He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (61 page)

“I’ll get someone over to your ship to pick up the information as soon as I get the go ahead from the council.”

“I’ll like tight security on this, sir, no one that doesn’t need to know.”

“Hmm, that’s a hard one, Mike, you know our policy about Government secrets.”

“Yes, sir, I understand, but I think in this case an exception should be made.”

“I can see that, we don’t want the Sirriens poking their long pointy noses in, do we.”

“No, sir.”

“Let me talk to Admiral Cunningham, and I’ll let you know in a few days.”

“Thank you.”

“You want your own vehicle, or the official transport?”

“I’ll take a car if I can, sir.”

“Thought you might, there’s a Range Rover on the roof you can use.  Billy is away at the moment, so he won’t be using it.”

“How is he?”  Mike asked, thinking of his boyhood friend.

“Doing great, decided that he wanted to be a Free Trader, instead of joining the Navy.”

“Good for him.”

“Hummm, just like you, in that respect.”  It wasn’t a criticism, more like a note of respect.

“No, sir, this system taught us too well the benefits of independent thinking.”

“Get out of here and let me get back to work.”  He growled, but stood up and held his hand out.

Mike didn’t hesitate, and much to his surprise didn’t get a bone crusher, just a warm friendly squeeze.  He shook hands with Conner and they both departed.  They took the all-weather Range Rover and headed out of the city, inland.  Mike radioed his destination and told Pete that someone might be coming by to pick up a copy of the ship's specifications, and drawing, and to have them ready.   He kept the speed down until traffic control released them, giving Conner time to view the city.  Then he opened it up and climbed to a safe altitude, racing across the dense forest.  They skirted snow capped mountains, and skimmed across mirror smooth alpine lakes and Conner saw his Captain relax, probably for the first time in a year.  He looked happy as the wind from the partially open window ruffled his sandy hair.

“What’s this about your Government, Skipper.”

“Oh, that,”  He said lazily, “The first Landers looked at the function of Government, and concluded that most of it was mealy an administration function, road building, public building, schools etc., so they divided it.  All, what we call, social services are run by separate administration centers, much like any large non-profit organization.  That leaves only domestic and foreign policy for the Government to take care of.”

“Sound logical.”

“It was, each administration center has to present a plan to its Board of Director each year, then submitted it for a general vote by the people, who say yes or no.”  He could see the skeptical look on Conner’s face, and he didn’t blame him.

“But who pays for it all?”  Conner asked the obvious question.

“The people in the long run, but when you consider that most of the work is done by robot.  Construction and manufacturing equipment with minimum human supervision, you can see that supplying the material needs of a community isn’t that hard.”

“You mean you don’t have money?”

“Not in the normal sense, no, you go to the store, or onto the net and order what you want, within reason.”

“But what about work and pay?”

“You work at what you do best, but that doesn’t mean that you have to.”  He went on to explain how it all worked, but he could see that Conner was having difficulty with the concept.

“Power and money have always been at the root of most social problems, we eliminated hunger, poverty, and provide all essential human services, free of charge.”

“Including, house, furniture, transport, food, things like that?”  Conner asked.

“Yes, everything, the underground factories and agro station provide all the basics.”

“Ye gods, it’s so simple, why hasn’t anyone else done this?”

“Power and money, Conner, the twin evils, but we could only have done it from scratch.”

“Yes, I can see how changing an existing system would be hard, it strips the people in office of their power over people.”

“Right, and that, they will fight for to the death to keep.”

“We also rigidly control the population, making sure that simple things like housing, schools, water supply and so on, the infrastructure, doesn’t lag behind."

“Didn’t see many roads or rail outside the city, sir.”

“No need, not with hover transport.  Why screw up perfection.  Beside which, the locals might not like a road and mag lift train running through their back yard.”  He could see that Conner wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘the locals’, but refrained from asking.

“Has anyone even walked through the forest below us, or swam in any of those lakes?”

“I have, well, at least a few of them.”

“You, sir?”

“Spent more time than I probably should have out here, just exploring, fishing, and prospecting.”

“Sounds like a good place to live, Skipper.”  There was a note of sadness in his voice, and Mike thought about the hellhole of a planet he came from.

“Conner, this is your home now, and any time you want to retire, there’s a home, and everything you need, right here.”

“I’m not a citizen, sir, I do know something about your immigration laws.”

“You are now, Conner.”

“Are now what, sir.”

“A Citizen.”  Conner turned in his seat and looked at Mike, a puzzled look on his face.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, Chief.”

“You have enough clout on this ball of dirt to change the immigration laws?”

