Crunch Buttsteak
Active member
Headlines from California
Headlines from Around The World
HMS Duke of Wellington - En Route to San Francisco Bay - August 5th, 1853
Vice Admiral Charles Napier looked out across the sea with his spyglass, scanning the horizon for any other ships besides his own small fleet. When he had left the British Isles and gotten underway for California, the situation between California and the United States had begun deteriorating and the United States was threatening to blockade California, something that Her Majesty and the lords of the Admiralty found to be unacceptable. It was for this reason that his fleet had been tasked with making sail for California. They were to show the flag and defend the freedom of the seas.
In Napier’s opinion, California didn’t need the help, but the diplomatic message that it would send to the United States was more important.
From the news that he had gathered from talking to other Royal Navy ships via the newly installed “VHF Marine Radio,” the situation had gotten worse and now a state of war existed between California and the United States.
As Napier continued to walk the uppermost deck of the ship, looking out across the open ocean, he took a deep breath of the fresh salty air. This was why he preferred to be at sea and not stuck in London with the other Lords of the Admiralty. You just couldn’t get that kind of fresh air in London, taking a breath outside was liable to make your lungs burn and eyes water.
“Aircraft off the port bow!” Cried the barrelman.
Almost immediately, Napier pulled out his telescope and searched the horizon for the sighted aircraft. There, in the distance, barely visible against the haze were two of those airplanes.
As he watched the airplanes in the distance, he tried to make note of their distinguishing characteristics as best he could, noting the two angled tail fins as they turned towards his ship.
Putting down his spyglass, he raced towards his quarters to consult the reference books about the Californian navy he had picked up.
Thumbing through the pictures and silhouettes of airplanes, he finally found what it was, an F/A-18 Hornet.
Their position was too far from shore for that to be a land-based fighter, based on the specs he had in front of him, that meant there was a carrier nearby.
As he walked over to the newly christened “Radio Room,” he heard the two Californian airplanes fly over with a loud scream.
“Use that radio to send a message to the Californians,” He ordered, “This is the HMS Duke of Wellington, we are here to render assistance in enforcing the freedom of the seas.’”
The radio signalman tuned the system to channel 9 and began transmitting. “California ship, California Ship, this is HMS Duke of Wellington calling. Over.”
The minutes seemed to tick by agonizingly slowly as the crew of the Wellington awaited a response.
“We copy your transmission Duke of Wellington, this is CNS Carl Vinson. Over.” Came the reply over the radio.
“We have been dispatched by the crown to offer aid and assistance in enforcing the freedom of the seas around California. Over” Explained the radio signalman.
“Acknowledged Duke of Wellington, maintain present course and speed, CNS Dewey will rendezvous with you. Over.” Came the reply.
“We copy you CNS Carl Vinson, we await your meeting.” The radio signalman said. “Duke of Wellington Out.”
Combat Information Center - CNS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) - Atlantic Ocean
As the two super hornets from the Gauntlet squadron confirmed that the surface contacts that the E-2Cs from the Black Eagle squadron had picked up were in fact British ships, Rear Admiral Alvin Holsey had ordered that the Dewey to rendezvous with the British Ships.
Judging by the Wellington’s remarks about ‘freedom of the seas,’ Holsey had quickly picked up on the unspoken message in their words. The Royal Navy had decided to throw their lot in with California and were going to show the flag in order to send a diplomatic message to Washington, “continue on your course with California at your own peril.”
“Get me the HISTINT[1] dossier on HMS Duke of Wellington.” The admiral ordered.
Looking up on the large plotting monitor, Halsey watched as the contacts were retagged as HMS Duke of Wellington, HMS London, and HMS Royal George.
“Here’s the dossier you wanted.” Said the Petty Officer handing it to him.
Thumbing through the dossier, he looked over the page with the bio about the most likely CO, Charles Napier.
Holsey could work with that.
Edmund G. Brown Executive Office Building, Situation Room - Sacramento
The EOB’s situation room was a hive of frenetic activity. The Executive Office Building itself was a former Federal building that had been turned into the EOB. Up on one of the large plasma screen displays was a quad-split showing feeds from CNN, Camp Springs, and the Roosevelt & Vinson Carrier Strike Groups. Another monitor showed a map of the US Eastern Seaboard with the Vinson marked as sitting 200 nautical miles offshore, outside of any shipping lanes.
“Do we have comms to the Dewey?” Asked President Newsom.
“We’re setting up a link now.” Said one of the staffers.
As Newsom waited for the satellite uplink to be established, he looked around the high tech situation room. It was a far cry from the old governor’s office in the basement of the capitol building, but being thrust into the role of a global superpower had hammered home certain realities, and the traditional governor’s office in Sacramento wouldn’t cut it anymore.
As far as the DOD was concerned, Gavin Newsom was the 47th President of the United States, even if the name had been changed to the Republic of California, that meant that the nuclear football now followed him everywhere he went, and that all of the DOD staff around him now had to have ‘Grizzly Red’ security clearance. Up on another monitor was a map of downtime DC and Camp Springs, with markers showing the various troop positions, as well as markers showing where previous airstrikes hit, along with BDA photos taken after the air strikes.
From those photos he could see that the Chain Bridge, Aqueduct Bridge and Long Bridge had all been destroyed, cutting DC off from reinforcements from Virginia.
“We have an uplink with the Dewey, audio only sir.” Said one of the military personnel to Newsom.
“Good morning Mr. President.” Came the voice of the ship’s coxswain, CDR Jane Shepard over the speakerphone.
“Good morning Commander.” Replied Newsom. “Have you made contact with the Wellington yet?”
“I know you can’t see it Mr. President but we are currently running alongside them as we speak and Napier is currently in a gig headed towards us.” Replied Shepard.
CNS Dewey (DDG-105) - Atlantic Ocean
Admiral Napier tried his hardest to school his face as he looked around the enormous iron ship that had just stepped aboard. All around him were Californian sailors who were standing there to welcome him.
“Welcome aboard the Dewey Admiral.” Said the ship’s XO to Napier, “If you’ll please follow me to the briefing room, Commander Shepard has President Newsom on the line.”
As the admiral the rest of the Dewey’s crew make their way through the labyrinthine metal corridors of the ship, with Napier nearly tripping on the knee-knockers that ran underneath every door.
After stumbling over one, only to be caught by one of the Petty officers escorting him, it seemed like his patience with the things had run out.
“Sorry about that Sir,” Explained the XO. “They’re like that so that we can-”
“-So that if you start taking on water you can seal off that section and limit the amount of water the ship takes on.” Said Napier. “I’ve been on enough ships to know how important it is to keep the damage contained. I’ll just have to get used to it.”
As the group stepped into the briefing room, Napier took a look around the cramped space, it was certainly smaller compared to the one he had visited about the Roosevelt during its tour.
“Good morning Admiral.” Said a redheaded woman with close-cropped hair, offering her hand to the admiral. Napier returned the handshake and sat down at the table with the commander.
“Likewise commander.” Said Napier.
“So what brings an Admiral of the Royal Navy and their biggest first rate ship of the line out to California? Shepard asked, guessing at Napier’s answer.
