Hidden Federation, page 3
‘So, what happened?’ Emily asked.
‘Economies started to fail. Large proportions of populations could find no way to earn money. Most societies had some sort of safety net, a bare bones weekly payment, but it hardly covered their living costs. There was no way to buy luxuries. Even in socialist systems on some worlds, the payments were not sufficient. Automatons could make things exceedingly cheaply, but there were still fewer people capable of buying them. Owners and shareholders of the automaton companies were living in splendid, unbelievable luxury, yet continually complained about their sales and profits falling. It was the beginning of an enormous galaxy-wide economic depression. Something had to give.’
‘What?’ she asked.
‘Revolution and terrorism. Violent protests, damage to buildings and robots.’
‘Shocking.’
‘Yes, but the news spread, and similar terrorist acts took place throughout the empire. So many were involved that, even when they were caught, the authorities found themselves under attack and had to release their prisoners. The failing economies of the empire’s planets dipped from poor to non-existent.’
‘How did they stop it?’ she asked.
‘They didn’t. That is when the Federation charter was created,’ I said, finishing my fries and taking a last draught from my lemonade.
‘And that was it?’
‘Yes.’
‘Where can I see the charter?’ she asked.
‘On the Frame.’
‘Frame?’ she asked.
‘You call it the Internet, but it is sanitised to warn of articles which might mislead and factually erroneous material is automatically removed. It’s very carefully policed to ensure no abuse of freedom of speech et cetera.’
‘Thank you, Rummy. That was fascinating.’
‘And thank you for, what was it, the Big Mac? Delicious. Really odd having those gherkin things with bread, cheese, salad and meat. Thanks.’
‘My pleasure,’ said Emily.
‘Now,’ I said. ‘I must go. I’m hoping to see Earth’s newly appointed administrator.’
‘Oh, and who is that?’
‘Lara Horvat. She used to be the secretary general of what you called the United Nations. I understand she was offered the role of administrator and accepted.’
‘Why don’t robots do those jobs, then?’
‘Ya Horvat’s appointment is not an unusual situation. In fact, planetary governance is always undertaken by living beings from that world. The administrator is Earth’s senior official. Federation ambassadors are biological entities too, but always alien to the world for which they are ambassadors.’
‘If robots are intelligent, why don’t they want to take up ruling positions? Surely they’d do it better than us.’
‘Yes, they probably would and they are used as advisors. When the Federation was first formed, a part of a robot’s control chip was to prevent such a desire arising. It’s very sophisticated and the security as near infallible as it is possible to be. You’d need to talk to a cybernetics engineer to have it explained properly,’ I said.
‘Lovely meeting you,’ said Emily.
‘My pleasure,’ I said, then had a thought. ‘Can I recommend that you go to an esponging centre. Learn Galactic Standard – takes less than an hour then ask for a course on primitive Iasuqi. Once you’ve done that, try a course on primitive X-Jastu or the Union of Planets.’
‘Iasuqi was the system with Miift in it?’ she asked. ‘Is esponging expensive?’
‘No. It’s education. In the Federation, education is always free. I am still having trouble understanding why the USA, and some of the rest of the pre-Federation world, had universities and schools which charge fees. What a crazy system – putting a price on education. Yes, Iasuqi is the system in which Miift exists. That course will elaborate upon what I’ve been telling you, but makes you also feel part of the action. You’ll be given a POV (Point of View) option. Choose Debruek. He’s fascinating. Then do one on Arlucian’s interaction with Miift. I produced that second one. My favourite POV is Heldrian,’ I said.
‘Oh. You’ve really studied it?’
‘Yes, although today I am more interested in recent Federation history. I must go. Pleasure meeting you, Emily.’
‘Goodbye,’ she said, and I headed out into the sunshine.
3 Permissions
Marcia Gray, a tall, slim, white, brunette, knocked on the door and entered Lara Horvat’s office in the old ministry of defence building. ‘There’s a small alien asking to see you,’ she said.
