FEDERATION Complete Trilogy (Federation Trilogy), page 10
The President of the United States stood, folded his arms defensively and said, ‘Are you telling me that if I come up with an idea for an amazing gadget which could be sold for millions, the only way to produce it would be to give it to an organisation and all I’d get is my usual annual amount of afeds?’
‘Let me return the question to you, Yol Spence. What would you do with the idea?’
President Spence thought for a moment. ‘I’d build factories, providing people with jobs, good jobs – managers, foremen, salesmen, directors, and they would make me a fortune which I could then use to build more factories and come up with more products.’
‘Yol Spence, what makes you think anyone would want to work in a business like that? Ya Lindron told me that you met Yol Dereen yesterday. Do you think he would want to do manual labour in your factory rather than study his butterflies, make toys, and spend his time gliding?’
‘He’d earn so much more money,’ said Yol Spence.
‘And what would he do with it? Buy more gadgets he neither needs nor wants? If he wanted one of your gadgets, he would just ask for it. Listen, Yol Spence, I’m not saying it’s a bad idea to come up with innovative new products, in fact, it isn’t. We all need to move forward. Just think about this: if you’ve all the wealth you could ever want, lived in the place you think is wonderful and had an idea for a product, why not produce it, as part of your volunteer work? Do you really want to be stuffing polymers into moulds with your own hands? Where is the sense in that? If you’re good at innovation, then innovate, but don’t expect others to work for you – they’ll have their own desires, interests and priorities.’
‘But what if I want a huge yacht or my own starship? You can’t tell me ordinary people have the money for that,’ and he sat again, bringing his fist down upon the table. Several drink containers rattled.
‘You can have your own starship, but how will you staff it? No one will work for you. You can have your own yacht, but who will crew it? No one will work for you. Yol Spence, you miss the point. If you want to cruise the oceans of Gelvavia, find a number of people who will come with you and share the adventure, the cost, and the labour. You can do it, but you need to participate in it with them, not demand they do it for your exclusive pleasure. The same applies to your own starship. Find some others who want to spend a year visiting the seventy worlds of Losend. There’ll be plenty of takers and they’ll come with you, but again, you need to participate in it. If you want to own things, possess things, command things, direct everything, and try to coerce people to your will, it will come to nothing! You could use robots, of course.’
‘So, I could buy a starship and staff it with robots?’
‘In theory, yes, but having your own starship is only marginally more convenient than buying a cabin on one.’
‘But if I own it, it will go where I want!’
‘You can travel to any destination, Yol Spence. Why does it need to be in your own starship?’
‘So, if I wanted to return to Daragnen right now, I could on a regular route?’ asked the US President.
‘Give or take a day or so, yes. It might require a change of starship part way there. There isn’t usually a direct route between Daragnen and Ecisfiip.’
‘That’s why I might want my own starship!’
‘You could do it, but it would be a drain on your income, leaving very little for living. I think you are pushing our economic system beyond its boundaries,’ said Yol Ruud.
‘Aha! See! I should be able to be wealthy if I work hard. Your system prevents that. It is communism. Ruud, you’re bringing everyone down to the same level!’
‘I can see your point, Yol Spence. You would prefer everyone to be a little worse off so that some people can be incredibly wealthy.’
‘You’re twisting my words. Don’t tell me you are earning the same income as that butterfly herder!’
Yol Ruud looked at the president as if he were mad. ‘But I am. Okay, at the moment I’m putting in a long stint of volunteering to help show you around the Federation, but the afeds I receive for that work are exactly the same as if I were helping a disabled person with their garden. I’m banking the volunteer hours and might use them for some extended project or trip later in the year. I’m enjoying being one of your hosts. If I wasn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it! No one does anything they don’t like doing. We have devices to do the unpleasant tasks.’
The room fell into silence. There was no arguing with Yol Ruud’s logical explanation of the Federation economic system. Anyone could do anything, but only as a participant. On Earth, people could only be rich at the expense of the poor. As a committed capitalist, Yol Spence would take a lot of persuading.