“I’ve been ordered to San Francisco Bay.” Said Napier. “In order to show the flag and to keep the shipping lanes open. Her Majesty has great concerns about the United States’ interference with the freedom of the seas.”
“So Her Majesty wants to send a message that blockading San Francisco Bay is a bad idea.” Said Shepard.
“Yes that about covers it.” Said Napier.
“Hit the lights.” Ordered Shepard. One of the crewmembers turned off the lights in the front of the room where a white sheet had been pulled down from the deckhead. A projector mounted on a mast that hung down from the deckhead as well began to illuminate the screen.
“You’re right to be concerned about a blockade.” She said. “The following information I’m about to show you is classified but I’m cleared to show it to you and only you. Your staff will have to wait outside I’m afraid.”
Napier turned to his general staff. “Wait outside for a moment lads.” The other Royal Navy seamen who had come aboard with Napier looked as if they were about to protest, but Napier silenced them with a look and they stepped out of the room, the Californian sailors closing the door behind them.
Shepard pressed something on one of the machines in the room and a black and white image of several ships popped up onto the screen. As Napier studied the image, he tried to figure out how it was taken. From the vantage point, it could only have been taken by somebody high overhead.
“This was taken two days ago by one of the Vinson’s recon flights.” Shepard lied as she pointed at the reduced-resolution satellite photo. “This particular image was taken approximately 300 nautical miles outside of São Paulo.”
Napier walked over to the screen and studied the image carefully, looking carefully at the silhouette the shadow of each ship created on the seas.
Pointing at the lead ship, he tried to decipher what kind of fleet the Americans were sending. “That’s a steam frigate.” He said, pointing at the lead ship with the silhouette of the paddlewheels along the side clearly visible. “It looks like there’s two more steamers with it.” Looking further back along the fleet, he spotted the sailing ships.
Shepard kept it quiet that the ships had already been identified as the Mississippi, Susquehanna, and Powhatan.
“Looks like a group of frigates here.” Mused Napier. “Except this one, this one looks too big to be a frigate, it could be a ship of the line.”
Shepard thought over that statement. That’s what IMINT said, while HISTINT had said that all of the USN’s ships of the line were permanently harbor bound or mothballed. “Admiral, if we engage this fleet, it’ll be from beyond visual range and they won’t even know we’re here.” She explained. “But if you’re here, we can send a message to them.”
“What are you thinking?” Asked Napier.
Shepard walked over to a map of the Americas, and spared a glance at the tip of South America, including Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan.
“What if your fleet were to sail into San Francisco, flying the Union Jack and never once encountering the American blockade fleet.” Suggested Shepard.
“The Vinson and the Roosevelt battle groups can see and engage with ships well beyond the horizon.” Explained Shepard. “What if we guided your flotilla around them so that they never saw your ship?”
Napier looked at the map on the Americas and spotted several problems. Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Cape Horn, Santiago, Lima, and Acapulco among them, places where his ships would have to stop for supplies or where the waters were too narrow to hide their presence. But then that would be easily fixed by claiming to be en route to the Vancouver Island colony.
But it was worth a shot.
CNS Pasadena (SSN-752) - [CLASSIFIED LOCATION]
Beneath the surface of the ocean was one of the greatest secrets that California held since The Event.
When The Event had happened, the uptime US Navy put out a little noticed statement that all four of the Fast Attack Submarines that had been homeported in Point Loma had been at sea when it happened. In fact the Pasadena and her sister ship the Scranton had been in port when The Event happened.
That had created a strategic advantage for the Californian Navy, ships that could go underwater for months at a time were something that nobody else could match. So it was that with one statement, one lie, one of the two greatest secrets that the new California was built on was born.
The submarine’s captain viewed the printout of the orders from President Newsom himself, sink the US Navy blockade fleet when they reach Cape Horn and make it look like they were lost at sea.
Pulling up the diagrams of downtime naval vessels, he looked for the best spot to target the Pasadena’s torpedos to make it look like an accident, the boiler rooms and powder magazines.
He could do that.
Boston Common - August 6th, 1853
The greens of the Boston Common were filled with people, as the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s rally against the most cruel and abominable institution filled the grounds of the Common and flowed out onto the street, as abolitionists from around the country traveled to Boston for this. When the California Crisis had developed, it exposed fissures within the abolitionist cause, with some of them who had believed that California’s bid for independence was morally justified and should be supported at any cost, and those more moderates who wanted California to remain in the union as a counterbalance to the slave power.
In the aftermath of Flight 1312 however, those fissures had been papered over as the aftermath of the crash became apparent. But when pressed on the California Question, there was something all abolitionists could agree on.
“A great crime has been committed against the people of California.” Said Senator Sumner from the stage. “Emperor Cass and Governor Lowe have irrevocably fractured this great nation and pushed us down the path of war. Is it a just war to which we are now committed? No! It is a war to soothe the ego of an illegitimate president! We must speak up with the voice of the people, and say that there shall be no war with California!”
The crowd in front of Sumner cheered at this.
“This brazen act of mass murder by Maryland should be a reminder to us all about the termacity of the slave power.” Said Sumner. “They cannot be bargained with, they cannot be reasoned with, they do not feel pity or remorse, and they will not cease until all the lands of this earth are brought under their yoke.” He continued, paraphrasing a quote from an uptime movie.
The crowds of people took up the chant, “No more war!” The war with Mexico was only too recent in people’s memories and few there wanted to embroil the United States in yet another war on behalf of slave power.
CNS Carl Vinson - Infirmary - 200 Nautical Miles from Chesapeake Bay - August 7, 1853
The calming beats of lofi hip-hop provided an ironic background noise for the tense situation in the infirmary, as the team of surgeons, led by Dr. Saeko Mizuno, worked around the clock to perform life saving operations on the crash survivors.
The survivors in the infirmary had sustained severe injuries in the crash, which had required meatball surgery on them prior to sending them to the Vinson. Those were the lucky ones.
The unlucky ones were deemed too injured to be saved and had been given enough morphine by the triage teams so that they wouldn’t feel themselves bleed out.
Already, due to both the overflow of patients at Camp Springs and the fight taking place, many survivors had died waiting to be sent to California. Those that survived were waiting to be evacuated to California, with the Vinson taking the patients in critical condition.
Which was why Dr. Mizuno was busy trying her level best to carefully remove the shrapnel embedded everywhere in her current patient. In Dr. Mizuno's opinion, it’s a miracle she even survived this far, after the triage teams were forced to amputate her leg to free her from the wreckage.
Saeko and the rest of the surgical team prepared to start removing the remaining shrapnel from the girl’s remaining leg.
“Shit!” One of the other surgeons said, looking at the vital signs monitor.
“What happened?” Dr. Mizuno asked.
“She’s lost too much blood, she’s going into shock.” the surgeon replied.
“Give me a bag of O negative blood.” Dr. Mizuno said.
One of the nurses went for the fridge they kept it in.
“We’re out!” Said the nurse.
“Put out a call on the ship that anybody who is type O negative should report here.” Said Saeko. “We need to do an emergency transfusion.”
The nurse ran out of the infirmary. Around 5 seconds later, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker.
“Attention. All personnel with type O negative blood are to report to the infirmary. I repeat, all personnel are to report to the infirmary immediately.” The voice announced.
