The Rangers Are Coming (36 page)

              “An excellent question, Ben,” said Arcadia, ”and it brings up the next big point of discussion.  The next major global crisis will be a revolution in France.  It will be a bloody mess.  They will execute the King and most of the upper class in France by cutting their heads off with a guillotine, mostly in public to screaming masses.  History says this will go on for several years before the rise of a man, a regular middle-rank artillery officer, named Napoleon Bonaparte.  Napoleon is a military genius.  He will unite France like never before and form an army that will threaten every country in Europe.  In fact, he will conquer Spain, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and attack Russia.  Only England will be left to stand against him.  His invasion of Russia will prove to be his undoing, that plus the British Navy.  America had little to do with that war, except to buy a big hunk of land from France.  Its land we already hold and so Napoleon will not get aid from us in that way.  This is the way we will have of demonstrating our scrupulous neutrality.  We will continue to trade with any country that has money, but we will not supply any weapons or military aid of any kind to either side.  We just let them beat each other to pieces, and when the war is over in about 1815, we emerge as a real power, but one that maintains its neutrality, but encourages immigration.  We need people to fill up our big country, lots of people.  So that will be the big outcome of this crisis.”

              “However, the future is very fluid and all kinds of things we don’t anticipate happening may surprise us.  That is why the United States must operate the best intelligence service in the world.  Basically, we have to flood the planet with thousands of spies.  The secret of our communications system is our greatest weapon, but it’s limited to the United States and Europe, and we can’t improve it for at least a hundred years.  So, we must rely on codes, people imbedded in governments, sleeper cells of spies, and we must be able to use this mountain of information to predict the threats, known, and unknown that are coming at us in the future.  The farther we get into the future the greater the dangers, so we have a hundred years or so to develop the best intelligence system that money can buy.”

34

Washington, D.C.

              Arcadia was extremely proud of the new Capital of the United States.  President Jefferson, was elected in 1788 and re-elected in 1792, 1796, 1800, 1804, and 1808, and proved to be an extremely able, resilient, and prolific Chief Executive.  In his 24-year administration, he built Washington, the District of Columbia, almost perfectly to what it had been before it was destroyed in 2025.  It was designed to overwhelm, intimidate, and impress foreign dignitaries, and it certainly did that.  The White House became the biggest home-court advantage in the world.

              Jefferson had followed the blueprint set by Arcadia to precision, not just because she said so, and had a huge pile of information to back it up; but because Jefferson believed in the plan to the core of his being.

              The result of the Homestead Act was a massive relocation of peasants from Mexico and Central America.  The mid-western states began to be more populated since they were good for agriculture and did not need the advanced irrigation systems.  But the relocations made life in Mexico and Central America easier for those who stayed and were able to take advantage of the Homestead Act as well.  Jefferson allowed most of the bigger ranches to remain intact as long as the workers were treated properly and paid a fair wage. 

              A great many blacks, former slaves moved to the scattered industrial centers around the country and worked in the factories.  Their lives improved a great deal and racial discrimination was the exception.  The country continued to be devoutly Christian and this made integration of all groups go easier.

              The government initiated vast programs of improved infrastructure building using the floods of money that was pouring in from international trade.  There were now ports in both San Francisco and Los Angeles that received trade from India, China, and Japan.  The rail system grew to over 25,000 miles of track and there were few places in the country from Alaska to Panama that did not have access to rail.

              Jefferson also started building roads.  He used both concrete and asphalt, developed by the cleaver special education centers that were springing up around the country.  New steel and concrete buildings were going up in the bigger cities.  Larger cities, like New York, Chicago, and Kansas City were inevitable, but they were not ghettos.  The expanded rail, and road system kept towns connected, but not over-crowded.

              The wonders of electricity fascinated the research centers and enterprising reverse engineers figured out the secret of the electric incandescent bulb.  Soon electricity was going into homes and the night became filled with light.  The same process was underway with the Ranger’s radios.  That technology with printed circuit boards and transistors was still beyond the researchers, but not the concept of sound being capable of being carried by wire.  Soon primitive, but quite effective telephones were popping up in offices, assembly plants, and some public buildings.

              Jefferson had multiplied by many times the amount of electricity that could be produced by using steel and concrete to build bigger and bigger dams across unruly rivers that flooded on an annual basis, but now were backing up great bodies of water that provided water and power to lands that previously had neither.

              The innovative president had a dozen experiments of all kinds in progress at any given time in the White House.

              The French Revolution occurred exactly as Arcadia had predicted and soon Napoleon was running roughshod over Europe.  America maintained its strict neutrality, but continued trading food and non-military goods to any country who could afford it, or whom Jefferson was willing to extend credit.  England was America’s best customer with a steady supply of food.  The United States expanded imports of rubber, rare minerals, and other exotic products that were fed into the voracious appetite of the American public.

              The United States maintained its two brigades of Rangers who saw action in an abortive attempt by Napoleon to attack Haiti and the Dominican Republic.  It was a very short engagement and the Rangers were cheered all over the island state of Hispaniola.  The Rangers were also kept busy putting down outbursts of outlaws in Central America and occasionally augmenting a local police force in dealing with crime.  Usually, all that had to be said to restore order anywhere was, “The Rangers Are Coming.”  In fact, one enterprising Spanish General used that tactic to scatter three battalions of French soldiers.  Jefferson, made it clear to the Spanish Government, through his ambassador, that this was not the kind of threat the United States government appreciated, emphasizing that America was a strictly neutral, Christian nation.