‘Oh, who is it?’
‘His name is Professor Breganin. He says it will only take a minute or two.’
‘Okay. Show him in.’
I sat in the reception area, flicking through magazines, waiting patiently.
Ya Gray emerged through some double doors and beckoned me. We followed a long corridor, turned into an outer office where there were a couple of humans and some bots working and then through a stunning polished mahogany door.
I’d seen Ya Horvat in the media and immediately recognised her. She was a diminutive person, not much taller than me, with the slightly swarthy skin tone of those from the east of Europe from where she originated. Her hair was such a dark brown as to be virtually black. I guessed that she was about forty Earth years old.
She stood, walked around her desk, shook my hand and said, in Galactic Standard, ‘Pleased to meet you, Yol Professor Breganin. How can I be of help?’
‘The honour is mine,’ I said.
She waved me to a seat and returned to her own.
‘I’m a Professor at Dinbelay University on Daragnen. I’m a Federation historian and I would like to study the transition of Earth. It is unusual in that there has never been a segregated membership – the United States remaining independent and the rest of the world joining.’
‘Yes, I suppose it is… different,’ said the administrator.
‘I’ve just arrived from the United States and would like a letter of introduction which I can show to the administrators around the world so that they will cooperate with me. Could you provide one?’
‘I don’t see why not,’ she said and pressed a button on her desk. ‘Marcia, when the professor leaves, he’ll dictate a letter. When it’s done, bring it in for my signature.’
I heard an affirmative reply come over the handsfree system.
‘That’s kind of you, Ya Horvat. Can I ask you a few questions before I leave?’
‘Please do.’
‘Has there been any change in relations between the Federation and the United States? I’ve just arrived from California and it was all rather chaotic.’
‘No, professor. If anything, things are worse. President Slimbridge didn’t fully understand what independence meant in the context of sharing the planet with the Federation,’ said Lara.
‘How do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Take air travel. It was agreed that the Federation would provide free transport for all people leaving the States. The details were in the document he signed, but he hadn’t thought about the repercussions and still wanted aircraft to be flying to and from the USA. The Federation doesn’t allow commercial jet or propeller aeroplanes owing to the pollution they cause. This meant that no flights outside the USA were permitted for anything except light aircraft.’
‘Did that cause a problem?’
‘Only to the president’s battered ego,’ said Lara. ‘The same applied to shipping. Federation ships use electric motors. Although they are currently powered by land-based generators, gradually the power will be beamed direct to the ships from solar reflectors in orbit. In effect, this means that all the older generation of cruise ships and freighters are restricted to US coastal waters. Again, this was clearly laid out in the agreement, but the implications passed him by. Americans can still take cruises around the world, but they must be on Federation ships. He was very upset over that and there were a few incidents.’
‘Incidents?’
‘On two occasions, cruise ships set off from Florida to visit the Caribbean islands. This is a very popular destination for US tourists. The first ship set off on its route as if nothing had changed. Cruising, of course, is one of the most polluting forms of travel. A large cruise ship uses eighty thousand gallons of highly polluting diesel fuel, every single day. That, per passenger, produces almost twice the carbon footprint of flying.’
‘That’s huge. I didn’t know. Explains the CO2 concerns I’d heard the Federation had about Earth,’ I said.
‘Yes. The planet was reaching a tipping point but is now receding from it.’
‘What, even in these few weeks?’
‘Yes. The global CO2 levels are measured in Hawaii and the last I saw, they had dropped to 410 parts per million.’
‘What’s the target?’
‘A long way to go but 325 parts per million. However, the drastic reduction in production of CO2 outside of America could see the target achieved in just a few years.’
‘Anyway, Ya Horvat, the incidents. You were saying…’
‘The first ship set off as normal and two Federation Enforcement ships came alongside and told the captain to return to US coastal waters. The captain complied.
