Chapter 22
Liao Si disliked virtual meetings. He held two of his National Expansion Committee meetings where in-person participation was required. The first was two months ago, right after he had been named as Chair of the National Expansion Committee, and it involved the National Sub-Chairs and local Welcoming Committee Chairs. That session was straightforward as the Sub-Chairs were already located in Beijing or were moving there permanently. And Wang Liluan, the person that had been named to replace Liao as the Chair of the Xian Welcoming Committee, was not going to be missed, since the others in Xian were already doing their jobs without oversight. The second in-person session last month had been a logistical failure. Two National Sub-Chairs had to be picked up by Central Committee transplanes to get them here on time, which was embarrassing to have to explain to the Central Committee the next day. And two of the landing sites experienced delays due to their Welcoming Committee Chairs not being on-site to deal with emergencies. That experience, combined with the aliens ‘request’ that all human flight activity be canceled, resulted in all subsequent National Expansion Committee meetings being held via virtual conference.
What reduced Liao’s discomfort about the situation was Shen Bai’s organizational skills. He had asked his local Technology Sub-Chair in Xian to take the National Technology Sub-Chair role for the Expansion Committee. In addition to her exemplary technical knowledge, she did wonders organizing events and social gatherings, which fascinated Liao.
“How is it that you have such strong introvert and extrovert skills,” he had asked her last week.
“My mother was head of the network engineering department and my father was chair of the theater program at CCNU,” Shen Bai answered matter-of-factly.
Liao didn’t know her well enough to determine if she was joking, and too embarrassed to ask. So he looked at her background file and, sure enough, her parents held the jobs she said.
“If only all outcomes were so easy to predict,” he thought to himself as everyone was joining the conference. “Two known inputs producing one defined output.”
“Everyone is here,” Chen Qing said to him quietly, bringing him out of his thoughts.
“Thank you,” Liao said.
“She needs to act more as a National Sub-Chair than as my former assistant,” he thought, making a mental note to share that feedback with her at a future mentoring session. Then he turned his attention to the other conference attendees.
“First let me thank everyone for joining today.,” Liao said to the attendees, both in the room and on the virtual seats around the table. “I know the last of the building craft touchdowns occurred this week, and we have a full set of activities in play at each of our locations around the globe, so I understand your time is in demand by many. Still, it is critical that we all act in concert with each other, despite the distance of our locations, and that we learn from each other’s experiences. I promise to keep this discussion focused so we can return to our responsibilities as quickly as possible.”
“We’ll start with local site updates,” Liao said as he turned to the person seated three spaces to his right. “How are things going in my old neighborhood, Ms. Wang?”
Wang Liluan nervously straightened in her chair, despite Liao’s attempt to have a friendly rapport.
“We switched to full capacity at Xian last week, Chairman Liao, and have successfully transferred one-thousand nine-hundred and forty-four volunteers via the elevator each day since July 13th,” she answered.
“Each day?”, Liao questioned. “I thought it was over a twenty-seven hour time period?”
“That is correct, Chairman Liao. Seven-hundred twenty-nine volunteers per elevator, with one elevator trip every nine hours. My apologies for the inaccurate rounding,” Ms. Wang responded, her shoulders drooping slightly. “We plan to have that number of volunteers ready within any given day to allow for the inevitable losses so we can maintain the elevators at full capacity.”
Liao felt bad for putting her on the spot at the start of the meeting, realizing this was not the way to win enthusiastic support for his leadership. “Excellent plan, Ms. Wang!” he replied, attempting to reinforce the positive energy. “See, everyone! Learn from this planning approach so you all can maintain top productivity at your respective sites.”
This seemed to please Liluan, as she gave a small smile as she looked down at her comm tablet, organizing information on the screen.
“Let’s continue with the in-country sites, in order by landing date,” Liao directed.
The Welcoming Committee Chair from Tianjin went next. “We also have the transport elevator functional. As it became operational only eleven days ago, we are still increasing capacity. We are transferring two groups per day, each with a full load of seven-hundred twenty-nine people in the elevator. We are on target for full capacity within the week,” the local Chair finished.
