Seastead, Tahiti
to wake you, but the doctor says you’re going to be just fine, and you’ve been sleeping forever,” Janice said with a light nudge.
The patient opened her eyes. She saw an IV hanging from a pole, but that was the only thing that looked like a hospital. “Where am I?” Bella asked.
“You’re at the hotel on the seastead. Your condition is stable which means you get first-class treatment in this lovely room. Meet Wilma. She’s your nurse.”
“It is a pleasure to meet you, Bella. You should be back to your old self by tomorrow.” A young woman with rich black skin and a radiant smile patted her hand.
“Wilma is close to completing her medical training and has accepted a first-year residency in Chile.”
“That’s right. OB/GYN. Should I leave you my card?” laughed Wilma.
“Wow. Nope, I’m good,” said Bella, a bit bewildered. “How’s Mom?”
“Just fine. She’s been up for a couple hours. She’s in the next room and is dying—I mean waiting—to see you,” Wilma said.
“You have to work on your bedside manner,” Janice said.
“I’ve been told that before. Do you think so?” She laughed richly, got up, and left the room.
“Did all that… all that I saw, actually happen?”
“Yes, dear. I’m so sorry. This has gotta be so hard for you. I promise you will get all the care you need to work through it. Doctor Shapiro is a resident psychiatrist here on the seastead and I understand he’s quite remarkable. PTSD is one of his specialties. Not to make light of it, but they say he treats with psychedelic meds, and you might get your own dog.”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m not traumatized at all. I’m pissed. How does Gregory get two young women to act like gangsters and kidnap me and poison my mother. He should be the one who had his face blown off.”
“Okaaaay. Maybe you should have a drink of juice before your mother arrives,” Janice said.
“That’d be good, but what I’d really like is one of your martinis. I’ve been dreaming of lemon drops.” Bella laughed and raised herself to a sitting position.
“Dear, it’s seven in the morning.”
“You seasteaders are all libertarians, right? Why would you care when I choose to drink?”
“You’ve got a good point, but let’s just stick to juice for right now. Wilma will be back with your mother in a minute and then we’ll ask the doctor. He’s pretty cool. Young and good-looking too,” Janice said with a wink.
“Did I hit my head?”
“Why do you ask?”
“For one thing, my head hurts. For the other, exactly how good-looking is he?” She grinned and gripped part of her lower lip under her teeth, then gave back an exaggerated wink.” She said, “I’m acting strange, aren’t I?”
The door opened and Wilma rolled Bella’s mother into the room in a wheelchair. She pushed her right up to the bed. Lena easily lifted herself out of the rolling chair and lunged into Bella’s bed, pushing her backward into the pillows. She lay down, embracing her daughter with tears in her eyes, while Bella laughed with joy and cuddled her mom.
“Bella, I was so worried about you.”
“Mom, are you okay?”
“Of course. Can't I say hello to my daughter? I do love you?”
“That’s obvious, but are you feeling yourself?”
“Goodness no, Bella. Don’t say things like that in polite company.”
“Mom!” Bella giggled and rolled her eyes. “You know what I meant.”
“Yes, I do, and you must meet Dr. Robertson. He is easy on the eyes. It’s about time you met someone. You know that isn’t a… never mind. This doc is great, you’ll love him, and his hands are warm.” Lena turned her gaze to the opening door. All eyes followed. “Bella, isn’t he delish?” She lifted away from her daughter and spoke a little too loud. “You should like him just like your coffee—dark and strong and first thing in the morning.”
“Mother!” She dramatized the act of pushing her mother out of bed and back into her wheelchair. Continuing the performance, she sat up with perfect posture, fussed with her hair, and batted her eyes in a flirtatious manner. The entire show was to get a reaction out of the women, and it worked. Cackles erupted. “Now, ladies. Please, leave the good doctor to his patient.” More uncontrolled laughter.
“Good morning,” said the doctor. “I hope you haven’t been pestering my patient too much. Ms. Lena, you don’t need that wheelchair any longer, do you?”
“No, I don’t, but Wilma insisted,” Lena said.
“Did she? Well, that’s her job, and she’s good at it. Leave it here for your daughter until I ensure she’s stable enough to do no further damage to that head of hers.”
Giggles quivered through the small group of women.
