Martin Marprelate
The Heir
Open Source since 1588
BOOK III
So now you know Edward and Lilly and Jose.
It is time to introduce you to Narmer.
Have any of you heard of Narmer?
Yes. Well, no. We’re not studying the king who united Egypt. This Narmer lived in a world controlled by the Treaty of Ascension.
Let’s let Narmer introduce himself.
This is Narmer, age 13, teaching his first class.
And guess what that class was? That’s right. He was the first empathetic historian. It was he who coined the term and established the practice. Very young. Just 12 years old. He didn’t continue in the profession – as you will see.
I have different interviews of him at different times. I’ll let your Moms shift you themselves.
DOWNLOAD RESUMES
9th Cohort, Year 13;
EH 101-1: Introduction to the Ascension Treaty
Instructor: Narmer.
Good morning, Cohort 9! Here we are! I am excited to be your generation’s Historian. And here we are in our Jubilee Year! Can you believe it? At the end of this year, we will be emancipated!
I think you’ll be especially glad you enrolled in this class, because, as I’m sure you know: This course ends on 13-3 when the HEIR designates us apprentices…
We will each be there to receive our leis.
For me, it is especially special because the HEIR apparent and I were born the same day. We already share a history! And now we share history! Haha. Get it?
This tour of the past is really your introduction to your future. Because, when the HA becomes HEIR, the old Cohort retires and the HighRise is ours!
And, you never know – maybe one of us will join the C-team…
I’m a little nervous. I guess you see that…
It is my duty to explain to you how we got here. Not here in this classroom. I presume you know how you got here. Haha.
But, during this term, you will learn to think like an Empathetic Historian.
And the question we address is: How did we, the PEOPLE, get here?
What are the forces that shape the behaviors that shape our history?
As empathetic historians, we put our feet to the ground. We look at guns, but only to see who is behind them and why.
Empathetic Historians believe history, as normally taught, studies the criminals and not the heroes.
So, now, let’s get to work…
| TA-1 Ownership of All ThingsA: Everything in existence is owned by the Apex Corporation. B. The Apex Corporation is owned by the stockholders. C. There are only 2 categories of stockholders — now and forever:1. The HEIR: An individual biologically composed only of HEIRs, pre-registered at union, confirmed at birth, and designated “HEIR.” 2. The PEOPLE: Everyone else. D. No individual can be both HEIR and PEOPLE, regardless of biology or circumstance. E. No modifications, exceptions or rescissions. Applicable in full now and forever. F. Violation or attempted violation leads to immediate expulsion from the universe. |
Here’s what we’re going to study today — the First Article of the Treaty of Ascension. This is the foundation of everything.
Can everybody see it?
Today begins our study of the greatest invention of civilization—the Law that finally gave us the world order and peace
The best system of fair government ever created — the Corporation.
Before the Treaty, wars were far more common than peace. PEOPLE killed themselves fighting over arbitrary lines and — like the Tower of Babel — spoke in different languages, used different currency, and wore different clothes.
Absurd the values of our ancestors, isn’t it? Fighting over land? Gold? Ridiculous.
TA-1 changed everything. When everything became property, everything acquired a caretaker. And there are only 2 caretakers – the Mayor and the HEIR.
No reason to be greedy. The lines are clear.
That is the genius of TA-1. Everything under one umbrella.
No divisions, you see. No nations or languages or customs to divide PEOPLE on artificial grounds. Very simple
And, because it is always necessary that someone be at the helm, the HEIR is given that job.
We, stockholders and villagers, are components of the PEOPLE. Our Voice is expressed by the Mayor.
That division changed our lives. It expelled the Corporation from our government.
We self-govern as we wish. Total freedom.
Something our ancestors could not even have imagined.
Now we have a government actually for the PEOPLE, by the PEOPLE, and protecting the PEOPLE.
There’s no point in a Villager becoming too aggressive: At the end a Villager will always be a Villager. No Villager will ever become HEIR.
Can you see the genius of this? Isn’t it amazing!
interview of Narmer
-Did you enjoy that? For those of you just joining us, I am here with Narmer and we just watched his very first course as an Empathetic Historian. First and only, right?
-I had three, I believe, before it became unfeasible.
