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Aberrant: The Middle Children of History - Throwing stones in glass houses


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It was just another day in Sierra Leone. All the same problems were there. The mining companies were still abusing her citizens, the food shortage was still not fully resolved and there were dozens of things that needed to be resolved still. Elspeth, or rather, her clone fretted that it would take forever to get it all fixed. That's why she wasn't entirely thrilled with this morning's appointment.

Garrett Anar. A Sierra Leone native who had erupted and joined Utopia as a lawyer... it was not a combination that pleased the Queen. She had given some thought to trying to lure him away from Utopia but it would be hard to trust a man that had chosen to work for the enemy. To his credit, he had erupted while Jarutu was in power and it's not like he could have gone to work for Elspeth, she was in hiding at the time. At least he hadn't offered his services to that vile pig of a usurper.

Speculation aside, he was here, back in the country and requesting an audience. The question was whether he was coming to see her on his own behalf or on behalf of Utopia. She wished Darres was here to stand at her back and guard her, but he was out with the Army on maneuvers. It was ok. This Elspeth was a clone and therefore expendable. If he turned out to be an assassin and succeeded then there wouldn't be any loss to the nation.

Taking a deep breath and composing herself at the desk in her study, she pressed the intercom button and asked that Mr. Anar be shown in.

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Garrett got up from his seat when he was told the Queen would see him now. He reflected that his self-delusions that convinced him to join Utopia would make his efforts more difficult, but he figured what he had to pass on would make his obtaining a new occupation easier.

After all, he wasn't supposed to be passing this on.

His briefcase was filled with the incriminating files, and he was feeling lightened with their contents instead of burdened. Focusing his mind to search out any lies and study emotions, he stepped into the Queen's office.

He nodded his head respectfully in a half-bow for the young queen. "Your Highness."

Click to reveal..

Activated Lie Detector and Natural Empath. QP 24/26

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Elspeth rose gracefully from her seat and nodded her head to her visitor. "Welcome home Mr. Anar. My assistant said you have important information to share."

She gestured to the chair before her desk, "But first, have a seat and be comfortable and tell me what you think of the city since your return? I assume you visited home at some point during Jarutu's rule? It's not so grand or prosperous as it was during my parent's reign, but I think you'll be impressed with the changes I've made since my coronation."

Click to reveal..

Elspeth too is activating lie detector, although she is making no effort to use any of her socials on Garrett.

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"I was there for the early part, actually." Garrett took a seat before continuing, letting the briefcase down by his chair. "My family had done well enough, but my father pissed off someone with connections to some of Jarutu's highly-placed men, and we decided to flee to America."

"The city is much better, since I last saw it. You're doing as well as your parents are, given Utopia wants to knock your family out and damn the consequences." A brief line of anger was on his face, but the lines disappeared.

"Now, you may ask, why did I join Utopia? The answer: the reason I believe baselines and novas are the same. Human foibles. I had that kind of euphoria when I erupted, and I knew Utopia could unmake Jarutu, given the right pushing. I was wrong. They're quite scared of you it seems."

His face was calm, but Elspeth knew he had an amazing ability to remain calm and quick-witted no matter what. His true emotions were not necessarily clear, but it seemed his words were true.

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Elspeth trusted her abilities enough to believe the man wasn't lying, but she would still be cautious.

"Utopia is fixated on the fact that I am a known member of the Teragen as were my parents and for that reason they were prepared to allow an entire people suffer rather than let a Teragen member succeed and be an example to others. Never mind the fact that I completely disagree with the violent elements of the movement as did my parents before me." A tiny bit of the bitterness that was in her heart showed on her face as she spoke.

"I believe in Noblesse Oblige. I have the power therefore I have the responsibility. I didn't depose Jarutu because of revenge, although, I won't lie, that was certainly a factor. I did it because I have the responsibility to see to these people who looked to my parents for leadership. It is in my ability to help them so it is my responsibility. Yes we are of a different species, Homo Sapiens Sapiens and Homo Sapiens Novus, but unlike many within the movement I do not believe that our destiny is separate from our kin. I tell you this because most make assumptions about me simply because I've been labeled Teragen."

