Cowboys and Aliens

42. Prove It

The

next morning, it was all over the news about the asteroid that was going to hit Earth in a month, and that the Federation would not take care of it. As expected, the media was spinning it as 'The Federation will not help, because they don't like China'. The media is the biggest cancer there is to society. If they would actually do their jobs and report facts, the world would be much better by it.

So, after reviewing the daily reports, Mark started thinking about what to say for the press release.

"

Cricket, how many Earthlings have emigrated to federated planets?

"

"

If you exclude emigrating to Atlantis, 253,618 people have left Earth and now live elsewhere in the Federation.

"

"

And including Atlantis?

"

"

1,272,009 total citizens.

"

Mark continued to think about the press release until everyone else eventually got up and they went for breakfast at the pavilion.

Eric, Beth and Zack came for breakfast this morning. It was good to see Zack again, and it looked like he had turned over a new leaf.

Over breakfast, it came out that his so-called 'friends' were just using him because of his friendship with Mark, but after being shown that they would get nowhere in the Federation, they moved on to another country where they could protest. Zack also learned that his 'friends' were the reason his boyfriend broke up with him and that they had since reconciled.

He also wanted to announce that he was going to move to Atlanterra with his boyfriend. His boyfriend was originally from there and was getting a bit homesick as he did still have family there, and since they had relegated Zack down to minion status in the company, it was as good a time as any to make a change.

Everyone congratulated him and wished him the best, although Beth seemed a bit sad, and Mark said if he ever moved back to Atlantis there would be a job for him.

After breakfast, several Earth reporters who had been waiting nearby approached Mark and Annabelle.

It must've been a new batch of reporters as they were all asking questions at the same time, so Mark just shook his head and smiled, but didn't say a thing.

Finally, one of them clued in and raised her hand, which Mark promptly acknowledged, and she asked her question, "Why is the Federation not helping defend Earth from this asteroid? Is it because it's projected to strike China and you don't like the Chinese people?"

Mark calmly answered, "I have absolutely nothing against the Chinese people and I do not wish for anyone to be harmed by this asteroid. Yes, we could easily take care of it, but many governments around the world have repeatedly asked us to leave, and they have also indicated that they don't need our help to defend the planet.

Because this is a small meteor and by no means an extinction level event, I simply told them that this was their chance to prove that they can defend the planet. It should be a piece of cake compared to a real orbital attack, which, I might add, we just defended Earth from a couple of days ago."

The next reporter raised his hand and asked, "So you're not going to help?"

"Your governments say they can defend the planet, why do you want our help? Do you not trust your government?"

"For space stuff, I trust the Federation a lot more!"

"That's not what I asked. Do you not trust your government?"

They met the question with silence. The reporters didn't want to answer the question, so Mark just talked for them, "Look, if you don't trust your government, why do you keep voting them in? There are other alternatives!"

Another reporter raised her hand and changed the subject, "You say you just defended Earth. Was it from the Norn?"

"No! The Norn needed some help in dealing with two Destructor ships. We have encountered them before, we know little about them to be honest, they just show up and deploy this sort of laser mining machine that bores deep into the planet until eventually the planet breaks apart and everyone dies, then they move on. The ships are absolutely massive and are very tough to destroy, we've lost several ships fighting them and have seen a couple of planets destroyed by them so far."

"So, more or less, if you or the Norn weren't here, Earth would likely not exist anymore."

"That would be a safe assumption. The last planet we saw them destroy was slightly smaller than Earth and sparsely populated, but it only took a few hours for the planet to be destroyed... 75 million people dead! Earth technology has been used against us a few times, and it's harmless to us. The Destructors have managed to destroy our ships, Earth would not stand a chance against even one of those ships, let alone multiple ships. This little asteroid is Earth's chance to prove that you really don't need us to fight ALL your battles for you, because if they expect us to do that, we might as well bring the entire planet into the Federation."

