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computing space and speed, we can endow proto-Michelangelos with creative
time. "
"I need to deal with a lot of, well, power problems. You can go off into these
spore forms when I'm finished with politics. "
Voltaire abruptly congealed into human form, though still elegantly clothed in
electric blue. "Ummm. Politics I always found it enticing. A game of elegant
ideas, played by bullies. "
"I've got plenty of opposition already, " Hari said soberly.
"Friends come and go, but enemies accumulate, " Voltaire said. "I would like
that. "
Joan rolled her eyes. "Saints preserve us. "
"Precisely, my dear. "
17.
Hari sat back at his desk. First Minister, but on his terms.
It had all worked out. He got to work here still, far from palace intrigues.
Plenty of time to do math.
He would, of course, speak by 3D and holo to many. All that bother Voltaire
took care of. After all, Voltaire or Joan could masquerade as Hari at the many
conferences and meetings necessary for a First Minister. Digitally, they could
morph to him with ease.
Joan enjoyed the virtual ceremonials, especially if she got to hold forth on
holiness. Voltaire loved imitating an ancient man he had apparently known, a
Mr. Machiavelli.
"Your Empire, " he had said, "is a vast, ramshackle thing of infinite nuance
and multiplying self-delusions. Needs looking after. "
In between, they could explore the digital realms, labyrinths vast and
vibrant. As Voltaire had said, they could be off upon "postings various and
capers hilarious. "
Yugo came in bursting with energy. "The High Council just passed your vote
proposals, Hari. Every Dahlite in the
Galaxy's on your side now. "
Hari smiled. "Have Voltaire make a 3D appearance, as me. "
"Right, modest and confident, that'll work. "
"Reminds me of the old joke about the prostitute. The regular costs the
regular price, but sincerity is extra. "
Yugo laughed unconvincingly and said edgily, "Uh, that woman's here. "
"Not "
He had forgotten utterly about the Academic Potentate. The one threat he had
not neutralized. She knew about Dors, about robots
Giving him no time to think, she swept into his office.
"So happy you could see me, Primary Minister. "
"Wish I could say the same. "
"And your lovely wife? Is she about?"
"I doubt she would desire to see you. "
The Academic Potentate spread her billowing robes and sat without invitation.
"Surely you didn't take that small jest of mine seriously?"
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"My sense of humor doesn't include blackmail. "
Wide eyes, a slight touch of outrage in the tone. "I was merely trying to gain
leverage with your administration. "
"Sure. " Such were Imperial manners that he would not bring up her possible
role in Vaddo's plot on Panucopia.
"I was certain you would gain the ministership. My little sally well, perhaps
it was in poor taste "
"Very. "
"You are a man of few words quite admirable. My allies were so impressed with
your, ah, direct handling of the tiktok crisis, the Lamurk killings. "
So that was it. He had shown that he was not an impractical academic. "Direct?
How about 'ruthless'?"
"Oh no, we don't think that at all. You are rig/if to let Sark 'burn out, ' as
you so eloquently put it Despite the Greys wanting to jump in and bind up
wounds. Very wise not ruthless, no. "
"Even though Sark might never recover?" These were the questions he had asked
himself through sleepless nights.
People were dying that the Empire might live... for a while longer.
She waved this away. "As I was saying, I wanted a special relationship with
the First Minister from our class in, well, so long "
Like many he knew now, she employed speech to conceal thought, not to reveal
it. He had to sit and endure some of this, he knew. She rattled on and he
thought about how to handle a knotty term in the equations. He had by now
mastered the art of seeming to track with eyes, mouth movements, and the
occa-sional murmur. This was exactly what a filter program aid for his 3D, and
he could do it without thinking about the hypocrisy of the woman before him.
He understood her now, in a way. Power was value-free for her. He had to learn
to think that way and even act that way. But he could not let it affect his
true self, the personal life he would ruthlessly shelter.
He finally got rid of her and breathed a sigh of relief. Probably it was good
to be seen as ruthless. That fellow Nim, for example; he could have Nim found,
even executed, for playing both sides in the Artifice Associates matter.
But why? Mercy was more efficient. Hari sent a quick note to Security,
directing that Nim be fun-neled into a productive spot, but one where his
talent for betrayal would find no avenue. Let an underling figure out where
and how.
He had neglected business and had one obligatory role left before he could
escape. Even here at Streeling he could not avoid every Imperial duty.
A delegation of Greys filed in. They respectfully presented their arguments
regarding candidacy examinations for
Empire positions. Test scores had been declining for several centuries, but
some argued that this was because the pool of candidates was broadening. They
did not mention that the High Council had widened the pool because it appeared
to be drying up that is, fewer wished Imperial positions.
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