“No,” I replied. “More like a necessary evil.”
Jaki surprised us both with what she said next. “Dr. Spencer, that is exactly how government developed on our world thousands of years ago but we have long since moved past it.”
“I would be very interested to know how you did that and what you’ve evolved into,” I said.
“Let me ask you another question,” she almost whispered. “What if your resources suddenly became abundant? What if there was no longer any need to manage their distribution?”
While I was trying to get my mind wrapped around that possibility, in a stronger voice she went on to explain that on her world they had suffered the same kind of wars and social injustices that we had but as technology provided more and more answers the need for conflict became less.
“Once we learned how to manipulate matter, raw materials were no longer limited. Ways were discovered to capture zero-point energy from the vacuum of space itself. The resources needed to live a great life were abundant.
“Your people have already started down the path of what you call 3-dimensional printing. You are taking baby steps but you can already ‘print’ some tools, replacement parts, and just about any 3D design you want. What happens when every individual on your planet has access to raw materials and advanced printers with no energy restriction on their use?”
“It would eliminate poverty,” Dr. Bell said.
I’d almost forgotten he was there. My mind was racing with the possibilities but he reminded me of something…
“There’s no shortage of food on our planet now. It’s politics that cause hunger and poverty,” I said. “Somehow I don’t think utopia is right around the corner for us.”
“No,” Jaki said sadly. “Because of all of these advances we came very close to wiping ourselves out.”
She explained, “Hundreds of thousands of years ago Noridia nearly destroyed itself. The advent of that kind of technology doesn’t happen overnight and the controlling groups on Noridia didn’t want to lose their control. After all, why would I need a government to build a road if I could print a machine that would do it for me? Why would I pay taxes for protection if I could print my own gun (or fortress); and why would anyone want what I have if they could print their own? What was really left for the controllers to offer?
“The powers that be, sensing their own weakening position, found that they did not want to give up control; it was more than just resources and money, it was the intoxicating drug of power and Elitism. They began putting more and more restrictions on the population. Artificial shortages and new governmental controls were common. Individual freedoms were reduced incrementally but dramatically in the name of safety and security. The controllers’ ability to spy on their populations and limit their dissent increased. The people were subjected to constant propaganda on everything from ‘technology is evil’ and ‘back to nature’ movements to conspiracies on technology contaminating the food supply and destroying the environment. The controllers preached that government was a force for good and made more and more people dependent upon it. Over time we went from an open, forward moving, and advanced society to a scared, anti-technology, stagnant society.
“The Black Market brought salvation and after a long period ultimately led to the downfall of the controllers. It laid bare the lie of scarcity. The leaders of what you would call nations in last desperate acts fomented never-ending war with controllers of other nations because they knew that fear was their last resort to controlling their populations.
“We almost lost everything,” she said.
“What happened?” I asked.
“One day it just all fell apart,” she responded. “The police stopped showing up for work, or at least stopped enforcing most of the laws. People ignored what their so called leaders were saying and started doing what they wanted; soldiers went home to their families.
“Many leaders simply disappeared when people stopped listening to them but for the ones that resisted it was a bloody revolution.
“After that technology spread without restriction and the population recovered quickly but there was never again a reason for anyone to subjugate themselves to another. That was thousands of your years ago and we’ve had time to mature as a people and as a society.
“Once we developed interstellar spaceflight and started meeting other civilizations we many times heard similar stories, or discovered the ruins of dead planets. If we choose to integrate with Earth it will not be easy on either of us.”
With that ominous closing we agreed to talk again soon.
There was a crowd outside Jaki’s quarters and Kamiko immediately walked up to me and whispered in my ear, “We need to get you back to your squad immediately. Col Memphis is on his way here and he sounds furious.” She then turned to the right, grabbed the front of my shirt, and started tugging me down the corridor. I was probably grinning like an idiot; I’d just had an historic and fascinating conversation, I had one-upped Derrick and made him look foolish for the way he’d dismissively handled Dr. Bell, and I’d just figured out where the little love mark I’d left under Hiromi’s left ear went.
Apparently the base’s security personnel were visibly startled when the feed from Jaki’s quarters suddenly stopped showing an empty room and joined Dr. Rasheed Bell, Zeke, Jaki, and myself in mid-conversation. Dr. Helmer and Earth Team’s second in command, Colonel Eugene Memphis, wanted to break up the session and replace us with their dips post haste. It was General Nesbit himself that ordered everyone to stand down and see what developed.
They didn’t realize until later that someone had managed to leak the word across the base to tune into blogcast channel #1137 for an unscheduled session; let alone that it was being blogcast in the first place.
I didn’t really know what the brass would make of the conversation and I didn’t really care. I was more concerned with Julie’s reaction—which wasn’t good…
“You could’ve really screwed the entire mission with a stunt like that! And I don’t care what kind of intuition you say you had; anyone as taken as you obviously were by some woman’s legs can’t be trusted to think straight. I knew you were going to be trouble from the day you walked into the commissary in your underwear.”
I hadn’t taken a full step into my closet-sized room before Julie was in my face. Anzio was sitting on the bed, or at least trying to sit—it looked as if he was in the middle of laughing himself onto the floor.
“Julie…” I said as she pushed past me out into the corridor.
“Ok Anzio you can wipe that smirk off your face. Was it really that bad?”
“Well, it depends on your point of view. On the one hand you made a breakthrough with the Noridians in an area that the dips have wasted two months on.” He continued, “On the other hand, you started out lusting after an alien and she responded by flirting with you.”
“Anzio! I wasn’t, I mean I appreciate a woman’s body as much as the next man but… and she wasn’t flirting with me… Sheesh.”
I don’t know why I was getting so worked up about this. I was having a GREAT day. It was almost as if Julie was… No, don’t go there I told myself. She would never… and she’s out of my league anyway. Something else has her on edge, that’s all.
“How did you guys find out anyway?” I asked.
“Are you kidding?” Anzio asked. “People were running door to door telling everyone to tune in. You must sit down my friend and tell me all about it…”
And so I did. One of the reasons I liked hanging out with Anzio was because he was easy to talk to and I guess he felt comfortable around me because I didn’t see the terribly shy side of him that the rest of the world saw.