A DAY IN THE LIFE

OF A GALACTIC EMPIRE

By Brian Aldiss

Ibrox Villiers Cley remained entirely within his chambers while the Second Galactic War was waged. He saw few people.

His leisure time, which was ample, was spent mainly in aesthetic contemplation of the moral and social degeneration of which he considered himself a part, if apart.

Cley was ill, subtle, devious, sardonic, and a servant.

His manner was cheerful, even metallic, to cover his deep-rooted depression.

Cley served the Emperor of the Eternal Galaxy under the Banner of a Thousand Stars. He served him well by telling him the truth and by refusing to scheme against him. His distaste for other people kept him aloof from plots and treacheries.

The Emperor ruled over a million suns and three and a half million planets. Most of the planets were inhabited, by robot task forces if not by human beings.

The Emperor was himself a prisoner. The Emperor had been born and would die in what was called the Galactic Paradise. Guards never left his presence.

Every man and woman was his slave. And he was theirs. The Conventional Rules of Duty bound him as they bound his subjects.

The Conventional Rules of Duty constituted, or rather replaced, all metaphysical systems within the Eternal Galaxy.

Ibrox Villiers Cley was almost as respected as the Emperor. His chambers were in the Galactic Paradise on the planet Voltai. His official title was Adviser of the Computers. He saw the Emperor in person every third day.

Those meetings were enclosed within a Fifth Force Field, so that no one ever knew what passed between the Emperor and his Adviser of the Computers. No note was taken, no record was made.

The edicts continued from the Throne Computer. The Galactic War continued, as it had for many generations.

The war was going well for the galactic empire. Twenty-four solar systems held by the enemy had recently been destroyed. Countless populations were starving.

Whole armies fought and died under the Conventional Rules of Duty. They died without questioning the cause. The number of their deaths was reported to Ibrox Villiers Cley.

* * * *

Cley’s chambers were built of one of the new metals created through the exigencies of war. Cley himself had a sheen as of metal about him. His temples were pallisades against the world of outside iniquity.

The perpetual light of Voltai came in through his long windows. Cley’s chambers had no internal lighting. It was the fashion. He preferred to live in chiaroscuro.

His rooms differed little, one from another. In the sombre main chamber where most of his days were spent, there was no decoration, no contrasting texture. In a case along one wall were stored the six hundred and seventy-seven volumes of the Eternal Galactic Encyclopaedia, each cube awaiting activation.

Cley rarely referred to the encyclopaedia.

His modest needs were served by an android called Marnya. Marnya had beauty of a severe kind. Her smiles were few and wintry. She had been designed by Cley’s father, long ago.

Marnya was always about in Cley’s chambers as a silent presence. She was like a shadow within shadows. She was like an embodiment of the Conventional Rules of Duty. She provided most of the company that Cley needed. She was calm, loyal, without deceit and self-lubricating.

Reports came to Cley on his desk screen of the numbers of men, women and children who died every day for the sake of Empire. Sometimes he read these casualties aloud to Marnya.

‘There are always more people,’ she said.

He tapped the screen. ‘These people are lost for ever.’

‘But were they precious?’

‘Not to me or you, Marnya, but to someone. And to themselves.’

‘They became most precious when they fulfilled the Conventional Rules.’

‘Certainly that is conventional wisdom.’

She sat down beside him and laid a velvety hand over his. ‘They had no existence until the report showed on your screen, as far as you and I are concerned. Their existence was as brief as a phosphor dot.’

‘They lived and died. No doubt in a brutish way.’

‘It happened far away.’

‘Yes, it was far away.’

* * * *

Sometimes, Ibrox Villiers Cley had Marnya play him a piece of music composed long ago on a planet now forgotten in a remote galaxy. The music was written before the Conventional Rules were imposed on musicians. It was good, sensible, male music, without display, yet with a poignance of which Cley did not tire.

In a case beside the encyclopaedia stood a solitary cube. Marnya occasionally activated it for Cley. The cube contained the works of a poet who had died in the distant town where Cley was born. On the last pages of the cube, the infant Cley had inscribed a map.

The map showed the kind of town which did not exist anywhere in the empire. It had not been formalized. The street system did not accord to a grid pattern. Roads ran here and there, houses were of various sizes. The house where the old poet died was marked.

The whole map spoke of a rampant but vanished individualism.

The cube was Cley’s only personal possession.

Cley did not pretend to or aspire to be a friend of the Emperor’s. There was too much power, there were too many regulations, in the air for emotions to flourish. The Emperor merely consulted him. He was merely one of the Emperor’s tools. This function he understood. It was reliable, as things go. Friendship he found more difficult to comprehend.

