Revolt, Attempted Removal, Failure…
“Lord Johnson, there are several people here to see you.” Ben, his youngest clerk, stood in the doorway. His voice quavered and he was shaking. Brendon Murphy came up behind him.
“I warned you, Sean, but you would not listen. We are acting. You are under arrest.” People began pushing into Sean’s office followed by several of the Rangers, all heavily armed.
“What are you talking about, Brendon? On whose authority?” Sean said. “I told you, we had a vote on those first changes. They are wanted and they are needed.”
“You and these radical young people will destroy what our Founders wanted to create. We are taking over,” Murphy said.
“What do you mean, you’re taking over? Taking over what?” Douglas Stewart, the Ranger second in command came up behind him. “You told us we were escorting a group of oldsters to the prince.”
“The NeoUtopian society owns this planet, and we are the leaders of that society.” Devon, Brendon’s older brother had assumed the title of Lord of the family after the attempt at burning the documents.
“The same charge that was brought against Desmond O’Brian can be brought against you, Sean Johnson,” Lord Murphy said. “You have allowed the machines and technology to enslave our people.”
“We declare you as a traitor and remove you from office,” Lord Muldoon announced.
“Wait a minute,” Stewart said. “You want to remove Prince Johnson because he agreed to change the Charter? We voted for those changes. You can’t stop them.” Stewart ‘s voice carried to the rest of the crowd who were in the outer office and pushing to gain entry to the room.
“Stewart, I order you to seize Lord Johnson and take him to the detention room at the head adjudicators office,” Murphy augmented his voice so all the crowd could hear. Angry shouts were heard from the yard outside the building.
“No.” Stewart was defiant. “One of the things we’ve been taught is orders are to be followed if they’re rightful orders, and this is not a rightful order.” The Rangers in the room looked from their chief to his second anxiously. Some voices in the yard began yelling. What they were yelling was not clear, but it was met with other voices yelling and soon the sound of fighting was heard.
“Is this what you want, Muldoon, Murphy? Our people torn apart by fighting each other?” Sean said.
“Murphy, have your Rangers clear the area,” Muldoon ordered. The young Rangers hesitated, looked at Douglas and he shook his head no.
“It appears that Murphy can’t even get his Rangers to do what he ordered, Muldoon. How do you expect him to do what you said? Now what are you going to do?” Sean crossed his arms and leaned against his desk.
The traditionalist expected obedience from the younger people and had seemed alarmed by the riot that had started. It was much like the day they had tried to burn the maps and material from the storage container. The yelling in the yard had deteriorated into a brawl between those who supported the traditionalists and those who wanted change. The Rangers began establishing order but were not gentle about it. Those who supported the traditionalist were quickly overcome by the much larger crowd of people wanting change. Healers arrived and were busy stopping bloody noses and soothing bruised faces. Some of the older people were taken away to the healers building.
“Brendon, you may have chosen the wrong side,” Sean said. “Ranger Stewart, you are in charge of the Rangers now.” Sean ordered the Rangers to take their former leader and the family heads there in his office to the detention area. He also instructed them to arrest the most violent of the protesters from the crowd outside. “I will consult with Lord Donnell as to what is to be done to them.” The men resisted but the Rangers disarmed their former leader and tied the hands of the other men behind them. The traditionalist were shocked into submission. The young men and women quickly disarmed and bound the older men.
“Is this necessary, tying us like common dissenters?” Lord Muldoon whined.
“You named it, Uncle,” his nephew was the one tying his hands. “Seems not being willing to accept what the rest of the community wants is just as much dissent as you sending my brother Jack off to die in the north.”
“Jack Muldoon is one of the ones we rescued, Donnie. He’s taken up with the Port folks,” Stewart said. Lord Muldoon gave a yelp as his nephew pulled the rope tighter.
“Enough of that, Donnie. Lord Donnell will decide their punishment,” Sean said. “Roughing them up doesn’t accomplish anything.”
