“Directors,” the Strange Prince answered slowly. “Does any of you genuinely know the details of the device’s origin? Or is it lost in time?”
All Nine Directors aimed earnest faces at the unofficial Tenth.
“From what I can tell,” old Huang Enlai was the one brave enough to answer, “the records were systematically destroyed.”
Again the Tenth Director paused to think. “I believe the threat to global tranquility is genuine, that your plan to shelter the world with silence is practical and well considered, and that your desire to protect your people is as humane as selfish. The public fears much and rightly from this new use of the device. That truth must be exposed. But the question of origin is both separate and old. The public feels no active pain from that curiosity, and any answer you give would be painfully partial, aiding far less than it harms. I will facilitate your silence on that count. If my Utopians catch the thief who targeted Black Sakura and attain the device, I will seek to destroy it, and I consider Myself to have no obligation to reveal its origin.”
Many shoulders relaxed.
“To anyone?” Wang Laojing tested. Would it be easier for you, reader, if I adopt the King of Spain’s habit and differentiate these Chinese directors by the regions whose sub-nation-strats they represent? Wang Laojing, then, is confident Beijing.
“I have been tasked with this by many authorities,” J.E.D.D. Mason answered, “but all task Me to heal the peace, not harm it, and there is none among them who does not keep secrets in return. If I tell Patrem Meum that all threat is ended, and say the same to Censor, Chair, Headmaster, Their Majesty, and Their Grace, then they and theirs will rest content.”
Andō smiled. “We will do all in our power to help you ensure the device is found and destroyed”—he paused to let the others nod assent—“whether that means giving you what few records we have of it, acting as you direct, or pledging not to act again, since today’s action was so horribly disruptive.”
“The billions whose happiness you guard would thank you if they knew, Chichi-ue,” J.E.D.D. Mason answered. “However, I believe the Canner Device is the prior but not the larger threat.”
“The Seven-Ten list?”
“Yes.”
“It was none of us,” Beijing answered for all.
J.E.D.D. Mason scanned their faces once again. “That I believe.”
Beijing: “Do we know the reason for the theft yet?”
Shanghai: “Your bash’child was involved, Andō.”
Japan: “Masami is another victim of this, yes. And knows nothing.”
Korea: “I understand Black Sakura is going to publish both lists now. It’s not clear to me who benefits.”
Shanghai: “Sugiyama’s list does hurt us, but it hurts others even more.”
Shanghai the younger: “Ganymede especially.”
Dongbei: “Yes, Ganymede and Casimir Perry both come out worse than us in Sugiyama’s list.”
All reviewed Sugiyama’s list, which they had now in an advance copy, distributed to the Hive leaders as tomorrow’s publication loomed:
#1: Masonic Emperor Cornel MASON
#2: The Anonymous
#3: Sniper
#4: Ziven Racer
#5: Cousin Chair Bryar Kosala
#6: Brillist Headmaster Felix Faust
#7: Mitsubishi Director Hotaka Andō Mitsubishi
#8: François Quesnay
#9: Julia Doria-Pamphili
#10: Lorelei “Cookie” Cook
Korea: “Spain could also be an intended target. Including Ziven Racer on the list is an insult to the King as much as to Perry.”
Beijing: “Everyone knows Spain was not involved when Ziven Racer tried to fix the election for them. Bringing attention to Racer will only remind everyone how honorable Spain was withdrawing from the race after Racer’s exposure. Casimir Perry’s the one who looks bad for benefiting from Spain’s misfortune.”
Shanghai: “Sugiyama’s far from the first to point out that Ziven Racer is the only reason Perry is Prime Minister, but no one’s ever said before that Sniper is the only reason Ganymede is President, at least not so publically. That’s a far worse blow.”
Japan: “What do you think, Tai-kun?”
Himself: “The worst blow is not to Europe, Chichi-ue, but to Asia.”
Beijing: “To Asia? Why do you phrase it like that?”
Himself: “François Quesnay.”
Dongbei: “The eighth name on the list.”
J.E.D.D. Mason fell silent here, breathing slowly, like one sick with fever, struggling to stay awake and speak with visitors. “What is the Source?” He asked at last.
Beijing: “Of what?”
Himself: “If you wrote a poem titled ‘The Source,’ what would be its subject?”
Of the Directors, Andō is least afraid to answer His strange questions. “Nature,” he ventured, “the interconnectedness of life, forests, the ocean, maybe rural life, a farm, a spring of water.” Such trust, reader, voicing these personal, almost theological, opinions and trusting Him to make the tangent pertinent.
Himself: “Do all agree?”
Shanghai: “Mine would be about Spring. New growth.”
Beijing: “Spring, yes.”
Dongbei: “Land, perhaps. Land changing, the parting of the snow.”
“The ocean, or a well, or maybe a mountain or a tree.” This last came from Kimura Kunie, the second Japanese director, who had done well in the decades since he realized it was more prudent to be Andō’s strong right arm than Andō’s rival.
“Then you are alone.” The dead softness of His voice felt cautious now, as when you comfort a wounded animal, and you know your syllables are meaningless, but, seeing it in pain, you must do something. “Faced with that question, a Cousin might answer the heart, a European the past, a Humanist themself, a Brillist the psyche, a Utopian imagination. All are pieces of the Masonic answer: humanity. Only the Mitsubishi place the Source outside humanity, in Nature.” Through the tracker I could see fear spread from eye to eye among the Nine Directors. “In this thought, you are the most alone. This is what Sugiyama thought, which Masami Mitsubishi would not have said, but all Earth will read now.”
“Why do you see danger in that?” At last Greenpeace Mitsubishi director Jyothi Bandyopadhyay broke her silence. Her vibrant suit was cut like a sherwani, patterned with the fierce, flame-orange spring blossoms of the Palash tree, with a leaf-green sash across her chest representing the veto reserved in the terms of the Greenpeace-Mitsubishi Hive merger sixty-four years before. Her expressions had been the most guarded throughout this, a sad spectator more than a confederate, and I gender her female for you, reader, as a reminder of how far apart she stands from Andō and his ilk. “Everyone knows caring for the land is our great strength, greater now than ever. Are you expecting some new hue and cry about exorbitant rents?”
“That My servant may speak to.”
After a moment’s silence I remembered Dominic was missing, so He must mean me. “Y-es, Directors,” I began, hearing my voice shake as I feared recognition. “Speaking fo-or the Tribune on behalf of Romanova, yes. We do predict new hostility about rents and property.” It is no breech of confidence that I share the Censor’s predictions here, reader. J.E.D.D. Mason is a Hiveless Tribune; the Censor’s data is at His service while He is at Romanova’s.