by Rob Buckman
“Yes, I tried to keep as low a profile as I could.” Mike sighed.
“Don’t worry, I’ll try to keep the fanfare to a minimum.”
“Thank you that would help.”
“Why don’t you take off and show Conner our wonderful backward little planet while I take this proposal up with the Privy Council.”
“What’s your feeling on the matter?” His being the only one that really mattered, well his and Max of course.
“I’ll go by the recommendation of the ministers, Mike.” His tone was none-committal, and Mike had to smile.
“Come on, you and I both know they will go by what you recommend.” The President looked at Conner for a moment.
“Is Conner aware of our rather unique system of Government?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your elections you mean?” Conner asked, hearing them both laughed.
“Yes, you could call it that.”
“We have a lottery, Conner, all the names for each district are placed in a box, whoever name is pulled out gets to serve as Members of the Privy Council for one year.”
“Whether they want to or not.” Gordon laughed. “Some of them have to be dragooned into the position. Usually kicking and screaming, I might add.”
“Good God, you usually have people begging to get into Government.”
“Yes, usually the wrong people, for the wrong reasons, money and power, but not here.”
“Once you reach 21 and completed your compulsory military service, you are a full citizen and eligible for the lottery.”
“We keep our Government to a minimum and only have one party.”
“That seems strange, sir, if you don’t mind me saying so.”
“No, you are right, but in the beginning, we looked at the function of Government and decided to do it a different way, Mike will explain it all to you, I’m sure.”
“So, what are you feeling.”
“I have no trouble with it at all, I think a payment, or compensation plan can be worked out to everyone’s satisfaction.”
“Can you build them in the time frame?”
“Yes, I don’t see why not.”
“Good, I have a complete set of plans and specification of my ship I want your people to review for possible improvement before construction starts.”
“I’ll get someone over to your ship to pick up the information as soon as I get the go ahead from the council.”
“I’ll like tight security on this, sir, no one that doesn’t need to know.”
“Hmm, that’s a hard one, Mike, you know our policy about Government secrets.”
“Yes, sir, I understand, but I think in this case an exception should be made.”
“I can see that, we don’t want the Sirriens poking their long pointy noses in, do we.”
“No, sir.”
“Let me talk to Admiral Cunningham, and I’ll let you know in a few days.”
“Thank you.”
“You want your own vehicle, or the official transport?”
“I’ll take a car if I can, sir.”
“Thought you might, there’s a Range Rover on the roof you can use. Billy is away at the moment, so he won’t be using it.”
“How is he?” Mike asked, thinking of his boyhood friend.
“Doing great, decided that he wanted to be a Free Trader, instead of joining the Navy.”
“Good for him.”
“Hummm, just like you, in that respect.” It wasn’t a criticism, more like a note of respect.
“No, sir, this system taught us too well the benefits of independent thinking.”
“Get out of here and let me get back to work.” He growled, but stood up and held his hand out.
Mike didn’t hesitate, and much to his surprise didn’t get a bone crusher, just a warm friendly squeeze. He shook hands with Conner and they both departed. They took the all-weather Range Rover and headed out of the city, inland. Mike radioed his destination and told Pete that someone might be coming by to pick up a copy of the ship's specifications, and drawing, and to have them ready. He kept the speed down until traffic control released them, giving Conner time to view the city. Then he opened it up and climbed to a safe altitude, racing across the dense forest. They skirted snow capped mountains, and skimmed across mirror smooth alpine lakes and Conner saw his Captain relax, probably for the first time in a year. He looked happy as the wind from the partially open window ruffled his sandy hair.
“What’s this about your Government, Skipper.”
“Oh, that,” He said lazily, “The first Landers looked at the function of Government, and concluded that most of it was mealy an administration function, road building, public building, schools etc., so they divided it. All, what we call, social services are run by separate administration centers, much like any large non-profit organization. That leaves only domestic and foreign policy for the Government to take care of.”
“Sound logical.”
“It was, each administration center has to present a plan to its Board of Director each year, then submitted it for a general vote by the people, who say yes or no.” He could see the skeptical look on Conner’s face, and he didn’t blame him.
“But who pays for it all?” Conner asked the obvious question.
“The people in the long run, but when you consider that most of the work is done by robot. Construction and manufacturing equipment with minimum human supervision, you can see that supplying the material needs of a community isn’t that hard.”