Sean went into the outer office to find his staff tending to some older members of the traditionalist group. The fighting was so unexpected and unusual for Utopia that two fainted. He stepped out the door. He contacted the far speakers office and asked them to be sure everyone could hear him.
“As the Prince of Utopia, I swore to serve the people and make our settlement successful. That means the votes of the people will be recognized and followed. As I was told recently, if we don’t change, we die. I cannot do this without all of you helping. We are working on changing the way our economy works and that is a complicated task. I know some of you do not want change, but life is about changing, and that applies to communities as well as people. We must change or we fail as a community.”
Sean grabbed the door frame. Naomi and Tyrone helped him to a chair. “Just let me go home for now,” Sean said. “You know what needs to be done.” He was exhausted.
***
“Did the prince give any suggestions as to how these people are to be punished?” Donal Donnell, chief adjudicator for Utopia was puzzled. The Rangers had charged over twenty people with disturbing the peace. Some were elderly and his office had sent them to their families with the promise they would appear at a hearing later. The normal punishment for breaking the peace was garbage duty, landscaping, or trash pick-up in the public spaces. What these people had done amounted to a full riot and it was the second time they had done it. The prince had only required apologies the first time.
“He didn’t send any kind of ideas that I am aware of,” Tyrone said. The prince’s staff had joined Lord Donnell in his office the morning after the office invasion to discuss how the confined people would be handled.
“I suspect we need to be creative because we don’t have a formal jail and manual labor seems just too weak. I wish that young man from Refugio were still here. He talked about what his father did to punish those who were responsible for the infanticide. It was original and truly fit the crime.”
“Perhaps that might be something to consider, Lord Johnson,” Naomi said. “Lord Kearney needs help with the documents out of the storage containers. Perhaps you could assign some of these people to read and sort what is being found, or even make them copy the translated book.”
“That last assignment would be a waste of paper, Naomi,” Donal said. “However, having them assigned to assist Simon would be somewhat fitting. The rumor is that the three traditionalist families will most likely be assigned permanently to the new farms on the east coast. That way, they can live as primitively as they want and not interfere with the flow of goods and trade.”
“That would be a blessing for those families that have had to follow them in the rotation,” Tyrone said. “Lord Kearney has struggled every rotation because he followed those three.”
“You sound as if you know who they are?”
“Everyone knows which families try to put us back to primitive conditions, Lord Donnell. Our community is not that large.”
“Well, Naomi you have worked with Lord Kearney on his project, so will you approach him to see if he is willing to work with us on this, at least until the final permanent assignment are done?”
“There must be consequences if they don’t cooperate,” Tyrone said.
“Agreed, one thing I have observed that I must include. Lord Murphy, Lord Muldoon, and Lord Ludden never seem to visit the farm assigned to their families. These men must accompany their family to the east coast. The camp where the renegades were should be declared a farm and the largest family gets it. If you could get me the census data before the hearing, please Naomi.”
“Of course, Lord Donnell, but would that be fair to the families who rotated there?” Naomi said. “However, a branch of the Muldoon family is there now. The rest could join them.”
“An alternative is to send them to the island where they left the criminals and that might be too much of a punishment,” Donnell said. “I did ask Ser Morales if we could send some of these people to live in Refugio, but he said he had to discuss that with his father. He certainly would not want disrupters like these.”
“Removing them as leaders of their families and holding new elections might be one means of punishment. They would not be allowed to stand for election,” Tyrone said. “I also suggest they be banned from Amaurot for several years.”
“That is an excellent idea, Tyrone. Can you please write it up for me?” Donnell said. “As for the followers, we’ll assign the older ones to help Simon. The others will get trash and clean up duty, and if they don’t work, we’ll reserve stranding them on that northern island as a last resort.”
