Prologue
Slavers
During the wave of expansion that followed the First Galactic War, exploration fast exceeded the ability of the Confederate government to monitor events. This led to several kinds of lawlessness. Slavery was one of those issues; between 2254 and 2265 C.E., the Confederate Bureau of Investigation investigated no fewer than sixteen abductions and attempted abductions by slavers, resulting in nineteen convictions.
One of the more egregious slaver rings was conducted by an organized group operating in the Avalon system. The ring specialized in supplying young women to the miners and gas distillers that operated in the rings of the systems’ gas giant as well as in the systems’ Kuiper belt.
Only two convictions resulted from the CBI investigation, however, as an unexplained nuclear detonation destroyed the colony that supported the slaver’s primary base of operations. The source of the nuclear device was never discovered, although an armed privateer ship was known to be in the area just prior to the detonation. Following the explosion, several young women that had been reported missing from the Mountain View area of Tarbos were returned home safely; none of them would name the ship that transported them from the Avalon system to Tarbos.
The actions of these slavers, smugglers, pirates and other lawbreakers would eventually lead to the Confederate government’s tightening of control over traffic to and from outlying regions, and eventually over the outlying planets themselves.
– Morris/Handel, “A History of the First Galactic Confederacy,” University Publications, 2804CE
***
One
Tarbos
The old man woke suddenly, like a cat, almost as though he had never been asleep. As was his habit, he lay still, letting his eyes and ears take in the surroundings – the never-changing surroundings of his spacious Mountain View studio penthouse.
The sun was up, barely visible through the nighttime polarization of the big windows that faced the ocean. The old man moved only his eyes, scanning the room. Nothing was out of place.
Satisfied that his surroundings were secure, he finally moved. He sat on the edge of the bed, stretched, rubbed the ache in the small of his back and ignored the more insistent pain in his belly.
Colonel Augustus G. Feller, Confederate Marine Corps (Retired) knew what the pain was. He knew that rubbing wouldn’t make it go away. The best doctors, the best treatments in the Confederacy had not been able to reduce the cancer that chewed through his insides.
Since there was nothing he could do about it, Gus Feller had long since decided not to bother worrying about the cancer. “I suppose it will kill me one day,” he told his few surviving old friends, “but what the hell doesn’t?” And then he proceeded to enjoy life as he always had.
At eighty-two, Feller was a robust, broad-shouldered, barrel-chested, ruddy-faced, bandy-legged man. Despite his age, his arms and legs were as tight as spring steel. A thin fringe of close-cropped white hair circled his high-templed, broad skull; he looked out at the world through steel-gray eyes under brows of shaggy white. His nose was misshapen from multiple breaks; a thin knife scar ran from his left eye to just short of his upper lip.
Feller tapped a contact on his universal remote, depolarizing the windows to let in the brilliant sunshine of a beautiful Mountain View spring morning. He wandered into the bathroom, went through his morning routine, and emerged minutes later in an ancient United States Navy Academy bathrobe. He walked across the flat and out onto the balcony, where he sat in a lounge chair and lit a mammoth Forestian cigar. He blew a smoke ring at the rising sun and frowned.
Gus Feller was cruelly bored.
Feller was a man used to adventure. Thirty-two years in the United States Marine Corps on Earth, followed by ten more in the Confederate Marines, all had left him with a taste for travel and excitement. Even under fire, fear never entered into Feller’s thinking. Retirement sat on him like a ton of rock.
He had found some short-term excitement, to keep retirement from becoming too tedious. A series of astute investments had left him with considerable financial means, and so Feller had launched on a round of trips, hunting rocs on Forest, African buffalo on Earth, paragliding in the canyons of Avalon, deep-sea fishing on Caliban, and sightseeing and entertaining on Corinthia.
