If you were following my novel “Train Wreck” as part of the AtoZ 2021 Challenge, you will know that, due to other pressures such as my day job, I didn’t get beyond Chapter 14 in my attempt to finish the novel during April. So here is a brand new chapter…
(Author)
Next morning, Stig and Jack and Alex did indeed make an early start in the cold of the pre-dawn desert air. First stop was to pick up Gervald from the edge of town then they headed back out of town to Oscar’s shop. None of the inhabitants of Erehwon were up and about to witness their departure and they pulled round the back of Oscar’s to the garage where Stig’s Land Cruiser was stashed without observing or apparently being observed by anyone. Gervald wanted to pick up some things from his Camper Van but Stig said that it had already been collected and driven away by some of his agents and indeed, made Gervald wait, crouched down in Alex’s car until Oscar had come out and opened the garage for them; then Gervald was slipped into the other vehicle behind the cover given by Alex, Jack and Oscar. Stig had already spoken to Oscar by phone the night before so they didn’t waste time departing after saying goodbye to Alex who gave Jack almost as big a hug as Katie had back at the house.
Some fifty clicks back toward the capital, they rendezvoused with another car which had been waiting for them and Gervald was sent on his way to an undisclosed location – he had been very co-operative but nervously silent the whole way. He thanked Stig but was clearly uncomfortable to be out in the open and travelling on with yet another stranger. “Tough!” said Stig to Jack as they got back into Stig’s vehicle.
So! You and Katie! What gives? Many men might be jealous of the hug she gave you on leaving but Alex seems equally appreciative of you…” Stig asked, the moment they moved off on their own again.
Jack recounted the story of the previous day when Stig and Alex had been off hunting Gervald. “I really didn’t think such things happened here – not in our society…” Jack concluded.
“I’m afraid there are some sides of human nature so shameful both for perpetrator and victim, that victims will conceal the truth and shield their abusers. The settlers chosen to come here to Hawaii 2 were carefully vetted and on the whole, families where abuse was taking place, were successfully detected and rejected, quite a number in fact – since those perpetrators were actually attracted, consciously or unconsciously, to the idea of escaping to a new frontier where perhaps their crimes would be even less detectable. Abuse runs in families, perpetuated down the generations and over time, a number of families have come to the attention of doctors, schoolteachers and what passes for social workers here. As you know, we don’t really need a permanent Social Services and those citizens who are interested enough to develop the skills needed, tend to do it in an ancillary way to their lives and over a long period. Its not the sort of thing that enthusiastic amateurs can pick up as and when as with many of the jobs here. I will ring Alex and put him in touch with the best people for Katie to talk to and they will also follow through with her father. Because of the rarity but great importance in resolving cases of abuse, a lot of effort goes into dealing with them.”
“That’s great Stig! I would like to hear how she – and Alex- get on – it was a flying visit but it helped me to talk to Katie and to be of help to someone else too…”
“I’m glad, Jack!”
They drove a few clicks in thoughtful silence, then Jack asked “So what’s the plan now Stig?
“Well, I thought you might like to see Douglas and your Mother – its quite a way but I have initiated some enquiries which I don’t need to be there for in person and you surely have some tales to tell and catching up to do. I want to keep you by my side for a bit until we have at least a handle on your case, but meanwhile, we might as well stay out of sight at the safe house where Douglas and your mum are! Right?”
“Alright! Thanks! You’re certainly right about there being a lot to tell – riot prevention, kidnapping, rescue and social work! Not to mention islands and deserts that I’ve never seen before. It’s been exciting but I could do with a little down time with family!”
Whilst Gervald and his handler had forked southwards, Stig now drove himself and Jack north-east and after crossing the Mississippi well up from New Orleans, they turned north towards the frontier-lands where Stig had sent Douglas and his grandmother for safe keeping. They followed the river for a while and Jack watched the great barge-rafts that took the heavier loads downstream that the equally slow airships couldn’t manage. He had been up this route before, as a child with his father when he had accompanied him on business trips during the school holidays. His father had displayed an excitement at watching and explaining to young Jack, the workings of the mining, manufacturing and transportation that formed the economy of Hawaii 2 and that sense of excitement was still there for Jack now. He told Stig a bit about his father and his memories of family life and then asked “What about you Stig – where did you grow up?”
