Global Peak (Part 11.0 up 05/29/09).

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Actually, only the IXth amendment still has any relevancy in the FedGov. The other nine have been trampled on out of the Bill of Rights. Pretty much, constitutional government has been Suspended For the Duration of the Emergency. And it was done nominally legally through the Treaty of Union with Canada, which took advantage of the clause in the constitution allowing treaties to be treated as constitutional law to basically indefinitely suspend all civil rights. It was ratified by the rump Senate left over after the FSU states withdrew their Senators in preparation for secession.

[Adrian Laguna]

Did they even have to bother running shit through Congress? The FedGov could have just declared nationwide martial law and called it a day.

[Coalition]

One stunt is where the FSU (non Gods-will states) is doing what they can to help persecuted people leave the Gods Will states, in exchange for labor. Their neighbors get rid of troublemakers, and they get extra labor. Give enough time, and the more open states will be the production centers. Of course this is assuming there is enough to go around to feed the extra mouths, and resources to move them.

[Illuminatus Primus]

Actually, only the IXth amendment still has any relevancy in the FedGov. The other nine have been trampled on out of the Bill of Rights. Pretty much, constitutional government has been Suspended For the Duration of the Emergency. And it was done nominally legally through the Treaty of Union with Canada, which took advantage of the clause in the constitution allowing treaties to be treated as constitutional law to basically indefinitely suspend all civil rights. It was ratified by the rump Senate left over after the FSU states withdrew their Senators in preparation for secession.

Which clause is that?

[Gil Hamilton]

Which clause is that?

Article IV of the Constitution has that:

This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof; and all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding.

However, I believe that what Marina suggests happen is Constitutionally shaky. A Treaty can't be made that removes the Rights listed in the Constitution or suspend the Constitution itself. Those rights should exist. The problem is that the only people who can ENFORCE those rights is... dun dun dun... the Government. The right of peaceful assembly only really holds if there is a government and a supreme court that is willing to do something about it. If they declare martial law, all bets are off.

[Warsie]

Do neo-fascists control Italy, .....

...as they do at the moment?

Isn't Italy's government a bunch of small parties that constantly reform and reorganize, then collapse?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Do neo-fascists control Italy, .....

...as they do at the moment?

Isn't Italy's government a bunch of small parties that constantly reform and reorganize, then collapse?

Italy is a French puppet state in 2048.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Golan Heights,
4 April 2048.


The first target had been Egypt. Air Marshal Johnathan Falkirk had remembered, some months later, the tangles of rotted corpses washing up on the beaches of Cyprus. Ninety million people killed in the space of several hours as an immense wave washed down the floodplain of the Nile, a radioactive wave which rendered uninhabitable all the land of Egypt suitable for farming, and completely destroyed the crop. Oh, certainly, not all of them had died outright--many, in fact, had not. But they had wished otherwise. That was the result of the first brace of bombs from Israeli fighter-bombers smashing the Aswan High Dam, a bit more than a decade prior.

Back when he hadn't been sixty-four, and decidedly ready for retirement; as if retirement was possible now. Back before he could stand here on the Golan and imagine he could still see in the distance the charred remnants of Damascus. Saudi Arabia had been next. Six devices, twenty conventional bombings, and essentially every source of water in the country had been destroyed or contaminated. Thirty million people died, either outright, or of thirst in the next few weeks. Jordan was already gone, nuclear artillery from the Jerusalem area had swept over it and annihilated every major city, Aqaba was handily dealt with in the opening minutes of the war, they'd even smashed Jericho with nukes. Then Syria. Then Iraq.

Other squadrons had hit Libya, but they scarcely had the same number of bombs. That was just a bit of depopulation to discourage them from crossing the radioactive boundary of the Nile while the fighter-bombers swept on to the distant targets of Yemen and Iran. By the time the Israelis had completely expended an arsenal of 300 nuclear devices, they had succeeded in killing 250 million people, in a nuclear war more or less tied with lethality toward the almost concurrent one that had been fought between India and Pakistan. Then they'd dug in, and started to fight the first waves of the Arab hoardes which had come anyway. And ten years later, Israel was still fighting.

