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[At this point in the series of events, I need to break away from Paula Wilson’s diary to provide a flavour of what the Ambassador and her advisors were thinking about the Earth. To do this I’ve reverted to Yol Merofort’s recorded notes of unofficial Federation meetings on the Ambassador’s flagship. Fortunately, he’d uploaded them to the Frame and there was also a copy in Ambassador Trestogeen’s office.
[Slindo Merofort was born on Purrs, fifty-two Earth years previously. He studied at several universities with his main interest being exoplanets and exobiology. As part of his studies he wrote a book on the behaviour of corals and budding invertebrate creatures in the oceans of the four worlds of the Katarin system. It’s acknowledged as an extremely fine work and is used as a reference in many universities.
[Following that, he chose to work for the Federation Emergency Services, which saw him entering areas which had been devastated by natural disasters. During this period, he met the first of his two partners, Viro. They both became senior officers in the FES, Slindo actually reaching the giddy heights of deputy director.
[Eventually returning to Purrs, they met his second partner, Eloo, and the family of five, with two children, lived comfortably on Lake Dirumder between projects. Usually two of the three parents remained at home while the third undertook community service work elsewhere, although, more recently, they’d all been living together and carrying out community service nearby. Slindo taking this diplomatic assignment has meant an extended period apart.
[After ten years of writing and voluntary teaching, he met Ya Moroforon at a seminar. They became friends and she asked him to join her team to investigate the planet Earth in the system of Sol in the Orion spur of the galaxy. She’d been appointed Ambassador, only her second such appointment, although she’d had a number of lesser roles with other diplomatic teams.
[This was Slindo’s first diplomatic mission, and the above brings us up to date with the current timeline. RBB]
There’s no doubt that there was a subdued buzz of dismay shipboard, after a week on the planet Earth. Several times each day, I’d come across crew members discussing human activities. The following typical conversation, as near as I can remember it, took place in the dimplert room. I was in the middle of a frame with a colleague when Yol Ternado and Yol Kadalski, a rising diplomatic star, became audible at the bar.
Ternado said, ‘I can’t believe this planet! Did you see that news programme tonight?’
‘What, the CNN broadcast?’ replied Kadalski.
‘Yes. There are children and babies starving to death in a place called the Sudan. Thousands of them!’
‘Yes. How can they allow that?’
‘I think we should step in and assist.’
‘We can’t do that, Ternado, against policy.’
‘But they’re dying! The people in this part of the world seem to carry on their lives as if it doesn’t matter. They act as if they’re completely detached from it, as if it’s part of a visi-screen drama which stops if they change channels.’
‘There were US Aid boxes shown arriving on the news tonight, so this country is helping.’
‘But apparently this has been going on for years. How can one part of the world be starving for years on end when we see such surplus of food in this city?’
‘Yes, it’s too bad!’ said Kadalski.
My interest was piqued, and I contrived to lose my frame of dimplert and went back to my quarters. I hadn’t been paying much attention to Earth news broadcasts up until this point, but the overheard conversation in the dimplert room was the one which forced me to take note. Previously I’d picked up snippets of disquiet among crew who’d been watching Earth media, but to have bright diplomats like Kadalski so upset, gave it more gravitas.
A short search of our computer recordings brought up the news items in question. They really did show children dying. Babies and young children so emaciated their eyes were bulging and ribs exposed. Arms and legs were no more than skin and bones. Stomachs were distended, flies crawling over their faces, into their eyes, noses and mouths. Frankly, it was disgusting. I undertook further searches and found that there were several countries around the world where there were some less intense famine conditions and also more where disease was the cause. I was quite horrified. I knew this was not a rich world on a Galactic Standard scale, but there seemed to be an imbalance between need and resources, and, more worryingly, a couldn’t-care-less attitude to suffering.
It started me wondering about the war taking place in the north of the country called Iraq. Ya Moroforon had mentioned it when discussing the places our inspectors would wish to visit. I pulled up a search on all news references to it since we’d landed. There were countless hours of broadcasts. To narrow down my study, I selected a single news company called ITN and settled down to watch.
Much of the information was repeated so I was able to skip through it, but, even so, there was more than an hour’s specific coverage. The people had been bombed out of their homes, living in the streets or tented camps. It showed children and adults who had lost limbs, their lives forever being changed. Far too many had lost siblings, parents, other relations. I was truly shocked. The trauma for the people involved would stay with them forever. The hopelessness on their faces was the saddest thing. There was never need for war and destruction. That governments of apparently civilised nations were allowing this to happen was quite unbelievable.
