Ivan the Gambler - The Story
Ivan had been climbing the steep slope for more than an hour, catching glimpses of the rooftop on top of the hill whenever the wind shuffled the leaves in the treetops covering the eastern side. The house was the target this day. The group had started early morning, splitting up to find the quickest path possible. Most of them had chosen the flat but longer route, but not Ivan. He gambled on the weather. And he lost. The rain had delayed him, forcing him to crawl upwards in the mud. Boosted by anger, he progressed faster than anyone in the group would have done, if they had selected the same path. Which they didn't.
Finally, he climbed the stone wall and sped across the courtyard. There, waving his flag victoriously, Marc the Lucky was surrounded by the other eight. All of them turned to watch him pulling out his muddy flag and attach it to the bottom of the pole. Marc smiled: "Why didn't you follow me? Halfway up I met a farmer having trouble with his truck. His fuel controller was corrupted, which I fixed for him. In return, he drove me up here!"
The monks should have seen it coming. Perhaps they did without taking action, since their primary role was not to support the Ten, only to monitor. Both Ted and Bob saw it in his eyes though: the moment when Ivan snapped. A life's search for identity and purpose accumulated a lot of frustration. Normal people vented the anger in day to day relations. But not Ivan. Trained as a gambler, he was taught to hide his thoughts and feelings. He drained his emotions in one blow. Too quick for anyone to react, he stepped forward and struck. A perfect hit dislocated the jaw of Marc and literally split him in two. The electro-guard paralysed Ivan before Marc's head hit the ground, but it was of course too late. The other eight stared in disbelief as Ivan toppled over, landing on top of Marc's headless body. More than ten seconds passed before the PA came online, announcing that the practice was over. All but Ivan were ordered back to camp.
Ted woke up next day wondering if their training would end, but the incident was never mentioned, not by him and not by the other seven. The physical education continued for almost another year until they were sent to theoretical studies. He had selected trade.
Ivan was sent home. He wasn't punished or brought to court. It was as if everyone he met did their best to ignore the fact that they had trained a killing machine over which they had lost control. He had been brought up in Krepkaya in southern Russia and the province was now in unrest. Several local warlords gathered militia forces to secure their territory. One of them hired Ivan to serve in his personal troops. It didn't take long until Ivan was directing all of the forces with great success. The trick was of course to secure the boundaries and agree upon treaties with the neighbours. Ivan was happy with his life and the memory of the years together with the other nine faded. One day all went ugly. Ivan was discovered in bed with the daughter of the warlord (not acceptable of course). The warlord knew he couldn't just shoot Ivan, so he was dismissed. With nothing else to do, Ivan once again found himself offering his skills to those who could pay.
The contracts ranged from terrorist operations and assassinations to open warfare. He didn't stay more than a couple of months under the same ruler and more then once, he served under both of the adversaries in conflicts. The memory of Ted came back more and more often. Ivan knew there was something fundamentally wrong with the Ten, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what. His investigation had failed since no one could confirm the existence of either the other eight or of the monks. After years of isolation, Ivan started to climb the career ladder. If anyone could help him, it would be the international special agents. And one of them found a trace: Ted had left the Inner Empire and joined the Association of Free Traders in the Peripheries under the name Thedeorackus. Ivan sent him a request of contact, anxious to learn what had happened to the other eight.
Ted didn't miss Ivan very much, nor any of the others. He spent a lot of time learning the mechanics of trade. It was almost a religious experience, he was charmed by the beauty of all the relationships and diversity throughout the history. The theory of profit had many branches and he wanted to master them all. This was not possible for Ted. Not only because the sheer amount of knowledge, but because he couldn't practice part of the theory. His new colleagues made fun of him when it came to Public Appearance and Announcement. Even his teacher once laughed: "Damn it Ted, don't be so honest! You have to learn the skill of lying." However much he tried, he couldn't conceal his inner thoughts. He didn't pass the PAA test, and that could have been the end of his career. What he then did surprised his teacher more than his feeble attempts of Deceitful Speaking. One day he requested a private meeting and brought enough stellars to buy a small house. "Yes, that is one way to convince people you are right" the teacher replied and updated Ted's status from fail to proficient.
