Early scene for Javier and Mētis

Aboard a ship orbiting a moon that is itself orbiting a planet, a man basks in his quiet accomplishments. Before he joined, Sciencia Liberum was a tiny, plodding, risk-averse organization whose operatives dropped subtle hints to the natives below regarding how they could improve their lives through science and technology. It advanced the cause, but at a snail’s pace that wasn’t really worth the effort. But with his orchestration, Sciencia Liberum had grown five-fold and was making inroads across the planet.

He recalled his recruitment. He had been sipping jai at a public shop when an old man with white hair asked to sit with him and converse. While not an ordinary occurrence, it wasn’t unusual for visitors from elsewhere in the system to engage in unscheduled conversation in the public shops or cafeterias of the ship. The man ordered a coffee and sat with him, commenting on how getting real coffee was far too expensive in his own village-ship. That led naturally to conversation about where he was from–to which he was oddly evasive–and the System Compact’s policy on non-interference. He had scoffed with his usual cynicism, noting that the same policy allowed the select Watchers to trade with the natives and thereby have a monopoly on, for example, the very coffee the old man was holding. Better to reveal themselves, open trade with the natives, and help them lift themselves to the stars. It was public-shop talk, protected free speech. They could even raise these ideas in assemblies, though it was considered seditious to preach or profess these ideas to an assemblage or in schools. But the long-held policy of the System Compact was to hide themselves, and it wasn’t likely to change. The man didn’t think much about the conversation then. He had had many similar ones with many other people. But then the old man had dropped by his single’s suite when his roommates were out, and the conversation had become much more concrete. That was quite a while ago.

The door chime roused the man out of his recollection. Now in a couple’s suite though his partner was away, he got up to see who it was. A woman with a braided ponytail stood waiting outside the door, which he then opened, letting her in. She was a supporter of his project within Sciencia Liberum, one of the few Elders who were open about their support of his approach.

“We’ve decided to hold a celebration”, she informed him. “It’s a unique honor for our little conspiracy and the first step to inducting you among our ranks.’

The man smiled and stood a bit straighter with the feelings of pride that coursed through him.

She continued, “The Elders are pleased with the changes you have brought about, but we also have some concerns about the speed with which we are currently making changes. People are starting to notice that progress planet-side is accelerating. It’s getting harder to convince them that it’s just normal development. The other Elders may well ask you to slow down as the price of your induction. They’d be quite happy merely consolidating the very gains you’ve helped us bring about.”

The man found himself bristling but needed to tread carefully. “And you? Do you think we need to slow down?”

The woman paused, clearly conflicted about her answer. “There is merit to slowing down. The technological development spurred on by your project is still spreading and will lead to its own follow-on developments without our efforts. Continuing the pace of interference will call attention to the activities of our operatives. But I wouldn’t want to see us go back to our previous slow pace.”

The man nodded. So, the man thought, this was the extent of her support. “Is this feeling unanimous?”

“Yes, largely. The only division is how much to slow down.”

She gave him the details for the celebration, including the costume-nature of the gathering to conceal the identities of those he hadn’t yet met, which was most of them. Then she left.

Slowing down was a horrible path for him. In the conversations with his recruiter, they had been clear that more was needed, not less. But it didn’t seem like the Elders present aboard this ship would allow him to stay the course he had laid out. Once inducted, perhaps it would be time to steer his own course.