The Wonder Plant - novel - Bryden Allen's Website

THE
WONDER
PLANT
A story about survival on earth –
when a very terrible but just disaster strikes all human civilization.
by
Bryden Allen

THE WONDER PLANT
SECTIONS Page
1. The Wonder Plant 2
2. North Wales 30
3. Isle of Man 45
The Proclamation 56
4. Isle of Wight 57
5. Channel Islands 93
The Author writes 118
If you study the map opposite carefully, then you will just be able to see the routes taken by
the different parties in the story in North Wales and on the Isle of Wight. They are marked by
a sequence of small red dots. But, if you wish to follow these routes in detail, then you must
clearly purchase the relevant ordinance survey maps.
Before you leave and forget this story, it is absolutely essential that you turn to the end
of the story (page 118) and read what I have to say there.
Bryden Allen 15/10/2011
7/5 Knox St, Ashfield, 2131.
Tel. (02) 9797 7249
Email – brydentallen@gmail.com

1. THE WONDER PLANT
‘So who, amongst us here, is actually going to buy one of these new-fangled Bimode
things?’ Ellen asked us all.
And then, inside our cold miserable little tent, the temperature immediately rose by at
least ten degrees. In those days, this would happen anywhere in the world - if anyone even
mentioned the subject of this coming wonder plant. This was a terribly contentious issue
indeed. Everyone had very firm ideas on this most passionate of subjects. Cries of – ‘they will
save the world from climate change’, ‘the day of the Triffids will be upon us’, ‘they can help
us live in space’, ‘they will blind us and kill us all during the night’, ‘it will be the perfect
green animal’, ‘it will be the end of the world’, ‘they will eat our rubbish and mow our
lawns’, ‘they are unnatural and completely evil’- arose from all sides.
But let me first explain who we were and what we were doing.
We had had a ghastly day. This day was the last day of our week’s holiday climbing in
Llanberis Pass, Snowdonia. Tomorrow we would return to London. So we had wanted to
make this day a little more special. Up till then we had just climbed on the more accessible
crags on the north side of the Pass. So today we thought we would check out the less
accessible crags on the higher Snowdon side.
We had started quite early. We only took two ropes and a small amount of gear with
us. This would not be enough gear for the six of us to do a proper climb. But this was OK. All
we wanted to do was one pitch of one of the easier climbs on Clogwn du Arddu - commonly
referred to as Cloggie. This crag is deemed by many climbers to be the oldest, hardest and
most illustrious in the whole of Britain. This crag was really much too hard for our little party.
But it would be nice to say that we had at least seen the crag and done a tiny bit of climbing
on this most sacred piece of rock. So, after just climbing one pitch, we would just abseil off.
The morning was reasonably fine so we duly climbed the Snowdon side. But it was a
horrible slog up the mountain. Fortunately we had lots of excuses for stopping and resting,
while we gazed in awe at these less accessible crags and all their climbs. But when we finally
reached the major ridge, where the tiny railway line goes up, the weather changed completely.
The wind picked up, and soon squalls of wind and rain were being driven into our faces. In
mountainous areas the weather can change very quickly indeed. It was horrible.
I was the guy sort of in charge and I am, and always have been, a very sensible fellow.
‘Let us follow the railway line up to the terminus at the top of Snowdon.’ I suggested. ‘Then
we can take the train back to Llanberis town. There we can eat and drink till the weather gets
better. And then finally we can walk back to our tents in the Pass.’ And I thought this plan
reflected the desires of the majority of our party.
But unfortunately our group had an insane climbing fanatic in its midst. ‘We can’t do
that.’ Monica firmly replied. ‘No true climber will ever spend good money to use the train to
go down to the valley. It is beneath a climber’s dignity to mix with the common tourists and
use the train. If we wish to use railway line to go down, then we must follow the climbing
tradition. So we must find a good flat rock, place it on a rail, sit on it and slide down using our
feet for balance. Otherwise we must walk down the track. Besides, we still haven’t even seen
Cloggie yet. We have to try and get a glimpse of the great face. A bit of rain won’t do us any
harm.’
We argued the point for ages. But Monica was going to walk down, look at Cloggie
and continue down whether we went with her or not. So she shamed us all into following her
stupid plan. But we certainly weren’t going to find any huge ghastly wet rocks and try to slide
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down the rails on them. So we just walked down beside the railway line. Eventually we could
get a glimpse of the Cloggie face, between the swirling rain clouds on the far side of the
railway line. Monica then forced us to leave the safety of the railway line and investigate
further.
We moved down till we joined the main track that leads to the crag around the lake in
front of the face. Monica then wanted us to walk round and at least touch the horrible face
itself. But finally we all unanimously refused. We just gazed at the horrible thing. The
pinnacle and walls on the left side would suddenly appear out of the clouds and they looked
utterly impossible to climb. And, when the great slabs on the right-hand side appeared out of
the mist, we could see huge deluges of water careering down them. But the worst deluge of all
was going down the black cleft in the middle - where climbers are supposed to scramble
down to get off the face. In conditions like this, this descent would be utterly impossible. And
the black lake in front of the face looked like a dismal coffin. It was very morbid. We soon
fled and Monica was reluctantly forced to follow us.
On the way down I had my own little time of triumph. I am a mathematician and I love to
study maps and to try to work out how to get from a point A to a point B in the easiest
possible way. In a break, while we were resting and escaping from the wind behind a large
rock, I managed to study the map. And I found a great route. ‘Instead of following the track
and going down as we are,’ I told the party, ‘we can sidle at this level around to the right. We
will cross the railway line and then we will reach the edge, where these rolling grassy lands
stop suddenly. Steep slopes and crags then lead down into the Llanberis valley. But I have
studied the map and, at a point over there, there is a route down through the crags that will
lead us directly to our campsite. I have worked out that, if we take this route, then we will
save having to do the huge walk up from Llanberis to our campsite And, besides this, we save
having to go down a whole 80 meters which we would have to gone up on the road again
later. This route will be a lot quicker.’
Everyone looked at me very dubiously indeed. They were all thinking about the warm
cafes and pubs down in Llanberis town, where we could rest for an hour or two. But this time
good old Monica now spoke out strongly in my favour. ‘Come on – we have to give this route
a go. Stan is our president and he really is good with maps. We have to at least see what the
route looks like.’
Eventually everyone grudgingly agreed with Monica and we sidled around. When we
got to the edge, fortunately the route did look OK. Initially it started very steeply on loose dirt
and grass with crags on either side. But then the route levelled off a little onto a grassy ridge.
But, if we wished to get to go directly to our campsite, we then had to cross a large boulderscree
and follow right-wards, beneath the crags. But it all looked possible. So off we went.
The route still took us along time and the rain continued to pour. And the scrambling
over the wet boulders was absolutely terrible. But two hours later, we duly did arrive wet and
sodden at our tents. There we gazed in envy at the Innes Ettis Climber’s Club hut that stood in
the neighbouring field. And we thought of the hot showers, drying rooms and warm coal fires
that those climbers would now be enjoying. But this wasn’t for us. We entered our miserable
tents and did the best we could.
We had three tents. I, being the senior member of the party, had a tent to myself. Then Ellen
and Monica shared a tent. And the other three shared the largest tent. Our first task then, of
course, was to take off all our wet gear. As we were going home tomorrow, we could then
toss the wet gear outside the tents. It didn’t matter how wet it got there because we would be
3

taking it home tomorrow and we could dry it there. We all then naturally dried ourselves and
put on our spare dry clothes.
‘Why don’t you all take your food into our tent?’ Dougal called out from the large
tent. ‘It will be warmer and friendlier for us to eat all together here.’ I thought there wouldn’t
be room for the six of us in their tent. But the girls agreed immediately. So I had to go as well
– it would look bad if the senior member of the party was missing. I collected some food and
drink. Then I took my socks off, collected a towel to dry my feet in their tent, and made my
way there. Our three tents were only a few meters apart.
The large tent had a circular dome form. So we could all sit around in a circle with our
backs on the walls. I was the last in so I had to zip up the door afterwards and sit with my
back to the door. It was cramped – but I had to admit - we all did just fit in.
I had naturally assumed we wouldn’t be cooking there. When camping, people always
cook outside in the tent’s alcove. But we certainly couldn’t do this here because I was sitting
now at the entrance to the alcove. There just wasn’t room. So we would have to make do with
bread, various spreads and fruit. But this would be adequate – we could eat well tomorrow
when we got home.
But, when we were all settled in and had dried our feet, Dougal produced his Trangia
meths stove and a very large billy. And then he asked us to put all the food, which needed
cooking, into this billy. I naturally had to speak out strongly. ‘We can’t possibly cook in the
tent. Everyone knows it is insanely unsafe.’
‘In the current world we live in, no one really knows much at all.’ Dougal replied.
‘Everyone just repeats what our glorious media tells them. I personally know a little about
cooking in a tent. It is not “insanely unsafe”. It is just rather mildly unsafe. That is all.’
‘Our tent could go up in flames and kill us all.’
‘Rubbish. Tents are all treated with fire retarding chemicals these days. They don’t go
up in flames. They just burn quietly on any fuel that you happen to provide them with.’
‘What makes you think that!’
‘I am a genuine experimental physicist. I investigate these matters.’
‘I don’t believe you at all.’
‘Come and have a look. Ellen, I am afraid you will have to shuffle across a little into
Stan’s space. Then Stan can see my excellent handiwork that now lies beneath your bum. Try
not to touch Stan too much – you know he is such a very important person. You must respect
his private space.’ Dougal never loses an opportunity to have a go at me and my superior
position.
Ellen moved away behind me as I crawled into the middle. I could see three large
wide strips of black tape sticking to the ground sheet in a U-shape. ‘What is that?’ I asked
Dougal.
‘Just a minor patched-up burn. It is sometimes a little hard to put out the burning
meths when a Trangia stove is burning well and you need to turn it off. And, once while
putting the lid on the flame, I banged the stove too hard. Meths jumped out and started to burn
on the floor beneath the stove. So I had to put the fire out and then patch up the burnt areas
with the black tape. Haven’t I done a good job?’
‘All you have done is to show me even more clearly it is insanely unsafe to cook in a
tent. Suppose someone had panicked and whole stove had got upset. And in this tent there are
six people all of whom might make such a wrong move. It would be terrible.’
‘There are also six people here and any one of us can grab a wet towel and plonk it
over any flame we see. It is dead easy. And there are plenty of wet towels in this tent. You
4

would manage very easily wouldn’t you Monica?’ Both Monica and Dougal are fanatics in
their different ways. And they tend to support each other in their fanatical ideas.
‘It would certainly be a rather fine adventure to have a little fire in this cramped little
tent here. But people need to savour a really good adventure – they come very rarely these
days. I notice the meths and fire would flow down towards Stan. This tent has been correctly
put up and so the entrance and alcove are at the lowest point of the tent. But, if the meths and
flame ran downwards towards our wonderful President, then I would take my time in putting
it out. You, Stan, are in need of a bit of real excitement. I would love to see you panic and
scream. You could provide us with the entertainment we need for the night.’
Clearly Monica was just being flippant about what should be a serious matter. But
even so it was my clear duty to be very firm. ‘If you cook in this tent again, I will have to
report the matter to the authorities.’ I said very strongly indeed. ‘As you all know, these tents
are university property.’
‘If you did that then we would probably all get into trouble.’ Dougal replied. ‘But you
would certainly get no thanks from the University authorities yourself. I have met some of the
old climbers and they now have become senior members in our academic staff. And they have
related to me how they nearly burnt down a climber’s hut near Ben Nevis when their primus
blew up. And the flames had reached the ceiling and this was starting to turn black before
they got the fire under control. Many of the older leaders of our country were not at all that
safety conscious when they were young. They would detest having to reprimand young
people for doing similar things that they did themselves when they were our age.’
But now Alan spoke up. He, together with his girlfriend Louise, shared the large tent
with Dougal. They were both relatively new to climbing. And it was Dougal himself who had
brought them into the club. ‘Clearly cooking inside a tent is not real safe. But if we are aware
of this and have wet towels handy to put out any possible fire, we should be quite safe. And
Louise and I are starving hungry and we would love to have a good well-cooked meal. So
let’s get on with it. And, if you Stan are worried about it, then you can go back to your own
tent. There you can conveniently not know about what we are doing in here. So everyone then
can be happy.’
But of course I stayed on. I know when I am beaten. And I must admit I do like to be
able to say that I am the president of this little club. And I could hardly call myself the leader
of the club if I isolated myself now in my own little tent. So we went ahead as Alan had
suggested. But, when we put out our wet towels to deal with a fire risk, it turned out Dougal
didn’t even possess a towel - he only had a facecloth. He used this item to dry himself, instead
of a towel, by wringing it out several times while drying. Dougal Rabidowitz is an absolute
nut-case about using as few modern conveniences of the current world as possible.
People tossed absolutely everything into the large billy – dried packets of soup and sauce,
pasta and noodles, a tin of corned beef and all sorts of different vegetables. Dougal then just
added water. He lit the stove, put the billy on and stirred it a little as it cooked. And I had to
admit, the little stove at the same time warmed up the tent very nicely. The billy took awhile
to boil, but when it finally did, Dougal just took it off, stirred it once more, put the lid on and
put it aside. Dougal claimed that, when food has been boiled well, it will cook naturally in its
own heat while it cools down a little. So he put on some more water in a different billy so we
could have a brew while we were waiting. This we did and then we had my dry food and
biscuits with the brew. The meal billy was then ready to eat from. And, strangely, the weird
mixture was delicious. Some of us had to eat out of mugs and I had to share a spoon with
Monica. Probably it was only because we were cold and starving hungry. But I appreciated
5

and enjoyed this meal more than any other I have ever eaten. I then passed round the bottle of
wine which I had brought in for the occasion. We had to drink out of the bottle because all
our mugs were dirty. And some people didn’t even bother to wipe the bottle before they
drank. Some people just ignore the rules of sensible hygiene. But I certainly wiped the bottle
before I drank.
Then we tossed all the dirty mugs, plates, utensils and billies outside into the rain. The
rain could do some of our washing work for us over-night. Then Ellen suggested we all make
ourselves as comfortable and snug as possible. Till then we had been sitting with crossed legs
so that there was room for the stove in the middle of the tent. So now we all uncrossed our
legs and we all leant to the left so that we could rest on the person on the left with our legs in
front of the person on the right. This meant that I rested on Ellen’s bum, Ellen rested on
Dougal’s bum, Dougal rested on Louise’s bum, Louise rested on Alan’s bum, Alan rested on
Monica’s bum and Monica rested in my bum.
But also it was now convenient for most of us to rest a hand on the legs that were in
front of us. And I was certainly happy to rest my hand on Ellen’s legs. For most of us, the
spare clothes that covered our legs were just shorts. So this meant I was resting my hand on
Ellen’s bare flesh – and I was pleased to find it to be a very healthy, nicely formed, female
leg.
Monica’s hand was resting on my legs. But Monica wasn’t content to just let her hand
rest on my legs. She played with my hairs and in general felt all over my legs. Like most
women, because I am very intelligent and also quite good-looking, Monica was naturally
rather keen on me. But Monica, I suspect, is a little promiscuous and fancies many men. So I
certainly wasn’t going to return her interest in me. Besides, I am very aware of my own worth
and very few women come up to my high standards. There certainly wasn’t anyone worthy of
me here.
Both Louise and Alan had long warm black tights as their spare clothing. And, in the
circumstances, the other four of us were rather envious of them. But this meant Dougal didn’t
have any bare leg to play with. But soon I noticed that Dougal’s hand quietly left Louise’s
legs and very slowly crept under Louise’s top. And Louise was Alan’s girlfriend. Dougal is a
really wicked flirt. He affronts all the good conventions and morals of good society. He will
certainly come to a bad end.
In this manner we quietly contemplated the many horrible activities of the day and
what the future might bring for us all on the morrow.
It was from this contemplative position that Ellen suddenly brought us all back to life again
with that question I mentioned at the beginning. We all promptly sat and prepared to enter
into the debate as vigorously as possible.
But, before going any further, I need to explain our situation a little further. The
reason we had to return to London tomorrow was because these Bimode creatures were going
to be put before the public for the first time to be sold. So this was the first time the general
public would actually see the new creature. So this event was going to be a really big
occasion. The whole world was waiting with bated breath to see what it would look like. And
our little group had no intention of missing out on this great bit of fun. Thus we certainly had
to be back tomorrow for the big show. So the very nature of these Bimode things was very
foremost in our minds.
I have also told you I am a mathematician. Now a good mathematician, which I am,
does not waste his most excellent neurons on remembering a lot of trivia. And when people
6

wax passionately on a subject they are very interested in, they can really rave on. But this rave
rarely means any more than the buzzing of the bees or the twittering of the birds. So I
immediately forget it all. So I certainly can’t remember how all this initial rave went on.
Besides, this all occurred many years ago. But, when Monica speaks out, she always says
something so absolutely outrageous that you can’t forget it. So that is when my memory starts
to click in on the subject and I can tell you how the conversation then developed.
‘The bottom half of this creature, I have read, is supposed to be a reasonably
intelligent invertebrate.’ Monica said. ‘Now the most intelligent invertebrate animal I know of
is the octopus. So I have great hopes for such a creature. Of course I expect that in due course
this good creature will turn on all us wicked humans for destroying this planet with our
pollution and causing climate change. I will applaud this action. This is precisely what a good
green animal like this should do. But I still think that we humans are a bit unique – so we
ought to be preserved. So, when all the slack people in all our towns and cities have been duly
wiped out, a few remaining climbers must cluster together to keep the human race going. And
I certainly will be among this number. Then I imagine how a few of us will retreat to the top
of a mountain plateau, as in Conan Doyle’s “Lost World”. And there we will fight off all
these octopus creatures. We will use swords and cut off their tentacles as they try to climb the
crags to eat the last of us. It will be wonderful.’
Monica, like all of us, does love to really rave on. But it is time I told you more about
her. Physically Monica is a big, strong, very healthy girl with a mass of very dark hair. Once I
asked her what she actually did at Uni. I regard it to be one of my social duties to remember
what everyone does at Uni within our climbing group. But Monica just replied, ‘I do just
enough work in my courses to pass my exams well enough for my grant to continue.
Otherwise I simply have fun while I can.’ But I refused to be put off. So I asked what courses
she had actually done.’ She then replied, ‘My grant does not depend on me remembering
anything about any courses I have done. So I forget them all.’ So I’m afraid can’t tell you
what Monica does at Uni.
But Monica clearly does love the whole of outdoors life up here in North Wales. So
soon she wants to return to North Wales and gain whatever employment she can in
Snowdonia - possibly as a guide. She is a girl without any worldly ambition. But I accept her
for what she is. Some people are like that.
By the way, Monica, like Ellen, Dougal and myself, will be finishing at Uni this year.
And this will be in a few weeks time.
‘I am sorry Monica,’ Ellen replied, ‘but I have to inform you about some of the very
fundamental limitations of all life on our earth. The top half of this creature will be some form
of plant life and its foliage will provide the energy that the animal part of the creature at the
bottom needs. This is the part that will take CO2 out of the atmosphere and save us from
climate change. But a creature needs a reasonable amount of foliage to take much CO2 out of
the atmosphere and to provide its energy as well. And a reasonable amount of foliage and
branches must weigh quite a lot.
‘And then the next thing you must remember is what animals, who eat a lot of foliage
and rubbish, look like. Think about cows and elephants. They both have very big bellies. And
this is essential. Digesting is difficult and it takes a large amount of space and weight. So the
bottom animal part of the creature must be very heavy. And this weight is good because it
will also help to stop the creature from being blown over. After all, this creature will have no
roots.
7

‘So these two features must mean that the creature will only be able to move very
slowly indeed. I suspect they will only be able to creep at a rate of about one meter an hour.
But this is as fast as the creature needs to move. I imagine the creature must eat from below
because that is how it will “mow the lawn”. And then it would eat rubbish in the same manner
by moving slowly on top of it. But these actions can be done very slowly indeed. I suspect
this creature would have enormous difficulty getting up just one single step. So you can forget
about the creature being able to climb crags. That would be utterly impossible for such a
creature to do.’
‘But I saw the “Day of the Triffids” film.’ Monica replied. ‘And in it there were all
those glorious writhing roots that grabbed all the people before eating them.’
‘That film was pure fantasy. As far as we know, the only things that can writhe on
earth must have nerve and muscle. So such a thing must be part of an animal. No part of a
plant can move in a relatively fast co-ordinated manner. Also those Triffids were carnivorous
and they were supposed to produce oil. It would be simply incredibly expensive to feed
animals to plants as a means of producing oil. This can’t be done in any sane manner.’
‘So I will have to wait for some other gallant creature to save the world from all us
destructive humans.’
‘I fear so.’
Of the people here, I liked Ellen best of all. She is quite sensible and the most normal
of the people here. But she is also so normal that I find it hard to describe her. So she has a
normal female shape and is of normal height and weight. The only thing I can say to
distinguish her is that she has pleasant curly dark hair and nice brown eyes. But I can tell you
what she is studying. She is doing science in general and biology in particular. And then she
hopes to get a job in horticulture. So that is why she knew so much about the probable
limitations of this new Bimode creature.
‘This creature is also supposed to be very intelligent. Surely this Bimode could use this
intelligence to overcome us at some time in the future?’ Louise asked this of Alan who was
studying medicine and he was supposed to be quite bright.
‘Like some of the primitive creatures from the sea, this Bimode is bound to have a
well distributed neuron system to control all its actions.’ Alan replied ‘And these neurons
cluster in places to form small brains. But, as opposed to all normal animals, these little brains
will be well distributed over the whole body to control the various actions. So little brains will
individually control each of the branches. Also, unlike our brains, these little brains will grow
and change during the creature’s life. So it will be terribly hard to say how intelligent this
creature will be.
‘But we have absolutely nothing to fear in respect to this intelligence. This creature
will have very weak sense organs. It doesn’t need them. The Bimode will have no eyes and
only weak sound, smell and touch senses. So, as the creature will have such a weak
knowledge of the world, its intelligence can’t be a threat to us humans. We humans can have
nothing to fear.’
Alan and Louise at least are easy to describe. Alan is of Indian extraction and has their
characteristics. He is quite large and very sensible. Louise on the other hand is of Jamaican
extraction and is small, pretty and very vivacious. I think most people would consider her to
be very sexy. She is friendly to everyone and helps people when she can. So I think she
purposely asked Alan about these creature’s intelligence because she knew he would want to
speak about it. She is doing courses related to medicine. I consider her to be a future nurse but
8

she is keeping her options open for the time being. Both of these people are only half way
through their degrees.
‘I personally think this creature must be very intelligent.’ Ellen continued on. ‘In my course, I
have had to learn a little about the composting process and all the bugs that do the work. And
this creature has to do all this work and from this, together with the sap from the plant, it must
try to provide us with the methane, milk, oil and fertiliser - as we require. This must be a
horribly difficult task because it will mean that the creature will need to change its mode of
operation depending on what we require of it. So its body must contain a mass of valves,
pumps and intestines with different bugs to provide these products. To my simple mind, this
creature must be a genius.’
‘Its stomach system must certainly be very complex.’ Alan continued on. ‘Also,
compared with normal animals, it will have another peculiar feature. The creature will
probably be very hard to kill. We can kill a normal animal by a single bullet shot - either
through the brain or through the heart. But this creature will have many brains and also many
pumps that will do the work of our single heart. And I think, if you destroy some of these
organs, the creature could still live on with a more limited operation. And, over time, the
creature might have capacity to mend itself. So it may be very hard to kill indeed.’
‘It sounds a most worthy creature.’ Monica added. ‘ But frankly – it could be a bit of a
bore.’
‘Tough luck, Monica.’ Ellen replied. ‘But this creature wasn’t designed for your
personal amusement. You will have to stick to climbing for that.’ And Monica resigned
herself to the fact that this Bimode creature would be dead boring and didn’t pay much
attention to the rest of the discussion. Instead she reverted to playing with my hairy legs
again.
After all these people had given their personal opinions on the nature of this new creature, I
thought it was my duty to them to explain how the global position and economy might be
affected by its advent. I was just about to speak, when Dougal butted in.
‘Silence everyone. Our noble leader is finally ready to speak. We must listen to his
pearls of wisdom with rapt attention.’ He looked around to check that we were. ‘OK Stan –
we are listening to you now with bated breath.’
Dougal is a terrible thorn in my side in everything I do in this group. And this
sarcastic attack by him now was very typical of his general attitude towards me. We are very
different types of people and, unfortunately, we have known each other for a long time.
Dougal Rabidowitz is a small intense person with an absolutely wicked tongue. His heroes are
ghastly people like - Napoleon, Hitler and Churchill. His mother was of Irish/Scottish
extraction from whom he gets his red hair and freckles. His father was east European Jew. It
is hard for me to imagine a worse combination of characteristics. At the moment, he is quite
fit from doing a lot of climbing. But I am sure in later life he expects to follow his heroes’
natures and put on a lot of weight.
Unfortunately I have to put up with Dougal’s attitude. Although I am the President of
the club, it is Dougal that does a lot of the tedious jobs of getting new members for the club
and organising our transport. So on this trip Dougal had introduced Alan and Louise to
climbing and most of us had come up in Alan’s family car. This University College club is
part of the larger London University Mountaineering Club and often we just go away on trips
with this much larger club. So, usually twice a term, this larger club hires a coach for the
whole weekend and then we stay at this larger club’s hut in Snowdonia. So officers of this
9

