A Visitor to the Future - 97 - A Moment of Recognition
The first group of Ambassadors we ran into called themselves The Outcasts. They were a group of Kesslerites - people who spent most of their time in small spacecraft chasing down cosmic dust and debris to help unearth some of the deeper mysteries of the solar system. They were mostly based around the Jovian moons, with the trip to Earth being something of a vacation for them all. I'd actually heard an expression about them in passing, which went something like, "If we ever find intelligent life out there, it'll be because a Kesslerite bumps into it."
The Ambassador that Alexandra spent most of her time talking with was a CI who didn't have a face, nor any particular body language. Given that Alexandra managed to negotiate a possible labour exchange despite being unable to 'read' her counterpart, I had a whole new respect for her skills. She had a unique perspective on the matter as we walked to find another team.
"Oh, expressions and so-called body language are complete nonsense in negotiation anyway," she said, "Even when I was heading up Crux I learned not to rely on them - too many befuddling implants, drugs, and just plain emotionless husks of people in the corporate world. You should instead focus on what people say and whether they deliver on it."
Antonia challenged the perspective, "But I've seen you read people all the time - just last week you were saying that Sarkona is a very open person when it comes to emotional expression."
"The context is key. I trust Sarkona and know that they don't have any interest in deceiving me in daily life. In here, where lying is a key part of the game?" She shook her head to emphasise the point, "I can't fully rely on my ability to read someone I've just met."
It was an interesting point. All the people I'd met in the Consortium had been very straightforward with me - always freely speaking their mind. But if they were so inclined, how could I pick up on a lying CI with no involuntary facial expressions? I'd certainly gotten better at reading Tungsten's mood over time, but if he wanted to, could he present a perfect poker face? The thought didn't last long, however. It wasn't really any different to my time - you vetted people through their actions, reputation, and evidence, not by how much they smiled or how charismatic they seemed.
We continued walking, the translucent tunnel surface above casting the floor in shades of blue. There was a loud thudding of footsteps as Sarkona came jogging up behind us.
"Hello!" they said, slightly out of breath, "Good news, you can see through a few of the arena doors. I traded information with some of the other teams on my way back, made a few contacts."
"What did you see?" said Antonia, "Anything interesting?"
"Lots! There's a completely flat and small arena, covered in what looks like granite. There's one that looks like a swamp, and another that's full of tall rocks, like a quarry. All useful information, I'm going to run back to base, tell the Engineers about the swamp one, might give them time to make a few adjustments. Any success yourselves?"
"Yes," replied Alexandra, "A possible labour exchange, they'll lend us an engineer when we really need it if we'll do the same."
"Neat! Anyway, better run!" Sarkona said, as they took off once more.
We had about fifteen minutes left in the session when we encountered another group of two Ambassadors who were representing Team Legacy. They were almost the polar opposite to The Outcasts - if anything, almost too expressive, trying to be disarmingly charming. Antonia took the lead on this one, seemingly far better equipped to deal with the overwhelming positivity from the other team. I watched as they sat on a nearby bench and Antonia successfully organised a parts exchange.
"So, that is absolutely amazing, we don't really need so many of these - we're happy to trade them!" said their Ambassador, a blonde woman who never seemed to stop smiling. We'd anticipated that some teams might not need certain spare parts and tried to design our Proxy modifications around that.
It was at this moment that the third Ambassador from their team approached from around a corner. The newcomer, a raven-haired man, looked at his team first but when his eyes settled on Alexandra, he did a double-take and his brow furrowed into something like disdain.
"You're Alexandra Borseth," he said in a blunt way, tone negative and abrupt.
Alexandra looked back at him, face impassive, "Yes, I am," she said.
The man tapped his teammate on the shoulder and she turned around, her smile slightly diminishing in confusion. "You can't trust her," the man said, "We're done here." The woman frowned as he walked away, holding up a finger to ask Antonia to wait. But as the opposing team went and conversed, to one side, the blonde came back, apologised, and left us.
Antonia turned to Alexandra, confused, "Do you know that man?"
Alexandra shrugged, "Never seen him before. But he clearly knew me. Sorry Antonia, you were doing a great job. We won't have time to speak with another team now."
"I'm sorry, I'm confused - what just happened?" I added.
Smiling sadly, Alexandra crossed her arms, "This happens sometimes. I'll just say that dragging Crux through the Multisphere years required making enemies of a lot of people. Some of them are still bitter."
"Even hundreds of years later?" I asked.
She nodded meekly, "I might feel the same in his position. I've said before that Crux was one of the nicer Multispheres, but I'm still not proud of some of the things that I did back then to survive. Some of which were certainly enough to earn several hundred years of animosity. We engaged in our fair share of corporate espionage and sabotage, got our competitors fired, bribed officials, that sort of thing. That was just the way business was done at the time. But I never allowed killing or hurting people to become part of our corporate strategy. And yes, that is a hypocritical viewpoint considering we sold our combat aircraft to other Multispheres, who were more than happy to use them."
For as much as we'd just been talking about how deceptive body language and facial expressions could be, the way in which Alexandra avoided our gaze spoke volumes. "You still feel regret over those choices?" I asked.
"More so today than ever," she said, her tone now sombre, "The older I get, the more I realise just how much of an idiot I was. It becomes more obvious with every passing day. In the end, when the Consortium came around and I got over my initial doubts, I eventually ended up submitting all of my misdeeds as public record. Seemed like a good way to try and set things straight, especially following the Corporate Amnesty."
I recalled what I'd read about the Corporate Amnesty on one of my trawls through the Infranet. The Consortium, whose justice system was largely focused on rehabilitation, not punishment, hadn't much interest in prosecuting the Multisphere leaders for previous corporate offences such as corporate espionage, especially given that finances no longer existed. Naturally the Amnesty had extended to those people who had rebelled against the Multispheres too. Offences against people had been prosecuted, though - which was good considering that many of the corporate leaders were effectively guilty of war crimes.
It was still weird to think that such events were still in living memory for some people.
Alexandra's tone invited another question, though. "You almost make it sound like you're unhappy that you weren't punished?"
She sighed, "I accept that it wasn't practical at the time for the Consortium to try and hold every single corporate leader to account," came her reply, "That would have caused even more chaos than issuing the Decree. And those who really deserved it did get prosecuted – the Consortium had been gathering evidence against them for some time. But the fact we weren't really held to account wasn't fair for those who lived under the Multispheres- even one of the 'better ones' like mine. There's a reason that the Amnesty is considered one of the most controversial decisions the Consortium's voters have ever made. I try to make amends as best I can – ensure I audit as many Orgs as I can think of, try to make sure the Consortium is as resistant to corruption as I can. But there are those out there that are quite entitled to feel like I got away too leniently, like that man we met today. I don't blame him. I don't."
There was a beat of silence in the hallway as I considered her words. It certainly wasn't my place to pass judgement. It was Antonia who eventually spoke up and spurred us back into motion.
"Thank you for sharing that," she said, "I think I understand now. We'd better get back to the others."