Chapter 5

Paul, Aaron, my ladies, and I sat down after breakfast the next morning and went over the outline we had put together of what had to be done to prepare for the second meeting. The first items on the list were what had to be done to prepare the farm for the meetings. We had to make arrangements for two tents, tables, and chairs for the delegates and the media; a field kitchen with dining tent and storage; porta potties; walkways; and security. We also had to prepare an agenda for each meeting, decide on the protocol to be used during the meetings, and publish and distribute the agendas and a description of the protocols. With a few exceptions what we did to prepare for the second meeting would be repeated for the second meeting. Alicia began the discussion to define what we had accomplish to date.

Alicia said, “I researched tents suitable for large events. I kid you not, I found a company called Alibaba that makes custom outdoor event tents that have a tubular aluminum frame. They have a variety of widths up to fifty meters wide and the tents are modular construction, so there is no limit to the length of the tent. There are also a number of options for side panels and options for flooring. We need to discuss the side panel options, and I prefer the option of a wood floor on a steel substructure. Alibaba will install the tent and the flooring, but we have to prepare a flat level surface.”

Alicia provided us with a copy of her proposed floor plan of the delegate tent, which we called the meeting tent. The floor plan showed both the tent’s metric measurements and those measurements converted to feet and inches.

Alicia said, “We will need a platform and podium at the front of the tent for the Facilitators, space for the delegate’s tables and chairs, a service area at the rear, and two aisles from front to back. Based on my calculations, if we use the fifty-meter wide tent, we need a tent at least one hundred and forty meters long; that is about a hundred and sixty-two feet wide and four hundred and fifty-nine feet long. I recommend we increase the length to a hundred and sixty meters long for any unanticipated needs, which is about an additional sixty-six feet in length. We need to decide on the length we need and submit a purchase order as soon as we can in order to get the tent delivered, to set it up, and to configure it before the meeting starts.”

After a brief discussion, we went with Alicia’s recommendation of fifty meters by one hundred and sixty meters with a wooden floor. We also decided on the option of plain rollup PVC sidewalls.

Alicia then passed out a drawing of the media tent and we had a similar discussion, but much shorter. Alicia pointed out that the tents could be disassembled and reused, so we should use the same fifty-meter tent width, as the delegate tent. We decided to go with her suggestion of a tent fifty meters wide and twenty meters in length with a wooden floor and plain rollup PVC sidewalls for the media.

We especially appreciated the fact that when the meetings were over, we could disassemble the two tents and store their parts. Later, we could reuse the four end modules and the extension modules in the future to create two tents of the same or different lengths. Although we might need to order additional extension modules and flooring if we wanted two extremely large tents. If we needed more than two tents, we could also order additional pairs of end modules, additional extension modules, and flooring. I presented the next part of our discussion.

I said, “I contacted Plim Sanitary Equipment and their pricing seems to be the most reasonable in the area for porta potties. They recommended we start with thirty standard units and three handicapped units; we can change those quantities if necessary. The monthly rental includes normal servicing and any repair calls that may be necessary.

“A local construction company, Johnson and Tailor Construction, provided an estimate for building modular wooden walkway sections for us. They recommended modules nominally four-feet wide and eight-feet long to permit single-file foot traffic in both directions. All wood is to be pressure-treated to resist rot, and the surface will be treated plywood with a non-skid surface. If we want, the walkways can be disassembled and the sections stored for future use.

“The construction company also reviewed the tent installation drawings that Alibaba provided Alicia, and they provided us with an estimate for preparing the ground for installing the two tents. Their prices are reasonable and they have a good reputation for completing their contracts on schedule.

“I discussed a field kitchen with Paul and Aaron, and discussed security with Mike and Simon. Paul checked with the President and she sees no problem with providing us with a field kitchen, mess tents, and personnel if we provide the food and supplies. She has no problem with us charging a fee for meals. Even with low prices for basic meals, we may make a small profit in that area. Mike and Simon believe that their personnel will be adequate for security after The Seeker returns and they expect it to remain here for the duration of each meeting.

“Johnson and Tailors’ estimates are reasonable, so I recommend we use them for our construction work and Plim Sanitary for our porta potties.” My recommendations were accepted, and Alicia began the discussion on the agenda and protocol.

Alicia said, “At this time, I have only given minimal consideration to the protocol we should use, and have not documented any of my thoughts. I would like to postpone further discussion of the topic until another occasion.”

Everyone agreed for this meeting was not intended to be a working meeting to define approaches, but to review and determine if any suggested approaches were adequate for our needs. Alicia then handed out printed copies of her proposed agenda for the second meeting. We would worry about the third meeting’s agenda later.

Phyllis said, “I like what you listed, but it seems to be missing something. Anyone feel the same way?”

