The Brave New World - 163 The Humble Servan

His eyes weren’t the only things that glowed in his face. In the center of his forehead, a softly shining blue spot indicated the presence of a timon implant.

Half an hour earlier, Samir had ceremoniously implanted the sergeant, and issued him with his very own hiber bed. He assured Varma he would watch over him, and took a chair while Varma lay down on the silvery mat in preparation for his first journey to the New World.

All of Kulaba was waiting for him there. He was given a pair of goatskin shorts and treated to a bowl of stew and offered a cup of weak wine that Kali had made from wild berries. Then he was shown around the village, and led to the house that had been built especially for him. It had a floor of ceramic tiles, and walls of mud brick.

Sergeant Varma was ecstatic. News of the brutal realities of the New World were already spreading like wildfire. Naked and without any tools save for their own hands and teeth, many new colonists died. Others were killed when their controllers lost all hope, and removed their implants.

Sergeant Varma had already heard a couple of horror stories prior to his arrival at Samir’s place. The reception he was given in Kulaba exceeded his wildest hopes. He immediately became a fanatic fan of the New World.

“I and my men are proud to serve you,” he said to Samir, with deep conviction. Samir was pleased to hear that, very pleased indeed to hear the sergeant use the word ‘serve’. He didn’t quite realize ‘serve’ was a mostly empty term in military language. Militaries were called armed services. Soldiers, people trained to kill other people, were called servicemen. Armies preparing for invasion were called defense forces. It could all be very misleading.

But Samir wasn’t fully aware of all that. He told sergeant Varma that he was immensely happy to have him in his colony. They agreed on a plan: Varma’s soldiers would enter the New World in teams of two. Samir would implant two soldiers every day. He would take the first pair to Pragati together with Sunil and his family.

It was the only way to proceed for practical reasons. Kulaba could absorb a couple of settlers every ten days without too much trouble. And back on Earth, a strong team could keep working without distraction, keep working around the clock on the infrastructure needed to accommodate Samir’s new army.

Immediately upon arrival, even before he’d received his implant, Sergeant Varma had dispatched four soldiers to secure whatever tools and equipment they could find, equipment useful to the construction of the new latrine and barracks.

“They’re going to secure equipment?” Samir had asked Varma. “What does that mean?”

Varma frowned, and answered a little pompously:

Varma’s first trip into the New World lasted twenty minutes, which translated into over three New World hours. During that time, Samir sat on a chair watching over the sleeping sergeant, and brooding about what was going on. He suspected that by ‘securing equipment’, Varma had meant confiscating it, and he was quite right. He also suspected that he was powerless to do anything about it, and he wasn’t quite right.

But Samir had no difficulty persuading himself that he was powerless, because it was to his own advantage. More tools and equipment meant work could progress faster. He told himself that once the work was done, he’d ask Varma to return everything taken back to the original owners.

However, right now he had different priorities.

“I must leave you to your work now,” he told Varma. “I have to see one of my colonists about something. Are you sure about the latrine?”

“It has to be built close to the creek,” Varma said sternly.

“But the ground waters – ”

“We’ll build it downstream. We can’t put it next to the lane. And for obvious reasons we can’t put it next to the barracks.”

“Why can’t we put it next to the lane?”

“Because everyone passing by will use it. Even if they don’t need to. It’s just human nature. And I’m not going to post a guard. That would be inefficient and cruel.”

“I understand,” Samir said. He waited until Varma had left to supervise his soldiers, then treated himself to a snack. Rani had made some chapati bread and fresh chutney before she left for the market with Amrita. She had also unearthed a pack of tea she’d hidden away.

“You must get some more from that man Leduc when you go to the supermarket,” she’d told Samir.

“I know.”

“And sugar.”

“I know.”

“And cooking oil.”

“I know.”

“And flour.”

“I know. I know!”

Samir truly loved Rani, but he felt relieved when she left for the market with Amrita. Now, as he munched on the delicious fresh bread she’d made, he thought about his upcoming talk with Sunil. He knew that Sunil was expecting that he’d be living next door to Samir and Rani in Kulaba, that they would be neighbors the way they were in Mumbai. It was going to be a little tricky.

After he’d eaten, Samir treated himself to the luxury of a cigarette. The he washed and put on a relatively fresh shirt and went to talk to Sunil.

