The floor connecting to the stairs was marked by crimson carpet, and honest-to-the-throne tapestries were hung on the walls around the expansive area.
“I am not a bastard,” Arthur responded truthfully, “though I am not eager to speak of my origins, if it’s all the same.”
“Told you he was a Lord.” Perseus said out loud to Endymion, and clearly with the intention of being heard.
“That does not mean he’s a Lord, Andino.” Endymion growled dismissively.
“It does not.” Circe agreed with an unblinking gaze on Arthur. “He might simply be the ordained child of a lawful concubine. I hear that such practices are permitted in Aurelia, in order to secure the most worthy heir, irrelevant of the parentage being the lawful spouse of the title holder among the Star Kingdom’s aristocracy.”
“You know a lot about Aurelian tradition.” Arthur said with undisguised appreciation. Circe’s intellect seemed to be as sharp as her wit and as keenly honed as her acerbic tongue, which only emboldened her image in Arthur’s eyes. The fact she’d guessed at his true origins, even if her frame of reference had been wildly off, was actually impressive. It was a limited pool of options, he acknowledged, but she’d still hit the nail on the head.
Another trick of resonance, perhaps, or simply keen insight?
Somehow he truly hoped it was the latter.
He’d always been a fan of intelligence over anything else.
Especially in a Galaxy rife with gene-tailored attractiveness.
“Interstellar politics was part of my mandated education, Ser.” Circe continued while oblivious to his considerations. “It was very necessary for the heiress of a House as old and prestigious as my own.”
“As was interrogation, apparently.” He responded glibly.
“Perhaps.” Circe admitted with a sly smile as they stepped outside the massive double doors to the foyer and into what appeared to be a beautifully curated garden courtyard, framed within the inner limits of the palatial residence and occupied by a small group of people in the near distance.
They had not been immediately noticed, but Arthur knew that would change quickly.
“In the interest of diplomacy, my lady, I’ll admit that my view on the genetic manipulation of mankind as a standard practice is an ambivalent one.” Arthur said while choosing to affect nonchalance toward the waiting crowd ahead of them. “My knowledge and education insofar as history goes tells me that genetic ‘superiority’ as a concept has been the cause of a considerable number of brutal, and ethically bankrupt regimes across the length of human history.”
“The Ascendancy is not like that.” She said while coming to a halt and turning to face him, her expression once again embodying the proud warrior princess ready to defend her honor.
“I believe you.” Arthur said while meeting her fierce jade eyes. “I didn’t mean to infer it was, and I know most star nations across the humanosphere are not inclined toward such narrow thinking—but neither can you deny that some are, and for all that we are taught from the cradle that the transhumanists were evil, degenerate, senseless monsters creating cyborg abominations and twirling evil mustaches… well, it just isn’t that simple in my eyes.”
Circe searched his gaze for a long moment, and some of the instinctive anger seemed to leech from her eyes when she did. “You aren’t a transhumanist.”
She phrased it as a statement, but the question was there, and the subtle shift of the Kidemónes told Arthur they were interested in the answer too.
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“I am not.” He said truthfully. “Nor am I a sympathizer. I don’t believe in what they were doing, but my point—” he looked at all three of his companions while he spoke, to make sure that both Perseus and Endymion were paying as much attention as Circe herself “—is that a lot of atrocities can and have been justified for the purpose of advancing the genetic development of mankind. Forced breeding, exo-wombs, and even pseudo-cloning for organ development to name a few.”
“Disgusting and abhorrent practices.” Circe declared flatly, though he could see she was thinking and listening despite the automatic and vehement statement.
“True, but still practices that exist.” Arthur said with a confidence borne of even-then on-rushing memories. Arthur Zacaris, he knew then, had held many of the same frustrations and disagreements within him—despite never necessarily vocalizing them, given the nature of his environment.
“That’s my point, really.” he continued. “I can see the benefits and necessities of the geneticist ideology. After all, who wouldn’t? With the discovery of Callandium, breeding to increase psion density and Callandium compatibility for the purpose of creating a ‘perfect psionic’ to take the next step in human evolution is a very, ah, romantic goal… but that doesn’t mean everyone will pursue it within the unspoken moral or ethical confines within which much of the Humanosphere operates.”
Both Kidemónes nodded slightly in agreement to his words, and he noticed that Circe appeared to be listening intently. She wasn’t perhaps in total agreement with him, but there was a clear and present desire in the House Leos heiress to hear his words and—more than that—to understand them.
It was rather endearing, compared to his memories of most Aristocrats in Pendragon.
“The correlation between Callandium compatibility, psion density, and overarching power is irrefutable.” Circe admitted. “And even here on Graecia, far away from the Terran Imperator and his psionic autocracy, we still feel the pressure of the Academia Psionica and its ruthless pursuit of children born with desired capacities. The fact Terra wields its unilateral control of Callandium like a club only serves to sharpen the point of your argument, I suppose.”
“I’m surprised to hear you say it so bluntly, my lady.” Arthur said truthfully.
“I am not blind, Ser.” she murmured with a quiet sigh. “The Paladins provide the Callandium, under the auspices of the Imperator ostensibly ‘aiding’ human development, but we all know what it really is. It’s control. No star nation will refuse Callandium. It would make them irrevocably vulnerable to their enemies, but…”
“It’s frustrating to see the positives and the negatives, and be able to justify the negatives even while despising them.” Arthur said simply.
“Yes.” Circe agreed with a look back into his eyes, and a warm smile. “Yes. Exactly.”
“Glad to know we agree.” he said with a small smile of his own.
“You do have a point. A good one.” she said with a chuckle before continuing. “Though I still don’t think the Imperator’s use of Callandium as a control mechanism, nor the evil scum that pervert everything genetic science stands for should be a valid counterpoint to the benefits of what we’re doing.”
“Even if it’s only the top percentile of the population that benefits from the programs?” Arthur questioned calmly. “We both know that whether it’s a constitutional monarchy like Graecia, a democracy, an autocracy like the Grand Imperium, or even a mega-corporate conglomerate that rules a star nation; it’s always the upper crust of whatever society exists that reap the greatest benefits from gene-science.”
He shrugged a little and gestured distractedly. “Hell, the way that breeding impetus is approached, the gap between the upper and lower stratum only grows with the decades, let alone across centuries.”
“That isn’t always the case, however.” Circe pointed out after he was done, and with her hands braced thoughtfully on her wide hips. “Advances in genetic science have led to innumerable cures for once-thought incurable ailments, for example. Cancer has been all but eradicated, xenoviruses are rapidly addressed by what is now an extensive comprehension of the human genome, and our ability to colonize different climates, environments, and worlds has been massively bolstered by the availability of immediate micro-tailoring to adapt people’s biology to their chosen habitation zones.”
“Those are valid points.” Arthur conceded with a nod. “Though it does not rule out the glaring inequity present across many star nations in the Humanosphere, caused primarily by the hyperfixation of superior breeding.”