by D G Hervey
“I understand the need to protect minorities of any sort,” replied Agni. “I hope you have done enough so that it succeeds.”
“Further,” Jon volunteered, “the constitution keeps the chief executive from having too much power and influence. Thus, Calypso has a representative government. Because judges are nominated by governors of the guilds, which may be rather small, instead of by the president, the power of the chief executive is kept in check.”
“I appreciate your general approach,” stated Agni, “Yes, we have a republic with representatives having specific responsibilities. Ours is not a democracy. But I have to deal with specifics.”
After a moment Jon responded, “Now, President Elect Agnieszka, I will address more directly some of what you have asked me for my opinions about. The divestment of the government holdings needs to be done in stages. For the time being, it seems wise to keep government ownership of the electric power generation, the moving walkways, the air quality operation, the water and sewage systems, and the mining of the asteroids on the trailer. Further, the government needs to continue support of scientific, manufacturing, and medical research and technology development. Clearly some of the experts in these fields will eventually need to spend time conducting college level courses for the children that are going to be born. If people pay for their own advanced education, that will reduce the government’s payroll burden. I reviewed information ML provided me during the transit out here regarding Calypso’s citizens. From that I know you already have a cadre of teachers in a holding pattern to do the lower level educating. I expect them to remain on the government’s payroll.”
“You’re right,” Agni replied. “We have teachers designated for education through high school.”
“Regarding what the government should charge when it divests itself of assets,” Jon considered, “you may model your economy after a well-functioning national economy on Earth, historical or current. Set the value of your currency, of the assets, and of the interest rates to be paid and charged according to their respective values in the selected model economy. Also, set a target for a moderate rate of inflation. I am no economist, but I understand that deflation is to be avoided. Further, I believe that the nickel-iron asteroid that is entrained will provide ample wealth for the government, so taxes may be minimal, perhaps just a sales tax or value added tax at first. It seems to me that everyone aboard Calypso is well educated and ML envisioned needs for their expertise. Thus, I suggest that everyone’s government salary should be the same initially, even yours. There will be divergence of salaries as businesses seek different skills that may be in demand.”
Agni sat at her desk, wanting to hear what her comments elicited. She encouraged, “Go on.”
“But Agni,” remarked Jon, “there is one thing that I do not really understand. It seems to me that the Parrots all of the young women wear negate much of what education was about when I came along. As it appears to me, each Parrot has immediate access to the accumulated knowledge of humanity, at least insofar as your on-board, continuously-updated database can provide it. So what is education for your generation? How do you ‘earn’ advanced degrees?”
President Elect Agnieszka responded, “Education for us consists of applying facts, not just knowing information. It includes originating questions to ask of our Parrot, and developing the background to be able to understand the Parrot’s response. Based on the question one asks, the Parrot can perform a data mining of the available information to provide its answer. That answer remains within the database. With millions of such questions being asked and researched continuously, the database back on Earth has so much new information being developed all of the time, that no one can keep up with all that is new. Why, more information is generated in a day now than was generated in a year about fifteen years ago. This impacts the information storage capacity that must be maintained aboard Calypso, at least so long as we continue receiving Earth’s database updates. And we have multiple repositories to store that information. There are separate databases in Hidden and Subtle, another one in the trailer where mining is in progress, and each of the spaceships piloted by our personnel has its own database.”
“Thanks,” he replied, “but it is still difficult for me to understand how advanced degrees are earned. However, back to some of the questions you asked. I believe that the government should permit all of those who have put forth proposals to go ahead, so long as the finances can be satisfied. The government should rapidly divest itself of the operation of the food distribution network; that is, there should be grocery stores. They should buy foodstuffs from the farmers, the meat packing houses, the dairywomen or creameries, and the orchards. The government should continue to maintain at least a year’s supply of stored foodstuffs for the entire expanding population. This implies that, unless there are crop failures, the government needs to continually be participating in the market by buying foods that may be frozen, canned, dried, or stored long term as produced. There should also soon be privately run stores for material, clothing, and drugs. That will allow your women to be individuals in what they want to wear and how they decorate their dwellings. Furniture production may be a bit off in the future, at least wooden furniture, since Calypso’s forests are far from mature. Perhaps a store selling metal furniture could be established whenever one of your women decides that she’d like to be in that business. Just as governments elsewhere maintain the roads, so your government should maintain the moving walkways. If developing a new one becomes a drag on federal finances, then it could become a toll moving walkway.”
Agni assented, “That all sounds reasonable.”
