Bold War 2020

by Redemption

  His head shakes in anger. Organised crime. Previously he had disliked it - from a distance. In a kind of theoretical way. Now he hates it, from up close. He stares at Christiana - why is she just sitting there? "Was that true?… Why don't you say something?"

  "I'm allowing Frip Analysis to take its course," she says dispassionately. "Thank you for your comments, they all help, as you will find out in due course. Yes it was all true, but not the whole truth," as she prepares to re-start the film. "Things aren't always as they seem. Truth, as your people used to say, can be stranger than fiction."

  CHAPTER 17 Phoenix

  Again the film showed the interior of the manor, with Charles pulling down the blinds.

  "As a slight, ah, diversion, I want you to see my wine collection," said Kent. "Bring your things and follow me."

  Surprised at the turn of events, they followed him into the hallway and through a narrow door down a narrow flight of stairs. They filed into a dim cellar with rows of dusty wine bottles, the low ceiling supported by heavy beams and stout oak pillars. As Charles closed the heavy trapdoor Kent continued. "Used to good effect in World War 2 as an air raid shelter. Now keeps my wine at a steady sixteen degrees Centigrade year-round."

  A muffled thud transmitted through the ceiling, dislodging wisps of dust. Time and everybody stood still for a second, apart from a large spider that bolted, crab-wise, from a large crack to a safer hiding place.

  "My God, what was that?" exclaimed Rose as they all looked at Kent wide-eyed.

  More thuds came from above, louder and insistent.

  "If my intelligence is accurate, it is the forces of evil sent to disrupt us," replied Kent.

  "They found us!" shouted Mario. "Quick! Get weapons!"

  "There won't be any need for that sort of thing," retorted Kent in a raised voice of authority as the impacts continued. "My security staff reported suspicious movements near the estate. I thought it best to take precautions, justifiably as it turns out. We'll just ride it out here for a while. I have a contingency plan."

  He spoke urgently into his mobile phone and waited. "Our opposition seems to be rather more adept and determined than I first thought," he said to the group, which was exchanging nervous glances as if that would, in some disconnected way, alleviate the situation.

  "You can bet on that," said Mario. "Can't we do something? Hit back?"

  The phone rang as Charles handed out battery torches. Kent listened briefly and hung up. His frown was one of annoyance rather than fear, impatience more than anger. An impression of coolness under pressure, another obstacle to surmount, an irritating interruption of his movement towards a goal yet to be defined in detail, clear in size if not in outline.

  "Follow me, as quickly and quietly as possible," he said firmly. "No questions, I'll explain later."

  Stooping, he led the way further into the bowels of the cellar, around corners and along a narrow corridor to stop at a ladder. Charles climbed the ladder and slowly opened a trapdoor enough to peer out. They saw his face reflect a red glow.

  "All clear sir," he whispered after an interminable minute.

  They climbed through the hole into a garden summerhouse some distance from the manor. The smell of ash filled their nostrils, the radiant heat and roar of the inferno assailed their senses. If any of the attackers had stayed behind they would have observed a line of people, black against the raging flames, scurry to a gate in the side fence, pause while it was unlocked, and file into a waiting van. Was it the fourth vehicle that had kept separate from the others?

  But the fire-bombers had hastily departed the scene, keeping to the edge of the road as a trio of fire engines roared in the opposite direction with bells ringing and lights flashing.

  "Gorblimey!" shouted the fire captain over the roar of the flames. "The Manor's done for. Nobody'll get out of there alive."

  ~

  Andrew smiles with relief. "You and that film maker are full of surprises," he says, relieved. "You could say that instead of being cremated, a phoenix was created and rose from the ashes in a baptism of fire."

  "Mmmm…," she replies. "Want to change your predictions?"