larger club do all the organising work. But our group also likes to operate independently of
this larger club - as we were doing for this week. And then Dougal does most of the
organising. But, in spite of the fact that Dougal is the more active climber and does most of
the work, he was happy for me to be the president. I think he just enjoys being a thorn in my
side. So, in spite of this sarcastic introduction, I had to just ignore him and speak on. Besides,
everyone was used to Dougal carrying on like this with me.
‘This new creature sounds as if it could be very useful to many people.’ I said. ‘But
we must be very careful and remember the bigger picture. We must think about our future.
Although this creature sounds quite safe in itself, it will not be safe for us humans to become
too dependent on it. We must maintain all our current activities so that, if something goes
wrong with the creatures, we can still continue on without them. We must maintain our
economic growth and keep full employment in all our other fields. So we must be very careful
not to use this wonder plant too much.’
‘I have to give it to you Stan,’ Dougal replied, ‘you serve your masters well. You give
them good value. And the-powers-that-be shall in due course reward you. You shall get your
first class honours and a PhD as well, if you want it. And you will then hopefully proceed to
become a leader of our industry. You dutifully believe all that crap that our wonderful allcaring
establishment wants us all to believe. You suck up to them perfectly.’
I just smiled benignly at Dougal. I was used to Dougal saying this sort of thing. ‘You
may jeer if you like. But by and large, the powers-that-be are usually correct in most of what
they say.’
‘Utter garbage. Our capitalistic system only believes in more work for big business
together with no changes to the way we live. So it cannot cope with stopping climate change
at all.’
‘Our leaders, like myself, do want to stop climate change. But they know that, if they
propose any strong action, then they will be voted out of office. This is the problem.’
‘Rubbish. It is the capitalist system that has caused the complete problem in the first
place. The capitalist media guides our country, and they entice the population into excessive
materialism and consumerism. The population believe them, indulge in too much
consumerism and then become too dependent on their high-paying jobs. And then, if their
jobs fail, the workers lose everything because their mortgages are too high.’
‘So what do you want?’ I asked. ‘I expect you want us to forget all about democracy
and get one of your heroes, like Napoleon or Lenin, to lead the country.’
‘Nonsense. All our country needs to do is to tax all the rich people very heavily so
they can’t indulge in all their unnecessary travel, big cars and fancy houses. We can then use
this money to adjust our lifestyle to stop climate change.’
‘What you are in effect proposing is communism and that system has failed the world
over. As you know.’
‘I am proposing equality with democracy. In practise communism never gave its
people either equality or democracy. With the egalitarian system I am proposing we could
easily deal with climate change.’
‘You might, with a bit of luck, persuade a small group of people to follow your
egalitarian ideals. But the vast majority of people in the world won’t follow you. And these
are the people that are putting CO2 into the atmosphere and causing our climate to change. So
your efforts would be to no avail.’
‘There is something easy that we can do.’ Dougal continued on with unabated
enthusiasm. ‘All we need to do is to bring a motion before the United Nations saying that all
forms of international pollution are illegal. The world can’t function without an international
10

law of this form. The majority of people in the world will support such a law because they are
too poor to cause much pollution in the first place. Then the rich people would have to fall
into line as well.’
‘If that did happen, which it won’t, the whole of the world trade would collapse and
there would be a terrible appalling world recession. Even you wouldn’t want that.’
‘Not at all – I think that would be wonderful. A bit of suffering is good for all of us
and it would force people to think for themselves. So people would realise that they must rely
on their friends and local community to make sure they can feed themselves and give
themselves employment. This is just what we need.’
‘Have you no appreciation at all of the many wonderful advantages that our global
civilization has brought over the last century or so?’
‘I certainly have. I think it is fantastic that mankind can now go into space. And it was
for space exploration that this wonder plant was developed in the first place. The plant was
originally designed by NASA to recycle some of the astronauts’ waste products and provide
some food for them on the long journey to Mars. But, as you know, the Mars mission was
scrapped and the Bimode development was sold off to big business to make more money.
That was a really wicked thing to do. All it means is that our rich people now own more and
more of our natural assets.’
‘You are just saying that because you are a Physicist and the space programme was
providing a lot of employment for Physicists.’
‘No - not at all. I think that life on Earth is now far too easy for all people in this
modern scientific age. We have effectively so much individual wealth that we don’t know
what to do with it. So we waste our time producing materialistic junk we don’t need and with
this we pollute the atmosphere. We now need a genuine challenge and this challenge should
be to go out into space and form human colonies there. This is what we should do with all our
excess time and energy.’
But at this stage even Ellen thought Dougal had gone too far. ‘Dougal - my dear.’
Ellen said. ‘I think you might be right about stopping climate and pollution. And you might
even be right about our all-pervading capitalistic system being up the creek. I even have
nothing against us trying to get to Mars if some nuts, like you, want to risk their lives in
getting there. But the idea of forming colonies in space was dreamt up many years ago, and
since then people have realised that humans are not built for life in space. We, like all life,
have developed for life on Earth. And everyone now accepts this fact. If you still keep on
raving on about forming colonies in space, all normal people will take you for a lunatic. And
this means that all your other good ideas will be regarded as highly suspect as well. Now, by
all means still keep dreaming about going into space if you want to. But please, please, please
- keep your space colony ideas strictly to yourself. We all really do like you and we don’t
want the rest of the world to think you are just a raving loony.’
Ellen had spoken for herself, but she had expressed what the rest of us were thinking
as well apart from myself.
Dougal looked at Ellen and then he looked at the rest of us. And he could see we all
felt the same way as Ellen. He took Ellen’s hand, who, as you know, was sitting next to him.
‘I think you could well be right. I will give up about talking about space. But I will still
continue to dream about it.’
‘Dream on if you like.’ Ellen said. ‘But we have heard enough about politics and the
distant future for the moment. Besides, we have all heard your differing ideas many times
already. It is time that you all remembered my original question about who will actually buy
11

one of the new creatures. I would love to get one myself but I probably couldn’t afford it. And
I would have nowhere to keep such a creature for a long period of time.’
‘I will definitely buy one.’ Dougal replied. ‘I hate the fact that it is now owned by big
business but I think it provides a useful green service to us all. Besides, if I have one, I can
study it very carefully and see how it all works. I will certainly dissect the creature when it is
no longer useful.’
No one else was keen to buy a Bimode. I took that to mean that everyone had heeded
my starting sensible guiding speech. But I couldn’t resist having one last final dig at Dougal
and his false idealism. ‘What are you Dougal going to do when you leave Uni in a few weeks
time? Are you going to “suck-up” to our wicked capitalistic system and get a job like
everyone else has to do?’
Dougal just smiled at me. I have to give it to him – in a perverted way he is a very
cocky little guy. ‘I am a good social animal and I shall try to get a job that will help the world
get out of the mess that it is in. But, if the world refuses to accept my assistance, then I shall
be quite prepared to live on the dole. I have prepared myself well for this situation. So I have
learnt to live on less than one pound’s worth of food a day. Also I can live on only two square
meters floor space that I use for both sleeping and cooking – as a person does in a tent. Also I
always go out of my way to make friends and to be as useful to as many people as I can. In a
funny sort of way, I think more carefully about my long-term safety than all normal people
like yourself. Most people just rely on the assumption that our capitalistic system shall
continue on the way it has in the past. But this is completely false. I shall be OK.’
‘I know what happens to people who try to do that. It is well documented. Such people
start taking drugs of one form or another and then they degenerate. The evidence is that
everyone needs the discipline of a steady regular job to remain in a healthy state of mind.’
Dougal studied me carefully and took his time in replying. ‘I have to admit I am a
social person and I like to imbibe drugs when other people do. It is part of the fun of life. So I
partook of your wine when you passed it around. But it was you who introduced this drug to
us here - not me. And I would like to continue to do this in a limited way. But let me now
study you very carefully.’ And Dougal reached over to look at me from just a few inches.
‘The image of your conceited, self-satisfied mug is now indelibly printed on my mind forever.
And I just couldn’t bear the thought of that ugly mug of yours gloating over my possible
future downfall. And I admit, I, like most people with little employment, could fall to
excessive drug usage. So my new firm resolve is that I shall avoid welfare and drugs like the
plague. I shall even consider caffeine to be a drug. There is no way I shall allow you to have
the chance of gloating over my possible downfall. The image of you shall now keep me on
the straight and narrow for ever. All people in their perverted ways have their uses.’
But Monica now took an interest in what was going on. ‘Dougal.’ She said. ‘We like
you just as you are. We don’t want you to become a wowser or to make any insane resolves
for the future. But we trust you will forget all about it. But now it is probably the last time we
are all together alone by ourselves. So please lead us all now in that great song of yours -
“The Red Crag” ’.
And Dougal then duly led us in the song. The Red Crag is an old climbing song and it
is a parody of the socialist “Red Flag”. We all sang it with great gusto.
12

THE RED CRAG
The people’s crag is deepest red,
In memory of our fallen dead;
And ere their limbs have ceased to twitch,
Their life’s blood dyed its every pitch.
Then raise the piton hammer’s high
Upon this crag we’ll do or die;
Though leaders fall and seconds spill,
We’ll raise the standard higher still.
It well recalls the triumphs past,
When every moment seemed our last;
And with each final heave and strain.
We vowed we’d never climb again.
With heads well covered swear we all
To struggle upwards till we fall;
Come chimney dark or layback grim,
This song shall be our parting hymn.
And then finally we were all ready to retire to our separate tents and sleeping bags. It had
been a memorable day and we would have a busy day tomorrow.
You might think I would be worried about what Dougal had said. Well I wasn’t at all.
Because I am an only child, I have associated with older people for a long time. And I have
thought about our world problems very carefully. So I have learnt to understand about the
stupidity of most young people’s idealism. Also I know they will grow out of it. So Dougal
might try to buck our political system for a few years. But, as the years go by, he will come to
his senses. He will eventually join all normal people and become a normal useful person in
society. He is not a really bad person – after all he supported me in becoming the President of
the club.
As regards myself, when Dougal talks about me, he tries to make out that I am one of
those wicked conservative right-wing capitalists. This is Dougal’s way of trying to put me in
the wrong. In fact I am a normal modern thinking person who tries to choose a sensible
balance between socialism and free-enterprise. I primarily believe that a government should
strive to create a stable form of living. But capitalism at the moment is stimulating our rich
people to get richer and so our poor people are getting poorer. And this is a form of instability
because it will eventually lead to our rich being much too rich and our poor being much too
poor. This situation must finally result in revolution. So for this reason I am in fact very
opposed to excessive capitalism.
I have mentioned Dougal’s heroes to you, my reader, showing what he is like. Well I
also have my own personal hero showing what I am like. And my hero is actually Caesar
Augustus. So he supported stable boundaries and so he stopped the expansion of the Roman
Empire. This led to peace and stability in his empire. And similarly he supported the family
unit with only a sensible small number of children. And this tended to create better families
and gave the empire a stable population. So this is why Augustus is my personal hero. But
most people don’t like to think about distant ideas like stability. So I rarely mention these
13

matters to other people. Otherwise people will think me a bit of a bore. But I am a
mathematician so I think it is my duty to quietly think about these matters over to myself.
And so I do.
I have described everyone else in our group to you - but not myself. Well it is with
pleasure that I can tell you that I look just like what a sensible future leading person of our
country should look like. So I come from good normal Anglo-Saxon stock and I am quite
good looking. So I am reasonably fair, tall and have blue eyes. I like to eat - but I know that if
I eat too much I will put on too much weight. But I control my eating to keep my weight
down. Otherwise I am normal.
Next day was nice and sunny which was good because it is absolutely ghastly to have to pack
up in the rain. While we were getting ready, Monica went over to the Innes Ettis Climber’s
Club hut to see if she could get a lift from some of the people there back to London. And she
was successful. Monica for the past week had been cultivating friendships with the people
there because this all might eventually lead to employment in Snowdonia. And some of the
climbers there wanted to get back to London also because they wanted to be at the grand
opening for the Bimode creature. So she got a lift.
This situation was good for the rest of us because we could now just fit into one car to
go back to London. When we had come up to Snowdonia, Ellen and Dougal had taken the bus
to Bangor. Then Alan had driven the car over to pick them up and take them back here. But
now it was much easier for all of us to squash into just one car for the journey back to
London. And this was good for me because it meant the two largest of us, Alan and me,
would sit in the front. We then shared the driving, which I liked. In the back Dougal enjoyed
himself being squashed up next to the two girls.
The big opening day of the Bimode venture was to occur in many places in the UK.
Fortunately for us, one of these openings was going to be at the University College itself. In
years gone by, several of our college staff had worked on this general subject and had
received NASA grants for the work. This was partly why Alan and Ellen knew so much about
it. So it was appropriate to have an opening here. In case you don’t know, University College
London is in most aspects a full University in its own right. So it is quite large. It is usually
just referred to as U.C.L..
The back of our college, where all the genuine work associated with learning and
research occurs, is a bit of a dump, and it consists of many buildings of all different kinds and
ages, all clustered together higgledy-piggledy. But at the front, there is a fine large forecourt
surrounded by dignified ornate Victorian architecture. And, in the middle, there is the
glorious main entrance surrounded by magnificent Roman pillars with a fine dome on top.
Not only does this forecourt have a grand appearance but it is also very good for climbing.
Dougal and Monica have done several good climbing routes up the pillars, the dome and
surrounding buildings. Of course this is highly illegal and I wouldn’t dream of doing such a
thing myself.
So the opening would occur in this forecourt. And, because it looked so grand, the
event was being filmed here for TV as well. As the opening was due to start at 3 p.m., Alan
dropped the four of us off here at 2.30 p.m. He then left us to find a parking space for the car.
We would keep an area open in the huge crowd for Monica and Alan to join us. During this
half hour with Alan away, I could not help noticing Dougal and Louise carrying on together
something awful. They talked, giggled and touched each other in many ways. Dougal is an
14

absolutely wicked flirt and Louise is not much better. But, a little before three o’clock,
Monica and Alan managed to join us and then this terrible couple stopped their carrying-on.
The opening of course was quite long so I won’t try to cover all the details. The opening
addresses said the usual sort of thing with lots of thanks to the various parties who helped the
development of this creature. Then the creature was unveiled. And this was done quite well
because there were many of the creatures throughout the forecourt - so we all could have a
fairly close view.
The creature was taller and more elegant than I was expecting it to be. I was expecting
to see just an invertebrate animal blob at the bottom and then plants would grow on top of this
blob. But this creature had a proper trunk out of which palm branches grew. I had assumed
that an invertebrate animal could not support the weight of branches. But the speaker
explained to us that the solid stalks of the palm branches continued down inside the animal
trunk. And the combined strength of these stalks could then support the weight of the
branches. But the animal part of the trunk, which bound the stalks together, could be moved
slightly and so the trunk could bend and adapt to different conditions. And of course, if there
was too much wind, then the animal would simply lower the trunk to the ground until the
wind dropped. Thus this creature had a lot of flexibility.
At the top of the trunk there was a single red exotic flower. This flower added just a
slight bit of colour to what was otherwise a simple green and grey creature.
The largest of these creatures was about 4 meters high. But the normal height was
between 2 and 3 meters high and the bottom blob was about a meter wide. The animal trunk
extended up to a little over half of the total height. So the creatures weren’t all that big. But,
because the animal trunk could move and adjust, the palm branches could be moved to
receive the maximum amount of light. So the creature would be very effective in removing
CO2 from the atmosphere and producing the products we required.
Each plant was attended to by a rather beautiful girl. And these girls had stockings,
shoes and long light gloves in the grey colour of the animal. Then they wore green dresses to
represent the palms. And finally on top they each wore fancy red hats to represent the flower
on the top. This flower would eventually turn into a piece of fruit. After we had enough time
to see the creature in detail, the girls handed round plates that contained pieces of the fruit that
the flower would turn into. The fruit was very similar to avocado. In fact the girls explained to
us that this fruit was all a bit of a cheat. Each plant would only produce one such avocado-like
fruit per year. So the fruit was just a bit of fun and of no economic value. And the company
did not have enough of the real fruit for everyone to get a taste. So what they had done was to
put one piece of real fruit amongst normal avocado pieces. But the pieces were almost
indistinguishable so no one would know. The girl also explained that the flower was genuine
and gave off pollen like a lot of other plants do.
After this pleasant little break from talking, a more serious Bimode guy took the
microphone and told us some development facts and financial detail that we all needed to
know.
‘Our company has considered the introduction of this Bimode creature very seriously
indeed. And the very last thing we want to do is to persuade people to buy this creature when
they will later regret this purchase. We want the introduction of this new creature to occur
very slowly indeed. We want everyone to feel absolutely safe with the creature before they
are closely associated with it.
‘To help this happen, we will only allow this creature to be rented. It cannot be
bought. This means, if anyone is unhappy with the creature, then they can return it to us
15

immediately. Also this creature is an intelligent animal as well as a plant. So we wish to make
sure it is not mistreated. And, if it is mistreated, we want the power to take it back. Also,
when the creature is too old, we wish to be able to put it down in a humane manner. So our
company wants to always remain in control of the creatures. And furthermore our company
will check on the physical state of each creature every year.
‘As regards price we have purposely set this initially reasonably high. We don’t want
too many people to use the creature too soon. We accept the fact that this creature might have
problems. And then our company wants to be in a state where we can recall all the creatures
and replace them if something is wrong with it. We are still partially in the experimental
stage. A new creature must be allowed to grow and develop slowly. This is true of all forms
of life.
‘Also this initial creature, you see here, will only produce methane and fertilizer. In
later years we hope to add milk and oil to these products - like the original space creature was
designed to produce. But our company is not ready to do this yet.
‘Finally we have here lots of little booklets which define the rules and conditions
about how this creature must be treated. These conditions must be signed as a statuary
declaration and witnessed by a justice of the peace before a creature can be leased. But all our
workers here are justices of the peace. So this signing can be done fairly easily here.’
I was most impressed by this speech. I thought the company was showing quite remarkable
constraint. I wished all companies were as sensible as this. But Dougal didn’t like it at all. He
naturally got a booklet and read it carefully. And I did the same – I also like to know the facts
in detail.
‘I can’t possibly buy a Bimode now.’ Dougal said when he returned to our group.
‘This blasted company will remain in control of absolutely everything. The instructions say
that the creature must be allowed to retain its vertical position at all times and so we are not
allowed to investigate its bottom. They justify this by saying the animal must be able to be
free to eat what it likes, when it likes. We can’t investigate the creature at all.’
‘The booklet correctly justifies this action on good humane grounds.’ I replied.
‘Besides specialist governmental inspectors will always be able to check everything. The
company is just being very sensible.’
‘I agree the company is being very bloody sensible. It is being wonderfully clever in
retaining its control of everything and sucking up to the government as well. It is we, the
people of the country, who are being stupid. We are allowing big business to own absolutely
everything. And the knowledge and research, which our government itself has funded, is
being sold off to big business. And we individuals can’t investigate anything and we are
becoming less and less in control of our own lives. But that is the way of the world at the
moment. It is all absolutely ghastly.’
I could see that most of our group had a lot of sympathy for Dougal’s attitude. So I
thought it tactful to say nothing in reply. The general consensus of our little group was that
the Bimode was a useful creature. But it was not very exciting, a bit expensive and the
company too much in control. No one wanted one. It was all a big non-event. We all pushed
off home.
But, as we were walking, Ellen joined me and asked if she could talk with me. I suggested we
should go for coffee together. I knew what she wanted.
16

‘I quite understand Dougal’s decision not to obtain a Bimode.’ Ellen said. ‘I would
like to get one myself, but the booklet says it must be set up in a suitable environment. And
the small three story terrace, I temporarily share with some other students, definitely isn’t
suitable. Could I persuade you to get one. I know you still live with your parents and they
have a reasonable garden.’
And I naturally agreed. Having heard and agreed exactly with all the company speaker
had said, I was now quite keen to see how the new Bimode would perform in practise.
‘I would love to see how the Bimode grows and what it can do.’ Ellen continued on.
‘But, if I came to your house and your parents saw us, they would tend to think we might be a
couple. And both of us would hate that. Could I come to your house in secret while your
parents are out?’
‘Both my parents work. So while we are on holidays we can easily organise your
visits.’ I was very pleased that Ellen was perceptive enough to realise that that is precisely
what my parents would think.
For a while we enjoyed the excellent espresso coffee they served - as opposed to the
instant stuff we had been drinking for the past week. And we talked of other matters.
‘Will you have any spare time during our coming long holidays?’ Ellen finally asked
me.
Again I knew this question was coming and what it implied. But I was prepared and
didn’t mind. ‘I have to admit I do. I was expecting to search for a job like most other people.
But I already have several very good jobs just asking for my acceptance. With my expected
very good qualifications I am just in very high demand. But I have no desire to start working
too soon. So I am free to do mostly what you like.’
So we then agreed to do quite a lot together. Ellen had to get a job. And I knew she
would appreciate me giving her a hand with this task. I am good at that sort of thing. Also it
would be nice to do some walking and easy climbing on the little sandstone cliffs south of
London together. Dougal and Monica were going back to North Wales to some harder serious
climbs. But neither of us wanted to join them. And we didn’t know either Alan or Louise very
well. So this arrangement suited us both.
It is time I explained my situation about girls in general. I am clever, tall and quite
good-looking. Also it is generally recognised that I will have a very successful career. Most
girls understand this and they are usually quite keen to partner themselves with me. But I
always think about the future. Eventually I want to find a good partner, get married and raise
a family. But I first must secure a good satisfying job and establish my position in the world.
And I expect this will take several years. So the last thing I want to do is to couple myself
with a girl and then I have to tell the girl that she is not good enough for me. I understandably
want to be very choosy about my future wife – I am aware of my high value. So in general I
have avoided forming close friendships with girls.
But now Ellen was fortunately in a very different situation. For a start I felt a little
sorry for Ellen. Ellen had clearly been a little keen on Dougal as her conversation in the tent
had shown. But she certainly didn’t appreciate Dougal’s flirting with Louise. In fact I think
the reason she had brought up the subject of the Bimode in the tent was to prevent Dougal’s
hand going any further up under Louise’s clothes. And then Ellen and Dougal had gone up to
North Wales together. I would hate to think a person, who I was keen on, would do that sort
of thing in my presence. Dougal is a terrible character. But this was good for me because
clearly Ellen had no real interest in forming an attachment with me. And we both wanted to
avoid being seen by my parents. Also it really was clear that there were a lot of things we
17

would like to do together. So that is why Ellen now was an exception to my good general
rule.
So we did a lot together. The Bimode was delivered to my parent’s house on the following
day. Ellen and I enjoyed watching it grow and do its tasks quite often. We had got a small
young creature that only weighed a couple of kilos and it was only about half a meter high. It
did a good job of slowly eating the lawn and hopefully taking CO2 out of the atmosphere. But
in comparison to a cat or a dog it wasn’t very interesting. But, on the other hand, this little
Bimode was certainly the most diligent and peaceful creature I have ever known.
Very soon Ellen and I formed a pattern of seeing each other every day. As I expected
Ellen needed a lot of help in applying for jobs and going for interviews. She did say I didn’t
really need to help her. But I am good at this and I knew she really appreciated my help. And
we still had plenty of time for walks, shows and a bit of easy climbing.
Our friendship was initially purely platonic. But, after a couple of weeks, Ellen
wanted to go further. She explained the situation this way.
‘I have only had one proper affair in my life so far and it was a total disaster. We
didn’t know each other very well, but we both felt we would be soul mates. We had high
expectations but everything went completely wrong. We only spent two nights together and
we ended up by hating each other. I am older now and I would like to see if I could do any
better. Now with us, we don’t really fancy each other – and we certainly aren’t soul mates.
But we are good friends and we know each other very well. And we both know that an affair
between us must come to a complete end at the end of these holidays in two months time. But
two months would be a perfect time for a little affair. And since I have been with you I have
been thinking about this possibility. And now I am starting to find you rather sexy. I will
make sure everything is completely safe. So – please – why don’t you just think about it?’
And she gave me a full-on sexy kiss. This was the first proper kiss of my life.
I have to admit that, within an hour of receiving that kiss, I was having sexy thoughts
about Ellen. And, by the time we met the next day, I had somehow persuaded myself that
such an experience would be very much to our mutual benefit. Ellen’s room was very small
and of course she only had a single bed. But somehow we made do. And it was a very
different sort of experience for me. But, after a couple of days, I started to get quite good at it.
Ellen appreciated me very much. We were both very proud of our little affair – it was a great
success – as opposed to Ellen’s previous disaster.
We were very careful to leave our day activities quite platonic as they were before. So
during the day we did not kiss at all. And I only went to Ellen’s room a couple of times a
week. So we kept our little affair well under control. But it was good.
During the middle of our holidays we got our finals results. I got, as I was expecting, my very
good first class honours. Ellen only managed to get a lower second – but that was all she
wanted. She was happy with this. Ellen’s complete lack of ambition worried me. I felt it was
quite unnatural. I certainly didn’t want my future wife to be like this.
But there was one aspect about our relationship that had annoyed me above all others.
This was Ellen’s attitude to our affection. So sometimes when we were close in bed, she
would tell me how keen she was on me and how wonderful I was with her. And I would start
to reciprocate her feelings. But, as soon as Ellen saw this, she would immediately start to talk
about some other guy whom she also rather fancied as well. So she was playing games with
me. I take life and love seriously and eventually I want to form a stable relationship with a
partner for life. Ellen was too frivolous for me.
18

