Stephan indeed worked on a lot of things that day, conferring with delegates from his country, signing documents, reading legislation, writing thank you notes, being interviewed by 60 Seconds, meeting local officials …
One piece of legislation arrived that needed to be signed by the head of state, for it was finished being debated on in parliament, and all it’s revisions were done. Stephan’s heart skipped a beat. This was the first time he handled a piece of paper that will be law once signed.
“Oh boy.-” He said to himself.
Stephan was unsure what he was supposed to do, for he had not yet officially set foot in his country. It’s that act of physically arriving in the nation, and signing a Letter of Sovereign Intent, then shaking the hand of the Prime Minister, that completed the monarchy process.
Stephan ran through a checklist given to him by newly assigned security. He turned on the electro magnetic shield, to block most spy systems, picked up the newly installed secure phone and rang his Attorney General.
He asked the AG what he was to do. Was he in the constitutional right to sign something into law.
“Your Majesty, let’s review that. This question has not come before me before.”
Stephan chuckled at that. True! Being called Majesty, especially by his government, still felt weird. The whole monarchy business felt weird right now, indeed.
Monarch and AG discussed the legalities of signing that bill, and then they had a conference call with the Prime Minister.
The Prime Minister said, “Technically, Your Majesty, you can sign that bill, if you and I meet, and you sign your Sovereign Intent. You could do that remotely, and not here, but we would have to do that in a consulate or embassy.”
The AG added, “Or in international waters, if the ship’s captain signs the ship over as temporarily Montenegrian territory.”
“Could we do that in a plane over international waters?” Stephan asked.
The AG answered, “That has never been done before.”
The Prime Minister added, “The Federation has the world’s airspace under wraps. The Federation would make the Sovereign Intent null and void, because all airspace is Federation territory.”
Stephan ventured, “Or in space, perhaps. Of course, no monarch has signed Intent from space. International law is an entirely different thing above 80,000 feet. The Federation does not own space.”
The Prime Minister was impressed with that one. Stephan was very smart. Perhaps too smart, but will be fun to work with. The Prime Minster had a lot of reservations still, with working with Stephan. Although Stephan was popular, he was also controversial and covered the tabloid pages with aplomb. The Prime Minister preferred someone a bit more stable and low key. Besides, there was a large military build up on his borders, all because of this new king. World Federation tanks.
The Prime Minster decided to toss in the fact there were tanks on his border, “Sir, you’re aware of the military build up to our north, I’m sure.”
“Yes. I am.”
“We have to do this right, and not make one single mistake. I hope that you don’t mind our guidance on everything right now. I know this monarchy is near absolute, but stick with me on this one.”
“You’re the one managing the nation. I’m not using absolute powers unless it’s essential and only if it benefits the general population. I’m simply Montenegro’s hedge against the World Federation.”
“And that’s problematic, Your Majesty.”
“It is. Very. I’ll only do this thing, if we’re a team. I have no intent of bringing war to Montenegro.”
The men were silent moment. This is tricky, indeed.
Stephan decided on candor, “Listen, gentlemen. If it wasn’t for the recent atrocities in Montenegro, and all harm done to my people by the Federation, I would have not pushed for the monarchy. I would have been a rather passive prince in exile. I want to be an engineer and go into space, really, not locked up in a palace, being King. But as the head of my family, it is my duty to do what I must for my nation. I put nation and people before myself.”
Stephan meant that with all his heart. He’s giving up his dreams of going far into space, and away from all this Federation hell. He dreamed of finding new and free frontiers, places where humanity could start over again - a new world, really. But after his people had been imprisoned, killed and chipped, and after Montenegro’s economy, crops and resources were damaged – Stephan felt compelled to be that King he was born to be. His duty was to step in and try and put a stop to the rape of Montenegro.
There was again a silence. The Prime Minister could hear the heartfelt passion in Stephan’s voice, even if Stephan had been trained by his family to keep a rein on passion during official duties. He had been trained all his life in that. The passion still found it’s way into the King’s voice. Stephan did indeed feel for the people. Deeply, and personally.
The Prime Minister finally said, “Sir, let’s set up to meet and have your Sovereign Intent signed. It’ll have to be done out of the sight of the Federation. I’m sure they’ll try and atop the process. It’ll be very dangerous for us personally, but because I believe your good intent, especially now, after today’s conversation, I’m willing to do it. It will have to be signed outside of Montenegro.”
“Thank you, Your Excellency” Stephan said.
“Your Welcome, Your Majesty. I’ll get the process stated.”
#
Richard William Wilcox flew into a rage. His got up and dismissed the naked women around him. Hell, this was an intrusion on his off time, and news of that blasted Prince Stephan again.
Wilcox quickly dressed and led the way down a series of halls to his home’s office.
Wilcox fumed, and said, “I made a big mistake with that God damned prince. I created a problem. I should not have added that one program to his inputs. I created a power hungry son of a bitch, but he isn’t working for me! That’s why I programmed him, to work for me!”
“Chairman, the conversation we intercepted does not sound like it’s through the programming. It sounds more like him as himself.”
“Shit. All of a sudden he’s becoming a fucking bleeding heart.”
“He’s not all that liberal, sir.”
“I don’t mean that kind of bleeding heart. I mean he’s now feeling things, empathy, perhaps guilt.”
“May I be honest, Mr. Chairman?”
“Sure.”
“You’re not going to like me telling you this.”
“Hurry up, spit it out!”
“Alright.” The head of human interface research simply lay the cards, “Prince Stephan is the way he is, because of our own actions. He is rebelling, and that is because what was done to him here - has made him resentful. That resentment can not be overridden by his implants for some reason, and for some reason, his fear of our recurring abuse is not stronger then his sense of right and wrong.”
“Then he’s not normal”
“No, actually, he is normal. He’s normal in human terms. We’ve been creating monsters. He’s not a monster.”
“I’d watch yourself. Those words are rather bold.”
“Mr. Chairman, if you are to remain as powerful as you are, you need to know these things. You have to hear me out. We went too far with the prince, and he will not forget it. It had gotten very personal. Additionally, he would have probably quietly remained in exile until you were ready to use him, but then this government put his country’s people to ruin.”
Wilcox’s eyes were angry and shocked at the challenging lackey, but he listened. Yes indeed he needed to know this so that he should crate a strategy.
“Mr. Chairman, when you attacked his country, you woke up a sleeping giant. That is why he’s pushing to be King, and set to meet his Prime Minister soon. He intends to pull his country out of the Federation, and perhaps even liberate his region. He’s out to protect his people.”
“I know the regional intent, I have my government and intel to tell me that much! You job is his brain implants.”
“And my job is how he thinks as a human being. He’s thinking more and more like a regular human being. He has always had that element within him, because, like I say, we had gone to far.”
“I want him back. That God damned whore, Nadia, failed us. She was supposed to drug him, and run diagnostics on him, then we were to pick him up. She failed us, damn her.”
“Well, we have her back here.”
“I’m well aware of that one. I gave that bitch a thing or two.”
The researcher cleared his throat, thinking: Indeed you did, Mr. Chairman. Just like you did to Prince Stephan when he was a mere kid.
There was an uncomfortable pause.
Wilcox then said, “We’ve got to stop that meeting between Stephan and his Prime Minister, and get him back here. We need to get him back on the programming.”
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