An apology for the unregulated life of Captain Qarran S. Smith

If modern historians are somewhat hindered by the decline in durable-material recordkeeping, they are greatly aided by the development of the organs of veracity (Janema's parasynaptic reflex compound) and chronicity (Mistilney's Area) which permit any properly educated person to perceive directly the truth about past events associated with a given object or oral transmission.

Indeed, it is only for those persons who have not yet acquired these mental capacities that such volumes as this one are prepared. It is with great pleasure that the editors offer this compendium of reliable source material to a public that has hitherto been exposed only to sensationalist and quite distorted versions of Captain Smith's life.

We have quoted lavishly from the excellent [PROSCRIBED] biography by Reitak and Biliam Murdoch, niece and nephew of Rosalyn Murdoch. Some sections are dramatic reconstitutions of dry but detailed laboratory notes. Others are based on interviews with Captain Smith and members of her crew. Still others are gleaned from the vast chaff of government transcriptions. No major source has been overlooked, but a word of explanation about the peculiar format of our presentation seems proper.

Given the deficiencies in attention depth and paradox tolerance that your culture has demonstrated, no unified treatment of the subject was deemed adequate to overcome the resultant blockage of information flow. Neither purely imaginative narrative, nor straightforward historical reportage seemed likely to generate the effect we desired: to lightly suspend the readers' instinctual disbelief while rapidly inculcating them with sound principles and facts. Therefore, we combined these approaches into a multi-voiced, nonsequential arrangement. We think the fragmentary, kaleidoscopic style is not unpleasing, and hope you will agree. Our Publication Committee consider that our solution draws a uniquely accurate portrait of a remarkable individual. The absence of chronology is also purposeful; it is in accordance with our wish to suppress details of techniques that are seldom revealed to cultures in lower developmental stages. The lack of an appropriate timeframe will prevent misguided talents from being able to read between the lines.

In occasioning this book, we are particularly glad to correct false impressions of the Captain's experimental results, which some have taken to imply that men are fundamentally worthless and inferior to women. Smith's experiments on frustration coping and communication impedance were designed to help her understand the growth patterns of psychosis in basal-sensory humans. She hoped eventually to restore the personalities of the Three to a functional level of self-reference. The tedious task of inducing the psychoses was Dorli Brge's responsibility.

Theorists who cite the Brig experiments as evidence for men's intrinsic cruelty and innate greed for domination fail to take into account that the laboratory conditions were far from being natural, or even ethical. Dorli Brge made no secret of her sociopathy--indeed, she used it to hone her skills in policing the Brig. She was the baddest of Bad Cops who gloried in dominating, cowing and manipulating inferiors, especially males. She lost no opportunity to undermine their self-confidence or distort their perceptions, always taking great care to emphasize their helplessness and encourage hopelessness.

Insofar as these practices kept the Brig well under control, they were useful and relieved the Captain of an unrewarding and distasteful duty. However, in a free setting, such a vast range of unpleasant stimuli would be most unlikely to manifest over so brief a timespan. Furthermore, any one of the pressures being brought to bear upon the prisoners might have betripolized 'ktheru into either the first or fourth realm of altruism if sedatives had not been employed. Brge was fiendishly effective in maintaining the elemental purity of aggressive and egocentric impulsives. Any men who showed symptoms of compassion, insight, or self-sacrifice were promptly removed from the hold so as not to contaminate the arena with humane auras. Males who showed signs of developing superficial metamatrix functions were either killed outright, or placed strategically on manufacturing planets--walking time bombs of PTSD that soon exploded, taking men and war machines with them to their graves. Thus, intrasensories were never allowed to develop, and extrasensories were excluded from influencing the results.

The specimens retained in the hold were subjected to a constantly changing, truly inventive environment with carefully mixed misleading cues, unpredictable deprivations and indulgences, forced ingestion of psychotropic substances and other ego-annihilating devices. Damaged subjects were not treated, but returned to their quarters with intact psychoses. These were usually killed soon afterward by their nearest fellows in the one act of mercy Brge never punished. Only willfully reinforced, persistently selfish men could have maintained a defense against such pressures. These were hardly an appropriate sample of creatures upon which to formulate a theory of man's nature.

As Someone once remarked, "personal size and mental sorrow have certainly no necessary proportions." Only the most ignorant persons have ever supposed that the muscular bulk of the captain precluded her from experiencing feelings of tenderness or of deep affliction. Among her acquaintances and intimates, she was regarded as a most sensitive woman, despite her having personally killed at least a score of individuals, not to mention torturing, maiming, and emotionally crippling hundreds more. Smith held the view that judicious murder is a form of social surgery--a radical and last resort treatment for social ills. She maintained that torture was a more effective instrument for short-range reconditioning, and much preferred indirect cognitive structural alignment techniques where time was no object.