But I suppose that was OK. Ellen definitely wasn’t going to be my wife. But at times
she seemed to go out of her way to make life difficult for us both. She seemed to be trying to
destroy my very stable good nature.
Towards the end of our holidays Ellen got a job with the Bimode company itself. But the job
was rather superficial and she was to be dressed like the girls that were serving us on the
opening day. I thought this was rather demeaning - but Ellen was very pleased with the job.
As our holidays progressed I started to get rather bored with Ellen and I was really looking to
joining industry and getting a genuinely serious job. My little affair with Ellen had been a
pleasant interlude. But now I wanted to get on with a proper useful life.
On the Sunday, before Ellen was due to start her new job, we had a day together down
in the Harrison’s rocks area. But we only wanted to walk in the surrounding downs – not to
actually climb. The walk was very pleasant but Ellen was rather silent. At lunch-time Ellen
said she had something serious she had to tell me. I was aghast – this could only mean one
thing. But I had to let her tell it her own way.
‘I thought I was being very careful – but I wasn’t careful enough. I’m afraid I’m
pregnant. It was entirely my fault. Now I know that neither of us wants to get married. And I
don’t even want financial help. But I really would like you to remain my friend. So you could
talk to me, comfort me and help me a little when it is convenient for you. Now I know that, if
you do that, then people will assume you are the father of the child. And they will think it is
partly your fault. And that is not fair on you. But I am sure I can persuade Dougal to say he is
the father of the child. He won’t mind and he is now back from North Wales. You can visit
me very discretely. And in that way you can continue to be my friend. You could then help
me a little if I ever get depressed about my new situation.’ Ellen certainly wasn’t being
frivolous now.
I naturally hated the situation. But Ellen was being quite reasonable - so I had to
agree. We were both rather silent for the rest of the day. We could see problems ahead for
both of us. I didn’t spend the night with Ellen in her room as I was expecting to do. It was
time for me to emphasise that now we were just friends again.
Over the next couple of days, I thought over this horrible situation many times. Firstly I just
hated the thought of Dougal being regarded as the father of my child. Fancy my own firstborn
child being brought up as Dougal’s child. I just couldn’t bear the thought of that.
And also very likely my parents might start to guess and question me. Now I had
never been away from home as often as I had been over the past few months. And my parents
had guessed that I had a girlfriend and questioned me. In reply I had just stressed that I was
just having a temporary friendship with a girl. But they hadn’t entirely believed me. And they
were dead keen to see me get married soon and have children. They stressed it was bad for
couples to just have one child. They themselves had done the wrong thing. They even had the
cheek to suggest that such a situation could result in producing spoilt brats.
So, if I continued to see Ellen and my future child, then over the years my parents
would question, pry and they would very likely find out the full truth. And they would think it
absolutely terrible for me not to have married Ellen. And I would partially agree with them.
So I finally came to the decision it was best if I married Ellen. She wasn’t good enough for
me. But, on the other hand, I couldn’t honestly say I could think of any other girl who I would
want to marry. So it was best for me to marry Ellen.
Ellen was working now so we couldn’t see each other as much. But we had dinner
together at a slightly more fancy restaurant on Wednesday night. I proposed marriage. Ellen
19

was pleased and thanked me for my offer – it would make life much easier for her. But she
wanted some time to think about her position. This of course was sensible. I didn’t want Ellen
to make a quick decision. But, like me, the more she would think about our position the more
she would realise that it was best for her to get married. Also, after seeing her, I myself was
gradually adjusting myself to marriage. It might even turn out quite well. But again we
thought it was inappropriate for us to sleep together that night.
Ellen was now rather busy - so she would ring me from work to arrange as to where
we would meet again.
When Ellen rang she was very pleased with herself. She had worked out that, if I said I was
having problems with my Bimode, then she could visit me in work time and use the company
car. We naturally didn’t want my parents around. So we chose to meet on Friday afternoon.
She arrived and she was dressed in that ridiculous garb which the Bimode girls were
wearing in the UCL forecourt. But, strangely, she now looked rather beautiful. I had always
thought of Ellen as only average in looks. But now, all dressed up, she did look rather fine.
Perhaps if she started dressing well, she might even make a reasonable wife for me. Ellen
took her job seriously and so we went out into the garden where the Bimode was doing his
job and eating the grass. Ellen immediately took the methane tube and pushed it into the
Bimode’s methane hole to let the gas flow out into our methane container at the other end.
We used this methane for cooking. Then she gave it some water. I had left these mundane
tasks to my parents and forgotten about them. And similarly the fertiliser had to be let out and
spread over the garden. Ellen was good at these trivial mundane tasks.
It was a sunny day so Ellen suggested we have tea together sitting on the lawn. I
would have preferred this coming serious discussion to take place sitting at a table inside. But
Ellen insisted we enjoy the sun and stay outside. While drinking we watched the Bimode
creature doing his work. It had grown considerably and now it was a meter high. It was
moving around more now so I could see now how this could be done. The Bimode first lifted
a small part of its back-end forwards so this now formed a small arch about an inch high. And
then this little arch would slowly ripple forwards as the weight was transferred from the front
to the back of the arch. Eventually the arch would reach the front of the body and so the
creature would have rippled forward about an inch. And, as this arch moved forward, the
trunk would also sway so that there was less weight over the region of the arch. It was slow
process – but it was effective.
The creature was starting to be quite useful as well. It was particularly clever in
moving around in the sun and stretching its palm branches to catch the maximum amount of
light.
‘How does the Bimode know so well how to move to catch so much sunlight?’ I asked
of Ellen.
‘Like most animals the skin part of this creature is covered with nerve ends. And the
receptors of these nerve ends recognise temperature and touch. So the creature can tell which
parts of its animal skin are receiving sunlight. And then the creature moves so that the
sunlight is increased. But, besides this, the creature remembers what happened on previous
days and where it received light then. Also it remembers in what positions its branches
produced the maximum amount of nutrients. And then the little creature does its very best to
do its allocated job of producing methane and fertiliser as required. This creature really is
very intelligent in its own quiet little way.’
20

Ellen clearly knew her job. I was hoping Ellen would bring up the subject of marriage.
But she showed no inclination to do so at all. So I finally said ‘I presume you have come to
the same conclusion as me that it is best for both of us if we now marry.’
‘I know it would be far easier for me to get married now. And this is a strong
temptation. But I must think of the future – marriage just wouldn’t work out for us.’
I was a bit horrified at this reply. But I knew I had to be patient. ‘You are probably
worried about where we will live and how we will get a house.’ I replied. ‘Well I can manage
all that. My parents will help us initially but, in a few years, we will be able to move into a
quite reasonable house in a good suburb, which I would finance. Don’t worry about that.’
But Ellen just laughed at me. ‘In suggesting that, all you are doing to me is to
emphasize that we are quite incompatible.’
I was starting to get quite annoyed. ‘There is nothing wrong with us thinking about
our future and preparing for it.’
‘You have a certain vision of the world which I do not share. A house is the great
symbol of nuclear families, cars, cities and suburban sprawl. Also this concept goes with the
expectation that a couple will stay married together forever. Now I am not saying that this is
wrong. But I certainly don’t want to be committed to this lifestyle yet. And that is what would
happen if I married you.’
‘I think you have been infected by Dougal and his stupid ideas of free love.’
‘I don’t like Dougal’s flirting behaviour anymore than you do. But just that doesn’t
mean that all his other ideas are wrong. It is just that it takes time and experience to learn
about which ideas are good and which ideas are bad. I want to take my time in thinking about
these things. And Dougal does seem to have some reasonable ideas.’
‘When you became pregnant, did you seek Dougal out to find out what he is doing?’
Dougal’s influence on Ellen was beginning to worry me.
‘With Dougal you never have to wait for him to contact with you. He always seeks out
absolutely anyone who might be interested in an alternate lifestyle and he keeps in contact
with such people. So he rang me as soon as he was back from North Wales. And he was
around to see me immediately he detected a slightly worried sound in my voice. And I am
afraid he soon prised out of me the fact I was pregnant.’
‘I suppose he turned you against me.’
‘No he didn’t – he wanted you and I to remain good friends. But he did say I shouldn’t
marry you. But I am afraid I think he was completely correct about this.’
‘So what did he suggest you do now you are pregnant?’
‘Dougal, as I said, keeps in contact with a very large number of people. He knew a
group of five people who had rented a large old house near Guildford with a large garden.
And they were growing their own fruit and vegetables. Now three of these people have young
children. So what these people have agreed among themselves is that, whoever happens to
have or get a job, would work and bring money in to the group. And the people who didn’t
have a job, or who had very young children, would stay at home, look after the children and
look after the household chores in the house and in the garden.’
‘Those sort of systems never work long. That is why our money system was invented.’
‘I agree that this system would never work for people who only think about their own
immediate personal desires. And I fear this is the majority of people. But I have met these
people and they all seem to quite practical and sensible. And they think the same about me.
Also the money aspect is taken care of to some extent. At least I want to try this simple
communal way of living for a year or two.’
21

I should have left the conversation here. After all, everyone has the right to be stupid.
And it was Ellen’s life that was being affected - not mine. But I couldn’t resist telling her how
stupid it was to do that sort of thing without any financial security and with people she hardly
knew. And then she replied about how I only thought of work and status and how I had very
few friends. And from there on our conversation grew more personal, acrimonious and
vindictive.
But this story is about the wonder plant and not about Ellen and my quarrels. So I
won’t go into details. Besides, I have conveniently forgotten it all. Eventually Ellen had to
leave to return the car to her work depot. I insisted we say goodbye to each other forever.
When she had left I realised I didn’t want to see my parents that night. I went on a very long
walk for many hours to cool down. My brain was racing about the details of the conversation.
But I have read all the good psychology books – so I know that anger is a very destructive
emotion. I had to put Ellen out of my mind – and eventually I did.
The job I finally accepted was with Electricity Generating Board. And this job was OK. But I
rapidly decided that I should gain a PhD at the same time. I could do the PhD work quite
easily and it was safer. In industry the quality of one’s first degree is quickly forgotten. But
the fact that one has a PhD is less easily forgotten.
But I found I couldn’t forget about Ellen, Dougal and their silly ideas quite so easily. I
went to Israel to check out how the Kibbutzes were faring there. And sure enough they were
losing members and they were returning to capitalism. Dougal’s communistic ideas would
never work in practice – just as I always knew. But, at the same time, I knew that economic
growth and capitalism had bad flaws as well.
I am afraid that at work I did not prosper as I thought I would. I became known as
“old wishy-washy Stan”. I found I couldn’t support my colleagues’ expansionist ideas for
generating electricity with quite the whole-hearted enthusiasm as I ought to have done. I had
my doubts about this economic growth and I couldn’t keep them away. Sometimes I
remembered about Ellen’s and Dougal’s silly ideas. As the years passed by I realised I had
been psychologically damaged by my encounter with Ellen and her frivolous ways. My grand
ideas for a successful career as a captain of industry would now never occur.
After a few years I found I wanted to leave industry. I became a normal maths teacher
in Liverpool. This job was better simply because everyone could see that I was clearly good at
maths. But I never became very popular. But I think I did my job well.
However I still wanted to settle down in a house and have children. Once an old pupil
of mine saw me alone in a coffee shop, and she promptly joined me. She was interested in me.
This time I quietly accepted my fate and we got married. Michelle was arty and wanted
someone to support her while she continued with her arty ways. And I was prepared to do this
in return for her giving me two children. We were never really happy – but we weren’t much
worse than the other families we knew.
Michelle always consistently said she loved me. So she wasn’t frivolous like Ellen had
been. But she joined an amateur musical society and this became an outlet for her supposedly
arty talents. And she would occasionally have an affair with one of the younger people there.
She would tell me she had to do this because some of the people in this scene lost their selfconfidence
and they needed to be comforted. So she had to help them. She was quite open
about these affairs and she always stressed that I was really the very much only man in her
world. I wasn’t sure I entirely believed her. But she was my wife so I had to put up with this
behaviour. I certainly wanted our family to stay together.
22

We both put on a bit of weight. Our oldest child Fiona had a similar problem. Our
youngest child Gavin had the usual problem of his contemporaries, which was spending too
much time playing computer games on the Internet. As was normal, none of us did enough
exercise. Michelle never thought our house was big enough for us and that all our problems
would disappear if each of us had more space. So I needed to get a better job. I thought
Michelle should discipline the children more. But I expect we were just a normal family of
this great modern age. The years passed by.
But this book is about the wonder plant and I have to tell you how it progressed over the
years. Normally the progress of the Bimode’s capability was gradual and the user didn’t
notice much difference. But besides this gradual process there were three major changes
where all the Bimodes were recalled and replaced by different ones from the company. We
didn’t know whether these different Bimodes were new because the company might have
taken an old one Bimode and doctored in one of their production sites. The company just
guaranteed to give us users a good working Bimode – but how they did this was strictly up to
the company. And all users just had to accept this situation.
The first recall was because of some internal problems, and we the users were scarcely
aware of what was wrong. But the next recall, which occurred about a decade after
production, was a very major update indeed. What had happened was that some animals, like
crows, cats and foxes, had started to learn that these creatures were relatively defenceless. So
they were starting to eat them. The company had to do something. So what they did was to
give the creature a tentacle - a bit like the trunk of an elephant or the tentacle of an octopus.
This tentacle had two uses.
The one use was to allow the creature to drink water or to expel methane when it
needed to. A lot of users had become rather slack about doing this – as I had myself. The
tentacle was hollow like a thin trunk and so it could act like a hose. The company also
provided some special taps which the Bimodes were capable of turning on or off themselves.
And naturally this extra facility was greatly appreciated by us lazy humans.
But the main use of the tentacle was to ward off predators. But it is hard for a creature
to ward-off a predator if they can’t see their enemy. So what the company did was to give the
creature a simple but very weak form of vision. So the creatures were given a very simple eye
with only a small aperture near the their tentacle. This eye couldn’t see much but, because the
tentacle was very flexible, the Bimode could move the eye around so they could see all they
needed to see. So the eye on the tentacle could find out where an attacking animal was. This
tentacle tended to look a bit like a snake.
Also, to help the creature to persuade animals from eating it, the company gave the
creature a weak eye irritant mixture. And the creature could, using its tentacle, squirt this
mixture into the creature’s face to persuade the animal to go away and leave it alone. The
mixture wasn’t dangerous – but it was sufficient to keep dangerous animals away.
And besides these facilities, which we could see, the company gave the creature a very
small tentacle to stop small predators like ants and spiders bothering its bottom. This tentacle
was in the form of a long thin tongue and it protruded out of its mouth at the bottom. So the
creature could use this tentacle to eat any insects on the ground beneath it, which were
annoying it.
The final recall was associated with this previous recall. What happened was that the creature
occasionally used the eye irritant on humans. Mostly the creature did this on children that
23

were playing with it and annoying it. And many people, myself included, felt that the creature
was just being sensible in looking after its own safety. But many other people did complain
and the company had another complete recall. And this time the new creatures were able to
distinguish clearly between humans and animals - and the humans were always left
unmolested.
But this last recall had a further rather nice addition. And this addition allowed us
humans to tell the creature what we wanted the creature to do. It worked this way. The skin of
animal between the trunk and the tentacle was made particularly sensitive. Now, if a person
patted the creature in this area, this meant that the person approved of what the creature was
doing. But if a person instead rubbed sideways in this area, this meant the person disapproved
of what the creature was doing. And a person could then give instructions to the creature in
this way. So, if a person wanted the creature to move somewhere, then they would take its
tentacle, point it in the right direction and then pat the creature when it moved in this
direction.
And a person could even teach a creature to do some weeding. So a person would take
the creature’s tentacle, wrap the tentacle end around a weed and with this pull this weed out.
And when the creature started to repeat this action the person would keep patting the creature.
And the creature then would try to repeat the action. But then, of course, the person would
need to stay by until the creature tried to pull out a flower. And the person would then rub the
creature and take the tentacle away. But, in doing this, the person would hold the plant so that
the Bimode could see that this was a flower. This learning process took a little bit of practice.
But never-the-less, it was far easier to teach this creature to obey instructions than it was to
teach a dog. I myself, in fact, found it was easier for me to teach the creature to do some
weeding than it was to teach my own children. The creature seemed to want to learn. But I
couldn’t say the same about my own children.
As the creature improved in its abilities so did its usage. Initially less then one person in ten
people had a Bimode. I was the exception. And, after the first decade, still less than half of the
world’s population had a Bimode. But gradually, after the tentacle was added, the creature
became much more popular. And by the time the next incident in my story occurred, there
were about three times as many Bimodes in the world as humans. And these creatures were
divided fairly evenly between home use and agriculture. But this was not a cause of worry to
most people. These creatures were very innocuous – they just went about their little business
of taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and converting our rubbish into fertiliser. They simply
caused us no problems at all. And the prices the Bimode company asked for the creature were
quite reasonable when a person considered the tasks the creatures performed.
Of course the creatures did not stop climate change. We still loved our big houses,
cars and overseas travel just as much as ever. The creatures couldn’t stop this.
About a year after this last recall, Michelle approached me with one of those alterative
women’s magazines in hand - the sort of thing that I would never dream of looking at - even
if I was bored silly waiting in a doctor’s reception with nothing to do.
‘There is an article here,’ Michelle said, ‘about a group of people who don’t think
these Bimode creatures are entirely safe. And this group are having a small weekend
conference down in Guildford about the subject. I think you should go. You have told me
that, when you were at University, you knew some of these types of people. But now you
have no old friends at all. It will be an opportunity to possibly meet some of these people
again. Besides I myself would love to hear what they might have to say about the Bimodes.’
24

I knew what Michelle was thinking. She gets a bit conscience stricken with her affairs
in the musical society. So, if she sent me down there, then she could imagine I could be
having an affair there - so she would then be justified in her own affairs. She knew I would
never in fact do anything there. But I agreed to go. I had no worries about the safety of the
Bimodes and I didn’t want an affair. And I certainly didn’t want to see Ellen again. But, if I
did see Ellen then I could possibly make contact with my child. As I grew older, this contact
was becoming more important. After all, this child might actually be quite sensible – as
opposed to my other two children who certainly weren’t. I was very keen to meet my child
now.
So I went. On the Saturday I looked carefully for Ellen but she wasn’t there. But during the
various sessions the following points were made about the Bimode.
Firstly the speakers were very definite about the Bimode’s physical weaknesses. So a
normal human, armed just with a carving knife, could easily deal with even three Bimodes
acting together. But we needed to remember the three following facts.
The first was that our new global society, with many people travelling everywhere
very often, was very susceptible to a virus attack that would spread so quickly that we
couldn’t prepare for it. Such an epidemic could incapacitate a high proportion of the world’s
population for a week or so. And, in such a weakened state, the whole world population might
be vulnerable to a dangerous Bimode attack.
Bimodes always give the appearance of being peaceful and obedient. But this
appearance could be deceptive. They were not like normal animals. Most animals are happy
to play with us and bond with us. The Bimodes simply kept to themselves and just did what
they were told. But they must be very intelligent because they physically had a large amount
of brain matter. They didn’t have as much as we humans have - but much more than most
animals have. And one speaker suspected that Bimodes communicated somehow between
themselves. They could even have their own ideas about how the world should be ruled.
And finally the speakers made the usual point about how little we knew about them
because the Bimode company kept all the facts relating to them to themselves.
The final speaker stressed that is was unlikely that Bimodes could become a problem.
But, on the other hand, it was sensible to be prepared for this possibility.
These various talks occurred in the morning. In the afternoon we were all given small swords
and goggles. The goggles were given to us on the assumption that the Bimodes might squirt
irritant into our eyes. The group had some model Bimodes whose tentacles, made of hose,
could be operated remotely by a person at the back using wires and pulleys attached to the
front of the hose. We then divided into couples and one person operated the Bimode at the
back and the other person attacked the mock Bimode with goggles and sword. The aim of the
game was for the attacking human to cut the piece of hose that made the tentacle before the
front of the tentacle touched them. This operation formed a reasonable piece of practise. We
naturally swapped roles and partners several times.
The next day was less formal. In the morning we all formed small groups and discussed our
own particular experiences with Bimodes. But each group clearly contained a person who was
a member of this whole alternate society. And these people were trying to get the other
outside people to join the self-sufficient farm they were developing on the Isle of Wight. So
this whole conference was partly an enrolment exercise for this whole society. Of course I
wasn’t interested in this feature at all.
25

But at lunchtime, Ellen appeared out of nowhere. She said she was rather hoping I might be
here and she suggested we have lunch together. We took the rolls the society provided and sat
on the grass together. The meeting was a little reminiscent of our last unfortunate meeting.
Ellen then quickly explained why I hadn’t seen her yet. Apparently she sometimes still
worked for the Bimode company. And she assumed the company would very likely have
spies at this meeting - to see if the society was too critical of their product. And, if they saw
her there, she might lose her job.
Ellen was very happy for me to see my child as much as was practical - bearing in
mind she lived in southern England and I lived in the north. My child was a girl called
Namira. So Ellen gave me what I came for without any problem. She even gave me the
impression that she was just as keen for me to see Namira, as I was to see her myself.
As we ate I was impressed that Ellen was still just as fit and healthy as she had been
when I knew her before. And the other people, who belonged to this alternate society, were
also very healthy and well. I started to feel ashamed of my own physical condition. I resolved
that I would have to get a little fitter. I couldn’t bear the thought of what Namira might think
about my current condition.
After getting what I wanted, our conversation dragged. I didn’t want to hear about her
society. But, on the other hand, I didn’t want to talk about my own family. So, to make
conversation, I pretended I was interested in their society.
‘I presume you belong to this alternative society yourself?’ I eventually asked of
Ellen.
‘I certainly do. The society was basically formed from all Dougal’s many varied
contacts. So I was a foundation member.’
‘But I haven’t seen Dougal here at all.’
‘No – we always do our very best to keep Dougal out of the public view. He is still as
bad as he always was. He will still flirt with any woman he meets even when it is highly
inappropriate. And his actions don’t just stop at kissing. And, when Dougal gets drunk, his
behaviour is absolutely appalling. Our society allows no drugs at all and we limit the use of
alcohol very carefully. Dougal obeys these rules - but he thinks he should be allowed to get
drunk about once a month – usually on a Saturday night. And then his behaviour is terrible for
our society’s public image. So Dougal needs to be guarded in public - and we do this. And we
make sure he doesn’t come to meetings like this.’
‘Does Dougal have an official position in your society then?’
‘No – he avoids taking any official position. But he knows everyone in the society
and, if he disagrees with what some official does, then his own position is soon very well
known by most people in the society. And every member knows that Dougal started the
society in the first place. So, if his suggestion is sensible, he usually gets his way. We are a
very just egalitarian democratic society. But Dougal is always in the background with his
weird ideas. But we keep him in check.’
‘How big is your society?’
‘That is a difficult question. We have a little over a thousand members and we own
100 hectares on the Isle of Wight. Normally only about 200 members are actually living on
our land. But over summer, most members like to come and live here for a month or two. And
our accommodation there is just capable of accepting every one here - if people don’t mind
squashing up a bit. And we use our land well. So, even when everyone is there, we are just
capable of supporting everyone on a vegetarian diet. We are very proud of just how so selfsufficient
we can be.’
26

‘So how long do you live down there yourself?’
‘That is another difficult question. To answer this I would have to tell you about my
marital situation. I notice you are wearing a wedding ring yourself. You had better tell me
about your marital situation first and then I’ll tell you just a little about myself. I am sure your
situation is much simpler than mine.’
So I had to tell Ellen about my not very illustrious family. Then Ellen told me about
her life. ‘A couple of years after having Namira, I married a member of our society called
Steve. We had a child together and we all went down to live on the society land. And
everything went well down there for a while.’
‘But I notice you are not wearing a wedding ring now.’
‘Living in a perfect green self-sufficient manner is fine. But it is not very exciting,
After a year or two, we both started to long for the hustle and bustle of normal materialistic
city life. We were bored with our easy life down there.’
‘But why did you separate?’
‘We both wanted to make new friends. And very simply, it was easier for each of us to
make new friends as single people than as a married couple. And we both hated the system of
going out for dinner with our married friends as our major form of relaxation. So we went our
separate ways. Steve and I are still very good friends. And we meet every summer on the Isle
of Wight for a month or two. But it is more fun for us to live our own single lives.’
I didn’t approve of what Ellen was saying at all. But I couldn’t say anything on the
subject because she looked healthier and happier with her life than I was with mine. I changed
the subject.
‘Why does your society think that Bimodes communicate with each other?’ I asked.
‘Do you yourself know more about Bimodes because of your work with the Bimode
company?’
‘I was always very much a junior in the Bimode company on the sales staff. A person
would need to be very dedicated indeed before they started to know anything about the real
nature of Bimodes.’
‘So how did your society learn?’
‘It is a long story. Firstly we always believed that Bimodes, like all animals, would
like to communicate with each other. So we put them in paddocks with about twenty Bimodes
together. And we only gave them one water supply and one methane collection point. And,
with a bit of encouragement on our part, we persuaded the creatures to pass water and gas
between themselves. So then they individually didn’t need to move as far to get water or to
give off gas. And we had less work to do.
‘Then the next step might offend your sensibilities. We found it easier to defecate in
their paddock because then the Bimodes could recycle our excreta immediately. In fact to
make it easier we always did it right next to a creature. And then some guy persuaded a
Bimode to use his tentacle to wash and clean his bum afterwards. And afterwards he patted
the Bimode profusely. And then we found all the Bimodes were offering to clean all our
bums. So this one Bimode must have told all his mates. And many of us were happy to use
this new facility. They did a better job than any bidet could.
‘Finally Dougal persuaded the society to buy an infra-red viewer to watch them at
night. And the creatures showed up very clearly because the compost operation going on
inside them always kept them quite warm. And then we found that the creatures spent a large
amount of time either touching each other or with the ends of their tentacles tightly pressed
together. In fact Dougal thinks that they might communicate on a deeper level than any
animal can. We communicate via language or signals. But Bimodes might communicate
27

directly in terms of nerve signals. After all, each Bimode has several brains and these brains
must communicate by nerve signals between themselves.
‘So Bimodes could be more social animals than we are ourselves. Perhaps Bimodes
can communicate the elements of a picture in the brain’s own subconscious form.’
‘These facts should be better known. Your speaker never mentioned these details in
his talk.’
‘I expect these facts are very well known by the Bimode company - and probably the
governmental authorities know these facts as well. But our society cannot afford to offend the
Bimode company by speaking out. We find these Bimode creatures to be extremely useful in
our farming operation. We hire the Bimode variants that produce milk as well. And we use
this milk mainly for making cheese. A vegetarian diet is OK, if a person also has plenty of
cheese. We don’t want to be just vegan. And by using these Bimodes, we can be selfsufficient
in food without having to use any farm animals. These Bimodes creatures make life
much easier for us. And, as you know, the Bimode company owns all our Bimodes and the
company can take them away from us whenever they like.’
‘Yes – I can see the problem. But, on another subject, I presume you chose to build
your community on the Isle of Wight so that you could cope with the Bimodes should there
be a problem with them.’
‘We did. But we would still have a terrible problem. The Isle of Wight has a
population of 125,000 people and so the number of Bimodes on the island is probably about
400,000. And the maximum number of members we could summon here is just about 1,000.
Now, if the Bimodes got the upper hand on the island, we think each member would be able
to deal with several Bimodes – but certainly not 400 per person. The Isle of Wight is far too
big. But there are no other Islands available for us people who almost all live in the south of
England. Dougal spends an enormous amount of time worrying about the problem. He would
love for the Bimodes to revolt and they then cause havoc to our current human civilization.
But, as yet, he hasn’t worked out a strategy by which we on the Isle of Wight could cope if
the creatures successfully revolted. But, as you know, Dougal is a nut-case. The rest of us
don’t worry about such a possibility. It seems most unlikely that the Bimodes could possibly
get the upper hand. Bimodes do communicate well when in small groups. But the majority of
Bimodes don’t live in groups and even these groups can’t communicate with each other. We
can’t really believe there can be a problem.’
And I of course agreed with Ellen. Dougal was just a nut-case.
Ellen and I then made plans as to how I could see Namira. Then she disappeared again
because she didn’t want to be seen by any Bimode company spies. The afternoon was again
spent practising our old-fashioned fighting techniques against Bimodes. I bought two sets of
swords and goggles to take home. Michelle and the children then could show them to their
friends and tell them I was a bit of a weirdo. In some circles, there is more kudos in being
thought of as a weirdo - rather than as being boringly normal.
I naturally hadn’t told Michelle about my affair with Ellen. So I just had to say it was a casual
one-night stand and I hadn’t known anything about any possible child. Michelle took it quite
well but there definitely wasn’t enough room in our house to have Namira here. So, for the
next two years, Namira and I spent a week together hill walking during our summer holidays.
Our first week was in the Peak district and our second in the Lake district. We spent our
nights in Youth Hostels or Back-packer hotels. Namira was a nice pleasant girl without the
failings of my other two children. We got on well together.
28