***
“All rise for the High Adjudicator of Utopia.” The Bailiff banged his staff on the floor as Donal Donnell entered the room. The room was crowded. He rarely had a case with this many accused and so many others interested. He denied the request of a representative of the Thomas More Society to hold the hearing in the large dining hall so everyone could attend. Anyone who could not fit in his court room would just have to stand outside the windows in the yard. He ordered all the windows opened and had several augmenters in the room to increase the volume of the speakers so they could be heard.
“The charges against these citizens are serious but varied. Those who invaded the office and threatened the prince will be considered first. Those who were disruptive in the outer office and the yard will be considered second.” He then read the names of the three men who were charged with the most serious offenses.
“Lord Brendon Murphy, how do you plead?”
“Not guilty of any crime, guilty of attempting to save our charter.”
“Lord Devon Murphy, how do you plead?
“The same as Brendon, not guilty of any crime except loving my country if that is a crime.”
“Lord Patrick Muldoon, how do you plead?”
“Donnie, this is a farce and I want it stopped now.”
“That was not what I asked, Lord Muldoon. You have been charged with attempting to overthrow the validly elected prince and disrupting the conduct of government. How do you plead?”
“That was not what we were doing, and you know it, Donal, I won’t plead to anything except trying to save the Charter from these fools.”
“I will take that as a guilty plea.”
“Take it any way you want. I demand to be released and this farce of a hearing stopped.” A small group of people near the window began chanting, calling for the release of all of the men.
“Captain Stewart, I direct you to arrest all those in the group chanting. I charge all with disruption of the court.” Douglas Stewart, the new head of the Rangers, closed his eyes and gave orders to his Ranger on the outside. There was some shouting and sounds of a dispute, but the chanting soon stopped.
“It is the tradition of our people that serious cases such as this be evaluated and judged by the Chief Adjudicator. No further hearing is allowed. As each of you was arrested in the office of the prince and you personally indicated to him that you were there to remove him from office, I do not see a need for any other hearing. I hereby sentence you to the following punishment. You will each be removed from office as a voting member of the Assembly. You will relinquish your office as a member of the Syphogrant and as head of your family group. You will remove yourself from Amaurot and not enter the city for five years. During that time, you will remain with your family group under the jurisdiction of the next eldest member of the group as I believe two of you hold that position now. You will be monitored.
“Should you violate any of these restrictions, you will be taken to the prison island and left. Renegades on that island were left with tools, seeds, and some food. You will receive the same supplies.”
“You have no right to do this Donal Donnell. You have no right! The Charter does not give mention any judicial officials.” Lord Murphy lunged at Stewart as if to grab his knife. Stewart intercepted him and twisting his arm threw him to the floor.
“Perhaps we need to send you to the island instead of to your family, Lord Murphy.” Donnell said.
“May I speak, Lord Donnell?” Murphy’s oldest sister rose.
“Lady Crane, if it is relevant to the situation, you have my permission to speak.”
“My brother is not welcome back among the family. His tyrannical actions have damaged us. Send him to your island. We do not want him among us.”
“I would need more than your word on that Sarah,” Donnell said. “You understand since you will become head of the family, it is necessary.”
“We will hold a vote, but please keep him away from us. We fear his retribution.”
“He will be confined.” She bowed to the Adjudicator and sat down. Murphy was yanked to his feet, had his hands tied behind him and taken out of the courtroom. His face was bloodied and his attempts to speak were muffled. A healer followed to see to his injuries.
“Is there anyone who objects to receiving Lord Muldoon or Lord Ludden back into their family?”
“My Lord Donnell, I am head of the family to which Lord Muldoon owes allegiance. I fear that this punishment is inadequate and we in the family cannot control him or his movements. I ask your mercy. Please send him to the island.” As with the Murphy family, the elderly Lord Muldoon had resigned, and his oldest son had been the one participating in the attack. His wife was the one making the request, much to the surprise of the jurist.
“Again, Lady Muldoon, I will need a vote from the adult members of the family. You have some bias in this matter.”