Liao Si nodded his approval and looked at the Welcoming Committee Chair for Shanghai, who, in turn, looked at the person next to him.
“As both of our sites started the same day, and are progressing at the same pace,” said the Welcoming Committee Chair for Guangzhou, “we felt one report representing both sites would be appropriate. The elevators are on track for completion next week, as scheduled. We have been holding steady at arranging for the departure of one-thousand people every other day from each site. We’ll switch over to a single, daily elevator car as soon as the elevator shaft is complete on 2 August.”
“And what of the weather reports?” queried Liao.
The Chair for Shanghai spoke up, “The Meteorological Association confirmed the latest tropical depression has dissipated and the potential for a cyclone has been reduced to less than 5% in the next two weeks.”
“Good,” Liao responded. “That’s the one thing we have yet to be able to control.”
He turned to the next seat.
“The elevator base is well established and good progress is being made on the shaft tower,” reported the Local Chair for Zhengzhou said confidently. “We have recently transitioned to one-thousand people leaving every third day, and will be moving to an every-other-day departure rate within the next week. Our supply lines for people and materials to maintain the Volunteer Welcome Center as being maintained with no issues. We are looking to expand our volunteer housing facility as the original dormitory we commandeered is not really designed for either the number of people we need to process, nor the logistics of moving people through.”
“How are you looking to expand,” Liao asked.
“Well, we’re actually looking to remodel a distribution warehouse closer to the elevator site and convert it to dormitories and dining facilities for the daily departures,” the Local Chair explained. “This would be where we could house up to four-thousand volunteers and staff needed to serve them, so we could also have daily departures within easy walking distance of the elevator. The transvan delivery and loading bays actually make for excellent in- and out-processing stations for the volume of volunteers that will be passing through each day, and we don’t need to clog up the flow with medical and identification checks, and personal effects processing that seem to be slowing things down at the current Welcome Center. We also expect there to be more time that some volunteers are spending waiting for other family members to arrive, and this way we can leave them at the original housing and keep the departure housing units maintained just for those who have been fully processed and are ready to leave immediately.”
“Quite impressive!” Liao nodded with approval. “Has anyone else considered this breakout, yet? I know in Xian we were fortunate to have enough space to be able to build the facilities we thought would handle the original number of people, but our current departure rate has vastly exceeded those original plans, and it is just by sheer will that the local staff is able to get people through in time.”
“I don’t believe we have such a facility that could quickly be repurposed such as the one in Shenzhen,” replied the Shanghai Local Chair.
“Then perhaps you should consider building one from the ground up, Mr. Fong,” said the National Chair with a more than partnering tone. “Send someone from your location over to Shenzhen to see how the design will be done, and then perhaps you can figure things out in Shanghai.”
The Shanghai Local Chair looked at his counterpart from Guangzhou, who gave a very small nod.
“Why bother with two Chairs if I have one person leading both sites?” Liao Si thought to himself. “Mr. Lam, please continue with your report,” he said aloud.
The Wuhan Local Chair turned from the former speaker to his boss with a slightly startled look. “We are in a very similar position as Zhengzhou when it comes to current elevator building activities, Chairman Si. Shaft construction is progressing well, and we also have plans to transition to a faster loading pace soon. Mr. Lam then looked down at his comm pad, swallowed hard, and continued. “It appears it may not be as easy finding volunteers in Wuhan to maintain the planned pace, however.”
Liao Si could feel the frustration gathering in his neck. “Each of you have been reporting on the construction of the elevator, but are any of your sites actually involved in that work? The aliens are handling that work with absolutely no assistance from our people. Yet each of you wants to take credit for their work, it seems. You have a responsibility for gathering and preparing humans to move into the alien craft and leave Earth. You want to take photos for your memory scrolls showing you next to the elevator? Fine! Just do it every time you bring a full load of volunteers to be loaded into it!”
Chen Qing slid into the conversation, “I’m sure the Volunteer Identification and Selection Sub-Chair from Xian would be happy to share some ideas with your team, Mr. Lam. We recognized the challenge of gathering this many people when I was there, and they’ve come up with some excellent options for maintaining a strong volunteer flow.”