And Air Marshal Johnathan Falkirk was their ally. As Generalissimo of Cyprus, Malta, and the Peloponnesus, he thought mildly, amused at his fate as a crusader despite not being very religious. The RAF had still had its sovereign base areas on Cyprus, and it was toward Cyprus that the surviving elements of the Royal Navy had finally come, a taskgroup, one of the SSBNs proved useless in the face of the French ABM lasers, a few SSNs, some frigates and patrol boats showing the flag in distant reaches. The remnants of the Royal Navy operated out of Famagusta at first, and then returned daringly to Malta to threaten the French. But not to fight; they were outnumbered, and the position was hopeless.

Just to preserve what they had. And it had only grown; southern Greece, when the northern part was overrun by the Balkan peoples in internicine war triggered by starvation. The Greek islands, Ionian and Aegean. And finally, of course, what was necessary to give them an industrial economy, to give the Israelis food supplies too in turn. It was a devil's bargain, to work with those bastards, but the Royal Air Force was the only thing keeping the Turks and Greeks of Cyprus from killing each other, and the French from snatching up the remains.

"Air Marshal, Sir?" General Bagenev glanced over to his guest. Sometimes he though the old man was going senile.... But he was still the only ally that Israel had left in the world. The Russian Jew who commanded the northern sector of the IADF--responsible for the north of Israel and Lebanon, where their client state (as opposed to full ally) of the Falange kept things tightly locked down and defended the immense fortifications in the Bekaa Valley. "You see the effects of our last strikes?" He pointed out the still-burning smudges, the columns of smoke from two weeks ago where what were likely the last oil wells in the mid-east, a very tiny find by the Arabs in the southeast of Syria, had been destroyed. They had tried to establish them secretly, but little escaped the notice of Israel, nor the reach of her hydrogen-fueled jets.

"And so goes the last of the Arab wealth, yes," Johnathan replied philosophically. "Their conventional attacks have petered out for the moment?"

"They're forced to scavenge for any fuel they can find again, yes, Sir," Bagenev nodded. Yes, getting rather senile. "Hasn't stopped the usual efforts to infiltrate across the Nile Radiation Zone, of course, but we have that down," and just to make sure that nobody would get across it, they'd seeded the area with radioactive waste; it wasn't like anyone lived in Egypt anymore.

"They don't mind a dose of poison, do they, old chap?"

"Not if it's the dying for Allah." No damn cigarettes. That's what I hate most about my life. Humouring the commander of British Cyprus was a minor annoyance in comparison.

"So it has always been for the Sons of the Prophet," Johnathan answered, and stepped down from the viewing parapet. No need to linger that long; there always might be a sniper on the other side even if the Arabs were not trying major attacks at the moment. "Planning on cutting your leave?"

"I might go to Laconia this time, yes," Bagenev agreed. It was the only chance to escape the constant warzone of Israel-Lebanon, after all. "Hiking in the woods, visit some battlefields.." He laughed. "Can't quite get the soldier out of me these days no matter how hard I try. Can't relax as I did in days of old."

"Your whole society has militarized itself to resemble the Spartans, General, and I say that as a compliment."

"Your Volunteer Corps is not so bad at fighting either," Bagenev returned the comment. "As solid as the best traditions of the British Army, even if they're all Greek or Turks or Maltese."

"We try to do that. It's a pity we couldn't get some Diggers up here, but they are, I understand, still in the process of preparing for some final sweeps in the north which will let them begin offensive operations against the Indonesians who have settled in the northern coastal fringe."

"They get their uranium to us. We can deal with the troops. Though it's a pity the Arabs don't provide us many targets for nukes these days. It would make things easier."

