BOOK 4: PREPARATION / CH. 11:BRIEFINGS
MONDAY 4TH NOVEMBER. 11AM, CABINET MEETING
Eliza had spent the journey to the palace studying the profiles of the current cabinet ministers. She hadn't even realised that she was expected to attend, but it made sense, she supposed. If she was going to be protected as a royal, be working as a royal and helping decide on policy as a royal, why not meet the people who helped the royals shape policy.
It made her a little nervous to think that these politicians included some who had known her father before he'd been stripped of his power (in both senses) and locked up. She wondered if she should check to see if any of them were still somehow under his sway, but it seemed unlikely.
After introductions were over — Eliza was glad she'd done her homework, there were too many names — the king asked her to describe the results of her research so far. She'd known this was coming and since it was the essay that she'd been writing a week before, she could even give them copies of it - she'd got special permission from her tutor at the University.
“This is an essay that I submitted to the University on Friday of last week. I have permission to distribute it to the cabinet as long as it doesn't go further. So, please consider it a confidential briefing document. In summary, while my father was involved in government he came up with a number of seemingly helpful suggestions, which actually have done genuine harm to our nation. Unfortunately, it seems that no one other than him foresaw the long term consequences. Or if they did, then he managed to ensure they did not speak of them.
“Some of you knew him better than I have ever done. Apart from one thing he said to me, I've not had any privileged access or been working from anything except the public records. If you are aware of other laws which he helped draft, then I would be very grateful if you could tell me of them.
“You may or may not be aware that I was kidnapped. After I escaped from that, I spoke briefly to him in company he did not expect, and I believe that he said more than he would normally have done. He stated, and I have no reason to doubt him in this: that he's been planning since he was a teenager to rule our country. Of course, the only way that he could rule was to first destabilise the country and cause constitutional change. I've therefore come up with a hypothesis that I am testing as part of my research: that until he was arrested on corruption charges, every recommendation he made for changes of legislation had an ultimate aim of bringing that constitutional collapse about. So far, I have analysed about a third of the list I compiled, and have found no evidence to dissuade me from this hypothesis, and quite a lot of support. The changes he introduced for civics week are an obvious case.”
“Could you list some others?” the justice Minister asked.
“Another fairly easy one is the dangerous jobs act. Before my father was involved, it was not possible for someone to be employed in certain categories of dangerous jobs if they'd been convicted for use of addictive drugs. After his intervention, the list of jobs was longer and the exclusion standard had been reduced from a conviction to an official warning, nor does it allow for any limiting time. One warning, even as a juvenile, and those jobs are closed.
Psychologists tell us that people who have a risk-seeking, adrenaline-loving personality-type will tend to seek such jobs, or if they cannot find another source of adrenaline then they may turn to drugs, crime, or both. They also tell us that this personality type is the one most likely to experiment with illegal drugs as a teenager, and so get an official warning. So that law, combined with the warning that might have set them back on the straight and narrow after an act of teenage rebellion, excluded them from practically the entire range of jobs they were predisposed to. Since the law was passed the estimated number of people involved in the inner-city gangs has almost trebled, and the combined number of applicants to dangerous jobs has declined at a corresponding rate. Roughly speaking, the gangs are getting people who used to join the army, fire service and so on.”
“But do we want such people in those jobs?” asked the minister for transport.
“Minister, there is no such restriction on government ministers,” pointed out the King. “If there had been, then some very capable ministers would never have held their posts. The change to the law was supported by parliament. I remember voicing my concern at the time, and in retrospect I should have requested longer debate on the issue. But there were very few opponents to the bill, because of news events at the time. I remember thinking this would never have had so much support if there hadn't just been that tragedy involving the fireman on hallucinogenic drugs who stepped out of the wrong window carrying a child.
"I suppose it might even be possible that those events were actually engineered by Roland Underwood himself, but he certainly made use of them. A more balanced approach would be randomised testing of people, to make sure they're not on drugs, rather than banning everyone who's ever been caught with them. But the civil liberties union really didn't like that, and preferred the life-ban for some reason.”
“I can guess why,” said the finance minister.
“Oh?” the King asked.
“I once made a list of which groups he was found to have been blackmailing and bribing members of; they came out at the top.”
“Thank you. I'd not put those figures together.” the King admitted “We have a monarchy so that our country experiences stability. We have an elected parliament so that the voice of the people is heard. I believe that in this case, one man charmed, bribed and corrupted his fellow ministers so that the voice of the people was not heard, but only the voice of a dangerous schemer. Eliza, you have some more information about your father which has not been made public.”
“Oh. Do I?”
“How was he so successful at knowing people's weak spots.”
“Oh. Yes. My father had the ability to hear thoughts. He no longer has it, as three rather brave Christians prayed that it would be taken from him, just before his first arrest. He possessed the power, and I guess he didn't meet anyone else who had it. Therefore, he considered himself a super-human, the next step in evolution, and therefore he concluded that it was natural that he should rule.”
“The irony of it is that my father also had this power.” the King told his ministers “Roland Underwood assumed that he was genetically superior to my family, because he had a rare ability that actually my father had also. It is entirely plausible that our criminal ancestress — the mother of 'princess' Sarah, also had that ability.”
