Only Human (Themis Files #3)(30)

[They have a law that prevents them from interfering, Eva.]

—Rose, I don’t think you wanna go there. Eva has … strong feelings about those great Ekt principles. I don’t want us to fight on her birthday. Besides, all of this is more or less your fault.

[My fault?]

Where do you think she gets all these ideas? Certainly not from me.

[You think I …]

No, I don’t. You love the Council. You’re—

[I don’t—]

I’m not done yet. You’re the one who convinced me to let her work at that soup kitchen. That place is filled with nothing but starving aliens, most of them with a bunch of illegal kids to feed. Not exactly the most Council-friendly place around.

[I didn’t realize. I’m sorry.]

Hey. You’re not the one telling them how many children they can have.

[The Ekt don’t have a lot of children. They’re trying to keep a balance between—]

—They’re trying to weed them out!

[That’s not …]

Oh, come on, Rose!

—I’m afraid Eva’s got you on this one, Rose. That’s not a political opinion, it’s just math. One child per person. That’s half as many children every generation if they reproduce the way we do. These people wouldn’t be here at all if they followed the rules.

—Why do you keep defending them, Rose?

[I’m not defen … maybe I am. I just think it’s not as simple as it seems. They didn’t pick those principles out of a hat, there’s history behind them, there’s a reason. I agree that there might be some consequences to—]

Might be?

[There are some unfortunate consequences, but there’s a lot more to the Ekt than their noninterference policy. They have as close to a pure democracy as I’ve ever seen. They vote on everything, from the color of lampposts to medical-research priorities. These people have more control over their own lives than we’ve ever had.]

—OK, Rose, that’s enough.

[I was just …]

I know. I know. Let’s just change the subject.

—I can’t listen to this. I’ll see you guys later.

[What? Why?]

—Eva, come on! It’s your birthday!

—Save me some cake, will you?

—Eva! Come back inside!

[Vincent, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say.]

It’s OK, Rose, she’s … She’s …

[She’s what?]

She’s a teenager without a mother. She’s trying to make sense of the world around her, only it’s not her world. It’s … She’s also right, you know?

[About what?]

You do sound a little brainwashed. A “pure democracy”?

[I said close to.]

OK, so you know about physics. If we lived here, officially, you’d get to vote on anything that has to do with physics. If you knew about bugs, you’d get to vote on bug stuff. You’d also get to vote on mundane things you don’t need any special knowledge for, but for the important things, you’d need to know what you’re talking about.

[I don’t see how that’s a bad thing.]

But who decides if you know what you’re talking about?

[There are committees that assign credentials.]

And who decides who sits on those committees?

[The committees choose their own members. They …]

Now you’re getting it. If you live in Osk and your skin isn’t the right shade of olive, you don’t get to vote on anything but where to plant trees. The people here, they get to be on committees and stuff, but the policies that affect them most, anything having to do with people of alien descent, that’s not done locally. Do you think there’s anyone that looks like Esok on the Great Council of Akitast? Do you think there’ll ever be?

[You’re saying the system is rigged against them.]

They’re saying the system is rigged against them. I’m saying they’re not even a part of it, not in a meaningful sense anyway. They’ve been sold the illusion of democracy. And they bought it! They really bought it. They don’t want to get rid of the system. They’re asking for more representation in it. They don’t even realize that the whole thing is purposely built to keep them out. The Ekt basically renounced a whole empire, power over thousands of planets, just to get rid of all the aliens here. Half-aliens were just never part of the plan. They’re a compromise. They’re like bicycles in a city without bike paths. It wasn’t designed with them in mind.

[I don’t think their decision to take power away from the emperor had anything to do with race.]

You don’t think so? I heard the story. The emperor did something stupid, they got their ass kicked, and they wanted to make sure it wouldn’t happen again. But there’s a big difference between not meddling with other worlds, and kicking out everyone who doesn’t look exactly like you. This is entirely about race. These people got scared, 9/11-style, only much worse, and they started to fear anything and anyone that wasn’t Ekt. This is populism on steroids. These people went all in. They got rid of the scary people, the political elite. Hell, they got rid of central government altogether.





FILE NO. EE109—PERSONAL FILE FROM ESAT EKT


Personal Journal Entry—Eva Reyes