‘Yeah, what the heck are they doing?’ Tenloa added.

Pana ran up to the leader. ‘Sukola! Here let me give you a hand. I like your poster.’ She grabbed the placard from the student that announced ‘Twice the Freedom, Double the Wealth, Autonomy for the Provinces,’ and began to wave it around.

Sukola, Secretary of Kaluwasan gave bottled fruit juice and sandwich to the DATA agent in front of her; then turned around to hug Pana. ‘Hey, how are you? What are you doing here?’

‘Shore leave. But now that we are here, we might as well help you out with our cause.’ The other avatars greeted the Kaluwasan students, whom they already knew from the Prof’s wake.

‘You seem to be overloaded,’ Tukib observed. Most of the students were carrying two placards. The avatars followed Pana’s example and took up some of the placards; and began giving food and drinks to the bewildered DATA agents in front of them.

‘We can’t find Tuman,’ Sukola told Pana. ‘The members decided that I would be temporary Acting President. I decided to go ahead with this experiment that Tuman had already planned upon.’

Pana decided not to tell her about the fate of Kaluwasan’s missing President, whose assassinated corpse even then was decomposing under a log in a mangrove swamp.

‘How did you manage your logistics?’ Chef Luto, the combat avatar, queried.

‘Logistics? You mean our fare, food, and hotel expenses? We had a donation from two anonymous donors.’

Before Sukola could elaborate, Lili’s voice broke in the avatars’ Household channel. ‘Damn it! What’s going on?’

‘We’re helping out the Kaluwasan students advocate our cause,’ Tahum replied.

‘Now is not the time. The Alogostani Government will get tremendously embarrassed if those students are still protesting when the Delegates to the World Council of Nations arrive. Those DATA agents will snap up pictures of all of them; and they will be reclassified as Dangerous Secessionists. Do you really want them to get executed or assassinated?’

‘Yikes!’ Chef Luto exclaimed. He walked up Sukola.

‘Sukola, please. You have to get out of here before the Delegates arrive.’

‘What! And miss out showing all of Tera about our cause?’

Lupad also came up. ‘We have it on good word that you will be executed if you persist. We are as much committed to the same cause as you are. We can’t afford you getting terminated.’

The other students had gathered up around Sukola. ‘Lupad, think. If we’re not willing to show our protest, and accept risks to ourselves, how will we progress in our advocacy?’ It was Pangkot who was questioning.

Lili’s voice came on their tabcoms. ‘Avatars, Deputy Minister Duso is about to arrive. There’s no time for further talk. Grab the students and bring them out of the resort now. I’ll meet you in the mangroves 500 meters north of the Resort. Take the unused side road by the shore.’

Tahum clapped her hands. After she got the students’ attention she bowed asian style. ‘We have to get you out of here. My apologies in advance.’

She turned to the avatars. ‘Do it!’

Before the students could say anything more, each avatar grabbed a student. They began briskly walking out of Dakobalud Resort. The students screamed and struggled but were absolutely helpless against the strength of the avatars. Even the dainty majordomos Henloa, Tenloa, and Limpyoha were several times stronger than they were. Tabachoy tried punching Tahum on her face; she caught his fist in an immovable grip in midair.

‘Please, Tabachoy, that won’t do. I’m an avatar and I’m at least two times stronger than any Possessed vampire. Don’t make it any harder for yourself. I’m doing this for you.’ The chubby student reacted by kicking her. Tahum deftly sidestepped his kick, jumped forward, tapped him on the top of his head with her open palm, and knocked him unconscious.

‘Sorry,’ Tahum apologized, catching the collapsing Tabachoy in her arms.

The DATA agents guarding the Convention Center chuckled in amusement as the protesting students were carried off. ‘Thanks for the sandwiches,’ one of them called out.

Elam’s face turned red. ‘That’s insane.’

Captain Dakop continued, ignoring Elam’s outburst. ‘Furthermore, it has been determined by investigators that this Elam has been associating with the suspected secessionist NGO called Kaluwasan.’ He drew out another piece of paper from his breast pocket. ‘This is an arrest warrant for the leaders of that organization, Tuman and Sukola, for aiding the suspect Elam.’

This time it was Sukola who turned red.

‘Why the hell would I want assassinate Governor Tiko? I don’t know him. I’m from Tubo City and I’ve never even been to the Eastern Islands. For you information, Tuman is missing.’