  He thinks for a while. "I can see why you didn't show me the fire until after I'd made my predictions. I feel like I'm on a roller coaster with these ups and downs, or, rather, downs and ups. For simplicity's sake and to save time, let's leave my figures as-is. Before I was guessing on the safe side. Now I've had brought home to me the magnitude of at least one of the obstacles - the underworld - but, what the heck, the team is still intact, thankfully, so I won't change the figures.

  "So that wasn't how Sylvia and Kent died. How did they meet their end?"

  "In a plane crash a year later. You'll see details as part of the on-going story."

  Irked at still having to wait for explanations, but in the brightest mood since waking from his coma, Andrew watches Christiana project the first six categories of the statistics table on the TV screen, this time with the actuals for 2050 beside his projections. Immediately he is startled, then puzzled, then furious. Having progressed in his mental grasp of the new (and amazing) situation, having 'survived' the Manor fire, he finds himself confronted with figures that shock and bewilder his damaged sensibilities. His accumulated experience of analysing factors that contribute to social progress, his whole train of constructed thought is suddenly and totally derailed. (And why has she shown only part of the table?)

  "What is this? Some sort of a joke?" he shouts at Christiana. "You're playing me for a fool. These figures are impossible. Explain yourself."

  "Certainly Andrew. But please calm down. It's not good for your recovery to get too excited. I told you there would be surprises, and now you're surprised at being surprised. Aren't the figures good news?"

  "Well, yes, but they're unbelievable,… as I said, impossible… inhuman! How could so much be achieved, against such formidable opposition, in so little time?"

  "You sound a little… disappointed… Andrew. But the figures are actual. You and most others in 2020 believed they couldn't be achieved and so they weren't likely to happen. But I'm here to tell you they were achieved, it did happen, and what's more you'll be interested in the logic of the process."

  "This I can't wait to see. Tell me. Tell me how? And why? And how soon can you do it?"

  "This afternoon," she says gently, "this afternoon. The film can do it better than I can. I have a luncheon engagement and you have clinic duties to be endured."

  "I certainly know where I'd rather be," he complains ruefully as he grits his teeth, blinks goodbye and submits to the nurses. (At one stage he is sure he hears a whisper about Randy, but keeps his eyes closed.)

  CHAPTER 18 Revelations

  During his simple lunch Andrew chews over the table of food and the table of figures. He has a peculiar mix of feelings - shock at the magnitude of change, confused disbelief, excitement at how good the results are, and intrigue as to how they were achieved.

  Cameron Dench enters the room with Christiana. "Having some trouble with the results Andy?" he asks.

  "Was it a good lunch?" counters Andrew, looking at Christiana.

  "Yes thank you - with Duke, my friend of the moment," as she busies herself with the video screen.

  Put out, Andrew forces himself to look again at the 10R table of figures.

  Searching for possible explanations, he mentally queries the validity of the figures. Perhaps their statistical procedures can be questioned? He searches their faces for a sign that might hint at a joke or trickery or deception.

  "Surprised Andy?"

  "Astonished! That supposedly within thirty years society has savaged crime, killed wars, cut substance abuse and unemployment to a fraction, and halved welfare and taxation? How could I not be amazed?"

  "You feel they are impossible, but obviously they aren't, because they are real. Shall we say, then, that they are inconceivable to you?"

  "That's it, that's one of the words I was searching for. The in
conceivable Great Leap Forward."

  "Inconceivable within your 2020 frame of reference. You didn't think it possible, and didn't want to try. Was it as inconceivable as heavier-than-air flight once was?" asked Cameron. "Or man on the moon? Real crackpot stuff they were. But they show how man's achievement can transcend the doubters. Alfred Wegener (one of my favourites) was ridiculed early in your century when he proposed his theory of continental drift. His 'impossible' theory proved to be correct and confounded the experts, who had been adamant, to a man, that it couldn't be so. As a scientific person I thought you might have displayed rather more openness. And you also seem a little… unhappy?, if I might say so."

