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[From Brad Gregg’s and Jim Collins’ notes and recordings. RBB]
‘Who gave us away, sir?’ asked Captain Wooller.
‘Don’t know, Captain. Probably just good intel. It’s not easy to hide even our small command team. People who live nearby hear things, start rumours and talk. It could’ve been as simple as someone on a yacht seeing a soldier in uniform on one of the balconies.’
‘So, not a traitor,’ said Mayne.
‘No. Doubt that very much,’ said Beech.
‘I take it that convoy was heading to the mansion,’ said Jim, looking out of the back window at the army vehicles heading the other way.
‘Yes. Winston held back to give us time to depart,’ said the General.
‘Where are we heading now, Dick?’ asked Brad.
‘Washington.’
‘Washington DC?’ asked Charles Mayne in disbelief. ‘Surely not.’
‘Yes. We’re going to hide ourselves in the monster’s beard. It’s the last place they’d look for us. And most of our orders are now issued via burners or the black web. We can keep ourselves hidden as long as nobody is stupid,’ said the general.
The minivan proceeded northwards.
««o»»
[Taken from UN video and seminar notes. RBB]
The number of aliens and robots now working with the Earth governments grew rapidly as the date of the General Assembly vote approached.
It was only natural that there was anxiety among ordinary people and business owners. The latter knew that they would soon lose control, but the more responsible owners were keen to ensure as little disruption to supplies as possible.
‘My business supplies bread and cakes throughout the region. How are you going to ensure continuity of the various components – flour, yeast, seeds, wrappers and so on?’ asked one delegate at a Federation seminar.
An alien responded, ‘We are relying on you and your staff to continue to place orders and ensure manufacture until robots can take over. What’s your business called?’
‘Niger Superloaf.’
A robot spoke into the alien’s ear. He listened and then said, ‘Ah, you are in list two for this region. There will be an administration robot with you tomorrow morning. A squad of baking and production line robots will be with you by the end of the week. At that time the admin robot will have taken over all supply and delivery organisation and the robots will replace your staff. If any wish to stay on in the bakery that is welcomed. They can leave when they are ready. There is no compulsion. You too can stay as long as you wish to oversee operations.’
‘And if things go wrong?’
‘I’m sure some will,’ said the alien, ‘and we hope you will offer a small amount of your time to help ease the transition.’
‘There are over sixty businesses like mine in the city.’
The alien looked at his secradarve. ‘Yes, I can see that. Within a few months they will all be amalgamated under one roof.’
‘Does that mean you’ll be scrapping most of the recipes for different breads? Parka loaf makes completely different loaves to us.’
‘No recipes will be lost as long as there is demand. Because profitability is unimportant, the product selection can actually rise. Amalgamating factories, workshops and bakeries et cetera will not reduce the choice for the general public. You will be very welcome to stay on and ensure that the city’s bread stays at the highest quality. Our systems will also mean that there will be no waste. By studying the supply chain and shoppers’ needs, we will be producing almost exactly the correct amount of bread. No wastage, no putting up with the previous day’s loaves. Freshness will be the watchword.’
The alien waved towards another person with her hand up.
’Social services. We provide services for disabled and elderly residents in the south of the city. Each person is visited between one and six times per day depending on their needs and disabilities. What will happen to us?’
‘Again, we hope you will stay on to ensure that nothing slips through the net when our robots come onto the scene. Initially, our domestic and care robots will follow your schedules, but our factories are geared up to increase production rapidly when Earth becomes a member. There will soon be a robot for every person. No visits. They’ll be permanently available for individuals. Those with better mobility or who would like to remain independent for as long as possible will be able to ask the robot to stand down, at which point it will go to the recharging point and switch to standby. It will, however, be continually monitoring the individual for whom it is responsible and will immediately snap into action should there be a sudden need, like a fall, or some item the individual needs. Robots providing closer attention to more needy people will be continually on duty, charging when there is nothing to do. We would hope you will stay involved because we’ve sometimes found resistance when a robot takes on duties like washing or dressing the subject. You can help ease the transition by being present. Often it is shyness or embarrassment which is the problem. Having a human there initially will really help in those instances.’
‘It seems too good to be true.’
‘Yes, I suppose it does, but it will happen, and we’d be delighted for you to monitor its operation. If you think the robots are falling short on anything, you can talk to the senior admin robot and extra help will be put in place. It is also important to remember that robots do not experience emotions when criticised or corrected or chastised. They just learn and perform better in the future, passing on, if it is relevant, what they have learned to every robot with similar functions throughout the galaxy.’
Questions and answers continued into the early evening and such events were taking place several times each day in cities, towns and villages throughout the parts of the world who were joining the Federation.