“Your Majesty, from your phrasing, do we assume that you do not possess this ability?” the minister for Justice asked.
“Minister, I think you of all people, should know that you are asking for the revelation of a state secret. As it happens, I do not have the power. As has been reported, it often skips one or more generations. But I do not think that questioning along these lines is appropriate.”
“I apologise wholeheartedly, your Majesty.”
The science minister asked, “Your Majesty, is the knowledge about your father's ability declassified, or is it still a state secret?”
“That is a matter for further discussion, when we have less pressing business. For the moment it remains a grade beta state secret.”
“Thank you for trusting us with it, your Majesty, but might I ask your reasons for doing so?”
“The Institute for the Human Mind has seen fit to release the big secret — that such a power exists. There seems to have been no great public outcry, very few cries of 'get rid of the witches'. I raise three questions for you to consider: firstly, do we encourage openness, for instance by my speaking of my father's ability. Secondly, do we support privacy, by making it an offence to reveal whether someone has this ability or not, or do we simply state that possession of this gift is automatically a long-standing family secret, as it affects multiple generations, and leave the existing laws to deal with infractions. Thirdly, the question of its application to legal matters could be considered a little further, I believe.”
“Having spoken to people at the Institute,” Eliza said, “it is clear that the thought-hearing power is not going to detect every lie told in court. I'm sure that well-rehearsed criminals could practice their statements. However, in certain cases, it might prove a useful additional tool. I am thinking of one in particular, but am not sure if I may speak of it, your Majesty.”
“You may, Eliza. Ministers, this matter is sub-judice, and touches on a state secret. Do not pass on what you hear,” The King said.
“The lawyer for the defence in which I gave evidence had heard a rumour that I was involved with Albert, which he felt validated his client's unlikely version of events. Under the laws of his country he was duty-bound to take his client's version as truth and seek to garner all support he could for it. Therefore, he insisted that I answer his questions.
"Warnings were given but he insisted. It was his right to insist, since I had given my oath, but he ended up breaking our laws, and was arrested on the spot. Obviously he should have sought legal advice before insisting, but his arrest put the trial in jeopardy, since his status as an accredited lawyer would be damaged.
"Thus, the question in my mind was should the trial that I was a witness at be jeopardised because he wanted to know the answer there and then and not wait twenty-four hours. Or alternatively, what were the real reasons for his insisting on finding it out so soon.”
“Under his home-country's laws he would no longer be able to practice law if he had any conviction against his name. And of course he didn't know he'd find out in twenty four hours,” stated the King, “So Eliza requested that a royal pardon be issued. I was not happy with that idea, while his motivations were unclear, and whether he had been involved in various other information leaks. Therefore, with his permission, two anonymous thought-hearers eavesdropped on his thoughts during the pre-trial hearing.
“They certainly heard some self-talk that he didn't say aloud, but there was no evidence to suggest that he was anything other than honestly ignorant about our legal process. I expect to issue the pardon after this meeting.”
“Your Majesty, I thought from Bob McDaniel's report that the thought-hearers risked death if they acted as lie-detectors. Was he being selective with the truth?” the minister for Rocketry asked.
“Eliza? You've had more contact with these phenomena than most of us, could you answer that?” the King asked.
“Bob McDaniel was talking about the Spiritual gift, which is very risky when used as a lie detector. It would have given a complete knowledge of every thought that crossed his mind and the connections that there were between them, and yes, if that is used to follow someone's thoughts over a protracted time, then there is a very real risk of death or serious brain injury. What was used with the lawyer was the natural ability, that my father had, for instance, and it's something that someone used to doing it could probably do all day. The results are far less conclusive, after all it is possible to lie in your unspoken thoughts just like in speech. But it's harder to do when you don't know what questions you're going to be asked. From what I've been told most people leak something somewhere along the line, like 'I'm glad I remembered to say that!' or 'Now, how was I going to answer this?'”
“Thank you. I'd obviously forgotten that important difference.”
“Do I presume you know this from being on the committee?” asked the religions affairs minister.
“That would not be entirely accurate but nor would it be too far from the truth.” Eliza said.
“And the truth?”
“I don't think it is a secret that I was sent to the Institute for the Human mind for counselling; I learned it while there.” Eliza said, perfectly truthfully.
“Ah. I see. So you were visiting during Bob McDaniel's reporting?”
“Yes, I actually got there the same day he did. I didn't stay there as long as he did, but I was around, and I've met people he talked about.”
“I admit an intense curiosity how you, as a patient, met the secret staff of that secretive institution. I thought that they were better at keeping secrets than that.” the minister for science said.
“Bob is an elder at my Church, plus... Oh, hold on. Reporting restrictions... I don't think I can say more.”
“So Bob and someone else they trusted vouched for you?”
“Yes. That's a good way of saying it. They decided I was a trustworthy person.”
“And that is an opinion that others share,” agreed the queen. “And that is a good cue to share another piece of information which has been a family secret until now. I know that you all know Maria, who heads up the field arm of Security, either by reputation or personally.” heads nodded. “She, her husband and daughter have agreed that it is time to claim a relationship that has not been public, though I've known it since Maria and I joined Security at the same time. Maria's younger brother is Roland Underwood. The approved leak who talked about Eliza and Albert making their engagement public for her sake is Maria's daughter, Karen, Eliza's cousin. The press will, I'm sure, be making the link soon enough, though of course Maria's role in Security had better remain a very strict secret.”