“I don’t often tell anyone much about how I grew up here on Hawaii 2 because it seems to me, that our family and one or two others, like President Widnes’ family, are somehow contrary to the spirit of our society and even though it might be for the best of reasons – to protect the ideals of Hawaii 2 – it still troubles me.” Replied Stig.
“How do you mean Stig?”
“Well I didn’t feel it so much growing up, – I mean my brother and sisters, we all went to normal schools like everybody else. It was as we got older that we wondered about our father and his occupation – or rather lack of it. I know lots of people choose not to work here, at least for a period as they find their way, but you can only barely get by on that allowance and although our family home was not luxurious in the sense it might be on say, Hawaii 1, it was well developed by my family over a long period going right back to the earliest settlement of the planet and just supporting a family our size in such a place, cost more money than the state allowance… Eventually, I broached the subject with my father. By then I was at college studying history – both that of Hawaii 2 – pretty bland really, but also the history of old Earth and the colonisations.”
“What, and there was lots of material available on old Earth?” asked Jack.
“ Yes! History is not the same as technology – Hawaii 2 keeps that pretty well locked down and you only get to access it in person and with permission – as you know from Anna’s work.”
A silence fell over the two of them with this reminder of Jack’s still recent loss. Jack stared out of the window away from Stig as a wave of pain washed over him. They were emerging from an area of dense forest that lined the Mississippi river and was breaking up into clumps of trees allowing glimpses into the distance and eventually gave way to grassy plains. The change in landscape gradually brought Jack back to the present and he managed “History major, huh!”
“Yes indeed, not altogether my choice – I realised afterwards that my father had exerted quite a bit of pressure to steer me towards that subject although with time I grew to love it! You see, history explains why the response to discovering a planet so difficult to leave from, was to create the kind of Utopian society we have here.”
“What does Utopian mean?” asked Jack.
“The very fact that the word is not commonly understood here is part of a an experiment – and knowing the word as applied to your own society, changes the way you think about yourself or rather your society and that would change the experiment, so those who set up our world and it’s society, expunged the word Utopia from the record. You asked what it means, well it is any form of Ideal Society. A place which is perfect for a certain group and it could be socialist, capitalist, monarchical, democratic, anarchist, ecological, feminist, patriarchal…”
“Whoah!” said Jack, “I don’t know what half those words mean – monarchical? Anarchist? Feminist?”
“Sorry Jack, I forget that only someone studying Earth history would know those words or concepts! Monarchies were a social organisation that were ruled – controlled – by one family – a Royal Family or Monarchy. When I read about that particular form of social organisation, I started to think about our society and families like mine and the questions I started asking at home meant my dad decided it was time to have ‘The Conversation’!”
“Wow! – ‘The Conversation?’ – that sounds ominous!” Jack said with a mocking tone. Stig laughed and then said “Yes! I guess it does and actually it wasn’t just one conversation but an ongoing discussion that we had every time I was home from college. First off though, my dad did admit that our family was in something of a special position here on Hawaii 2 – sort of like Guardians of the Universe! I wasn’t so far from childhood that I wasn’t sucked in by a big old secret idea like that and so I agreed that I wouldn’t discuss my questions with other people for the time being. Over the next year, my dad explained how Hawaii 2 was set up as a kind of experiment in Utopian principles and he pushed me into following the appropriate threads of history I needed to explore in order to understand what he was saying.”
“Which was what, exactly?” Jack was clearly interested now and sitting alertly and watching Stig.
“Big question! I’ll try and put it succinctly and Jack! I feel that you are owed some greater understanding of all this because I am beginning to feel that it may have something to do with what has happened to you but as my father said to me, for the moment this is just between you and me – I don’t fully know what’s going on and I don’t know who to trust right now…”
“Understood!” said Jack seriously.