Great Dismal Swamp, Near Virginia / North Carolina Border - 3:00 AM - August 10th, 1853
The woods of the great dismal swamp were quiet, save for the distant sounds of dogs barking. The moon had set hours ago and only the faint illumination of the stars had lit the forest. Cloaked under this cover of darkness was a team of six Californian special forces, hidden in the brush in ghillie suits, making them indistinguishable from the rest of the forest.
Commander Charles Lind scanned the horizon with his FLIR binoculars, he was on the lookout for any thermal signatures that would cross through here. The HISTINT briefing his fire team had gotten before their drop had identified this area as a likely escape route north.
“Contact. Six thermal signatures at bearing 164, distance 300 meters.” Came the voice of LCDR James Meyer over his earpiece radio.
Charles quickly turned his scope towards the area that Meyer had called out and found them. Through the magnified FLIR camera, he could see six black people in clothing that had seen better days sprinting. “Confirmed. Six Romeo Sierras[2].” As they watched, the distant sounds of dogs barking got closer as well.
“Contact. Five thermals, bearing 178, distance 700 meters.” Came another report from Meyer. Looking over at the spotted direction, Lind used the NVG scope on his Mk 13 rifle to zero in on it.
What he saw were two men on horseback and three dogs between them.
“Confirmed, two Charlies, three Dingos.” Said Lind over the radio, leveling his rifle on the center of mass of the slave-catcher near the back.
———
Ruth Jackson continued to run, looking back to check that the family she had been leading out of South Carolina was still with her. She had gotten unlucky and a shift in the wind had caused them to be upwind of the dogs, and they had caught their scents. Once it was clear that the patrol had spotted them, it was time to make a break for it and get enough distance that they could lose the patrol.
Ruth passed another set of bushes, sprinting hard. The muddy pond she was running for was almost there, if she could make it to that, she could use the mud to mask her scent from the dogs. In her sprint, she almost didn’t see the new bushes that were in this patch of the swamp.
Diving into the muddy pond, Ruth and the Jameson family she had been leading quickly began covering themselves in mud, hoping that it would mask their scent from the dogs.
Now covered in mud, they crawled into the bushes in order to hide from the slave catchers, with luck, their scent trails would end at the pond, and the catchers would think that they were long gone or that the dogs were chasing a false lead.
Ruth listened as the barking got closer.
She watched the woods for any sign of the slave catchers. She knew they were out there but she couldn’t see them yet.
Watching the forest, Ruth’s eye was drawn to a brief glint of steel in the starlight. There, in the distance was one of the slave catchers, and looking behind him was the other one.
Ruth watched as they got closer and closer, the star light filtering through the tree canopy, causing them to slip in and out of shadow.
They had gotten closer now, the dogs were still following their scent trail towards the pond, Ruth’s heart started pounding in her ears and she was sure that the noise of her heartbeat was loud enough to alert them.
As they got even closer, Ruth started trying to quiet her breathing so that they wouldn’t hear her.
Ruth peeked up through the brush at the two men, both of whom had their eyes focused on the dogs. Just when she thought they had spotted her, one of the men’s heads suddenly burst open in a cloud of red mist. As his body slumped off the horse and fell to the ground, the other catcher turned around to see what had happened, when his chest exploded outwards as well.
Ruth looked around to see where her mystery saviors were. But the forest was empty and silent, save for the noise of the dogs barking in a futile effort to wake their masters.
Hearing a rustling noise next to her, Ruth watched as one of the bushes she had run past started moving and stood up.
“Ma’am? You alright?” Said the bush. It was at this point that she realized that the bush she had run past wasn’t one at all, but was, in fact, a person dressed as one. In the faint starlight she could only barely see the man’s painted face, but if he hadn’t stood up, she might never have realized that he was here.
Ruth was stunning into near silence, and was trying to figure these new people out. The man in front of here was carrying some type of rifle she hadn’t seen before.
“Are you people from California?” She asked, making a tentative guess.
“Yes ma’am.” Said the man. “Commander Charles Lind of the 1st Special Operations Detachment.”
“Ruth Jackson.” She replied. “These folks were about to be broken up and sold down the river, so I was bringin em to Camp Springs.”
“Alright Ma’am.” Said Lind. “We’re here to help you.” Ruth watched as Lind started speaking into his headset. “Legwarmer this is Staplegun. I’ve got five Romeo Sierra’s that need evac to Gold Eagle.”
Turning back to her, he said. “Alright, I’ve just called for a helicopter evac to the Vinson for them.”
Ruth felt as though a large weight had been lifted from her chest. “But I take it you’re part of the Underground Railroad?” He asked.
“That’s right.” She replied. “Been running folks north to Boston ‘till Camp Springs showed up.”
“Good.” Replied Lind. “Then you’re who we’re looking for.”
“I am?” Ruth asked.
“Our orders are to link up with any local underground railroad or anti-slavery actions, and to be force multipliers for them.” Lind explained. “That means, weapons, training, and coordination.”
“I think I can work with that.” Said Ruth, watching the black helicopter land in a clearing.
California Assembly Meeting Room 126 - August 20th, 1853
ASSEMBLYMEMBER JIM FRAZIER (L-Antioch): I understand that the black boxes from Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1312 have been recovered. When can we expect the data to be downloaded?
NTSB DIRECTOR JOHN WYSOCKI: I do not have an answer to that. The NTSB is not fully prepared to be of assistance to the investigation.
ASM FRAZIER: What do you mean by not fully prepared?
WYSOCKI: We still do not have all the equipment needed for an investigation of this type. Making sure the NTSB was properly equipped was not a priority of the Moscone Government after The Event. Among other things, we still do not have the equipment needed to download data off of both of the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder.
ASM FRAZIER: You mean to say that for the past couple of years, airlines have been allowed to operate more or less normally even though if something goes wrong, we do not have the means to piece together what had happened? I mean there are types of aircraft the airlines are using that haven't been in service for very long and thus haven't been proven to be reliable. If one of them crashes because of a design flaw, you are saying we do not have the means to figure out what that flaw is?
WYSOCKI: Yes and no. In addition to the two black boxes, each aircraft is equipped with a Quick Access Recorder. It was designed to be used by airline mechanics for diagnostic purposes and the data on it can easily be downloaded at any major airport with maintenance facilities. While in some cases it can give us a lot more technical information as to what is going on then the normal Flight Data Recorder, if there is an abrupt loss of power on the aircraft, the data from the last 30 seconds or so of the flight would be lost as it does not record in real time. In addition to that, we also have access to the air traffic control recordings. I agree that might not be enough to pinpoint the cause of a crash even with resorting to the old fashioned way of examining the wreckage and guessing the actions of the flight crew.
ASSEMBLYMEMBER JIM PATTERSON (R-Fresno): To your knowledge, do you know why the Moscone Government would allow airlines to operate without making sure the NTSB has the proper equipment for any kind of investigation?
WYSOCKI: My best guess is that the quality of airliners, pilot training, and inspections have gotten to the point where accidents have become incredibly rare compared to decades past in Lost History. After The Event, there was an abrupt decline in the number of aircraft flying at any given moment making an incredibly unlikely event even less likely to occur. Thus, the Moscone Government believed it could be several years, if not decades, before we would ever need to download data off of a black box.
