"This is preposterous!" Shouted the ambassador for the NWEU. "We know what public decision making does, we suffered dearly for a generation off of the back of a single referendum! Even after the Brejoining the damage took a century to heal! You can't seriously suggest this.... This.... Obscenity.... This.... Alþingi.... It'd be chaos!"
"I don't believe it will," countered the Ambassador for Siberia, "perhaps we've reached a level of racial maturity which enables this kind of... collective representation?"
"Perhaps" responded Antarctica, "perhaps on Earth. But what about Mars? There's a reason they've never had weapons. If they did they'd kill for a protein portion, commit genocide for profit. They view other humans in purely Darwinian terms, just competitors for resources, status and wealth. How on Earth (if you'll forgive the expression), can we bring the Martians on board?"
"Perhaps," proffered Canada, "by offering them something they want?"
"They're Martians!" Retorted the NWEU "they want everything! Want is their default state! They're born wanting and want everything their whole lives through!"
"That sounds like suffering" said Siberia "perhaps our role is to deliver them from suffering?"
"They've been that way for centuries; they bloody love it!" Yelled the NWEU.
"Enduring it for centuries doesn't mean they love it," responded Siberia, quietly, "it just means they're used to it."
"So, what next?" Asked Canada. "Assume we agree to this. What's next?"
"I go to Mars and proposition the CEO" said the Secretary General. "We go back centuries, and have been close in the past, I'm sure we'll find.... Common ground."
"Dude," muttered Siberia "did you sleep with the chief exec of Mars?"
"Point of parliamentary procedure!" Yelled Antarctica, largely because she knew the answer.
"Upheld." Judged the Secretary General without allowing for objections. Kudos to Ruslan for his perceptiveness, but it was irrelevant. "Suffice to say I have the potential for persuasion. But what is the decision of this Assembly? The amendments to the charter and changes to the3T in the resolution tabled involve the dissolution of all local, national and global governments. We will be obsolete. Out of a job, but also free to rejoin our species from the remove we have held for so long. We would also be voting for me to approach Mars with a proposal which would obsolesce every company on its surface. That will be unpopular, and the first time Earth governments have attempted to sway the Martian corporates. Vote by saying aye or nay."
"Aye" Canada
"Nay" the NWEU
"Aye" Patagonia
"Aye" Siberia
"Nay" Antarctica- surprising - with her history of conflict he would have expected her to value a closer unity more highly. But it didn't matter now.
"The ayes have it" announced the Secretary General, "I remind you that under the emergency redrafting of the Charter during the Heat, national sovereignty may not be used as a basis for noncompliance with the will of the majority in this Assembly, and that no nation has the right to veto. There can be no superpowers in a truly democratic world. Your governments will form transition plans and plans for the orderly winding down of their operations. The 3T will be upgraded to allow for collective sentient decision making within cis-lunar terrestrial space and I will approach Mars with a proposition for them to join us."
A round of applause swept round the table, with notable variations of enthusiasm.
"Please arrange a meeting between Dave and I at Halfway Station." Announced the Secretary General to the onboard sentience. "And send him a copy of the ratified resolution - I need him to know that two thirds of the species are already on board. When we next meet, I expect it to be to confirm Martian ratification of the Resolution and also to wind up our operations to hand over governance to the collective will. Please ensure that any outstanding business is concluded in a timely fashion, and please do not share any details of this decision with anyone other than your governments. There will be an announcement made in due course. First, we need to let them know about first contact. Please submit your memories of the experience to the PR sentience by close of business, I will do the same."
He looked around the table for what might be the penultimate time.
"I will return in about a month. It has, as always, been my pleasure to serve you and the people of Earth." What would he be when this was over? He had been Secretary General for such a very long time. When there was no need for the UN, no need for him, when he moved on from a role that had consumed him, what would remain?
Only one way to find out. He ended the projection, uploaded his memories of First Contact and gave the UN PR sentience clear instructions around how it was to be relayed to the 3T, and to prepare a suitable release for the following day about today's Resolution. Then he got ready to return to Longyearbyen. He might as well have stayed there. Still, the hyper loop sentiences would be happy.
YOU ARE READING
The Only Thing That Could Ever Unite Us
Science FictionToday would be a big one.... Bruce, the Secretary General of the United Nations of Earth, has spent centuries trying to protect, develop and unite humanity. When a distinctly non-human arrival seems to offer a way to do this, once and for all, he wi...