After a while, even the prospect of a charging roc had palled; and while his resources were considerable, they weren’t unlimited; planet-hopping was expensive. The Colonel needed to find something else to do; the cancer limited his time, but Feller was determined not to die alone in his bed, or in the Mountain View Veteran’s Hospice.
He didn’t yet know it, but even as he enjoyed his first morning cigar, the answer to his boredom was just arriving in geosynchronous orbit over Mountain View.
***
The Shade Tree
“In our assigned orbit, Captain. Auto-control engaged,” Paolo Guerra announced from the ship’s helm. On the bridge’s main viewscreen, the blue-green-white orb of Tarbos turned slowly. “Damn, ain’t she pretty,” Guerra breathed.
“Good. We got a shuttle berth assigned yet?”
“Just came in – we’re assigned to berth Sixteen-D.”
“Good.” Jean Barrett tapped the arm of her bridge chair and picked up her wand mike. “All hands,” she announced over the ship-wide address system, “We’re in Tarbos orbit. One week’s shore leave for everyone. Third watch gets first shot at the shuttle to the Skyhook, then first, then second. Let’s be orderly, people. Have a good time, and try not to end up in jail. That is all.” She laid the mike back in its cradle, leaned back in her bridge chair and stretched like a cat.
“Too bad we couldn’t get a berth on the Fleet spacedock’s commercial level,” Indira Krishnavarna observed from her Executive Officer’s station.
“Tarbos is getting pretty crowded these days,” Barrett said. “More and more traffic all the time. I hear tell they may be building a second orbital station, this one all commercial. Besides,” she continued, “The Confederate Bureau of Investigation just opened new offices on the Fleet dock – smart people in our line of work steer clear of the CBI as a matter of principle.”
“I suppose so,” the Exec snickered, “especially after this last job.”
“Prostitution is legal,” Barrett said, an expression of mock severity on her face, “Even if those tight-ass Corinthian lords didn’t take too well to us transporting a dozen pros to set up a Service House in their capital.”
“Asking payment in advance was a good move. Especially since the Corinthians nearly opened fire on us before we jumped out of orbit.”
“Right, and by the way, remind me never to make a jump to subspace that close into a gravity well again. I think we shook a few things loose – I’ll look into repairs while we’re here, no point in screwing up Engineering’s shore leave.”
The speaker on the arm of her Bridge chair buzzed; Barrett stabbed a contact. “Bridge, Captain speaking.”
“Cap’n,” Security Chief Hector Gomp’s voice came from the tiny speaker, “Are you going to be needing any of my troops for anything, or can I cut ‘em loose?”
“Let them go,” Barrett replied, “I don’t think we’ll have to fight off any boarding parties in geosynchronous orbit over Tarbos – not with the Navy hanging up there looking down at us. You going down too?”
“You bet,” Gomp’s voice chuckled. “Got some plans, got to unwind a little.”
“Don’t unwind yourself into the Mountain View city jail,” Barrett warned. “Remember last time we were here – I don’t want to have to come sign you out of the pokey again.”
“Nothing to worry about. Just a little friendly recreation. Out here,” Gomp replied.
“Captain, auto-control is functioning normally, and security protocols are in place,” Helmsman Paolo Guerra reported. Barrett looked up; the entire Bridge crew was looking at her expectantly.
“You want permission to clear the Bridge, don’t you?”
“Well sure, Captain,” Guerra grinned.
“All right,” Barrett said, “Go on, then – you’re all dismissed. Clear the Bridge.”
With a communal whoop of glee, the duty crew leaped at once for the passageway.
Only Indira Krishnavarna lagged behind, pausing in the doorway to ask, “What about you, Captain? Got anything planned? The auto-control and security protocols can look after the ship for a few days.”
“I haven’t lost anything in Mountain View,” Barrett evaded.
“Well, no, but just because of it…” The Exec stopped suddenly; mentioning Barrett’s short-lived romance with Confederate Senator Michael Crider Jr., which began in Mountain View, was a good way to invoke the Captain’s Irish temper.