Another reporter put up his hand and asked, "There are many people wanting the Federation to come in and take over. Would you entertain the idea of doing that?"

"Well, if a government isn't doing what is right for the people, they should allow the people to choose a better option! Since revealing ourselves to Earth, we have seen over 1.2 million people immigrate to the Federation already, with more immigrating every day. We can easily transition regions, provinces, states, countries and entire planets into the Federation. The process is well documented in our library."

"So you would put your name on a ballot and run in an election?"

"No, not me, plus I'm pretty sure you need to be a citizen of the region that the political party is campaigning in. Each region would need a governor or senator to represent the people, I would say whatever party leader wins the election would then become the governor or senator. In fact, if joining the Federation is the goal of your political platform, I'd highly recommend doing your homework on our laws and the transition process to join the Federation."

"But what if a single province or state in a country votes to separate, but the country doesn't allow them to?"

"If the people vote to leave whatever country they are in, we will welcome them into the Federation. There will be a transition period while the region switches to our currency and any federal services will need to leave as they won't be able to function in our society. We will try to make the separation amicable, but the Federation will not bow to bullying, they will separate and there's not a lot that they can do to prevent it!"

The original reporter then asked again, "So you're really not going to help with the asteroid?"

Mark just smiled, "Nope! They say they don't need us to protect them, this is their chance to prove it. We've already taken care of two Destructors from destroying the planet. This little asteroid should be a cakewalk! Now if you'll excuse me, I have other things to attend to."

Rayven, Beth and Eric had stuck around and watched Mark handle the reporters, then afterwards they all walked with Beth and Eric back to the office.

Beth wasn't as sad as she was when breakfast ended, but when they asked her about it, she explained, "The three of us have been close friends ever since we were little, but we are now growing up and growing apart. If things progress with Jacob, Cass would move out to the island permanently, and now Zack was leaving to another planet. If they're gone, I don't want to live in that tower all alone."

Mark said, "Then don't! When we first moved to Atlantis, I suggested you guys should get your own places as you would eventually start your own families. Growing up is inevitable, y'know!"

Annabelle then smiled, "Hey, I know a nice little island that only has two lots... and one of them is currently for sale!"

Beth chuckled, "I've been thinking about that too! I'm just not sure what would happen if Cass and Jacob did breakup. It could get kind of awkward on the island."

Annabelle said, "Think positive! Besides, if things got awkward, you can always sell and move."

It worried Beth, "I wonder if I can even afford it? I'm sure an island lot on a lake isn't cheap!"

Mark said, "I've seen the company books, you guys have been very successful. You should be able to afford it!"

Beth's demeanour brightened up a bit after that, and soon they were back at the office. Mark, Annabelle and Rayven said their goodbyes and continued walking around the inner ring, eventually returning to the palace via the north path, joking that they might need to build a play area and jungle gym on the property line when they have kids.

Talking about kids prompted Annabelle to ask, "What about our baby? Do we want to raise one here in the city... growing up in the palace? Or should we be looking at building a normal house in a community, where they would have other kids and schools?"

Mark admitted, "I've been thinking the same thing. The palace is all fine and dandy for us, but there's not a lot of residential in the city, it's just hotels and tourist stuff. To tell you the truth, I've actually been thinking about buying the other half of Jacob's island, I really enjoy spending time out at his place, but then I also like spending time out at the ranch. If we were to build a place, where should we build it?"

Cricket then said, "

I can make the island a bit bigger and put three lots on it!

"

Annabelle then said, "I'm kind of in the same boat, pun intended. I really enjoy living on the ranch, but I also really like having a lake. It's too bad there wasn't a lake near the ranch, we could have both!"

Mark put up his finger and said, "Hold that thought!"

"

Cricket, you said you could make the island bigger, could you not just as easily create a small lake down by the ranch?

"

"

Creating a lake takes a bit more planning as I need to have water flow in and out and an underwater ecosystem, but yes, I could make a lake down by the ranch.

