The Valhalla Covenant
Chapter Fourteen — Rules of the Game

Sasha realized she had no monopoly on Reimas’s time, but she was also aware that he had a lot happening. He was the one who’d made the critical breakthrough, and it seemed only reasonable that he should continue to play a part in keeping things moving.

Consequently, while he was absent, Sasha wondered why he wasn’t in the thick of things. Despite her doubts, once she’d been introduced to the key players she wasted no time in telling them the gist of the ideas that had led to the breakthrough, and was assigned that afternoon to assist Laurence in optimising the dream lab.

It soon became obvious to him, as it had been to Reimas, that she had a strong, practical flair for it.

As far as she knew, Reimas only reappeared on the scene early the next morning. It was about eight-thirty when he showed up at the already busy kitchen to find breakfast. Jos and the resident girls, including Anna and Heidi, were there along with Sasha and several field operatives.

Erin, amongst them, had returned the day before. She smiled warmly at Reimas as he entered. Laurence sat at the main table chatting with Sasha; and, surprisingly, Sean was present, apparently doing battle with Jos at the cook top over some fried eggs and bacon.

“Hail the wanderer!” Sean laughed, leaving Jos in the end to sort out the food. “We weren’t sure where you’d gotten to.”

“The crowd’s gathering,” Reimas replied. “Thought I might drop by.”

“No kidding,” laughed Jos. “You hit the right note yesterday, so we thought that you might handle the meeting, tonight.”

“You sure about that?”

“What, not having second thoughts are we?”

“No, of course not. I can’t think of one amongst us who wouldn’t do something to make the world a better place given the power to do so. Looks like Valhalla has similar goals so I’m perfectly happy to help find a way for us to build on that together.”

A few eyes widened. Reimas was a good agent — probably their best — but he was generally at pains not to take on high profile roles.

A little later everyone moved to the main lower lounge, and twenty-three other primary Institute agents were already waiting there.

Reimas spoke, as Jos had requested. He began without ceremony as soon as there was quiet.

“In the past there was always too much to do and too little means with which to tackle it,” he began, “but from today, that’s finished. Positive change is required now more than ever, and all feasible means will be employed. You might have some idea what this is about but nothing could have fully prepared you for the complete picture.”

He paused and took a look around the room. Everyone was silent and still — expectant.

“I don’t think I’m being too over the top to say that in the course of the last couple of days, our situation has changed forever. For one thing, we’ll have access to an astonishingly wide spectrum of new intelligence, on top of which, the proposed alliance with Valhalla will equip us with unexpectedly sophisticated technical resources.”

Most of those present thought that he meant Valhalla would make possible both changes.

“People do much of what they do for the sake of the game,” he continued. “The spirit of play is the strongest motivating force in all human activities, and to a large extent it governs where and how our loyalties are placed. Few people will back a loser, and it’s no surprise that success is best achieved through a good understanding of the rules of the game. Of course, society must first establish the right sorts of ground-rules, but this hasn’t been done in a long time, if ever. We know it and it’s clear that our friends in Valhalla know it.”

He looked to Sean, who gave a nod of assent, then continued.

“It’s clear from our discussions that Valhalla regards conscious individual choice and deliberate decision making as the best means to advance human interests. This is the standpoint that we must have — the rules of the game, or in terms more formal, the dynamic and compassionate covenant with which it’ll be possible to defy destructive tyranny.

“Questioning is vital for the facilitation of conscious choice, but it must be seen as more than simply doubting something. It is essential that we adopt a clear code with the most basic process of reason — that most fundamental of tools.

“Any issue accepted as worth questioning must be carefully defined by establishing a consciously worded premise. Questions inspired by the premise should then invoke multiple alternative answers from which the most appropriate answer is chosen.

“It’s really as simple as that, and with agreement on this matter of fundamental principle, we should be able to build an enduring blueprint for peace.”

As a past professional writer, and once a professional writer always a professional writer, Reimas understood the importance of rhetoric in speech making, but he had a deep suspicion of it and used it sparingly. He hoped, instead that basic honesty and unequivocal clarity concerning the standards he hoped to implement would give life to the speech.

Fortunately, his audience was intelligent and understood him completely. They knew that above all, the content of the speech was the point — not necessarily the manner of delivery.

After he had made clear the matter of the governing covenant, he argued openly for the proposed union with Valhalla. Although unsure at first about how that would go, it was soon clear that support was strong.

“It’s about time we cut a break,” said Klaus, one of his fellow field agents, when Reimas was finished.