««o»»
[From White House tapes. RBB]
David Mendoza, General Alexander and Admiral Mann sat in the lounge area of the Oval Office with the president. Mendoza had briefed the two military chiefs on the situation with General Winston Delve. Now they waited.
‘Where is he?’ snapped the president. He should have been here by now. ‘Deirdre!’ he shouted.
His secretary opened the door and looked into the office. ‘Yes, Mr President.’
‘Find out where General Delve has got to.’
‘Yes, sir.’
They continued to discuss other matters, including the lack of progress on finding Charles Mayne and General Dick Beech. There was a knock on the door and Deirdre entered.
‘Well?’ the president asked.
‘Apparently, sir, he stopped off to deposit his bag at the staff residence and vanished. Major Salford has been trying to find out where he is.’
‘Jesus Christ!’ shouted the president. ‘Give me strength. Mendoza go and find him and report back. It sounds as if he found out something was going on. Does that mean we have yet another spy in our midst? This is hopeless!’
««o»»
[From Brad Gregg’s and Jim Collins’ notes and recordings. RBB]
The doorbell rang at the large detached house in Wisconsin Avenue on the west side of Washington DC. Four soldiers in civvies jumped into action as Captain Wooller examined the CCTV.
He called through to the lounge, ‘It’s General Delve, sir.’
‘Let him in quickly,’ shouted General Beech who jumped up and was in the hallway almost before the captain had opened the door. ‘Winston. You okay?’
‘Sure am, but it was a close call. If I hadn’t stopped off at the staff residence on the way to the White House, I’d have been caught. There was a message for me in my room. It simply said, “Run!” so here I am.’
‘How’d they figure you were working with us?’
‘Don’t know, Dick. It has to have been Mendoza. He’s got agents everywhere at the moment. Need to keep your heads down.’
‘We will,’ said General Beech. ‘Come and meet the others.’
The two generals walked through to the lounge area where Dick Beech introduced Winston Delve to Charles Mayne, Jim, Brad and Bob Nixon.
‘Winnie, lovely to see you again,’ said Bob.
‘You two know each other?’ asked Charles.
‘Yes, met several times at the White House when Jack was still president and grabbed a few drinks together when Winnie was out of uniform,’ said Bob.
‘Right. Better times. I see you’re still making Slimbridge’s life unpleasant, Dick. The Green House was classic.’
‘Yes, we’ve over fifty cells now. The best one was the dinner party. The main course had been almost served and the sprinkler system poured out its green dye. Magnificent. Wish I could’ve seen it,’ said Dick.
‘Made him mad as hell,’ said Winston. ‘Okay, I’m stuck with you now. How can I help?’
««o»»
[Taken from UN video and minutes. RBB]
The Albert Hall was packed to the gunnels with representatives from every country and many more press and observers.
The secretary general called the assembly to order and said, ‘It gives me the utmost pleasure to welcome you all to this first full General Assembly of the United Nations since the fateful day my predecessor opened her meeting in New York.
‘Before we begin, could I ask everyone to hold a minute’s silence in remembrance of those who died, which also includes the Federation diplomatic team and millions of innocent people in the city itself.’
A hush quickly fell over the crowd. Many prayed. Others just looked to the ground or the air while they remembered colleagues or opponents, friends and acquaintances who’d died in the nuclear explosion caused by people as yet unknown, although most were pretty sure who the culprit was.
‘The Assembly is gathered today to debate Resolution four hundred and twenty-seven, that all countries of the world, with the exception of the United States of America, will join the Galactic Federation, whose capital is on the planet Arlucian. Ambassador Terend Stograther and his team are seated to my right and available to provide answers, as necessary, to any questions raised.
‘Before beginning the debate, could you please press your red voting button if you still have issues to raise before you are ready to place your vote.’
Lara looked over her shoulder, where the bank of LEDs sat beside the name of each of the one hundred and ninety-three member countries. Only one was lit. South Korea.
‘The Assembly recognises the representative of South Korea,’ said Lara.
‘We have an ongoing concern about China’s annexation of the north of our country and would ask that it be given back to South Korea.’
‘But Hwang Kang-woo, we have already discussed this matter at length,’ said Lara.
‘I want to hear what we agreed confirmed by you and minuted in the General Assembly,’ said the South Korean president.
Lara covered the microphone and called Paula over. ‘Do you have the agreement?’
Paula swiped across her tablet several times and passed it to the secretary general. ‘Here it is, ma’am.’
‘The document runs into many pages, but the agreed final line is this, “Once Federation membership is agreed, the country known as China will hand administrative control of the country known as North Korea to the country known as South Korea, so that they are in the same administrative area.” That is now minuted. Is that to your satisfaction?’
‘Yes, thank you, Madam Secretary,’ said Hwang Kang-woo, removing his red light from the board of nations.
