Chapter 13

nification of the Coition Government. The full details will be given later as it is complicated to explain the method of calculation in the Single Transferable Vote system. The main outcome is as follows. In the first round the Blue Party gained 30% of the vote and in the previous electoral system would have been the dominant party of the Coition government. The Red Party gained 26%. On vote reallocation, however, the Red Party gained votes predominantly from the second preferences of the Green and Illicit Parties, whilst the Blue Party gained votes chiefly from the Black and White Parties. The final result is that the Red Party has triumphed in the Election with an overall reallocated total of 53% of the vote, against the Blue Party's 47%. I repeat. The Election has been won by the Red Party!"

Other television station announcers had been less circumlocutory in declaring the result, and choruses of cheers and moans broke out all along the main street before we had any idea whose victory had prompted the response. On the whole, it seemed that those who favoured the victory marginally outnumbered those opposed: a figure perhaps reflected by the curious scaled down percentages.

"This has not quite been the decisive victory the Red Party may have hoped for. It is still in a weak position, although it now has a mandate which will enable it to succeed the Coition Government. Our cameras now take you to the Central Polling Office to hear from the Prime Minister designate."

The image on the television screen echoed, in curious uniformity, the same picture as all the others on the main street, where successful candidates stood on a platform surrounded by computer screens and a crowd of hostile and enthusiastic observers. It was clear that some disruption in the crowd was holding up the proceedings, in which fruit and flour was being thrown onto the platform.

"A Red Party victory!" Beta exclaimed. "Who'd've thought! I suppose they'd've been my second preference as well. I wonder what difference that will make."

"None whatsoever!" opined Una sceptically. "Whichever party is in power, whatever government, everything will remain the same!"

"I can't see how that can be!" Beta countered automatically but, reminded of Una's plight, decided not to pursue her argument. "However, less of politics. Shall we continue to the Park? I don't want Una to get caught up in all the revelry!"

Indeed quite a lot of celebration accompanied us as we walked along the street. Those who favoured the result were evidently making the most of their joy, in a chorus of screams, yells, hooting cars, raised clenched fists and a snowfall of ticker-tape and confetti which showered on our heads from the windows of the tall buildings high above. Horses charged by through nearly stationary traffic neighing praise to the Red Party, sometimes carrying flag-waving carousers on their backs. Red flags were waved in triumph. Blue flags, Green flags and Black flags were waved in defiance. We dodged around a particular nasty fight between some velociraptors in black shirts and a pair of horses. An elderly elephant wearing a blue rosette stood transfixed by the side of the road, seemingly unable to comprehend the results. A pair of hedgehogs wearing bobble hats and green wellington boots looked rather embarrassed by the side of a banner optimistically proclaiming the success of the Green Party.

"I don't think many people in the Suburbs will be pleased with the success of the Red Party," I commented to Beta. "Most people there would've voted for the White Party or the Blue Party. In fact, I don't think a single person would ever confess to voting Red. How is it that they managed to win?"

"It's obvious, isn't it!" replied Una, taking more interest in the Election than her apparent cynicism would suggest. "The Red Party are the party that more than any other claims to represent the interests of the poor, the dispossessed, the hungry, the disenfranchised, the put upon and the discriminated against. Since there are rather more people like that in this country than anyone else, the real mystery is why the other parties have done so well. There aren't that many people who'd be classified as rich enough for representation by the Blue Party."

"So you believe that people are voting entirely for self-interest," Beta said. "The poor vote for the party of the poor. The rich for the party of the rich..."

"The racists for the party of the racists. The apathetic for the party of the apathetic. Of course! People only ever do anything if they see something in it for themselves."

"But don't people vote for what they think is best for the country? Don't they support the causes they believe are going to be best for everyone?"

"Dream on!" sneered Una weakly.

She was still leaning heavily on Beta and clearly found it quite difficult struggling against the maelstrom of political supporters. The crowds thronged the streets up to the very entrance to the City Park, which was graced by two high ornate gates, supported by tall fluted pillars topped by the statue of a rampant horse. We eased our way through the crowd and into the park which after only a few paces seemed many leagues distant from the City surrounding it.

In all directions ahead of us was a garden landscape of unexpected beauty and magnificence. Oaks, sycamores and beeches dotted well-tended lawns bordered by tarmacked paths and signposted at every junction. The shiny reflection of the sun beamed at us from a lake in the distance, whose calm surface was broken only by swans and small boats. Park benches, small statues, decorative flower beds and ornate lamp-posts dotted the park at discreet distances from each other. There was a sprinkling of decorative buildings, including an open bandstand where a brass band was entertaining a gathering of deck-chairs and the odd snoozing music lover. The distantly seen towering heights of the City seemed somewhat unreal and unthreatening. The park was remarkably quiet despite the constant roar of traffic noises and the exultation of voters from outside. For the first time all day I heard the more peaceful songs of birds darting about in tall trees and felt a more calming breeze on my face than that given off by passing traffic.

"Ohh! This is lovely!" exclaimed Beta. "I didn't imagine there was anything like this in the City. I don't know why anyone ever goes anywhere else!"

"Not so much to eat here," replied Una. "Nice to sleep here during the day, but very dangerous at night."

Beta looked compassionately at the pregnant girl. "We'd better find you somewhere to rest. How about over there under that big oak by that statue?"

Una nodded, so we slowly ambled across the lawn towards the tree, past the bandstand where moustachioed men were playing a mixture of songs old and new to a relaxing psychedelic beat. A couple of horses grazed nearby, their tails swinging in time to the rhythm. As we approached, it became increasingly obvious that what had seemed like a giant statue of a lion was in fact a real lion, if a rather large one.