Nor did he cultivate relations with those on Voltai who admired him. They thought of Cley as a guru.

He mistrusted ravishment by charm, spiritual appeal, force, wit or other blandishments.

Power favoured coldness, just as the empire favoured ruthlessness.

All empires are unscrupulous.

If Ibrox Villiers Cley was one thing, he was scrupulous.

* * * *

Cley’s closest acquaintance was Councillor Deems. Councillor Ardor Deems was Galactic Minister of the Arts.

Deems was a soft and highly coloured man who spoke always in a low voice. So low was Deems’s voice that his auditors had to give it close attention. This habitual quietness had earned Deems the reputation for subtlety in his dealings. As he adapted himself to this reputation, Deems indeed grew subtle in his affairs, until man and reputation became one.

His gowns were always of softer material than the gowns of other ministers. His cheeks remained stubbornly rosy, even as his thought grew more pallid.

He came one day softly to see Cley, to discuss with him whether to ban, as it was in his power to do, a new play entitled Forgotten Robe, Abyss, Glitter.

‘Certainly the play advocates a continuation of the war, as plays nowadays are required to do,’ said Deems, folding his hands and placing them gently on the table before him, as if to show that he concealed nothing. ‘But it also advocates extreme cruelty against animals as a matter of imperial policy, in order to dismay the enemy. Is that not obscenity?’

‘The cruelty to which animals do you consider most obscene?’

‘The play specifies long-drawn-out public torture for many animals, especially those the playwright deems most to offend against the Conventional Rules of Duty. To wit, cats, monkeys, meekrahs, jewkes and miniature elephants.’

The fine lines of Cley’s face could be studied as he gazed towards the ceiling before speaking again.

‘You ask if this cruelty is obscene. The play’s not a covert satire against the state, is it? It seems to me no more—and no less — obscene than the new Ministry of War headquarters just built on our satellite. We ban plays. No one bans architecture.’

‘The rules for censorship of architecture might be difficult to draw up.’

‘The Computers could do it without trouble. But humanity has a basic need for ugliness and brutality in its public buildings.’

‘But not in its plays?’

‘The majority of people do not care to hear of the torture of elephants. Except, of course, in our Eastern Region.’

Deems’s eyes were soft, and did not rest long in one place, as if they sought something they feared to find. ‘And the torture of children?’

‘The majority do not mind that as much. We are accustomed, almost from birth, to hear of children being maltreated. Accounts of child abuse sell newsfaxes.’

‘If there is some hint of sexual abuse, certainly ... Ibrox, I am a liberal man. I have wept to hear of children ill-treated. Even children on quite distant planets.’

‘Congratulations. Your grief did you honour, as you know. You could relish both the pain of the children and your grief at the same time.’

‘Oh, I am sincere.’ He spoke without emphasis, and removed a white cloth from his collar with which to wipe his lips. ‘Such crimes are common on Voltai. Other worlds, other mores…’

Although Deems spoke of other planets, Cley’s chamber was perfectly prosaic, apart from its melancholy air. There was no sign that decisions were taken here which would affect populations on distantly scattered worlds. Cley’s chambers suited the mentality of the entombed rather than the star-conscious.

After a pause, Deems said, ‘I take it that you would not ban performances of Forgotten Robe, Abyss, Glitter?’

‘Last galactic day, seven billion people were destroyed by a panthrax bomb on the planet Jubilloo. Do we ban panthrax bombs? Until we do, why bother about banning plays? They kill no one.’

* * * *

Councillor Ardor Deems took a turn about the long room. His slender figure was plunged first into light then into shadow as he passed before the slitted windows.

Ibrox Villiers Cley did not stir in his seat. His gaze remained fixed on the polished surface of the table, which dimly reflected the glooms and gleams of the room.

The councillor approached nearer to Cley than custom demanded.

‘I hate this war. I hate it as much as you do, Ibrox. It has become a part of life.’

‘War has always been a part of man’s life. Ever since the days when we were creatures of one world.’

Deems nodded. ‘I heard just recently that a first cousin of mine was destroyed in the Battle of the Lesser Sack.’

‘Did you love him?’

‘I hated him. I hate his destruction more. There’s the family to consider...’

Cley smiled and nodded. ‘The Lesser Sack was a great victory for the empire.’

Deems’s manner altered. He pulled his chair nearer to Cley’s and spoke in his softest voice.

‘You will be seeing the Emperor again tomorrow?’ He then repeated the question with variations, as his custom was, as if unable to rely on the understanding of even his most intelligent listener. ‘You have an audience with him at nine hours?’

When he received a glance of affirmation, he leaned forward, to speak even more quietly.