"All men learn, General. And you taught them a very harsh lesson indeed." Only five times as many men as Hitler, surely? I would be worried about what my family would think, if they were still alive. But he knew in his heart that this alliance would be the only thing keeping the people he had taken up the defence of, for a long, long time. From chaos, pirate raids, fascist French domination, and countless other things. The Republic of the Islands, a true Mediterranean state, would be born out of the remnants of the British armed forces. And to support it, they needed Israel. It did not let him rest easy, and never would, but that was the job of those last remnants of Britain now. By ruling justly but sternly over the Cypriots and Maltese and Greek islanders, they would protect them from moral opprobrium.. And take it upon themselves.

And perhaps someday the crusaders will return to free their homeland, he mused forlornly, for with each passing year, he came to realize more deeply that he would not live to see that day. The traditions, though, these he would keep alive, out of a vague and unformed hope of the future. And so he would be polite to General Bagenev, who ten years earlier had been the wing commander leading the strike on the Aswan High Dam.

[Adrian Laguna]

I have decided to write a running commentary as I read the story.

The first target had been Egypt. Air Marshal Johnathan Falkirk had remembered, some months later, the tangles of rotted corpses washing up on the beaches of Cyprus. Ninety million people killed in the space of several hours as an immense wave washed down the floodplain of the Nile, a radioactive wave which rendered uninhabitable all the land of Egypt suitable for farming, and completely destroyed the crop.

As predicted, nuclear groundburst at the base of Aswan High Dam, and Egypt's population problem is permanently solved.

Jordan was already gone, nuclear artillery from the Jerusalem area had swept over it and annihilated every major city, Aqaba was handily dealt with in the opening minutes of the war, they'd even smashed Jericho with nukes. Then Syria. Then Iraq.

And the walls of Jericho fall to Jewish hands, again, and more spectacularly this time. I notice Lebanon is not on the list, did Israel annex it? I would hope so, it's a nice place.

fighter-bombers swept on to the distant targets of Yemen and Iran.

Aww, I like the Persians. It makes me sad they got hit.

By the time the Israelis had completely expended an arsenal of 300 nuclear devices, they had succeeded in killing 250 million people, in a nuclear war more or less tied with lethality toward the almost concurrent one that had been fought between India and Pakistan.

India vs. Pakistan killed only 250 million? Weak.

And Air Marshal Johnathan Falkirk was their ally. As Generalissimo of Cyprus, Malta, and the Peloponnesus, he thought mildly, amused at his fate as a crusader despite not being very religious. The RAF had still had its sovereign base areas on Cyprus, and it was toward Cyprus that the surviving elements of the Royal Navy had finally come,

The Empire lives!

"Air Marshal, Sir?" General Bagenev glanced over to his guest. Sometimes he though the old man was going senile.... But he was still the only ally that Israel had left in the world.

What, no Turkey? That also makes me sad. Though they weren't on the hit list either. I guess it makes sense, in all probability if Turkey doesn't collapse it's because the Russians made it a satellite.

The Russian Jew who commanded the northern sector of the IADF--responsible for the north of Israel and Lebanon, where their client state (as opposed to full ally) of the Falange kept things tightly locked down and defended the immense fortifications in the Bekaa Valley.

Yup, they are in control of Lebanon, but seems they stopped short of outright annexation. Must have been a pain in the ass to clean out the Shiites out of there. Also pretty straightforward, now that the world at large is too busy to worry about things like "genocide" if it's not happening to them specifically.

"Your Volunteer Corps is not so bad at fighting either," Bagenev returned the comment. "As solid as the best traditions of the British Army, even if they're all Greek or Turks or Maltese."

It lives I tell you!

"We try to do that. It's a pity we couldn't get some Diggers up here, but they are, I understand, still in the process of preparing for some final sweeps in the north which will let them begin offensive operations against the Indonesians who have settled in the northern coastal fringe."

Diggers? Does he mean ANZACs?

And so he would be polite to General Bagenev, who ten years earlier had been the wing commander leading the strike on the Aswan High Dam.

That would make him one of a mere handful of men who saw the fireworks display of the century and lived.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Aw. So the Kurds proved to be no good as Muslim clients for the Israelis?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

Aw. So the Kurds proved to be no good as Muslim clients for the Israelis?