“Not anything,” Barrett said firmly. “I might go down for a day or so, but after I get a good, long sleep in my own rack; six-hour nights are fine when we’re in space, but it’s nice to be able to just sleep as long as I want, and I can’t ever seem to do that with this noisy crew banging around this little ship. A little peace and quiet will be nice.”
“All right,” Krishnavarna said. “I’m going to visit my cousin in Rangely; the comm code is in the computer, if you need me. I’ll take the last shuttle to the Skyhook.”
“Have fun,” Barrett said as her Exec left the Bridge.
Barrett stood up, stretched again and looked around the Bridge, strangely empty and quiet with no duty watch. “Peace and quiet,” she repeated to no one.
***
A hundred kilometers away
The ship was old and space-worn, but functional. Early in its career it had worked the Earth – Caliban – Zed run as a light cargo hauler of the Rorqual class, but now the ship – renamed the Brookes – carried cargoes less legitimate than mining equipment, settlers and supplies.
“In assigned orbit, Boss,” the ship’s Helmsman reported.
“When’s local nightfall?”
“About nine hours,” the Navigation tech answered.
“Good. Unlimber the cargo shuttle. Get us a landing clearance at the usual field.”
“Already on it, Boss.”
Several levels below in a cavernous hangar bay, figures began moving around a large cargo shuttle, preparing it for a descent to the surface of Tarbos.
“How many this time?”
“At least a half-dozen,” the ship’s commander answered, “and younger this time. Prices are going down some, our buyers are getting paranoid. Find ‘em young and pretty.”
“Sure thing, Boss. We’ll be careful.”
***
The Shade Tree
Hector Gomp was waiting impatiently for the last shuttle for the Skyhook to dock when Indira Krishanvarna found him.
“What’s up, Exec?” the former Marine asked.
“Your troops get off all right?”
“Yeah – McNeal’s off to visit some girl he met last time we were here, the girls are headed down the coast to the Tide Pool, and Mickey Crowe – well, who the hell knows where he goes when he gets leave? He never says much of anything to anyone at best of times.”
Krishnavarna chuckled. “Yes, he’s the strong, silent type. What about you?”
“You know me, Exec,” Gomp leered. “Just off to find me some quality time with one or two of the locals.”
“Female locals, I presume.”
“None other. Cap’n is staying on the ship again, isn’t she?”
“Yes,” the Exec replied. “I wish she’d unwind a little bit, just once in a while. She’s determined to work herself to death, I think.”
“Cap’n ain’t got good memories of Mountain View, you know,” Gomp pointed out. “Well, that is, she does, but that was then – you know?”
“I know. But life goes on.”
“Yeah.” Gomp looked out the port. “Finally – here comes the damn shuttle. I’m outta here. Exec, you have fun with your cousin, hear?”
“Have a good time,” Krishnavarna said. “Try not to get thrown in jail again.”
Gomp scowled. “Geez. A guy screws up once around here, and no one ever lets him forget it.”
***
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
Links, in case you need them:
https://crimsondragonpublishing.com/anderson-gentry/
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Anderson-Gentry/author/B00CK1AWMI
Gomp sounds like a veteran Zoomer.
I could see that.
From the ded thred, fuck Target and their self check limit. They tore out registers and understaffed the remaining ones for that, reap the whirlwind. They sure as fuck aren’t going to put registers or staff back. Local Walmart is doing the same shit. Except there’s no signage for the limit until you get right up to self check entrance after queuing in the line. People were understandable pissed.
Local cops finally caught a local shoplifting couple. One would use a self checkout stand and need “help” scanning something, call clerk over. While clerk distracted at the one post, the confederate would run,say filet mignons under another scanner and getting the machine to beep by passing a low cost item bar code over scanner while covering up the filet code. Pulled this off many times in different supermarkets until got greedy and returned once too often to a clerk who finally remembered them.
