October 5th came. Oregon was still cleaning its shores and waters. It didn't take long for Roberts to make his move. In a prime-time speech, Roberts announced his move of ten thousand troops to stop Oregon's "unconstitutional actions." The public wasn't happy about Roberts's move.
At noon, October 10th, 2022, Oregon and Washington declared independence from the United States of America. The news traveled. It traveled fast. By 6 PM, the Californian state government was meeting to decide its position on secession.
Google had played an increasing role in politics once it had grown to a mega-business in the early 2010s. Its favored policies, however, did not lean toward big-business, huge bonuses, rich-get-richer laws. In fact, Google appreciated conservation very much. It was on Oregon's side in the debate. Meanwhile, Hollywood didn't care about government at all. Pop culture didn't take a liking to Oregon and Washington.
The Los Angeles-Hollywood south wanted to stay, but the Silicon Valley-Google north wanted action. Google threatened to to move its headquarters to Oregon. California was split, so California was split. Each county decided whether to join Oregon and Washington or to stay in the United States.
Delegates from Washington, Oregon, and North California met at Salem, Oregon on October 17th to decide a president for the new country. Campaigns and elections would take too long and be too expensive; the new country needed fast action against the spill and fast protection from any moves President Roberts was planning to make. The first day, the delegation announced the name of the new country: Silicia. The Silician public was behind Silicia all the way. Such patriotism hadn't been seen since World War Two and Pearl Harbor. Masses of workers combed beaches, rocks, and marshes, guided by ecology experts. Boats of all sizes dragged oil booms across the water. Olivet began its campaign to cap the oil wells. Silicia completed in two weeks what President Roberts couldn't do in six months.
But the rest of the US considered Silicia to be a place not for the average person. The north was supposedly a backwoods, wild place with crazy gun-totin', cigar-smokin', Bible-thumpin', child-beatin' hicks. The southern half was a haven for antisocial techno-geeks and high intellectuals. Yet its economy was large — and growing. The three electronics giants, Microsoft, Apple, and Google, all had headquarters in Silicia. Once the oil had been cleaned, there were seaports available for trade. Silicia was well off, and with its smaller size, its government was less cumbersome and less bureaucratic.
"What do you think happened?"
Ernie snapped out of his thoughts. "What?" he said.
"What do you think is happening?" Meagan inquired.
"I don't know. Nobody knows. We'll just sit here and wait."
Erne was irritated at this wasted time. The break in his schedule would probably be spent sitting in the basement of the building. He searched his pockets for something to work on while waiting. He came across the poem booklet Alice had given him.
"Do you like poetry?" Ernie asked Meagan.
"My uncle wrote poetry once. It was weird. I really didn't get it. He talked about imagery and metaphors and stuff."
"Are you interested in hearing some?"
"Sure. We've got nothing else to do."
Ernie read the first poem Alice read to him.
"The words flow together
Run together
Weaving together to make
The tapestry of another world.
"The art of each sentence
Enraptures its audience
And brings to life
Characters and worlds unheard of."
Ernie read the second poem to Meagan.
"Tumbling through a world of nothingness
I am smothered by everything there
Trying to hold something more than the world
I am crushed, I am scared
"It has lain down its head to rest
Without it, I am gone
I try and try to bring it back
But it's already over and done"
"Who wrote those poems?" Meagan asked.
Ernie took a breath, gathered his thoughts, and began his story. "Well, a nice woman stopped by me when I was stuck in the ditch. She called emergency for me and invited me to her car until emergency came."
Ernie was surprised. Usually Meagan interrupted him multiple times in a story.
He continued, "I asked about her job. She said she did a lot of things: poetry, theater, writing, art, music. She said 'I thrive on creativity.' "
Ernie paused. Meagan commented, "I haven't heard much about any of those things. I thought they when the way of the dinosaurs, along with manual labor. I really like those poems."
There was another short silence.
"Hello," a different voice popped in. "My name is Jason. I heard you were talking about poetry."
Ernie greeted Jason, "Oh, hello, Jason. Are you the new employee?"
"Yes, sir, my first day was last Monday."
"Nice to meet you. We were just talking about poetry. What do you think of these poems?"
Ernie read them again, this time to Jason.
Jason hesitated, then spoke, "It's been awhile since I've heard an original poem. Did you write it?"
"No, one of my friends did. I think I'll try my hand at writing one, though," Ernie remarked.
The robotic voice crackled to life again. "55th floor, you may exit." The threat had passed; either the plane was shot down, the test was over, or it was a false alarm.
"Wow! It's almost noon!" Ernie remarked. "Time for lunch!"
Gender:
Points: 1910
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