Notes from An Alien

12 ~ Knowledge

The Worlds' Council had been apprised by Anglana that she was ejecting all known Independents from her planet as well as beginning a procedure for determining potential Independents and attempting to, as she said, "ReForm" them. Because of increasingly lax control within the Worlds' Council, word of Anglana's decision immediately leaked to the Worlds' News Meshes.

Riots, on a small scale, began on both Anga-Param and Anla-Purum. They consisted of local Independent leaders rallying their Dissatisfieds to the burning of four farms and six transportation hubs. They were quickly quelled but the Independents involved were not sought out by the Local Councils.

Angla-Palli itself had its share of unrest, quickly quelled by Anglana's penetrative influence.

Anglana had told Mura that the banishment of the Independents was delayed until Mura had incorporated. Mura had asked: "What if I hadn't." Anglana had said: "That could not have happened."

~~~

The increasing corruption in Local, Regional, and Territorial Councils was abhorred by the general population who knew what the Independents and Dissatisfieds were about and only wanted the calm and sane sense of order that the Worlds' government had initially brought them. These same everyday people knew that Anglana's action against the Independents had nothing to do with a desire to squash true independence. Common sense could easily tell the difference between the freedom to pursue an independent course of action and the anarchy of attempting to overthrow the government.

Delva had applied her pressure on the Worlds' Council to replace the three members who had acted unilaterally to send her the note about the Aklan killings. She argued that, even though the intentions of the Council members had been actuated by a concern for the followers of Akla, the disregard of the Council's Constitution concerning either a consensus, or, lacking that, a majority vote on all issues made their action dangerous if it were allowed to set a precedent. The Worlds' Council didn't need to issue a decision because the three Council members voluntarily relinquished their positions.

Delva knew her intervention would set its own precedent—giving her Mediation Boards the right to challenge such actions in the future. She knew the corruptive potential would continue since the Worlds' Council was elected by the Territorial Councils and their membership was, in turn, dependent on the Regional and Local Councils. Until the majority of the population decided, on their own initiative, to move from an actionless desire for Worlds' order to a proactive implementation of the principle of the Oneness of All Angians, the whole governmental system was continually in jeopardy.

Delva took a further step to shore-up the Worlds' government. She refashioned the Worlds' Mediation Board and used her unique persuasive abilities to make sure each regional arm of the Board had at least one Aklan. She further insisted that each member of the Mediation Board be given the right, if they so desired, to state in their wills their own replacement.

Mura questioned her mother about her efforts to ensure perpetuating Aklan membership on the Board.

"Mother, have you considered that people will think you're favoring one religious group over others and injecting a religious bias into the mediation process?"

"Mura, you're learning how powerful my abilities are to induce others to act as I wish. You know it carries an immense sense of responsibility and causes me no end of hours'-long internal debates. I've repeatedly stressed my non-involvement in direct religious activity and even gone further and published my heart-felt reasoning for my stance. People used to complain that Verluin being my husband was reason enough for the Worlds' Council to replace me. I'm going to be appearing on the News Meshes soon to detail my reasons for assuring Aklan membership on the Mediation Board. It will be a tiring experience and will necessitate much more work than I wish I had to perform. I wish I could just tell people that the Aklans are intelligent and have the Worlds' best interests at heart; but, people have to be reminded that they've shown us, repeatedly, that they can act from the highest moral intentions while respecting others' beliefs; and, that they are more than willing to die for their own beliefs. I think the vast majority of people don't need my explanations—it's the ones who have financial power, mostly, who have to be exposed to my position; plus, the common people need the detailed arguments if they decide to wield their own influence in their Local and Regional Councils."