‘Now, come on, everyone,’ said Yol Ruud as he joined others at the window. ‘Ya Lindron and I want to show you the delights of Ecisfiip. I see we’re now descending. Yol Spence, I understand your concerns. It is a choice which your world will have to make – people living on a dollar a week in Central Africa so a tiny minority can be billionaires in the United States or China, or the Federation way, where everyone is sharing the wealth of the planet equally and having full, rewarding lives. It comes down to priorities. Keep the questions coming but try not to see everything in terms of personal gain, profit, and money. There’s so much more to discover within the Federation and this is only our second day.’
Prime Minister Grange came up to President Spence and stood quite closely beside him. ‘Jack, a word…’
‘Certainly, Melanie.’
‘You’re dropping the honorific when you speak to Yol Ruud. How I understand it, not using the honorific is an insult. Thought you might not have realised.’
‘Thank you,’ he said, looked daggers at her and crossed the lounge to the coffee machine.
Melanie Grange shrugged and looked at the view. Outside, green misty wisps were rising up the ship like lime candyfloss. Soon it was completely immersed. Nothing could be seen through the cloud cover until, yes, was that something, shapes, geometric shapes? Buildings surrounded the ship which was easing its way slowly groundward between apartment blocks. It seemed as if the arrival was at dusk or before dawn or, maybe, the cloud cover made everything so dull and foggy continually. Beyond the high-rise flats, it looked like an industrial complex. Melanie Grange hoped it was more exciting than that. She was looking forward to writing another letter to Gina later that night.
13 Shopping Trip
Emerging from the ship onto the surface of Ecisfiip required everyone to wear plastic suits similar to those used by forensic scientists. Ya Lindron explained that the drizzle wasn’t strongly acidic, but over a couple of days, could exfoliate the top layers of skin on a sensitive individual, so this was a safe-rather-than-sorry precaution.
It was not quite daylight in this part of the world when the ship arrived, but gradually the light level improved as the visitors walked along damp streets with their two diplomatic guides and three Ecisfiipian envoys.
‘Miserable place, Melanie,’ said Juan Mistoba.
‘Not ideal for taking the kids on vacation,’ she agreed.
‘We’re about to start our tour, everyone,’ said Yol Ruud. ‘Let me introduce you to Yol Nostawe who has agreed to act as our local liaison for the industrial section of Qisvij.’ The local person nodded his somewhat elongated head in acknowledgement.
The Ecisfiipians stood between about one and a half to two metres tall. Two arms came out of the thorax region rather than at the shoulders. Their leathery skin, in this part of the planet, was the dark side of tanned, but some had lighter and others even darker skin. The elongated head seemed to be precariously balanced on a somewhat slender neck, causing it to loll from side to side when walking, but not in an unattractive manner.
‘Everything west of this street is to do with production,’ Yol Nostawe said. ‘Most mechanical working environments are designed to protect visitors, but I would ask you all to remain alert to autonomous equipment. We are entering the domain of machines.’ He turned down the next side street followed by his rather strange-looking entourage.
Entering the first building began half a day of tolerating mechanical and factory noise. In this unit, incoming sheet metal was handled, cut, pressed, and shaped into wheels before being stacked, containerised and stored for shipping.
A second unit produced plastic bottles, a third made some unidentified widget.
‘Presumably,’ said Prime Minister Solberg, ‘there are not factories for every single thing which is ever needed, Yol Nostawe. Who changes the master moulds and sets up the next production run?’
Yol Nostawe had the group follow him through a double door into a quieter area.
‘For detail, you’d need to ask the management. The plant manager will be here in a few moments and he’ll be able to explain. Some factories are dedicated to single products, but most have to re-tool regularly. Ah, here’s the manager,’ said Yol Nostawe.
