Chapter 12

Wonder of wonders, we have hit our 200^th birthday. There have been a lot of changes to our society in the last hundred years. For one thing, we now have so many people that we have started to use two names. However, the item of real note is that we are now a monogamous society, with very few exceptions. I did insist that polygamy and polyandry were acceptable if all parties agreed.

I really don't know if I really like it or not, but, for practical purposes, we still are running a constitutional monarchy. I am king, but most of my power is from persuasion. I try to stay out of politics, as such, and confine my kingly activities to advice and gentle pushing of the parliament the way I think that things ought to be done. So far, I have won every time, but I have no idea how long that will last.

Our economy is somewhere between socialist and capitalist, depending on the specific situation. We have an economic council that pushes one phase or another of the economy, depending on what we need, but there is not yet any direct government control of business or industry. Basically, if somebody has an idea for a large business or manufacturing facility that he cannot finance from his own funds, he can apply to the economic council for backing and a loan to get started. Once the loan is paid off, the government no longer has any say in the operation. This has worked well for us, and we are exploding, economically.

Any operation an individual does on his own, the government has stayed clear of. We have had very few business failures, but there have been enough to make people think twice before launching some hare-brained scheme.

We now have three main cities, Home, Iron Mine, and Metropolis. Home is the original cave where we got our start, Iron Mine is the site of the meteoroid, and Metropolis is at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Eve is responsible for that name, which she originally proposed as a joke, but it stuck.

Metropolis is a bustling center of trade, handling mostly minerals, but they do have a brisk grain trade in the current equivalent of wheat. Personally, I don't think that the taste of the wheat is up to the 21^st century version, but our wheat we brought with us from Auburn did not do well in the current climate and soil. On the other hand, the local stuff only needs a little encouragement and away it grows. Eve and I laugh on occasion as we compare it to kudzu, the way it wants to take over the world.

It must be inevitable, but we now have lawyers! Mostly, they deal with property disputes, but there is the occasional criminal activity. That is usually in the scam or fraud category, and the penalty is a fine of some sort. We don't have jails, and there has not yet been a crime that warranted execution. I hope that never comes up, but I know that it will, eventually.

Nowadays, every adult carries a gun modeled after the guns we brought with us from the 21^st century. Every once in a while, somebody gets shot, but none fatally, so far. Our schools press heavily on teaching ethics, and it has struck a responsive chord with everybody. By the time a child becomes an adult at his/her 15^th birthday and is allowed to carry a gun at any time, consideration for the rights and feelings of others has been drilled in to the point that it cannot be ignored. We have been very happy with the results and hope to keep it that way.

The need for a gun was brought about by the appearance of an especially dangerous snake. We don't know why they have moved in on human territory, but they started showing up about 75 years ago. The snake is very poisonous and is large enough, as an adult, to eat small cats and dogs. Lilith's progeny have finally come home, and every household has at least one cat. Humans cannot seem to resist having at least one pet in the house.

If all the snakes did was eat cats, I doubt that anybody would be very concerned, but they have been known to bite children who have tried to pet them. No child has died from a bite, yet, but we are fearful that the time will come. Therefore, everybody carries a gun, and there is a bounty on the snakes. I wish that we could rid ourselves of the damned snakes, but we have had no luck with that effort, so far.