Bella wondered why she wasn’t embarrassed.
“Bella, how would you like to make a quick buck?” he said.
More giggles.
Bella’s face flushed, and she was glad all eyes were on the doctor. “What do you have in mind?”
“We don’t need to follow traditional medical practice here. After all, we are technically at sea, away from onerous regulatory bodies. Allow me to propose a pay-per-view for all those who wish to stay while I examine you,” he said. Then added, “You decide the rate and we’ll split it fifty-fifty.”
Bella could not detect a hint of jest in his proposal. He calmly waited for her answer. “Well, let’s say one hundred Internationals.”
“Ladies, you heard the patient. Either pay up or leave the room.” He held out his hand as if to collect admission.
Janice was first out the door. Then Bella’s mother pushed the wheelchair away and walked out, looking over her shoulder. Wilma pointed to herself in a gesture that said, “Surely not me.” The doctor simply held out his palm in her direction. She left the two alone in the room.
“That worked,” Bella said.
“Every time.” He smiled. “I’m Dr. Robertson. It’s good to see you awake. Let’s get to work. When you first came in, you were unconscious, and it took a few minutes to determine what drugs were involved. There is no antidote but there are a series of medications that help curb the effects. We looked for your health records, a chip, or a quantum tattoo. As you know, we searched in vain and soon realized you are a Nat. At that point, I reduced the medications to the bare minimum out of respect for your beliefs. It brought you out a little slower than your mother but never increased the danger you were in.”
“I’m a gnat?” Bella made wing-like motions with her hands and snapped her teeth at him.
Dr. Robinson laughed and said, “In France, that’s the new term. It’s less pejorative than Luddite and more descriptive than anti-vaxxer.”
“I’m just teasing you. I know what it means. Thank you for respecting my medical skepticism. There has been a long history of ill-advised reliance on medicines and that history is still being written,” Bella said.
“The Hippocratic Oath says, ‘First do no harm.’ I take that seriously. I also take my responsibility to my patients seriously and I will not release you from my care until I’m certain you’re well enough to leave. You have been through quite an ordeal and there are effects of the drugs that have been coursing through your body. A thorough exam will not take long. If everything is in order, you can get on your way.”
The examination took just over five minutes. He didn’t waste any time as he flowed from classical exam procedures—stethoscopes, percussion, reflexes, eyes and ears—to a blood test which was essentially a laboratory on a printed card. The blood sample traveled quickly through tracks etched into what looked like a multicolored maze. When the sample hit the end, the doctor took a picture of it and the findings spilled onto his screen. She had used printed labs in her work but never this sophisticated. The last half of the exam was two-part—heart and brain—conducted simultaneously. He explained the tests, which included cardiogram, heart rate variability, EEG, and a couple more that she missed, distracted when he placed some leads on her chest.
When he finished, he put all his equipment into an attaché case, closed it up, and said, “That’s it. My only concern now is the whiplash you suffered. Janice knows Dr. Anne. She’s an excellent chiropractor, and I’d recommend seeing her soon. Do you have any questions?”
“I’m ready to go then?”
He smiled. “Yes, your health is exceptional. You will have some lingering effects of the drugs they used to sedate you, and the one used to paralyze your motor cortex can cause confusion for a while. The side effects are not permanent. Drink plenty of water and you should feel normal in a couple days.”
“You mean… I’m not myself… I’m…” She stammered at the word that didn’t come.
“Giddy?” he offered.
“Yes. Exactly.”
“For what you’ve been through, giddy is not the worst thing. If you come down hard—harder than I expect—Dr. Shapiro has a reputation as a mental health genius. But for now, you can resume your life knowing that physically, you’re quite healthy.” He grasped his equipment case and said, “Have a lovely day. Perhaps we’ll meet again.”
“It’s probably not a good idea feeding her martinis for lunch,” Jon said, loud enough for Bella to hear.
“It’s happy hour somewhere,” Bella called out.
“This is only her second,” Janice replied. Then she whispered, “Half shots.”
“I heard that. What type of cheap joint are you running?”
Janice returned to the patio with three lemon drop martinis served on a tray. She looked over at Lena, who was out cold with her head back, breathing deeply, almost a snore. She set the tray down and handed a drink to Bella.
