14. Council of State

Wednesday, September 24. 9:00 hours.

The State Council was the supreme body of power in the country, the closest thing to a government, and the attendees were the equivalent of ministers from other countries. Its members were the gentlemen and ladies of the ten estates of the country, six of them located in Alfar and four in Betia, so six were men and four women; this unbalanced distribution had been the case for centuries, so with modern criteria, it might attract attention that only four of the ten councilors were women, but just a few decades ago, what surprised people was that there were powerful women expressing themselves and making decisions, even if there were only four out of ten. Typically, the council met in Bisinia, the capital of the country, which administratively was within the Kamar estate. Today, an informational meeting was to be held, and due to scheduling issues, only the men were present, although the female councilors would be informed after the meeting concluded through a special email.

Kamar Abumón stood up to speak. In the circular room, the other five men awaited with interest, seated around the table, and they couldn't entirely conceal their impatience. They had been called urgently and all were aware they might hear important news.

—I have met with the heir of the late Benassur. And I must confess I am quite perplexed; he is either an excellent liar or everything he appears to be is true.

A murmur of disapproval and confusion grew among those present, but it quieted down to continue listening to what Kamar had to say.

—As you know, brothers, the slave he presented at customs was a Russian spy. In contrast, he had no interesting background: a dark, lower-middle-class Spanish professor who frequently travels abroad but always in family and tourist circuits. Apparently, the meeting with the Russian and thus their relationship was coincidental. And his homosexuality is well substantiated.

—How did he meet the spy? —asked one of the five.

—We don’t know for sure. The Russian was about to fall into our hands; a patrol of Somali mercenaries was on the verge of capturing him to hand him over to us, but he vanished almost under their noses; we believe Jorge Rojo, (now Jorge Tharakos, I'll explain that later), picked him up by chance while traveling to Sunrut.

—Too much coincidence, don’t you think, Kamar? —said another attendee with suspicion.

—Yes, it seemed that way to me too, of course. But what didn’t make sense was that he brought him, so to speak, to the wolf's den, as he served him up on a platter by bringing him through the border post.

—That's true, that doesn’t make sense —acknowledged the one who had objected—. Unless he thought we wouldn't detect it.

—Moreover, not only has he not opposed the Russian being subdued with soma, but he now uses it cruelly; in fact, he has caused him several permanent marks.

—Wow, how extraordinary! But everything could be part of a desperate attempt to get us to swallow a lie —interjected a new participant who had not spoken until then.

—It could be, it could be —Kamar conceded—. Nevertheless, my intuition tells me that this is not the case. Although I have all the alerts on, I still think he is not deceiving us.

—Has he ever been to Israel? —asked the one who had spoken first.

—No, not even as a tourist. He is interested in Sephardic culture, (which is that of the Jews who were expelled from Spain five hundred years ago), but little else. As far as we could find out, he hasn’t spoken with a Jew in his whole life.

—What is his behavior in Tauride? How is he carrying his new life? I don't need to explain what would happen if we happened to lose the ketirita production —added a new interlocutor.

—He seems like a child with a new toy. He is dazzled by his new wealth; you can tell by the shine in his eyes. I have him well covered, you can be calm, Kyrios.

—Who do you have to control him? —Kyrios asked Kamar.

—Yusuf ben Gamir.

—The secretary of Benassur? —Kyrios wanted to know.

—Exactly. No one is more aware of the estate than he is, and his loyalty is beyond doubt. He is glued to Jorge all the time; in fact, he is also his new secretary. We will see what steps he takes, and if he does anything suspicious we will know right away.

—I really don’t understand why Benassur didn’t adopt Yusuf; he was determined to do so, he told me so himself a few weeks before he died —confessed Kyrios—. Wouldn’t it have been better to appoint him lord of Gurión preventing a foreigner from claiming part of Ketiris?

