Chapter 58 -- SXWSGQVVLGBSSQ
"I suppose we won't get much before tomorrow morning," Donald said. "It's almost
five, I should probably go over to the office and see if there's anything of
interest."
"What happens tomorrow?" Jessica asked. "If they accept. That postpones the
start for, how long?"
"If they accept," Donald replied, "they'll be waiting for us to contact them, as
the letter says. They'll get a phone call, bounced around through several
relays, several of which we own. The call will simply tell them that our
reply will be sent, no only to them but to all of the American people, so
everyone can see it. That's all. We will then print copies, as we did with
our first message to the population. Our conditions spelled out, simple and
clear.
"We will then wait for the response. If it is not satisfactory or not
received at all, then we resume hostilities. Of course we weren't sure of the
response this time - we're fairly certain of the next one. At that point our
commander-in-chief will leave the country for a safe location, along with
several key members of the Council.
"While they could probably remain safely hidden within the country, this is an
added layer of security. Communications will work just as well, for us. And
our communications with the enemy - the same way we're doing now. The next
time they initiate contact it will be to negotiate a truce. We'll have told
them how."
"Then we're probably a couple of weeks out," Carter said. "Is there anything we
can be doing to prepare?"
"We want to be well stocked here for long stays, other than that we'll be
ready for any requisitions of materiel. I suspect they won't be long in coming."
"We'll see you in the morning then," Jessica said.
The four of them continued watching the news for a while before returning home
for the night. There was little if anything new. The endless procession of
guest experts and pundits soon wore thin, and they decided to have dinner and
go to their homes.
Meals had become a quick and simple affair, usually frozen pizzas or other
items quickly and easily prepared. They were already living the war, even
though the remainder of the population was yet to realize it.
Later, Carter and Jessica stood on the deck on the back of the house, the glass
walls of winter already in place, drinking a glass of wine before retiring.
The sun had just set, and in the cool twilight the calm country view seemed to
be another world viewed through a window. She looked up at him, as he seemed
to be looking at something far away. She suspected she was feeling the same,
wondering if they would ever see the calm, normal world they had once known.
After a while he looked over at her, smiled and put his arm around her.
"It'll be all right," he said. "We both know it, but it just seems a long way
off now. But it will come."
They went over early in the morning. Donald had returned sometime during the
night and already had the televisions on. Carter and Jessica took doughnuts
and coffee to his office, where they were soon joined by Tommy and James.
It was not yet 0800, and they guessed the presidential address, if it happened,
would be around the 0900 time specified. A delay of a few minutes, or
probably even hours, would not cause them to act, but preparations were in
place for the end of a twenty-four hour period with no response.
As they had expected, the break in the news programs came at 0851, just a few
minutes before the deadline. The president was if anything more robotic than
usual. Very likely the staff, whoever made the decisions, agonized over every
word. The action of the previous Friday had convinced them it was a serious
matter, and a response was required if only to stall for time, which was what
they expected.
"My fellow Americans," he said, as most speeches began. "As many, perhaps most
of you know by now, a letter was sent to the president and to the
United States Congress. In this letter, an organization referring to itself as the
People's Republic of the United States states that a state of war exists
between this organization and the government of the United States. In this
letter, a reference to the tragic events of last Friday, indicates they are,
or claim to be, responsible.
"Let me be clear, the government of the United States will never submit to
terrorism and will not negotiate with terrorists. And terrorist is what the
people who committed these heinous and cowardly crimes are. And make no
mistake, those who committed these crimes will be found and brought to justice.
"I urge you to abandon this course of madness, surrender yourselves to the
proper authorities. You must be held accountable, of course, but if you do
not cease and desist from such actions now, many people will suffer. As I
speak, investigations are underway and are bearing fruit. I am now
speaking to those people.
"You cannot hide for long, and the more crimes you commit the more severe the
consequences will be. And those who have aided you, or do so in the future,
by providing help of any kind, will be held accountable. Anyone who has
information which may assist in stopping these terrorists and bringing them to
justice is urged to contact authorities immediately. Information for how to
do this will be provided after this address is completed.
"As to the senders of the letter, we are willing to communicate with you and
hear your grievances, whatever they may be. We are willing to examine any
matters you believe require redress. But there is a proper way to do that,
and we hope that you will use it.
"Finally, I urge you, my fellow citizens, to be vigilant and report any
suspicious activity of which you have knowledge. Together we will defeat this
threat to our democracy. Thank you."
They watched the session with the Director of Homeland Security that followed.
There was little new information, aside from the admission that a suspect from
the events of Black Friday, as it was now commonly being called, was in custody.
They expected a break in the case any day, but the importance of 'vigilance',
as it was described, was stressed. Nothing, no matter how small or innocent,
should be dismissed. Including friends and family.
"Friends and family. That pretty much nails it," Carter said. "I'm surprised
they're being so overt, this early."