Liao’s looked at his former assistant and this time was appreciative she took on some of her old habits. She could read his mood better than almost anyone, and was able to calm him down without fuss or embarrassment for anyone.
Mr. Lam replied in a conciliatory tone, “Thank you, Sub-Chair Chen. I will personally work with Local Chair Wang and have my staff learn from their experiences.”
The conference table was quiet for a bit, with National Chair Si looking down at his own comm pad. After a few moments he looked up.
The Local Chair from Jinan took the hint to begin her report. “The aliens completed our launch base two weeks back. We expect the transition from a 4-day launch window to a 3-day cycle by early August.”
“And?” Liao prompted.
“There is no other real news to report, Chair Si.,” the local Chair replied. “Except, perhaps, we’d be more than willing to send some of the local population to Hong Kong. The number of people looking to escape the Beijing summer smog is exceptional, even if it means a trip ‘off-planet'”
Some of those around the table couldn’t help but chuckle. And Liao himself laughed out loud after considering the statement for a bit.
“Very well said, Ms. Wei,” Laio said. “Even I must admit the move here from Xian reminds me there is much to appreciate in the Provinces. And how about in Chongqing, Ms. Zhang?”
“I’m afraid it’s equally as boring as Beijing,” answered the Chongqing Local Chair. “We anticipate the same reduction in volunteer load turnaround time, same rate of completion of the launch base, and nearly the same poor air quality.”
“So now this has become a comedy competition,” Liao Si commented. “Well, I’m looking forward to the final domestic report, Local Chair Weng. What jokes do you have to share?”
The Changsha Local Chair shook his head. “We’re too new at this, Chair Si, to have any good stories to tell. We hope we gave a proper welcome for the final alien craft to land in China three days ago. The craft has definitely finished its ‘planting’ phase and is rapidly completing work on the launch base.”
“It’s amazing how fast they can build,” exclaimed the Shanghai Local Chair.
“Indeed it is,” continued the Changsha Local Chair. “I spent the second half of June in Guangzhou to observe happenings there, but perhaps it’s because this event is happening on my turf, the pace seems exceptional. Still, we’re prepared as soon as the aliens indicate they are ready. Our initial launch group of one-thousand people are already staged and ready to board, well ahead of the anticipated launch in four days.”
“Excellent news, Mr. Weng. Better than any joke,” said Liao. “And let me thank all of you for keeping our national sites on plan, more or less. Tomorrow we will have sent over 150,000 volunteers from all of our sites since the beginning of May, and the first group from Xian should be arriving on the new planet in less than a month. Our lead will be nearly insurmountable and China will have over 10% of the people arriving on the new planet in the first three months there. This bodes exceptionally well for the global influence we expect to have on the new planet.”
“I wish the same could be said for our sponsored sites, abroad. I’d like everyone to pay special attention to the following reports and share ideas with your colleagues afterwards on how we can maximize our opportunity for success in these other locations. Can you start us out with something positive, Mr. Ma?”
“Events to seem to be progressing well for us in Ethiopia,” started the Assistant to the Local Chair for the Addis Ababa Welcoming Committee. “Bahta Makonnen, the Local Chair, prefers to spend more time giving interviews for various casters, and less time with his logistics team. He is fine with us organizing activities on his behalf. In fact, when I offered our assistance, he asked how we were handling the sites in China. I explained our operations and he asked that we implement the exact same model for Addis Ababa.”
“We’re also providing one-thousand volunteers to be incorporated into the launch groups each week,” continued Mr. Ma, “and we expect that to move up to two-thousand volunteers starting next week.”
“Where are you finding the people?” asked the Zhengzhou Local Chair.
“There are enough people on the Chinese work crews in the region that actually are looking forward to a new opportunity. And we’re also offering those Chinese nationals in our local detention centers the option for release. Not surprisingly, the majority offered the chance are accepting.”
“How long do you expect that supply of people will last,” the National Chair asked.