The most innocuous way I found to get fit and healthy again was to go on a solid long
walk every Sunday. So my holidays with Namira fitted in with this new activity of mine.
When Namira finished at school, she came up to Manchester and did a technical
course there on “Water Supply and Disposal”. In other words, the course was about plumbing.
So now Namira and I could do a lot more together. She liked folk-dancing and she got me to
join her sometimes with a group who did it in Manchester. But mostly we went walking
together more frequently. But we couldn’t go too frequently because Namira had plenty of
student friends to do things with as well.
29

2. NORTH WALES
That terrible day, which was to become etched into everyone’s memory forever, actually
started very pleasantly for me indeed.
On our various walks, Namira and I had never yet been camping over-night. So I was
keen to show her that I could still deal with this little challenge. So, during a half-term weeks
holiday in May, we took a Tuesday and Wednesday off to go walking in North Wales. We
wanted to go mid-week because then there would be less people around. I naturally chose to
camp in the same field in Llanberis pass because I knew the spot. In fact we camped next to
the large rock at the bottom of the field because it was nice and flat there. And this was the
same spot where we had actually camped nearly nineteen years ago.
On the Tuesday we did the Snowdon horse-shoe. The walk went OK but the day was
windy, cloudy and cold. But the next day I chose to go up the same route that our party had
retreated down from our Cloggie attempt so many years ago. But this time the sun was
shining and the weather was perfect. I retraced our steps upwards and Namira was most
impressed when our route finally broke out onto the rolling hills of the top. When you go up
you go through such a multitude of crags and boulder scree-runs that you find it hard to
believe you will find a way through. Namira is a very nice girl. But she has been affected by
some of her mother’s views. So there are times when she treats me just a bit like a wayward
child. But, when we finally broke out onto the reasonable terrain, she realized her dad really
still did have his wits about him.
From here we made our way the full distance to the Cloggie face, and there we
physically touched that most sacred crag. I had taken the guide-book with me, and I could see
that we touched the route Vember. We had lunch there and during the lunch I could tell
Namira all about Monica and what a fanatic she was. And then we made our way back to our
campsite by this same excellent route I had worked out so many years ago. And besides all
this I was getting just a little bit fitter because I had coped with the long walk pretty well.
When we returned to our camp-site, we thought we would take our time and have a leisurely
meal in the café at the top of Llanderis pass, before we returned home. But I thought I should
check with Michelle before I did so. Michelle was happy for us to stay for our meal. But just
before she rang off she added, ‘It is funny but just over the last ten minutes both I and the two
children have developed slightly itchy eyes. We don’t think it means anything. But it is
strange.’
I didn’t bother about this statement immediately. But then I happened to remember
that the Bimodes were due to have given off their pollen yesterday. As a mathematician I
don’t like strange coincidences like this at all. Could their pollen be contaminated by the
Bimode’s eye irritant? I told my worries to Namira. And we both agreed we needed to return
home immediately. We quickly stuffed our tents unfolded in the boot and set off.
If the Bimode’s pollen was the problem then Namira and I were unlikely to be
affected. Snowdonia is a national park and Bimodes are sensibly not allowed here. National
parks are reserved for just natural flora and fauna. And the Bimode’s pollen is only given off
on one day. So, at this time on the following day, the pollen should have already gone. But I
wasn’t taking any chances. So I told Namira that she must keep her eyes closed when we left
the park. This would mean that, if my eyes got contaminated, then she might be able to take
over the driving. Namira hated having to keep her eyes shut. But she understood the situation.
I was also starting to form a plan that we might also return to Snowdonia with the rest of my
family as soon as possible. Here we would be safe from Bimodes. I know I had thought that
30

the Bimodes couldn’t cause us humans any problems. But there was no harm in us taking
precautions. And I remembered Ellen telling me how clever the Bimodes were.
I turned the radio on to find out if the rest of the world was having problems. And sure
enough, when we were about half way home, there were reports of many people having itchy
eyes. And just before we got home people were beginning to correlate this problem with the
Bimode’s pollen. I had kept in contact with Michelle over the mobile phone and she was now
very pleased that we had decided to return home early. They were starting now to find it hard
to keep their eyes open. It was less itchy if their eyes were kept closed.
Back at home I fairly quickly managed to persuade Michelle that we would be safer back in
Snowdonia. But the children were a different matter altogether. For a start they were worried
about their eyes because they were beginning to hurt slightly. That put them in a bad temper.
And it was very hard for me to explain that the Bimodes might become a problem - without
putting them all in a panic. And then Fiona screamed and yelled and absolutely refused to
leave our home.
But fortunately Michelle then entered the battle in an utter fury. ‘We could all now be
in real danger for the first time in our lives.’ Michelle yelled back at her. ‘And we are going to
face this damn danger together as one family. If necessary we will all die together. So you are
coming with us. If you don’t, I’ll fetch my hair-bush and apply it to your bum as I have many
years ago. You are all going to come.’ Fiona fled to her room in tears. But I felt more at one
with Michelle than I had every felt in my life before. I knew Fiona would now join us.
It took us a while to pack because the three were having difficulties in seeing and they
found it hard to collect the food and bad weather clothes that they needed to take with them.
Namira and I had to help them to collect their gear. And then Namira and I packed the
goggles and the swords. But we did this surreptitiously to avoid causing alarm.
During this time, we naturally had the TV turned on to the BBC news. But we didn’t
have much time to watch it. But before we left, we were lucky to catch the final bulletin.
‘As we all know we have all been affected by this eye infection.’ The speaker said.
‘Specialist doctors have now investigated the problem and they are certain that this is not a
serious illness. It is just a mild infection of the eyelids and it will go away in a day or two. But
over this time we will find it very unpleasant to open our eyes - so we will hardly be able to
see at all. And unfortunately this applies to the whole population - so almost no one can do
their daily jobs. So everything must stop. And this naturally includes all TV programs and our
electricity supply.
‘But the important thing is for people not to panic. All we need to do is to stay exactly
where we are. And fortunately we in the UK are now mostly at home. We each individually
must know where our food, water, toilets and possible sleeping places are and how we can
move between these things without using our eyes. This won’t be easy. But we will be all
over it in a day or two. So we have to just relax and wait and stay close to our friends and
relations. We will live through it.
‘Now we are fairly certain that the Bimodes caused this whole problem. But we
mustn’t worry about this too much. By some unfortunate accident, their eye irritant seems to
have got mixed in their pollen. But this doesn’t mean that the Bimodes are now our big
enemies. It is probably just an accident. But, if you are worried, the best thing to do is to lock
and bolt carefully the doors leading to your balconies or gardens. Bimodes can’t even get up
steps. So they most certainly will not be able to get through locked doors. So we simply have
to be patient. In a day or two, we will be able to have a good old laugh at this minor little
hiccup in our modern civilized way of life.
31

‘But for the time being, all BBC TV channels are now closing down. We, the
broadcasters, can’t see the same as you. So we must say goodbye and farewell for the next
day or too. Some radio channels should be able to keep you in touch about what is happening.
But just at the moment we don’t know which groups will be able to broadcast. So you will
need to switch through all the possible channels. Someone will manage to inform you about
everything.’
So we were being told to stay exactly where we were. Fortunately Fiona had gone
back into her room sulking so she didn’t hear this. For most people this would be good advice
because they didn’t have any other options - they couldn’t see. But in our group, two people
could see and so it was sensible for us to move to safer ground.
When we went outside with all our gear, I was expecting that we would all go in my car. But
Namira also had her own small car here parked in our street. She had used this car to come
over from Manchester. She had even given one of its keys to Michelle so that she could use
the car while we were away. But now Namira saw three young teenagers crying outside a
block of council flats and she went over to investigate. Namira is always excessively socially
minded in trying to help her fellow men. This is the way she is. Apparently the children’s
parents were on welfare and the parents were expecting to get drunk during the time they
couldn’t see. The children didn’t think they would be safe for these days. Namira told them
they could come with her to safety in Snowdonia for a couple of days - if they wanted to and
they could get their parent’s permission. The children were naturally very keen to go.
The children got their permission and so Namira had a full car as well. I had some
doubts myself about this parent’s permission because Namira was just relying on the
children’s word. I would never trust a child’s word. But I didn’t want to waste any further
time in arguing the point. The children were called Julie, Roger and Kirsten. Fiona had known
the children just a little. Fiona at that stage was twelve years old so these three children were
slightly older than her. So we now we consisted of a party of eight.
Because we lived in a southern suburb of Liverpool, we always preferred to go to Snowdonia
using the A5 road rather than the larger coast road. It was very eerie on the roads now because
there were almost no cars and the traffic lights weren’t working any longer. But we still
couldn’t travel too fast because sometimes we came upon pedestrians who were blindly
stumbling along the roads trying to find their way home.
Naturally I was worried that this might be the start of a Bimode revolt. So I was
looking out carefully to see if there was any indication of Bimodes behaving strangely. But on
the whole the journey was uneventful.
But as we passed through the small Welsh village of Cerrigydrudion, I thought I saw a
Bimode in the distance moving quite quickly with what appeared to be a wooden head. I
presumed this was just my feverish imagination and said nothing. At that stage, in another ten
minutes we would be in the Snowdonia Park and relative safety.
But just before the park proper, there was a small hamlet called Pentrefoelias. And, as
we passed through this, I thought I heard a crashing sound. I slowed right down to see what
was happening. And about 50 meters away I saw a very active Bimode smashing down a
doorway with his wooden head. So my previous sight was not just my over excited
imagination. Things were looking extremely bad. I accelerated again to get to the park as
quickly as possible.
But we weren’t out of this hamlet quite yet. Just after the major cross roads in the
hamlet, there was a line of about ten very solid looking Bimodes across the road. These
32

Bimodes also had wooden heads and they were being very effective in preventing car access
to the park. We couldn’t get through – we just had to stop. I got out to study the situation
more carefully.
Fortunately I soon realized that we were in no immediate danger. There weren’t
enough Bimodes to surround us and they certainly couldn’t pursue us. Compared with us
humans the Bimodes were still very slow. And these Bimodes seemed to understand this
situation as well. They left us alone while they continued on with their own business of
organising themselves.
I now had to explain the full situation to everyone. And this took awhile because most
of the people hadn’t seen a thing. Finally they realised that our situation was desperately
serious. And, if we wanted to get into the park, we would now have to walk. Also we would
have to physically carry all our gear ourselves. A lot of gear and food would have to be left
behind and what we took needed to be put in a rucksack. But I explained to everyone –‘if we
are to survive this coming ordeal we are going to have to say farewell to many of the luxuries
of our previous civilization for a significant period of time – things for the next few days
could be really tough.’
While the others were finishing this task, I had a chance to study the “wooden-headed
Bimodes” more carefully. What they had done was quite easy. They had shed their lower
palm branches completely. And top palm branches had been broken off about twenty
centimetres up – just before the leaves began. And these stumps were all turned upwards so
that they rested tightly next to each other. So they made a very effective small battering ram
or club.
And, besides this, I could now see why some of these Bimodes were so much more
mobile. They had simply passed the majority of their stomach contents to other Bimodes. So
Bimodes, who were now in the centre of the road, had far bigger stomachs than the Bimodes
who were on the outsides. Presumably the Bimodes at the centre had got there first. So they
had had time to refill their stomachs. But the Bimodes on the outside had only just got there
and hadn’t had time to refill their stomachs. The Bimodes, which I could now see moving
further away, had very small stomachs indeed. Their bottom blobs were now almost all pure
muscle. Clearly these Bimodes had learnt to do this stomach contents transferral process - in
the same way as the Bimodes had learnt to do this in Ellen’s self-sufficient community in a
much more limited way.
These Bimodes certainly knew how to organise themselves to their own general
mutual benefit.
Finally we were ready to start on our big hike. The sky was turning dark so this walk would
now be over night. But at least the walking would keep us warm. We naturally formed two
strings of people holding hands. I led Fiona, Gavin and Michelle, and Namira led Julie, Roger
and Kirsten.
We had to start the walk by skirting round the Bimodes who were blocking the road.
We couldn’t go south because there was a stream in our way on that side. So we had to go via
the north. There were more Bimodes here because there were more buildings. But there
weren’t too many - so we should be able to cope. Besides they gave no signs of being
aggressive to us. And fortunately, we could follow the northern cross-road, the B5113,
because very soon the road swung towards the west and went parallel to the A5 for a while.
As I led my little group between Bimodes on either side of the road, I noticed a
whitish cord lying across the road. I gave it a kick. And the cord rapidly retracted to one of
33

the Bimodes at the side of the road. But, on the end of this cord, there something that was
very much alive – it was about 20 cms long and it wriggled and squirmed like a large
caterpillar. And then the whole thing disappeared underneath the Bimode.
I didn’t like this episode at all - particularly with Bimodes on either side of the road. I
led the groups rapidly till we were out of the danger area. But, as soon as I had time to think
about the matter, I realized then how all the Bimodes had been in such very close contact with
each other.
Clearly the squirming thing was the small bottom tentacle of the Bimode, which we
normally never see. So what the Bimode had cleverly done was to extend enormously the
range of where this tentacle could go. And it had done this by just stretching its essential
supply of blood, together with a large nerve, enclosed in a light skin. This was the white cord,
which I had kicked. Presumably the Bimode on one side of the road had been in conversation
with the Bimode on the other side until I had rudely interrupted them. Clearly these Bimodes
were very clever and they could adapt their bodies in ways we hadn’t imagined. But I didn’t
worry the others about these matters while we had a long tough walk ahead of us. I kept this
matter to myself.
After a couple of hundred metres along this road, we were free of the buildings and possible
prying Bimodes. So we could leave this road and cut down south to join the A5 road again on
the far side of the Bimode blockage. It is easy to lead blind people along a road. But it is
really hard to lead blind people over rough countryside. But after a bit of suffering we
managed to join the A5 again.
Then we began the long slow trudge to find a safe, civilized, refuge place in the park.
We trudged away for about 10 minutes till we saw the lights of a car approaching us. We
stopped and the car stopped as well. The car contained a couple, who wanted to go and help
their family in Birmingham. We explained the situation about Bimodes now blocking the
road. They wanted to see this for themselves. But in five minutes they were back again. We
then agreed among ourselves that the best place for all people to meet, and find out what was
going on, was the Plas-y-Brenin, National Mountain Centre at Capel Curig. This couple could
take half our party there. So Michelle, Fiona, Gavin and Kirsten squashed into their car to go
to Capel Curig. The other four of us continued on walking. But now we realised that we
would probably get a lift from a car doing the same thing. Or else this couple might come
back and give us a lift depending on the situation. So we wouldn’t be walking all night long.
Fairly soon we passed over the bridge that goes over the river, Afon Conwy. This
bridge divides the Snowdonia park from the rest of the world. So finally we were in the
relative safety of the park. And from here, we chanced to look southwards and there we saw
the lights of a car that was about to join our major A5 road. They were travelling along the
road, B4407, which was fully within the park. (All these features, villages and roads can be
seen on the various Ordnance Survey maps of the area – if you, my reader, wish to do so.) We
waited for them at the junction. The vehicle was a van with a mother and her child in the
front. And they wanted to go to the Mountain Centre same as us. We happily all piled in the
back. Soon we arrived at the Centre and our party were all united again.
There were several hundred people there and they were mostly standing on the road or in the
car park. Clearly everyone else also thought that this was the best place to meet. So this group
probably included most of the residents of the northern end of the park. But it was a very
sombre group of people indeed. Most of the people were trying to hear radio reports or
34

phoning their friends and relations. Over the past few hours, we had been so busy looking
after ourselves that we had forgotten about the general picture completely.
And we soon learnt that the general picture looked very grim indeed. Plenty of people
had reported seeing wooden-headed Bimodes smashing down doors and then entering the
house or flat. And soon after this happening, the occupants of these homes ceased to answer
their phones. The general assumption was that the Bimodes had then gassed the occupants of
these homes using their methane reserves. This was a quick and simple method of bringing
their lives to an end. I of course then rang my own parents but I got no answer. And my
parents are good about always answering their phone immediately. So I had to assume that
they also were no more. Namira rang Ellen but, in this case, the phone was not connected.
Namira’s children also rang their parents and, like me, they got no answer.
And the same thing seemed to be happening the world over. It looked as if a large
percentage of the world’s population were already dead. It looked as if civilization, as we
knew it, was coming to an end. Clearly humanity, as a whole, would still survive because
there were plenty of people in poor remote regions where there were no Bimodes. Also there
were plenty of people, like navy personnel in aircraft carriers, who should be able to look
after themselves. But the same couldn’t be said about the army because they used many
Bimodes in their camps. The general consensus was that a large percentage of the people
living in the towns and cities of the advanced world were now no more.
Many people were crying. But I am not like that. I just sat down on a low wall and
pondered our future here. But even our situation didn’t look too good. I thought we would be
safe here for probably a fortnight. But what would happen after this?
It seemed almost impossible for me to believe that this was all happening. After all
Bimodes were the quietest, most innocuous creatures a person could image. So why should
they destroy the people that created them? But I had to admit, humans were still polluting our
beautiful world just as much as we ever had. I suspected some warped green nut-case,
working in the central Bimode’s development centre in the US, must have surreptitiously
introduced this idea into their brain mechanisms and caused them to do all this. And we all
had to suffer in consequence of this nut-case. But of course I didn’t know what really
happened - like everyone else.
Many people were questioning how the Bimodes could have been so well organised when
they couldn’t communicate. So I had to speak up about what I had seen when walking up the
road in Pentrefoelias. Then more people wanted to hear more details. So, after talking for
quite a while, I became a minor celebrity within this crowd. I explained to them that Bimodes
could be more socially minded than we humans are. Bimodes appeared to be more interested
in their collective benefit than we humans are. Human life on earth tends to emphasise more
our individual gain rather than our general communal benefit.
Soon after I stopped talking, someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was Monica -
looking very much the same as she had 19 years ago. She was still the same old solid creature
with the same mass of hair that she had always had. And she appeared unfazed by the general
panic that the rest of us were feeling. A feeling of relief swept over me immediately. With a
solid sane old creature like her around here, then somehow we should be able to pull through
together. She had two children with her called Hayden and Jenny. They were a little older
than my children. I introduced them to all my party.
When introductions had all been made and all people knew everyone else’s positions
in their relative groups, Monica pulled me aside clearly for a serious conversation. ‘I know
you very well and am fully aware of your faults. But I also know your strengths. And the time
35

has now come for you to use your strengths. You are clever and very good with maps. And
the people here are now starting to know you. And you have a PhD and you are a reasonable
public speaker. You now have to use your excellent brain and tell us all what we have to do if
we wish to maximise our chance of survival. And I can get you the maps you need. So use
these maps and tell us what we have to do.’
Then she led me into the gear shop in the centre and gave me all the maps. The shop
had plenty of mobile gaslights, which people use when camping. So I had adequate light.
Monica knew most of the climbers in Snowdonia. And these climbers usually ran the gear
shops. I sat down to think and work on the maps. Monica returned to our families to tell them
I was now hard at work. For me it was a relief to put all the emotion behind me and finally
use my brain to solve a real problem.
After a couple of hours I thought I had worked out the best plan that was available for us. I
returned to Monica and she agreed. Monica thought we should wait till we had the latest
information about what the Bimodes were doing around Snowdonia first. Various parties
would investigate this in several cars as soon as it was light. So we should know our full
position by eight o’clock in the morning. So then we would have a big meeting on the road
and then I would there present my big plan of escape. This would be a very important meeting
indeed. It was fortunate that Monica knew so many people here and so she could organise
everything for the meeting.
When I joined my family again, everyone was finally trying to get some sleep. By that time it
was 2 a.m.. We had all received so much bad news that night that we couldn’t cope with any
more. And, besides this, the word had started to get around that, if we ourselves wished to
survive, then we could expect a very active day tomorrow. So we needed to get whatever
sleep we could. Everyone around had been good and they had shared whatever gear we
needed. We all slept squashed together on the floor, but we all had a sleeping mat of some
form and a cover to put on top to keep us warm.
I noticed particularly how close Namira had now become with her three children.
They talked to each other a lot and all gave mutual support to each other in this time of
extreme trial. It was pleasant to behold. Everyone had saved some space for me with some
light bedding. So I tried to sleep as well. Of course no one could sleep much at all.
At first light the car parties went off to investigate our position. And they reported back to say
that the whole of the Snowdonia park appeared to be surrounded by a nearly continuous line
of Bimodes. But I was expecting this. Further afield, there was at least one piece of good
news. The west coast of the Isle of Man was still under human control and they were hopeful
of regaining the east coast eventually as well. This Isle had been blessed by a good westerly
wind on the crucial day and so a lot of people on the west coast had retained their sight. So
there was hope for the future for this Isle.
Finally the time came for me to give my big speech. Monica had told everyone about the talk
so everyone was waiting on the road. The close people were all sitting down so everyone
could see and hear well.
Monica rose to introduce me. ‘An old friend of mine, Dr Stan Warner, has just spent
several hours studying our position here on all the various maps. He has come up with a
substantial plan and I think it is very good. Please listen to him very carefully now because all
our lives may depend on what we decide to do right now.’
36

I rose and proceeded to give the essential facts as quickly as I could. ‘Our easiest
option would be to wait and hope that someone will come and rescue us here. We should be
safe here for a fortnight and possibly for a month if we retreat up to the top of Snowdon or
Tryfan. But such a plan must depend on there being helicopters still in operation together with
people who are capable of using them. And these people must have the desire to come and
save us all. This is in doubt. This option could simply lead to a very slow death. But this is an
option we must remember.
‘Our other option is the following. I was hoping to find, on our maps, a small island
which we could swim to and stay there till we were rescued by boats. There are bound to be
many boats still in operation. But I am afraid no such island exists. But, to the west of us here,
there is a marked substantial rock called Bored Beuno. I think this rock will do instead. It is
about 400 meters from the coast so we could swim to it and place a flag on the rock to attract
attention to any boats that are passing by. I suspect that some waves might crash over the rock
in bad weather. But the coastline, next to the rock, is very steep. I don’t think Bimodes could
get down this incline. But we humans could get down easily, if we have ropes anchored at the
top. So most of us, for most of the time, would stay on the shore hidden from the Bimodes
who could well be on the top. And then we could swim to the rock when convenient.
‘To get to this coastline and rock, we would need to take our cars to the Beddgelert
Forest. From there, we would have to hike for at least 15 kilometers over fairly rugged terrain
till we reached the coast. And somewhere, probably close to the coast, we would need to
break through the Bimode line, which is encircling us here in the Snowdonia park. This will
be difficult but, if we have a good-sized party and we take weapons with us, we should be
able to manage this. I think it will take us more than a day to reach the coast.
‘There are many further details we need to discuss. But who, amongst us all here, is
interested in trying this plan?’
And the majority of the people raised their hands.
‘If we are going to be successful we must leave as soon as possible. We must
remember how heavily the Bimodes outnumber us all here. There used to be about four
Bimodes to each person. And in general the coast area here is heavily populated. I think the
Bimodes could now outnumber us here by many thousand Bimodes to one human. We have
to break through their containment lines before the Bimodes have had time to summon all
these numbers. So I think we need to leave soon and break through this main encirclement
before the end of this very day.
‘Can I now see a show of hands of all people who are prepared to leave before noon
today? Please take your time in deciding. This is a very big decision.’
This time the hands were much slower in going up. Everyone looked at everyone else.
But eventually some people put their hands very firmly up. Then other people joined them.
Then finally the majority of people put their hands up. So my plan was on and we would go.
‘We now need to think carefully about what to take with us.’ I continued on. ‘Firstly
we all need good, warm, walking clothes together with wet weather gear. We will each
clearly need our own pack and sleeping gear. The sleeping gear we all used last night is
probably adequate. And we should take food for about a week.
‘We will assume we will get water on the way. But we will each need several light
plastic bottles to hold the water when we get it.
‘We don’t know to what extent we will be able to put tents up and cook. I suggest we
all try to form groups of about ten people. And then each group might take one light tent,
together with cooking gear, between them.
37

