Battlestar Galactica - Destiny by Richard Hatch

Author:Richard Hatch [Hatch, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: IBOOKS, INC.
Published: 2004-06-28T07:00:00+00:00

12

Athena sat in the back of the largest meeting room available in the fleet. She wanted to remain inconspicuous as long as possible. The warriors needed someone to represent them at this gathering. She joked that she lost the coin toss but that did nothing to diminish the high regard her comrades insisted was her due. The warrior style was to ask for volunteers.

Apollo couldn’t do everything.

So Athena was present at a town hall meeting giving every indication that it was on the verge of degenerating into a free-for-all. She couldn’t stop herself from comparing this exercise in democracy with other management styles.

She tried not to feel contempt. On first glance, representative government seemed more like a meeting of the council than the more measured deliberations of the warriors. Maybe there was something to be said for the mocking attitude of Sire Uri.

But she didn’t let herself follow that line of thought to its unfortunate conclusion. Her brother had made a commitment to the will of the people that she felt she must respect, whatever the outcome. That didn’t prevent her from exercising her own independent judgment. Apollo expected no less of her.

The most striking aspect of these deliberations was how the majority was careful not to express itself. Many of these people had never hesitated to shout at the authorities when decisions were in anyone’s hands but their own. Now that the shoe was on the other foot, they waited. Quiet silhouettes of their former selves, they didn’t know which way the popular will was tending.

The majority waited for the majority to tell it what to think. First they would have to elect a slate of representatives. Then those freshly minted officials would decide who would be included in the lottery. Which was only another way of deciding on the short list of those who would be exempt!

Athena respected a few brave souls with reasonable suggestions who spoke up at this stage of the game. She easily imagined these men as warriors. She did them the favor of not even considering that they could ever qualify for the council, so great was her hatred for that august body. The tragedy was that these were the very kinds of people who needed to be on the council instead of the current membership. She doubted that they would even win the popular vote and be among the new officials.

One such person was a gray haired man with great dignity who said: “I object to a lottery because it isn’t really logical. I am an old man. I shouldn’t even be considered for the journey to the new world. If eight-hundred must stay behind, we should make up lists of everyone like myself who is no longer essential to the survival of the colonies. The young and vigorous should be at the top of the list. The only old men and women who should be considered for the journey are those who provide an indispensable function. We might decide the whole thing without ever getting to a lottery.

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