“Okay, so the way that old Earth was governed was by a bewildering number of different forms of political and social organisation – and I mean bewildering! I took me ages to get to grips with them all and not only that but they kept changing – frequently and often fast! And then there were different economic systems which may or may not be aligned to the politics. There were what was described as First World and Third World countries – countries were a way the broke down the continental masses into different regions and often there were wars between countries – sometimes over resources, sometimes over politics and sometimes for reasons I couldn’t make head nor tail of! Let me just give you some of the opposites – one or more of which could be in play in defining a particular country. You could be Left or Right-wing. People on the Left believed that all people were born equal whilst people on the Right believed that some people (them) were inherently better than others (not them)! They could be a Democracy or they could be a Dictatorship – Democracy all the people get a say or can elect representatives to have a say for them whilst Dictatorships mean one or more people control all the others. Then the economic opposites revolve around who owns things, you could have private ownership of everything or Public Ownership – the State. You may think that sounds reasonably clear but you could have State Ownership which described itself as of the Left but in fact acted as a totalitarian Dictatorship. In the Twentieth Century there was a World War started by Germany, a country ruled by a group who called themselves the National Socialist Party or Nazis. Socialism usually implied Left principles but these guys were a right-wing dictatorship who so objected to the Jews, that they systematically tried to exterminate them. And most of these countries were competing with each other in an economic system called Capitalism which required constant growth to work effectively and which more than anything, led to the climate and pollution crisis of the late 21st Century.”
“Whoah! Slow up a little – that’s a lot to take in!” said Jack shaking his head.
“Sorry Jack, I get a bit carried away when I start on Earth history!”
“Oh wow! Look at those Belliphants!” Jack was pointing across the plains to where a herd of large, indigenous herbivores were grazing about half a click away. Belliphants so-called because they were approaching the size of old Earth Elephants – extinct before the migrations – except with huge pendulous bodies with bellies that almost brushed the ground. They were found to be beneficial to the plains ecosystem which Jack and Stig were traversing by eating the tall coarse grass and allowing the fine growth that Earth-type grazers fed on. They were managed by tracking devices that made the animals feel queasy if they headed in a direction that didn’t suit the farmers who could place marker controls wherever they needed to and allow the Belliphants in at the right time of year to do their work – it was win-win! They were impressive beast and Jack had never seen them in the flesh.
“See! Don’t say I never take you anywhere Jack!” said Stig laughing but although having seen the animals before, was nevertheless transfixed by the sight too. They slowed to a halt and spent a few minutes just watching the herd move slowly along.
“Going back to our history lesson,” said Stig, “the guiding principles in setting up Hawaii 1 after the disaster that befell Earth, were founded on putting sustainability first, scientists were put in greater charge of things and democratic principles that meant there were no professional politicians but only a rotation of citizens was instigated. It was only partially successful because the population kept growing and so the economy had to keep growing too. Okay, its not as bad as old Earth but it’s a constant struggle to keep things on track. In the case of Hawaii 2, since the problem of getting people and goods off-world provided a natural limit to economic growth, it was decided to experiment with the most utopian society possible – no capitalism, no endless growth, no nationalism and no war-fuelled economies – but you know those founding principles from school history – right!”
“Sure! – so where do your family fit in?”
“Okay, so my father started by getting me to look at those jobs here on Hawaii 2, which can’t just be done by anyone – without expertise, often years of expertise. They don’t fit the usual pattern of people doing jobs because they fancy having a go, having a change, acquiring a new skill for the sake of it. You know – like the “social worker” I will put in touch with Katie that we were talking about earlier.”
“I understand – it’s not a regular job but there are people who know what to do.”
“Exactly, Jack! And if there are jobs and people outside the system, then presumably there need to be people who know about them – like you do the Social Worker.!
“You catch on quick – quicker than I did when my Dad was carefully shepherding me towards that understanding! One of the bits of old Earth history that he directed me to, was what was called the Bolshevik revolution. It happened in a country called Russia where the people had been ruled by a royal family for centuries – a small class of wealthy people around the Czar- as he was called…”
“What’s wealthy mean?” Jack asked.
“Wow, if you have to ask that then I guess we are doing something right here! Wealthy – Rich – same thing.
“Oh right, money- I get it!”
“So a small group of people, backed up by a slightly larger administrative class, extracting huge wealth from a vast mass of poor peasants – farm-workers that is.”
“So what caused a revolution? I mean if that had been going on for centuries…”
“Ideas! New ideas. There had been other revolutions before that but Russia was so huge and the people so isolated that they were late getting the new ideas. The particular ideas were called Communism or Marxism after the man who formulated them.”
“You mean like our communal farms?”
