Brave New Worlds

hunter-gatherers making their way across a plain, depending on a single leader who knew the ins and outs of their tiny tribe and listened to their feedback. That doesn't scale, so we have inelegant hacks around it.

'Stanuel, you all created a technological creature, able to view you all and listen to all your feedback, and embody a benevolent single tribal leader. Not only was it born out of your unconscious needs, even your own emulations overwhelmingly voted it into power as sole ruler of Haven. '

Stanuel raised his hand to halt Pepper. 'that's all true, and over the last four days we've argued around all this when we found out about the vote. But, Pepper, whether perfect or not, we can't allow a single person to rule us. It goes against everything we believe in, everything we worked for when we created Haven. '

Pepper nodded. 'I know. '

'And you're going to walk away. '

'I have to. Because this wasn't some power grab, it was the will of your people. There was a vote. Pan is right, it is The rightful ruler. But,' Pepper pointed at him, 'I'm not leaving you empty- handed. '

'What do you mean?'

He handed over the backpack and pressed a small stick with a button into Stanuel's hand. 'the E. M. P device is in the backpack. You won't get anywhere near the tower to take out just Pan, but if you trigged it in the hub after I leave, it will shut Haven down. Pan will have backups, and his supporters will protect the tower, but if enough people feel like you do, you can storm it with the guns in that pack. '

'You're asking me to. fight?'

'You know your history. The tree of liberty needs to be watered with some blood every now and then. Thomas Jefferson, I think, said that. Most of your ancestors fought for it. You could have kept it, had you just. Taken the time to vote yourself instead of leaving it to something else. '

'I don't know if I can. ' Stanuel was bewildered. He'd never done anything violent in his life.

Pepper smiled. 'You might find Pan is more willing to fold than you imagine. Think about it. '

With that, he stepped into the airlock. The door shut with a hiss, and the spacesuit faded into camouflage black as Pepper disappeared inside whatever stealth ship had bought him to Haven.

Stanuel stood there. He pulled the backpack's straps up over onto his shoulders and made his way toward the gardens, mulling over the mercenary's last words.

A hologram of Pan waited for him at the entrance to the gardens, but no goons were nearby. Stanuel had expected to be captured, with the threat of a long confinement ahead of him. But it was just the electronic god of Haven and Stanuel.

'You didn't understand what he meant, did you?' Pan said. It really was the panopticon, listening to everything that happened in Haven.

'No. ' Stanuel held the switch to the E. M. P in his hand, waiting for some trick. Was he going to get shot in the head by a sniper? But Pan said it didn't use violence.

Maybe a tranquilizer dart of some sort?

'I told you,' Pan said, 'I also created the resistance. '

'But that doesn't make any sense,' Stanuel said.

'It does if you stop thinking of me as a person, but as an avatar of your collective emulators. Every ruling system has an opposition; the day after I was voted into power, I had to create a series of checks and balances against myself. That was the resistance. '

'But I was recruited by people. '

'And they were recruited by my people, working for me, who were told they were to create an opposition tame as a honey trap. ' Pan flickered as he walked through a tree. An incongruous vision, as Stanuel floated through the no gravity garden.

'Why would you want to die?'

'Because, I may not be what all of you want, just what most of you want. I have to create an opportunity for myself to be stopped, or else, I really am a tyrant and not the best solution. That is why Pepper was hired to bring the E. M. P device aboard. That was why, ultimately, he left it with you. ' 'So it's all in my hands,' Stanuel said. 'Yes. Live in a better economy, a safer economy, but one ruled by what you have created. Or muddle along yourselves. ' Pan moved in front of Stanuel, floating with him.

Stanuel held up the metal tube and hovered his thumb over the button. 'Men should be free. '

Pan nodded sadly. 'But Stanuel, you all will never be able to get things done the way I can. It will be such a mess of compromise, personality, mistakes, wrong choices, emotional choices, mob rule, and imperfect decisions. You could well destroy Haven with your imprecise decisions. '

It was a siren call. But even though Pan was perfect, and right, it was the same song that led smart men to call tyrants leaders and do so happily. The promise of quick action, clean and fast decisions.

Alluring.

'I know it will be messy,' Stanuel said, voice quavering. 'And I have no idea how it will work out. But at least it will be ours. '

He pressed the button and watched as the lights throughout Haven dimmed and flickered. Pan disappeared with a sigh, a ghost banished. The darkness marched its glorious way through the cavernous gardens toward Stanuel, who folded up in the air by a tree while he waited for the dark to take him in its freeing embrace.

Civilization by VYLAR KAFTAN

Vylar Kaftan writes speculative fiction of all genres, including science fiction, fantasy, horror, and slipstream. Her work has appeared in Lightspeed Magazine, GigaNotoSaurus, Realms of Fantasy, Strange Horizons, Clarkesworld, Cosmos, Escape Pod, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Sybil's Garage, The Way of the Wizard, and in the World Fantasy Award-winning anthology Paper Cities. She lives with her husband Shannon in northern California.

If you were young in the 1980s, you probably read at least one Choose Your Own Adventure novel. Getting to pick your own way through the story always seemed so thrilling, until you came to the end and realized no matter what choices you made, it always turned out the same. Sometimes you even found yourself stuck in a loop, repeating the same stupid action over and over.

It was good training for real life, wasn't it?

Our next story isn't a cautionary tale of government gone bad or a social principle run amok. It's quite simply an analysis of civilization, and the chilling recognition that for good or bad, people in groups just can't seem to get things right. Historians will agree: society after society keeps making the same ridiculous mistakes.

Just like your characters did when you steered them through those Choose Your Own Adventure books.

1. Beginning

You have a civilization! It doesn't matter which one — let's say it's modern Western civilization. It's got fast food and sporting events, which is all you really need. Western technology gives you great military power — you have fantastic unstoppable tanks, and heat-seeking missiles to keep you safe. It's a good place to start.

You could also have chosen a remote aboriginal tribe in the center of Australia — one with nuts and berries, and spears and ropes. Or you could have chosen Communist China, or that group of scientists living in Antarctica. But let's stick to modern Western civilization. Let's give you people, too. We'll call them John and Jane. If you have a civilization, then you probably have at least two people in it.

Now, with your civilization comes a political system. Maybe your system is a democracy, and everyone gets a vote except the felons and child molesters. Maybe your system is a republic, and you market it as a democracy because it looks better on the brochures. Maybe your system is totalitarian, and you force everyone to enjoy the sound of that complicated word. Totalitarian!