In the Shadow of the Rings by Frank Kennedy (grave mercy .txt) 📕

climbing the tree an hour before the business guests arrived, having dismissed her personal staff on the excuse of visiting her best friend, Chi-Qua Baek, at the neighboring estate.

Kara learned how to manipulate the torso-sized leaves to al ow her a sneak peek upon the gazebo. The amp bead in her left ear magnified the audio.

Many guests were repeat visitors, often executives from the planet’s leading seamaster corporations – Nantou Global and Hotai Counsel – both based here on the island-city of Pinchon. From time to time, however, trade negotiators and competitors from the continent came bearing gifts and a subservient tone, not unlike what Kara heard from the estate staff. They spoke of environmental and political chal enges unlike anything present on Pinchon, al uding to problems that seemed alien. Kara heard stories about the hardships on many other colonies of the Collectorate, but her schooling suggested the two bil ion residents of Hokkaido lived as grand an existence as any outside the empire’s home world, Earth.

The prices for Kohlna fish were rising too rapidly, the negotiators told her parents. Many of the poorest Hokkis in megacities such as Puratoon, Senjo, and New Seoul struggled to afford enough Kohlna meal to feed their families. Her parents thought these claims to be ridiculous, insisting the supply of Kohlna was infinite, and processors moved at the fastest pace in history.

“Who are we to feed the entire world?” Her father asked. “You can farm twenty percent of the continent. It’s not our fault if your

agricultural policies are inefficient and antiquated.”

Every time Kara’s father made this claim, the negotiators responded with the same but.

“But Honorable Syung, you know our problem does not lie with our policies. The land is in decline. You have seen the reports. And the domed hydro-gardens do not produce at a rate to meet population growth.”

Kara’s father, the Honorable Perr Syung, No. 2 Executive at Nantou and political liaison with the continent, spoke with a stern countenance while his wife, Li-Ann, sat in silence at his side with a dutiful half-smile.

“This problem,” Perr Syung said, “has been building for too long, and the solution remains simple. Only the obstinance of clans like yours stand in the way of progress.” He pointed to the sky. “They have the answers. Almost certainly wil ing to help, if you Freelanders would swal ow your pride and ask for assistance.”

Her father’s words cut deep. The man he insulted bowed his head.

Was it the reference to the Chancel ors? Was it a reminder of the schism between Hokkis that deepened with each generation? Either way, the dialogue might only deteriorate from here. This was not the first time Kara witnessed such a turn.

Perr invoked the Chancel ors, who orbited Hokkaido in great city-ships cal ed Ark Carriers. These ships, each of them miles-long, parked themselves above the planet centuries ago, shortly after colonization, and never left. Dozens of generations of Chancellors lived and died aboard the Carriers, but most rarely ventured to the surface. They were the ruling caste – wealthier, tal er, with longer lives and invincible military – and they made sure the Hokkis never forgot. They also possessed supreme technological artistry, always wil ing to dispense their knowledge for a price.

The Freelanders, however, turned inward as colonization from Earth became little more than an asterisk in history. We cannot rebel against the Chancel ory, they argued, but we can forge our own way without their guiding hand. We wil be like our ancestors, who once dominated Earth’s Korean Peninsula, and forge a culture based on harmony with the land. Although many Modernists dismissed these ideas and even claimed the original Koreans were rapacious industrialists, the schism

deepened. The continent developed a Freelander mentality, while The Lagos and other nations of the Greater Oceania saw the relationship with the Chancel ory for its true benefits.

“We have contracts with the Carrier fleet,” Perr Syung told the continental negotiator, “as wel as distribution to five other colonies.

We have committed our supply lines to four bil ion customers. Our profits benefit al Hokkaido. If we real ocate product to Hokkis, wealth wil be diminished, as wil our reputation among our clients.

I suggest agro-production wil accelerate if you bring Chancel or science teams into the equation.”

The negotiator expressed his disgust at the notion but also pointed out what everyone under the gazebo understood al too wel . Hokkaido’s true wealth did not lie in fish and its many ancil ary products; rather, the greatest profits orbited the planet in quadril ions of rocks, large and smal . For centuries, the Chancel ors exploited the acenomite mining operations in the Kye-Do rings, taking increasingly larger percentages of the profits in exchange for providing help from their military, the Unification Guard, when cal ed upon.