Chapter 44

A small American supply ship came into port and was unloaded faster than anybody could ever remember. The stevedores were East German and our own men. In two hours the goods started to appear on the shelves we set up and it was taken out as fast as it was placed. It didn't matter what we placed on the shelves; it was gone soon. I wisely placed the alcohol last and restricted it to a bottle or a case of twelve beers per person.

The East Germans could now see what their efforts would bring and worked harder on their per piece basis. The Soviet officers and the East Germans still clinging hard to their old ideas were allowed to buy what they wanted as well. They enjoyed their purchases but griped about not being given the same privileges as the much larger group. The men working hard were given prizes of going to some of the small towns to shop or just sightsee. There were a limited number of single girls and they were very much in demand.

I told the officers, "Your country will want you back and they will have to deal with me to do that. I have my own ideas about what you are worth. If you run off and find your way into the Soviet Embassy, then I have nothing to trade. I still think that you are so fixated with your political ideology that you may do some rash things. I want nobody hurt and that includes your group. Till I find that you have changed your understanding of how socialism and capitalism work, you will be restricted to this base."

I came to a decision about Sonia after talking to her in her room.

"Hello, Alex," Sonia said nervously as she started to wring her hands and then quickly stopped.

"Hi, Sonia, it is nice that you are getting around better. When I talked to you two days ago you were using the cane for more support."

"The legs are healing and so is my arm. Both are a bit sore on occasion but I hope to get over it soon."

I reached up to her face and gently turned her jaw to one side to see the small scar. I had worked on this injury myself three times and although I was not a cosmetic surgeon, I was better than most of the doctors available. I was able to get some help in Calgary and they assisted me in making the scar as small as possible.

Sonia closed her eyes like a cat when I touched her and I said, "The scar on your jaw is healing well. In a few years you will not be able to notice it without really looking."

"Do you think people will notice me, Alex?"

She was fishing for compliments but I didn't mind in the least. I enjoyed talking to her, for she was intelligent and very witty. I smiled and said, "People will give you a second look even when you are old and gray. I know I would."

She smiled like a little girl and then looked to the floor. "I think we had better get on with this. I am so nervous that I have to pee all the time."

"You don't have to do this Sonia."

"I want you to trust me, Alex. I need you to do this."

I held her hand and said, "Let's go, sweetie."

She walked with me to the infirmary and had to take my hand after a few steps. She had not been like this before but I could see her reasoning. She lay down in a hospital bed and I administered the truth drug. This was done alone, with no electronic witnesses.

I grilled her ruthlessly for almost two hours, which was the maximum for the drug. The things I said and the way they were delivered, required me to act much differently from usual. I had to be hard, callous and offensive when I did not have those feelings for this woman.

I looked into what she knew that would be of benefit to me regarding Cuba and found that she had no idea that there were any nuclear devices on the ship she was sailing. As far as she knew, the Soviets just wanted to help Miguel Sanchez and his group of revolutionaries to take over the island government. This intrigued me, because all the revolutionary groups were socialist, if not Communist and I did not know why Sanchez was singled out for help.

Apart from finding out about her past, I found her motivations for what she had done. I tried to trip her up many ways but she hung onto her beliefs while under the influence of the drug. Her country she saw as a monster, when it should have been a loving entity. Instead of nurturing, it was making her do things that she abhorred. The fact that they knew this and continued, made her hate them even more.

The handler she had was the worse. She thought herself very lucky that he was homosexual and left her alone. She had been beaten where it did not show on a few occasions, because she refused to do what was asked of her. This showed that she had backbone and would stand up for what she believed in. He had been on the ship when it went down but his body had not been found yet.

Her brother was fifteen, about the same age as Aron. From his infrequent letters she found he was embracing the Communist ideals in the special school he was in. This sounded to me like a place to launder the minds of those young and malleable.

I looked into her love life. This was not to be intrusive but to see what handles the Soviets may still have over her. She had her boyfriend but also a series of girlfriends. Most had been friends but the remainder had been lovers. Thinking on this matter I wondered if the boyfriend was camouflage and the girls her real objective.

She had not been anything but a friend to my girls but she wanted to be much closer. She had been part of a large and vibrant family till Stalin thought them a bit too vibrant and had most of them executed. She must see my family the same way, especially when her family had so many sisters.

This idea changed a moment later when she reluctantly mentioned that she found me to be her ideal mate. This appeared to be much more than just infatuation. I dug further and found that her boyfriend had looked much like I did when I first met her. I sought to find if the Soviets had planted this idea into her mind. They would be much too crude with their present methods and I would be able to see it with the help of my drug.

Sonia knew a great deal about me and my family. Part of it was what information she had been fed but a good portion was here own curiosity and being able to read between the lines.

She had actually been sent to Cuba to find me. The Soviets had heard of my predictions over a year ago and this had been what had triggered them to take a much harder look at Cuba and the problems here. They had not expected me to lead a mercenary army but to work with Batista in bolstering his army to find and destroy all the different groups of insurgents.

Even to the Soviets, it was easy to see how intrigued Sonia was with me. They simply used this to their advantage.

