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[This is where I enter the scene myself. RBB]
A friend on Arlucian contacted me at my university on Daragnen. I’d mentioned the enigma of the ‘prohibited planet’ Earth to him when we met at a conference on the capital world.
‘You know that planet you were interested in, Rummy. Well I heard a rumour. It was Earth, wasn’t it?’ my friend said.
‘Yes, that’s it, Earth,’ I said.
‘Well, now don’t mention my name about this, but I heard from a friend who works in the cabinet office that there is an odd experiment taking place there.’
‘An experiment? What sort of experiment?’
‘I don’t know, but the whole cabinet were involved in the discussions.’
‘Thanks. Think it’s time for me to try to get there again,’ I said.
It took me nearly a week to sort out my lessons and tutorials, handing over to a couple of robots to take responsibility during my absence. I spoke to the principal and he reluctantly let me leave.
That was the easy part. At the time, my children were still infants and my wife was not particularly amused at my intention to abandon her for what could be a lengthy research trip. She knew how important Earth was to me, though, and finally relented.
I managed to get a ship direct to Delarkon where I had to wait to find a freighter or something heading to Sol. If I could get to Mars, I’d be sure to find a way to Earth.
Everywhere I went I still drew an absolute blank on the mention of Earth although there was a rumour on Delarkon. I didn’t know quite what to make of it.
[You need to bear in mind that, at this point, I knew virtually nothing about the relationship between the Federation and Earth after the time immediately before the New York atrocity. RBB.]
I entered a bar. My usual tactic was to become friendly with locals and then drop a mention of Earth into the conversation.
‘Hey, wasn’t that the place the Churmbin woman was blown up?’ said one guy at the bar.
‘Yeah, think it was. Nuclear bomb or something,’ said his friend.
Now I had to be careful not to get too inquisitive and make them clam up.
’No one uses nuclear bombs,’ I said matter of factly.
‘Yes. It was a nuclear bomb. They never found her body. She was part of some diplomatic team trying to bring this Earth place into the Federation.’
‘Oh, yes. I remember. Then the whole thing went belly-up and was eventually hushed up.’
‘That’s unusual,’ I said. ‘Why would anyone hush up a new member of the Federation?’
‘Don’t know, mate. I think they failed entry.’
‘Yes,’ the other person said, ‘never heard any more about it.’
Each day, I headed to the spaceport and asked if anything was heading to Sol. Day after day the answer was negative, then, finally there was a crew member of a supply freighter standing in the ops room.
‘Sol? Why’d you want to go there?’ said a person wearing a junior officer’s uniform.
‘I’m trying to get to a place called Earth, but Mars would do. Where are you heading?’
‘My ship is taking supplies on an aid mission to the planet Earth. Hush hush job,’ said the crew member.
‘Glad you don’t talk about it, then,’ said the person behind the counter who was delivering papers to the adminbot at the desk.
The crew member laughed and took me to one side.
‘I can get you on board, but you’ll have to stay concealed for a few hours. I think we’ll be landing.’
‘What? On planet Earth itself?’
‘Yes, so I believe.’
‘Fabulous. When do we leave?’ I asked.
‘Be here tomorrow at eight. One bag only.’
‘Will do, thanks.’
««o»»
[Taken from Jim Collins’ notes. RBB]
Brad was lucky, but Charles, Dick, Bob and me and half a dozen officers in the Free America organisation were not. When it happened, it took me back to a scene in the film, Bonnie and Clyde. I was sitting beside the front window and saw a couple of plain cars pull into the end of the driveway. Behind them a police squad car parked, and I could just make out a stationary black van beyond it.
We were rumbled. I ran through the house alerting everyone and looked out of the kitchen window. A SWAT team was making its way up the garden, using shrubs and apple trees as camouflage.
Now, in Bonnie and Clyde, they made a break for it, firing machine guns as they mowed down as many police as they could. Would we be so stupid?
‘Okay,’ said Dick, ‘game’s up. I’ve signalled Mike and destroyed the burner. We need not give them any opportunity to open fire. Bring me the bullhorn, Jim.’
Once he had the megaphone, Dick opened the front door and stood behind it. ‘Let it be known that we can see your SWAT team at the rear and will surrender. We have all laid down our arms and will be in the dining room, the first door off the hallway to the left.’
The sound of the device had echoed around the house.
‘Into the dining room, everyone. Captain, unlock the rear door and follow us quickly,’ said General Beech.
Within thirty seconds we were all in the room. We spread ourselves around it and waited.
All of a sudden there were calls of ‘Armed police, armed police!’
A SWAT officer looked into the room and saw all of us standing with our arms raised. He said, ‘On the floor! Face down with your arms behind your backs. Do it now!’
We knelt, then lay down on the floor around the dining table and beside the fireplace.
‘Don’t move,’ said the officer, then on his radio, ‘I have ten of them in the dining room. No sign of resistance.’
Voices from elsewhere in the house shouted out ‘Room clear!’ then ‘Upper floor clear!’ and ‘Second floor clear!’ ‘Kitchen clear!’ ‘Office Clear!’ ‘Lounge clear!’ and so on until the final call of ‘All clear!’