‘At some point we will have to fight the Bimodes. I suggest we each take a good
carving knife or something like that. Guns are not very effective against Bimodes. But one or
two might be useful. Also, if people have some goggles handy, then please take them. The
Bimodes might also use their eye irritant against us.
‘Finally our whole group will need some rope. We will need at least two ropes to help
us descend the steep coastline. But also we will need a large amount of light line. We can use
this for pulling gear and people between the rock and the coastline. We probably need about
one thousand meters so that we can form a circular loop of line between the rock and the
coastline. Then we will be able to pull several people and lots of items of gear continuously
onto the rock.
‘Fairly clearly it might take us several hours for us all to gather this gear and form
groups of friends with tents and cooking gear. I suggest we start assembling at the main
parking area in the Beddgelert Forest from 10 o’clock onwards. We don’t all need to leave at
the same time. Lots of people will have maps with the route marked upon them. We only need
to be all together when we have to break through the Bimode’s encirclement line. And this
won’t occur till late afternoon. The early parties can simply wait before this line until
everyone is assembled. And these early parties can work how best this line might be broken.
‘I suggest that I lead a fairly early party to check out the difficulties of the walk and
find out where the Bimode line is situated. Monica can then organise all the later parties
together with ropes and light lines and things like this. And fortunately many of you know
Monica very well. So you will know that you are in safe hands.’
Naturally Monica and I had discussed how we would organise our responsibilities
before hand. I sat down after this speech and I was wondering if I would be applauded. But
there was none. I suppose when people are working out how best to save their lives then there
is no time left over to consider whether to clap or not. Of course the important fact was that
most people were coming.
Monica then rose to speak again. But her main task was to point out to everyone all
the better-known people that were going. These were most of the people who had put up their
hands originally. So people could talk to someone they vaguely knew about.
I then had to organise my own personal group. We had too many young and blind people in
my family group so we needed extra help. Fortunately Monica delegated Hayden and Jenny to
help us. Hayden was 16 and very capable - so he was a real help. While he was helping us, I
asked him where his dad was. I didn’t like to question Monica about this. He told me he lived
in Bristol and only visited them on weekends. So clearly the family weren’t very close and so
that was why Monica didn’t appear to be grieving.
I saw the people who had given us lifts and they were all coming. So these people
could give us a lift to Beddgelert Forest. Also the married couple actually lived close to the
Beddgelert village. So we could get whatever food we needed from their home. But we
couldn’t take much food because it is hard for people to walk when they can’t see where to
put their feet. And we had six people who couldn’t see. This was partially the reason I
suggested our group left early because then we could walk much more slowly.
Our group arrived as the Beddgelert Forest parking area a little after 10 o’clock. Groups of
people then arrived steadily all laden down with provisions. Monica arrived at 11 o’clock. At
that stage there were about 50 people there. Monica would stay behind to organise later
groups. So this current crowd would now be my starting party. We looked an exceedingly
ragged mob of people as we set off into the unknown.
38

Behind Beddgelert Forest, there is a significant range of mountains - not as high as Snowdon
of course – but still fairly high. Surmounting this was to be our major physical problem. To
the south of us lay the highest peak, which is called Moel Hebog and it is 782 m high. I am
sorry about all these unpronounceable names – but we were in Wales. Our path was to lead us
over a pass between this mountain and the mountain to the north of it, which is called Moel-yr
Ogof.
The first kilometer of our journey lay in the Forest itself. Here our route rose steadily
but the path was good and our blind people coped well. But, when we left the forest, the path
grew really steep. Our blind people had great difficulties. But everyone helped and we finally
arrived at the top of the pass in time for a slow lunch. We needed it. From this pass we had a
very good view of the rest of the journey. Our blind members couldn’t appreciate this – which
was perhaps just as well because we still had a long way to go. But at least we could see we
would have no further climbing to do.
From the pass we had to descend for about 2 kilometers. Our blind people found this
worse than going up. But we finally worked out the best technique. A good solid normal
person would walk in front and the blind person would rest their arms on this person’s pack.
So if the blind person lost their footing it wouldn’t matter. It was very slow. But eventually
we completed the descent.
From there the terrain grew easier and it became a normal country valley. There were
a few houses, several enclosures and some roads. A stream called Afon Dwyfor lay at the
centre of the valley. I didn’t want to get involved with the inhabitants and fortunately most of
the houses appeared to be empty. So we crossed the valley as quickly as possible. I left one
person behind to show later parties the route that we had taken.
To the north of us now was a rather rambly sort of mountain called Mynydd Graig
Goch. Our last task in the Snowdonia park was to circle-round the southern section of this
mountain. There was a track - but it wasn’t very clear in places. I had to leave a couple of
people behind to direct future parties where to go. This section went on for about 4 kilometers
so it took us a while. This brought us almost to the edge of the park.
From the point we reached I could see the Bimodes encirclement line in the distance. It went
along the main road south from Caernarfon, the A487. This is exactly what I was expecting.
We were still about 500 m from this road but I wanted for us all to be able to assemble where
there was no chance of the Bimodes detecting us. There was still actually a cycle road in front
of us, which marked the edge of the park. But the Bimodes could possibly detect us on that
road.
While most of the party were resting, I together with Namira and Hayden crept
forward to see the Bimodes in more detail. I had taken the best pair of binoculars from the
gear shop for this very purpose.
I continued to be amazed as to how thorough and organised the Bimodes were. The
line of Bimodes was already of double thickness with all their bases touching. The back line
of Bimodes was placed alternately between the front line Bimodes so that their tentacles
could add to those in front. The front line all had wooden-heads. But about half the back line
had retained their leaves and branches. So they could use the sun to revive their energy levels.
All these Bimodes had fairly full bellies. But I could see that the back line, in particular, were
using their tentacles to pass liquid nutrients up between them. So they were all being supplied
with nutrients.
39

Behind these two static lines there was a continuous stream of Bimodes in motion
moving up from the highly populated coastal towns of the north. All these Bimodes had
empty stomachs so they could move quickly. The wooden-headed creatures would sway their
trunks backwards so that their weight was all over the back-section of the bottom. Then the
front-section of the bottom would then lift up completely and move forwards about a foot.
The trunk would then sway forwards and the back-section of the bottom would then lift up
and join the front-section of the bottom (with an arch between them). They still couldn’t
travel as fast as we can walk. But clearly they would be able to get to wherever they were
needed in a day or so. The Bimodes, who still retained their branches, couldn’t move as fast
as this because they had to make much smaller steps. But even these Bimodes would still
clearly have managed to cover a mile or two in a day.
Periodically the moving Bimodes would stop and refresh themselves from the
nutrients the static backline was passing between themselves. These Bimodes certainly knew
the importance of good supply lines.
Clearly it wasn’t going to be easy for our party to break through this line. And there
were no weak links because the line was more-or-less the same everywhere. And the line was
gradually getting thicker because moving Bimodes would sometimes stop and reinforce the
line. So we would need to break through the line as soon as possible.
When we had gathered as much information as we could, we returned to our main party and
waited till Monica’s later parties would join us. To fill in the time, we passed a sharpening
stone between us and sharpened all our knives as thoroughly as possible.
When all the later parties had joined us, our full party numbered about 200 people. I first
naturally had to tell everyone the full details of how the Bimodes were organised with their
encirclement line.
Then I told them my general plan for an attack on the Bimode line. ‘Fairly clearly we
will have to somehow breach the Bimode line. This will be very difficult and so the people
who do this cannot afford to be encumbered with packs and gear. So what I think we need to
do is to form an attack party of about 50 people. These people need to be the fittest and most
mobile people of everyone here. I think they need to form a breach about 5 meters wide. We
don’t want to take on more Bimodes than we need to - but we want a gap big enough for all of
us to get through quickly. And in this breach, the attackers will have to disable every Bimode.
So they will need to cut off their tentacles and sever their trunks. And then everyone else will
pour through this gap with all our gear and packs. The attacking party will also need to
disable any Bimodes who try to re-enter this breach while our people are passing through.
‘I am afraid that the attacking breach party members could face very heavy casualties.
But we have no other choice – the breach must be made. I personally am happy to lead this
attacking party. But could I get about 50 people to volunteer to be part of this attacking party?
Please raise your hands if you are happy to join.’
Most people offered to join the attack party. But these people needed to be very fit and
agile. Monica wanted to be part of the attack party but the rest of the party refused to let her
go. Monica was too important. But I, on the other hand, was dispensable. Monica was left
with the task of choosing the most agile of the various volunteers. She did a good job. Also
some of our strongest people were needed to carry all our gear through the breach as quickly
as possible. The one thing I didn’t like was that Namira was still left as a volunteer in the
attacking party. But there was nothing I could do. She wanted to do it and she was certainly
very agile.
40

The attack party chose all the best weapons that were available. There were enough goggles
for everyone in the attack party so we put them on. We didn’t know if they would be
necessary. But it was a good precaution.
With the attack party in front we all crept slowly forwards. We got to about 50 meters
of their line without being detected. But then the wooden-heads started to move backwards
and forwards and the moving Bimodes at the back started to cluster in our area as
reinforcements. Our attack party moved forward then as quickly as possible.
I am afraid the actual fighting was terribly crude and horrible. I tried to cut off the
main tentacle of the Bimode I was facing with my sword. But the tentacle moved too quickly
and it took too long for me to cut it off. And I got in the way of other people who wanted to
get in and attack the Bimodes themselves. The best technique seemed to me to get in as close
to the trunk of the Bimode as possible. Then the wooden-head couldn’t hit me because I was
too close. And from this position I grabbed the tentacle with one hand and cut it with the
other. Then I sawed through the trunk till it fell down with the centre oozing nutrients of
various forms. It was all horribly messy and disgusting and it got all over me. My main
danger was, not from the Bimode I was attacking, but rather from the neighbouring Bimodes
who could either bash me with their wooden heads or gas me with their tentacles. But,
fortunately for me, all my neighbouring Bimodes were engaged in fighting for their own
lives. So they had no time to deal with me. In the breach area we had more humans than
Bimodes. So we did have the capacity to overcome them.
When all the Bimodes in the breach had been disabled, our next task was to stop
further Bimodes entering the breach, and so interfere with the people who were carrying the
gear. And now my sword was very useful. A Bimode finds it almost impossible to fight and
move at the same time. So, just with my sword, I could keep several Bimodes at bay and so
they couldn’t get into the breach area. I felt I redeemed myself a little. And also the people
moving through the breach could see the excellent work I was doing with just my sword.
The operation was eventually successful but we all needed to get outside the range of
the Bimodes as soon as possible. And we did this - my attacking party now helped with the
carrying of the gear. When we were out of range of the Bimodes, we stopped to count our
losses. And they were very high. More then half our attacking party were no longer with us.
The trouble had been that a lot of people, near the sides of the breach, had been killed by
neighbouring Bimodes. I had been lucky because I had been at the centre of the breach and I
had been late in getting in close to the Bimodes. And Namira was one of those who had been
killed. This was a huge loss to me. But when we were fighting to save all our lives then
personal grief was a luxury that we couldn’t afford to take then. Twilight was now
approaching and we needed somewhere to stay for the night. We pushed on. We wanted to
put at least one good kilometre between us and that horrible Bimode line.
At that stage we were at the beginning of a flat valley floor. We pushed westward across this
valley floor as quickly as possible. And on the other side there was a spread-out small village
called Bwlch Derwin. This village was our first introduction to the Bimode’s handiwork. All
the doors had been smashed-in and the occupants were dead. Most of the dead people were in
a relaxed situation so we assumed they had mostly been gassed. But, clearly having done their
work, the Bimodes had left to form their encirclement lines. So there were no Bimodes
around. We cleared the rooms as best we could and put our bedding on the floors. We
squashed as many people in a house as we could, because then we would have safety in
41

numbers. We cooked on the floors in camping style and tried to put the horrors of the day
behind us.
I tried to sleep - but I couldn’t. I went out and joined one of our several look-outs that
were checking that no Bimodes were approaching. I thought about Namira. It seemed so cruel
that my own daughter, also the nicest girl I had ever known, should be the one to die. But
recently there had been a lot of documentaries about the Second World War on TV. And there
all the very finest people died. I thought about the pilots in the Battle of Britain and how
many of those pilots died. And I remembered the German U-boat submariners. And how
Hitler had sent nearly all of these real German heroes to almost certain death by giving them
an impossible task at the end of the war. True life is horribly cruel. But it is the only life we
have. I had to accept fate and get on with life. That is what Namira would want me to do.
Over the night all the problem eyes regained their sight. So this was a cause for us to rejoice.
But the weather wasn’t so good now. Although I hadn’t thought about it, yesterday had been
quite fine. But now a nasty wind had picked up that promised patches of rain.
Today we wanted to get to the coast. But we wanted to do this by a route that would
not indicate to the Bimodes that our final destination was the rock Gored Bueno. So we
couldn’t simply choose the easiest route there. Between us and the coast line lay a mountain
called Bwlch Mawr - about 500 meters high. We could climb over this mountain and appear
to arrive from the unknown. But that really wasn’t necessary. The route I proposed was to go
up the lower sections of the mountain through a forest. This was reasonably easy walking.
When the mountain started to get steep there was fortunately a small road that skirted around
the mountain to the north. So we followed this road till it petered out. By this stage we had a
good view of the ocean and the final hurdle we had to surmount. I was again expecting this.
The major road, the A499, which serves the Lleyn Peninsular from Caernarfon,
follows fairly closely to the coastline at this point. And this road was now controlled by a
double line of Bimodes in a similar way that the A487 had been. And we had to cross it. I
chose to skirt around the mountain a little longer because this land was more barren and our
crossing point would then be further away from Gored Bueno. The last thing I wanted was for
the Bimodes to think that Gored Bueno was our destination. We then prepared ourselves for
another battle.
My battle plan was similar to last time with an attack party of about 50 people to break
the line. But this time I thought we would rely more on our mobility and speed. So this time
our attack party approached the Bimode line at a full run. And then we all simply leapt to get
as far through the Bimode line as possible. And many people managed to get to the far side of
the line and attack them from behind. In this way we could mostly have two humans attacking
every single Bimode in the breach area. And then we could make short work of them. These
Bimodes didn’t have a hope. We only lost a couple of attackers who had strayed outside of
our breach area. This time I felt I had redeemed myself after our terrible losses yesterday.
When the battle was over and all our gear had been carried through, we again wanted to
disappear from the Bimode’s possible sphere of vision as soon as possible. And to do this,
this time we needed to get to the coastline itself. If you happen to have the map you will see
that this was just to the west of the village Clynnog Fawr and at the point where the map
marks an ancient burial chamber. But we never found this chamber. Our rock, Gored Beuno
was a little over a kilometre on the far side of the village. I was hoping this would be far
enough so that the Bimodes would not think that this was our final destination.
42

The height of the coastline here was about 20 meters. It was fairly steep and contained
some crumbly rock cliffs, steep grass and shrubs, and ledges. We knew we would be able to
find several ways to scramble up it. But Bimodes wouldn’t be able to manage to go up or
down. So this was what we wanted. But, for the time being, it was easiest for us to tie one of
our climbing ropes to a substantial bush. Then we each individually went down, mostly just
holding the rope for safety. We lowered our packs later. But this all took a while so we soon
added a second rope to help people get down more quickly.
At the bottom there was the usual mixture of rocks and sand. And when the tide was
fully in there would be very little room for us to stay in safety. So we would be forced to
scramble up onto the ledges, if we were staying there when the tide was in. But for the time
being we wanted to see what the Bored Beuno rock looked like. So we slowly scrambled
northwards up over the sand and rocks till we reached what we hoped would be our saviour
rock in the ocean.
Gored Beuno was OK – I’m not knocking it. But fairly clearly waves would crash over it in
bad weather. But in most weather we should be able to man a flag on it and so attract
attention from any boats that were in that region. Unfortunately there was no sea-wall
escarpment at that point of the coastline. So Bimodes would be able to get access to the sea at
that point if they chose to. I had suspected this would be the case from the map. It was a
feature we would have to live with. But there were plenty of other places we should be able to
retreat to in the area we had just come from. There was no sign of Bimodes’ presence near
Gored Beuno yet and the coast road was 500 meters away. So we would have to wait and see
what happened.
A couple of good swimmers swam out to the rock and confirmed they could put up a
good flag on it. But we would leave that till tomorrow. For the time being, we were all
wondering where and how we would manage to sleep on our broken piece of coast
escarpment.
The next week or so was absolutely hell for all of us. I just can’t bear to go through all the
details. But you should be able to understand our situation. When the tide was in, we had to
retreat up onto the ledges which were horribly uncomfortable. We couldn’t sleep there. But
we could get a little sleep on the beaches in snatches when the tide was out. The storms were
ghastly. We got miserably wet. But these storms didn’t last forever and then we could dry out
and recover.
We ran short of food and water. Initially we could raid the odd houses at the top of the
cliff to get extra provisions. But, after about five days, the Bimodes extended their
surveillance activities and formed a new continuous line at the top of the cliff line. So that
activity was out. We normally got water during the storms by filling our bottles from the
small streams that came down the escarpment line. But we could also get water from small
streams further along the coastline. But this involved a very long difficult walk.
After eight days, a small fishing boat finally saw our flag on Gored Beuno. They
picked up a couple of people who they would take back to their home on the Isle of Man.
They hoped they would be able to persuade the authorities to send a large boat to pick us all
up. But they couldn’t guarantee anything because everyone was having difficulties coping
with their new situation. But this was the best we could hope for.
The day after this, the Bimodes extended their surveillance further by sending
Bimodes along the beach from the gap in the escarpment line at Gored Beuno. There weren’t
43

many of them and they moved very slowly. They clearly hated having to clamber over the
rocks. The Bimodes kept themselves in constant contact with each other and the general mass
of Bimodes by their bottom tentacles and cords. So they always positioned themselves about
ten meters apart. Initially we just drew back and kept out of their way. But we couldn’t keep
on doing this. So eventually we were forced to attack them and disable them. This was easy.
But this meant that the rest of the Bimodes would know we were here. And sure enough the
Bimodes started to assemble in great numbers close to the access area.
But this all took a few days to take place. And, before the Bimodes had time to attack
us in force, a large vessel arrived from the Isle of Man and we were all saved. Our sufferings
were over. By this stage we were all also starting to get thin from hunger.
44

3. ISLE OF MAN
On the sea journey to the Isle of Man we had one day to wash, shave, eat copiously and
generally rest. But, before the boat anchored at the Isle, the woman in charge of our
settlement called us all together. She then introduced us to what the harsh realities would be
for our new life on this Island.
‘On the Isle of Man,’ she told us, ‘the whole of the East coast from Ramsey down to
Douglas fell completely under Bimode control. We have only managed to regain control of
Douglas in the last few days. All the people in this area were killed and many of the facilities
were destroyed. So we have lost half our population on the island and most of our transport
facilities are no longer working. So we are having enormous problems.
‘But it is best for us all to look on the bright side. A lot of us are still alive and the
island is now completely free from those accursed Bimodes. Most of our agricultural land is
in a healthy state and so we will have plenty of capacity to feed ourselves eventually. We also
have enough houses to accommodate you. But many of these houses are not exactly inviting
because all the doors have been bashed in and there are still some bodies in them. The stray
cats and dogs have started eating these corpses. Douglas is beginning to stink.
‘So, when you land, you will all be immediately thrown into the task of trying to bring
civilized life back to these devastated areas. This won’t be easy. So what I am going to do
now is to hand out forms to you all, which you will have to fill out. These forms naturally
require your names, ages and relationships. But of course the important items are your
abilities and how you can help us reconstruct our society. And from this we will delegate to
you your various future jobs on the island.
‘The people we need most of all are mechanics to fix our broken down vehicles and
tractors. And then we need people with agricultural experience to tend our crops. Also we
desperately need trades-people like plumbers, electricians, carpenters etc. Our demand for
these people is so great that these people will be immediately housed comfortably where they
are needed. And, at the moment, this is on the western side of the island. This has become the
civilised side of the Isle.
‘I am afraid the rest of you will be housed in Douglas. Your task will be to bring this
town back into some sort of civilised order. This will be a most unpleasant task – but it must
be done. The first task will be to go through all the houses, take out any dead bodies, remove
any food and catalogue all the contents of the house for future usage. And then you will have
to gradually make the houses habitable again. Some of us islanders will also be helping you in
this task. So you won’t be entirely alone.
‘But this current day is nearly over. You can all rest and recover on the boat for this
night. But tomorrow your labours will begin.’
Then of course we had to fill out our forms. And unfortunately none of my family or
Monica’s family were trained for any of these “useful” jobs. So we would all be stationed in
the horrors of Douglas.
This was very disappointing for us all. But we should have expected this. I on the
whole was very pleased with the speech because the woman in charge seemed very sensible
and the operation on the whole was well organised. I understand these situations – it could
have been a hell of a lot worse. If you have read about the reconstruction of Germany after the
Second World War, it was absolutely hell. This would be a piece of cake compared with that.
And it was we British that caused most of that destruction.
45

On the following day, most of our whole group were settled in a western suburb of Douglas.
This area had already been cleared of bodies and had been catalogued. Monica and myself
managed to get our families housed in adjacent terrace houses here. They were largish
terraces and we shared the extra three children between us. The houses were terribly dirty,
stank and the doors hadn’t been repaired. Some of the windows were broken. The electricity
of course wasn’t working so we had to make do with candles. We cooked on the ground in the
garage on a fire made from the now unnecessary picket fence that divided our two houses. We
spent that day cleaning the houses and making them vaguely liveable again. So we put some
cardboard over the broken windows and doors. We could see it would be a long time before
we could return to civilised life once more.
The next day we started our work duties. I, together with Hayden and Roger, joined a party
that was doing the initial work of clearing out of bodies and cataloguing - in the inner suburbs
of the town, which had not been looked at yet. Michelle and all the other children joined the
other local workers who were trying to repair the houses that had already been cleared and
catalogued in our suburb. Monica scored what she thought was the best job of all. Once, for a
fortnight, she had helped a park ranger group in Snowdonia who were trying to shoot some of
the feral cats and dogs in the park. On the basis of this minimal experience, she had claimed
on her form that she was an excellent rifle-shot and that she was very experienced at getting
rid of wild cats and dogs. The authorities believed her and so she was supplied with a gun and
joined another guy getting rid of the now wild animals. Monica was in heaven. She had
objected strongly at not being allowed to join the attacking parties against the Bimodes. This
was her chance to do a bit of fighting for herself.
The people working on the inner suburbs were organised in groups of between five
and ten people. Each group was led by a guy from the Isle of Man. The authorities had no
spare working vehicles for us to use so we had to walk everywhere and carry everything in
wheelbarrows and carts. We even sometimes used a large pram. We needed to get rid of the
dead bodies as quickly as possible because of the stench. So the graves we made were just
rough ditches.
The guy in charge of our group liked to help in the physical work himself. So he
rapidly left all the cataloguing work to me. This was quite detailed because naturally the
authorities wanted to know the number of beds and other furniture each house contained. I am
quite good at doing these mundane accounting tasks. So I was very useful here. In fact, after a
week, the guy in charge decided I could run our group. He could then return to his family on
the western side. So I was left in charge of our group.
I was in charge of this group for a fortnight and I thought we did this very necessary
task quite well. But our job came to an end because the whole of Douglas by then had been
catalogued. So I wondered what my next job might be. And there was no indication that
anyone had any use for a mathematician at all. So I thought I would have to become a normal
labourer like everyone else.
On a day when there wasn’t so much to do, I knew there was an important task that I
had to do. I had learnt that the Isle of Wight had survived and was also back under human
control. I had to write to Ellen and explain about the unfortunate death of Namira. This was a
difficult task for me to do. I still felt I was partially to blame for her death.
But, before I received instructions about my new labouring job, I received a personal letter
from the Mayor of Douglas himself asking me to see him on the following day. I was
naturally elated.
46

The Mayor wasn’t like me at all. He was short fat and always in a rush with some new
idea or to do some new job. His office was always a mess. He was quite old and had a large
number of grandchildren. But we were both what I would call, in its best possible sense,
“organisational men”. We both liked to see a society function well and for this to happen we
both knew it had to be well organised. And we both already knew, from what we had heard
and seen, that the other did a good organisational job. So before we even met we were
determined to get on with each other. And we did. His name as Kevin Hendricks and of
course we were almost immediately on first-name terms.
After the usual introductions and personal chat, Kevin explained why he had called
me. ‘On this island we have always strived to be a democratic society. In fact, some of our
Island historians boast that the Isle of Man has been run in a democratic fashion since the
Vikings arrived here more than a thousand years ago. And this is longer than anywhere else in
the British Isles. But these matters are always debatable. However we certainly want this
democratic rule to continue. But when a disaster strikes like this, then we need to take shortterm
measures to maintain order. So I am not actually the elected mayor because the Bimodes
killed the elected mayor a few weeks ago. I am just a past mayor who was called in as a
temporary measure.
‘Now it is far too early for us to consider holding elections. Everyone is still trying to
settle in and no one knows any possible candidates as well. But we need someone who will
work with us who could represent the various newcomers’ points of view. And we think you
are the ideal person to do this. I have heard all about you – how you led your two hundred
strong group of people out of Snowdonia to the coast. That was a heroic effort. And we have
seen with our own eyes how well you work with the people. You have led your group well
and have helped to set Douglas up again as a healthy civilized town.
‘So would you be happy to join us in this office as the temporary representative of all
the new people who are arriving? And there will be quite a lot of such people because all the
people, who happened to be on cruise-ship holidays on that fatal day, are looking for places
where they can settle down. So many people want to come here. So representing all these new
arrivals will be a very important job indeed. We really do hope you will take this job on.’
And of course I was exceedingly happy to accept.
So now I started on a very important job at the centre of public life. The sort of life I
dreamt of in my younger days – but never attained. Naturally there were problems. A lot of
the new arrivals expected far too much. But they all had signed an acceptance of conditions
form before they were allowed to disembark. So, when they complained too much, I just
forced them to read their signed statement again. I naturally had my own office in the borough
council centre. I loved being at the centre of all the action.
And as time went by, we gradually got the various amenities working again. First we
managed to get the electricity running again. But initially this was only for lights. You might
expect that we would be short of oil or coal for fuel. But that was not the case. The crews of
the big oil tankers also wanted somewhere they could settle. So some of them brought their
tankers here so we would have sufficient oil to last for quite a long time. We got a few buses
running so we didn’t have to walk everywhere. And we finally got some schools going and so
our children could start the learning process again.
So gradually life moved towards a more normal civilised existence. So we started to
use money again, rather than just the food coupons we had used up to this point, as a means of
checking everyone would be fed.
47

