(Photo by Branimir Balogovic)

As far as Chester was concerned, there was nothing more inviting than a good night’s sleep. Even with Smythe Hark sharing the burden of managing the Solar King, there were still several hours in the night that he needed to be awake and guiding their sovereign. That was why Chester was so upset when, as the allotted time in the lab drew to a close, Smythe approached him and asked if they could stay a bit longer, just the two of them, to review his notes.

Such requests weren’t unheard of with the other necrologists as they all sometimes had strange new ideas that they wanted to run by him before presenting to the full group. With decades more experience than anyone else on the team, Chester could quite often see errors early on where the others might not.

“Of course,” Chester told Smythe and doing his best to sound natural.

When the end of their work came and everyone else left, Smythe launched immediately into what Chester had to assume was a speech he’d been working on for the better part of the day.

“Worlds, out there,” he began with great passion, “are suffering. The Solar King keeps too tight a hold over them, denying them the resources they need to prosper. They’re all dependent on him for their food and much of their energy and if they so much as look at him wrong, he cuts them off and lets them starve. This war is only happening because of those injustices. But we have a chance to stop it. We could have the Solar King declare an end to the embargo. The satellite blockades could be gone in a day.”

Chester nodded along, although he wasn’t in full agreement. He just didn’t want Smythe to turn on him for not seeming at least a little willing to listen.

“Maybe we could even have the Solar King grant them their independence,” Smythe went on. “Not all of them have made that demand, but the ones that want it could have it. What do you think?”

Chester had hoped that Smythe would talk a bit longer, giving himself more time to come up with a response. No such luck here, it seemed.

“I think that kind of action, while noble, would raise too many suspicions. He’s just learned of his son’s death and I don’t know of anything in his past behavior that would convince anyone that this was the natural course of action to take. The Solar King may be the one with the throne, but there are dozens, hundreds of others beneath him who would jump at the chance to unseat him and take his place if they thought they could get away with it.”

Smythe frowned.

“Just order their execution,” he said. “If anyone deserves it, it’s them. Not those on the fringe.”

There was an edge to his voice now that Chester had noticed a few times before. It hinted at a greater anger hidden below the surface and Chester had to resist asking about it.

“I’m not saying no,” Chester began slowly, “but I don’t think we should move too quickly. If we move too fast, someone will notice and if we lose the Solar King, he might well be replaced by someone even worse. At least the inner worlds are kept in order by his rule.”

Smythe laughed bitterly.

“Yeah, everything’s fine here because there’s enough sunlight and breathable air. We can grow our own food and generate out own power. Let’s all just praise the Solar King for that, as if he actually had anything to do with it.”

“He keeps them working together,” Chester said. “If you need evidence of the good he has done, just go and read up on some history. You’re too young to have been around before the Solar King, but not a week went by without some planet or another experiencing civil war or having war declared on it by another planet.”

“Oh, I know the history,” Smythe said. “The Great Unification, when the Solar King rose to power with his army of reanimated soldiers. The greatest necrologists of the age banding together behind him. And everyone who didn’t support him in life wound up supporting him in their death. It was atrocious.”

“You have no idea,” Chester murmured. “I lived through those wars. Both the ones before the Solar King and the ones that he waged. And do you know what, mister Hark? I would take the Solar King’s wars and rulership any day rather than go back to the way things were.”

“Then what about the worlds on the fringe? What about them?” Smythe asked, though he looked uncomfortable with Chester’s words, as though his own convictions were shaken a bit.

“I’ve never been there myself,” he admitted, “but from the sounds of it, they’re a bunch of people in a tough spot. The solar system needs their resources and they need ours. If we let them become independent, it might destabilize the inner worlds, but if we don’t find the means of better supporting the fringe worlds we’ll lose them all the same.”

“That’s a great summary with no real solution,” Smythe did nothing to hide his frustration with Chester.

