"2570-19" - читать интересную книгу автора (Jerome Bigge - Warlady 8 - The Queen Of Time)THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Nineteen "Telegraph isn't `working' again," the operator said to me. Nineteenth Century "technology" was just a bit too "advanced" for my people, I mused to myself, well "aware" that there could be a break anywhere in the line between Trella and Sarn. This was a much more "modern" design than the system of "stations" I'd set up some years before, but it was vulnerable to broken wires too. No doubt a thunderstorm had caused a branch to fall over a wire! My only other means of "communications" was express riders, which traveled only about a hundred miles a day over the forest paths. "Contact the most distant station you can reach, have them send out a repair party," I answered, holding my voice level. It being obvious to me that even these people, sons and daughters of the caste of Builders, had little comprehension of what I needed! "And in the future there will be hourly checks on this line from one end to the other so repairs can be made more soon," I spoke. "The fastest, most reliable communications is still a good ship," my husband smiled as he stood there watching all this now! "On a good day you can put two hundred miles or better under your keel," my handsome dark haired husband pointed out as I nodded... "Find Sharon, tell her to prepare for a flight to Dularn," I smiled back, seeing him nod. I'd have a talk with Maris herself! "Keep an `eye' on things while I'm gone," I said, taking Amethysta's hands in mine, the thought going through my mind that Sanda would have her hands full trying to do some of the "politi- cal tricks" with Amethysta as Queen that she did with me. Sanda at times almost behaving as if she wore the crown of Trelandar instead of me. That "deal" she'd made with Maris Marn there in 2567 having been just an example of what I'm referring to here... Sanda also tended to be a bit too "democratic" for my liking at times, almost as if she was a good ward heeling Democrat from the 20th Century! A very intelligent, competent, capable woman, San- da was also the sort of a Prime Minister any Queen had to watch! Her political party, the Trelandarian Revolutionary Party, having controlled the Assembly ever since we'd kicked the Empire out... An even more "radical" group, the Democratic Party of Trelandar having now held "minority status" since the last election. This last group, controlled by a rabble rouser by the name of Les Haw- kins, wanted to actually make Trelandar into a "socialist state"! There were of course "conservatives", who yet "favored" Darlanis. "I'll see that Lady Sanda `stays out of trouble'," she prom- ised, her eyes, a vivid blue, glowing into mine as I nodded back. I wasn't too "worried" about Les Hawkins, who I planned to pub- licly debate sometime when I got around to it, the "concept" of "socialism" being "refuted" by the "history" of the 20th Century. By the "writings" of Janet Rogers herself, who most people still yet honored even if she had not "been" what most believed of her. "You are afraid of what the future may hold?" Sharon said to me as I flew north, the steady drone of the engine a comfort now. The clouds just above us drifting by as we now flew towards Sarn. The Pacific a mile below gleaming like rippled glass in the sun. Sharon's golden hair, her facial molding reminded me of Darlanis. "Darlanis `lost' a lot when she gave up Trelandar to me," I answered. There had been those who had questioned her "motives". Who had said that she was no longer the "leader" she had been... It had been Sharon as Imperial Princess who had "turned things around" for Darlanis, Sharon as the Queen of Orgon who had saved the Empire from breaking up. And now Maris was up to her old tricks again, stirring up trouble like Les Hawkins back in Trella was doing to me. The thought now going through my mind then was it "possible" that Les Hawkins was really an "agent" of Dularn? "And Darlanis can't `afford' to give up Orgon to Dularn...," the young Queen of that politically torn country added as I "nod- ded". Already the Dularnian Federation controlled the "territo- ries" to the north of Orgon, what had been Washington back in my own time. And Maris' alliance with Queen Freydis now gave her access to the resources and lands stretching north all the way to the arctic even if some of it was now only uninhabitable waste- land due to the six anti-matter missiles the Priestesses had used last year to prevent the EVIL ONE from entering our own "plane of existence". With Queen Valeris and her Free Women now only a "memory", Dularn had become a "match" for the Empire, something everyone knew too! Was Maris "planning" another war against us? "Like Vietnam," I breathed, and just as "winless" for us! "They didn't have `you'," Sharon spoke, looking at me. "I'm just a woman `good with a sword'," I grinned back. "I sure wish I'd known..." Darlanis smiled in a warm greet- ing, taking my hands in hers as Sharon stood watching, the waves there in the bay of Sarn rocking Black Lady a bit there at the dock behind us. The gold of her attire seemingly "fitting" here. She is, I sometimes believe, a woman who believes in things that a person more grounded in "reality" wouldn't bother believing... A woman who even her worst enemies have to say is like no other. "Telegraph's `out' again," I said, Darlanis