“You mean you don’t have money?”
“Not in the normal sense, no, you go to the store, or onto the net and order what you want, within reason.”
“But what about work and pay?”
“You work at what you do best, but that doesn’t mean that you have to.” He went on to explain how it all worked, but he could see that Conner was having difficulty with the concept.
“Power and money have always been at the root of most social problems, we eliminated hunger, poverty, and provide all essential human services, free of charge.”
“Including, house, furniture, transport, food, things like that?” Conner asked.
“Yes, everything, the underground factories and agro station provide all the basics.”
“Ye gods, it’s so simple, why hasn’t anyone else done this?”
“Power and money, Conner, the twin evils, but we could only have done it from scratch.”
“Yes, I can see how changing an existing system would be hard, it strips the people in office of their power over people.”
“Right, and that, they will fight for to the death to keep.”
“We also rigidly control the population, making sure that simple things like housing, schools, water supply and so on, the infrastructure, doesn’t lag behind."
“Didn’t see many roads or rail outside the city, sir.”
“No need, not with hover transport. Why screw up perfection. Beside which, the locals might not like a road and mag lift train running through their back yard.” He could see that Conner wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘the locals’, but refrained from asking.
“Has anyone even walked through the forest below us, or swam in any of those lakes?”
“I have, well, at least a few of them.”
“You, sir?”
“Spent more time than I probably should have out here, just exploring, fishing, and prospecting.”
“Sounds like a good place to live, Skipper.” There was a note of sadness in his voice, and Mike thought about the hellhole of a planet he came from.
“Conner, this is your home now, and any time you want to retire, there’s a home, and everything you need, right here.”
“I’m not a citizen, sir, I do know something about your immigration laws.”
“You are now, Conner.”
“Are now what, sir.”
“A Citizen.” Conner turned in his seat and looked at Mike, a puzzled look on his face.
“You
’re kidding, right?”
“No, Chief.”
“You have enough clout on this ball of dirt to change the immigration laws?”
“Oh, I know a few people.”
“Nice thought, sir, but I don’t see it happening.” He murmured, every suspicious. They swept around the base of a mountain, and the sea came back into view, interrupting the conversation.
On one side, massive cliffs butted against ocean waves that smashed into the shoreline, while on the other, a headland protected a shelter bay. The air smelt clean and pure, and the only impurities minimizing vision were natural. Avalon did have slightly higher oxygen content, giving the air an invigorating quality.
“This is the opening into an Inland Sea, and that’s Port Harmony down there. If you look carefully, you can see the other headland over there.” Mike pointed into the misty distance. Conner did, seeing the headland thought the slight haze.
“This where you live, sir.”
“Yes, just over there.” He said, pointing. Mike brought the Land Rover down to street level and cut speed. They entered what might be called a village if the houses weren’t so big.
They came in all shapes and sizes, each fitting in with its surroundings as if it belonged there. The road surfaces under them were concrete, but other than the one, they were travelling over, most of the side streets were gravel. These were reserved for foot, horse or hover bicycle traffic. Mike drove down to the harbor and passed along the Quayside to show Conner the Marina.
“Quite a number of people live on their boat part of the time, and this is a major port of call to stock up on food and supplies.”
“I bet you have a boat down there as well.”
“That I do, Chief, and before we go, you and I are going for a sail.”
“I’d like that, never been on water before, even if I am a sailor.” He chuckled.
Mike exited the village and lifted back into the sky, but it was a short trip. Turning up a shallow valley covered in wild flowers, he lifted the craft up and over a ridge pass some rocky crags, then settled her down again over a dark green lawn. Conner whistled when he saw a beautiful little house nestled in the trees, and shot Mike a quick look.
“Family home, sir?” Mike nodded.
Mike pulled onto the gravel driveway and cut power. The Land Rover settled to the ground with a sigh, he was home. Mike looked around, nodding to himself. He had to give it to his Grandfather, he’d looked after the place. Someone has kept the maintenance bots going, and the gardens, and the house looked better than when he’d left. Undoubtedly, the inside was as well looked after, and it made him wonder why? He didn’t know himself if he’d ever be back again. They went inside, and as expected, it was as clean and bright as Mike thought. He they entered, the house mainframe scanned and recognized him.
“Welcome home, Michael.”
“Thanks, nice to hear your voice again.”
“It has been some time since you were here last, can I ask how long you will be staying?”