Site of The Former San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station - San Clemente - September 3rd, 1853
Robert Nguyen watched the crew load another set of the dry casks onto the specialized truck. The government had taken ownership of the former nuclear power plant and was in the process of refurbishing it and building a new pair of nuclear reactors inside the old Unit 2 and 3 domes, but first, the old dry casks that had been stored on-site had to be moved to Lawrence Livermore NL for fuel reprocessing.
The original plan for the site was to build a new Pressurized Water Reactor of the same type that had existed before. Unfortunately, most of the equipment had been auctioned off in 2015, years before The Event, so that meant that they had a nearly blank slate to work with.
The recommissioning project had been tossed around like a radioactive hot potato, with nobody willing to shoulder the burden and the financial risks, preferring to focus on renewable energy projects that would be quicker to get up and running in the near term, and less financially risky. For a while, it had seemed like the effort to recommission San Onofre it was doomed to fail in spite of the efforts being put in to get it going again.
Until the Californian Department of Defense had stepped in. They had offered to take control of the San Onofre Recommissioning Project, and shoulder the financial risks of building and running it, given that the Navy had plenty of experience operating nuclear reactors on their ships, making them the most experienced people to operate it.
So the project, once thought doomed, was rescued from an unlikely source, and now San Onofre would become home to two Gen IV Sodium Cooled Fast Breeder Reactors, each one capable of putting out two gigawatts each. The specific type of reactor was a closely guarded secret, as far as the public knew, it was just a Gen IV design of an unspecified type.
Chapo Trap House Episode 565 - Ooh ra up the CA feat. Dave Anthony & Karl Marx - August 15th, 1853
Will: So our reading series this week comes from The Economist.
Felix: Oh fuck yes I’m so ready for this.
Matt: Oh goddamn it.
Felix: I love The Economist because they always manage to just find the most absolutely bird-brained take possible. Like you could ask them what their favorite colors are, and you’d just get a rambling story about how every color has a unique value and how nobody can never really choose, and oh yeah we should give the slavers everything they want.
Marx: I like how that one gentleman referred to it, “a journal that speaks for the British millionaires.”
Matt: I think that was Lenin who said that.
Marx: Was that Lenin? I guess it was.
Will: Okay so this Op-Ed is called “Boycotting America Sounds Good, But Who Are You Really Hurting?”
Will: “A new tactic from those on the far left of the slavery debate has been to call on English businesses to ‘boycott, divest, and sanction’ away from the United States. While this may sound like a good idea, those calling for this should keep in mind the law of unintended consequences.”
Matt: Oh my god…
Will: “It’s all well and good to point out the abuses of slave labor here in England, but calling upon Parliament to use the heavy hand of government edict—”
Matt: Oh here we fucking go.
Will: “—to use the heavy hand of government edict to FORCE businesses to take a side in this debate. The first amendment is protection against government censorship, but it also protects against compelled speech, and by compelling businesses to not do business with the United States, they are in effect forcing them to become abolitionists.”
[LAUGHING]
Felix: Oooooh my fucking god dude, that’s the galaxy-brained take I was waiting for. “Well actually BDS is bad because it’s forcing you to be an abolitionist.”
Matt: Just again, we’re talking about taking a stance against SLAVERY, literally just taking human beings, and forcing them to work until they drop. Jesus FUCKING Christ these people are insane.
Will: “If history is any indication, then it should be clear that practice of slavery is going to die out on its own, and that the use of government edict to try and hasten its demise will only end up punishing poor and working class Britons for the actions of the Americans in the form of increased prices for goods.”
Marx: And there you see how the system of capital uses pricing to create a false consensus between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Prices are the stick used to guide the proletariat towards the bourgeoisie’s most desired outcome. “If you don’t do what we like, we’ll punish you with higher prices.”
Matt: And in that sense it’s also a way for them to shift the blame onto the consumer as well. “Yeah we buy our cotton from slave labor, but YOU’RE the one buying the clothes made from it.”
Will: “It need not be a reminder that only a generation ago, cotton fibres were prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthiest lords, and that the use of new technology such as the cotton gin has vastly reduced the labor intensity of cotton harvesting.”
Marx: And yet, in spite of those technological innovations, the number of slaves in the south has continued to skyrocket. Interesting that.
Matt: It couldn’t be that increases in efficiency leads to an increase in production, which in turn increases total consumption of a resource, it couldn’t be that, despite being a well-known economic phenomenon.
———
1: HISTINT: Historical Intelligence - A division of the California Military that analyzes the historical record of Lost History for intelligence gathering purposes.
2: Romeo Sierra: NATO Phonetic alphabet for RS, used to refer to runaway slaves.
Death Toll From Flight 1312 Crash Continues To Rise: Now at 276 - LA Times, July 30th, 1853
Black Boxes From Flight 1312 Recovered: NTSB Needs Equipment For Proper Readout - SFGate.com - July 31st, 1853
European Powers Condemn Downing of Flight 1312 - Orange County Register - August 2nd, 1853
Assembly to Hold Hearings Regarding the Shootdown of Flight 1312 - Sacramento Bee, August 18th, 1853
Initial Findings From Investigation Into Flight 1312: Complacency About Downtime Weapons Caused Fatal Underestimation. - LA Times - August 29th, 1853
LACMA to Hold Exhibition on Downtime Depictions of California in Art - LA Weekly - September 15th, 1853
The Outer Worlds Is The Best New Game of 1853 - IGN - September 20, 1853
Mexico Subdivides State of Sonora to Create State of O’odham, Submits Membership Petition to Join WATO. – LA Times - September 25th, 1853
Metro to Extend Northern End of Figueroa and Flower Street Vehicle Closures from 7th Street to Temple Street as Part of Complete Streets Plan - Curbed LA - October 1st, 1853
Black Boxes From Flight 1312 Recovered: NTSB Needs Equipment For Proper Readout - SFGate.com - July 31st, 1853
European Powers Condemn Downing of Flight 1312 - Orange County Register - August 2nd, 1853
Assembly to Hold Hearings Regarding the Shootdown of Flight 1312 - Sacramento Bee, August 18th, 1853
Initial Findings From Investigation Into Flight 1312: Complacency About Downtime Weapons Caused Fatal Underestimation. - LA Times - August 29th, 1853
LACMA to Hold Exhibition on Downtime Depictions of California in Art - LA Weekly - September 15th, 1853
The Outer Worlds Is The Best New Game of 1853 - IGN - September 20, 1853
Mexico Subdivides State of Sonora to Create State of O’odham, Submits Membership Petition to Join WATO. – LA Times - September 25th, 1853
Metro to Extend Northern End of Figueroa and Flower Street Vehicle Closures from 7th Street to Temple Street as Part of Complete Streets Plan - Curbed LA - October 1st, 1853
Headlines from Around The World
PSA Airplane Shot Down By Maryland State Militia: Hundreds of Men, Women, and Children Feared Dead - The Times - July 29th, 1853
Californian Flying Machine With Fugitive Slaves Brought Down - Charleston Mercury - July 29th
Armories Around Washington Destroyed In Californian Air Strike - New York Tribune - July 30th, 1853
