The Mullinix Book 1: Ascension

  Chapter 25 - Formalities

  Medoferro, now fully fed and rested, meandered in to the workroom. Marcus Mullinix had created this large room when the palace had been designed. He figured that as rulers they needed a large room with maps and desks. Four large desks occupied the room, using the same type of rotating usage that happened with the suites. Medoferro was directed by one of the women over to the empty desk.

  The large workroom was definitely a place for the running of the empire. The outside wall was a large tri-window section that was made of hardened glass and a one-way coating to keep people from being able to observe what happened in that room, as it was the official center of government. On the inside wall was a large map of the empire, one that was repainted once a year, usually during holiday celebrations when the government was pretty much idle. This was covered with notations, showing troops and problem areas.

  Medoferro looked around and took in the large room. There were occasionally members of the house staff running in and out, but it was mostly quiet. Insegniferro was sitting at his immaculate desk going over some troop deployment papers. He shifted his glasses down a bit to look at Medoferro and smiled at the young man.

  "I see you survived your first night as a Mullinix," Iggy chuckled, "Did you enjoy the party?"

  "Party no," Medoferro admitted, "But what came after the party was unbelievable."

  "Yes," Iggy laughed, "I heard you and Marina got along pretty well. Good, we want you to feel comfortable here. Are you ready to begin some of your training though?"

  "I think so," Medoferro nodded, "What do we do first?"

  "First thing I show you around here," Iggy said, waving his hand around the room, "Most of what you learn in here you cannot reveal outside this room. The only people who come in here are among the oldest of the house staff and our personal representatives. Anyone from outside that needs to talk to us does it in the chamber."

  "What if it is private?" Medo asked, "Do we still use the chamber?"

  "There are anterooms to the chamber," Iggy explained, "Sometimes if there are few people we’ll retire there. If it is a large thing we’ll sometimes close the chamber to the public, though we do that as little as we can."

  "So how much time will we spend here?" Medo asked, "I thought most of our work was in the chamber."

  "That’s just the part you see most," Iggy explained, "Most of our work is actually back here. We get reports from the guard on things that are going on in the empire. We may be the brains of the empire, but the guard is what keeps us in business."

  "I still don’t quite get how this works," Medoferro said, "Isn’t the guard simply a group of peacekeepers?"

  "That’s what it looks like publicly," Iggy said, "In reality they do a lot more."

  "I’m listening," Medo said, "They don’t teach this in school."

  "Ok," Iggy said, going into teacher mode, "Taliaferro I, the immediate successor to Marcus Mullinix, created the guard from the scattered force that was keeping order in the new cities. He knew that he’d need a reliable information source if he was going to govern properly."

  "So the guard was created?" Medo said, "I don’t see how it works."

  "There are actually two sections of the guard," Iggy told him, "The public side is the larger one. They handle the peace in the cities and the rural routes as well. Have you noticed that one thing we don’t allow is autonomous police and government forces in an area?"

  "Yeah," Medo nodded, leaning in his chair a little, "I remember the guards in our area were usually from faraway places, often the other side of the empire."

  "This is to reduce temptation of partiality," Iggy said, standing up and pretending to be a teacher for a while, "People know that a Mullinix Guard is someone who will watch for their safety regardless of who they are. Guards are rotated often so they don’t become too attached to the people in their area. That way the position becomes more important than the person in it."

  This was basic civics, some of which he would have gotten in the classes, but Iggy knew it was important. Medoferro had to learn why things were done the way they were and why they worked. Medoferro himself was interested, but there was so much to absorb.

  "Anyway," Iggy continued, "There is a second contingent of the guard that doesn’t number so high but whose service is just as important as the public guards. They are the true glue behind the scenes. They are basically our secret police forces."

  This was the first that Medoferro had heard of them. Their simple existence would come as a surprise to a good portion of the population, Medoferro included. The Mullinix government tended to be a very open one, keeping very few secrets from their citizens.

  "Secret police?" Medo asked him, "Why do we need them?"

  "There are a lot of bad people out there," Iggy said, "A lot of them would like to see what we’ve built come crashing down. Some are inside, some are outside. The job of the secret guard is to keep them at bay. They are the ones who investigate heavy crimes and they report directly to us, unlike the public guard who report to local leaders."

  "I’m still not quite clear on how this operates," Medo told him, "Maybe I need a whole lesson on that part of it."

  "It’s simple," Iggy said, chiding himself when he remembered that Medo had not been through the civics class when they pulled him, "We’ll start at the bottom and move up. This shouldn’t take but two minutes to explain. Marcus Mullinix designed it to be simple."