In addition, the commercial news stations were showing advertisements for people to give to charities to help them deal with some of the problems. They were asking for monthly amounts of three, four or five dollars. I dug into the local internet and discovered that the average person received more than thirty thousand dollars per annum yet were being asked for so little. It didn’t make sense. Why wasn’t government dealing with the food crisis, not charities?
In simple terms, the government of Iraq was trying to prevent Turkish Kurds from creating an independent state in the north. The individuals at the top of each side were such a tiny minority, yet their intransigence was affecting the lives of everyone in the region. Some flexibility in the standpoints of each side could resolve it overnight, but no one wanted to give an inch. Causing death and dismemberment in their own populations was casually brushed aside as an incidental cost of winning their fight.
The larger countries had a name for the killings – collateral damage – Britain, France, and the USA were supporting the Iraqis and Russia supporting the Turks. What amazed me is that four of these countries were part of the United Nations Security Council. How was it that they were unable to detach themselves from the local situation and work together towards a mutual solution?
Delving deeper into some newsprint, it soon became clear that Iraq has large oil reserves and the Security Council nations were looking after their own interests. People were dying because of this. The troubles in the north of this country had been continuing since the previous century.
I turned my attention to the other war and found it to be even more ridiculous. Iran was supporting a desperately poor, breakaway section of the Yemen, and Saudi Arabia, Britain, France, and the USA were providing Saudi Arabia with huge resources to resist. This had been flaring up and dying down regularly over the last twenty years. No sooner had the people begun to rebuild their lives and communities, than local warlords started the fighting all over again. It was so unbalanced, and the conflict was causing death and destruction from bombing and by preventing food reaching the conflict areas. Digging into print media a further time, I discovered that Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world and has an intolerable record in the abuse of human rights. It could solve the starvation at a stroke. It was, however, a massive trading partner of Britain, France, and the USA who seemed to turn a blind eye to the effects of the war. Quite unforgivable selfishness from nations which could so easily resolve the issue.
My personal view of Yol Spence, Yol Hood, Ya Meunier, and Yol Ivanov was seriously damaged. Further digging into media showed, clearly, that all four of these leaders were well aware of the death and destruction they were supporting. How could they behave so abominably?
Elsewhere, in less dramatic news, I discovered disputes in other countries like Myanmar which involved the displacement of people on a frightening scale. It was called ethnic cleansing, and, for a while, I thought the persecuted were a different or invasive species, but no, they just happened to have different beliefs. With all the resources at their disposal, the rich nations of this planet were doing nothing to intervene. Actually, I soon came to realise that they were intervening, but so ineffectively that the ordinary people were still dying and being driven out of their homes. I found dozens of examples. The people of Earth did not consider the rights of the individual to be sacrosanct and they were overridden in the pursuit of national and sometimes, even corporate or financial interests.
The rights of the individual were the prime consideration of the Federation, nothing was more important. This planet was going to struggle to come to terms with that. Were humans a rare example of a species which could never live in peace? That thought was quickly countered when I took a closer look at the kindness, generosity, and love of many people. It wasn’t the majority causing the horror, it was the tiny minority who held power, whether on a tribal, national, or worldwide scale.
I called Ya Mistorn and we spent most of the next day and the small hours of the following day, producing some ideas to take to the Ambassador.
The next morning was the day before the starships would arrive to take the leaders of Earth to visit Federation worlds. I called Garincha and asked if Heldy and I could come to see her. We were ready to raise the issue with her and, hopefully, find a pathway to a solution.
««o»»
It is unusual for Heldy to sit still, but during this meeting with Garincha, she was as still as I’d ever seen her. Flying, for Heldy, is a way of reacting to information. If something was exciting, she would exhibit the joy by flying to and fro or carrying out aerobatics. Most of the time her antics were relatively unobtrusive, but those of us who knew her and the Clueb species became almost oblivious to them. Any vaguely annoying aspects to her apparent mischievousness were always tempered by knowing her incredible ability to remember everything she saw or experienced. This was why Cluebs were so often part of diplomatic and ministerial teams. Never claim you didn’t say or hear something if a Clueb was in the room!
‘I’ve prepared an edit of some relevant news programmes for you, Garincha. Heldy and I are becoming most concerned about what we are seeing.’
‘Let me see, Slindo,’ said the Ambassador.
We sat in silence watching through approximately three hours of news showing as many of the conflicts, disease, and displacement issues I’d uncovered. It was painful to have to watch it all again.
‘Oh, dear,’ said the Ambassador when the sequence finished.
‘Introducing Earth to the Federation won’t be straightforward,’ said Heldy, finally freeing herself from her self-imposed tranquillity and flying over to the terasco to coax a morose series of falling pitch notes from the instrument.