              The country was now completely used to, and approved of the basic primary election system to choose their delegates to Washington and to their states offices.  The schools were doing their part providing excellent educations for students and instilling in them a sense of citizenship with what became known as the Master Civics Examination.  Contests were held to see who was best at basic government and current events questions, and the students with the highest scores in the test got trophies and adoration.  The result was people intending to run for public office always faced a very informed and questioning public.

              Jefferson took advantage of this improved way of electing high government officials by declaring his vice president.  The implication was, “If you liked the way I ran things, my choice for vice president won’t disappoint you.  For the last three terms, Jefferson’s vice president was Alexander Hamilton.

              America was the most respected, honored, and envied country in the world.  Each year, the number of immigrants came pouring in, no less than a million.  The requirements were simple.  No matter what country the immigrant arrived from, they took an oath declaring unconditional loyalty to the United States, exclusively.  English was the official language and everyone was required to learn it.  Citizenship was provisional for a period of five years, at which time the immigrant was required to take and pass the current Master Civics Examination.

              Arcadia was something of a problem for the country.  In the beginning, almost 40 years ago, she was the inspiration for a new nation.  Now nearly 40 years had passed and she had not aged at all.  That was the problem.  Her unchanged appearance had the effect of making her seem “other-worldly.”  This was not the image she wanted for herself.  She felt in might undermine the authority of the president, and she had worked too hard to make that an effective system.

              Still, Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison were constantly checking with her about current events and her forecast for the future.  All her actions and predictions had proved to be of enormous value to the foundation of the United States, and these men, were still from the original group.  She had a large, very nice home in Georgetown, but it was difficult for her to leave it.  All sorts of subterfuges were used to get her out of town to the estates at Monticello, and Fort Independence where her own team lived.  They were also unchanged, but since they were mostly not public figures, they could come and go about as they pleased.

              Actually, she liked going to Fort Independence.  Not only were many friends there, but she loved to see the current crop of Ranger’s in action.  Many of the original Rangers had retired and lived comfortably on a generous pension in places all over the country.  The new Rangers were every bit as battle ready as the ones who had taken to the field against the British.  Their commanding General saw to that.

              “Good Morning, Arcadia, “ said the General when she was ushered into his office.  “It’s so wonderful to see you again.

              “Hi there, Robby,” said Arcadia,” How’s everything going with the wagon business?”

              “Business is booming,” said General Pierce, “My brother writes to me they are running three shifts of workers and still can’t keep up with the demand.  We have over 500 employees in the plant.  I’m constantly feeding my brother, who is in charge of development, little improvements based on having the Special Ed guys take one of the Humvees apart and figure out how they did something.  As you know, the technology on those vehicles is very advanced and our people are just beginning to understand some of the technical circuitry.  It will be years before they are able to reproduce it.  However, there is one thing that we have figured out and I need your counsel on it.”

              “OK,” said Arcadia, “what’s on your mind?”

              “The techs are pretty good, and they’ve found out we don’t really need all the special circuitry to build the engine.  I understand it’s called the Internal Combustion Engine.  In different configurations, it’s the key to making all our equipment run, from Bradley’s to Blackhawks.  They’ve constructed a prototype in the lab, and it works.”

              “Oh boy,” said Arcadia, “you’re opening an enormous can of worms.”

              “How’s that,” asked Robby?

              “About a hundred years from now, your engine is going to get adapted to a simple vehicle that can be mass produced and sold to the public at a price that will make it possible for almost all families to own.  This will cause a worldwide revolution, with a lot of serious repercussions to it.”

              Arcadia pulled over a laptop and opened it.  She entered the passwords that gave her access to the development of the automobile and the resulting benefits and problems, socially, politically, economically and environmentally to the use of oil, and the refinement of gasoline.  “I need for you to watch this documentary of what really happens in the future, and then get back to me with your recommendations on what we should do next.”

              “Looks like I really hit a nerve,” said Robby, “I’ve never seen you so serious.”

              “Imbedded in that documentary are the root causes for the destruction of the United States a little over 200 years from now.  Keep this information to yourself and don’t do anything until you talk with me.  Take your time, but do a thorough job of studying this branch of our history.  While you’re preparing your report, I’m gonna go down to your martial arts school and knock a few heads around as the infamous ‘Black Ninja’.”

              “I’ll call the infirmary and tell them to expect some extra patients.  Try not to kill any of my people.”

              “I’ll be careful,” smiled Arcadia.

              After she left, General Robert Pierce, commander of the first Ranger Brigade, locked the door, and called out to his staff and told them he was not to be interrupted.  Then he punched up the documentary and transferred it to the big screen in his office.

              Over the next two days, Robby learned all about the development of the automobile.  He also took careful note of where the supply of oil was coming from, and how damaging the burning of fossil fuels was to the environment, from the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.  He also learned that the United States from Alaska to Mexico had enormous reserves of oil, coal, and natural gas.  However, a lot of the supplies would be difficult to recover, and would require the application of technology which did not, as yet, exist.  It was not lost on him that the importation of large quantities of oil from the Middle East would put the United States on a collision course with the Muslim countries, which regarded Christians and Jews as enemies and already had the stated purpose, even in 1808 of killing or converting them all.  He shivered at the prospects of what he was messing around with, and now clearly understood Arcadia’s concerns.