utopia unraveling (The Virtagwala Series Book 1)

by Kyle Malinowski

  Harvey stepped in front of the Presidential Suites’ door, “I’m sorry but I am under direct orders to not allow you to go to the Grand Hall. They have sealed Parliament, meaning that no one, not even you Mr. President, are permitted entrance.”

  Ray stopped as Rove continued into his office, clearly not hearing the stern words of Harvey, “Excuse me, Private? Did you just say you are under orders to keep us from going to the Parliament?”

  Nodding confidently, “I was told to you use force if necessary to keep you away from the Parliament. They have moved to Seal it, meaning that if you breach it in any way without prior permission of attendance, constitutionally you are guilty of a felony against the state. As someone who has sworn to uphold and enforce the Virtagwallan National Constitution, I am obliged to restrain you from consciously breaking the law.”

  Ray couldn’t believe what he was hearing, as Rove quickly approached. Not moving out of his way as Rove moved to the door, he demanded, “Private, stand down so I may leave.”

  “I am sorry Mr. President, but I am under direct orders to not permit you to leave your office with the stated intentions of approaching Parliament,” Harvey reaffirmed confidently standing in the way of the exiting officials.

  Rove felt a slight pain in his head, as he bellowed, pointing at the man’s face, “Private, I am your commander and chief. In case you don’t remember what that means – You answer to me! No one else is higher in the military chain of command than myself. Meaning that what I say goes, do you understand me? How dare you think you have the authority to stop me from leaving this office? Now,” he took a deep breath regrouping, “stand down Private.”

  Harvey’s confidence again waned, but stood firm. Ray approached, “Harvey who ordered you to stop us?”

  He shook his head, “I am not at liberty to say.”

  Kay Lyons approached, “Oh thank god you haven’t left yet, I had to use the restroom.”

  Ray looked between the furious president and the secretary, “Private Harvey won’t allow us to leave, claiming he has orders.”

  Lyons rolled her eyes, sensing clearly the tension of the moment and the desire of the President. She approached him, “Harvey, please move, or I will be forced to make you move on behalf of executing an order from the President of this nation,” she smiled politely, and he rolled his eyes clearly doubting her threat.

  In a swift move, Lyons grabbed Harvey’s arm, jerked it, and flipped the Guardsman over causing him to fall to the floor. Ray and Rove looked at each other as Harvey rolled on the floor in pain. Stepping over him, Lyons opened the door. Ray, walking into the floor’s lobby asked, “How the hell did you do that?”

  Tossing her hair back, “You don’t think dance majors simply learn how to do jumps and flips and turns, do you?” she sarcastically spat as they pushed the button for the elevator, after locking the door to the President’s Suite from the outside as to not allow the Private access to the floor’s lobby.

  Sliding into the lift, Ray pushed the button corresponding to the appropriate floor, as Rove looked at Lyons, “You just kicked that kid’s ass. What else can you do we have no idea about?”

  Lyons laughed, “You don’t think my only skills in life are organizing your schedule, and making coffee, now do you, Mr. President?”

  “Okay, I will agree, that was really cool, but -” Ray started up realizing something huge, “You just assaulted a member of the National Guard. I believe that is a national offense.”

  Coughing, his head still panging with a constant pain, Xavier attempted to rationalize “Ms. Lyons here was acting in accordance with her position, and in doing so acted in such a way to protect my life,” he looked at the placard on the wall as the elevator descended, “I will vouch for her actions. However, we have bigger issues at hand. If Parliament truly has been sealed, and we enter and observe from the observation deck,” he looked at the two of them, “Private Harvey will be right. We will be committing a felony, breaking the National Constitution, and putting ourselves in the position of me to be impeached, and the three of us to be thrown into prison for a very long time.”

  “Are you getting cold feet?” Ray joked, being snarky to Xavier.

  Smiling, “This is why I got elected – to keep those minister’s in line. Plus something big is about to happen and I think I have a right to hear what else is going to damage my approval rating.”

