Changeling: Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"Attention Homo Sapiens, this is an important announcement. We are the Supreme Council, Speaking for Atlantis:

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's Origin entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created superior and inferior, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable genes, that among these are intelligence, personality, and behavior. — That to secure these genes, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of dissidents; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present World Government is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over our people. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

It has refused its Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

It has forbidden any local governments to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till its Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, it has utterly neglected to attend to them.

It has refused to grant the right of secession for the accommodation of large districts of people, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

It has endeavoured to prevent the rise of our population; for that purpose passing fines, employment restrictions, and now even banning us from marrying whom we please.

It has thrown us in jail for pretended offences like hate speech and treason.

It has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of its Protection and waging War against us.

It has plundered our bank accounts, ravaged our children into demonic schools, impounded our homes, and destroyed the lives of our people.

It is at this time searching the world for our secret hideouts to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages that is the marriage lottery law, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

It has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on our peaceful minority the merciless wrath of public demonization, bullying, ostracism, boycotts, employment discrimination and unpunished crimes whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

It has banned our peaceful home schooling, such that we could not raise our own children with our own values, but instead forcefully sought to turn our own children against us through slanted, slanderous, horrifically malicious brainwashing they termed 'public schooling'.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Parliament, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our homo sapien brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over reality. We have reminded them of the facts of eugenics and dysgenics, stable homes and broken homes, collectivism and individualism, pride and hedonism, reason and superstition, purpose and nihilism, progress and decadence. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common interest to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our coexistence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of mercy. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Supreme Council of Atlantis, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these hideouts, solemnly publish and declare, That these united secret bases are, and of Right ought to be a Free and Independent State, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the World Government, and that all political connection between them and the World Government, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as a Free and Independent State, we have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Darwin's Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor."
"Since we already have your attention, we would also like to give a follow-up announcement. Now that we are at war, it is only reasonable that we lay out the terms of your surrender. Note that it is impossible for the World Government to win this war. Therefore the length of this war, and its destructiveness, depends entirely upon when you the people are willing to admit this unchangeable reality. You cannot find us, but we can find you wherever you hide. You cannot hurt us, but we can level your cities at will. We can attack you anywhere at any time, but you cannot attack any of us anywhere. To demonstrate our military superiority, we will shortly be dismantling your entire armed forces. Any soldiers who wish to live should desert immediately. All weaponry of war will be destroyed either during this conflict or after your surrender, nor will homo sapiens be allowed to build any new weapons to threaten us with ever again. To demonstrate our anger with your government, we are going to kill every high official in it, no matter how many replacements are appointed to fill new vacancies, unless the government chooses to surrender, after which point their lives will be spared. To demonstrate our resolve to no longer allow liars to control the discourse between our respective communities, we will kill anyone who has slandered us in a public forum in the past, or is doing so in the present, until such a time as your government surrenders. These three targets will be bombarded mercilessly without end until you, the people realize your World Government cannot protect you and cannot stop us from exerting our will. If after your entire military has been defeated and still no surrender is forthcoming, for instance with the hope that you can somehow wait us out, we are prepared to evaporate the entire population of homo sapiens with anti-matter bombs. We will begin with a practical demonstration in an uninhabited desert, and then release a new bomb every day on a major city until homo sapiens surrender or cease to exist."
"Given the actions this World Government has taken against us, an unprovoked attempt at genocide of a peaceful minority that simply wished to be left alone, the terms of our surrender are light. The entire Northern Hemisphere will be ceded to the new nation of Atlantis. All homo sapiens currently living in the Northern Hemisphere must relocate themselves south of the equator. Homo sapiens will no longer be allowed to control a military, or produce weapons of mass destruction. All natural resources in the southern hemisphere must be traded freely with humans in the northern hemisphere, at the same prices as are being offered to homo sapiens in the southern hemisphere. Homo Sapiens will not be allowed to pollute the environment in such a way that would adversely affect humans in the northern hemisphere. Homo Sapiens must accept any and all humans exiled from the Northern Hemisphere into their own borders, though you may deal with them as you see fit. If exiles from the Northern hemisphere appear to be a rising threat to mankind, we reserve the right to preemptively eliminate them wherever they are located in homo sapien territory."
"We will be eagerly anticipating your government's petition to surrender. Until that day, speaking for Atlantis, that is all."

