What's in a Name? (Part 9) - Final section

‘Of course I have. They are well-known names, heroes of the people, and …’ the Ruler stopped in mid-sentence, immobile. Then, with a shocked look on his face, he said, ‘Oh …!’

The Stranger sat back in his chair and stretched languorously, as would a satisfied cat. He closed his eyes and smiled.

‘I think you understand well enough, don’t you?’ he asked of the Ruler.

‘Oh yes, indeed I do,’ the Ruler nodded. ‘But, how to solve the problem? How could I have made such a blundering mistake?’

‘You were only trying to do the right thing, but there is one thing that you forget.’ The Stranger responded. ‘Through the years your people have forgotten that other people are just as important as you are. Even if they are your enemies – or at least, their ancestors were. You will need to work hard to make your co-habitants of this planet – your neighbours – your allies. One sure way of not doing this is to install a democratic system. A majority will always win, and you will always have people who are unhappy. You will need to work together for unity.’

‘This is a hard task you set me,’ the Ruler replied. ‘But I know what I must do. As the Ruler, I must start with myself. I myself am guilty of hating the Denebians, but now I recognise that they are of the same species as I am. They too are human. As such, I should not – cannot – hate them. There are things we can learn from them, and there is much they too can learn from us.’

The Stranger stood on the hill, overlooking Madgar. He had a satisfied smile on his face. He knew now that everything would go well with this planet. The two groups of people would now work together to build a new future for themselves. His meeting with the Ruler had gone extremely well, and he knew that the Ruler would now work to unite the two people-groups under his care.

Slowly he climbed into the flighter, started up its engines, and returned to where he had come from.

What's in a Name? (Part 8)

‘Is there a war somewhere? Do you need more recruits for the army?’ the Ruler continued to query, as the Stranger continued to reply to the negative. ‘How can I help you?’

‘The matters I come on are closer to home for you. But I am hoping that we can solve the problems to the satisfaction of all,’ the Stranger responded. ‘Tell me,’ he glanced shrewdly at the Ruler, ‘what are your popularity ratings?’

‘Well, it’s funny you should ask that,’ replied the Ruler. ‘Actually, I’m doing very well. Amongst my people, that is. The Denebians … they seem to hate me. I try to reason with them, but so few of them are enlightened that it is almost impossible – and they just don’t understand!’ He threw up his hands in despair.

‘They don’t understand what?’ prompted the Stranger gently.

‘That I’m trying to do what the policies ask of me,’ the Ruler continued. ‘In the policies it says that we must try to do all we can to live at peace with one another. My people find that they cannot do this with all the towns and cities having the names of people who we were taught to hate. They therefore proposed other names, which were put to a democratic vote. Those names won the vote, and so I am implementing them.’

‘Have you considered carefully the source of these alternative names? Kensurit, for example?’ the Stranger put the question quietly.

What's in a Name? (Part 7)

‘Please forgive my tardiness, kind sir, but I have been busy with matters of planetary importance,’ the Ruler said as he entered the room. He glanced at the Stranger, and did a mental double-take. ‘What are you doing here? I hope …’ he trailed off.

He started again. ‘Come in, come in. Anything I can do for you?’

‘Not at all, my dear friend,’ the Stranger replied as he took the seat offered to him by the Ruler. ‘I am just curious about some developments that have been brought to my attention over the last few years, and I thought I’d come and investigate for myself.’

The Ruler looked concerned. ‘I hope that everything is in order? The tithes? The reports? I have been doing everything that the policies dictate!’

The Stranger shook his head to each of the queries. ‘No, everything is in order there. Those points are irrelevant to my business here. I am more concerned with other matters – more pressing matters.’

What's in a Name? (Part 6)

The Stranger looked up at the imposing building which stood atop the long flight of steps. This had certainly been built to present a sense of power, he observed. And to instil a feeling of awe. Unperturbed, he started up the steps.

At the entrance to the portal, two armed guards stood sentry. They watched the Stranger as he approached their stations.

‘Good morning, kind sirs,’ the Stranger began. ‘I seek an audience with the Ruler.’

The guards glanced at one another. This was an unusual approach. Most people didn’t even try to speak to the Ruler, they were so much in awe of him. Here this man was, calmly asking them the question.

‘Er, let me see what I can do for you, Sir,’ Leftie answered, and disappeared inside the building.

Fifteen minutes later the guard reappeared, somewhat flustered. ‘Er, Sir, the Ruler says that you are to wait for him in his anteroom! Please follow me.’ And with that, the Stranger and the guard entered the building.

What's in a Name? (Part 5)

‘Despite these problems, over the years the Rigellians developed villages, and were able to maintain a good living out of the land they had settled in. The land they settled on, however, quickly became unproductive since they worked it very hard, and eventually they were forced to seek us out for help, regardless of their xenophobic tendencies. They needed help. We have been told by those who have adopted our ways that their planet of origin was far more fertile than this one, and that their usual farming practices do not work here. We offered to teach them our agrarian practices, but they refused, stating that their abilities to work the land had been tried and tested by their ancestors, and were perfectly effective. We gave up trying to explain to them that the land needed rest, and that growing different crop varieties also helped the land. They just would not listen.

‘Finally, the situation got so bad during the last century, with their land becoming completely infertile, that they migrated to our settlements so as to be near food sources. Although we welcomed this, as we did not wish to see them suffering, this was the start of the whole problem, since the ways in which they and we live are completely different. One of the biggest problems has been that, now they live near us, they receive non-biodegradable waste into their houses, and they do not neutralise it, but rather simply discard it – as they would their usual biodegradable waste. You may see no problem with this, but you can understand where we come from. The result of this behaviour is that their homes are often surrounded by an accumulation of waste that does nothing but breed germs and viruses. We know, because our scientists have analysed it.

‘But that’s all background to our present problems. You see, during the last 50 or so years, the population of the Rigellians has grown. We never excluded them from the management of the planet, but for the most part they didn’t take any interest in it, until now. Suddenly, about 10 years ago, one of their leaders decided to run for Ruler, and he won the election simply because they outnumber us.

‘Now, every settlement on the planet is run by a Rigellian – or a Denebian sympathetic to the Rigellians. You heard our leader earlier, telling us to disperse. This would all be fine, except for several disturbing rumours that have reached our ears. Some of these rumours are groundless – but many ring too true for us to discount them.

‘One of these rumours, and the most worrying one at that, is that the Rigellians still want this planet to themselves. We have found out that they are willing to exterminate us, if they cannot incorporate us or drive us off. As part of this aim, and this you have seen evidence of, they are changing all the town names to eradicate all memory of us. What we are afraid of is that they will try to continue to misuse the products of our lifestyle – the non-biodegradable waste – as well as their destructive agrarian practices, and will completely destroy this planet in the process. We love it to much for that.

‘But I talk too much! Let’s go inside for some of my wife’s wonderful cooking!’

And so concluding, the Stranger and Alsyn-Marks stood up and went indoors.