‘A few days later, a second ship left Miami accompanied by two US navy ships – a cruiser and destroyer. A couple of hours after they left US coastal waters, the Federation ships approached and asked the captains to return to US waters. The destroyer captain replied, saying that they had no intention of changing course. The Federation applied some sort of forcefield and slowed the cruise liner to stationary in only ten minutes. The destroyer told the Federation to release the cruise ship or it would take action. The Federation Enforcement ships refused to release the cruise liner and the destroyer fired a shot across their bow.
‘Because the destroyer had just threatened to fire on the Federation ships, action was inevitable. A huge starship appeared above them. The navy ships were physically turned around and the forcefield pushed them back to US waters at more than fifty knots, throwing up huge bow waves. The captain of the cruise ship was told to turn and return to coastal waters, which he duly did.’
‘Fascinating, thanks. And the other incident?’ I asked.
‘Very similar, but it was a large private yacht. A belligerent individual on board, probably the owner, refused to return to San Francisco and, once more, the Federation ships used their forcefields to turn it and propel it back to the Californian coast.’
‘Were there any repercussions?’
‘Oh, yes. Ambassador Yol Lorel Distern was called to the White House and castigated by the president. It ended up as a one-way shouting match, but eventually, President Slimbridge stormed out of the oval office and Matthew Brown, his chief advisor, calmed things down and there have not been further incidents since. I think the president was actually quite frightened of the sheer power of the Federation’s forcefields. The arrival of the starship to resolve the Caribbean Sea incident was, I think, a real shock to him.’
‘He is indeed a strange character,’ I said. ‘I’ve been reading about the American presidents and their constitution. Slimbridge seems most unlike the cool, clear-thinking leaders they had in the past.’
‘It is no secret that I would like to see him gone. You know he is also a murderer. He blew up the United Nations building in New York to try to stop Federation membership.’
‘Yes, I’d heard. I intend to write about that too,’ I said. ‘I’ve just sent my contact details to your computer. Please pass them on to anyone who might be able to help me – people involved in the thick of it, I think that’s the expression.’
‘With pleasure. Lovely to meet you, Professor.’
‘My pleasure, Ya Horvat.’
She stood and took me out to her assistant’s office where Ya Marcia Gray produced the letter of authority on official paper.
Now, where to start.
∞∞∞∞∞∞∞
Armed with my letter of introduction from the Earth’s administrator, I could begin my research. Firstly, I needed to catch up. I contacted Miles DeVere, a journalist from The Times who majored in reporting on crime stories. We met up in a very comfortable lounge of a central London hotel.
‘So, you’re Professor Breganin,’ he said. ‘Pleased to meet you. Call me Miles.’
‘I’m Rummy. Thanks for seeing me, Miles.’
‘First alien I’ve met.’
‘Now you’re members, you’ll soon see more, especially in tourist centres like London,’ I said.
‘What would you like to know? Why me?’
‘I wanted to speak to someone who knew the crime scene really well,’ I said. ‘I’m studying transition. It is now many weeks since you became part of the Federation and I’d like to know how that affected criminals. Your reputation is the best. What happened in those first few days?’
‘A lot. A huge and spectacular change.’
‘I assume you were flooded with police bots and nano-crime-sensors?’ I asked.
‘Yes. The sheer number of them was staggering. There seemed to be a police bot on every street corner.
‘At first,’ he continued, ‘the gangs and criminals didn’t realise what it would be like. Of course, the Home Office had warned everyone that crime would no longer be tolerated, but most petty criminals didn’t think it would stop them buying or selling weed or be able to stop their handbag and mobile phone thefts. Particularly those perpetrated from scooters and motorbikes.’
‘Yes, I can imagine,’ I said.
‘I couldn’t believe the efficiency of the nanobots. They detected illegal substances within a hundred metres, police bots were called, and arrests made.’
‘Yes,’ I said. ‘Once a drug or substance is declared illegal – it can be different in some regions – the information is kept in a regional file. Nanobots in the Iran administrative region, for instance, have alcohol set as illegal. It works well. On Daragnen, and a growing number of other worlds, tobacco is illegal.’