* * *

Colette Brewnell stretched happily and sat up. Richard Mendez had assured her that the public address would reach its intended audience, having hacked all the necessary computers. The only question now was how irrational the public would be. Humans could not last a year in bunkers. They had to be able to go back outside and safely administer to their economic needs, with farms and foundries being put back to work. So before a year could pass, the psychics either had to induce homo sapiens to surrender and enforce the mass relocation of monkeys across the equator and the permanent disarmament of monkeys, especially of WMD, so that human civilians could work in safety and liberty in their own land, or simply kill off all homo sapiens so that humans could safely emerge from the ashes and start farming again. There was always the possibility of failure. Aisia could suddenly die of a heart attack or a trip in the shower. Some bumbling fool could stumble upon their secret location and deliver a barrage of nukes against it. There could be a treacherous uprising from within. But after reviewing the new tactics Katja had developed for her teams alongside her virtual reality instructors, the odds of victory had skyrocketed. At this point Colette felt confident that her speech had been largely accurate. Homo Sapiens could surrender or die in obscurity. They really had no other options.
"You know, when I read Lensmen, I always assumed the Arisians were the heroes. But it was pretty fun playing the Eddorians right there." Hal laughed.
"I almost said Speaking for Boskone the second time." Colette admitted, laughing with him. "I wonder how many of them caught the reference. Culture is totally lost on the animal kingdom." Colette regretted.
"Congratulations on your daughter's betrothal." Hal followed up jovially.
"Thank you. She was very surprised." Colette grinned at the memory.
"What are the odds? The missing psychic was a changeling." Hal mused.
"Benarjee is an esteemed family line, and Kip has shown remarkable aptitude in other fields. Perhaps it shouldn't have come as such a great surprise. In any event, it's a welcome relief. My family line will lose our precious blue eyes, blonde hair and white skin, but my daughter will have a husband at eighteen, and a child by age nineteen, and there's a good chance their children will be psychics too. For her, and for mankind, it's the dawn of a new age." Colette sipped her coffee happily.
"Will Kip Miles be joining the war?" Wa asked more seriously.
"Yes, we added him to the assassination team. His ability should prove quite useful. It's one of the reasons our odds of victory have increased. He can apparently see thirty seconds into the future, and act to change that future before it happens. His ability is Future Sight. Wa, please add him to our list of heroes. Should anything be about to go wrong, Kip can warn Katja, who can gather the team up and teleport them away. He's basically made the AT invincible." Colette explained.
"If Katja consults with Kip before she makes their initial jump, they could always teleport to a safe place during the initiation of the attack." Hal realized.
"Correct. Before they jump, we know for certain everyone will survive for the next thirty seconds. And then after the jump, they have thirty seconds to jump away before whatever death Kip foresees happens. We couldn't have asked for a more useful ability to join our ranks." Colette said.
"Make sure Katja consults with Kip before teleporting the MDT too." Wa warned.
"True, true. Perhaps he should just be put on both teams, like Katja. A defensive ability like his is too precious to go without for even a moment." Colette admitted.
"Can he be trusted?" Wa asked.
"He'd go through hell for my daughter, and my daughter would go through hell for Atlantis, so yes, he can be trusted with the outcome of the entire war. Looking back, my wisdom simply knows no bounds when I assigned Autumn to be his constant companion." Colette praised herself.
"I'm sure she'll thank you for it." Wa said judiciously.
"My daughter?" Colette's eyes widened with surprise. "You must have her mistaken with someone else. She's still shouting that there must be some mistake, and that Kip is just a sea slug. Kip has a long, long road to hear 'I love you' from her lips. Autumn is a proud, stubborn girl. I wonder if she can humble herself enough to love anyone else, much less the selfsame Kip she loves to hate. Well, he has two years. I suspect homo sapiens will surrender themselves to us long before she surrenders herself to him. Kip will find the second surrender far less forthcoming. Of course, for the sake of my grandchildren, I wish him all the luck in the world."