Finally, when Ted graduated, he contacted Bob and Mr Noname. Bob had chosen a slightly different education, with more focus on society. Mr Noname's main interest was governing. All of them met and discussed their future. No one had had any contact with the monks for months. Bob had received an offer to participate in a half-year project at the University. Noname had been offered a job in the Association of Free Traders. Ted was immediately captured by the idea of trading in the Peripheries. The thought had never occurred to him before, but as soon as the concept was explained to him, he was totally absorbed by the possibilities. Running a ship from colony to colony, making huge profits, and at the same time being able to study alien trade methods! Without hesitation, he applied to the closest AFT office and to his surprise, he was offered not only a passage on a ship to Yank, he was also sponsored with a new Surveyor! Captain Ted, wasn't that wonderful?
Life in the Peripheries was very different to what he expected. The freedom was overwhelming and he realised that not all humans were suitable for that kind of life. He was certainly not! It didn't take long for him to realise most people didn't appreciate his views on their actions. Perhaps it was pure luck that he didn't offend the Brotherhood. And perhaps it was luck that one of their priests asked him to transport a huge amount of NHC-monks. Not knowing whom these NHC-monks were, he accepted and started the shipment of monks from one end of the Peripheries to the other. It was during these runs that he met a familiar face. One of the monks was actually his supervisor during his training. What Ted learned from this monk was more than he could grasp. A secret experiment had been performed on the Ten. The outcome was successful in the sense that all of them were almost normal. The monk could not provide any reason for them for not being normal, apart from the fact that the Ten had a very similar set of genome's.
Ted sent Bob a message, urging him to join the AFT and "bring his ass to the Peripheries". His knowledge in human behaviour was enough to confirm that the monk was speaking the truth. Apparently the monk had not been granted the purpose of the test; only fragments of reports, rumours and good thinking gave him a suspicion that someone was very interested in the behaviour of the Ten. But why had the Ten been released from surveillance? And why were all the monks transported out of the Inner Empire? It would take a lot of research and investigation to find out. And only one person had both the power and interest to start digging, and he was on his way to the Peripheries as well.
Mr Noname was in the right place and had the right skill when the opportunity arose. He never let anyone else learn his secrets. During interview sessions he constantly evaded the questioners inquiries. He dodged every attack, escaped each trap and turned all situations to his advantage. He became AFT Information Master because he was the most suitable and the most careful. He became known to the inhabitants of the Peripheries as AIM.
His first task was to start the research project at Eclypse. It took a great deal of manoeuvring to perform his investigation without anybody else noticing. It was a good thing that Ted had been in contact with CIA. The necessary equipment was manufactured and simulation programs were constructed. It took a long time to produce the result, but when the figures were provided, Ted, Bob and Mr Noname were very surprised. The difference between their genome was so small that it could not have been by chance. Someone had purposely designed them.
At that point, both Ted and Bob were prepared to give up their search. Not many would know of this project, and more important, they were most probably in the Inner Empire. With anger Ted realised why it was so easy for him to get his ship. Some one was pulling the strings for him. Mr Noname had a plan though. He had heard from his contact at Ariel that Ms Julia Alarn planned to retire. Again, at the right time and place, Mr Noname offered his services to AFT as the Master Trader. Lord Darius was obviously a better choice. His failure didn't stop him from planning, and a couple of months later, he tried again, and this time, no one objected. The name AMT though didn't reveal much, which annoyed certain "information hungry" CIA agents.
For over a year, Mr Noname tapped every channel he was connected to but with no results. He just couldn't put the pieces together. Something was missing and all he could do was to put everything together in a database and run AI-routines, one after another. Perhaps he would have found out if he had lived longer. But the one-year-old conflict with Dave Moonwalker resulted in the AMT dying at Ariel before he could find the solution. The funeral was broadcast to the entire Peripheries and the Detinus Republic even sent an ambassador.