The double doors parted and a robot, about the height of a four-drawer filing cabinet, but with slatted sides and more brightly coloured than the other machines the party had seen, entered the room.
‘Welcome to the Nodor Complex. How can I help?’ it said in a reassuringly, very non-mechanical voice.
‘How do I formulate questions for it?’ asked Prime Minister Solberg.
‘Just ask what you want to know in the normal way,’ said Yol Nostawe. ‘Automatons speak normal Galactic Standard,’
‘We were wondering about product batch sizes and how the factories change for different products,’ said Prime Minister Solberg. ‘Surely each factory cannot possibly only have a single use.’
‘All factories are adaptable to a degree,’ said the robot manager. ‘The current production run you’re witnessing here was for twenty-five thousand items. When that is complete, we move on to producing eglorts. Eight thousand of those are required. Before production begins, robots similar to me, but with specific functions to manage individual parts of the factory, will set up the parameters for the new product. Once they have each reported back to me, I permit the inflow of the correct materials and report to my central manager that the new product is underway. Sometimes certain machines are not employed, and other times additional machines arrive from a nearby storage facility.’
‘And what if the product is not quite right during production?’ President Spence inquired.
‘Quality control is built in to each major process,’ replied the manager. ‘If a product were to fail, the machine manager would be notified. If it’s a failure within parameters, it would be recycled. If not, then the process is stopped while the machine is adjusted. There are dozens of different robot types with specialist arms and hands capable of dealing with any mechanical, electrical, or electronic issues. At the beginning of a production run, readjustments can happen many times. Time is not important to automated systems.’
‘So, how far ahead do you plan production?’ asked President Spence.
‘Currently, my factory has orders for several months.’
‘So, if I had an urgent requirement?’ the US President asked.
‘Schedules are continually assessed and reallocated by a chain of managers responsible for manufacturing. It would be slotted into the schedule at an appropriate point, depending upon relative urgency.’
‘Do you never have to call upon a living person?’
‘To assist production, you mean?’
‘No, for anything?’ asked President Spence.
‘Only for any design considerations, but it is very rare. I’ve never had to call upon a person in my fourteen years of existence.’
Questions, answers, and movement from factory to factory continued for three hours before we emerged back into daylight. It was much brighter outside and dry. The drizzle seemed to be taking a lunchbreak with the visitors.
As they walked, Prime Minister Channarong said to President Spence, ‘Impressive robots. You wouldn’t know they weren’t people.’
‘Yes,’ said President Spence, ‘they’d have a disastrous effect on employment.’
‘Oh. I was thinking they’d be a great boon, doing all the repetitive and administrative tasks,’ said the Thai leader.
‘That’s a very optimistic way of looking at it,’ said the US President who then walked faster to catch up with the other leaders.
The group walked back to the dividing line between the industrial and residential sections of the city and Yol Nostawe guided them through to a main pedestrian thoroughfare which was extremely busy.
Most of the people walking to and fro, or entering or leaving the shop units, were Ecisfiipians. An occasional alien of a different type was seen, but these were quite rare. Many people stopped to look at the group of aliens, but only in a vaguely inquisitive manner.
‘There are very few aliens wandering around,’ said President Spence.
‘No,’ said Ya Lindron, who then switched to English. ‘Most people live on their own planets, but anyone who wishes to, could live here too, whatever their species. I must say that Ecisfiip is not a particularly nice world to live upon with its perpetual cloud and acidic drizzle. You’d find more variety of species on some other worlds.’
‘Why did you switch languages?’ asked President Spence.
‘I did not want to hurt our guides’ feelings.’
The entire street was made up of small restaurants and bars. Ya Lindron explained that the hieroglyphs we could see outside each were advertising the type of food or drink supplied, very much like a restaurant district on Earth.
‘How long would it take to esponge into us, written galactic standard?’ asked Prime Minister Grange.
‘About forty minutes to an hour, I would think,’ said Ya Lindron.