“Thank you so much, Janice. I’ll sleep much better here under your roof until I leave. And thanks for seeing to Mom. She is already sleeping better.” Bella laughed.
“As long as you need. We have a high level of security here. You are safe.”
“You saved my life. You saved my mom’s life.” Bella swallowed hard. “Was she really in the sauna? For god’s sake, we’re in the tropics. What’s a sauna doing in the women’s locker room in the tropics?”
“Can’t say. It does seem a bit redundant. The only reason I looked in there was because I saw a water trail. It looked like a body had been dragged through a puddle, so I checked it out. Your mom was there and not responsive. I pulled her out but knew I couldn’t help her any more than that. Your situation was less clear, so I set out in the only direction they could have taken you.”
“Why did you think we were in trouble in the first place?”
“When I say drinks at five thirty, I mean it.” Janice laughed. “Actually, I had gained some intel that made me very concerned.”
“Intel?”
“We don’t care about passports on this seastead. Anybody from any nation can travel here, live here, work here, or study here. There are no visas or immigration controls. Mostly, people can come and go as they please. There is no agency in charge. But we aren’t stupid. Do you truly want to know how it works?”
“Yes, I’ve got all day. And besides, if I don’t stay here, I’ll probably go out searching for Dr. Easy-On-The-Eyes.” Bella giggled. “Between you and me though, I need a man like I need a hole in the head.” Her sun-drenched olive complexion drained to an unhealthy beige. “I didn’t… oh, my…”
“It’s okay, dear,” Janice said.
“Wow, that came on all sudden-like. It’s just a vision jumped into my head. Fortunately, it jumped right out again. Did your bullet do that, or am I just imagining things?”
Bella watched as Janice struggled for a moment. The only thing that they told her was that Janice saved her. Nobody said a word about who had killed the tall kidnapper or what happened to the other one.
Janice sat back in her chair. “I guess we both need to debrief. As I told you before, I never lie to my family. Yes, it was my bullet that killed the kidnapper driving the boat. It took a couple of seconds for the boat to steady and get up on a plane. At that moment, I had only one chance for a shot I knew I could make. I didn’t hesitate.”
“I’m glad you did it,” Bella said without emotion. “What became of the other one?”
“She’s being flown to a dispute resolution facility, basically a private legal system. It’s a one-stop shop. They’ll examine the evidence, do further investigation, determine charges, put her on trial, call witnesses, and hear the case. The process will take a couple of weeks. If she’s smart, she might offer some help in finding evidence against Gregory. That might reduce her sentence. Her ID authenticator is going to be paying for their poor judgement as well. That organization failed our seastead and you. They’ll have to pay the bond and probably more, for ensuring the character of the two women. There will be a long list of involved parties other than you and your mother: The seastead, private security, the hotel, and your medical providers. Plus, there will be additional compensation for wrongdoing. Poisoning and kidnaping are serious crimes. The authenticator will also get scrutinized by private watchdog organizations. And the worst thing of all, they’ll get some critical reviews.”
“What’s an authenticator?”
“That’s a question for Jon. Are you really interested? He loves to talk about the system and how it works. But I’ll warn you, he can get detailed.”
“Mom’s asleep. I’m still coming down off of some crazy drug-induced emotional rollercoaster, but I think I’ll need the drink you made for my mother.” Bella put her empty glass down and reached for the other drink on the tray. Bella giggled. “Waste not, want not.” And smiling, with drink in hand, she followed along behind Janice into the kitchen.
“Jon, you’re in luck. I have a student for you. She wants to learn about our seastead and how we manage without passports.” Janice turned to Bella and whispered, “That should get him started. Just walk away when you can’t take it anymore. He won’t notice.”
“Ah, when the student is ready, the teacher appears,” Jon said.
“It’s already too thick in here. I’m going to cut flowers,” Janice announced.
“Passports are meaningless… worse than meaningless. Anybody with some money can buy one. The person can be good or bad, saint or criminal. It just makes no sense that a few dollars and a country of origin somehow determine a person’s ability to get along. Bella, what do you know about reputation and resolution blockchains?”
“Uncle Jon, I know a lot about fish.”
