"This is Rachel Hawkins at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta. We will be commencing a live feed from the Revolutionary Council of the Raggedy Andy Party in less than a minute and it is being broadcast worldwide. They said they will be delivering their manifesto and they specifically said, and I quote, 'they do not want the usual parade of glory-seeking pundits' to follow their announcement but rather the phone lines should be opened to invite calls from the American people. They said they want me, Rachel Hawkins, to host the calls but they did not say why. We go now to the White House briefing room."
The screen filled with the image of the briefing room but there was no-one at the podium and there was so sound beyond the murmuration from the gathered reporters. The briefing room was crowded and many of the reporters looked like they had been there since the crisis had begun.
As they waited, Roger got to his feet and said to Harrison, "please join me to check the security perimeter, son. It looks like we have some time before this gets started."
Harrison joined him and they walked together toward the security room. They went inside and Roger closed the door behind them. On the wall to the right was a row of video monitors, all showing various views of the interior and exterior of The Refuge. Below those were arrays of signal lights, all labeled with different processes within the system which were important but did not require active video monitoring. On the opposite wall were several desks with telephones, short-wave radios, what looked like a CB base station and several computers.
"Dad, don't you think it's important to hear the manifesto," asked Harrison, surprised at his father's timing.
"I already know what's in it, son," replied Roger but he didn't immediately elaborate.
"What are you saying, Dad?"
"All of this is for your ears only, son," continued Roger. "The door into the security room and to the vault are the only ones in The Refuge that lock. The door on the facing wall is the one that leads to the vault and I haven't previously told you what's in it. I've been converting my holdings into gold and other precious metals for some years now and all of that is in the vault. I'm sure you trust your students but I will decide when they can be trusted with this knowledge or if they ever will."
"I usually don't run out of things to say but information is coming in a rate that makes it a bit of a job to assimilate," replied Harrison.
"I'll get right to the heart of this, son. There are tremendous risks in what is happening. If it fails then the U.S. will collapse faster than a hot air balloon in a thunderstorm. What follows beyond that is predictable as world economic chaos comes with a rapid global descent into feudalism from which it would take centuries to get back to where we are now."
"My God, Dad. You're one of them, aren't you," asked Harrison.
"Yes, son. I've been a Raggedy Andy for the last ten years," replied Roger.
Harrison was silent. His view of his father in combination with the scene of the burning Congress didn't add up to any logical conclusion with him.
"I never heard any of this," said Harrison, a bit hurt that he hadn't been included in this knowledge.
"It was a policy decision made way back by the Revolutionary Council. Academics are usually too volatile and they always talk too much. It was a specific directive to keep all of this strictly to those most likely to keep it quiet."
"I see the point," said Harrison, "but I'm mixed on not having been included."
"That's reasonable, son, and it's regrettable but the overall goals were more important than personal considerations."
"But, Dad, I can't help seeing any idea of replacing the U.S. as more than a little arrogant. Despite its faults, it's still been one of the most powerful forces in the world for centuries."
"True enough, son, but there is no intention of replacing the U.S. The Constitution won't be burned but rather it will be re-installed. The will of the forefathers has been compromised relentlessly and the integrity of the country that was built up all over that time has been squandered. We are going to put it back. Only doing something decisive will demonstrate our conviction to the rest of the world and make no mistake that we're the will of the people. Others have said they wanted to defend the Constitution but they were very narrow-minded and were only interested in keeping their guns. As you saw with the destruction of the militias, their guns were useless."
"How can you say Raggedy Andy has wide support, Dad. There are large crowds in Washington and, I guess, other cities as well but how can they be truly representative of enough of America to truly represent the will of the people?"
"Son, you know fifty percent or more of Americans do not vote in the elections, yes?"
"I've assumed that was symptomatic of the apathy that has been sweeping the country."
"In some cases that's true but you will be surprised to discover how many of those people are members of the Raggedy Andy movement. We have sounded out people in both political parties as well to determine which ones were hopelessly corrupt and which were just going with the least foul of the available alternatives. From that we concluded that support will come from a substantial number of them. The corrupt ones will not survive."
"Mother knows about all of this," asked Harrison, almost completely dumbfounded by all of this.
"Of course, son. I've never excluded her from anything. And there's one more thing."
Harrison sank into one of the chairs in the room as there had been a few too many one more things already.
"Your mother is a member of the Revolutionary Council, son." Roger was full of pride in this and he was happy to finally share it with his son.
"My God, Dad," said Harrison.
Roger didn't say anything further as he gave his son some time to let all this information float through his head. He knew he was overwhelming him but he also knew he could handle it.
"I have to say up front that I'm proud of both of you and I'm proud of your motives but I question the potential for success in what you are trying to accomplish."
"Fair enough. We all question that potential, son. Nevertheless, the most recent failures in Washington showed it was clearly time to act. We had hoped that time would never come but failure to prepare is no excuse for lack of readiness and we responded as we had to do."