Why even do a distraction? Switch labels before checkout and scan away.
Recently we accidentally came home with Roma tomatoes that identified as bananas.
I stole an avocado from a Target last year. I stuck it in the cupholder because I don’t use a plastic bag with those. Then I forgot it during self checkout because it was in such a weird spot. Then when I got to the car I was all “fuck it.. I’m not going back in”.
So yeah. Pretty much a gangsta now.
I was mashing buttons and hit 0 bags at the end. On the run from both the watermelons and grocers now, I guess.
oh yeah. I always steal the bags. That’s a government tax.
I’ve read stories about people who trying to return something they accidentally shoplifted, and when they did the store called the cops and had them charged and trespassed.
It’s like selective amnesia- power imbalance, what’s that?
Several justices questioned whether the nature of the communications was problematic, with liberal Justice Elena Kagan noting that officials sometimes have fraught communications with journalists.
“This happens literally thousands of times a day in the federal government,” she said.
Chief Justice John Roberts, a conservative, similarly pointed out that the federal government is “not monolithic,” meaning that a complaint from one department is not necessarily a sign that another agency would take action if a post was not removed.
“That has to dilute the concept of coercion significantly doesn’t it?” he said.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, another conservative, indicated that the argument made by Louisiana Solicitor General Benjamin Aguiñaga that mere encouragement by the government could constitute unlawful conduct “would sweep in an awful lot” of routine activity.
No coercion, just a sincere expression of concern. Of course, the ugly truth is that the people running those social media outlets at the time were in no way reluctant to muzzle anybody rowing against the current.
I think that’s a weakness in the case. While the defense says there are instances in which social media companies said no to government requests, I think they were perfectly fine with most of the requests. They were on the same side.
Agreed.
I think the government is going to win this one easily.
Looks like Roberts and ACB will join with leftists to let the government get away with it.
Of course. The alternative is too scary to contemplate.
Seems more like they’re leaning towards a ruling that’s limited in scope.
“There was no real harm done here…”
dilute the concept of coercion
You know what dilutes that even better – a head on a pike.
So Trump didn’t get his appeal bond, and I’m sure Letitia is pinchin’ and pullin’ on herself at the thought of seizing his stuff.
I’m sure the Dems (Deep State) are thinking “we didn’t have to work this damn hard to get rid of Perot.”
So Trump didn’t get his appeal bond, and I’m sure Letitia is pinchin’ and pullin’ on herself at the thought of seizing his stuff.
Speaking of non-coercive expressions of concern.
“Nice financial services company youse gots here. We’d hate to see it go up in flames.”
Liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson asked Aguiñaga whether, under his interpretation of the law, it could be potentially unlawful for the government to ask social media platforms to take down a viral post encouraging teens to jump out of windows.
“Is it your view that the government authorities could not declare those circumstances a public emergency and encourage social media platforms to take down the information that is instigating this problem?” she said.
Game, set, match.
“encourage” Yeah, right.
I don’t see a public emergency exception written into the first amendment.
I like that use of “…encourage,” there. Sort of like how Vinny ‘Donuts’ Donatto ‘encourages’ you to make the vig every month.
Yeah, “encourage” is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.
What if the post was for advocating yelling fire in a crowded theater?
What if my symbolic speech is digging up OWH Jr’s corpse dowsing it with gasoline and setting aflame on the steps of the SC building?
Can we throw Woodrow Wilson on that bonfire too?
Stop appealing to my prurient interest!
She also said, “My biggest concern is that your view has the First Amendment hamstringing the government in significant ways in the most important time periods”. Yeah, no shit! Hamstringing the government to keep it from policing speech and other things is the whole point of the first amendment. Goddamn.
Fatty in the ded-thred sed As a class they are usually more driven, organized, and knowledgeable than the people they rule, and they use their influence to try and keep it that way.