“That you do. You’re from a long line of fish people. That’s for sure. But I’m at a loss. There is not one thing that fish and blockchains have in common, so let’s begin at the beginning. It all starts with a blockchain ID. It’s a secure history of a person and confirms their identity. These are ideal forms of identification because the information maintained on the blockchain is easily updated but cannot be altered or falsified. An individual cannot dress it up and make it look pretty like a resume, but they can control who gets to see it.
“We believe everybody should be free to associate with whom they like. That’s where the secret sauce comes in. Verification of the ID. If a person wants a job, or a loan, or if they want to travel here to our little slice of paradise, that person will open their ID (all or part of it) to a private agency whose job it is to verify the person and validate their ID. They assess the individual. They must ask the tough questions. Do they have the ethics for the job? Do they have the credit reputation for the loan? In our case, do they have a track record of civility? Once the validator has looked into the person’s background, they determine how much they will charge the person to vouch for them. The company provides a guarantee just in case something goes wrong. You’ve done this yourself, otherwise you wouldn’t be here now.”
“I went online, but I got my travel approval in less than a minute. I thought the seastead management said I could come here.”
“I admit, people travel here and even live here as a part of our community without having a clue how it all works. Why should they? There are no governmental delays or red tape and no bribes. The hassles are minimal and the cost is nominal. May I ask how much it cost you to get approval?”
“I certainly didn’t have to budget for it. About the cost of an average meal.”
“Exactly, my dear. You prove my point wonderfully. No doubt you have an exemplary ID. I dare say you have no record of thievery, nor violence against others, nor swindling of your fellow man. As such, our risk is low, and your bond secured for a pittance. But allow me to delve into what went on behind the scenes.
“You decide to travel here and visit your mother. You go online to arrange transportation. A notification tells you approval is necessary before you can book your tickets. They gave you a list of verification agencies that are available to help you. You may check with a watchdog organization or peruse the reviews of your peers or simply go for the best price. How you shop is up to you. Once you choose, you provide your new authenticator the authority to dig as deep as they need into your ID. Then they do their actuarial voodoo and assess how much risk you pose to our particular seastead. Based on that risk, they sell you an insurance policy and provide the seastead with a guarantee. The cost of your premium is proportional to your liability to our society. It’s fully decentralized, inexpensive, and essentially ensures bad actors are cut out before they ever get here.”
“The most wonderful part is the outcome. Free people maintaining homes and businesses. A diverse collection of people making a life while building a community. And the community incurs zero enforcement costs.”
“Uncle Jon, I hate to rain on your parade, but I’d say being drugged and kidnapped is a perfect example of your system breaking down,” Bella said.
“Quite the opposite,” Jon said.
“They almost killed us. That seems like a pretty big problem.”
“Ah, I see where you’re going with this. It is true. There is no perfect system, and I’m the first one to admit I didn’t sleep a wink last night worrying about you and Lena. It rattled Janice in a way I have never witnessed before. Then, as the dawn was almost upon me, I understood. It was my concern for you that had caused me to lie awake. My heart hurt, my brain was ruminating so much so, that at first, I was blind. I could not see what actually occurred. Please, indulge me as I walk you through this. I’m not callous to your plight. I realize you’ve been to hell and back, and while I’m sensitive to that fact, I believe you’ll forgive me for my boldness.”
“This better be good, because you’ve always been my favorite uncle and right now, you’re making me reconsider.”
“As you should. I loathe myself frequently but always return to being my biggest fan.” He gave Bella a harmless smile, complete with squinting eyes, and laughed before he went on.
“That you are here talking to me now is only because our system, a system that replaces the antiquated passport, works amazingly well. As I implied, it didn’t come to me at first, but then I thought, what would have happened if you had been anywhere else. New York? Tijuana? Amsterdam? Or even home in Singapore?”
“Well, those two women wouldn’t have been let into the country. They were obviously criminals,” Bella said.
“Are you saying that you believe those women or others of the same ilk cannot enter or live within any of the proud nation states?”
“No, I get it. You’re saying that if Gregory wanted to, he could get me anywhere.”
“Yes, but even more to the point, law enforcement is reactive elsewhere. Here, we are proactive. Even though we don’t have immigration officers and state police, there is a high level of security and a grass-roots vigilance that the rest of the world shuns. Last night, for instance. I’m not saying all went perfectly or it wasn’t a close call, but the system played out better than it would have in any legitimate country.
