Room 318, Saturday Afternoon
In all of yesterday's excitement, Peter had almost forgotten that he still had a fair share of his own stuff lying in his room at Fandom. He wouldn't have time to collect it anytime soon -- so he stole away in the few hours he had between press appointments to rush to the school and start cramming stuff into various packs and suitcases.
It was probably the last moment he had to himself as a teenager. That made it a strange, almost surreal moment, as if he had suddenly and for the last time fled back into his bedroom at his parents' old place in Greensboro, playing games from behind a pseudonym.
Occasionally, he paused between suitcases to draft up or send emails to important figures... which just made the whole thing feel more insane.
To: Chamrajnagar%jawaharlal@ifcom.gov
From: PeterWiggin%freeworld@hegemon.gov
Re: Confirmation
Dear Polemarch Chamrajnagar,
Thank you for allowing me to reconfirm your appointment as Polemarch as my first official act. We both know that I was giving you only what you already had, while you, by accepting that reconfirmation as if it actually meant something, restored to the office of Hegemon some of the luster that has been torn from it by the events of recent months. There are many who feel that it is an empty gesture to appoint a Hegemon who leads only about a third of the human race and has no particular influence over the third that officially supports him. Many nations are racing to find some accommodation with the Chinese and their allies, and I live under the constant threat of having my office abolished as one of the first gestures they can make to win the favor of the new superpower. I am, in short, a Hegemon without hegemony.
And it is all the more remarkable that you would make this generous gesture toward the very individual that you once regarded as the worst of all possible Hegemons. The weaknesses in my character that you saw then have not magically vanished. It is only by comparison with Achilles, and only in a world where your homeland groans under the Chinese lash, that I begin to look like an attractive alternative or a source of hope instead of despair. But regardless of my weaknesses, I also have strengths, and I make you a promise:
Even though you are bound by your oath of office never to use the International Fleet to influence the course of events on Earth, except to intercept nuclear weapons or punish those who use them, I know that you are still a man of Earth, a man of India, and you care deeply what happens to all people, and particularly to your people. Therefore I promise you that I will devote the rest of my life to reshaping this world into one that you would be glad of, for your people, and for all people. And I hope that I succeed well enough, before one or the other of us dies, that you will be glad of the support you gave to me today.
Sincerely,
Peter Wiggin, Hegemon
[[ door is open, so is the post. peter's last post at fandom, wah. ]]
It was probably the last moment he had to himself as a teenager. That made it a strange, almost surreal moment, as if he had suddenly and for the last time fled back into his bedroom at his parents' old place in Greensboro, playing games from behind a pseudonym.
Occasionally, he paused between suitcases to draft up or send emails to important figures... which just made the whole thing feel more insane.
To: Chamrajnagar%jawaharlal@ifcom.gov
From: PeterWiggin%freeworld@hegemon.gov
Re: Confirmation
Dear Polemarch Chamrajnagar,
Thank you for allowing me to reconfirm your appointment as Polemarch as my first official act. We both know that I was giving you only what you already had, while you, by accepting that reconfirmation as if it actually meant something, restored to the office of Hegemon some of the luster that has been torn from it by the events of recent months. There are many who feel that it is an empty gesture to appoint a Hegemon who leads only about a third of the human race and has no particular influence over the third that officially supports him. Many nations are racing to find some accommodation with the Chinese and their allies, and I live under the constant threat of having my office abolished as one of the first gestures they can make to win the favor of the new superpower. I am, in short, a Hegemon without hegemony.
And it is all the more remarkable that you would make this generous gesture toward the very individual that you once regarded as the worst of all possible Hegemons. The weaknesses in my character that you saw then have not magically vanished. It is only by comparison with Achilles, and only in a world where your homeland groans under the Chinese lash, that I begin to look like an attractive alternative or a source of hope instead of despair. But regardless of my weaknesses, I also have strengths, and I make you a promise:
Even though you are bound by your oath of office never to use the International Fleet to influence the course of events on Earth, except to intercept nuclear weapons or punish those who use them, I know that you are still a man of Earth, a man of India, and you care deeply what happens to all people, and particularly to your people. Therefore I promise you that I will devote the rest of my life to reshaping this world into one that you would be glad of, for your people, and for all people. And I hope that I succeed well enough, before one or the other of us dies, that you will be glad of the support you gave to me today.
Sincerely,
Peter Wiggin, Hegemon
[[ door is open, so is the post. peter's last post at fandom, wah. ]]