Janus

[A Former User]

"They've arrived," said the aide softly. She looked around herself, the shadows of the blinds cast across her face, a warm light streaming in from the window. She tapped her left foot - the entire affair was terrifying.

"Good, good." The President jerked his head toward the open doorway. He sighed, pursing his lips. This was entirely without precedent; the Federal Chancellor, by tradition, had this power. But it was not as though it was unconstitutional...no, certainly not. But still, here, here, in his beloved country, tradition was so very, very important, especially to those in the Bundesversammlung. He sat himself at the table before him, tapping his fingers against its cool surface insistently. A bad habit of his, he really must try to stop it; but what does it matter?

A figure, obscured by the shadows of the darkened hallway, moved toward them. "Good day," she said, stepping into the light. "How are you doing?"

This was really no time for pleasantries, but of course a sense of normalcy must be kept in these times. "Badly," he said. It was true; the Bundeswirtschaftsrat was again beginning work on creating the next indicative economic plan and of course the fiasco that always came with that was beginning; the Federal Chancellery again was having...difficulties, to say the least, in reconciling itself with the legislative chambers it had distanced from itself with its "Basic Income Act," and so very, very, very much more.

"Ah," she said. "As for me, it is so-so. I expect you already know my name; I know yours, in any case."

"Yes," said the President. "Yes, Ms. Marchand. But please, let's get to business. You are, in any case, a sort of foreign minister for your nation. Why you have come here I do not know. If it is for recognition or support then no. The regime of Josephine Areai is one of the worst ever to grace this land, even worse than the regime of Dollfuss."

"But no. I have not come to gain support for that regime," said Marchand. "Areai has failed, and is slowly going mad. Her state will soon fall; that is assured. No, what I want is support not for her but for a new state."

The President sighed yet again. "The Federal Government has already instructed me to release a statement recognizing the Republic. And I can't say that I disagree with their decision."

"But the Republic will not last for very long," said Marchand. "It will perhaps be stable for two, perhaps three months, and then collapse. But what I am proposing; what I am proposing will last a thousand years."

Rhetoric of the old Social Nationalist Party. A union of crazies; the execution of their leader was perhaps the only good thing ever done by the administration of the Federal State. "Ah. So! You are a fascist," said the President, frowning, his words sharp and bitter.

"Fascism is a scourge on this Earth," said Marchand. "On the contrary, I am an anti-fascist. What I propose is not a dictatorial and totalitarian regime as with Areai, nor an unstable state as with the Republic. What I propose is simply your system in Austria brought to Eastern Haane, for you have achieved so much, created a united and harmonious state without precedent."

"The Austrian experiment is not replicable," said the President wearily. "Our material situation is ours; it is not yours."

Marchand frowned. "Our situation is ours; but our end-goal is the Austrian system. Our state shall be socialist, democratic, and corporatist; but will be centralized, embodied in a single individual."

The President waved her away. She was deranged; if not, it would be much worse. What could be done?