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On the Jacket
At some point during the following week, Keith began to realize that his relationship with many of his fellow scientists was not what it had been the week before. He wasn’t sure what had tipped him off, exactly, but it there had been a definite change. People seemed to be a bit cooler towards him. After giving it some thought, he decided that it was probably going around that he was sleeping with women all over the complex (and working girls outside of it), and people were probably reacting the way they do when a new gigolo was in town. Or it may have had more to do with his sleeping with Conchita DeLuis, in particular. He certainly hadn’t planned to garner such a reputation, but circumstances had just gotten out of hand.
At any rate, work became very quiet and formal, with noticeably less of the smiling and joking around that had gone on before. Work seemed to take a bit longer, too, with people volunteering less of themselves and leaving more of the work to him. Not that he minded the work... it beat the hell out of ditch digging... but it did serve to make his days drag out incredibly. After a few days of the professional “silent treatment,” Keith found himself actually pondering the advantages of chastity.
Then one afternoon, he found himself finishing a mapping sequence earlier than expected, and was getting bored. He realized that he had been zoning out, only when he realized he had just heard a distant announcement on the building’s PA system, but had missed its message completely. Finally deciding that he had nothing else that needed to get done that day, he decided he was ready to knock off and go home. Joan Domingo, who was working on the far side of the lab, barely noticed when he stood and began collecting his gear. Ever since she had turned down his invitation to the cookout, she had become even more distant than she had been on the day they’d met, and that was saying something. Keith started to announce to her that he’d be back the next afternoon, took one look at her, and decided against it. Sliding his Mik into his pocket, he strode purposefully across the lab and pulled open the lab door.
And almost ran smack into someone’s back. He stumbled, trying to arrest his forward momentum, and ended up running his shoulder into the doorjamb with a heavy thump.
The person who had been blocking the door swiveled a head around, while the rest of the body didn’t move. Keith caught a glimpse of a long ponytail swish by, before he found himself looking at a woman’s face. She glared at him and whispered in a throaty voice, “Don’t come out.”
Keith stared at her. She was an Indian, he realized, one of the few nationalities he hadn’t seen that many of in Brasil. She was fairly tall for an Indian, built like an athlete, and muscles in her neck bunched under her collar. Then he realized that her collar was part of the familiar sky-blue and green of a U.N. Guard uniform, and he froze. After all this time being at Worldfarm One and having no contacts with the Guard, he was suddenly inches from one. Like so many in his position, Keith had the unnerving feeling that this officer would have no trouble recognizing him for what he was, if she turned her attention to him. But she continued to block the door meaningfully, and Keith refocused on her warning. He stayed against the doorjamb, frozen, and glanced about for some sign of trouble.
“What’s going on?”
The Indian turned away from him, but did not move away from the door. She replied in a low voice, “Unexpected visitor.”
“What unexpec—” Just then, he realized two things: First, that there was indeed a “visitor” in the main corridor, in this case, a fairly large jaguar which seemed to be walking leisurely down the corridor; and second, the moment he had stopped talking, the cat had stopped in its tracks and turned to stare directly at him. He stared back, his mouth hanging open, and he was vaguely aware of the officer between them tensing up slightly...
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Worldfarm One: Being a foreigner can suck.
The United States has, by choice, been the place where those seeking their fortunes could come, from around the world, and start a new life. Whether it was the "tired, poor, huddled masses," or those who already had their fortune and were looking for a place to enjoy it, they have come to the U.S. and settled in. Many of those groups have found there to be no problem or resistance to their settling here, and have nothing but fond experiences of their immigration to America.
Others have not been so lucky. It is one of the great ironies of the U.S. that, although it publicly proclaims all men as equals, and welcomes all to its shores, the reality has always been that some people are "more equal than others." For every heartwarming family history of immigration, there is a nightmare to be told by another family, perhaps right next door. And often, the difference between one person's story and another's is simply an accident of geography, culture, or skin color.
