Chương 5: Petra (1/4) : National Interests and Discussions

Before I could head to Petra, I was called in for an urgent discussion. Right now, I was in the Oval Office sitting in front of President Bush.

He had handed me a file and I was reading through it. This was the first time I was meeting the newly elected President, but I was still in touch with Mr. Clinton who had become a friend who wished for the country to prosper.

"Mr. Bush, I do not understand why you would require my assistance. The Intelligence gathering and analysis wing of the United States has been the NSA and the CIA." I asked and he smiled.

"I want your input, Mr. Witwicky. Every action you have done has brought great changes throughout the States and the welfare of its people. So, I need your opinion." He said and I nodded.

I read through the reform once again and sighed. "Mr. President, could I get a map of our country?" I asked and he nodded. He ordered a map and it was spread open.

He gathered his officials who had also arrived inside the room. I started marking on the map with a marker on the President's desk. Everyone looked at me and I shrugged.

"I needed something to mark with."

"Well, you turned it into a full-blown meeting just like Mr. Clinton did. Well, I read through the proposal and what struck me was the need for an inter-country intelligence gathering department.

But before you go into intelligence gathering, I would suggest connecting our states with better railways.

Not the electric or diesel locomotives but high-speed or hyper-rails like the Maglev and the Shinkansen. We have a perfectly functioning intelligence-gathering system. I am not pointing out faults within your proposal but the intelligence-gathering system the U.S. has is quite powerful in itself. Hence the focus on transport."

The President nodded and asked me to go on as others listened intently.

"Right now, our relation with the Japanese Government is quite low due to the actions of Pearl Harbor and the bombings of 1945" I paused a bit before speaking.

"However, I think it's the best chance to improve our relationship with the Japanese government by striking a deal of East-West exchanges and respecting their culture. I have been investing a lot in Japan to spread its culture throughout other countries.

The companies under me have been involved in a few Japanese contracts with Hitachi Rail as well. Like redevelopment, management of systems, and a railway inspection.

Hitachi Rail, is currently considering a deal with Siemens in Germany, to provide a better rail project.

If you are interested, I could talk to them. I could maybe help you strike a deal with the Japanese Government and strengthen our ties while I am at it. The people would really like to see Bullet trains." I said and the people were looking at me with serious stares with surprise.

The President thought for it for a moment and then nodded.

Formerly AnsaldoBreda S.p.A., a subsidiary of state-owned Finmeccanica located in Pistoia, Italy. But upon a mind blowing offer by yours truly, they sold their company to Hitachi Rail of Japan where I was a major shareholder.

With this, Japanese Shinkansen systems took off as new train systems were being developed. However Hitachi Rail Italy was being operated by Hitachi Rail, the parent company.

Siemens was a German based company and after few models designed by Skye, they were creating what could be the fastest Maglev with completely automatic braking systems.

The Chinese were trying to get their hands on this technology, but couldn't.

"The next prospect that you have quoted is the improvement of the health care system. Regarding this, there are a few ideas that could be implemented.

Like providing the citizens with a health card that could help them keep track of their medical records.

The government hospitals and private hospitals could have a unified database that could keep track of the medical history of the people.

The system helps people get medical help faster, but we could perhaps make it even better. Improvised ambulances and better equipment.

A monthly health check-up and a twenty percent waiver on hospital fees. This could be set up so that patients put in a specific amount and we do this. In case a patient is unable to pay the fees, the U.S. government will loan them the amount with 10% of the amount to be repaid every year until the borrowed amount is waived.

Every state could have a dispensary and every pharmacy would be connected via the internet to the dispensaries. Thus, helping us manage inventories better. We would be eliminating the high mediclaim and providing employment in a better health system.

For patients who wish to get their medicines delivered at their house, they could order via a portal that could be deployed by Amazon for medicines. People can select the nearest pharmacy and send in their prescriptions so that the pharmacy can keep the medicines ready.

The delivery partner shall deliver it to you. Every delivery will cost you a three-dollar charge one dollar to the state, one dollar to the company, half a dollar for the charity, and half for the delivery partner as a tip for their service from the Government.