She woke up groggy an hour later and she saw me sitting beside the bed talking on my cell phone about some problems in one of my plants. She gave me a weak smile and I got off the phone and said, "Did you have a nice nap?"

"Ah, I think so. Are you done?"

"Yes, I am. The drug causes short term memory loss which is useful most of the time." I did not mention that the drug was very efficient and with the proper application a person would tell their deepest and darkest secrets. I had watched the drug's use very carefully, because it would be a very powerful tool in any government's quest for ultimate power. This drug I had made myself and I wanted to keep the secret as long as possible.

"Do you believe me now about what I said?"

"I do, Sonia. That still leaves many problems. Your family, for one and the fact that you were used by the Soviets, while I make sophisticated weapons. I can only try to work to resolve these issues but I think both will be very difficult."

She reached her hand over and held mine resting on the bed. "I know you will try very hard and that will be enough."

Oddly enough, I knew she was right, for I would do my damnedest to make sure she was free.

Our forces were still patrolling the island looking for revolutionaries. They were not shooting, though but dropping leaflets to have the leaders send a representative to a meeting. This meeting would try to bring all the opposition together and get them to cooperate to form a new government.

Messages were finally sent to me and a date was mentioned on radio so all could attend.

On February the first the meeting took place. The main revolutionaries sent representatives, while the smaller groups had to show up personally or not be represented. The new government was there, too. Some were Batista's men, while others had been the opposition that had fled to the United States when threatened by Batista. I had used my own discretion and appointed people where they could do the most good.

Before we sat down to talk, I took the revolutionaries to look at the ring of men and weapons I had put in place to protect them. This was also a threat that I would not treat treachery lightly. They were amazed at the number of German-speaking recruits I had who were learning our high tech secrets. When asked about this, I replied that I gave my old enemies a chance to work with me to build a new world. I was quite sure that they thought it was just bullshit but I was speaking the truth.

When we actually sat down to talk, I had to mention the framework we had to work within. A Communist government was impossible but one embracing many socialist ideals was acceptable to me personally. I gave a five-minute lecture on how Communism was going to die and how Capitalism needed a hand now and again to keep its greed in check.

Old grievances were mentioned and the text was written into the minutes of the meeting. The first day did not get very far. I could now see how the members of parliament back home looked like they were sleeping all the time with their eyes open. It seemed to be an acquired knack, gained after many years of practice.

In the next few days the present government objected very strenuously to the demands placed on them. I let the discussion continue and tried to act more as a referee than the de facto leader of a country.

The revolutionaries howled in anger at the ministers, as they wanted to protect their own little fiefdoms. Again I only mediated.

The only thing to mar the meetings was some sabotage near Camaguey, where the oil fields were. This was traced back to five young men. They all died, even when the last two wanted to give up. I could not afford a court case now distracting the negotiations, or the men at the meeting suddenly wanting to protect their brothers in the struggle for world Communism.

At the end of the week we made up a list of what was accomplished or currently being worked on. I asked each representative if the sheet was true and if so, to sign it. They reluctantly did this after it was explained that they did not have to agree to anything but the articles written.

I went on the radio to talk about our meeting. With me I brought two of the leaders of the smaller groups and three of the representatives of the larger groups. I acted like this were a debate and let the present government refute the revolutionaries' claims. The revolutionaries were not very articulate but made up for it with their sincerity. The government did not look too good when fighting on the defensive. The men Batista chased out of the country were not that innocent, either.

At the end of our program I invited all the leaders of the revolution to attend our next meeting. I gave my word that nobody would be harmed or coerced. I even said they could bring their weapons to the camp where the meetings were held but had to turn them in, so their weapons did not do the talking if they were at a loss for words.

On Saturday night I turned the tables and had the government demand answers why many acts of vandalism, mayhem and murder had taken place. Here I had to enforce the rules like I did the day before but more stringently. The revolutionaries had not been prepared to be on the receiving end.

We broke for church on Sunday but many of the representatives had gone back to talk to their leaders or to simply think things over. The ministers went back to governing but I was sure they were shaking in their boots again at the changes that had to happen.

After a week the talks resumed but now the leaders of the large revolutionary groups came. Castro was not the leader of the strongest group but he was the most articulate and educated.

The meeting was now in a much larger room and I had this event filmed. There were very few televisions in Cuba and this would go into the national archives as a very important event.

We went through all the grievances again and who should pay for what. This worked for both the government and the insurgents. A few times I had to call a recess, because I thought they would crawl over the table at each other.

Hate was very deep here, for the government had done things and the injured parties had to turn guerrilla to get their own point across. The government had called in the military and the tit for tat had escalated to a no—holds—barred conflict.

After two more days we were all exhausted. Again I used the radio and allowed each person an allotted amount of time to say their piece. I only had to give one warning but that was not heard on the radio.

The newspapers were used the same way, with me paying the bill. Not many Cubans could read but those who could, would get a column of text from each delegate expressing their views. Usually this was transcribed and edited as many times as the speaker wanted. Nobody put words into their mouths but they didn't want to be thought of as uneducated by the masses. This way I could get them trained in fields outside of marksmanship, demolition and the burning of cane fields.

