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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN" lang="EN">* * * * *</span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN" lang="EN">Brian sat at
his
desk, trying to concentrate on studying for tomorrow’s exam.
He wasn’t being
very successful. Dinner had been a nightmare. Everything had
gone fine for the
first five minutes. Then Trisha announced she’d dropped music
for fitness
club.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She’d even tried
to be nice about
it, saying she’d watched the videotape of Mom singing in
Worcester’s Engineer
Hall and realized that her singing was not in the same league.
Mom had completely
blown her top. Fortunately Dad had been willing to agree you
couldn’t be a good
singer unless you wanted to do the work, and Trisha for the
moment didn’t. Brian
had repeated what Archie MacDonald had said to him about
Trisha’s running.
Making Trisha look good should have been the right thing to
do.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Instead, Mom had
gone after him for
undercutting her. Trisha hadn’t quite been sent to her room
without eating, but
as soon as she was finished she’d been sent upstairs. Without
asking, he’d
cleared the table, cleaned the countertops, and put the dishes
into the
dishwasher.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Janie had
fled to her
library. The whole thing was so crazy.</span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN" lang="EN">Janie sat at
her
computer keyboard.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She’d
just finished
notifying the people in her correspondence games ‘family
emergency, three day
delay’ which the rules let her use once.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Unless things got better, in three days she’d have to
resign her
correspondence games.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That
would be
terrible for her rankings, but these things happened. She
couldn’t concentrate
enough to play; she didn’t think anything was about to get
better. . It was a
lot easier to be the girl with the spine of steel over the
game board than it
was when things came after you in real life. <span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>No, games <i
style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">were</i>
real life; <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">family life</i>
was the
problem. She’d just have to work harder someday to get her
rankings back.
Worse, if things got bad enough here to mess up her grades at
school, all sorts
of terrible things would happen at home. Grades had to stay
good; that was a
given if she wanted to study games. She had a whole pile of
homework due
tomorrow.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She’d
already done some. She’d
just have to do the rest of it. </span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times,
serif"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN" lang="EN">Trisha stood
in
her Tower Room. Today she’d made mistakes in Editing English.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Those mistakes held her
back. She wouldn’t
let that happen again. She always felt terrible after finding
she’d made a mistake,
and today was worse. Those mistakes meant she would plod along
for another day.
Dinner hadn’t been so bad. You just had to focus on not caring
about the people
talking at you, so that it just did not matter what they were
saying.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>You listened
politely, smiled, but you stayed
completely outside the conversation until someone demanded you
say something.
Then you said something true, not that it mattered.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>On the English test, she
had a 98.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>That was
very good, relative to keeping her
A+ record in place; it had been a complete disaster in terms
of being able to
advance early to the next level in the online system, at least
before tomorrow.
The online class had multiple versions of the same lecture.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>This time she’d work
through all of them,
just to be sure.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For a
moment she
grinned.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>She’d
remembered a classmate
who’d said she’d worked the same homework problem five times,
not five
different problems, and couldn’t understand why the teacher
was not impressed. <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Poor
Brian had tried to be helpful at dinner,
quoting Archie saying nice things about her, but he’d just
made things worse.
Mom had clearly hoped that she would stick her head into
fitness class, be
unable to perform, and flee back into music.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>That wasn’t happening. Brian had told Mom the opposite,
namely his
sister’s performance had been excellent, and Mom had not
wanted to hear it.</span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<h1><font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">Chapter QQQ</font></h1>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><font
size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">Secure Chamber Alpha</span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><font
size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">The Palace of Peace</span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><font
size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">Geneva, Switzerland</span></font></p>
<font size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif">
</font>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><font
size="-1" face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt">Morning</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">January 19, 2018</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Once again, we are in order,” League Chancellor
Holmgren announced.