  The occupants of the elevator gave nervous laughs as the lift came to a slow halt.

  31

  They reached the floor that housed the Grand Hall, the official home of the National Parliament of Virtagwalla, and exited the elevator. Rove instantly noticed the doors had been sealed to the chamber. Ray began moving down the hall to their right, in the direction of the observation deck. Although it was typically locked, that day they found it propped open.

  “Sensado said she was going to leave it open,” Ray whispered grabbing it, “And she came through. Go in, quietly, remember we are breaking the highest law of the land, but Sensado said we would probably want to hear this,” he pointed up the staircase to the gallery overlooking the chamber.

  The space below the observation deck was one of the most decadent spaces on the island. Gold molding and leafing was everywhere, along with Virtagwallan Cedar desks, flooring, and paneling around the entire chamber. The massive windows were stained glass and depicted the founding of Virtagwalla, the construction of Ponchertrain, one depicting Villaggio, another depicting the wealth and fortune the island had assembled and the center one, over the Prime Minister’s bench, was that of the Great Seal of Virtagwalla. Rove always thought of his shower when he saw the Great Seal in the Parliament’s Grand Hall. The room below was a semi circle with Artimus Zhang, the chair of the Parliament as the Prime Minister positioned directly in the front dead center. On the stand was Jacqueline Sensado, placidly staring out at the assembled ministers. On either side of the Prime Minister were men and woman in different color robes each representing the ministers charged with leading the different ministries of the Parliament.

  Artimus slammed his gavel down, and stood up, “Ministers of this great nation, I have called this emergency sealed session of Parliament to discuss, and with any hope to resolve, a crisis unfolding on our island. Late last night I was informed by Chancellor Sylvester Chamberlain of the University of Virtagwalla that the Board of Trustees fear the University is doomed for financial collapse unless swift action is taken by this body. I have asked the Chancellor to approach this body, and relay the Board’s concern to you in person. I realize I should be able to do this duty, as the Chairman of said Board, however the remainder of the proceedings I forego my seat as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the University of Virtagwalla, and suspend my vote in this body due to the blatant conflict of interest,” he nodded his head, and continued, “However, since this is a sealed session, a special vote of concession must be made to allow Sylvester Chamberlain to enter the chamber. I will consider my mention as an official motion, do I hear a second,” reacting as a different Minister seconded, “With the second I now open it to a voice vote. All in favor express your consent by saying I,” the entire room sang in unison, “All opposed, same sign,” this time around no one spoke. Artimus Zhang slammed the gavel, “By the power vested in me by the Constitution of this great nation, I hereby unseal the doors for the entrance of the Chancellor of University of Virtagwalla, Sylvester Chamberlain.”

  The doors below unlocked and the three hidden observers listened as they creaked open. From behind them appeared the form of the chancellor waddling down the center aisle of Parliament. Sealing the doors once he squeezed his way through, Artimus guided the rotund man to the front of the chamber and directed him into the little box adjacent Sensado. Regaining the main pulpit, Artimus announced, “Ministers of Parliament, I present to you the Chancellor of the University of Virtagwalla, Mr. Sylvester Chamberlain,” no one moved or spoke. He then turned to Chamberlain, “Chancellor, you have requested time to speak to thi
s body about important and timely news concerning the state of the University of Virtagwalla. As the Chair of this body I recognize your request and invited you to explain your concerns.”

  Nodding dramatically, Chamberlain attempted to adjust his corpulent figure in the box, but found it to be rather restricting. Dabbing his head with a handkerchief, Rove noticed for the first time in his entire history of unfortunately knowing Chamberlain, a certain sense of anxiety and nervousness was about him. Clearing his throat, “Good afternoon Ministers, I approach thee with the utmost concern for my institution. For a time now the University, through its controlling board, and its bureau of business affairs, has waged war with the mounting expenditure of public education, and the unvarying inflow of currency to our coffers. Due to your inactivity, the rate in which we are tolerable to arraign for tuition has remained identical to that in which we charged a half-decade ago, and yet the price tag of maintaining the top notch enterprise has ballooned considerably. In order to balance for the discrepancy, we have been strained to ransack our endowment. A move seen not favorably by the board or truthfully by myself,” he patted his head again.