I could hear people in the dining room, moving around. My hands were roughly pulled and cuffed, and I assumed it was also happening to the others. I am sure all were as apprehensive as I... this was likely to end up in front of a firing squad, if we even got that far.
The leadership of Free America had been neutralised.
««o»»
[From my own notes, images and recordings. RBB]
It was really uncomfortable. I know he warned me that I’d have to remain concealed, but this was a tiny cupboard in the crew member’s cabin. The freighter was not like the last rust bucket I’d travelled in a few months back on my first attempt to get to Earth. This was a modern ship, so there was no clue as to what was happening. No changes in gravity, or any movement felt through in-flight vector changes.
All of a sudden there was a change. The ship had been operating under Arlucian standard gravity and now we were a little lighter. It must mean we had landed on a different planet. Could it really be Earth?
‘Rummy, you can get out now,’ said the crew member.
I uncurled myself from the cupboard and stretched to ease my cramped muscles. ‘What now?’
‘Leave my cabin, run down the corridor to the left and take the door at the end. It will take you into one of the cargo bays. You’re on your own from there.’
‘Thanks. Much appreciated,’ I said and made a dash along the corridor, hoping no one would leave their cabin.
In just two minutes I’d run four hundred metres and was now standing at the door. I cracked it open.
The hatch opened onto a gantry high above the storage containers. Dozens of robots below were sorting and loading transports which made their way out of the ship and onto some rough ground. This must be Earth. I’d made it.
There didn’t seem to be any people about, just automatons, so I quickly descended from the gantry down an open, but shielded, vertical ladder. I began counting the rungs but gave up at fifty and, soon after, felt sold ground beneath me. Warily, I looked around the hive of activity in the cargo hold.
The robots were not interested in a person in their working space and just continued their frantic unpacking, loading and shipping of goods down the sloping platform to the ground below.
I could see pleasant sunshine. Being a Daragnen, the sort of temperature I was feeling was comfortable. It was humid so I removed a padded jacket I was wearing and stowed it in my bag. I slung it over my shoulders and marched down the slope into the sunshine.
There were dozens of medibots moving around a tented community.
I stopped one and asked, ‘What is happening here? What is this place?’
‘This is Mexico. Beyond that wall is the United States of America, which is independent, not part of the Federation.’
‘But Mexico is? And why are they living in tents?’
‘These are refugees from this central part of the Americas. Many in this camp are from Honduras. We have been assigned to bring them up to standard health and nutrition.’
‘But why are they here?’
‘They want to cross the border but the United States won’t let them in.’
I was having trouble understanding. ‘What did you mean by this United States of America being independent and here, Mexico, being part of the Federation?’
The medibot said, ‘I don’t know the full story, but this entire planet has joined the Federation except for the United States of America. They are not part of the Federation and so they control their own borders.’
Now I understood, but it seemed most bizarre. Is this what my friend on Arlucian had meant by Earth being an experiment? ‘Where is their border control?’ I asked.
‘Do you see that queue over there? Those are people waiting to be seen by the border security people on the United States of America side of the wall.’
The line comprised about sixty or seventy humans; male, female and children. I made my way to the end of the line. The family standing there looked at me strangely and shuffled away from me. I supposed that aliens were not commonly seen here. We would be strange-looking people to them. Compared with a human, I am very short, standing about half their size. My skin is dark brown, a cross between these Mexicans and the few black people I see among them. I have the same number of legs and arms as they do, but my head is set very low on my torso with no appreciable neck although we can swivel it through more than two hundred and forty degrees. I was wearing the equivalent of a T-shirt and trousers which reached my ankles. My shoes were open, showing that I only had three toes on each foot. My hands, similarly, had two fingers and an opposable thumb.
‘Why are you wanting to leave Mexico?’ I asked the woman of the family, but she didn’t speak English. I tried French but that didn’t work either. ‘What do you speak?’ I asked, pointing at her and my lips.
‘Ah, Español,’ she said. It meant nothing to me. She walked forwards to a man four or five positions in front of her, tapped him on the shoulder and said a few words in Spanish. She waved me forward.
He turned around and was shocked at my presence. He looked me up and down, slowly. ‘You alien?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘I’m from Daragnen. I don’t speak Español. I wondered why you are all leaving Mexico to go to the United States of America?’
‘Ah. Si. We have relatives in El Paso,’ he said a few words in Spanish to the woman. ‘She too has relatives in the USA.’
‘You are not leaving to get away from the Federation, then?’ I asked.
‘No. In fact, we in two minds. If you been here yesterday, this line would be a thousand people. Most have dropped out. We might. Now I have this,’ and he pulled a wad of afeds out of his pocket.
It was rare to see actual cash in the Federation. ‘How long have you been members?’
‘Just yesterday. One day only,’ he said.
‘Is that only Mexico or the rest of the world?’
‘Whole world.’
Amazing. I had arrived on the very day the Earth had joined, but with this strange situation of a single country remaining independent.
