The Unincorporated War Read Online Free PDF Page B

you.”
    “Sir?”
    “Question. Would your respect for me and this office stop you from doing what you felt was right?”
    “I’d regret being in opposition to your wishes, sir,” Sadma answered without hesitation. “Deeply regret it, but no, it would not stop me.”
    “That makes you a dangerous man.”
    “Mr. President,” Tyler answered, face somewhat flushed. “You have nothing to fear from me. Without you my colony and family would still be under the yoke of the corporate oppressor. Despite my surliness, I promise you I feel nothing but gratitude for what you’ve given us—all of us, Outer Alliance included. It’s only the enemies of freedom that need fear me.”
    “And who would those enemies be, Mr. Sadma? It would seem by your actions that at least half the Outer Alliance would fall under your criteria.”
    Tyler paused. “Not my enemies, Mr. President. More like confused allies.”
    Justin laughed at the equivocation.
    “If you don’t mind my asking,” continued Tyler, “why aren’t you leading this fight? You have to know that if you want the forces of history and justice on our side you must declare against incorporation.”
    Justin sighed. “Mr. Sadma, I’d love to have history and justice on my side, but right now I need Ceres, which is why I’d settle for your support.”
    “I will not stop preaching what I believe just for expediency’s sake. If I’m wrong, prove me wrong, but don’t ask me to call wrong right and embrace it.”
    “Mr. Sadma,” answered Justin, eyes narrowing slightly, “it is not your convictions I question, only your timing.”
    Tyler met Justin’s glare with his own. “Truth is truth, Mr. President. Regardless of when you say it.”
    Justin didn’t answer at first but rather sat quietly regarding his opponent.
    “Mr. Sadma, I’d love to have your job. Unfortunately, I can’t. You see, in mine I don’t have the luxury of being right when I want. I can only be right when Ican.”
    “Well put, Mr. President,” conceded Tyler. “I certainly don’t envy you your position.”
    “Surely, Mr. Sadma, you must realize that if you continue to push this unincorporation issue, the Alliance could very well split, and then we’ll have nothing, sir, nothing but our convictions. And sadly, not even those after a psyche audit.”
    Justin then reached for the glass of Erisian ale. As was the custom, he made sure to spill a little out onto the floor first before he took a sip.
    “Excellent, as usual,” he said.
    Tyler nodded, his expression, pained.
    “Sir,” he finally proffered in a barely audible tone, “please do not ask me to speak out for incorporation.”
    Justin returned the glass to the table and waved off a drone that had swooped in to top it off. “Mr. Sadma,” he said, his voice now more sympathetic. “I’m not asking you to support incorporation; what I am asking for is your help. Eris may be ready to throw off the chains of incorporation. And for that I applaud both you and your colony. But understand that most of the Alliance, as you’ve been reminded of daily, is not. They’ve lived with incorporation their entire lives and are content with it if modified. They view Hektor Sambianco and his ilk as an aberration, not a cancer. If we force them to give up too much too quickly they’ll rebel against the Alliance and then, I can assure you, all will be lost.”
    Tyler sat motionless and then finally nodded, acceding to Cord’s argument. “Eris may already have pushed it too far, sir. My colony will be declaring disincorportation shortly. It will be immediate and uncompensated. Though I am here as a representative, I am powerless to stop it. Nor, as you may have garnered, am I so inclined. But revolution and realpolitik, I’m beginning to learn, are quite different animals.”
    Justin flashed a knowing smile.
    “Mr. Sadma, as you’re well aware, there are powerful Jovian and Saturnian Shareholders who’d feel cheated if that disincorporation