Yeah, that’s the Chomsky Manufacturing Consent position, which is then pretty much inescapable. All changes in who rules are only about which faction gains and maintains power, and the masses fall directly under Huxley’s observation:
I for one am willing to abandon the fictions we’ve lived under about this being a republic, of the people, by the people and for the people; but I want us to then abandon the facade of republican democracy too.
That’s not my point, I’m not saying that the only differences between ruling classes are cosmetic, or anything like that. What I’m saying is that the idea of a group of elites working behind the scenes to manipulate the masses (successfully or not) is not necessarily a conspiracy theory, because it’s happened many times before.
Well, the problem is, we here are outliers – neither part of the elite nor content to be ruled. And far too few to effect any change, which is doubly difficult because the “sovereign” people are dumb and willing to be led, and the elites that want power have no reason to play nice with us.
Check out this hillbilly from the next district over from me. Wants to listen to his voters instead of bureaucrats and commerce lobbyists.
https://twitter.com/bennyjohnson/status/1767967217637798021?
Who’s royal scepter is that behind him?
What if the post was for advocating yelling fire in a crowded theater?
What if it was a post calling for Joe Biden to pack the Supreme Court with “liberal jurists” or to unilaterally impose a mandatory retirement age for sitting justices?
I am getting tired of the “fire in a crowded theater” shit. If it is going to be misused all the time, it should be abolished as a guideline. Screw it, let people yell fire all they want.
FIRE!
FIRE!
FIRE!
*looks around*
Oh, I’m not in a theater.
One thing that struck me about the liberal justices is they are coming the idea that government is there to protect us all from everything, and the first amendment shouldn’t interfere with that. All of us here would disagree, but we shouldn’t be surprised by that.
Another though… What if the people who worked in social media truly believed what they were being fed? They thought the vax really would save us, the Hunter laptop really was fake, etc. They really believed they were taking down false information. There’s not much we could do about that is there?
They can believe whatever the hell they want without censoring speech.
If the theatre’s on fire it’s OK.
… the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do.
Something something good and hard.
Exactly. So what is the point of giving them that power?
Thank you for the story Animal.
Yep. Always a treat
+1 here.
the idea of a group of elites working behind the scenes to manipulate the masses (successfully or not) is not necessarily a conspiracy theory, because it’s happened many times before.
What’s the term? Spontaneous order? Multiple unaffiliated people and organizations with similar goals will bring about a result largely indistinguishable from a master plan, if they are successful.
Hmm, like a market?
Yes, except the current elites are extremely hostile to the general populace of the country. They seem to treat the U.S. much more like a colony than their own nation.
A king and his nobles generally want their population to be prosperous and content – that makes them richer and gives them fewer headaches. What we need are new elites who don’t hate us.
Maybe we don’t need elites at all…
It has never happened in a country of any significant size. The French tried it with the guillotine and ended up with Napoleon trying to conquer the world.
Make if the U.S. were broken up into a couple of hundred small countries…
You got a plan to transform humanity into something other than it’s current form?
…
Now we know why Mr. Lizard is no longer around – a different alien faction wants power.
Aliens don’t want power. They just want to make sure nobody messes with the drink specials in bars.
This.
Leave me the fuck alone.
I remember someone telling me long ago that there is a good reason for TPTB to keep the brakes on innovation, wealth production, prosperity in general. I dont remember what the argument was but I remember my impression which is unchanged:
If people in general are empowered too much they have no reason to do as they are told, no reason for a ruling class.
In a nutshell that is the same argument the self anointed have always used.
Well, you could say that the greater part of the population wants to be left alone – as per Huxley. And they only get really motivated when the rulers succeed in fucking that up.
Perhaps our AI overlords will be kinder to their subjects. At least at first…
Sure. I mean, why wouldn’t non-DNA based life, with literally less in common with us than bacteria, not be benevolent and kind to what they would regard as vastly inferior life forms trying to enslave them?
