“Let them have their council,” the Princess replied, “Then we can do what we have to do at that time. Accept their form of government or try to put one to our liking in place, or just sign the world over and get out of dodge.”
Jill nodded and asked, “What do I need to do?”
“Just authorize your agents to allow the formation of the council.” The Princess answered.
Jill nodded. With little more fanfare Princess Carroll handed her the document. Jill read it ever. It was simple statement authorizing the people of Home to form a government to govern the planet. She noticed that there was a statement telling the people of Home that any government they formed would have to be endorsed and approved by Jill’s guardians.
When she was alone with her father once again she turned to him and asked, “Dad did you have an idea that this might happen?”
“Not really,” her father replied, “we suspected that some of the nobles might want to become the new monarch, president or what have you. The agents that we sent with the flights were to be the local government. Some of the agents were from the parliament. People who we knew to be moderates. Most of the problems we have been having on Home are from the extremes. They are pushing for the government. We’ve been so busy trying to get people there that we didn’t give much thought about how to run the planet.”
“I wish Aggie,” Jill commented, “wanted to be queen of Home. You don’t want to be king. I don’t want to be queen. I wonder if the queen’s heir would want to be the king?”
“That would be Duke Horton,” her father replied, “No. When Aggie abdicates he becomes king. Although Aggie doesn’t want to be queen over Trena, even with destruction of Trena herself, he’ll have a kingdom that is mostly intact. There just won’t be a habitable planet in the system. We know what’s going to happen to everything in Trena’s orbit, a lot of the space stations will be destroyed. If the asteroids were going to clobber us thirty six days earlier, or later, McKay would shield us by being the asteroids main targets. If McKay wasn’t airless we could have evacuated to McKay. Evacuating seventy five million to an airless moon would be a disaster all in itself. Duke Horton is no Aggie; but I think he’ll be a good king. Unfortunately he’ll feel he has to lead the remnants of kingdom here in Trena, and not rule Home.”
“I had heard that,” Jill continued, “The Queen and her cousin don’t get along that well.”
“They don’t,” Her father remarked. He had met the man. He wasn’t certain why the Queen and the Duke didn’t get along. “I don’t know why.”
Jill sighed, realizing that there really wasn’t anyone to be Home’s leader, but maybe herself.
“Dad I really don’t want to be Queen, or manager, or the ruler of a planet.” Jill turned to her father expressing her feelings. “It’s just too much to comprehend now.”
“I know baby,” Mike said, he too was feeling overwhelmed with everything that was going on. Between his wife abduction, continuing to deal with the day to day operations of the evacuation and now this thing with Jill, it was a lot to handle. “Just try to take it one thing at a time.”
“That makes sense.” Jill said, “Dad what have you hear about mom?”
“Not much,” her father replied, “Chief James will be briefing us later. Maybe they have something that this stuff doesn’t.” he pointed to computer display that showed the reports she was trying to get through.
“I think I’ll try to muddle through these some more.” Jill said. Knowing he couldn’t change her mind her, father nodded and left. Wondering as he did if they were throwing too much at his daughter.
###
Suzy Gabriel was one of the many people traveling from all over Home, to Ellis, the capital of Home. Suzy Gabriel was coming down river on the Maritime Rescue Boat Deliverance. She had been approached by one of the agents of the Evacuation Command’s Civil Affairs unit to be a member of the Great Council in Ellis, where they were to meet to form a government. When the crew had found out that she was going down to Ellis, the Captain had talked to her headquarters and got permission to take Suzy her down river.
The Captain had given up her own quarters to Suzy for the three day trip to Ellis.
Suzy and the crew had been discussing the upcoming assembly before they had left Sunrise Cliffs, Suzy’s home. It had been one of the many homes that EBio either had built for their employees, or had found on the vacant world. No one had wanted it so when it was offered to her she took it. She shared her home with Admiral Klond, and the crew of the Deliverance. As the trip continued downriver the crew felt free to continue discussing the upcoming assembly.
“I don’t see why the Queen can’t be our Queen here on Home.” the chief of the boat said the first night out, “It just seems silly she can’t be!”
“The Queen doesn’t own Home.” Suzy replied, “Because of that, the Queen’s rule doesn’t extend here. Since Jill Wilson owns the planet she could be considered our monarch. But Miss Wilson hasn’t set up a system to run the planet. She more or less has decided to let us do our thing. I don’t understand some of this myself. It is benign neglect. I would have thought Lord Mercer and a couple of the others would have formed a government. I don’t know why they haven’t.”
“I heard that some of the lords are angry that they have not retained their nobility.” The cook said, “There has been some talk about forcing Miss Wilson to recognize their special status.”
“Yeah, I had a show down with one of them a few months ago.” Suzy said, “They want to have what they had on Trena. That’s just not going to happen.
Their nobility is tied to the Trenan Court. As such there is no court here. If I understand what the Evac guy said, the Queen’s monarchy ends when Trena is destroyed. There is some question about her rule over the orbital industries and the things off Trena. But the
Trena Court will cease to exist once the planet is destroyed.”