Every area will have a delivery partner assigned and hence this could provide employment to a few people in the area. Otherwise, I could maybe ask the bikers to do it as they would probably do this for lower costs and incentives too.

This will also allow pharmacies to work more efficiently. For cross-country patient transport or organ transport, the high-speed rail could also be used in this regard."

The officials were scribbling furiously in their notepads by now. The president nodded as he found the idea plausible which put a small smile on his face.

"Now regarding education would be a little difficult. We can help students with their fees but how well they study is upon themselves. To the students who wish to study sincerely, we can put up an online platform that will help students understand the courses better.

We could add illustrations and diagrams to make them understand the concepts. A centralized online repository of books will not only help students but teachers who wish to learn on a certain topic too. Many females in this country would have wished to become teachers.

They want to become one but haven't been able to find a job. So, we could ask them to come for interviews and set up live online classes using webcams for students in remote areas. This will help people in smaller townships become well-versed with advanced subjects like math and science.

To show them a way of life, we could have a small Marine Corps introduction where we could show them what the Marines do. And now about this last idea that you have." I said and I read the last proposition.

"I wouldn't invest in a war on a country which you have no definitive proof of is hosting weapons of mass destruction. Sorry." I said and the President nodded again.

We talked about a few other things and I decided to head back home. It feels as if I am running the country. Well, Mr. Bush was quite open with his thoughts. "Sam, you have a message from the Queen of England. Secured line." Skye said and I put on my earpiece.

It was about time that I got a reply to the message I had sent a week ago. "It's good to meet you, Samuel James Witwicky, the descendant of Archibald Witwicky. The Order of Witwiccans has received your encrypted message and has begun preparations to move against Megatron. We shall wait for your signal and we expect to be briefed accordingly." The message ended.

The moment Megatron gets out of cryogenic stasis, he will wreak havoc We were short on time and ideas until Skye could understand Megatron's source codes and ultimately his spark. However, it was time for Infinite to start better projects.

The Interstate Central Shinkansen and Maglev Railway line had started to be built. The entire project was headlined by Infinite Corp as a joint venture between Private sector and the Government, encouraging rising capitalists to invest and this raised the morale of the military and civilians alike. Hitachi Rail had a office at Pittsburgh which made it easy to run correspondence.

The route was being planned and landscapes were being surveyed to check for bedrock strength, earthquake risks and landslide prone zones. The engineers had access to advanced mining, drilling and boring equipment to cut through mountains and make this project a reality.

The Shinkansen main railway connected Florida to Maine and Washington, more specifically Olympia. However, subsidiary lines connected the smaller cities. More importantly, the tech that was being used was revolutionary.

Plasma Reactors were for the first time developed and utilized in the Railway. The major cities would have four Shinkansen (to and fro) and four Maglev lines (to and fro) while the smaller ones had two Shinkansen and two Maglev lines.

Hitachi Rail of Japan and Siemens of Germany racked their brains out to bring out different types of locomotives and worked upon various designs to put forth the best product.

Their new product was a bit pricey, but long term data showed that the maintenance cost of plasma reactors were far lower than a diesel or electric leading to a compromise.

Since I was an investor in both Siemens and Hitachi, I gained humongous profits through this project. Engineers from all over the world were hired and if they had the expertise, but couldn't communicate in English, we gave them translation specialists who were available on site.

I had too many assets by now and Skye had gotten used to running those assets and monitoring a market risk. But that was actually managed by the tertiary AI of Skye.

Most of Skye's data was to improve her firewalls, and backups, improve her source codes, and break into Megatron (NBE-1) firewalls and learn from them.

If one needs to imagine, I had a life just like that of Bitlife, only that my assets were exponentially larger. The tertiary AI that Skye created were quite capable in their own regard since their source code was based on Skye.

"Skye, create Bitlife. Arrange a global launch, a month from now. Its time to roll out the big guns!" The moment I said, Skye had started to code the game based on my description and she was doing it better than those bitlife creators themselves! It's late but, Skye was awesome!