Future Furies (Endless Fire Book 1) Page 10

  Ambassador Freeman speaks the truth. Robert is indeed starving. He also correctly describes the food. It is delicious. Robert devours three biscuits. Then, he washes them down with cup after cup of coffee. While Robert sates his hunger and quenches his thirst, Ambassador Freeman waits and watches silently.

  Freeman enjoys Robert’s enjoyment. “Now you know how SPEA earned revenues exceeding the equivalent of five hundred and twenty three billion dollars last fiscal year. We are reaping a rich reward by taking advantage of climate change and creatively converting it into foods the rich cherish.”

  Freeman points to the wall behind Robert. “What you see on the wall there, that’s our motto. We don’t want SPEA to be just a business. We want to be a steward for humanity. ‘Salvabit modo scientia futuri saeculi - only science will save the future world’ - is the foundational principle of SPEA. It’s also words we live by.”

  Robert wolfs down another biscuit and chugs more coffee.

  “I believe we should use you in our marketing campaigns,” Freeman jokes. He hands the additional felt energy-generating suit to Robert. “Here are some clothes we printed for you.”

  As he accepts the clothing, Robert surveys the building’s interior. “Are we the only people here? Do you work here by yourself?”

  “I suppose it appears that way, doesn’t it? But, no. There are two other SPEA citizens who also live in the Embassy compound and work with me. Today they are your flight crew. They’re working in our hangar at the Washington National Airport. They’re waiting for the SS Colonel.”

  Freeman points toward Gutefrau-bot. “Now in the US, it’s just easier and better to employ as many robots as possible. With robots, we don’t have to worry about Abaddon’s Christian-only employment laws. Robots have no religion. That’s why every multinational and corporation that has returned to operate in the US in the last seven years has only returned as a direct foreign investment and replaced every human worker possible with a robot. Even when he begged corporations to return and promised to exempt certain workers, every company that could, installed robots. Nobody trusts him. Millions of American workers remain unemployed now because of Abaddon’s Christians-only and no-immigrants employment laws.”

  Freeman pours himself a cup of tea. He sips and smirks. “I know you know, that many corporations are still maintaining their headquarters outside the US for fear that Abaddon will change his mind again. Or start another Nordic petroleum war with Russia. At SPEA we say, one day Abaddon is praying on his Bible, the next day he is preying on you. So, SPEA has only returned to the US with this Embassy and its aircraft.”

  “Ah, this is excellent tea. I’ll have no trouble moving this shipment,” Freeman swirls the tea in his cup. “See Robert, being the SPEA Ambassador is just my title. My real job, and what I love doing, is marketing and sales. The US is my territory. And let me tell you, I am…well SPEA…is having a good year. A very good year.”

  “Oh how US top ten percenters cherish their coffee, tea and chocolate.” Freeman winks knowingly at Robert. “But you know, even more than the taste, I think they really delight in knowing that they are the only ones who can afford it. Especially since Abaddon imposed his import quotas. Makes drinking coffee or tea a status symbol. A luxury that only the rich can afford and no Sists can. I’ve noticed that the more expensive it is, the more coveted it is. My simple marketing campaign is basically assuring the rich that if they buy our products, they will be better than their neighbor.”

  “Why, I have quintupled my price and I still sell every ounce. Of course, with Abaddon’s destruction of the US Economy causing devaluation of the dollar and a soaring inflation rate, those are natural price increases. But still, it’s pure profit, since we sell only through electronic commerce companies like Amazon in the mobile-enabled marketplace. We just grow it and show it.” Smiling broadly, Freeman sips some more tea.

  Robert snickers, “Rather ironic isn’t it, that the easiest way to make money is to take advantage of Abaddon and his cronies’ refusal to admit that the scientists are correct and the climate is changing? Climate change deniers are the ones suffering the most now. In Canada, we just marvel at how their arrogant ignorance is destroying the US Economy.”