“When Janice found out about your—unique situation—she became concerned and simply placed an alert filter into our travel applications. She limited her search for recent requests—those generated since you’ve arrived. Also, she stipulated that only those with higher-than-typical insurance premiums show up on her alerts. It was a simple deduction. Those who were in a hurry and those who had some situation in their past that caused the authenticator to place a higher premium on securing their good name. It didn’t take long before she got a hit and, with some further data mining, she even came up with a second suspect.
“The verification process is discrete. The only thing recorded is the verification code. That code must match the person’s blockchain ID code when they make travel arrangements and then again upon entry. We are a private lot, and no details are revealed… to anybody… ever. No names, or descriptions, or travel information—nothing other than the verification code. There are, however, general statistics that can be gleaned from the verification code, like times and dates of entry, time zone of ticket purchase, and the level of liability compared to the cost. On that, Janice did some old-fashioned detective work to follow up on these suspects. It was too cloak-and-dagger for me to grasp in its entirety. But when she found her two suspects were playing in the court beside you and your mom, you should have seen her go. She grabbed her tactical bag and raced over to the sports complex. On her way, she called out the posse. A lot more went into your rescue than you’ll ever know. But thanks to Janice and her quick thinking, you’re here now. And safe.”
“I heard my name,” Janice said. She entered the kitchen carrying a vibrant bouquet of exotic flowers.
“I’m so glad you got there in time to save us,” Bella said. She reached an arm around Janice’s waist and gave her a gentle squeeze.
“Me too, dear.”
“The teacher must excuse himself. I am meeting a friend in five minutes.” He confirmed his watch and said, “Wonderful. That will make me the perfect amount of late.” He got up from the chair slowly, shuffled a couple of steps, and then walked over to Bella and gave her a peck on the cheek. He turned to his wife and kissed her. “See you at five thirty.”
With the flowers still in her left hand, Janice looked at Bella and held out her free index finger, signaling one. Then smiled and followed Jon as he walked out of the room. Bella thought for a moment that she should go check on her mother, but even with her mind exhausted, her body was buzzing. She simply sat and waited for Janice to return.
Not much more than a minute later, Janice came back carrying a highly lacquered wooden box. On its top was an inscribed brass plate, but her hand covered what it said from view.
“I might not always be there for you. I want you to have this.” She placed the box on the table but not within reach of Bella. “They gave this to me when I retired. In some ways it’s a joke. But it is a beautiful joke. As an FBI special agent, I carried a 9mm Glock semi-auto pistol. I’m not making excuses, but it wasn’t what we used when I went through the training academy. You know when the dinosaurs roamed the earth? Anyway, I had to discharge my weapon during a rather sticky firefight in 2019. No agents died, but the four criminals left the scene in body bags. After the investigation, we learned that not one round from my gun hit any of the criminals. I had fired two full magazines, and nothing hit. When I retired, my unit gave me this.”
She opened the box. Inside was a handgun. She lifted it out of the box, depressed the release, and dropped the empty magazine into her hand, then racked the slide and locked it back to prove the small gun was unloaded and released the slide again. Assuming a casual shooting posture, she aimed at the wall clock. A red laser flashed into the center of the clock’s face and did not move. “Here’s the joke… a laser sight. They thought I should have a point-and-shoot gun in my retirement.” She put the empty magazine back into the handgun, laid it back into its custom formed spot nested in red satin, and closed the lid.
Now Bella could read the plaque on the top of the presentation box. It had Janice’s name, date of retirement, and said, “Point-and-Shoot.”
“It’s a nice weapon, a Kimber Micro with a Crimson Trace laser. I’ve put a couple hundred rounds through it, and it’s flawless. I will never use it, and I’ve been looking for an excuse to get the memory of my poor pistol marksmanship out of this house. Besides, I want you to have it.” She put her hand firmly on the top of the box and said, “Jon and I know you want to go to your father. I think it’s not the best idea. There’s a million places that would be safer for you, but Lena tells me you’re stubborn and who am I to talk? Tomorrow, if you’re up for it, we’ll meet at the range. I’ll bring this and a lot of ammo.”
Janice went to a cupboard and retrieved a tall glass. Filled it with water and said, “Here, drink this. Tomorrow will be a hard day.”