“Way to go Randy,” Margaret said.
“Dan, why don’t you and the Captain go see if you can locate a bar so we can set up one in this room. Also an ice machine so we can start making ice. I don’t want to have to haul it over from the ship.”
“You got it,” Miller said and they headed off into the building.
“What do you want me to do?” Margaret asked.
“See if you can locate office supplies. They must have a ton of them around here someplace. Also any maps of the city would be helpful.”
“I’ll see what I can dig up. I should probably locate a copier too.”
“Good thinking. We will surely need one at some point.”
“I’ll go see what I can find.”
After they had all gone, Randy looked out the windows in deep thought. What could they really accomplish? Can we start over and have a better understanding of each other’s beliefs, values, and needs. Could we all agree on anything?
It was so complicated that it was mind boggling. A monetary system, weights, measures, laws, and on and on the list went. This would be a critical test of the resolve of each nation to build a better world with less tension, but could it really be done? Was he up to the task to facilitate such a meeting? Randy was deeply concerned and wished General Webber was here with him.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
- Lisbon, Portugal –
The Russians were the first to arrive. Randy and his team were just finishing up the final touches on the conference room when they walked up and entered the building.
“Dobro požalovat',” Randy said as he walked over to greet them, “Kak dela?”
“Spasiba. Men'a zovut Major General Yegor Nitikin.”
“I’m Randy Boling.”
“Da, of course. You are not in the military?”
“No General. I must say, I’m glad you speak English. I’ve used up about fifty percent of the Russian words I know.”
“It is good of you to learn a few Russian words. Thank you for your effort. This should be a very interesting meeting.”
“I have prayed about how this would go but to be truthful, I have no idea what to expect.”
“It will depend on how we all want to see the world in the future. Do we go back to the old ways or move to a different level of understanding?” Nitikin told him.
“I totally agree. I am hoping we will all go away with a collective vision of what we can do from this point on.”
“I hope you are right. I saw the hotel as we came up. It has been a very long day already. My people and I would like to freshen up a bit.”
“Certainly. Captain Miller will take you over to the hotel and get you settled in. Everything you need should be ready. The ship’s generators are supplying power so everything works.”
“Very well done. You have already shown a willingness to help set the tone for the future by finding a way to even hold such a meeting. I congratulate you,” Nitikin replied as they shook hands again.
“Captain Miller will show you the way. By the way, he is fluent in Russian. I don’t want to have any secrets.”
“Thank you for that. Again, Congratulations.”
Miller took them over to the hotel. Randy could hear them speaking in Russian as they went out the door.
* * * *
All the nations' representatives arrived over the next three days. It had given Randy a good chance to spend time with Yegor Nitikin. Even though he was a military man, he was not what Randy had expected. He was very open to change and was more than willing to work with Randy to help make the conference a success. It was at least a good starting point.
The French were the last to arrive. They did not get to Lisbon until the night before the conference. They had missed the welcome gathering at the hotel the night before.
The tables were all arranged with each nation’s flag just behind the delegates seating. France was the only nation to object to where they were seated. They felt they should be at the head table.
Randy was firm and even though he didn’t want to start off the meeting with bad feelings. Monsieur Bédard was the one who stepped in and finally told Adolph it was fine the way it was. Bédard had hesitated to bring him along but was finally talked into it by the other two delegates. At appeared that he had been right. He knew it left a bad impression in everyone’s minds.
Italy, while reluctant to use Portugal as the location, was very gracious and openly friendly to everyone. Randy had been dreading their arrival and was pleasantly surprised at how open and genuinely accommodating they were. No complaints about seating or the hotel.
Germany had not been as open but they were not hostile either. They had more of a wait and see attitude. That was fine with Randy. He knew they would be somewhat reluctant to open up. It seemed to be the nature of the Germans.
Austria only sent two people. They seemed preoccupied to Randy. They were here but not really here. He had never had any dealings with them before so he didn’t know if that was the way they were naturally or not. They seemed happy to be there but he just felt something was going on below the surface.
The Spaniards were very much in a hurry to get down to business. They were experiencing severe shortages of basic goods and wanted to find out what help was available and how soon. They were all decked out in full military uniform and Randy was surprised that there were no civilians among their delegation.
* * * *
Randy stood up and waited until the talking had stopped.
“I want to thank you all for traveling here for this most unusual conference. The world as we knew it, just a little over two years ago, has changed for all of us. In one day, we were all put back several hundred years by an event that we still do not understand. I am here in hopes that we can come to some kind of agreement about the very serious issues facing all of us. We, like all of you, have been struggling to get the basic necessities of life arranged to the point that it is not our primary need. As we have met most of those goals, it is time to look to the future. My hope is that this will be the beginning of a new spirit of cooperation among all of the surviving nations.
