“They don’t feel anything! Nothing! How do you know they have emotions?!” We still had a few bottles of wine, and Liz, in her infinite wisdom, decided that having an argument while inebriated was a logical decision. How she could arrive at that conclusion eluded me.

“How do you know anything about anyone else? How do I know you’re even conscious? The only thing I can be truly sure of is that I’m conscious, because I know that I can think.” Yes, I did just unironically use the philosophy of ‘I think, therefore I am’. What was anyone else going to do about it?

“That… is even more of a reason I’m right!” No it wasn’t!

“How?! You judge people based on where they are on the hierarchy, which wouldn’t matter if you didn’t know if anyone else was conscious! Shouldn’t you treat everyone badly then?”

“What you just said justifies selfishness and non-logical moral systems, which means I can be selfish and believe in whatever I want to without being wrong.” Was she giving up on being morally superior now? She essentially just justified her liking her own belief that puts others down with no actual reason.

“It doesn’t, objectively so. You have no reason other than classism to not care about the people below you on the hierarchy, but be amenable to the people at your level.” She scoffed, looking at me as if I stunk.

“Me? Classist? Everyone who isn’t stupid is classist! The upper classes are so obviously superior, yet we choose to be grateful. I could treat you as nothing more than what you are, my slave, but because of your entertainment value, I treat you like how I would treat an actual friend.” She certainly had a view of friendship. One that was disgusting and vile, but one nevertheless.

“Hold the fuck on, nothing makes sense about your beliefs. You don’t intellectualise about a subject, you don’t have cornerstones to your belief, and you certainly don’t know how to make your beliefs look reasonable. Your belief system is one of someone from a lower down on the hierarchy!” Her eyes widened at the last bit, right as I intended. That would get her blood boiling, since her whole life is based around being on the top of the hierarchy. In terms of power, she is, but if I can trick her into believing that intellectualism, not power, was what placed people where they were on the hierarchy, I may have been able to convince her that her beliefs are wrong.

“What? No! My reasons are perfectly intellectual! Something can be intellectual and simple at the same time. My beliefs are simply self evident, and it isn’t like you have disproven my arguments, because you can’t. They’re common sense.”

“Because you’ve given me no argument to disprove! You just said you didn’t like a group of people, and that you are allowed to do so because you think selfishness is justified by the fact that we do not know if anyone else is actually conscious or not. That is just wrong. The true selfish position here would have you care for the ones below you because empathy feels good. If you somehow don’t believe that, at least you have to acknowledge that their praise feels good, and that the easiest way to get someone’s praise is by being good to them. And again, even if that is granted, why not hate everyone then?” She put the bottle of wine up to her mouth, drank a good chunk of it, slid it to the other side of the table before speaking.

“Just because something is easy doesn’t mean it is right. They are inferior beings, and thus, the best way to get their praise is by tricking them. It isn’t like they’ll find out. As you said, they don’t have a consciousness.”

“I did not say that. I said that you couldn’t prove anyone else had a consciousness, and you’re once again proving you have the thought system of a–” She made my mark burn for the first time in ages, probably sick of her authority being questioned. Either that or she didn’t have an answer to why her belief system lacked any type of intellectualism.

“Relax.” She pulled me close, making the pain go away as soon as she hugged me. “No more talking. Just relax in my arms, where you belong. You’re too smart for your own good, y’know? Not as much as the last guy, but you’re close.” She was testing if I was jealous. I honestly believed her when she said that (it wasn’t like I was particularly bright), but why bring it up in the first place?

“And who was that ‘last guy’?” My question was both genuine and said in a way to satisfy her.

“That’s for me to know and for you to never find out unless you prove yourself enough for me to trust you with that information. Just relax now, you’re doing another speech tomorrow.” I already knew what she meant by ‘speech’. It was just yet more academic debates, which was obviously better than an actual speech, but she could work on her wording better. It was almost like she was trying to make me uncomfortable before going into it. I mean, she could’ve been doing that in a vain hope to make me embarrass myself and turn to her for comfort, but that had no chance of happening. I was competent enough to make a on the fly speech or argument.

“What exactly are you three planning now?” I was visiting the revolutionaries at the tavern again, actually wanting to catch up with the trio since conversations with them never had any danger within them.