I naturally continued my close friendship with the mayor. After a couple of months, he
suggested he and his wife and I and Michelle should take a fishing boat trip together. Then we
could inspect what the Bimodes were now doing on the mainland. Of course we were keen to
go with them and find out.
We took good binoculars and we could get quite close to the land. So we had a good
view of what they were now doing. The Bimodes now were avoiding both the towns and
roads. They were leaving these places completely so that the trees would grow and their
natural growth would eventually destroy most of our civilised work of previous ages. The
Bimodes didn’t appreciate our good works at all. But the Bimodes didn’t like too many trees
themselves. So, in the open fields, we could see them slowly moving in lines clearly eating
any tree seedlings that were starting to sprout. They weren’t going to allow any trees to pinch
all the sunlight they wanted. But they weren’t hogging the land all for themselves. They had
broken all the walls and fences down and the grazing animals, like sheep, cows and deer,
could now wander freely. So they were supporting a good balance of nature. They were
sensible creatures.
As you might expect, the Bimodes always remained connected to their neighbouring
Bimodes by their extended bottom tentacle. They were clearly very social animals, who
would look after their own communal interests very carefully indeed.
On the shorelines themselves, there was always a double line of Bimodes outside the
range of any high seas. But, closer to the water, there was also always a line of Bimodes,
connected by their bottom tentacle, who braved the larger waves. The Bimodes were still
clearly determined to hold onto the land they had won.
‘What has been happening in the rest of the world?’ I asked of Kevin after seeing all
this.
‘After the first month, the Bimodes appeared to be happy with the land they had taken.
So in Scotland, the isolated villages on the mainland, which weren’t taken immediately by the
Bimodes, are now being left in peace. As you can see on the coast line, the Bimodes define
the limit of their range by a double line of Bimodes. If people attack this line then the
Bimodes will first assemble there in great numbers. And then they will attack us with
overwhelming power. So now these isolated settlements certainly don’t try to interferre with
the Bimodes at all. The communities in the north of Scotland have specifically contacted us
here asking us not to attack the Bimodes. If we did, the Bimodes would retaliate by attacking
them. And we have agreed to this. And the same situation applies in the rest of the world. So
now peace reigns everywhere. And we are accepting this for the time being. We have to.’
‘So what are now the current estimates of the number of humans remaining on Earth?’
‘The current estimates are that the Bimodes killed about 99% of our human
population. So there should be now about 60 million humans still alive. Of these about 10
million are living on civilized islands like us here. The other 50 million people are either -
living in small dispersed settlements like the people in Scotland or they are living in primitive
conditions in difficult regions like mountains, deserts or jungles. Most of these people don’t
have radio transmitters so it is hard to be certain about numbers.’
‘It will certainly be a long, long time before we will be in a situation to regain our land
from the Bimodes.’ I replied.
‘Yes. Most of us are becoming resigned to this horrible fact. And some of us are
beginning to even respect the Bimodes. They have certainly saved us humans from the
climate change we were all causing. And, now the battle is over, they seem to be very
peaceful indeed. Many of us are now beginning to regret the fact we completely slaughtered
48

all our Bimodes on this island. We could have used them as before to produce methane and
recycle our rubbish. They were useful for that.’
So now I knew the current situation as regards the Bimodes. Monica had got her
stupid wish of many years ago. At stupendous cost to human life, the earth had been saved
from climate change.
A few weeks later, the pamphlet shown at the end of this chapter (page 56) appeared stuck
around some of the lamp-posts in the town. I immediately got a frantic call from Kevin. He
didn’t like this new development at all. Apparently there were quite a few such pamphlets
stuck-up over the whole island.
When I got to Kevin’s room he looked very serious indeed. He gave me the pamphlet
and I read it very carefully.
When I had read it, I looked up to see Kevin’s very worried face again. I couldn’t help
laughing. ‘There is nothing to worry about this poster.’ I said. ‘It is just a complete load of
rubbish. I probably even know the author. He always was a ratbag. We have nothing to worry
about it.’
‘You may laugh – but no one else is. We, the people in charge of this island, all agree
the pamphlet is a load of rubbish. But we are worried about it because of our young people
here. Our young people have not learnt about all the previous failures of communism. And
they are partly thinking that our failure to defend ourselves against the Bimodes was partly
the fault of our capitalist system. So young people are very susceptible to communistic ideas
at the moment.
‘Most of the senior people in our government simply want the pamphlets all taken
down and any possible agents carefully hunted down. But I have very grave doubts about
such a strategy. If we did this, the young people would still talk among themselves and they
might even start to believe that the Isle of Wight contained a Utopian kind of society. What
do you think about the situation?’
‘I agree with you entirely. I think we have to bring the whole matter into the open and
discuss the matter completely. We need to teach all our children all the facts about political
forms and their weaknesses.’
‘But how would we do this?’
‘I think we have no other option but we must institute a compulsory subject on
political forms in all our schools.’
Kevin thought carefully about this for a minute or two. ‘Politics is a terribly difficult
subject. What would we then actually teach our children in the subject?’
‘I suppose we would have to start the course by simply going through the various
points in this proclamation and explaining why each of the statements is wrong.’
‘Yes, that is true. So the first one is “All people will be well fed with a healthy diet.”
What do we say about that?’
It was me then that now had to do some careful thought. But fortunately I knew this
subject quite well. ‘The first three points all go together because they all deal with the
question of how quickly a community is capable of expanding. Clearly a community cannot
feed and accommodate its people if it doesn’t have the facilities to do so.
‘I don’t think any community can possibly expand at a rate faster than doubling its
size every 25 years. As regards possible birth-rates, this means that most women would have
to have at least 4 children and have them mostly before the age of 25. This is possible but
49

very difficult. It would also be almost possible to double our infrastructure of agriculture,
housing and transport at the same rate. Anything above this rate is impossible.
‘So the first three points are wrong because they all imply the community can grow at
whatever rate it likes.’
‘I agree with you entirely. Do you think we should suggest to the children that we
ourselves should try to expand at a fast rate like this as well? The children would then see for
themselves how horrible life would be if we tried to do this. Each child would then receive far
less help and attention’
‘Yes, I agree - that would be a great idea.’ I told Kevin and we agree on most things.
We then ordered ourselves a cup of tea and we gave ourselves a rest from hard thinking.
The next point was “All women will always retain the complete right to say who their
partner will be, for their next child.” This is how I explained how we should reply to this to
Kevin. ‘Giving women this right will strongly undermine our sensible civilised concept of the
family unit. Family life has always been the basis of life since civilisation began several
millennium ago. Family life depends on this concept because it ensures that the man will stay
committed to supporting the family. No man will support a family that is not his own. So this
restriction is essential. And this agreement is better for the women in the long term as well.’
And as usual Kevin agreed with me completely. “Free love” never has worked in the
long term - and never will.
The next point was “All people will have exactly the same quality of life, amenities
and conditions as everybody else – including our leaders.” Again Kevin and I were in firm
agreement. All people need an incentive to work hard and do their jobs well. If everyone is
always supported in the same manner then why should anyone try to work hard at all?
Complete equality has always been a utopian dream. It never has worked and it never will.
We both agreed.
The next item was about democracy and how, in their society, all people would be able to see
and partake in the democratic process completely at all times. Kevin was particularly
passionate about democracy so he started the discussion. ‘That item about their democracy
implies that we are less democratic than they are. And just at the moment on the Isle of Man
this is partially true. This is because everyone is in a state of flux and people wouldn’t know
how to vote. And young people could be critical about this current situation.
‘One of the problems we were having, before this terrible calamity took place, was
that the wealthy basically owned the majority of our mass media. And they persuaded
everyone to be too complacent about climate change and the increasing ownership of the
nation’s infrastructure by the rich. One of the blessings of this disaster is that this has all
changed. And now we have no TV and all we have is the radio. Now I would like to make
sure that our media doesn’t fall into the hands of the wealthy ever again. So my suggestion is
that we allow everyone to democratically elect a body that runs the media. And we could do
this right away and let children, at school, elect their own representative to this body. Then
everyone could see that we really are a democratic body and the young people at school can
feel they really are having their say. And also all people have very passionate opinions about
the various programs. They want to have their say and they get some of the programs they
want.
‘So my suggestion is that we institute immediately a democratic system of running the
media.’
50

I wasn’t sure I agreed with this idea. I regarded the majority of programs on TV and
radio as a triviality. And this task would involve a lot of work. But I had to show enthusiasm
to Kevin. ‘Yes that is a good idea and it is important that children feel partially involved with
how our country runs. But as a mathematician I do have to tell you about the limitations of
voting. A mathematician called Arrow has actually proved that no voting system can obey 5
simple conditions that any person would expect of a voting system.’
‘I don’t believe you.’
‘I have forgotten the exact conditions myself. But the simplest problem we are all
aware of is the fact that, if there are two candidates with similar views, then this view will be
unfairly discriminated against because the relevant votes would be shared between the two
candidates. There are voting system that can overcome this problem. But then one of the other
simple requirements will be broken. It is a difficult problem.’
‘You may be right - but I am sure young people will not be aware of the problem. Do
you think we should persevere with this idea?’
‘Yes, I certainly do. But I think young people also need to be brought to the realisation
that large democratic gatherings simply do not work. Some ratbag people speak for far too
long, people get bored and some important statements can’t be heard. Besides this, there are
some difficult decisions that need a large amount of study. People are not capable of doing
this study at raucous meetings. In general, large popular meetings are not capable of making
difficult decisions. A society does need to have experts who can advise the general populace
as to what is best to do in difficult circumstances. Like most of the suggestions in this
proclamation, large meetings rarely work in practice.’
We naturally discussed this point for quite some time. In fact we had a further cup of
tea. We agreed we would try to persuade the complete government body to do something in
this direction.
The final point of the proclamation was about how their community wouldn’t allow any
individual wealth accumulation. But this point, of course, was basically the same as the point
about absolute equality. Again this idea wouldn’t work because then there would be no
incentive for people to work hard and to prepare for their future. This idea was all part of the
common, simplistic, utopian dream.
The proclamation also referred to us as “capitalistic states”. And Kevin and I agreed
that we on the Isle of Man were not a “capitalistic state”. We were in fact a “modern
socialist/free-enterprise democratic society”. And the degree to which we were either socially
oriented or free-enterprise oriented could be changed according to which party was chosen at
an election. But this flexibility probably needed to be retaught to our young people on the Isle
of Man once again. The Isle of Man was in fact being run as well as is possible. There must
be limits on what people can really expect of any government.
Finally Kevin said. ‘I would like now to personally take all these suggestions of ours
to the full parliament to determine how we should deal with this proclamation. So this means
every student in all our schools would have to attend a class period on political forms once a
week. And there the students would learn why this extreme form of socialism, expressed in
this proclamation, wouldn’t work. And this class would also start the process of direct
democratic media control.
‘But there would be a problem because I don’t think we have at present sufficient
teachers who could adequately teach this subject. So I would like to suggest that you, Stan,
first of all, go round our schools and explain to interested teachers precisely what needs to be
taught.
51

‘Now I am not suggesting this person should be you just because you are my personal
friend. You have many abilities and qualities that make you ideal for this task. First of all you
actually know the subject very well. I don’t think the students will be very interested in the
mathematical fact that no voting system can obey 5 simple rules that you would expect of a
voting system. But the students would be very impressed that you actually know this fact.
‘Also you can successfully give the impression that you are unbiased. Most people
that are interested in politics hold either conservative opinions or socialist opinions. You
mercifully hold neither.
‘Also you have actually visited the various Kibbutz and you know their problems.
Very few teachers have had this experience. It is important that you have this hands-on
knowledge.
‘It will help that you are actually an experienced teacher yourself.
‘And finally you are a hero. You led your party of 200 people out of Snowdonia and
the vast majority of your followers are with us here now. This was a great feat. And I will
personally make sure that all students and teachers know this fact before you come. You are a
real hero. This is important for young people.
‘So you are the ideal person for this task. Can I persuade you now to take on the job?’
Naturally, with all this great build-up for the job, I could hardly refuse. But I am
careful in everything I do. So I added this restriction. ‘If I do go around the island in this
capacity, I want it to be made very plain that I am not in any way against this new egalitarian
government of the Isle of Wight. All people have their Utopian dreams and it is good that
these people try to realise their dreams. I know they will all fail. But it is a good experience
for everyone to at least have a try. Besides I believe in variety and so the more different kinds
of society that live on this earth the better. Do you think that the parliament would be happy
with this position of mine?’
‘I support you completely with this idea and I will make sure that our parliament takes
the same view. It is much better you feel this way because it demonstrates most clearly that
you are unbiased.’ Kevin and I always agree on everything.
This whole idea was accepted by parliament. So, within two weeks, I was given my own car
and soon I was touring the island, teaching the various interested teachers about the practical
necessities and limitations associated with any democratic governmental form. Even some of
the advanced students joined in as well. I am proud to say I did a very good job. So quite soon
most schools were running sensible courses on this very difficult subject themselves.
I kept quite a low profile in this activity because I didn’t want to appear as a political
figure at all. Also I continued with my job as the representative of the new boat people. So I
only spent two days a week touring the schools. But in my quiet little way I was enormously
pleased with the way I did the job. And a large number of teachers and students thanked me
for what I had done. In all my life I had never been appreciated as I was when doing that job.
It is very rare indeed for the good works of a mathematician to be appreciated. So, when it
does happen - it is wonderful.
A month or so later my daughter Fiona was due to have her thirteenth birthday. I thought this
was a suitable time for us all to have a little celebration. During our time on the Isle of Man,
our whole family had prospered remarkably well. And this success wasn’t just about me and
my jobs. Both my children had become much healthier individuals. The five other children in
our group had caused them both to become more social. Fiona had lost her excess weight and
52

Gavin no longer had a computer to waste his time on. Michelle now enjoyed the status of
being my wife and she took a very active role in our local community. So she now took life
much more seriously. She wouldn’t dream of having an affair with anyone here. So my whole
family were now healthier and more unified than ever before. I was naturally very pleased
with our total new situation.
I know it sounds terrible – but we all had largely forgotten about our previous lives
and the 99% of the world who had perished in the calamity. We had our own new lives to
lead. And the Bimodes now seemed very peaceful indeed so this new life could continue as
long as we liked.
Fiona’s birthday occured on a Friday. So we could have a full family dinner on the
Friday night with Monica and her children, together with Namira’s three children as well of
course. This allowed Fiona to do what she liked with her own personal friends over the
weekend.
I helped Michelle cook a fine roast dinner. As our special item we prepared a very
potent blackcurrant brew. We, like many people, had grown some vegetables and plants in
our back-garden. Our blackcurrants in particular had grown very well indeed. So our brew
was made from these currants. We didn’t add too much sugar to this brew so the drink had a
real tang to it. It was quite different from the blackcurrant juice we used to buy in the
supermarkets. It had a real bite to it.
The dinner went very well. At the end of the dinner, I gave a little speech describing
how fortunate we now were – and how we were in a very prosperous and healthy position
indeed. I then asked Fiona if there was anything she would like to say on the subject - now
that she was a full-blown teenager.
‘Yes, there is something I would like to say.’ Fiona replied. ‘We children have all
been talking between ourselves a lot. But I would like my special friend Kirsten to say
something first.’
I didn’t like the look of this situation at all. But I did have to give the nod to Kirsten to
say something. She rose to speak as if this speech had been carefully rehearsed beforehand.
The children had clearly been planning this item between themselves.
‘Namira was very special indeed to us three children.’ Kirsten said. ‘After all she
saved our lives and possibly lost her own life in doing so. We try to remember absolutely
everything we can about her. And we remember very clearly indeed what she told us on that
dreadful night at Capel Curig. She told us everything about the life she had spent in the
community on the Isle of Wight. And she thought it was terrific – she loved it. The reason
that she wanted to see so much of her old Dad was to persuade you, Dr Warner, to come
yourself into the community on the Isle of Wight. She regarded your love of capitalism as just
an unfortunate aberration.
‘Now we three children definitely want to go to the Isle of Wight because Namira
would definitely want us to go there as soon as possible. This is exactly what she was
planning for us all along.’
And then the other four children, that is, Monica’s and my children, chorused in that
they all wanted to go as well.
I had to be very firm about this situation. ‘You certainly can’t go now – you are all
much too young. At the very earliest, you would have to wait till you capable of making such
a big decision which is legally at the age of eighteen.’
But then, very quietly indeed, Monica rose to speak as well. She was even bigger than
normal now because she was pregnant. I had been wondering for some time how this
occurred. By my calculations this pregnancy must have started while we were all suffering on
53

the sands and cliffs opposite Bored Beuno. But I couldn’t find out the details because this was
clearly just Monica’s business.
‘I am sorry Stan,’ Monica said, ‘but I feel it is my duty and obligation to take both my
two children, and Namira’s children as well, to the Isle of Wight.
‘This is my obligation because I feel it is their right to do what Namira would want
them to do. But, when they came to ask me to do so, I was absolutely delighted. I know that
you, Stan, and Kevin have done an incredibly good job in bringing normal civilised life back
to this island. But the fact is – I have never been all that keen on normal civilised life. And
when I read the proclamation, I was mad keen to go to the Isle of Wight. I would love to
return to a simpler less civilised way of life. And I would dearly like to get stuck into the job
of taking our land back from the Bimodes as well. I have never been adverse to indulging in a
bit of violence when it is necessary. But, for a while, I thought I had to stay here and support
the good work you, Stan, were doing here. But as these five children all definitely want to go
to the Isle of Wight – I am now more than willing to take them.’
‘But Gavin and I definitely want to go to the Isle of Wight as well.’ Fiona exclaimed.
Fortunately Michelle then came to my rescue. ‘We are all definitely staying here as a
normal family till you are old enough and you can decide for yourself. Your father has done a
wonderful job of bringing peace and prosperity back to this island. We must continue to give
him our complete support. Forget about leaving – we are staying right here.’
This announcement was naturally followed by an embarrassed silence. We filled in the
space by sipping our potent brew of blackcurrant juice. But then Monica spoke up again to
break the silence. ‘There is one fact that all you children don’t know about yet. This is that the
guy who started the Isle of Wight community was an old friend of Stan and myself. He was a
climber and we climbed together. When we climbed there was one very special song he liked
very much indeed. Let us all sing the song now. It will give you an idea of how fanatical and
eccentric this guy really is.’
So Monica first taught us all the words of the chorus to “the People’s Crag”. Then we
were all able to join in, in . . . .
Then raise the piton hammers high
Upon this crag we’ll do or die;
Though leaders fall and seconds spill,
We’ll raise the standard higher still.
Then Monica sang the verses and we all joined in with a very raucous chorus. Monica
explained to everyone that in those past gone years people were nothing like as safety
conscious as we are now. We then forgot about our future problems and simply enjoyed the
night.
That night in bed both Michelle and myself were very restless. We couldn’t forget that our six
closest friends were soon going to leave us for a very different kind of life on the Isle of
Wight. Finally Michelle spoke. ‘I will do whatever you want us to do Stan – but I now think
we really ought to go to the Isle of Wight as well - at least for a short time. The children really
want to go with their friends and there is no real reason for us not to go. Even for your work
here, it would be far better if you could tell our people here precisely how the egalitarianism,
they all talk about, actually works out in practice. And our children would respect us more if
we show that we are prepared to see how the other side lives, like their friends are doing.’
54

‘I particularly object to this community’s lack of respect for marriage.’ I replied. ‘I
want us to remain as a normal married family.’
‘You are thinking about my past, aren’t you? Well I am very happy to promise I will
be completely faithful to you during our time there. But perhaps the best thing for us to do is
to start the process of having another child before we go. Then you will know I cannot stray.’
I was happy with this. We still talked about the whole situation for ages. Finally I was
persuaded that we should go to the Isle of Wight for three months. It would be a different
experience of life for us all - if a very unpleasant one. So we then both enjoyed starting the
baby-making process.
So in the morning I told Monica about our new plans. I suggested we would leave a few
weeks after her party had left. I explained that, if we all went together, this would mean I
would be bound to get involved with Dougal and his crowd. This was the last thing I wanted.
Monica understood my position. She smiled. Monica then told me the address of the agent
who would organise my family’s travel arrangements.
I was expecting that the agent would be some long-haired young radical. But he
wasn’t at all – he was a little older than me and he ran an obviously successful small boating
company. He was called Tom. I told him my family had plenty of money so we would pay for
our return trip to the Isle of Wight. Then we could return here in three months time without
any feeling of obligation to remain on the Isle of Wight.
‘I appreciate your situation.’ Tom replied with a smile. ‘But you have to understand
our situation. Our Isle of Wight state is committed completely to expanding and taking back
the land, which the Bimodes have taken from us. To do this, we desperately need more
people. But we don’t have the slightest interest in money. So we want the people, who come
to the Isle of Wight, to have a definite desire to stay on the Isle. So we have no interest in rich
people who only want to stay for a short time to see what we are like. Also we have
absolutely no desire to have people stay on the Isle who do not share our great aspirations. So
we will certainly send such people back to where they came from as soon as possible.
‘So we do not accept payments from people like you, who just want to pay for a return
trip. Also there are plenty of ways we can arrange so that you will feel absolutely certain that
you can return to the Isle of Man - if you don’t like us. But you must come to the Isle with the
aspiration that you want to stay with us. If you wish to lie to me - then that is fine by me. But
I must hear from you that you do all share our hopes.’
I myself would then have refused to go. But I had told the children we would be going
there for three months. And they certainly wouldn’t appreciate the subtleties associated with
these different financial arrangements. I was forced to verbally agree to their ideas. I wasn’t
forced to sign a contract that agreed with these stupid aspirations. But there was a slight
implication that I had to respect their desires.
I went and told Kevin about the whole business. He grudgingly agreed I had to go.
Hopefully I would return in three months time back to the Isle of Man. And then I could
continue to report to our children on the Isle of Man that these simplistic communistic ideas
never have and never will work. So our children would have even less desire to leave us to go
to this fanciful Utopian dream.
55

THE NEW EGALITARIAN STATE
of
THE ISLE OF WIGHT
PROCLAIMS:
After a prolonged battle, against the incredible numbers of 500,000 Bimodes to 2,000
sighted humans, our community has prevailed. We have now proved that an
egalitarian community form is a very effective mode of living. And we are now ready
to share this new mode of living with the rest of the world.
We offer our land, and our community way of living, to absolutely all people in the
world. We guarantee to all people who join us that:
• all people will be well fed with a healthy diet,
• All people will have adequate warm accommodation,
• All women may have as many children as they like and their children will all be
well supported,
• All women will always retain the complete right to say who their partner will be,
for their next child.
• All people will have exactly the same quality of life, amenities and conditions
as everybody else - including our leaders.
Newcomers must accept two very important limitations. These are:
• All people must partake in our democratic process. This usually means that
one afternoon per week must be spent at a community meeting where all
decisions are made and all people vote. All modern societies claim that they
are democratic. In our society, all people can visibly see that the community is
being run in completely democratic manner.
• In our community we allow no individual wealth accumulation. We find wealth
accumulation interferes with our fundamental egalitarian principles.
Our state is completely focused on regaining the land the Bimodes have taken from
us. This is why we are community based and we do not allow all the unnecessary
luxuries of capitalist states. But we expect that we will start taking back our land in
just a few years time.
If a person doesn’t like our manner of living, then they may certainly return to their
previous homes. We don’t want people to live here if they don’t like us. But the cost
of transporting new members to here is quite high. So we require all people to live
here for at least three months before they can return to their previous country. All
people must give us a reasonable trial. We support a very different manner of living.
If you are interested, please write to us at the Isle of Wight. Someone will then
contact you where you are. We suspect that the authorities in your land will regard
our ideas as subversive. So our agents must act in secret abroad.
56

