Free Old Green World by Walter Basho Page B

charge. They talk to me a lot.”
    Richard smoothed out his robe. “That’s to be expected. And how are you? Are you well?”
    Albert said the first thing that came to his mind, surprising himself. “I saw Thomas—Thomas Newton—at the Abyss. Where is he now?”
    Richard smiled, squeezed Albert’s hand, and looked him in the eye. Even though Richard was standing, their eyes were almost level. “Of course. Thomas trains right now at our support camp in the Old City. In London.” Albert blinked and gasped when Richard used the sacred name for the Old City. “He’s part of a program we’ve undertaken. We are teaching the next generation of Administrators about war and how it should be waged. This is the first war we’ll fight, but it won’t be the last, unfortunately. War is an engine of civilization.”
    Richard poured a tiny draw of the steeping tea into his cup, checked it, then put the pot and cup back down.
    “The future lies in the growth of Thomas and other Administrators, Albert. We and the Adepts can only begin civilization. For it to last, you must learn to civilize yourselves.
    “You miss Thomas, don’t you? It’s fine to miss him. You two were very close.”
    Albert wanted to speak but kept silent.
    “Full disclosure, Albert: primogeniture is part of the experiment. Do you know what that is?”
    “I don’t.” Albert paused for a moment. A guess popped into his mind. “Something to do with Administrators and marriage?”
    “You’re right, Albert! Such a quick mind. Primogeniture existed before the apocalypse, for hundreds and hundreds of years. In these early stages, we need to manage the economy of Administration, to ensure a continuity of property and rule. Primogeniture helps us do that. It keeps things stable. It had faded away from our world before apocalypse, but when we first began rebuilding, we thought it might have some value as a model.”
    “I don’t see the point. Why this one man and one woman rule for Administrators? It makes things less resilient. Less adaptable.”
    Richard smiled, took the lid from the teapot, looked inside, then put it back. “Good. It’s a valid question. I would argue that it’s more about the children than the marriage, and that, at this early stage, stability supersedes resilience and adaptability. But I’m certainly open to a healthy discussion.” He tented his fingers before his face, tapped them against each other.
    “More disclosure, Albert, to reward your thinking. We first introduced primogeniture with a range of experiments: a range of genders, numbers. We were wary of bringing an antiquated model back to the world. The Administrator class took strongly to marriage as we have it now, though. They liked the strictness of it.
    “These aren’t hard rules. We’re trying things, and we may change. Frankly, it’s trivial that you and Thomas are both male. If your union would move progress forward, we’d find other individuals to help you all produce children. It’s not difficult.” Richard then paused, smoothed out his robe again, and returned to the tea. Albert felt something on the edges of him. He got excited. He said more than he planned to , Albert thought.
    “Our union wouldn’t do that, though.” Albert said. He felt cold. “Because I’m not an Administrator. The problem isn’t that we’re both boys. The problem is that I’m common.”
    Richard gave a furtive stare at him, said, “No, of course not, dear. You . . .” then stopped himself, locked his gaze to the teapot, and said: “Yes. Perhaps that will change someday. But, yes.”
    Richard poured into tiny cups. He placed one before Albert with his small, delicate hands. He closed Albert’s right hand around the teacup and gently touched a spot on it, the tender point where thumb and forefinger meet.
    Then he spoke. “There are the systems that organize us, and then there are our lives themselves. We have to respect the systems. Without them, there is no meaning. In my