DAY 38, SECLUSION, book 4

|| days 38-37 || 22-23 February || Seclusion & Preparations ||  ‘What does the government need to agree to?’ Emine (lawyer) asked the next evening when the team were back at the conference table after a busy day of preparing speeches, discussing potential campaigns and adding another voice & acting training. ‘We need a list of conditions we can take into the negotiations,’ Emine said, ‘conditions which ensure that the town has all the freedom it needs for the experiments.’ Alice frowned. ‘I don’t need a list. A single word will do: autonomy.’ Robin (education) smiled. ‘We need to wrap this into more words, illustrate what it means, and what it doesn’t mean.’ Troy (illustrations) rubbed his hands together. ‘I could write a comic for this.’ ‘Can you do it with a single word?’ Alice asked with a lopsided smile. ‘Nah. But I can keep it really simple. So simple that people won’t be able to misinterpret our motives, aims or reasons.’ Alice smiled. ‘Fly and make it happen.’ Emine (lawyer) drummed her pen on the table. ‘Can you play to Britain’s pride in your comic?’ Troy (illustrations) frowned. ‘Something about hunting?’ Navarro (society): ‘Or what a great seafaring nation they — well, used to be?’ Raiden (town simulation): ‘Or all the grand castles and buildings which — well, were financed by slavery and colonialism?’ ‘What are they proud of?’ Rohana (coordination) asked. Alice shrugged. ‘What is any nation proud of? Many nations did terrible things at some point in their history, some still do. But a country who has the guts to allow us to do the town experiment, I mean that would be something to be proud of, because it’s not a selfish or self-serving thing, or something that will give them a competitive edge. It could be. But we’ll make sure that we share all our findings with the world. So, a reason for pride would be to dare to think, to dare to test, to dare to consider the planet as a whole—’ Here Rohana (coordination) interrupted, ‘—a whole that’s not to be conquered to become part of a new British Empire!’ Alice chuckled. ‘No, if that happened, we would have failed. No, we want to figure out the opposite of empire building. We want to figure out the Live and let live, the Ravel in the diversity our planet offers without exploiting it, the Be empowered and empower.’ ‘We should use this in your speech,’ Navarro (society) said, already scribbling. 

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2025