Britain's Last Meeting

Part II

15th October 2121

On a cloudy Wednesday afternoon, Theodore walked into the underground train station, catching a train to London. The underground train system could take you anywhere in the British Isles in less than an hour. Despite his country decaying, public transport had never been more convenient than it was now.

Ted didn't normally attend parliament in person, he usually didn't have much to say at the gatherings, so he felt it was easier and better for him to stay home and use his measly two votes from a distance via wireless communication. However, he was not attending to speak in parliament, it was just an excuse to get a chance to speak to President Corrigan and Judith Wilson.

Ted arrived 4 minutes before parliament began, forcing him to half-heartedly jog towards the House of Commons, past Freedom Park where the House of Lords once sat, now replaced with walkways, foliage, and numerous food carts. Ted arrived in the building just as the session began, with President Corrigan swearing allegiance to the people of Britain, and all those who oppose monarchy. After that parliament went on as usual, with laws being brought up, debated, and passed. Expanding trade deals with Vrackwood nations like the Nordic Union and Slavic Republic, strengthening their growing relations with the UR, allowing more government spying on the populace, increasing military expenditure, forming closer ties with the UR's allies in ANZU, Germany, and China, passing restrictions on genetic modification of animals and food.

All these issues would have normally had Ted passionately voting for or against, but now apathy overtook him, he was tunnel visioned on the arrest of Vrackwood protestors, he had been preparing for days on what to say, and he knew the incident inside out. He knew the protestors were peaceful to start with, he knew they were arrested without trial, and he had suspicions that the bombs had been planted by evangelistic groups. But he was not ready when President Corrigan proposed a bill banning Vrackwood symbols in response to the protest. Despite Ted planning on talking to Corrigan after parliament, he decided that now would be the right time to use what he had been planning and make a speech to parliament in opposition of the bill.

Ted spoke, "Those symbols, they are extremely significant to the Vrackwood religion, and they are not terrorist symbols as you say. In fact, it goes against the 'Freedom of Religion' Act of 2104, which forbids banning of religious symbols."

Not a word was spoken in opposition, the entire parliament was stunned at the courage, and audacity, of a common governor daring to speak against the president.

Despite the deafening silence, Ted continued, "Diplomatically it is also a bad idea, we cannot continue this alienation of the Vrackwoods in our country, we have only just begun to open up extensive contact and cooperation with the Vrackwood nations, and we need all the allies we can get to safeguard us against this changing world. And that's not to mention our closest ally, Germany, despite having a secular government, is home to over 20 million Vrackwoods." As Ted spoke, he grew increasingly passionate, "So, I think, no, I demand that we stop this discrimination against ---"

"Enough!" Ted's speech was cut off by Carl Johnston, Minister of Crime and Police, "Are we going to let this young man defend terrorists, those pagans murdered cops, we can't let them get away with that."

Ted tried to get in his evidence that the Vrackwoods didn't kill the police officers, but suddenly the whole building erupted with a tidal wave of noise. Governors, ministers, MPs, they all began to voice their own particular opinion.

"He's right, we do need allies."

"We cannot negotiate with terrorists."

"The Kingdom of Heaven rules over billions of people, perhaps they would be a better ally than those pagans."

"Isn't religious freedom one of our core beliefs."

"This isn't about religion; it is about terrorism and sedition."

And so on, this stampede of perspectives felt as if it lasted an hour, despite being only a minute, and ended with an abrupt, but desperately needed, "SILENCE!!!" from President Corrigan.

"We will settle this law in next week's meeting, parliament is dismissed."

As swarms of MPs left the House of Commons, Ted remained seated. Melancholy consumed him, but ultimately, that feeling was replaced by hunger. He soon found himself passing hours at the Parliament café staring out the window at the passing pedestrians and eating small snacks. After some time, he noticed President Corrigan walking up to him. As he took a seat in the chair opposite Ted, he spoke inquisitively.

"Ah Theodore Scott"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to derail the law, I just thought it was unfair to ban religious symbols." Ted meekly replied.

"No Mr. Scott; that isn't what I'm here to talk about." President Corrigan stated ominously, his wrinkled face drooped down, a serious, yet somber expression overtook his face.

Ted questioned, "Oh, then what is this about sir?"

"Follow me to my office son."

And so, the two walked to the presidential office, through a long corridor, starkly lacking decoration, with only a single painting on each wall, a portrait of President Corrigan. Soldiers dressed up in red and blue attire, with spectacular gold-plated assault rifles flanked them as they strolled through the corridor. Ted sensed a tension in Corrigan's walk, clearly this was something of immense importance. As they entered his office, Ted noticed the many flags, coat of arms, and other symbols that adorned the walls. A large, soft, and prestigious armchair sat in the middle of the room, with a wooden desk to match it, giving Corrigan a royal presence as he took a seat. Despite all the effort put into eradicating the prestige and symbols of the monarchy, it seemed not all of it was lost.

Ted noticed Judith Wilson, the Foreign Secretary, sitting in the corner, she motioned for him to take a seat in front of the desk, and then she stood up to stand next to Corrigan and his throne.

"Ms. Wilson has a very important mission for you." Spoke Corrigan, in a flat tone.

"Ted, we just now received a message saying that a diplomat from the Kingdom of Heaven is arriving on Friday, however, all our diplomats are caught up dealing with other duties, mainly in Europe, dealing with our alliances. And while normally I would deal with him personally or assign another politician with more experience to do it, we are sending you to do the diplomacy." Instructed Judith, with some hesitation.

"Me, why?" Questioned Ted, absolutely stammered by this strange request.

"For whatever reason, the Christian diplomat, Guillermo Aragón, specifically requested you. And we are not in a position to deny the Kingdom of Heaven their petty requests." A grave expression covered Judith's face, there was no doubting that this was absolutely serious, and that they were putting an immense amount of trust into Ted. Ted was overwhelmed, he didn't know what to say, and so he said nothing. After a brief pause Judith continued, coldly.

"I am sure you know that they recently officially annexed Italy, and France is not far away. They now legally own more than half of Western Europe, and they have de facto rule over North Africa and much of the Near East. All this in addition to owning the Americas, means they are simultaneously our greatest threat, and most important trading partner, we can not risk our relationship with them. Can we trust you?"

Judith stared deeply into Ted's eyes, he found it difficult to stare back, he could see the terror and intensity in her eyes. He nodded nervously.

Corrigan spoke, attempting to break the tension, "Great then Ted, we will send you a message detailing what you will need to do, I expect you to handle this well."

After they all said their goodbyes, Ted walked out, the political issues that were plaguing his mind this morning had completely vanished, now all he could think about was how not to screw this up.

He said softly to himself "Well, you did want to be doing more."