This is a story that an amazing number of today's Americans have no firsthand experience with, or have had no experiences passed down to them from family history. This is a shame. Because, should these people ever find themselves forced to leave the country of their birth, knowing something about being discriminated against based on their culture or country of origin could come in handy.
Welcome to the world of Worldfarm One. This story takes place after the fall of the once-mighty United States of America, at a time when many of its lifetime residents have realized that they must emigrate to other countries to make a living or find a future for themselves. As Keith Maryland, the main character, soon discovers upon arriving in Brazil, those referred to as Estados—people from the States—are now the "wretched refuse," perceived as losers from a formerly selfish and domineering country, and worthy only of contempt. But despite the predjudice directed at him, the demeaning office politics forced upon him, the distrust of his colleagues, and a mysterious past that he hopes to leave far behind him, he must find a way to begin his new life as a scientist at the United Nations farming project Worldfarm One.
Fortunately for Keith (not to mention the rest of us), not everyone is bigoted or ignorant, as he needs all the help he can get to succeed, and to avoid falling in with the wrong crowd. He even finds out that love isn't out of the question. Depending on the breaks, and how he plays his cards, he will discover that moving to Worldfarm One is either the craziest, or the smartest thing he's ever done.
The troubles Keith goes through to carve out a new life are very topical, and familiar not only to immigrants to U.S. shores, but to immigrants worldwide. Others who are not so familiar with these issues may gain a fresh insight into the lives of those who must brave the trip from the countries of their birth for a new life.
The future presented here may be hard for citizens of the United States to imagine, because it is a future wherein the U.S. is no longer a dominant world power. However, there are many other countries that can identify with this... Russia... England... Spain... all once-mighty empires with a global reach, eventually those empires decayed, and the homeland was all that was left. It was then up to that country to learn how to deal with the rest of the world on an equal footing, a situation that was as much influenced by Karma as by anything else.
Unfortunately, the United States is not exactly flush with Karma these days. Worse, it had a lot of Karma at one point, especially after WWII, but it has since squandered it all away. It would be expected that, if the U.S. fortunes collapsed, and it had to depend on the kindness of its fellow countries for help, there probably would not be much of a helping hand extended.
Few countries are in a position to fill the void left by the U.S... China, perhaps... but some organization needs to keep the world on the same page. The United Nations would likely be that organization, the closest thing we've ever had to the concept of a World Government. And after so many years of acting in the shadow of the Superpowers, I would expect the U.N. to take to its new role with gusto. Policies that were defeated, or defanged, by the Superpowers would see a resurgence and support, possibly even at the expense of the Superpowers that kept those policies down (again, Karma at work).
So we could expect to see global initiatives, designed to bring equality to the world, as the U.N.'s first projects. Feeding the world? That's a no-brainer. Creating mass-production farms, therefore, would be a natural step in that direction. We could also expect similar U.N. facilities designed to mass-produce certain health-related drugs and compounds, to provide care to the young, old, or infirm, or to coordinate infrastructure projects that would provide jobs and needed services.
How well would these global initiatives work? As always, that is the question. But in most cases, trying would be better than doing nothing at all, and allowing billions of people to live without adequate food, medicine, health care or other facilities. It might be a hardship, especially for some countries that would essentially subsidize others, but is it conceivable to argue that it is not worth it?
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I've been surprised by how many people who've read this story, write back to me and criticize me for depicting the United States as anything but "the greatest country in the world." Whether from a sense of pride, or just plain denial, they cannot imagine the U.S.A. brought to its knees by the harsh realities of the future, or its citizens considered "second-class" anywhere else in the world.
I'm afraid that's exactly why it may eventually happen: Sooner or later, the stiff neck of the United States will be forcibly bent by the global reality. If we resist those forces too long, our necks will simply snap. And we, as a nation, generally show little sign of being willing to bend...
These same people have also criticized my suggestion that the United Nations would become a true global superpower, once release from the shadow of the U.S. True, it's hard to imagine today's constantly-bickering, usually-ineffectual U.N. becoming a positive global influence. But in the future, who knows? If countries finally agree that we all have to work together to survive, what better organization to organize the world governments under?
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