“That’s not necessarily a good thing,” Marc said. “That’s why I’m forcing it to a representative process. We don’t want the majority to ride roughshod over the rest of the community.”
“Ah, I guess that makes sense. Everyone voting on everything would wash out any input from less well-represented groups. See, you’re so smart. That’s why I love you,” Samantha said as she kissed Marc on top of his head.
Dec 4th
“Are you ready?” Samantha asked.
“I hope so. This has already cost us three days, I’d like to get everyone back to work,” Marc said.
“Well, if you make good progress, maybe they’ll go back to work while you finish.”
“Maybe, but then I might shoot myself before it’s over.”
“Just hang in there.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“I’d like to thank all of you for stepping up to provide representation for the colony,” Marc said as he opened the meeting with the twenty representatives. They were meeting in the cafeteria; the tables were arranged in a square, with Marc and the six members of his staff on one side and the twenty representatives arrayed along the other three sides. Several servers moved about to provide water and coffee to anyone who needed it. Major Kobayashi had six Marines standing against the walls to provide security.
“Now, if everyone is ready, we can start,” Marc said.
“What’s to stop us from taking over and just running things the way we want?!” one of the representatives said very loudly. ADI immediately provided Marc with his name, Karl Olsen. He was representing a group of one hundred sixty families, about five hundred people total.
“And how do you plan to do that?” Marc said as he motioned for Major Kobayashi to remain seated.
“There are more of us than there are of you!”
“That may be true,” Marc said. “But let me remind you that MacKenzie Discoveries owns this planet, owns the ships that brought us here, owns all the equipment and all the cargo on those ships. In fact, we own everything except the personal belongings you brought with you.”
“We could take them with eminent domain!”
“You could try,” Marc said. “But let me provide some facts. One, the Marines reporting to Major Kobayashi are committed to protecting all of us and enforcing the law, which currently recognizes said ownership by MacKenzie Discoveries. Two, if you would like, I could take all of our equipment, our fusion reactors, and our supplies, load it back up on the Sakira and move a few hundred miles away. Taking with me all those who would still like to recognize the contracts that you all signed when you joined this mission. That would leave the rest of you here with just the buildings we’ve erected so far. The future missions from Earth would bypass you, so there would be no future supplies, no new colonists, and no market for whatever you want to export.”
“Shut up, William, you’re making things worse.”
“What if I don’t want to, are you going to make me?!”
“William, if you don’t sit down and take your turn, we’ll vote to have you removed,” a woman said. “And I’m sure Major Kobayashi will be happy to have his Marines remove you from the meeting. Then you can go back and tell the people you represent that you couldn’t control yourself and provide them with fair representation.”
ADI, immediately informed Marc that the woman was Helena Bachmann. She was representing a large group of colonists, mainly consisting of the ones who planned to live in town, teachers, nurses, and factory workers. She had also been asked to be the main spokesperson for five other groups. Their representatives sat on her left, at the side table.
“Thank you, Ms. Bachmann,” Marc said.
“Cer Bachmann, if you please, or Helena, if you’re buying me a drink.”
“As if he could buy you a drink!” one of the men said. “There’s no damn bar in this town.”
“I distinctly remember allocating the space for a bar,” Marc said.
“It’s a damn coffee bar!”
Marc pressed the ‘ADI’ button on the keyboard his specs were displaying.
“Captain, he is correct, there were over a hundred complaints about it,” ADI said.
‘Why haven’t I heard about this?’ Marc typed.
“They are in the non-urgent complaint file,” ADI said. “You asked me to segment the complaints and only inform you of the urgent ones. You said you’d check the others on your own.”
“I apologize for that oversight,” Marc said. “It was always our intention to have a bar down here like the one on the Sakira. We’ll allocate space for it right away and get it running. Cer Bachmann, did you have something else to add?”
“I have several points to make,” Cer Bachmann said.
“Please proceed.”
“Let me say that we’re all concerned about pay disparity. Most of us don’t actually know what everyone is making, but after talking with my group, I realized we were not all making the same amount. Could you explain the rationale you used for setting pay?”
“Of course,” Marc said. “We have essentially three groups of colonists. The first group are the people who work for MacKenzies and expect to continue to work for us long term. The second group are the ones who plan to work for the two-year commitment and then get their land grant and set out on their own. The third group are the ones who plan to work here in town, teachers, factory workers, artisans. Many of them are already performing the jobs they intend to perform. I guess we could add a fourth group, the ones who are doing jobs that are needed while they try to establish their new business. We have two artists who would fit into that category. They’re working as teachers now until they have a large enough client base to focus on their art full time.”
“And how did you determine pay?”
“For the first group, they’re receiving the same pay they were earning before they took this mission plus thirty percent. The bonus percent will decline by
