Cowboys and Aliens Ch. 48

Another reporter then asked, "Will you be giving us your construction technology?"

"Eventually yes, but initially we will only use our construction technology for public service buildings and certain infrastructure, such as government buildings, schools, bridges, roads and stuff like that."

The same reporter then asked, "Why just those types of buildings and structures?"

"All Federation constructed buildings are self-sustaining. They require no utilities, including electricity, and require no maintenance. By building only public service structures, it relieves all the burden of building, operating and maintaining those structures off the taxpayers, thus allowing your tax dollars to go even further."

"So how soon until we see these outreach centres popping up?"

Cricket said, "There 73 of them being built already."

"There's 73 outreach centres under construction as of right now. We currently have over 500 shuttles delivering the outreach construction devices to every municipality, it's up to the municipal officials to determine how quickly they get built."

Another reporter then asked, "So what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to head back up to the CityShip to help coordinate all the people coming up to get treated."

Another reporter then asked, "Aren't you going to stick around and help the government with the transition?"

"I've instructed everyone to return to their ridings and move their offices into the nearest outreach centre. That will give them everything they need to do their governing. I'll just be a consultant for them until it's time for security to be implemented."

Another reporter then asked, "When will security be implemented?"

"Once the virus is under control and we've dealt with all the hungry and homeless. Those do not exist in the Federation!"

Cricket said, "Maren is arriving."

No sooner than Cricket notified Mark, Maren's shuttle swept in and landed in the cordoned off area in front of the parliamentary building, just as Elise made her presence known by giving Ardala a look.

Ardala then stepped back up to the podium, "I'm sure you've got lots of questions, but the King is a very busy person. Let's see what happens over the next few days and make sure you check out the Federation library. I'm pretty sure most of your answers in there."

With that being said, the reporters all dispersed, as Elise came up to whisper something in Ardala's ear.

Ardala looked at Mark and said, "Please don't leave yet!"

Mark turned around and walked back to the two sharp looking business women.

Ardala looked Mark straight in the eyes with a questioning look, "Elise just informed me, that the President of Tiberia and the Chancellor of Cupertina have contacted my office, both are requesting the Federation's help in battling the virus. What should I do?"

Mark said, "Well, you ARE the Federation representative for Virgohn, so what would you like to do?"

Ardala looked stunned and didn't know what to say, so she asked, "What can I do?"

Mark laughed, "Not a lot to tell you the truth! I just wanted to make you sweat!"

Elise laughed and Ardala hit him, as he looked at them both and continued, "You are currently the representatives for the Federation, so I would start keeping a list of who is requesting Federation help and relaying those requests to me. Again, I cannot stress this enough, you need to move your offices into Federation outreach centres. A non-Federation country requesting help falls under emergency services, which is out of your control, but when you get calls like this, you can simply redirect the request to the appropriate people, using our communications network."

Elise asked, "So what can we do for other countries?"

"Well, since they likely did not recently have an election that voted to join the Federation, we can't give them any of our technology! That's a primary law! So what we could do is turn on scanning so at least they can identify the infected and treat them. Like you've said, the biggest hurdle to getting this virus contained was because many people don't even know they're infected and identifying the infected. That would at least take away all the guesswork for them. The only other thing we could do, because we can't give them our technology, is offer our shuttle service to transport people up to the ship and treat them there. As normal, we will try to give them the presentation about joining the Federation."

Ardala asked, "What about our embassies in those countries? Couldn't we put the technology in there?"

Mark said, "I'm not familiar with how they classify or treat embassies on this planet, so I can't say whether that is an option, but do you really want foreign citizens overwhelming your embassy? I wouldn't think so, but one thing I would suggest is using our rebuild construx and overhauling the building so they are self-sufficient for maintenance, electricity, etc. They are public taxpayer funded buildings after all."

Ardala agreed, "Since you put it that way, I don't think our embassies would be good treatment centres. So what should we do with these requests?"

