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[Taken from Yol Merofort’s notes and video files. RBB]
Garincha helped herself to another edrule sol. They were delicious. Puff pastry enfolding a couple of the tiniest, salty but sweet fish. Very moreish indeed.
Eloo topped up the glasses which were gradually being depleted. Automaton waiters were usually asked to disappear during private dinner parties, unless there was a spillage or the like.
The door cracked open. Some blue fingers appeared around the edge, followed by a sheepish looking face.
‘What’s up, Rindo?’ asked his father.
He’d been crying.
‘Come to Muma,’ said Eloo, opening her arms to welcome her tiny son.
‘Bad dream!’ he said.
‘You can tell us. What was it?’
‘The elephant thing from the zoo,’ he said. ‘Its tentacle got me!’
‘It’s called a trunk, son,’ said Slindo. ‘It’s a nose, not a tentacle. It wouldn’t hurt you. Elephants are gentle giants.’
The domestic drama subsided and Eloo took the young ape back to his room.
‘I wondered if the zoo was a good idea,’ said Slindo.
‘Yes,’ said Heldy. ‘Humans seem to like keeping things in cages. Odd looking creatures, elephants, with those long prehensile trunks.’
‘It was a big cage... a huge park area, in fact,’ said Slindo.
‘Still don’t like it,’ said the flying cherub.
‘What did you make of Yol Spence and Yol Slimbridge, today?’ asked Garincha.
‘Don’t know,’ said Heldy. ‘Yol Spence has changed his tune since the early days, but I’m worried about his faith in Yol Slimbridge. Felt he was sort of untrustworthy.’
‘Yes. I thought the same, Heldy,’ said Slindo. ‘I think Yol Spence is truly trying to bridge the divide between his wealthy citizens and the needs of the many.’
‘Not an easy task,’ said Garincha as Eloo returned to the room.
‘Settled now?’ asked Slindo.
‘Think so,’ she replied, looking around her guests. ‘You’re talking diplospeak again, aren’t you?’
‘Sorry,’ said Garincha. ‘My fault. We’re all a bit concerned about the US President and his chance of winning support for membership.’
‘It was nice of him to arrange our tour of New York,’ said Eloo.
‘Yes. Three weeks ago, he’d not have given us a second thought as people. That’s a big change,’ said Slindo.
‘This constitution thing could be a problem,’ said Heldy.
‘Yes,’ said Garincha. ‘I was reading it and there are quite a few areas where the Federation will need changes made.’
‘Carrying weapons is one,’ said Slindo.
‘And some of the clauses will be affected by the need for equality... surprisingly!’ said Garincha.
‘Can they not just vote to change the text?’ asked Eloo.
‘No. Not as simple as that and the presidents each have to swear to uphold everything within it,’ said Slindo.
‘That business of guns is crazy,’ said Heldy.
‘Yes,’ said Slindo, ‘the right to form a militia and carry arms is totally embedded in the thing, despite the fact it is no longer necessary, and individuals supporting its requirement are the cause of large numbers of unnecessary deaths in the country. There is a total blindness to reason where carrying guns is involved.’
‘I can understand the need to be able to form a militia from their point of view,’ said Garincha, ‘but not the personal owning of guns. Could the right to carry arms be extended a year or two into membership?’
‘I don’t think that would help,’ said Slindo. ‘A large number of Americans are truly fanatical about what they call, “their constitutional right to bear arms”.’
‘It’s such an ancient clause from a time when it might well have been needed,’ said Heldy. ‘But now, these macho cowboys wanting to walk around town with a deadly weapon strapped to their waists, is infantile and, frankly, barbaric!’
‘And there are many incidents where children have got hold of the guns and killed themselves or even their parents,’ said Slindo.
‘And letting immature adults... students and adolescents, get access is madness,’ said Heldy. ‘These mass shootings infringe Federation rights. We wouldn’t be able to allow it.’
‘No. You’re right,’ said Slindo.
‘Yes. Considering most crimes will be stopped, the clause is ridiculous and must be removed,’ said Garincha. ‘Anyway, Perfect will be here in the morning, when we get back, and she says there’s good news from other parts of the world.’
‘We need it, really,’ said Slindo. ‘I thought we’d have had this all done and dusted by now.’
‘Probably a bit optimistic, Slin,’ said Heldy.
‘That’s my Slindo,’ said Eloo, snaking her arm around his shoulders. ‘He’s always looking for the bright side of a situation.
««o»»
[From White House intranet. RBB]
Early the next morning.
