Kyla's Diary - Chapter 13: Elections
"Logminter is a tool. It holds our memories, and we trust it because it does not act on them."
Kyla and Julian arrived at the Mirador early. By nine, there would be no tables left on the terrace facing the panels, and they wanted a good one for Sunday breakfast.
They chose a table near the center. Ahead of them, the panels showed a cleaned exterior view from the Central Axis cameras. A black field scattered with steady points of light. Somewhere among them was Ross 128, brighter now than when Kyla was a child.
Julian pulled out her chair without making a ceremony of it. She sat, and he took the chair beside her, facing the entrance.
“You picked the best seat,” Kyla said.
“I picked the chair that lets me see your parents arrive.”
“That is the best seat,” she replied.
Julian smiled faintly. “Then yes.”
Her parents came in at ten past nine. Lina stopped at three tables on the way because she had delivered half the terrace. Emil followed behind her, letting Lina make her usual rounds.
“Good morning, Mrs. Soria,” Julian said.
He stood and pulled out Lina’s chair.
“Good morning, Mr. Cloutier.”
“Good morning,” Emil said.
“You look thinner,” Lina said.
“I’m the same,” Kyla replied.
“You’re thin.” Lina sat, satisfied, and began rearranging the table.
The server came with a basket. Bread, pastries, and the little dishes.
“Butter today,” he said.
He set the white goat butter down like it was a favor.
Dandelion coffee. Berry juice. Pumpkin jam. The usual.
Emil looked over the table. “Are the scrambled eggs coming?”
“They are,” the server said.
“Good.”
Emil poured the coffee for everyone without being asked and without looking at what he was doing.
“So,” he said as he placed the pot at the center of the table. “The protests against Logminter operating the SD units are getting louder.”
Julian set down his cup.
“Logminter is not operating the SD units,” he said. “That’s what people keep saying, but it is not technically accurate.”
Emil looked at him. “I know. A bounded instance. No access to private logs. No independent authority.”
He reached for the butter.
“But it still refused a command. It acted. That’s what worries many people.”
Julian did not answer quickly enough.
Lina noticed. Kyla did too.
“The instance probably resolved a conflict between instructions,” Julian said.
Emil spread butter over a piece of bread. “That’s what a refusal becomes when our office writes the report, but many people outside the Data Office don’t see it that way.”
Julian accepted that with a small nod.
Kyla looked down at her plate.
“The Data Integrity Unit reviewed the implemented boundaries,” Julian said. “Several times. The safeguards are real. They’re not decorative.”
“I know they’re real,” Emil said. “I helped audit some of the early boundary models before you were assigned to Prescott’s office.”
“I know.”
“Then you know why people are concerned.”
Julian looked toward the panels, where the stars held steady above the terrace.
“Yes,” he said.
Lina poured berry juice into Kyla’s cup, though Kyla had not asked for any.
“People don't trust jargon,” Lina said. “Doctors learn that early. The more technical your explanation, the more people think you're hiding something.”
“We're not hiding this,” Julian said.
“No,” Emil’s Whisperzend pulsed. “We’re explaining it badly, and there are people on both sides already using it to push their own agendas.”
“Some people want to restrict the instances. Others want to give them more authority.”
Kyla whispered. “Sheila is running a good campaign.”
All three of them looked at her.
She felt her face grow warm, but she continued.
“I believe caution makes sense. Maybe we shouldn't expand something we still don't fully understand.”
Lina stirred her coffee. “I agree with that.”
Kyla looked at her mother.
“She approached me.”
Emil stopped cutting his bread.
Julian lowered his eyes to the table.
Lina did not move at all.
“She asked me to help with her campaign,” Kyla continued.
“For the under-forty Council seat?” Emil asked.
“Yes.”
“Against Liam Rook,” Lina said.
Kyla nodded.
Emil leaned back. “That will not be a quiet race.”
“No,” Julian said. “It already isn’t.”
Lina looked across the terrace, where more families were having their own conversations. “Liam is difficult to beat. People trust simple sentences when they are afraid.”
“The mission is the priority,” Emil said.
Kyla looked at him.
“That’s his whole campaign,” Emil continued. “And it’s a strong one, especially now that we are so close to arrival.”
“Sheila’s is strong too,” Kyla said.
“Logminter records. Humans decide,” Julian said.
Emil nodded. “Also strong.”
“Strong sentences are not the same as true ones,” Lina said. “Both sides are speaking with confidence. That doesn’t mean either has the whole truth.”
For a moment, no one spoke.
A group of younger citizens passed the terrace entrance carrying polished canes wrapped in dark grip cloth.
Emil followed them with his eyes.
“I thought the ringvolley match was after breakfast,” he said.
“It is,” Julian said. “But there is a cane-fighting exhibition first.”
Lina looked up. “Cane fighting?”
“Apparently,” Kyla said.
