There was a moment of silence as we took our seats, and it continued for
another moment as everyone sat in an awkward situation. As there was no
one else in the room besides the four of us, and as Wagner seemed
disinclined to begin, the King opened up our conference with the
following statement:

"Well, dear sirs, what can I say, except that I am glad that you have
finally condescended to seek a mutual agreement on the actions which are
about to ensue, and that I hope that our conference will be productive
and informative. Before we begin, I will outline the rules of the debate
and of the conference, which were agreed upon before the military action
of the recent past," here he looked at Wagner with the look of a judge
who supposes himself morally superior to the criminal in his holding,
"And by which we will still govern the council, despite the sudden
change in circumstances. The rules are as follows: The decision shall be
made by the votes of the three parties involved, namely the Zards, the
Canitaurs, and Jehu, the kinsman redeemer. A majority of two votes is
required to decide which of the paths will be taken: the Futurist or the
Pastite. As is clearly obvious, my dear Jehu, I shall vote Futurist, and
Wagner shall vote Pastite, and it is up to you to cast the decisive
vote. You are the kinsman redeemer, and for all intents and purposes,
you will be the sole decider of the fate of humanity. It is a great
responsibility, but one that you were chosen for by the child of Temis,
the God of Time. Wagner and myself will each make our cases, though you
know them by now, and then you will have all night to decide and you
will tell us your decision in the morning," thus concluded the King's
opening address.

Before anyone else could follow it up, I interjected, "But I was sent by