Chapter 11

Election Day

The next day and a half were hectic for everyone. Catastrophe leaped from country to country aboard atom bomb loaded intercontinental missiles. Pioneer pilots chased them high and low. Low being the more nerve wracking since there was less time to do the job, which was vaporize the bombs completely so atom bomb remnants didn’t contaminate the atmosphere. Fatigue wore heavy on the pilots. Then, to everyone's complete and happy dismay, the rocket war stopped.

It was as if the whole world held its breath. Everyone stopped to check on the election. Weapons were set aside. Those using them were embarrassed, if they had any sense left at all.

When pioneers at Earth Base One finally turned their attention to the kitchen, it meant the domed communication center really had slipped a notch in priority. Leslie baked a platter of cookies in their new oven while Rima poured popcorn into a big bowl. Will added some seasoning to an already started pot of stewed bananas and fish for those with large appetites.

"I reckon this is the first time in my entire life I've seen so much interest in a United States election," Will said, munching from a bowl of his own creation.

"I wouldn't have ever imagined us all crammed into the kitchen nervously waiting for the results of somebody else's election," Leslie agreed.

"I'm glad all those idiots lobbing nukes finally stopped," Mathew said.

"Amazing," replied Scott, ladling himself some fish stew. "At least six pent up nuclear wars burst out at once, and not one atom bomb made it to the target. The combo of Delfinian and Pioneer technologies is totally awesome."

"We can be pleased with our work," The Admiral said. "From what we have seen these past few days, Earth Humans would have become extinct in the same kind of nuclear armageddon that almost completely wiped out the delfinian's humanlike land ancestors."

"I agree," said Mathew, "China and Nation Pacifica are the only big countries that stayed completely out of the fray."

"They trusted the Pioneer Star Fleet to protect them," Leslie pointed out. "China has been around since people moved out of the caves, now it is boldly helping lead to a future where humanity may actually enjoy a more real and fun purpose in life."

"I think Chinese people were pleasantly surprised to discover that there is a totally unplanned yet similar national population mix on Planet Pacifica as here on Earth," Scott said.

"China,” Leslie continued. “It seems to me that whole country has felt a little isolated and beset upon by the surrounding world, often with good reason, until now."

Several people gathered around Leslie and Scott, they were discussing the future arrival of the new scientist from China. Where to lodge the newly arriving family, quickly, was a question needing solution. This group of keen and committed distributed intelligence did not need distiller for computer assisted decision making; a small house of foam-stone over draped fabric became a logical new invention drawn on a scrap of paper.

“It will be a pretty little house and fun to live in,” Leslie said, admiring the sketch.

Everyone in the kitchen stopped talking when they heard Rose wildly shouting from the communication center. "Come here," she cried. "This is amazing. The Admiral has pulled it out of the hat! You will not believe this unless you come see."

The kitchen was immediately empty and the communication dome filled to overflowing. It happened so fast Scott was blocked at the door, he looked back in time to see abandoned scraps and notes fluttering to the kitchen floor. Scott grabbed the sketch and Will stayed behind long enough to turn off the stove and refill his bowl. They both could see people jumping up and down and hear the shouting.

"We are tied for first place!" Leona cried, jumping on Kevin and giving him a big kiss, right on the lips.

Kevin was astounded, a not uncomfortable feeling of overwhelming and almost visceral flabbergastation flooded through him; hot and cold flashes, an itchy feeling. For a moment he couldn't speak, nor did he need to, Rose did it for him.

"Kevin and Leona are tied at twenty percent each, that's forty percent," she said, waving her arms jubilantly. "Judd Bushleeg has five percent, and his fraternity cousin has four, so that totals to only nine percent for skull and crossbones fraternity crew."

“This is great fun,” Leona said, “even so, the grand total is strange, the votes for president only add up to 49%. of the people who actually voted.”

“Where did the other fifty-one percent go?” Grace wondered, turning to her grandfather and receiving a smiling wink.

The Admiral beamed with satisfaction. He was first to realize the elite fat cats of both political parties would try to pull a winner out of the hat and choose a skull and crossbones pirate capitalist in private, behind closed doors. Inocente knew the attempted choice for winner of this election would be made by the Eclectic Collage, where the corporation owners and their lawyers plied the back rooms, up to their elbows in high-stakes political deal-making. Knowing the result was bound to be a hodgepodge of goodies for greedy corporatists, the Admiral didn't particularly care what deals were made in the chaotic backroom scramble to eek out a win at the Eclectic Collage, his plan was to support anyone and everyone who worked toward living well in ecological balance and peace on earth.

"What do we want most out of this?" He asked Leona and Kevin. "Huddle with Glafco, and Gwen; work something out, quick."