  The faces of the Ministers slowly became more shrewd, as he continued, “Over the past year, we have undergone modifications to our endowment in terms of shifting assets in order to assuage finances or superfluous cash to remain viable. However, in the wake of the disheartening mislay to Hawaii; we have seen a momentous plunge in offerings to our operating budget from clandestine contributors, thus agitating our budgetary catastrophe that much more. Our Board gathered over the weekend following the game, and forecasted that the University will be out of capital in fewer than two weeks if we don’t take steps now to stem it.”

  Chamberlain and his flamboyant language halted, again wiping his head. Zhang stood up, “Our friends at the University are right. We as a body have rejected year after year their desire to raise tuition, and in addition, to receive a larger appropriation of public funds to assist in their operating budgets. Therefore, I call for this body to act immediately, extending them an appropriation upwards of a billion dollars, and an action allowing the board of trustees to moderate the tuition as opposed to this body. Do I see a motion?”

  No one in the room moved. Jacqueline Sensado, however, stood up, and Zhang responded negatively, “Minister Sensado is that to be interpreted as a formal motion?”

  Clearing her throat, “No Prime Minister, I would like to strike your motion, and now move to open this issue up to the floor for discussion.”

  “Second,” shouted a minister from the rear clearly agreeing with Sensado more.

  Zhang, clearly frustrated that Sensado had thwarted him, sighed, “All in favor?” The entire room rang in unison again. Recognizing he had been pushed to the side, he pointed to Sensado, “Minister, you may have the first question.”

  Chamberlain looked at Zhang desperately as he sat down, livid. Sensado stood up again and moved in front of Chamberlain’s box, as if he were on trial.

  “Chancellor, as the appointed and ratified Minister of Finance, it is my obligation to verify that every cent we spend is on a worthy cause. Do you understand that?” Sensado was on fire, as Chamberlain, who was usually very calm and confident, looked queasy, “Very well then. I would like to ask you some questions about your endowment, and your use of the money we as a body permit to you each year.”

  She clicked a button on a remote she had produced from her pocket. Two massive screens dropped from the high ceiling, on which were projected a financial statement of the University. Announcing to the body, “Ministers, these are copies of the financial statements of the University. I have taken the liberty to email each of you copies if you wish to reference your computers for a more personal view,” turning to the Chancellor, who pointed and firmly said, “Those are proprietary documents, you cannot dispense those!”

  She laughed a powerful laugh, “If you expect us to give you one more cent, you better realize we are going to be combing over every minute expense of the University,” she turned on her heel and continued to case the room. Rove watched with excitement as Ray analyzed the document she was showing.

  Turning to Chamberlain, “Where has the 3.3 billion dollars we allotted to you just six months ago gone?” She asked curiously.

  Leaning forward, “Minister, it is quite expensive to operate a top notch institution, and that money was spent on our operating budgets, from materials, building maintenance, to faculty and administrative compensation.”

  “Very well then,” clicking to another slide, “Chancellor, it recently came to my attention that the University, without the collective decision of its board, acquired land in Villaggio for ‘investing purposes’. Can you clarify that information for me?”

  Looking towards Zhang, he surprisingly found no support. Starting slowly, “The acquirement of the property was meant to curtail our bleeding of funds. The worth of the land, at the instant seemed to be a sounder venture than some of our other long term chattels in our endowment.”

  “And what did you sell or trade to acquire the land?” The minister dug deeper.

  Swallowing hard, he mumbled, “We swapped our holding of the Virtagwalla Gold Depository Corporation.”