The murmurs of surprise turned to agreement.
“Moving back to our earlier topic,” the King started, “I ask that parliament address the issues raised in Eliza's paper, over the coming months. Please start with the most public one — that of the civics week. I would like to see a parliamentary discussion on that in the next week or two. Eliza, do I remember you saying that you hoped this essay would turn into a publication?”
“Eventually, yes. I don't know if my tutor would recommend a publication of the essay as research in progress, or if it would be better to finish the research first.”
The Education minister suggested “From my brief time in academia: you've publicly mentioned it as a research topic, so someone could beat you to formal publication if you're not quick. Publish soon.”
“Thank you for that advice, Minister.”
“It also makes it available to parliament to discuss.” stated the King “Which is something I'd like to see as soon as possible. If your tutor feels that no journal is willing to publish it soon as work in progress, then if everyone agrees, how about we suggest it be published as a parliamentary briefing paper. Say within the next month?” There were nods around the table at that suggestion. “You may tell your tutor the cabinet is happy with that idea. I don't know where parliamentary briefings figure on their league tables, but at least it's published.”
“Thank you, your Majesty.”
“Thank you, Eliza. You've made a more convincing case for changing legislation than many documents that I've seen, and we didn't even commission the research.”
The education minister coughed. “Yes. Sometimes there are advantages to the wheels of the civil service grinding slowly. Maria notified me about the issue some months ago, and I went through the normal channels to confirm her findings. This morning I received the final draft of a proposal for multiple-stage survey which would have proved her insights were correct, which has taken at least a month to draft and re-draft. I propose that we ignore that survey. I also issued the guidance to schools you suggested, Maam.” he added, nodding respectfully to the queen.
The cabinet secretary added “The Education minister asked that I check the records of the parliamentary debate where the changes to civics week were discussed, your Majesties. I found that there was indeed mention made of how many such visits should be made, and Roland Underwood stated in the debate that he thought that was best left unspecified, so that the school would not feel under pressure to take a trip every civics week if they felt the teaching standards would suffer, and then he verbally proposed the wording on the form and stated that he'd make the text available for the legislation if parliament agreed. There were some subtle but critical differences between what he said (and parliament agreed to) and what he actually sent in. My predecessor didn't catch them, I'm afraid.”
“Could you detail the differences?” asked the Education Minister.
“The discussed wording was 'Please indicate if you would like to visit and when.' the published wording is 'Please indicate when you would like to visit.'”
“Subtle.” agreed the King, “So actually, the current form is not what was approved by parliament?”
“No, your Majesty.” stated the secretary.
“Schools have been told to cancel most visits?” asked the Queen.
“Yes, your Majesty. The question of the examination, though, I feel, is rather difficult, Maam. It will be very difficult for final year students who have not been exposed to the syllabus at all to pass an exam in the summer. Especially when the teachers are totally unused to teaching it now.”
“But the material is not actually that hard to cover. If I remember correctly, the main problem with civics weeks from one year to another was that by the third or fourth year most of us knew it by rote.”
“That is true, Maam.”
“Might I suggest that the exam be optional for the first year, and that it only be a requirement for people entering the civil service?” Albert suggested.
“And what about people in university already?” asked the King.
“Evening classes, online study, or persuade the universities to offer tuition?”
“I think all three might be useful.”
“What about people who are already in the Service?” the Education minister asked.
“Might I suggest that they get to go to the same evening classes?” the King said. “I also suggest that they have to have passed the exam before they be eligible for a promotion. Once the first rush is over, then the evening classes could be offered to everyone.”
“I imagine that stopping promotions could cause problems, dear. What if the otherwise best candidate hasn't managed to find space on the course yet? Not to mention where do the teachers come from. It'd be better to have some sort of self-study programme.”
“With respect, I tend to agree with the Queen, your Majesty.” the minister for education said. "Teaching staff are going to find it hard to prepare for their current students, let alone if they are suddenly expected to teach the past fifteen years of students as well.”
“Very well, self-study programme it is,” conceded the King, “and what about the incentive?”
“It would be good to reach out to the entire population; Eliza suggested some kind of random testing with a significant prize.” Albert responded.
“Such as?” the King asked Eliza.
“Well, at the time I suggested a reduction in the tax rate for people getting a hundred percent, but Albert pointed out that messing with the tax law wasn't a good idea.”
“Thank you, your Highness,” said the minister for finance.
“So, I'm not sure. I was guessing that something like one or two percent of the population would get it, so that most people would either know someone who was tested or failing that know someone who knew someone.”
“That sounds reasonable.” Agreed the queen, “and then there'd need to be some kind of prize which would appeal to vast swathes of the population and not cost the public purse a fortune.”
“Exactly.” agreed Albert.
“And I presume that a tour of a state institution isn't going to be very desirable.” said the King.
“Ah, I doubt it, your Majesty.” Eliza said. “My generation have had enough of those. I think. It would have to be somewhere very special.”
“Like the palace?” suggested Albert.
“Security concerns, Albert.” warned his mother.
“Perhaps a banquet here instead.” suggested the king.
