Cowboys and Aliens

57. Cracks

Eventually, the Pope and Cardinal left the outreach centre and returned to the camp, only to find out that the trebuchets and catapults had indeed been destroyed.

They asked the man that was guarding the equipment about the attacks, but the response they got was simply. "What attack?"

"What do you mean, what attack?, they've been destroyed, who did it?"

"No one did it! I and another guard were actually leaning against a catapult and it rotted and collapsed into a pile of black dust that faded away into nothing."

The Pope dismissed the uninformative guard, but the guard hesitantly stayed, "Uh your holiness, many of us have heard voices from above telling us to return home. That this is a fight we will not win. The men are scared, sir."

The Pope was furious now. "Who is spreading these rumours?"

The scared guard replied, "We don't know. We all hear the voices, but when we look around—there's no one there."

The Pope said, "Get out of my sight until you can start giving me worthwhile information."

Once the guard had left, the Pope was visibly upset as he broke the cross he had been holding.

The snap of the wooden cross made the Cardinal pause and reconsider what he was going to say, before eventually just saying, "It's that King guy. He can do things that are impossible for normal people. Maybe he is a god of some sort?"

The Pope looked sternly at the Cardinal. "There are no gods! We are the gods and, as gods, people will listen and obey whatever we say."

The Cardinal was a bit surprised. "So everything that the Federation guy said is true?"

"I have no idea if it's true or not, but for our own well-being, we must stop him from spreading this type of information. It undermines our entire way of life. If enough people begin to think that way, we will lose our power and influence."

As the Pope was looking over a crudely drawn map spread out on the table, "Cardinal, you know this city well. Are there any other lesser known routes into the city? If we can't get past that new gate they've built, we'll have to go around."

"There are only three ways into the city. The main path that traverses from the top of the ridge, there's also a route along the south shoreline and the only other way is from the bay."

"A route along the south shoreline?"

"Yes, you just have to go about half a day south to find a way to get down to the shoreline then it's a winding, narrow path that isn't easy to travel. They don't even take carts down that route, it's horses only."

"Explain the shoreline route to the assassins and send them that way, we'll give them lots of rope and send them on foot, maybe they can find a quicker way off the ridge and down to the path. If we cut the head off this blasphemous upstart, the citizens will beg us to take them back under our wing; you said the city only has rudimentary warriors?"

"Yes, some of them are quite skilled, but most of them are mere brutes to control rowdy citizens when they've had too much drink. So what if the assassins can't get in from that way either?"

"They've got all night to try. We'll go down there mid-morning and confront them."

"He said to come unarmed."

"I'll show him unarmed. If he opens that gate, he's a dead man."

Fortunately, Cricket had a drone inside the tent and recorded the entire conversation. Mark would like to hear that when he wakes up.

Mark awoke to a sexy bunny giving him a blowjob, but now that he was awake she moved herself so that her legs were on each side of his face, allowing him easy access to her pink pussy, which he gladly dipped his tongue into.

After a couple minutes of fellatio, Maren turned around and mounted him again. They fucked vigorously for a few minutes until Mark came deep inside her. Maren had cum many times during the fuck session, so she was content to just rest for a second and let his cock soften inside her.

Then they got dressed and visited the public washrooms to clean up. While going to the washroom, Cricket replayed the scene of the Pope and Cardinal in Mark's mind.

They then went to the soup kitchen and started making breakfast. Unfortunately, without knowing how much breakfast to make, they simply chose 12 servings. Anything they didn't use would just get recycled, anyway.

Sure enough, within minutes Nicholas and Sonja were arriving at the new outreach centre and Mark was offering them breakfasts.

Sonja then determined that they needed to tell people that there would be free food at the outreach centre.

Mark then informed them of how things worked in other communities. Some only doing breakfast, some doing breakfast and supper and some doing all three meals, usually they were staffed by citizen volunteers and someone would need to be in charge of volunteer coordination, to make sure everyone got a chance to volunteer and make some money.