Madge said, “I do. We start out by introducing ourselves, defining our meeting protocol, and then explaining why a agreement is necessary. The main things I see as missing are an explanation of our security procedures, food service policies, and the government supplied housing and travel arrangements.”

After making a few entries on her laptop, Alicia said, “I agree. Explaining those items would be beneficial, so I added them to the agenda. I listed the housing and travel arrangements last for that is the most likely to turn into a bitch session.”

Phyllis said, “I can think of one more item for the agenda, and that is to solicit ideas from the delegates for adding additional topics. I think that should be added just prior to explaining why a agreement is needed. It may be a good idea to repeat our request for additional topics after discussing the need for an agreement.”

Madge said, “I agree with the need to solicit additional ideas, and believe we need to do so before and after discussing the agreement. I do have a question about explaining why we need a agreement. Are we going to bring up Directive 1495?”

I said, “Alicia and I discussed adding the directive to the agenda. I think mentioning it could cause problems if the discussion focuses on it being the Altairians trying to coerce us into an agreement. However, we think it needs to be addressed in a way that won’t appear as if we are trying to hide something when the public becomes aware of the directive; which will happen at some point if we don’t raise the issue in the meeting.”

“Alicia and I agreed the directive should be discussed, but not listed as an agenda item. That would draw too much attention to the directive before we are ready to discuss it. What we need to remember is Simon will be presenting information about why there should be an agreement. He should be the one to explain the directive. He can make that part of his presentation without an agenda item.

Phyllis said, “It would be good if we know what the delegates plan to recommend to their governments before they return to their countries. I think we need to ask them at the end of the meeting or at least put together an exit questionnaire containing that and other questions that would provide information beneficial to us.

Alicia said, “You’re right, Mom. That information would be good for us to know, even though Mary told us there would be a third meeting. It would give us an idea of how to handle the delegates in the third meeting.”

After further discussion, we agreed that Directive 1495 would be addressed without an agenda item, and we would add the suggested topics to the current topics. We reordered the sequence in which the topics were to be discussed. We agreed that what we came up with would be adequate as a draft agenda, but it would be subject to further modification. We expected a few changes from the President when we sent it to her for review.

Once the agenda was finalized, she would include a copy of the agenda with the invitations she would send to the governments of UN’s member countries. She had agreed with us that the invitations should not be sent until we could commit to supporting a firm start date for the meeting. Considering who would be at the meeting, we didn’t want to propose a completion date – the attendees would be politicians who loved to hear themselves talk. Our next topic was the living arrangements for the delegates.

I said, “I discussed the use of Joint Base Lewis-McChord with President Kelt for housing the delegates and why the delegates using hotels might be a problem. She agreed with us in principle, but we now need to define the specifics and prepare a plan to create a set of circumstances that will keep us and President Kelt from having more problems to deal with than necessary.

“To start with, we want the delegates and their support teams to be housed in a tent city and fed in field kitchens. We also want them to use army vehicles for traveling between here and the base. Any comments?”

Madge said, “In addition to the delegates not liking our arrangements, I think we will have a problem with the local businesses. Local businesses normally support the attendees who attend an event like this one, so they will be upset that the delegations aren’t spending money at their businesses for lodging, food, and transportation.”

I said, “I think we all agree with that, Madge. However, we won’t stop the delegates from using those businesses. If they use our arrangements, then they will still use some of the local businesses. Perhaps a brief explanation of why we believe the arrangements are necessary is necessary as part of the invitations the President sends out.”

Alicia was grinning when she said, “Are you going to tell them we are deliberately going to make them uncomfortable, so they will cooperate in keeping the meeting short?”

That caused a few laughs and I knew she was pulling my leg, so I replied, “I would like to do that, Alicia, but it would cause more trouble than explaining Directive 1495 the way Simon explained it to us.”

Politicians seem to be able to tolerate anything except for personal discomfort, inconvenience, and critism. We agreed to draft a statement to explain why the arrangements we proposed were necessary for the welfare of the delegates. Of course, we wouldn’t explain the actual living conditions they would encounter. Temporary on-base quarters and dining facilities may be good euphemisms for tents and a field kitchen.

I said, “There shouldn’t be a problem with base housing for there isn’t that much unassigned housing available, and the President isn’t going to evict military personnel from the quarters assigned to them. She also feels like it would be a bad idea to give just a couple of the delegates housing for that would upset those who didn’t get the more comfortable quarters.

“That leaves our plans for feeding the delegates. What should we suggest President Kelt do to justify the use of a field kitchen and dining tents on the base and how are we going to justify doing it here?”