“It is ten in the morning, local time, everyone has had time
for a pleasant
breakfast, and now we are in our next meeting. I have received
multiple
complaints that there has not been adequate progress in
finding the
bearer.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I have
received complaints that
plans for capturing the Bearer, once found, are inadequate.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I gather that events
along the border between
Brazil and the Argentine are continuing. Mindful that the
complaints about the
Bearer have all been circulated, and that you have all had
more than adequate
time to read them, I propose unless there was objection to
advance to General
aus und zu Dreikirch and his report on the search.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">The Ambassadors all looked around the table.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Experience had shown that
discussing the
agenda at best accomplished nothing.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In
the time needed to argue which agenda item should appear
first, the entire
agenda could be handled.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After
a few
moments, Holmgren saw nothing except nods and smiles.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“In that case,” Holmgren said, “I pass the floor to
General aus und zu
Dreikirch. General?”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“There are many reports that Eclipse has been seen,”
Dreikirch said. “Few
of these reports are accompanied by evidence.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Not even videophone photographs, except obviously fake
ones, are being
reported.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It is as
though Eclipse has
vanished from the face of the earth. There was a large-scale
effort to
reconstruct Eclipse’s original language and accent.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>After all, we have all
these recordings of
Eclipse capturing the Holy Namestone, may its name be praised
unto eternity.
The reconstruction has concluded that Eclipse was actually
speaking in Modern
English, her words in other languages being a synthesis by the
Maze.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“The League Peace Police are receiving vast numbers of
reports from
police and intelligence agencies around the world.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Collating this
information is an ongoing
project.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>However, I
have had to call to
League Chancellor Holmgren’s attention that some parts of the
world have been
far more forthcoming with reports than have others. North
America is especially
noteworthy for the paucity of information it has forwarded to
us in
Geneva.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Perhaps
Ambassador Buncombe
would care to suggest a reason? Or perhaps he would need to
consult with his
government first.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">‘Quite unnecessary,” Buncombe said.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>“On one hand, most Americans agree that Eclipse is the
proper owner of
the Namestone. Those Americans are not about to assist the
Peace Police –
nothing personal is meant here, General – in what they see as
obvious efforts
to steal the Namestone from its rightful owner.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>On the other hand, some attention is being given in my
country to
filtering out wrong and obviously absurd reports that Eclipse
has been seen in
one place or another.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The
Americans who
believe that the League is the proper owner of the Namestone –
there are only a
few of these – equally believe that we should not waste the
time and resources
of the League Peace Police with nonsense reports that cannot
possibly be true.
As a result, the few reports that you are receiving from the
American Republic
and its citizens actually have some modest level of
credibility. Instead of
complaining, you should be wishing that the people of other
nations were as
discerning about the accuracy of the reports you are
receiving.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>For
example, the series of reports that
Eclipse is a fifty foot tall woman <span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>–
that appears to be a media bubble – possibly did not need to
be sent on to
Geneva.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Or anywhere
else. </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Having said that,” Buncombe continued, “I am in
agreement with your
conclusion, General, that Eclipse has vanished from the face
of the Earth.
There are several obvious alternative interpretations here.
The simplest is
that she is a known persona and has retired to her secret
base.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Another is that
she was mortally wounded in
the Maze, retreated to someplace, and has died, making it
impossible to locate her
mentalically because she no longer has a mind. There is also
the possibility,
implicit in the <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">Ode to
the Sacred
Namestone</i>, that Eclipse, like the Martyr, is from
another world, so that
she came to Earth to recover the Namestone for her people, and
that having done
so she has ascended into the heavens. In all these cases, the
search for the
bearer approaches being futile. Would you care to comment,
general, before I
continue?”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“I find the American attitude on supporting the search
to be entirely
unacceptable,” Dreikirch announced.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“In
this time of crisis, there is a positive and absolute moral
duty on all the
people of the world to lend their vigorous and enthusiastic
support to the
search for the Bearer.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>We
cannot be in
the position that large numbers of world citizens are ignoring
or obstructing
our resolute effort to recover the Holy Namestone, the Sacred
Key to the Gates
of Paradise.. There should be legal repercussions against
these people.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“There are no world citizens,” Buncombe said.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>‘There are only citizens
of individual
nation-states. Also, no one is obstructing your silly search.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>They are simply ignoring
it.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Hear! Hear!” Featherstonehaugh agreed.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“You are wrong,” Holmgren announced.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>“Dreikirch is right. All people are world citizens.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Those who do not support
the World
Government, namely us, in our search for the Holy Namestone
are subject to
arrest by the League Peace Police and trial for treason
against humanity. I
shall be directing this point to the Popular Assembly for
their definitive
final ruling.” The Popular Assembly, Buncombe thought, was a
fiction of the
League Political Office, League Chancellor Holmgren in
particular.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>It was a
nonexistent organization in which all
nations, not only the Great Powers, were claimed to vote, each
nation having as
many votes as it had citizens.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“There is no Popular Assembly,” Featherstonehaugh
said.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“Your
bureaucrats cannot create a new branch
of League governance out of whole cloth.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Bravo!” Buncombe answered.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>There were agreeing nods from the Nipponese, French,
and
Austro-Hungarian ambassadors. Other Ambassadors shook their
heads. </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Elizaveta Romanoff covered her eyes with her palms.