4. THE ISLE OF WIGHT
Our first good view of the Isle of Wight was at the western end, when we started to follow
along the northern coast of the Isle. From here we had a good view of the seaside town of
Freshwater. And this looked horribly dismal.
‘This place looks terrible Dad,’ said Fiona who was next to me looking over the rail.
‘It has been left to rack and ruin like all the towns that the Bimodes have conquered. There
are trees and weeds growing everywhere. We can’t live here for long.’ She looked very sad
indeed – she had actually been looking forward to settling here.
But I myself was very pleased. To my mind, the worse this place was the better – this
meant everyone would be returning to the Isle of Man in three months time, in a very grateful
frame of mind indeed.
Our journey from the Isle of Man had been pleasant enough. Some basic food was
cooked for us. But we had to do everything for ourselves. So we had to collect this food, wash
our utensils afterwards and make our own beds. But we were happy to accept this situation.
These were not normal times.
The boat was quite small because there wasn’t enough trade between the islands to
justify a bigger boat. We found out the boat actually belonged to the Isle of Wight. They let
Tom run the boat provided he brought to and from the Isle of Man any people who wanted to
settle or leave the island. When he wasn’t doing this, Tom could use the boat for other paying
customers. So this is why Tom hadn’t been interested in my money.
I had assumed we would be docking at Cowes, which is the major port of the island.
But we didn’t - we docked at Yarmouth, which is a quite small port. But it was busy with a lot
of small boats – most of them obviously just fishing boats. Yarmouth also boasts an ancient
castle right in the harbour itself. But sight-seeing now was very much a thing of the past for
everyone. Now-days we mostly thought and worried about our future. We had to.
When we had landed we had the first of many horrible surprises. On the landing, as we were
taking our luggage to the bus, an official guy approached my family. ‘I am afraid,’ he said,
‘that, for the next month or so, you must leave all your personal possessions here.’
‘What do you mean,’ I replied, ‘everyone must have their own personal possessions.’
‘For the stability of our community, personal possessions are very dangerous things.
Come and sit down and I will explain our situation. We can all have a cup of tea at the same
time.’
So we sat down in a waiting room and he explained the position.
‘In general in this community, people do not own any individual possessions. It is
unnecessary because our various levels of community provide all that we people need. But
you all will be thinking that all people must have some very personal items that are very
special to them. They help define a person’s identity. We agree that this is partly true.
‘But if we allow this to happen then there is a problem. A lot of people have very
special items that are also very expensive. For example all jewellery items are like this. Such
items also give a person status in a community. But in our society, we want a person’s status
to depend solely on how a person contributes to our community. Then everyone is treated
equally. So personal possessions can give a person a false sense of status in certain groups.
‘Now I am sure that you will all tell me that all your personal possessions are just little
private items that you individually find useful. And this is very likely true. But you also must
remember that the vast majority of our people here came with absolutely no personal
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possessions at all. We are not very keen to invite people here who will have more than we do.
So you can see this is a difficult problem.
‘Now our solution is that, initially, no people are allowed any personal possessions.
Then, after about a month when you obtain the appropriate citizenship, you may come here
and take what you want. But then you will understand the nature of our community much
better. And so you will take with you just those items that fit in with how this community
works. But for the coming month, you will have to leave these possessions behind. This will
not do you any harm. I personally lost all my possessions completely. Strangely – it doesn’t
worry me now at all. I now find there is a lot more to life than just personal possessions.’
So we would have to put up with this for a month. We would have to suffer – and I
was beginning to realize that this would be just the beginning of our suffering for these three
months.
We finally caught our bus. This bus was just carrying all the people that were going to our
new particular village. This village was called Porchfield and it was on the northern side of
the island about 10 kilometres west of Yarmouth. But the bus didn’t actually drop us at the
village centre. Instead it stopped at the rather odd houses that surrounded the village. These
houses were very simple and identical. They consisted of just a rectangular one-story
building. For some weird reason, these houses were called “manors”. Why they should be
scattered away from the village seemed ridiculous to me. Finally we got to our “manor” and
there a person was waiting to greet us. We left the bus and prepared to enter our new home.
Sally, the woman who was waiting for us, apparently already knew our names, so she could
introduce us to all the occupants.
When we got inside, there were at least forty people in a rather largish room. For one
horrible moment, I imagined all these people might live here. But then I remembered that we
were new people and so all these people had probably just come here to greet us. And greet us
is what they all certainly did.
An evening meal was waiting for us all. This had just been cooked on a large stove
contraption that lay at the centre of this very large living room. We picked up some utensils
and helped ourselves to the food, like everyone else. It was just a largish basic meal but we
didn’t eat too much because we had eaten a good afternoon tea before we left the boat. We
hadn’t been too certain when we would next eat then.
But, when I came to eat, I realized there were no chairs or tables in this room at all.
The majority of people simply sat on the floor where there was an abundance of rubber mats
to sit and eat from. There were also some low benches around the walls and some people sat
here eating their food on their knees instead. We joined these people. During the meal I
realized I needed to go to the toilet. And this toilet was clearly down a short passageway,
which had an open bed-room on either side. So I could look in. But these bedrooms contained
no beds at all. But, along the side-walls of these rooms, I could see lots of sleeping mats with
sheets and blankets attached, hanging vertically from hooks on the walls. And when I got to
the toilet area it was quite complex. There were washing basins in the middle and men’s and
women’s ablution facilities at each end. But these facilities were very simple. For us men,
there were a couple of urinals, a hole in the floor for bowel operations and three showers. But
all these facilities were completely open – so there was no privacy at all. Everything here was
back to the dark ages.
When I got back to the living room, I had had some time to do my sums. I then
realized the complete horrible truth about everything. I estimated that this building was about
8 meters wide and 16 meters long - thus it seemed as if it was twice as long as it was wide.
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That meant it had a floor space area of about 128 square meters. And that damn Dougal had
boasted to me he could happily live on just 2 square meters of living floor space. This meant
that this house should be able to house about 60 people. So, just because Dougal didn’t mind
suffering this stupid way of living, the rest of his whole community was expected to do the
same thing. It was ghastly. How he had managed to persuade the rest of his people to accept
this was just quite beyond my belief. But, when I talked to the other people around, I realized
that this was precisely what had happened. Well, I suppose my family could live like this for
three months. But it would also be absolutely wonderful to return to sanity - when our time of
penal servitude here was over in three months’ time.
But, I had to admit, this building was nice and warm. Winter was now approaching
and our house in the Isle of Man had been getting distinctly chilly at night. But with all the
people here living in such a tiny space, they could very easily keep the building very warm.
The stove in the middle sent off a pleasant glow. So this was one very minor point in favour
of these very cramped conditions.
The evening that followed was very relaxed – if a little boring. They had no TV, radio, DVDs,
or records of any form at all. So the community completely ignored the excellent mass media
developments of the last hundred years entirely. The only item of this kind they had was a
phone - but this was strictly only used for emergencies.
Some people sang together while others talked or read a book. In one of the bedrooms,
someone read stories to the children. People gradually collected their sleeping mats and
bedding and rested in them. And there they just listened to what was going on. Sally came to
us and gave us all our sleeping gear, which was the same as everyone else’s. If we wanted to
go to sleep early, like the young children, we could sleep in one of the bedrooms. But we
preferred to do what most people did. And this was to put this gear on the floor of the main
room and just listen to what was going on.
I had to admit that sleeping on the floor was not as uncomfortable as you might
imagine. The sleeping mats were a sensible mixture of standard ingredients. On the top and
bottom there were closed-cell camping mats and, between these, there was two inches of
normal foam rubber. This is sufficiently thick to stop a sleeper feeling the floorboards
beneath. Also the sheets and blankets had been adapted so that, on one side, they were firmly
attached to the sleeping mat by Velcro strips. The other side was open.
If you have every slept in a sleeping bag for a long period of time then you will know
that it is very difficult to adapt a sleeping bag to deal with different changing temperatures. A
sleeping bag can be partially unzipped. This is fine when the zip is in front of the sleeper. But
when a sleeper rolls over then the open zip stays where it is. And the sleeper gets a cold back.
Also it is very hard to clean a sleeping bag - so they get dirty.
But the system this community had developed had none of these problems. The sheets
were clean and I could toss the blankets off easily if I got too hot. Also I slept next to
Michelle naturally with our open sides next to each other. And we found we were not
hampered in any way with what we wanted to do with each other. And strangely enough
Michelle was in a very sexy mood. I suppose it was the very different situation. Perhaps she
also felt that she needed to proclaim to the world that we were a very close couple.
The talking and singing gradually stopped and the lights were turned off at ten
o’clock. But there were a few of those incredibly efficient night LED lights around the place.
So if a person needed to go to the toilet, then they could easily step over the sleeping bodies
to get there.
59

People started to get up at six o’clock in the morning. But, as I was to find out in everything,
the activities here were done at a leisurely pace. We started eating at around seven when
everyone had got up and hung up their sleeping gear. I had time then to study how this
bedding system worked. It was quite neat.
Each sleeping bed used a double sheet and a warm double fleecy blanket. Both these
items were folded in half and, at these folds, they were attached to one side of the simple floor
mattress by Velcro strips. (The mattress was enclosed by a set of tapes so that the Velcro
strips could be attached to these.) So now the bed had effectively two sheets and two blankets.
The bottom sheet was naturally attached by Velcro strips to the open side of the mattress - so
it would always stay in place. Then the top sheet and the blankets were attached by Velcro
strips at the foot of the mattress on the open side so that they would at least stay in place at the
foot of the bed.
This meant that the top sheet and blankets could always be tossed to the side.
However, when they were needed, they could always be tossed back and then they would
naturally fall in the correct place. And this complete bed system could be hung up from the
bottom, and everything would always hang in place. So people never needed to make their
beds and everything always looked neat and tidy. And all this gear took up almost no space at
all during the day. And all this bedding was always properly aired. Even I had to agree this
was a very neat system indeed.
We had a relaxed breakfast. This time we joined the majority of people and so we sat with
them on the mats on the floor. But after this we had more trouble. The breakfast just consisted
of porridge to begin with and then we had a portion of an omelette together with beans and
toast. Gavin, like most normal children these days, didn’t like porridge – so instead he had
had a larger portion of omelette together with beans and toast. But Gavin doesn’t like beans as
well so he didn’t eat them. I sympathised with him – I don’t like beans much myself.
But when Gavin went to throw the beans away, one of the guys serving said rather
gruffly. ‘You aren’t allowed to throw away any food you have accepted here. You have to eat
all the food you have accepted.’
‘I’m not going to eat any food I don’t like.’ Gavin replied. ‘You can’t force me to do
so.’
‘We won’t force you to eat.’ The guy replied. ‘But you won’t get any more food until
those beans are eaten. Those are the rules here.’
And Gavin immediately ran to Michelle in tears. Then Sally joined them as well. Sally
solved the immediate problem by eating the beans herself. I personally avoided being
involved in the episode. So I don’t know what Gavin agreed to. But of course I was very
pleased because Gavin would certainly want to return to the Isle of Man as soon as we could.
Gavin would then start to really appreciate the tremendous choice the global capitalistic
system can give us all.
But our sufferings weren’t over for the day yet. We found we were all expected to go out into
the fields and help in the agricultural operation. And this included the children - in this
community there were clearly no laws against child labour. Apparently this small community
was expected to basically produce all the food we ate - hence the relatively simple form of
food we had eaten last night and in the morning.
‘Surely this community doesn’t need to forget all the lessons we have learnt over the
last few thousand years.’ I asked the guy who was working next to me. ‘If the various
60

communities specialize in producing certain crops, then this cooperation will give us all a
much greater variety in food. And this food will be produced much more efficiently as well.’
But the guy just smiled at me. ‘That is what everyone thinks who comes here. There
are advantages and disadvantages in the way we do everything here. But, there are seven very
fundamental advantages in a community being self-sufficient in food.
‘Let’s deal with the simple physical advantages first. If a community produces its own
food it will be fresher and we don’t need refrigeration. Then there will be much less need for
transport because we eat the food where we grow it. And finally we can recycle all our
excreta and waste easily - and this means we have no need for external fertilizers.
‘Then there are the advantages associated with the wellbeing of the community itself.
Firstly it is safer because, if a community always produces its own food, then the community
don’t need to worry about some unknown region not selling them the food they need. Also it
is safer because this means a small community always has an assured amount of selfemployment
for its members. Besides this, it is healthier for the community because all
people need a certain amount of out-door exercise. Finally it is good for our children because
then they automatically learn about the food they eat and how to grow it. We consider this
facet of knowledge to be the most important in life. And all our children should immediately
be able to recognise that they need to know these facts themselves.
‘But there is no point in arguing about this subject too much. It is far too complex. It is
best to simply try it out. Wait and see – you have to stay here for 3 months in any case
whether you want to or not.’
So I had to keep quiet on the subject.
And then I found out that all the labour on the land was done by hand - we had no powered
implements to help us at all. I thought that this would be almost impossible with ploughing
because all primitive people have always used horses or oxen to pull their ploughs. But this
community had a winch that pulled a well-designed single plough. Four people drove the
winch, which had four handles - two on each side. The two on each side were naturally on
opposite sides of the wheel. So four people stood at the four corners driving the winch. And
the winch could also be adjusted to give a higher or lower power ration by simply changing
the effective size of the axel, which the pulling wire went around.
After a while, I was persuaded to join a ploughing team myself. There were five
people in a team – 4 people to man the winch and one person to control the plough. And, after
ploughing a furrow of about 20 m long, each person would swap over to take a new position
in the operation. Each operation had to start by the four people on the winch lifting the winch
a furrow width to a new correct position. And, while they were doing this, the person on the
plough dragged the plough backwards to start a new furrow. And then the real work of the
operation began and a new furrow was ploughed.
Although this ploughing was a fairly slow operation, it wasn’t in fact terribly arduous.
Each person had a little break after each furrow. And the new position in the team meant that
each person would use slightly different muscles in the next step. So everyone was very
happy to be part of a ploughing team. I thought this was a hopelessly inefficient method of
doing the ploughing. But no one there was complaining about it. And even Michelle and the
children were eventually happy to join a ploughing team as well. Fiona and Gavin stood in for
one person. This was important when they had to drag the plough backwards for a new
furrow. They couldn’t manage to do this particular task individually. But they were keen to
try.
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As the morning passed and as all the essential jobs were done, more and more people left to
do other jobs in the village and in the towns of this Island. Eventually there was just my
family and a guy called Mac left. Apparently he was the elected officer in charge of this
manor’s agricultural operation. He spent the rest of the morning then showing us the rest of
the agricultural facilities.
The manor used Bimodes to do some of its work quite heavily. Thus there was a large
paddock of these Bimodes and they were all busy digesting all the manor’s waste products,
eating grass and receiving energy from the sun. They produced milk, oil and methane for the
manor’s consumption. And they operated collectively so these products were passed between
them so we humans only needed to collect these products from one point. And of course
during the morning, most people had found it convenient to defecate next to them as well.
But, besides this, the Bimodes could operate as a very effective secure fence. So the
chooks, who had produced the eggs we had eaten in the morning, together with their housing
were surrounded by a very secure Bimode fence. This Bimode fence would allow: no foxes
in, no chooks out, and yet it allowed the appointed people in to collect the eggs and give the
chooks their food without a gate. In a similar way they kept our pigs in the right place as well.
We were most impressed. These Bimodes saved the manor quite a lot of work.
The centre of the agricultural activities was the Barn where all the crops were stored.
Also the crops were prepared as necessary for eating there. So our wheat was ground to
produce flour here. At least we had an electric grinder to do this job. We finished the morning
by going there and Mac showed us everything. And we had to remember what he said
because we would be examined on the whole subject later. Apparently we would have to
demonstrate that we could do all activities associated with the manor before we could go onto
the next stage and learn about the activities, which are done in the village. We had quite a lot
to learn about this community.
We naturally returned to the manor for lunch with the people who were still there. This was
largely small children together with some of their parents. Then we were all off to the village
for the afternoon – apart from one person who was in charge of security. This community
were not entirely forgetting that Bimodes were still capable of revolting.
But, before we left, we had another painful episode. Sally came to us and gave us each
a head-band to wear. Each head-band had a short version of our name embroidered on it
together with our symbol representing our manor and our village. So I was just called “Stan”.
This at least was good because I didn’t want to be recognised as Dr Stan Warner.
But I was strongly opposed to wearing a head-band like this. It reminded me of the
feather bands the kids had worn on their heads in our street when we played “red Indians”.
Worse still it reminded me of the “fleur-de-lis” convicted criminals had branded on them in
France centuries ago. I initially refused to put it on. But then Sally said I would have to stay in
the manor if I refused. The rules of the community were quite strict about how everyone had
the right in their society to know precisely who everyone else was immediately. And these
head-bands were the way this community made sure that any unknown people could always
be identified. Correct identification was held to be supremely important in this community.
So I had to give up. Besides everyone else in my family was keen to go and see what
happened in the village.
Some of the children were still too small to walk. But the manor had a large hand-pushed cart
where all the small children could sit or lie in. Essentially this cart was a very large pram. So
62