Alicia said, “We have no dining facilities here and the local restaurants and fast food joints won’t be able to support the lunch crowd in a timely manner. The delegates will not have transportation to get into town, and there aren’t enough taxis for all of the delegates.”

“Okay, that covers our providing facilities for lunch here at the farm, but what about on the base?”

Aaron said, “The base has limited facilities for supporting the people assigned to the base and those transiting through the area. The mess halls could possibly support the additional people with extended hours if additional mess personnel were assigned to the mess halls. The only option I can see is to close at least one of the mess halls and the best reason for doing that would be a health reason. That would justify the use of the field kitchen.”

Paul said, “A health issue would be a good reason, but remodeling the base’s mess halls has been on the Pentagon’s wish list of things to be done for a long time. The only thing stopping the effort is Congress hasn’t approved funding for the remodel. If President Kelt uses the delegates to justify the need to remodel, she can request emergency funding from Congress and start the effort now. She can also use a health issue if needed. If one or more of the mess halls is closed when the delegates arrive, that will justify the use of a field kitchen.”

Aaron said, “That’s true, but the delegates will say they should have the use of the other mess halls and our people should eat in the field kitchen’s mess tents. The only way to get around that is if all of the mess halls are closed and everyone eats in field kitchens.”

I said, “I hate to do that to our military people, but that does seem to be the only solution to the problem.”

Alicia said, “We expect the second meeting to last for a couple of weeks. What if a health issue was discovered that resulted in closing two of the three dining halls. One facility might be capable of feeding the military personnel on base, but have the capacity to feed all of the delegates and their support personnel.

“If the health issue were to reoccur several times after the second meeting ends, Betty could possibly use the health issue to support replacement of the current dining facilities. If Congress dragged its feet, the construction may not begin until just before the third meeting begins.”

Madge said, “I like that idea. Do you think Betty can use that idea?”

Paul said, “If Betty talked with the doctor in charge of the base’s medical people, they may discover a strain of virus, mold, or bacteria that is impossible to eradicate due to its presence in the structural members of the dining halls. If that was the situation, then there would be no alternative to demolishing the existing facilities and building new facilities. After all, the base can’t force its personnel to eat in unhealthy facilities.”

Alicia said, “If dining halls were demolished and the base personnel were eating in field kitchens when the delegates arrived, then they would be forced to eat in the field kitchen until the new dining halls were ready for use. I’m quite sure the contractor that receives the contract to build the new facilities would encounter a number of delays. Especially, if Betty were to be accepting of the contractor’s proposed schedule and a reasonable number of delays.”

We agreed to submit our idea for closure of all of the base’s mess as one of our suggestions to the President, of course we wouldn’t put that suggestion in writing. I changed topics to discuss the delegate’s travel arrangements to and from the farm. I asked, “Paul, how does the military move a large number of people a long way?”

“We normally use our trucks and buses for local travel, and our aircraft for long distances, like a deployment or other travel out of the area. If you are thinking of using the base’s vehicles, there aren’t enough vehicles on the base to support transporting the delegates to and from the farm and for supporting the base’s other transportation needs.

“However, if we go with what you seem to be thinking, I suggest buses rather than trucks. We also need to make the arrangements well in advance in order to move additional buses to the base and to increase the motor pool’s staffing and supplies for supporting maintenance and operation of the additional vehicles.”

Phyllis asked, “Why do additional supplies need to be arranged for in advance? Can’t they just be ordered when needed?”

“Phyllis, advance planning is needed because Congress will have to allocate additional funding for the transfer and operation of the vehicles. Some of the existing support funding authorized to the organizations supplying the buses will also have to be reallocated to the base.

“Please don’t repeat this, but the President is going to have a hard time selling all of this to Congress. I have known for a long time that most of our political masters are idiots. They need to have everything explained to them in excruciating detail. Even then, they often ask why what they want to do won’t work instead.

“I know President Kelt is planning to brief the Congressional leaders in the near future on the situation caused by the appearance of the Altairians. I don’t know exactly what she intends to tell them, but financing for the support that the military needs to provide will be one of the issues she explains. She will not only have to explain why the US Government needs to support the effort, but she will also need to give them some idea of the timeline and what the total costs will be. All of that will be necessary to get an Emergency Funding bill through Congress. How long that takes will depend on how long the idiots argue about the need to spend the money.

“Therefore, it is important that we identify all of the costs that will be needed to support the two meetings. So far, we identified the cost of supporting Mike and his people from now until the end of the third meeting, but without an end date, we can’t predict the total cost. The same thing is true of the support to be provided by the base.”

Alicia asked, “Do we need to provide financial details?”

“No. The government budget office has accountants that will determine that. What about the costs the four of you are incurring?”