"I hope he's not fierce!" remarked Beta. "If he is, he'd eat all three of us in next to no time! Perhaps we ought to find somewhere else to sit."

"I think it might be someone I've met before," I remarked.

As I suspected it was indeed Lord Arthur. If anything he looked more bedraggled than before, his large muzzle gazing mournfully at the shadow of a park bench with his paw spread out in front. He raised his head and saw the three of us approach. He seemed listless at first. Then he stood up, appearing to recognise me, towering high above us, trailing his apparently lifeless tail behind him. He walked slowly and unsteadily towards us, really not appearing nearly as fierce or imposing as a lion is supposed to be.

"Welcome! Welcome!" he greeted us. "You are the young man I met so recently in another city, aren't you? What are you and your delightful friends doing here in the City Park?"

"We were looking for somewhere to rest Una here," I explained. "We saved her from being abused and as you can see she's very heavy with child, so we came to the most restful place we could find."

"An excellent idea. Most excellent," the lion agreed. "So relax with me under the shade of this magnificent tree. I insist. I would really appreciate the company. After the events of the last few distressing weeks, which have reduced me to nearly the status of a pauper, I need all the friendly company I can find."

He heralded us towards the tree where he had been lying, and we sat in its shade by the very distinct imprint Lord Arthur had left on the grass. Beta steadily eased Una down to recline on her back and stare straight up at the sky. The bulge of her belly distended out from the inadequate restraints of her ragged clothes and glistened in the sunlight. Beta sat next to me, while Lord Arthur eased himself down onto the trampled lawn.

"It's been a bad day for me!" the lion said sadly. "Another terrible day. Yet another business sold. Yet another last remnant of a financial empire lost. My last stake in the financial district - all thirteen hundred storeys above and below earth lost to a rapacious pair of hippogriffs. They'd already bought my department store, Arthur's, in the plush New City district. My final stake in the City. For hardly enough to pay off a quarter of my creditors. All those trillions of guineas of potential wealth gone forever. I'll be bankrupt before the week is out, I tell you!"

"Are you having money problems?" asked Beta politely.

"You could say that!" Lord Arthur exclaimed. "It's been one humiliation after another. And to crown it all ... But perhaps there is hope ... The celebration. The cheering. The Election results I presume!" His ears twitched through the threadbare mass of his mane at the distant sound of klaxons and megaphones. "Tell me. What was the result, my dear?"

"A victory for the Red Party."

"Damn!" swore the lion. "Damn! Damn! Damn!"

He lowered his head, overcome by the news and closed the enormous lids of his eyes. He exhaled heavily several times as if to contain the strength of his feelings, his enormous back arching with each breath. He then raised his head and looked at Beta apologetically.

"Excuse me for my profane language, my dear. But it really is the worst ... the worst possible ... news! My downfall is secured now. No government led by the Red Party would ever express sympathy for me. The Blue Party: I had hope there. A Blue Government and I may have been saved. Any other party and there was the faintest glimmering of hope. But no Red Government would see the need, the urgency or even the desirability of bailing out a bankrupt trillionaire who in his time has been the very icon of material success and economic power! I am now no better than your pregnant vagrant friend in the eyes of the government, and I expect I will be treated with exactly the same lack of sympathy. This is indeed a black day for me, and for all those who have accumulated such colossal wealth during the long years of vacillating rule by the corrupt and indecisive Coition Government."

"How wealthy were you?" Beta asked.

"Incredibly so," Lord Arthur replied sadly. "I just had no idea how many trillions I boasted. For a while I was the wealthiest person on this planet. Surely you have heard of the power and wealth of Lord Arthur? Richer than the GNP of most countries! More powerful than the Coition Government and able to pull the strings of any government with just the smallest trickle from my colossal coffers. Able to buy politicians, judges and the power of the media. A wealth and power that was not always used, I hope, in pure material gain but never, of course, against my interests. I was the subject of millions of printed words, of thousands of newspaper inches and of hundreds of magazine covers. Princes, magnates and the heads of churches were at my beck and call. No single person had ever been as powerful nor as wealthy before me!"

"How have you come to lose it all?"

"Misfortune. Imprudence. Fate. Stupidity. I don't know. So many different reasons. So many possible causes. My downfall has attracted nearly as much attention as my rise. I have never been poor. My family was wealthy, and wealth had been in our genes for countless generations. There have been times of fluctuating wealth over the centuries. First from tin, then wool, but by the time I came into my inheritance on the early death of my father the wealth of our family was mostly in trade and shipping. My genius, if I can be so immodest, was to take advantage of lucrative openings in heavy industry, manufacturing and finance. I was so far ahead of my competitors I could be complacent. My multinationals were big and powerful enough to be free from the taxation and punitive legislation of any one country. I rode slipshod through the world's taxation and every country's laws: often forcing through tax advantages and even constitutional changes when it was profitable to do so.

"Sure, there were those who protested at the growth of my business empire, but usually markets were just begging to be taken over. They would even go out of their way to woo my assistance in the hope that I would support their failing enterprises (often, I hesitate to admit, enterprises which had failed due entirely to my own manipulation of the markets). Whatever the initial reaction - hostility or friendship - the end result was the same. The companies were absorbed into the general Arthurian corporation or left nominally independent but in actual fact nearly as much owned by my corporation as any other. My market share in the City rose and rose, until I was unassailable. My competitors could only look at Lord Arthur plc with envy. They knew there was no way they could topple me from my perch.