A Dark And Hungry God Arises 2 - Warden [1]

[Cord Hurn]

United Mining Companies Police director Warden Dios and his Enforcement Division director Min Donner are in the Command Operations room of the UMCPHQ space station orbiting Earth. They are looking out a window at the gap scout ship Trumpet, which is flying away from UMCPHQ towards forbidden space. Warden reflects that Angus Thermopyle and Milos Taverner aboard Trumpet won't deviate from their assigned roles any time soon. He feels this way because Angus has been perfectly welded, and because Milos has been thoroughly threatened.

The UMCP director had no reason to stay where he was. He was a busy man. He should already have gone on to other duties. Still he valued the silence and the near solitude. Alone with Min Donner, he remained in the privacy of his CO room, watching Trumpet--and a piece of his own fate-- pass out of his control.

He believed the whole human species was at issue. Otherwise he would not have been able to do what he did.

He was a strong man, with a thick chest and powerful arms. The lines of his face and jaw seemed hard enough to have been cut from metal. And the patch glued over the prosthesis of his left eye, like the crookedness of his nose, only made him look stronger. But sometimes he needed more than strength to stand the strain of his oblique intentions. He needed to remind himself of the consequences if he failed.

If he failed, Holt Fasner would win.

Warden Dios had done too much to help create the Dragon's power: he couldn't turn his back on his responsibility now that he finally understood the danger of what he and Holt together had made.

That quote increases the level of tension in me to feel more interest in the story, when told Warden thinks the whole human species may at issue depending on the outcome of his contest with Holt. Yet the way Warden is described makes me think he may be equal to the challenges of this particular contest. Reading that quote, I also get the strong feeling Warden's practiced and meditated on this plan to topple Holt for months--or, even years.

Min asks Warden if he thinks the mission given to Angus and Milos to blow up Billingate is really going to work. Warden doesn't answer directly (something I don't think would be reassuring to me if I was one of his directors) but states that he will face punishment from Holt "the Dragon" Fasner if the mission doesn't succeed (which as a director of his I would find even LESS reassuring!)

Then Min wants to know why Warden arranged the mission this way. Warden talks as though he had no choice. Min reminds him that he could have sent her and/or a team handpicked by her, and she adds that she could also have arranged to rescue Morn before Billingate gets obliterated.

Min's argument has some logical basis: her team would be more trustworthy than Milos, and Morn doesn't deserve to be abandoned on Billngate, being a loyal police officer who has already suffered a great deal. Min implores Warden to let her lead or choose a rescue team.

[Cord Hurn]

Warden shares Min's sadness about Morn's plight, but he conceals this from Min and insists that Angus and Milos matter while Morn does not. This assertion clearly is hurtful for Min to hear, and she momentarily turns away from Warden.

Warden then broaches another subject, saying that he has an assignment for Min. But, he first wants to know which of the individual General Council for Earth and Space members are supportive of the UMCP while being adversarial in outlook towards the UMC.

Min replies that Captain Sixten Vertigus, the first human to meet any Amnioni, fits that description. Min adds that Sixten must be around ninety years old, and has for many years periodically denounced Holt's power grabs while loyally voting in favor of the UMCP. Min wants to know what help Warden expects of Sixten.

Warden shares this bold idea that has been his secret alone, for who-knows-how-long, with Min and manages to light a fire of passionate motivation in her.

Warden held himself perfectly still, determined to give the ED director no hint of his urgency. In a steady, conversational tone, he answered, "I want you to talk to him for me. I want you to convince him to introduce GCES legislation that will sever us from the UMC. We need to be a separate entity, accountable only to the council itself--we need to be the human police, not just the Dragon's private enforcement agency. I want him to put a bill of severance in front of the GCES, and I want him to do it now."

The colors shining from Min's form told Warden that she'd been waiting a long time to hear him say something like this.

Warden orders Min to get all the paperwork written up for Sixten, to have all the legal details worked out for him. Then she could just focus all her energy on persuading Captain Vertigus to promote the bill with every bit of personal talent and energy he can spare.

Warden privately feels that Sixten's brashness in contacting the Amnion against Holt's order proves that Sixten has sufficient passion to pass a severance bill in the GCES.

[Cord Hurn]

Warden predicts to Min that Sixten and all the other GCES members will want to know how the police will be financed, know what revenue will replace all that United Mining Companies money. He states that all companies doing business in space will be taxed, although the UMC will still pay most of the taxes. Warden promises Min that they police can effectively work as a crime-fighting force if they're independent of United Mining Companies.

Min hears Warden say he wants the bill introduced in the GCES within two days before Holt learns of any events happening on Thanatos Minor.

Min's eyes shone like her aura. Facing him straight, she said softly, "The Dragon will never let you get away with it. For one thing, he has the votes to stop you. And when he finds out what you're up to, he'll consider it a betrayal. He's still your boss. He has the corporate authority--as well as the personal clout--to fire you."

Slowly, the director of the UMCP smiled. "That's why the whole business is absolutely confidential. If Godsen or even Hashi hears one word about this-- if anybody except you, me, and Captain Vertigus so much as smells the truth--all of it," all of us, maybe all of humanity, "will be wasted.

"In fact, it's essential to keep me out of it entirely. Even Captain Vertigus can't know it's my idea. As far as he's concerned, it comes from you. I want him to do it because he believes in it, not because he thinks I'm trying to out-maneuver Holt."

Min nodded once, sharply. "Director--" she began. "Warden--" But she had to think for a moment or two before she said, "I'm not going to ask you what this has to do with sending Angus and Milos against Billingate. But I am going to ask you to watch your back. You could get killed playing a game like this."

"Min, Min--" Warden spread his hands in a gesture of human helplessness--"he's only a Dragon. He isn't God."

This seems to me to be a mistake on Warden Dios' part, to act flippant about the extreme level of danger the Dragon, Holt Fasner, can truly represent to someone he catches crossing him. He's only worrying Min further, not mollifying her.

I think Warden would have been more effective just assuring Min that he would indeed watch out for himself. Min openly, soberly, speculates about Holt having Warden killed for betrayal, when a UMCP communications tech knocks on the CO room door, and meekly enters.

Warden hides his irritation of the tech's needless fear of him, and waits for the tech to speak. She tells Warden that Public Relations director Godsen Frik has been insisting he urgently needs to talk to the UMCP director. And UMCP director Warden Dios tells the tech to inform Godsen that he just missed seeing Warden, and then dismisses the tech.

Min Donner doesn't press questions on Warden, a sign of trust in him that makes Warden feel grateful. And, deep down inside, Warden feels sorrowful, because he's burdened with the knowledge that if his plan against Holt fails, then Min will suffer dearly for it. That knowledge haunts Warden profoundly, because he comprehends that Min is the most loyal and effective of all his assistants, and would be his greatest loss. Warden knows he loves her for her loyalty and extreme competence.