Sunil had been waiting for him. His sullen face communicated that he’d waited longer than he’d wanted to. Samir wasted no time in telling him the good news.

“Sunil,” he said before they’d even sat down, “Tomorrow is your big day. Tomorrow, you shall enter the New World.”

“Tomorrow morning?” Sunil asked suspiciously.

“Yes. Well, maybe in the early afternoon.”

“My family, too? Everyone?”

“Yes. That’s why it’s been taking a little longer. I’ve had to make special arrangements.”

“Let’s sit down,” said Sunil. “I’ve saved a bit of cocoa. Would you like some cocoa?”

“That’s not really necessary,” Samir said, but Sunil insisted and even came up with a can of condensed milk.

They sat and sipped and Samir praised the cocoa.

“Cadbury’s,” Sunil said proudly. “The best. So, about tomorrow. You want us to come over to your house? What time?”

“What time is it now?”

“Around ten. You want me to check?”

“No, no. There’s no need. I’ll come around noon. One o’clock in the afternoon at the latest. Make sure everyone is ready.”

“They will be.”

Samir took a sip of his cocoa and said, very gravely:

“Sunil.”

“Yes.”

“I have decided to confer a great honor upon you. I hope that you will accept it, and that you will prove you deserve it. I am appointing you the mayor of my second settlement in the New World.”

“You have a second settlement!?”

“Yes.”

“You didn’t say anything about this earlier. You’ve just started it?”

“No. It’s actually been founded some time ago. There are five people living in it already.”

“Oh.”

“You’ll be their leader,” Samir said. “You’ll be ruling that settlement in my name. I am going to send some soldiers with you, too.”

“The soldiers that showed up at your place today?”

“Not all of them. Just a couple. It should be enough. You’ll have a total of around a dozen people. That’s a good, manageable population for developing a village. Easy to feed, but still capable of bigger tasks.”

“And I’ll be their leader?”

“Yes. You’ll be in full control. Of course, you’ll be answering to me.”

“Of course,” said Sunil. He beamed at Samir, and added:

“I am greatly honored by this opportunity to be your humble servant. Can you tell me more about this place?”

“It’s called Pragati,” Samir said proudly, and went on to describe everything in glowing terms. There was plenty of food, the fish were so thick they could be caught with bare hands. A river supplied excellent drinking water. There was wild foods galore, roots and fruit and greens. There were even a couple of salt pans!

“You built all this?” Sunil asked. “Samir, you’re amazing!”

“It was a communal effort,” Samir said modestly. He drank his remaining cocoa, and added:

“Of course, it’s not finished yet. There are numerous structures that still have to be built. I am counting on you there.”

“What structures?”

“More housing, to begin with. I’ll show you around the area, you can be sure you won’t go short of building materials. There’s plenty of wood, and a good clay pit within easy walking distance. By the way, there’s also a large oven that can be used for cooking as well as baking pottery, even bricks.”

“What about tools?”

“You’ll be provided with all the tools you need to get started,” Samir said. “But I really expect you to make your own, after a while. You are good with your hands, aren’t you?”

“Yes,” admitted Sunil, after a short hesitation. He’d boasted about being a talented handyman too often for Samir to forget. He licked his lips, and asked:

“Does my post, does a leader receive appropriate privileges?”

“Of course. You will be running the show.”

Sunil cleared his throat, and said:

“I meant more in the way of participating in the profit generated by the settlement.”

Samir laughed.

“Sunil, are you expecting to start making money right away?”

“Not right away,” Sunil said hurriedly. “I am an intelligent man. I know there are other priorities when building a new settlement. But do I, do we get to keep what we produce? You told me we’ll be able to send food here.”

“You will.”

“And firewood? That firewood you gave me – it was excellent. It burned longer, and gave more heat.”

“Of course you can import firewood.”

“As much as we need?”

“As much as you need,” Samir said. He frowned. He could foresee discussions coming in the future about what was and wasn’t needed. He said:

“Can you get a piece of paper and a pencil or a pen? I want to draw you a rough map of my colony.”

He put a lot of stress on the word ‘my’. Sunil didn’t seem to notice.

“Of course,” he said, rising from his seat. “I’ll bring everything right away.”

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