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[Meeting pieced together from the secret White House intranet and Bob Nixon’s autobiography. RBB]
With the minority leader and two Democratic presidential candidates in the room, Jack Spence knew that it would take all his skill to ensure this prestigious gathering did not turn upon him.
With John Slimbridge and Bob Nixon, he’d visited the Ambassador and they’d all expressed their worries at the potential for resistance against the Federation by the wealthy and influential in the country.
Ya Moroforon had offered to take the entire party to Arlucian and another nearby planet, to encourage positivity, but Yol Spence had a change of tack he wanted to attempt first.
The prestigious gathering gradually filled the Roosevelt Room, which had seen its fair share of momentous White House meetings.
The room had a boring oat-coloured carpet, but nothing else in the room disappointed those who visited the West Wing. Sixteen sumptuous marigold leather chairs surrounded the beautiful black cherry table and the plain oyster walls were adorned with famous original works of art. Four additional chairs had been brought in for extra invitees.
The assembly was gathering, but the marginally higher-backed chair in the centre of the side of the table remained vacant, awaiting the arrival of the President.
The chat was general and nervous. This was not a routine meeting. Two Democratic presidential candidates and the majority and minority house leaders would be present, plus a strange selection of industrial giants. They all knew this was to discuss the Galactic Federation, but what slant was the President going to apply?
One of the two doors at the fireplace end of the room opened and in walked the President, Vice President, and White House Chief of Staff. They took their seats, President Spence looked slowly around the room, making eye contact with each of the attendees, trying to impose his authority on the assembly. No one spoke. This was Jack Spence’s meeting and he’d chair it, personally.
The silence continued for what seemed an interminable minute. Some looked at each other, wondering if they were still waiting for someone else to arrive, but the doors were closed. They’d not be disturbed now.
Finally, the President leaned back in his seat and brought his hands together, almost as if beginning a prayer. ‘You might be wondering why I’ve called such a strange meeting. I’ve invited officials from the administration, the opposition, and a number of others who undoubtedly deserve their titles as captains of industry.’
The assembly shuffled in their seats, sipping water from glasses and fiddling with their pens.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, the discovery of a Galactic Federation has taken the wind from all our sails. Some of us have been fortunate enough to actually travel halfway across the galaxy to visit some of the Federation worlds. Personally, I was on a world which required me to wear an exoskeleton because of its gravity, another which needed us to wear light plastic suits to protect us from acid in the atmosphere, a moon upon which we could jump a dozen feet into the air, and more ordinary physical worlds which stunned us with extraordinary scenery, unbelievably colourful plants, and people of all shapes and sizes.’
‘Perhaps you were only shown their best worlds, sir,’ said the Majority House Leader.
‘No, Vernon, we chose the worlds we were to visit and there were six ships, all visiting different worlds. There was no attempt to pull the wool over our eyes. Rest assured on that.
‘On the capital world, I met the president of the 250,000 planets and I’m returning to Arlucian for a personal meeting with him in a few weeks’ time. I’d say man to man, but he’s an hermaphrodite or something!’ said the President, laughing at his own statement.
‘Ladies and gentlemen, we’ve an extraordinary opportunity to rid the world of famine, poverty, and injustice, but to do so we need to be bold and act in a less than intuitive manner. This is real, we’re not chasing rainbows here.’
‘They say you want to impoverish us, sir,’ said one of the industrialists.
‘Peter, let’s not think about our own situations just yet. We’ve the chance to help the entire world if we have the wisdom to do so.’
Bob Nixon silently admired the President’s attempt to manipulate the hostility which was most certainly evident in the room. Was he winning the struggle?
‘You’ll have seen the video of our visits. On Federation worlds, there’s no poverty at all, anywhere,’ he paused to allow that to sink in. ‘Every citizen has the ability and right to be able to live his/her/its life in the manner it wishes. There’s no war, no terrorism, no battle with drug lords or protection rackets, nor with corruption and with greedy and selfish individuals who would exploit poorer nations to line their own pockets.’
‘Are you accusing us of such practices, sir?’ said another of the industrialists.
‘None that I’m aware of, David. Only each of you know, as individuals, whether you stretch the boundaries of decency, honesty, and integrity to make your businesses successful. Your businesses pay you top dollar for your success. I don’t know your failings, I only know you’re sitting in this room today because you’re considered to be among the most trusted and respected people within your industries. I want you here to be part of this and to help me implement the American side of it all.’
David sat back in his seat, somewhat admonished, but excited too.
‘The Federation has a small military and police force which are capable of maintaining law and order. They can actually roll back time to see what evil intent or actions were committed by people. Crime will have no hiding place! They also have a rapid-reaction force of more than thirty thousand ships who deal with natural disasters and emergencies wherever they may occur in the known universe. I’ve found nothing within the Federation or its worlds to concern me. Shortly, all of you will be travelling to a couple of worlds to see exactly what we’ve seen. You’ll not have to take my word for it.’
