Chapter 31

Singapore – Wednesday morning, April 2, 2064

At 0500 on April 2, Io woke Armis with a message. It seemed that there were several people from many different countries who had arrived in Singapore overnight. It wasn’t exactly a summit, for several of them weren’t national heads of state ... but this unusual meeting was about the future of the planet, not about representing nations.

Io: ‘Sorry about giving you this at the last minute, but some of them took off with no flight plans. I didn’t know until they vectored toward Singapore.’

Armis: ‘This is going to require a change of venue, I guess.’

In suite 2620 of the Star of the East Hotel, Armis motioned to Raven DuBois, the person on her security team assigned to be inside the room today. DuBois went to the phone after a brief consultation and called down to the hospitality desk. There were no other assigned suites on the 26^th floor except for her security team. The 25^th floor was dedicated to delegations from various invited attendees to the Asian Conference, and the 24^th was for their respective security teams.

Sam Redstone, Armis’ second in command, came in shortly thereafter, and met with Armis. They were involved in a lengthy conversation. An hour later the entire entourage headed up to the room where the meeting had been moved. It was originally in a comfortable small room, but the meeting was now moving to one of the ballrooms.

For the first time at one of her meetings, Armis was not at stage center. Her team of Armis Brigade was handling security at the Constellation Ballroom of the Star of the East Hotel. The Constellation Ballroom occupied the top floor and was specially braced to support a helipad on the roof. There were windows on all four sides; food and other services came up from the floor below via elevator. Today, the large ballroom was outfitted with two large, round tables and a smaller, rectangular table at the head of them. And the hotel representatives were busily setting up a dozen smaller tables at the back of the room.

Sam Redstone, with Armis at his side, was welcoming the various invited leaders as they came through the elevator doors from their respective suites on lower floors. They looked around the ballroom and were waiting for an explanation – why were they not meeting in a smaller room?

The main doors, leading to a short hallway and the lobby elevators opened and several more people came in escorted by several members of Armis’ team.

Redstone grabbed his lapel mic, clipped it to his suit coat, and started to talk. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have some uninvited guests, but they are nevertheless welcome. Frankly, I don’t know all of them, so I’ll pass the introductions to Armis.”

Armis: “I’m pleased to see so many friends and acquaintances again. Perhaps you all have been in various high level meetings where everyone has a staff member to prompt you with pertinent information. But we’re operating with just principals today, and I’d hope this will be informal.

“Just to make sure everyone knows everyone, I’ll introduce everybody. If you’d please raise a hand as I introduce you. Sam Redstone is my second in this effort. People had originally intended to attend a pan-Asian conference. I suggest that we should rename it a World Conference. Those attending are as follows.

“In no particular order the folks in this room are:

“Prince Faisal of Saudi Arabia;

“Empress Aiko of Japan;

“Prime Minister Ghandi of India;

“President Liu of China;

“Secretary General Haugen from the U.N.;

“Minister Nilsson from the E.U.;

“Chief Hardstick Sam, President of the Sho-Pai;

“Chief Redstone, President of the Cree. Chiefs Hardstick and Redstone represent the AmerInd Nations.

“Former Prime Minister Hardesty of Canada;

“Chief and President Xoiti, of the Aztec Nation and representing Mexico and the Central American Alliance;

“Bishop Norangi representing the countries of Southern Africa;

“and President-designate Malenkov of Russia.

“Have I forgotten anyone? No? Then I suggest we find seats and we can begin.”

...

Redstone: “This is a preliminary meeting to discuss a possible World Government. Some areas of the world are not represented today. South America. Eastern Europe. Most of the Moslem states of southern Asia. Northern Africa. And of course the United States.”

Hardesty (Canada): “I spoke with President Huston and she refused to come along with us. Apparently, it is beneath the dignity of the U.S. President to appoint anyone and she herself is engaged in a reelection campaign. ‘Perhaps, next time, ‘ she said.”

Redstone: “Thank you. I propose that I can act as moderator and that this meeting of principals be a meeting of equals. If we can form any consensus about how to proceed, we can invite our staffs to join us for lunch – or for dinner if it takes that long. I do not know how to be a politician, and I urge you not to put on your political hats also. We want to accomplish something today.”