They each spun on one foot and turned back to the still empty kitchen, there to outline a procedure to prop up Use and avoid as much unnecessary pain, suffering and anguish as possible for its mostly innocent population. The Admiral watched them go before rejoining the group monitoring election returns.

Leona, Kevin, Gwen, and Glafco gathered at the kitchen table. Leona spoke spoke first, "I want to be involved but I will not travel to the United States," she said with a wide grin. Then she answered the questioning looks, "I'm pregnant. Kevin and I are going to be parents and I don't wish to travel to such an uncivilized and dangerously polluted place carrying a baby."

Kevin nodded with beaming happiness and the small group quickly decided it would be best to stick tight at Earth Base One. Trips to Nation Pacifica and Luna would be frequent, sometimes for extended periods, and without Eddy, it was still a long trip to Planet Pacifica.

"We've won at the ballot box as well as containment of nuclear powered war," Glafco said. "Now the real work begins; in addition to making sure almost a billion United States citizens don't starve, we have at least three jobs to do.” He paused, waiting for one of the others to voice their version of the list.

"Okay," he continued when no one else spoke up. “How’s this for starters? One: Separation of ecological money and politics for government made money by augmenting the government money supply with publicly made art money as the people’s monetary control force. Two: Corporations pay inheritance tax every generation. Three: A confederation of states and cities loosely knit together by a seven facet real democracy without a commander in chief or life appointed supreme court judges. Four: Emergency world-wide education.” He grinned at Kevin and Leona when he said number four.

"A full education leads to gentle long-term, population decline.” Leona replied with a smiling nod. "If every family has one child, the United States of Earth will be able to cut its population by more than half every generation. Use could be back to under two hundred and fifty million people in only two generations. Then ease back to two if that's what people want.

"Kevin and I plan on only one child. One is enough for a loving and happy family."

“One is best, two is fine, even a mistaken third is not a crime,” Leslie said. She laughed to herself for remembering the old Iranian nursery rhyme.

"What will globalized corporations do?" Gwen asked thoughtfully. "What they call a free enterprise system is actually designed to grow forever on one finite planet no matter what."

"Corporations have used governmental atom bomb terrorism to keep the people in line and their annual growth above what they borrow to grow faster and faster," Glafco replied. "Pioneer Space Fleet has slammed the war door closed, smart corporations will hunker down and figure out how to supply what people genuinely need. The smartest ones will start saving for number two, paying their inheritance tax every generation."

"That leaves number one, separation of money and state,” said Kevin. "We have no choice but to institute a crash program of ecological money based on kilocalories and a seven facet democracy. I see no other way," he concluded with a serious though slightly perplexed look on his face.

"But how can a billion people make enough money to replace what a failed state printed? It's impossible," said Gwen.

"One step at a time," Leona answered her. "It will take as much imagination to engineer separation of money and elections as the early founders used to write the constitutions for the old United States. And don't forget, they had a native american federation of nations to study and learn from. This is totally new ground; no one has ever before set out to harmonize a free human economy with natural balances so as to avoid calamity and starvation in an emergency setting. For now, all we need to focus on is helping people make the money with personal art. Creation of a parallel currency is top priority.”

"So that's why we have enough paper to fill an entire store room," Gwen mused.

"Yep, Kevin said, “We should have already started printing blank money for artists to paint on. The original plan was to experiment with smaller areas suffering from extreme poverty, we don't have anywhere near enough supplies for the whole United States. Years of greed, austerity and rank profiteering have turned it into the most densely populated country on earth, as Glafco mentioned. Even so, when one kilocalorie becomes one monetary unit and a new independent branch of government insures all pollution and social costs and benefits are included in each product price, even the United States will be able to live in balance with Earth. Art based money as a parallel currency is a new emergency experiment to attempt a check on financial sharks that live and breath new schemes. We have to keep in mind that oligarchs rob the country they live in and call it success.”

"One step at a time," Scott said, leaning his head and shoulders inside the kitchen and echoing Leona's point of view with a sing-song voice and a broad smile.

"President Bushleeg's office phoned. The Admiral was right again, Use is going to convene the Eclectic Collage to pick their new president.

“Plus, it turns out there is a third semi-political party which jumped on the None of the Above bandwagon. Interestingly, they refuse to define themselves as a political party and choose to remain anonymous. Their vote total is never revealed. This time None of the Above was tracked scientifically by a network of unofficial exit polls using mobile phones. The network was set up by the unemployed who were working with Kevin and Leona when they fled the United States for Earth Base One. The unofficial tally for None of the Above was officially reported at 51%. President Bushleeg was forced to publish the scientifically proven victory for None of the Above so he could prove Kevin and Leona received less than half the vote."

“I’m sure we can find a way to work with None of the Above.” Kevin mentioned, as he hastily totaled percentages on the back of a paper napkin. “Fifty one percent for None of the Above plus forty percent for us is ninety one percent, which is the expectable sweeping majority that environmental initiatives almost always realize.”

