The Worker Prince (6 page)

Sounds of livestock, humming engines, and whining servos filled his ears as Davi stepped off the shuttle. Fresh air filled his lungs, as he found Farien leaning against a fence, watching two soldiers load injured workers into a hospital shuttle. Davi took care to move up behind him unnoticed.

“Neglecting your duties, Lieutenant?” Davi said, smiling. The smell of bean plants and grain filled his nose.

Farien snapped to attention on instinct, his face falling as he expected to be reprimanded. “We had an incident with some angry bulls today.” Seeing it was Davi, he relaxed.

Davi laughed, stepping up beside his friend at the fence.

“Nothing which would keep them off task for more than a couple of days at best,” Farien continued. “Little more exciting than the paper cuts and headaches you supervisors are prone to, Captain.”

“Stop rubbing it in, okay?” He would always consider them peers.

Farien shrugged, suppressing a smile. “What are you doing here?”

Davi motioned for Farien to walk with him. Farien turned to the soldiers by the shuttle. “I want an incident report by the end of the hour, okay? Get back to your duties.” From the look on his face and his tone of voice, Farien enjoyed being in command. “What’s up?” He turned back to Davi as they walked along the fence together.

Davi began filling him in on his conversation with Zylo the day before and the things he’d witnessed. “I’m wondering if you’ve witnessed any incidents of abuse,” he asked as he finished.

“Well, it would depend upon how you define abuse,” Farien said. “These Vertullians seem very lazy to me. We have a number of them here who don’t want to pull their own weight and meet quotas.”

“New quotas demanded by the Alliance or the same quotas they’ve had?” Davi frowned at Farien’s lack of concern.

“What’s the difference? We’re here to follow the Alliance’s orders, aren’t we?”

Davi had spent the afternoon before reviewing files on the administrative computer bank. The complaints and issues in the reports almost all related to workers who had failed to meet their quotas or filed complaints about mistreatment by soldiers. Davi had looked into several and found most of the quota problems related to increased demands by the Alliance, and, in some cases, the health of workers. Men could only be pushed so far, but that didn’t stop the soldiers from employing any means necessary to coerce the workers into producing higher and higher results, however. And the result was abuse.

“Some of the quota increases I’ve seen seem unrealistic to me. A man can only do so much labor,” Davi said. “Especially when he’s ill.”

They moved past the fence toward a large barn. As they entered, a worker approached with a datapad, handing it to Farien. He read it over, then used the laser stylus to approve it and handed it back as it beeped to acknowledge his signature.

“Have you been out here to see the operation before?” Farien asked as the worker scurried away.

Davi shook his head and watched workers loading grain and cut stalks into various machines which processed them and sealed them into shipping containers on the other end. He stood there a moment admiring the compactness of the machines.

“The machines do a lot of the work. They’re all run by computers. All the workers have to do is supply the raw materials. The machines always seem to spend more time than they should every day waiting on the workers,” Farien continued.

“Is it because they can’t get the raw materials here fast enough from the field?” Davi asked.

“Not from what I’ve seen. Some of the workers just aren’t hustling,” Farien said.

“Switch their assignments then and get workers who are,” Davi said. It seemed an obvious solution.

Farien lifted his hand in a lazy attempt at a salute. “Yes, Mr. Supervisor.”

“Oh, come on. You know I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Look, if you’re asking me if I’ve seen soldiers get a little aggressive from time to time, yeah, I have. I’ve even been tempted to myself,” Farien said. “But nothing out of hand.”

“You’d tell me if it was, right?”

“Come on, you know me better than that!” Farien’s voice rose in pitch as he tensed, sounding a little hurt.

“Sorry. You don’t seem to think much of the workers,” Davi said gently while inwardly hoping he’d read his friend all wrong.

“That doesn’t mean I don’t know what’s right,” Farien answered.

Davi put a hand on his shoulder. “Sorry, I should have remembered who I was talking to.” He trusted Farien, but Farien saw the world through a different lens, tending to be less focused on issues of right and wrong, or justice than Davi. The average soldier didn’t have to think about such things. He simply had to follow orders. But Davi wasn’t the average soldier. Royals had much different expectations upon them.

“Yeah, don’t let your higher position go to your head, Captain,” Farien snapped.