The Assistant for Addis Ababa referred to his notes. “At two-thousand per week – – – approximately a year. If we were to increase beyond that rate, we feel our local presence would be diminished below what is desired for logistical and security control of our assets in the region.”
“And outside the region?”, asked Wang Qingtun, the National Volunteer Identification and Selection Sub-Chair.
“That becomes more of a challenge,” responded the Assistant to the Local Chair for Kamina. “We are upgrading the existing transportation lines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo simply to allow for faster movement of people and goods. And we’re focusing on establishing a rail line to Gabon, as we have a number of factories in that country and can find a good source of young people that will make a good colonization base.”
“Our young people?” asked Liao.
“Some of them, yes,” answered the Assistant for Kamina. “But we’re actually targeting more of the local population. We’re expecting them to follow our lead on the new planet because of the experiences we’ve conditioned them with in their home country.”
Yang Lu, the Monitoring Sub-Chair for the National Expansion Committee, joined the conversation for the first time. “You make it sound like we control the entire western portion of equatorial Africa, Mr. Boll. From what I have read, we’re not always the most popular people in the region, especially in the DRC.”
“Yes, there is truth to that comment, Sub-Chair Yang,” responded the Assistant for Kamina. “But that hasn’t stopped us from exerting our appropriate level of influence. It is a consistent focus on international events …”
“… that best serves our national interests,” interrupted Yang Lu. “I’m very familiar with our propaganda, Mr. Boll. But it is practical, real-world experiences and beliefs that we must understand and react to. I am more concerned our focus is on the same thing we’ve concentrated on in Africa for the past five decades, building and logistics. Instead, we should be developing relationships that we can leverage on the new planet. What advantages do we have to offer once we get there? We’ll have no source of capital, no advanced technology, no access to a large, homogenous market that our partners can leverage. And they’ll be more of them than us from these African launch sites. So why would they want to be led around by a minority of people that are completely different from them in so many ways?”
The table quieted for a moment.
Then the National Chair spoke. “Because we have provided consistent guidance to these local populations for those same five decades, Mr. Yang, and they have benefited greatly from the relationship. They must continue to know and believe that we will provide beneficial guidance even on the new planet.”
Most heads around the virtual conference room nodded in agreement.
“Let’s finish with the reports, please,” Liao Si said as he looked at the Assistant to the Local Chair in Zimbabwe.
“The launch base is in place in Bulawayo,” reported the Assistant. “As our operations are mostly agricultural in this area, we are severely limited in the base of Chinese nationals we can add to the local volunteer base. Our site has been working through the MSS to arrange for flying more nationals in from the mainland. However, the aliens have not approved any flight path yet. We may need to resort to transporting people by train from our work force in Southern Africa and Mozambique.”
“At least you have that option available,” complained the Assistant to the Local Chair for Somalia. “We’re getting extreme resistance from the local government in Mogadishu to let any of our Chinese nationals converge and travel to the alien launch site there.”
“I recognize you have a particularly challenging situation, Ms. Shaofeng,” said Liao Si. “No site is without its own obstacles to overcome.”
The National Chair looked around the entire conference table. “To say we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is trite. We have a once in a civilization opportunity! We must pursue our goals with energy, concentration, clarity of purpose, and dedication to our mission. There is no certainty what is going to happen on the planet we are all sitting on at the moment. But there is certainty that we have the chance to shape and to control the destiny of this new planet many of our citizens will be going to. And we have the responsibility to arrange for them to have the best chance of establishing superiority of Chinese interests over those of other nationalities, especially with the agreement we’ve reached with the aliens.”
“With the four sites in Africa combined with our nine national sites, we’ll have control of the colonists leaving from one-sixth of all departure sites on this planet,” Liao continued. “If we let things go badly, I suspect the aliens will find new partners for the African sites we currently manage, and they may very well bring in others to manage some or all of our Chinese sites. That cannot happen.”
“So, again, I exhort all of you to remain attentive to detail and ensure your staff is keeping people, time and logistics organized and efficient. And history will record this as the beginning of the next great Chinese dynasty!”