"So this is the Shanghai Club."
Bedecked with decorations and posters, the command center of the bureau opened up and revealed the small, dimly lit and smoky room, where antiques lay all over the shelves and walls - laminated posters that must have been hundreds of years old, books that had been carefully kept and maintained. A few individuals were sitting around a table, not playing cards but indulging themselves on smokable plants of many hazy varieties, of which only a few Xiaoying personally recognized, and drinking upon substances out of unlabeled tin cans. Far from seeming out of their minds, however, they all acknowledged Xiaoying's entry with careful and measuring gazes.
Her host gestured between her and the table. "Xiaoying, I presume you know Da Meng, Jiang Diao..." He went thus around the table, as Xiaoying bowed to each respectively. "And, of course, Dr. Mark Zhu."
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Zhu stood up from his seat, a rotund man of impressive height and a consistently tired expression.
"Comrade Deng, it's good to see you in this room at long last. I had high hopes you'd do well on your Xíngkǎo, and I'm pleased to see I was right, as usual." He chuckled, which Xiaoying knew was an exceptionally rare event.
In light of this she felt a little humbled. She bowed. "I appreciate your confidence, Comrade Zhu..." She could not help her eyes wandering around the strange, little room. Though small, it did not seem uncomfortable, just somewhat cramped - as though it were both a museum and a meeting room, for the way so many 21st and 22nd century relics cluttered the bookshelves that ringed the room.
The man who led her in noticed her curiosity. "Yes, that's a common look for people to have entering this room for the first time," he said wryly, stroking his small beard.
"Now, now, Comrade Wang, let's not tease our newest colleague. On Habitat 9, it is a privilege to see this room."
Wang sat in his own chair, still seeming rather amused with himself, as some of the others chuckled. Da Meng smiled her usual serpentine smile, but even so there was something about it that seemed unusual to Xiaoying - as if Da were actually trying to communicate a sort of fondness in her gaze, which did not suit her in the slightest.
A machine emerged from the wall, well-concealed beforehand, and offered a tablet screen to Zhu, who tapped on it. "Perhaps I can offer you a drink, and then we can discuss why you've been summoned here."
"Yes, please," said Xiaoying gratefully, the feeling of thirst overpowering her anxiety. "Something made out of lemons, if it could be done?"
"And something to help the anxiety," chimed in another member of the group, Jiang Diao, somewhat eagerly. He adjusted his spectacles.
"Yes," acknowledged Zhu. "You should try to relax." The machine produced a tin can after Zhu tapped the screen some more, and he offered it to Xiaoying.
"Sit, sit," he said, and offered her a chair at the table. She eagerly opened her drink and enjoyed the citrus scent and flavor. Her eyes wandered around the room again as the other members took the opportunity posed by the shuffle to draught upon their drinks and cigarettes.
"So, at this point, the question hanging on your mind has to be
What is the Shanghai Club?" said Zhu rhetorically. "Well, this is it. It is the people in this room, we who bear the responsibility of not only managing Habitat 9, but also, and far more importantly, planning for the future of its inhabitants.
"The relics that you see in this room were created by our ancestors and passed down by our forebears here as symbols of our history, and symbols of the ambitions of our predecessors. You see, the Shanghai Club was created when the
Tongyi first launched into space, in order to help cultivate the leadership of those of us who left Earth.
"The principle of the Shanghai Club is a simple one: it is trivial to find a thousand soldiers... but to find a single good general is a different matter. When all is ready but the east wind, it is the responsibility of leaders to give themselves to their soldiers, so that all may prosper."
There were sage nods around the table as Xiaoying felt the intensity of Zhu's gaze. "We are the generals, you see. We have been isolated and selected based on the ancient wisdom of harmonious governance passed down by our forebears, the wisdom that you yourself have demonstrated exceptional proficiency in with your exceptional Xíngzhèng Kǎoshì scores. Such was the purpose of those exams, you see, and all of your studies - in the sciences, in the philosophies, and in the neurologies - have served to deliver you and us this moment of initiation."
The others clapped politely, giving looks of an approving and gentle nature. Xiaoying stared at all of them, feeling perplexed.
"I am afraid I don't understand," she said, worried momentarily of disappointing them with her confusion. "Habitat 9 is governed by the Politburo - of which you are all the senior authoritative members. The apparatus is transparent. What does it serve to..." She struggled to find words. "To have this... private clique?"
The other members did not seem fazed by these remarks, and continued their draughting, though not disrespecting her by looking away or seeming annoyed.
Zhu gave a noncommittal shrug of sorts and inclined his head towards her. "The apparatus of Habitat 9 is... a schematic; an organization of facts, of laws, and of allocations. It provides a forum for the general public to act on issues which can be afforded to the general public. But, after all, the Politburo is supreme over the Assembly for all matters which require
the superior insight. To merely join the Politburo reflects an affinity of certain kinds of aptitudes, but it does not reflect the philosophical understanding of our ideology."
Ideology. Xiaoying felt a shiver go down her spine. "What do you mean by that?"
Zhu leaned back, made himself a little more comfortable. "Your... ideas, your perceptions, your views, your feelings... how you perceive and understand the world... and the model of understanding that you've created for yourself to contextualize that world. Past civilizations have called it many things - Kǒngjiào, Rúxué, Confucianism, the refined studies, the principles of Princeliness, the Way of Kings, communism. It has many names because it is many things at many points in history. Most importantly, it's what you have been taught as the
Obligation of Heaven. (天堂义务, Tiāntáng yìwù) Your classmates - and other students throughout the history of Habitat 9 - have sometimes excelled in the management of the Habitat, but they lacked the essential moral character and understanding of civic duty to truly express themselves in their obligations to the people they ruled. Hence, long ago, the Shanghai Club was created to institute within our little phyle the moral center it would need to colonize the new world and preserve the most important wisdom the old world could offer us. That's not to say that it will be easy, or that we are infallible gods, but it is ultimately our responsibility to guard the people from the chaos that resides within their own hearts. Hence, we plan, we decide, and we guide. For the good of everyone."
"For the good of everyone," Xiaoying repeated, and found herself nodding along. Through a tangle of odd feelings in her heart, almost inevitably, helplessly, she felt the clarification of a single notion shine through like a beacon: she agreed wholeheartedly, as they knew she would.
"Go ahead and drink up," said Zhu. "And let us review and discuss the latest scan data from the Planet!"
