Seven
Tarbos, the Main Conference Hall
The Main Hall was full, full of delegates and their aides in the front, families, friends and curious Tarbosians in the rear. Bob Pritchard strode into the room, walking purposefully up the main aisle to the front of the room.
The Main Hall was, at least, a suitable forum for the Convention. A hundred meters long by fifty wide, made completely of petroleum-based polymers, the Hall had transparent side walls, which curved gently up to a gleaming black roof. Polished black struts supported the Hall’s roof and held the power cabling for the wall’s rather unique polarization system, an innovation cooked up right here on Tarbos.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please come to order,” he called out. Fifteen assorted delegates and perhaps forty more aides, assistants, and hangers-on fell slowly silent.
Pritchard stood behind a black polymer podium at the front of the Hall.
The morning sun glared in from over Mountain View Bay, striking through the walls; Pritchard, noting the squints of delegates seated near the windows, turned a dial on the podium’s smooth black top. The windows polarized, dimming the glare of the sun considerably. He nodded to acknowledge the murmured thanks of the group.
Resisting the urge to say, ‘I suppose you’re all wondering why I asked you here today,’ Pritchard instead began with a simple preamble.
“I’ve been doing a lot of reading since I first messaged you all to invite you here.” He walked away from the podium, gazing idly over the delegate’s heads. “I’ve been doing a lot of reading, and a lot of thinking.
“When Stefan Ebensburg and I first conceived the idea of an interstellar alliance,” he began, graciously extending half the credit to his old friend, “We were thinking of a business arrangement, some kind of deal worked within the framework of the Company, perhaps. Well, it’s become apparent that a business alliance isn’t what we need.” Walking back to the podium, he flipped a switch; in mid-air above the delegates, a three-dimensional, holographic image shimmered into view.
“This image and the plans that accompany it were hyperphoned to me from the Company’s Chandler Aerotech Spaceship Architect division on Earth. It’s hard to get any sense of scale, of course, from a hologram, but this ship is only about a hundred and fifty meters long, and carries a crew of one hundred and forty-one. Now look closely, ladies and gentlemen.”
Pulling out a laser pointer, Pritchard indicated the oversize Gellar tunnel which seemed to make up three-fourths of the ship’s mass – which it did – the stub wings, the bumps on the upper and lower fuselage. “These stub wings contain hard points designed to carry the new Shrike ship-to-ship missiles that Lockheed-Boeing Aerospace is developing. These bumps on the fuselage are high-energy particle beam emitters, turreted to allow a wide range of fire in an arc to the ship’s front, rear, and sides, above and below. There is also a passive defense, in the form of force-field emitters that can surround the ship with an energy shield that should repel most current weaponry.”
“This, ladies and gentlemen, is the design of an armed frigate, at the moment known to the engineers as the 901 Project, although the first ship – if it’s built – will be named the Farragut.”
A hand went up in the room. Pritchard pointed at the King of Corinthia.
“So, my good man, what you’re saying we need is a fleet of these things, is that right?”
“These, and larger, more heavily armed ships as well.” Pritchard left the hologram floating overhead and walked to the front of the small, raised stage. “Plans are being developed for cruisers, battleships, and carriers that will carry wings of fast, agile sub-light fighters and strike craft.
“What we need is a Navy. In order to have a Navy, we have to pool our resources; the Farragut will cost on the order of sixteen billion dollars, and we’ll need more than one ship.
“And planets like Forest can’t build even one, if we’re on our own,” Mike Crider pointed out.”
“Yes, exactly,” Pritchard continued. “We need a Navy, and to build a Navy, we need a government. An interstellar government.”
The reaction wasn’t the pandemonium Pritchard expected, but rather a thoughtful murmur.
“As you all know, our program allows ten minutes for a statement by each representative to open the convention. A computer randomly selected the order of speakers; we’ll begin with the Vice President of the United States of America, Earth, Mr. Hector Gutierrez. Mr. Vice President?” There was a smattering of applause.
Hector Gutierrez took the stage, straightening his tie as he went. Some days I wonder if I shouldn’t have stayed in the contracting business, he told himself wryly. Striding to the podium, he took the tiny mike he found there and clipped it to the lapel of his dark blue jacket and took a deep, careful breath.