Rally Held in Hyde Park, Demanding that Parliament Pass the ‘Boycott, Divest, and Sanction’ Act - The Times, August 1st, 1853
Britain, Russia, and France to Send Ships to Assist California - The Times - August 4, 1853
Proposal for a Metro System in Constantinople Reaches City Council - Science Global - August 8, 1853
‘Boycott, Divest, and Sanction’ Act, Which Would Bar British Businesses from Doing Business With Any Country That Allows Slavery, Fails to Pass Parliament by One Vote – The Economist - August 14th, 1853
Rep. Gerrit Smith (FS-NY21) to File Articles of Impeachment Against President Cass when Congress Reconvenes. - New York Daily Times, August 24th, 1853
British Radio Corporation To Inaugurate Its First Broadcast With an Adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing - The Times - September 12th, 1853
Californian Flying Machine With Fugitive Slaves Brought Down - Charleston Mercury - July 29th
Armories Around Washington Destroyed In Californian Air Strike - New York Tribune - July 30th, 1853
Rally Held in Hyde Park, Demanding that Parliament Pass the ‘Boycott, Divest, and Sanction’ Act - The Times, August 1st, 1853
Britain, Russia, and France to Send Ships to Assist California - The Times - August 4, 1853
Proposal for a Metro System in Constantinople Reaches City Council - Science Global - August 8, 1853
‘Boycott, Divest, and Sanction’ Act, Which Would Bar British Businesses from Doing Business With Any Country That Allows Slavery, Fails to Pass Parliament by One Vote – The Economist - August 14th, 1853
Rep. Gerrit Smith (FS-NY21) to File Articles of Impeachment Against President Cass when Congress Reconvenes. - New York Daily Times, August 24th, 1853
British Radio Corporation To Inaugurate Its First Broadcast With an Adaptation of Much Ado About Nothing - The Times - September 12th, 1853
HMS Duke of Wellington - En Route to San Francisco Bay - August 5th, 1853
Vice Admiral Charles Napier looked out across the sea with his spyglass, scanning the horizon for any other ships besides his own small fleet. When he had left the British Isles and gotten underway for California, the situation between California and the United States had begun deteriorating and the United States was threatening to blockade California, something that Her Majesty and the lords of the Admiralty found to be unacceptable. It was for this reason that his fleet had been tasked with making sail for California. They were to show the flag and defend the freedom of the seas.
In Napier’s opinion, California didn’t need the help, but the diplomatic message that it would send to the United States was more important.
From the news that he had gathered from talking to other Royal Navy ships via the newly installed “VHF Marine Radio,” the situation had gotten worse and now a state of war existed between California and the United States.
As Napier continued to walk the uppermost deck of the ship, looking out across the open ocean, he took a deep breath of the fresh salty air. This was why he preferred to be at sea and not stuck in London with the other Lords of the Admiralty. You just couldn’t get that kind of fresh air in London, taking a breath outside was liable to make your lungs burn and eyes water.
“Aircraft off the port bow!” Cried the barrelman.
Almost immediately, Napier pulled out his telescope and searched the horizon for the sighted aircraft. There, in the distance, barely visible against the haze were two of those airplanes.
As he watched the airplanes in the distance, he tried to make note of their distinguishing characteristics as best he could, noting the two angled tail fins as they turned towards his ship.
Putting down his spyglass, he raced towards his quarters to consult the reference books about the Californian navy he had picked up.
Thumbing through the pictures and silhouettes of airplanes, he finally found what it was, an F/A-18 Hornet.
Their position was too far from shore for that to be a land-based fighter, based on the specs he had in front of him, that meant there was a carrier nearby.
As he walked over to the newly christened “Radio Room,” he heard the two Californian airplanes fly over with a loud scream.
“Use that radio to send a message to the Californians,” He ordered, “This is the HMS Duke of Wellington, we are here to render assistance in enforcing the freedom of the seas.’”
The radio signalman tuned the system to channel 9 and began transmitting. “California ship, California Ship, this is HMS Duke of Wellington calling. Over.”
The minutes seemed to tick by agonizingly slowly as the crew of the Wellington awaited a response.
“We copy your transmission Duke of Wellington, this is CNS Carl Vinson. Over.” Came the reply over the radio.
“We have been dispatched by the crown to offer aid and assistance in enforcing the freedom of the seas around California. Over” Explained the radio signalman.
“Acknowledged Duke of Wellington, maintain present course and speed, CNS Dewey will rendezvous with you. Over.” Came the reply.
“We copy you CNS Carl Vinson, we await your meeting.” The radio signalman said. “Duke of Wellington Out.”
Combat Information Center - CNS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) - Atlantic Ocean
As the two super hornets from the Gauntlet squadron confirmed that the surface contacts that the E-2Cs from the Black Eagle squadron had picked up were in fact British ships, Rear Admiral Alvin Holsey had ordered that the Dewey to rendezvous with the British Ships.
Judging by the Wellington’s remarks about ‘freedom of the seas,’ Holsey had quickly picked up on the unspoken message in their words. The Royal Navy had decided to throw their lot in with California and were going to show the flag in order to send a diplomatic message to Washington, “continue on your course with California at your own peril.”
“Get me the HISTINT[1] dossier on HMS Duke of Wellington.” The admiral ordered.
Looking up on the large plotting monitor, Halsey watched as the contacts were retagged as HMS Duke of Wellington, HMS London, and HMS Royal George.
“Here’s the dossier you wanted.” Said the Petty Officer handing it to him.
Thumbing through the dossier, he looked over the page with the bio about the most likely CO, Charles Napier.
VADM Napier is an advocate for reforming and modernizing the RN, he is considered a thorn in the side of the RN as he is frequently openly critical of them in letters to The Times. He is likely to be given an assignment that takes him away from London so that he’s out of the Admiralty’s hair.
Past assignments:
Looking over the dossier, Holsey internalized the real reason that Napier was here. He had been making waves in London about modernizing the fleets, and with the current crisis, they had sent him to California to keep him away from London, and also to create a causus belli to go after the Americans.Past assignments:
- Napoleonic Wars
- War of 1812
- Portuguese Civil War
- Syrian Intervention
- Crimean War (LH)
Holsey could work with that.
Edmund G. Brown Executive Office Building, Situation Room - Sacramento
The EOB’s situation room was a hive of frenetic activity. The Executive Office Building itself was a former Federal building that had been turned into the EOB. Up on one of the large plasma screen displays was a quad-split showing feeds from CNN, Camp Springs, and the Roosevelt & Vinson Carrier Strike Groups. Another monitor showed a map of the US Eastern Seaboard with the Vinson marked as sitting 200 nautical miles offshore, outside of any shipping lanes.
“Do we have comms to the Dewey?” Asked President Newsom.
“We’re setting up a link now.” Said one of the staffers.
As Newsom waited for the satellite uplink to be established, he looked around the high tech situation room. It was a far cry from the old governor’s office in the basement of the capitol building, but being thrust into the role of a global superpower had hammered home certain realities, and the traditional governor’s office in Sacramento wouldn’t cut it anymore.
