The Rangers Are Coming (61 page)

              “The other problem we are going to have face in the next 20 years is our relationship to China and Japan.  They have been the hardest in which to establish normal trading relationships, because of their isolationist policies and suspicion of western culture.”

              “I would imagine,” said the President, “that both of those are critical, the Muslim issues are not more important, just more imperative.  Remember that we own a large piece of real estate on the western coast of the Mediterranean, and have spent 30 years buying the land of the Palestinian owners and relocating them to Jordan.  That project is now nearly complete.  We’ve poured money and improvements into Jordan to give them the best quality of life in the Middle East, except for the Turks.  Our latest numbers show a 90 percent approval rate by the Palestinians of the United States.  We have managed not to antagonize them by keeping the number of Jews moving in, small and low key.  Moreover, it’s our land, and the Jews who live there are actually renters.  The Jewish people in America understand the go slow process and how it will take a number of years before we are ready to hand the land over to them.”

              Tell me more about the threat from Iran,” said Arcadia.

              “If the Iranians decide to invade Turkey, it will be a violation of International Law, and in conflict with the Charter of the United Nations,” said Susan.  “We have flooded Iran with Farsi speaking spies who physically resemble the Persians.  They own businesses, shops and work in the government.  We will know it in advance if the rhetoric of the Iranians turns to violence.  Then we might find ourselves with a mandate from the General Assembly for the use of the Rangers.  All our spies are actually Rangers in disguise.”

              “Can we move to something a little less gloomy?” asked the President.  “Like how I have labored like a Galley slave for almost 30 years, with almost no thanks for the amazing things we have accomplished.”

              Both Arcadia and Susan laughed, tickled and hugged Carter at the same time.  He pretended to be severely wounded and ended up laughing and hugging the girls back.

              “Oh Tony, “said Arcadia, “you are such a goofball.  You know perfectly well how much we both love you, and how often we say you’ll go down in history as one of the best!”

              “That’s better,” said Tony, “I just wanted to keep the record straight.”

              “Speaking of grandiose,” said Arcadia, “I haven’t heard lately about your big and expensive project to bring oil and natural gas down from Alaska without poisoning all the caribou.”

              “Ah, the Main Line,” said Tony.  “You will be happy to hear that the pipeline is finished.  We ran it through the oil sand lands in Alberta and built a really giant refinery out in the middle of nowhere.  The fracking systems plus the crude oil makes for a gusher of oil.  We pre-refine a lot of it on-site in the good weather and send it through a bigger pipeline to a warmer weather refinery site in Chihuahua, and then store most of it in those huge caves we discovered down there.”

              “I’m very glad you wanted to put a higher priority on the space program,” said the President.  As it turned out, that program is resulting in some astounding breakthroughs in technology.”

              “Necessity is the Mother of Invention,” said Arcadia.

              “Well, it worked,” said Tony.  “We’ve developed a system to mass produce really compact circuit boards.  They’re going into all the new laptops and a dozen other places along assembly lines and the like.  Best of all, those mother boards have lowered the mass and size of the packages we are lifting into orbit.  We’ve replaced all the original communications satellites.  We did bring one back in a shuttle to make sure we hadn’t missed anything in the 2025 model, turns out, we had.  However, our new micro-processors are better than yours.”

              “They were last year’s models, anyway,” commented Arcadia.

              “What’s the name of that guy they call ‘The Invention Machine’?”

              “Franklin,” said Arcadia.

              “Really.  Any family history there?”

              “Nope.”

              “Anyway, Franklin turns out technology before we know how to use it.  However, his new laser bore got immediate attention.  His super laser can iris down to as small as a pencil and open up to as big as a house.  Boy, does it cut, and it seals the edges of the hole stronger than before we started.  We started out using it to cut new subway lines in the cities that don’t have subways.  Then we got the idea to see if we could cut a really long tube.  Franklin wanted to know what it was for and we said we wanted a high-speed underground train.  You know what he did.  He made a modification in the design and the laser bores with tracks at the bottom of the shaft, smooth as glass and very strong.  We can even run a current through the tracks.  Voile’, we have an instant, high speed underground train.”

              “Obviously we aren’t in much of a hurry to share all these goodies with the rest of the world,” said Susan.  “In fact, I am employing a hundred people in a special department to assess the level of development for every country we do business with, both imports and exports.  The trick is to keep it fair.  Not all nations need the basic infrastructure systems.  They either are producing them their selves, or have a completed system.  The rage right now is communications, but that means basic telephones, radios and a few television services for the bigger cities.  The network idea hasn’t occurred to them yet.  We provide a long list of useful consumer products, but we have to think a long time before we make a major jump.  The microwave oven, for example, will change the society, so we haven’t given it to them yet.”

              “The main problem, as you know, is finding things a country can use as exports to cut the cost of their imports.  The main things we need are the exotic metals, like titanium.  We have good supplies of it in North America, but Norway is also a good source, as is Russia and Australia.  They have no idea why we want shiploads of seemingly worthless rocks, but they don’t care.  They are happy to supply it.  Since all of those countries are part of the United Nations and get ‘Most Favored Trade’ status, it works out profitably for both sides.”

              “We still export about five times as much as we import.  We extend credit when we have a small or underdeveloped country, giving loans to their banks at low interest rates.  We use the trade system to manage the world economy.  Tony didn’t have a single recession in his entire career.”

              “I haven’t asked lately,” said Arcadia, “what is our financial position?”

              “Our flat tax has been steady at 10% for 30 years.  It brings in enough money to fund the government, the Rangers, all our research, the schools, and most of the space program.  Our balance of trade excess from other countries is as big as our tax income.  Last year we ran a billion dollar surplus.  We are currently holding about 700 tons of gold and silver and close to a trillion dollars in diamonds.  Money is not a problem.”