-In this course, you are about13 years old. And you’d just won the generation’s coveted Historian Jubilee seat in the CEU Unit…. You must have been very proud.
-I was young, wasn’t I? A different person altogether. It’s strange hearing that voice — I recognize the rhythm but not the sound.
-How did you happen to become the Historian for your generation?
-What was really amazing was I hadn’t even bid for Historian — I didn’t know there was such a thing.
The essay was required of everyone.
We had to submit an essay about the importance of history. And I wrote that it wasn’t important at all. Because all it did was exalt the men who killed other men. I wrote that this couldn’t happen anymore and wouldn’t happen anymore because there’s nothing to take away if you have everything you need.
Naive, I know.
But it got me the award.
Which was the biggest surprise of my life!
-You sound like a true believer.
-Yes. I was that…. I really was…
Everything that happened had been good.
I believed we were on a wave we’d ride for the rest of our lives. I mean, look. Edward had just been the first person in history to end up with exact points and I was the only person in the village who voted for that outcome. And we were born on the same day.
I was a kid.
I thought all that meant something.
Like it was a promise for the future…
-It was a lot of coincidences. A lot of wins all in one day.
-I was a bit star struck, I suppose.
-So, during the First Prank — the 13th year — you were out there telling people not to work.
Told them not to work? We didn’t just tell them not to work — we begged them not to work! We stood in their pathways. We knocked down their coffee…. It was the Village equivalent of the Cohort Wars. They threaten points and we threaten bodies.
But… In truth, far more theory than fact.
Cohort 8 wasn’t happy about the Cohort Wars beginning. They knew the Corporation would be chaos for the next 3 years. The Mayor had been trying to get the HEIR to postpone or eliminate it altogether ever since Edward was born.
So most of them thanked me for turning them away.
I figured the best way to help Cohort 9 was to encourage Cohort 8 to rebel.
And we washed their cars, or gave Girl Scout cookies, or mowed the lawns of all the old people who would help us.
Attendance went down 25%.
-Were you proud of that?
-Very much. Yes. I really wanted Edward to succeed.
-Even before you knew he was your twin?
-Yes.
-So why did you want to help him?
-It was my Cohort. It just seemed like I should want to help my Cohort. Maybe he’d put me on the C-team.
DOWNLOAD PAUSED
Let’s recap Narmer’s Year 13 so far…
We began in Year 12 when he was elected a Jubilee lecturer — helping to prepare students for the History Challenge. This generally leads to an appointment as the Empathetic Historian for his Cohort when 9 ascends and 8 steps down. Early selection is a high honor and Narmer would have good reason to believe himself on a trajectory of success and further accolades.
As you can see, his lectures are well-thought-out. Well-presented. And, while juvenile, show some attempt to relate to his audience. Good material for corporate grooming. He would be given very high scores.
On this basis alone, he would have been a good candidate for the C-team.
But — here’s the kicker — he undertook, on his own, a campaign to get Cohort 8 to stay home on Day 2! He had his Cohort fanned across the steps so people couldn’t get in. Some experts have attributed nearly 20% of Edward’s success to Narmer’s help.
Because of this, Narmer was given a very high honor.
He was invited to the Awards Dinner — the final closing ceremony of the onset of the Cohort Wars.
At this point, Narmer has all the reason in the world to believe himself on the way to a future of continued success.
Everything changed for him in 2 days.
6:00 P.M. Closing Celebration
The taxi stops in front of the express elevator.
Namer’s fare is paid by the doorman.
In the elevator, he is instructed to hold his hands above his head while he is scanned.
The elevator then rises and the doors open.
Stepping into the lobby was like falling into a dream spun from honey and light.
The air shimmered with jasmine and oud, the scent so rich it seemed to hum. A chandelier of crystal petals poured down from the heavens in a golden rain over marble that glowed as if lit from within. Water sighs through hidden fountains while a quartet floated silver ribbons of sound through the air. Every surface gleamed, every breath tasted of polish and perfection.
Even the silence sparkled, perfectly choreographed, like the pause before applause.
People are standing together in clusters of silk and Narmer finds himself slipping towards the wall.
Bacchus reliefs in gilded wood surround the walls, striped with pearls, and wrapped in marble. Lion-head feet curl upward to bear the weight of tables overflowing with a cornucopia of airplanes, helicopters, ships, homes, golf courses, islands, counties, countries, and kings.
