Return to Al Raqis

July 30 - Splintered Rock, Al Raqis

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."

"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place."

- Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There

-----

According to the Red Queen hypothesis, first proposed by evolutionary biologist, Leigh Van Valen, in 1973, in order for any given species to survive it must adapt or change at the same rate of its environment and the other species with which it is co-evolving. Basically, a system has to keep forward momentum in order to maintain a stable position. In evolutionary terms: change along with everything else or face extinction.

I maintain that it is also an apt metaphor for my workload. My own little treadmill. Even with regular case closure, I have to keep up with the pace or risk ending up on the floor.

-----

It was well into the afternoon when I arrived on Al Raqis. The landing tube was empty as most people were indoors sensibly keeping out of the heat.

The first thing I did was fill up on water even though my destination was a short walk away. I then equipped myself with breather mask and sand goggles - my hydrosuit was already underneath my uniform - and set off across the market.

The House Zenobia compound, set as it was on the edge of the Al Raqis region in close proximity to the landing tube on Splintered Rock, had been nicknamed "Little Belgium" by some. Any force invading the Al Raqis settlement from the large Splintered Rock spaceport would have to march across the compound to reach the Al Raqi administrative centre, rather than risk the open desert. It put Zenobia on the front lines of any hypothetical invasion of the area.

Each of the Great Houses that are given residency here on Al Raqis have also been granted warehouse space for the promotion of trade.

Before heading indoors to my temporary quarters in the auxiliary, I stopped by the warehouse to review the situation with an eye towards security.

Tucked just inside the door were ten cases of wine. From the look of the label it belonged to the Magistrate. What it was doing here was a mystery.

In a feeble attempt at framing us, there had already been a charge of water theft levelled at our House from one of the minor houses, soon after we opened our embassy. No surprise, I suppose, that wine would follow water. I sent a message to the Consulari's office to inform her. She did well uncovering the source of the original water theft.

In my quarters, I changed out of my Alliance uniform into the clothes of a desert traveller. My robes still held the beguiling scent of desert spice from my days of harvesting the substance, so many months ago now.

-----

A few things had changed since my last trip to Al Raqis.

The central core of the settlement, in the area that Faith Industries had vacated, was now occupied by House Velas. While the warehouse itself was currently vacant, the manor house and surrounding auxiliary buildings breathed wealth and luxury. Close to shops and offices, and across from the smaller Al Raqi spaceport, it was a prime location for any Noble House with cosmopolitan inclinations.

A side street led to a companion Guild house and other smaller structures.

House Kira, with its connections to the Imperial Scouts, was located just past the courthouse. As one might expect from such a powerful House, the warehouse was bursting with product. It was also fitted with a security gate that could be lowered in case of a crisis. We would do well to adopt a similar system.

If our hypothetical invading force decided to press an attack through the landing pads in Al Raqis, in order to circumvent the obstacles of an assault from Splintered Rock, they would have Imperial Scouts with which to contend. In addition, they would have elements of Zenobian house guard waiting at its back.

Beyond the House Kira compound and up a set of narrow stone steps were offices of the United Systems Directorate, the Manor House of House Bondar, and a residence belonging to the Registered Companion Calina Tereshchenko.

Down this narrow passage, and across a very exposed bridge, lay the Keep of the Magistrate of Al Raqis.

I paused on the bridge itself and looked out to the vast desert. What distant settlements lay in this unreachable, impassable wasteland?

-----

I would think that the Red Queen effect, or a mechanism much like it, also applies on a group level, to cultures and other forms of human organization.

Take the example of an indigenous population such as the desert people of Al Raqis. Happily living their lives according to traditional ways until the arrival of the Great Houses and sundry offworld corporations.

With the appearance of a new cultural system bent on exerting itself, whether through imposition or ingratiation, comes the pressure to conform or be marginalized on one's own world. Change or die.

Naturally, they will choose to resist. Cultural assimilation means extinction too.

It is only with the passage of time do people forsake the old ways, abandoning the forms of their ancestors, as notions of normalcy shift like the sands of the desert itself.

And what form will this resistance take?

Armed conflict? Perhaps. If one can make the cost of staying high enough, an occupying force will eventually pack up its bags and go home. I tend to think it is ultimately counterproductive. Attrition cuts both ways after all.

Besides, the real danger comes through contact itself.

And once they start building colonies, it is just a matter of time. Children are born with no other home that this one. These children grow up. They end up defending their home. Who is the native population then?

On earlier visit to the Mu Draconis system, I had seen signs of the desert peoples themselves. Now they are rarely seen in the main settlements. They seem to have withdrawn into the deep, deep desert where no outworlder can travel.

I actually met Lady Reiko Soyinka once. Proud and intelligent. Fearless. She was the only person, I might add, from Al Raqis that admitted she knew of whom I spoke, when I asked about Ardra Aurotharius.

Most others would just look up at the sky and say they knew nothing.