| |
[Taken from Ambassador Trestogeen’s office files and notes. RBB]
‘Has it ever been done before?’ asked Ya Istil, resting in her specially shaped seat in the captain’s office off the Eskorav’s bridge. The room held a kidney-shaped desk made from some iridescent material which gave the impression it was forever moving, like swirling multi-pastel-coloured clouds. Some papers were scattered randomly and her secradarve floated, motionless, to her right. Was it in contact with the ephemeral surface or hovering just above it? Impossible to say. Behind her, an oblong window revealed deep space, taking in part of the violent central area of the Milky Way galaxy.
‘Admitting part of a planet? No, I don’t think so. I have an assistant on Pestoch looking through records for me as we speak,’ said the ambassador, standing and looking down through the viewing window at the cause of all his troubles. North America was passing beneath them.
‘How would it work?’
’Simply, the entire planet would become part of the Federation with the exception of that single country. They could continue as before.’ He returned to the couch.
‘What would happen with imports and exports?’
‘Well,’ said the ambassador, ‘that is only the first of the headaches. I can’t imagine the rest of the world needing to import anything from America when there is the whole Federation to deal with, but I can imagine America wanting to continue to import all of the produce they have always obtained from other countries – tropical fruit, vegetables and so on.’
‘Are they capable of being self-sufficient?’
‘Yes, I think so. There would be certain items they can’t grow, but with careful management of resources it would be possible.’
‘Why can’t they import from the Federation part of the world?’ asked Istil.
‘How would they pay? If they have no afeds, they’d only be able to pay with dollars and they would be of no use to the Federation.’
‘But couldn’t they take them, knowing that Federation goods flowing into America would soon make them realise what they are missing by not being members.’
‘What? Just take their dollars and consider it a cost of bringing Earth into the empire?’
‘Yes. America would be watching the rest of the world very carefully to see how the Federation system worked. The ordinary people will soon be queuing to leave the country, surely?’
‘That may be so, but it would leave America with only the idealists and the rich,’ said the ambassador.
‘Exactly!’ said the captain, the contents of his body colourfully adding to his point. ‘But who is going to do the menial jobs – the farming, the cleaning, the carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers? Those are the people who would likely be first to leave. There’d be no point being rich, but having to work tirelessly to maintain their own homes and sources of power, food and repairs.’
‘Yes. I see what you’re getting at. You think there would be a collapse of their internal markets and they’d soon be wanting to join the Federation?’
‘It could happen. That is why you’d need to be careful what they could buy from the Federation. If they were able to buy robots for instance, Hareen, then they might be able to live in luxury.’
The ambassador materialised his secradarve and made some notes. ‘I need some statisticians to analyse the probabilities.’
‘Are you sure the Federation wouldn’t want to import American products?’ said Ya Istil as her secradarve took on some informative colours.
‘I don’t think so,’ said the ambassador.
‘Well, I’m looking here at the exports of the USA and there seem to be a lot of their items which could still be in demand.’
‘What sort of things?’
‘Bourbon whiskey for a start,’ said Ya Istil and laughed, which was a colourful experience for anyone watching.
‘Yes, I’ve heard of that,’ said the ambassador making more notes for his secradarve. ‘I’ll find out more. I need to go away and think about this quietly.’
‘Take your time. I’ll never tire of the Earth’s weather patterns.’
‘Yes. Beautiful,’ said the ambassador, heaving himself off the couch and leaving through one of the two doors in the office wall.
An hour later, the ambassador called the captain on the intercom. He’d made his decision and said to Ya Istil Sperafin, ’Take me to Arlucian, please.’
‘Will do. It’ll take about four or five hours. I’ll let you know exactly how long later.’ The captain rose from her seat and exited the office through the second door onto the bridge of the Eskorav. ‘Yol Derodin, set course for Arlucian!’
««o»»
[From Jim Collins’ notes and digital recordings. RBB]
Of course, the incident on 95 was on the morning news, but with embellishments – ‘The fugitives, Charles Mayne and two assistants, were almost apprehended at a roadblock on Interstate ninety-five yesterday afternoon. They set off at high speed, opening fire at anyone who got in their way.’
The television showed distressed people arriving at accident and emergency.
‘One family was run off the road and both the young children were killed. Another car was riddled with gunfire, killing the mother and her elderly aunt.’
Anonymous images accompanied the invented incidents.
‘My God,’ said Charles, blood pressure rising.
‘They are believed to be in the Brunswick area and anyone who sees three men acting suspiciously should contact the police.’ An image of me appeared on the screen. ‘In addition to Charles Mayne, James Collins is one of the three, plus an unknown third individual.
‘When last seen, they were driving a grey Ford Endura, but they are likely to have switched vehicles.’
‘None of this is good,’ I said. ‘They’ll have been speaking to car hire outlets in the area. They might even know which car Burt has hired.’
‘Only one way to find out,’ said Burt. I’m going out for a drive. Expect me back in about an hour. If I’m not here by nine, you’re on your own.’
‘Okay, Burt. Take care,’ said Charles.
‘We need to talk to Beech,’ I said.