‘Secondly,’ the secretary general continued, ‘we have representatives here from Palestine, Taiwan, the Cook Islands and Niue plus the Holy See. Can you raise your hands for us to show where you are seated?’
Hands rose into the air from the spectators’ area.
‘Can you please confirm that you are in agreement with the General Assembly should it vote to join the Federation?’
All of the hands were lifted again. Lara breathed a sigh of relief to see the Palestinian representative showing agreement, as the negotiations between them and Israel had been long and extremely fractious.
‘Now the last point of order. It has been agreed with the United States of America that Hawaii, Alaska, Puerto Rico and all other US dependencies will join the Federation and become their own administration areas. Would the observers from those countries kindly raise your hands to show that this has all been agreed with you?’ said Lara.
The relative hands were raised.
‘Thank you. Does anyone else have questions or matters to raise before we carry out the vote?’
Lara looked around the room. ‘The Assembly recognises Helena Martinez, president of Mexico.’
‘We, and our friends north of the USA, Canada, still have concerns about maintaining the borders between our countries and the USA. We think this should be clarified for the benefit of the rest of the world.’
‘Ambassador Stograther, would you like to answer this point,’ said Lara, looking to the benches where the Federation diplomatic team were seated.
‘Indeed,’ said the ambassador, rising slowly to his feet and walking up to the lectern. A strange figure in this sea of humanity. His arm waved through the air and his secradarve materialised before him, seemingly balancing itself on one corner of the lectern. He swiped one of his hands across it.
‘It is important to realise that there are not just two borders. Obviously, those with Canada and Mexico are easy to administer, but it must be remembered that both coasts of the US are also borders. The Federation is not concerned about people coming from the US into any other country. If they register wherever they arrive, they can become Federation citizens. If not, then they can visit Federation territories as tourists. Border scanners will record everyone moving into the US from Mexico or Canada. Any time spent outside of Federation territory will lose them all Federation income and benefits until they return.’
‘That seems like a lot of red tape,’ said the Canadian president.
‘No, not at all,’ said the ambassador. ‘It is all done by robots and is instant. You walk across the line into the USA, your income stops, step back over and it starts again. Ten seconds or ten years. When things are recorded by automatons, nothing is too much trouble or too complex.’
‘What about system failures?’ asked Anna Tolberg, president of Sweden. ‘We all know how unreliable computer systems can be.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said the ambassador.
‘Yol Ambassador,’ said the secretary general, ‘Computer systems can crash or be hacked or simply handle data in unexpected ways.’
‘I see. Yes, this might be a problem you would have on your own world, but let me assure you, a few hundred thousand years of development has produced foolproof programs which are continually monitoring their own functions and reactions. When new systems are introduced, the automatons themselves find minor errors and correct them. Major errors do not exist. “Hacking” as you call it, if it did occur, would be recognised, tracked and traced. I cannot remember a single occasion where that has happened and you must understand that there is no hiding place. Punishment would be certain and, potentially, lengthy stasis would follow. Please, let us worry about that and I assure you I will lose no sleep over it.’
‘But immigrants have to register if they are coming from the US?’ asked the Mexican president.
‘Yes.’
‘What if they don’t?’ asked a delegate from Trinidad.
‘They will be reminded by a borderbot. Once after an hour, then half hour, then ten minutes, then continually, like one of the annoying seatbelt alarms you have in your cars. It costs nothing to register and there will be no further intrusion. The Federation is not a police state, but having a single independent country on the planet is offering challenges even we have not previously encountered.’
‘Excuse me,’ said the president of Nigeria. ‘If we are visiting America as tourists, where do we get our currency?’
‘Again, this is new for us. We have told America that it is up to them to come up with an exchange rate and to set up bureaux de change at key points.’
‘So, we don’t get a say?’ asked the prime minister of Australia.
‘No, but you can barter. We think that if they lapse into the temptation to overvalue the dollar, they will eventually realise that the number of visitors will decline and that should cause the value to fall. As I say, it is experimental, but we have some economist robots who will monitor it,’ said the ambassador. ‘In fact, if anyone feels they are being cheated or exploited over the currency, see our borderbots. I’ll arrange for them to be able to offer small grants if necessary.’
‘Any other questions?’ asked Lara, returning to stand beside the ambassador. She scoured the field of faces. The ambassador returned to his seat.
‘In that case, I am calling a vote on Resolution four hundred and twenty-seven. Green for yes, red for no.’
The secretary general turned around and looked at the board of nations. A sea of green. One hundred and ninety-two green lights.
‘Resolution passed!’ she said and brought her gavel down upon the lectern. ‘Federation administrators will now visit all countries and the transition will begin. The Earth is now about to enter a golden period in its history, and we have all voted ourselves into unemployment.’
There was laughter, applause and not a little cheering.