End of the Beginning: Chapters 28 & 29
Chapter 28: October 10th
Nashville, Tennessee, United States 11am
“We have sinned against God; man laying with man is a sin, killing an unborn child is a sin, allowing heathens within our midst is a sin! We will be cast out from our Garden of Eden if we do not rid our nation of the sinners and come back to the ways of The Lord, Amen!!” shouted the reverend Andersen to his congregation in the huge hall, as he raised his hands to the skies above.
“Amen!!!” the crowd screamed back at him at they raised their hands in unison.
Jose Calabrez watched the proceedings on a screen above the hall, shaking his head in disbelief the stupidity, and the danger, of the masses he thought to himself. Some reorientation of the preacher’s message was required, and he was there to deliver the required redirection. He went back to checking his messages as the theatrics continued as a strange kind of background music.
After a while, the screen quieted and the door opened, revealing the reverend. “Mr. Calabrez, I am honoured that you would take the time to meet with a small-town preacher such as myself. I hope you enjoyed the sermon” he said as he greeted Jose.
“Quite a production, and certainly not very small-town” was Jose’s response. They shook hands and sat down, and they were left alone. “Let me get to the point reverend. The President is very much supportive of the freedom of religion, but when that becomes a threat to public order it crosses the line. Given the current circumstances we have to be very careful about overly provocative messages. Perhaps ones better aligned with the President’s message of social cohesion could be used.”
The reverend sat back in his seat “You are surely not telling me what I can say in my sermon are you Mr. Secretary?” he said plaintively.
“Not at all reverend. Now, there are some uncomfortable issues that we may have to deal with; such as certain expenditures of the church and that unfortunate incident with the thirteen year-old. It seems that we are in a position to be able to help each other out.” Jose stated, relaxing and calmly observing the reverend that was suddenly not so relaxed.
After a pregnant pause, the reverend replied hesitantly, “perhaps I could reorient my sermons a little, I am always an American patriot as well as a preacher.”
Satisfied by the response Jose changed tack, “You do have an impressive ministry, and the President would very much value a mutually beneficial relationship. How is your lovely wife, I hear that she is getting close to delivering your sixth and seventh children?”
Chapter 29: October 11th
New York City, USA 9:30am
Richard Evans pressed the button to wring the bell that signified the reopening of the New York Stock Exchange after three long weeks. There was polite applause, but no real enthusiasm; the government’s actions had obliterated trillions of dollars of assumed wealth. The already moribund oil and gas sector was now the domain of penny stocks, with the once mighty reduced to the level of minnows. With the blanket ban on none business-related flights, and the big new taxes on kerosene, the airline industry was also out of luck. Added to that was the leisure sector, especially those resorts that people needed to fly to. Then, the big banks; there were no more bailouts, or bail-ins, for them. The zombies that never seemed to die, but rather reinvent new ways to “fuck everything up, while making out like bandits” were gone – broken up into countless pieces and divided out between the credit unions, government-owned ‘bad banks’ and new tightly-controlled specialist entities.
The ban on sales of gasoline-powered cars also certainly separated the winners from the losers in the automobile manufacturers while completing the drawn-out death of much of the automotive servicing sector. Defence contractors were no longer the safe investments that they had been; with the evisceration of the new weapons budgets pushing may of their share prices over a cliff.
“No more fucking boy toys until we have built the renewable economy!” was the President’s usual straight-talking directive. The boys (and girls) were kept happy with better pay and less probability of losing years, and possibly their lives, abroad.
All share prices had been hit by the assumption of controlled economic contraction for at least a few years, share prices followed the direction of growth assumptions; down. There were winners though, some unexpected unless of course you had inside information. Investors in the mining sector were drooling over the huge amounts of money to be spent on digging up and crushing rocks, as were any companies in the renewables and energy efficiency businesses. “Portfolio reallocation” they called it, more a mad dash for the new growth sectors that could only end in tears for those arriving later at the party.
As the bell stopped ringing, Evans reflected.
At least nobody tried to kill me
He forced a smile and waved, but then he realized that the looks that were cast toward him were more of fear and respect than hatred. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve were now the masters, not the servants of the financiers. The world had changed, and there was a new boss in town; it was him.
Hail to the new Caesar
He tried not to smile as he contemplated his new position. Perhaps he would be getting invited to those big houses on Long Island after all, if the owners weren’t bankrupt, better be watching out for the sharp knives though.
The Houses of Parliament, London, UK 3pm (10am New York)
What a bunch of arrogant dickheads, not a scientist or engineer among them passed through John Pearson’s mind as he politely and patiently answered the questions from the parliamentary committee.
“You have stated that there are many measures that can be carried out to protect the installation, but fundamentally can we be confident in the long term future of Hinckley Point C?” came a question from an especially annoying and self-regarding pompous ex-lawyer. John breathed deeply and consciously strained to manage the tone of his voice.
“Within the assumed lifetime of the plant the worst-case scenarios call for a 3-foot rise in sea level, a level that will be easily dealt with if the proposed sea wall changes are made. If it becomes obvious that the sea level rise will be greater, we have more than enough time to further strengthen the defences around the plant.”
“In that case, we will have the equivalent of a nuclear power station protected by high walls and surrounded by a moat. Will a drawbridge be necessary?” responded the pompous one to a round of laughter among his colleagues. John breathed even more deeply.