  "That's probably due to my mixture of incredulity and anger that, if these figures are really true, I had got it so wrong. After all my predictions were, I would have thought, typical estimates for my time."

  "Exactly. They were. The trouble is, weak predictions in the absence of any positive or proactive efforts tend to be self-fulfilling. Yours is indeed a typical surprise at life 30 years later, similar to what you would expect to find in a 1950's person transplanted to the turn of the century. Computers, lasers, satellites, CD's, faxes, modems, the Internet (look at all those new words!). If you achieved those advances in half a century through technology alone, why shouldn't we achieve the progress you treat with disbelief through ongoing technology plus Mentology?"

  Andrew tries to transplant his limited understanding of Mentology onto his knowledge and appreciation of the power of new technology. On reflection he has to admit Mentology, if it worked, could be a vital missing link to open new territory, elevate results and multiply outcomes. If human consciousness could be transformed it could be even more significant than man's physical domination of the material world and the resulting (to him severely qualified) 'successes'. He can't begin to grasp the reasons for the exhibited results, so he merely nods and Cameron continues.

  "If right now I could see 2080 life undoubtedly I would be surprised, although hopefully not as much as you because of my use of Frip Analysis. This is where your participation will help us avoid some of the errors and omissions of previous generations. We don't want a repeat of the monumental TTragedy of 20C, do we? You wouldn't want us to look stupid in 2080 would you?"

  At a loss, not knowing what to say, and because no definition had appeared on the screen - and as a diversion - Andrew dinks TTragedy.

  D: TTragedy:

  Screen: Details withheld for the present, for reasons to be explained later.

  "What trickery are you up to now?" he blurts. "Or is it torture? No definition. A double capital word. No! I wouldn't mind at all if you looked stupid in the future - just get on with the explanations of HOW it was done."

  "Right. What for instance did you think of 1940's life?" asks Cameron.

  "Pretty irresponsible, with a lot of unnecessary killing. With more forethought I feel they could have avoided a lot of their problems."

  "Exactly. Similar to our view of your time. So many things could and should have been done. Some say you were insular, thick-headed, pathetic - not me of course," throwing up his hands as Andrew glares at him. "Although when you see some of the solutions… "

  "Have you any comments about the limited action of your time, why things were allowed to deteriorate so far?" chips in Christiana.

  V

  D: Comment and Questions re 2020:

  Andrew, defensively: "Systems were so large and complex there was no clear view as to what to do. It's hard to change a big ship around overnight."

  Christiana: "But, on behalf of our people I have to ask some obvious questions. For instance, why did people act like lemmings, to their own detriment? Why did they continue to take drugs and other addictive substances when they knew it was to their long-term disadvantage? Why did they keep on abusing the environment (clearing trees, polluting, global warming, ozone layer), even though they knew it was short-sighted? World population was allowed to expand out of control, multiplying problems. Why?

  "Most people in your time knew TV had so much to offer and yet it fell so abysmally short. Was it because you acted like the 12-year-olds it was aimed at? Enough of you knew how the mind works and why people act the way they do - they actually wrote books about it. Why were they ignored? It was common knowledge you were only using a fraction of your potential, but nothing happened. Your teachers weren't even taught how to teach students to learn, for goodness sake!

  "You could put people on the moon and yet you couldn't manage yourselves or society in fundamental areas. That is what is so inconceivable to us. How could you be so……?"

  Her voice trails off as she looks away from him. Is she not completing the sentence out of respect for his feelings? The foremost word he expects, within the context of the discussion, as if in capital letters is… STUPID!

  =

  Andrew is aggravated by the line of questioning and hurt by Christiana's part in it, probing into what was conventional thinking, the 'norm', a generation ago. In his favour he remembers occasions when he had reservations about the inaction and mistakes of his contemporaries, but also recalls surveys of his students that rated him highly on his analysis of 'mistakes' of earlier ages.

  "Maybe we were generally aware of some of the things you talk about," he says guardedly, "but one needs fully documented proposals, trial runs, studies, government funding."