“That's more workable,” agreed the queen. “I think we can actually offer a range of options, possibly in different age ranges. As long as we can keep the numbers of winners manageable — something like two hundred.”
“Perhaps multiple rounds?” suggested the minister for Education.
“We probably need to, yes. A small prize for everyone who gets to the second round and maybe genuine policy questions as part of that.” Albert agreed.
“And a job offer for those who do really well?” Eliza chipped in.
“Why not? Why not indeed!” the King sounded delighted. “After all, if someone knows the facts and can come up with a good policy recommendation under pressure, they surely have the potential to work in the civil service, or to be encouraged into politics.”
[Albert, remind me sometime. I'd love to know what makes someone decide to enter politics. Now isn't the time to ask though, I'm sure.]
Albert disagreed. [Ask now, Eliza. It'll help you get to know the ministers.]
“I'm not sure it's an appropriate time, but... might I ask, your Majesty, what made the ministers here decide to enter politics rather than the civil service?”
“I'm sure it's a good time, Eliza. After all, you're here to get to know the ministers as well as be introduced.” replied the King. “Let's start with our minister for education, and in the interests of keeping everyone guessing then you can nominate who follows you.”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Eliza listened to their accounts of enjoying the cut and thrust of debate, the challenge of representing their constituencies, their care for local issues. And above all, the common theme that the people's voice had to be heard, and not just heard but responded to, to avoid the trap of a dictatorship; Parliament had real power, not just voice. The civil service was important, to implement decisions, but the decisions came from parliament and from the throne.
“From a historical perspective,” she asked, “I know that almost all countries used to have political parties, even when there was only one. Do you think the ban on political parties is a good thing? Or am I not allowed to ask such things?”
“How could we represent the constituents who elected us if we're following a party policy?” asked the minister for rocketry, “I think the party system was all about being on the same side as the prime-minister or president, so that you could in turn share in his power. In other words it was all about being part of a powerful tribe, 'we're stronger than you are', and so on. It's not really very different to warlordism with words instead of weapons. I don't think we need to go back there.”
“But aren't there some natural groupings?”
“Oh, of course. But they're flexible. It depends on the subject. I mean I tend to disagree with the pacifists on defence issues, but I agree with some people who are pacifists that shipping the gangs to Mars may not be the best thing do do with them.”
“Oh? You agree with them about their ideas that education would solve the problem?” Albert was fascinated.
“Ah, no. I'm just thinking that in terms of propellant, it's lots of orders of magnitude easier to accelerate a few grammes of lead to the speed of sound than to accelerate a human body to escape velocity. Especially if you need to supply them with food and oxygen as well.”
“I don't think we need you to pursue that thought, minister,” the king warned. “The Mars colony needs risk-takers, just like the fire service does. Executing the gang members is not a solution I would approve of.”
“I wasn't being entirely serious, your Majesty. But I would approve of more effective sentencing.”
“The gangs are a problem, I agree, Father. Why are they allowed to get away with so much?”
“Because we, as a society, have decided not to use the capabilities we could bring to bear to crack down on them, because of the civil liberties implications.” explained the minister for justice. “The cost is too high. Not the monetary cost, you understand, sir, but the civic cost. To arrest every gang member, then it would be necessary to intercept every message, analyse every conversation. Track people to see who they meet, who they talk to, trace every journey. Of course we can do that. But it makes us a police state. We don't want to live in that sort of society.
“We could use the security cameras as though every offence committed by gang members was a terrorist offence, and track their every moment from when they commit it, until arrest. But, since most of what the gangs get up to is no different to the sort of extremes teenagers sometimes get up to, just on a more industrial scale, then what would catch the gangs would also catch a lot of teenagers who are getting carried away. Almost all gang activity isn't about the crimes, so much as the organisation and the frequency of the crimes. But we don't want to live in a police state, and the principle of equal treatment prohibits us from tracking down some vandals and not others.
“So, we allow them the freedom to meet and organise in secret, and police officers arrest them when they've committed their acts of vandalism or violence. Sometimes, well, about seventy percent of the time, actually, the police are too slow to catch them, and they get away.”
“But the obvious question is, what makes the police officers too slow?” asked the queen. “The arrest rate used to be higher than that. Police numbers are the same. Surely you're not going to tell me that they can't move as fast as they used to!”
“I don't know, your Majesty.” answered the minister for justice.
“It does seems like the sort of thing that my father would have been happy to have a hand in.” Eliza pondered “But I haven't spotted anything in it yet.”
“It's not just that they've learned a few more ways of hiding in the crowd?” asked the minister for agriculture.
“No.” the justice minister replied, “It's more like they know where the officers are being sent. I've had a statistical survey done using the camera records. In general they scatter from an area about a minute after the officer is dispatched.”
“You think they've got an informant?” asked Albert.
“Not likely, your highness. All the gangs reacted in the same timespan. I don't think that there's much chance that the same informant is informing all of them, given the rivalries.”
“So, you believe there's some kind of information leak, possibly even someone's programmed a back door into the dispatch system?” asked the minister for privacy and civil liberties.
“Exactly.” agreed the justice minister.
“That sounds... ominous.” Albert said.
“It does rather.” agreed the king “I think the obvious thing to do is get Internal Auditing onto it.”