As far as the DOD was concerned, Gavin Newsom was the 47th President of the United States, even if the name had been changed to the Republic of California, that meant that the nuclear football now followed him everywhere he went, and that all of the DOD staff around him now had to have ‘Grizzly Red’ security clearance. Up on another monitor was a map of downtime DC and Camp Springs, with markers showing the various troop positions, as well as markers showing where previous airstrikes hit, along with BDA photos taken after the air strikes.
From those photos he could see that the Chain Bridge, Aqueduct Bridge and Long Bridge had all been destroyed, cutting DC off from reinforcements from Virginia.
“We have an uplink with the Dewey, audio only sir.” Said one of the military personnel to Newsom.
“Good morning Mr. President.” Came the voice of the ship’s coxswain, CDR Jane Shepard over the speakerphone.
“Good morning Commander.” Replied Newsom. “Have you made contact with the Wellington yet?”
“I know you can’t see it Mr. President but we are currently running alongside them as we speak and Napier is currently in a gig headed towards us.” Replied Shepard.
CNS Dewey (DDG-105) - Atlantic Ocean
Admiral Napier tried his hardest to school his face as he looked around the enormous iron ship that had just stepped aboard. All around him were Californian sailors who were standing there to welcome him.
“Welcome aboard the Dewey Admiral.” Said the ship’s XO to Napier, “If you’ll please follow me to the briefing room, Commander Shepard has President Newsom on the line.”
As the admiral the rest of the Dewey’s crew make their way through the labyrinthine metal corridors of the ship, with Napier nearly tripping on the knee-knockers that ran underneath every door.
After stumbling over one, only to be caught by one of the Petty officers escorting him, it seemed like his patience with the things had run out.
“Sorry about that Sir,” Explained the XO. “They’re like that so that we can-”
“-So that if you start taking on water you can seal off that section and limit the amount of water the ship takes on.” Said Napier. “I’ve been on enough ships to know how important it is to keep the damage contained. I’ll just have to get used to it.”
As the group stepped into the briefing room, Napier took a look around the cramped space, it was certainly smaller compared to the one he had visited about the Roosevelt during its tour.
“Good morning Admiral.” Said a redheaded woman with close-cropped hair, offering her hand to the admiral. Napier returned the handshake and sat down at the table with the commander.
“Likewise commander.” Said Napier.
“So what brings an Admiral of the Royal Navy and their biggest first rate ship of the line out to California? Shepard asked, guessing at Napier’s answer.
“I’ve been ordered to San Francisco Bay.” Said Napier. “In order to show the flag and to keep the shipping lanes open. Her Majesty has great concerns about the United States’ interference with the freedom of the seas.”
“So Her Majesty wants to send a message that blockading San Francisco Bay is a bad idea.” Said Shepard.
“Yes that about covers it.” Said Napier.
“Hit the lights.” Ordered Shepard. One of the crewmembers turned off the lights in the front of the room where a white sheet had been pulled down from the deckhead. A projector mounted on a mast that hung down from the deckhead as well began to illuminate the screen.
“You’re right to be concerned about a blockade.” She said. “The following information I’m about to show you is classified but I’m cleared to show it to you and only you. Your staff will have to wait outside I’m afraid.”
Napier turned to his general staff. “Wait outside for a moment lads.” The other Royal Navy seamen who had come aboard with Napier looked as if they were about to protest, but Napier silenced them with a look and they stepped out of the room, the Californian sailors closing the door behind them.
Shepard pressed something on one of the machines in the room and a black and white image of several ships popped up onto the screen. As Napier studied the image, he tried to figure out how it was taken. From the vantage point, it could only have been taken by somebody high overhead.
“This was taken two days ago by one of the Vinson’s recon flights.” Shepard lied as she pointed at the reduced-resolution satellite photo. “This particular image was taken approximately 300 nautical miles outside of São Paulo.”
Napier walked over to the screen and studied the image carefully, looking carefully at the silhouette the shadow of each ship created on the seas.
Pointing at the lead ship, he tried to decipher what kind of fleet the Americans were sending. “That’s a steam frigate.” He said, pointing at the lead ship with the silhouette of the paddlewheels along the side clearly visible. “It looks like there’s two more steamers with it.” Looking further back along the fleet, he spotted the sailing ships.
Shepard kept it quiet that the ships had already been identified as the Mississippi, Susquehanna, and Powhatan.
“Looks like a group of frigates here.” Mused Napier. “Except this one, this one looks too big to be a frigate, it could be a ship of the line.”
Shepard thought over that statement. That’s what IMINT said, while HISTINT had said that all of the USN’s ships of the line were permanently harbor bound or mothballed. “Admiral, if we engage this fleet, it’ll be from beyond visual range and they won’t even know we’re here.” She explained. “But if you’re here, we can send a message to them.”
“What are you thinking?” Asked Napier.
Shepard walked over to a map of the Americas, and spared a glance at the tip of South America, including Cape Horn and the Strait of Magellan.
“What if your fleet were to sail into San Francisco, flying the Union Jack and never once encountering the American blockade fleet.” Suggested Shepard.
“The Vinson and the Roosevelt battle groups can see and engage with ships well beyond the horizon.” Explained Shepard. “What if we guided your flotilla around them so that they never saw your ship?”
Napier looked at the map on the Americas and spotted several problems. Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Cape Horn, Santiago, Lima, and Acapulco among them, places where his ships would have to stop for supplies or where the waters were too narrow to hide their presence. But then that would be easily fixed by claiming to be en route to the Vancouver Island colony.
But it was worth a shot.
CNS Pasadena (SSN-752) - [CLASSIFIED LOCATION]
Beneath the surface of the ocean was one of the greatest secrets that California held since The Event.
When The Event had happened, the uptime US Navy put out a little noticed statement that all four of the Fast Attack Submarines that had been homeported in Point Loma had been at sea when it happened. In fact the Pasadena and her sister ship the Scranton had been in port when The Event happened.
That had created a strategic advantage for the Californian Navy, ships that could go underwater for months at a time were something that nobody else could match. So it was that with one statement, one lie, one of the two greatest secrets that the new California was built on was born.
The submarine’s captain viewed the printout of the orders from President Newsom himself, sink the US Navy blockade fleet when they reach Cape Horn and make it look like they were lost at sea.
Pulling up the diagrams of downtime naval vessels, he looked for the best spot to target the Pasadena’s torpedos to make it look like an accident, the boiler rooms and powder magazines.
He could do that.
Boston Common - August 6th, 1853
The greens of the Boston Common were filled with people, as the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society’s rally against the most cruel and abominable institution filled the grounds of the Common and flowed out onto the street, as abolitionists from around the country traveled to Boston for this. When the California Crisis had developed, it exposed fissures within the abolitionist cause, with some of them who had believed that California’s bid for independence was morally justified and should be supported at any cost, and those more moderates who wanted California to remain in the union as a counterbalance to the slave power.
In the aftermath of Flight 1312 however, those fissures had been papered over as the aftermath of the crash became apparent. But when pressed on the California Question, there was something all abolitionists could agree on.
“A great crime has been committed against the people of California.” Said Senator Sumner from the stage. “Emperor Cass and Governor Lowe have irrevocably fractured this great nation and pushed us down the path of war. Is it a just war to which we are now committed? No! It is a war to soothe the ego of an illegitimate president! We must speak up with the voice of the people, and say that there shall be no war with California!”