“Agreed sir, I will provide that to you as soon as we can accomplish it.” She bowed and sat down.
“Does anyone speak for Ludden?”
“He will do as he is told, sir. He will do as he is told.” Lord Thomas Ludden was a senior professor at the university and uncle to the current head of the family. His nephew cringed as his elderly uncle rose and angrily shouted out. Lord Donald Ludden had resigned his role as leader of the family after the first attack due to his injuries from his exertion. The look on the face of the current head of the family said volumes. He knew his uncle would not allow him to waver.
Donnell called the rest of the miscreants to the court room and sentenced them to six months of grounds duty. They would be expected to work to pick up trash, empty and sort the refuse cans, as well as maintain the growing beds around the city. Since it was the high point of the growing season, the work would be hot and hard.
“Allowances will be made for those whose age makes this more difficult, but they are not excused. You will be assigned to assist Lord Kearney in the inventory of the storage containers found in the Landing Park. You have disrupted the peace of the city and the settlement. You owe the citizens of Amaurot for the damage you have done. This hearing is over.”
***
When Southmost got the volcano warning from Port, they began securing the beached ships to the tall trees away from the water. They had these high waves before when the severe spring storms would build the water up and dump it on the land. The damage could be lessened but they were glad for the warning. They offered to house any folks who needed to get away from the islands. Some of the Port sailors had chosen to move to Southmost during the time Blackie’s ship had been under repair. They knew how the water supply might change during a land shake. They knew help would be welcomed.
***
“Sean, if we’re really going to stop the rotation, we need to discuss how the assignment of families to farms is going to work,” Lady Elizabeth arrived in Sean office shortly after he did. As usual, she just nodded to his staff and marched in.
“Aunt Bess, you upset my staff every time you do this. Can’t you at least acknowledge that they are supposed to announce you?”
“The door was open, Sean. If you don’t have anyone in here with you, I assume you are able to be interrupted.” Sean realized his best response was to just sit down and let her say what she wanted to say. All of Amaurot knew Lady Elizabeth Bartmore Rourke got her way one way or another. It would be like trying to stop the wind.
“I have compared the lists that Naomi and Tyrone have with the comments from many of my relatives. We also have at least two families who have sent begging letters to be assigned to certain farms. What is wonderful about both of them is they are rated as being the very best at the specialty of those places.”
“Really, who and what?” Sean said.
“Well, O’Beleek wants to have Farm 18 and by all opinions, they have always done best there. In fact, it is always crowded because so many family members stay on to “teach” they say. However, they need to have part of the family over at the clay beds. It should be a farm because clay is vital to making pottery.
“Bowie wants Farm 16 and should have it. Smithing is hard to learn and hard to do. Lord Bowie wants to have a say in who gets to stay. He said he is getting too many scrawny people. He has the same problem with the mine for the ore and the burning rocks.” Lady Elizabeth paused and sorted her notes.
“When Naomi was getting the last census organized,” Sean said, “she found that many of the farm has higher number of family names that don’t match whoever is supposed to be assigned there. What you are telling me fits that.
“Aunt Bess, have we been fooling ourselves about this rotation? Is it really happening, or are only some of the people moving about?”
“Oh, it happens Sean, but not the way we think it does. Many people are counted as moving to another farm but turn around and walk back to where they enjoy working. We have to be careful though because some of these duties are ones no one wants, like the cloth dyeing and running the methane tanks or compost bins. Growing the field crops is another one that is not popular.”
“You are right about that, I remember first time my family had to do the abattoir. It was hard on the young ones. We need to think more about how to get the best to the correct place and still have all the skills covered. You keep working on finding the best and I’ll keep working on how to assign people to the worst jobs.
“The longer I am in this position, the more sympathy I have for Desmond. Getting lost in drink sounds very appealing some days.” Sean said. Lady Elizabeth chuckled as she left the office.
“Change is either chaotic or well planned. I think we are getting the plan in place to avoid the chaos,” she said.