You have before you an agenda that was put together from the ideas that you relayed to us. I know that not all of them made it to the agenda but I did include the most often mentioned and the ones that seemed of the greatest concern. As you can see, we will discuss each topic during the morning each day, then after lunch we will break into smaller groups for two hours. A small break will follow and then we will all convene to see if we can find common ground.
The only way this will work is if we all are willing to give and take. We have a unique opportunity to work together to make the world a better place. Now, the first item mentioned by almost everyone present is money. More accurately, how we are going to handle money matters in the future. Like all of you, gold is available in abundance throughout our nation in too many locations to police. That means anyone can walk in and acquire it. Because of that, having money based on gold seems like a difficult thing to control as far as value. Does anyone want to start the discussion?”
No one spoke up for a few seconds. Randy was starting to think this might be a huge waste of time.
“How are you dealing with money?” Nikitin asked.
“This is Major General Nikitin from Russia,” Randy said for the benefit of those that did not know who he was, “Our system right now is simple. Basically it is work for food. We have been able to give our survivors shelter, clothing, medical facilities, electricity, and other conveniences that make life a little more bearable. We have almost gotten entirely away from gas cars and have gone to electric. It has taken us some time but we are progressing at a good rate. Everyone has a job to do. To get free food, they need to work. Since they don’t have to buy anything, money hasn’t been a problem so far but we know that can’t last. Especially if we are going to deal with other nations,” Randy told them.
“You give them everything?” Adolph from France asked.
&
nbsp; “Up to this point, yes.”
“But how do you account for the different skill levels? The professionals from the workers? They are treated exactly the same?”
“That is correct. Every job is important to us at this point. Someone has to remove the trash so it will not breed bacteria. Others work to restore communications. It took 3000 people to get the ship ready to sail. Every job is important right now.”
“But I don’t see how you can keep people from wanting something more than food. Everyone wants payment of some kind.”
“That may be true down the road, but for now this is how we operate.”
“That would never work in France,” he insisted.
“Why?” Randy asked.
“Because different classes represent different skills. Higher skills should be rewarded differently.”
“In America we only have one class of citizens now. Survivors. No one is better than someone else. We all are working to survive and salvage what we can of our country. What do you propose we do about money?” Randy asked.
The door was open. Discussions went on non-stop for three hours over how to handle the monetary standards. Randy was happy to just facilitate the conversation, letting the nations delegates have their say and letting no one dominate. Margaret was taking down notes of the proposals so they could be discussed in the afternoon break-out sessions.
“What do you think?” Randy asked Yegor as they walked to the dining room.
“Excellent. Really. Once the peacock shut up everyone got in the spirit,” he said.
“We have a long way to go to come to an agreement but at least the ball is rolling.”
“Iridium,” Nitikin said.
“Iridium? What?”
“Wait until this afternoon. I will tell everyone what I know. I am not an expert but I have read a great deal about it.”
“Okay. I’ll be more than happy to wait until then but give some thought to isotopically pure platinum-190. One of the rarest elements on earth. It is almost impossible to counterfeit and could be moved from place to place a lot easier than gold.”
“Very good. It seems we will have a lively discussion this afternoon.”
“I hope everyone has an idea worth considering,” Randy replied.
“Yes, but I afraid Monsieur Adolph’s suggestion of the French Franc is not going to get far.”
“I think you are right on that,” Randy said chuckling.
* * * *
“Boy, you were certainly right about the discussion being lively,” Randy said to Yegor as they stood in the hall after the afternoon break-out sessions.
Randy had gone to each of the three rooms where smaller groups were discussing the monetary system. Both Yegor and he had gone to each room and explained about their suggestion. It was apparent that each country would need more time to discuss a possible solution.
When they came back from the break and were all assembled once again in the main conference room Randy said, “I knew this was going to be a very challenging issue. It is apparent that we all need more time to think it over. I have spoken with Major General Nikitin,” he said, using Yegor's formal title, “And he has agreed to prepare a paper outlining his proposal. We will do the same. Anyone else that has a proposal is welcome to do likewise so we can all study them and come back to this topic at a later time.”
Everyone seemed to be in agreement as he looked around the room. Even the Germans, who had said very little so far, were nodding their heads.
“Since we are ahead of schedule, let’s see if we can tackle the time issue. I would like to start with the easiest of all, I think, determining how we will mark years so we are all able to have a common date system.”
This time he didn’t have to wait. Discussions started immediately. Randy didn’t know if they could really accomplish all he had hoped for but it was apparent that the conference was badly needed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
- Lisbon, Portugal Conference –
Day 4
For the most part, things had gone smoothly. No major feathers were ruffled. They had agreed on several key issues. They would all stay with the clock divided into 24 hours, even with the difference in the Earth’s rotation.