Stung by the remark, Davi removed his hand from Farien’s shoulder.

Then Farien laughed and broke into a wide grin. He’d been teasing. “Wanna see more?”

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one giving instructions here?” Davi asked, struggling to recover from the weight of the thoughts filling his head. They both chuckled Farien offered a silly salute and led him back out toward the landing pad.

O O O

Farien took Davi on a tour of the facilities in a floater, which hovered above the ground by using the planet’s gravity to manipulate the air. It was a pleasant sensation both from the vehicle’s gentle vibrations and the breeze caressing passengers’ skin as it moved. The farm setup impressed Davi a lot, and they witnessed no incidents of abuse. In fact, everything seemed to be running quite smoothly.

Afterwards, they ate in the soldier’s mess at the back of the barn they’d visited earlier. They took seats across from each other at the end of a long table as workers served them plates of hot gungor meat and Vertullian white bean salad. The presentation was professional, and the service as well-handled as any restaurant. One worker delivered their plates as another provided cutlery and poured them drinks; each moving off in turn to wait on other soldiers.

“Well?” Farien stared across the table at him, anxious for his response.

“It’s quite the operation out here,” Davi said, munching on delicious bread made from fruit and nuts. “Very well organized.”

“Like I told you, nothing out of hand.” Farien replied as Davi glanced down the table to where a worker was pouring drinks for some soldiers. A soldier stuck his foot out as the worker backed up. The worker tripped, struggling to keep his balance as the pitcher flew, spilling its contents on the floor and the uniform of another soldier.

“Hey! You watch it, slave!” The angry soldier said, shoving the horrified worker as he stood and wiped at his soiled uniform with a napkin.

“I’m sorry, sir. It was an accident,” the frightened worker said, bowing his head.

“Looked to me like he did it on purpose,” said the soldier who had tripped him.

The angry soldier began shoving the worker. “It’s the truth, right? You think you can ruin my uniform without being reprimanded?”

“Of course not. I tripped. I’m very sorry,” the worker said.

“You don’t seem sincere to me,” the angry soldier said, grabbing the worker by his collar and pulling him close so their faces almost touched.

The worker trembled, eyes frozen wide.

Davi stood up, trying to control his anger. “Soldier, he already said it was an accident and apologized.”

The soldiers turned and glared, their faces changing as they spotted Davi’s uniform insignia. He hurried over, Farien close behind.

“These slaves show no respect,” said the soldier who had tripped the worker.

“Perhaps you should have a medical officer check your leg to see if it suffered any damage when you tripped him,” Davi answered, shooting him a stern look.

The soldier reacted with surprise at being caught. “Can I help it if he’s not watching where he steps?” the tripper responded, still trying to pretend it was accidental.

“No, you can’t control that. What you can control is how you treat workers. Any soldier who treats workers without dignity and respect can expect to be reprimanded,” Davi said.

“Ah, come on, Captain. It’s a little harmless fun,” said the soldier whose uniform was soiled.

“Go get these soldiers something so they can clean up the mess.” Davi motioned to the worker, who nodded and hurried off, suppressing a smile.

“That’s a worker’s job!” The angry soldier objected.

“Not today it isn’t. You made the mess. You clean it up,” Davi ordered as they both scowled. “If you want, I am sure I can arrange to make cleanup a regular part of your duties.” He glanced at Farien.

Their faces became apologetic and they shook their heads. Davi returned to his seat at the end of the table.

As Farien took his seat across from Davi, he glanced back down at the shocked soldiers. “Don’t you think you were a little harsh?”

“Don’t you think that’s unprofessional?” Davi said right away.

“A few men trying to have a little fun? Like we did at the Academy?” Farien crinkled his mouth as he finished.

Farien, Davi, and Yao had had their antics but never at the expense of the service workers. But Davi didn’t correct him. “At the worker’s expense! It’s cruel and unnecessary. It’s your job to ensure it doesn’t happen again,” Davi said.

Farien bristled at the tone as the worker returned with cleaning materials. He offered them to the soldiers, who stood there in disbelief. Seeing Davi and Farien watching them, their attitudes changed and they set to work on the mess.