  "You will be surprised to learn then," says Cameron, "that none of these things you see as necessary was part of the transformation. We finally learned, after being told many times, that big institutions can't change effectively from within. A famous identity said 'You can't solve a problem with the consciousness that created it.'(10) And creativity, energy, determination and persistence by a group of committed individuals is far more effective in the process of positive change than all the studies and funding by faceless people. It was said in your time 'No great change in the world is made without intense efforts of a few dedicated people.'"(11)

  "But the enormity of the problems were such that individuals were powerless," complains Andrew.

  "Nobody listened to or understood John F Kennedy? 'One man can make a difference and every man should try.'"

  "Individual quotes like that can not only be misleading but also terribly frustrating."

  "Or ignored," says Cameron briskly. "Let's look at the results in their categories, together with your responses. Society didn't implode like the doom-and-gloomers were saying back then, quite the reverse. Firstly, R1 and R2 - crime and wars. Down dramatically. People now can differentiate clearly between right and wrong, are sufficiently aware of consequences, and have the ability to overcome the power of their emotions. Their perceived cravings have been subjugated and they relate their efforts and actions towards longer-term outcomes that are in their mutual interests."

  "That's so hard to believe, so Utopian."

  "Maybe in your view, but worthwhile if it can be achieved?"

  "Of course." He has to admit the result ought to have been possible, and indeed he had argued so in the past. What annoyed him was that he never really expected it to happen, and now can't conceive how it had been achieved, given the enormity of the problems.

  "Substance abuse down two thirds," Cameron continues. "It was, and still is, so draining on an individual basis, just to feed low self-esteem. Increase self-esteem, reduce substance abuse."

  "Not that simple… surely?"

  "The solution was simple, implementing it another matter. Unemployment - reduced even more. Jobs you haven't heard of or even thought of. Creative structuring of co-operative effort. Welfare costs and income taxes - two sides of the same coin - again halved. It's amazing what happens when people understand themselves and the issues and find what they can do about it."

  "I can't comment until you tell me more. People still need looking after - the poor, aged, disadvantaged. You haven't dumped them have you?"

  "Not at all. What if everyone, including the poor, aged and disadvantaged,
really wanted to resolve their difficulties and could see how to do it?"

  Silence. From the jumble of his memories he recalls once thinking around the same question. He had personally encountered and been briefly involved in two contrasting cases. One struggling family accepted their lot in life. They were resigned to their fate and seemed almost to 'enjoy' their diminished situation. He thought they resented and actively resisted efforts to help them rise above their state of poverty and disadvantage and complaint.

  The second family lived in the same street and were destitute, with added health and family misfortunes. They worked amazingly hard at overcoming their problems and were quietly cheerful and resolute until they eventually succeeded. What he couldn't work out at the time was why the difference?

  "Why haven't you shown me the last four categories?" is all he can manage to ask.

  "Yes, we're coming to that. In light of results to date, would you care to revise your estimates?"

  "Yes, I would," he hears himself admitting defeat. And then in an attempt at defiance, "If there's one thing I know about it's education. I'll increase my prediction from 140 to 160 - that's a worthwhile increase since my time." (He couldn't for the life of him see how such a major improvement could be achieved.)

  "How about your earlier estimates for Quality of Life: 120, Materialism: 100 and Democracy: 120?" asks Cameron.

  Andrew thinks rapidly and anxiously before saying, in the reckless mode of a man with nothing to lose, "Make it 140, 90 and 150 respectively."

  "Thank you for that," Christiana says as she types the revised estimates beside the earlier ones and projects the next three lines on the screen with the actual 2040 results.

  Andrew is even angrier than before. Three decades ago he had spent a lot of time saying education was getting better, and defending against sceptics while knowing in his heart it was only improving marginally at best and impossible to see how it could improve significantly in future. And now, the very near future, it is TWICE as good??