Displaced

Chapter 18

"Morning Leo, how goes running the country and all that?" Blake asked as he put down his latest project, a small worm-like robot about the diameter of his fist that he'd been working on to drill small underground passageways for his upcoming sewer systems, and turned to the man standing in the doorway to his workshop. He made sure to express a welcoming tone, since his mask hid the warm smile on his face. Leo Feldmanis was the greatest thing that had ever happened to him. Since he'd hired the man, his free time had ballooned to many times what it had been before. He was making so much more progress in his creations than before.

"That is what I was hoping to speak with you about, Lord Ferros," the smaller man said.

Blake couldn't help but note with approval just how much his assistant had filled out over the past few weeks since being freed. Blake made a mental note to find out how much of Otharia's prisons held political prisoners and consider freeing them, then scratched that out and changed it to having Leo do it for him. That was the point of hiring the man, after all.

"Come now, Leo, stop calling me 'Lord'. Do I look like the lordly type?"

"Given that you ostensibly run an entire nation, I would argue you qualify," came the reply.

"Ostensibly?"

"Yes, I can't help but notice how little actual nation-running you do," said the administrator. "It seems to me that you somehow dictate orders to your minions and then hide inside this room for the rest of the day. I can't escape the feeling that you want me to do all the work for you."

Blake's ego bristled at the remark, but he tamped it down. It felt refreshing to be treated normally sometimes. Leo Feldmanis was the only person in Otharia who dared to treat him like a person instead of a monster would might kill everybody should the wrong word be uttered, and he didn't want to ruin that. Sam was the only other person who didn't treat him like a bomb on a hair trigger, but the events of the past tangled the relationship between them on both sides. It was complicated.

"Well, I basically do. I can best improve Otharia with my creations, so the more time I have to work on them, the better."

Leo shook his head. "That's not acceptable. Either you are the leader of this country or you are not. I cannot work with a man who is not willing to accept the responsibilities that come with his station. As leader of Otharia, it comes down to you to apply your vision. You have a vision, do you not? Or did you just wipe out the previous regime on a whim?"

"Don't you think we're far too early to be talking about visions?" Blake countered. "We can't even grow enough food to feed the entire populace. Let's hold off on talk of visions until we can at least do that."

"That counts as a vision."

"It does? Okay, hop to it then. I'm working on a few things myself that might help."

"Actually that brings me to the real reason I came to talk to you. I want to form a Council."

"A 'Council'? You mean like a Cabinet of sorts?"

"Your troops have kept order through fear so far. That won't last forever, and even now Otharia is merely a country paralyzed. A true government must rise, and soon, or absolute chaos will fill that void. That means levels of structure, starting with you and me, and working down from there. We need guards, clerks, all of it."

"Right, sounds fair. Go round up some Ministers, then. I guess this would make you Chief of Staff. Congrats on your new title, Chief of Staff Feldmanis."

"You will, of course, be attending the meetings of the Council."

"Meetings? Sorry Leo, but I'm afraid I'm deathly allergic to meetings of any kind. Even ones with donuts."