"How in the world did you get to this situation after your time in the Army," asked Harrison.
"It was my time in the Army that brought me to it, what I saw in Vietnam and the years after. I saw the policies of regime change in other countries and the policies were not only illegal but did not work. I felt that soldiers were dying for policies that had nothing to do with defending the freedom of America," replied Roger.
Harrison looked at him thoughtfully, still turning over all that had been handed to him.
"At first your mother and I went into stock market investments as the path to personal freedom independent of what the country was doing. We turned out to be surprisingly good at it and your mother has a phenomenal skill at market analysis. She does exhaustive research and her recommendations have almost invariably been spot on. After we made the first million, more came relatively easily and compounded at an astounding rate. By then I was long out of the military and we devoted every moment and almost every dime toward building that fortune. Through it all we never stopped our observations of what was happening in the world and more and more the question came back to us, surely there is something we can do."
"I see," said Harrison, not sure that he even now really did see all of it but having much more of a view than he ever did before.
"Don't you see some measure of hypocrisy in having used the stock market to build such a fortune and then using those proceeds to control the market?"
"Son, we aren't trying to control the market. When Raggedy Andy decided to make the move it was after the stock market was already collapsing and the dollar was plunging. We don't want to take the market but rather to set it free. Market manipulation has been common knowledge for years and do believe it's even more pervasive than most people have seen, largely because they don't care to look."
After another minute in thought, Harrison said, "Dad, I love you and mother to bits and of course I support you but all of this is more than a little overwhelming to a scientist who has been begging for spare change in research grants for much of his life. I came here originally because of the latest problems with one," said Harrison.
"Every time you visited you exuded such confidence that I didn't realise such a problem existed. We would have been happy to help had we known," said Roger regretfully.
"Perhaps that was some vanity on my part," said Harrison. "I wanted you to see me as a success as a scientist, particularly since it was so different from what you hoped for me. I did achieve some renown but that doesn't necessarily lead to buckets of money."
"We knew you were a success, son. We watched your scientific career and I even read some of your papers. When they got to the point that I didn't understand the mechanisms you were using, I was immensely proud," said Roger, almost laughing.
Harrison did start laughing and then said, "All that work led to talking dogs and watching what they will do."
"Don't get cynical on me, son. It's an extraordinary achievement and you know better than anyone how dogs are, it's a shame more people don't watch what dogs do."
After another long pause for thought, Harrison said, "Dad, you have heard the manifesto but I have not. Shall we return to hear what comes from the White House?"
"Let's go, son. I'm satisfied with the security of The Refuge and I'm glad you now know the background. Let's go back to see how everyone is faring."
The screen filled with the image of the briefing room but there was no-one at the podium and there was so sound beyond the murmuration from the gathered reporters. The briefing room was crowded and many of the reporters looked like they had been there since the crisis had begun.
As they waited, Roger got to his feet and said to Harrison, "please join me to check the security perimeter, son. It looks like we have some time before this gets started."
Harrison joined him and they walked together toward the security room. They went inside and Roger closed the door behind them. On the wall to the right was a row of video monitors, all showing various views of the interior and exterior of The Refuge. Below those were arrays of signal lights, all labeled with different processes within the system which were important but did not require active video monitoring. On the opposite wall were several desks with telephones, short-wave radios, what looked like a CB base station and several computers.
"Dad, don't you think it's important to hear the manifesto," asked Harrison, surprised at his father's timing.
"I already know what's in it, son," replied Roger but he didn't immediately elaborate.
"What are you saying, Dad?"
"All of this is for your ears only, son," continued Roger. "The door into the security room and to the vault are the only ones in The Refuge that lock. The door on the facing wall is the one that leads to the vault and I haven't previously told you what's in it. I've been converting my holdings into gold and other precious metals for some years now and all of that is in the vault. I'm sure you trust your students but I will decide when they can be trusted with this knowledge or if they ever will."
"I usually don't run out of things to say but information is coming in a rate that makes it a bit of a job to assimilate," replied Harrison.
"I'll get right to the heart of this, son. There are tremendous risks in what is happening. If it fails then the U.S. will collapse faster than a hot air balloon in a thunderstorm. What follows beyond that is predictable as world economic chaos comes with a rapid global descent into feudalism from which it would take centuries to get back to where we are now."
"My God, Dad. You're one of them, aren't you," asked Harrison.
"Yes, son. I've been a Raggedy Andy for the last ten years," replied Roger.
Harrison was silent. His view of his father in combination with the scene of the burning Congress didn't add up to any logical conclusion with him.
"I never heard any of this," said Harrison, a bit hurt that he hadn't been included in this knowledge.
"It was a policy decision made way back by the Revolutionary Council. Academics are usually too volatile and they always talk too much. It was a specific directive to keep all of this strictly to those most likely to keep it quiet."