  “Here at SPEA we call it the Pied Piper syndrome. Some demagogue sings them an absurdly, senseless, anti-science song and all the ill-informed and oblivious blindly trail him to their deaths. The US has become a dictatorship of ideologues leading the ignorant.”

  Robert raises his cup as if offering a toast. “Well you know Isaac Asimov said that the saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom. But like SPEA, in Canada, we are booming because of him, too. The number of former US corporations now in Canada just keeps growing. Tripled, when he doubled their taxes to pay for his Nordic War escapade. Toronto and Montreal are actually suffering overcrowding from American businesses.”

  “Which is exactly why he recently enacted the new Strategic Industries Retention Act. Under the SIR Act any corporate leaders caught attempting or even discussing relocating any part of their organization out of the US are seditionists. Their company’s assets are confiscated and they’re imprisoned for treason.”

  “Sounds like Abaddon is getting desperate. But, it may be too late. His social laws and immigration laws have already driven hundreds of businesses over the borders. Not many left to leave.”

  “Yeah, but our problems are not just with Abaddon’s continuously changing Christian-only laws. It’s also about security and self-sufficiency. No doubt you noticed our flying and rolling robot guards. Did you also notice our solar panels?”

  “Yes, I noticed them. How could I miss them?” Robert pours himself a cup of cocoa. “Seems a little excessive to me. After all, you’re in the US and you’re an Ambassador in an Embassy of an independent state.”

  “Being in the US is exactly why we have all of this security. Because we know Abaddon hates us so much, this Embassy compound has to be more independent, self-supporting and spy proof than our capital on Venus.”

  Freeman points toward the food and drink table, “All of this is created inside the compound’s walls. We take in no city water. We release no sewage or trash. We follow a simple rule, if you create no waste you have no waste to eliminate. We cannot allow any opportunity for the SS to sneak in a spy bug for sousveillance.”

  “When you walk on the floor tiles you are not only generating electrical power, but activating security tracers as well.” Pointing at a floor tile, Freeman taps his toe on it, “If you aren’t who you are, the floor tiles alert us. If you aren’t where you’re supposed to be, the floor tiles alert us about that too. Get used to them. You’ll walk on them at every SPEA facility.”

  “And the solar panels outside aren’t just providing energy, they’re also providing us with aerial observation and electronic surveillance blocks. Additionally, those same solar panels enable us to ionize and purify all of our air inside this compound to prevent any possible transmission of germs or bacteria.” Freeman sucks in a deep breath of air, “Good, clean, breathable air is rare and hard to find in America these days. Since Abaddon allowed the Kroack brothers to close down the EPA to stop the carbon collapse, air pollution has increased ten-fold.”

  “You make it sound like you are under constant attack…under siege, by ground, underground and by air.”

  “That’s because we are.” Freeman empties his tea cup and sets the cup on the table. “Not just from Abaddon’s SS either. No doubt you saw the weighty watchers outside our walls.”

  “Oh yeah, I saw them. They stopped me, too.”

  “How would you like a dozen of them sitting outside your house? Or, worse yet, attempting to rob your house? They are some of Abaddon’s proselyte paupers. With no work and no money, they have turned to a type of protection-racket extortion for survival. They burglarized my home in Georgetown one night and the next morning demanded that I pay them protection money
to prevent it from happening again that night. So, I moved inside our embassy compound. Same situation for all foreign embassy staffs these days.”

  “No help from the local police? I hear they’re corrupt, but still…”

  “Oh the police can be even worse. And then there is the SS.” He chuckles to himself. “We often say that US conservatives have pledged that what they cannot control, they will destroy. Since SPEA has escaped and they can no longer control us they desperately want to destroy us. I often compare our situation to the old China and Taiwan relationship with SPEA being Taiwan.”

  An expression of pain contorts Robert’s face. “You know Ambassador, I would love to continue our discussion, but I have had a lot of coffee and I really need...”