‘You mean your President is hiding? Guilty isn’t he? The accomplices confessed they were secessionists. We searched for Elam’s public appearances in the Alogostani grid, and found from Tubo City Port CCTVs that he was associating with your suspected secessionist group.’

‘Have you been spying on us?’ Tabachoy demanded. He had woken up as Tahum was carrying him on the dirt road. He strode up to Dakop and raised a finger to the policeman’s face.

‘Oh no you paranoid piglet. You were emailing us all along where you were and where you were planning to go, after we gave you a huge anonymous donation for your criminal cause. Lucky for us, this Elam character is also with you.’

The students were too flabbergasted to reply.

‘Let us see the warrant,’ Pangkot finally requested in a reasonable voice.

‘Sure, suckers.’ Captain Dakop handed them the warrants.

‘OK. So they’re signed by Governor Tiko of South Eastern Islands. Do you have proper jurisdiction over Elam?’ Pangkot gave the papers back to Dakop after examining them.

Dakop laughed. ‘Of course, Alogostan is only one Nation. An arrest warrant signed by a Governor anywhere in Alogostan is valid anywhere in its territory.’

‘That’s not what I mean. Elam, would you show him your papers,’ Pangkot suggested.

Elam fished out his ID card from a pocket in his cargo pants and gave it to Dakop. The Police Captain frowned. There was a dumb expression on his face. ‘He’s Anachronista? Is there even such a thing nowadays? I’m sorry but this could well be a fake ID. I’m confiscating it until it can be verified.’ He turned to his men. ‘Cuff them.’

Two policemen approached Elam and Sukola, very roughly grabbed their hands, and tried to place metal cuffs on them. As if by coincidence, the handcuffs’ arms bit on their skin.

‘Ouch!’ Elam shrieked. Sukola snatched her hands away.

Captain Dakop drew out a silenced pistol and waved it back and forth Elam and Sukola. ‘Resisting arrest!’

‘Hey!’ Tabachoy bellowed belligerently. 'You can’t shoot you fat bully. I’m going to report you to the WDF myself for disbelieving a paper with the Seal of the Veiled Commission. This whole thing is a set up!’

Dakop pointed his pistol at him. He shot Tabachoy through the heart.

‘Shoot all of them,’ Dakop ordered his men. They started shooting, all with silenced pistols, mostly at Elam and Sukola.

There was a swishing in the air. Pana and Luto, clad in armor, were suddenly in front of Elam and Sukola. The bullets pinged off their armor and transparent helmets resembling race drivers’ headgears. The policemen emptied their pistols on the group. They were terrible shots. The other avatars skipped and hopped in quick crab-like sideways movements, making it difficult to shoot them down. The students were not so lucky.

There was a temporary lull as the policemen ran out of bullets.

Seven silenced shots puffed out in quick succession. Dakop and his men went down, each with a bullet through the head.

Lili and Bodhi were five meters away by the bend of the road. In Lili’s hand was her 9 mm pistol.

‘Bodhi flew me into the mangrove swamp ahead of us. We overheard you through the avatars’ open tabcoms and came running down,’ Lili told them. The avatars were already checking on the students.

‘Five gone, four wounded, three uninjured’ Luto called out.

On the ground, Pangkot groaned. ‘There’s a hole in my thigh.’

Lili punched in keys on her tabcom. ‘There. I’ve called for ambulances and DATA backup.’

‘How could he get away with murder?’ Elam blurted out.

Lili sighed. ‘It must really be a lot different in your Null World. In Tera, many provincial Governors have the power to execute ordinary people on trumped up charges, as long as they support the Nation’s leader and don’t get in the way of National agencies like DATA. It’s all legal. Dakop would have executed all of you, and then reported that you resisted arrest. Unfortunately, Sukola and you did resist arrest, which is a crime punishable by death, and so he would have been justified shooting you down.’

‘What’s your excuse for shooting them down?’ Elam asked.

‘The avatars’ tabcoms recorded his exchange of words with Pangkot.’ I immediately recorded this message and phoned it to DATA HQ in Tunga City.

Lili again typed on her tabcom. It played back her recorded voice.

‘By virtue of my Judge-Jury-Executioner license as a DATA Officer grade 4, I sentence to death Officer Dakop of the South Eastern Provincial Interior Militia and his men, for the capital crime of willfully disbelieving and disrespecting an official ID issued by the Veiled Commission.’