smiling back. "Probably one of Maris' `agents'," the Empress grinned. "I hope you don't `believe' that," Sharon interrupted now. "Maris is a Queen who can't control her own people," the Em- press replied in level tones, her azure eyes now meeting my own. "A Queen who allows her own Senate to make decisions for her..." Last year she'd come close to be overthrown by Tara's own agents. "That `radical wing' that's been making so much `noise'," I mused thoughtfully, recalling what I'd heard of it. People much like my own Les Hawkins, stirring up "trouble" for all of us now! Even Darlanis had a bunch of "radicals" to deal with, although her own political system is much more "conservative" than mine... "Tara had some `able lieutenants'," I pointed out to her as we walked toward the magnificent palace that is her "residence". "And Mexico would `benefit' from a war of this sort," Sharon added, giving me a smile as I nodded in agreement. We'd beaten the Mexicans with "Dularnian" assistance, something I was sure the Emperor of Mexico was well aware of too! Princess Tara hav- ing been his "Warlady" before her "encounter" with the Priestess- es for violating their EDICT against "advanced weapons". Her own features now so "scarred" from burns she was said to be a "thing" from which people turned away in horror. On the other hand she had warned us of the plans of The Queen Of Darkness, who had in- habited first her soul and later that of Queen Valeris. Giving us the chance to slow the entry of the EVIL ONE into our "uni- verse" from His own, commonly known to Men as "HELL". Thus giv- ing the Priestesses of Lys time to react, to take the "measures" they did, even at the cost of a hundred thousand innocent lives! "`Sounds' like Les Hawkins in Trelandar," I said, looking up at Darlanis as she now stood looking out the window. Reading the newspaper that Darlanis had given me to read, Sharon looking over my shoulder as she used to do back in the 20th Century. I was growing aware that there seemed to be a "connection" between all of this, as if someone was "masterminding" the entire issue here! "Political radicals in Trelandar, Sarn, Orgon, and Dularn," the tall golden haired Empress replied, turning to face me then. "All with the same `ideology' drawn from the era you came from." "You believe Princess Tara has decided to return to her `old tricks'?" I ventured, wondering who else had the "brains"? Tara had an excellent mind, one as good as mine at least, and she was well aware of the history of the past, including that of the 20th Century. The philosophy of socialism is "attractive", especially to people who don't have the intelligence or the education to see the "flaws" in such reasoning. When one recalls here that during the Clinton administration (1992-1996) the large numbers who yet advocated such "ideals" even when faced with the visual proof of their failure in practice is only further "proof" of such things! "The `ideas' he advocated are from your own `era'," Darlanis said to me, her azure eyes burning straight right into mine now. "And until now I believed such things were only of `interest' to Scribes." The Scribes being a "bookish lot", often arguing issues that have little if any bearing now upon our own society. On the other hand there are always those who see "economic injus- tice" in society, and believe that the "role" of government should be to "correct" such things, much as the Clinton adminis- tration of the last decade of the 20th Century also advocated... "I am a `libertarian'," I smiled, "Not a `socialist'." I tend not to "trust" governments, even one that I myself now rule. It is "too easy" to slip into believing that you can "correct" the "flaws" of your society by passing laws against them much as those of the American Democratic Party of the last decade of the 20th Century believed, such "activities" in my opinion having paved the way to the economic bankruptcy of the United States of America in the year 2007, which Janet Rogers then exploited as a means to convince the American people of the need for her NEW OR- DER. A political system based upon "cost-benefit" analysis, a system where those badly handicapped were denied educations upon the basis that they would never be able to "use" their knowledge. Author's Note If you've borne with me so far, you may have noticed that Lorraine does not approve too much of some of the things that Ja- net Rogers did first as President of the United States and later on as Leaderess of the World Federation. On the other hand we may note too that unlike our present day politicians, Janet dared not run a "deficit"; she had to "see" that there was the "money" available to "pay" for whatever social policy she wished to have. In such a social order you have to make "hard decisions", decide whether or not spending the taxpayer's hard earned money on some certain social program makes "sense" or not. Her income tax sys- tem also allowed the people to "divert" as much of their actual income tax bill as they wished to whatever "good cause" they saw fit. A policy that makes a lot of sense right here in 1993! Ja- net herself was not a "believer" in "big government", and it is likely that she only "did" what she did to keep things "going". Her policies on "population control" were unpopular (I expect those of the Priestesses of Lys of the post-War era would be even more so!), but they were based upon