Children of the Fleet (Fleet School #1)(79)

Second, if their land is desirable and they seem not to be using extensive tracts of it, we will delude ourselves that the land is “empty” and will allow “limited” colonization. We will do this because the planet will already be promised to a group of colonists, who will already be on the way to it and cannot be turned back until they arrive.

Co-occupation of a planet with an indigenous sentient species will inevitably lead to genocide or sequestration of the natives, unless their technology is equal or superior to our own, in which case our outnumbered colonizing force will be destroyed.

Therefore, any approach to an alien goldilocks planet must be conducted exactly as one would approach an enemy whose intentions are not yet known.

This does not mean that the normal military decision-making process will be appropriate, primarily because the normal military decision-making process is not appropriate for the military, so it would be insane to transfer it to exploratory expeditions.

Good commanders, military and otherwise, recognize these laws:

1. Nobody thinks of everything.

2. Not everybody thinks of anything.

3. In a genuine emergency, the course of action will be unanimously and immediately recognized and carried out; good leadership in such a case consists of maintaining order and keeping records.

4. If it is not a genuine emergency, then inaction is the best policy until there is enough information to allow the decision-making group to pool information and offer multiple suggestions.

5. Retreat is a course of action. In most emergencies it is the obvious best course. Otherwise, desirable inaction includes not retreating.

6. The leader who consults only himself is so stupid and dangerous as to constitute an emergency requiring his immediate removal. The process of removal must not be treated as mutiny.

7. Consultation requires asking, listening, and considering. It does not require compliance. The leader must explain the reasons for the ultimate decision.

8. The duty of team members who are not the leader is to provide the leader and other team members with as much information and as many possible courses of action as possible, including irrelevant information, since the determination of relevancy is preemptive decision-making.

From MinCol: Dabeet is finally getting some idea of why he is alive.

To MinCol: A purpose imposed on a child by another, however well-intentioned, will invariably cause the child to regard it as the most detestable of all possible goals and he will devote his life to obliterating or obliviating it.

From MinCol: Unless the purpose-imposer is actually helping the child realize the child’s own unconscious desires.

To MinCol: Thus do parents and teachers deceive themselves into believing they are omniscient. The belief in one’s own omniscience is the least reparable form of ignorance.

From MinCol: The fact that I continue to consult with you is proof that I have mastered Dabeet’s eight principles. And also the dozens of principles he has not yet detected.

To MinCol: The fact that you continue to meddle in Dabeet’s life in every circumstance except actual emergencies is proof that the time I spend consulting with you is completely wasted.

From MinCol: Keep up the good work.

Dabeet knew perfectly well that nobody would see anything suspicious about a meeting of the team of builders. Toons and special squads met together whenever they needed to decide something or plan something or get some kind of training.

But Dabeet was so tense and alert as the team assembled that he felt a little nauseated and a little faint. He had never felt this way before, and he even wondered if he might be coming down with something.

Then, when everyone was there, Dabeet realized that he wasn’t tense out of fear that the teachers or staff would suspect something strange or dangerous was going on. He was tense because he didn’t know whose meeting this was. While he and Monkey had decided to assemble everybody, she was the one who actually notified the others. Did that mean she was in charge of this meeting? Or would it be Zhang He?

And now that they were all here, he knew. It was Monkey’s meeting. That came as a great relief. Dabeet briefly tried to figure out why. Had he been afraid that it would be Zhang’s meeting? Despite Zhang’s recent hostility, Dabeet still regarded him with great respect. And, if he was really to be honest with himself, he still felt trust in and affection toward Zhang He.

Why not? Zhang was the first to join him in the battleroom, the first to accept Dabeet’s leadership. Who cared what his motive was? Nobody was ever going to be Dabeet’s friend because they thought he was so bacana. And he wouldn’t want to have friends who chose their friends on the basis of general coolness. Merit was what mattered, and no matter what Zhang He said, Dabeet knew that Zhang had joined with him because Dabeet was doing something interesting and useful that nobody else was doing.

That was then. This meeting wasn’t about innovative battleroom tactics. And another reason Dabeet felt relieved, he realized, was that because Monkey took charge of the meeting, it meant Dabeet didn’t have to. That would have been very hard, since the meeting was about dealing with danger that Dabeet had brought to Fleet School with him.

Not by my choice, thought Dabeet. But whom was he arguing with? Keep silent, he told himself. Let others say what they will. All that matters is that this group of innovative, cooperative, intelligent people participate in trying to solve the problem.

And then Dabeet thought: Am I one of that group?