As the day progressed, the queue shuffled forward. Many dropped out and it was not long before I got to the border post. It comprised a building which had a walkway passing through it on the left and a glazed office section on the right. Inside, an obese, uniformed white woman sat looking down at me through the glazed panel. She shouted over her shoulder, ‘Tell Jack I’ve got a weird one here!’
‘What’s your name, sonny,’ she said.
I wondered what “sonny” meant and assumed it was a name you used if you didn’t know someone’s real name. ‘My name is Yol Rummy Blin Breganin from the planet Daragnen, and I am a professor at Dinbelay University. I have an interest in other worlds and that is why I am here. I would like to visit the United States of America.’
She seemed to be taken aback by my fluent English and the fact that I was an adult. Maybe sonny meant child and she thought I was a child owing to my lack of stature.
‘Okay, Mr Breggin. Wait a moment.’
‘Breganin,’ I said.
‘Yes, Mr Breganin. Please wait a moment,’ she said and turned to a human with an official-looking peaked cap. I couldn’t hear what they were saying.
‘Right, Mr Breganin. Do you have the entry fee of five hundred dollars?’
‘I am sorry. I have no currency in cash. I have a microchip you can read to obtain that sum in afeds,’ I said.
‘Microchip?’
‘I raised my hands and pointed at the tiny bump between my thumb and first finger. This microchip can pay my entry fee.’
‘One moment,’ she said.
This time I could hear the conversation.
‘He says he has a microchip in his hand to pay us, but no cash. What should I do?’
The man with the peaked cap replied, ‘Aw, damn it! Just let him in. It was worth a try.’
The woman shrugged, filled out details on a card, checking the spelling of my full name and my planet. She handed me the card and I was permitted through the barrier into the United States of America, or USA as they all seemed to call it. I looked at the card and saw that it had a note on it – “to pay $500 on departure.”
I saw a bus heading to the centre of El Paso, but they wouldn’t let me on because I had no money to buy a ticket. I was going to have to get some cash from somewhere. I started walking along the dusty road. A sign said “16 miles”. I wondered how long a mile was.
««o»»
[Taken from various sources. RBB]
On the seventh day of Earth’s membership, some people were trying to leave the USA to enter the Federation. Many wanted to see what was happening, but some were already making a commitment.
The border was letting anyone through and categorised them as tourists or wanting residency. Currency was exchanged at a dollar for an afed at the border posts inside the Federation. In the other direction, exorbitant rates were being charged. It had become obvious that Mexicans had been given afeds in cash and, inside the USA border, they were being offered as little as twenty-five cents for an afed.
It would soon change, of course. Currently, it was easy-pickings for any unscrupulous person wanting to fleece the immigrants. Sooner or later the real exchange value would settle down, but for now it was “make hay while the sun shines”. Of course, on the Federation side, there were now millions of nanobots keeping an eye on all transactions, preventing fraud and stopping people selling-on items they had received in aid. Short, sharp, shock punishments of an hour in stasis were stopping much of the crime and corruption, especially when it became known that repeat offenders were getting ten hours, then a hundred hours, then a month! Fewer and fewer individuals received ten hour punishments. They had enough afeds for their needs. Why bother trying to cheat the system? If you were spotted breaking the rules, which was becoming more and more certain, then you were punished.
Gradually, the nanobots could leave peaceful areas of the planet and they congregated at places where habitual corruption dominated life. Nigeria, Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Ghana were soon hotbeds of attention. At one point, over twelve per cent of people in central Africa were in stasis. It took time for them to learn but, within three months, most countries were gradually cleared of criminals and the system was working as it was intended. Everyone had enough to eat, and there was freedom of movement worldwide. African cities were soon developing, clearing slums and rehousing people, firstly in comfortable prefabricated buildings and later in individual cottages or apartments, depending upon the location in which people wanted to live. Corruption or exploitation using sex or intimidation was easy to detect and quickly stopped.
Similar corruption took place in the Middle East, eastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent and the Far East. There was less in western Europe, but crimes there were of the more serious variety, again treated by stasis periods from an hour to a year. The odd murder meant a life sentence, with rape and grievous bodily harm attracting sentences of many years. The beauty of the legal system was that there were almost always nanobots as witnesses. They could not lie and could never reveal what they saw except in a court of law. Being virtually invisible, no one was ever aware they were living in their communities. Was the prevention of all crime worth the intrusion of these almost invisible automatons? Only time would tell, but it had certainly killed premeditated crime stone dead. Only spur of the moment or opportunistic crimes seemed to persist. After a few sessions of stasis, even those would be likely to diminish.
Civil rights groups objected to the intrusion of robots and nanobots but, over time, their activities faded into obscurity. Nanobots disappeared from conversations. When something does not intrude and never does anything but good, it is soon seen as inconsequential by any but the most pedantic of individuals. Yes, it would take years before they were completely forgotten, but it would happen eventually. Who would rather see a rape or violent attack take place when the presence of nanobots could ensure the arrival of policebots to stop the assault in minutes? The logic was undeniable.