“Not quite – that is Commun-al-ism and though it was a part of Communism – you can have communal farms without Communism as your ideology. But there is one central idea in Communism which does lie at the heart of our Utopian experiment – “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs”. Mark believed that if all the means of production was in the hands of the whole people, everybody would work hard, and willingly, to the best of their abilities and there would be plenty to go around for everybody. And in truth, that is pretty much what we have achieved here on Hawaii 2 but it’s not quite the way it worked out back in Russia”
“Why? What happened?” said Jack, who usually thought of himself as even more apolitical than the average citizen but now found himself quite fascinated at this link from ancient history to his own society.
“Well, people had been so used to the desire to climb up the ladder of wealth, for security at the very least, that they couldn’t leave it fully behind. Anyone who had a skill which was necessary, had a bit of leverage to get slightly more than those who had no skills – doctors, engineers and of course politicians who could wield influence – all of those sort of people extracted more than their fair share. As one satirical writer observed – “All people are equal, but some people are more equal than others!” And that’s one reason why we don’t have full-time politicians and as far as possible, no permanent jobs.”
“So are you saying that the people who have these special skills – like the Social Worker – that they get special rewards?” Jack sounded a little aghast.
“No, no! Our education system ensures that everybody has a sense of equality from the outset which is hard to go against – but in the beginning, with the first settlers, we had to be very careful to make sure that old ideas of wealth accumulation didn’t take root!”
“Ah! And this is where your family comes in! Am I right?”
“Right and bright Jack! Ther used to be more of us back then but now its just some of my family, President Widnes’ and a few others who still carry the torch.”
Jack whistled through his teeth. “Who knew!” he said.
“Yes indeed Jack – if anyone did know, then it might give them a different view of life here – perhaps they might feel manipulated rather than living out life according to choices made in common. So you see I really trust you with this Jack – though there is a reason why I am sharing it with you…”
“And what’s that, Stig?”
Stig stayed silent for a minute and eventually Jack took his eyes off the road ahead and turned to look at Stig.
“For all the years since Hawaii 2 was founded, so the “Special” observers behind the scenes have done their part, and without a shadow of a doubt, I believe they have helped our society to become the success it is today and the very fact that the number of people involved “behind the scenes” speaks to that, but I think something may be wrong. As if the train wreck was not sign enough, I mean nothing like that has ever happened here before, well there are things in Gervald’s story that are ringing alarm bells. Your kidnapping, the party on the island – undoubtedly the same one you were taken to, the presence of President Widnes with shady figures from another planet – it’s all adding up to something and I can’t figure it out and I need someone I can trust – someone completely outside the status quo, and that’s you Jack – if you are willing to stick with me…”
It was Jack’s turn to fall silent and a sideways glance by Stig showed that Jack was thinking hard.
By now they had swung northward, a range of mountains had crept above the horizon, snow-capped, which had at first made them look like distant clouds but had eventually resolved into what they were – the great continental divide. It was in the foothills of these mountains, that Stig had sent Jack’s mother and son for safety.
“Okay Stig, I’m not sure what I can do to help though – these last few weeks and days have made me feel like I know nothing about my own world – as if I’ve grown up with blinkers on!”
“Well you have certainly had a lot thrust on you in a short space of time – grievous loss, fatherhood, kidnapping and yes, the lifting of the curtain -such as it is – on life here on Hawaii 2!”
“You can say that again Stig!”
“But I guess why I am asking you for help, is that you have a quick grasp of things, however quiet your life has been up to now, and also you have a stake in solving this. Normally, an emotional involvement is contraindicated in such matters, but you have proved level-headed whatever has been thrown at you! Besides, I don’t have many choices! Don’t get me wrong, I have plenty of resources at my command, like the Rangers, but its at the top that I don’t know who to trust, outside my family of course. And I have the perfect excuse to keep you right beside me – following your kidnap that is so what do you say – fancy being my unofficial deputy?”
“You got it, Stig! Now how long till we get there?”
“It’s further than it looks – those are mighty big mountains and you can se them long before you get there – say another five hours… We could carry on but I am starting to tire a bit and there’s a town up ahead where we could stay overnight? Oh, and thanks Jack – consider yourself deputised!”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to keep driving but I could take the wheel if you like – first official act as unofficial deputy!”
“You got it!” said Stig as he pulled over to the side of the road.