‘If we’re not at the zoo at midday he’ll no doubt call, but what worries me is that we’re putting him in danger too. Maybe we should just go into hiding,’ said Charles.
‘Not a chance. Charles, you are the figurehead. People will rally around you.’
‘What, a murderer and on the run from the authorities for treason?’ the congressman said and flopped down, exasperated, into the easy chair in the hotel room.
‘They’ll soon realise it isn’t true when we start to mobilise our resources. Don’t get depressed, Charles. We need you at your most vibrant and charming.’
‘I suppose.’
««o»»
[From Brad Gregg’s notes. RBB]
‘I think we’d better talk to Braun,’ said Dick Beech to Bob, Brad and Mike.
‘Right. Where? We can go down to the den or I could bring him up here,’ said Mike.
‘No, let’s go down,’ said the general.
‘Dean, Geoff. Go down to the two on duty and open up for us. Get rid of his slops and check he’s not made any weapons for himself. And watch out for any tricks. Look sharp now,’ said Mike.
‘What are you intending to ask him?’ asked Brad.
‘I don’t know. Let’s just see what he has to say for himself,’ said the general.
A couple of minutes later, one of the soldiers returned and said it was all clear. The general’s party followed him back to the den. The door now stood open and General Braun was sitting in an easy chair on the far side of the room. His feet, inside shoelace-less brogues, rested on the bare concrete floor of the den.
‘Ha,’ he said, ‘the traitor Beech!’
‘Hi, Walt. Let’s not start with insults. Are you well?’
‘I’ll be better when I see our roles reversed.’
‘Not going to happen, Walt. We’d like to know why you have taken part in Slimbridge’s coup. You know darned well that Jack wasn’t a traitor.’
‘I know no such thing, Dick. He was about to hand over power to aliens who would have enslaved us all.’
Bob spoke, ‘You know that is not true. I organised and accompanied you and the joint chiefs to see Federation worlds together. Where was the slavery?’
‘Ha, we saw two worlds. How many are enslaved elsewhere to provide the luxury they were enjoying?’
‘That is paranoid thinking,’ said Bob. ’There were six groups of leaders who visited a total of thirty-six planets, plus the capital. Why was there not a single whisper of foul play?’
‘Good organisation. Look how our publicity has turned you into hunted traitors. The Federation just did that in reverse.’
‘I’m wasting my time,’ said Bob.
General Beech took over, ‘Walt, I am disappointed in you. In fact, I am horrified with what you have done. You have killed millions in the New York atrocity.’
‘That was terrorists!’
‘Don’t give me that crap. We know it was done by Slimbridge with your help. I wasn’t finished, though. You killed dozens outside the White House.’
‘Not true. That was media exaggeration.’
‘Nonsense. We know people who had friends or relations killed there and in other peaceful demonstrations. What about your blatant execution of the three soldiers the other night before Slimbridge’s lying address to the nation?’
‘Those are the only three who’ve died. We had to keep order and they were traitors.’
‘As are we according to you. Just look at what Slimbridge has done to our country! It’s frightening. He, with your help, is turning our wonderful country into a police state. You should be ashamed to be helping him.’
General Braun sat silently.
‘Well, you’re helping him no longer!’ said the general forcefully. ‘The International Criminal Court will deal with you when this is all over.’
‘Fuck off!’ was his response.
General Beech turned to Mike and said, ‘Lock him up again. We’re wasting our time here.’ They all left the den.
As they climbed the stairs from the basement, the general said, quietly, ‘Find somewhere else to keep him, away from here.’
‘Yes, sir.’
««o»»
[From Jim Collins’ notes and digital recordings. RBB]
Charles and I breathed sighs of relief when the room door opened and Burt walked in with pancakes, bacon, eggs and sausages in takeaway trays. We all tucked into a much-needed breakfast.
‘Surprised me when the original room was empty,’ said Burt. ‘Thought the worst.’
‘Sorry,’ I said. ‘Thought it was sensible to switch rooms while we waited.’
‘No problems?’ asked Charles.
‘No. I drove in several directions and even got back on to ninety-five for a few miles. Nothing at all. The roadblock was no longer there.’
‘They’d have realised we wouldn’t get caught after having seen the first one,’ I said.
With breakfast finished, we packed our overnight bags and followed Burt down to the car park. Charles and I hid our faces from any cameras we noticed as well as other people.
‘I’ll stay in the lobby. You two go on. Now they’ve got alerts out for three men, we’d better only move around in twos,’ I said. Burt told me how to find the car and the two of them left the hotel. A few minutes later we were heading towards Jacksonville along smaller, coastal roads running near or parallel to I-95. Getting over the creek was a problem as we left Brunswick. If there had been a roadblock there, we’d have been in real trouble.
Driving past Kings Bay Base saw us keeping our heads down, but a little further on, Burt parked up and walked into another car hire firm. Thirty minutes later we were in an Acadia SUV heading south again. We all felt a little safer in the bigger vehicle and it gave us off-road possibilities too.
‘At last,’ said Charles as Burt turned into the Jacksonville zoo.
