"I have another motion," Dashiell said smoothly. "Many of you are aware that Titus's son, Tyson is awake and partnered to Alcott under less than ideal conditions. She's agreed to it, but having spoken at length with Madison, I propose we alter the algorithm that partners everyone on the base. This would allow Tyson to be partnered with someone else in cryo and not to bother Alcott."
"It's not about Alcott, at least not really," Madison added, when no one spoke. "We need the population to continue to grow, but to maintain the strict diversity we have, we'll have to put a dozen people in cryo next cycle. We can't have both."
"And since we can assume more ships will come, I don't think we have to worry about the genetic pool with such fastidiousness, do you?" Dashiell suggested.
"There aren't any more ships coming," Dylan said when no one spoke.
"And you know that how?" Titus scoffed.
"Because I watched the video log with Levi last night," she replied. "Levi, pull up September 2077?"
He pulled out his holo-rib and set in on the table, letting the volume ring out. The angry man's appearance made Dashiell's smirk vanish. No one spoke as the two men argued and then the video jumped suddenly to more monotone facts and dates. Levi paused the clip, frowning at Dylan as she turned to Dashiell, a dangerous glint in her eye.
"So were you thinking of the collective when you vanished from Earth with the last ship off the planet?" she asked when he didn't have anything to say. "You're asking my partner to give up the life he built and all you've done is changed locations. We can't change the genetic laws to get your daughter out of cryo because we have to treat humans like a limited resource."
She stood from the table.
"Which is why I move to remove Dashiell from the position of captain. He has a unique knowledge of government, justice and law, and we should be creating bylaws and a constitution as a priority, not as a side interest. The only two people on this base who are qualified are Titus and Dashiell. Many others are capable of being captain, but if Levi Hark is a precious resource to be allocated as this congress chooses, then they should be held to the same standard."
"I second the motion," Ibsen remarked to Cameron's surprise. "Dylan's logic is sound."
"We'll need to create an additional judicial department," Dylan added before Dashiell could protest. "We need laws that govern community service and other punishments. We should have done this sooner, and we must make up for it now."
She was using Dashiell's rhetoric against him. Cameron realized she would have to make a decision; stand with Dashiell or with the group who had so clearly cornered him. She frowned, hoping that perhaps this decision could too be anonymous.
"Do you have any more of those papers?" Dylan asked evenly.
"Um, no," Titus stammered.
"Then all in favor?" Dylan asked.
Around the room raised their hands. It was a decided majority. Cameron noticed that Edison had not raised his hand, nor had Louis. She kept her hand in her lap, hedging her bets that Dashiell would still be someone to keep on her side. She didn't like having to choose sides so abruptly.
"Good," Dylan smiled. "Before we vote on a new captain, I believe we should no longer have lifetime appointments. From cycle to cycle and year to year, our needs on this base drastically change. We should be able to vote for someone new when it makes sense to do so."
"Agreed," Anatoly replied.
"All those in favor?" Dylan asked.
Even Cameron raised her hand. She agreed that no one person could accurate predict what the group would need over the course of their lifetime. Dashiell's hands gripped the edge of the table and he stared at Dylan which such intensity that Cameron wondered if Dylan could feel his gaze.
"As for captain, I know that we will have to bring this to the whole base, but for the interim I nominate Vertov," Dylan continued, seemingly unperturbed by Dashiell's focus. "We are out of iron. This is a crisis that will take the whole base to solve. The person it affects the most is Vertov and his department."
Vertov opened his mouth and blinked several times. The older man clearly had not expected the nomination. The information was new to Cameron, and from the looks of it, most of congress. Even Dashiell seemed surprised, and he made it his goal to know everything.
"I second the motion," Ford said with a grin.
"Hold on," Vertov said, rising from his chair. "I did not ask for this. I have enough on my plate. I can't run this base and all of printing."
"You have Lully and Emerson doing most of that work anyway," Anatoly pointed out. "Are we truly out of iron?"
"Oui," he replied uneasily. "Among other things. It wasn't open, common knowledge though."
"Then we need you to coordinate the base," Ibsen pointed out. "Nothing can expand if we don't have materials."
"Shall we cast our votes?" Dylan inquired.
Every hand was raised, even Dashiell and Titus's. Vertov grimaced and sat back down.
"When I mess this up, I'm going to blame all of you," he told them. "This is not how I expected this meeting to go; I'll tell you that."
Ford clapped him on the back and Ibsen chuckled as Vertov shook his head. Dylan finally took her seat, shooting a glance at Dashiell. Madison rose reluctantly, clasping her hands.
"I know that we've somehow voted in a new captain in the last five minutes, but that doesn't change our problem with our present population," she said. "We can't keep the same algorithm, we'll lose too many to cryo. If we have no more ships coming, we can't rely on that. What do we do?"
It was an odd conundrum. Cameron was glad that it wasn't up to her and that she hadn't been forced into cryo because Harper had declined. All around the table people frowned at each other, as if hoping someone would speak up.
"Make exceptions?" Lisel inquired. "Any person who would rather go into cryo can, but if they want to stay, then find someone else that's close enough. I wouldn't want to break up families needlessly. Dashiell, what was your proposal?"
Congress turned toward him at the other end of the table. He seemed off-balance, Cameron thought. He hadn't expected anyone to challenge him today and that had been his downfall. Cameron knew that Dylan would do anything for her partner and was much less surprised by the turn of events.
"I wanted to expand the range of genetic strangers by double," he replied in a subdued manner. "It's true that I could then wake my daughter, but also true that only one person would fall outside this range next cycle." He sighed. "I didn't chose when I was awakened. I haven't seen my little girl in cycles because of your laws, and I technically should wait another year. Of course I don't want to."
"Madison, I think we need more information before we can make a decision on this," Vertov said, as his first statement as interim captain. "We will have another meeting as soon as you have graphs and data that will give us a better idea of what we're dealing with. How many people will we lose? Do we not have any solutions in cryo, that sort of thing. Pas mal?"
"I will message you," she promised. "Thank you."
"I'm going to keep my office in printing," Vertov decided. "Dashiell, you turned the captain's office into the new archives department, didn't you?"
"I did," he replied. "Titus and I have been using one of the empty berths to work."
"That will do for now," he agreed. "Just let me know where that is. We'll need to start seeing drafts of this constitution soon; we can't keep having murder and chaos happen every time there is a change in power." He sat up a little straighter. "Plan on meeting every couple of days until the earthstorm ends. We have more time than materials, and so we need to use this time wisely and get resources as quickly as possible the moment the storm lets up."
"Merci, Vertov," Dylan said.
He shot her a look. "Don't think I'm not tidal with your papa for blabbing about the iron situation. Walsh is going to hear from me for certain." He grinned. "And I'm captain; he'll have to listen this time."
____
I obviously have my own feelings about this meeting, but I'm super curious what you guys think. These two sections took me two months to figure out and changed like, eight times.
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If Jove Stray
Science Fiction{✨Book 5✨} Earth. Light years away, and yet now that some on the base were born there, it seems so...close. As communication with the mother planet seems more and more likely, Dylan and Alcott have to wonder if Earth really has anything to offer to...