I didn't say they hit all of Iraq or Syria.

And the total death toll from the India-Pakistan exchange was closer to 300 million or possibly even more; it's just that nobody is sure, because no functional governments survived to try and take stock of the situation. There's just armed bands killing people in the name of Kali or Allah.

[Alferd Packer]

I wonder what the world population is going to be in, say, 2100? If I had to guess, I'd probably say somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion. Deliberate or unwittingly performed, what we're seeing here is basically a global super enema. There's too many people and not enough shit to go around, so we have to kill off a good 80-90 percent of the human population. That percentage, of course, assumes that the world population continues to grow until about 2035 to roughly 9 billion.

[CmdrWilkens]

I wonder what the world population is going to be in, say, 2100? If I had to guess, I'd probably say somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion. Deliberate or unwittingly performed, what we're seeing here is basically a global super enema. There's too many people and not enough shit to go around, so we have to kill off a good 80-90 percent of the human population. That percentage, of course, assumes that the world population continues to grow until about 2035 to roughly 9 billion.

I believe earlier in the thread Marina did a quick back fo the envelope calculation of excess deaths due to peak oil and the resulting wars. Ahh here it is:

Just for the official record there have been 2 billion excess deaths in 2033 - 2048 in this universe due to disease, famine, and war out of an initial population of about 8 billion, so that the world population in 2048 is (since it's still trying to grow) now around 6.5 billion.

[CypherLH]

I wonder what the world population is going to be in, say, 2100? If I had to guess, I'd probably say somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion. Deliberate or unwittingly performed, what we're seeing here is basically a global super enema. There's too many people and not enough shit to go around, so we have to kill off a good 80-90 percent of the human population. That percentage, of course, assumes that the world population continues to grow until about 2035 to roughly 9 billion.

I believe earlier in the thread Marina did a quick back fo the envelope calculation of excess deaths due to peak oil and the resulting wars. Ahh here it is:

Just for the official record there have been 2 billion excess deaths in 2033 - 2048 in this universe due to disease, famine, and war out of an initial population of about 8 billion, so that the world population in 2048 is (since it's still trying to grow) now around 6.5 billion.

Based on the state of things in 2048, the die-off is only going to accelerate going into the 2050's. It looks like even the more "stable" regions of the world are either experiencing outright famine or are on the verge of it, not to mention the really nasty wars.

Another 2 or 3 billion in die-off by 2060 is my guess, which when accounting for new births make for a population of something like 4 billion by 2060? Are you planning on continuing the story into the 2050's?

[Alferd Packer]

Ah, I see! So I wonder then, is five billion net deaths over the next fifty-two years completely out of the question? It works out to, what, an average of one hundred million net deaths per year? Would half that make more sense?

[The Duchess of Zeon]

I wonder what the world population is going to be in, say, 2100? If I had to guess, I'd probably say somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion. Deliberate or unwittingly performed, what we're seeing here is basically a global super enema. There's too many people and not enough shit to go around, so we have to kill off a good 80-90 percent of the human population. That percentage, of course, assumes that the world population continues to grow until about 2035 to roughly 9 billion.

I believe earlier in the thread Marina did a quick back fo the envelope calculation of excess deaths due to peak oil and the resulting wars. Ahh here it is:

Just for the official record there have been 2 billion excess deaths in 2033 - 2048 in this universe due to disease, famine, and war out of an initial population of about 8 billion, so that the world population in 2048 is (since it's still trying to grow) now around 6.5 billion.

Based on the state of things in 2048, the die-off is only going to accelerate going into the 2050's. It looks like even the more "stable" regions of the world are either experiencing outright famine or are on the verge of it, not to mention the really nasty wars.

Another 2 or 3 billion in die-off by 2060 is my guess, which when accounting for new births make for a population of something like 4 billion by 2060? Are you planning on continuing the story into the 2050's?

