day 36, press conference, book 4, building

||| days 36-33 || 24-27 February || Press conference & first interactions || The town project broke its silence at seven o’clock in the morning with the first ripples news live coverages of the day: interviews with and reports from the Building Site Team and from the Business Expansion Team. Meanwhile the Campaigns & Negotiations Team were busy getting ready for the press conference. Isabel (head of campaigns), Marita (economics) and Raiden (town simulation) got dressed by Hachiro and his team, Dennie (security) giggled because Eliza, the team’s doctor, removed his cast, Skye (care) inspected ‘all your sanities to make sure you’re okay for the press conference.’ Tilly finished a stress-release workout with Andy (campaign simulations), Heather (press), Hayley (tech), Troy (illustrations) and Constance (crafts). Meanwhile Jack (film) did a voice warmup with those who would be on stage at the press conference: Alice, Emine (lawyer), John (business), Dana (ecology), Navarro (society), Robin (education) and Jack himself. There was some nervousness in the air, but the stronger sensation was that of a team ready to step into the spotlight. And they did. At eight, Alice approached the speaker’s desks which stood on a longer stage in the new room of the town project’s museum. In front of it stood about sixty journalists. At the back of the stage some of her team sat on armchairs: Emine (lawyer), Jack (film), John (business), Dana (ecology), Navarro (society), Robin (education). Alice inhaled, Here we go! and opened the press conference, saying: ‘Good morning everyone! Welcome to our town museum on the third floor of the Front House. This is the new Jellybridge Exhibition Room where you can find information on how we might use the Jellybridge Estate for our town — and also welcome to our first press conference after the extraordinary turn of events for our project.’ Some journalists clapped, some smiled a little, most had blank faces. Fixing on one of the blank faces, the hint of a challenge appeared in Alice’s eyes and she said: ‘Yesterday, I had a fruit fly in my glass of lemon water. It frantically paddled for its life. At first, I was annoyed. But then I decided to rescue the little pesky thing. I put my index finger into the water, and as soon as the fly found purchase, it scrambled up my finger with an astonishing speed — and then it collapsed. I breathed on it to dry it, but the fly didn’t move. Well, I thought, maybe it needs some rest. So I let it slip onto a piece of paper and watched it. Nothing. I went about my work, returned, watched it — still nothing.’ Alice paused and added: ‘It never moved again. I could get philosophical about how the fly’s scrambling to safety had been in vain. But what intrigued me was that the fruit fly did everything it could to survive — without hesitating, without arguing, without justifying why it had to stay in the lemon water. It got a chance to escape certain dead and took it with every ounce of strength it still had.’ Alice inhaled. ‘How come that a tiny fruit fly is so determined to survive while we seem determined to keep paddling in the sticky water? — You could reply: “What’s the use of fighting? We’ll die anyway, just like the fruit fly.” And I admit, sometimes it’s tempting to give up on ourselves, on humanity, on our planet. But we don’t have to. I decided not to. I decided to find out whether we really have to damage ourselves, each other and our planet. I decided to learn to nurture and empower. For me a central question is whether it’s possible to create an environment where humans thrive. I don’t mean some sort of education scheme to make people better or the same. For me the question is whether changed dynamics, changed approaches, changed foci and practices would allow us to be less destructive, to find our curiosity, creativity, imagination and joy for life. One of the old narratives is that a world without villains, exploiters, fraudsters, profiteers, speculators or the so-called powerful is impossible, and that we ourselves need a degree of ruthlessness to succeed. We need to bite to avoid being bitten. With our project businesses we have been disproving these narratives for months already. With our town we might be able to prove that no one has to exploit, dominate, compete, hold down, enslave or pollute. Here is the thing: Our Business Expansion Team has been accused of building a ubiquitous powerhouse. But we’re not about dominance or empire building. We want to figure out the opposite of empire building. We want to figure out the How to live and let live, How to ravel in the abundance and diversity our planet has to offer while nurturing both, How to empower and be empowered, How to create and be part of the cycles that keep nature alive. Instead of an empire, we want to contribute to a world which is shaped into a breathing, living, interwoven whole. At the Jellybridge Estate, we would have a chance to let our town experiment become reality and do the research and explorations needed — not for profit, not for renown, not for power but for humanity and the planet.’ Alice paused, smiling at the one journalist who clapped. ‘Last Saturday,’ Alice continued. ‘I asked the British prime minister for an appointment to discuss the town project and the queen’s offer. So far, the British government hasn’t responded. I guess we’ll need the support of the British public to nudge their government into negotiating with us. That is why we decided to launch a series of campaigns to make our work more widely known and to contribute to a number of urgent discussions with the public and for the future of our societies and our planet.’ Alice inhaled. ‘I have the great privilege of working with an amazing international diverse team. Every day, I learn something new. Every day we add more questions, perspectives, findings to our project. But one thing hasn’t changed so far. Every day, I grasp a little more, how devastating the situation on our planet has become only because many are convinced that making everything about money is natural, a must, the one and only way to live. Our planet is dying because we still believe in the fairy tale of hoarding riches. Our societies are drowning in crises because we have been taught what is what instead of being encouraged to say: “Hey, this doesn’t work for me, this doesn’t work for my fellow humans, this destroys, poisons, pollutes the basis of all life. Let’s stop this nonsense and let’s rethink our world.” With our project we hope to contribute to rethinking and restoring our planet. Thank you. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for joining us this morning. You’re welcome to take a look around our museum where every project team presents their specific perspectives regarding our project. And me and my team are happy to answer your questions. Some hands are already up. I’ll ask you in the green jumper to make a start. Thank you.’ Alice stepped away from the speaker’s desk and took her seat between Emine and Jack. The quality of the journalists’ questions was incredibly varied, from fake-news dumbness to highly sophisticated and pretty much everything in between, including some celebrity bashing — and fawning — aimed at Jack. One reporter pointed out that the project team had already moved into Jellybridge House. ‘You should have nosed a little deeper by questioning the staff about us,’ Emine (lawyer) responded with her big smile. ‘I asked!’ the reporter retorted. ‘They wouldn’t tell me a thing!’ ‘Oh, well,’ Alice returned with a smile, ‘they are cool people.’ Emine chuckled and said: ‘In that case, let me enlighten you. The day Alice Adler accepted Queen Lusana’s offer we submitted a formal request to rent Jellybridge House and to restore the train station, with no costs to the queen or to the taxpayer. Furthermore we asked the queen to clarify what exactly our team is allowed to do on the site as a renter. After the signing ceremony at Waterbridge Castle, the queen’s secretary presented us with a proposed contract for renting Jellybridge House. Alice Adler, the queen and myself took pains to add further paragraphs to clarify what we can and what we can’t do on the estate. This includes, for example, that while the prospective site for the town may be marked with strings to indicate the locations of future streets and buildings (no plastic strings and at a height that doesn’t bother the wildlife), the site is off limits for any kind of change, and may only be entered for planning and documenting purposes or to show interested parties the site and give them an idea of what the town might look like. For those purposes we might add elevated wooden walkways to protect the ground. However, as a renter of Jellybridge House, our team can use everything in and around the house. The queen also accepted our offer of restoring the train station, with the added benefit that we can use the area around the train station, for example, for parking and for storing building materials. Should the queen’s offer not have come into force by the thirty-first of March, we will have to leave the estate within two weeks and restore everything to its original state — except the train station.’ ‘Where is the contract?’ ‘In your extensive press pack.’ ‘The queen mentioned that you, Alice Adler, aren’t happy with the conditions attached to the queen’s offer. What are you unhappy about? And why did you agree to the offer?’ ‘I don’t like that the conditions put so much focus on me. Our project is teamwork. I agreed to the conditions because they don’t interfere with our experiments.’ ‘You’re very old and with no credits to your name. Why should anyone listen to you?’ ‘Good whiskey needs a lot of time to mature and to develop a full and unique flavour. So did I. Besides, if you consider me old, you’re in for some surprises. The older I get the more I have to laugh about just how young I used to be in my twenties and thirties. And when the time comes, I’ll probably laugh about my forties, too. It’s quite an experience.’ ‘Have you studied?’ Alice smiled. ‘I have. But my thoughts are mostly shaped by thinking, by testing ideas and playing through scenarios. I have little expertise in parroting, and I have outgrown quoting and name-dropping.’ ‘Do you believe in science?’ ‘I take that one,’ Dana said, straightening in her seat. ‘Science is not a religion you decide to believe in. At best scientific research helps us to expose gaps in our understanding and provides the foundations for inventions. At worst scientists make inventions without investigating the consequences. I am a scientist. The toughest lesson I learned came from a child, my niece, who told me that scientists ruined the world with finding all the uses for crude oil, including plastic, fertilisers and fossil fuels, with laying the foundations for mass production, factory farming, concentration camps, weapons of mass destruction and much more. “And for what?” my niece asked me. “To get a prize, an award, titles, to feel important, to beat other scientists to it, to be self-righteous, respected and rich?” My niece is right. Being a scientist doesn’t mean we are good, devoid of pride, resist high incomes, don’t compete, or that everything we find is valid, useful, untouchable, sustainable. The town project is about rethinking, and that includes that we reflect on the damages scientists have inflicted on this planet. Research is needed. Thinking is needed. Honesty is needed. Inclusiveness is needed. Collaborations and empowerment are needed. Fighting for our planet is needed. The scientific world, too, needs to rethink — a lot. And we, all of us, need to understand that the future of our planet is not in the heads or hands of a few. The changes we need require all of us. Besides, any good scientist knows that there is always a good chance that what we know today might be disproven tomorrow. I would never ask anyone to believe me. I always encourage people to question my findings. And with our town project we invite everyone to join us on our exploration, an exploration to entangle the mess we, the people of this planet, are in. And tragically my niece is right: science has contributed to a lot of our mess. And science has hindered progress because of its exclusivity. Reflective, open-minded, curious, inclusive, clear-headed, good-trouble scientists, that’s what we need.’ ‘My question is for Alice Adler. How did you start with this town idea?’ I will never get used to these abrupt changes of subject, Alice thought, inhaled and replied: ‘I was tired of people theorising. I wanted something real where we can test ideas, where we can question everything that makes us and our planet sick, and where we can shape a town that works for us and nature.’ ‘Why don’t you just build the town? It’s your land our queen gave you.’ ‘The offer of the estate will only come into force if and when the government approves of the town and grants us the autonomy we need so that we can use the town as a playground for our experiments.’ ‘You’re known to be critical of property. With the queen’s conditions you can ignore the property question.’ ‘Yes. It’s a cowardly way out of that discussion, but I’m glad to get away with not having an answer on how to deal with property. For me property is one of the big puzzles.’ ‘Aren’t you worried that people will be put off by not being able to buy their homes?’ ‘No. Testing alternatives to buying homes will be an interesting part of the experiment. And not buying gives people a lot more freedom and independence from banks.’ ‘Who do you think you are? Town planning is the responsibility of the government, not of a group of vigilantes.’ ‘As we can see in London and elsewhere governments are doing great jobs. Say again who grants permissions to build those pretty shiny teeth that screw the sky? Who thinks housing is what makes a community and that housing developments should be in the hands of profiteers? Who prioritises car traffic and parking instead of cycling and parks? And who privatises water, energy and transport to cater to yet more money-makers?’ ‘You have no right to own the Jellybridge Estate!’ Alice and Emine exchanged a glance and Emine (law) returned: ‘At the core of the contract with the queen isn’t ownership but guardianship for the estate.’ Alice nodded. ‘Hopefully we’ll find an approach to property which is nowhere near speculations and property hoarding, nowhere near the failures to create communities or the pitfalls of inheritance or the lack of taste and imagination, and as far removed as possible from the failures to integrate all human settlements into nature.’ ‘How will you protect nature?’ Navarro (society) replied. ‘That’s one of the tricky questions in our experiment. Ideally we won’t have to protect nature because we will have learned how to coexist with it. We only have to protect nature if we use an economic system that isn’t part of nature and feeds on draining planet and people in order to accumulate profits. We only have to protect nature if people have no active connection to it and don’t understand how much damage their actions cause and how much they benefit if they connect to nature and become part of it. Can we, as a project, find a way to reconnect to nature and coexist with it? These are some of the many questions we want to explore.’ John (business) nodded. ‘To protect nature is like dealing with consequences instead of asking: What causes harm to nature and how can we replace harmful practices so that nature thrives? So long as we focus on protecting nature, we’re tolerating systems, practices, products and habits which cause harm.’ Robin (education) nodded. ‘The best way to protect nature is to make protection obsolete. One way of doing this is to understand that everything is connected. Everything that is alive has an underlying system, every human, every insect, every lion, every crab. And each of these systems works best as part of an ecosystem. And all ecosystems work best if each of them is functional. Everything is connected, and everything on this planet, us included, depends on intact, resilient, evolving systems. In our town we hope to explore all connections, and we hope to learn how to be part of the planet’s connectivity.’ There were some murmurs, but no one commented and the next question featured the queen again. ‘You say, you want to rethink everything. So the queen should just leave?’ ‘That’s not for me to say,’ Alice replied. ‘I’ve met Queen Lusana. I like her. But generally speaking, I think monarchies are a thing of the past, and democracies need a rethink.’ ‘So you’re a socialist.’ ‘No. I’m an open-minded person. We don’t have to toy around with ideas which have already failed us. Contrary to what is happening in present democracies, our town will not aim at a system where populism, big promises and self-serving laws steer the course in favour of a few profiteers, where governments seem to have forgotten that they are supposed to serve and instead hasten to widen the gaps between the few who accumulate riches and those who are exploited, all in the name of the internalised fairy tale of growth. And those governments seem to have no qualms to destroy the basis of life: clean water, air, soil, a functioning natural world, and they don’t seem to have an inkling of imagination when it comes to building homes, when it comes to rethinking towns and cities, to reshaping public transport, to creating the sort of environment that would drastically reduce healthcare costs and, and, and.’ ‘What will your political system be like?’ ‘I don’t know,’ Alice returned. ‘But a president like the one in the US couldn’t happen in whichever system we might develop, nor any of the European clowns. The destruction of our ecosystems, the destructive goals of economic growth, competing and seeking dominance, bowing to financial interests, waging wars, voter pleasing, exploitation, elitism, discrimination, corruption, manipulation, I hope that none of these common elements will be part of our political system. We’ll take it slowly, test, adjust, test again, involve the towners, involve experts, and work with proofs not with empty promises.’ ‘How dare you propose to question democracy?’ ‘By being an explorer who has not given up on humanity, by being someone who believes that we can do better. We don’t have all cards on the table. There are more potential systems out there than those humanity has suffered so far. If I wanted an experiment to find out which lobbyists are the most successful in pushing the agenda of a small interest group, I wouldn’t bother with building a town. I would set up a nice conference hotel and initiate a lot of secret meetings. That should be fun, but it’d be of no interest to me. Do I believe that democracy should be more than a word? Yes. Do I think that the reality of democracies should get bone, flesh, heart and blood? By all means. Would I suggest a debate on what we want democracy to be? Definitely. Have I lost trust in what still calls itself democracy? Sadly, yes. Do I propose to upend everything that has grown over the last centuries? No. I propose that we evolve, that we have the courage to call dysfunctional dysfunctional, and that use our minds to rethink and reshape our world.’ ‘So, you wouldn’t abide by our laws?’ Emine answered. ‘How could we test alternatives if we were restricted by the rules we’re questioning?’ ‘Do you know what you are, Alice Adler? You’re a loose canon! You don’t know, what you’re talking about. You hit random marks, not because you know or understand, only because you keep rolling, determined to destroy. You’ll destroy decades of work which kept our people safe and prosperous.’ Alice needed to take a deeper breath to remind herself that she was not here to fight, and luckily Any knew her well enough to whisper into her ear: ‘You can do this.’ With half a nod, Alice said: ‘We can only regain some safety and prosperity if we face up to the mess we have created with the way we govern, with the way we do business, build, live, work, educate.’ ‘What you and your project fail to see is that people are evil. They want to control. They want to destroy.’ ‘You can do this!’ Any repeated. Alice twitched the corner of her mouth. ‘I don’t believe in good and evil. As far as I know both are simplifications and only useful in fairy tales. When I say that we’re in a mess, I include us personally. We have been hurt, mislead, betrayed, brutalised, traumatised. We’re not OK. We get an awful lot wrong. And we cause an awful lot of harm. I want to do this experiment because I speculate that much of our behaviour is a consequence of the screwed-up economical, political and societal systems we suffer, and of the damaging narratives we have internalised. Is it possible to break free of those narratives and systems, and create new ones? I don’t know. But I refuse to believe in the fairy tale of good and evil. At the very least, I want to find out what the human needs to heal, to be empowered, to unearth their potentials, to thrive.’ ‘You’re wrong Adler! Those in power scheme to destroy us all! It’s all by design. We’re meant to be divided, to be afraid, to be mere objects to serve their ends.’ Alice nodded. ‘If that’s the story a person in power believes, then that might be the case. But it’s still a story. And stories can be changed. Moreover an attractive story, like being in power, can be made unattractive. It’s not a question of what is, as in the human craves power, but a question of what could be. What does it take to make the story of the powerful laughable? Can we find the stories which allow us to shape a world that doesn’t suck? But here’s another thought: My guess is that power schemers are not the only trouble. My guess is that we hold ourselves back, cause divides, and chain ourselves by reiterating that there is some great, powerful evil. We chant it. We paralyse ourselves with it. We remake it in thousands of stories. And with that we turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy — instead of standing up and saying: “I’m not having it! No power, imagined or real, will chain me! What can I do to change the story, the narrative? What can I do to shape and spread stories of a future we shape together?’ ‘Then whose side are you on?’ ‘I don’t do sides. We can’t afford sides. We don’t need sides. We need to come together as the people of this planet, and we have a lot of rethinking to do. That doesn’t mean I won’t call out everything that is damaging to nature and humans. I’m not neutral. But I refuse to be dragged into a fight. We have no time for a fight. We need to restore, rethink, heal, whether we like it or not. If you need me to be on a side, then I take this one: I am on the side of humanity and the planet.’ ‘Unsubstantiated idealism! That’s what this is! You put people in great danger with it. I’ll read your philosophical treatise, but there isn’t a chance in the world that you could convince me!’ The hint of a smile appeared on Alice’s face, and she returned: ‘I admit, I’ve been hoping for a comment like this because I’d like to make it very clear that our project has nothing to do with idealism, utopias — and little with philosophy. We actually looked up both terms in preparation for this press conference. So here it is. According to the Oxford Dictionary: “Idealism is the unrealistic belief in or pursuit of perfection.” I can assure you that our town project is not about believes. We want to run experiments to gather data and to explore what is possible. As for the pursuit of perfection, not my thing. I love imperfection, diversity, mistakes because that’s where life happens, that’s where we make discoveries, that’s where we expand our understanding.’ Alice smiled and continued: ‘Next philosophy. According to the Oxford Dictionary: “philosophy is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence.” As a project we are mostly interested in how we can shape our knowledge, reality and existence which might contradict the core of the philosophical idea that there is something like a fundamental nature of knowledge, reality and existence. Truth be told, we had a discussion about this. But in the end, we agreed that first and foremost, we are explorers for the future, we want to disentangle the messes we are in, and we want to do our bit to shape a future where we and the planet thrive. As far as I am personally concerned neither idealism nor philosophy are part of my work. But since there are plenty of definitions for both terms, some members of our team have other views.’ ‘Do you really want to rethink everything?’ Alice and Navarro (society) exchanged a glance and Navarro replied: ‘Every system that is in place today played a role in getting us into this mess, into our self-destruction. And many narratives aided those systems. At the conclusion of our experiment we might not have rethought everything, but we’ll attempt to be thorough.’ Alice nodded. ‘Rethinking is not about destroying what is. If something humans invented holds, even under scrutiny, if something we’ve been using for decades or centuries can make a case for itself, can face the damages it caused, or prove that it’s actually useful, that it still has a place in our world, then all the better. In the process of rethinking, we’ll have gained a deeper insight into what makes our world. We’ll have tested every narrative, every idea, every story, thought about it, questioned it. Anything that survives that kind of scrutiny is worthwhile keeping — until the next round of rethinking.’ ‘What are the goals of your town project?’ Robin (education) answered. ‘Much of education is about making the human fit into the world and succeed in it. We, in our town, take the opposite approach. We want to build a town that fits the human. We want to create an environment that allows the human to thrive. So far our work suggests that we’ll find a number of viable and adjustable approaches rather than having one ultimate result.’ ‘It says on your website that you want to build a town for neurological patients. What does that mean?’ Navarro (society) answered. ‘There are two main answers to this question. One is that we want to build a town which supports neurological patients in their recovery processes. That means everything in our town will take into account what might stimulate the brain positively. The other is that we want bring people together who share a common interest — in our case the common interest in the study and practice of neurology and related fields. We’re curious how a common interest influences the town’s communities.’ // Some twenty minutes later, when Alice left the press conference followed by Jazz and Jordie, she felt a mix of unease, embarrassment and a sense that she could have done better — that she should have done better. There was also a nagging voice that implied they had all sounded too much alike, too much as if they all sang the same tune, too many— ‘Alice Adler?’ Alice turned sharply and stopped. A journalist, around her age, mid-forties, caught up with her while Jazz and Jordie kept some distance. ‘I’m sorry I startled you,’ he said with a pleasant smile. Alice shrugged, frowning. ‘I was miles away.’ ‘Scrutinising your performance, wishing you had done better?’ ‘How do you know?’ ‘I watched you. You’re a powerful speaker, but Jack Harris was the only person on stage who is used to spotlight. You’ll get there. If you’ll take my advice enjoy the imperfections.’ ‘Who are you?’ ‘A friend — and an admirer. Potentially also a critic. But not today. Today, I raise my glass to imperfection.’ Alice smiled a little and returned: ‘I’ve a good supply of those. Unfortunately I’m short of time.’ ‘I apologise. Of course, you’re busy. I just wanted you to know that you have allies.’ Alice smiled, feeling an unexpected wave of gratitude. ‘Thank you! That means a lot.’ With a little bow the journalist said goodbye and left, walking towards the courtyard where a bar, a buffet and project team members invited the media to linger and to pose more questions. ‘Who is he?’ Alice asked Jazz as they walked on towards the Central Building. ‘Paul Woods. Independent journalist. Writes for British papers and independent publications, some of those in Europe and Canada. Hasn’t written about the town project but some good analyses about the Hub, Any says.’ ‘Hm,’ Alice mumbled. Strange how powerful a small gesture of support can be, she thought. And how much I needed to hear this. Imperfection! Yes! There is a large supply of that, always at the ready. // Next on Alice’s schedule was a meeting with the Business Expansion Team in the atrium of the Central Building. It was a lively, energising meeting, one which restored more of Alice’s confidence and fighting spirit. There were enough cases of imperfection here, but overall the seventy-seven businesses were like spring flowers who couldn’t wait to burst into hundreds of blossoms, all buzzing with ideas. // Some twenty minutes into the meeting, Alice stood on the small stage near the Oceans Bar and said: ‘I’d like us to pursue one main goal: inspire enthusiasm for the people of this planet and for the planet itself, an enthusiasm that catches on and has people say: “You know what, I’m done with making everything about money. I want to make everything about life, living, joy — not about rubbish, not about exploitation, not about growth, and absolutely not about war. I want to be part of creating balances in every possible respect within complex economic systems and as part of the planet’s ecosystems. And I’ll measure business success in terms of how many ripple effects a business creates for people and planet.”’ Applause followed, some team members added thoughts, others dug deeper into how the overall network itself could become a living and breathing organism. // It was about ninety minutes later, the dot.team were speaking about the new dot.headquarters near Tunis, when Alice got called away unexpectedly. ‘Where are we going?’ Alice asked Jazz, following her to the Security office. ‘The British prime minister wants to see you.’ ‘Oh!’ ‘Apparently the invitation is a reaction to the widely covered press conference.’ ‘Oh. Good.’ ‘Jack will be joining you in the Security car — unless you’ve changed your mind.’ Alice shook her head and Jazz opened the door to the office which had a slide to the underground tunnels. ‘No,’ Alice said. ‘I’m uncertain about Jack coming. But it’s worth a try to see what effect his charm and fame has on the prime minister.’ // About an hour later, Alice and Jack shook hands with the British prime minister and with some MPs. It was hard to read their expressions, but after a minimum of small talk, one of the MPs dropped all pretence and stated matter-of-factly: ‘Politeness and the involvement of our queen requires that we tell you in person: We have no interest in your town. We are considering measures to remove you and your businesses from our country. We are a democratic nation and not a playground for deranged fantasies.’ Alice nodded, certain she had turned pale, but her voice was steady when she returned: ‘Next time you have cheerful news for us, please, don’t bother with an invite. A letter will do. My assistant will send you the details for my primary lawyer so that you can discuss all legal issues directly with her. I, on the other hand, am quite busy with finalising the campaigns for our town project. And I am strangely confident that your people are a lot more interested in their future than you seem to be. Should you, despite everything, wish to talk about the enormous benefits our town experiment has to offer your people, yourself and the planet, please, don’t hesitate to get in touch.’ ‘Dear Alice Adler,’ said an elderly MP with a terribly patronising voice. ‘We know that English is not your native tongue, therefore I will speak very slowly and use very simple words: Please, leave our country! We don’t want any of your nonsense here.’ Alice smiled. ‘Allow me to repay your courtesy by using very simple words in return: Good day to you.’ // Back in the car, Any, the head of THE, appeared on the small screen at the back of the passenger seat. ‘I’m proud—’ Any started but Alice interrupted him. ‘—Any, I’m too angry for flattery. Why did you call?’ Any nodded. ‘OK. I’ll save the honey for later then. Actually I have good news. My team found an ideal place for a Hub Station in the Jellybridge region. Devery and some of his Hub coordination team could take a look at the town and find out how the mayor would react to the suggestion of hosting a Hub Station. All Devery needs is your go-ahead.’ Alice nodded grimly. ‘Go ahead! Let’s do everything to pop up on the MPs radars as often as possible until they can’t ignore us any more. Let’s haunt them with our ideas. Let’s give them sleepless nights with our ubiquity. Let’s make our campaigns into the nightmare they can’t escape no matter where they are, what they do, what they try. Why isn’t Jack with us?’ ‘He’s off to a family birthday party. It’s his son’s Davie and his father’s birthdays.’ ‘Oh, I forgot.’ ‘How was Jack? I didn’t hear him via the coms.’ ‘I don’t know. I was too transfixed by these stuffy, patronising people. I didn’t look at him, and when I turned to leave, he turned with me and led the way.’ // Back at the Compound Alice and Raiden (town simulation) joined the Q & A in the Front House theatre, two stools waiting for them on the stage where Dana (ecology), Emine (law), Hayley (tech), Marita (economics), and Navarro (society) were answering questions. The theatre’s three hundred red velvet seats were mostly filled, and Rohana’s people made sure that anyone who wanted to ask a question got a microphone. ‘How do you prevent small town fatigue?’ a young man asked. Navarro replied: ‘We don’t know, yet. But we’re eyeing our international business networks as an potential prevention or cure. If things go as as planned, towners could work in our businesses around the world, for a change of scenery, for new inspirations and even for a coming-back-home experience. We also contemplate a network of towns, each with its own focus and purpose, and exchanges between these towns. This way the world would become every towner’s oyster.’ This reply was followed by a succession of dismissive questions, and Alice, still a bit on edge, countered at one point: ‘So you think the world is what it is and nothing can be done about it? Think again! Who made the world? Some higher power? The devil? I don’t know. I don’t know what happened in the beginning. But we can be relatively certain about the previous millennia. And in those thousands of years, it was humans who made the world. It was those who popularised an idea and those who adopted those ideas. That’s who shaped the world. It was us humans. To this day, we shape the world by what we say, do, not say and don’t do. And that means we can question what is and we can shape a world that doesn’t drive us crazy. But so long as we tell ourselves that nothing can be done, nothing will be done.’ // Around half past eight Jack (film), his sons Davie and Kyle, his daughter Rose, and his father Henry joined the Q & A and caused a bit of a stir, several people pointing at Jack. But soon the next question was posed by a grey-haired woman. ‘You seem to seek global dominance with your businesses. How is that better than what other corporations do?’ Marita (economics) took this question. ‘We don’t seek dominance. We seek the empowerment of creators, producers and customers. We connect all players in our networks and offer the framework to support everyone involved. That’s a long shot from companies who seek to satisfy shareholders and practise modern slavery, resource exploitation, waste production and the destruction of the planet to maximise profits. We have nothing in common with these people.’ ‘What’s your schedule for the town?’ Raiden answered. ‘We hope to build the town within a year and would like to open it on the first of April—’ ‘—Fools day!’ someone shouted. ‘And you want to be taken seriously. Laughable!’ ‘Fools day,’ Alice echoed, ‘and on purpose. It’s a reminder not to take ourselves too seriously and to keep our feet on the ground.’ Raiden nodded. ‘We want to run the experiment for twelve years because we believe—’ ‘—not the socialist’s five-years plan then? Alice Adler was born in East-Germany, weren’t you? Five-years plans, isn’t that your heritage?’ Alice pushed a half-smile into place and returned: ‘We believe that twelve years is the minimum time needed to gain reliable results. As for a five-years plan. I see no reason to test a concept which has already failed in enough countries and seems to have succeeded in one. If you’re interested in that concept, you can find enough data.’ Raiden continued. ‘After the twelve years, the town will transition into a UK town and national laws will apply. There are, of course, laws we will observe: any murderer, rapist or otherwise criminal person will be handed over to the British authorities.’ ‘The town will never be ready next April,’ someone called from the back and Dana replied: ‘You haven’t seen the number of people who want to help. We’ll have enough people to work twenty-four seven. Our greatest problem is how to cater for them, and how many tent towers we’ll have to set up. But we’ll work it out.’ // At midnight Alice closed the Q & A and announced that there would be Q & As at the theatre and at Jellybridge House every Friday from eight in the morning to midnight in the coming weeks, both in addition to the twenty-four/seven online Q & As on the Hub’s Campaigns Square. While the theatre emptied, Alice briefly talked with Jack’s kids: Davie, Kyle and Rose, and with Jack’s father: Henry, whom Alice hadn’t met before, but she had heard about the repair works in the theatre, Henry and Jack did in January. Thanks to Rohana, Alice had presents for Davie and Henry, a voucher for a new dot.overall for Henry, and for Davie a pair of rubber boots and an overall he could wear when he would visit Jack at the building site. Davie, now nine, was over the moon. And he had a gift for Alice: a small roaring lion crafted by Roger, the head of Crafts. ‘Dad bought it months ago. But he said I can have it so I can give it to you. It can protect you. I just wish I could help more. But we’re talking about the town in class next week. And me and some friends, we’ll set up Q & As to get more kids on board.’ Alice smiled. ‘I’m not a hugger, but can I hug you?’ Happily Davie swung himself into Alice’s arms — and Alice carried his hug with her as she hurried back to her flat, through her dreams and way into the (35) next day when the Campaigns & Negotiations Team met the newly appointed heads of the seven campaign teams, on the seventh floor of the Central Building.

© Charlie Alice Raya, book 4, building, 2026