reasonable, sensible ideas of requiring those who had children to bear the full costs of having them. And not passing these "costs" on to society as we now "al- low" due to some misguided "delusions" we have now on this issue. Lorraine's "prejudices" against Janet Rogers (these were "what" they were) perhaps were due to the fact that the Leaderess did not see any advantage to society in extending tax payer sup- ported medical care past the "bare minimum" to those who would no longer be "productive" citizens of her society. Her attitude to- wards those who were severely disabled was the same here. Janet was a very "rational" person, one who was very much aware of the economic costs of various social policies, of the fact that en- couraging reproduction among the least "fit" was utter stupidity! Those who persisted in reproducing even if they did not have the "means" to support the children they produced were sterilized af- ter being convicted of the crime of "irresponsible reproduction". And here are the "policies" that Lorraine objected to here: Janet's limitations upon taxpayer supported life-extending medi- cal care for the aged if not paid for by a private insurance. It is likely that we may have to do the "same" if the costs of Medi- care continue to RISE as they have despite what the AARP says... The cutting off of "welfare benefits" to those able to work. In the 21st Century there were no "restrictions" upon economic activities as there are now, which meant that any ambitious per- son was able to find some sort of "work" to support themselves. The "parenthood tax" that was imposed upon all who had chil- dren. There was also a "deduction" for those who had themselves sterilized before ever producing any children. Also, Janet had the "millage" laws changed so only "parents" paid for education! Severely handicapped people who would never be able to hold any "productive" position in society AT ALL were not given the "special treatments" educationally that they are now upon the ba- sis that it was only a "waste" of the taxpayer's money to do so. The "means testing" and "flat rating" of Social Security. The replacement of the "public school system" with vouchers that allowed parents to send their children to any "qualified" school for an education regardless of if it was sectarian or not. At the present time it costs the public school system TWO AND A HALF TIMES as much money to educate a child as it does in the private school system. This means that Janet Rogers was able to now SAVE the taxpayers 60% of their "school taxes" by doing this! Only "taxpayers" were allowed to vote... Those who "founded" this country wrote that any other "policy" would be "disaster"... THE QUEEN OF TIME 2570 A.D.! A TALE OF ADVENTURE IN THE SECOND DARK AGE By Jerome B. Bigge Chapter Nineteen "Telegraph isn't `working' again," the operator said to me. Nineteenth Century "technology" was just a bit too "advanced" for my people, I mused to myself, well "aware" that there could be a break anywhere in the line between Trella and Sarn. This was a much more "modern" design than the system of "stations" I'd set up some years before, but it was vulnerable to broken wires too. No doubt a thunderstorm had caused a branch to fall over a wire! My only other means of "communications" was express riders, which traveled only about a hundred miles a day over the forest paths. "Contact the most distant station you can reach, have them send out a repair party," I answered, holding my voice level. It being obvious to me that even these people, sons and daughters of the caste of Builders, had little comprehension of what I needed! "And in the future there will be hourly checks on this line from one end to the other so repairs can be made more soon," I spoke. "The fastest, most reliable communications is still a good ship," my husband smiled as he stood there watching all this now! "On a good day you can put two hundred miles or better under your keel," my handsome dark haired husband pointed out as I nodded... "Find Sharon, tell her to prepare for a flight to Dularn," I smiled back, seeing him nod. I'd have a talk with Maris herself! "Keep an `eye' on things while I'm gone," I said, taking Amethysta's hands in mine, the thought going through my mind that Sanda would have her hands full trying to do some of the "politi- cal tricks" with Amethysta as Queen that she did with me. Sanda at times almost behaving as if she wore the crown of Trelandar instead of me. That "deal" she'd made with Maris Marn there in 2567 having been just an example of what I'm referring to here... Sanda also tended to be a bit too "democratic" for my liking at times, almost as if she was a good ward heeling Democrat from the 20th Century! A very intelligent, competent, capable woman, San- da was also the sort of a Prime Minister any Queen had to watch! Her political party, the Trelandarian Revolutionary Party, having controlled the Assembly ever since we'd kicked the Empire out... An even more "radical" group, the Democratic Party of Trelandar having now held "minority status" since the last election. This last group, controlled by a rabble rouser by the name of Les Haw- kins, wanted to actually make Trelandar into a "socialist state"! There were of course "conservatives", who yet "favored" Darlanis. "I'll see that Lady Sanda `stays out of trouble'," she prom- ised, her eyes, a vivid blue, glowing into