"Maybe she is mad," Jules suggested. "Maybe she's trying to go down in Martian history as a martyr; the first woman who ever tried to make Mars free or some shit like that. Who knows what she is thinking but I've been over the figures time and time again and I can see no conceivable way that they can prevent us from landing and taking that planet back."
"There is no way," Wrath agreed. "But whoever said the greenies were smart?"
The door opened once again and yet another briefer entered. This time it was a man that neither Jules nor Wrath had ever met personally though both recognized him on sight thanks to his frequent appearances in Internet news clips. It was FLEB director Stanley Clinton. He was dressed in a neat, conservative suit and had bags under his eyes similar to the two military officers'. He had no staff with him, simply walking alone to a seat well away from the military leaders and their staffs, making not so much as a nod of greeting, and sat down. He inserted a disk of his own into a terminal.
Silence prevailed until 0804 when the set of doors near the front of the room slid open, signaling the entry of the council. Everyone in the room quickly stood to attention as the nine men and three women of the council, all dressed in business suits of their own, strode into the room. Their faces were grim as they took their chairs, taking their time making themselves comfortable. Finally one of them, Loretta Williams, spoke. "You may be seated," she said stiffly.
With a shuffle, everyone resumed their seats.
Williams, as the representative of Mars, was still acting as the spokesperson for the council in this matter. "Begin recording," she told the room computer system. Digital cameras and audio microphones clicked on.
She stared at the assembled group of military officers and the single civilian. Her expression, matching the other council members, was of barely concealed rage. "Gentlemen," she said coldly, "yesterday an unprecedented event took place on the WestHem possession of Mars. An event with such far reaching and cataclysmic implications that, even if the situation is resolved quickly in the next two days, an issue which is doubtful, we will be left unable to predict the long-term consequences." She shook her head angrily. "What in the hell happened here, gentlemen? How in the hell could something like this have been allowed? These are questions that I want you to answer only briefly in as few words as possible before you start explaining to this council how we are going to rectify this situation." She stared at the two military officers in particular. "I trust that we can rectify this situation."
"Yes ma'am," spoke Jules and Wrath in unison.
"I certainly hope so," she said. "I don't need to tell you that the entire WestHem economy is fully dependant upon that little red planet. Ninety-eight percent of our steel comes from there. Forty-six percent of our food, our food, comes from there. The profits from that planet account for more than twenty-nine percent of our tax base. And, as if that wasn't bad enough, more than a third of our navy is in dock under Martian control right now. Admiral Jules, I trust you have prepared a side-briefing on the implications of that."
"Yes ma'am," Jules answered, grateful that he'd taken the time to do that. He almost had not.
"Very well," Williams said. She turned her gaze to Clinton. "Director," she said, "we've already been over the fact of Laura Whiting's election to high Martian office in the first place time and time again with you. We will skip re-hashing that part. But if you will please begin our briefing by explaining how the circumstances of her removal went so badly wrong?"
"Yes ma'am," Clinton replied, standing and activating his Internet terminal.
He explained the fiasco of the previous day in short, concise statements, occasionally using news clips or transmissions from his disk to illustrate some point. The council listened without interrupting. They knew most of the story anyway. When he finished they had only a few questions.
"How many agents do you have on Mars?" Asked one council member.
"Six hundred and forty-three," Clinton replied. "Of course twelve of them were killed at the capital building yesterday."
"Are the whereabouts of all of these agents on Mars accounted for?" was the next question.
"Not officially," he answered. "I know that all ten of my field offices were occupied by Martian troops and that all ten surrendered to them. We can presume that all of the agents in those buildings at that time are in Martian custody. As to the fate of those agents that were either off-duty or out in the field at that time I have no information, nor even a guess as to how many that might be. Unfortunately though, the number of off-duty agents is probably pretty low. When news of the events in New Pittsburgh reached Director Hayes he mobilized the entire force. Many of them were probably inside the buildings when they were taken."
"In any case did the FLEB offices under attack by the MPG request assistance from the local police departments?" asked Williams.
"Ma'am," Clinton replied, "in every case they did and in every case the assistance was refused on orders from the various police chiefs. I have information that in three of the cities; Eden, Dow, and Triad, the mayors attempted to override the orders of the police chiefs in question. The mayors of each Martian city, as you are aware, are subjected to the same scrutiny that legislative and gubernatorial candidates are." By which he meant that the corporations owned them. "In all cases, obviously, the orders were disregarded and no assistance was given. As far as I know not a single Martian police officer lifted a finger to prevent this revolt from occurring. As to the fate of the mayors and city councils involved; I have no information. I suspect they may have been taken into custody but we are currently completely out of communication with Mars; even the Internet feed has been severed from their end."
"So we are no longer receiving Martian Internet transmissions?"
"That is correct; although they are still monitoring our Internet. I ordered that the feed not be cut to Mars on the hope that some of the citizens will be able to access our point of view in this thing; to see the preparations we will be utilizing if they do not surrender themselves. It may assist in having Whiting's proposal voted down."
There was some quiet murmurs among the council at this. Finally Williams said, "That seems a wise move, Director. You may continue to allow outgoing transmissions. Since you brought up this vote that Whiting has asked for, what would you say the chances are that it will be successful? Also do you think there is any possibility of fraud in the vote?"
This was a trick question. Voter fraud and false results were a patent impossibility with the current system of ballot casting. It was done on the Internet by social security number and fingerprint identification. The programs that ran the voting were unalterable and would not allow such a thing. But if the vote were to be in favor of revolution, then the WestHem authorities would of course issue propaganda stating that the election had been rigged and was meaningless. Clinton knew this and knew how he was expected to answer.
"I believe that fraud is the most likely possibility and that we will be unable to trust any election results they send us," he said. "There is no way that Laura Whiting is going to back down now. If the Martians do not vote this measure in — and I don't believe that they are so mad as to do so — then her conspirators will simply change the results to look as if they did." This was of course a bald-faced lie. He knew it, the council knew it, any thinking person would know it; but it was how the game was played. If the Martians voted down Laura Whiting's proposal then WestHem would demand that she abide by her promises. But if the Martians actually did vote for independence, then WestHem would claim the election was rigged and demand she surrender. Of course it didn't matter one way or the other which way they voted. The vote itself did not carry any legal weight under the constitution. But politically, WestHem would never admit that the Martians actually wanted to be independent in overwhelming numbers. They would have to portray the vast majority of the Martians as innocent, loyal WestHem civilians caught up in a conspiracy by a few radical elements acting in self-interest.