The three large car parks were easy to find, and we had no problem parking in the third, smaller area. It was eleven thirty. Half an hour to wait.
As midday approached, Burt opened the trunk wide and put his overnight bag on the lid, then rummaged through it, removing various items and then neatly folding and replacing them.
The burner rang. ‘That’s not a Ford.’
‘Had to switch,’ said Charles.
‘Get out, walk around the vehicle and get back in.’
Charles followed the instructions then closed the door.
‘Okay. Sit tight. Be ready to transfer vehicles. Turn off all cell phones and other communication devices,’ the voice said and broke the connection.
‘Charles, Jim. It might be better if I headed back to Pittsburgh now,’ said Burt.
‘Okay. Take care,’ I said.
‘You have all the burner numbers?’ asked Charles.
‘Yes.’
‘Okay, Burt. Thanks for all the help,’ said Charles. ‘It won’t be forgotten and we’ll sort out the cash with you as soon as we can.’
‘Don’t worry over that just now.’
A blue minivan, labelled, DOLPHIN TOURS, pulled up alongside us and the sliding door opened. A man in camouflage uniform waved us in. Charles and I hurriedly transferred vehicles, the door was slammed and, in no time, it turned and was away, almost before we’d got seated. Out of the rear window, I saw Burt closing the trunk and getting back into the rented SUV.
‘Where are we going?’ asked Charles.
‘Somewhere safe,’ said the soldier.
We sat back and strapped ourselves in. The man was most uncommunicative and we gave up trying to make conversation. We did notice that he made dozens of different manoeuvres including turning into cul-de-sacs and dead ends. Probably satisfied that we weren’t being followed, he turned southeast, and we headed towards the Florida coast.
««o»»
[From Brad Gregg’s and Jim Collins’ notes and recordings. RBB]
Grangewood was one of those large, millionaire’s houses on the Ponte Vedra coast just south of Jacksonville. The approach was over a quarter of a mile of wooded driveway and the building could not be overlooked from anywhere except the Atlantic Ocean. The house itself was built in the Italian style with large airy rooms and the exterior had been washed with honey and cream, plus contrasting rusty orange on selected walls. Large French windows opened out onto patios on the ocean side of the property.
The minibus made its way up the driveway and stopped at a barrier manned by two militiamen. Our driver identified himself and we proceeded to the large parking and turning area at the back of the house. Another van was parked to one side. The yellow and green livery announced that it was CAWTE PRIVATE TOURS. Three other cars were parked nearby. Through some shrubs to the side of the property, I could see two hefty jeeps with camouflage paintwork.
‘Okay,’ said the guard in the rear with us, ‘we’re here.’ He jumped up and slid the main door backwards on its runners.
Charles was first out and was greeted by General Beech who first saluted, then hugged the congressman. I got the same warm welcome and soldiers carried our bags into the house.
‘You had a bad time?’ asked the general as he guided us through to the kitchen diner where he grasped a coffee pot, offering it to the two of us. Real coffee, not the hotel variety. We sat around the breakfast bar and told the general of the events of our journey.
‘We were worried about you after the U-turn on ninety-five. You were lucky to give them the slip,’ said the general.
‘Yes. If it hadn’t been for a truck getting in the way of the patrol car on the off-ramp, he’d certainly have caught us,’ I said.
Bob Nixon, short and balding, entered the room. I didn’t know him, but Charles was quickly on his feet and warmly greeting the ex-White House chief of staff. ‘Bob, how lovely to see you. Thought you’d been in New York.’
‘Was lucky, Congressman, I’d returned to the White House and then vamoosed the moment I realised what Slimbridge was up to.’
‘Come and join us, Bob,’ said the general. ‘Coffee?’
Bob nodded and we continued to talk around the breakfast bar.
‘So, what’s the plan, General?’ asked Charles.
‘Well, Congressman, this evening I’m holding a strategy meeting with all the important players that we’ve been able to get here. Peter Stone will also be on a phone link. What I suggest is that the two of you settle into your rooms and then come down to the living room, through there,’ he said indicating a passage from the kitchen, ‘and we’ll see where we are going from here.’
‘I take it you’ve got Braun somewhere?’ I asked.
‘Better than that,’ said the general. ‘We’ve also got Buck Burko, so the pressure is growing on Slimbridge. We did have Braun here, but moved him and they’re both being kept elsewhere now.’
‘Excellent,’ said Charles.
‘So, freshen up then make yourselves at home. Early dinner at six. Can I suggest you work out what you are going to say at the meeting, Congressman? Something upbeat and positive if possible.’
‘Certainly, General,’ said Charles.
‘Eric!’ the general shouted and a soldier entered the room. ’Show the congressman and his assistant to their rooms.’
The upper floor was home to numerous bedrooms. Charles was given one with an ocean view. Mine was equally luxurious but overlooking the vehicle parking area and the camouflaged jeeps. After unpacking, Charles wanted some time to marshal his thoughts before the meeting, while I strolled into the garden and enjoyed sitting in a pleasant glade surrounded by subtropical shrubs. I thought it would be a good idea to try to relax.