Rose and Sean are talking with the Nobody for President group as we speak," Scott replied. “They call themselves ‘Real Democracy’ and favor a kinder and gentler relationship with Mother Earth."

The Admiral, Scott, Glafco and Mathew handled interminable direct negotiations with Use. A blizzard of Eclectic Collage radio messages kept Rima, Rose, and Will so busy they occasionally needed help sorting through who wanted what, not to mention who was who. Real Democracy turned out to be a loose coalition of native americans and other less consumptive people. They also tended to be from every segment of the United States population. Their number one demand was the existing president stay on as acting president until a new election could be scheduled. President Bushleeg was rumored to be livid.

Pioneers invited Real Democracy to use the distiller plugged into their firmly established communication systems, Rose volunteered her experience and facilitated communication between Real Democracy and the Distiller. All were thrilled to watch it grow to become a formidable ally. The Eclectic Collage continuously came up with a new version of austerity for the people and destruction for the planet, response was usually very quick. The distributed intelligence of one billion people focused on outrageous backroom schemes gradually became a cross between sport and theater, sometimes even hilarious.

Kevin and Leona had learned their lesson and stayed low key doctors for a sick society reinventing real democracy distilled from a billion keenly interested minds. The oligarchy of owners grew more and more weary as the people grew energized, nimble and empowered by seeing their distributed intelligence was way smarter than isolated billionaires scheming to rip off more from the people and the environment.

A new seven branch democracy could be seen gradually taking shape as corporatism evaporated from the dominance and faded into lurking from the sidelines. Real Democracy was happy to work with ocean people by expanding distributed intelligence to include all people, a new election was eventually scheduled.

People who had been paralyzed and enslaved by planned austerity soon realized low cost beautiful housing similar to Earth Base One and built with unemployed self-sheltering labor paid the people to live in themselves with reduced maintenance and insurance. That was a big shift.

What kind of economy is it when houses pay the people to live in themselves? The answer was clear; Those who privatize Earth wealth do so at the expense of Life's health.

United States emigration to Luna became a major migration almost immediately, Real Democracy and it's four point platform would also grow with complete Lunar freedom to become known as Luna’s political distiller.

”The real work will go on long after we are gone," Inocente said one morning, gazing into a future-dream he figured he was too old to ever see. "It seems simple, but devising way to live a fun and totally free life that leaves Earth more fertile may not be possible." He concluded with an audible sigh.

"If we just fix things enough to hold on for another two hundred years that's good enough for me," Glafco said, hungrily eating a scrambled mixture of beans, corn and eggs topped with pineapple and tomato salsa.

"No-no-no," objected Scott. "Justice with Nature is possible now," he proclaimed, stepping forward and facing the table of friends. "My atoms were forged in the hearts of living suns. My primitive amino acids poured to earth from the vast caldron of timespace. And then Mother Earth protected life so it could evolve and make me. I want Peace on Earth now. Then Humans can live like Ocean People, we can have fun and be happy. There is no reason not to have fun while saving the planet from idiots who still want to turn life into money and power. Leslie says they are incurable and she is correct. Insatiable financial want growing forever is incurable insanity.”

Scott's voice slowed on that moment, he realized how personal his revelation had been and became slightly shy. It was when quiet had settled in the kitchen that Eddy, Erica and Star Song entered. They had stopped to listen before entering the kitchen door. Though Star Song was definitely the largest of the small band, it was Eddy in his battle suit and Erica with her dark far seeing eyes who seemed somehow most different, until Inocente joined them. Inocente was dressed the same as the others, yet, in his own way, he radiated as a handsome elder given a medical tune-up by delfinians, he was too young to retire. Humanity’s ambassadors to Melodia stood with Star Song. All four walked outside so Star Song could stand up straight. Everyone else quickly followed.

Star Song turned and spoke to Scott, “You are correct and a strong young warrior. Your heart knows what is right and you calmly stand for it, for this I name you Brave Heart.” A warm blush of gold light briefly played over Scott and then around them all. “It is totally possible to have fun while guarding Earth from those who would hurt her. Listen to your Mother Earth sing.” He then turned to Erica, “Please sing Earth’s song.”

Erica turned to the rising early morning sun. She closed her eyes briefly and then sang praise to the new day. Next she turned to the south and then the north singing of the beauty that went around Earth’s sphere. She glanced shyly up to Star Song and he smiled warmly. Erica bowed to where the sun rises and then turned to the direction of the setting sun. She gathered her arms and hands to her breasts and then threw her arms wide. Black lightning churned booming inside out thunder as Erica hurled pain and suffering and anguish over the horizon to where the setting sun would go.

Mother Earth sang with Brave Moon and then the stars, she sang her grand pride in what all her people had done together.

It is never too late; A better way is possible.
End of book series.