03

Defining The Path

Two hours later that day

"Alright, everyone," Davidson said in lieu of a greeting, as John, Mira and he entered the medical room that Stephen was currently sequestered in. Janet Fletcher was still present, looking slightly irritated for a reason that Davidson could only guess. Davidson dismissed it as irrelevant for now; this was an impromptu meeting called about an important and time-sensitive issue, and needed some level of agreement as to how to proceed going forward. "It's time to try and restore some order now that the immediate threat has passed. Mira?"

Mira took her cue to talk about her reports from her subordinate officers. "Our security teams are all in place among the population, and report a reasonable confidence that any issues can be contained if need be," she said in her musical accented English. "The survivors are all concerned about what is going to happen to them now, and there is a sense of growing agitation."

"We need to address their concerns and let them know what is going to happen going forward," Davidson continued. "For the immediate and short-term, I'm declaring martial law over the entire facility, and will send out briefing packages to all security personnel on base. Spokespeople will be sent out to communicate with the different populations in the complex, and representatives will be brought together into a meeting in the octagonal hub, where we will begin outlining our plans to rebuild civilization. We will answer their questions to the best of our ability, but we will also make it clear that the survival of the species comes first."

"How are we gonna do this?" John asked. Stephen frowned, but said nothing. Davidson was a little concerned at the younger man's silence.

"That's what we've come here to discuss," Davidson told them both. "We need to decide how this is going to work. We can't go into this without a plan, and that plan needs cooperation from those who have commanded a certain degree of respect from their representative groups. I've called for us all to meet in the hub later this evening, once everyone has been given an opportunity to clean up and eat."

"Yeah, but Martial Law, already?" Stephen finally spoke up. "Is that really necessary?"

Davidson leveled his gaze at Stephen, keeping his face neutral. While Davidson understood Stephen's reluctance, and indeed shared it, he had to think about the future of the human race. "I'm afraid it is."

"He's right," John added his own support. "I don't like it one bit, but while we are still trying to get ourselves in order, we need to make sure that any instructions we hand out are backed up by something with teeth. We can't do that by trying to re-institute any of our old systems from home."

"But that's just going to drive people to go silent, off grid, join insurgent groups-"

"Stephen's right," Janet interjected, surprisingly lacking in harshness or volume in her tone. "But so are you, Davidson."

"Yeah," Stephen began, and then stopped as he realized what Janet had added at the end. "Wait, what?!"

"I think we should hear him out. He'll probably do a better job explaining than I can."

Stephen's face registered naked shock, but he said nothing else, instead switching intermittently between looking at Janet, and at Davidson.

"Here's our immediate problem, everyone," Davidson continued, addressing the whole room. "We are bordering on less than a hundred thousand human beings left alive. Even allowing for the dreamland scenario that not a single one of them is killed soon, dies of illness, or is otherwise unable to contribute to the gene pool, and assuming all of them reproduced for the next generation, we are still looking at a severe deficiency in genetic material for the future. The less alive to repopulate the species this generation, the more likely that humanity will go extinct within a century. It's that simple."

Davidson had researched the matter with Mira earlier. He continued. "I'm not about to let that happen, so I'm going to do everything I can to ensure that the majority of us can survive. If that means we curtail people's freedoms, then that's the price we'll have to pay for now."

He expected some pretty strong objections. After all, he shared the sentiment that curtailing one's freedom was tantamount to slavery, or stifled humanity's spirit, and a variety of other reasons why such a move is ethically wrong. He realized however, that ethics was a secondary concern right now, and that society's perceptions from his own time had to take a back seat to the needs of the species today.

"I don't even know where to start," Stephen said, clearly upset by this to the point that Davidson suspected he would start a pretty strong tirade, had he the strength. "It's-"

"Wrong? Yes. Necessary? Also yes-"

"Is it?" Stephen barked with more strength than Davidson would have credited him with, given his injuries.

"Stephen," Davidson strove for patience, something he always had trouble with. "For now, we have to make sure we are in a position to react quickly to any and all threats. That means we have to know exactly what those threats are, because, and I'm sure I'm not the only one to realize this, the threat to our continued existence isn't just from those monsters that we just fought off, but from humans who have their own agenda and want to carry on whatever little power plays they had back on Earth.

"In order for us to know what's going on, we need to ignore people's desire for privacy and freedom to some extent. Yes, it'll drive some activity underground, and that's precisely what we will be looking for. Groups going dark, individuals engaging in less frequent communication at certain times. Large amounts of blank data where you might normally expect day-to-day activity to take place among people."

"Why don't you start sticking cameras in the fucking toilets while you're at it-"

"Knock it off!" Davidson barked. "This is a serious problem and one that requires extreme measures."

"You know, Hitler probably made the same argument!"

Davidson glared at Stephen for several seconds, before responding as calmly as possible. "Yes, and thank you for comparing me to that Totalitarian bastard."

"Well-"

"Enough!" Mira barked. "This is not productive. Clearly, this is a very hot topic and one that can cause a lot of passion in those arguing for and against."

"Not to mention we have no idea how we are going to enforce it," John said quietly. "Don't get me wrong, Stevie," he added as Stephen glared at him. "I don't like it any more than you do, but we need to get control of the situation. We can always rescind the order once we have finished with it."

"To that end," Mira continued where John left off. "I will be speaking with my people today. I will propose we need a whole company of soldiers to handle security among the population, and I will also suggest relocating the populace to an outdoor world."

This was news to Davidson, who quickly glanced at Mira in surprise. "An outdoor world?"

She nodded. "People need a healthy environment. They need somewhere that supports their physiology, as well as a secure location that they can begin to feel safe in. The Realm has had centuries of experience in dealing with our enemy, and we know how to restore a planet. The... Terraforming... Project I spoke of before, this is something I intend to petition my people for as soon as possible. In the meantime, everyone will need some place to stay that is not embedded in a rock that needs a supply chain from another star system in order to survive in."

Davidson supposed this made sense, and nodded slowly. "Alright, I'm in. We'll call a meeting in four hours. It should give us enough time to spread the news to everyone and give them time to select a representative for each group. Then, we'll lay it out on the table."

"Wait," Stephen spoke up. "How long are we going to be doing this?"

Davidson frowned. "Doing what, exactly?" He asked. When Stephen didn't immediately answer, he continued. "Stephen, we need to establish order, and we need to do it quickly. Until such time as we have established a strong military force able to maintain order with the populace, we haven't the luxury of civilian rules and laws. I have no intention of keeping martial law in effect indefinitely. There will come a day, and it will be within all our lifetimes, that a civilian government will be formed, for which the military will share joint responsibility."

"I still don't like it," Stephen said after a few moments. "But I guess it's what we need right now."

Davidson decided not to state the obvious answer to that comment. "One thing that will definitely stand far beyond our lifetimes though, is a unified government."

"Meaning?" John asked, his face a picture of puzzled curiosity.

"Meaning that the territorial disagreements of old civilization are now going to be a thing of the past," Janet spoke up, showing a keen insight that no-one expected her to have. In fact, it caught Davidson by surprise.

"That's exactly it," he said after a long pause to gather his thoughts.

"Good," she said quietly. "I have no problem with this. It's time we all started acting like people instead of tribal groups."

Davidson nodded. "Alright," he said by way of moving on. "We're going to have to stay here and discuss what happens next. Does anyone want to go see if Helen is up to joining us? She's going to be affected by all this just as much as we are."

No-one looked forward to intruding on her privacy.