“Shouldn't they have caught it already?”
“Of course they should have. So, if the cabinet agrees, we'll also get Signals to look at what information sources the gangs are accessing.”
The minister for civil liberties raised a hand. “How are we going to identify gang membership without violating the liberties we discussed earlier?”
“I propose that for this warrant, a crime in progress be picked, which by location and timing would tend to exclude ordinary citizens, and all incoming and outgoing communications be monitored in the immediate area of the perpetrators,” said the justice minister.
“I would agree to monitoring of a crime in progress in an isolated area, strictly for the purpose of determining the nature of this leak, yes. Just as long as the information gathered under the warrant does not result in the perpetrators being tracked, identified or other unusual methods being used against them.” the liberties minister conceded.
“Should they receive a communication which causes them to leave, would you agree to the originator of the information being investigated?” Albert asked.
“No arrests to be made?” asked the minister for civil rights.
“Purely to identify the manner of the leak,” Agreed the justice minister.
“And this operation would occur as Auditing's operation, and receive judicial oversight as normal?” pressed the minister for civil liberties.
“Yes.” Conceded the King, with a sigh.
[What does being under Auditing mean?] Eliza asked.
[Auditing are allowed to look at lots of secret stuff — they need to — but they don't have authority to arrest members of the public, only civil servants. Putting it under Auditing means that even if the investigation happens to record a mass-murderer at work, the most they can officially do directly is warn him that he's been a naughty boy. They can inform the police, like any good citizen, but only as a vague tip-off. They can't supply evidence about the public, or disclose where they got their information. Unless there's a civil servant involved, it's an even more restrictive set of rules than Signals normally work to.]
[Oh. The price of freedom?]
[I guess so.]
With that matter dealt with, the prime-minister, who'd been mostly silent as usual, raised the issue of the recent press leaks: “Your majesties, I'm informed by Security that there have been a number of leaks which arose from cabinet-level discussions recently.”
“Yes Prime-minister. TREC discussions, actually.” the King confirmed.
“That's something that I found most concerning. The source of those leaks has been identified and reprimanded?”
“Yes Prime-minister.” confirmed the King “Well, no. I would rather say that one source has been reminded that the appropriate channel for expressing concerns is direct discussion, not press leaks. There was also another, but I do not believe we will have any more trouble on that front either.”
“The second wrong-doer has been identified?”
“Identified and warned, yes.” the Queen said.
“I ask because it is obviously a serious thing when secrets are betrayed, and I would hope that there is not a loss of standards in the cabinet. Someone who feels justified to betray official secrets on one occasion might find themselves tempted on another, and if we cannot express ourselves freely, then that would severely reduce the efficiency of cabinet. So while I'm not exactly asking for names, I think that we'd like reassuring that their motivation was sufficiently extreme and honourable that it warranted their actions, and there's no question of them being asked to resign or face charges.”
“One of the leaks was is in that category, as I've said, the person concerned was not in possession of all the facts and had severe doubts about policy that they should have brought to us. The second person is not present at this meeting, and may be facing charges.” the King said.
“The previous minister for defence?” asked the prime-minister.
“I thought you weren't asking for names?” asked the queen, with a smile to soften her words. “Yes. The second leak was a further display of poor judgement from her. What she leaked was relatively innocuous, suggesting that maybe the woman Albert was falling in love with here was someone on the Committee for major threat assessment. That little piece of information was added to by the gossip columnist who knew too much from other sources, and she made up a nice little article from the two which is probably too sensitive to talk about in more detail. Fortunately the writer was persuaded to change her story to an alternative one quite quickly. Depending on what Auditing discover about how the ex-minister chose which gossip-monger to leak to, then there may or may not be grounds for charges.”
Eliza noticed that there were some confused faces around the table and wasn't surprised when someone — the minister for civil liberties, in fact — asked “I'm not sure I understand. How does selecting the recipient make her liable for charges?”
“If the ex-minister knew that the journalist would be able to add to what she reported, and flesh it out to make a plausible story of skulduggery and conspiracy, then that's a malicious leak. If she just pulled a name out of a hat, then it wouldn't be her responsibility.”
“And in either case we can breathe a sigh of relief that the journalist could be persuaded to withdraw her story.” added Albert.
“There would have been long-term implications?”
“Yes, I believe there would have been, and indeed will be if the suggestions are made again.” the King replied.
“Surely if the speculation is unjustified, then it could simply be denied?” asked the minister for privacy and civil liberties.
Eliza decided to change the track. “Minister, might I ask you something?”
“Of course, Maam.” the minister replied.
“As fiancée to the crown prince, do I have a right to privacy, to decide what is and is not known about me by the general public?”
“Assuming that it doesn't affect your suitability for your future role as queen-consort, Maam.”
“Then, I would like to postpone further discussion on this subject until you and I have had a discussion in private, if that is acceptable to their majesties.”
“It is your right to trust, Eliza.” the queen said in reply, and the meeting moved on to other topics.
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After the cabinet meeting, Albert showed Eliza and the minister to a room down the corridor. “You won't be disturbed, or overheard here.” he said.
“I think it might be useful if you witness our conversation, Albert. Is that all right with you, Minister?”