mine as I nodded back. I wasn't too "worried" about Les Hawkins, who I planned to pub- licly debate sometime when I got around to it, the "concept" of "socialism" being "refuted" by the "history" of the 20th Century. By the "writings" of Janet Rogers herself, who most people still yet honored even if she had not "been" what most believed of her. "You are afraid of what the future may hold?" Sharon said to me as I flew north, the steady drone of the engine a comfort now. The clouds just above us drifting by as we now flew towards Sarn. The Pacific a mile below gleaming like rippled glass in the sun. Sharon's golden hair, her facial molding reminded me of Darlanis. "Darlanis `lost' a lot when she gave up Trelandar to me," I answered. There had been those who had questioned her "motives". Who had said that she was no longer the "leader" she had been... It had been Sharon as Imperial Princess who had "turned things around" for Darlanis, Sharon as the Queen of Orgon who had saved the Empire from breaking up. And now Maris was up to her old tricks again, stirring up trouble like Les Hawkins back in Trella was doing to me. The thought now going through my mind then was it "possible" that Les Hawkins was really an "agent" of Dularn? "And Darlanis can't `afford' to give up Orgon to Dularn...," the young Queen of that politically torn country added as I "nod- ded". Already the Dularnian Federation controlled the "territo- ries" to the north of Orgon, what had been Washington back in my own time. And Maris' alliance with Queen Freydis now gave her access to the resources and lands stretching north all the way to the arctic even if some of it was now only uninhabitable waste- land due to the six anti-matter missiles the Priestesses had used last year to prevent the EVIL ONE from entering our own "plane of existence". With Queen Valeris and her Free Women now only a "memory", Dularn had become a "match" for the Empire, something everyone knew too! Was Maris "planning" another war against us? "Like Vietnam," I breathed, and just as "winless" for us! "They didn't have `you'," Sharon spoke, looking at me. "I'm just a woman `good with a sword'," I grinned back. "I sure wish I'd known..." Darlanis smiled in a warm greet- ing, taking my hands in hers as Sharon stood watching, the waves there in the bay of Sarn rocking Black Lady a bit there at the dock behind us. The gold of her attire seemingly "fitting" here. She is, I sometimes believe, a woman who believes in things that a person more grounded in "reality" wouldn't bother believing... A woman who even her worst enemies have to say is like no other. "Telegraph's `out' again," I said, Darlanis smiling back. "Probably one of Maris' `agents'," the Empress grinned. "I hope you don't `believe' that," Sharon interrupted now. "Maris is a Queen who can't control her own people," the Em- press replied in level tones, her azure eyes now meeting my own. "A Queen who allows her own Senate to make decisions for her..." Last year she'd come close to be overthrown by Tara's own agents. "That `radical wing' that's been making so much `noise'," I mused thoughtfully, recalling what I'd heard of it. People much like my own Les Hawkins, stirring up "trouble" for all of us now! Even Darlanis had a bunch of "radicals" to deal with, although her own political system is much more "conservative" than mine... "Tara had some `able lieutenants'," I pointed out to her as we walked toward the magnificent palace that is her "residence". "And Mexico would `benefit' from a war of this sort," Sharon added, giving me a smile as I nodded in agreement. We'd beaten the Mexicans with "Dularnian" assistance, something I was sure the Emperor of Mexico was well aware of too! Princess Tara hav- ing been his "Warlady" before her "encounter" with the Priestess- es for violating their EDICT against "advanced weapons". Her own features now so "scarred" from burns she was said to be a "thing" from which people turned away in horror. On the other hand she had warned us of the plans of The Queen Of Darkness, who had in- habited first her soul and later that of Queen Valeris. Giving us the chance to slow the entry of the EVIL ONE into our "uni- verse" from His own, commonly known to Men as "HELL". Thus giv- ing the Priestesses of Lys time to react, to take the "measures" they did, even at the cost of a hundred thousand innocent lives! "`Sounds' like Les Hawkins in Trelandar," I said, looking up at Darlanis as she now stood looking out the window. Reading the newspaper that Darlanis had given me to read, Sharon looking over my shoulder as she used to do back in the 20th Century. I was growing aware that there seemed to be a "connection" between all of this, as if someone was "masterminding" the entire issue here! "Political radicals in Trelandar, Sarn, Orgon, and Dularn," the tall golden haired Empress replied, turning to face me then. "All with the same `ideology' drawn from the era you came from." "You believe Princess Tara has decided to return to her `old tricks'?" I ventured, wondering who else had the "brains"? Tara had an excellent mind, one as good as mine at least, and she was well aware of the history of the past, including that of the 20th Century. The philosophy of socialism is "attractive", especially to people who don't have the intelligence or the education to see the "flaws" in such reasoning. When one recalls here that during the Clinton