have seen all this before. The ConFree Council does not want to repeat history. When the System began disintegrating, we changed our strategy. By then, we had realized that many System citizens were so ignorant they did not even know what slavery was, and were unaware that they were slaves. We didn't want our brave soldiers dying for them. We pulled our forces from the Inners, the Gulf and the Gassies and returned to the Outvac.

"So, no more empire. We remain strong, and free, and don't have to please anyone except our own nationals. And our nationals are also strong and free – Outworlders and Assidics, fiercely individualistic but strongly united against System slavery. This is superb raw material for a constitutional republic. As long as we keep it this way, we will remain the strongest, most vigorous and most prosperous entity in the galaxy. That's the reason our immigration laws are so strict. And we found a wonderful new method to counter slavery and attract qualified new settlers to ConFree. The Reunification Project allows us to locate, interview and sponsor promising Outworlder and Assidic immigrants to ConFree."

That's how we got Burns, I remembered. His family had been reunification refugees from Katag.

"Now, let's look at the Inners, the Gulf and the Gassies. We'll start with the Inners, farthest from ConFree." The stars tilted and floated past us by the billions as one section lit up in red, labeled
UNITED MOCAIN COALITION
. "This was the heart of the United System Alliance, but the heart is no longer beating. The United Mocain Coalition has succeeded the United System Alliance. The Mocain race, which was the dominant ruling class of the System, has now discarded all pretense of being benevolent, disinterested do-gooders and is ruling for itself, shrinking the empire greatly while casting off troublesome worlds. They rule over billions on Sol, Centauri, Sirius, Proxima, Luyten, Alphard, Orm and many other worlds. They claim to be reformers seeking a contrast to dictatorship and slavery. That remains to be seen.

"Next, we have the remnants of the Hyadfed, around 150 light years from Sol. The Hyades Federation still relies on the old System formula of dictatorship, slavery and class hatred. The Hyades Cluster has been split apart politically with Hyadfed humans ruling most of the Cluster plus two major outlying systems, Elidos and Eiros. Within the Cluster itself, however, the Biogen People's Solidarity Accord on Zequord 3 has won independence as a galactic homeland for biogens. They have forged a strong alliance with ConFree. They have proven to be more dependable allies than any of the human worlds."

I had heard a lot about biogens but had never seen one. Eugarat was a frontier world and lacked many modern conveniences, including biogens. Biogens were artificial humans but they were now more human than before and had recently been granted ConFree national status by the ConFree Council. I knew the biogens had helped us fight the O's after their independence, and we had helped the biogens when they were later threatened by the System.

"Moving a little further away, 400 light years from Sol, we find the Pleiades Association. They broke away from the System and also claim to be reformers. We have an Embassy there and relations are improving.

"Another success is the Dark Cloud Alliance, which is strengthening the relationship with ConFree, including military cooperation." The stars flickered orange to light up a section labeled
DARK CLOUD ALLIANCE
and the individual star systems Berichros and Picos. "All this was distressing to both the former United System Alliance and all the slave states that succeeded it. But the new governments in the Pleiades and the Dark Cloud Alliance appear impressed by what can happen if a government accepts input from the people and acts on their behalf. This is a new concept for ex-Systie states.

"A relatively new entry feasting on the System's corpse is the People's Progressive Democratic Distributive. This is located midway in the Inners and includes some worlds that were cast off by the Mocains: primarily Calgoran and Spartos. The government appears primarily interested in satisfying their population's desire for money without work. Their solutions will not work, and we can expect chaos and anarchy in the near future.

"Now, moving into the Gassies, we are again approaching the Outmark Border. The strongest political entity in this area is the Pherdan Federation, which includes Coldmark, Katag and Pherdos. Although they broke away from the System, they retained many instruments of System rule. We beat them up in a war not too long ago and they emerged from it a bit more polite and not anxious for a rematch. Still, they resent ConFree, and we have to keep an eye on them for more mischief.

"Another relatively new creation is the Gassies Coalition, which borders the Pherdan Federation, and includes Alshana, Galgos and Monaro. The Gassies Coalition shows some signs of common sense, and our Embassy there is hopeful about the future.

"There is an independent star system close to the Gassies Coalition that is now known as the Santos Freestate. They are strongly allied with ConFree. They are a united government of Outworlders and Transgens that had earlier revolted against an Orman slave state, the Santos Newhuman Socialrevolutionary Diversegalitarian Demo-cooperative. That one was thankfully short-lived.

"And now we enter the Gulf. There's nothing but trouble here. There are three major Gulf political entities that oppress and terrorize their subject populations with such intensity and malevolence that there is no serious opposition. The Asumara Holy Commune rules from Asumara, the Gulf Union dictatorship includes Nimbos and Yidah, and the Pegal Stelcom oppresses Angaroth and Kotazh. All are run by insane religious and political psychopaths who cannot be reasoned with. ConFree does not formally recognize any of these three regimes. We hit Asumara very hard when they raided a ConFree planet, but their government does not change. We're not into nation-building and if their population can't solve their problems, I don't know why we should. But if they hit us, we hit them back a lot harder, then leave. That's our Gulf policy. Last word on the Gulf, it is a chaotic, lawless area and harbors whole fleets of pirates. All our active war zones are currently in the Gulf. Chances are high you'll all serve there."