‘But he did not know I was Anachronista and only wanted to verify my ID!’

‘The Veiled Commission is highly secretive. Searching for your name in the internet and in any police database won’t reveal that you have been issued such an ID. However, if you plug that ID into any grid in Tera, the authenticity of the Seal should be confirmed. The proper procedure was for Dakop to have done that before trying to arrest you. I will simply report that Dakop failed to do that, and instead was quick to disrespect the Seal of the Veiled Commission.’

Elam was staring at the bodies on the road in disbelief. ‘Damn it, Lili. What kind of a world is this? Anyone can get executed on the flimsiest of trumped up charges! And what does this mean for our cause to empower the local governments? It was a local government leader that killed them!’

Lili patted him sympathetically on the shoulder. ’I have no basis for comparison with another world dear. This is the only one I know. Also consider that some of them are still alive. If the decision to terminate Kaluwasan came from the National Capital, all of them including those that weren’t here would be dead. Unlike now, I would have been unable to save any of them. The Capital coughs and it’s a rocking typhoon; a province burps and it’s a muffled murmur.’

Lili paused.

‘Sukola, my sincere apologies for having the avatars drag you off. But all of you would have gotten executed if one of the DATA Deputy Ministers had arrived and saw your little act in front of the Convention Center.’

‘That’s a risk we were prepared to take,’ Sukola replied in a barely audible whisper.

‘It’s not a risk. It’s a certainty. Look around you; nine dead and wounded. You were about to get terminated in order to plaster up the political career of a small-time Governor, and he used our devolvement advocacy to trump up excuses to do it. Imagine what DATA will do to you if you get labeled Secessionist. Our cause needs you alive, not dead. There is a more appropriate and safer venue just days from now in the Alogostan Senate Hearing for Devolvement. Elam and the avatars will be there, and you should be too.’

‘In the meanwhile, you and Kaluwasan can stay aboard the Shield, after the ambulances take these wounded students to the hospital. I offer you free board and lodging. Please understand. We’re you’re friends and fellow travelers in this cause.’

Sukola was still in shock. She merely nodded.

Sirens blared. An ambulance and a van full of DATA agents arrived. Lili gave them instructions and then turned to Elam.

‘Come with me Elam, let’s attend the Assembly of the World Council of Nations.’

Now he's Daformerkop...

Then recently I read a wonderful novel by Scarlett Thomas: Popco.

Note the anagram. At one point in the narrative, the letters 'popco' (or opcop) are the key to a cryptogram.

Scarlett Thomas (Popco, The End of Mr Y, The Seed Collectors) is one of two brilliant writers I've discovered lately. She is light but deep, into maths, ciphers, literature, languages, structuralism, pop, and many other things, most of which I like.

The other is a Canadian SF writer, Peter Watts: Starfish, Blindsight, etc. Dark, haunting, dangerous, hard SF with an edge. Writes beautifully. Remarkable.

Both strongly recommended.

I'll get around to reading the long sequence of posts preceding this ... soon.

Now he's Daformerkop... >

<<Baku Olympiad Round 10: Pick Three : USA - Ukraine - Tie [cash in ticket] 42 YOU WIN! COLLECT 406 8:1 9.08 406 Sep-12-16>>

<Dom> thanks for the recommendations. :)

<Doc> heh, thanks - oh, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. I know that all (or almost all?) the names mean something, but you tend to keep the meanings as an "inside joke" for Visayan speakers, and that's not really a good idea. If you want the international readers to sympathize with your cause, you don't start by making them feel excluded! ;)

People place their wagers based on what the odds are; someone might have put a few chessbucks on the winning line - or increased their existing bet on it - if they'd known the real odds. Players need to know that the odds as shown are the real odds (and that the odds at closing time are the final odds, unless betting closed too late); otherwise they'll miss opportunities, or take the wrong ones.

Where did that extra money come from? If there was a ticket on the winning line that was nuked for whatever reason, that means the real odds for every other line were worse than shown - which is something the players should have been told before they placed their bets. If there was an invisible losing ticket, that means the odds for every other line were better than shown - except for the line with that invisible ticket, of course - which is also something the players should have been told.

Yes, i confess. This was all my doing.

