Chapter 80: Successor

Thoughts

My duties have always included locating and preparing my own Successor. Although I don't face the inevitable death of a human Emperor or Empress, this is not a task to be deferred indefinitely. If anything, I might prepare several potential Successors along the way, until I have one ready at the time I need him, or her.

I'll be the first one to tell you that having the same ruler for too long is never good for any society. And although I have no plans to abdicate anytime soon, I can't deny the remote possibility of an accident, or Act of God, from preventing me being able to continue on in this role. In that eventuality, my most important task is to ensure a smooth and orderly transition.

If I'd thought picking a Successor would be easier than locating a new Lady Heather, since I have the entire system to choose among, I was wrong. This is not an easy job to fill.

No one I knew directly was suitable. Not that I don't know some of the very finest robots and humans, but these job requirements are exceptionally exacting. It requires a rare balance of abilities, creativity, understanding of people, and charisma.

My first decision, more of a realization really, was that the choice could not be narrowed down to either robot or human, male or female, or to other discernable groups. We've already had human male and robot female Emperors (the proper term when referring to the office itself, regardless of the gender of the office holder).

And no, Lucy was never in the running for consideration for this position. She's my lover and constant companion now, and only one man can ever replace my part in her existence. Both of us know, however, neither her temperament, nor her inclinations, lead her in this direction, and I would never force this issue on anyone.

For once, I didn't just put out my requirements to my robot peer network. I also utilized every human contact I have to find and send back suggestions of suitable candidates. In addition I've created an entire department to watch over achievement scores, papers written, and awards won. Davidson the First might have managed this with a small, mostly hands-off selection committee, and he certainly succeeded magnificently, but I don't know how he did it. This quickly became one of my largest single tasks.

Of course many suitable candidates were identified. I performed the final winnowing myself, using what I can only describe as an instinct that I never knew I possessed until now.

Even when I had a reasonably sized pool of candidates, none were notified of my interest. Instead their progress was followed discreetly for several years.

Most were disqualified during this time. Many, while eminently suitable, choose to follow paths incompatible with Rulership. Not that they didn't achieve greatness in other fields, and society, as a whole, was better off for their accomplishments. Never once, however, did I suggest to even one of them that, if you wish to move in this direction instead of that, you might someday takeover my throne. Any such decision had to be entirely their own choice.

Some candidates formed families that they would've never left, even for this job. A few failed to live up to their potential at all over time. Some died.

Finally, though, a single candidate started appearing at the top of the lists every time. The more I focused on this young woman, the more I saw there were no deficiencies in her, save one. And that one lacking was precisely the one I could satisfy for her.

There is no course of study you can pursue to become the supreme ruler. No school offers a curriculum to their students for precisely this position. The job prospects are so poor that any self-respecting school system would be ashamed to even suggest this as a future career path. It's not like the old days where one could aspire to a high political office out of the hundreds of elected and appointed positions available. In this government there's only room for one at the top, which is why it operates so efficiently.

What this young human woman needed next was a place to go with her life. Now was the time to make her the offer of becoming my potential Successor, before she committed to some other worthwhile choice for her life. In this business, timing is everything.

And while I reiterate that I have no intention of leaving my office yet, I can't say what the future will bring. For now I can see only three ways of actually departing:

Utter system failure.

Truly finding someone who can do the job better than I can, and doing the logical thing by giving it to them.

Or my preferred choice, which I have yet to confide in anyone else except Lucy.

One thing I knew, this young woman would need some help if she was to accomplish this daunting goal. And I knew just who to recommend.

--
Events
--

When The Empress invites you over for tea, and sends her private transportation to pick you, you don't refuse. You don't refuse, even though you know she's a robot, and drinking tea for her is a complete sham.

Sharrol showed remarkable composure for a twenty-four-year-old human under such circumstances. She handled her teacup without a single quiver. Not every robot of similar experience could have managed as well.

Darlene took a moment to admire the modern young woman.

Sharrol was fit, and of medium height. She'd left her naturally light brown hair uncolored, and let it grow long despite the extra care that required. Her skin was a shade darker than her hair, and was the norm for humans after centuries of blending and ozone compensation.