‘Thanks for coming in at such short notice,’ said the President to the small group in the meeting room. ‘I know it’s early, but we’ll be quite a while. Are you all available to spend the day with me?’
There were enthusiastic affirmative sounds, although they were all puzzled to some degree or another. However, if the President of the United States personally selected you for a project, you didn’t say no.
Jack Spence had Bob Nixon thin out the advisory panel to remove anyone who would not be important in the near future.
The majority house leader, Vernon Ledermann was there. Some sort of government would still be required so his role could be important. Similarly, Tim Brownlee, the minority house leader. The President had to presume, at this stage, there’d need to be a government opposition.
John Slimbridge had to be on the committee, but the President had his suspicions about the man. He’d never liked him in the past and only chose him as running mate because he’d brought four swing states with him.
Bob Nixon was essential. Jack Spence needed a friend and colleague who he could trust. He was sure Bob would have no hesitation in taking a bullet for him. An invaluable attribute.
Obviously, Harry McBride, the man he’d likely be standing against next October, was vital and he had a keen mind. The President didn’t want the decision to join the Federation to be split along party lines. The other candidate, who was present at the last meeting, would probably become Harry’s running mate. Jack Spence decided to leave him out of the steering group. Vice Presidents and running mates were rarely the most trustful of individuals. Instead he chose the senator, Melinda Worth, who headed up the Social Security department. The others might see her as a strange choice, but the President realised the importance of the disadvantaged in a Federation future. She was also regularly interviewed on TV, usually criticising him.
Of the industrialists, Mark Deloitte, the retail guru, Peter Stone, the head of the search engine giant, and Wilson Greave, the distribution wizard all had the sort of backgrounds which would allow them to be useful. Most importantly, they were each the creators of their businesses, not simply paid executives. Jack Spence had no time for those who rode others’ coattails.
Bob and John had suggested he invite Devlin Markham back into the group, but the President had been pleased the motor magnate had given him the opportunity to get rid of him. Not only that, but in the brave new world the Federation promised, car manufacturing would certainly be taken over, in its entirety, by automatons.
‘Okay,’ said Mark. ‘I understand that my entire retail business will be taken over by robots and I will soon be trying to live on forty grand instead of four billion. Why do you see me as being important to the transition, Mr President?’
‘For exactly that reason, Mark. All of you in this committee have realised that what is about to happen is in the interests of all. You are the examples we need to show to others,’ said Jack Spence.
‘What do you expect us to do?’ asked Peter.
‘Be with me to provide a united front which the people of America, indeed the world, can believe in.’
‘All of us,’ said Bob, ‘yes, even me, have considerable wealth, but we’re prepared to sacrifice it for the greater good.’
‘I don’t know what help I can be, sir,’ said Wilson.
‘As I understand it, Wilson, distribution is the most important aspect of the mechanics of the Federation economy. As long as you all have faith in its objective and act fairly, you’ll be fine,’ said the President.
‘I’d like to meet some aliens, sir,’ said Tim Brownlee.
‘Yes,’ said Harry. ‘It’s fine hearing all of this from you, sir, but we haven’t had the opportunity to quiz them ourselves.’
Jack Spence loved springing surprises upon people. This one was going to give him a great thrill.
He stood. ‘Come with me, and bring your notebooks,’ he said, and walked through the door, into and through the Oval Office, and out into the White House rose garden. The Ambassador’s shuttle was sitting on the South Lawn. It was obviously a surprise to all but Bob Nixon who’d helped him set up the day.
No sooner had the airlock closed and they’d sat in the Ambassador’s comfortable chairs, than it reopened and they were met by Slindo Merofort. Only now it was once more attached to its starship, the Ronoi. The journey from the White House to Central Park was almost instantaneous.
‘Good morning, gentlemen,’ he said, ‘I’m the Ambassador’s assistant and she has asked me to ensure you’re all well looked after while you’re with us. Please follow me.’
This was the closest any of the President’s group had been to one of the aliens. Slindo Merofort, was pretty much the epitome of alienness with his indigo skin and powder blue hair. He looked almost familiar – as familiar as a gorilla who’d been playing with blue emulsion paint. The spark in his eyes, however, told his guests that this was an intelligent person and his broad toothy smile screamed a genuine welcome across its entire width.
Yol Merofort guided the party along the starship’s long central corridor, crossing the unnerving vertical passages. John Slimbridge actually kneeled down so that he could press his fingers into the forcefield, trying to feel the texture of a layer which had no physical reality. ‘Fascinating!’ he said as Mark Deloitte helped him back to his feet, saying, ‘Just imagine its uses.’
