The real bombshell came in the press conference of the Heartland states the following morning. They announced they were scheduling referendum votes similar to Texas for the same date six months hence. Those states included Oklahoma, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, and North and South Dakota.
Less than a half hour after the announcement, President Barker called Marty. Marty knew it wouldn’t be as friendly a conversation as in the past as soon as he said “Hello.”
“President Kert,” President Barker started, “I’ll be as straightforward as I know how to be. How long have you known about this decision by the Heartland states to hold joint referendums?”
“Mr. President, I assure you I had no inkling of it until the announcement was made a few minutes ago. I was watching with my wife and, like most of us, I’m sure, we thought it would be about oil. I’m as surprised as anyone on the planet about this.”
“Marty, I believe you. It seems they did quite a job of keeping this quiet. However, you must understand that this changes the whole equation on secession.” President Barker said sternly, “This would effectively divide the United States geographically. We would be left with a western U.S. and an eastern U.S., with these states and Texas as a physical barrier between. We would be forced to negotiate with you to drive from Louisiana to New Mexico or from Idaho to Minnesota. We would be dependent on you for southern air routes and them for northern. Can you imagine having to fly across Mexico or Canada to get from Albuquerque to Minneapolis? That’s not going to happen on my watch!”
Marty could see a very bad outcome if he didn’t calm the waters here. “Mr. President, let’s see where this goes before jumping to any conclusions. Ask the governors of these states to meet with you and see what their purpose is. It may be that they would be better off to stay if some small concessions were made. After all, with the exception of river ways, these states are landlocked, and they, too, would have to negotiate for travel anywhere outside their own borders. I’d even sit in on the meeting if you’d like.”
“Let me see if we can set something up, Marty. To be honest, I assumed they had already contacted your government about pipeline to port transportation for oil and shipping of hard commodities through Texas ports. I’ll let you know what comes of it.” President Barker ended the call.