—I thought about that possibility; I think we all were counting on it —Kamar conceded—; no one desires more than I do to keep what is ours in our hands, away from foreign desires, but Benassur was very conscientious with his will; shortly before dying, he replaced the old one, changed it for a new one, and ensured its legalization as much as possible. When his legacy was opened, we found not only that he did not adopt Yusuf as a son but that he completely excluded him, while he even remembered all the members of the Council and many of his employees; in contrast, the name of Yusuf ben Gamir is completely absent. He stipulated that a foreigner who presented himself with a real slave could inherit, although I believe he never suspected that one would eventually appear, so he would think it was the State that would take charge of his assets. This undoubtedly had advantages, but it was also an element of dissension, or are we going to deny that possessing his mines in Tauride was appealing to all of us?

The attendees fell silent and internally conceded Kamar's point; a division of Benassur's assets would have opened up no few wounds and dissensions, they knew it well.

—Maybe Benassur was senile —Kyrios added sadly while lowering his gaze and shaking his head.

—I absolutely don’t think so. And even if he were, we have no option but to fulfill his will.

Little by little, tensions began to ease; the assembled started to trust Kamar's words about Jorge’s lack of deceit and decided to grant him at least a margin of time and trust.

—Of course, agreed then. But I think we shouldn’t be so naïve as to give him a seat on the State Council, not at least until we find the spies.

The one who spoke was the only one who had not yet spoken during the meeting; he was the oldest of the attendees, a short, very thin man with completely gray hair and beard and black eyes that seemed to emit sparks when he spoke. He wore a very simple red tunic and slippers of the same color; also a funny cylindrical hat of golden color. Everyone listened to him with respect.

—You know that his title as lord of an estate gives him a seat on the Council, Mario. But he is not going to claim it; he doesn’t even know we exist; and if one day he sits here, it will be because there is no danger in it, don’t worry —Kamar reassured him.

—And did you say he is now called “Tharakos”? Does he know our language?

—No, Mario; I suggested he change his surname because the one he has is Spanish and would be horrible as an estate name; and I helped him with the translation so he could choose a new name and symbol; his livery is orange and turquoise, and his symbol is a dragon, of course.

—It seems that at least this Jorge has taste —acknowledged Mario—. So now the estate Gurión is the estate Tharakos… naturally, naturally. It had been a long time since we had a name change in an estate; I, being the oldest now that Benassur is gone, did not get to know it.

—I thought the same and consulted the annals —Kamar explained—. In 1812, Sarda Tugs, lady of the estate, died without daughters or will, and the Council chose Eliya Carta as the new owner; from then on, the estate Tugs was called the estate Carta, as we know it now.

There was a pause. Kamar took the floor again.

—Have we had any developments regarding the spies, Mario?

—No, it’s been almost a month since the last incident in the interference. As you know, it was something almost disastrous: the entire barrier was deactivated, and we suffered a sweep with spy drones; it took us two hours to resume service, and then the drones that were spying on us fell to the ground and were countered by the services of Lakua, blessed woman.

—I can’t help but think that they have help from within; it is impossible for them to strike us like this without support from some traitor —Kamar complained.

—you know we've discussed that a thousand times. Benassur always opposed that idea; no: our control is ironclad, absolute, without cracks. Naturally, they are using "brute force" algorithms… and sometimes they have been lucky. But we always go not one, but many steps ahead of them.

—Yes, we are not an easy enemy, but more and more threats are arising. As you know, the new artificial intelligence techniques are progressively more fearsome and sophisticated; we ourselves use them effectively —said one of those who had spoken before.

—But it's not easy to use them against us, Peyo —Kamar interjected—; to be effective, they require huge amounts of data, and that is precisely our main protection: they lack it.

—For now —Peyo conceded.

—In summary —Kamar wanted to emphasize as he aimed to conclude the meeting—; Jorge is being closely monitored by Yusuf, and any false step would be fatal for him. The gaps in our security are closed, and our protections have been reinforced; there has been no irreparable loss, and we continue to keep our enemies blind.

Without further ceremony, the meeting concluded with a general sense that everything was going reasonably well; soon reality would ensure the undoing of this belief.