A boy with red-hair and a freckly face, comes to him — long confident steps. “You must be Narmer,” he says, reaching forward.
Then the boy stares and Narmer can hardly speak. His tongue is stuck to his dry palate. Narmer nods.
“I’m Jose,” the young man says, still studying Narmer. “Your Prank was ingenious. We wish we’d thought of it.”
“You couldn’t act in the Village,” Narmer says, relieved his voice sounds normal.
“Exactly! And you can… We’ve got a wonderful future ahead of us…”
A doorman touches taps a small bell and everyone moves to their seats.
To his right is the new Head of the Accounting Department and to his left is the Head of the Department of Human Resources.
Like him, they avoid conversation.
The whole table is silent. Everyone with hands in their laps looking at the china. The lay-out looks like a test. Maybe the others are also trying to figure out which fork to use. There are three of them. And two spoons. Two glasses as well.
Now the HEIR apparent arrives. He comes down the aisle from behind Narmer. He’s wearing a tuxedo but someone has pinned a donkey tail on the coat tail and Narmer is smiling when the HEIR apparent looks back and their eyes meet.
They freeze.
Identical eyes. Identical noses. Identical foreheads. And identical smiles.
Narmer feels punched in the stomach.
Time stops.
As if the possibilities are flipping by like flashcards.
That’s me, Narmer thinks. He looks just like me.
With a tiny shake of his head, the HEIR apparent looks away.
He is still shaking his head in short jerks as he reaches the head of the table. He looks out to the guests – but he does not look at Narmer.
“Thank you all for being here,” the HEIR says. “This is the beginning…. And a great beginning it was, wasn’t it? You were magnificent. Every one of you. If any one of you had failed your task, all of us would have failed. Thus, there is no one here to whom we do not owe our deepest gratitude.
Thank you.
With the help of our Villagers — Jose, Lilly, and Narmer — Cohort 9 will leave our ancestors in their dust!”
Everyone stands up and claps vigorously.
Narmer is aware of the eyes on him. One look, then another. Then a longer look. He tries to ignore it but he is shaking all over too. Uncanny. Really weird. Like looking in a mirror, almost.
Now Edward taps his knife and everyone sits down again.
He says:
The best is yet to come.
We will eliminate those who divide us.
We will cut those who cut us.
We will reduce the fractions.
We will outlaw opposition.
We will purge the dissension.
We will downsize at will.
We will protect you from deluders.
This I pledge with
liberty and justice for all.
Thank you,
I am Edward, Heir apparent, 9th Cohort.
At that, Edward sits down.
A villager stands up.
Long live the Heir apparent.
And then another:
May you never be a victim of the Tyrant Clause.
And, one by one, they toast:
May your bloodlines never falter
May your heirs be born healthy.
May no illness ever take root in your house.
May your enemies choke before they name you.
May you never be the last of your line.
May you never fall from the sky.
May your heart remain strong and unbroken under unbearable pressure.
May no poison reach your lips.
May you never vanish in the night.
May your enemies never whisper your name too close to your ear.
And then, altogether, they say:
May you awaken each morning still HEIR.
May you never be the last HEIR.
With that, Edward bows his head and accepts the applause.
DOWLOAD PAUSED
You get what just happened here?
No pictures of HEIRs are permitted. This would be the first time Narmer saw Edward. Narmer and Edward are identical twins.
Let’s go visit Narmer. This is an undated interview with him.
DOWNLOAD RESUMES
How did you feel after that? When the dinner started?
I could hardly swallow. Now that I knew which fork to use, I couldn’t pick it up because my hands were shaking too badly. I couldn’t see him from where I sat. I didn’t see him again because he left before we were allowed to leave our seats…
And I kept thinking that it must have been my imagination.
That it couldn’t be true.
By the time I left I’d convinced myself it was all in my head.
Then what happened?
I got the letter of Genetic Purity.
And I had to leave the Village.
-Your Foster Parents rejected you?
Oh, no – not at all. My foster parents were the best. We loved each other to the moon and back.
But they were Villagers.
What could they do?
They couldn’t let me stay in their house…
It didn’t make sense to us. After all, I hadn’t changed.