A double door in front of Yol Merofort opened to admit the party to the bridge, and they all moved to one side, behind a waist-height silver barrier. They stood and looked in amazement; among the first humans to have witnessed the view from a starship bridge in flight through hyperspace.
Space wasn’t black during faster-than-light travel. It was a deep emerald green. Tiny lemon flecks were heading towards the ship like golden snowflakes caught in car headlights. The world’s first screensaver almost had it right, except for the colours.
‘We’re in space!’ said Tim Brownlee.
‘Hyperspace to be exact,’ said Yol Merofort.
The view shuddered to a halt, the colour vanishing, and space became its usual star spangled black. The party almost produced a communal gasp as the ship banked to the right and Saturn came into view, filling the entire scene. The subtle colours of the planet’s bands were set off by the rings and their sharp black shadows on the planet’s upper cloud layers.
A uniformed, grape coloured tentacular creature swivelled the captain’s chair to face them from his central position on the bridge. He said, ‘I’m Captain Staz. Welcome to the bridge of the Ronoi. We’ve just dropped out of hyperspace. We thought you might enjoy seeing your star system’s most beautiful gas giant, Saturn, but we’re actually here to see one of its moons.’
They watched the scene for a couple of minutes, then, using Galactic Standard instead of English, the captain ordered, ‘Bank left, Yol Berano,’ and he swivelled back into his original position. ‘Approach Titan.’
Within a couple of minutes, the Saturnian moon sat off the port bow. The ship was so close that the navy ethane seas were perfectly clear as they lapped against the mustard and cider coloured landmasses.
The captain stood and faced the visitors. ‘You are looking at one of this system’s most precious treasures. We’ve detected sophisticated life below the surface of Titan’s seas. Who knows if it will one day develop intelligence? However, there are thousands of asteroids and dwarf planetoids in your system, full of rare metals and other chemicals. Everything you could ever need to develop your world can be found in your rocky assets. This is all yours, but you don’t have the technology to exploit it. The Federation fulfils that requirement.’
Being dumbfounded is rarely the description of the situation in which a group of people, already aware of their self-importance, would find themselves. This time it could not have been more accurate, nor more obvious. They were truly struck dumb, although Jack Spence allowed himself a concealed smile at the initial reaction of the party to discovering the captain was about as un-human as it was possible to be.
The captain said, ‘We’ll now continue to our destination. Enjoy your time on board,’ then in Galactic Standard to the first mate, ‘Press on, Yol Berano!’
The ship returned to hyperspace, the flecks of passing bodies, once again, sparkling gold against the unexpected emerald background of the hyper-universe. The starship captain poured his gelatinous body back into his seat for the journey ahead.
‘Come this way, gentlemen,’ said Yol Merofort, and they left the bridge. They made their way to the theatre room which had permitted the esponging of Galactic Standard to the original VIP parties.
A short while later they were all fluently speaking Galactic Standard. Yol Merofort conducted them through to the conference room with its floating seats.
««o»»
[This CNN TV debate extract was compiled from digital video material stored in Yol Hareen Trestogeen’s office. It took place in Alabama at the Space and Rocket Center. Present was Ya Heldy Mistorn, a CNN presenter and the local mayor. RBB]
The Federation diplomatic team were in great demand, rushing around the world, trying to take part in as many debates as possible to let people question them about Federation membership.
The first part of every debate was a thirty-minute film which showed some of the planets visited by the world leaders and also provided a general idea of the economic system. By this time, most people in the world had been given or had sight of quite comprehensive booklets explaining how transition might be introduced, so an increasing number of people were reasonably well informed. Those interested enough to attend the debates should have been, of course, the most enlightened of all.
[Questioners were not always identified so, for convenience, I'm just using the name "Questioner". RBB]
Questioner, ‘Our constitution allows us to bear arms, yet I read in the information booklet that all weapons will be removed from the general public. No one is taking my gun away from me!’
Ya Mistorn, ‘As part of joining the Federation, such rules will need to be repealed, so your government will change your constitution or nullify it completely. This will all be subject to negotiation.’
Questioner, ‘Well, Satan’s cherub, learn what “no” means right now!’ He jumped to his feet, pulled a 9mm automatic pistol from his jacket and fired at the Cluebian.
Her natural reaction was to fly upwards and the bullet missed its mark. He fired a second time, but by now, Heldy Mistorn was moving at speed. Within seconds, several people had jumped upon the gunman and subdued him. Police were called to collect him and take him to the nearest station.