  "Works for me," Medo laughed, "I’m all for simple at this point."

  "Ok," Iggy said, "At the neighborhood level the guards act as arbiters. They make arrests if necessary and settle small disputes. If something is too big for them, they bring it to their commander."

  "I remember that," Medo said, "My father was robbed and had to attend a meeting with the local Guard Commander."

  "Exactly," Iggy said, "Most small things like that go no higher than commanders. But if it is more serious or complex, the commander will bring it to the city or regional Mullinix Colonel. We appoint the Mullinix Colonels carefully, making sure they are nowhere near their home districts. They take only cases that are serious and review the decisions from the local commanders."

  "I don’t see how they can do that," Medo said, "I mean wouldn’t that create a massive workload?"

  "It would if most cases weren’t adjudicated locally," Iggy admitted, "Most reports don’t make it past the local guard. The local guards handle silly things that can blow up. Things like a loud party or a disagreement between two neighbors. The only reason your father’s case went to a Commander was that there was actual injury and theft."

  "So how does everyone keep track?" Medo said, "Isn’t the law too complex."

  "That’s the point of the service school," Iggy said, "You learn the basic law. Marcus Mullinix knew of the massive bureaucracy that resulted from having too many laws. He wanted to make sure that every citizen understood the entire criminal code."

  "I think I remember this one from a book," Medo said, "There is no one true way, but there are some things that are wrong in all ways."

  "Exactly," Iggy smiled, "The things that are wrong are Injury, theft and death. Every case must be heard to its own merits, not influenced by cases to come or cases in the past."

  "I don’t quite get it though," Medo said, "Why does it keep cases down?"

  "If nobody is hurt and they aren’t being a public nuisance then it isn’t a problem," Iggy explained, "We have better things to do than police people’s lives or protect them from themselves. If they want to masturbate with a cheese grater, they are welcome to do so, though they had better not come crying to us after they do it."

  "Painful analogy," Medo shuddered, "But I get it."

  "The Mullinix Government is here to protect them from outside problems and to provide a basic structure. We’re not here to protect you from yourself. Personal responsibility is the key. If you don’t take care of yourself we aren’t going to do
it for you."

  "Sounds rough," Medo said, "But it’s worked for a long time."

  "The old democracies used to try to protect everyone from everything," Iggy said, "What they ended up with were a bunch of pampered inept idiots who couldn’t take care of themselves. They ended up with bureaucracies that employed more people than live in the Mullinix Empire and started wars that nearly destroyed the human race"

  "I see we went the other way," Medo nodded, "Anti-bureaucracy and personal responsibility. Do we even keep records?"

  "The records are always kept," Iggy told him, "So that if there are questions on how things are handled we can check on it. That’s what the central archives are for. 2000 years worth of reports from all sections of the empire. Great for researchers who want to know what it was like years before."

  "So where do we come in?" Medoferro asked him, "Sounds like most of it can be handled without us."

  "We take a random selection of cases," Iggy said, "Mainly to keep us in touch with what problems are going on out there. We also take any capital case. Those are the worst and nobody wants to handle them locally. Serious crimes that the locals are too fired up about tend to get sent to us as well, especially if there is no clear cut guilt."

  "That’s the part I’m nervous about," Medo sighed, "How the heck are we supposed to figure that out?"

  "That’s why we get the palace and the amenities we do," Iggy chuckled, "A few years of doing this and you won’t feel guilty at all for the pleasures we take in life. We literally hold life and death in our hands."

  "What makes us the best judge of that, though?" Medo asked, entering the usual doubt arena, "I mean I have no way of telling who is lying and who isn’t."

  "It is an acquired trait," Iggy said, "I’ve been dealing with this for over thirty years and Massy isn’t far behind me on that. You’ve been dealing with it less than a day. You won’t be required to make a judgment alone for a long time yet."

  "Don’t you make mistakes?" Medo asked him.

  "Of course we do," Iggy laughed, "But it is rare. Some cases you will agonize over, but those are the ones that you can ask the others on. In my first years I’d often lean on Tali for advice. That man could spot a liar a mile away."

  "Great," Medo sighed, "I don’t know how I’ll measure up."

  "You will be fine, Medo," Iggy told him, "All it takes is time."

  "So what is next?" Medo asked him, "Now that I know the basic government structure."

  Iggy grinned and picked up a humongous pile of papers from his desk. He walked over and dropped them with a loud thud on Medoferro’s freshly cleaned desk, nearly causing young Medo to fall over backwards in his chair.

  "Now I show you how the paperwork is handled," Iggy grinned as he saw the crestfallen expression on Medo’s face, "This will take a large portion of our time…"