Thank you for all your comments
"Current reports?" Asks Haves
"The death toll has passed the hundred thousand mark."
Haves sighed. "Any good news?"
High Marshall David Taylor looked at him blankly. "The situation has stabilised. In my view there is no further spread of famine, do you agree with me Raphaël?"
"Oui. The situation for the people is not ideal, but it will not get any worse." High Marshal of the People Raphaël Armand is a doctor of medicine and psychology. He has helped coordinate the medical staff of half of Europe. Above all, he was chosen for his medical and logistical understanding. He knows what a person needs to stay psychologically and physiologically healthy and how to use these resources. He was virtually the only one for the job.
"All right then, we have the worst behind us. How does our economic progress look, Michael?" Everyone now turns to the High Marshall for Economics.
"We have started to train new workers, but training takes time. I agree with the assessment of the others, the situation will not get worse, but it will take one to two, maybe even three years to improve. I have also decided to start new programmes for building infrastructure. Our new engineers need hands-on experience and it will make it easier to carry out future projects. It also improves logistics."
"Yes, it does." The gnashing of David's teeth could almost be heard. "And all we needed for that was a few hundred thousand deaths. A great record." The irony behind his words was plain to hear, but Haves ignored it.
"Now that the situation has calmed down, perhaps we should clarify what the population knows, should know and will know in the future, Abidemi?" Again, all the people in the room look at one person.
"I'll be brief, communication among the civilians is poor, which means that only those who are affected know anything... and that is no longer a problem." The last sentence had been spoken softly. "I have recommended to Ivan that he remove his soldiers from the affected region and David either reassign what personnel are assigned to the region or let them pretend that nothing has happened."
"The selected region was not particularly important and did not have an officer high enough up the chain of command to find out anything. So the military has little idea what we were doing." Ivan didn't seem happy with lying to his own soldiers, but had few problems with civilians starving to death.
"I followed the recommendation as well. The personnel have either been assigned to other regions or have continued to work under false assumptions, generating enough evidence for all subsequent investigations to find nothing." He seems resigned to this development.
"That means no one knows anything because they are either not there, working with false data or simply dead? Good, that answered my other questions too. Abidemi, Raphaël?"
"I don't think the population should know anything about this incident at this point. No one needs to know and will not investigate, there is too little communication and personal interest from individuals for that. Trust in the state will only be shaken unnecessarily." Abidemi, as always, saw it from the point of view of the state and what it needs most.
"On the other hand, one can argue that it will cause us bigger problems later because we lied to the people. But I have to agree with Abidemi, at the moment is not the right time. You deliver bad news when a person is happy. The people are neither happy nor open to rational thought."
Richard Haves thinks for a moment and meanwhile runs his hand over his mouth. "We will inform the people about this incident. But we will be slow to admit the true dimensions."
"I must warn them against this strategy. If we tell a new truth too often, it will reduce our credibility." Abidemi immediately spoke his warning.
"And what are they here for? Take over."
"Yes, sir." Many seem satisfied with this solution, even David has nothing to say about it.
"Next item, education." Everyone turned to Shu Lai. She slowly stood up
"I would like to point out to them that I am a researcher and I am directly involved in the analysis of the alien spaceship." She bowed to apologise and sat down again.
"I beg your pardon, Miss Lai. Can you provide us with some of your few personnel so that we can ensure the education of our people?"
"There are still some teachers who do not qualify to work on a spaceship and instead teach children. But most of these are not organized and we will need a new High Marshall in the future to coordinate the education staff."
"Thank you very much Miss Lai. That is my assessment as well. Unfortunately, since I have no qualifications in this area, I will have to leave this task in her hands." As far as he could tell, she was unhappy. It was hard to tell, though, as her face was mostly expressionless. But she only nodded in acknowledgement of his words, which was a bad sign.
"More important issues?"
"Yes, the building of a Space Navy." Everyone looked at Mia, who was silent throughout the conversation.
"Do you want me to be honest? The Stardust's mission is to clear the orbit of Terra. Do you know how big the orbit is, how small the Stardust is, and how much rubbish is up there?"
"Mia, I'll give you the same answer as usual." Says Haves with a somewhat annoyed look on his face.
"We have no resources, no staff and no time, at some point we have to spend it all though and in my opinion that is sooner than later."
"We know that Mia. Any other issues?" Everyone looks at each other.
"No...good, dismiss."