by Danny Dunn
They chat as they walk through the dome. The wife says, “Seeing this must be quite fulfilling for you two. It is hard to believe that just the two of you came up with all this on your own.”
Zari replies that yes, we are delighted to see families like yours enjoying your lives. Seeing you is so satisfying to both of us.
Zaria asks if the light in the house is satisfactory. The wife replies, oh yes that she loves the natural lighting and the retractable roof. She says they open it sometimes just to hear the animals.
Zaria asks the couple if there is anything they can improve? The husband replies, yes, please help us live longer so we can enjoy this even more They all laugh. Zaria tells them their bio-engineers are working at it as fast as they can.
Zari “Well, thank you so much for letting us tour your home, we truly appreciate it.”
Both the husband and the wife give them each a big hug and thank them for all they have done. It is hard for us to imagine ever having to go back to the other life. We are spending much more time with our kids and are going on many hikes on the trails you made for us.”
Zari and Zaria get back in their vehicle, look at each other, and smile. Zari tells Zaria that visiting that home was one of the most satisfying experiences of his entire life. I can quit now, that was enough for me. I am all done he says jokingly. Wow, what a wonderful feeling. Zaria agrees and says she understands and is very happy as well.
They head out to one of the 200 community farms. The farm is located on one of the few level areas of the island and is at about 100-foot elevation to ensure survival in the event of rising waters due to storms or tsunamis. They get out and look down on hundreds of long domes filled with lush fruit and vegetables harvested by the Zari-bots. Zaria and Zari watch as the harvested fruits and vegetables are loaded into a modified version of their transport vehicle. Their vehicle travels in an underground tunnel that connects to the universal transportation system. Farming and industrial traffic are restricted to off-hours to balance out traffic.
Once a vehicle is full, it drives to a building nearby where it is processed for canning in glass jars for long term storage. Grains go into silos located near the long-term underground storage buildings. Zari and Zaria take the short ride to the underground processing building. A Zari bot supervisor greets them and takes them to where different crops are being processed. The Zari Bots are trimming, cleaning, and canning the goods for long term storage. Zari asks Zaria, where are we on production Zaria relative to the plan. Zaria answers that they are well ahead of schedule. Home production is seven times our rate of consumption, and commercial is at ten times the consumption rate. Overall storage is at five years times current consumption.”
Zari asks Zaria when was the last time he told her she was amazing was? Zaria says Zari, you know, sir, when you compliment me, you are complimenting yourself, right? Zari “Shh, let’s pretend that isn’t true. Hm, maybe it is time for an upgrade. I will delete that fact for you, and then you will be complete.” Zari and Zaria both smile and head home.
Zari tells Zaria he would like to see the power systems tomorrow and asks if she has time for that. Zaria replies so you can tell me how great I am again? Zari tells her, “Yes, and one upgrade is becoming more imminent by the day. Zaria tells Zari, you will have to catch me first.
The next morning, they get up at sunrise and are on the bow of a fast vessel heading out to the fishing net/windmills. They arrive, and the boat stops. Zari says aloud, doesn’t it feel good to see windmills spinning? It just gives me a pleasant feeling of satisfaction. Zaria says yes, and the ocean-current mills are doing very well also. They are our top producers at the moment.
Zari “What are the production breakdowns.”
Zaria replies with the power production breakdown by technology type; Windmills 5%; Ocean current mills 48%; Thermal core heat conversion 42%; Solar 5%.
Zari “And what is our consumption over capacity?”
Zaria “We are using 10% of capacity and have eight months stored.”
Zari “Of the raw materials we have, how much have we used to build this island?
Zaria “We have used only two percent of our raw materials, sir. We can build what we have in place x 50. If we run out of aluminum and titanium, we can always make Zari-bots out of gold and silver. We have enough gold to build 20 million more robots. Zari looks at her, and he is not sure if she is kidding or not. Zaria looks at him, smiles, and tells him she had to spend the money on something and what is better than gold in a troubled environment.
Zari “Great, very nice indeed, Golden Zari-bots, now that paints a pretty picture. My father would be proud, and my mother would want to strangle me. They both laugh.
Zaria “Anything you want to share?”
Zari “Oh, just taking inventory.”
Let’s go see the core heat converters. They head back to the island and take their vehicle to one of twelve underground planet-core heat conversion facilities.
The heating tubes are inserted vertically deep into the ground. At the bottom of the tube is a large bulb, much like the shape of a thermometer. The tube is planted deep enough that the planet’s heat is hot enough to heat the bulb at the bottom of the tube. The heat causes the liquid to expand into a gas. The expansion creates pressure inside the tube. The pressure is released at the top of the tube into a pipe connected to a turbine. The pressurized gas spins the turbine as it passes through the turbine, which is connected to an electric generator. Once the gas passes through the turbine, the gas travels through a tank of cool water. The hot gas is cooled and contracts back into a liquid. The liquid falls back down to the bottom through another tube where it feeds back into the original heating tube, and the process repeats.
