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seeming to canvass the people; of walking amongst them, chatting with them in the park to learn their unofficial opinions and views; of attending many open-floor debates in the Parliament; or visiting the technicians. I felt this my duty. I also issued a number of community-service broadcasts, explaining various aspects of the ship’s functioning. Naturally this gave me a higher profile than the Captain, which some of the other senior officers thought objectionable. It is true that I was the member of senior staff that civilians and ordinary military ranks felt they could approach without inhibition, to tell me their grievances or express their opinions, or even simply talk. It is true that my popularity was high. But I considered it important that at least one member of the council of six have this degree of susceptibility – for the good of the ship. Of course, I spoke to the Captain on this matter, several times in fact, but little I could say made any difference. He became odd, even quirky. He took to cutting out the pages of his Bible and rearrangingthem at random, working on the mistaken belief that God made His will known through such random things. He tried to read significance into the gibberish this made of holy writ.
    I suppose it is true to say that, as Captain, and given the generally good morale of crew and citizens, there was little for Tyrian to do. This does not excuse him, of course: rather the reverse. It is more important, much more, that a captain demonstrate fibre and character during the quiet times than at the pitch of incident or excitement. Anybody can lead in a crisis; it can be easily trained into a person. But to maintain the courage and leadership at all times, to keep people on the road, the purposeful road that leads them through life with joy: that is the real task, the point of leadership. Was Moses the greater leader as the salt water parted and the Egyptians hurried at their back? Or was the greater task to keep his people together, focused and straight, during their decades of Sinai exile? Was Napoleon [ intertext has no index-connection for a%x‘50Napoleon’ suggest consult alternate database, e.g. orig.historiograph ] the greater before or after Moscow? [ intertext has no index-connection for a%x‘60Moscow’ suggest consult alternate database, e.g. orig.historiograph ]. The question answers itself.
    Well, it seems that Tyrian was not capable of facing the demands of the quiet, happy time that I had engineered. As is common with leaders at such moments, he grew restless with his people’s happiness and tried to force change. He called council meetings to talk about establishing military schools for all children, both during the voyage and after arrival; about altering the hierarchies and routes for promotion of army officers; about setting up a panel to vet all possible marriages. Naturally, at these meetings, I was forced to speak against such absurd suggestions. I could do no more than point out how little the people would welcome such oppressive statutes. It was not that I wished to prevent the Captain from proposing legislation – which was, after all, his right of command – but (and this was the length and breadth of my disloyalty to that once-great man), I insisted that such legislation be placed before Parliament, for the people to spend their votes upon if they sowished. Tyrian wished to pass the legislation under the Necessity rubrics, which would have meant no vote.
    It was, I remember, a difficult session of council. Two of the over-lieutenants sympathised with me, although they had to preserve decorum and side with the Captain. One of the over-lieutenants, a man named Gauster, was vocal and unpleasantly loud in his support of the Captain to do whatever he wanted. Two were undecided between us. The Captain – let me say this, to give some sense of how far he had lost the necessary grip – was unshaven. He was a tall, thin man, and he grew a great deal of facial hair;