It really, really depends on the region. Some areas will recover, some will get worse. There is now no world economy, and no real interconnection (other than global warming) between what happens in one place or another. And note that Global Warming is noticeably less severe--Throwing a bunch of dust up into the atmosphere from nuclear strikes does that to you.

[CypherLH]

It really, really depends on the region. Some areas will recover, some will get worse. There is now no world economy, and no real interconnection (other than global warming) between what happens in one place or another. And note that Global Warming is noticeably less severe--Throwing a bunch of dust up into the atmosphere from nuclear strikes does that to you.

I had the impression from some of the earlier chapters that there was still some level of global trade going on. We know there are cargo ships bringing refugees from Europe to North America. We know that there are cargo ships carrying something through the Arctic Ocean, thanks to the global warming, although I wasn't clear on what they were shipping. And Russia is still selling oil and weapons to the FedGov via the Siberia-Alaska link.
Obviously these trade activities must only be a small fraction of today's gobal trade levels though.

Also, wouldn't there still be a lot of telecom capability? Communications shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyway, I'll keep reading this story with interest.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Who are Israel's client states/puppet regimes? Are the Gulf States (UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain) fallen to calamity, or did they meekly avoid getting bombed?

[Lonestar]

I had the impression from some of the earlier chapters that there was still some level of global trade going on. We know there are cargo ships bringing refugees from Europe to North America. We know that there are cargo ships carrying something through the Arctic Ocean, thanks to the global warming, although I wasn't clear on what they were shipping. And Russia is still selling oil and weapons to the FedGov via the Siberia-Alaska link.
Obviously these trade activities must only be a small fraction of today's gobal trade levels though.

Also, wouldn't there still be a lot of telecom capability? Communications shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Anyway, I'll keep reading this story with interest.

She means that the global economy is such now that corporations have largely degraded to being on national, instead of multi-national. While there is some trade going on, it would typically be war material/food that governments ordered rather than consumer goods generated by demand.

As for communications, when the owner of the internet, and quite a few communications satellites, starts to rip itself apart telecommunications are, at best, reliable(especially as so much of the various Comms assets for the USA are in the states most likely to be part of the FSU).

[Mayabird]

Re: The FSU

I heard a good turn of phrase the other day: When the Bible Belt Tightens. You know what Obama was saying about people clinging to their religion more tightly when things go badly? A lot of that, a lot of politicians fanning the flames of panicking people who are starving and dying in plagues aplenty and trying to redirect rage away from themselves, education levels going down as people are more interested in getting enough food than making sure their kids can read...it's basically an avalanche.

And there are variations and different degrees of suck in the FSU, ranging from states (or sections of states - I can't imagine they'll all keep the same shape when the war ends) that did leave because of disagreements to the FedGov and its policies, to the crazed lunatics who left because with others leaving, they could get away with it too.

I don't want to spoil too many details about my story, but one little thing: the government of the free state of Georgia can best be described as a libertarian theocracy.

[Mayabird]

4 April, 2048
Off the coast of Iceland

The hydrogen-powered patrol plane flew over the cold waters.

A message went out in Icelandic, but with a strange hint of a flat American accent. “Base, this is Patrol 3. The unidentified craft has been spotted, over.”

Colonel Madison Greene, formerly of the FedGov Air Force, now in the Air Defense System of Iceland, circled and looked over the ship.

“It is flying no flags. No identifying markings that I can see, nothing big and national at least.”

Colonel Greene had been stationed in Iceland with her family (the old American base had been restored just prior to the formation of the FedGov) when the FedGov began to fall apart. She and the other personnel at the base were given an offer: stay and become the air force of Iceland, gaining residency and citizenship for themselves and their families, or go back to civil war and starvation.

Most of them had made her choice. It wasn’t like the FedGov was in any position to come after them, anyway.

“I think I see nets. Possible Þorskastríðin, repeat Þorskastríðin, over.”

The response came back, “Noted, Patrol 3. Return to base. We’re sending a ship out now.”