‘And crime stopping, Rummy, I actually watched a handbag theft in progress in Regent Street. It was grabbed by scooter thieves. They slowed down, the passenger grabbed the bag and the driver accelerated away. One of the most difficult crimes to prevent.’
‘And…?’
‘The scooter travelled about ten metres and stopped dead, the two thieves were thrown off the bike and instantly paralysed.’
‘Yes, stasis.’
‘Two police bots were on the scene in seconds. The bag was recovered and returned to the woman, the two perpetrators were stood against a blank area of wall and put into an hour’s stasis. Their scooter was parked beside them. I heard the police bot say, “You are guilty of petty theft. Punishment is one hour stasis. You are now on the register and if you commit a second crime, the punishment will be one day’s stasis. These are the details of your crime.” It hung a lanyard around each of their necks with something the size of a credit card attached.’
‘Pretty standard,’ I said. ‘The card would show them their crime and punishment and it would also be stored on their chips.’
‘Ah, I think one of them wasn’t chipped. Another robot arrived and chipped him.’
‘Okay.’
‘I didn’t get to see what happened with drug deals, but one of my friends, a guy called Keith, who has a cocaine habit filled me in.’
‘What did he say?’ I asked.
‘He told me he’d gone to his local pub, where he usually bought his coke. Outside there were two of his usual suppliers in stasis. He entered and bought a drink. Another supplier came in via the fire exit. Keith offered a twenty pound note and a packet was passed over. Instantly a police bot entered. They were both taken outside. The supplier was given an hour’s stasis and Keith got ten minutes. When the stasis ended he examined his lanyard. It had a QR type code. He scanned it with his phone and was provided with an appointment at a clinic which he could attend if he was addicted.’
‘Did he go?’
‘No and he was picked up a second time and given an hour’s stasis. He hasn’t used cocaine since.’
‘And what sort of effect has this had on petty criminals?’ I asked.
‘Well, it’s stopped, completely. Detection seems to be very close to one hundred per cent and the stasis sentences increased each time the same person was captured. Now everyone had a decent income, almost £5,000 per month, and there was guaranteed punishment if you committed crimes, it stopped petty theft almost overnight. The gang bosses were livid. They had masses of illegal drugs and couldn’t distribute them. Their millionaire lifestyles encouraged them to try to outsmart the bots, but, so far as I’m aware, the streets of London are clear of drugs. It’s extraordinary.
‘The gang bosses found that having any drugs in their homes or business premises resulted in stasis sentences. I was surprised that they started at just an hour, but I do know of one who was caught six times. He was given six months in a prison where he was forced to read books. I’ll be interested to see if he reoffends. If you know you are going to be caught, it seems pointless. Mind you, civil rights groups are up in arms about the chips and the nanobots.’
‘Yes, I intend to look at that soon. What else have you seen during these early days of the Federation?’ I asked.
‘Sex trafficking. I was aware of one or two Eastern European gangs who brought young girls to the UK to be provided for sex. The prettiest were kept for themselves or charged at a premium. Nasty people.’
‘What sort of ages?’ I asked.
‘Usually late teens, but there was also a huge market for girls, and boys, thirteen and up. It’s a horrible life. They are imprisoned in flats, usually, just a squalid room in large Victorian houses. They’re never allowed out and forced to perform every sex act you can imagine and many you can’t. The gangs kept the money, of course.’
‘Difficult to imagine how it got detected if they couldn’t cry out for help,’ I said.
‘The nanobots. I heard from another criminal source that a nanobot tracking a drug dealer, followed him into one of the brothels where it stopped him from having sex with a barely teenaged girl. Within hours it was shut down and lengthy stasis sentences were given to the gang leaders who were pursued across Europe. Once they knew about it, the nanobots went out specifically to find similar places and a surprising number of houses were shut down pretty quickly. The girls, and some young men, found themselves free and with plenty of money to live normally. Children were returned to their homes.’