“Of course. Since I've very little idea of what it'll be about, I'm not sure what I'm walking into.” he said carefully.
“Minister, your role, if I understand it, is to ensure that the citizens' right to privacy is preserved, and that civil liberties are not breached by any legislation. Is that correct?”
“Yes, Maam.”
“Can you keep secrets?” Eliza asked.
“Urm, as well as most people, I think.”
“Albert, do you think that's acceptable?”
“It depends what you want to discuss, Eliza.” Albert said, with a warning note in his voice.
“OK, let me make my thoughts more explicit. Minister, I plan to seek your opinion about the piece written about me. Their majesties believe it could be quite controversial, and that it might affect some people's view of me as a suitable queen-consort. I hope that you will not be among them, or that if you are then I will be able to allay your fears. I'm not quite sure what I'd do if I can't. But would you trust yourself to not reveal what I'm about to tell you? Ever? Would you take an oath to that effect?”
“You're serious, there's enough truth in the speculation that it could not be denied?”
“Will you take such an oath?” Albert pressed.
He said, “Yes. Of course I will take such an oath. Or rather, I already have, your highness. It's part of my oath of office to give confidential advice to the royal family. I didn't expect it would ever happen of course.” Eliza was relieved, but decided that to be fully confident she'd invade his privacy — just a little. She checked his skin. He was full of curiosity, but felt privileged too; he was also determined to not break that trust.
“I don't actually have a copy of the report. Do you, Albert?”
“Urm, no, actually. Bella might.”
“She might, but she's off duty. It probably doesn't matter. Minister, roughly speaking the report went like this:
'Did the Prince's love know about the Valentine's day impact? We know that the mysterious committee for major threat assessment has been meeting with the royals recently, so maybe the woman who's become so important to Albert is on it. Of course that doesn't help us identify her, since the committee meets at the Institute for the Human Mind, and we can't find out anything about anyone there. But why might she be connected to that institute, and how did she get onto the committee? Is she staff, a thought hearer, or simply someone who knows people who are?' You know how I am connected to the institute — I was assigned there for therapy. But I'm sure you'll agree that that doesn't actually help explain why I'm on the committee.”
“No, it doesn't really,” the minister conceded.
“Nor does my connection to Bob McDaniel, either. He's not on the committee — they considered it but his heart isn't that great these days. Would you like to speculate?”
“You know staff members at the institute well? In some other capacity than patient?”
“If you've been following the reports about Albert's love live, then you'll be able to work out that I've got two cousins — Maria's daughter and another one. She had the vision that sparked the formation of the committee, and given where the meeting was held you can probably assume some connection to the institute. However, I can't say that in public, as that would be breaching the publishing ban surrounding it.”
“Oh. So while you can freely deny being staff at the Institute (which doesn't help at all, of course) you can't either acknowledge or deny knowing someone who works there. And of course that leaves the question of thought-hearers up in the air. With your cousin, I infer, being on staff and Bob McDaniel knowing you from your church, it's no great surprise that you know people. But surely, you could just deny the accusation that you are one yourself? That's the most damaging accusation, constitutionally speaking.”
“But I cannot legitimately deny that, minister. My father had that ability, what they call the power, and I grew up with it too. I expect that's one reason he avoided being near me.”
“Ah.” The minister said. “Urm, that would be a little complicated. Some people might not like the idea of someone on the throne able to hear thoughts.” Turning towards Albert he said, “But your highness's grandfather was a well-loved king, who was careful in his use of power, in every sense of the word. I really don't see any inherent problems, and would be quite prepared to argue that case. You could simply refuse to answer, and tell people that if they're worried they can wear gloves. They're becoming standard wear, after all.”
“Minister, you're generous, and I thank you. But if I'm allowed privacy, and I refuse to answer, then speculation abounds about why I'm not answering. And, if I may press you further to think like a gossip columnist, do please consider that there are a number of unusual features in how fast I've been accepted as trustworthy by the people at the Institute and in the royal family. Not to mention that I was somehow part of a committee while I was under witness protection. Add to your deliberations that there are two sorts of thought-hearers. People might not just ask themselves if I'm a thought-hearer, but which sort of thought hearer I am. Some people might not think it was appropriate for me to be queen consort if I had the second, rarer form of thought-hearing. That's why the article is so dangerous — it plants an idea which would have quite an explanatory power.”
“You mean what they call the gift? That's incredibly rare, isn't it? You think that there might be civil liberties issues if you had it?”
“Well, minister, what would you say were the civil liberties implications to a queen-consort able to hear thoughts across the world, locate individuals or categories of people even beyond Jupiter, and know your every thought if you're in the same part of the building as her?”
“Urm. That doesn't sound very good, but I think I haven't really understood the extent of those abilities, Maam. Could you give me some for-instances of what someone with the gift could do?”
“Of course. Let's address the issue of the gangs. A person with the gift could pinpoint the location of every gang-member in the city, and also get their names too. That might take a while though, it'd be easier to cut it down, say, to every gang-member in the city who's helped kill someone. That's a more manageable number, I expect. The next day they could move on to rapists, and by the end of the month you can have all the criminals in prison. Of course, there's the matter of evidence. Someone with the gift can locate people, but not things, so far as I know, so it'd be best to just take their word for it that the criminals are indeed criminals. Eventually, of course, they can get proactive — find people who are about to commit crimes, and arrest them before they do. Or I suppose we could start with them, just as easily. What sequence would you prefer?”
