Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 47

Mark answered, "Yes, there are currently 17 planets in the Federation and every planet is going to send whatever shuttles and personnel they can spare to help with this. Becoming part of the Federation means you have a lot of friends out there!"

That same reporter then asked another question, "I remember when the other Federation guy was here, he said we were remote and that it took a month to reach us. How are you getting here so fast?"

Mark laughed, "Well, the Federation has advanced since then. One of our latest innovations is the ability to travel between what we call hyperspace gates. It used to take 21 days of faster than light travel to get here, whereas the trip last night took less than a minute."

Another reporter asked, "Will we be able to travel to the other planets?"

"Of course! Citizens are welcome to travel to any Federated planet and now with the hyperspace gates, even the most remote planets are easily accessible."

As two medivacs swooped in and landed beside Maren's, Governor Ardala interrupted, "Sorry to cut this short, I know you all likely have lots of questions, but the government also has questions and the Federation probably has lots of questions for us as well. We'll hold a press conference again tomorrow morning when we have determined where the treatment locations will be."

Liyana and Elise went back into the building, while Mark and Ardala, along with the two infected politicians, continued down the steps to the cordoned off area with the shuttles, Mark then asked the infected news crew to get treated in the other. The medical technicians simply asked them for identification before putting them into the medibeds, theoretically making them Garedon's first Federation citizens.

While they were waiting for the treatments to finish, Mark noticed Ardala appeared distracted and almost uneasy, so he suggested sitting down in Maren's shuttle while the others were being treated. Once inside, he asked, "It seems something is bothering you... are you having second thoughts now?"

"About joining the Federation... No! I seriously thought that if we joined the Federation, I would more or less be resigning and the Federation would take over."

Mark laughed, "Nope, that's not the way it works! When a region or planet joins the Federation, we leave the people that have a knowledge of the history, people and land to govern. Therefore, we push setting up outreach centres and then recommend the government move into those facilities. It puts you closer to the people you are governing, it gives you self-sustainable buildings that aren't a burden on the taxpayers, plus it gives you access to our computer systems, communication network and library, so there's lots of help with governing and implementing Federation services."

"That all sounds good, but my biggest fear right now is that you're going to eradicate this virus and return a sense of normalcy, but there's many people that have already lost their jobs, businesses and sometimes even their homes. Sure, life may return to normal, but they've already lost everything and they're going to expect the government to help."

"Relax! You're not on your own, you have lots of help now! We'll take care of everyone that lost their homes through all of this. There is no homeless in the Federation, everyone gets at least a basic residence and we will soon provide necessities for free, that's one function of the outreach centres."

One of the medical techs was standing nearby and waited for a pause in their conversation, before informing them that everyone was just about done their treatment, so they exited the shuttle as all 4 people were exiting the medivacs and no longer glowing. They all thanked Mark for taking care of them before returning to their previous activities.

One politician was from one of the opposition parties and he confessed, "I just want you to know that even though I'm part of an opposition party, I was skeptical that we could even join the Federation, but after seeing the Federation presentation and now experiencing what you can do. I'm glad you won the election. This really was the best way forward for our country."

As they all turned and started walking back inside to rejoin the assembly, Ardala smiled, "I'm glad to hear that, but I saw it as the only way forward for our country. I just wish we had joined them years ago! Then none of this would ever have happened."

Mark just added, "It's called history... you can't change it and you shouldn't try to erase it, all you can do is celebrate it or learn from it!"

When they all returned to their seats, the house leader welcomed them back and summarized that they were going through the primary laws and that so far, their laws were basically the same as what they already had.

It took about an hour to go through the rest of the primary laws, then they went through a few other high-profile items on the front page of the library. Mostly the recent meeting with the Norn, the rebuilding of Thulark and the destruction of Cantara, after which they took another break.

After the break, the opposition leader, which wasn't the guy that just got treated, posed the question, "So, what's your plan for eradicating this virus?"

Ardala, as leader of the elected party, stood to answer, but admitted, "Since I do not know the Federation's capabilities, I cannot give you an answer."

The house leader gestured to Mark, "Can you provide any insight, my King?"

Mark had Liyana setup her holocube, then stood up and had Cricket display a map of Garedon with green dots showing the infected concentrations, "As you can see, we are still collecting data. I don't have a plan as of right now, mainly because I'm not sure how many shuttles will be arriving. I can say that the areas in red are high concentration areas, so we'll be using our 50 passenger shuttle busses to take people up to the ship for treatment as I think we can treat a couple thousand people at a time up there.

What we need is for every city and town to designate some large open area as a gathering point, maybe a stadium or school? Some place where people can also sit down and wait, as the shuttle busses can only take 50 people at a time.

Although personally I think that every city and town should figure out where they want an outreach centre and then we can get those constructed as well. Then every town would have medical facilities, library access and a transportation hub."

The opposition leader then asked, "These outreach centres and hubs, they sound like the best alternative, but how much are they going to cost to build and how long will it take to build them?"

Mark laughed, "The presentation touched on our construction technology, but to answer your question, they cost nothing and they would be fully functional a day after construction starts. How many cities and towns does Garedon have?"

