The Abacus Equation

by Peter Stremus

  Chapter 18

  The chilly morning already carried the sounds of an awakening Manhattan, when Ian stepped through the landscaped gardens of the company towards the attending limo. With a friendly nod he handed his briefcase and sat next to Iveta who was absently gazing outside. As opposed to Ian, an early rise was not her cup of tea. Ian had already been working out in the gym of the building while she was waking up under a cold shower.

  Ian pushed a button and the separation panel disappeared behind the front seats.

  “Good morning Alice, how are you doing?”

  “It promises to be a wonderful day, Ian. So I am happy.”

  “Indeed, nothing beats a beautiful morning. How are the kids doing at school?”

  “Very well, thanks. Liz, the youngest has just started to take music lessons. She wants to play the violin. I hope we will not regret it.” She waited for a moment when she stopped to turn onto the Palisades Turnpike and then continued: “and where does the travelling take you today, Ian?”

  “Oh Alice, you know. Too far to be of any good for an old man like me.”

  She smiled in the mirror and closed the panel again. She knew that when Ian was with Iveta, the pleasantries soon ran out. But they were not less sincere. One of her strengths, besides being an expert driver, was discretion and sensing when it was required. Like it was now.

  Ian reclined in the soft grey leather seat and pulled out his phone to call home. His wife, Elizabeth, was an early riser.

  “Good morning honey. Did you already go for your run?”

  Elizabeth had started to run last year and had ever since followed a Spartan training programme to prepare herself for the New York marathon.

  He listened attentively, now and then agreeing, nodding along.

  “Well, I am on my way to the airport again. Some crisis with an assignment in Chilli has come up. I'll be away for a while, I am afraid.”

  Elizabeth had become accustomed that her husband was regularly away for weeks. From the beginning of their marriage she knew it was better not to ask questions or be upset about it. And in the end she was happy with the situation.

  “I love you too. I'll call you when I arrive.”

  He ended the conversation and closed his eyes. He needed to mentally walk again through all the points that were coming his ways the next hours and days.

  Momentarily they would arrive at the airport for an immediate departure. The corporate jet exceeded the luxury of a first class commercial flight by far and he was going to need the coming twelve hours to work. Then they would arrive at their destination. He was keen to see the progress that was made since his last visit, more than a year ago.

  The limo turned into the private section of Newark airport. The homeland security officer recognized the car, and more so Alice, and let them pass without any interruption. He knew that the kind of people sitting in those cars did not like checks and controls. And although it went against all instructions, everyone turned a blind eye towards this kind of VIP treatment.

  Swiftly Alice parked the car alongside the waiting jet and jumped out of the car to help her passengers. She pulled the luggage out and returned Ian's briefcase.

  He hugged her surprisingly tight and said: “Alice, take good care of yourself,” upon which he resolutely climbed the stairs where the flight attendant was greeting him. A bit bashful she did not know what to answer. With the help of the ground personnel she loaded the luggage, signed the paperwork on behalf of Ian and drove away. She stopped before the steel gate and saw in her rear mirror that the jet was already taxiing to the runway while the staircase was being retracted and the door closed.

  “They are really in a hurry to leave,” Alice thought.

  On board Ian stuck his head in the cockpit and shook hands with the pilot and co-pilot. He exchanged some pleasant talk and retreated into the cabin. The stewardess had brewed fresh coffee and served it to Iveta in elegant white china.

  “Welcome aboard Ian.” She also addressed him with his first name. Something he insisted on to be done by everyone who was working for his company.

  “Good morning Cindy. I am glad to see you again. Where were you yesterday? I did miss you on my flight from London.”

  Cindy smiled warmly: “I wanted absolutely to be on this flight. Frankly, I am more attracted by Chilli than the grey and foggy London.”

  She uncorked a bottle of champagne. For a man of his wealth and power, he did not have many idiosyncrasies. Actually very few, but he was formal on this champagne. She filled dexterously the long thin glass and brought it, balancing on a small tray, to Ian. Then she disappeared into the small galley to prepare breakfast for her guests.

  The shrill whistling of the speeding turbines made Ian look up from one of the newspapers that Cindy had arranged in front of him. He liked the almost extinct smell of printed paper and loved the traces of black ink on his fingers after he had read it. Iveta thought to notice a somewhat melancholic look in his eyes when the plane ascended in a wide arc over the Hudson to reach its corridor to the south.

  Already after a couple of minutes he asked Iveta to set up a conference call with Vladimir.

  “Good morning Vladimir. Where are you now?”

  The image on the display jumped from time to time and the audio had difficulty to synchronize with the video.