‘The war must end, Ibrox. It must be terminated. We are destroying worlds we should be using. The Emperor will not consider proposals for peace. His will is set on continuous war.’

When Cley made no comment, Deems continued. ‘As long as we are winning the war, and there are victory parades and banners and speeches, the vast majority of the population is also for the war. Their personal miseries become insignificant when compared with bloodthirsty accounts from our various war sectors. They can feel their petty lives caught up in great events. They forget they are mere statistics. Their psychic health —’

‘I am Adviser of the Computers, Deems, not a rabble to be addressed.’

‘Pardon me. I will approach the central question. Let us get to the point. Factions of the enemy hierarchy have made contact with me. They are prepared to sue for peace. Before peace can come about, something must be done about the Emperor.’

The steely profile of Ibrox Villiers Cley appeared not to be listening.

Deems’s voice sank further.

‘Something must be done about the Emperor. His mind must be changed. He must prefer peace. I have in my possession a new drug which will have the required effect upon him.’

He paused and then said, in a whisper, ‘My party wishes that you will administer the drug to the Emperor during your audience tomorrow at nine.’

From his pocket Deems produced an object which resembled a short pencil. He laid it on the table halfway between him and Cley, his head on one side as he appeared to measure the distance precisely.

Cley did not touch the weapon.

‘There are, I take it, inducements to—encourage me to use this drug against the Emperor?’

‘Not “against”, Ibrox, “on”.’

‘The inducements?’

‘We do not put pressure on you. We believe that your own high intelligence will suffice to induce you to use such a weapon which will stop the war at last.’

‘You think well of my intelligence.’

‘Come, Ibrox, you are considered one of the most intelligent men who ever lived.’ He allowed a whisper of reproach into his tone. ‘Hence your position. You will do this thing, won’t you? It is a noble undertaking, no less.’

The long room contained a long silence.

‘How does the drug work?’

‘Its name is mascinploxyrhanophyhaninide, or MPRP for short. It is delivered by aerosol. You have but to press a button. It sedates areas in the limbic brain from which the instincts of aggression rise. Permanently sedates them ...You have but to press the button at nine, Ibrox, and at nine-five our beloved empire will be moving towards peace. Otherwise the drug is harmless, apart from some side effects.’

‘What side effects?’

Deems eyed Cley narrowly, watching for his response. ‘Blindness.’

Cley made no response. After a moment, he said, ‘An aggressive weapon is not the most promising way through which to try to achieve peace.’

‘We all depend on you, Ibrox. Not to be melodramatic, but the empire awaits your decision. Your name will be imperishable if you do this thing in the name of peace. You must do it for humanity’s sake.’

He put a finger delicately on the MPRP weapon.

Cley rose to his feet and stood gazing down at the councillor.

‘I want you to examine this act in which you propose we should conspire with the enemy against our emperor. Whatever its motives, it represents a physical attack. It is by physical attacks that battles and wars begin rather than end. Yet, as a preliminary to peace, you wish to make an attack.

‘Do you not see that over a million wearying years of galactic history, so-called peace has invariably had its prelude in attack, so that the seeds of further conflict were sown? You merely perpetuate a status quo of constant warfare.

‘How can war be eradicated? It is a permanent human condition. The baby emerges from the womb crying anger. Even the excision of the entire limbic brain would not suffice to remove aggression. This aggression of yours, represented by this MPRP weapon, springs not from the limbic brain but from the neocortex. It is an intellectual form of aggression, born of ambition, self-seeking.’

‘I seek only peace.’

‘Humanity is an aggressive species and no drug will alter those inherent characteristics.’

‘You are being cynical and evasive.’ As he spoke, Deems rose, clutching the MPRP weapon,

‘I prefer my cynicism to your self-deceiving optimism.’

‘Ibrox, my party wishes merely to see an end to conflict. We desire to finish with galactic war for ever. Is that self-deceiving?’

‘It is nothing if not self-deceiving. Your party wishes to elevate itself. It would conduct conflict by means of backdoor dealing.’

‘Backdoor! Our aspirations are of the loftiest.’

‘That is what plotters always say. Deems, it happens that I have read this play which so disturbs you. It is written by a self-seeker. You should conscript him to your party. We do not have great writers any more, men to whom we can turn for enlightenment and discussion of the most engaging problems. The Conventional Rules of Duty have swept such men away. They languish in our reformatories. Those remaining seek fame or money, preferring those trumpery things above an immovable integrity. Your play is written for a materialistic and spiritually bankrupt society — the people of Voltai. It is designed to shock and titillate them. It can do no harm since its audience is already corrupt. Any public which did not rise up in protest at the expense and ugliness of the Ministry of War edifice is corrupt.’