Why was I more of a danger now than I had been the day before?
I’d been in class and played with all the Villagers.
I wasn’t a threat yesterday. Why as I threat now?
So the day I got my Notification of Genetic Evaluation… It was the worst day of my life. Theirs too.
Frankly, I cried.
I admit it.
Thirteen years old and I bawled for three days.
But I had to leave. We had no choice. The police were parked outside the house to make sure I didn’t contaminate the Village. People were picketing. The neighbors were furious. People were threatening to blow up the house. My classmate’s parents were distraught — on the internet warning everyone that people like me might be among their children, too.
As it turns out, of course, I posed an extra problem.
It was especially necessary that I remain apart from the villagers because my DNA is exactly like Edward’s — which means I might be used to access areas otherwise barred to villagers.
And the Cloud might think I’m Edward and follow me out to the village — which would be a disaster for everyone.
But we didn’t know that. The report doesn’t say how much tissue you have. Just that you have HEIR tissue.
-Where’d you go?
-There was only one place to go. Like the stereotypical AH, I went to the RAPP — Repository for Accidental Physical Parts. After all, my body was really all I was worth.
-And only parts of that…
-Or, at least I thought then.
-So you didn’t know you were a twin?
-No. I still didn’t know.
-What was RAPP like?
-Well, you’ve seen the documentaries… It’s not better. Television in the corner near the ceiling. Playing games with incomplete decks.
A ball thrown in occasionally for entertainment.
A bone or two thrown in to keep us dogs happy.
And there was movie night…
But, frankly, you’re just there waiting to die or be cut up.
Let’s face it — that’s what we were.
Spare parts for the Heir.
-So what story did you tell yourself, to keep going?
-Wow.
What story did I tell myself?
I don’t really remember having a self in those days… I mean, it was shut down.
Not like in the Gila monster, of course — that was… well…
Anyway…
So… Thirteen… RAPP… What did I tell myself?
First, I had to set my status, so I came in full of bravado and good cheer.
Somehow I thought there was something to gain by climbing some hierarchy there.
They had competitions all the time.
You could be the best at 48-card poker, or chess without the bishop — we used buttons for the missing pieces — or the fastest of almost anything — even eating French fries.
So, in a way, you tell yourself their story.
That you want to be the best swimmer or blacksmith or runner or baseball player or…
I mean, really… I mean, what else is there?
-Did you win?
-Haha!
How’d you guess?
Every single time I could!
Yessiree!
I came in like a black cloud and swept them all away.
But, to be fair, they all loved me for it.
You see, before, no one really cared about winning.
It was just there was nothing else.
So, really, win or lose… It all felt pretty much the same.
But when I came along, they made trophies for me. Made me work extra hard.
They were screaming on the sidelines for me to win — even the people I was beating!
I was the youngest. First in 20 years. So I guess I became kind of a mascot.
And it was terrific! I know I’m not supposed to say that because — I mean, we were selling our body parts…. How low can a man fall? I get that… But…
Sometimes body parts is all you have to give.
-But wasn’t it a little exciting to learn that you had the exact DNA of the HEIR apparent?
-Ha!
That’s funny.
You’d think it’d be good, wouldn’t you?
Just like a king.
Not for me.
It was like I was no longer wholly me anymore.
You know?
Like I was only half of me.
And it also meant that I was even more alone.
All the others are fraternal matches — 25%. Some even less.
Mix-and-match will work for them.
Blood okay with one part but maybe not the foot… You know?
But me…
I was a full match.
-What did that mean to you?
-If Edward even got a scratch on his nose, it meant my skin had to fill it.
DOWNLOAD PAUSED
-Now, let’s take a little break here.
Trauma shapes us.
Some will tell you that we are born with our parents’ traumas embedded in our cells. Some will tell you our first trauma is birth.
In most lives, you won’t find a single trauma that changes behavior. More often 10 plagues. Gradual decline… The weight of one event after another, finally stimulating change.
But where a man’s life trajectory shifts suddenly, look for an event that makes everything look different to him.
These are worldview-changing events. Whether good or bad — they are traumatic.
With Narmer, we know the moment of trauma for him.
He has told the story himself many times.
