Chapter 2: EastHem

Executive Council Chamber
London, EastHem
Thursday, October 6, 2146

Anthony Billings marched confidently into the EastHem Executive Council chamber. Billings, the Chairperson of the Council, was in a good mood and was smiling broadly for the vid cameras that routinely followed him wherever he went. He was the last of the council to arrive, and he greeted them by name, smiling and shaking hands. Only when that was finished did one of the Public Relations people hovering around outside of camera range shut down the video operation and shoo the reporters and videographers out. Once they were alone, Billings sat down, and the tensions of a public meeting disappeared.

EastHem, the Democratic Republic of the Eastern Hemisphere, was created at the same time as WestHem, during the early days of World War III. Based on the advanced economies and defense capabilities of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, EastHem fought the Asiatic Powers across Eurasia, destroying Russia and the Middle East in the process. Once the war was over, within just a few years, EastHem and WestHem entered an uneasy cold war. Much like their hated rivals, EastHem politicians were bought and sold by European mega-corporations.

It could be reasonably argued that the EastHem corporations got much more for their money than the WestHem corporations. The Jupiter War was the result of A&C Hydrogen’s support for a military base and hydrogen fueling plant on Callisto. The war barely scratched the EastHem Military and Navy, while destroying much of the WestHem Far Space Navy.

The Martian Revolution was an amazing benefit for EastHem. In addition to losing a third of the WestHem Navy to the Martian insurgents, the insurgents brokered a deal with EastHem. For the price of a fairly meaningless recognition of sovereignty and three tankers of hydrogen a month, Mars would export half the food supply they were sending to Earth to EastHem. Billions of tons of food were now available to the EastHem food corporations for the relatively insignificant price of three tankers of hydrogen a month, which would be paid for by the government in any case.

So, there was a reason the EastHem Executive Council was smiling. Granted, Africa was so desperate it could swallow the entirety of the Martian food products without a burp, but it was still a massive aid to the EastHem economy. The EastHem corporations were very grateful and were considering further EastHem initiatives in a positive fashion.

Billings smiled as he looked around the table. Like all modern politicians, he was vidstar handsome and keenly attuned to the wishes of his paymasters. Surprisingly, he was also fairly intelligent, not always a requirement for political leaders. Most were masters of the soundbite, but Billings actually understood what was going on around him and didn’t need an army of aides to tell him what to do.

The woman two seats to his right was probably the second most powerful member of the EastHem Executive Council. Sylvia Dortsheer was the German politician responsible for the area of Africa based on Zimbabwe. Dortsheer had never been to Zimbabwe and never wanted to get anywhere near Zimbabwe, one of the worst EastHem ghettos. She had been only a junior member of the Council, and at forty-five, the youngest. However, she ran the numbers on the Martian treaty and championed its adoption. Billings agreed. Now Dortsheer was a senior member of the council and directly responsible for Martian Affairs. Along the way, she took a month off for a routine annual vacation, returning with a facelift, a new nose and chin, whitened teeth, and a significant breast augmentation. Now, she was on the vidchannels frequently, discussing the wonders of the Martian treaty and the food that was being provided for the EastHem citizenry.

“Sylvia, anything new to report on Martian imports?” Billings asked.

“Nothing significant. Allow me to show what is going on?” she replied. Billings nodded and Dortsheer stood, to move around the table to a place near a video display which dropped from the ceiling. She called up a slide show from the remote control in her hand.

“First, we have been able to integrate the Martian food supply ships into EastHem logistic supply lines with very little effort. Our patriotic corporations have worked tirelessly to seamlessly join with the government to expand or create the infrastructure needed to bring food from the supply vessels down to Earth.” She flipped through a few slides and two videos to illustrate how this was being done. The earth-to-orbit bulk transports were the largest flying machines ever built, and more were being built every day, with even larger models being designed. Her description of the EastHem corporations would assuredly please her sponsors.