The worker started to leave but Davi motioned for him to stay and watch a moment as the soldiers knelt on the floor and used rags to soak up the liquid, then twist it out into a bucket. One of them glanced up at the worker with murderous intent.

Davi stood and stared the soldier down as the timid worker slipped away.

On the way back to the landing pad, Farien remained silent and distant. As they arrived and stepped off the floater, their eyes met.

“Am I supposed to protect that worker from those soldiers now?” Farien asked.

“If any harm comes to him, I want them brought up on charges. Warn them personally.”

Farien frowned at the commanding tone in Davi’s voice. “Soldiers deserve more respect than workers,” Farien said.

“Workers are human beings, too,” Davi said.

“They’re not like us,” Farien responded. “You don’t know. You rarely see them.”

Davi stiffened, struggling to control his rising anger. He stopped walking and turned to Farien in disbelief. “Tell me you’re joking.”

“Come on, Davi, you know what I mean.”

“Yes, I do believe my ears are working perfectly. Being our subjects doesn’t negate their worth as human beings,” Davi said, angry at Farien for having such a narrow mind.

“Soldiers and workers have different places in society,” Farien said, irritated. “Ask your Uncle!”

Davi ignored the jab and controlled his tone. “All the more reasons why soldiers should be more dignified, above reproach. How can we ask more of our subjects than we ask of ourselves?”

Farien shook his head, disgust on his face. “I guess we just don’t see things the same, Davi.”

“I guess we don’t.” Davi said.

“Maybe if you were out here in the field instead of being stuck in some administrative office, you’d understand better what we have to deal with,” Farien snapped.

Davi shot him a look and snapped back, officer to charge. “You have your orders, and I know you’ll follow them.”

“What’re you gonna do? Take on the whole army over this?”

“If need be, yes,” Davi said.

Farien shook his head. “Maybe Bordox is right and your royal upbringing is going to your head!”

Davi fought the urge to punch his friend. Coming from Farien, the comment stung. He took a deep breath and relaxed his arms before replying. “Make sure it doesn’t happen again!” He turned and marched toward his shuttle, feeling Farien’s gaze boring a hole in his back the whole way.

O O O

As his pilot flew them back to Iraja, Davi sat in silence on the shuttle, his shoulders sunken in defeat, replaying his confrontation with Farien over and over in his mind. Why had he gotten so angry? Farien and Yao were his best friends. They’d grown up together. Sure, he and Farien had different views on how the world should work, but it had never led to angry discussions like this. Besides, Davi was a royal, born of privilege. Why was he so concerned about the lives of the lower class? Justice and fairness aside, he had never known any workers before. It wasn’t like he’d given it a whole lot of thought before his arrival on Vertullis. It seemed obvious his anger had taken Farien by surprise as well. He’d have to apologize as soon as he could arrange another visit.

After the shuttle landed, he spent the rest of the afternoon handling paperwork in his office, wishing he could forget what he’d discovered that day. His computer terminal beeped, notifying him of an e-post. He clicked on his inbox to find an e-post from his mother:

To: [email protected]

From: [email protected]

Subject: Your concerns

My dear son:

Your e-post brings me to a day I knew would come but had long dreaded. I raised you to be an independent thinker, not dependent on the Alliance or your family for forming opinions. I wanted this for you despite the fact so many in our Alliance have never been afforded it, and I offered it knowing that someday it might lead you to some conclusions about our Alliance which might cause you pain or discomfort. If this is the case, please believe I am full of regret, for you know I would never do anything to cause you harm. But you were born for leadership and raised to lead, and good leaders must be able to make hard decisions. That cannot be done in an intellectual box. This day has come faster than I had hoped, but here we find it upon us, and so, as I have always done, I will respond with honesty to your questions.

Your uncle doesn’t see the world through the same eyes we do. This is the result of both his years of isolation as the leader of the Alliance and the natural development of his personality and knowledge through various experiences. Our father was a very difficult man; though please don’t hear this as making excuses. He tolerated no failure from his children or anyone else, and I am afraid the harshness he passed down has manifested itself in your uncle even more than it existed in himself. Whatever the case, I fear—as time passes and various events come to light from which you have in the past been shielded—for your own good, I might add, out of a mother’s deep love, that you will more and more find yourself coming into conflict with both the ideas and ethics by which your uncle guides himself.