Here's a semi-secret: I have a couple of accounts to make test-bets, or sometimes just to goof around. This year I've been using one. The reasons for this are several. First, I think it's important that you see your own software from the user perspective, but moreover, it's fun!

(Technically, employees cannot participate in the contest, so if I ever accidentally found myself on the leaderboard I'd have to do something to divest my funds.)

A few days ago I accidentally used my chessgames.com account to place my test/fun bets. Realizing my error I went into the database and hacked my tickets away before anybody could notice.

I do have a utility that I could have run called "recompute pools" but I figured "eh, who will ever know?" Besides, all I was doing is making the pools bigger, so it's a kind of "economic stimulus."

Nice point. I'll get to it. (",)

I also kind of forgot that I am using at least three different Visayan languages for the names. So a Visayan from Cebu or Mindanao (such as Rodrigo Duterte, Emmanuel Pacquiao, or Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach) may not necessarily understand all of the names.

Hmmm. Maybe we kept breeding *because* we had blurry vision...

I think the social nature of humans and the discovery of agriculture afford some protection for myopics. We don't have to go hunting among the predators.

As the Kaluwasan students were being loaded to ambulances, Lili gave instructions to the avatars.

‘Lupad you better accompany the students to the hospital. Make sure everything is OK. If we need you, with your wings you can fly back easily. The rest of the avatars should go back to the Shield. Everyone with bugu coins, hand them over to Lupad so he can pay for the hospital costs.’

Lupad went around collecting coins, and then got in one of the ambulances, together with Sukola. She was the last to board. The Acting President had suffered a wrist sprain when she tripped and fell trying to avoid bullets.

As the ambulances drove off, Lili faced the avatars. ‘I think it’s best after that little incident in the Resort that we don’t draw more attention to ourselves. From my DATA channel I know that that Deputy Minister Duso is now there. Apparently the DATA guards are reporting it to him as an amusing harmless incident. Let’s not add fuel to a buried ember.’

No one disputed Lili’s judgment of the situation. ‘I can fly the avatars two at a time back to the Shield,’ Bodhi volunteered. The avatars promptly commenced following Lili’s instructions.

Lili and Elam began to walk back to the Resort.

By the time they arrived, the Dakobalud Resort Convention Center was already open. The DATA agents acting as guards at the entrance knew Lili by sight.

‘Colonel Lili!’ they snapped to attention. A green haired captain cleared his throat apologetically. ‘Deputy Minister Duso didn’t inform us that you were, uhm, inspecting, Madame.’

‘I’m just here as an ordinary Maestra. Deputy Minister Duso has the ball. This here is Elam. Elam, show them your ID.’ Elam did.

‘As you know from elementary books, stateless newly occurred Anachronistas have the historical right to go anywhere they want as long as they have no record of being dangerous. I can vouch that he is no security threat and he will be staying with me.’

Inside the guards consisted of Presidential Aides. They stared at Lili impassively, and ignored Elam, as the two took their seats near the back.

There were already about a hundred MDEs inside, many of them dressed in black and white robes. ‘Those are the Sworn Servants. They are the Implementers, Bureaucrats, Enforcers, and Police of the WDF,’ Lili explained. ‘If you recall Maestro Juan from the Fuego Peninsulares battle mission, he is one. The highest ranking officers of the Bounty Hunter’s League, CEOs of the Bugu Consortium which governs the production of Bugu coins and emergency economic affairs, and the Cabal of WDF enforcers are Sworn Servants. They possess their original Orders’ Seal and usually retain their Orders’ dress code, but on high profile occasions such as this they adopt the colors of the Veiled Commission, black and white. They swear a lifelong oath of fealty. The penalty for quitting is death. Their loyalty is solely to the Commission and not to their Order or Nation anymore. In return, they get diplomatic immunity from all nation level lawsuits, can travel anywhere in Tera without passport, and may issue direct commands to any institution and individual Teran in cases declared by the Veiled Commission as world emergency.’

Another hundred combat avatars of various colors but attired in black and white could be seen strategically positioned all over the hall, along with agents of the Presidential Aide. Near the stage, they could see DATA Minister Kusgan and Deputy Ministers Lihok, Tigom, and Duso engaged in a conversation with Presidential Aide CO General Kuot, no doubt about security matters.

