Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 6 - An Impossible Marketplace - I

Article I. The proceedings of these Meetings shall henceforth be kept confidential. No records may be made of any kind except for copies of these Articles. Any Attendees found in violation of Article I will face penalties as outlined in Appendix A.

Article II. The Awakened Council shall be appointed by majority vote at the end of each meeting. There shall be three councilors elected from the Attendees, as per the Three Gods. Voting shall proceed according to the system outlined in Appendix B.

Article III. Meetings shall be held on neutral territory as agreed upon by the previous Awakened Council and the Three Gods. Meetings should take place no less frequently than once every three months. A schedule for Meetings may be determined by the Council at the close of each Meeting.

Article IV. The Council and the Three Gods shall determine the agenda for each Meeting following election, and act as moderators for open debate when necessary. Councilors may end debate on a topic with a majority vote.

Article V. All Attendees agree to be bound by the decisions of the Council or lose the privilege of membership in future Meetings.

Article VI. The Articles of the Awakened Council may only be amended by a three-quarters majority vote of all Attendees, as outlined in Appendix C.

Article VII. No new Attendees may be awakened without the sponsorship of a Councilor.

Article VIII. The Three Gods are not permitted to attend Meetings. All prior instances of their involvement in the proceedings are hereby abolished.

Article IX. An independent Moderator shall be appointed once every four meetings, to preside over debate and ensure the Articles are followed correctly. The Moderator will be elected by the Council pending approval by the Attendees, as outlined in Appendix C.

  "We missed an election?" Alden asked with a twinge of disappointment.

  "No one else ever wants the job. It'll be the same three people every time," Rika answered patiently.

  Alden was still poring over the copy of the articles she'd fished out of her bag. Rika seemed very wary of every side street they passed, and wasn't prone to offering up explanations until Alden asked. He was mining the sheet of paper for every detail he could find, trying to understand the secret society he'd just stumbled into.

  "And who are the Three Gods? Why'd they get kicked out?"

  Rika sighed. "Because people are scum at their core. That's why."

  "Uhh, what?"

  "The original three people to found the group were crazy powerful. Like, more than all of the rest of us combined, each one of them. Someone started calling them the Gods as a joke, I think, and it stuck. Wasn't long for some people to assume they weren't even human. Didn't help that two of 'em decided to start calling themselves Alpha and Omega. I think they liked the attention. She definitely didn't though."

  "She?" Alden prompted.

  "Don't know her real name. Or any name, really. Some people call her Grey-eyes. You saw her though."

  "I did?"

  "With Hector just now, right? Wasn't she there?"

  "That girl?" he asked skeptically, remembering the short, frail looking person he'd seen. She seemed like just a regular college kid. How could such a girl be called a 'god'?