  “Ian, I am somewhere over the Congolese Jungle. Another two hours and I should arrive. Did you receive my latest report? I have sent it a couple of hours ago from the plane and I am never sure whether the transmission succeeded or not.”

  “Yes, I have studied it this morning. That is why I am calling you as I have some questions.

  “Sure, shoot,” replied the other side.

  “I hope Raghavani does not get cold feet?”

  “It is not so much that she has second thoughts. It is more that she developed concerns with India playing such a prominent, well, dirty role.”

  “We need to ensure that she understands there are no good or bad sides in this. We focus on two things. The destruction of the current infrastructure and the elimination of local conflicts. I am sure she will be happy that the Afghan invasion and homicides in the Kashmir area will be contained. And that she will have unlimited access to the fresh water reserves in the Himalaya. She will be the hero. There are over three billion Indians she has to take care of. So we offer her the expansion that she needs. With the Middle East she will have access to oil, something they never had before. With the large Indian population in the Middle East, annexing it to India also has a deeper meaning: the liberation of the thousands of workers there. The US is supporting because it solves their Middle East problem and Israel once and for all. The Chinese in return take control over Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia all the way to Australia.”

  “She was also concerned that the Russians would not stop with the northern provinces of China and that they would expand further to the south.”

  “Unlikely, the Russians are smart. They know how much trouble these small areas can be. History has taught them that. No, they are more than happy with North China. There is a lot of oil and other precious stuff under the ice. And the ice means fresh water. And as long as the Russians can go on holiday with their girl friends to Hurghada or Sharm el Sheikh, they will not make any unexpected moves. However, we need to ensure that India keeps her promise not to invade the fertile Gobi desert. I am sure the Chinese would not appreciate that.”

  “And Europe?”

  “Europe finally has a strong president after a series of grey mice. He is finally determined to unite the countries and act as one in this conflict. The stakes are Africa. Since long the colonial playing field of the European countries. China has already tried in the past to penetrate that continent and in this conflict they will attack the main cities. Europe will protect and retaliate, swarming all over Africa and re-establishing their colonial regimes. Of course, it will not be called colonial.”

  “Talking about colonies. What about South America?
I know you had some concerns, Ian.”

  “We will have to play the same game here. The US will attack South America and Europe, lead by Spain, Portugal and the UK, will come to the rescue.”

  “That bothers me, it will be for the first time that Europe and the US are not allies.”

  “The South American conflict will be over soon, it is least important one. The main goal is to have space to host the millions now living in Australia. That will be annexed in the greater China.”

  “Are you sure they will leave?”

  “Good point. They certainly don't want to be part of China. Even because they fear that the flow of Chinese call-girls will stop. In any case, the military conflict is calculated to be fierce but short. A flare to destroy as much infrastructure as possible. Then there will be a period to rebuild. People will have other things on their mind than their minor local issues. Rebuilding will only stand a chance when they collaborate all together, even with their former enemies. To put it commonly: they will have bigger fish to fry. Basic team philosophy: under pressure the team performs faster and better.”

  “Up to a brave new world,” Vladimir answered.

  “Not at all, my dear Huxley. A brave new world was a reaction against modern technology and its potential abuse to take away your privacy. Some control, even if it is social control or self control, is the price you need to pay for your freedom. There is a huge difference between freedom and privacy. Freedom is the possibility to think independently without someone else beating you, ridiculing you or murdering your family. Privacy is the ability to do this wherever you want to. However, I am pleased that you know your classics.”

  “Thanks. So I will throw in another one. It looks like Abacus becomes more and more a Foundation.”

  “Even the Foundation is a poor comparison. We are only predicting fifty years, we only cover the earth, there is no second Abacus and as far as I know there is no Mule throwing mud in the water. But on the other hand, we could serve to repopulate the world when needed.”

  "Fine," Vladimir ended, "that was my briefing. We will see each other in a couple of hours."

  "Indeed, we will," Ian ended the conversation and switched off the call. He reclined in the seat and opened his laptop.

  Well into the flight the aircraft headed towards the east. The captain entered the cabin and whispered to Ian that the new course had been programmed. He had switched off the transponder the moment they had left the Miami airspace. At this moment alerts would be triggered with the traffic controllers as the aircraft suddenly disappeared from their radar screens.

  Ian nodded, stretched and went to Cindy to ask whether she wanted to prepare lunch. He returned to Iveta. It was time to tell her.

  “Chilli will not be our destination today, I am afraid. We are heading for mid Africa. The western part of Somalia, to be precise.”

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