“Ladies and gentlemen,” he began, and then paused a moment, frowning in deep thought. “I’m kind of used to saying, ‘My Fellow Americans,’ but that’s not really appropriate here, is it?” A smattering of laughter, but mostly just patient expressions followed his opening remark. This isn’t a political crowd, he reminded himself. These are chiefs of State, and top planetary executives – really chiefs of State themselves. It’s a savvy crowd, and a sophisticated one. Don’t talk down to them, Heck.
“We live in interesting times, my friends. Eighty-five percent of humanity is still on one planet, but most of you here are pioneers on new worlds. I’m a politician now, but I was a businessman for most of my adult life, just as most of you are businessmen and –women now. And as executives, most of you are responsible for administering a whole planet, all of you know how to get things done – quickly, efficiently.
“I know that almost all of you here were born on Earth. Our first off-world generations are only now reaching adulthood. You are all familiar, I’m sure, with Earth’s history over the last two hundred years, but I’ll recap a few items.
“Earth was once a much less inviting place to live. Only a little over two hundred years ago, half of Earth’s population lived under the iron fist of dictatorships. It took three World Wars and eighty-six million people dead to change that, and since the Third World War, representative governments have ruled the nations of Earth. The rule of law and the concept of one citizen, one vote, are now accepted facts all over the globe.” Gutierrez paused to sip some water from a tumbler on the podium.
“The colonized planets are run by a private company, and Off-World Mining and Exploration has done a first-rate job at administering these projects. Indeed, OWME has acted as a de facto government for these worlds until this point. But we are met here today on Tarbos, the most centrally located of the settled planets, to discuss a new form of government, an interstellar government, a government that can build a fleet of armed starships to protect us from the threat of another dictatorship, a heavily armed and militarized dictatorship, this so-called ‘Grugell Empire.’ After millennia of fighting, after millennia of sacrifice, the people of Earth now know freedom, but the cost of freedom is eternal vigilance – and this is proven by the threat we face now, where once more the mailed fist of tyranny reaches across the light-years to threaten humanity.”
“If there are any lessons to be learned from Earth’s history, especially from the World Wars of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it is that a free people must always be vigilant to protect their freedom; that dictators and despots will always seek to usurp free societies, to attain through force the wealth that only a free people can achieve, though their own efforts in a society that rewards individual effort and hard work.
“In all three World Wars, the United States fought on the side of freedom. We fought our own internal battles as well, and in both cases freedom and individual liberty emerged triumphant. I urge you all here to bear that in mind as we continue; if we are to form a government, let us form a libertarian government, a limited association of the sovereign worlds, a Confederation of equals that prizes the liberty of the individual and the rights of the planets to govern themselves. Let us establish our armed force, but let us balance that with a Bill of Rights that assures the sovereignty of the individual above all else. Let us do those things, and as the representative of the United States of America, I guarantee that America will fully support this Galactic Confederacy.”
The K-101, high Tarbos orbit
“Commander, our first coded signal has arrived. The humans’ conference has begun as scheduled.”
“Good. Good. Our agent is in place, then.”
“Yes, Commander.”
“Good. Good. Send a message to the Fleet Commander personally; inform him of events to this point. Move the ship into a high orbit, geosynchronous over the human’s main city.” “By your command.”
To see more of Animal’s writing, visit his page at Crimson Dragon Publishing or Amazon.
This is the beginning of the end. It’ll start with a 4% tax on
teaRoc meat soon to be 40% tax on everything you earn, buy, or sell./got my proposed property tax statement in the mail Saturday. 7.25% increase.
House is up 18%, hunting property 11%. I can’t believe I’m living is such a fine home. Assessed value has gone crazy.
That is what you get for posting the pics of those big bucks you shoot every year Fourscore.
And how can the home of the Honey Harvest not skyrocket in value?
What with the international fame of the Honey Harvest, you’re lucky it’s not some kind cultural heritage site or somesuch. Much more valuable for property tax purposes, and you can’t do anything to it. Win-win!
Come on Nick, you know it will be a very small tax and only apply to the richest 1%.