The Russian ambassador had come to see me many times and it wasn't till this round of meetings came about that he asked, "What do you intend to do with the weapons you took from the Petrov?"

"If they are any good they will be dispersed to the Cuban military."

"You know what I mean Mr Kramer."

"Tell me exactly what you mean Mr Ambassador."

"The four nuclear weapons."

"Oh, those weapons. Well, I worked on two of them to improve their yield and made them much more unlikely to detonate accidentally. The other two have just been repaired but still have the original Cyrillic writing on them."

His country and the United States had failed to notice how fast our torpedoes had travelled. Part of it was because we showed them other things and didn't push the information about the torpedo at all.

"They do get your country's interest. I do not like nuclear blackmail but I am afraid that is what is going to happen. The United States, Britain and France will make the Soviet Union and China develop their own bombs and technology. You will not be able to focus on the needs of your people and they will become discontented. India, West Pakistan, North Korea and Israel I fear will get the technology and make the bombs. The first two will play you against the west to get aid and for protection. North Korea is ruled by a man I consider crazy. They will get the bomb at the expense of their people. Israel will make the bomb simply to protect itself from its very numerous Arab neighbours."

I continued by saying, "I am willing to discuss some trading for one of the bombs."

"What do you want for it? You are already one of the richest people in the world, I believe."

"I do not want money. I try to let each company work on its own, if possible. This is just such a case. Russia has not been very anxious to get the troublesome East Germans back. I propose that you throw your borders open to the East Germans and allow them to immigrate here or to Canada. You, of course, will provide transportation and some means of keeping them alive and productive. This means that you supply some industry to the Cubans and they make some commodity that can be sold to the world."

"Our people will not want to leave. They have everything they need and are happy."

"Mr Ambassador, you are not talking to a school child. I know that there is hunger and very few of the necessities of life. I also know that you are trying hard to do what is right but cannot make it work as fast as the west. If the west were not pushing you so fast, you would last as a civilisation much longer but the sad fact is that your people are not driven to succeed. They will come flocking to this island if the opportunity is given."

"That is not true. We have a great many Nobel Laureates. Our mathematicians and scientists are leading the world in many areas. We are trying to build a utopia but we only get people trying to destroy what we make."

I calmly replied, "That is all very true. You are authoritarian enough to put a gifted person into the right environment to succeed. You also tell a person what they are going to be doing for the rest of their lives. This does not work for long. If you protect a worker and his job, he will produce less and less. The quality will drop and sometimes the product will become unusable. Some companies in the west are even worse, when they use cheap labour like slaves. There are many inequities as the economies of the world reintegrate. When we switch over to a world economy, then trade will be a blessing and a curse as it is with every new idea."

The Ambassador said, "I do not believe your assumptions, Mr Kramer. Communism is what the human race is destined for."

"Let us agree to disagree then." I went to a drawer and brought out a sheaf of papers. "Here is what I want. One bomb is the price but it is not mentioned in the papers. Please convey this to your leaders."

The papers not only had my demands for machinery and people but to begin in earnest the production of some space based projects. The binder could get me branded a traitor, because it had some very high-tech secrets on the rockets I wanted made. This information could readily be used to make faster long distance weapons, too.

Discussions with the rebel leaders and the government produced some good results. There would be a vote on July fourth to form a new government. There would be no voting shenanigans, because all eligible voters would be photographed and fingerprinted to be able to cast their vote at the polls. The identity cards now would be intrusive of me but it was a way to make this election work. It was really little different than a picture on a driver's licence. I thought of every which way to cheat and then worked backwards to prevent it. Most of the Cubans were illiterate and this made a much more difficult time of conveying information to the public. I hoped, over time we could use the data to make a health registry similar to what Canada had in the future. Now I had to find a way to use the data without it becoming a tool of the state to oppress people.

The Japanese companies came to the rescue and first brought thousands of transistor radios powered by solar cells and rechargeable batteries. These were dispersed to every hamlet or larger congregation of people. The Roman Catholic Church was encouraged to assist, so that everybody would get a chance to vote and know what was at stake. In weeks and months ahead, I wanted televisions used to inform the people and to educate them as well. Music and dancing were well understood and this now would be shown. I guess I would be starting another movie and song industry here, starting with some talent shows.

Helen and Laura came to me with an offer. One of the companies that they ran made dolls. It was experiencing an unheard-of demand. They needed more of the dolls and just bought more machines. They wanted to make some of the dolls here and get the countryside to make the clothes for them.

Helen said, "Why don't we make the dolls here and ship them in parts to the United States? They can then assemble them and put them in our packaging."

"I will look into it. It would be advantageous to get Cuba placed in a most favoured category, so the articles are not taxed as hard."

Laura added, "We were thinking of adding some colours to the plastic to make the dolls resemble the girls in the countries that will be purchasing them. We are already making the Japanese dolls look like their girls. They just love the Seiko doll and we can't keep them on the shelves either."

I had not heard of the Seiko doll but I could not manage everything even if I wanted to. It was the girls' company to run and this was the way to learn. The rest was a good idea and said so. "Those are good ideas. I would like to get the girls to learn many things their parents don't even know. Can you think of a way to do this?"