Liberation Saga: Volume 1

Chapter 14

If there was one thing that could always be counted on from my father, it was that he was stubborn. Kind, wise, but stubborn above everything else. So much so that it was the first thing Mother warned anyone about when they wanted to get to know him. Being his only daughter, I was always given a bit of favoritism, despite the fact such favoritism was strictly forbidden. Father didn't care. He never followed PanTech's rules, or direction, and of all the people in this village they disliked him the most. His inventions threatened to advance the village out of its technology classification, to the point he was banned from continuing his work. I knew he would not be easy to convince about PanTech's involvement.

I didn't realize he'd be this difficult.

"Are you sure?" I asked. "He's refusing to come and meet with us?"

"Yes, Professor," Conway said.

"Like... completely refusing?"

Conway sighed. "I suppose we could force him to come, but that would defeat the purpose."

"I'll go speak to him," I said.

I really didn't have time for this, but I needed to hear him out.

I let Ghost and the others know I'd be away, and returned to the village.

***

Entering our home, I walked into a room filled with smoke and Father, somehow, reading a book upon a pile of books through the haze.

"Ah, Taylor. Welcome back."

"I love you. You know that, right?"

"I love you, too, but I see that you are quite angry with me. Here. Sit. Smoke a pipe with me," he said.

"Mother will have a conniption," I said, laughing as I lit the other pipe. I had been expected.

I took a puff. It had been a while since I'd tried one. I attempted, clumsily, to blow a ring, prompting a laugh from Father.

"Your mother will be alright. I'm afraid in my fixation on my work I've smoked her out of the house entirely, and quite literally."

"Please don't tell me you were too busy to answer my request. I know what you're studying is important, but it isn't more important than the issue at hand."

Father closed the book in front of him and sighed.

"I'm afraid I must disagree with you there, even though you are not wrong."

"Aren't you contradicting yourself, then?" I asked.

"If whatever we establish in this village is to last, it must be achieved without PanTech's intervention. Offer your vaccine, sure, but I will not agree to the current chieftain being removed by force."

"It's an expediting of the process. We both know that's exactly how things will end. The villagers have no loyalty to the chieftain. Everyone here hates him. They'll cheer when he's removed. I know you aren't doing this for the recognition, or the fame, or because you think you'll be the best for the job. I know you. You're one of the few people, probably in history, who actually wants to lead for the right reasons. But you could put a pig up against the chieftain, and it would win."

"That isn't the point," he said, puffing on his pipe, blowing several perfect rings. Show off.

"Enlighten me."

"It's the precedent that establishes. Even if we only have a couple of generations left, I am not a young man. Power is likely to pass several more times before all is said and done. Do you want to establish this new era by allowing the greatest show of force to dictate who should lead? And for PanTech to deliver that force, of all people?"