Lina shook her head. “I cannot believe we are resurrecting that.”
“It’s historical,” Julian said.
“So were many bad ideas.”
“It is controlled,” Julian said. “They use padded tips.”
Lina gave him a look. “I don’t think that makes any mother feel better.”
“Another thing being pushed by Destinarians,” Kyla said.
Emil looked toward the entrance again. “Maybe Liam is right about one thing. The next generation is going to be tougher than we were.”
“Or more violent,” Lina said.
She watched the group disappear, then turned back to her daughter.
“Has the medical team scheduled the review?”
Kyla looked at Julian.
Julian reached for his cup, then stopped.
“Next week,” Kyla said.
Lina’s expression changed as if she had been waiting to ask since the moment she arrived.
“If there are no medical objections, it goes to the Natality Board for approval,” Lina said.
Emil smiled. “And then, eventually, we become grandparents.”
Before Kyla could answer, applause rose near the entrance.
The young citizens with the canes had formed two lines. Liam Rook walked between them, greeting people as he entered the terrace. Nia followed two steps behind, greeting the people Liam passed.
“Campaigning at breakfast,” Lina said.
“He never wastes an audience,” Emil replied.
Liam stopped at two tables before reaching theirs.
“Mrs. Soria. Mr. Cloutier.” He nodded to Julian. “Kyla.”
“Liam,” Kyla said.
“Good morning,” Nia said as she approached their table.
“I heard Sheila asked you to join her campaign,” Liam said.
Kyla smiled. “News travels quickly.”
Liam smiled too, but Kyla could not tell whether the smile was meant for her or for the people watching them.
“I hope you listen to both of us before you answer her,” he said.
“I intend to,” Kyla said.
Someone called Liam’s name from the exhibition area.
He excused himself and continued across the terrace, stopping wherever enough people had gathered to watch him stop. Nia remained for a moment.
“You should do it,” she told Kyla quietly.
“Help Sheila?”
Nia glanced toward her husband.
“Make the race worth winning.”
Then she followed him.
Emil lifted his coffee.
“There it is,” he whispered.
“What?” Kyla asked.
“The whole campaign.”
Across the terrace, Liam accepted one of the polished canes and raised it above his head.
The applause began before he said a word.
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“Logminter,” Kyla whispered.
> Ready to record entry.
“I’ve been thinking about yesterday’s debate.”
> Would you like to replay the Public Logs?
“Replay the final question,” Kyla said.
A pause followed. Then the moderator’s voice came through her Whisperzend.
> As Helios approaches arrival, should Logminter’s authority be restricted, maintained, or expanded?
The recording shifted to Liam.
> Logminter was created to preserve information. If the mission fails, the information is irrelevant, so the most important part is completing the mission.
Our generation has been entrusted with this unique moment. An opportunity for humanity to expand, to arrive and colonize Ross 128. An opportunity to transcend. That is worth defending at all costs. These are the memories worth preserving.
Applause followed. Loud and immediate.
The moderator turned to Sheila.
> Miss Adeyemi, same question.
Then Sheila’s voice.
> Restricted. Logminter was created to preserve information, not to make decisions. The mission must remain under human authority.
Mr. Rook didn’t answer the question. Instead, he suggested there is some disagreement about the importance of a successful arrival. There isn’t. We all support the mission. But the mission is human.
Logminter is a tool. It holds our memories, and we trust it because it does not act on them. The moment that trust is broken, we lose the tool. Our memories could be used against us.
More applause. Less at first, then growing.
The recording stopped.
Logminter continued.
> What would you like to explore next?
Kyla remained quiet for a moment.
“I’m not sure we’re going to win,” she said. “We don’t have a good answer to ‘the mission comes first’ argument.”
> Please clarify.
“What will increase our chances of a successful arrival?”
> Assuming current mission constraints remain unchanged, two actions would provide the greatest expected increase in mission success:
- Obtain additional information about the Ross 128 system before arrival.
- Obtain operational experience from a previous interstellar mission.
Kyla frowned.
“We can’t do either of those.”
> Under present conditions, that assessment is correct.
Kyla stared at the ceiling.
A thought arrived so quietly she almost missed it.
“Unless…”
She sat upright.
“Surya.”
She waited a second before continuing. “If Helios reestablished communication, we could ask Surya.”
“Earth could also send us any new discoveries about Ross 128.”
She smiled.
“Darius would be so happy if we ended the Disconnect… It could save this campaign.”
“Logminter, save this to my diary.”
LOG ENTRY
Action type: Log archival.
Integrity check: Validated. Data saved by authorized user.
Authorized user: Anwar Cloutier Soria, Kyla. Created at: 2787.142.2348.
Thanks for reading Kyla’s Diary, a novel from the Theogenic Universe. New chapters will be published weekly. Subscribe to continue the journey aboard Helios.