Many of those present looked at each other with surprise in their eyes after hearing this new revelation.
‘I can’t get away, Mr President. We’ve some rather delicate business negotiations beginning tomorrow.’
‘Cancel them, Devlin. Let the motor industry stew in its own fumes and gas for a couple of days!’
‘We’ve been working on it for months, sir.’
‘Devlin, if you cannot spare a couple of days to learn about the most exciting venture in human history, you are, of course, excused to pursue your own priorities! What is being offered to the world is more important than all the manufacturing contracts in Detroit.’
Devlin began to speak, but the President cut him off. ‘Devlin, I said you’re excused. Thanks for coming, but goodbye.’
With the President’s eyes boring into him and others in the room looking around, almost in shock, the largest manufacturer of automobiles and trucks in the world, stood and left the room.
‘Would anyone else like to leave? I invited you here to be part of a great new worldwide adventure. If your businesses are more important than that, you might as well leave now, as you’re no use to me nor the American people! Devlin will soon learn that his important meetings are but a futile attempt to turn back the tide of progress.’
There were mumbles of general agreement to stay from most of the people in the room. Others sat calmly. Most of these individuals could be good poker players if the need arose.
‘Here’s the rub,’ continued the President. ‘There is always the danger of a catch in any situation. To paraphrase, “It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.” That is the situation in which we find ourselves! I want all of you to accompany me through the eye of that needle. Will you be up for the challenge?’
More seat shuffling and pen playing among the attendees.
‘We can grab the chance to do the right thing for the entire world with both hands, but we must understand that it might be against our own personal interests. We must not ask where the profit is for us, individually, but where the gain will be for the world as a whole.’
‘Spit it out, Mr President. What exactly are you saying? What do you want of us?’ asked Harry McBride, the leader in the democratic nomination for president stakes.
‘Ha. You’ll love it, Harry. It’s right up your street.’
‘Go on then, tell us!’
‘The Federation believe in total equality, from top to bottom. It’s all based around automation. Every industrial and food production process will be automated. I don’t mean that managers will have automated factories and farms, but the managers themselves will be robots. It’s extremely rare for any person to ever be needed to resolve a problem in production. Everything is automated. This includes the marketing, distribution, and sales of all products. There’ll be no one working in the fields, but neither will they be driving trucks, being cashiers or baggers, selling vacuum cleaners. It’s all going to be automated.’
‘That’s not possible!’ said Mark Deloitte, the retail guru.
‘I assure you it is, Mark. I’ve seen it in operation. You will too, soon. I’ve had conversations with robot managers who’ve never had to call upon a person during their entire existence. The automation is a fact of life and we can have it. It might take a while for the dust to settle, but it truly is on offer.’
‘But what’ll people do? There’ll be riots,’ said another industrialist.
‘That’s the beauty of it, Jim. The people don’t ever need to work on anything they don’t want to do. I met people who look after butterflies because they love them, make toys — not for money but as a hobby, spend their time on sports and having fun with their kids. I met farmers who now do nothing but enjoy trying to maintain rare breeds of animals. I met others who voluntarily work in restaurants because they love cooking and designing new dishes or cocktails. People can do exactly what they want to do.’
‘But who pays them?’ asked the Minority House Leader.
‘The Federation pays them. Everyone earns exactly the same amount of money... throughout the galaxy, including House Minority Leaders, Presidents, firemen, anyone. Each person will only do the jobs that they really want to do and enjoy doing!’
‘Don’t make me laugh, Mr President,’ said Donald MacKinnon. ‘I’ve worked my entire life to build my businesses and my lifestyle. You can’t take that all away from me. I won’t allow it.’
‘Ah, Donald. I see. You would rather people continued to starve in the Sudan, die from wars in Iraq, be ethnically cleansed in Myanmar and be cheated out of a good life by corrupt officials in Ghana? Is that right? The usual phrase is “I’m all right, Jack,”, but let me rephrase it just for you and say that as long as you’re all right, Donald, the rest of the world can go to hell.’
‘You’re distorting my words, Mr President.’
‘I don’t think so, Donald. Kindly leave the meeting.’
‘But, sir, I didn’t intend to sound antagonistic.’
The President stood, ‘Leave! Immediately! Don’t make me call the guard! I have to know the calibre of people with whom I’m working!’
The industrialist stood, noticing that the others were already on their feet from when the President rose. He coloured, slammed his folder down on the table and left the room.
‘Before we take our seats again, does anyone else feel this way? Are any of you so selfish, arrogant, and conceited that you’d rather someone somewhere else starve than live more frugally yourself?’
‘No, Mr President, but I think you’d better spell it out now for the rest of us,’ said Mark Deloitte.
The President began to outline the actual events which would need to take place for membership.