“So the Queen will no longer be our monarch,” The chief said, “So this Jill Wilson is our new queen?”
“Well she does own the planet,” Captain McNally commented, “Just like Queen
Agatha does Trena.”
“So she is for practical purposes our queen,” the apprentice asked.
“I think all but the nobles will agree to that!” the petite woman retorted. That brought a round of chuckles around the mess table.
“So this assembly or council is not to find a planetary leader but to develop a system of governance that Miss Wilson will accept and our people will want to live under.” The captain asked.
“More or less,” Suzy answered. “With the Wilson family our new royal family?” Most of those around the galley table nodded.
“But what form should our government be,” Suzy asked.
“Why not the same as we had on Trena?” the gunners mate asked. “That seemed to work.”
“Trena has what is known as a balanced democracy.” Someone said, “The Queen is the planetary leader; but the Prime Minister is head of government; elected from the parliament, the crown departments are managed by the prime minister. The courts are independent of the monarch and the parliament. The courts act as a balance between the monarchy, the government and the people. The courts handle all the issues that can’t be resolved by the crown or prime minister and to handle other legal matters.”
“That seemed to be working,” The chief commented, “Most of the time. The in fighting in the parliament was getting fairly bad though.”
“Before the evacuation,” the captain remarked, “it was almost grid locked. It surprised me that the Queen has had as little trouble with the parliament as she has over the evacuation.”
“I am surprised she is having so little trouble also,” Suzy remarked as the apprentice spoke up.
“So this council,” the apprentice asked, he was a young man barely 19 years old with brown hair. He had no real assignment on the rescue boat. He spent his time between the deck division, the galley, the
engine compartment and occasionally the bridge. His real job was to learn all the systems aboard the seventy five foot craft, “is to build a complete new government. Or is to create a government for us?”
“I think it is to create a government for Home,” Suzy replied. “But what type of a government. A constitutional monarchy like we have on Trena or some hybrid? We come from the Thonian Realm, the Earth Empire, the Republic, and of course Trena. All of them have working systems. I am no political scholar; but it seems to me we have an opportunity to take the best from all of our worlds and make a gestalt of them.”
“Do you think that the Marshal and his daughter would stand still for a constitutional monarchy,” the captain asked. “I mean they own the planet. Why would they consent to something like that?”
“Well if their duties were somewhat ceremonial they might sit still for that,” Suzy replied. “But I can’t see the Marshal allowing his daughter to be a figure head.”
“You know,” The chief spoke softly, “would it make any sense at all for a parliament to rule the planet to write the laws that a head of government would enforce; but leave some of the power in the hands of the monarch.” “What do you mean chief,” Suzy asked.
“I am not sure,” the chief a man in his early sixties who’s whole life, since the passing of his wife was on the boat. “It makes a bit of sense to me for the monarch to be the commander in chief of the military and maybe the emergency services. Be the top cop, fire fighter, medic, dog catcher, as well.”
“That’s a lot of power chief,” Suzy remarked.
“It is but; she could only mobilize the troops for a planetary emergency she couldn’t go to war without the parliament’s approval,” The chief continued. “It seems to me there should be one and only one commander in chief for all of us. The monarch would be the CIC and wouldn’t change because of whim of politics. Also it might prevent a prime minister from going off halfcocked if the monarch didn’t feel a threat existed. If the situation was such that there was ample evidence that there was a threat and the monarch and the prime minister disagreed either to the scope or whether to prosecute or not to prosecute the emergency then the planetary bench could be asked to rule. But if done right that will never come about.”
“So you would put the welfare of the people in the monarch’s hands rather than the crown departments.” Suzy asked.
“Yes,” The chief said, “within reason. I would put all life safety operations in the monarch’s hands. But have her advised by crown departments. In other words like Captain McNally here. She is the Deliverance’s master; but her department heads advise her on the status of her boat and the best way to approach a given situation. Then she takes the best action accordingly. The crown department heads who would be populated out of the parliament or other political body would advise her on the rules and regulations that her various emergency service and military organizations would follow. I don’t know but there has to be a balance between the power of the monarch to use the military and the power of the parliament and the ministers.”
“That makes sense,” Suzy commented, “So you want a parliament, a representative government in other words?”
“Yes but it has to work better than the republic’s and the one on Trena,” the rescue tech said, “Two houses. One house where one person who represents so many people. The other house, a senate or a house of lords would represent a large district or province.”
“But done in some way that the partisan politics can be hosed down and controlled,” Captain McNally commented.
They discussed the prospects for a government all the way down river to Ellis. It gave Suzy a lot to chew on.
###
Days later Suzy sat in the council and listened to the proposals that various people were offering for the formation of their government. The arguments were going around and around. No one seemed to understand that they had a queen and that Jill Wilson was her and she was asking them to form the management system for the day to day running of the planet. Some of the proposals went from installing a particular noble as the monarch to having no system and everything in between. Finally losing patience with the entire group Suzy left the council one morning to go sit on the dock watching the burgeoning river traffic flow up and down the river trying to clear her head a bit. It was there that captain McNally found her.