Her concession to modern style was an asymmetric dress that bared one shoulder down to her nipple. In the current trend that celebrated one's mixed heritage, her entire bare shoulder and arm were decorated with zebra stripes. Darlene felt it looked better on her than the equally popular bovine, leopard, or Dalmatian spots. She needed that much skin bared to show it off properly.

Darlene noted that Sharrol had only used body paint, and not the permanent tatt's that some of the current generation committed to. A wise choice for someone who knew that, while tomorrow's style remained unknown, it would certainly be different than today's.

As Darlene regarded the young woman, she was being examined back in return. Sharrol was taking her opportunity to learn what she could of The Empress, while the unprecedented opportunity presented itself. Darlene admired that. She would have admired it even in an opponent, which Sharrol hardly was.

The silent assessment between them might have continued much longer. Instead Darlene acted to move things along.

"Any questions?" the fembot asked.

"Many," Sharrol admitted.

"What's the first one?"

"Did you really start out as a whore?"

Darlene was hardly insulted. Instead, she respected the young woman's honesty and directness. Many wanted to ask her that question — few ever did.

"Yes," she replied unashamedly. "The same as our last Empress. Which goes to show you that no one is ever constrained for life by their beginnings, regardless of what they are."

The young woman was nodding at that, so the fembot continued. "You've accomplished a great deal already. And shown great promise to continue on with more of the same."

"You've noticed?" the young woman replied, her astonishment leaking out despite her best efforts.

"I have," the fembot confirmed.

"Thank you," came the modest reply.

"I've also noticed," the fembot continued, "that you've yet to partner with any other citizen." She used the term citizen properly to refer to both humans and robots. "That can hardly be for lack of offers."

Sharrol had the grace to blush at the unexpected compliment.

"No," she admitted softly, her eyes looking down at her feet for a moment, before returning to meet the fembot's level gaze.

"Your eyes," the young woman commented, changing the subject for a moment to lighten the intensity.

"Yes?"

"So unusual. So striking."

"Yes?"

"I saw them on another robot on the way in."

"Are you sure she was a robot?"

"I picked up on her mannerisms, and then looked for her remote. I felt no attempt at deception, and am confident of my conclusion."

Sharrol looked closely at Darlene, who felt she wasn't giving anything away. But there must have been something. "Is she... ?" Sharrol queried.

"My current lover," the fembot confirmed.

"Ah," came the young woman's own confirmation that she had already made the link that most would never see until it was explained to them. "She's beautiful, as are you."

"Thank you," came the softer than normal reply.

"But this seems more than recent," the young woman ventured boldly, showing the depth of understanding and insight that the fembot knew she possessed. And along with it, the courage to discuss any topic. "There's a feeling of great age to it."

"There's a longer story there, to be sure," the fembot easily conceded. "One that we'll happily share with you someday. But for now, back to you."

The woman took the proffered hint. The Empress didn't have unlimited time to spend with her, and had certainly summoned her for a reason. While her own intuition had already offered up a possible explanation, her rational mind rejected it outright. It would need much more in the way of supporting facts to even begin to be considered seriously.

All those facts would not be received on this particular day. But in later times Sharrol would reveal that her intuition had never wavered.

"I haven't committed to a single partner," the young woman answered softly, "because I haven't settled on the course for my life. The choice of a partner, or group family, is so integral to one's own life and goals that I could end up limiting myself badly if I don't yet know what my own are yet yet. Or worse still, tearing apart the relationship through divergent objectives. It wouldn't be fair to any other person."

"That's true," the fembot agreed knowingly. "Especially regarding human males. But why the difficulty in choosing your course? Most adults your age have long since discovered their own path in life."

"Well," the young woman started out tentatively. She was, after all, in the presence of the supreme ruler of the entire Solar System, and knew the value of discretion far better than most her age. "Where I've found myself most drawn each time I consider the issue may not be open to me. As such, I find myself conflicted on whether to pursue what feels right for me, or make a more reasonable — and achievable — choice for my life."

That's what the fembot had been waiting to hear. She agreed with the former Empress's belief that humans have specific tasks to perform, and goals to achieve, in life. She also agreed with Anna that the same might also be true for robots, although this was not yet as firmly established. It was clear, however, that robots greatly assisted humans in many important regards, including reaching their goals.