The planes had all been refitted with hydrogen engines, for Icelandic hydrogen tech was the best in the world. They sold it to anyone who would pay, like Israel. Iceland had begun to transition to a hydrogen-based system before the peak hit, and the peak had only spurred the transition along: they hadn’t needed to import petroleum for almost twenty years, though the government kept some stockpiles, just in case.

But planes, those were far more valuable, nearly irreplaceable. Iceland had plenty of energy resources, geothermal and hydroelectric, but a small population. Their industries could handle shipbuilding and some manufacturing, with a lot of focus on hydrogen tech, but not airplanes. If they wanted any more, Iceland would probably have to buy them from Russia at great expense. It was better not to risk planes and pilots when ships and sailors were a bit more expendable.

And so, the coast guard vessel Islendingur (the same basic design at the typical fishing boat, but with more guns, less nets, and an expensive, reasonably modern electronics suite imported from France and Russia), captained by the native Icelander Úlfur Bryndísarson, turned from its usual patrol protecting one of the Icelandic fishing fleets towards the unidentified vessel.

The Captain could not be called fat, but he was certainly stout, thick, a bit bulky, heavy with muscle. He was healthy and well-fed, a state most Icelanders enjoyed. Not only did the island have the energy, but the warming climate was making the countryside more habitable and suitable for agriculture. Their fisheries had been carefully managed since the 20th century, and their population was small enough to not outstrip their resources.

Iceland was not really rich, but it was enjoying a quiet prosperity that was not among the best in the world. Their children could always have a warm mug of milk before going to bed. It was a prosperity that had to be protected. Family planning laws to keep the population from growing, bans on immigration to protect their own population, and the ever-vigilant Coast Guard sinking pirates and poaches and driving away refugees, as well as the traditional search-and-rescue and other operations.

“Captain, the unknown vessel should be in view soon.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” He peered through his binoculars, searching for…there, a darker blotch on grey swells. Þorskastríðin they said, ‘cod war,’ the code for non-Icelandic fish poachers. Didn’t necessarily mean they were just desperate peaceful fishermen, though. Pirates (the code for them was “Somalis” but Captain Úlfur had no idea what that meant) sometimes fished while waiting for vessels to attack, and sometimes the fishermen would try to shoot at them even if they weren’t pirates.

“Vessel spotted. No identifying marks, as they said. Bring us in closer, Lieutenant.” The captain turned to two younger sailors who were serving their mandatory three years in the coast guard as all able-bodied Icelanders were required to do. “Prepare the loudspeakers.”

“Yes sir!” They scrambled off to their duties.

The Islendingur approached the unknown ship. For some of the draftees, this was their first encounter out on the water, and they were excited. The older crewmembers on the small crew told them to calm down because most of the time nothing much happened; the refugees were turned back, or they might confiscate some fish and then turn the ship back and escort them out of Icelandic territorial waters. But if something did, well, that’s why they were trained for such an occasion.

“Sir, loudspeakers are rea-ugh! What is that stench, sir?” The sailor winced as she caught a strong whiff and tried not to gag.

Captain Úlfur had come across the smell a few times before during his long service. He wryly noted in his mind that it was always just as unpleasant each time. “That is a converted old diesel engine running on grease.”

“It’s rancid, sir.”

“Indeed it is. That’s probably why they’re burning it instead of eating it. Start the loudspeakers.”

Across the waters, the speakers blared, in several alternating languages. “Unidentified vessel, this is the Islendingur of the Icelandic Coast Guard.” After the languages went through, the recording continued, “You are in Icelandic territorial waters.” They could now see the ship, grey and weather-beaten, as well as they could smell it. “We have reason to believe that you have contraband aboard.” The speakers went halfway through the cycle of, “Heave to and prepare to be boarded,” when a shot rang out.

No one on the Islendingur yelped in pain or surprise or heard a bullet colliding with the ship. The speakers continued their recorded message.

The pilot asked, “Sir, did they really just shoot at us, or was that a diesel engine sound?”