administration (1992-1996) the large numbers who yet advocated such "ideals" even when faced with the visual proof of their failure in practice is only further "proof" of such things! "The `ideas' he advocated are from your own `era'," Darlanis said to me, her azure eyes burning straight right into mine now. "And until now I believed such things were only of `interest' to Scribes." The Scribes being a "bookish lot", often arguing issues that have little if any bearing now upon our own society. On the other hand there are always those who see "economic injus- tice" in society, and believe that the "role" of government should be to "correct" such things, much as the Clinton adminis- tration of the last decade of the 20th Century also advocated... "I am a `libertarian'," I smiled, "Not a `socialist'." I tend not to "trust" governments, even one that I myself now rule. It is "too easy" to slip into believing that you can "correct" the "flaws" of your society by passing laws against them much as those of the American Democratic Party of the last decade of the 20th Century believed, such "activities" in my opinion having paved the way to the economic bankruptcy of the United States of America in the year 2007, which Janet Rogers then exploited as a means to convince the American people of the need for her NEW OR- DER. A political system based upon "cost-benefit" analysis, a system where those badly handicapped were denied educations upon the basis that they would never be able to "use" their knowledge. Author's Note If you've borne with me so far, you may have noticed that Lorraine does not approve too much of some of the things that Ja- net Rogers did first as President of the United States and later on as Leaderess of the World Federation. On the other hand we may note too that unlike our present day politicians, Janet dared not run a "deficit"; she had to "see" that there was the "money" available to "pay" for whatever social policy she wished to have. In such a social order you have to make "hard decisions", decide whether or not spending the taxpayer's hard earned money on some certain social program makes "sense" or not. Her income tax sys- tem also allowed the people to "divert" as much of their actual income tax bill as they wished to whatever "good cause" they saw fit. A policy that makes a lot of sense right here in 1993! Ja- net herself was not a "believer" in "big government", and it is likely that she only "did" what she did to keep things "going". Her policies on "population control" were unpopular (I expect those of the Priestesses of Lys of the post-War era would be even more so!), but they were based upon reasonable, sensible ideas of requiring those who had children to bear the full costs of having them. And not passing these "costs" on to society as we now "al- low" due to some misguided "delusions" we have now on this issue. Lorraine's "prejudices" against Janet Rogers (these were "what" they were) perhaps were due to the fact that the Leaderess did not see any advantage to society in extending tax payer sup- ported medical care past the "bare minimum" to those who would no longer be "productive" citizens of her society. Her attitude to- wards those who were severely disabled was the same here. Janet was a very "rational" person, one who was very much aware of the economic costs of various social policies, of the fact that en- couraging reproduction among the least "fit" was utter stupidity! Those who persisted in reproducing even if they did not have the "means" to support the children they produced were sterilized af- ter being convicted of the crime of "irresponsible reproduction". And here are the "policies" that Lorraine objected to here: Janet's limitations upon taxpayer supported life-extending medi- cal care for the aged if not paid for by a private insurance. It is likely that we may have to do the "same" if the costs of Medi- care continue to RISE as they have despite what the AARP says... The cutting off of "welfare benefits" to those able to work. In the 21st Century there were no "restrictions" upon economic activities as there are now, which meant that any ambitious per- son was able to find some sort of "work" to support themselves. The "parenthood tax" that was imposed upon all who had chil- dren. There was also a "deduction" for those who had themselves sterilized before ever producing any children. Also, Janet had the "millage" laws changed so only "parents" paid for education! Severely handicapped people who would never be able to hold any "productive" position in society AT ALL were not given the "special treatments" educationally that they are now upon the ba- sis that it was only a "waste" of the taxpayer's money to do so. The "means testing" and "flat rating" of Social Security. The replacement of the "public school system" with vouchers that allowed parents to send their children to any "qualified" school for an education regardless of if it was sectarian or not. At the present time it costs the public school system TWO AND A HALF TIMES as much money to educate a child as it does in the private school system. This means that Janet Rogers was able to now SAVE the taxpayers 60% of their "school taxes" by doing this! Only "taxpayers" were allowed to vote... Those who "founded" this country wrote that any other "policy" would be "disaster"... |
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