“I wouldn't! That'd be terrible! Arrest and detention on one person's say-so! For crimes not even committed! That's a horrible thought! That's too much, Maam!”
“I fully agree. But, you see, someone with the gift could do it; no-one in their right mind would, of course. All fifty-six agree that it would be a terrible abuse of the gift; but the capability which lets the fifty-six find people in trouble, or locate hostages, works for criminals too. So, minister: would you be happy with someone with that gift on the throne? Or is that welding of secular and spiritual power in one person too much?”
“Maam, this is purely a hypothetical question, isn't it?”
“For the moment, let us assume that there might be a rumour that I had such an ability. Would you be able to reassure people that there were no civil liberties implications, without actually forcing me to comment on the family secret of my thought-hearing abilities?”
“Ah. Yes. I think I understand. There could be very intense press speculation.”
“Yes.”
“But you say that while the powers exist they wouldn't be abused in that way?”
“Exactly. Minister, for an abuse like I outlined, there would need to be massive changes to our legal system, wouldn't there?”
“Yes. And since we have checks and balances to make sure no-one would make such changes, I don't think there's much risk there at all, scary though it seems at first glance. I'd happily argue that there's no civil liberties risk there.”
“So, I think that actually what I gave you was a bit of a straw-man. Sorry.”
“You think there are civil liberties issues that aren't straw men?”
“Certainly!” Eliza started ticking them off on her fingers. “One: people who are hiding don't stay hidden, even if they never leave their underground cave. Two: if someone with the gift wants to find out who knows something, then they can know within a few seconds. Three: if someone with the gift wants to find out what you're thinking, they can know, in more detail than you do yourself. Four: journalists' sources aren't safe unless the journalist doesn't know. I could go on, but...” she lifted her hands in resignation: “I don't know if these abilities are particularly worrying in the role of a queen or not. Most of them would be breaches of the ethics code, but that's probably not a very important consideration when we're really talking about abuse of power.”
“You make it sound like these abilities would put Security out of business.”
“The information gathering side... maybe, except that the quantity of data would be far too much for any individual, plus of course that there's no physical evidence to back up what the thought-reader learns.”
“Maam, I'm fairly sure that there's no civil liberties case to answer. But I agree that the sort of intense press speculation it would stir up would certainly make it uncomfortable for you. You would of course have the right to privacy, but it would be easier to squash such rumours with a public denial that you had such a gift. I'm sure it could be phrased to avoid denying that you had any thought-hearing powers.”
The time had come, and Eliza weighed what he'd said in her mind. Did he, or would he, have a need to know that this conversation wasn't just theoretical? Yes. He probably would. “Minister, the problem is that I can't honestly make such a denial.”
The minister's mouth momentarily escaped his brain's control as his mind concentrated on other things. Fortunately, there were no flies in the room.
“Just checking...” he eventually asked, “you're telling me you have the gift?”
“Yes. And I'm quite sure that if I didn't have it then I wouldn't be on the committee. If I hadn't been on the committee, then I'd have never visited the palace, would not have impressed their majesties or met Albert.”
“I'm honoured that you chose to share this with me, Maam. I understand your concerns... It wouldn't be good for you to answer such questions, would it?”
“It would be best if they weren't ever asked,” agreed Albert. “I'm sure you'll realise that if this were to get out then there would be very serious consequences. We've decided it is a class epsilon state secret.”
“Yes, highness. Class epsilon? I wasn't aware it existed.”
“It didn't use to. There are no statutory penalties as yet for revealing a class epsilon secret, so for now assume that the penalties for revealing a class delta will apply, and then maybe some more.”
“Could you remind me, sir, what those penalties are? I never expected to know such a secret.”
“Leaking of a delta class state secret brings loss of position and pension and loss of freedom — possibly in a think-tank, depending on what else the leak knows. Malicious leaking would very possibly count as treason, as it could be seen as adversely affecting our wedding plans, and thus the succession.”
“Ouch. I hadn't thought of any of that!” Eliza said. “Should I have kept it secret from you?” she asked the minister.
“Your questions and concerns wouldn't have really made much sense to me otherwise, Maam. Now they do, and as I said I'm not planning on being a leak. No, there might be angry voices raised, but the right to privacy must be respected. We can't say that every mind-reader should be quarantined or something to avoid them breaking privacy laws, any more than we can say that every man should be locked up as a potential rapist. Though of course that has been argued. But... I think we do need to put something very like the Institute's ethics code into law. Quite how to patrol it is rather hard though.”
“Yes. Stealing thoughts is a hard crime to legislate against,” Albert agreed.
“Unless the accused has their thoughts read by someone with the gift.” added Eliza. “And the ethics code says they would need to agree to that, which of course if they were guilty they wouldn't be likely to agree. Which reminds me, Minister, Bob McDaniel reported that there have been occasions where thought-stealing has been punished by removal of the ability. For example, my father. With thought-hearing now being acknowledged, then it could be seen as a vigilante action which brings about a real loss to the individual. I would instead like to see it recognised in law as an ultimate sanction against a persistent offender. The miraculous nature of it makes it rather hard to legislate for, but I'd at least like to see the people who risk such a confrontation being protected rather than persecuted.”