As Mark explained that, Cricket informed him that the Pope, Cardinal, and about a dozen soldiers were at the tunnel.

Mark excused himself and went downstairs. They had stopped about 10 metres from the force field. So Mark had Cricket turn the force field transparent as Mark shouted to the men. If you have no weapons, come on in. If you have weapons, discard them before you cross this line. He then waved his hand and a blue line appeared where the force field barrier was.

The Cardinal exclaimed. "See? I told you he can do stuff just by waving his hand."

The Pope sneered at the Cardinal and then looked at Mark as he galloped directly toward Mark. Mark moved off to the side, and the horse passed through the force field, but the Pope, who was brandishing a rapier, got knocked off the horse and fell to the ground hard.

Mark was standing only two metres away from the now furious Pope as he shrugged his shoulders. "I told you! No weapons past the line! So if you want to talk, drop your weapons and come on over. Hey, we've even got breakfast going upstairs if you're hungry."

The Cardinal dismounted his horse and walked up to the line, he tried to cross the line, but was unsuccessful. He then dropped his rapier and a knife and stepped across the line. "Extraordinary!"

As he stood beside Mark, he asked, "Aren't you afraid that I might attack you?"

Mark simply shook his head. "The Federation believes in peace, but do not mistake our desire for peace as weakness. As I told your men last night. The Federation will never start a fight, but we can definitely finish one! Besides, I know you are starting to see the cracks in your so-called religion."

The Cardinal didn't speak, but slightly nodded his head as he looked at the Pope, who was still dusting himself off after his abrupt dismount.

Mark smiled as he softly said, "People everywhere are starting to see the cracks."

At that point, Nicholas had come downstairs to see what was happening.

The Cardinal turned to see who had arrived. "Father!"

Mark turned, "Mr. Mayor, how was breakfast?"

Nicholas smiled and replied, "Son!", then turned to Mark, "The breakfast was excellent, my King."

The Cardinal looked at his father. "Mayor?"

"Yes, we had an election, and I won, but only by the narrowest of margins, so Sonja Hellermann is now my second-in-command—my Deputy Mayor."

"A woman is Deputy Mayor?"

"Yes, it is the way things are in the Federation. Women are treated equal to men. So I figured with my advanced age, and Sonja and I almost tied, we might as well start down the Federation path."

The Pope, seeing the Cardinal on the other side of the line, just casually talking rather than trying to kill the leadership, grew even more enraged as he got on the Cardinal's horse and took off at a gallop back up the path.

The soldiers, however, had something different in mind as they piled their weapons off in the ditch and walked across the line.

The Cardinal looked at Mark. "He's going to come back with the full army and raze the city."

"No, he won't. Mainly because a lot of his soldiers have already deserted him, like these fellows here."

Mark then looked at the men, "If you guys are hungry, there are some stairs at the other end of the tunnel that will take you above where there is a healthy breakfast waiting."

The soldiers were shocked, but simply said thank you and started walking down the tunnel. The Cardinal just looked at Mark. "I must admit, you are an enigma. Here the men who were threatening you only moments ago simply walk by you and you casually direct them to go get breakfast. Most leaders would have the enemy detained or imprisoned, but you show no fear toward anybody."

Mark looked directly at the Cardinal, "There is nothing to be fearful of. This city is secure and safe, no one can change that now. The Pope has no more large weapons and the soldiers that remain cannot carry weapons beyond the line. Oh, and the four assassins you guys sent to come in through the shoreline, they will find that there is a line all around the city now and even the bay is protected."

"How did you know we sent the assassins south?"

"My dear Cardinal, when it comes to the security of my people, there isn't much that I don't know."

The Cardinal sighed as he looked at his robes. "I guess I'm not a Cardinal anymore. I should probably put on some new clothes, and you should probably start calling me Charles."

Mark smiled, "Well Charles, let's go get you some new clothes and breakfast."

The three men walked back to the hover elevator, stepped inside and silently rose to the main level of the outreach centre, which still contained the heavenly scent of bacon. There were several hundred people in the food court now.

