Godfrey then glanced at Dante and seemed to hesitate over something. Dante, however, said to Evan, "Go ahead, tell him. He needs to know."
"Tell me what?"
Evan thought for a moment before saying, "Jon, my connection in the labor unions tells me that things are getting out of control. I don’t' know how to say this, but they sense a moment of weakness with a, well…"
"With me as leader."
"I wouldn't put it quite like that. But they do sense an opportunity to get concessions, both from their private employers and from government rules and regulations. I've heard rumors of at least another dozen strikes coming. The workers are trying for raises in the minimum wage, improved benefits packages, stronger safety regulation, tighter work hours, and so forth."
Dante added, "My people are saying that the black market is growing, what with inflation so bad and all. There have been supply shortages in some areas, partly because of these strikes but also because people are hoarding stuff. I don't know, but it seems like some people out there feel like the government is going to collapse or something."
"So? What do you want me to do?"
Dante answered, "Hey, man it's just info. We need to be prepared for these things. I mean, it's getting pretty bad."
Evan suggested, "We may need to take some, well, radical steps to bring stability back to the economy and, I think, society at large."
Jon's pride got the better of him for a moment, despite how little he wanted his new job. At over six feet tall, Jon towered above the other two as he got up from the chair and stood.
"I'm not doing enough, is that it? I'm screwing it up again?"
Dante calmed, "Jon, no, that's not it. But listen to him, man. Everything is hanging by a thread and it’s all on your shoulders."
Jon took a deep breath and nodded, giving Evan permission to speak his piece.
"Remember in the old world if you had a one-hundred dollar bill in your pocket you felt good? Why was that? Like our Continental Dollars, the old dollars were just printed on paper with ink. But right now, even the largest Contys aren’t held in much respect, are they?"
Jon closed his eyes knowing he could not avoid the coming lecture. Still, a small part of him welcomed Evan’s words. Maybe it was the way the man spoke. His voice sounded smooth and reassuring. Despite the economic chaos stretching from the Atlantic Coast to the newly assimilated territories in California, Evan’s voice suggested a simple answer to that chaos, if only someone would listen.
"It wasn’t the paper and ink of that one-hundred dollar bill that was worth anything, it was the confidence you had in what backed those dollars." "Oh? And what was that?" "The institutions of the United States of America and the confidence people had in those institutions." "Evan," the newly-elected Emperor said, "I know you have a point to make." "The people of this ‘Empire’ do not have those types of institutions."
"I thought that was what the Senate has been doing. You rebuilt D.C. You put together programs, government departments and offices, procedures and all that stuff."
"Yes, but everything was overshadowed by the Emperor. Whatever rule we passed, he could veto. Even after we managed to have the final word on budget allocations, even then the Emperor held so much power that he truly controlled everything in the government."
Dante chimed in, "Yeah man, let’s admit it. Trev didn’t really like all that stuff, that’s why he tried not to deal with it. But if something took his interest, then he could change things around whatever way he liked."
Jon snapped, "Trevor was a great man. He made this from the ground up. Without him, we would have been lost. Wow, I mean you, Evan, you would have been dead a long time ago."
Dante agreed, "Yeah, I would have been a part of The Order, so I know what you mean. He was my best friend, back in the day."
Evan said, "I know that, Jon. Just because I argued with Trevor did not mean I didn't appreciate his accomplishments. Yes, he built us from the ground up. But now where are we, Jon? Trevor was mortal, like any other man. We knew-all those years we knew — that sooner or later he would be gone. In recent years, as he took to the battlefield again, we should have prepared for his end. Three years ago we had a glimpse of what could happen on this day, yet we failed to take adequate precautions. No one prepared, other than a procedure for electing a new, all-powerful leader."
Jon grunted, but said nothing. Evan went on, "What you don’t understand is that I did not dislike Trevor. What I opposed was the idea of an Emperor. It does not matter if that Emperor be a good man or a bad one. What is happening out there, on the streets of our nation, only proves my point. I just wish it had not taken this tragedy for the truth to be revealed."
Brewer walked to the balcony doors. A soft rain fell from low, fluffy clouds. A solitary beam of sunlight appeared over the lake, then disappeared, then appeared again but it could not chase away the dreariness.
Dante said, "He makes sense, Jon. The whole thing has been depending on one guy; on Trevor being out in front. It was like one of those houses of cards. With him gone, it was going to fall apart. Now we have to pick up the pieces and not make the same mistakes."
Jon thought about the stacks of papers he had found atop Trevor's desk; papers on subjects ranging from agricultural output to industrial capacity to drawing political boundaries in new territories. To his eye those papers resembled a complex equation from a discipline of math he had never studied that he was expected to decipher, decode, and correctly complete.
"I didn’t want to be Emperor. I don’t even know how I won the vote."
"That doesn’t matter now. The point is that the council placed their faith in you to make the right decisions. You have the power Trevor had, and if you don’t do something fast you’re going to have to build it all up from the ground again because it’s falling apart right now."
Jon, still gazing out the doors, placed a finger on the glass and traced the slow streak of one tiny water drop. He spoke in a quiet, reflective voice.
"Wow, things have changed. Dante can tell you, in the old world I was pretty much an arrogant ass. I thought I knew everything. I thought I was, in charge," he spoke those two words in a voice that mocked the very idea of him being in charge. "Then, when it all went to Hell, I…I dropped the ball. Wow, sure did. When… when the chips were down I showed that I wasn’t in charge at all. That I had no business being in charge. Then Trevor came along. He gave me direction again, and I found that there were still a few things I was pretty good at. Things I had the confidence to do."
Evan encouraged, "You’re the best General in the military, Jon. Your accomplishments are extraordinary."
"Yeah, buddy, Trevor came to rely on you. He trusted you."
"That’s right," Jon agreed. "He trusted me to play my part. Then when he disappeared three years ago, I found myself in charge again. I found out that things hadn’t changed much. That I don’t have what it takes to be…to be at the top. Like I said, I didn’t want this."
The rain drop slipped out of reach. Jon turned to face the two men.
"So the question is, what do I do now? The economy is falling apart because I’m the Emperor. The people and businesses are afraid of what is going to happen with me in charge."
"Jon," Evan consoled. "It’s falling apart because Trevor is gone yet there is still to be an Emperor. It wouldn’t matter if Dante, or Shepherd, or myself were in your shoes. As long as one man or, I guess, one position can overrule all the institutions then those institutions and rules and procedures don’t mean a thing. That causes instability. People don’t have anything to rely on, not the bus schedule, electricity, or even the enforcement of the laws that are on the books."