“Oh, I know a few people.”

“Nice thought, sir, but I don’t see it happening.”  He murmured, every suspicious.  They swept around the base of a mountain, and the sea came back into view, interrupting the conversation.

On one side, massive cliffs butted against ocean waves that smashed into the shoreline, while on the other, a headland protected a shelter bay.  The air smelt clean and pure, and the only impurities minimizing vision were natural.  Avalon did have slightly higher oxygen content, giving the air an invigorating quality.

“This is the opening into an Inland Sea, and that’s Port Harmony down there.  If you look carefully, you can see the other headland over there.”  Mike pointed into the misty distance.  Conner did, seeing the headland thought the slight haze.

“This where you live, sir.”

“Yes, just over there.”  He said, pointing.  Mike brought the Land Rover down to street level and cut speed.  They entered what might be called a village if the houses weren’t so big.

They came in all shapes and sizes, each fitting in with its surroundings as if it belonged there.  The road surfaces under them were concrete, but other than the one, they were travelling over, most of the side streets were gravel.  These were reserved for foot, horse or hover bicycle traffic.  Mike drove down to the harbor and passed along the Quayside to show Conner the Marina.

“Quite a number of people live on their boat part of the time, and this is a major port of call to stock up on food and supplies.”

“I bet you have a boat down there as well.”

“That I do, Chief, and before we go, you and I are going for a sail.”

“I’d like that, never been on water before, even if I am a sailor.”  He chuckled.

Mike exited the village and lifted back into the sky, but it was a short trip.  Turning up a shallow valley covered in wild flowers, he lifted the craft up and over a ridge pass some rocky crags, then settled her down again over a dark green lawn.  Conner whistled when he saw a beautiful little house nestled in the trees, and shot Mike a quick look.

“Family home, sir?”  Mike nodded.

Mike pulled onto the gravel driveway and cut power.  The Land Rover settled to the ground with a sigh, he was home.  Mike looked around, nodding to himself.  He had to give it to his Grandfather, he’d looked after the place.  Someone has kept the maintenance bots going, and the gardens, and the house looked better than when he’d left.  Undoubtedly, the inside was as well looked after, and it made him wonder why?  He didn’t know himself if he’d ever be back again.  They went inside, and as expected, it was as clean and bright as Mike thought.  He they entered, the house mainframe scanned and recognized him.

“
Welcome home, Michael
.”

“Thanks, nice to hear your voice again.”

“
It has been some time since you were here last, can I ask how long you will be staying?
”

“Unknown at this time, at least a week.”

“
I will bring all function on line and have the appropriate food and beverages delivered.
”

“You better include a selection of beer.”  He said with a smile, looking at Conner.”

“Well, sir, thank you, that would be appreciated.”

“You’re welcome, Conner, make yourself at home,  there is a spare bedroom upstairs, second door on your left.”

“I’ll check that out later, if you don’t mind, I just like to relax with a cold one for now.”

“Two large beers on the bluff.”

“
On the way, sir
.”

Stripping off his dress jacket, Mike threw it over a chair.  It wouldn’t stay there long, as the house bot would pick it up and launder it before returning it to the closet.  They sat in the shade of an Earth conifer watching the sail boats out on the Inland Sea, while sipping the cool light beer.  Both had their feet up on the retaining wall along the edge of the bluff.

“You think his nibs will go for it, sir?”

“Conner, drop the sir for a while.  We just two men sitting under a tree drinking beer, okay?”

“Yes, sir, if you say so.”  Conner cut him a sideways look.

“And to answer your question, yes I do.  He’ll go through the motions of presenting it to the council, but in the end, he’s already made up his mind.

“
At visitor has arrived, sir.  A Mr. Anderson.  Shall I permit him to enter
?”

“You might as well, seeing he’s the chief of Avalon Intelligence, and I doubt he’ll go away.”

“Avalon Intelligence?”  Conner murmured.

“Didn’t know we had one, did you.”  He chuckled.

“Well, I...  that is...”

“Don’t sweat it Conner, very few do.”  He smiled.  “Hello, Andy, how have you been keeping?”  He asked without looking around.  Conner did, seeing a tall, well-built man with a shock of pure white hair coming across the green towards them.

“Up to my eye teeth in trouble now you are home again.”  He laughed.

“House!  Another beer.”

“
Yes, sir.  I am familiar with Mr. Anderson’s preference
.”

“And you must be Chief Petty Officer Conner Blake.”  The Intelligence Chief held out his hand as he sat down on the opposite side of the table.