“Sure it is,” said another, “but how do we know we can trust this Valhalla crowd?”

“They’ve been around a long time,” Reimas responded, “and sure this is a new direction for them, but we’ve seen some very good collateral, which we’ll go into later. Meanwhile, debate is good, but action is generally much harder to get going. Not so anymore. My short answer is that we can and should start right now. Our mutual understanding that the world can afford to wait no longer is our best surety.

“We need our British friends as they need us and, without going into unnecessary details, they’ve already proved trustworthy. The threat is a global one. We’ve long known that but hadn’t the resources to take the fight to that level. Now we will.”

Reimas’s childhood friend, Finn, spoke first after the applause died down.

“What you’ve said is all well and good, but do they really have the power to back up your words?”

“From what I’ve seen and from what others tell me, yes, but only our worthy collaborator, Sean, can give us a clear picture. Please give him a hand.”

Sean stood to an enthusiastic welcome.

“I acknowledge and respect your doubts,” he began, “but I hope I’ll soon be able to allay them. Most of you’ll not know that I’ve already shown off our latest toy to key members of your group, but I’ll leave that ’til later.

“In general, what we can offer is finance and technology. You might think of us like Fleming’s fictional character, Q — Bond’s right hand man. We’re thinkers and scientists, and our inventions and business interests have consistently boosted what started out as a good cache of old wealth.

“Some amongst us are keen to change and press ahead with a new commitment to action in a world apparently being torn apart by conflicting interests, so a good many will be actively involved.

“I’m keen to make it clear that Valhalla sees this as an equal union. What we offer may seem to you more substantial, but your experience, your information and your field strategies are something we could not build overnight. Welcome us, and we’ll give all that we have, so long as there is an understanding that this will no longer be a local fight. We’ll take rebellion against Global Unity to the world.”

Reimas raised his eyebrows appreciatively at the applause that followed.

He rose again and declared that while he had hoped for just this sort of reaction, if they were going to be core members of a quickly growing team, they would need to move quickly and show initiative.

“For that reason,” he explained, “our guest has made his flyer available to us all this evening partly to familiarize us with the sort of machinery available but primarily to generate awareness of the potential we’ll have to initiate rapid progress.

“Please make your way out to the front lawn and we’ll get the demonstration under way.”

Remarkably, the main cabin of the flyer easily accommodated everyone — a group of around thirty, but there was also the payload area in the underbelly, about five square metres boasting headroom. Once everyone was seated Sean asked Reimas to take the co-pilot’s seat beside him so that he could observe the relative simplicity of the controls.

Dead silence fell over the craft as they lifted away from the ground almost silently, slowly at first but then with rapidly gathering speed. As soon as they were clear of the main Sydney flight paths, Sean took them directly up into the stratosphere with gut-wrenching acceleration. Only a brief demonstration, it was however engineered to produce the maximum effect.

After a couple of minutes allowing everyone to admire the view, he descended to around 10,000 feet, and flicked away so rapidly to the north that his passengers were rammed back forcefully into their seats. Reimas concluded that the gravity dampening system was progressive to retain a certain amount of feel.

“That’s more power than is possible with jets,” Reimas said, looking hard at Sean. “How big are the drive units?”

Sean nodded. He lifted a hand and brought his thumb and forefinger together slowly.

Small? Very small?

Sean watched the play of expressions on his face carefully and smiled a little when he saw insight there.

“Jove, I thought that was a long way off yet.”

“Chance discovery,” said Sean. “We have some very clever people just fiddling with their favourite things all day long, week in week out, year after year. They love what they do and they have a free hand.”

“The only way.”

While the view on the wide screen made some of the passengers dizzy, most wished to make the most of it and kept their eyes glued to it.

During the final descent, Sean executed several barrel rolls before returning to the ground. In all, the demo run lasted no more than half an hour. Any doubts that some might have had, had now been demolished. Such spectacularly advanced hardware was so far beyond anything publicly known to exist that Valhalla’s creds were irrefutably established. All that Sean had said and promised seemed likely, now, to be true.

Amongst the Institute people there was an air of stunned acceptance as if for some indeterminate period they’d been waiting for the lights to come on and the act to finish, but now they knew it would not. In the end, Reimas had to prompt them to get up out of their seats and return to the house.

Valhalla had made a big impression.

“You said, Sean, that you wanted to expand the organization,” Erin ventured once everyone was seated again, inside. “With that flyer, and others like it, we could travel and recruit anywhere.”