“Of course, whenever the government gives up ownership of a necessity,” continued Jon, “it should, generally, immediately institute regulatory control. I suspect that a strict zoning of where something can exist is a minimum control for new buildout within the existing habitable portions of Calypso. Should additional habitable volumes be developed, there may be different incentives for their construction. For example, the sameness of the current pod housing does not accommodate one of the traditional Khasi multi-family-living options. So I would advise not being too strict in the wording of building regulations, or else I would somehow ensure that the regulations applied only to the existing habitable volume of Calypso. Then future, currently unforeseen, priorities might be satisfied without as big a political fight as changing regulations might entail. In other words, leave incentive for profit in developing future habitable volumes. It could be to permit acclimation to a different force of gravity, or to other changes in an anticipated environment, or permitting more bedrooms for a matrilineal clan, or even in permitting an offshoot to exist someplace other than where the majority of citizens want to settle.”
Agni asked, “Can you be more specific?”
“I believe,” Jon answered, “multiple colonies would certainly be supported by ML were she along with us. At least if each offshoot contains sufficient numbers of people and adequate biodiversity of people, animals, and plants, so that it has a high probability of succeeding.”
“I agree,” Agni affirmed, “that ML would support multiple colonies.”
Jon remarked, “You provide new information for me regarding the bots the government owns. There must be half again as many as I suspected. Our citizens seem well satisfied with their Parrots and I cannot imagine what improvements might be made in them to mandate an upgrade. But, there are often advances that I do not anticipate. Because the Parrots do not have independent means of movement, I am guessing that they are not even included in your numbers of bots per citizen. I believe that the bots do almost all of the physical work. They even want to make up the bed in our quarters, if they can get to it before Marie and I do the job. I, personally, do not want to become that dependent upon them, so I prefer to do what I am able to do. That way I don’t lose the capability of doing whatever it may be. However, I digress. More to your point, for now I recommend retaining government control of the manufactur
e of bots. That way you can hope to retain control of the bots, the capabilities they are permitted to have, and of their priorities in dealing with people. Their price should reflect the research effort to develop them, their included technology, the value of their materials, and the manufacturing effort that goes into a given type. Sell them on a first-come first-served basis, but accept advanced orders with a sufficient down payment. Further, I suspect that advances in the bots will occur when some citizen sees a need or a benefit that is not being readily filled at the moment. Now President Elect Agni, as well as I recall, I have said what I care to address, regarding the issues that you raised.”
“Thank you for your thoughts and opinions,” responded President Elect Agni. “Exchanges such as ours help me gather thoughts and provide a basis for discussions which will eventually evolve into policies.”
Jon broached a new subject. “President Elect Agni, there is one additional issue of interest that was raised when we met with Gulgin, the prospective entertainment entrepreneur. Is there any way that rehearsals for performances could be private? This would make any performances by the artists more special and, I expect, it would enhance citizen’s interest and attendance?”
President Elect Agni replied, “I am already aware of that issue and have had some discussions with my vice president and staff regarding it. There are possible ways in which that might be accomplished. But, we have not developed a consensus yet. I’ll be sure that you are informed when our approach is finalized. I’m confident something will be worked out.”
“Thanks,” responded Jon. And he left.
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Based on the conversation with President Elect Agni, Jon decided that he or Marie should be willing to be on any proposer’s board of directors, if the proposer so desired. Furthermore, he was willing to give everyone, excepting the chefs, at least a token of financial support, if Marie would agree. That meant carefully doling out the total amount Marie had agreed to invest. Jon believed that President Agni would set prices and interest rates so that the nascent businesses could succeed. It was, after all, in Jon’s opinion, in the best interest of the community at large for them to succeed.
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During the first days Jon and Marie were being presented proposals for businesses, they had received two mining proposals, two dairying proposals, three ranching proposals, two chicken farm proposals, two fish farming proposals, one lumber growing proposal, three banking proposals, four proposals for restaurants, one proposal for a foundry, one proposal for a machine shop, two proposals for farming activities, and two proposals for engineering, architecture and construction companies. Taking into consideration Marie’s need for financial security and the government’s unsettled state, Jon managed the remaining meetings with proposers to limit the financial support they offered to each. Marie agreed with events as they occurred. Jon and Marie each ended up being on the board of directors for eight companies. They decided that they would try to get the meetings of the various boards of directors spaced so no annual meetings were in the same month for either Jon or Marie.
At the end of the commitment process, Jon was on the board of directors for the businesses that were involved in manufacturing and mining. Marie was on the board of directors for businesses involved in food production and entertainment. They split the board of director responsibilities for mining, banks, and restaurants on Calypso.
They had to decide which ranching proposal would have neither of them on its board. For that, they believed that the company’s rancher was the least likely to benefit significantly from their involvement, so she was left on her own.
Chapter 3 - Getting Involved
Ykon, alone with Marie in the pod’s common room, asked, “Marie, I admire the quilts you make and I wonder if you will teach me how to make a quilt? I’d like to make one for my baby before she is due.”
“Of course I will,” replied Marie. “I’ll be delighted. I love helping others with quilts. We can begin the process anytime you like.”
“I’ll be pleased to begin now,” responded Ykon.
“Before we do anything else,” Marie informed, “we need to plan the quilt. First you’ll have to select a quilt pattern that suits what you envision. Let’s go to the quilting room where I can show you a variety of patterns from Calypso’s database, so you can select one that you like.”