Day 4 — as soon as the holiday was over — all the children in the Village received their Notice from the Bureau of Genetic Integrity. This sets forth the genetic characteristics compatible with each individual’s profile and gives them the names of members of the opposite sex who would resonate the good traits and dampen the bad.
Narmer, like the other children, rushed into the house to read the letter.
And, while the whole family watched, candles on a cake ready to be lit in celebration, his report arrived redlined.
He was not the Villager he had been led to believe he was.
He was an anomaly. He had the tissue of the HEIR.
-You can see how that would change you, can’t you? How a lot of what happens later might have been different but for this one fact.
-Did anyone know before that?
-Well, we can’t really know, can we?
But later inquiry suggested that his Foster Parent knew. May have been receiving a special stipend from the HEIR. Maybe they thought they’d never have to tell him… Though genetic testing is done before marital bonds, conception, and sterilization. Hard to imagine he’d have continued to escape.
Like sitting on a bomb.
-Yeah. Or a trapdoor.
-But he didn’t know! He thought he was just a normal Villager.
-But didn’t he look like the HEIR apparent? Wouldn’t it be obvious?
– They weren’t allowed to see the HEIR apparent. It was a crime to have a picture of any HEIR. They used to say you could just walk right past the HEIR on the street and never know it.
-So what? He’s got HEIR tissue in him. I don’t get it. Is it like cancer or something?
-Whether the tissue, in itself, is an issue is debatable.
But tissue was an issue in everything else.
The Corporation owns the tissue.
The tissue does not belong in the Village.
Thus, any issue of the tissue in owned by the Corporation.
Should a Villager woman bear a child with HEIR tissue, the HEIR has control of the child.
It was believed by the Village that tissue-borne people were seeded among them so that the HEIR could control their children. They also believed that the tissue allowed special communication with the HEIR — making them spies.
And, based on an ancient medical textbook, the Pharmacopoeia, they believed the HEIR ate their children.
Thus, Narmer, as an Ah was banned from engaging in education with Villagers, eating in restaurants beside Villagers, obtaining treatment in hospitals with Villagers, banned from libraries, banned from public parks, banned from swimming pools, banned from hotels, banned from theaters, banned from voting, banned from serving on juries, banned from marrying Villagers, banned from using public transportation, banned from living next to Villagers, banned from holding jobs next to Villagers, banned from accessing equal education, banned from testifying against Villagers, banned from entering government buildings, banned from using the same restrooms or drinking fountains, banned from military service in integrated units, banned from equal protection under the law. Prohibited from entering the HighRise.
-The rest of the stuff makes perfect sense. But why the HighRise ban?
-What? Why does any of this make sense? Genes are only potential… Remember the dance? Not signposts or nails or anything of substance except as a part of the system…
-I know. We’ve heard it. But they must be different. Otherwise there wouldn’t be those laws, would there?
-But they are different. You know they’re different. They have HEIR tissue.
-But how does that make them different?
-Maybe you can’t see everything… Maybe the difference is inside…
-Did Narmer know right away that he was the HEIR apparent’s twin?
-No. The report only told him that he was an Accidental Heir. But he had seen Edward, so he knew they looked very much alike.
-He really didn’t know it? Didn’t hear voices or anything? No “special feelings?”
-To the contrary. He claimed to have no idea at all.
-But he was a twin… A full duplicate. Surely that meant the rules would be different?
-You have all made some valid points. But these bans are imposed on all Ahs regardless of degree of sanguinity. It’s not a sliding scale. It’s a knife.
The bans arise from an ancient debate about nature and nurture.
You see, the ancients didn’t understand systems.
-The ancients believed they could understand the whole by studying a piece independent of the whole. They made the assumption that nothing changes without intervention and that they could “control” for other variables. They protected their ignorance with acceptable variability and balanced the equal sign with additional variables to eliminate constant variability.
Their research had no applicability to an individual. Each person has the equal opportunity to be anywhere on their normative curve. Normality extends to infinity.
It’s basic to us — the breathing of the universe. Fluid and wave-like behavior of the world.
They started with method that allowed them to study only that what they could already understand.
And then mistook the part for the whole.
So they spent their lives staring at kernels.
As if a kernel of corn is the same as the cob.
This is important because it became policy.
-Having observed that ascension by pure genetics typically ended with the king either figuratively or actually beheaded, they would control ascension through both upbringing and genetics.