Ted knew that the only way for him to get access to Mr Noname's database was to become Master of Defence. That he had no skill whatsoever in this field was compensated by his efforts to get hold of war ships. A small adjustment in the AI-tracer was enough for Ted to learn exactly what Mr Noname searched for. One of the NHC monks living in Freedom City had been involved in the post-processing of the experiment. Ted received Ivan's message during his travel to the colony. He told Ivan to meet him at Eclypse in one month. Ted took his trusted True Sky and met with the old monk. Finally, the truth was revealed to Ted. And the truth had such impact on Ted that he neglected the deadly pirate threat.
A note from Mona arrived to Ivan at Eclypse: "Ted is dead. He left this message to you." Ivan read what Ted and Mr Noname had learned so far and was very confused. What could Ted have learnt at Freedom City that had such an impact? The option to ask Dodgy Dave for another interview with the monk was out of question, since Ivan had publicly proclaimed Dave to be responsible for Ted's assassination. Sometimes Ivan was so stupid.
The preparation to arrange a meeting with the monk without Dave's permission included tanks. Lots of tanks. And lots and lots of fighters. The process of entering Freedom City was longer and harder than he expected, but finally he met with the monk. And indeed, the revelation was enough for Ivan to almost kill himself with his favourite vodka. Three days later he had to repeat the interview because of memory loss.
Apparently, the Ten had been engineered (as suspected). All of them had the same basic set of genome, but the alteration was enough to differentiate their personality. Finally, Ted's incredible inability to lie was explained, as well as his skill in trade. In a similar way, Bob was forced to alter everything he presented to his audience. He would not be as successful if it was not his extraordinary skill with personal relations. Mr Noname was not a born ruler; he was planned to be a ruler. Too bad he suffered severe amnesia. Ivan's skill in combat and tactics was weakened by his compulsion to risk everything as soon as the opportunity arose.
The main study had been focused on their first four years. The outcome was successful. Enough tests had been run to prove the concept. The Ten were monitored during the rest of their childhood and youth to provide further data. The final question was then who could have ordered this project? Either someone very rich or very powerful. Or perhaps, both. Ivan didn't have the chance to investigate further since he was invited to the ceremony at Cemetary Hill.
The event at Cemetary Hill was too much for Ivan. The time and effort spent by Mr Noname and Ted was not in vain. He was not bothered by the stare from Jasil and Samuel. He didn't care one minute that the Directors despised him. What the Peripheries interpreted as madness was perfectly clear to him. He didn't resist the upset guards carrying him out of what he considered a meaningless propaganda war. He would enter that building when the ceremony was over and present the facts to them. They would deny the truth, but eventually they would fold. But he was restless and the recreational complexes were prepared to entertain the visitors. Once again his defected genome proved that nature should not be tampered with. When he woke up, it was all too late.
When Ivan arrived at Balmoral, he was obsessed by one thought: he must get back to the Inner Empire. But no one would accept him as passenger. Actually, there were no ships available at all. The only transportation was of prisoners sentenced to death. His political position didn't help at all. He was informed that the ship was waiting for one last passenger who was in court at the moment. Bribing and threatening his way through the corridors, he managed to enter the court. He walked up to the prisoner too quick for the guards to catch him. When he asked the judge if he could replace the man, he was ignored and the guards advanced to grab him. "Don't be so stupid" he shouted and grabbed the prisoner by his collar. He deliberately twisted the head of the helpless criminal slow enough to make a loud snapping noise when the neck broke. "Now, don't you think I'm bad enough to be sentenced to death?" The judge was white in his face when he whispered: "Yes, you must die, but you will die here and now. The reason he would have been sent to Earth was because he killed a governor." With a smile on his face, Ivan brought up a small plasma gun and asked the guards to hold their fire. "Look, I just want to go home, ok?" Then he burned the judge to ashes. "So, am I bad enough now? Just put me on the ship with a he-killed-an-important-judge-tag and since I am an AFT political, I must stand trial on Earth."
Ivan was locked down to the seat in the transporter. A nurse injected the drug and handed him a newspaper. "It will only take a couple of minutes" she said and continued to the next prisoner. He caught a glimpse of a statement from the Imperial Services and read the text over and over: "A clone is not a son. There must be more than one donor, else it is a copy." The last thing Ivan remembered was his own chanting: I'm the Emperor, I'm the Emperor.