Ship Auditory Transcript 8 (The Other Lord Whitevale)

Ship Auditory Transcript 8 (The Other Lord Whitevale)

(Note: Translation is with modern technology.)

Dr. Tanaka: “May I introduce Lord Jackson, rightful heir to Whitevale.”

Zephyr: “Please enter, alone.  I am the Astral Zephyr, a traveler and explorer.  Please, call me Zephyr.”

Lord Whitevale: “Well met, good-ship Zephyr.  I am terribly sorry about the circumstances of our meeting, but I have talked with your doctor, and I hope that, regardless of the circumstances, some good may come of our meeting.”

Zephyr: “Dr. Tanaka has not appraised me of the situation.  Go on?”

Whitevale: “There are two matters at hand.  One is that you have captured the usurper, my brother, and I would like to reward you in exchange for him.”

Zephyr: “And the other?”

Whitevale: “The second matter is that you have been grievously wronged by my brother, and more-over, this injustice happened within the lands rightfully mine, and, indirectly, because of me.  You were innocent travelers, and I must apologize for my brother dragging you into our war.”

Zephyr: “Your brother’s actions are his own, and not yours.”

Whitevale: “I am the Lord of Whitevale.  In the end, the responsibility is always mine.”

Zephyr: “I see.  Well, I accept your apology.”

Whitevale: “There is more than just an apology in order – I would provide some manner of restitution, if possible.  But first – my brother.”

Zephyr: “He is in the doctor’s quarters, still bound.  He has not eaten in a while, but is otherwise fine.”

Whitevale: “And his retainers?”

Zephyr: “Secure in crates in the cargo hold – just the other side of the door to your right.”

Whitevale: “I see.  In exchange for my brother and his men, I am willing to provide you with the supplies detailed by Dr. Tanaka, along with, for your future usage, the land you destroyed with your landing.”

Zephyr: “Dr. Tanaka, did you make any changes to my list?”

Dr. Tanaka: “I didn’t.”

Zephyr: “I accept your offer.”

Whitevale: “That is good.  Doctor, as we discussed concerning my brother.  Zephyr, I have soldiers here to take the retainers and bring them back to Valehold.  I understand that you may be uncomfortable with soldiers entering you.  I swear upon my honor as the Lord of Whitevale that neither myself nor my men mean you or your crew any harm, and that, furthermore, we will leave whenever you ask.”

Zephyr: “As long as your men don’t venture past the cargo-hold, and aren’t in the cargo-hold at the same time as any of my crew, I feel relatively safe.  But thank you for your promise.”

Whitevale: “Dr. Tanaka indicated that there was an unpleasant mess in your cargo-hold and an adjoining room, so I also brought some commoners to clean the mess.”

Zephyr: “You think of everything, don’t you?”

Whitevale: “Your good doctor’s idea, not mine.”

Zephyr: “What… What is the doctor doing?  It looks like he’s…”

Whitevale: “Oh, you can see him?”

Zephyr: “I can see everything within me, and some things outside of me.”

Whitevale: “Well, this is the other side of politics, I am afraid.  A noble must be wise, kind, and just to the common man, but at the same time be willing to do what is necessary to remain in a position to be wise, kind, and just to the common.  My brother and my father both lacked wisdom, kindness, and justice, and as such I felt it necessary to depose of my father, as to protect the land from his brutality.  Murdering my one’s own father is a terrible wrong, but a noble must look at the wider picture.”

Zephyr: “You did murder your own father?  I had assumed that your brother made that up to seize power.”

Whitevale: “I must accept responsibility for my actions.  People may judge me accordingly.”

Zephyr: “And thus with the doctor?”

Whitevale: “It would not do well to kill my brother – he has a son as ignoble as himself, if not worse.  What I need to do is to win the war, or wipe out that entire line of the family.”

Zephyr: “As with your brother’s idea to use me to torch your town.”

Whitevale: “As always, my brother thinks of himself first, and the small-folk second.  Such means are reprehensible.  In the course of this war between myself and my brother, I have tried to limit the suffering – I do not want to involve innocent travelers such as yourself, or hurt the small-folk.”

Zephyr: “But back to the doctor…”

Whitevale: “As I said, it would not do to simply kill my brother.  Instead, he has to make mistakes that lose him and his family the war.  To my surprise, the doctor indicated that was possible.  There is some manner of star-walker magic that can dull the wits of a man, but leave him alive and sane enough to stay in command.  The resulting stupidity with not cause my throne to pass from my brother to my nephew, but it may well cause it to return to me.  An unpleasant business.”

Zephyr: “I see what you mean about doing wrongs for the larger picture… He’s cutting your brother’s brain apart, you know.”

Whitevale: “…yes.  (Pause) To be honest, I am jealous of your position, to be free to wander the stars without… without the horror of my position.  The Lord Vancouver once wrote that nobody should be happy to rule, that nobility is a solemn and horrible role.  I poisoned my father, I’m doing something terrible to my brother… and for what?  For duty?  Because I am responsible?  Tell me, star-walker, why is it that I was born into such a position?  You have seen other worlds, do their rulers murder each other, gladly and sadly in turn?”

Zephyr: “Your ancestors traveled between the stars.  They came from a planet named New Montreal.  What you consider blood nobility is… well, on New Montreal, they used their technology to change the very nature of humans.  In some ways, it is not so different than what Dr. Tanaka is doing now.  Some men were made to kneel, some men were made to stand, and others were made for other roles.  This is common and natural for you, I suppose, but… of the worlds I know, very few of them engage in such practices.”

Whitevale: “What are people like on them?”

Zephyr: “Good and bad, kind and awful.  But randomly so: not decided by the blood of their parents.”

Whitevale: “And the rulers?”

Zephyr: “They… hm…  You speak to rule justly, and you are willing to do anything to ensure just rule.  Your brother is willing to do anything to ensure his rule, just or not.  Most rulers I know of are not as cut-throat as the two of you.  However, they are under no duty to rule justly, and rule as unjustly as they can.”

Whitevale: “They are all ignoble?”

Zephyr: “Yes.  No.  Well, you see, it is different when you are ruling over equals – if you are too unjust, someone else will become ruler.  Thus ‘as unjustly as they can’ is not always that unjust.  It depends on the political system.  For instance, some political systems have rulers determined by popularity.  Thus the rulers can only be so unjust, as to be too unjust would be unpopular.”

Whitevale: “It sounds like madness… but I cannot say it is worse than our own system.”

Zephyr: “I am a ship, and not in a place to judge politics.”

Whitevale: “Oh, but you are.  You are the ruler of your own little flying self, lord over all the people within you.  A kingdom of five, six including yourself.  And your role is exactly political.”

Zephyr: “I… hm…”

Whitevale: “And an innocent kingdom it once was – no enemies, plentiful space for the people.  Perhaps a bit lacking in food.  But then you were invaded.  And great misery was inflicted upon your people.  No there is no doubt unrest, and doubt in your leadership.”

Zephyr: “I suppose you could put it like that.”

Whitevale: “And I think I have discovered what manner of restitution I should provide.”

Zephyr: “Oh?”

Whitevale: “You have lost a most valued engineer.  I cannot provide you with an engineer of my own, because, well, I am not a star-walker.  My engineers build castles, dams, bridges.  But I can provide you with a crew member.  You have lost a most valued engineer, I will swear into your service a most valued guardsman.  Perhaps in the future, your kingdom will be safer for it – for that is what your small kingdom lacked: a military.”