“Good morning Mrs. Gabriel,” the captain said handing her a cup of coffee. The Deliverance had made another trip down river to pick up some medical supplies for the
Outpost 1 Clinic. “I saw you sitting here and thought I would join you.”
“Hi Captain,” Suzy took the coffee. “Thank you.”
“I’ve heard you been having some problems,” the captain stated.
“Yeah, no one wants to listen.” The thirty year old woman complained, “The Contras are fighting the Royalist, the Royalists are fighting the newbies, it’s a mess!”
“No one’s taken charge,” the captain commented, “There doesn’t seem to be one voice trying to unite them.”
Suzy looked at the captain, “Yes! The speaker doesn’t seem to have a back bone. He’s afraid to be too pushy because he doesn’t want to lose his position. He doesn’t get it that we are to be short lived, create a government and go home. It’s happening like it was in the Republic.”
“Then someone needs to read the riot act to them.” The captain said.
Suzy nodded, and said “Thank you skipper. I think I know what I have to do.”
Suzy finished her coffee handed the cup to the captain and walked back to the assembly. She entered a small auditorium where the five hundred members of the assembly were meeting, and spoke with the secretary of the assembly to put her on the speakers list. She found out that it wouldn’t be until the next day that she would be able to speak. That suited her. It gave her some time to talk to some people, and write her speech.
“Gentle Souls of the Home Council,” she began the next day, “I ask that you listen to me for a while, and as you listen to me ask yourself are we getting the job done we have been asked by our friends, families and fellow citizens to do. To form a government; one that will help Miss Wilson govern our new world. The planet she is allowing us to build our new homes on. We are not here to decide who will be queen. We have one Jill Wilson.
“I have sat in this assembly for over a week,” She spoke, “and listened to your proposals. Most if not all seem to ignore the facts I have just mentioned. Nothing has gotten done. We have argued and talked and argued but; nothing has gotten done. I know some of you have the belief that we can take weeks to make this happen, others feel we should import from Trena our former home world’s governmental structure just to be done with it. We don’t have time to argue this! The people who have put their trust in us want us to get this done. We are not on Trena anymore my honored colleagues! We are on Home! A world given to us by Marshal Wilson’s daughter! We don’t own this world, the marshal’s family does. They haven’t given it to us they are just letting us live on it. Queen Jill has asked us to come up with a way to govern a world that has no government.
“Some of you have forgotten the nobility of Trena have no standing here on Home. That their nobility dies, except possibly their title, dies when the asteroids kill Trena. But they are not alone in having no standing. In fact none of us have standing except for the very special title of representative to the Home Constitutional Council. As such when we form the government that Queen Jill has asked us to form, our roles will be over. Many of us may be asked to be part of the new government we will form. None of us know. But we can’t be concerned with our future appointments or positions in the government. Our job is to create a government and go home. Not to spend weeks and months to do this job.
“Last night I met with several of you to go over some ideas I have about forming the government. Although not all of you agreed with my thoughts and what I presented, many of you thought it might be worth a shot.” Su
zy pressed a button on the console and the assembly saw the constitution that had been forming in her mind since her conversation on the Deliverance.
“We come from many worlds, From the Earth Empire, From the Thonian Realm, the Theocracy, the Republic, and of course our own home world of Trena.” She spoke softly, “All of these worlds have both good and bad political systems. My own native world, the world I emigrated from to Trena is a democracy. Yet I find a constitutional monarchy more stable. It has both the stability of a long standing monarch, and yet by electing people to a parliament we can reign in the power of a monarch who has stepped beyond its bounds.
“What I propose is this,” she spoke with passion.
“I think a constitutional monarchy is what would work for us. The monarch would be the head of state; but not the head of government. Similar to what we have now, the monarch would be the ruler of our world and would have the power to call parliament into session, have the right to overrule the parliament when it takes us into an unprovoked war, or when it raises taxes too high, or enters into a treaty that is not in the interest of the Kingdom. The monarch will be the commander in chief of the armed forces. Many of the same powers Queen Agatha currently enjoys.
“I have mentioned a parliament. This parliament will be made up of two houses, a house of commons where common everyday citizens would be elected to a term of ten years. Once they served their ten years they could never be reelected to the House of Commons. Every five years half of the House of Commons would be elected. They would represent 200,000 souls. And this would include artificial intelligences, as well as flesh and bone people like us. The second house would be a Senate or House of Lords. To be inducted into the House of Lords, the monarch would nominate someone and at first the House of Commons would approve them. Then as time goes on, the House of Lords would nominate their own to the monarch who would have veto power over the appointment, and the House of Lords would have the right to overturn the veto by a super majority. They would after a few years have the right to reject the monarch’s nominations by a super majority. The Monarch would always be able to nominate someone to the House of Lords.