“As you said, don’t let this become public knowledge, but Mary arranged for us to win two lotteries by using her ability to predict the probable future. She told us the money was to be used to meet the costs we would incur in hosting the meetings. Why the interest?”

Paul said, “When she briefs Congress, the President will tell the Congressional leaders that the Altairians will be sharing the costs of these meetings. Congress will want to know what portion of the costs the Altairians will be assuming. I suggest you estimate the costs you will incur for the meetings and have the Altairians determine the costs associated with their supporting the agreement negotiations. Your costs for hosting the meeting should be part of the Altairians’ costs, and I suspect their total costs will significantly exceed the costs incurred by the US. I think the costs incurred in just maintaining their spaceship in orbit would be far more than what the government will incur.”

Aaron said, “Let’s just hope Congress doesn’t get the bright idea of insisting that the other countries assume a portion of the meetings’ costs as the price for them to attend the meetings.”

Paul said, “That would be disastrous, so I’ll make sure that I mention that possibility to the President. Maybe she will be able to take steps to negate that possibility.”

During first meal, Vert and Relpt talked about their previous evening’s activities.

Vert said, “I really miss our boy toys. The guy I was with last night was okay, but nothing special. He was just barely able to satisfy me.”

Relpt said, “Commander Tanat was sort of that way for me when we first met. His performance improved as we got to know each other better. He also has a good bit more experience and far more stamina than the guys available to us right now.

“Vert, what does falling in love with someone feel like to you?”

“I don’t think falling in love with someone has ever happened to me. I’ve been in lust with a lot of men, but they were never someone I wanted to be in a permanent relationship with.

“Are you thinking of entering into a marriage agreement with Tanat?”

“Yeah, it has crossed my mind, but we are talking about a cohabit agreement.

“I entered into a personal arrangement with Simon and we became lovers before he became my immediate superior, so the Exploration Force policy of no fraternization with immediate superiors and subordinates did not apply. We haven’t been exclusive with each other, but the relationship has been going on for over a revolution. One of the policy’s exception clauses states that an existing relationship can be continued if one of the parties becomes an immediate superior of the other party, but they can’t register a cohabit agreement with each other as long as the junior member in the relationship reports directly to the senior member.”

“Have you reached the point of entering a cohabit agreement?”

“I think we are close to that point. That is why I asked you about falling in love.

“I still flirt with other men, and before we accepted this assignment, I ended up in bed with them. Simon was the same way about casual sexual encounters. However, since we have been on Earth, our choices have been limited and we have been together a lot lately. We seem to be growing even closer to each other than we were.

“Last night, we were talking about becoming an exclusive couple. It seems to both of us that entering into a cohabit agreement would be a good idea for us before a marriage agreement. When Lieutenant Thelt returns, I will return to being his subordinate. At that time, Simon and I can sign a cohabit agreement and register it with the ship, so we can live together.”

“Relpt, I wish the two of you good luck. Do you think you will end up marrying each other?”

“I don’t know. The difference in our ranks and positions might become a problem. That is why most cohabiting arrangements fail. I can picture myself as his wife while on the ship, and us having children once we both end up permanently grounded.”

“If you do marry, Relpt, will it be the two of you or will you be having a group marriage with multiple spouses?”

“Right now, it will be just the two of us. That may change in the future, but we both feel more than one husband or wife can cause problems in a relationship if the group isn’t right for each other.

“Are you still thinking about becoming an officer, Vert?”

“That is my intent. Monogamy and marriage don’t seem right for me. I enjoy the variety too much. I just hope that I can get the necessary schooling and be promoted before I am permanently grounded.”

Our meeting had lasted most of the morning. Simon, Vert, and Relpt joined us before it was time for lunch. Vert and Relpt joined my ladies in the kitchen to help them with fixing lunch and Simon joined Paul, Aaron, and me in the living room. Simon was telling us about his morning and we kept hearing laughter coming from the kitchen. Phyllis let us know lunch was on the table, so we all headed to the dining room.

Simon asked, “Were you able to work out a plan for the second meeting during this morning’s meeting?”

I said, “Yes, we covered the main topics, but didn’t get into the detailed planning. We will be doing that during the coming months.”

Simon asked, “Is there anything I need to make Ship Commander Shimlt aware of?”

“Yes. There are a few things she will need to know about, one in particular.

“One of the main things our political leaders will want to know is, who will pay for the cost of the meetings. We talked about those costs this morning. Mary told us that it would only be fair for the Empire to pay for the costs incurred by the Altairian delegation and Earth to pay for the costs incurred by the Earth’s delegations. We will be proposing to President Kelt that each of Earth’s delegations pay for its travel costs between their countries and Seattle, and that the US pay for the costs incurred by the delegates by staying on the base and traveling to the farm.