"

"

We need to be considerate and cautious... An enormous lake would draw too much attention and development, which is something Joe doesn't want!

"

Mark then told Annabelle and Rayven his plan, "Cricket said she could make the island larger and put three lots on it, but that got me to thinking that if she could make an island larger, maybe she could make a lake down by the ranch? I'm thinking something small like Swan Lake in Alberta, or even Chestermere Lake just outside of Calgary. They are only a few kilometres long and I don't think either of them are even 1 kilometre wide, one has a small campground and some decent fishing, the other is more of a recreational lake!"

Annabelle said, "Something like that could work, it's enough space to still go waterskiing, jet skiing, jet boarding or even just for fishing and mom and dad own a few kilometres in every direction from the ranch. We could build it on their land, although if it's a private lake then there still won't be other kids for our kids to play with!"

"Then we build the lake on the border of their property, so half the lake gets some development?"

Cricket said, "

I'll put together some design options.

"

Annabelle then suggested, "We should go talk to mom and dad!"

They made their way back to the transit stop and were soon flying south toward the ranch.

***

During

the trip they kept thinking about possibilities of having a lake by the ranch and how to pitch the idea to Joe and Kat.

Fortunately, they didn't stop to pick up any other passengers today and were soon landing at the ranch.

Because it was a weekday, there wasn't anyone staying at the ranch, so Joe and Kat were just futzing around the ranch doing menial tasks, but stopped what they were doing to sit on the porch and visit with them.

Annabelle immediately brought up, "Mark and I are considering building a house as we don't want to raise the baby in the palace."

Kat asked, "We have lots of room here, you can build on the ranch."

"We had thought of that, but while we love the ranch life, we also love the lake life. So what would you think about us developing a lake near here?"

Joe immediately said, "Lakes bring development and all sorts of riffraff... but I do like the idea of going fishing! What are you thinking?"

Mark then said, "Yes, lakes bring development, but what I'm thinking is that you don't have any neighbours for nearly 25 kilometres west of the ranch. I'm not sure why, but the south part of the island just isn't as developed as the north part, except along the coasts and major rivers. So what I was thinking, to spur more development in the south, was creating a chain of small interconnected lakes through the valley to the west."

"So you more or less want to create an Atlantis version of the Chain Lakes Provincial Park in Alberta?"

"Yes and no, it's a beautiful park and all, but it's pretty much just a long straight lake. I'm thinking literally a chain of small lakes, not all in a straight line, then what I was thinking was the east end of the lake could extend onto the ranch land, which would more or less remain an undeveloped part of the lake, or private for ranch use."

"Hmmm, I like it. So this end of the lake would be on ranch land and we could actually have a lake front home as well, then I'm thinking the cabins would be like a little campground around the edge of the lake, so people could come just to relax by the lake or even go fishing and go horseback riding. So where would you build your house then?"

"Not on the ranch, but I'm thinking right beside it. We'd be the closest development to the ranch, a buffer zone if you will, I'm thinking our pastures could border your pastures."

"We really own little of the land west of the ranch, we own the strip of land connecting the two national parks, so no one can interfere with the trail rides. It's only about a kilometre wide."

Annabelle asked, "So you're not opposed to having a lake coming right up to the ranch?"

Joe stated, "Not if you can keep the closest areas less developed."

Mark said, "I've got Cricket working on some designs, hopefully she'll have something to look at in a day or two."

Kat asked, "Is that why you guys came out here? To ask us about building a lake?"

Annabelle said, "Yes, we've both been thinking about where to raise our baby and neither of us want to do it at the palace. Lately we've been spending some time at Jacob's new place, he built on an island in Wettering Lake, and we both really like hanging out on the lake, but we also like the ranch life, so we wanted to see if we could have the best of both worlds and hoped you wanted that as well."

Kat smiled, "I look forward to seeing what you come up with!"

