Deathstalker 06 - Deathstalker Legacy

Douglas couldn't help noticing that the MP
    was addressing his remarks more to the media cameras than to his fellow MPs, or indeed, the Speaker.
    Markham had a rich, commanding speaking voice, the best that money could buy, but tended to undermine it with a weakness for overly dramatic gestures and body language.
    "The business of this Empire is still mainly human business. Human worlds, pursuing human concerns. I have to ask; can we ever be sure that nonhuman minds will have enough in common with the way humans think for them ever to be able to properly understand the nature of human business, let alone contribute anything useful to it? Trade and science are one thing; matters of philosophy are quite another. The alien species have a right to have their opinions heard; that was why they were granted a Seat in the House.
    But their alien nature, their motivations, needs, and desires will always be sufficiently different from those of Humanity that I doubt we will ever be able to develop proper common ground. We do not interfere in internal alien affairs; they should pay us the same courtesy. Human business is for humans. The Golden Age that we have so laboriously built for ourselves should not be sacrificed to chaos over a point of sentimental principle."
    Again there was much murmuring of agreement and scattered applause as Markham sat magisterially back into his Seat. Michel du Bois, Member for Virimonde, was immediately on his feet, and addressing Markham bluntly. "That sounds very much like Neuman philosophy to me, Markham. Do you now speak for Pure Humanity in this House? If our alien partners are to be excluded from the decision-making process, how long before they are excluded from the Empire itself? To be declared slaves and property again, subjugated to our needs and desires, as it was in the bad old days of Empire under Lionstone, cursed be her name!"
    Markham was quickly back on his feet before du Bois had even yielded the floor. (He could do that because Virimonde was a poor planet with few allies.) "That is a vicious slur, sir, and I demand that you withdraw it immediately! I represent the fine and hard-working people of my own world, and no one else! The Neumen are fanatics, and I of course distance myself from their more extreme positions. But just because there is an extreme version of a position, it does not mean the position itself is automatically invalid." He smiled about him, spreading his arms wide to embrace the human MPs. "This House often has a hard enough time achieving a consensus over merely human differences; add a hundred and thirty-two alien voices, with all their alien . . . viewpoints, and this House would descend into bedlam!
    Nothing would ever be decided!"
    'Not too much change, then," said King Douglas, and a surprising number of people laughed. Douglas leaned forward, acutely aware that all eyes were on him. "I for one would be very interested to hear what the oversoul has to say on this matter. Human, yet other than human, perhaps they can offer a more impartial insight."
    Markham and du Bois looked at each other, and reluctantly sat down. This wasn't what had been agreed, but both were keen to give the new King enough rope to hang himself. The esper representative, a tall and slender youth with sharp ascetic features, faraway eyes, and a Stevie Blue Burns in Glory T-shirt, rose slowly to her feet.
    "What I hear, the oversoul hears," the esper said flatly. "Markham's words are nothing new to us. Similar reasons were once given for denying a voice to official nonpersons such as espers and clones. We had to fight a war to win our freedom and our rights. Does the Member for Madraguda perhaps intend to exclude us from the decision-making process too, for fear we might dilute his precious human consensus?"
    "I'm sure the honorable Member wouldn't wish to imply any such thing," said Ruth Li, Member for Golden Mountain, rising smoothly to her feet. "But he is not alone in his concerns for the future. You don't have to be a Neuman to see how unchecked alien influence could distort the Empire into something it was never meant to be." "Fair, honest, and equal?" said the esper.
    "It seems to me," Douglas said quickly, his voice cutting across the rising babble of increasingly angry voices, "that there is a perfectly obvious compromise position, if the House wishes to consider it."
    The House was suddenly quiet, as all the MPs were united in the uneasy suspicion that the Speaker was about