Weight would be in metric measurements for all nations. While Captain Miller wasn’t too excited about it, it made sense to Randy. If the rest of the world was on a metric system, it was time for the U.S. to adapt. All weights, measurements, and distances would be in metric. Weight would be recalculated to a standard amount once the calculations were made and verified by all the countries.
Possibly the biggest breakthrough was in determining a monetary system. Platinum-190 would be the standard that everyone used. America and Russia had the most, while Austria, Spain and Italy had little or none. It was agreed upon by Russia and America that Spain, Austria and Germany would each receive 1 kilogram of Platinum-190. Russia and America would split the amount equally. Essentially each nation was receiving three and a half billion dollars’ worth of buying power. They agreed that one gram would be equal to 1,350,000 dollars. While it was somewhat arbitrary, nevertheless it was what they all agreed to in the end. Paper money would consist of AE bills that would be exchanged between countries at face value. America would produce the money since it has the greatest capacity and would then distribute them to the individual countries in the amount of Platinum-190 used to back them.
France was the least happy because they felt they deserved a handout too, but both Russia and America pointed out that they had Platinum-190 already available to them. It didn’t stop them from grumbling however.
The issue of food was more difficult than Randy had imagined it would be, especially since Spain, Germany and Italy were not in very good shape. Germany was somewhat better off than the other two but was not producing enough to keep up with the demand. Even the Russians were somewhat concerned. They could take care of the current population but had little to spare. France was self-reliant at this point.
“What can we expect from America?” Spain asked.
“Well, that’s a pretty tough question. We have slightly more than we need at present. Our farms are starting to produce some fairly good results. It is not as good as in the past but getting better all the time. The main problem will be how to get it here? All we have is the one boat and no planes that can make it this far at present. So even if we did produce some for export we still have a huge problem.”
“Why can’t you get more ships working? You got here didn’t you?”
“Yes we did get here on a ship but it took a huge effort and many months to get this one ready. Even then, we experienced several problems on the way across the Atlantic. It would take us years to get enough ships seaworthy to transport any useful amount of food,” Randy replied.
“You have many people still alive. Put them all to work on shipping.”
“That’s simply not an option. We are already one hundred percent employed presently. We had to rob some vital functions just to get this one ship up and going. We simply can’t pull everyone off their jobs. Our center is currently in Colorado, a long way from the ocean. It wasn’t easy to even get the Salem operational.”
“Then what do you propose we do about feeding our people?”
“Hopefully we can find an answer over the course of this conference. For now, I have no answer.”
“If it were your people starving, I’m sure you would find a way,” the Spaniard said and sat down.
Randy decided not to reply. He understood the problem and could certainly empathize with them but there was nothing he could do about it at present. Maybe something would come up in later meetings. It was obvious that Spain was in need of food and fairly quickly.
* * * *
Randy, Yegor Nitikin, Lieutenant Colonel Sidorvo, and Captain Miller were sitting at one of the tables on the deck just outside of the conference room. It was a pleasant 78 degrees and the sky was incredibly blue with not a cloud in sight. Only the faint noise fr
om the ship could be heard.
“The food question is a tough one for all of us,” Yegor said.
“I feel for them, really I do, I just don’t know what we can do to help presently,” Randy said.
“We can’t pull everyone out of Colorado and try to get ships ready. We don’t have enough housing or any of the basic necessities we would need to sustain a large population without a lot of preparation work in that area of the country. It would take us months just to do that,” Captain Miller added.
“Yes. We cannot help much either. We may be on the same continent but we are not prepared to transport any distance. The few airplanes we have operating would not be very useful,” Sidorvo said.
“I’m afraid it is going to be up to France, Germany and Austria to lend some help. I’ve noticed the French haven’t offered anything so far,” Miller said.
“Neither has Germany,” Yegor replied.
“Speaking of Germany. Have you noticed the tension between them and Austria?”
“I have. Something is going on. I vaguely know Hans Stigler, one of the two from Austria. Would you like me to have a word with him?”
“If you could sort of feel them out, I would appreciate it.”
“I will see to it tonight.”
“It could be nothing, I haven’t had very much experience with Germans,” Randy said.
“You know, you have done a very good job of keeping things moving along. I think you will find we have much in common. I have no desire to see Russia and America at each other’s throats. I think together our two countries could accomplish much. It is China I worry about.”
“Thank you General Nikitin, that is very kind of you. I agree, we are not so much different. Like you, it is also China that I am concerned about. I was hoping they would come so we could establish some kind of rapport with them.”
“Please. General Nikitin is much too formal. Please, call me Yegor. We can be formal in the other room but when it is just the two of us together, I think we can dispense with the formal titles.”
THE REVELATION - Book 3 (THE EVENT) Page 7