“I suggest we have the Solar King offer a compromise,” Chester said. “Supply barges can begin shipping out towards the fringe as soon as possible. Meanwhile, both navies fall back and declare a ceasefire. The fringe worlds want their food and such, well, they can have it. As long as they keep mining the outer worlds and sending the minerals to the inner worlds there will be a guarantee of quality goods in return. No tariffs or the like as well. We can use the same barges we send their supplies on to bring back their minerals.”

“That’s what’s already suppose to be happening,” Smythe pointed out.

“Then we have the Solar King find out who’s responsible for letting that system fall apart and either have them fix it, or replace them with someone more capable.”

Smythe ground his teeth and his hands were balled up in tight fists.

“You’re from the fringe, aren’t you?” Chester should have figured it out sooner but with everything else going on he hadn’t been able to connect the dots. “Were you sent here as a spy? A saboteur? Assassin?”

Smythe didn’t answer right away. Instead, he forced himself to relax, letting his fists open back up and then smooth out the creases on his pants and shirt.

“My parents were necrologists for the Solar King during unification,” Smythe said, his eyes focusing on nothing. “They defected partway through the war and fled to the fringe worlds. They were the ones who taught me necrology. They were geniuses.”

Chester noticed how every time Smythe mentioned his parents it was always in the past tense. Something must have happened to them, put them in their graves early, but that was a hornets nest that Chester had no desire to poke at just yet.

“So, when I found out the Solar King was working on some secret project and was calling for necrologists to volunteer, I traveled to the inner worlds. I had to go through formal education but since I already knew most of what they were teaching I was deemed a prodigy. I wasn’t sure what I’d find here, but I knew I had to come, see if it was the Solar King committing yet more atrocities or…

He trailed off and stared down at his lap. The fire and fury that had burned within him so recently was burnt out, replaced by the weariness of someone too lost and hurting to do anything else than just sit and stare.

“You don’t know what it’s like out there,” Smythe’s voice was barely audible. “People starving everywhere but still having to work the mines. Breaches are a regular occurrence because the habs haven’t been updated or repaired properly in decades. What food we do get is usually claimed by the higher ups who stay in their gleaming towers, never coming down to actually see the conditions they’re forcing onto the ones they’re supposed to be taking care of.”

A quick check with the Solar King confirmed to Chester that everything Smythe was saying was true, and that the Solar King was aware of it. Aware, and not terribly bothered by any of it until the rebellions started flaring up. As long as the planetary rulers got him his minerals he didn’t care about their corruption. An oversight, the Solar King could admit to himself and no one else. At least the inner worlds were having their own corrupt leaders rooted out or quietly sidelined in favor of more effective leaders.

“He intends to crush the fringe worlds,” Smythe said. “Just as he did during the Unification Wars. Then he’ll rebuild their leadership, and maybe it’ll be stable then,” Smythe admitted, “but it doesn’t have to be done by blood and terror.”

With how far things had already gone, Chester wasn’t so sure a truly peaceful solution could be had. He just wanted to play it safe and let the Solar King carry on, but, if he was being honest with himself, he had to admit he was more in agreement with Smythe than not.

“Neither of us is politically minded,” Chester began, “but the Solar King is, so, let’s start using this system the way it was intended.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, let’s instruct the Solar King to work towards a peaceful resolution but then leave it up to him to decide how best to do that.”

“Does he have enough autonomy to actually do that?” Smythe asked. “Every time I’ve tried to nudge him his behavior’s been…inconsistent.”

“Do you have a better solution, given what we have to work with?”

Smythe thought for a while before shaking his head.

“Then let’s see what we can do with what we’ve got.”

They each left the lab after that. Chester was responsible for the Solar King for the next few hours and he was going to use that time to test out different angles on this problem. He’d had similar problems in the past when he’d tried to change the Solar King’s natural behavior, but there had to be a way around these limitations. There had to be. Otherwise, he worried what Smythe would do next.