-An HEIR, therefore, was defined by law and procedure.
-An HEIR was only eligible for ascension if (a) before sperm-egg contact, the union of HEIRs is submitted and accepted by the Committee; (b) upon birth, the genetics is recorded and filed and the child is enrolled in the Course of Childhood; (c) the mother is emancipated from the child; and (d) the Course of Childhood has been completed.
Thus, the HEIRs are selected — not bred. They are chosen, not born.
-But only an HEIR can be an HEIR, right? What’s the difference? Isn’t that born?
No. Because — even before they are born — they are designated HEIRs. Therefore, the birth is irrelevant.
-An HEIR that is never born can’t be an HEIR.
-Oh, of course not. But then it goes back to the next name on the Register. You see. Purely objective.
-But, didn’t they also believe that the HEIRs had special powers?
-In a way. The HEIRs claimed that their retained the memories of their ancestors. That the animus was kept whole by therianthropy.
-Is that real?
-Ancient history is ancient myths. Who knows? How did the Egyptians light those tombs? What chemical have we lost that they had? I do not ask what is real. I only look to what they believed to understand why they did as they did. That is how empathetic history works. I assume their truth without assuming it is true.
-No one else has an animus?
-As I said, I only relay what they believed. Yes. Everyone has an animus. According to this theory, the rest of us are reconstituted at every birth. A mix each time. Theirs remains whole.
-So an Ah has an intact animus? Knows what the HEIRs know? Carry the HEIR’s memories?
-Ah, that’s where Accidental Heirs pose problems, isn’t it? Some say it is partial and, therefore, dangerous — torn and angry, it lashes out and destroys. Some say it is whole and, therefore, dangerous — seeking to reclaim its power.
-Legally, the Ahs cannot marry because HEIR tissue is owned by the Corporation. It is illegal for anyone to duplicate, modify, or examine HEIR tissue and material. Should a Villager and Ah procreate, the issued tissue is the property of the Corporation.
-The tissue is the issue?
-Yes, the issue is the tissue.
-The tissue in the issue is the issue?
-Exactly.
-If Accidental Heirs couldn’t be in the Village and they couldn’t work in the HighRise — what could they do?
-Yeah. Where did they go?
-The HEIRs founded the Repository for Anatomical Preservation and Parts — what we know as RAPP. It was a refuge for the Ahs.
-Ah, a village of Ahs. Did it have a yellow brick road?
-Don’t start.
-What did they do at RAPP?
-Well, they waited.
-What were they waiting for?
-Well, if an HEIR got sick or injured or something, the RAPPER could help.
-How could the RAPPer help?
-Well, you know. By sharing blood and things.
-What sort of things?
-You know. Things.
Fingers, legs, eyes, heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, brains…
Being an identical twin, Narmer is an HEIR. And, according to the records, he was born 10 minutes before Edward.
So he and his friends at RAPP challenged Edward’s position. The Committee for Resolution has jurisdiction over the Succession of Heirs and Registry.
Narmer could not bring this proof to the Committee unless it had been reviewed by the Mayor and the HEIR.
So he set forth to review the documents with the Mayor.
This is always a challenge.
Remember the One Voice rule?
The Mayor is the Villager’s One Voice to the HEIR. But the Adjunct Mayor is the Mayor’s One Voice to the Villagers. And the Adjunct’s One Voice is his assistant. Wait times are short but no one can do anything.
Narmer’s challenge was even greater. The Mayor does not recognize anyone with the tissue of an HEIR as a Villager. Narmer was not allowed to communicate directly with anyone in the Village.
Only after a harassment campaign by his FP’s did the Mayor agree that Narmer could place his documentation in a pouch under the Authority of the Mayor to serve it on the HEIR.
Only the night before had the Mayor agreed that his papers could be put in the courier package.
Service on the HEIR had to be in person.
DOWNLOAD PAUSED
Here’s what he said in a much earlier interview:
DOWNLOAD RESUMES
Narmer adjusts his awkward package, and begins the trek up the wide marble stairs. The treads become more narrow as he climbs, tapering from twelve-inch to a single-inch edges as the ascent becomes steeper and he nears the dwelling of the HEIR. The final steps are nearly impossible to toe-hold. He puts his package under his coat and crawls to the landing.