‘But that magnificent building on which you pour such—‘

Cley held up a commanding hand. ‘Humankind condemned itself a long while ago to a perpetual diet of catastrophe. It burdens itself with the consequences of its own indifference to what is best. Go into a tavern tonight and listen to the music played there. What is of merit, what is not ephemeral, is shunned. The good in man is out of fashion. Mankind has chosen — or perhaps it was never a choice—a perpetual diet of catastrophe. Since it cannot and will not save itself, it cannot be saved by anything you or I might do. Not to mention your party. No, not even by killing the Emperor.’

Deems’s voice barely reached Cley’s ears. ‘We have evidence that the Emperor is mad.’

‘Then he represents the people well. People like mad rulers. They relish the rhetoric. Words like blood and loyalty and revenge and endurance awaken something primitive in their auditors, who enjoy the sensation of adrenalin coursing in their veins. They enjoy enmities.’

‘They enjoy defending themselves against enemies. They are not cattle. The Emperor has become the enemy and must be destroyed.’

‘For the sake of our enemies?’ Cley folded his arms and stared at Deems.

‘The Emperor is not your enemy, Deems, except in so far as he stands in the way of your advancement. He aids and abets you in the task of self-destruction. We have no real enemies. You realize that? We have no real enemies throughout the whole galaxy. Our battlefields were once a cathedral, silent until the congregation of mankind entered. Enemies are as much an ancient invention as God.’

Deems made to speak but thought better of it.

‘Mankind has always been alone, ever since it left Earth, millennia ago. Mankind had been unable to endure the—the purity of that situation. And the responsibility that situation brings. It has thought only about building “empires”, absurd, repressive and unstable power-structures. Empires failed on our mother planet — how much more philosophically untenable are they across a dozen, a hundred, a thousand, a thousand thousand planets? Yet, rather than think out new and just ways of distributing the riches to which we have all fallen heir, it uses those riches as the basis for deadly quarrels.

‘Mankind’s real love is not of life, but of self-destruction.’

Deems raised the MPRP weapon and pointed it at Cley’s face.

‘We have to get you out of the way before we deal with the Emperor.’

Cley said, ‘If that weapon kills aggression, as you claim, then it will have no effect on me. My cynicism, to which you have drawn my attention, prevents my aggression. I have never wished for power. I have no ambition. I am used. You have used me in the past. In order to enjoy solitude, I am prepared to be used. But I fancy MPRP is unlikely to change my character.’

He spoke easily, spinning out his words, until Marnya had come softly up behind Deems and taken the councillor in her grasp. The arms that held Cley tenderly were strong.

As Deems struggled fruitlessly, the MPRP weapon fell from his grasp and rolled under the table.

‘You could have fired your drug at Marnya, Deems, and it would not have harmed her. Androids have no limbic brain, and no desires.’

Deems was pale. His voice was husky. ‘I’m sorry to have threatened you, Ibrox. My desires ran away with me. I cannot bear your diseased view of mankind.’

‘How is that, when you are diseased yourself ?’

‘Is to desire change a disease in your eyes?’

‘You don’t desire change. You desire power. That’s the disease.’

Deems was silent, hanging his head and then asking in a subdued voice,

‘What will you do with me? Remember I am an old man.’

‘You are free to leave. Everything that has transpired in this room has been recorded. Take your drug with you. It does not work.’

As Marnya released the councillor, the latter said, ‘The drug does work.’

‘You lie. I also know who sent you to me. You were ordered by the Emperor to test me. There is no wish for peace, on our side, even on the enemy’s. Only I wish for peace.’

‘It’s useless talking to you.’ As he made to leave the chamber, Deems said,

‘If you perceive that the Emperor does not trust you, why continue faithful?’

Cley gestured with his left hand. ‘Through cynicism. I like being tested. It interests me. One day in the future, the treacherous Deems-figure who arrives to make the test will employ an argument so sophisticated that I shall be convinced by it, and enter the Emperor’s Council Room and kill him.’

‘I will report on what you say. So you do still have hope, of a sort?’

‘So does the Emperor, of a sort. He prays for the Deems-figure to win.’

Ibrox Villiers Cley permitted himself a smile, ‘I have no hope for humanity, if that’s what you mean. Only for myself. Hope that the day may come when I am surprised by goodness.’

He crossed over to Marnya and took her patient arm.

‘Goodbye, Deems,’ he said.

Deems wiped his lips on his cloth. He left the chamber without answer, knowing the fate of those who failed on an imperial mission.

Cley was left once more in his chambers, in the shadowy silence which was now his greatest pleasure.