Admiral Deakin had listened attentively during Nick’s speech and now moved forward in his seat. ‘I think we all know who dumped this nuclear stuff you found Torrens. Can’t we force them to clean it up?’
‘Even if we could there’s no time, and it would put men’s lives in danger.’
‘Sounds to me that we’re all going to be in danger. Surely you don’t expect us to put the whole naval fleet on alert on the theory that it could happen any time. We could be sitting around for months.’
President Walker raised his long arm and made a halt sign to the admiral. ‘It’s all right Richard, I think we’ve heard enough. Whether we believe it or not we can’t afford to ignore it.’ He addressed Vice President Peterson. ‘Tom get our experts working on this immediately, I need them to validate Nick’s findings, and call an emergency video conference with the World Government when you can. I’m going to call Prime Minister Barker in London personally. Meanwhile start putting together emergency evacuation procedures. Top Priority, and keep it away from the bloody press as long as you can. This catastrophe could be greater than any war threat. We can control a war but I’m not sure where to begin here. Nick, I have to ask you to remain at our disposal for now. You too Mr Sinclair. We’ll no doubt have a barrage of questions from the World Government.’
The President rose indicating the meeting was over. Nick sat with his head in his hands, his headache had escalated and the veins on his temples were thumping. The other men remained virtually silent, lost in their own thoughts, riveted to their seats by some unexplainable force.
Josh jabbed Nick with his elbow. ‘Are you okay Nick? You look like shit. C’mon we can use my office to set up an information centre. I’ve already cancelled all my appointments.’ They nodded to the remaining five men as they left the room, further conversation was unnecessary. They had said it all!
The World Government
In the early twenty-twenties when the ice caps melted sufficiently to raise the sea level over two metres, it became necessary to move billions of people to higher ground, forsaking the cities that had served the populations for hundreds of years. For a while the massive dykes that averaged five metres in height and twenty metres deep at their bases, combined with co-ordinated projects of river and coastal engineering held the rising sea at bay. Governments were under no illusion that they could maintain this defence, and it became necessary to find homes for their people living in the threatened areas.
The combined population of India and China had grown to five billion by 2035. The relocation of millions of people across these countries would have an impact on their society to the point it could not be sustained. It was decided by the United Nations that these people should be relocated to other countries who could support a sudden increase in population. A world ruling body was formed to transcend country borders. This body was called the World Government and was made up of three leaders from every country, who would work with Presidents, Ministers, Kings and such and be responsible for the logistics of these manoeuvres.
Citizens were given priority for relocation followed by refugees from the rising sea. People were moved to Europe, Canada, United States and Australia. The task was enormous and claimed the full range of emergency services, military, government and private resources. By 2042 this operation was floundering under the weight of the enormity of the work still to be done.
Chapter Eleven
Laura was sleeping soundly when Nick arrived home. Deciding not to disturb her he napped fitfully on the lounge. The morning sun’s bright rays pierced the room forcing him to reluctantly prise open his eyes. The apartment was silent as he fumbled for his clothes careful again not to rouse her.
Maxime rubbed against his ankles purring wildly. ‘C’mon Max, let’s get you some milk.’ He whispered and tiptoed to the kitchen. Maxime wrapped herself around his ankles as he filled her dish. ‘Don’t know what you’ll think about all this, Max.’ He said. ‘What will become of you and your kind?’ Helping himself to a glass he glanced around the stainless steel kitchen at the sophisticated appliances that were all controlled by voice command. So much had changed since 2025 and Nick wondered what would happen to this beautiful apartment. Feeling a little guilty for his abrupt departure the previous evening, he thought it may be prudent to give Laura some time to cool down, so he patted Maxime and left without waking her.
Laura awoke late and became worried when she realised Nick had not come home, or had he? Memories of last night flooded back. He had really frightened her with that talk about earthquakes and floods. Where could he be? Surely the meeting with the President couldn’t have lasted all night?
She dressed hurriedly and went to the kitchen to make coffee. She spotted the saucer of milk on the floor and realised he had indeed come home. ‘Nick?’ She went from room to room expecting to see him. Now she was really worried. Determined to find out more about what was going on she ordered the car to take her to the Capitol.
Finding the President’s office barred, her next stop was Josh’s office where she burst into the room without knocking, surprising both he and Nick who were engrossed in a mountain of papers. ‘I’m sorry to barge in like this Josh but I have to talk to Nick!’
Nick realised that he’d picked the wrong time to tell her last night, running off as he did without explaining everything. ‘I’m sorry Laura. I’m tied up right now, meetings all day you know how it is.’
‘I’ve had time to think about what you told me last night and I need some answers.’
Nick stood quickly and taking her arm gently guided her back to the door. ‘We’ll have dinner tonight. We can talk about Australia then. I’ll pick you up at eight Okay?’ He shuffled her back to the door.
‘But, Nick.’ She spluttered throwing him a quizzical look. ‘You can’t leave me up in the air like this. I don’t like it!’
He kissed his fingertips and gently pressed them against her lips, more to quieten her than to say goodbye. ‘Promise I won’t be late.’ He closed the door on her and turning to Josh, answered his puzzled look with a shrug of his shoulders. ‘I just asked her to go home with me, I don’t know what she’s all hett up about.’
The remainder of the day was fraught by a constant barrage of never-ending questions. Nick called Wolf for lengthy discussions on their findings. The phone buzzed incessantly and at two o’clock in the afternoon, they were recalled to the World Government emergency meeting in the President’s office.
‘Boy, when he says immediate action he means it.’ Nick remarked as they headed off to the meeting.
Chapter Twelve
General Worth’s day was charged with activity. He had sat through that meeting with rising excitement listening to the President’s responses to Nick Torren’s revelations. However it wasn’t until he lay in bed that night that the grand scheme came to his mind.
He was an enigma, a small angry man puny but fit. He wore his brindle coloured hair shaved close to his skull. A thin, almost invisible scar ran above his left ear down his jawline and pulled the skin on his face, giving him a perpetual sneer that most people mistook for a slight smile. He never smiled, that would give others the impression he liked them, he didn’t like anybody and nobody liked him. He attained the rank of three star general through subterfuge, manipulation and deception and his ambition had no boundaries. He aspired to the highest rank and nothing was going to stop him. Grey piercing eyes that turned dark were the only outward signs that his anger was aroused.