“You are from very far away,” Chiang said, “and doubtless have very different customs than we do, but the answer is that there is a bidding process, in which the ship officer who wishes to be in an especially favorable position makes an appropriate payment to the Grand Admiral’s staff, and as a result his or her ship is assigned the position in the choreography in which the officer is reported as having performed illustrious acts. It’s all very effective, and ensures that virtuous people are highly rewarded.”

Smith recalled as a very little boy reading a comic book on ancient Greece, in which three people debated how to identify who were the best leaders. The Spartan answered the best leader was the bravest warrior. The Athenian answered that the best leader was the wisest philosopher. The woman from Thebes answered that the best leader was clearly the one who had the most money. Smith remembered reading this and concluding that the ancient Greeks had some very strange ideas. When he grew up, he remembered reading what had happened before the Interregnum, in which all offices were purchased so that indeed whoever could collect the most bribes, or as they called them at the time ‘campaign donations’, was identified as being a great leader.

“That’s very interesting,” Smith said. “If I were to put down a payment for a position, my government would howl ‘bribery’, throw a fit, and have me removed from the Service.  I can say with great certainty that my squadron will not be offering a payment to anyone, and therefore should wonder where we are likely to be assigned in this operation.”

“This question occasionally comes up when foreign ships join one of our maneuvers. Of course, that doesn’t happen very often, because most foreign ships, and I am not referring to yours, Commodore Smith, are not viewed as being good enough to support the Imperial Navy. In fact, and I do not mean this as a criticism of you, Sir, it is my understanding that you are here because the Anglic Union controls part of Ancient Terra, your Union had started building ships again, and there was therefore some interest as to how good your ships are or are not. However, I would expect that since you have survey ships, and are not offering to obtain a heroic position in the choreography, you will be assigned the notional duty of protecting some section of the rear of the Fleet during the battle, and the practical duty of surveying some section of this system’s Kuiper belt and reporting on what you found.”

“I see,” Smith said. “This is been a very educational discussion for me.  I had no idea that your methods of doing things were so, how shall I put it, advanced.”

“May I ask you a question, Sir?” Ekaterina Barterello asked.