Joe said, "I look forward to it also, if for nothing more than to go fishing when it's slow around here!"

Annabelle hugged her parents and then they called for a lift back to the city. A face-to-face meeting was just so much better than impersonal messages and video calls, plus the speed of the lifts made travelling distances fairly quick.

***

By

the time they had returned to the city, Cricket had some rough ideas for the 'chain lakes', so when they reached the palace they convened in Mark's office to go over what she had come up with so far. Fortunately, the location Annabelle had chose for the ranch was right on the continental divide, so while the stream that ran through the ranch turned and went to the Evenor River to the east, there were many feeder streams that came off Mount Cleito that eventually connected to the Pleione River. All she had to do was redirect some larger feeder streams near the ranch and that would provide the primary inlet water for the lake and predictions of where overland flooding would happen formed the lake.

The design everyone liked, would rival Wettering Lake as the largest lake on Atlantis, based on volume of water, but the lake was more like just a meandering river that got bigger at the corners and then narrowed until the next corner, providing more shoreline space for development. At the east end of the chain was a private lake, completely on ranch property, that went right up to the ranch house, it was just less than a kilometre long and only about half a kilometre wide, connected to the chain of lakes by a short section of the narrow supply stream. The chain of lakes literally stretched from the ranch to Baronville, 25 kilometres away, where the river already went straight through the middle of town and continued until it met the Pleione River that came down off the Meteor Plateau and went out to the west coast.

There were also a few streams down in Mneseus and a couple in Autokthon they were going to alter to create lakes in those regions as well. That way it wouldn't look so selfish and promote growth and development in those regions. Most of the northern regions closer to the mountain ranges already had many lakes in each region, which is probably why the north part of the island was more developed and populated than the south. There really was only one major lake in the south and that was on top of the Meteor Plateau, which was in a protected national park.

Mark said he should probably make an announcement about the development upgrades, but before that he figured he should talk to the governors of those regions first.

So after speaking to each of the governors in the Atlas, Autokthon and Mneseus regions and all were happy to hear that they would soon have some lakes to attract more residents and provide more recreational activities. They also indicated that they would take care of the announcements in each of their regions. All total, the three regions only had a population of less than 1 million, with almost all of it in the coastal cities or along the major rivers. There was very little in the way of rural or cottage life.

The way Cricket was going to create these lakes, was by simply doing overland flooding and seeing where the water went, then once it was underwater she would move the dirt and trees to create the coastline and build the lake. So her projections were actually predictions of that flooding, so it would look as natural as possible.

Over the next 3 days, there was extensive flooding in those areas, but Cricket's projection had been pretty much dead on and within the week, there were several new lakes scattered among the three regions. During this time, the group held lengthy discussions about where everyone was going to live. Everyone indicated they had to live wherever the king and queen were since they were security and advisors and could have to leave on little to no notice.

With the chain lake formed, Mark immediately purchased a sizeable chunk of well treed land on the northern side of the eastern end of what was Cricket had labelled Meteor Lake that bordered the ranch property. They could not develop the southern side of the lake and river at that point, since it bordered on the Meteor Plateau National Park. To boost the chain lakes, she had also created another big feeder stream from atop the Meteor Plateau that ended up in a waterfall near the end of the main lakes, off of the ranch property, and more or less across the lake from where Mark and Annabelle had purchased their lot.

Having the king and queen purchase a lot, prompted the developers to make all the lakefront lots on the north side of Meteor Lake estate style lots, to hinder large-scale development and to make that section of the lake more exclusive to the affluent. Atlas Lake was the larger lake to the west, and then finally Baron Lake, which was near Baronville at the far west end of the chain.

Once they began selling lots, as expected, development took right off. Almost immediately there were several condominium developments and more than a few hotels, golf courses, water slide parks and many other amenities as well. There were several islands in the chain lakes, mostly in the larger Atlas Lake, but a couple in Baron Lake as well, and they were all designated for hotel or entertainment developments.