"Listening to others, considering well what they say" (Part 3: Maingate Hotel)
The Maingate Hotel was pretty extravagant, and an entire section of it had been eked out for the crew's use during their stay. They had several suites, three communal areas, a conference room, their own kitchen with a chef on call if they required her
( Read more... )
Daniel wasn't surprised to find that Luthor was connected to the arms industry. Well, not solely, but mostly. The fact that he was something of a jack of all trades, intensely ambitious wasn't a shocker either. That wasn't the friendliest thing to think, was it? Daniel suspected part of his reaction to Luthor was because he was a big time CEO, because who knew, maybe Luthor was perfectly nice outside the job. Until he remembered what happened only a few hours ago. Someone who was all around a good person didn't do that. Bad people could do good things and good people were just as capable of doing bad things. But the ease at which Luthor manipulated Allin, and the fact he hadn't hesitated at all, made Daniel suspect it was something he did pretty often. You didn't get that good at crushing someone on your first attempt.
Daniel searched his eyes. Sarcasm, right? Unless Luthor already thought that highly of the Galileans. "If that's what they'd want you to believe. Many cultures clash with each other, and I'd be surprised to find if there wasn't a single war in their history. But whoever wins writes the history books."
Reply
"Oh, I don't know. Once would think that some mention of it would survive in a history book, somewhere. Though, I admit what strikes me, five thousand years of peace and prosperity, yet it was only ten years ago that the ethical argument about clones comes to a head. You'd think that in any diverse, civilized society, such a debate would have raged on for years.
"Interesting that there doesn't seem to be one."
Reply
As for the history books, you couldn't take them as gospel. Each culture had its own version of the same events, and it wouldn't take much for the dominant caste to write their preferred way of things.
"Who knows, it's not like we've read every book on the planet. I'd rather do some digging myself than rely on the data banks they select for us. " Flippant but all their information was coming from Allin and the powers that be. People very invested in keeping their society as it was. They weren't even absolutely sure when cloning had been perfected on Galilee, what the system was before. Five thousand years could be an exaggeration. Daniel continued. He had a good idea where Luthor was going with this but wanted to hear it from the man himself. "What exactly are you implying?"
Reply
"I'm not implying anything, Dr. I'm simply wondering why the only voice of dissent regarding the clones comes in the form of terrorism."
Reply
"They were already forced to rethink their terms when we refused to deal with them further."
Was it only terrorism? Again, they only had Allin's word and whatever they decided to give them in terms of information.
"If there were attempts at nonviolent resistance, do you really think Councillor Allin would tell us? Much less even give us complete access to their data banks."
Reply
There was almost a smile at Daniel's question about Allin.
"My guess would be no, not an image conscious society like this. However, even if he won't give us the information, it would be something worth learning; give us a more full view of this society."
Reply
Leave a comment