The captain was wondering that himself when a shattered snowflake pattern appeared on one of the windows of the pilot house as another shot rang out.

“Yes Lieutenant, they are shooting at us.” The captain turned and started yelling out instructions.

The crew took their positions. Another few shots rang out with no one hit. They loaded the guns. Everything went by the numbers. The Islendingur came around and the guns rang out: autocannons, sweeping the deck with fragmentation rounds.

Captain Úlfur saw, for a brief moment, what the guns were responding to. A man and a woman, no, not quite adults, a boy and a girl with pistols, shooting at his ship. An older woman – their mother perhaps – was near them, red in the face and looking as if she was trying to restrain them. There were other people on the deck, but he could not tell what they were doing before the auntocannons fired. The first sweep hit the woman and the girl. The girl fell overboard. The woman slumped over onto the deck into an expanding red pool. The boy had been wounded slightly but apparently did not notice it. He saw the two dead, dropped the gun, and turned to run. The second sweep killed him.

After the captain silenced the guns, as gently as he could, the pilot brought the Islendingur alongside the fishing boat and bumped them together. Two of the sailors bolted across with a line to secure it, covered by two others with guns. Proper procedure, though it was not too necessary; the survivors on the deck were waving whatever bits of cloth they could find that was once white or looked vaguely white. The two ships separated briefly and then connected again with another bump. The boarders jumped across in case another gap formed, (though they might have been a little overly dramatic about it), searched the ship, and rounded up the survivors.

Contraband! Cod and other fish in the hold along with barrels of grease long gone bad. The sailors, holding their noses, pulled out four people hiding belowdeck or doing something to the engines. The Icelanders wondered how they could stand the smell. The three were brought up top, just in time to see the bodies of their dead former shipmates being thrown overboard.

The survivors were lined up at the edge of the fishing boat. There were seven of them, three men and four women, thin and cold. Two were wounded but could still stand. One sat on the deck, leaning against the rail, pale. They stared at the captain, large and blonde, emulating his Viking ancestors. A couple of them showed fear, one was angry, and the rest stared blankly. Captain Úlfur went to the angry one. A few of the older sailors, people who had witnessed such incidents before, squirmed a little, uneasily, because they knew what was going to happen.

The captain looked the angry one in the eye. He said, in French, “Labor camp?” They were not really labor camps as everyone else knew them, just work gangs held in a central place that were sent around for whatever hard manual labor needed to be done, like reforestation work or dealing with lava flows. They couldn’t exactly send the people back after shooting at them; Iceland did not need to look weak when there were so many people on the edge around them.

That would have been too much to explain briefly, and at any rate the man did not respond. Captain Úlfur tried English. “Labor camp?” Still no response. Too bad they hadn’t been able to figure out where this boat came from. He would know what language to use. The captain tried again, with nearly all the German he knew. “Labor camp?”

The angry German erupted in a yelling fit, all in German of course, which the captain did not understand. No matter. He kicked the angry man overboard into the near-freezing water. After the splash, the captain moved to the next person in line. “Labor camp?”

“Ja! Ja! Labor camp!” The others nodded and shouted in agreement as the cries and splashes of their former comrade ceased. He couldn’t swim.

“Gut,” he said, using up the rest of his German. He nodded to his crew. “You know the drill.” The crew moved in to shackle the prisoners and prepare the towing cables to bring the ship to port. Always good to have another ship, and the fishes could be sold for the group that managed that school. Someone would want to buy the ship and refit it with a proper fuel cell, though it’d be forever until the fish smells overwhelmed the reek of grease. The six remaining survivors were led belowdecks, weeping.

Though being forced labor in an Icelandic labor gang (which, unlike most countries, consisted entirely of foreigners) was hardly the worst of fates in the world. They didn’t advertise it, but Iceland, unlike most of the world, actually fed their prisoners enough so they could survive, rather than slowly starving them over a couple years. It was one of the few places that could afford to.

Russia could also, but it just wasn’t a Russian thing to do.

[The Duchess of Zeon]

And this is your best yet!