The rest of his group had arrived and taken over making breakfast. Apparently, word was getting around that there was free food at the outreach centre.

While Nicholas went to talk to Maren and Sonja, who were scoping out her new office, Mark pointed Charles to the public washrooms and told him everything he needed was in there.

The outreach centre public washrooms were usually on the ground level for easy access, but not in Corinth. All washrooms were universal and actual rooms with the force field doors and colour changing dot. Each washroom had a toilet, shower, sink, clothing synth and air dryer, all clearly labelled with pictures for ease of use. The air dryer was a recent addition, but unlike a typical hair dryer, the air dryer turned the shower area into an air chamber with numerous air jets blowing warm air from the walls. Washrooms also had clearly labelled buttons and instructions, along with all the usual amenities of towels, washcloths, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap and shampoo. They even supplied female hygiene products, but those only showed up if there was a female in the room. Again, after every use, the washroom reset itself, so it was always clean for the next person.

The stream of people coming in for the free food was steadily growing. Soon, there were probably close to a thousand people in the food court by the time that Charles emerged from the washroom.

He was amazed at how many people had come in such a short time.

It wasn't until one person commented about how far the walk was to get to breakfast that Mark realized this city, like Hubbard, needed transit stops.

"

Cricket, convert all the information kiosks into small outreach centres that will give more options for food, water, washrooms, showers, medical and transit. Forget the offices for now. Then we should probably create some transit stops in the more remote locations around the bay and up at the racetrack.

"

Mark then made an announcement, "Sorry to interrupt your breakfasts, but I'd like everyone to know that the information kiosks around the city are being converted into a smaller version of this outreach centre, so there are more options for food, water, washrooms, medical and transit.

I've also created transit stops at various other locations around the city outside of the areas where the kiosks were. Those transit stops can easily transport you between other transit stops around the city, or even up to the racetrack. This outreach centre is an outreach hub. It is the only one that can transport people from Corinth to Colonia or even up to the Space Station.

That's all I wanted to say. Please return to your breakfast."

Charles then asked, "So, when are you going to do all those things you just said?"

"They're already done, or will be in a few minutes."

"You say you're not a god, and I don't believe in magic, so how do you make things just appear? Can anyone else do what you do?"

Mark thought about how to answer that question. "It's true! I'm not a god. Gods simply aren't real, as you now know. Yes, people can do things like what I'm doing, but they cannot do them the way I am doing them."

Charles was thoroughly confused now. "Can you elaborate? How could I do something like what you just did?"

Mark said, "You can't. The only people in this city that can do what I just did would be the city administrators, which is your father and Sonja, ideally there should be someone holding the office of city planner. They would just have to make the requests via the computer terminals in their offices. I have a special ability that allows me to communicate with those same computers using only my mind, which is why no one else can do it the way I can."

"So my father can do this?"

"In the absence of a city planner, yes, but I don't think he knows it yet. That's part of his training today as the first full day as mayor. Which reminds me, we should probably go see what he and Sonja have been up to this morning."

They could see Nicholas in one office and Sonja in the one right beside it, both pretty much front and centre on the downhill side, so they had windows overlooking the city. Nicholas was sitting in his comfy chair and looking out the window, whereas Sonja was already doing something on the computer.

Curious, Mark asked from the door to her office, "Look at you! First day in your office and you're already using the computer."

She smiled, "There's this thing called a chat room, where I'm currently talking to someone named Moderator, someone named Salene, who says she's in orbit, and Senator Edward in Federation City on Colonia. They're giving me suggestions about things we should do to get Corinth caught up to the cities in Colonia. Did you know we can rebuild people's houses?

Nicholas and Charles overheard her response and Nicholas asked, "How can I do that?"

Mark told Nicholas to log into his computer by pressing the green login button on the keyboard. The keyboards were similar in design to Earth-based keyboards, but the keys were in different spots, likely for efficiency reasons. Of course, the keyboards also changed based on your language preferences, but the green login and red log-off buttons were the same on all keyboards.

