Free The Long Night of Centauri Prime by Babylon 5

typified the old Centauri Republic. Because you have decided that no lessons are to be learned from the destruction that befell this planet except that one must be stronger and more focused than one's opponent if one is to win. Because what you truly seek is a return to a time when the Centauri Republic was the preeminent force in the galaxy, master of all it surveyed. Because you realize that times have changed, and that the Alliance now stands in the way. To overcome the Alliance requires new resolve, new weapons, new and even more fearsome allies, and a rededication and rebuilding that presages a new time of war. It's all in the histories, Senna. The so-called Age of Rationality of the Gaim that led to their Great Conquest March, a campaign that left four worlds burning in their wake before it ended. The rebuilding of Germany on Earth after their first World War, which set the stage for an even more calamitous second World War."
    She stared at him, wide-eyed.
    "You're wrong," she said, her voice hushed.
    "I spoke to you of allowing yourself to be empty, in order that you might become filled with knowledge. Beware those, Senna, who sense their own emptiness ... and fill it with ignorance."
    "You're wrong," she said again, shaking her head far more vehemently. "And I will tell you why. Because let us look at the history, indeed. In the circumstances you've mentioned, the sort of conversation we are having would never be allowed to happen. Particularly, it would not be allowed to happen between a teacher and a ward of the emperor himself. Such regimes as you describe are the antithesis of thought. Free will is not only discouraged, it is forbidden. Dissidents, intellectuals, writers ... anyone who can ask the eternal `why' such as you do, is silenced. And that is not the case here."
    "Are you sure?"
    "Of course I'm sure!" And then, to her astonishment, Telis reached forward and grabbed her by the forearm. There was an intensity – even a bit of fear – that she had never seen in his eyes before.
    "You are still a member of the privileged elite, Senna. If it were happening, would you truly know until it was too late? I see others, persons such as myself, others who have questioned or probed ... and suddenly they have changed their opinions. Suddenly they have accepted that which is presented presented..."
    "Perhaps they have simply realized the rightness of–"
    "... or else they have disappeared," continued Telis.
    Senna became silent for a moment.
    "Disappeared? What do you mean?"
    "They move into outlying lands. Or simply drop off the face of the planet. Oh, it's all done very privately. Very efficiently. When they come for me..." he said thoughtfully, as if speculating about the fate of someone else entirely, "I imagine I shall be one of the ones who just drops off. For they know they cannot silence me any other way. I am publishing a paper at the end of this week that questions the true motives of those who are running the great machine that is our government. It will not earn me any friends and will garner me enemies even more formidable than I presently have."
    Senna could see that this was no longer one of his mind-twisting journeys of curious logic. She took his hand firmly and squeezed it, and said,
    "Nothing will happen to you. You are my teacher. You are favored by the emperor. You are protected, and your thoughts are valued. Say what you will. No ill will befall you."
    "Is that a promise to me?" He seemed genuinely amused by her fervency.
    "That is my conviction and belief in our system, in our society ... and in our emperor. I believe in all three."
    He couldn't help but smile. "Why?" he asked.
    She was annoyed, but still couldn't help but laugh at the insouciance with which he said it.
    "Because I do."
    "That is circular logic," he said reprovingly.
    "Perhaps. But the nice thing about circular logic is that you can't break through the circle."
    To her surprise, Telis Elaris then reached over and hugged her