‘How do we deal with this?’ I asked as the last mournful tone faded into the background hum of the air-conditioning. ‘It’s as if they care more about their personal interests than the welfare of their fellow citizens.’
‘Yes, Slindo,’ said the Ambassador, ‘we’ve seen this on other worlds, but usually they have been somewhat less advanced technologically than Earth, so we’ve left them to continue their development, sometimes providing advice and guidance if there’s little to correct, but this, this is horrific. Way out of control.’
‘We could just pack up and go,’ said Heldy, playing a tinkling sound of rising spiral chords, then settling on the back of my chair.
‘Yes, that would be a possibility, but we’re diplomats and we should be able to help them to work out a solution for themselves,’ said the Ambassador.
‘During their visits to our worlds, we could guide the conversations in such a way which makes it obvious they’re falling far short of our requirements for membership,’ I said.
‘That has potential, Slindo. When do the starships arrive?’
‘Two are in orbit now and four will be here in a few hours,’ said Heldy.
‘I think we should also get our inspectors to film the conditions in these war and famine zones. When it becomes time for you to make your report, the leaders could be forced to watch what we’ve seen. That might embarrass them back to their senses,’ said the Ambassador.
‘Good idea,’ I agreed.
‘Right, Slindo. Get on to Ya Okafor and arrange landing places for the ships and then I want all the crew and diplomatic staff who’ll be travelling with the leaders in the conference theatre for, say, six tonight. Is that possible?’
‘I’ll get straight onto it. Heldy, can you organise the crew meeting while I get onto the Secretary General?’ I asked.
‘Slindo, make sure our own crew don’t mention these problems within the hearing of the leaders, once they’re on board,’ said the Ambassador.
Our diplomatic teams were not used to such problems. Federation representatives were open and helpful. Being secretive or even deceptive, however well meaning, went against the grain.
‘Also, Heldy, have the inspectors be ready for me to speak to them before they set off on their missions,’ said the Ambassador, bringing our somewhat distressing meeting to a close.
‘Will do, Garincha.’
««o»»
Late in the afternoon, I watched as many different news broadcasts as were available for a couple of hours. Although the starvation and displacement of people through conflict were Earth’s most serious problems, they weren’t the only causes of concern.
There were continual minor news items about climate problems and our own climate laboratory on the ship had shown that there was a serious case of over use of carbon-based fuels. This was warming the atmosphere and oceans at an alarming rate, which in turn caused more serious storms, floods, and otherwise disruptive weather. The ice sheets were melting with the obvious effect on the rise in sea levels. This, in turn, affected small island nations and was in danger of submerging some completely.
From what I could ascertain, the parts of the world using the most carbon-based fuels were those who were least affected by the weather problems, or, at least, best able to protect themselves. Those who were most badly affected didn’t have the resources to protect themselves nor the political wherewithal to tackle their wealthy and powerful neighbours’ selfishness. It was all symptomatic of fragmented world government.
Heldy had given me another report from our climate laboratory which dealt with the production of plastics. Vast quantities of single-use plastics were being produced and finding their way into the oceans, where it killed wildlife, got into the food chain and was even introducing disease to my favourite creatures, the corals. A quick check on the Frame told me that the coral reefs of Earth would likely be gone, to all intents and purposes, within seventy years. Currently, they were still beautiful, but vast swathes of coral were showing the distress which was the harbinger of death.
Further reports I’d hardly even glanced at showed factories polluting rivers, particularly in poorer countries where no one was able to make a stand against the owners, for whom wealth came far above health in their grand moneymaking schemes. Their governments stood idly by while children and adults found their skin blistering and their lungs and internal organs damaged by chemicals used for no better reason than to dye fabrics for clothes.
The whole planet was one enormous mess!
««o»»
That evening, Garincha stood before all of the diplomatic teams who had been called in to assist. Three for each group of leaders.
She told them to watch the news edit I’d provided and gave them strict instructions about keeping their personal feelings out of their discussions with the leaders – the main effort was to demonstrate the plus sides of Federation membership and to clearly show that none of the ills of the Earth existed on Federation worlds.
The Ambassador emphasised the need for subtlety. She felt that the chance of Earth becoming part of the Federation sat on a knife edge. Strangely, the leaders of Earth, blinkered from acknowledging their world’s problems were actually suspicious of the Federation. Yet their very attitude could cause the Federation to walk away and leave Earth as an isolated planet. Either situation could cause a failure of the diplomatic mission. For the mission to succeed, not only would the leaders of Earth need to see that there is an opportunity to grasp, but the Federation would need to be sure the world could change its ways.
The next day we would take the Earth leaders into deep space. We all steeled ourselves to be enthusiastic and positive.