"From your presence and your words, I take it there is something that has changed?"

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"That's a given." Garrett replied straight-faced. He picked up the briefcase and propped it onto the desk. "But, to go to the primary reason I am here, I have brought gifts, or ill news if you see it a certain way."

As he unlocked the clasps, he acknowledged, "I suspect the latter myself."

Inside were a plethora of documents, a quick glance confirming the certainly given presence of legalese words. "You can read it at your leisure, but in summary, Utopia is trying to gather- and cook up I suspect- evidence that you've been enslaving people with your nova charm, and thus drag you into the International Criminal Court."

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Elspeth sighed a certain weariness of soul settling on her. "I expected this, but not quite so soon. I suspect they are rushing into this to keep me busy and distracted from the issue with the diamond miners."

She moved the stack of papers and folders so that she could better read them. "This could take me a while to go through. I trust you are already familiar with them?" Seeing Garrett's nod, she went on, "I will need some time to process this. If you are inclined to help perhaps you will return tomorrow at this time and offer whatever suggestions you have formulated? By then I should be thoroughly familiar with the contents." She waited to see how the other man would respond.

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"Merely give the time and I will be there." Garrett assured the queen. Once he got his answer, he straightly nodded with a composed face. "I hope the rest of the day does not go like this. Good day, your highness."

He got up, bowed, and departed. All in all, not a bad effort, and it looked to have gone as he hoped. The hotel had some good food, and it best be consumed while working out those recommendations.

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Three Elspeth's poured over the documents Garrett had provided. Each of the three had read the entire pile at least once and tried to look at it from a different angle. Many hours later the three merged back into one letting the accumulated knowledge of all three come together in one mind. It was not good. Utopia obviously had one of their mega brains think this thing up. If Elspeth denied the accusations or took preemptive action it would look to the world like she was guilty, despite the fact that the charges were completely false. She could not stand aside and ignore them either or her political enemies would take legal action against her and make it harder for her to rule effectively. She could always cut her nation off from the rest of the world and rule as she saw fit and ignore the UN, but that would either lead to military action by Utopia and the UN or it would make her just like the petty despots around the world who put their own power before the good of their people.

And that was the rub. "My people really would be better off with an elected democratic government than being cut off from the world..."

Elsepth found herself looking down over a huge map of Sierra Leone with such detail that she felt that she could see individual buildings and even people in the streets, but it had to be a map because she could see the entire country at a glance and there were lines drawn on the map indicating borders and boundaries between her nation and it's neighbors. But as she watched the lines wiggled and moved expanding and contracting in an intricate dance of death and blood. She understood with the clarity of the dream that the lines themselves were drawn with the blood of thousands of beings, but as she looked again it was no longer just a map of Sierra Leone, it was all of Africa and then expanded to be the entire world. No matter where she looked the lines danced and the colors of the nations changed slowly being stained with blood until the entire map became tinged with various shades of red, bright as newly spilled blood or dark brownish red of old dried blood. One thing stood out, Sierra Leone was not spared. Above the capital city waved a flag different than her own. In the dream state she knew it was the Democratic Republic of Sierra Leone, and it was splattered with dirt and blood.

Elspeth came to with a start. She had these visions from time to time and the nearly always left her with a slightly disturbed feeling like now. The message was clear, stepping away from her responsibilities would not save her people, it would only condemn them to suffer the same fate as the rest of the world. Her plan was still best, she would lead them to a place of safety, those who freely wished to follow.

With a sense of determination she decided to fight Utopia. It came to her in a flash that the only way to defeat this attack was to meet it head on and do it in a court of law. Utopia was slandering her name which was illegal, she just needed to prove it. That meant she was going into the fight having to prove her innocence rather than the prosecutor having to prove guilt. That would make it difficult, but not impossible. The trick would be to choose her battlefield and force Utopia to meet her there rather than in the UN where they made all the rules.

It was time to call Garrett back to the palace to plan.

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