Oath of Fealty by Jerry Pournelle
The Oath of Fealty refers to a profound social and political concept embodied in the arcology of Todos Santos, a self-sufficient urban structure in Los Angeles designed to meet all the needs of its residents. This monolithic community, rising over 1,000 feet and housing nearly a quarter of a million people, operates under a cooperative model where citizens buy shares in the corporation. The inhabitants of Todos Santos have entered into a "social contract," accepting surveillance by security forces in exchange for a sense of safety, which has led to distinct behavioral differences between them and the surrounding Los Angeles population.
Within this framework, Todos Santos resembles a feudal system, governed by a hierarchy of corporate managers who fulfill roles akin to a feudal aristocracy. This arrangement has generated tension with neighboring Los Angeles, where some residents view Todos Santos as a drain on local resources. The narrative escalates with conflicts involving a militant group called the FROMATES, leading to dramatic events that challenge the safety and governance of Todos Santos. These dynamics highlight the complexities of communal living, security, and the ethical implications of surveillance, offering rich material for examination from various cultural and sociopolitical perspectives.
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Oath of Fealty
First published: 1981
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—technocratic
Time of work: The near future
Locale: Los Angeles, California
The Plot
Todos Santos is an arcology (a word invented to describe the city concept embodied in Paolo Soleri’s Arcosanti, built in Arizona) constructed in a burned-out area of Los Angeles’ city slums and bought by financiers in Switzerland. A monolith covering four square miles, more than 1,000 feet high, and housing nearly a quarter of a million people, the technocracy provides everything for its citizens. It is designed as a cooperative in which the residents buy shares in the corporation. Citizens of Todos Santos can meet all their needs within the city limits of the arcology, never visiting the city of Los Angeles that surrounds it.
A “social contract” has developed among the citizens of Todos Santos: They have agreed to accept the potential for constant surveillance by their security force in return for a pervasive feeling of safety. This feeling of safety so affects the citizens of Todos Santos that behavioral differences allow the citizens of Los Angeles and the citizens of Todos Santos to tell each other apart. This is an important sociopolitical concept underlying the entire story.
Todos Santos functions as a feudal family structure through the hard work of the corporate managers. The feudal aristocracy includes the top executives: Arthur Bonner, the general manager; Barbara Churchward, the director of economic development; Preston Sanders, the deputy general manager; and Tony Rand, the chief designer of Todos Santos and its security systems.
Los Angeles surrounds this secure haven. Many “Angelinos” see Todos Santos not as a utopian haven but as a drain on Los Angeles’ economic resources and the ecological resources of the area. One particularly militant group of organized dissidents called the FROMATES (The American Ecology Army) has tried to disable the Todos Santos facility in the past.
The plot builds to a crisis when three college students, posing as FROMATES members, outwit the Todos Santos security system to stage a mock attack on the building support systems. Preston Sanders must make a split-second decision whether the invaders are capable of doing damage to Todos Santos and its people. Sanders engages Todos Santos’ defense systems, and two of the three students are killed. One of them is the son of a prominent Los Angeles politician, James Planchet. As revenge, Planchet has Sanders charged with murder. Sanders, who feels guilty about the deaths of the two students, turns himself over to the Los Angeles police rather than remaining under the protection of Todos Santos’ security.
Having revealed Todos Santos’ secret defense systems, Tony Rand must prepare Todos Santos to defend itself from further attack by the actual FROMATES. He plans a daring and clever rescue of Sanders from jail to show the world that Todos Santos takes care of its own. FROMATES attacks on two fronts, first invading the same mechanical area where the mock attack by the manipulated college students took place, then kidnapping Barbara Churchward, director of economic development. Churchward is one of two Todos Santos managers with a brain implant that allows her to talk to the main computer system from anywhere in or linked to the arcology. This link allows Todos Santos’ security to track her to the FROMATES hideout by circling in vehicles linked by computer communication. Churchward is rescued without the Los Angeles police becoming involved. Todos Santos gives notice to the world that it will protect its own, using a solution, unique for the modern world, reminiscent of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850).