“We did have a problem during the WestHem Martian Hammer counterassault. The Martian orbitals were far too dangerous to allow civilian transports to enter the war zone. Operationally speaking, this caused a temporary delay in shipments from Mars to EastHem. This wasn’t a problem, though, since we needed the delay to work some of the bugs out of the orbit-to-Earth system at our end. Now, with the end of hostilities, transports are once again docking at Triad and taking on cargo.”

“On the other side of the equation, tanker operations between Callisto and Mars have been almost flawless. Three tankers a month is just a fraction of our capacity. Again, once we committed the first few tankers, the Martians were able to build up stores before the WestHem Navy was able to respond. We stopped shipments during the conflict but have restarted them since then.” Several slides and vids detailing tanker operations were shown.

“Ms. Dortsheer, a question?” interrupted Wilhelm Gottlieb, member for Eurasia. Gottlieb represented the city of Kiev and the ghetto of Moscow, along with much of Siberia. Dortsheer considered him a lumbering boob, but he was senior enough she didn’t need to piss him off. He was owned, lock, stock, and barrel, by A&C Hydrogen.

She smiled and said, “Of course, Councilman Gottlieb.”

“I have heard disturbing reports that the Martian revolutionaries are planning to build their own fueling station on Jupiter.” Even though Martian imports were only three tankers a month, A&C Hydrogen didn’t want to lose even a kilo of possible sales.

She gave him a curious look. It was Billings who said, “I haven’t heard a question, Wilhelm.”

Gottlieb gave them both a mulish look. “Well? Is it true?”

Dortsheer replied, “I have not heard of any specific plans or timetables. It would not surprise me, though.” She turned to a gaudily uniformed officer at the end of the table. “General DeGrasse, would you care to comment?”

“Certainly, but better yet, I brought the Assistant Commander of Military Intelligence with me. Brigadier Bullstrode has spent the time since the end of WestHem hostilities studying WestHem military capabilities. I asked him to prepare a presentation on future WestHem capabilities. Could I impose on you, Ms. Dortsheer, to allow the brigadier to interrupt your excellent presentation?” General Rene DeGrasse was rugged and handsome but not overly bright. He was, however, possessed of top-notch political skills.

“Of course, General. I was basically done. Brigadier, welcome!” She stepped back and laid the remote on the podium. Let the Army put up with Gottlieb, the idiot.

Archibald Bullstrode was too smart to be allowed to command EastHem Military Intelligence. Instead, his job was to advise the leaders of the EastHem military, and to take the blame when they ignored him. Fortunately, EastHem was in a peaceful and dominant military position. Absent a desire to conquer WestHem, it was a sustainable posture.

Bullstrode took the podium and called up his presentation. “Thank you, Councilperson Dortsheer, Councilperson Billings, General DeGrasse, and all the other members of the Executive Council. I am here to present our current military and naval status of forces and compare that to WestHem’s and Mars. If I might proceed?”

It was a rhetorical question and Bullstrode didn’t delay for more than a few seconds. “As you are all aware, for the last fifteen years EastHem and WestHem military and naval forces have been in a static position. This is a result of the final disposition of the Jupiter War, which we won but which WestHem claims was the result of their gracious sharing of Jovian space.” He rolled his eyes, as did most of the audience.

From there he threw a series of slides onto the screen. The largest military forces, on both sides, were on Earth, facing each other across the Bering Strait and between Australia and the islands of the Southwest Pacific. The Earth orbitals were where the bulk of their navies were located, with each power controlling a network of satellites and space stations. EastHem also had major claims on the Moon, where they had colonies and mining facilities. The primary reason WestHem colonized Mars was to obtain resources that they were unable to procure closer to home.

The most distant military forces in significant numbers were in Jovian space, the moons surrounding Jupiter. Both WestHem and EastHem had a rough equivalence in the sizes of their forces, each protecting a hydrogen fueling station, WestHem’s on Ganymede and EastHem’s on Callisto. The Jupiter War proved the primacy of the defense over the offense. Beyond Jupiter, both superpowers had research stations around the outer planets, but they were unarmed and only occasionally supported by naval forces.