"I see the point," said Harrison, "but I'm mixed on not having been included."
"That's reasonable, son, and it's regrettable but the overall goals were more important than personal considerations."
"But, Dad, I can't help seeing any idea of replacing the U.S. as more than a little arrogant. Despite its faults, it's still been one of the most powerful forces in the world for centuries."
"True enough, son, but there is no intention of replacing the U.S. The Constitution won't be burned but rather it will be re-installed. The will of the forefathers has been compromised relentlessly and the integrity of the country that was built up all over that time has been squandered. We are going to put it back. Only doing something decisive will demonstrate our conviction to the rest of the world and make no mistake that we're the will of the people. Others have said they wanted to defend the Constitution but they were very narrow-minded and were only interested in keeping their guns. As you saw with the destruction of the militias, their guns were useless."
"How can you say Raggedy Andy has wide support, Dad. There are large crowds in Washington and, I guess, other cities as well but how can they be truly representative of enough of America to truly represent the will of the people?"
"Son, you know fifty percent or more of Americans do not vote in the elections, yes?"
"I've assumed that was symptomatic of the apathy that has been sweeping the country."
"In some cases that's true but you will be surprised to discover how many of those people are members of the Raggedy Andy movement. We have sounded out people in both political parties as well to determine which ones were hopelessly corrupt and which were just going with the least foul of the available alternatives. From that we concluded that support will come from a substantial number of them. The corrupt ones will not survive."
"Mother knows about all of this," asked Harrison, almost completely dumbfounded by all of this.
"Of course, son. I've never excluded her from anything. And there's one more thing."
Harrison sank into one of the chairs in the room as there had been a few too many one more things already.
"Your mother is a member of the Revolutionary Council, son." Roger was full of pride in this and he was happy to finally share it with his son.
"My God, Dad," said Harrison.
Roger didn't say anything further as he gave his son some time to let all this information float through his head. He knew he was overwhelming him but he also knew he could handle it.
"I have to say up front that I'm proud of both of you and I'm proud of your motives but I question the potential for success in what you are trying to accomplish."
"Fair enough. We all question that potential, son. Nevertheless, the most recent failures in Washington showed it was clearly time to act. We had hoped that time would never come but failure to prepare is no excuse for lack of readiness and we responded as we had to do."
"How in the world did you get to this situation after your time in the Army," asked Harrison.
"It was my time in the Army that brought me to it, what I saw in Vietnam and the years after. I saw the policies of regime change in other countries and the policies were not only illegal but did not work. I felt that soldiers were dying for policies that had nothing to do with defending the freedom of America," replied Roger.
Harrison looked at him thoughtfully, still turning over all that had been handed to him.
"At first your mother and I went into stock market investments as the path to personal freedom independent of what the country was doing. We turned out to be surprisingly good at it and your mother has a phenomenal skill at market analysis. She does exhaustive research and her recommendations have almost invariably been spot on. After we made the first million, more came relatively easily and compounded at an astounding rate. By then I was long out of the military and we devoted every moment and almost every dime toward building that fortune. Through it all we never stopped our observations of what was happening in the world and more and more the question came back to us, surely there is something we can do."
"I see," said Harrison, not sure that he even now really did see all of it but having much more of a view than he ever did before.
"Don't you see some measure of hypocrisy in having used the stock market to build such a fortune and then using those proceeds to control the market?"
"Son, we aren't trying to control the market. When Raggedy Andy decided to make the move it was after the stock market was already collapsing and the dollar was plunging. We don't want to take the market but rather to set it free. Market manipulation has been common knowledge for years and do believe it's even more pervasive than most people have seen, largely because they don't care to look."
After another minute in thought, Harrison said, "Dad, I love you and mother to bits and of course I support you but all of this is more than a little overwhelming to a scientist who has been begging for spare change in research grants for much of his life. I came here originally because of the latest problems with one," said Harrison.
"Every time you visited you exuded such confidence that I didn't realise such a problem existed. We would have been happy to help had we known," said Roger regretfully.
"Perhaps that was some vanity on my part," said Harrison. "I wanted you to see me as a success as a scientist, particularly since it was so different from what you hoped for me. I did achieve some renown but that doesn't necessarily lead to buckets of money."
"We knew you were a success, son. We watched your scientific career and I even read some of your papers. When they got to the point that I didn't understand the mechanisms you were using, I was immensely proud," said Roger, almost laughing.
Harrison did start laughing and then said, "All that work led to talking dogs and watching what they will do."
"Don't get cynical on me, son. It's an extraordinary achievement and you know better than anyone how dogs are, it's a shame more people don't watch what dogs do."
After another long pause for thought, Harrison said, "Dad, you have heard the manifesto but I have not. Shall we return to hear what comes from the White House?"
"Let's go, son. I'm satisfied with the security of The Refuge and I'm glad you now know the background. Let's go back to see how everyone is faring."
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