He looked at his chron, then continued. "All right, what about the Omni swarm? These terrifying creatures were humanity's most dangerous enemies for many years. They killed two billion of us before the Legion discovered how to counter their psyprobes and penetrate their mag fields. These aliens are very powerful psychers, but we no longer fear them. Following the last battle of Andrion Deep, the O's retreated into a genetic migration, which may last for several Omni generations. Despite the severity of the last conflict, we are hopeful that the O's will not resume their attacks into human vac. We don't have time to explain why that is, so let’s leave it there. Bottom line, we know where the O's are in our galaxy – a considerable distance away – and we do not plan to bother them.

"Now, one more interesting note. As you all know, the Assidic Empire originated on the Algenib-Pandaravos system, and it was from there that Saka the Invincible plundered the rest of the galaxy for whatever he needed. Once the Empire disintegrated, Pandaravos became a quiet backwater world, quite off the beaten track, of interest primarily to archaeologists, historians and adventure tourism companies. The Assidic race had spread throughout the galaxy in Saka's footsteps, and they eventually became loyal allies to ConFree against the System and its successor slave states. Now, however, a remarkable renaissance is underway on Pandaravos. The current government is rebuilding some of the historic sites, reconstructing the ancient capital, and even raising an army and constructing starships. They are welcoming all Assidics to return to the ancestral home, where they are promised meaningful employment – and they're not talking about the tourism industry.

"Interesting, no? We're not worried – our peoples are one. But we're certainly looking into this development. That's it! There will be a graded exam this evening."

Δ

"You know that pix frame that Doggie has on his office desk?" I asked Arie. We were in the squadmod with the others, organizing our stuff in preparation for lights out.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"It's one of those frames that blacks out whenever anyone else comes into the room – so only Doggie can view it, and only when he's alone. Unless he activates it so visitors can see it."

"So?"

"He doesn't ever let anyone else see it," I said.

"So what? Isn't he entitled to a little privacy?"

"No. Not when he's running our asses off like he does. I'd like to see what's in that frame. I'd like to see what makes him tick."

"And how do you propose to do that?"

"He's in his office right now and the lights are on. His office window is always set to transparent – which means anyone lurking around outside in the dark can see in. And the pix will be on 'cause he's alone in the office. All we've got to do is look in."

"We?"

"Well, I wouldn't want you to miss the fun."

"Man. You're getting carried away. It's probably a wife or a daughter or something. What will that tell you?"

"Come on, we've got about 20 before lights out. We can do it right now."

"You maniac. All right, let's go."

We snuck out the squadmod door and hustled around to the rear. Sure enough, Doggie's window was full of light. We low-crawled over to it, and I took a cautious look inside. Doggie was seated at his desk, his back was to us, and the frame was active! I strained to make out the picture. At first I couldn't make sense of it, then the patterns of light came together. I was amazed. I could hardly believe it. I looked over at Arie and it was clear from his stunned demeanor that he had seen it, too.

We scuttled back to the front of the squadmod and paused outside to sort out our thoughts.

"Why does he have a portrait of a dog on his desk?" I asked.

"That dog was beautiful," Arie replied. "The fur was almost white – and it had blue eyes! Did you see that?"

"Yeah. Blue eyes. It looked like some kind of attack dog. But friendly."

"Wow. Well that explains his vocabulary. He did work with dogs!"

"He's an old softy." I smiled. "No wonder he acts so tough. He doesn't want anybody to know what a sensitive wimp he really is."

"We better get inside. It's almost lights out."

I thought about it a lot, later, lying on my bed in the dark. Is that all he's got in his life to love – a dog? And is the dog even alive? It made me see him in a whole new light. This was getting confusing. I thought he was a kick-ass martinet whose specialty was making people miserable. And there he is, in his quiet moments, worshipping that beautiful dog. Good lord!

Δ

"Attention on the firing range! The range is now
HOT!
Range officers, proceed."

At last! Our whole squad was prone in the firing lanes, under a rising sun. It was a huge outdoor range, and the entire training platoon was there, all facing the targets. We had been learning the E Mark 10 for close to a week, studying it, disassembling and reassembling it until we could do it blindfolded. Of course there wasn't much sense in doing that, for it was self-cleaning and had no moving parts. Despite that, we did what we were told. And now we get to fire it! Field training has begun!

The E Mark 10 was the latest update to the E battle rifle, a nasty compact black, shoulder-fired, tube-fed, general purpose battlefield superiority rifle, equipped with a zoom scope, laser sights, combat laser, darksight and flash, multiple barrels and ordnance, and a whole lot more. It was integrated with our tacmods and gave us one-round hits on all designated hostile targets. But this was our first session on the range, and all the fancy software had been deactivated. We were using iron sights. They wanted to create marksmen without any electronic help.

The target was shimmering in the heat, a tiny circular white dot. I balanced it in the sights and tried to steady my aim.

"All right, Rains. Aimed fire, single shots, xmin. Fire when ready." Doggie was by my side on one knee. The range erupted as everyone began firing. The xmin setting fired caseless armor-piercing explosive xtex rounds, which originated in the xtex generator that created new rounds and fed them into the firing tube. But we were firing training rounds, which were non-explosive. All right, here goes.

I fired. My ear baffles muffled the sharp crack. I couldn't see where the round had impacted.

"Eight," Doggie said. "Let's see if we can improve that. Again."

We did it again. And again and again. We fired all morning and when the rains began we fired some more. Finally they let us march back to the squadmod. When we departed the range, we brought our E's with us. From then on they were with us always – in the classroom, in the mess hall, on our runs up Mount Sweat, in the heads, by our beds when we slept – everywhere we went. We visited the range most every day, and soon we were firing live rounds – no more practice rounds. Xmin, xmax, vmin, vmax, combat laser, launching contac smoke gas and biobloc grenades, and firing flame and flares.