Everybody looked to one of the central guys in front of the throne who stood and answered, "There are currently 21,541 incorporated municipalities... 344 of those are cities with populations of 100,000 or more and 23 of those are over 1 million."

The opposition leader glanced at the clock, surprised by the time that he saw, "I apologize for putting you on the spot like that, I know you have just arrived and it has been a long day. Do you think you will have a plan tomorrow?"

Mark nodded, "I can come up with something for tomorrow! First thing tomorrow morning, we'll start visiting each of those municipalities and give the mayor or elected official a construx device for the outreach centre, they can then decide where to build it and they simply need to push the button when they find a suitable location. Then we need locations for people to gather and wait until our shuttles can take them for treatment."

The house leader prompted, "Does anyone have anything further to say or ask?"

The opposition leader raised his hand, "The Federation is obviously very efficient and can deal with things quickly, much faster than what we're used to! I feel we have not all considered the implications the Federation taking over will cause. What happens if the next election sees them overthrown?"

The house leader gestured to Mark, who was already standing up to speak, "If you choose to leave the Federation, all Federation services, technology and amenities go away, everything would reset to the way it is right now, this is mainly why we require building outreach centres in every municipality."

The same guy then asked, "Has anyone ever left the Federation?"

Mark smiled, "A few times, but no one has ever left permanently! It doesn't take long for people to forget how much the Federation actually does for every citizen, and now and then a politician will get elected that thinks they can do a better job and wants to secede from the Federation.

When that happens we simply suspend all services for 1 year, after which all our technology would then simply disintegrate into nothing. The reason we don't do that immediately, is because as soon as people realize that everything they got absolutely free in the Federation is no longer available to them or available at a price, you either get a mass exodus of people emigrating to another Federated planet or you get a revolution, the government is overthrown and they rejoin."

The opposition leader then stated, "So my political career is pretty much over as of now?"

It surprised mark, "Not at all! The people you represent elected you, represent them!"

"But I'm not part of the Pro-Fed Party, so as of the next election it sounds like I'll be out of a job."

"Not at all! Political parties don't exist in the Federation! Every politician campaigns on their own platform to the people they are running to represent. The only politicians that do widespread campaigning are the ones running for Senator. So as an example, right now Governor Ardala is actually Senator Ardala, and everyone else elected here is now a Governor.

You are all independent now, do not vote a certain way just because that's the way your old party would want you to vote. We expect you to vote for what the people you are representing want."

"So I'm not really an opposition leader?"

"Nope, you're a Governor representing your region and your people."

The opposition leader smiled as he sat down. The house leader then suggested that everyone think about what they discussed today and that they would assemble again tomorrow morning.

As they exited the building, the news crews all assembled... no one was glowing, no one was wearing masks, and they weren't spacing themselves apart. Things were going back to normal.

Ardala gave them a summary of the day, with the big announcement, "Tomorrow, a Federation shuttle would visit every Mayor in every municipality to give them a device and instructions to decide where to build a Federation outreach centre. These outreach centres, which you can read about in the Federation library, will play a key role in our transition into the Federation and with the eradication of the virus that's plaguing the planet. I will provide further updates after we resume tomorrow."

Cricket notified Mark, "I've already let Kaleb know we will need to distribute outreach construx to over 21,000 locations and that currently we have 252 medivacs, 50 securivacs and 300 shuttles on the CityShip. So we have enough personnel right now to distribute outreach construx."

"Thanks babe!"

As Ardala finished her briefing, she asked what Mark was going to do?

"I'm going back up to the CityShip to come up with a plan and talk to the personnel. Why? Would you like to go?"

"Can I? I'd love to see your ship and how the Federation does things."

The news crew that had gotten treated earlier, overheard that and asked if they could come too?

Ardala whispered, "They are from the largest national broadcast network in Garedon, so it would get good publicity coverage."

Mark agreed as they all boarded Maren's shuttle, where Gyges and Liyana were waiting. As soon as they were onboard, Maren started lifting off as Ardala and the news crew quickly strapped themselves into seats, not expecting the shuttle to move before the ramp was even closed.

Minutes later, the shuttle was approaching the CityShip as the visitors were all staring at the massive spaceship and the cameraman was trying to record the approach. The ship just seemed to grow and grow as they approached the hangar, dwarfing the little shuttle as it landed in the landing bay that was full of other shuttles.

The news crew was doing their own little segment about being on a spaceship as they literally walked out to the edge of the landing bay and got a view of Virgohn from orbit. Then walked out and got a view of the mobile shipyard as it was constructing the space station.

The reporter had a gigantic smile on his face, "Wow, I can't believe we're in space or how big and cool this ship is."

Mark smiled and said, "You've seen one landing bay out of about 50! Mind you, all the landing bays are fairly similar, but you have barely seen any of this ship. Would you like to go for a tour?"

Standing on the track around the shipyard, Mark explained, "This ship is a prototype CityShip, which is why it's mostly vacant. We will use ships like these for emergencies, but we're also going to be setting up a permanent city in space."

The politician asked, "It looks like something is being built here. What is it?"

