Sriman Vats twirled his moustache in worry. There were bags under his eyes, his shoulders were slack – as if he were carrying the burden on the entire world, which he was. But this Atlas was in no position to shrug.
“Can they do this?” Princess Nony asked. That was the first question she asked as she stormed in the Diwan-i-khas of her late father’s palace. She hadn’t shed a single tear; her face was a mask – her make-up a shield which made it difficult to gauge her emotions.
“If you are asking whether they are within their legal bounds to depose a planetary monarch and his coterie – no they aren’t. But then, it is a capitalist world and our planet is a hostage to the whims of that bloody hedge fund company,” Sriman Vats said in justifiable anger. Looking at his demeanor and the emotion in his voice, it would have been difficult to guess that it was an AI-powered android, capable of running the finances of the entire world in the gargantuan backend servers that backed him up.
“Our spies in deep space can disseminate this news. They can blast this through the roof, the courts will have to hear us out. They murdered my father!”
“Your anger is justified. But the hedge fund company bought out this planet from the banks. It belongs to them. Whatever happens down here, everyone else is going to look the other way.”
“It’s, it’s…….” Princess shook her fist in frustration, then let it fall limp. She felt a tight knot in her chest. Emotions were on the verge to overcome her.
Sriman Vats looked out of the open courtyard. This spring, the vegetation had bloomed into a royal violet. The two moons peeked out from behind the trees, a frothing stream of water passed closely by. Gheruts cherooted and the kundras klunked, passing their luminescence back and forth, nurturing each other. Beauty without, tragedy within.
“Nony, you would have to compose yourself. In these dark times, your subjects look upon you for guidance and leadership.”
She bit her lip, “I briefly flirted with power. I always thought that the saturninos would guide my dad’s errant craft back to Earth. I never imagined that they would kill him. You are an automaton. Don’t these metal birds have some sort of code that they mustn’t kill humans?”
She looked pointedly at the moustache-twirling mantri. His paunch gave him the appearance of a well-contended baniya, but she knew very well that while the emotions were well-manufactured, there was a cold, calculating mind inside that puffy exterior.
“I am programmed not to kill any human. Unfortunately, that isn’t true for all robots – under certain conditions, Saturninos can kill. This also means that the company is desperate.”
“Desperate enough to kill him, a planetary monarch!” A single sob escaped her otherwise steely visage.
“I can’t even imagine what you must be going through, dear,” he rumbled empathetically.
Princess didn’t say anything. But unlike humans, the Mantri didn’t rush in to fill the silence – he was comfortable keeping quiet. Years of learning and programming tweaks had him sensitive to the human need for space. He knew that the princess was experiencing deep turmoil within yet trying to keep control of her emotions so as not to lose herself completely in front of his father’s most trusted courtier.
“So how deep are we in the shit?” She said, after some time.
Sriman Vats collected his thoughts (the processor did its job) and said, “The company is demanding a 10X premium on our outstanding. Only then they would let go of our planet.”
Nony felt lost. Statesmanship was in her blood; she was also an external affairs expert. But most of her knowledge was theoretical, and she never had any accountability before. She cannot force her way through brash confidence alone. She needed guidance; she needed her father in this situation.
“Our coffers are nearly empty,” Vats broached the subject delicately. “We can feed the population for another two months. With the lockdown, trade has become impossible – nothing can go off the planet and nothing can come to the planet. And we aren’t an agrarian economy.”
“We build luxury ships. That’s all we know!” Nony remarked wryly.
“Our cash reserve has already reached an alarming level. Soon, we would not be able to maintain expenses for the livery, the administration, the police and the military.”
She pursed her lips. The situation was grim, almost impossible. They were systematically wringing the neck of the planet.
“It’s a siege, like in a battle. They are bleeding us dry.”
“Your father had been plagued by similar concerns!”
“My father had his head in the ground. When he should have been forming treaties with other planets, he was consumed in daily bacchanalia. When the situation was desperate, HE FUCKING LEFT!” Anger flashed past her rosy pink face.
He bolted, leaving this shitstorm in my lap!
She took a deep breath and continued, “Nobody could know about the state of our economy. Off-world, our bankruptcy is a known fact. But our quarantined population, in the absence of a free press, is unaware of the situation.”
She saw the irony in the situation. For years, she had badgered her father for a free press as a responsible head of a planet. Now she was counting on those very despotic practices to deliver and save her from a bloody coup.
“But we have a more immediate concern.”
Nony looked sharply at the Vazier. She knew what it might be, and she felt a dread rising within.
“As is our duty, we have informed all the princes and princesses of this planet about your father’s death,” he began. Nony noticed the ‘I’ had changed to ‘We’. He was now referring to his mirror look-alikes – everyone of them controlled by one singular network. She could see other Sriman Vatses’ informing her siblings of this crisis. “While you are the eldermost and the rightful heiress to the throne, your brother Kaan…”
“He believes otherwise,” Nony finished.
“And even as we speak, he has started to mount an expedition against you.”
Civil war. Fratricide and uxoricide. Nony realized that she might not starve to death like the rest of the population, she might well be decapitated much before in a bloody coup.
Alienman 