Merit Night
And lo, they said, come to the manger, for there is a new meritant one.
And for true, a new meritclone was born, in the year of our lord, and the number was zero, for truly, he started it all, and in his merit, saved all of terrankind."
This of course, was purest propaganda, I knew it, I saw it enacted. Our "brethren" in the Terran Meritocracy, I use the term likely, would like themselves to believe, first of all, to be the part of an evolutionary process. But any process, in the end, is better than: 'arbitrarily chosen, because we like what you and your ancestors did'. Except this is the process they currently follow, it rings hollow to their youth, to their best and brightest. It rings hollow to those sacrificing themselves for the common cause, and who end up raising their clone-siblings, or clone-fathers, or clone-relatives. This is the term I will use for the rest of the text, upon pain of my editor.
Meritocracy writings on the origins of Merit Night are mysteriously absent between 2100 and 2275, where they start occurring in greater and greater number, as if numbers could supply a non-partisan explanation for their existance.
Meritocracy Elites scoff at anything but their own merit being responsible for their own rises, but it is in 2275, year of the Fatima-Cosmopolotan union, that documentation first appears for merit night. And used to raise a clone-relative's stock.
It should not shock anyone that when the two most powerful clone lines of the gold and silver factions basically signed a non-aggression pact, things were going to quiet down. But quiet is not the same thing as peace, nor is it necessarily the sign of good intent.
Terran Meritocrats, are after all, just the same type of political animal as those that thrive in autocracies, oligarchies and various other autharchies. There is nothing special in them being chosen from the same genetic material as their clones, this, has, after all been tried, and found to fail spectacularly in Pharaonic Egypt and, among others, Hapsburg Austria and Spain.
This could not be borne!
This could not be countenanced!
That an ambassador had written this!
What's worse, Ravinder Halifax liked Kristof Wraith, and had recommended him to his colleagues. This could kill one of the best planned careers in the meritocracy: his own.
In an office populated by clones, gene-relatives tended to like or dislike much the same people, so a premium was put on being able to disagree with the pack, to stand up on one's two feet was the phrase. But only if it produced results. Terran Meritocracy was very much unforgiving, as any absolute autocracy, of any deviation from the official line, that it was usually realized only after the fact was scant consolation upon those cancelled by the eventual official policy.
That it happened during Merit Week, well, Ravinder really prayed to the MeritChrist that no one did. The week before promotions were announced was hardly the best time to get egg on your face, after all, and he proceeded to blot out his mind with some particularly fine Single Malt, Irish Whisky from Terra, after all, had helped many, some much more meritant than him, forget their mistakes after all.
My father-in-law had invited us both back to Terra, for the winter festivus, and I was happy to indulge him. Thallax was hardly the cultural powerhouse Terra was, and even if it could have been, it wouldn't have given me an excuse to see my cousins and aunts and uncles again.
"Adian, Rachel, welcome, your presence warms this old man's heart."
"Stop it Daddy, you're scaring me. I came across so many light years to spend time with you, not to be reminded how it may just come to a halt!"
"Ah, Rachel, my child, but that's just why I brought you here... I'm old, I've made enemies, so of course, I want to Carpe Diem, before something happens. And not all of those are sinister, but some, certainly, are."
"Daddy!"
"Rache, love. I'm not so worried, I am on Terra, if my enemies knew where I was, there'd be lots more terrorism happening..."
"Beirut's downtown core was rocked by another suicide bomber today, bringing the month's total to six..." The television blared behind him.
"It is more than usual."
"But not here, Geneva is hardly the place people expect an ambassador to stay in."
"But Daddy, you're a native! Are they all such fools?"
"The strategy not to let them find Terra was rather important, child, and its execution still has merit! If they find our blue marble, I worry for our survival, it is only so safe, after all."
"How many exocarriers are in orbit now?"
"Twenty, in an icosahedral pattern, as you well know."
"Just Twenty?"
"No, Twenty fleet-leading Exocarriers, with four escorts each."
"Oh, so 100 ships total?"
"Yes, I had to insist, but I did insist, and they agreed before you took the ambassadorship, so no takebacksies, either."
"What about Mars?"
"Mars has a six-fleet arrangement to Earth's twenty, and Venus four, and Jupiter and Saturn four each as well."
"And how many total, for Sol System?"
"Sixty, there's 12 rovers. The place is just too big."
"Do we know how many fleets for Thallax?"
"No, but that's a very good question... If we knew what they felt was enough to defend Thallax, we'd have some idea how to defend Sol, I'll get some people on it."
"Four hundred!"
"I'm sorry?"
"Four hundred exocarriers, that's how many defend Thallax III!"
"Noy Jitat, father-in-law!"
"I know, four hundred is a LOT!"
And they don't stop there..."
"What do you mean?"
"That's four hundred for Thallax III, not Thallax System!"
"Oh, Noy Jitat, indeed!"
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