Taking heed of the effect of the European cultures and their colonisation of the world, with the destruction and disillusionment that followed, the loss of confidence, I transposed that to the alien invasion. I coupled that with the modern populist wave of propaganda and undermining of institutions and media. The resultant instability was open for exploitation. My aliens were at odds with each other. They were seeking different outcomes. Human civilisation was in meltdown.
Chapter 16 – Progress
Beheggakegri was beginning to feel more relaxed. The camps were far less crowded and the amenities improved. He was confident that if they were inspected now they would just about pass. The lunar facilities were coming on apace with some parts already up and running. They had shipped in the expertise from around the Federation and were already beginning to work on the Hydrans. If drangling Booghramakegra started poking her nose in now she couldn’t find too much to blame Beheggakegri with. He could refute all that excrement emanating from Chameakegra. He was in the clear. A great feeling of relief passed through him.
Good luck to all those therapists. He was sure that they could apply their therapies and potions to their hearts content but they’d soon find out that they were wasting their time. These Hydrans were a lost cause and he would prove it. That Chameakegra was heading for a downfall.
As for Grrndakegra, that Giforian seemed to be coming through. He liked her. She was like him, no nonsense. She could see what these Hydrans were like from the start. If she’d only been in charge of the operation from the very beginning these Hydrans would be gone and forgotten and he wouldn’t have even had to think about drangling Commander Chameakegra. She’d be off doing her mundane work out in the periphery where she belonged, unseen, unnoticed and out of his crest. When this debacle was over he’d have her commission, she’d be gone for good. The sooner he could get back to normal the better. All this business with Chameakegra was upsetting his digestion.
Grrndakegra would sort it out. He felt confident again.
No sooner had Beheggakegri begun to relax when the next problem hit home.
‘What is it?’ Beheggakegri asked abruptly, answering the special encrypted communicator he kept for all commerce with Grrndakegra. When that communicator buzzed it usually meant something was wrong.
‘Have you seen what our darling Commander has just put out?’
‘No,’ Beheggakegri replied with a sinking pair of hearts. What had the drangling guff done now?
‘I suggest you check your mail. She’s pasted you in.’
Beheggakegri fumbled around with his other communicator. Immediately he could see that a colossal file had been sent through to him. ‘What the drang?’
‘She’s only gone and released all the data that Neff had collected about the Hydrans.’
It took a moment for Beheggakegri to take that in. Slowly the implications dawned on him. ‘She wants to justify the extractions.’
‘That’s right.’
‘What are you going to do about it?’
‘I’m already on it,’ Grrndakegra replied. ‘I’m flooding their communication network with posts from a large number of reputable sources questioning the facts, contradicting, undermining and claiming it is all fake news. The dissident factions are already claiming it’s a fabrication; a conspiracy put together by the Federation. I’m boosting that view on steroids. I’ll soon have the bulk of the Hydrans believing right is wrong. Doubt and distrust are our weapons. These Hydrans love to believe in conspiracies. They are so incredibly stupid.’
Beheggakegri laughed.
Progress was being made but Chameakegra knew that it was a race against time. Did she have the time to win the Hydrans over before Beheggakegri got his way?
Funding and expertise was being funnelled into education. Long-neglected schools refurbished, a new curriculum put into place that was mind expanding, creative and brought enjoyment to the heart of the process. In developing countries new facilities were under construction. Every youngster over the entire globe, for the first time, was going to receive a first class education. But there were problems emerging. Teachers could not be conjured out of nowhere and the new curriculum and styles of ‘active’ teaching were an anathema to a largely conservative profession. Despite the long-term benefits the short-term issues dominated. There was general disquiet and unrest. The unions became involved. Parents became anxious. Conspiracy theories blossomed – education was being taken over by the lizards. Children were to be brainwashed. Protests ensued. Soldiers were being brought in to fill gaps and soldiers are not renowned for compassion and empathy.
The protection of the environment was warmly received by environmental groups but also generated widespread anger. People were no longer allowed in areas they considered beauty spots. The turning over of whole areas to nature met a furious response. We were being told where we could go and what we could do. This wasn’t right. Restrictions on fishing, trawling, farming, mining and logging, no matter how beneficial they might prove in the long run, were garnishing widespread dissatisfaction. Rewilding became a dirty word. Who were these aliens to barge in and tell everyone what they could and could not do on their own planet?
New quantum energy plants were under construction using alien technology but a new energy grid cannot be constructed overnight even with the amazing resources that the aliens could bring to bear.
The revamping of industry with the incorporation of new technologies required time and expertise. People had to be trained.
The data drop that Chameakegra had instigated had certainly made an impact. The media had delighted in picking over the dubious actions and attributes of their pet politicians, celebrities and business magnates. They were shown up for the horrible selfish people they really were, yet strangely it did not spin the dial as much as Chameakegra had hoped. The campaign claiming that the reports had all been doctored, were fake and created by the lizards greatly undermined the impact. People became confused. What could they believe? Who could they trust?
The most noticeable effect of the aliens’ occupation, apart from the huge impact of the excising of so many people from the upper echelons, was the disbandment of the military. The Federation with the help of the Ministry of Peace under Apsara Amorin, managed the decommissioning of equipment, including nuclear arsenals, warships, planes and missiles but the personnel were suddenly surplus to requirements. All over the world soldiers, sailors and airmen were stood down. The knock on effects were enormous, the whole defence industries, the supply and support along with surveillance, planning and organisation. The mass unemployment created huge problems. People could not simply be retrained overnight.
They were all compensated. The Federation seemed happy to support a large number of unemployed people. That was not an issue. Their resources were unimaginable. That was not the issue. The issue was time. Work filled time. Work gave purpose, status and self-worth. When the work stopped people had time but no drive. They were at a loose end. Time was the enemy. They felt as if they had been robbed. They no longer mattered. They had far too much time.
Then there was religion. All over the world the religious fundamentalists felt that their faith and beliefs were under attack. Attacking or denigrating a person’s deep-felt faith was incendiary. There were no holds barred to a religious fanatic.
People did not like change.
Whenever there had been periods of change there had always been great civil unrest. It took time for change to bed in.
Never in human history had so much change happened so quickly. The whole world had been turned upside down. Not only that, but inside, people were suffering from a demoralising malaise. It was the same psychological collapse that had affected the human cultures following their contacts with the superior technology of the European nations. The arrival of the huge sailing ships with their mystical death-dealing cannons, horses, armour and weapons undermined the very psyche of the cultures they encountered. The tribes, with their canoes, bows and arrows and spears, were suddenly up against people who not only looked different but acted different and brought new religions and weaponry. These tribes could not conceive of how anybody could build a colossal schooner or make a cannon. These strangers appeared like gods. It undermined every belief the endemic people held. Their worth disappeared. They were inferior in every respect. They felt worthless.
Such was the impact of superior technology.
It was the same with the aliens. They left people feeling that their beliefs, culture and lives were worthless. All over the world people were feeling hopeless, floundering and losing the will to live.
Soldiers, miners, fishermen and timber merchants were thrown on the scrap heap, but they were only the tangible symptoms. The very tenets of all religions had been thrown into question and fundamentalists were vainly trying to hold their hands over their ears and eyes. They did not want to hear it or see it. In reality the whole of humanity was now worthless. There was nothing to hold on to anymore. All social cohesion and inner pride had evaporated.
If this was what progress looked like then it was better to live in the past. At least in the old days there was certainty. Now nobody knew what to believe and all beliefs were either discarded or open to question.