James Cameron owns Avatar.
Interlude I: A Cause Most Just.
Date: March 31st, 2168
Location: Helsinki, Finland, Terra, Sol System
It had not been a particularly stressful time in the five years since the expedition had left, but that did not stop Matthew Wallace from fully enjoy the brisk morning air or the smell of pine. Finland had long been a refuge for nature, but with the increasing scope of what was being called the Terran Reformation Project, spawned by the nearly unlimited cheap power provided by the anti-matter reactors, the world was slowly turning green again. Things seemed to be coming together for humanity. The United-Nations, largely with the support of the European and North American Unions was becoming the unified government of the world and it's colonies. Scientists and intellectuals had even lobbied for changing the common name for their world to the Roman Terra to show the rebirth of thought and growth occurring.
Not that it was easy. Or cheap. Or anywhere near complete. The world was still mostly a uniform brown and blue when seen from space, but patches of green could now be seen in Scandinavia, Siberia, the Amazon and the American Northwest. But it was, in turn, causing it's own problems as slowly as it was curing the air.
Nations without access to the massive reactors, limited as they were to the Americas and Europe after the cut-off from Pandoran unobtanium, were beginning to agitate. China and India in particular, the latter being long considered the world's largest ghetto after over a dozen failures to control their population, were becoming increasingly jealous over the green spreading across other regions of the world, and of the money they were being forced to spend to help other nations recover.
And that is why the expedition is so damn important. We can keep a lid on them and the African nations for a while longer, but it's an explosion waiting to happen. World War IV is the last thing this planet and our species needs right now, but if we don't resume the flow of Unobtanium, it could very well be what we have. He scowled, Damn the Na'vi for letting this happen, and damn the RDA for fucking up their end of the bargain. We gave them power, they were supposed to use it to better human advancement, not putting us perilously close to the brink of more resource-wars.
Before his mixed mental musing and cursing could get out of a control, the soft rings of his mobile brought his mind back down to the earth. That's 'back down to Terra' now he chuckled quietly to himself before heading into the resort home, closing the sliding door behind him and answering.
"This is Matthew Wallace, how may I help you this fine day?"
The voice on the other end of the line chuckled, "It is only a fine day in Helsinki my friend, here in Phoenix it is a miserably hot day I assure you."
The British UN investigator turned media representative smiled even though he knew the other couldn't see it, "Ah! Charles my old friend, how are you? Still trapped in the American desert city?"
"Quite." the other UN agent replied, "Thought I would let you know ahead of time that things are going quite fine over here. The press conference, which I know you did not watch since you are on vacation, went smoothly. Concern over the natives on Pandora seems to be vanishing quite rapidly here, everyone is abuzz with that terrorist attack in Kuwait. That and apparently the local team won some sort of 'hockey' championship. I don't understand Americans, how can they play a sport on ice in the middle of the desert?"
Wallace chuckled, "I have no idea, try not to catch their insanity while you are over there. Is the meeting still on in Geneva next month?"
"Yes indeed, the new Secretary-General wants a full update on everything that is going on, particularly concerning our efforts to keep the Africans and Asians calm."
"Good. I heard that Veronica had thought up something on those lines," he frowned, trying to recall, "Something about diverting some of the reformation funds to Madagascar, get another fusion plant or two running there to free up resources to start reclaiming it, throw them a bone so to speak."
"That's not bad," the other replied, "Something to consider at least. I have to go for now, I have a train to catch back to the coastline. See you in two weeks, enjoy your vacation."
"Oh I intended to," he assured him. The two exchanged the pleasantries of goodbye before he hung up and moved back outside to the patio, eying the reclining chair with something akin to lust. He intended to enjoy his vacation for all it was worth, he had a feeling that keeping the world from exploding was going to start becoming far more challenging in the future, after all, they still had nine years before the first ISV returned with unobtanium to start work on the Nanjing reactor.
So he would definitely enjoy his vacation while he could.