“There will be a raised road that travels above the protective walls so no moat will be needed. We are, after all, only protecting against the sea and not the marauding Viking hordes” he stated as calmly as possible. He was happy to sense that he got a better quality of laughter. The pompous one was not amused. An excruciating hour or so later, the grilling was over, and John could retire to a local watering hole for a well-deserved pint.
“You did very well John” was his boss’s judgment, one nodded to by the company lawyer and the public relations specialist.
“Eh, mate. You that guy on the television, who manages Hinckley C?” asked a somewhat scruffy individual. John nodded cautiously in agreement. “Good job mate, you certainly put that arrogant Eton school-boy in his place. Let me shake your hand.” Pleasantly surprised, he exchanged a handshake with the stranger and relaxed back on his seat.
“Even Mr. Joe Public seems to be on your side” smiled the P.R. specialist.
Washington D.C., United States 11am
Jim Anderson stepped out the car in front of the upscale mall in North Arlington, near where Kelly was presenting. The door closed behind him, and the car went off to pick up its next customer. The warmth of the day was left behind as he walked through the automatic doors and the cool of the air conditioning met his body.
Always too cold he thought to himself as his body shivered slightly. As he walked over to the coffee shop he felt as if he was walking through a church. It was just too quiet, as if humanity had been mysteriously removed from the planet. Thoughts of old zombie movies came to mind, would masses of them suddenly appear from the empty shops to eat him alive? Then he spotted some other live, and very un-zombie like, human beings and feelings of normalcy returned.
He made his way over to the barista and ordered his coffee; the barista seemed happy to be just serving someone for a change.
“Quiet day” the young barista with the interesting mix of hair and goatee said nonchalantly.
“Yes, where have all the people gone?” Jim replied.
“Started a while ago with the banishing of the lobbyists by the President, that really cut a lot of our traffic. Recently, I think everyone is just depressed by how much their portfolios are going down by, and the falling house prices. All the oil funded think tanks and lobbyists are pretty much dead and buried as well. Great for democracy I suppose, but not good for the business. Thankfully, I am just a law student working on the side” answered the barista as he ceremoniously poured Jim’s latte into the cup.
“Law?” Jim queried.
“International Environmental Law, it seems there’s no shortage of work in the field. I’m off to a few months placement at the U.N. shortly”.
Jim nodded his head in appreciation “very cool”.
“What do you do?” the barista asked.
Jim paused before answering, “I’m a Presidential scientific advisor on environmental matters” in a slightly embarrassed manner.
“You are Jim Andersen? It must be so cool being right in the middle of things like you are” was the response.
Jim was taken aback, still used to being relatively anonymous, “yes, it is cool” he managed to respond. A couple of large men, with earpieces and muscular frames showing through their black suits appeared in the coffee shop. They looked menacingly around, seemingly ready to shoot anything that looked mildly threatening.
Secret Service Jim thought to himself. The barista was suitably impressed, and Jim sat down to enjoy his coffee, while one of the dark suited men ordered a skinny caramel macchiato.
“This is for you?” the barista asked amusedly.
“Don’t be a smart ass” was the reply, which was combined with a mixture of body language and facial expression that made it apparent that he should not continue with that line of enquiry. Jim understood who it was really for, it was her favorite.
Kelly appeared with another couple of secret service men as she strode over to the coffee shop. She and Jim embraced and then sat down as the skinny caramel macchiato was placed in front of her.
“What’s with the protection detail, I thought that we were just going to have a quiet coffee?” Jim asked.
“It seems that there are still some powerful forces out there that may want to target the government, so the President has ordered protection for us all. These two guys are yours; Jim, meet Danny and Aiden” Kelly said as she motioned for two of the dark suits to come forward. He got up and shook both of their hands, and they exchanged pleasantries.
As he sat back down a thought struck him “will they be going to Antarctica with me?” he asked.
“They will be going everywhere with you” Kelly answered.
“That will certainly cause a stir at the academic conferences” Jim observed.
Bridgewater, Somerset, UK 6pm (1pm in New York)
June Evans, and her husband Jack, sat down in the front room of their rented accommodation. Although the filthy black waters had receded many weeks before from their dream home, it would still resemble a building site for many, many more to come. They had decided to stay in Bridgewater after the government’s commitment to start work on the tidal barrier for the town.
“Would have been nice to take a week or two in Greece for a bit of relief” her husband said ruefully “but no bloody chance with the government’s restrictions. Looks like we could still get a spot on the ferry down to Portugal though, what do you think?”
June laughed out loud “what’s the alternative, the ‘English Riviera’ or Bournemouth?” Visions of aged hotels, fish ‘n’ chips, rainy summer days, and freezing cold seas swam before their minds.
“Better book that ferry asap then” announced her husband. Jack focused on his tablet, “Crazy lines of people at the car dealerships trying to buy an EV, seems there’s even been fights over some cars. Thank god we bought ours a few months ago, with the new petrol taxes it’s got to be brutal without one. In Portugal all the electricity is 100% renewable, so we won’t have to feel guilty about any long drives through the Algarve. Seems they are way ahead in charging stations, every hotel is fully equipped – even the smaller ones. All those damn storms are passing north of them as well, so nice warm sunny weather for a couple of weeks!” Jim tapped on the tablet a few more times and then announced triumphantly, “There, we are booked, looks like those places are going fast!”
June sighed “Well, at least something good to look forward to.”