There a guard sits with a gun strapped to his belt.
Narmer displays the Mayor’s certified packet and his identification as an Accidental Heir.
“We don’t let them kind in,” the guard said.
“I am property of the HEIR,” Narmer answered.
“You’re an abomination.”
“I have the tissue of the HEIR inside me. What you say to me, you say to all HEIRs.”
The man flinched. He looked at the package. He nodded to the Information Desk.
The lobby is astronomical. The lights look like stars, they are so high above him. Even the softest sound echoes so Narmer’s footsteps sound like (rocks rolling in.)
At Window 1 his documentation is examined again.
At Window 2 his documentation, jacket, and shoes are placed in a tunnel for examination.
At Window 3 he raises his hands and is scanned throughout his body
At Window 4 an iris scan is conducted
At Window 5 he is fingerprinted.
At Window 6, he is stopped. “I will take the package to the HEIR,” he is told.
Narmer does not release the package.
“Personal delivery is required per Regulation 499(a). I must ensure it is handed directly to the HEIR. We have followed all procedures for that to be accomplished today and now.”
He is proud that his voice is firm and calm. Inside he trembles. It’s his strongest asset. He has conquered fear every day of his life and, having always been afraid, nothing can scare him now.
“Just a moment,” they say, again.
Their “one moment” became 6666 minutes for him. His time being only 1/12500 the value of a smile.
“The HEIR will see you now,” he is finally told.
Narmer’s knees almost give out in surprise.
Really? Could it possibly be true…
He dared not hope. Truly. Dare not. Hope was very precious and not wasted on gambles.
But …
The Cloud escorts him to an elevator which opens promptly at the 96th Floor — the HEIR’s reception area.
Inside he feels like jelly and is grateful for the gentle skin of the Cloud around him.
The elevator stops but the doors do not open.
He cannot move.
Then the sprinklers come on from above and he is drenched until the package is an unrecognizable smear of ink and paper.
When the shower ends, he is blown dry.
The HEIR is behind the Cloud Shield when the doors open.
His packet was a solid block of ink-stained paper.
She took it. “This is what you came to deliver?” she asks.
She throws it in the trashcan.
“I only had one son,” she says as she walks away.
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Book Four
Lecturer – the betrothal YEAR 16
Now to understand what happened next, you need to just know a few facts.
Here’s some background information.
First, Edward was betrothed to Cordelia when they were 16 years old.
The Genetic report was positive and they were registered as breeding HEIRs in their 17th year. The report, which was typical of the era, says:
The pairing of Edward Apex (Cohort 9) and Cordelia Vance (Cohort 9–Subsidiary Line) achieves an overall Compatibility Index of 35 percent, placing it within Apex Corporation’s optimum variance range for productive unions. Immune complementarity is rated at 94 percent, cognitive harmony 83, and temperament sync 0.78—values projecting stable cooperation and low ideological drift. Both subjects exhibit the desired compliance response and minimal empathy variance; aesthetic data fall within Trust Band A. No contraindications or recessive markers for dissent detected. Projected offspring show a twelve-percent cognitive yield above cohort mean with loyalty index 0.94 and emotional volatility 0.27. Classification: Matched Pair—Class 1 (Productive Union). Authorization for Year 18 reproductive initiation: Granted.
Upon receipt of this report, Edward and Cordelia both signed Contracts for Union and their Issue were automatically eligible for Registration as HEIRs.
Cordelia was the HEIR apparent to the Arcana Corporation. They had met at various Ascension conferences over the years and they knew they were in the Cohort range, so neither were surprised, I’m sure, with this selection.
Second, Narmer was becoming increasingly dissatisfied with his situation. He and the Rappers, largely ignored by society, had become adept at hacking the Consoles and they discovered that he was not simply HEIR tissue… Not the usual 50 or 25% but Edward’s identical twin at birth.
Surely, they thought, Vanessa, the HEIR, did not know that she had two children… They searched and found no record of 2 infants being born — the second one deleted as a duplicate, they supposed.
They set forth a campaign to bring Narmer to the HEIR’s attention.
And were successful.
Year 16 Narmer was invited to the HighRise.
It did not go well.
End Book III
THE HEIR
Part of the Martin Marprelate Returns collection