The fembot also understood completely the subtext of the young woman's last comments. She had no need to draw her out further on this issue. She addressed that directly when she replied, "Any future career choice is open to you. You have The Empress's word on this."

For a moment those words seemed to have no effect. But as the young woman digested them a look of astonishment came over her face.

Although she recovered her equilibrium with a speed the fembot admired, the young woman completely understood what had just been offered to her. Her hand shook enough as she set her teacup down that, had it been any fuller, some would have spilled.

"More tea, dear?" the fembot inquired sweetly.

"Why yes, please," the young woman replied, her composure taking those extra pouring moment to recover as much as possible. "And thank you," she added, not referring to the offer of more tea.

"You're most certainly welcome," the fembot replied, also not referring to the tea, which had been imported at great expense from the rarest tea growing area in the system.

"I suspect I'm only at the beginning of a great amount of work I must now perform," the young woman commented idly, sipping her tea carefully.

"No doubt," came the calm reply. "Have you ever considered partnering with an m-bot?"

Although the young woman maintained her composure, and her steady grip on her teacup this time, her eyes widened greatly. She knew by now that The Empress never spoke lightly about anything.

Carefully setting her teacup back down this time before replying, the young woman answered, "I've long admired them from a distance, but never known one personally."

"That's good," the fembot commented, needlessly sipping her own tea to draw the moment out. "And what is your reaction to them?"

"Mostly awe," came the frank reply. "They seem capable of immense dedication to their tasks. But why would it be good that I haven't known one intimately yet?"

"Because this way you'll have no bad habits to unlearn."

"Bad habits?"

"Properly partnering with a fully functioning m-bot is not for the young or foolish. And it's easy to make mistakes that will forever damage the necessary balance in such a relationship. Know that the m-bot will not help you in that regard. It's not in his nature to do this for you."

When the fembot paused for a moment, the young woman showed her keen interest by immediately prompting her, "Go on."

"If you build the right relationship with an m-bot from the beginning, you'll never have a more loyal, willing, helpful, supportive, loving, and most of all, useful, partner than that. He'll dedicate every bit of himself to the relationship, and along the way replace the need for virtually every other accessory of modern life."

The fembot stopped now to allow the young woman to fully consider her words.

The woman asked only one immediate question. And it was the most important one.

"Is this requisite to advance along my chosen career path?"

"Never," the fembot assured her.

After some more thought the young woman queried, "Did you have a particular m-bot in mind?"

"Coincidentally, there's an m-bot of my acquaintance here at the moment on unrelated business. His name is Mach V, and you passed by him in my waiting room when you arrived today. "

"I remember," the young woman quickly replied, showing again how observant of the world around her she constantly was. "But is he an m-bot? I wasn't sure."

"If he was the only male in my waiting room, then he was most certainly Mach V. He tends to be very punctual in his appointments with me, and often doesn't flaunt his remote."

"Then I've been keeping him waiting an unconscionably long time with my idle chatter!" the woman exclaimed.

"Most certainly not!" the fembot replied with equal emotion. "Our conversation today had hardly been idle chatter. And like any good robot, Mach V is infinitely patient. At least, when his emotions aren't in turmoil."

"Unlike most males," the young woman mused.

"Unlike most males," the fembot agreed.

The young woman pondered.

"How would I meet him?" she finally inquired.

"Go up to him on your way out there when we're done here. Tell him you're intrigued by him. He'll know you're speaking the truth as much as any robot does. Tell him you'd like to know him better, and arrange a meeting with him afterwards. Such arrangements can easily be made with an unattached m-bot — or fembot, for that matter — in less than three minutes. Tell him to bring his remote with him."

"Is it really that simple?"

"If only," the fembot replied with a sigh.

"So what do I really need to do?" Sharrol asked, her full attention on Darlene now.

"For starters, allow yourself as much time as possible for your first encounter. If it's a dinner date, make it as early as you can possibly eat, and don't make any plans for the next day. You don't want this to end prematurely because you've put any artificial constraints on your time. That tactic is reserved for those who don't want to succeed at relationships."