The group came to a halt outside a particularly colourful establishment which had LED signs producing neon-like effects. There were tables outside covered with huge umbrellas. They incorporated built-in fans which sucked the atmosphere through a drizzle-filter and gently blew it outwards from the seated area. This allowed people to dine in the dry with the drizzle extracted.
The party entered the restaurant and was ushered to a long table which had been specially reserved for them. All around there was the buzz of a successful and popular café.
‘Ya Lindron and Yol Ruud have given us a list of acceptable foods which you can eat safely,’ said Yol Nostrawe. ‘You can also choose from the local beer, dark or light, a form of wine drunk here or a more traditional galactic wine, fruit juices, or water.’ He began writing selections onto a notepad which was then passed to one of the mechanical waiters.
An Ecisfiipian in overalls walked up to the table and the visitors looked around at him, quickly discovering it was a her. Male and female Ecisfiipians were outwardly very similar in appearance and dress. Knowing which sex each person was, often came down to knowing their name.
‘My name is Ya Inid Tosterfon and I love cooking. I spend most of my time here with a couple of friends, creating new dishes for the clients. It’s one of the reasons we are always so busy.
‘After consulting with Yol Ruud, what you’re about to receive is all local produce, but without any elements which could adversely affect your alien digestion. I hope you enjoy the meal.’
There were general words of thanks and the party prepared for their meal, drinks arriving rapidly after the chef’s departure.
The US President was seated beside Ya Lindron. ‘So, that chef and his friends do this because they want to? Are you telling me they earn nothing from this enterprise? It is obviously very lucrative. It’s packed.’
‘That is correct, Yol Spence. She will earn her volunteering afeds from her work here as will her friends.’
‘Oh, yes, she. But they must be here more than ten percent of their time, surely?’
‘I am sure they are, but that is from their own choice. You’ll have noticed there is also an Ecisfiipian barman too.’
‘So, what would happen if the chef decided she’d had enough?’
‘Mechanical chefs would take over and things would continue as normal. I must say that on my world, the restaurants which have volunteer chefs do tend to be more popular. Mechanical chefs are virtually infallible and that, somehow, detracts from the experience. It could be the same here.’
President Spence shook his head in disbelief. ‘Can we see where people go shopping after lunch, Ya Lindron.’
‘Indeed. Good idea.’
««o»»
The visitors came out of the restaurant, thrilled with the sampling menu Ya Tosterfon had prepared for them with flavours, textures, and after-tastes they’d never experienced before.
When they emerged from the restaurant, the drizzle forced the need for umbrellas once more. A hundred metres along the street they arrived at what appeared to be an enormous department store.
‘Well, that’s a surprise,’ said President Toscano, ‘I thought all sales would be carried out online. This is a real old-school department store.’
They spent a while making their way along the glass frontage, looking at the goods on display. Many would have been familiar on any high street in the world. Luggage, shoes, domestic appliances of various descriptions – some unfathomable – furniture, beds, cupboards, chests of drawers, kitchen layouts, children’s toys, items similar to bicycles — some motorised — mysterious electronics boxes, fancy goods like clocks, ornaments, gardening equipment and so on.
‘How many such shops would there be in a modern city like this?’ asked the Bolivian president.
‘Most places I’ve been have a couple. It is all based on footfall and location. If a store becomes unpleasantly busy, another is soon opened nearby. You can, of course, buy anything you would like on-line, but the majority of people do like to see the product itself, hence the stores. The customers’ needs are paramount,’ said Yol Ruud. ‘Come on in. There’s an interesting history to large stores like this, but the detail is lost in the mists of time. As IT became more commonplace, many purchases were made by people using computers – online, you call it. Physical shops began to face bankruptcy. However, within a short while, online retailers realised that there could be an opportunity to share a high street face with others and stores like this arose from the ashes. We have actually noticed the first phase of that happening on your world. Large, well-loved stores closing down and their shops standing empty on your high streets.’