The crowd in front of Sumner cheered at this.
“This brazen act of mass murder by Maryland should be a reminder to us all about the termacity of the slave power.” Said Sumner. “They cannot be bargained with, they cannot be reasoned with, they do not feel pity or remorse, and they will not cease until all the lands of this earth are brought under their yoke.” He continued, paraphrasing a quote from an uptime movie.
The crowds of people took up the chant, “No more war!” The war with Mexico was only too recent in people’s memories and few there wanted to embroil the United States in yet another war on behalf of slave power.
CNS Carl Vinson - Infirmary - 200 Nautical Miles from Chesapeake Bay - August 7, 1853
The calming beats of lofi hip-hop provided an ironic background noise for the tense situation in the infirmary, as the team of surgeons, led by Dr. Saeko Mizuno, worked around the clock to perform life saving operations on the crash survivors.
The survivors in the infirmary had sustained severe injuries in the crash, which had required meatball surgery on them prior to sending them to the Vinson. Those were the lucky ones.
The unlucky ones were deemed too injured to be saved and had been given enough morphine by the triage teams so that they wouldn’t feel themselves bleed out.
Already, due to both the overflow of patients at Camp Springs and the fight taking place, many survivors had died waiting to be sent to California. Those that survived were waiting to be evacuated to California, with the Vinson taking the patients in critical condition.
Which was why Dr. Mizuno was busy trying her level best to carefully remove the shrapnel embedded everywhere in her current patient. In Dr. Mizuno's opinion, it’s a miracle she even survived this far, after the triage teams were forced to amputate her leg to free her from the wreckage.
Saeko and the rest of the surgical team prepared to start removing the remaining shrapnel from the girl’s remaining leg.
“Shit!” One of the other surgeons said, looking at the vital signs monitor.
“What happened?” Dr. Mizuno asked.
“She’s lost too much blood, she’s going into shock.” the surgeon replied.
“Give me a bag of O negative blood.” Dr. Mizuno said.
One of the nurses went for the fridge they kept it in.
“We’re out!” Said the nurse.
“Put out a call on the ship that anybody who is type O negative should report here.” Said Saeko. “We need to do an emergency transfusion.”
The nurse ran out of the infirmary. Around 5 seconds later, an announcement blared over the loudspeaker.
“Attention. All personnel with type O negative blood are to report to the infirmary. I repeat, all personnel are to report to the infirmary immediately.” The voice announced.
Great Dismal Swamp, Near Virginia / North Carolina Border - 3:00 AM - August 10th, 1853
The woods of the great dismal swamp were quiet, save for the distant sounds of dogs barking. The moon had set hours ago and only the faint illumination of the stars had lit the forest. Cloaked under this cover of darkness was a team of six Californian special forces, hidden in the brush in ghillie suits, making them indistinguishable from the rest of the forest.
Commander Charles Lind scanned the horizon with his FLIR binoculars, he was on the lookout for any thermal signatures that would cross through here. The HISTINT briefing his fire team had gotten before their drop had identified this area as a likely escape route north.
“Contact. Six thermal signatures at bearing 164, distance 300 meters.” Came the voice of LCDR James Meyer over his earpiece radio.
Charles quickly turned his scope towards the area that Meyer had called out and found them. Through the magnified FLIR camera, he could see six black people in clothing that had seen better days sprinting. “Confirmed. Six Romeo Sierras[2].” As they watched, the distant sounds of dogs barking got closer as well.
“Contact. Five thermals, bearing 178, distance 700 meters.” Came another report from Meyer. Looking over at the spotted direction, Lind used the NVG scope on his Mk 13 rifle to zero in on it.
What he saw were two men on horseback and three dogs between them.
“Confirmed, two Charlies, three Dingos.” Said Lind over the radio, leveling his rifle on the center of mass of the slave-catcher near the back.
———
Ruth Jackson continued to run, looking back to check that the family she had been leading out of South Carolina was still with her. She had gotten unlucky and a shift in the wind had caused them to be upwind of the dogs, and they had caught their scents. Once it was clear that the patrol had spotted them, it was time to make a break for it and get enough distance that they could lose the patrol.
Ruth passed another set of bushes, sprinting hard. The muddy pond she was running for was almost there, if she could make it to that, she could use the mud to mask her scent from the dogs. In her sprint, she almost didn’t see the new bushes that were in this patch of the swamp.
Diving into the muddy pond, Ruth and the Jameson family she had been leading quickly began covering themselves in mud, hoping that it would mask their scent from the dogs.
Now covered in mud, they crawled into the bushes in order to hide from the slave catchers, with luck, their scent trails would end at the pond, and the catchers would think that they were long gone or that the dogs were chasing a false lead.
Ruth listened as the barking got closer.
She watched the woods for any sign of the slave catchers. She knew they were out there but she couldn’t see them yet.
Watching the forest, Ruth’s eye was drawn to a brief glint of steel in the starlight. There, in the distance was one of the slave catchers, and looking behind him was the other one.
Ruth watched as they got closer and closer, the star light filtering through the tree canopy, causing them to slip in and out of shadow.
They had gotten closer now, the dogs were still following their scent trail towards the pond, Ruth’s heart started pounding in her ears and she was sure that the noise of her heartbeat was loud enough to alert them.
As they got even closer, Ruth started trying to quiet her breathing so that they wouldn’t hear her.
Ruth peeked up through the brush at the two men, both of whom had their eyes focused on the dogs. Just when she thought they had spotted her, one of the men’s heads suddenly burst open in a cloud of red mist. As his body slumped off the horse and fell to the ground, the other catcher turned around to see what had happened, when his chest exploded outwards as well.
Ruth looked around to see where her mystery saviors were. But the forest was empty and silent, save for the noise of the dogs barking in a futile effort to wake their masters.
Hearing a rustling noise next to her, Ruth watched as one of the bushes she had run past started moving and stood up.
“Ma’am? You alright?” Said the bush. It was at this point that she realized that the bush she had run past wasn’t one at all, but was, in fact, a person dressed as one. In the faint starlight she could only barely see the man’s painted face, but if he hadn’t stood up, she might never have realized that he was here.
Ruth was stunning into near silence, and was trying to figure these new people out. The man in front of here was carrying some type of rifle she hadn’t seen before.
“Are you people from California?” She asked, making a tentative guess.
“Yes ma’am.” Said the man. “Commander Charles Lind of the 1st Special Operations Detachment.”
“Ruth Jackson.” She replied. “These folks were about to be broken up and sold down the river, so I was bringin em to Camp Springs.”
“Alright Ma’am.” Said Lind. “We’re here to help you.” Ruth watched as Lind started speaking into his headset. “Legwarmer this is Staplegun. I’ve got five Romeo Sierra’s that need evac to Gold Eagle.”
Turning back to her, he said. “Alright, I’ve just called for a helicopter evac to the Vinson for them.”
Ruth felt as though a large weight had been lifted from her chest. “But I take it you’re part of the Underground Railroad?” He asked.
“That’s right.” She replied. “Been running folks north to Boston ‘till Camp Springs showed up.”
“Good.” Replied Lind. “Then you’re who we’re looking for.”