That humming sound of the turbines is music to my ears, says Zari. Zaria replies, yes, there is something delightful about the sounds of clean energy. They walk along the row of turbines very slowly and enjoy the fruits of their labor and head home. Zari tells Zaria that the planet-heat core system is his favorite technology. Zaria agrees with enthusiasm. It is so reliable, she says.
Zari “One more stop for the day, please Zaria.”
Zaria “Robots, Robots, Robots.” Big smile
They hop into their vehicle, and it takes them to a secret tunnel entrance. Zaria sends a code to open the doors of the tunnel, and the door opens. Their Transport pulls forward, and the doors shut after they are in. I just moved all the precious items into this room, where it is much more difficult to get to. They are now underneath a 2,200-foot mountain. Only you and I can get to this point in the transport system she tells him, the doors are made of 6-inch thick stainless steel. They enter and are greeted by a pair of Zari-bots. Zari-bot 1 greets them and tells them it is a pleasure to see you both.
“Welcome to the cave.” a second Zari-bot says.
Zaria thanks them both and tells them they are fine from here. Zaria leads Zari to a door where she enters a code. The system sends her back some code, and then Zaria sends back a password, and the door opens up. They are entering the precious materials room where the bulk Zari’s wealth is stored. Oh my, Zari says, this is way more than I envisioned. There are rows and rows of solid gold bricks stacked nicely on the 15-foot-high heavy-duty shelves. Zaria takes him down one of the 25 gold isles and then walk around at the end and come back up through a silver isle. In the room, there is gold, silver, titanium, copper, platinum, diamonds, crystals, rare earth materials like neodymium for high powered magnets used in electric motors; windmill generator heads; diamonds for lasers; and silicon for computer boards and other components.
Zari is taken back, I had no idea he says to Zaria, Zaria tells Zari that his brain created all this. Your parents are so proud of you, Zari. Zari stops talking because he is overwhelmed by the magnitude of what he has done. He asks to go to the next room.
They enter a very bright and colorful factory that is 2 stories tall and over 1500 feet long. As they walk along, they see every phase of the manufactur
ing of their robots.
Zari asks Zaria how many robots they have now.
Zaria “We have the 100,000 we purchased, and that was in service before our arrival. We have built another 50,000 of our design since we arrived. Plus, we now have 10 prototypes of the latest and greatest.”
Zari asks if Zaria would try one out now. Zaria replies yes and heads enthusiastically over to export her code into one of the prototypes. Zaria goes into a room in the back and opens the locked door. She disappears for a minute and comes back out in the new design.
Zari “Show me what you got.” They have both been through this many times, and Zaria knows what he wants to see.
Zaria starts with a triple back-flip from a standing position, jumping straight up and landing exactly on her original spot. She then jumps and spins 4 times in the air like an ice skater and again hits a perfect landing. Zaria plays music over the building sound system and performs a ballet on steroids with incredibly fast pirouettes and long leaps.
Zari, “I told you, I want flying, still no flying. I am dying soon, you know that, right?”
Zaria “Some people you can just never please.”
Zari “Well, all joking aside, WOW. How many of these can we build?”
Zaria replies, “we have materials on hand for 900,000”, and Zari asks when production starts.
Zaria “Next week, we will start production at 10,000 per week.”
Zari “That’s great Zaria, and last on my list...”
Zaria “Yes sir, defensive system. We are fully functional.”
Zari “At what power?”
Zaria “30 Giga-Watts.”
Zari “Great! And the reload time?”
Zaria “.2 seconds per tower. With 100 towers operational, we can handle 500 targets per second in the radius of the horizon. From 4000 feet above sea level, the horizon is 72.5 miles in any direction and unlimited vertical range.”
Zaria says to Zari like a mom would say to a little boy.” I have a little surprise for you all set up.”
Zari “I get to see a live test?
Zaria “Surprise wrecker. No test for you. Zaria giggles.
I have 12 old drones, 8 boats that were here from the military base, and a few of their old planes we got running. We modified them all so we can control them remotely. I had also purchased 2 dozen military rockets when we were still in our country. I made that purchase very visible so that anyone checking our defense abilities would think that was our only defense system. I am positive that your country feels that it is our defense system.
They walk across the room to a small control room to watch the simulation. Zaria communicates with the system wirelessly, and an image comes up that shows a satellite view of their island and 2 circles around the island. The smaller circle measures 72.5 miles in all directions. Zaria explains that is what we can hit on the water. The second circle has a diameter of 134 miles in all directions and is what we can hit when they are 4,000 feet up. The third circle is 354 miles in all directions and is what we can hit when they are 8,000 feet up. We can hit anything flying above us, including satellites.
Zaria puts the defense system into test mode. She explains that all of their boats and planes have GPS devices installed. The system has I.D.s of all their ships and aircraft stored and knows not to fire on them unless we need to fire on them. In that case, we would select their I.D., and do a manual override of that ID, and they would be included. She explains that the first does is looks for non-test items inside the circle. The check is complete, and there are no foreign boats or planes, and they clear for testing. For testing so that we never hit a foreign target, the system will only hit GPS equipped targets that we have entered into the system. In a real attack, the system will hit everything that does not have a registered GPS code in our system.