“Well, get the mayor deposed, or just start organising now for the post-war elections.” So we are at war with Germany? Great, just wonderful. “He’s a member of the Vanguardists, who don’t exactly like democracy that much, oh, and he’s corrupt as all hell, and a former member of the PSD at that.” At least that is something. Liz needed some good news.

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“Thanks, Stephan.” A thank you was always appreciated by everyone, and Stephan had legitimately given me some useful information. Liz was going to be so happy when she found out about the mayor being corrupt. We had made plans if he wasn’t, but it was way easier to expand our operations when he could just be bought.

“No problem. It isn’t like the rest of the country likes the Vanguardists, or… any country at all in fact. The only one that would be happy would be the French, with their authoritarian communism.” Ah, that made sense. The ghost of Melenchon was still haunting the nation long after he passed on. What a prick he was to talk to. All authoritarians needed to have their ego soothed for them to be able to work with you, and he was no exception to that rule.

“How did he even get in power then?”

“Because we’ve got a popular front going.” Said Bogdan. “We’re at war and everything, so we can’t afford infighting. Everyone got a piece of the cake. It was only fair.” After saying that, he drank from his cup, downing the whole thing in seconds. “You know, Stephan, you should run. You’re smart and all that.”

“I’d be too moderate to get elected. I’m not even a socialist.” Yea, I feel like a lot of non-socialists are staying silent. Nobody wants to be labelled as a German collaborator in the middle of a war. Conflict always gave any ruling coalition a mandate to power, as proven by… all the conflicts of this century. Everybody says ‘never again’, but then it happens again, and again, and again. Let's hope this war is the war to end all wars.

“Just pretend then! Better to be in power than not.”

“Better to actually believe in the right things. The systems of old failed us.” Said Maria. Kinda felt called out here as part of the ‘systems of old’, but it was good that I now knew where they all stood. I still didn’t know why Stephan was going along with all this, and presumably fought to build this state. My best guess is that he thought anything was better than the rule of the four companies.

“Oh, yea, the old systems weren’t perfect, so let's let a bunch of lunatics organise everything.” This was getting out of hand. I didn’t want to spend all day watching these two debate politics.

“Wait, wait, how the hell do all of you already know he’s corrupt?” They all looked at me, blinking several times in confusion before Bogdan spoke up. What made it so obvious?

“Because he was part of the PSD.” Ah… we never had a good reputation thanks to the many grand-coalitions. The populace still associated the two biggest parties in parliament with corruption, no matter what we did or improved.

“Fair enough. How’s the German front doing anyway?” Maria scoffed, clearly knowing I was trying to stop the argument she wanted to have.

“As well as it can be, but we don’t know anything! The governor loves exaggerating everything, and I wouldn’t put media censorship above him.” Bogdan chuckled at that.

“Are you sure about that? He’ll take all the money he can, from the media too. They’re gonna report bad news because it sells. The situation is fine, it will always be fine. At worst, it is just not moving at all. At best, we’re already in Berlin.” He got up, probably going to put more ale in his cup. I was simply confused at how money was even allowed at this point. Wasn’t the whole point of socialism that it didn’t allow for capital accumulation?

“Well, it’s good that we are not on that front. Better to sit in a tavern all day and do nothing before we actually make a plan.” Said Stephan, leaning back in his chair before stretching and putting his hands behind his head.

“And you’re not making one deliberately! You’re taking weeks for something that should’ve taken you a half hour at best.” Honestly, yea. If Stephan was the one who was meant to make the plan, it would’ve been done relatively quick.

“No it wouldn’t. Plans take time to make.” Bullshit. They don’t. All you have to do is set a goal and the steps to achieve it will reveal themselves after a while. He was probably just being lazy,

“Do it right now then. We have plenty of time.” Said Maria.

“We’re in a pub. I’m not gonna whip out a pen and paper and start writing away.”

“Why not? Do you just like being in a tavern all day?” I said.

“Well… it isn’t that bad. I like it. I get to relax, do nothing, read the news, drink ale when I can afford a cup with my ration card. Yea, this is pretty nice.” They have ration cards and money? This whole system was just confusing. I’d have to actually study how it worked better. For now, I’d just ignore it.

“They’re gonna end up putting you in a factory if you keep doing it, you know that? You’re being a drag on society. Better come up with an excuse for why you’re not working quickly.” He looked at Maria, dead eyed before realising she was right.

“Uhm… where the fuck did I put that paper?”