"Relay them to me and I'll contact them. In the meantime, both of you really need to get your offices moved into the nearest outreach centre. If your riding is in one of the larger cities, get in touch with the mayor and make sure they're looking for a location for the new outreach hub, typically for cites, we create at least 1 outreach hub and then depending on the size of the subdivisions, we'll usually give each subdivision an outreach centre."

Ardala said, "Elise lives here in the city, so she would get an office in an outreach centre here, but my riding is a small community about 30 minutes' drive south of Acadia. A little town called Riverton, it's got a population of a little over 13,000, but it's a pleasant mix of rural and city."

"Well, go home and make sure the outreach centre is getting built, then move your office into it and the mayor and town council should also move their offices to it. If you want, we can give you a lift home!"

"No thanks, I need to take my vehicle back with me."

"OK, and go through the tutorial for the wrist comm, I'm only ever a call away. Let's get this virus taken care of and then we can worry about all the other little nuances."

Elise asked, "Wrist comm?"

Mark explained, "Yes, an option available to all Federation citizens is to get a wrist communication device implanted. It's like having a computer on your wrist and uses the Federation's communication network. It's like having a free computer and phone!"

Elise asked, "Can I get one?"

"Sure, just go get treated in a medibed and ask the technician for a wrist comm."

With a plan in place, Mark started walking toward the shuttle; as he looked back and Ardala was showing her wrist comm to Elise. No sooner than they had lifted off, Mark received a message from Ardala with the contact details for those two foreign help requests.

Since the flight back to the CityShip was going to take a few minutes, Mark asked Cricket to connect the first contact.

Cricket announced, "Contacting President Doria of Tiberia."

Mark asked Cricket, "Where is Tiberia from Garedon?"

"In the northern hemisphere, it's near the end of the workday for them right now."

Seconds later, Mark was talking to President Doria, a senior looking Hispanic man, with salt and pepper hair and a grey moustache.

"My King, thank you for returning my call, I have been monitoring what you are doing for Garedon and I would like to request your help for my country as well."

"We can help, but probably not to the extent of what we're doing in Garedon. An overwhelming landslide elected the Pro-Federation Party of Garedon, and they are joining the Federation. We can sit down and discuss the options and services we can assist with, but we're going to need a day or two to get things under control in Garedon."

"Thank you, contact me when you have time."

"Talk to you soon!"

As sooner as that call ended, Mark asked Cricket to contact the next contact.

Cricket announced, "Contacting Chancellor Hayda of Cupertina."

Seconds later, he was looking at an older woman who was probably in her 70s or 80s, who immediately asked, "Is this the King of the Federation?"

"Yes, I'm Mark Phoenix, the King of the Federation. How can I be of help?"

"You are helping Garedon fight this virus, we want you to help us fight this virus as well."

"We can sit down and discuss the options that are available. Who am I speaking to?"

"My apologies, I am Chancellor Hayda of Cupertina. What do you mean options that are available? I want what Garedon is getting!"

"Well, Chancellor, did Cupertina recently go through an election where the elected party's platform was to join the Federation?"

"No! What difference does that make?"

"A lot of difference! Garedon recently had an election where an overwhelming majority of the people voted for the Pro-Federation Party, whose primary platform was to join the Federation if elected. Garedon is now effectively part of the Federation, and we have already begun transitioning the government and implementing Federation services.

Since you have not recently had an election, we can still sit down with the government and discuss other ways in which we may help, but sadly we can't give you our technology like we can with Garedon."

There was a lengthy silence as she was contemplating her response, "So you're saying that the Garedon government is gone and the Federation now runs the country?"

"Yes and no, the government is still intact, they just all have Federation titles now and they no longer represent their former political parties. They are currently moving their offices into Federation outreach centres and hubs, where they have more resources to aid them in the transition into our systems and laws."

"Then I would like to request to join the Federation as well."