  “Say no more. I understand,” Freeman smiles knowingly. “Please follow our personal care robot to the locker-hygiene room where you can set your coffee free. Shower and then please change into this suit. We will meet in my office after that. Now that the hospitality portion of our visit is complete. It is time we get to work.”

  Chapter 10.

  Head Start

  Refreshed and dressed and feeling quite a caffeine buzz from all of the coffee he just drank, Robert is escorted by the personal care robot into Freeman’s office. He finds Freeman ensconced in a plush media chair enjoying watching a hologram of a large man arguing with a SPEA robot security guard.

  “Come here Robert and watch this. This is sadly hilarious.” Freeman motions for Robert to join him, “I have never experienced an adult angrily argue with a robot for more than thirty minutes before. Doesn’t he realize that robots do not argue and therefore you cannot win an argument with a robot? Nobody ever wins an argument with a robot. Nobody. Ever.”

  “So who is this Luddite fool?” Robert sees no difference between the man badgering SPEA’s security-bot and fat Pat. They could be brother and sister.

  “This Luddite fool, as you’re appropriately labeling him, is Mack Evoil, your new partner and traveling companion. He is a retired US Marine Corps Colonel who is now a Society Security Colonel or as they call themselves now, Deacon.”

  Freeman points at the hologram. Shaking his finger and loudly bellowing at the SPEA security-bot is a burly, brutish, braying bully. Convinced that he will win his argument if he just yells loud enough, this bombastic brute continuously screams louder and louder at the security-bot.

  “Oh crap.” Robert lowers his head and slowly shakes it in resignation. He has worked with US Marines before. Evoil epitomizes every senior US Marine officer he has ever had the misfortune of encountering. He is a Luddite who simply does not understand the modern world where he lives. He is covering his ignorance and incompetence by loudly barking, berating and bullying. “Well, he certainly exemplifies the old saying that in America - military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.”

  “You said it. I didn’t. Although, I am certainly thinking it.”

  “So what is his major complaint?”

  “Well actually, he seems to have several complaints. He doesn’t want to wear the clothing we printed for him. He doesn’t want to give us his communication devices. He wants to take his armaments. But his biggest complaint is that we will not allow him to wear his religious ornaments, baubles and beads.”

  “I can already see that he is going to be a significant problem.” Robert studies Evoil as he continues to quarrel with SPEA’s security-bot. “Since SPEA and the US are on far less than amicable terms, why don’t you just send him away? Tell him he can’t go?”

  “Fear,” Freeman declares. “Fear.”

  Freeman gestures at a three-dimensional, live, satellite visual of the SPEA capital on its artificial home island of Venus. “Do you see these two blue-gray ships here? Those are US Navy ships. Abaddon keeps at least two Navy combat ships patrolling around the edge of SPEA’s twelve mile territorial waters. Abaddon says his ships are there for our protection. But, we know they are listening and watching and waiting for a reason…any excuse to come in and…,” Freeman makes air quotes, “…help us.”

  “Like the US helped the Estonians and Lithuanians, I suppose. Now, that is a terrifying thought. Almost destroyed those little countries by helping them. I saw too much of Abaddon’s so called help during his Nordic War. The only people that he helped there was himself and his cronies Chennai, LeVayne and the Kroack Brothers get rich. They helped themselves to massive war profits and oil profits with thousands of US soldiers paying their highest price. Just as Jean-Paul Satre wrote, ‘when the rich wage war it is the poor who die’.”

  “Absolutely correct, Robert. The Nordic War was strictly an Economic war designed to push Kroack’s excess petroleum onto Europe, enrich the Kroacks and impoverish Russia. Today’s conflict between Abaddon and SPEA is all about Economics, as well. That’s why Gutefrau terrifies Abaddon. Every organization she leads out of the US sends him deeper and deeper into the Economic toilet. Without Gutefrau and SPEA to lead them many may still be in the US. Abaddon considers destruction of SPEA as his salvation.”

  “So George Orwell was correct when he wrote that war against a foreign country only happens when the moneyed classes think they are going to profit from it,” delighted with himself, Robert smiles at Freeman.