The maps show all of the items to be hit in the test. Zaria explains that she has 500 drones on each of 3 of the boats, and the boats are spaced 120 degrees apart around the island. She says that another 500 drones that will be released from the planes. The rockets will launch from three other ships and will come in from all angles. We have removed the warheads from all of the missiles just in case. Zaria giggles.
Zaria asks Zari if he would like to press the start button. Just say when.”
Zaria says now. They both look up at the large image of the whole area. There are multiple views on the big screen being fed from mountain-top cameras. There are also cameras mounted onto drones that have GPS devices excluding them from attack. All of the surface level targets are at their maximum of 72 miles away, and the planes are at 190 miles out flying at 7,500 feet. They all have GPS
Zari hits the start button, and the system immediately puts circles around every target. Each target type has a unique colored circle. The system starts eliminating targets. Each shot shows a dotted line leading to the target and then places an empty circle of where the target used to be. The system is picking off everything in order of immediacy. Rockets and missiles first, then drones, planes, and then the ships, to the right is also a chart of numbers showing the number of targets and targets hit, and remaining targets on approach, targets per minute rate, and other performance data.
In less than 5 seconds, every target is destroyed. Zaria smiles, we have a future use for the ships, so we put up a ¾ inch steel plate on a dingy 50 feet behind the vessel to simulate killing them. A message pops up, providing all the attack statistics.
Zari “Wow Zaria, maybe we should become a defense contractor. That is amazing. I now feel safe, Zaria. And as far as you know, no one else on the planet knows anything about our defense project.
Zaria “Not a sole sir, not a single sole, no internet chatter discussion, nothing. I bought all the components through the trading companies and mixed them in with robotic and windmill tower parts.”
Zari “Well, I believe someone will attack us at some point, I hope not, but I believe the chances are high. Especially if there is a war or other major event where our resources and safe harbor are in demand. When the world gets into a squeeze, they are going to want what we have.”
Zaria “I agree with you, sir. The bulk of the technology for each tower is 40 floors underground and can fire 5 seconds after the detection of a threat. And, if a tower senses that it is under attack, it retracts, leaving only a 12-inch thick shell exposed. Then the other towers attack whatever was attacking the retracted tower. Each tower has autonomous control with my AX5 A.I. module. Any control module can take over for any other control module.
The system will continue to fight autonomously down to the last tower and cannot be knocked out until every tower is destroyed. There are redundant communication methods, including Radio Frequency and a hardwire that runs 4,000 feet underground in case they use neutron weapons and one or more get through.”
Zari “Very nice Zaria, you make me prouder every day.”
Zaria “I did pretty well at balancing out our purchases in terms of building robots, food, etc., but we are heavy in gold. But when times get rough, gold is a good thing to have.”
Two months later World War Breaks Out
Headline “Zanar attacks Yogostov and declares war,”
Ustar (Zaria’s home country) Ustar president “We will not stand by”
Zaria sends a message to the citizens. “There will be an emergency council meeting today.”
Council meeting begins
Zari “First, you all know our status regarding resources. We are very well prepared for sustaining ourselves for 6 years running at 60%.”
Zaria, could you outline our position.
Zaria “Sustaining a reasonable reserve our resources can support an additional 150% increase in population without undue stress on the existing population.
We have 50,000 uncommitted homes built and ready for occupancy. All families will need to increase their food by 30% to maintain current reserves while new residences get up to speed. Farming will need to increase by 20% to maintain our 10-year storage.
Zari, “I would like the 9 of you to come to a consensus as to how many permanent and temporary citizens to let in and set the terms for the new arrivals.
This is your civilization, you are the ones to care for the existing population. The long-term survival of this population is the number one consideration you should operate by.
I am inclined to vote with you so long as your decision does not conflict with our constitution.”
Councilmember 1 “Agreed”
The Council walks through each consideration
Total number of them to let in
What the entrance fee would be
What their work arrangement would be since many could be parents of our citizens
After hours of debate, the Council is ready to include the founders (Zari and Zaria)
After a day of discussions, the Council has agreed. Councilmember 1 tells Zaria and Zaria the board recommends the following for a vote;
Up to 4 temporary guests and 2 permanent guests per household. Transient guests can stay until council votes to rescind the invitation. If a family or individual pass on their invites, the invites are not transferable.
The fee will be 100,000 units per year per temporary guest.
Standard entrance fee of 200,000 units for permanent guests
Existing citizens may pay for an entrance fee with work where needed but requires council approval.
Existing citizens will house their quests until housing is ready.
New citizens get citizenship once all fees and work is complete
All existing citizens must cover temporary guest expenses and must increase food production to sustain current levels of consumption and reserve. Each household has 60 days to secure their guests, or they forfeit their allotment of guests. Any existing citizen wishing to exit the island to join family my do so with a 100% refund