"We can sit down and discuss that possibility. Until then you can read about the transition process in our library, which is now available on your public information network. We only have so many resources available for the entire planet. Garedon is our priority, then we'll be dealing with other countries that have requested our help in the order they have contacted us. Your country is third on the list."

"What other country is ahead of us?"

Since it wasn't her business, "I'm not at liberty to say, but you are the second country outside of Garedon that I have spoken to. Don't worry, you will not lose your place in line."

With a kind of huff, she disconnected the call.

Maren laughed, "Well, isn't she just a bundle of happiness and joy?"

Mark laughed, "Yeah, remind me to take extra security when I go meet with her!"

Maren laughed, "She's old! Maybe she just needs a good fucking or someone to pull that stick out of her ass."

Mark shivered at the thought as Maren just laughed harder.

Minutes later they were nearing the CityShip, which was a bustling place with shuttles coming and going from all landing bays.

Fortunately, the security personnel were keeping everyone on the track around the factory level, which made it easier to control the public, without allowing them to wander around the park level. Cricket had taken the liberty to hang signs above the track with the city names, and arrivals and departures type displays on the walls, so people could easily find their way back to the shuttle that would return them home. It kind of made the track look like a huge transit terminal.

There was a constant stream of people in and out of the medical centres, using every bed there was on the CityShip. The lineups weren't too long, and the people were fairly orderly. To ease their wait, Cricket had also built a long bench seat along the factory side for people to sit on while they were waiting.

Mark was actually kind of surprised by the amount of people that were being handled by the medical centres. To make things as efficient as possible, Cricket had set up a system. As they emptied a bed, the next patient just followed the arrows on the floor to the open bed, similar to the way the embassy worked on Earth.

It surprised Mark to see that he wasn't really needed, so he just went up to the senior officer's quarters, where the rest of his crew was currently hanging out.

"I thought you guys were supposed to be helping coordinate things? What's with all the slacking I see?"

Liyana spoke, "The security personnel we have onboard has everything under control. Although they've come from all over, they're all functioning like a well-oiled machine. We were kind of hindering their efforts, so we all left!"

Mark said, "So maybe we should go tour the planet and find other countries to talk to?"

Liyana said, "What just cold contact the leaders of the other countries?"

"Actually, I have already contacted two other countries, one is in the northern hemisphere and the other is... hmm not sure where the other is, actually!"

Cricket reminded Mark, "The countries were Tiberia and Cupertina."

Mark reiterated for everyone else, "The countries were Tiberia and Cupertina. The guy from Tiberia seemed nice, but the lady from Cupertina was a real ray of sunshine, I might want extra security when I meet with her."

Liyana said, "We could start meeting with those countries."

Mark said aloud, "Cricket, can you give us some details for Tiberia and Cupertina?"

Cricket popped up, "Tiberia is a continent in the northern hemisphere, it is 523,683 square kilometres, with a population of 52,873,288 across 8,124 towns and cities. Cupertina is in the southern hemisphere, it is 1,282,104 square kilometres, but only has a population of 32,743,024 across 3,947 towns and cities."

Mark said, "Well, at least they aren't huge when compared to Garedon. I guess we could start talks with those countries, we just can't really do anything until Garedon is completely up and running with outreach centres and hubs in every municipality."

Ra'ki asked, "Why can't we, at the very least, turn on the green glow for all the countries?"

Mark said, "We could! But that requires security drones and, yes, they are being distributed all over the planet, but we don't have a significant concentration of them over any country except Garedon. So if we agree to help one of those countries, we will need to redirect the drop ships to increase the drone distribution before we can turn the glow on. If we turn it on too soon and people don't see themselves glowing, they could remove their masks and spread the infection faster, we need to make sure we can scan everyone before we turn on the glow for that area... and yes, just so you know I've already redirected the drop ships to increase the drone concentration over both those countries.

So we'll let them to do their job overnight and contact those countries tomorrow."