In the new world, people worried most about eating or being eaten, resulting in a greater sense of camaraderie and less disagreements.
Very few cold-blooded murders occurred while rape occurred at a much lower rate than in the old, ‘civilized’ world. Robbery happened with far more frequency and often in various shades of gray.
Those guilty of crimes against other people-particularly murder or rape-found no second chances. Hanging returned to many public squares or- in more merciful jurisdictions-the sharp report of a firing squad.
Defendants received counsel and serious crimes involved a jury of peers. No code of laws for lawyers to twist and bend existed; parole boards and appeals processes mere memories. Each judge set the rules for his courtroom using his or her sensibilities as guide. Dante Jones’ regional supervisors could remove those who demonstrated poor sensibilities while abuses of power ended with adjudicators facing the gallows of their own construction.
A harsh system for harsh times. Perhaps that harshness deserved credit for low crime rates. More likely, the fact that everyone-even the most petite teenage girl-carried a firearm, probably served as the greatest deterrence.
Whatever the truth, atop that system sat Dante Jones who earned his position due to Trevor’s trust. Dante worked with computers in the old world, not law enforcement. Yet Trevor relied on his judgment and always found him a fair person.
The last member of Trevor’s council was also the most recent addition.
Gordon Knox, “Director of Intelligence.”
To say that Trevor’s forces had saved Gordon would paint the wrong picture. Knox had ruled a small settlement of his own, hidden in the back woods of Maryland and surviving quite fine, thank you very much.
However, Gordon signed on enthusiastically when he saw the level of organization, the aggressiveness, and the hawkish intent of Stone’s armies.
In his old life, the Central Intelligence Agency employed Gordon Knox first as a field agent, then a paramilitary soldier (one of the first into Afghanistan during the American invasion), and eventually in middle management.
Balding with a fluffy mustache, he exhibited a positive attitude for the work.
Stone loved Knox because he expertly found information, enemy positions, and what-in the old days-they would have called “actionable intelligence.”
Gordon had quickly organized a new network of spies and reconnaissance. He also used the handful of submarines at their disposal to insert recon teams along the coast and overseas.
Even then, as they gathered for a big meeting, Gordon coordinated dozens of spies not only behind Hivvan lines, but also in Africa and Europe to explore and understand the nature of the changed world.
Conversely, Knox loved Trevor because Stone turned him loose. No red tape, no books filled with legalese, no pesky lines of distinction between foreign and domestic spying. Knox was free to do what needed to be done- everything that needed to be done-to protect humanity’s war effort.
He utilized children as young as nine to infiltrate slave camps to ferment rebellion. He identified a series of Hivvan regional leaders and had them assassinated. And-to everyone’s surprise-he uncovered a small network of pro-Hivvan human sympathizers sent to spy on the growing nation. Trevor never asked where Gordon hid those bodies.
Council meetings were often long, often rough, and heated. On occasion, Trevor would drive those meetings and be the only one speaking for hours on end. Other times he sat and listened while debates raged.
Nonetheless, somehow or another the council met the needs of the growing population and kept the war machine grinding away.
The meeting that day, however, threatened to be one for the ages.
Eva got things started working from a series of hand-written notes. She spoke in a formal, professional manner. They all knew she held little tolerance for bullshit; she considered her time too valuable to waste.
“The corn harvest in central Pennsylvania and Maryland will be 10 percentage points lower than last season. This comes despite a substantial increase in the number of farms producing corn. The reason is due to insect infestations. We have been dealing with a lack of pesticides. This will have a cascade effect over the rest of this year. Corn is the primary ingredient in farm animal feed. We anticipate needing to slaughter more animals because we will not have the feed to keep them eating through the winter. Needless to say, this will result in less meat yields per animal.”
“Now that is a cruel twist of fate,” Reverend Johnny said. “A bounty of meat this Fall because we’re running out of corn.”
“Furthermore, we will have less offspring and fewer animal products such as milk and wool. Enjoy your lamb chops this Fall, Reverend, but I hope you don’t freeze to death from a lack of a coat in February.”
She glanced from her notes and saw the audience hanging on her every word. Military speak and industrial output sounded cooler, but all of that meant nothing without food to eat.
“This situation will aggravate food supply problems in New Jersey, Delaware, and eastern Maryland. We estimate that as many as fifteen thousand souls in those areas will be subjected to rations below subsistence levels by October.”
“Wow,” Jon Brewer broke in. “What about fishing? Those areas have access to the Chesapeake, Delaware Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Jersey.”
“We have shortages in fuel to run fishing boats,” Eva responded. “There are two other considerations. The first is that so many of our foodstuffs were forwarded to Southern Command. Second, our facilities have recently come under aggressive attack from hostile animals. In the last week alone, I had distribution centers in Vineland, New Jersey, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, and Denton, Maryland wiped out. Two trains were also hit by creatures, one resulting in lost cargo and a gutted crew.”
She took a deep breath and then hit them with another shock. “If you check your casualty reports you’ll find that more people protecting or distributing food were killed in the last several weeks than were lost during the assault on Raleigh.”
Evan Godfrey said, “Where the Hell is Internal Security?” he turned to Dante Jones. “Jesus Christ, we can’t even protect our food supply.”
“Hey,” Dante defended. “I’ve only got so much manpower. Do you know how thin we’re spread? I got guys using friggin’ 22’s because there isn’t enough assault rifles to go around.”
“Brett,” Jon Brewer said, “What can we do about cranking out more assault rifles?”
Brett Stanton had obtained the specifications necessary for making just about any human firearm from ATF files in Washington, D.C. Brett’s people cranked out a variety of guns as well as matching ammunition on assembly lines.
However, those assembly lines would not function without the transfiguration machines stolen from the Hivvans. Those machines morphed more plentiful materials-rock, wood, scrap, waste-into coveted resources such as metal, iron, petroleum, and rubber by actually changing the atomic structure of the substance. Without this alien technology, Trevor’s growing nation would not be able to maintain the war effort, let alone meet the energy, transportation, and manufacturing needs of the civilian sector.
Yet only so many of the machines existed, particularly the big industrial-capacity ones. Furthermore, the process of metamorphosis required planning and time. The matter transfiguration machines were a thin funnel through which many needs must pass. On top of that, transportation of those raw materials to manufacturing plants required coordination with the railroads for access to the trains’ coveted cargo capacity.
Brett Stanton answered Jon’s question, “Well I guess that would be one way to go. But wait, if I push the making of the actual guns to the top of the list then I’ll lose the capacity to make the bullets for them guns. We ramped up rifle and pistol cartridge production for the Raleigh thing. It will take a while to switch things over.”