[The Grim Squeaker]

Russia could also, but it just wasn’t a Russian thing to do.

.
Brilliant, and good chapter overall

[hongi]

Sarevok: I picked Bihar because it has a pretty sizable Muslim population of its own, plus was the birthplace of two religions (Buddhism and Jainism) and important to the Hindus and Sikhs, so the religious warfare there is either quite ironic or strangely appropriate.

Further irony there, because Buddhism and Jainism are two of the most pacifistic religions you'll come across.

Awesome writing. A request for info though - what's happening to the occupied Palestinian territories (or formerly known as such?) and how is New Zealand?

[Stuart Mackey]

Sarevok: I picked Bihar because it has a pretty sizable Muslim population of its own, plus was the birthplace of two religions (Buddhism and Jainism) and important to the Hindus and Sikhs, so the religious warfare there is either quite ironic or strangely appropriate.

Further irony there, because Buddhism and Jainism are two of the most pacifistic religions you'll come across.

Awesome writing. A request for info though - what's happening to the occupied Palestinian territories (or formerly known as such?) and how is New Zealand?

I dont know about 'Palestine', but for NZ things would be interesting depending on when things go down the shitter and lead times. Assuming some warning NZ has enough lignite to easily supply all the diesel fuel we need in the country, and then some. Given the very real power issues we have with low hydro dams, then nuclear plants would most certainly be built, preferably Pebble Bed's, I would imagine, given NZ's earthquake potential. We can produce all the steel we need and railroads would be easy enough to expand to cover disused lines and news ones, the cities would have no real trouble putting in trolley buses/light rail again.
NZ has enormous food growing capacity, and excellent wine, we are the worlds largest dairy exporter and largest sheep meat exporter, indeed,during WW2 we supplied half of Britain s food requirements and thats on 1940's technology with only 1 1/2 million people.

NZ has a tolerable electronics industry based around Tait Electronics in Christchurch who have a good research shop and we can build/rebuild most consumer goods industry we may have lost over the last 20 odd years as well as the garment industry. We also have seven universities of reasonable standard and suitable appalling drinking behaviour.

NZ would be accepting skilled people from wherever, but especially the UK, Ireland, US, Canada and probably India (probably Singapore and Japan as well despite language) on the basis that they speak English and as many of our expatriates as we can get back. Biggest issue is economic effects of world trade drying up and our capacity to finance things. Mind you, we may well have rather large oil deposits around the coast and in the Great South Basin south of Invercargill (we don't know for sure at this point in real life, but early tests look like there are very good structures for it. )

NZ defence forces would see a rapid build up, esp in the Navy, and most of the major hardware we would be building in Australia and minor ships and equipment here, but possibly some planes as well. Army would be a ready reinforced brigade and a territorial division, at least, assuming a population of around 5 1/2 million and growing and the potential for expansion, but most funds would go to the navy out of necessity for an Island nation in such circumstances) .

Foreign policy would be:

1) assisting Australia in elminating Indonisian foothold.

2) The security of Chile, Singapore, PNG, Timor, and the South Pacific Islands (for the same reason the UK always looked to the security of the low Countries)

3) Helping Japan where we can (good technology levels to utilise and we can certainly feed them)

4) Containing French activity in the Pacific and hopefully to eliminate it when the time is ripe.

5) Work and aid surviving UK forces to destabilise the Filthy French and their vile resurgent Napolanic fascism.

6) Work out a cutting out expedition to rescue HM ships Belfast, Warrior, Caroline, Victory: because no French government must foul such great vessels.

(And what happens to the Brit Royal Family? NZ a Monarchy still?, if so we would have them I would imagine)

I would think that Aussie and NZ would eventually look to play the part that Britain played for so many centuries, divide, influence, trade and insult the French (except their cooking, cheese and wine) and every once and a while, beat some one up.

I think NZ would be well fed (that is to say, properly fed, no real junk food available except as treats for kids as it used to be before that stuff got cheap), and trying to maintain a 1980's standard of living at least.