“Surely most of us
need to discuss this issue with our governments?<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>However, this step
appears to be unwise, not
to mention nearly certain to fail.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“The moment seems inauspicious for this step,” Saigo
Shigetoshi
whispered.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Ambassador Smoking Frog,” Holmgren said.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“As Speaker for the First Speaker, the Living Sun, I
move that the
League Peace Executive endorse this initiative of the League
Chancellor.”
Smoking Frog said. It was obvious to Buncombe that the charade
had been planned
out in advance.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Point of Order! Notice!” Marshall Davout was very
fast indeed off the
mark to object. The motion had not had adequate notice.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Denied!” Holmgren said.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Appeal!” Davout said.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Buncombe could count noses in advance. The American,
British, French, Austro-Hungarian,
Russian and Japanese ambassadors would vote to sustain the
appeal. The
IncoAztecan, Brazilian, Prussian, Chinese, Manjukuoan,
Ottoman, and Sikh
Ambassadors would vote against the appeal.<span
style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>Holmgren’s ruling would be sustained. Lord Smoking
Frog’s motion would
be passed. Another giant step away from world peace would be
taken.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Might I inquire,” Buncombe said, “Precisely what
point we are being
asked to vote to have you take to your mythical Popular
Assembly?”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“It is no myth!” Holmgren shrieked. “The Popular
Assembly is the
logical outcome of the entirety of treaties founding…”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Nonetheless, I endorse this question,” Lord Smoking
Frog said.
Holmgren’s mouth snapped shut.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes">
</span>The
IncoAztecans always supported Holmgren’s positions. “It seems
to me to be an
entirely reasonable inquiry, which I anticipate will be asked
by the First
Speaker, the Living Sun, as to precisely what motion you are
taking to our most
fundamental legislative body, the Popular Assembly.” </span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“I will need a day to prepare an exact answer,”
Holmgren answered.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“In that case, I move to recess until tomorrow
evening,” Lord Smoking
Frog said.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“Second!” Ambassador Featherstonehaugh called out. He
stared at Lord
Smoking Frog, who stared back. The two men nodded at each
other. Buncombe
wondered how many of his fellow ambassadors were thinking
‘most unlikely
political combination of all time’.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“I was actually about to recognize Ambassadrix
Masacarenhas da Silva,”
Holmgren said. “You do need recognition to make a motion.”</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">“I was about to invoke the consultation rule,” she
announced.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>“I believe
at least four of us wish to
consult our governments.” Under the rule, a request for
consultations was good
for a day’s postponement.<span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">Holmgren tried to hide his frustration. He looked
around the room. No
one moved. “Without objection, we have voted to recess, and
the consultation
rule has been invoked. In some order,” he announced. The
Ambassadors rose and
headed for the elevators.</span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:12.0pt"><font size="-1"
face="Times New Roman, Times, serif"><span
style="mso-bidi-font-size:
10.0pt">* * * * *</span></font></p>
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