The crude tenor of her routine duties as a pirate captain afforded few opportunities for the exercise of such subtleties as her lesser-known peers were able to employ in their own political operations; but she solaced herself for being in the backwater of sapiental progress by occasionally conducting experiments in exotic adult-developmental phase-bifurcations. (Smith took pains to compensate the families of these experimental subjects with monies derived from governmental sources.) The empirical knowledge she thus gained was used on at least one occasion to leverage an important deal.

Some background information about the 'construct society' Smith created may be useful. Five levels of citizenship and two types of noncitizenship comprised the basic social structure. First class citizens were all women; no males were officially accorded this status, although in practice, some of Smith's male consorts had privileges beyond their class. Males who had undergone rigorous 'feminization training' (as the Federal Government termed what Smith called class induction detriment--the boys themselves called it 'ego-busting') were allowed to achieve second class citizenship. Third class citizens were essentially prostitutes (all male) in the junior and senior officers harems. They were recruited from captives and other arrivals and trained in the arts of giving sexual pleasure to both women and boys. (Males of all ages were generally referred to as 'boys'; depending upon the context to be called a 'man' was either a compliment or an insult.) Skilled workers and artisans were fourth class; domestic servants and menial laborers were the fifth class. Prisoners and personal slaves were the two noncitizen classes. Each had specific rights and duties under Smith's famous Pirates' Constitution. Abuses were rare, partly because the power of Rosewater Revolutionaries was founded upon speaking the exact truth as nearly as possible, and partly because Brge's internal espionage policy was a cross-class, mandatory rotating draft, a scheme that ensured almost universal participation over time and very little room for maneuvering.

Smith's military/economic complex had three main divisions: Right, Left, and Central Units. The Rightan Unit was subdivided into five teams: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta and Omega. Alpha, pilots; Beta, Navigation; Gamma, weaponry; Delta, information; Omega, special forces. Deltas had Strategic command, Alphas had Tactical command, Omegas had Crisis command. Beta and Gamma had no command responsibilities.

The Leftan unit was three times as large as the Rightan, and was responsible for Materials, Maintenance, and Logistics.

Central (designated by a circle and often called by that name) was responsible for education, food, interior environment, health, entertainment. Circle unit was about two-thirds the size of Leftan. Brge's police forces were formally under the aegis of the Health Education Department.

   

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FORTUNE$ OF WAR

   

Installment Number 1:
Something old, something new, something stolen and something blue

Captain Qarran S. Smith, of New Tahiti colony, strolled around the bridge of the flagship Antares, receiving reports on the status of her fleet.   As she moved from station to station, the spotlight of her attention fell upon each team in turn -- Logistics, Navigation, Strategic, and so on.   Smith was planning an action -- a minor action -- that would merely relieve some freighters of their Union escort.   Her aim was to create yet another opportunity to achieve a truly free, open market -- a noble objective, and one which had often redounded to her credit.

Preparation for engagement affects people in a variety of ways.   Smith was noted for her coolness in action.   The expressionless serenity of her face said nothing, but the bridge crews sensed that the captain was in a no-nonsense mood, and they subdued their own high spirits under a strict professional manner.   Serious faces and an occasional sharp instruction to 'cut the chatter' conveyed the captain's unspoken orders -- settle down and get ready -- to their contacts on the other ships.   Smith's bridge was so tightly run that she seldom issued a voice command of any kind, and disciplinary words were especially rare.   A hand gesture,the set of her shoulders, the angle of her head -- these said all that was necessary to a hand-picked set of first officers.   Captain Smith's successes in her peculiar line of duty commanded respect from all parties; her personal qualities inspired something more -- a loyalty bordering on reverence in her crews and a fear indistinguishable from superstition in her opponents.   Her quartermaster, Estrella Gomez, had once remarked (rather astutely, some thought) on the similarity of these two feelings.   Smith had replied,

"They are the same emotion experienced from opposing sides of the property line."
Captain Smith did not really like her job.   A contemplative and an intellectual by nature, she would have preferred to lead a quiet life of study researching into the wonders of the human mind.   Her chosen profession was teaching, and she had once been welcomed into prestigious academic circles.   At age 23 she was seated on the Prima Veritas Council of Xantil, the youngest appointee in five centuries; at 27 she had been offered the Charles Dodgson Lectureship in Chaotic Models of Social Change, but she declined.   Instead, she joined the Peripatetics, a merry group of brilliant young people who travelled about in the galaxy pursuing new knowledge and discussing old questions with equal fervor.   At the time, she had gone for social reasons, seeking the companionship of her intellectual peers; however, the navigational skills she picked up almost casually during those three years proved invaluable under the harsh circumstances that derailed her promising academic career.   Like a true philosopher, she did her work, and found consolation in doing it well; still, to this day, she would rather be a professor than a pirate.