“Certainly!” agreed Albert.
“That's a difficult one,” the Minister thought aloud. “Since it is a religious activity, I'm quite sure we can't legislate that it should be applied. And I'm not sure who's responsible if that sort of prayer gets answered. The people who pray, or God? But we don't want to give people carte-blanche to obstruct people's day to day lives under the guise of the special prayer meeting clause, either.”
“How about we just state in the law something like 'Individuals or groups who exercise their religious freedom to pray against people they believe are abusing their power are not responsible under law for any divine intervention that follows'?” Eliza asked.
“That sounds very reasonable and obvious,” Albert said. “But in order to reduce potential abuses, I think I'd suggest adding that anyone advertising such prayer sessions may be committing a civil offence of harassment, and that no one should receive any payment or fee in connection with such prayer.”
“Oh? Why not?” the minster was surprised, he'd been wondering if a reward should be offered.
“Because, firstly, the effective prayers that we've heard of took three individuals, not thirty or three-hundred, and secondly, it was done as a surprise to the person concerned. So to advertise such a thing makes it more like organising a protest rally than the sort of prayer we're talking about protecting. Secondly, we don't want to encourage any groups claiming that they need financial support to pray against people abusing their power. If people want to pray regularly, that's their own business, but it shouldn't turn into a business opportunity.”
“I see, your highness, but I think you're treading onto the ground of interfering with people's religious freedom, and dictating what sort of prayer is acceptable.”
“I personally think that offering prayer in exchange for money is abusing the vulnerable when they need help the most, Minister, but I accept your word of caution. Perhaps the present laws are adequate in this area. But we are agreed, I think, that there is a need for new legislation in the other areas. Would you be able to get together with the ministers for religious affairs and justice to draft a law which codifies things in these areas? I know there's more discussion to be had, and Father's only just asked for people to think about some of the issues; however, I think it would be useful for the discussion if there was at least a rough draft for people to build on and chisel away at.”
“Of course, your highness!”
Eliza had a thought. “I think, perhaps, minister, it would be worth contacting the Institute for the Human Mind. They must have some idea on how it might be possible to identify breaches of the ethics code. There needs to be a method to establish guilt or innocence, and somehow there needs to be a way that an accusation doesn't automatically reveal whether someone has the power or not, but that someone who can't be guilty of stealing thoughts doesn't get dragged through the courts for no purpose.”
“I wonder if some equivalent to Auditing needs to be set up.” Albert suggested.
“Nice idea, but how long will it be before everyone's calling them the `thought-police'?” Eliza responded.
The minister pulled a face. “An ugly name, I agree; but you're right. There needs to be proper investigation, and the only people able to really check up on thought-hearers are going to be other thought-hearers.”
“I think you're partially wrong about that, minister.” Albert said “If they're in a public place, then for instance video records might show where the person was relative to the person making the accusation, and if there was contact or a piece of metal between them.”
“But you're not limited in this way, Maam?” the minister asked.
“No. I'm not. You have two ways to find out if I've been a bad girl. You'd need to catch me knowing something I shouldn't and decide my explanation was rubbish, or you'd need to ask another one of the fifty-six to check me and trust them to answer honestly when you've presumed that I wasn't. I do not actually believe the case would come to trial.”
“Why not?” asked the minister.
“If I were confronted with evidence that one of the gifted had gone bad, had started to abuse their gift, then I wouldn't be waiting to give evidence to a secular court. I'd be taking the case to the other gifted and unless there was full repentance, then to God. What the LORD has given, the LORD can most assuredly take away.”
“I think I see,” the minister acknowledged. “You believe that faced with this threat, the person would be pleading guilty?”
“Actually, I think this whole scenario is very very unlikely, given that God knows what he's doing; but... yes. We gifted can't hide truth from each other; we can know exactly what's happening in each others heads, and it is normal amongst us to have at least one person with permanent permission to do that, to keep us on track.
“The whole lying thing is based on the assumption that the other person doesn't know what's going on inside your skull. We can and God does. That's why it's so mindbogglingly stupid to try to lie to God.” Eliza wasn't sure why she'd added that last bit, but the minister winced a little, so she guessed that it had hit a nerve.
“Thank you maam, I guess we all have our times of stupidity.”
“Minister, feel free to tell me not to pry, but I'm curious about how good your relationship is with God.”
“Hmm.” he answered uncertainly. “I think perhaps, Maam, that I should be too. I've always tried to keep a very open mind on the subject, and haven't let myself be convinced either way.” He said this as though indecision in the face of evidence were something to be proud of.
Albert wasn't so sure and replied, “A wise man once said something very roughly like 'The point of having an open mind is that, like an open mouth, you can close it and chew over the truth you've deliberately put into it, and spit out the bad bits if there are any.' I won't claim that any of us know all the answers, but there doesn't seem much point to me in staying strictly neutral all your life. Our faith isn't, at core, a philosophy to be debated and dissected, but trusting God to keep his promises. But, I'm afraid we need to go. Thank you once again for your time, minister.”
“Your Highness, Maam. Thank you.”