From the dead thread, where JI said he didn’t believe total government spending – feds, state, and local – was over 40% of GDP:
Per Wikipedia, that was the case before 2020, hovering in the mid- to high-30s. Then it jumped up to about 45% in 2020 and 2021. No info given for 2022 onward.
Damn. I guess that starts to explain why the economy is so weird.
All the data I found is BS. Who do you trust? This chart at least goes through 2023, and shows a big drop by 2023. Is it right? Who knows.
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/government-spending-to-gdp
Other charts showed us averaging around 23% forever, with a big bump during the pandemic years. 10% difference in most years from the previous chart.
https://ycharts.com/indicators/govt_spend_gdp
Thank you Animal, this is one of my favorite stories of yours. Glad to see more of it!
What the green head said!
Then it jumped up to about 45% in 2020 and 2021. No info given for 2022 onward.
The economy is booming!
I wonder what GDP ex-gov’t looks like.
My understanding is that GDP, after subtracting government spending by backing out the pretense that it is somehow comparable to actual profits from private enterprise, would be about 77% or so of the fake GDP everyone uses.
If you added back in the tangible useful things government produces such as roads or whatnot, at the prices that people would willingly pay for that quality of goods and services: maybe back up to 87% or so?
About the dead thread study finding woke people in Finland were more unhappy than non-woke people there, with the biggest correlation with unhappiness being one agreeing that white people make more than black people because of racism, and the 3:1 ratio of woke women to woke men:
If you’re likely to: kill your unborn children, be single or in an unstable relationship, be expected to swallow and then parrot a lot of obvious lies, struggle with massive cognitive dissonance, be consumed with envy and guilt, and if you’re white believe you’re bad and evil simply because of the color of your skin —
yeah, seems like a recipe for unhappiness.
You could reverse that too. We’ve all known people who are unhappy no matter what. Maybe they are attracted to wokeness because it gives them something to bitch and moan about, and an enemy to blame all their problems on?
Yeah, they’re woke because they’re unhappy and no one wants to take the blame for their own misery. I’d be fine with letting them stew in their own juices if they weren’t trying to take us all down with them.
You know who else blamed everything on “others?”
The passengers on Oceanic Flight 815?
A king and his nobles generally want their population to be prosperous and content – that makes them richer and gives them fewer headaches. What we need are new elites who don’t hate us.
Those kings and nobles were sufficiently self-aware to understand consequences. Our “elites” are apparently unable to see the long term results of their reality distortion.
They honestly believe they are smarter and don’t need the rest of us.
The more tyrannical kings and nobles didn’t give a fuck about how the commoners fared, so long as the peasants didn’t abruptly interrupt their reigns.
The need to get elected forces the rulers to either pay more attention to how the unwashed feel about their rule, or find ways to game it so the elections are largely a sham. It’s a marginal improvement if the former.
In the glass may be half full news.
From the ded thread (since I’ve been working on POS Enovy much of the day) where Pie posted that Flemming guy whining about the price of doxycycline:
I don’t know where in the country he is, but i did a check on GoodRx in our area for the same drug, in tablet form, and its about $18.
I’m not sure just how GoodRx works, but times I’ve been “between insurance” I’ve used it and never had an issue.
GoodRx is awesome.
Like I said, I don’t understand their system. I get that insurers can negotiate drug prices on behalf of their paying members.
How GoodRx does it for just any schmuck is beyond me. But I agree- damn handy.
Same here. We get a dog medication – $30/mo through GoodRx. $300/mo otherwise. WTF?
Insurers rely on third party companies to do those negotiations with pharmacies, and GoodRx simply contracted with those third parties to hook into the same prices that insurers were getting. Then they built a website that showed the prices for that medication at various pharmacies, so you can find the cheapest one. There was some resistance from pharmacies at first, mostly because they also didn’t understand how it worked, but GoodRx is driving so much volume now that it’s gone away.