“I am?” Ruth asked.
“Our orders are to link up with any local underground railroad or anti-slavery actions, and to be force multipliers for them.” Lind explained. “That means, weapons, training, and coordination.”
“I think I can work with that.” Said Ruth, watching the black helicopter land in a clearing.
California Assembly Meeting Room 126 - August 20th, 1853
ASSEMBLYMEMBER JIM FRAZIER (L-Antioch): I understand that the black boxes from Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1312 have been recovered. When can we expect the data to be downloaded?
NTSB DIRECTOR JOHN WYSOCKI: I do not have an answer to that. The NTSB is not fully prepared to be of assistance to the investigation.
ASM FRAZIER: What do you mean by not fully prepared?
WYSOCKI: We still do not have all the equipment needed for an investigation of this type. Making sure the NTSB was properly equipped was not a priority of the Moscone Government after The Event. Among other things, we still do not have the equipment needed to download data off of both of the Flight Data Recorder and the Cockpit Voice Recorder.
ASM FRAZIER: You mean to say that for the past couple of years, airlines have been allowed to operate more or less normally even though if something goes wrong, we do not have the means to piece together what had happened? I mean there are types of aircraft the airlines are using that haven't been in service for very long and thus haven't been proven to be reliable. If one of them crashes because of a design flaw, you are saying we do not have the means to figure out what that flaw is?
WYSOCKI: Yes and no. In addition to the two black boxes, each aircraft is equipped with a Quick Access Recorder. It was designed to be used by airline mechanics for diagnostic purposes and the data on it can easily be downloaded at any major airport with maintenance facilities. While in some cases it can give us a lot more technical information as to what is going on then the normal Flight Data Recorder, if there is an abrupt loss of power on the aircraft, the data from the last 30 seconds or so of the flight would be lost as it does not record in real time. In addition to that, we also have access to the air traffic control recordings. I agree that might not be enough to pinpoint the cause of a crash even with resorting to the old fashioned way of examining the wreckage and guessing the actions of the flight crew.
ASSEMBLYMEMBER JIM PATTERSON (R-Fresno): To your knowledge, do you know why the Moscone Government would allow airlines to operate without making sure the NTSB has the proper equipment for any kind of investigation?
WYSOCKI: My best guess is that the quality of airliners, pilot training, and inspections have gotten to the point where accidents have become incredibly rare compared to decades past in Lost History. After The Event, there was an abrupt decline in the number of aircraft flying at any given moment making an incredibly unlikely event even less likely to occur. Thus, the Moscone Government believed it could be several years, if not decades, before we would ever need to download data off of a black box.
Site of The Former San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station - San Clemente - September 3rd, 1853
Robert Nguyen watched the crew load another set of the dry casks onto the specialized truck. The government had taken ownership of the former nuclear power plant and was in the process of refurbishing it and building a new pair of nuclear reactors inside the old Unit 2 and 3 domes, but first, the old dry casks that had been stored on-site had to be moved to Lawrence Livermore NL for fuel reprocessing.
The original plan for the site was to build a new Pressurized Water Reactor of the same type that had existed before. Unfortunately, most of the equipment had been auctioned off in 2015, years before The Event, so that meant that they had a nearly blank slate to work with.
The recommissioning project had been tossed around like a radioactive hot potato, with nobody willing to shoulder the burden and the financial risks, preferring to focus on renewable energy projects that would be quicker to get up and running in the near term, and less financially risky. For a while, it had seemed like the effort to recommission San Onofre it was doomed to fail in spite of the efforts being put in to get it going again.
Until the Californian Department of Defense had stepped in. They had offered to take control of the San Onofre Recommissioning Project, and shoulder the financial risks of building and running it, given that the Navy had plenty of experience operating nuclear reactors on their ships, making them the most experienced people to operate it.
So the project, once thought doomed, was rescued from an unlikely source, and now San Onofre would become home to two Gen IV Sodium Cooled Fast Breeder Reactors, each one capable of putting out two gigawatts each. The specific type of reactor was a closely guarded secret, as far as the public knew, it was just a Gen IV design of an unspecified type.
Chapo Trap House Episode 565 - Ooh ra up the CA feat. Dave Anthony & Karl Marx - August 15th, 1853
Will: So our reading series this week comes from The Economist.
Felix: Oh fuck yes I’m so ready for this.
Matt: Oh goddamn it.
Felix: I love The Economist because they always manage to just find the most absolutely bird-brained take possible. Like you could ask them what their favorite colors are, and you’d just get a rambling story about how every color has a unique value and how nobody can never really choose, and oh yeah we should give the slavers everything they want.
Marx: I like how that one gentleman referred to it, “a journal that speaks for the British millionaires.”
Matt: I think that was Lenin who said that.
Marx: Was that Lenin? I guess it was.
Will: Okay so this Op-Ed is called “Boycotting America Sounds Good, But Who Are You Really Hurting?”
Will: “A new tactic from those on the far left of the slavery debate has been to call on English businesses to ‘boycott, divest, and sanction’ away from the United States. While this may sound like a good idea, those calling for this should keep in mind the law of unintended consequences.”
Matt: Oh my god…
Will: “It’s all well and good to point out the abuses of slave labor here in England, but calling upon Parliament to use the heavy hand of government edict—”
Matt: Oh here we fucking go.
Will: “—to use the heavy hand of government edict to FORCE businesses to take a side in this debate. The first amendment is protection against government censorship, but it also protects against compelled speech, and by compelling businesses to not do business with the United States, they are in effect forcing them to become abolitionists.”
[LAUGHING]
Felix: Oooooh my fucking god dude, that’s the galaxy-brained take I was waiting for. “Well actually BDS is bad because it’s forcing you to be an abolitionist.”
Matt: Just again, we’re talking about taking a stance against SLAVERY, literally just taking human beings, and forcing them to work until they drop. Jesus FUCKING Christ these people are insane.
Will: “If history is any indication, then it should be clear that practice of slavery is going to die out on its own, and that the use of government edict to try and hasten its demise will only end up punishing poor and working class Britons for the actions of the Americans in the form of increased prices for goods.”
Marx: And there you see how the system of capital uses pricing to create a false consensus between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. Prices are the stick used to guide the proletariat towards the bourgeoisie’s most desired outcome. “If you don’t do what we like, we’ll punish you with higher prices.”
Matt: And in that sense it’s also a way for them to shift the blame onto the consumer as well. “Yeah we buy our cotton from slave labor, but YOU’RE the one buying the clothes made from it.”
Will: “It need not be a reminder that only a generation ago, cotton fibres were prohibitively expensive for all but the wealthiest lords, and that the use of new technology such as the cotton gin has vastly reduced the labor intensity of cotton harvesting.”
Marx: And yet, in spite of those technological innovations, the number of slaves in the south has continued to skyrocket. Interesting that.
Matt: It couldn’t be that increases in efficiency leads to an increase in production, which in turn increases total consumption of a resource, it couldn’t be that, despite being a well-known economic phenomenon.
———
1: HISTINT: Historical Intelligence - A division of the California Military that analyzes the historical record of Lost History for intelligence gathering purposes.
2: Romeo Sierra: NATO Phonetic alphabet for RS, used to refer to runaway slaves.