Even under the crushing load of responsibility for the lives and welfare of several hundred planetless people, she would find time to think and to write.   Indeed, three of her papers had recently been published, two on Confederate worlds, and one in the capital of the Union itself.   Psychosocial Historian Quarterly (of Deneb 3) and Cognitive Systems Review (of Telconti 5) were well-established, highly regarded modern publications, but the Journal of the Alstarian Academy of Heuristic Sciences was older than the simultaneity principle.   It was staffed by a notoriously exacting clan of scholars, mostly old women and old men of the type who class government upheavals with seasonal changes in the weather: in winter one stockpiles fuel; under tyranny, one stockpiles politically flammable personal information about prominent individuals.   One's aristocratic classmates from the University often proved most helpful.   Not even the censorship section in the Union's War Powers Act had been able to muzzle the JAAHS, Captain Smith reflected with some satisfaction.

The soft lighting of the bridge was complemented by a low, even hum -- business as usual.   Smith monitored the flow of sound and pattern of light automatically without troubling to bring either into full consciousness.   At any unaccustomed break in the underlying rhythm, she would direct her attention toward the trouble spot, as a conductor might locate an erring instrument.   At present, all was well.

There were 37 ships currently under her command, probably the largest unit of its kind in the galaxy.   22 fighters of a surprising variety of makes, models, and points of origin comprised the bulk of the fleet; but the 15 support vessels were quite as important to this unusual mode of life.   Smith called the fighting vessels her right arm and the rest her left arm.   The 4 tugs had demonstrated their worth time and again; the 3 great spherical transporters provided freedom of movement, exercise, and recreation for people who spent much of their working lives in exceedingly cramped quarters.   The 4 cargo carriers and the converter ship were as heavily guarded and defended as any planet's granaries and lands might be.   The battleship was in excellent repair, and there was also a huge, fearsome cutter that doubled as a fortress when the fleet was under siege.

Only the cutter had been stolen; all the rest had freely joined the fleet -- except the battleship, of course.   That had been won in a card game, but Smith had found it appropriate to use strong persuasion to secure the vessel when its captain attempted to renege on his word of honor.   Captain Smith could not abide a man who didn't keep his word.   Toward women she was more lenient in this one respect.   How often women had conflicting responsibilities, and were, like herself, confronted with double-binding, man-made barriers to success!   She seldom killed a woman for lying the way she did men.   She herself always kept her word; ergo, she rarely gave it.

Hilsu-lin left her station momentarily to approach the captain.   Three long strides across the pale green carpet would have put her nose-to-spine with Smith; however, she was careful to stop at a certain distance, within the seeking-attention zone, but well outside the personal space bubble.   There she stood silently, watching from behind as the captain continued her survey of the room.   After a moment or two, without turning around, the captain acknowledged,

"Hilsu-lin."

"Captain: From grey wire--the frigate escorting our target was seen two days ago exiting Franklin's March Bay. White wire says for exterior painting."

The captain slued halfway around to make eye contact, and flatly stated,

"They went to an ice planet to get a paint job."

"Aye, ma'am--that's the report."

"What's on black?" In reply Hilsu-lin shrugged and waffled one hand in the air to indicate that black wires showed zero interest in the circumstance.

"I'll try green." The captain nodded assent to this proposal, and added,

"Find out what color."

"Ma'am?"

"Find out what color they painted the ship."

"Oh! Blue. Union blue."   Again the captain nodded, this time in dismissal.   For a while, she continued to mull over the new piece of information, integrating it into her schema of action.   On the Antares, it was routine to have the crackers trace the flight logs of every vessel targeted for an action.   Smith's crackers were second to none, most of them being second- or third-generation trained; and, between theft and purchase, her equipment was always at the cutting edge.   Hilsu-lin was one of the best crackers Smith had ever known: a dark-haired young woman with a calm, unsmiling countenance, intent upon her task -- Smith had a memory flash of seeing her when she was only twelve, decorously excited at having cracked a private channel, the scrambled and coded vocal signal laid open under her skilled computer knife.   Now, four years later she had picked up a Confederate military transmission, traced a previous reference to the matter in United Worlds standard broadcast, and monitored the background and underground channels for relevant commentary.   If Hilsu-lin thought the circumstance was unusual, it was probably unusual.   Nevertheless, she could make nothing of it at this time, so Smith merely stored the datum about the frigate's new blue coat with other physical details of the vessel, such as its volume, diameter, class of armature, and normal range of speeds.   Then she signalled 'Helm to you'; Annie One-scar and Red Jinmy nodded acceptance as she left the bridge.

