‘Thank you. I consider that a compliment.’
235/2/16.
‘The debate is at one o’clock, right after lunch,’ Mitsuko said.
‘I know,’ Nava replied patiently, ‘I own a ketcom, just like you.’
‘Of course, I know that. I just… Hm.’
‘Has she been like this long?’ Melissa asked. They were headed for breakfast. There were hours to go before the debate and it looked a lot like Mitsuko’s head would not be in the morning’s lessons.
‘Since Thursday night,’ Nava replied. ‘She’s rehearsed her opening speech so much that I could give it for her from memory.’
‘This is important,’ Mitsuko responded. ‘This is where the majority of the student body will get to hear what I really think about what matters to them. It’s being streamed over the info-net, so everyone can watch.’
‘That assumes that everyone is interested.’
‘Some will have already made up their minds and won’t want to hear anything that changes them, but turnout for these elections is close to a hundred percent. Most people will watch, even if the numbers drop off for the second debate next week.’
‘Really?!’ Melissa asked, obviously surprised. ‘One hundred percent?’
‘Between ninety-two and ninety-eight over the past thirty years. It’s novelty. SAS-squared is very enthusiastic about students governing themselves and this is almost certainly the only period of their lives when students get to actually decide who governs them. According to what I’ve read, the old Earth’s democratic governments suffered a great deal from low voter participation. People were jaded. They thought their votes counted for nothing.’ She shrugged. ‘Perhaps they were right. I don’t know enough about those political systems to be sure. And I’m not saying the clan system is better. Or worse. Here, young adults get to have a say, however, and I can’t see that as a bad thing.’
‘I think it’s good. And I think you’ll do fine in this debate. You’ve nothing to worry about.’
‘Except the possibility of another attack,’ Nava said.
Melissa’s eyes widened. ‘You don’t think they’d try something at a crowded event like that, do you?’
‘A high-publicity media event with all the candidates in one place at one time? No, of course not. How could that possibly be considered a target?’
Mitsuko frowned. ‘You’re doing that thing where I can’t tell whether you’re being sarcastic again.’
Melissa was nodding enthusiastically. ‘It can be really annoying.’
‘I apologise,’ Nava said. ‘I’ll have a sign made with “Sarcasm” written on it and hold it up when applicable.’
‘You’re doing it again!’
~~~
The auditorium was packed and Nava did not like it. There were too many people here to be able to watch all of them at once, even with her processing speed. Okay, so Courtney was on stage with her, Kyle was stationed at the back, and there were two more members of the SSF on guard too, but it was still a risk.
Auditorium one was set up more or less exactly as it had been for Mitsuko’s speech. The only difference was that there were three chairs at the back of the stage and two set off to the left of stage where the compères would be sitting. Well, the display wall was showing publicity pictures of all three candidates too, but physically, it was just the chairs. The procedure was to have the debate opened by the current president. Each candidate would go to the lectern whenever they were to address the audience, whether for speeches or to answer questions. The current president and someone from the News Club were the compères, and they had a list of topics to try to get through. With only three candidates, it was expected that there would be plenty of time for questions from the audience.
A door at the side of the stage opened and the three candidates walked in. Nava checked that Mitsuko was okay and then focused her attention on a cantrip. The world around her shifted slightly, became unfocused for an instant, and then stabilised. She was going to have to pay to keep the spell active, but she could support it basically indefinitely if needed thanks to another spell she had active. Her eyes scanned the audience, but she saw nothing out of place.
Her eyes flicked to the man walking out to the lectern. He was a fifth year, Pascual Flores Daison. He was standing down as student president, according to him, to ‘spend more time with my books.’ It was not an uncommon choice according to the data Nava had seen. She was actually a little surprised that Courtney and Kyle were keeping up their SSF duties, though Courtney had plans to go into policing…
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Pascual Flores said, ‘let’s get things started.’ His voice was amplified, and the audience settled into their seats quickly at his words. Nava’s eyes were drawn to one of the rear entrances where a few stragglers were filing in, hoping to find seats at the back. They were going to be unlucky.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Pascual Flores said again, ‘we want to give as much time as possible to the three candidates you’ll be deciding between, so I’ll keep this short. We’ll be inviting each candidate up to the lectern to give their opening address.’
Nava watched the last straggler enter, right on the heels of the one before her and shifting quickly to the left to let the door close. The door was hinged rather than sliding, and it was on an automatic closer, so one might have expected her to hold the door, easing it closed to avoid any noise, but that was not what she did.
‘Following the opening remarks,’ Pascual Flores continued, ‘we’ll be presenting a list of topics to the candidates, and once those have been exhausted, we’ll invite questions from the audience. There should be plenty of time for those questions, so please save them until the end.’
That last straggler did not seem concerned about seating. She stood on the steps at the side of the room and waited, but then some of the others who had come in ahead of