There was a move to end the meeting, but Ya Mistorn said she was quite happy to continue, and it soon settled down.
The mayor, ‘Do accept the apologies of the people of Huntsville, Ya Mistorn.’
Ya Mistorn, ‘It gave me a fright, but I’m okay now. What’s the next question?’
Questioner, ‘I’m a businessman, Ya Mistorn, and the people here will tell you that I’ve developed no end of useful devices for the home, business, and manufacturing. I provide hundreds of local jobs. I don’t need to brag, but I’m a multimillionaire. I’m close to retiring and we’ve a number of homes we intend to enjoy. I have two questions. One – if I invent something why should I not benefit from the proceeds of that invention, and two – it seems wrong for you to take away my homes and my planned wealthy retirement lifestyle.’
Ya Mistorn, ‘Yes, sir, I can understand your concerns.’
‘Well... how do you justify it?’
Ya Mistorn, ‘Firstly, the Federation’s take on inventing new things. We encourage this at all levels. On some worlds, a special payment is made for particularly useful ideas, but on older Federation planets, that has fallen into disuse. Most planets provide an honour system to celebrate great public service, and inventions. Most inventors and innovators actually do it for the good of others, so it won’t stop. It’s natural for you to feel aggrieved at first, but if you begin to look at the world in a different light, your concerns will disappear.’
Questioner, ‘What do you mean “different light”?’
Ya Mistorn, ‘You’ll be part of the community who will benefit from your devices. You are, of course, able to help in a new idea’s development as part of your community service hours, if you wish. Instead of only you benefiting, everyone will. All the wasted time and effort which goes into copyrighting and patenting objects is unnecessary. There’s a real benefit from that, although not immediately obvious to most people. It will be clear to you, though. What does your business spend on lawyers each year?’
Questioner, ‘Roughly six hundred thousand dollars.’
‘As part of the Federation that money is never spent and lawyers, other than for odd domestic matters, are never needed. All that value you gave to them, instead goes into the general community so everyone is even better off from your invention. Yes, you, personally receive less for it, but that is part of our ethos of everyone working for everyone else and ensuring the less intelligent, disabled, disadvantaged, and mentally challenged individuals do not lose out because of their disadvantages. You’re doing it for the good of all.’
Questioner, ‘Forced charitable donations!’
Ya Mistorn, ‘It is sad that charitable donations have been the main way of helping the less able until now on this planet. You’ll feel better about it as time passes. After all, it is a whole change of culture. Capitalism has got to the point where seventy per cent of the world’s wealth is held by only five per cent of the world’s population. There is nothing equitable about that. The world belongs to everyone... equally. Even worse, many people are parasites living off the rest – fund managers, investment bankers, shareholders etcetera. Many of these people do absolutely nothing to improve the world you live in, yet they live lives of unashamed luxury.’
‘I’ll take some convincing.’
Ya Mistorn, ‘Your second question is easier. You’ll continue to retain possession of your houses and, if your family is large enough, you’ll have the income to maintain them, but little else. Your income will drop by thirty per cent per annum until you reach the standard income, so you’ve time to adjust to the new order. On other worlds, most people have one home, but there are many opportunities to vacation, for long periods, in other houses on many different worlds. Those houses will not belong to you but will be maintained at the same standard.’
Questioner, ‘So we lose out again!’
Ya Mistorn, ‘But everything you find yourself sacrificing is going to improve the day to day lives of thousands of others. You need to ask yourself if it is right that you retain your wealth and make others suffer because of it.’
Questioner, ‘That is NOT true! I’ve always been very generous to my staff and local charities.’
Ya Mistorn, ‘In your mind, I’m sure you have. This concept fits in with the popular capitalist theory of “trickle down”. If you look at it on a worldwide level, how much of your wealth “trickles down” to the starving children in Sudan? Do you donate to charities working in Sudan?’
‘I give to many charities.’
Ya Mistorn, ‘I’d wager your donations don’t amount to much in comparison to your own income. Under the Federation there will be no famine anywhere in the world, because, and this is crucial, we ensure equitable distribution of income. Need trumps greed every time.’
Questioner, ‘Are you calling me greedy?’
‘Look into your own personal accounts, sir. If the label applies to you, then understand that the Federation is giving you the chance to have it removed.’
Questioner, ‘I’m not listening to any more of this nonsense.’ He got up and stormed out of the hall.
[The files also held the following hand-written note, but I was unable to identify the author. RBB]
“Heldy wondered whether she could perhaps have handled that better. Aliens are no less fallible than humans and the gun had certainly unsettled her.”