              “You two take this for granted because you have never known anything else,” said Arcadia.  “In my time the dedication to the will of God was a relatively new thing.  Our country gave lip service to religion, but didn’t really believe.  Then the Lord gave us the Park, and all the animals ran free.  It produced a religious revival that changed our lives.”

              “When the few hundred of us came back to 1770, all were very strong Christians.  The attitude of the times, more or less matched our strong beliefs and we used our influence to make sure the country stayed that way.  Neither of you would even think about working on Sunday.  Except for the most vital services, which we can’t automate, the whole country is closed on the Sabbath.  We all spend that day being thankful to God for our many blessings.  We are well and truly, a Christian country and the whole world knows it.  One of reasons why we get along so well with the Muslim populations within the United Nations is that we practice what we preach.  We are kind, honest, loving, generous, and fair.  When we talk to Muslim nations, we emphasize our devotion to Allah, the same God they have.  The fact we believe that Jesus is our savior and the one who has given us the promise of eternal life through his sacrifice on the cross to forgive our sins, is not emphasized to the Muslims.  The populations of Islam in Turkey, India, Bosnia, and some of the African nations who have accepted the United Nations statement that all people are created equal and extended equality to women, seems like a small price to pay for our continuing generosity and good will.”             

              “We are very careful about choosing our presidents, and they generally serve for a long time.  Susan here was picked from thousands of candidates.  I’m very glad that the person at the top of the pile this time is a woman.  It reinforces our position in the United Nations and encourages other nations to do the same”

              “We are still a very private country,” continued Arcadia.  Even though we now have a population of nearly 200 million, that population doesn’t travel internationally very much.  Once they come in, they seldom go out.  This is partly because we have limited international air travel to official business; however, it is also because of the absolutely superior life they live in America.  They are not going to rub their good fortune in the faces of friends and family.  The screening process we employ for our immigrants only solicits the best a country has to offer.  However, even this is fair and open-handed.  We have no less than a million Muslims in the United States.  It balances out because we have a large number of Jews in the country.  Of course, we are going to export most of them to Israel when the time comes, but so far, the neighboring Muslim countries have not made that connection.  We own the land that is Israel and Lebanon.  The fact the population grows every year is viewed as Americans moving in, not Jews.”

              Tony and Susan had remained quiet throughout the remarks.  Arcadia did not give speeches very often and the two were happy to sit quietly while she covered a range of subjects.  They always contained information that helped the chief executives set the agenda for their administration.  Both of them agreed the real Arcadia was just as wonderful and inspirational as the carved, marble image of her in the memorial at the end of the reflecting pool on the mall.  Arcadia herself didn’t bother to hide out in her Georgetown mansion anymore.  Nobody really recognized her.

              The General Assembly of the United Nations was in session.  It now was meeting for three weeks every six months.  The delegates from the 47 member nations had figured out the main business for the body usually took about four days, and that meant they and their family had a couple of weeks to visit and explore the huge country of America.  They would scatter and go off on some new adventure

              This was not every delegation.  Invariably there would be several countries, which had disputes to hash out, or wanted to talk with the President directly about some pressing need.  President Moore was always busy throughout the General Assembly.

              However, this General Assembly was different.  Turkey was deeply concerned about a possible invasion in the south, near the province of Kuwait, by Iran.  There was a considerable troop build-up along the already heavily fortified border. 

              President Moore took the podium and provided the Assembly with the grim facts.  Three spy satellites had been watching Iran for months.  They could see what was going on.  Of course, this was not news to the United States.  The spy network had been buzzing for a year.

“The basic situation is this,” said Moore, “Iran has gotten plans for a steel mill and is turning out heavy weapons, mostly artillery, but also some mobile artillery mounted on steel platforms on top of heavy tires.  There is a four foot high fence built around the platform to protect the crews and their ammunition.”

“They also have armed their troops with the latest model of rifle that is available in the world and sold commercially.  It’s the 10 round, Winchester repeating rifle.  Their soldiers are equipped with helmets, knives, some hand grenades, and can carry up to 200 rounds of ammunition.  Perhaps most ominously of all, their army is over a million men.  They have moved toward the border with Turkey for three weeks and our estimates are they will be able to launch an offensive in less than a month.  We believe that is what they intend.  Their newspapers and radio have been filled with propaganda they are on a Holy Jihad, to crush the Turkish heretics, who have turned away from the true faith.  They further swear they will sweep across the whole of the Middle East and capture all the oil reserves.  They say that their Syrian allies are ready to attack our property in old Judea, Samaria, and Lebanon, and slaughter all the American Jews who happen to be there.”

“My fellow delegates,” said the President, “This is the very thing we have worked ceaselessly for 130 years to prevent.  The world is at peace, secure, prosperous, and happy because the threat of war was banished from our lives.  Now we have a country who claims to have the right to attack us on the basis of Religion.  In this body, we have Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jews, all living in peaceful co-existence.  Does Iran believe that their own narrowly interpreted view of our Creator is the only correct vision of God?”

From the assembly, someone called out,” Tell them the Rangers Are Coming!”

President Moore cried back, “The United States is neutral.  We cannot invade another country, no matter the provocation.”

The delegate from England stood and Moore recognized him.  “Madam President, does not the charter of the United Nations say if the peace of our countries was threatened, we would be able to command the Rangers to face any threat in the manner determined by a vote of 60 percent of the delegates.”

“It’s true the Rangers may be ordered into action by a super-majority of this body.  Exactly what do you want the Rangers to do?