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Imperial

By Jonathon Sullivan

(Excerpt)

Dennis blinked through his dripping eyelashes at the irresistible abomination seated on the blue-green grass two meters in front of him. The Pig smiled her bio-engineered leopard-smile at him and kept her right hand prominently in contact with the stun-gun at her hip.

He stared, too choked with shock, desire and tepid river water to speak.

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Host Commentary

By Alasdair Stuart

One of my favourite things about fiction is what I call the literary trust fall. Stories that throw you into the middle and trust that you’re not going to panic before you get your feet under you. This isn’t the performative cruelty of walking your readers into the dark and then letting go of their hand, but rather trusting them to solve the puzzle of the story as they go. That’s what Doctor Sullivan does here, and does very well. So much so in fact that twenty years distance from this story has only brought it closer to us. There’s an element of the Culture novels here, the sense of two colossal cultural siege engines permanently revving up against one another that I really like.
Also the fact the Conservancy manages to be incredibly horny and incredibly grumpy at the same time which plays like a lovely parody of every Dirk Chestmeat protagonist ever.
The dystopian compassion of the ‘solution’ too feels very 21 st century as two violently opposed ideologies get to meet in the middle and dance for the civilisation they’re trying to absorb. It’s first contact by way of first conquest, the new races losing the second we find them, they just don’t know it. Dystopia isn’t on the menu, it is the menu. To quote Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead:

Is that what people want?
It’s what we do.

There’s jet black espresso humour too in the completely useless AI doing a good impression of a device with utility. I’m writing this on the day every major newspaper in the UK has the same front page, complaining about the government’s imminent and likely wholesale decision to allow vast copyright theft in the name of an innovation so hollow and worthless, the CEO of Microsoft admitted it does basically nothing. This is the same week an album of silent field recordings of empty studios was released by musicians in protest over the same decisions. This all unfolding as the video game voice actor strike enters its sixth month with a tenth of the coverage of last year’s writer and actor strikes.
We chose the Conservancy. Or more kindly, and terrifyingly, the Conservancy decided we chose it.
Looked at that way, this story is pretty grim. Until it isn’t. There are two massive victories here. The first is the subtle redirection of cultural force that ends the story, embodying both the principle of leverage in martial arts and the fact that we are never, ever without hope. There is always something you can do. Personally, in your community, in how you talk to others. In how you interact with the forced first contact talent contest you find yourself subjected to. The Conservancy chose itself. You don’t get to agree. You don’t have to comply in advance.

The second victory is subtler, more personal. My favourite scene here is the ending where the two emissaries take very real pleasure in the fact they got played. It’s a lovely moment and crucially it puts the lie to the idea of those siege engines being monolithic ideological behemoths. Reminding us of our humanity, even out there in the black.
A hell of a story. A hell of a good start. And what a great world to revisit. Thanks to all.

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Join us next week for The Interdimensional Rift at the Lucky Sunrise Bingo Palace by Ryan Cole with narration by Elie Hirschman, audio production by Summer and hosting by Tina. We’ll see you next week folks and before we go, some final words from Andor’s own Nemik:

Remember this, Freedom is a pure idea. It occurs spontaneously and without instruction. Random acts of insurrection are occurring constantly throughout the galaxy. There are whole armies, battalions that have no idea that they’ve already enlisted in the cause.
Remember that the frontier of the Rebellion is everywhere. And even the smallest act of insurrection pushes our lines forward.
And remember this: the Imperial need for control is so desperate because it is so unnatural. Tyranny requires constant effort. It breaks, it leaks. Authority is brittle. Oppression is the mask of fear.
Remember that. And know this, the day will come when all these skirmishes and battles, these moments of defiance will have flooded the banks of the Empires’s authority and then there will be one too many. One single thing will break the siege.
Remember this: Try.

We’ll see you next week folks. Until then, have fun.