The handsome, big-boned figure of the captain was well-known to all the crew.   As Smith walked through the hallways, people made way for her, so that her long-legged, unhurried stride was never hindered or broken.   When she entered the Chamber of Speaking, all the dinner guests stood to receive her.   She made her way to the power point of the table, and waited while the guests and officers took their places, alternating male and female.   The table itself was an unusual shape, a semi-crescent resembling the horns of a bull, with high-backed curved benches instead of chairs, all made of massive oak and brought to a glassy finish.   Smith's throne-like chair was not attached to the benches on either side, but stood alone, the focal point of the room.   Oak leaves carved in high relief on the back of the chair framed her broad face and cropped blonde hair.

Tonight, many of the women were officers; most wore a variation of the captain's garments, which gave the effect of casual uniforms, though Smith required none.   She had chosen her long tunic and loose culottes to suit her own desire for comfort and freedom of movement, and cared not what her crew wore, so long as it did not interfere with duties.   Most of the men were from her own or her officers' harems; they were more decoratively dressed.

When all were seated, the novices poured the wine, and conversations started.   Among the first topics was N2143.Alpha.hp.MuR7!   The conic sector so labelled on quadrant maps represented a vast asteroid arclet, the remnants of an extensive super-planetary system destroyed eons ago by an unimaginable cataclysm.   It moved in an irregular, cloud-like formation around a giant red sun;   he orbits of the asteroids were exceptionally unpredictable, moving neither in a plane nor a sphere, but at every possible angle: colliding, shifting, capturing and relinquishing small satellites, altering one another's orbits by complex gravities -- rather like a group of human beings, to say the truth.   Many pirates and hijackers frequented the area, since the high level of random magnetism concealed their presence from conventional viewscreens.   A pleasant tenor voice, accompanied by soprano laughter, was heard singing a verse from a recently popular song:

"They commit their atrocities
By matching velocities
To asteroids' travelling rates;
Thus masking their movements
From many a merchant
Until it is much, much, too late!"

It was, indeed, a disorderly, disgraceful source of danger to any respectable spacefarer, and certainly ought to have been straightened up by the government.   The government, however, considered itself too busy to deal with such domestic matters (apart from the protests of naturalists who wanted the area left as it was for purposes of study).   The area was known to exist (it had been informally dubbed Sherwood Forest) and merchants had been officially advised to bypass the region on route to any Alstairian ports.   If merchants wished to take shortcuts, they might hire military escorts from the government whenever they chose.   In Georgetown, the capital, this decree had spawned a rash of Swiftian holoposters that appeared smack in the middle of Racklyne Square.   These posited that a lasse-faire subsidy of piracy was a perfectly legal, (though indirect) commercial tax levied in support of the war effort.

Naturally, a legal challenge to the government's position had been mounted in the courts, and many on the Antares knew that Captain Smith had sent an 'anonymous' donation in support of the challengers.   Gomez was chafing the captain about this while soup was being served.

" Sooth, Qarran, do we rob from the rich to succor the lawyers?"

Smith joined in the general laugh, but she spoke softly in reply,

" I loathe war and warriors all. There is no worse way to manage human differences."

Conversation faltered for a moment; the confident, bold-hearted women and free-spirited men were slightly awed to understand that Smith held in contempt the force that had so shaped the lives of them all.   Timidly, her favorite consort, Kimo, ventured a question,

"But are you not a warrior yourself?" Gomez shot a frown at him for this impertinence, but Smith smiled and reached over to ruffle his hair.

"No, I am not a warrior.   I am an Adept of the Forbidden--much more dangerous than a warrior, and much more peaceful than a judge."   She grinned, and added,

"And much more efficient than a lawyer."

More laughter, and the meal continued, nourishment taken in an atmosphere of pleasure and peace--among pirates.

The scheduled encounter was still many hours away, so dinner was long and merry. Coffee was to be followed by dancing.   Usually this led smoothly into a gradual pairing off for pleasures a deux, or a trois ....  Smith approved of sex before an engagement.   It tended to 'settle the mettle' of the men pilots, making them less reckless and more courageous.   On women pilots, it had the complementary effect--it 'nettled the mettle' making them more light-hearted, frisky, and aggressively alert.   Unlike war and athletic endeavors, the profession of thievery is best practiced by those who are satisfied with what they have; and the best fighter pilots tend to be those who have something genuine, something tangible to fight for.   Accordingly, Smith assigned pairs of lovers to the same flight crews; a similar methodology lay behind the practice of requiring all men pilots to undergo a special discipline before they were even allowed on board a fighter: the discipline of love.

   

   

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