“Unknown at this time, at least a week.”
“I will bring all function on line and have the appropriate food and beverages delivered.”
“You better include a selection of beer.” He said with a smile, looking at Conner.”
“Well, sir, thank you, that would be appreciated.”
“You’re welcome, Conner, make yourself at home, there is a spare bedroom upstairs, second door on your left.”
“I’ll check that out later, if you don’t mind, I just like to relax with a cold one for now.”
“Two large beers on the bluff.”
“On the way, sir.”
Stripping off his dress jacket, Mike threw it over a chair. It wouldn’t stay there long, as the house bot would pick it up and launder it before returning it to the closet. They sat in the shade of an Earth conifer watching the sail boats out on the Inland Sea, while sipping the cool light beer. Both had their feet up on the retaining wall along the edge of the bluff.
“You think his nibs will go for it, sir?”
“Conner, drop the sir for a while. We just two men sitting under a tree drinking beer, okay?”
“Yes, sir, if you say so.” Conner cut him a sideways look.
“And to answer your question, yes I do. He’ll go through the motions of presenting it to the council, but in the end, he’s already made up his mind.
“At visitor has arrived, sir. A Mr. Anderson. Shall I permit him to enter?”
“You might as well, seeing he’s the chief of Avalon Intelligence, and I doubt he’ll go away.”
“Avalon Intelligence?” Conner murmured.
“Didn’t know we had one, did you.” He chuckled.
“Well, I... that is...”
“Don’t sweat it Conner, very few do.” He smiled. “Hello, Andy, how have you been keeping?” He asked without looking around. Conner did, seeing a tall, well-built man with a shock of pure white hair coming across the green towards them.
“Up to my eye teeth in trouble now you are home again.” He laughed.
“House! Another beer.”
“Yes, sir. I am familiar with Mr. Anderson’s preference.”
“And you must be Chief Petty Officer Conner Blake.” The Intelligence Chief held out his hand as he sat down on the opposite side of the table.
“That I am, sir. Most people call me Conner.”
“As you might have heard, those that know me call me Mr. Anderson, those that don’t call me Andy.”
“And which class do I fall into?” Conner eyed the man, seeing more than the superficial gloss. This was definitely a case of the iron fist in the velvet glove.
“Don’t let him intimidate you, Conner. He likes to play mind games.” Mike chuckled.
“Yes, Mike hasn’t shown me an ounce of respect from the moment he first peed all over my pants when he was in nappies.”
“Nappies?”
“Um, yes, diaper?”
“Oh yes, now I understand. That bad, huh?”
“Definitely. Mike is one of the few people who is not awed by my sinister title.”
“In other words, he’s the chief spook.” Conner looked at the man again.
“Really?”
“Yes,” he sighed, “and one of my biggest headaches was finding and keeping track of our young friend here.” That drew another look from Conner. “I’d like to thank you for looking after him, Conner Blake.”
“Me, look after him.” He snorted. “More like the other way round it you ask me.”
“So what bring you to the wilds of the Inland Sea, Andy?”
“Your little surprise package.”
“Thought so, and?”
“The Boss tells me we are going to build them for you and the Royal Navy. From what I’ve seen of your ship so far, she’s one tough little lady.”
“Why is it that I get the impression that you know more about the capacities of my ship than you should?” Mike asked, looking at the older man.
“Let just say, that I had a few people keeping an eye on you,” he paused a moment, “and what you were up to.”
“See what I mean, Conner, Chief spook.” Conner felt a chill run up his spine. Avalon agents on Earth were watching them?
“Remember the down and out homeless person you gave the credits to in Devonport?” It clicked.
“Well, I’ll be damned. I wondered about that. I hope you don’t have any leaks in your plumbing, I’d like to keep her capabilities a secret as long as I can. It might just give us an edge the Sirriens don’t know about. Need a bit of secrecy there.”
“That’s up to the PM, but you know the rules.”
“You are the ones that set up the ‘no secrets’ clause in the constitution.” Mike smiled at him.
“I know, I know, don’t rub it in, but in this case I think we can twist the council’s arm a little and get them to agree!”
“And so, you and Gordon will do a little smoke and mirrors on them.”
“That we will
. Not exactly lying, but...” He let the last part of his statement hang.
“I need to hit the head, sir, be back in a moment.”
“Ask the house where it is, Conner.”
“Will do.”