Over the next hour, the hall filled up with Alogostani officials, foreign dignitaries, WCN Delegates. Observers including Lili and Elam were seated at .the back. The Delegates were assigned to a closed-off portion of the hall in front of the stage. Each of them was provided with a small table computer in front of their seats.

'This looks like a U.N. Assembly back in my Null World.' Elam was eyeing the Delegates curiously. Lili decided to do some elaboration.

‘In most Nations, a Delegation consists of 5 to 13 members and decides on issues by a majority 50% plus 1 vote, although this isn’t a strict rule. They are usually appointed or approved by the President or Dictator or the High Council or Congress; it varies from Nation to Nation. Alogostan’s 13 Delegates are chosen by its 13 Provinces in general elections every year, and have traditionally been approved automatically by the President. In Dictatorships and Theocracies, the Dictator or Highmost Cleric appoints them outright.’

Lili swore. ‘Fly back to the Shield, and get more bugu coins from the Engineers. Do it fast, Lupad.’

Elam frowned. ‘You mean they’ll just die if those fees aren’t paid?’

Lili was scowling. ‘Yes. I’ve seen it before when civilians got injured during a small darkquake. The private hospitals, in order to avoid financial losses, admitted only the ones who paid admission fees, and channeled the rest to public hospitals. That already meant delay in cases that needed stat operations. The public hospitals had no emergency stocks of anesthetics and OR needs, and so the surgeons could operate only on those that were able to buy them from outside private pharmacies. The injured ones with no money at all died like flies. Guru Duro said that it’s another palpable effect of internal colonialism in Alogostan; that the people of its provinces are so impoverished that most of them have trouble procuring basic health services.’

Before Elam could pose further questions, the loudspeakers boomed out. ‘Veiled Commissioners here and now, attend!’ It was General Kuot’s voice. He was standing to the back and side of the Speaker’s podium. A dozen or so blue-uniformed Presidential Aides were scattered around the podium’s back, visibly providing security.

The World Council of Nations Quarterly Assembly opened in the traditional manner as practiced since the Great Dark Shift. Seven members of the Veiled Commission entered through the main entrance of the hall. They were escorted by a security team of five Generals of the Bounty Hunter’s League, some more junior officers, and 29 of their combat avatars, and Alogostani President Tagas himself. The Commissioners were garbed in traditional robe, cloak, cowl, and translucent blackish veil, so that it was impossible to visualize their facial features.

Lili perused them clinically. ’The Presidential Aide has been assigned as the primary security force for this conference. Notice that there are no DATA agents inside this hall.’

Everyone in the audience stood up. The Commissioners made their way down the hall and up the stage. Without much ado, one of them began to speak in Esperanto in a contralto voice on the podium.

‘May the Tela preserve our world and may we defend it against the darklings. We are the Veiled Commission. We are the dictatorial junta of the World Defense Force, the highest authority of Tera. I am Commissioner Lima. Sit.’

Every one sat down. Those with no seats sat or squatted on the floor.

‘We call on the House of Legates, the Upper House of the World Defense Force.’

Thirteen people in front of the stage stood up in attention. Elam could see by their black and white uniforms that they were all Sworn Servants.

‘We confirm all your positions and authority. Sit.’ They sat down.

‘We call on the House of Delegations, the Lower House of the World Defense Force.’

All Delegates of the World Council of Nations stood up. There were 101 Delegations, and over a thousand individual Delegates.

‘We confirm all your positions and authority. Sit.’ They sat down. Now only the Commissioners were left standing.

‘The appointed 13 Legates of the Upper House shall have one vote each. Each Nation of Tera is entitled to one Delegation to the Lower House, each represented by an Ambassador, and shall have one vote each.’

‘We reserve the right to form separate decisions and overrule any of yours. Any Legate or Delegate that disagrees is entitled to Challenge any of us in a Bounded Duel according to the ancient Code of Challenge of the darklings.’

Elam was raising his eyebrows. Lili was looking at him curiously.

‘Any Challenges? None. We turn over our authority temporarily to the Legates and Delegates. After your session for the day is over, the Upper House shall summon us and present all of your decisions, which we shall approve or reject. Our approval carries the weight of the Common Law of Tera. We shall now retire. We designate Sworn Servant Maestro Tabi, Legate, to take over as Speaker of the Assembly.’

The Commissioners abruptly went down the stage and out of the hall, followed by their escorts.