Charles pushed the green button, but nothing happened. However, the computer logged in when Nicholas pressed the button.

Soon Nicholas was logged into the chat room, and Edward was more or less going through the steps that had been taken at the various communities around Colonia. Step 1, outreach centre, paths and transit stops. Step 2, upgrade schools, public buildings and houses. Step 3, help people start businesses, especially entertainment and restaurants.

Mark interjected and said, I've pretty much done step 1 for you, so we'll start at step 2.

Edward wished them good luck and said he'd drop by for a visit in a few days.

Upon leaving the chat room, they were all equally amazed that they could talk to someone that was far away as if they were right there.

Mark just smiled and said, "Welcome to the Federation. I actually quite often have conference calls with people on completely different planets. Those are more difficult to arrange due to time differences, so it's usually best to send messages to people that aren't near to you."

Nicholas said, "So, where should we begin?"

Sonja was quick to reply, "Step 2, upgrade schools, public buildings and houses. We've only got a couple of schools, so that should be easy."

Mark looked at her questioningly, "Only a couple of schools, for a city this big? There must be tens of thousands of children in the city. You should have many schools."

Sonja clarified, "Not all kids go to school as it costs money. It's pretty much just the more affluent children that get to go to school."

Mark said, "Well, that's going to change! Education is the single most important thing for every developing community. Education opens up young minds and from those minds come new ideas. Across the Federation, most kids go to school from the time they are about 6 years old, through until they are around 18 years old, and in most communities, they even go to specialized schools for a few years after that. Education is free across the Federation and, while we don't force children to go to school, it is highly recommended. Without education, they will find life very difficult, as they won't be able to interact on the same intellectual level as everyone else. Eventually communities make school mandatory."

Sonja smiled. "Everyone can go to school? We are going to need more schools!"

Nicholas asked, "How many would you recommend?"

Mark said, "We'll need more information. Now that you are part of the Federation, every citizen should go get registered at the identification office. Any adult that voted, got registered and identified when they went through the voting booths, but they will need to bring their children in for registration and identification at an outreach centre. Once we know the number of kids and their ages, we can better determine how many schools of each kind to build."

Charles asked, "There's more than one kind of school?"

Mark said, "Yes, we have elementary schools, which are grades 1 through 3. Those more or less teach kids the basics of reading, writing and math. There are usually more of those than the others, since kids of that age require more attention. Then there are middle schools for grades 4 through 8. They expand on the basics and add a bunch more topics. Then high schools are for grades 9 through 12 and they go into even more depth. After high school, there are post-secondary institutions, which offer a wide variety of specialized education, and some schools offer specialized training for certain trades and jobs."

Sonja said, "So we have lots to think about then?"

Mark replied, "Not really, you can read about the education system in the computer, but there's not much to do until we know how many kids and the age breakdown, plus there will be some catch up schools to help the older kids who haven't gone to school yet, learn the basics. I think one of the bigger challenges is going to be where to build the schools. It's not like you have much undeveloped land, unless we go to up to the top of the ridge, although once everyone's houses are upgraded, all houses will have a computer and the kids can learn at home.

By the way, were there any city administrators before the election? Maybe planners who help to determine where the roads go, and buildings, etc. Or people that were in charge of other aspects of the city?"

Both looked at Charles as the former leader.

Charles answered. "Yes, Doerr was the city planner, Griffin was the top maker, Karl was the head of security, and Randall was the head of the docks. There was also a trade ambassador and a merchant representative, but they weren't really city positions. The city did not pay them, it was just me, my advisers, Doerr, Karl and Randall. Actually, even Griffin was often just hired by the city to build things, but he didn't really work for the city, he was more of an adviser."

Mark said, "Well, we need to get Doerr here. He'll need an office. I'll have to deal with Karl and security, as they now fall under my control rather than the city, and we'll have to set Randall up an office close to the docks. Doerr is the priority, though. Anyone know how to find him?"