"You think of the irony of being my prisoner on your precious holiday, Darien. But in truth you are more a Ramses than a Moses than you can ever imagine! I could have been the greatest hero of our age, but instead our nation shall forever bear the scars of War from a battle I could have averted, had you not exiled me here!"
Oh. Are you ranting again? I was just trying to take a nap...AGGGHH!!
"Show me disrespect again and I'll turn up the amperage! Did you ever wonder why I was the only plantation owner with construct servants instead of human ones?"
No souls to break?
"A cynical interpretation, but essentially true. Don't mistake my choice for compassion. I knew that this unresolved contradiction in the founding of our nnation would rip it apart. What's more, I had investigated reports of Sparks among the slaves at other estates, and found truth to those rumors! It was only a matter of time before they posed a serious risk! For the sake of stability I sought a solution that abolitionist and plantation owner alike could accept!"
The Neko. You thought you could sell neko as slaves to the American South as a replacement for human slaves?
"EXACTLY! Being non-human, neko enslavement sidesteps all those quandries the philosophers have! Eventually we could have used them to build constructs to undertake all the menial labor, so the later generations could lead peaceful lives as beasts of the fields or as pets of the ruling class!"
Replacing one race of slaves for another would have done nothing, Doctor. Just as the New World was built on the backs of Indians, Jews, Gypsies, and criminals before the Slave Trade began...
"SILENCE! Don't you realize my solution could have prevented the War Between the States? A grateful nation would have elected me as President of the United States by now!"
But you care nothing for the ideals America was founded on. You only care about Progress and Stability.
"The People always have to believe in something to keep them in line. And what did YOU do when the shooting started? Oh, wait...weren't there! You arrived in Steelhead in the 1830's and rode the paradigm shift into the 1890's! You missed the war entirely!"
I did not know the war was going to occur!
"If you had spent less time making a mockery of military discipline in the Capper Brigade, or strutting around with a badge or tinkering with constructs you might have! Had you even spent those years in a field hospital I would have absolved you! Eh? What's this?"
*Jeremiah manipulates the controls to bring up images of Qli-2, Qli-3 and Kira on the viewscreen*
"It seems your friends have squandered their chance to escape my wrath! One of my larger creations should crush your companions very shortly!"
*evil laughter*
TO BE CONTINUED
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