"I have to suspect a fair amount of desperation among the inner circle," Donald
said. "They're all of minimal competence at best, at everything except
political infighting. They could have handled it better, bought some time, by
at least pretending to start a dialogue. It would take a few more days, weeks
even, to arrive at the point of no return. Which is where they are now, given
that it was as good as an outright rejection."
"That was probably the worst thing he said," Carter said. "If we're already
going to be planting red herrings everywhere, stirring up the independent
groups to act. He just invited every busybody in the country to help us gum
up the works."
"We're hoping the enemy's incompetence will help," said Donald, "and we probably
won't be disappointed."
"So it begins today.," Jessica said.
"Effectively. There's a second letter to the people, probably going out in two,
maybe three days. The final draft has been approved - I got the go-ahead last
night - so it's just a matter of doing the distribution. Here's a copy, by
the way."
He handed the copies to them. Carter looked at the single page.
00 Xxxxxxxxx 20xx
To our fellow Americans:
Recently the People's Liberation Army embarked upon a campaign to
restore the constitutional republic that has now been destroyed
by many years of political and societal corruption, to the degree
that a societal or political solution is no longer possible.
The months, perhaps years ahead will be filled with discomfort,
and even danger for many. We deeply regret this, but the only
alternative is, as we know from history, years, decades, even
centuries of slavery and misery for the vast majority of the
population, while a few privileged live lives of comfort and
security unknown and unavailable to the remainder of the people.
A few weeks ago, we asked you if you will do something to stop
the destruction of the greatest nation and society that has ever
existed on the earth. We now ask you again. The government has
rejected our requests to negotiate a peaceful solution. During
the weeks and months ahead you will have opportunities to do,
even if in small ways, something to help. Do not assist this
corrupt government in its attempts to complete the subjugation
of its citizens. If you see an opportunity to help in the
resistance, we ask you to do so.
We stand at the edge of a precipice, poised to take the last
step into ruin. As one of our greatest presidents said: "We will
preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on
Earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a
thousand years of darkness."
And it may well be a thousand years if we do not act. There
has never been such a nation on this earth, and if we do not.
preserve it, in its original form, there may never be another.
Humankind will have at last demonstrated unequivocally that
that it does not deserve one.
The People's Liberation Army
"That makes it pretty clear." Jessica said. "How long did it take to the the last
one out?"
"About eight to ten days total," Donald replied. "Once the finished product was
in the hands of the freeholds, they went to work making copies and
distributing them. Even the smaller ones could make tens of thousands, in
most cases more than enough for their particular geographical area, given the
population. Nice thing about technology, it's fast and cheap. They'll still
be wondering when it's over how they got out there so fast."
"And for anyone who hasn't seen one yet the television and internet will
finish the job," said Jessica. "The very people who try control the flow of
information and try to brainwash the population help us. They can't resist
getting in on it."
"Right," Donald said. "And there's no way the government can keep it from
getting out. With over two million copies on the ground, telling the news media not
to report it will be useless. And the ubiquity of it will make all the
recipients know they're part of something big.
"Who's doing it in this area?" asked Tommy. "I guess we could help out, even
though we don't have a lot of contact with the outside. I'm guessing it's one
of the members up this way."
"Yeah, Pine Ridge handles this area for things like this," Donald said. "They
drive across from Hannibal, right past us in fact, head back a a little north
of us, leaving them in small towns, which is about all there are. Hannibal is
the only city of any size in the north part of the state. They drop them off
in small batches, surreptitiously, in places where people will find them, like
the small free papers, scattered around on counters at post offices, gas
stations. They probably put out about five, six thousand. Most of the time
someone who finds one will share it, if only to ask if someone knows about it.
So by a couple of days after we start the country is exposed coast to coast,
and not just in the cities but anywhere people live."
"Anything else of interest come in overnight?" Jessica asked.
"Nothing especially significant" Donald said. "Other than the fact that the
leash is off on our associates and other contacts whom we'd asked to stand
down until after Friday. That word is already being passed, before we got the
response from the government. We knew it wasn't going to be a capitulation,
and that was the only thing that would have stopped. So they're free to fire
at will."
"How many of them are likely to do something right away?" Carter asked. "Of
major consequence."
"There's a good chance," Donald replied. "Some of the more, unstable you
could say, might make a move soon. Those are the ones the government will be
going after in any case, especially now. So they have nothing to lose.
Hopefully some of them will make a good show."
"Is you office going to continue to be adequate for a command center?" Jessica
asked "Or should we think about some changes?"
"I've been thinking about that," Donald replied. "We could build a new one in the
old garage. It's been empty for a while, we can start with a clean slate. It
would be mostly a matter of moving equipment and some electrical and cabling.
We could probably get Grant from Copper City come up for a couple of days, we
could get it done fairly quickly.
"Other than that, there's not much we can work in just now."