Reimas had wanted to hear the expression of just that sort of enthusiasm and had hoped that it would come from someone other than him. Now that it had however, he felt it appropriate to discuss the issue of how openly they should cast their net, given that there were still very real security matters to be considered.

Sean stood to speak after him, and scanned the audience.

“Much depends on our foe in determining these sorts of recruitment strategies,” he said. “It’s a question of how deeply its roots are embedded in the community. I’ve actually had it in mind lately to make some sort of initial experiment to determine that.”

“I’m not sure I know exactly what you mean,” said Reimas. “We can hardly afford to leap out there and blow our cover straight away.”

Sean shook his head.

“I understand what you’re feeling right now but remember, you’ve agreed that the Institute will be our public face. Either you’re prepared to take that step or we’ve been wasting our time.”

Reimas looked around.

“Can I see a show of hands in favour?” he asked.

It was unanimous, but one.

“Couldn’t Little River do that?” Jos suggested.

“Is that feasible?” Sean asked.

“In truth, not yet,” Reimas replied, glancing briefly at Sasha. “We’ve kept the affiliation very informal to protect the value of the separate organizations. Little River’s worth too much as a friend to be making it a lover. Even without a closer alliance however, they’ve begun to experience somewhat mysterious and sustained attack, as I’ve heard only recently.”

“Then the Institute it is, at least for the time being. It won’t be right out there, just more so than Valhalla. Perhaps when things get bigger, the Little River might be employed. It’s a good concept.”

“That makes sense,” Reimas agreed, “but before we all jump in at the deep end, we should develop a clear picture of what we face. You’ve told us that you know or suspect much about the forces that have shaped society as it stands. Perhaps you could put us a little more clearly in the picture?”

Sean nodded.

“Who or what, do we oppose?” he began, having carefully considered Reimas’s information from the astral. “I’m glad you asked. No one can afford to work blind, but you need to understand that the answer may shock you.”

“What on Earth do you mean?” asked Erin from where she sat in the front row of the briefing room.

“What on Earth or not on Earth,” Sean replied.

There were a number of grins passed between seating neighbours and some muttered the single word “Aliens?”

“Consider the evidence,” said Sean, visibly relaxing and looking at faces all around the room. “Who or what did such a good job of making most people believe they weren’t complete without working for someone else? How could it be that after hundreds of thousands of years of living in clean harmony with the land, humanity has suddenly gone from custodian to customer? And why is it that so few people seem to care at all about anything outside their own immediate interests?”

“All good points,” Reimas agreed, recalling what the guide on the faraway world of Javora had told him concerning the Aereons’ ability to dominate.

“I could go on for hours giving you reasons why I think there is a foreign and inimical culture at work in our world,” he continued, “but the bottom line is that we have an enemy, and whoever they are, we will find them. Once we do, it’ll be crucial not to underestimate who or what they are, and therefore their capacity.”

“But what about the danger?” Finn asked. “If they are alien, and they’ve been here for so long, surely we don’t stand a chance.”

“Aliens or no aliens, the fact remains that something has to be done,” Reimas asserted. “What better thing could we do in any case? We’ll never want for anything in the process, and experience much that we never would have otherwise. Besides, if we do nothing, the chances are we’ll soon be dead anyway. It’s just a question of time. Each year there’s less oxygen to breathe and a greater chance there’ll be none before the century’s out. If there is any danger to us, it simply confirms that what we’re planning to do had to be done.”

“Inescapable logic,” Sean agreed.

There was, after that, unanimous support and once everyone had indicated their willingness to go forward, they proceeded to the matter of planning a public meeting.

Jos suggested a start in one of the smaller cities and Adelaide was raised as a possibility — not too small but far enough away from their central theatre of action to minimize the risk.

Finn got up then to suggest that they advertise the meeting as the debut of a new lobbyist organization that would be known as the Global Institute, at once setting up in opposition to Global Unity, and establishing a suitably high profile while shielding the old Institute against immediate identification.

The suggestion had strong support and Erin got to her feet to suggest that since they were aiming for a high profile, they should book the town hall as a venue.

In the wake of general agreement, two groups were set up — one to organize the logistics of the meeting itself, and another to work on thinking about ways to determine the identifying characteristics of anyone dubious who turned up.

When they broke up in the late afternoon, everyone had a job to do and crucially, a phone list for the next round of contacts had been drawn up. A follow-up meeting was scheduled two days hence.

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