By Any Means Necessary; A Logical World Short

[Ford Prefect]

This piece is basically an introduction for the most incompetent duo in the whole of The Logical World agents Montague and Capulet, but it's also a a Wellsian discourse on the concwept of "might equals right". Sort of.

By Any Means Necessary


“Look at it this way; the end justifies the means. If we do this, a violent, dangerous, insane criminal will be put out of commission.”

“Your plan still involves blowing a continent into orbit.”

With a rhythmic beating of thumbs against steering wheel, the first man considered, before running his fingers through his blonde hair. He straightened the lapels of his suit jacket, checked his watch, and looked out the window, then at the man in the passenger seat.

“Montague,” he said, brow furrowed “You sound as though you have a problem with this plan. You know it would work.”

The other, Montague, eyed his partner incredulously. “Your plan Capulet, if you want to call it that, happen to prefer heinous property destruction over a simple snatch and grab.” He leaned against the dash “It is fool proof, I know. But, it just doesn’t seem right.”

There was a silence in which they both held their positions, before straightening up in their seats with a coincidental simultaneousness. Capulet sighed “I can see your point, but it has to be done.”

“It’s a continent.” Montague commented.

“It is.” Capulet agreed.

“There are close to a billion people living across it.”

“There are.”

“And you still think it’s a good plan.” Montague said, air rushing from his nostrils.

Capulet’s eyes lit up and he seized a hold of his partner “But it is a good plan; you’ve reviewed it yourself! Hyde would never expect it and that’s the advantage we need – surprise.” Montague peeled the fingers almost vacuum-sealed against his arm. Capulet moved back in his seat “Sorry. If we try something normal, Hyde will see it coming. But if we use an implosion bomb and launch a sixty quadrillion ton chunk of the planet into high orbit, what’s he going to do?”

“Watch as the planet dies around him?” the reply was drier than sandpaper and Capulet wrinkled his nose as a reply.

“Don’t give me that; we, that is to say the Imperial Commonwealth of Earth, built Jeckyll-Hyde and entrusted him with great secrets. He betrayed the trust we placed in him, and is going to sell those secrets that we confided in him to our enemies. As a result, trillions will suffer.” He clasped his hands together and placed them atop the steering wheel of the car “One little planet with only four and a half billion people living – if you could call it that in such a backwards society – across its surface doesn’t really factor in to it.”

Montague didn’t reply, and instead looked out into the cobbled street. His eyes, capable of reading the text of your average dictionary at three hundred metres, passed over the milling populace who had no idea that at this very moment that men from a world they had never heard off were arguing about whether they should blow out a piece of their world away. They were distant evolutionary cousins, though both Montague and Capulet were the end result of six thousand years of progressive genetic manipulation, while the people of this world had only six thousand years of natural adaptation to their environment.

“What right do we have to do this?” Montague said finally, turning back to his partner “Who says we’re allowed to just come along and kill all these unsuspecting people?”

“You had no problem with mass scattering that gas giant two months ago.” Capulet almost pouted and Montague shook his head.

“That was completely different.” He snapped, “Now answer my question!”

Capulet leaned back, sliding his hands behind his head. “We serve the single most powerful government in this galaxy, and one of the most powerful among all the galaxies in the local group.” He gritted his teeth before continuing, “It is our duty to serve something far greater than the concerns of a few lost colonists in the back corner of Norma-Crux.”

“Are you saying that just because the Commonwealth is capable of pushing around most any nation you could care to mention, that we should?” It was Montague’s turn to act like a fanatic, leaning over the handbrake.

“No!” Capulet capitulated “I’m just saying that Jeckyll-Hyde poses too much of a threat to be left alone. Worse still he’s a hyperdimensional computer capable of more functions then there are electrons in the universe, and will out-predict any plan we put into effect. Except this one. Are you willing to let the lives of uncounted trillions be threatened because you’re having problems with the method?”

Montague straightened himself up “Not at all.”

“Listen to – wait, what?” Capulet asked, his face drooping. “You’re convinced?”

“Oh, I always was.” Montague replied with a lazy shrug of his broad shoulders, “I just wanted to know if you were.”

The flesh around Capulet’s jawbone sagged and one of his eyelids twitched but other than that his eyeballs were frozen. It was as if Montague’s head was transparent; made of glass and not a variety of high performance carbon-steels, molecular fibres and synthetic pseudo-flesh. He turned to the wheel and clicked his fingers, remotely starting the car with his force effector. It rumbled, shook, the dash lighting up.

“The device is in the back. Let’s do this thing.”

[Xon]

ROFL

Great short story

[Admiral Bravo]

Apparently these two have never heard of excessive force before, of course this is The Logical World so i'm not really that surprised. Great job Ford.

[Kwizard]

I loved the ending. Thanks for another good Logical World short.

[Ford Prefect]

Thanks guys; Montague and Capulet are much like their Shakespearean namesakes; not concerned with collateral damage. I got the diea of just what they were like when watching Romeo + Juliet (opening scenes with the standoff amidst the chaos).