Page 28 - Unlikely Stories 5

The Law of the Wheel

predecessor mastered the centripetalists pressing for internal
dissolution of our system of government; they called it ‘revolution’,
but in practice it was an attempt to stop the wheel entirely. We
returned to spinning properly on our axis, and the kingdom has again
prospered.”
Again his audience found nothing controversial in his words. None
of them had been remiss in sharing the wealth of the past decades
slowly filtering up the chain of command.
“Now the slow swing between extremes has presented us another
challenge: centrifugalists, active in two provinces abutting the
perimeter of our kingdom. They are the peril to equilibrium we must
deal with now. You, the implementers of policy in those far-flung
regions of Zongo, will carry out the necessary measures to neutralize
those dangers to the wheel. I know I can count on you.”
Eight grim countenances met his gaze sweeping the panoramic
view presented in his private chambers.
“The Law of the Wheel shall again guide us. I am reminded of one
of the phrases used by another great philosopher of the past: ‘opiate
of the masses’. In a far older era, an actual drug was used by our
enemies to knock us temporarily off-center. We recovered after a
long and costly struggle, but the lesson is clear: mankind can be
enslaved by the capacity for addiction. Wheels are also agents of
hypnosis, tapping into the irrational fears and desires governing
human behavior when the great Wheel of the Law is not obeyed. We
shall use smaller wheels to offset the centrifugalists’ hold on the
masses.”
The king’s men opened their tablets and began taking notes.
“The fissiparous provinces lie at opposite ends of the kingdom,
presenting different environments and preoccupations of their
inhabitants. In the far western highlands a primitive cult has been
exploited by the separatists to convince the superstitious peasants
that a reincarnated spiritual leader is in charge of their destiny—not
me! He and his other high priests have already put their followers
under the spell of a spurious wheel: as long as the ignorant continue
to spin their tiny discs and wheels, they will believe in their master’s
holiness and blindly do his bidding. Thus it is not in our immediate
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