Chapter 19

“There remains the problem of what to do for Penny and Warren here, not to mention Melvin and Spiro. To say nothing of several others that don’t come immediately to mind here. We’ll deal with that soon enough, of course. Well, that’s simple enough. We’ll be adding more captives soon enough, my friends, are bound to, given how things are likely to go. Actually, though, for now, let’s see if we can grab Bubba, Dee, and Amy.

“How long are the kids likely to stay asleep? And will that adversely affect their health if they’re asleep for a longer period of time?” I asked Ben.

“Probably best to assign people to rotate child care duties at this point. What did you have in mind?” Ben replied.

“Okay, the community needs to be reorganized, anyway. I will only take part of this group with me at this point, at least for a while. If you can bring Bubba, Amy, and Dee here in a hurry, I can zap them and make them full members of our group. And then they can stay behind, while I take Sonja, Jenny, Kara, Missy, Pilar, Brad, Sasi, Tova, Gershom, Saadiq, and you three with me.

“I’m leaving a committee composed of six members in charge during each of my missions. This time around, it’s Chrissy, Jonny, Mireya, Ernie, Missy, and Monique. Next time, who knows who it will be? Six is a good, round, practical number. Large enough to be somewhat diverse, small enough to be efficient and effective.

“A fourteen-member team should suffice for our purposes, at least for this kind of raid. There will be times for larger-scale engagements, and before we know it, in fact. I have no doubt of that fact. I am resolved to reorganize every nation on Earth into one civilization, one government, one global state.

“This will be the world capital, too. Right here. This town, which will be rebuilt from the ground up to meet the demands of its new role. Actually, the next few towns will likely be combined with it to make up this new seat of government, this new hub of all of the world.

“Unlike your federation, which is more enlightened and advanced, my people still need a firm hand, of course. The failed democracies of my lifetime are proof positive of that fact. I will be Dictator of the Grand Union of Earth. Sounds nice, right? It can be renamed later and I naturally hope that humanity won’t always need a dictator, but for now, yes, we do.

“But what shall I call it? Any thoughts? Any ideas? Shawville? Shawton? Shaw City? Any suggestions?” I turned to the others.

“Grand Union City? Has a nicer ring to it, right? Nothing against naming things after you. That’s what Shaw Avenue, Shaw Drive, Shaw Street, Shaw Road, Shaw Plaza, etc. will be for, not even counting your future statue, of course. And your portrait in all public buildings, of course. Not to mention your face on all money,” Sonja proposed, making a lot of sense to me, at least.