I get an average of 12% valuation increases per year.
One year it always a 67% increase, on the heals of a 54% increase.
The county road is not paved. But they grade it three times a year for no reason other than to burn fuel and wear out the blade on the grader.
One year it was a.
Pitchfork and woodchipper time.
$16B? That’s a steal.
Anachronism from a more innocent time.
Maybe they revalued the dollar back to its 1970 level?
800 million troy ounces of gold?
Per dollar? Sounds about right.
Libertarian government is thrifty?
😆😂🤣
Our agent is in place
Which monarch is it?
The real question is who gets to design the flag.
Crowdsource it
Flaggy McFlagface
https://gear.bethesda.net/products/fallout-new-vegas-ranger-statue
$145? AYFKM?
Resin? You kidding me?
Its a colectible it will be worth a fortune in 50 years if mint
A fortune in bottle caps if you can make it past the mutants to sell it in New Vegas.
I kinda want this one: https://gear.bethesda.net/products/fallout-floating-mr-handy
The hockey puck floatation device is a bit disappointing.
It’s also disappointing that it can’t clean my kitchen or give me a haircut…
Even in-universe, I wouldn’t expect a machine with those appendages to be able to do those tasks either. You have a pincer, a buzzsaw, and a flamethrower… 🤔 Sheldon must have a buzz cut. 😄
Tax guy will give you a haircut…
C’mon, his name is Mr. Handy…
Who cares about the kitchen.
Uh-oh. Someone might be about to learn a lesson regarding physical security and distributed meetings…
(It’s a shame that no one has had a similar idea regarding Davos or Belem…)
You mean no one with an army or bombers, because I have had similar thoughts.
…or an orbital kinetic-kill vehicle.
Where’s Mr. Lizard when you need him?
Must not read!
Im reading the entire thing as a whole, quite fun.
Good stuff Animal
Hopefully they pull a Glibertarian and all mysteriously go to lunch at the same time for an hour, right as the meeting ends and the death beam strikes.
Tulpas all!
The fix is in.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/justice-department/judge-says-missteps-james-comey-case-result-charges-dismissed-rcna244405
Judge says government ‘missteps’ in James Comey’s case could result in the dismissal of the charges
A federal judge in Virginia on Monday ordered prosecutors to turn over grand jury materials in the criminal case against James Comey after finding the government’s handling of the case raises “genuine issues of misconduct” that could result in the charges against the former FBI director being dismissed.
Magistrate Judge William Fitzpatrick said in his ruling that the type of relief Comey’s lawyers are seeking is “rarely granted,” but that “the record points to a disturbing pattern of profound investigative missteps, missteps that led an FBI agent and a prosecutor to potentially undermine the integrity of the grand jury proceeding.” The ruling directs the government to turn over the material to Comey’s team by the end of the day.
Among the missteps the judge said he found while reviewing the grand jury proceedings in the case were statements made to the panel by acting U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan, a former personal lawyer to President Donald Trump who had no prior prosecutorial experience.
Or the Trump team just fucked up again.
The case is laid out in a series of binders labeled “Comey Prosecution” that were handed out to social media influencers.
Forgive me if I doubt the objectivity of “a Federal Judge in Virginia”
Exactly this.
Yes. I expect the biased judge is looking for some innocuous statements by an inexperienced prosecutor to justify throwing out the case.
This was expected right. No way this case was going to survive in this district.
Pretty embarrassing that the Trump DoJ can’t even get basic judge-shopping right…
I’ve heard they are spinning up a grand jury or two in FL, using the Mar al Lago raid as the jurisdictional hook, to look into all the shenanigans as a concerted and coordinated enterprise against Trump.
Good to hear RC
Umm, a magistrate is not a judge.
Again Animal. Thanks for Monday Lunch Story Time.
I’m having a brain glitch where I’m second-guessing myself.
How common it it for a single-shot falling-block rifle to have a mechnism to kick out the spent shell for you?
It doesn’t matter how common it is; it only matters if it’s physically possible so you can have someone having invented it for your world-building.
It does matter, Ted.
I think that most of them do, although I don’t know if it’s common for the automatic ejector to completely clear the case from the gun.
Thank you.