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Ykon looked at a number of patterns and selected one. It was a simple pattern of blocks arranged in a three by four configuration with sashing between the blocks.
“I want each block to feature an animal from my native land, Sudan,” said Ykon.
“With the pattern you’ve selected,” prompted Marie, “you next need to select the fabrics for the blocks in the quilt top. The material for the back can wait until the top is together. Before we cut any fabric, we must know how large a quilt you want to make. Then you can cut the quilt blocks to get the size quilt you desire. Quilts for babies are generally small.”
“I already have a metal crib in my quarters,” replied Ykon. “I want the quilt to be slightly larger than the crib’s mattress.”
So they went into Ykon’s quarters and measured the crib.
Back in the quilting room, Marie suggested, “We’ll need to collect all of the items you will use to construct the quilt top before you actually begin.”
“This should be fun,” Ykon stated. “There is more to a baby’s quilt than I suspected.”
Marie agreed, “It’s not so simple, but not so hard either. Especially when you’ve got me to instruct you.”
“Okay, I’m excited,” Ykon responded. “Let’s do it.”
“How much time,” Marie asked, “do we have until you are due? You are getting quite large now.”
Ykon replied, “That is what everyone seems to be asking me these days. We are all eager to begin our next phase of life, motherhood. It should be just over six weeks.”
“Then let’s get to work,” replied Marie.
So they returned to the monitor showing Ykon’s selected design and began figuring the yardage she would need. Then they went through Marie’s sewing room into the next room with all of the bolts of fabric. After Ykon collected the bolts of fabric that she would need for her baby quilt, Marie chose the threads to match the fabrics.
“This is going to be an interesting quilt,” Marie commented. “The design is simple enough, with a white border and binding, and squares of orange, blue, green, yellow, purple, and ecru. Each block will have an animal from your native Sudan. I suggest that they be appliqued, one in each block. What an amazing array that will be. Have you decided which animals you want?”
Ykon answered, “Yes, I want the African wild ass, the cheetah, the crocodile, a dromedary, an elephant, and the slender horned gazelle. Then I’ll add the giraffe, the Tora hartebeest, the leopard, the lion, the Sahara oryx, and a rhinoceros.”
“Those animals will make this totally unlike anything I’ve ever seen on a baby quilt,” remarked Marie. “It will be unique. I like your ideas. So it makes a three block by four block quilt with one animal appliqued in each block. With six different colors for the blocks you can have two blocks of each color. So, decide the arrangement of the colors and select which animal gets appliqued onto which block and you’ve finished your design concept.”
Ykon decided on the specifics of her design. Then she and Marie promptly began cutting out the fabric.
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It did not occur to Marie until the next day, when other pregnant women descended into the pod’s common room with quilt patterns already selected, that she’d become even more popular. She soon needed to schedule the time for who was to use which piece of equipment. She did not have to stand up much of the time, so it did not tire her out, as it might otherwise have done. It was similar to when she had taught high school sewing. But the women, probably taking their cue from Jon, were quite solicitous of Marie, not wanting to tax her endurance or her patience. Soon, almost all of the Subtle women who were expe
cting in the first month of deliveries, were making quilts in Marie’s sewing room.
The two Subtle obstetricians, Cuadro and Ozlem, decided that Marie’s sewing room provided them a good opportunity and place to instruct the expectant young women in a group. Examinations took place in their offices, of course, but several just naturally got together at the same time in Marie’s sewing room. There the doctors taught the women what to expect at this stage of their pregnancy. It left the doctors more time for their research efforts, and for viewing problematic deliveries that Subtle’s database could show them.
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Jon worked on the wording for the oath of office for the inauguration of the newly-elected Calypso government officials. He showed his wording to President Elect Agnieszka, who approved it without comment.
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Before ML had shown up at his Texas home and changed his life completely, Jon had enjoyed working on his farm in his orchard and garden. He missed that activity, and sought a way to resume these Texas pursuits. He thought perhaps he could be a help with such activities in Subtle. Besides working with plants he knew about from his experience, he hoped to get involved with growing plants with which he had no prior experience. That way he could learn about those plants and about Calypso’s approaches.
He appreciated the beauty of the vegetables that they grow in Calypso’s gardens. The gardening women he sometimes got to help liked the way he complimented some of their produce and thought that Jon had a good eye for the best of what they grew. Back in a Texas grocery store, Marie once had said to him, “It takes a fruit lover to select the best fruit.” Jon loved to eat fruit.
In Texas Jon had grown bananas, pears, peaches, apples, cherries, pomegranates, apricots, and plums. Calypso’s banana palms are huge in comparison with the dwarf varieties which Jon had grown. Dwarf varieties were mandated in Texas because of the low ceiling in his hothouse and the fact that he had to move them inside for the winter. On Calypso the palms would never experience winter weather.