Mark explained, "Being part of the Federation means you also get Federation services, one of those services is a space station. It functions as a security training facility, emergency dispatch, and as a space transportation hub for tourism and trade. It should be ready in a week."

He led them to the forward medical centre, which was 4 floors of medical beds, 3 of which were on the same level as the landing bays. The top floor was on the main level of the park. As they were going up through the medical facility, the news crew asked, "How many medibeds does this ship have?"

Mark answered, "There is actually another medical facility at the aft, between the two I think we can treat 2,000 people at a time."

As they reached the top floor of the medical facility, they could then see the park outside the main entrance. Everyone was in awe at the enormous park in space, complete with apartment style buildings all around it.

Ardala asked, "How many people can live on a ship like this?"

Mark said, "I'm not sure... around 250,000 I think?"

Ardala then also asked, "Living in space, that means this ship must have all the usual amenities that a city has."

"Each floor of each apartment complex is its own little community, with common eating area, recreation facilities for children and a small park space for people to relax. Then the central park area is for additional outdoor activities, recreation, shopping and restaurants. For education, we've got some preschool, grade school and high school facilities. We have nothing in the way of post-secondary education, but there are some adult education programs that are online."

The reporter then said, "This ship is amazing! So you actually have people living in space aboard one of these?"

"No, this is a prototype CityShip. Currently, one-of-a-kind, we are about to send a group off in one of these to explore these anomalies in space called rifts. The problem is, it could very well be a one-way ticket, so we're going to give them everything they need to live in space indefinitely."

Ardala said, "Why would anyone volunteer for a mission that they might never return from?"

"That's pretty much what I asked. But the guy that came up with it has a deadline to recruit enough volunteers for the mission. I think he'll actually do it, so that's why I started developing this prototype. Our universe is expanding constantly, so every day there's less of a chance that this is a one-way trip, at any point in their mission if they meet up with our communication beacons, they can construct their own hyperspace gate and return to Federated space."

The news reporter said, "He's looking to explore where the Federation has never explored before. I can understand the thrill in doing that, but I'm willing to bet he, and probably every person he recruits, believes that you will find them and bring them home someday!"

Mark sighed, "I hope so too!"

Just then the rest of the gang joined them on the edge of the park, Annabelle kissed Mark and then handed Joseph to him as she introduced herself to Ardala and the news crew. They then went for a walk through the park until everyone started getting hungry, so Luna and Ra'ki offered to go make supper and went to one of the public transit pads around the park. They simply stood on the blue square, entered the destination on the keypad and started floating away. Just like the elevators at the palace in Atlantis.

The news crew filmed the girls floating away and then asked if they could go for a ride on one of those.

Mark said, "Go ahead, just don't get lost!"

The news crew ran up to the platform, looked at the keypad and pressed a key, but nothing happened. So they asked, "How does this thing work?"

Mark explained, "You need to know where you are going. All destinations comprise either Port or Starboard, then there are 26 pads from A to Z going down each side, and then you can choose the level. So SZ0 would take you to the starboard aft main level pad, whereas PA3 would take you to port side, forward pad on level 3. In case you don't know, port is on your left when you are facing the front of the ship."

The reporter pressed a couple of buttons and soon they were floating toward the starboard aft of the ship near the top level. A few minutes later they returned to the pad they just left from.

The cameraman was almost giddy, "That's amazing! While you're floating, it's almost like it encases you in a glass elevator, external sound is muted and it feels like there is a solid wall around you, but you can't see anything!"

Mark smiled, "Yeah, I thought about putting a moving sidewalk around the perimeter, then I thought of putting escalators between the levels, then I realized the most efficient confined transportation system was the one at the palace in Atlantis. It's much more efficient than a traditional in-line elevator system."

They relaxed in the park near one fountain for a bit until Cricket notified Mark that supper was ready. Then everyone went to the transit pad, split into smaller groups and Mark told everyone to go to PA2. Mark, Annabelle, Ardala, Rayven and Joseph took the first lift, then the news crew plus Liyana and Gyges and the rest went last.

It took less than a minute to ride to their stop, where they waited for the others before heading inside the senior quarters. Ra'ki and Luna had all the fixings for tacos set out, so everyone just made their tacos and sat down at the bistro style tables arranged near the eating area. Everyone ate their fill of tacos and then sat and enjoyed some beverages as they waited for their meals to settle.

After relaxing for a bit, the news crew had been watching Solara and Astra as they started playing a round of virtual golf. They said they had the exact same game on Virgohn, but they called it polyball. They had never seen a virtual booth to play the game though.

Mark suggested, "There's lots of room, you are welcome to spend the night here, we can all head back tomorrow morning for the assembly."

Everyone went off to the virtual golf booths, and they had a good round playing one of the most beautiful courses on Neptune.

After the round of golf, everyone headed off to bed, while Mark went and sat on one couch near the faux fireplace to go over some plans with Cricket.

Ardala watched him as he seemed to just sit there doing nothing. She even cleared her throat to get his attention. But he was talking things over with Cricket and coming up with a plan for tomorrow.