  Ignoring him, Freeman again points toward the satellite projection. “Another player and problem popped up in our drama just recently, when these three Russian Navy ships arrived. Sometimes they’re trailing and harassing the US ships and then at other times the Russians pose their own threat to us. They like to play a game of Chicken, speeding toward our twelve mile limit and then veering off at the last moment. It’s like they’re testing us. Constantly testing us.”

  “So what are they testing? The years of military in me wants to know what you have for defense. Do you have anything for defense? Or is the US Navy correct when it says it must protect SPEA? After all, as I understand it, even though it’s an independent state, SPEA is still basically a corporation.”

  “I can’t divulge everything,” Freeman winks conspiratorially. “But SPEA does have both air and sea defenses. We are working closely with the Israeli Defense Forces to deploy a significant drone air force and maritime force. We don’t have enough people to simultaneously operate the SPEA Corporation worldwide while simultaneously defending SPEA properties worldwide. So we’re paying the IDF to turn our island of Venus into a porcupine. We don’t want to fight, but if anybody attacks us they will suffer great pain. So…”

  Stepping close to Robert, Freeman whispers, “…now this is what I have heard and it may only be a rumor that SPEA wants to spread, but then it may also be true. Anyway, just between you and me, I understand that the Israelis have started sending us LAWS.”

  “Lethal Autonomous Weapons?” Robert repeats his question in shock, “SPEA has Lethal Autonomous Weapons?”

  Freeman motions for Robert to lower his voice. “I will neither confirm nor deny that SPEA has LAWS. But even if we do…and I’m not saying we do. Remember, we are being forced into it. We will do what we must do. Just like the Israelis. Nobody understands our situation better than the Israelis. They live it every day. We and Israel are small states with more money than people. And nobody understands better than the Israelis that we must do what we need to do to survive. It’s just a pity that we have to waste so much of our money just to be free to believe in science instead of superstition.”

  With every minute, Robert encounters additional unexpected challenges and complications arising in his mission. When he left Canada, he never expected to be stepping into the middle of a possible hot shooting war between America and Russia. A shooting war that may potentially involve SPEA employing Israeli produced self-directing, dehumanized, killer robots and drones. He thinks to himself about how different the situation at the Embassy is from what Minister Wilson predicted.

  Robert notices that Freeman’s hands are trembling. “So, as you can see, SPEA is dancing on the tip of a pin, trying to mainta
in a very delicate balance. SPEA survives by operating totally independent of all other nations and states while providing the rich elite of those same nations with the coffee, tea and chocolate that they can only get from us. In the past, that provided us with the balance and protection we needed.”

  “But now, we are in a most difficult situation.” Freeman begins pacing nervously, “If we ally with the US, Russia will destroy us. If we ally with Russia, the US will help us until they’ve destroyed us. Yet, if we don’t assist both the US and Russia and stop their race toward another war, then we are still facing destruction. All of us.”

  “Especially since both Russia and the US seem to believe that SPEA’s Mugavus Komfort and Pion are somehow involved.” Robert adds, as he watches the ships of Russia and US maneuver near Venus.

  “Especially!” Freeman rubs his temples. “And don’t forget about something called AIDAS. Not certain what AIDAS is, but I’ve been told that it’s important. Very important.”

  “And that puts me?”

  “That puts you in the middle of a raging firestorm with a teaspoon of water.” Freeman returns his gaze to Evoil continuing to disagree with SPEA’s security-bot. “Do you understand, now, why we must allow him to accompany you? He will accompany you, but he must follow our rules. That is essential. There will be no argument there.”

  He thinks for a moment then continues. “We need you to be on everybody’s side and nobody’s side at the same time. You are both a player and a referee, and all the while, you’re responsible for keeping everybody from killing each other.”

  “Well thank you, but I don’t think I’m the type of person you need for this job. I mean I know I’m not…” Robert franticly searches for an escape hatch, “…I mean I appreciate your confidence and support, but…”