These are technically tilting block instead of falling block, but the Martini-Henry and Peabody will both kick out extracted shell casings.
The Belgian Comblain is a falling block and will kick out spent shells.
How common is it? I’m not familiar with falling block actions so I don’t know beyond that some historical examples will.
‘101’ I can understand, but from whence comes the ‘K?’
from whence comes the ‘K?’
Chrysler, early 1980s?
I failed to learn how to drive a standard in a Dodge Aries K wagon.
I assume it’s the first symbol in a Grugell word that translated into English would start with a K, but maybe not.
Because why not? They have to call it something.
Just “Something”? Not “The Something”?
I’d guess there are four likely possibilities:
The Grugell have an alphabet, and that alphabet has a K because there are only so many different marking possible.
The Gruell have some sort of written language and name of the ship in Grugell is “11th symbol” -101
The “K” is short for Grugell word that in English translates to something that starts with a K.
The author just made up something olde tymey spacey-sounding.
5 – it was named for a human craft that fell out of a space-time rift from the future.
Thank you for subsidizing early retiree healthcare. Because the money just comes magically to pay for this.
Suozzi, Bacon pitch ACA subsidies extension: ‘It will save people thousands and thousands of dollars’
They have to do it until Obamacare is killed off. Otherwise the ill will, earned or not, will do in the republicans. It’s a trap set for repubs years ago.
Kill Obamacare now!
I think a decent counter to the ACA subsidies would be to allow individuals to deduct health insurance cost come income tax time. It would also at least start to allow the shift from worker supplied health insurance to individual health insurance.
Heard today, some changes coming to the Trump economic team.
“This is the perfect storm,” Bessent responded to a question about the possibility of $10-per-pound beef next year. “We inherited this terrible inflation. We are flattening it out. I believe we’re going to push it down, and energy prices are down, interest rates are down. But the real thing that is going to happen [is] that [this] is going to give Americans real purchasing power increases. It’s going to be through growth.”
Uh-huh
We inherited this terrible inflation.
Hmm. Who signed the CARES Act?
We are flattening it out.
The spike in inflation rate is in June 2022. The rate has been down since then. Who was president then? Oh, and, yes, inflation is still above 0, which means prices are still going up.
Usual disclaimers about CPI.
Still less expensive and better for you than an $8 bag of Doritos/seed oil.
You will never get a big enough raise to settle your finances, until and unless you control your spending first.
Or, if you prefer, FYCS.
Yep.
I’m still seeing fairly reliable (strip/ribeye/porterhouse) steak pricing $7.99-$9.99 locally.
EvilSheldon:
DELMARVA Sectional Championship — I’m thinking about reaching out to them to see if I can get an ARM slot. Any thoughts?
When and where?
Greater Richmond Blasters in Montpelier VA in April.
Never mind, next April at Cavalier Rifle and Pistol Club, northwest of Richmond. It should be a pretty good match.
Kevin McPhee, the section coordinator, is an old friend of mine. Feel free to mention my name if you think it might open any doors…
Will do. I know the RM, but not well enough to have his contact info.
You will never get a big enough raise to settle your finances, until and unless you control your spending first.
We can’t control spending because of political polarization. I read that a while ago.
Because bipartisan compromise always results in spending cuts.
What fresh hell is this? New inkjet printers require paid subscriptions?
You require more yellow ink.
That printers still can’t routinely, easily, connect w other devices to simply *print* is a deep sign that inability is either coordinated or forced. (Both.)
A plug-in, connect, and *print* printer, with little fuss, is highly sought and would sell. Seems like simple cars – every one wants one but one way or another, seemingly it’s semi-impossible to produce one.
See also, the ’90s Saturns. Just functional cars. See an Additional Also: C̵a̵s̵h̵ ̵f̵o̵r̵ ̵C̵l̵u̵n̵k̵e̵r̵s̵ previously named the I Hate Poor People Act.
Yes! Fuck that!
Old ones will be traded like gold.
I have an old Dell laser printer, I am not interested in upgrading for the exact same reason. It’s way harder to get off-brand toner for new printers. The whole model is going towards fleecing you forever.
The fuq?!
In in the market for one as mine is dying.