  Turning sharply towards him, as if not expecting that answer, “You sold your VirtGold shares? You didn’t pay cash?”

  “No ma’am, we swapped our common stock in the VirtGold corporation,” nodding sharply.

  Rolling her eyes, as if surprised, “What do you expect to do with this money, if we in fact chose to loan it to you?”

  “We will shore up our finances, and advance in the rejuvenation our endowment,” the Chancellor said more confident about that answer than before.

  “Very well,” the Minister remarked slowly and eventually moved back to her bench.

  Zhang stood, “Is there any more discussion?”

  A minister from the back stood, and spoke with an Australian accent, “Mr. Chancellor, why does it seem the salary for the Chancellor, and Vice Chancellor’s grew by,” he took off his glasses and looked at a sheet of paper, “By nearly 15% over last year’s?”

  Again looking sick, “That decision was made by the Board of Trustees, and I had no sway on it if that is what you are implying.”

  “What I am implying,” the man said holding his sides and rocking on his feet, “Is that we are paying you millions and millions of dollars to manage the budget of this institution, to run it properly, and for heaven sakes to win a couple damn football games. What have you been doing as Chancellor of the UV?” his biting tenacity was felt even by Rove from above.

  “Managing a University is an extremely difficult juggling match,” Chamberlain blatantly remarked, his flamboyant language lessening, “I have no power over the compensation I receive for my time or work at the University. I was selected as its chancellor to run and operate the university and that is what I am doing. Given the circumstances, I would like to believe I helped to prevent us from coming to you on our knees like today – months ago.”

  The minister sat down, as another one stood, “Mr. Chancellor, why did you choose to come to us? Have you tried other financial institutions for a loan or financial assistance? This is surely not a lending agency, we are a Government.”

  Heaving, “With all due respect Minister, the UV is not permitted to extend lines of credit with any private or public financial institution on the Earth, as mandated by our charter,” patting his head again, and taking a few brief moments to regain his composure, “The rationale I approach you with today is that of observing your mold of assisting fiscally impecunious institutions with their liquidity impasses, such as the Republic Power Company. I diminish; we too, can join forces to negotiate a deal similar to that.”

  Another Minister stood up, “Chamberlain, what makes you think you can walk right into this Parliament, and start making demands as bold as those?”

  Cracking his first smile of the day, “Because, Minister, you cannot allow the Universit
y of Virtagwalla to fall. Think of all our students, faculty, and staff, out on the streets without a paycheck coming in. We are one of your largest employers, and I know for a fact you are facing mounting pressures of a recession,” he leaned forward, “How would it look if this island’s largest University collapsed, and we did nothing to try and save it?”

  The mood of the room soured, and Ministers whispered to each other. Another Minister, this time a woman, stood from near the back, “Minister Sensado, this question is for you. There has been sporadic discussion for quite a while of this looming recession, or economic downturn. As a Parliament we have never been told anything of its impacts here on the island, or whether we are feeling them at all. In tandem with that question, do we even have the financial wherewithal to make this loan? What is our nation’s overall financial status? I think it would be wise to put something together for this body to discuss.”

  Looking up from her desk, “You are quite accurate, there is a worldwide recession going on. No economy has been able to completely avoid it, including ours. Fortunately, we have been able to take bold moves to shore up weak finances, keep people employed, and mitigate any sort of noticeable impacts as of yet. We are able to do this because of our durable governmental budget and sturdy financial system. However, that does not mean we are impervious to all threats at any time. We have begun to see the signs of trouble, much like our friends at the University,” she looked over to Chamberlain who glared back at her, “And we may be facing more of these emergency loan situations in the future. However I think it would be wise to worry and tackle those issues when they arise. Since there has been a formal request from the floor of Parliament, in a week’s time I will return with a full economic testimony of the island.”

  Zhang stood again, sighing, “Very well, any other questions?” After waiting a few moments, he asked, “Do I see a motion on the floor?”