off we went pushing this cart. And we soon saw that all the other manors were doing the same
thing as us. And so a great host of people were converging on the village proper.
We first went to the main civic village centre, which consisted of a small lawn with a
large town hall on the left, a library on the right and the village school at the back. Here Sally
showed Fiona and Gavin to their relevant class-rooms. The majority of children of Fiona’s
age were attending the high-school in town. But there were still some children of Fiona’s age
who she could join with. But these children weren’t as advanced as Fiona. Some of them were
still only learning the elements of reading, writing and arithmetic. Michelle queried Sally as
to why education was clearly so down graded here.
‘We here specifically do not want to follow what the rest of the modern world thinks
is important.’ Sally replied. ‘It is only a few thousand years ago that humans found how
useful it is to be able to read, write and do arithmetic. In all the hundreds of thousands of
years before this, humans survived without it. And we believe some people can still happily
survive here without this ability. And, if some children want to enter our world without these
abilities, then we here are very happy to accept them.
‘All that we require of a person here is that they are in some way useful to us. And we
find there are plenty of ways a person can be useful to us without being able to do too much
reading, writing or arithmetic. We always explain to all children that, if they wish to hold
some of the senior positions in our society, then it is terribly useful to be able to read, write
and do arithmetic. But, if they accept this, then we in no way force people into the academic
mould. We are happy for people to have people of different abilities. In fact we really like
people to be different. All that we require of a person is that they are useful to us in return for
what we do for them. But, given this, we are not demanding. The rest of the world can
demand an excessive amount of academic excellence of its people if it wishes to. But we
don’t. We are very happy to be different from the rest of the world.’
Michelle accepted this explanation. I certainly didn’t. But I had been rebuffed by Sally
once today already. So I thought it safer to remain silent for the moment.
With our children off our hands, we could do what most people were doing – which was to
have a cup of tea or coffee. A large house, close to the civic centre, had been converted for
this purpose. In our manor, as we produced almost all our food, we didn’t have any form of
caffeine there – or even alcohol for that matter. So I, like most people, was in desperate need
of a revival cup. I had my coffee with a rather fine custard tart. I have always been partial to
this little item. These things were free. But the people who were serving knew exactly who
everyone was because of our head-bands. So we couldn’t indulge too much. We only had as
much as other people seemed to be having. This appeared the general rule as regards most
items that were free. People knew that any anti-social behaviour could be easily reported to
the people in charge. So people were modest in all their demands.
There were quite a few people in the coffee house and Sally introduced us to all the
important people there. These important people were wearing those horrible head-bands - as
was Sally herself. And these head-bands all had many extra badges which indicated what
important jobs the wearers were doing or had done. Sally explained the meaning of these
badges to us. But I, of course, ignored it all.
Sally then left to go on with her normal tasks and jobs. Before she left she explained.
‘When you have learnt all about the manor, then it will be time for you to learn about village
activities. But for the time being, you can do what you like in the village during the
afternoons. Just pop in and see what people are doing. You have enough to learn in our
manor. At 5 o’clock school finishes and the truck with our village’s fishing catch will come
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in. This catch will all be shared between the manors. We will all meet there and take our share
of the catch home. So we can all return to our manor and finish the day there.’ And she gave
us directions where to meet the fish truck and she left us.
So we wandered through the village. But physically it was certainly nothing much to
look at. Porchfield had been a tiny village – little more than a hamlet. And it had been
extended to form the village centre of about 40 manors. Now clearly the civic centre had been
recently built in the simple style of our manor houses. So it had no chairs or tables at all. And
then the various houses had been converted into things like – offices for the village’s various
departments, a medical centre, work shops of different kinds, spare clothes depositories,
sewing rooms, - and all the other multitude of items that a large village needs. These facilities
could function in the houses – but it was all a bit of a mess. Such facilities must surely have
existed elsewhere on the island. But for some reason the authorities had chosen not to use
these purpose-built buildings.
We duly met the fish truck and we took our share of the catch home. This fish in fact was the
only food that each manor accepted from outside. Other than this, each manor was completely
self-sufficient in food. This was a patently stupid thing to do. But this was what they did.
So we duly made our way home. And we finished the evening in the same boring way
as the night before. I suppose the life they led here was bearable. But it would be wonderful
for us to return to the sanity on the Isle of Man in three months time.
For week-days, our life now mostly followed this first-day’s basic pattern. The first slight
change to this pattern occurred on Wednesday afternoon from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.. Our manor
held its weekly community meeting during this time. I was expecting this meeting to be a
pleasant and relaxing time. But it wasn’t at all. Sally chaired the meeting and she had a
stopwatch in hand. The meeting started with each individual person telling everyone what
they had done over the past week and about any problems they had had in the manor. Each
individual’s talking was supposed to average out at about one minute per meeting. So Sally
kept a complete record of all people’s talking times. Everyone took the meeting very seriously
and several people even had notes of what they wanted to say. My family weren’t prepared
for this. So we all simply lied and said we were completely happy here. It was safer to say
that.
Then the four officers of the manor spoke for about ten minutes about their respective
areas. The first to speak was Mac and he naturally told us about the state of our agricultural
produce. Fortunately we did have plenty to food so we wouldn’t starve. In this community we
had to plan to produce slightly more food than we normally needed to take care of bad times.
And then, as now, we gave our excess food to our chooks, pigs or Bimodes. Then, if we ran
short of food, instead of feeding our chooks and pigs, we could eat them.
The next to speak was a woman called Denise. She was in charge of “chores”. This
basically meant all the jobs around the manor itself. This included - cooking, cleaning,
washing, painting, fixing, repairing, looking after young children etc. This was the next area
of activity, which I, and my family, would need to learn about.
Then a guy called Tom talked - he was our manor’s representative on the village
council. So he told us what was going on in the village and how and why he had voted on all
various village issues, which had come up over the past week. When he had finished, I myself
asked what went on in the rest of the island. But Tom replied that at this meeting we only
discussed manor business. There were other much bigger meetings in the village and town
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where I could learn about such things. So he put me in my place. But I suppose he had a
point. Manor meetings should really be just about manor business.
Finally Sally spoke about membership. And, during this time, a new person was
elected to full manor membership. Membership was far more important than I had realised
here. There were various grades of membership with various rights and privileges. So, if a
person did something good or bad, Sally could suggest a change of membership for that
person. So she was in effect in charge of discipline. She even mentioned Gavin’s refusal to
eat his beans. But she felt certain he would soon adjust to their system. Gavin should be OK.
After this, there was a time for general questions and answers. But even here Sally
kept a time record of the questions and answers.
So, in this society, everyone took meetings horribly seriously indeed. Everyone had to
attend and pay attention to what went on. Each person’s status depended on this. It wasn’t
very pleasant at all. This wouldn’t happen in all the life that I have known because then no
one would come to meeting. But here – we had to attend. Here, meetings were really more
important than work.
On Friday evenings, the corresponding village meeting occurred between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.
This meeting was only obligatory for the manor representatives. But other people were
encouraged to attend the meeting as well. So, if a person attended this meeting for at least two
hours then they would score a good roast meal that included lamb or beef. I have always been
partial to some genuinely good food. So I attended. But, as you might expect, the meeting
really was terribly boring.
For the whole weekend, as much as was possible, normal work ceased completely. Saturday
was in general given over to sport of all possible kinds. This was a whole village activity so
we all had to don our head-bands and go into the village. I am not really a sports person so I
avoided this as much as possible. But I had to do something – so I played soccer on Saturday
morning.
The children told me about a new sort of game that they had been playing with their
school friends. It was called “Break the Line”. One team were the “Bimodes” and they
formed a double line as close as they could. Then the other team had to break through this line
and their aim was to get their whole team through the line. The children seemed very
enthusiastic about the game.
The big event of the whole weekend was a huge village dance on Saturday night.
Dancing is also not my thing. But I had to fill the day so I went to watch the dance practice
that occurred in the main hall on the Saturday afternoon. But there was an excess of women
there and so Michelle forced me to join in. They mainly did folk-dancing there. As I have
mentioned, I had done a little of this with Namira before - so I could soon join in this kind of
dancing. Apparently the whole dance was designed so that people could meet new people and
dance with them. Folk-dancing is best for this situation because the dances are simple and
everyone can learn them quickly. The old traditional dances are perfect when there are lots of
new people who need to be introduced to each other.
My family of course went to the dance in the evening. The first part of the dance was
for younger people like Fiona and Gavin. So this was perfect for us. And then there was a
meal and this included meats of different kinds and alcohol in various beverages. Fiona and
Gavin weren’t allowed alcohol and after the meal they had to be taken home. The community
had strict rules on this subject. I was happy to take them home. But Michelle now deemed it
to be her social duty to see how the rest of the dance would now progress. So I had to leave
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her there alone. She was pregnant so she couldn’t get into any trouble. But I didn’t entirely
approve of the situation. But she did join me in bed a few hours later and then she was very
affectionate with me indeed. But I had a horrible feeling that Michelle was starting to like this
dump in some slight ways. Michelle has always been very keen on having a full social life.
As opposed to Saturday, Sunday was supposed to be more devoted to contemplating the
greater mission of the society. So some people went out into the country and the towns for
philosophical contemplations (or to church if people desired). Also, the major island meeting
occurred at the island’s current capital at Calbourne. But the only thing that my family could
do was to join our manor’s group going to the capital because we didn’t have a high enough
level of citizenship to do anything else. Other than this, we had to stay in the village area.
Michelle and the children decided they would stay in the village and do things with
their new friends there. But I decided I should go to be big meeting at Calbourne because I
was interested in how the whole island was run. There was a bus that could take us there, and
other people rode bikes. But there was also a walking group - so I joined them. I always
enjoyed a good Sunday walk. And it was a fine late Autumn day.
It was about five kilometres to Calbourne so we slowly ambled there. When we got
there, I found Calbourne was not really a town – it was just village in size. So, once again, the
authorities seemed to have avoided using the many town facilities that did exist on the island.
And there was no suitable venue in Calbourne for a large group of people to meet. But
Calbourne was right next to the very scenic downs. So, because the weather was good, the
meeting was held outside in a narrow little valley where people could sit on the grass. This
was about a kilometre south of the town. So a large number of people could all gather there,
sitting on the hillsides and easily hear all the speakers at the bottom.
The meeting form was similar to the two previous meetings I had already attended. So
here, the active speaking people were the representatives of all the villages, together with all
the various elected officials of the Island. So everything was strictly democratic - but I found
what they had to say was rather boring. I was drowsily sitting there alone when someone
approached me from behind and quietly sat next to me.
I guessed to myself that this must be Monica as all I could see in front of me was a pair of
good healthy female legs - and Monica was the only female who knew I was here. I was
rather excited – I was rather looking forward to seeing her and finding how she was getting
on. But it wasn’t – it was my nemesis – it was Ellen herself.
‘You are not supposed to know I am here.’ I stated immediately. ‘Monica swore she
would not tell anyone about my family’s temporary stay here.’
‘It is not Monica’s fault.’ Ellen replied. ‘I was determined to go and see you sometime
– after all, I knew you were alive, you had written to me. So, when Monica first saw me, I
forced her immediately to tell me precisely where you were now. So she had to tell me that
you and your family were coming here. Otherwise I would have gone to the Isle of Man for
nothing.’
‘But why were you so determined to see me?’
‘Basically, of course, this meeting is about our mutual loss of Namira. But that
discussion can wait. First, as you are now here on our particular island, I want to hear what
you think about the new wonderful egalitarian society we have here.’
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‘I can understand why a nut-case like Dougal might like this society. And I can even
understand why a few strange people like you and Monica might accept it. But how you
managed to persuade all the other normal people of the island around us here to accept these
conditions is completely beyond my understanding.’
Ellen smiled. ‘To understand this you must understand the full circumstances of how
our new state was formed. Have you enough time? It will take me an hour or two to tell you
everything.’
And of course I was happy to hear. I wasn’t really interested in what they were saying
down below.
‘If you remember when I last saw you, I told you that even an optimist like Dougal couldn’t
work out a strategy by which we could cope with the Bimodes on the Isle of Wight - should
they successfully revolt against humanity. But Dougal didn’t give up, and then, over the
following years, he did form a plan. And it is largely due to this plan of Dougal’s that we are
now alive on this wonderful island of ours.’
‘So it is in gratitude now,’ I replied, ‘that you are now all accepting Dougal’s stupid
way of living.’
‘No – not at all. My knowledge of life is that everyone almost always acts in their own
best interests. And the same situation applied to us here. But, on the other hand, we do
remember the part that Dougal played in our survival. But now let me go on and relate what
precisely happened here.
‘First of all, Dougal calculated that the Bimodes could only successfully instigate a
revolt if all humanity was temporarily blinded. And he thought the Bimodes could do this by
producing an infected form of pollen. Dougal then checked when their pollen was given off
the world over. And he found it was given everywhere at precisely the same time. So, given
this fact, this was a possible avenue for Bimodes to try to gain control of the world.
‘Now Dougal had kept in contact with Alan and Louise all the time, and he had
persuaded them to come down here and live on the island. Alan eventually obtained a senior
position in the hospital in Newport, which is the main central town on the island. And here
Dougal persuaded Alan to always study the form of the Bimode pollen every year using the
hospital microscope. So Alan gave a warning to Dougal as soon as he saw something
different with the pollen this year.
‘And then Dougal had us all completely primed for the next stage. So all us members
of our society and our friends had goggles ready to wear in a case of emergency - as did you
yourself Stan. And, when Alan detected the suspect pollen, all the members living down here,
immediately got in contact with all the other members and associates of the society in the UK
by the phone. And they told them the situation and tried to persuade them to return here. So I,
and most people, immediately returned to the Isle of Wight. I tried to ring Namira. But she
was with you and her phone was turned off. We naturally put on our goggles immediately. I
felt an absolute fool when I was in public - as I was on the ferry from Portsmouth to Ryde.
But on the ferry, I met a couple of other people from our society returning as well. So then we
didn’t feel so bad. When people asked us why we were wearing the goggles, we did always
tell them the truth that the Bimode’s pollen could be infected. But we understood this was not
very likely to be a serious problem.
‘When we got to the Isle of Wight, we all took taxis to Calbourne here, where all our
society’s land has always been situated. At that stage we didn’t know what would happen
next. And here we were all in for a horrible surprise.
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‘Our total number of people at Calbourne was now about 2,000 people. This included
a large number of local people who were our friends and acquaintances. During the day, while
we were coming down, Dougal had ordered a large number of buses of all kinds from all over
the island to assemble in Calbourne. And also he had collected as many packs, sleeping bags
and tents as he could muster. And we had also been told to carry our own gear of this kind
with us if we could. We were then told to find a partner. I found a partner in a young local
boy called Trevor who also didn’t have any obvious person to go with. And with our partners,
we all entered the buses.’
‘So what happened to your friend Steve that he didn’t go with you?’ I interrupted.
‘Steve was overseas and couldn’t make it here. I do have plenty of close friends here I
could have gone with. It was just that Trevor was looking rather lost and needed someone to
go with. I thought I could help him.’ And then I let Ellen continue her story. In a perverse
way I was pleased that Ellen no longer had a partner and I did.
‘Each bus had been delegated to go to a certain region of the island. And our bus was
delegated to go to the Sandown/Shanklin region on the eastern coast. This area was miles
away from Calbourne. During the journey, we all received our ghastly instructions about what
we had to do when we got there. Then we were dropped off with our partners throughout the
town areas of the region. By this time it was evening time and some people were starting to
get itchy eyes. So now we knew that the whole situation was deadly serious indeed.
‘Our instructions were first to go round the streets, where we were dropped off, loudly
calling out to the local people and telling them that we could eventually lead them to safety -
should the Bimodes go into revolt. And this is what we did. But everything was more
complicated than this.
‘So everyone, who joined us, had to be prepared for a difficult time. So each person
needed to carry: food, water, waterproof clothing and bedding - all of which needed to be
carried in a pack. Also each person needed to bring a good carving knife to attack or fight off
possible Bimodes. So each person who joined our party needed to spend half-an-hour getting
ready.
‘Trevor and I managed to gather a party of about sixty people from the streets which
had been assigned to us. This was only about half the population in our region. But it did
include the majority of people who were prepared to suffer hardship to stay alive and also
who were physically capable of enduring a long walk in difficult circumstances. Trevor and I
felt we had done a good job in getting this number.
‘But Trevor was now suffering from itchy eyes himself. He had only put on his
goggles an hour or so after Dougal had sent out the general alert. So his eyes were partly
infected. But my eyes were good and I was capable of leading our party alone into the next
stage.
‘The next part of our instructions were to lead our party out into the country. There we
would try to find a good place to hide till our eye infections ran their course. And then, when
we could all see, we would enter the main task of trying to save our lives.
‘The particular streets, which Trevor and I collected from, lay in the northern part of
Sandown. Fortunately Dougal had had the foresight to provide all parties with an ordinance
survey map of the island, a compass and a torch. So, using this map, I could see that our party
should first cross the marshy wasteland that lay to the north of Sandown if we wanted to be
isolated in the country. This we did with increasing difficulty. It was getting dark and, apart
from myself, people were growing blind. We all had to hold hands and move very slowly
indeed. When we had crossed the marsh, we saw, up a slight rise, a little wood. This would be
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the perfect place for us to hide. But before getting there, we had to cross three ghastly bardedwire
fences that went around the various fields. This was a terrible job for 60 blind people to
manage. But, while we were bunched around the first fence trying to get our people over, a
couple of guys listened to their radios. And the news was terrible – the Bimodes were in full
revolt. And perhaps they were intent on killing us. So we had to get over the fence. So
eventually we overcame the problems and ignored the blood caused by the barbed wires. We
huddled together for warmth beneath the trees and tried to sleep. The start of our trials had
begun. But at least we were all still alive and safe. And the news, inasmuch as we could get it
on the radio, was awful. I tried to persuade my group to put the radios away and get some
sleep. Our duty was to try to stay alive ourselves. That was our job in life. And at the moment
we needed rest and sleep.’
I’m sorry but Ellen, like all women, likes to rave on about all the hardships she thinks
she has suffered. I felt like interrupting her here and asking her then what all this had to do
with why the people here were prepared to live in sub-human conditions. But women get irate
if they feel that their suffering is being ignored. So I had to let her rave on. And I fear this
situation will continue for the next few pages.
‘Next day everyone was blind and miserable.’ Ellen went on. ‘And the weather was rather bad
- it rained a bit. However there was a young school-girl called Jessie and she had also retained
her sight. She had been out sailing the day before and so she had avoided the pollen. So Jessie
and I crept out quietly to see what had happened in the outside world. Also we needed to refill
our water bottles. The world was very quiet – no traffic noise at all. Bimodes are not able to
see much - but we didn’t want to take any risks, so we didn’t go too far and kept out of sight.
But all the houses we saw had their doors bashed in and we saw lines of Bimodes on the main
roads in the distance. We saw no humans alive. We just assumed the worst and we didn’t try
to enter any houses. I had never seen a dead body before and I didn’t want to start now. We
just filled our water bottles and made our way back to the wood. And there we suffered like
everyone else.
‘But on the following day, everyone could see again and the sun was shining. So we
could do something about saving ourselves. Now the general plan that Dougal had given us
was to gradually all make our way back to Calbourne cross-country avoiding the main roads.
Now on the Isle of Wight, there is a long series of downs in the form of ridges that mostly
cross the island from East to West. And Calbourne itself is close to this ridge system. So the
general plan was for each party to make their way to this ridge system. The Bimodes would
tend to avoid these ridges because they would have difficulty moving over the rugged land.
And, when we got onto the ridges, we would meet up with other parties and then we would all
be much safer with larger numbers.
‘Fortunately our party was now quite close to this ridge system. All we had to do was
to go upwards in a northerly direction. And within an hour we were duly on top of the ridge.
And from there we could see other parties slowly making their way upwards towards the
ridge. We were not alone in the world. An old text from the Old Testament came to my mind
- “There is hope for the future - sayeth the Lord”. I didn’t get this from the Bible. I
remembered it because that is what Linus said once when waiting in the pumpkin patch in the
Peanuts cartoon. But that is how we all felt. We waited for an hour or two till a couple of
other parties had joined us. And then with renewed confidence we were ready to make the
long journey back to Calbourne.
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‘But this total journey would now take us all several days – it was just a long way. We had
joined the ridge system on Brading Down. From there, together with the other parties, we
went westwards first to Ashey Down, with other parties joining all the time. From there we
moved on to Mersley Down where we were ready to spend the night. By that time our party
numbered nearly a thousand. Some of the parties decided they were safe enough and they
could move down and find a house to stay in. But we slept where we were. But it was a bad
decision. It rained and we got wet. The parties who went down spent a much more
comfortable night. In future we would follow their example.
‘The next day, after reaching Arreton Down, the ridge system breaks away for a while
and we now had to cross a wide valley. And the major road from Newport goes south through
this valley to the southern coast. We were expecting this road to be heavily guarded by the
Bimodes - and it certainly was. There was a line of Bimodes on the road continuous and of
double thickness. Clearly they were determined that no one should cross it. But our party was
now more than a thousand strong. We broke the line easily but it still cost us a few lives. The
Bimodes always held their position and always fought on till they were fully incapacitated.
We could see that overcoming them wasn’t going to be easy.
‘That night we spent the night in a house in a way that was to be repeated many times
over the coming weeks. For safety and warmth we wanted to squash in as many people in a
house as we could. And we didn’t want to use the beds because some beds had had dead
bodies in them and many others had been soiled by animals. So we took all the food that was
edible and threw absolutely everything else away. We couldn’t spend time burying people
who we didn’t know and who were already partially decomposed. And we chopped all the
wooden furniture up to give us a good fire to cook on and keep ourselves warm. And we put
this fire right in the middle of the largest room. And if this room had a wooden floor, we just
put bricks and earth on top so the floor wouldn’t burn through. We had problems with smoke
of course. Sometimes we simply had to smash a hole in the ceiling or roof to let the smoke
out. We grew very careless about all the possessions, which we had once regarded as being
essential to a comfortable life.’
At this point Ellen and I had a detailed discussion about the various methods a party
can use when they have to sleep in a house with dead bodies and are surrounded by Bimodes.
My party had to do this in North Wales as well. So this subject was of great interest to both of
us. But I don’t expect that you, my reader, is anticipating having to do this in the near future.
So I will omit this personal discussion of ours.
‘After this valley,’ Ellen continued on, ‘the ridge system of downs continues all the way to
Calbourne. But the journey still took two days. We now had to rifle though the various houses
to find enough to eat and this took time. Over the downs there was one road that Bimodes had
held and they tried continually to regain. But now we had a sufficient number of people
continually crossing the road that we managed to keep it open all the time. Then finally our
dishevelled army of people arrived to the safety of Calbourne.
‘But the battle to wrestle the Isle of Wight from Bimode control had still a long way to go.
And I certainly can’t give you the full details. I can only tell you about what I was involved
with personally myself.
‘When we came to Calbourne, we had the luxury of sleeping on the floor of a purposemade
house like you, Stan, are living in now. The house was clean, we had good warm
showers and we had the excellent bedding system you use now. We thought it was wonderful.
The reason that some of these houses were free was because the people, who came back early,
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had left to liberate the western corner of the Island from Bimodes. Calbourne lies in the centre
of the western half of the Island. So the first thing we needed to do was to gain complete
control of our own special corner of our world. So Bimodes had to be eradicated from the
towns of Freshwater and Yarmouth in the narrow western corner. And the people, who had
arrived back early because they already lived in the western side, successfully did this job.
This was all done under Dougal’s direct leadership. When this was done we all felt relatively
safe because then we had our own port in Yarmouth from which we could either receive help
or even escape ourselves.
‘After this, gradually everyone came back to join us in Calbourne and then we could
carry out the major task. And this was to conquer the major part of the Island - which all lay
to the east of Calbourne. This would be a big job.
‘But for this major task we had to be organised in some very definite manner. And
Dougal did the obvious thing of first organising us into companies of about 30 or 40 people
because this number of people could conveniently sleep on the floor of a normal house. Often
this was the size of party that formed before the Bimodes struck - so these parties could stay
as they were. But our party was a bit too large - so we split into two. Trevor went with one
half and I went with the other half. For the leadership, the old party leaders suggested a new
leader who was the most suitable and acceptable by the normal people in the company. So
this chosen person became officially the leader of the company – but naturally there was a lot
of discussion on this matter.
‘Then 40 or so companies were grouped together to form an army. And we had quite a
few such armies each led by a selected general of known ability. So an army consisted of one
or two thousand people. And with this form, we all went out to conquer the rest of the
Bimodes in the major eastern section of the Island.
‘The people under Dougal, who had already conquered the small western section, had worked
out a technique for defeating the Bimodes. And we all now copied this technique. Now, as
you know, the Bimode control method was to form long compact lines of Bimodes along the
major roads dividing all areas into sections, which they could control. And so our first task
was to learn how to break these lines without any human loss of life. And the system, which
Dougal had devised, was to first make a large number of long strong rods with big hooks on
their end. Usually a group of about six strong people would manage a rod. So, with the hook
foremost, a group would approach a Bimode line and then grab a Bimode with the hook either
just below its wooden head (or below its palms for a normal Bimode). And then these six
guys would physically drag the Bimode out of the line. And other groups would do the same
with the Bimodes next to the one first removed. And then, as soon as a small breach was
formed, people would rush into the breach with knives and cut off the tentacles of the outside
Bimodes. And so eventually a good breach would be formed that many people could go
through in safely.
‘But when a line had been successfully breached, there was the problem of what to do
with the remaining Bimodes in the lines. This is how they had solved the problem. The parties
led by Dougal found out that, when any small group of Bimodes became completely cut off
from all other Bimodes, and when these Bimodes could see they were clearly surrounded by
armed humans, then they would always surrender. And they surrendered clearly by bowing
their heads and laying their tentacles on the ground. And then they would obey any orders we
gave them. These Bimodes were sensible creatures. They had no desire to lose their lives for
nothing.
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‘So knowing this, an army of humans would gain full control over a line of Bimodes
in the following manner. An army would fully surround the end of a Bimode line for more
than 100 meters. And then the rods would be used from both sides near the end of this line,
and a new breach would be formed. And then within a couple of minutes the 200 or so
Bimodes in the cut-off section would surrender because they were fully cut-off and densely
surrounded on all sides. And then the army commander would order the Bimodes to one side
of the road so the road was no longer blocked. And then the army would move up another
hundred meters and chop off another 200 or so Bimodes. But this time, the army commander
would order the Bimodes to move to the other side of the road. So the various groups of
Bimodes would always remain completely separate from each other.
‘And this is what my army did on one of the roads that led to Newport. But the whole
procedure took us a long time. This was because more than half our company were always
engaged in - finding a new house to live in for the night; clearing the house and finding our
food and cooking it. And, besides this, we had to do all this entirely by foot because the
Bimodes had systematically destroyed any vehicles. In fact, they had destroyed any devices
that they thought humans might possibly use as well. Life wasn’t going to be really easy for
us in the future. And also, overnight the Bimodes would always retreat and regroup into a
stronger defensible position. The Bimodes were no fools. It took us several days to reach
Newport and there we stayed for a few days because the houses in Newport hadn’t been rifled
for food yet. So we could restock up on food for both our army and the other armies as well.
‘While we were doing this, other armies were clearing up the Bimodes in the north
and the south of the Island. But the Bimodes were still very active themselves. They retreated
further and formed a very defensive line that only contained the North-East segment of our
Island. So this defensive line went down the narrow inlet that leads from the sea in the north
into Newport itself. And from Newport, the defensive line followed the main road that led to
the convenient coast line between Shanklin and Sandown. And this defensive line they
formed was at least 5 Bimodes thick. It was tempting for us to leave this area to the Bimodes,
because we couldn’t use this land ourselves at the moment. The Bimodes were essentially
offering us a reasonable peace deal.
‘But a resident of the area told us that there was a group of young children left in this
area. They had to be left with a couple of adults because they were too young to walk far
enough. This group had to be rescued. But fortunately at this stage, a quarry worker informed
us where the dynamite that was used for their blasting operations was kept. So we made some
of this dynamite into bombs. And we tossed these bombs into the Bimode’s thick defensive
line in four different places. The devastation was huge and large gaps were made in the line –
and many Bimodes were killed. The Bimodes then soon realised that they really were beaten.
Within half-an-hour, their heads all bent to us, and their tentacles were all laid out in front of
them. So they surrendered fully and now they obeyed our commands completely. The war
was finally over and we had won. But then we faced the enormous problem of creating a
working community for ourselves.
‘First we had to return to Calbourne again for a big meeting to decide what we would do. But
in fact, there really was only one thing we could do - and Dougal had prepared everything for
this very eventuality. The Bimodes had destroyed all our vehicles, tractors and farm
implements. So the big thought in every islander’s mind was how we could possibly feed
ourselves now. But we in our self-sufficient community did know, because we had been
doing this for years. And this was our ploughing system with its manual pulley. And we could
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make many more of these simple ploughs from some extra wire Dougal had bought and we
could use individual ploughs from the implements the Bimodes had destroyed. And all us
community people explained this to all the other islander people as we slowly trudged home
to Calbourne. And furthermore the formation was obvious because each army could form a
village and, within this, each company could occupy just one house. We would all have to
squash up into one house because most of the houses were in our towns. And it was much too
far for everyone to walk from the towns to their agricultural land everyday. And everyone
was needed on our land if we weren’t to starve.
‘So before the big meeting, everyone knew how we could feed ourselves and everyone
accepted this. If we wanted to live, we had to completely forget our old way of living. At the
big meeting, which Dougal ran, this was all accepted by unanimous vote by everyone. And
the complete democratic system, which you are now familiar with Stan, was also accepted.
But the final point, about us being a completely egalitarian society, was rather subtle.
‘Clearly everyone agreed that initially the resources of this island should equally
belong to all the people on the Island. But, as you know, in a capitalistic system people have
the right to buy and sell just as they wish – so, over time, some people will own more of the
resources than other people do. This is what has happened everywhere else in the world. But
Dougal wanted the Isle of Wight, in general, to be different. And so, in our new society, all
normal people would remain completely equal in their ownership of resources and other items
as well. But, if some people wished to break away and form a capitalistic system
independently on the island, then they would be allowed to do so. So then they could take
their fair share of the Island’s resources to do this. But this capitalistic enclave on the island
would never be allowed to own more land resources than the egalitarian section - in
proportion to their relative populations.
‘But, in practice, a capitalistic enclave would never form here. People like capitalism
because they think they will become rich there. And, in practice, this means that other people
must become poorer to support this person’s wealth. But, if in the capitalistic enclave people
gain this extra wealth, then the resultant poorer people would soon start to return to us in the
egalitarian section. And then the rich people would be left alone and so they would be
stripped of their extra wealth because they could only hold their resources in proportion to
their population. So, although our society does not forbid capitalism, in fact no one
contemplates doing this here. If people want capitalism then it is best for them to go to a
different island. We on the Isle of Wight want to genuinely always remain egalitarian and so
be completely different from the rest of the world.’
‘So from this big meeting, we all spread out. Each army formed a village where their
companies were housed in manors. Initially our manors were located in normal houses. But,
within a couple of months, most of these houses were pulled down. Then, using these bricks,
floors, roofs and windows, we made the very simple manor houses you are now living in. We
find these manors to be remarkably comfortable and they can be maintained with the
minimum amount of work.
‘But I have talked for long enough at the moment. Why don’t we both move down and
collect our lunch with a cup of tea? We still have lots to talk about.’
And this is what we did. I did have a lot to think over. The people of the Isle of Wight
certainly did have to face an enormously difficult problem, which they had to solve. So
maybe they did need to form this weird form of society just to be able to survive. On the Isle
of Man we didn’t have to face a problem of this kind of magnitude at all.
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As we moved away I could see Ellen was pregnant. Naturally I congratulated her. I
wondered who the father might be. She was at a similar stage to Monica. So, like Monica, this
pregnancy must have occurred during the revolt. But Ellen, also like Monica, was not
forthcoming about who the father might be. I myself don’t like to see women having children
outside marriage. But I have to keep these feelings to myself here.
When we had finished lunch, we returned to this convenient position where we could quietly
talk - and yet the rest of the crowd could imagine we were listening to what our leaders were
droning on about down below. I then asked Ellen a particular question, which had been
bugging me for sometime.
‘You must have built these special “manor” type houses before this disaster started.
But surely then people must have insisted that the building had the usual beds, tables and
chairs. How did you persuade the people to throw these items away?’
‘That is quite a perceptive question.’ Ellen replied with a smile. ‘Yes, we did start by
using normal beds, tables and chairs. But you must remember our special situation. In normal
times, one of these simple houses had just one family in it. But for a couple of months over
the summer holidays, lots of people returned here and we accommodated all these extra
people in the same houses, by using that floor bedding with which you are now familiar.
Dougal developed this. And a lot of these people who came had many young children. And
then we were in for a surprise. The really young children loved this situation because all the
grown-ups were on their own level. So they could play, eat and have their nappies changed
more easily because there was no danger of them falling. Adults like beds, tables and chairs.
But children are better off on the ground. This is not surprising because our human race has
almost always lived on the ground. It is only during the past few hundred years that most
people have started to live off the ground. Also some people were following the Asian
tradition of not using nappies for their babies. So we needed to clean the floor more often.
Thus our community started to realise that there were some distinct advantages about living
on just clean floor-boards.
‘And then a group of our people happened to watch that Meerkat Manor program on
TV. And this program reminded us just how much time animals spend on looking after their
young. Some of our people thought we should also organise our lives with the benefit of our
children slightly more in mind. So these people decided to live more communally on the floor
for the benefit of their children – as we are doing now. And then these people found it be a
very relaxing way to live. So they called this house a “manor” because their living form was a
little bit similar to the Meerkats. And they had roughly the same number of people as the
Meerkats had in their burrows of about 40 people. Like the Meerkats, they found this to be a
suitable number because there was then always enough people for some people to stay at
home and look after the children.
‘Then Dougal joined this group and this gave this group status. So I had to join them
as well because I am one of Dougal’s minders - and I always need to keep my eye on him.
Dougal still can’t be trusted when there are young women around. Then after the Bimode
revolt, everyone had to accept this form because we had no other choice. Tables, chairs and
beds simply took up too much room. We don’t have many children at the moment, so at the
moment this very important advantage is not obvious. But there are a lot of children on the
way and we want to be able to look after all these children in the easiest and best possible
way. So we wish to maintain this manner of living till our own children are born.’ Then Ellen
patted her tum reminding me that this was personally important for her as well.
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‘It is several months now since you re-established your control of this island.’ I continued.
‘Surely some people would have insisted on building better housing for themselves as soon as
they had time available to build them?’
‘I am afraid that over the last few months we, on this Island, have been struck by a
rare disease, which is almost unknown in the current world. We now suffer from the disease
of “Community Pride”. We are very proud of the fact that we have coped with a very dire
situation here and we solved this problem by ourselves with no outside help at all. We are
proud of our healthy life style here, where all people get a sensible amount of outdoor
exercise and so we have no obese people at all. We are proud that all our people have now
learnt how to support themselves in the basics of life like: food, water, energy and housing.
We are very proud of the fact that we here can expand and we can accept all the people in the
world who would like to join us. We are enormously proud that this life-style gives us an
enormous amount of spare time. So we can use this time to develop all the facilities, which
will be necessary for us to retake the Bimode’s lands in just a few years time.
‘We are even proud of the fact that we are now so different from the rest of the world
whose people simply gloat over their excess of individual possessions. We don’t want to be
like this at all. Here we rejoice in not being materialistic at all and we even find this simple
way of living makes life easier for us. Finally on a personal note, Monica and I have enjoyed
many happy hours together laughing about how horrified you, Stan, will be when you have to
join us here. You have such rigid ideas about how civilised man ought to live. It will be our
pleasure to show you how wrong you are.’
‘I and my family will be returning to the Isle of Man in just three months time. So we
will recover then from the indignity of this visit quite soon. So your gloating will soon be
over.’ During that last talk of Ellen’s, I finally realised why Ellen had sought me out here. She
has always liked to play games with me. So she thought this meeting would be a chance for
her to gloat at my expense. Well I was going to make sure she couldn’t gloat for too long.
‘Aren’t you just a little worried about your extreme embarrassment on such a return to
the Isle of Man?’ Ellen asked.
‘What do you mean?’
‘We naturally have several spies on the Isle of Man. And one of our spies carefully
attended one of the courses you gave in reply to our proclamation. On your return, you will be
forced to admit that what you said in those courses was completely wrong.’
‘So what was it you claim that I said was wrong?’
‘Before telling you about your mistakes, I must sincerely congratulate you on what
you did actually achieve. The first item is about your leading your large party out of North
Wales. Everyone on this island knows about this great escape and we are all most impressed.
This was a great achievement.
‘But, most of all, all of us on this Island actually admired the course you gave on the
Isle of Man. On the whole, your course was balanced and it covered the whole subject as well
as anyone could expect. All normal people would think the same as you about the weaknesses
of an egalitarian society. But political systems always avoid discussing different political
forms because such discussions always tend to threaten the nature of the current system. So
the current leaders and their supporters always make sure no such courses are given. So, in
the current world, almost no one knows the relative advantages and disadvantages of the
various possible political forms. So we think you did remarkably well to introduce such a
course.
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‘In fact, if you were happy to be recognised here, you would be given a hero’s
welcome on this Island. And then you would be given two very special badges to put on your
head-band. At present only Monica and I know you are here. But all our leaders know about
you and they are very impressed with what you did on the Isle of Man. Both Monica and I are
sure that this would be the outcome.’
Naturally I thanked Ellen for this appreciation and so I forgave her a little for her
previous gloating. Also I assured her that I definitely didn’t want my achievements to be
known on this island.
To Ellen I had claimed that my family really wanted to return to the Isle of Man as
soon as possible. Before last night, I had been completely confident about this. But now I
wasn’t quite so sure. Both Michelle and the children had shown signs on the weekend of
enjoying the much more vibrant social life here. However, even if we weren’t going to return,
I would hate that kind of publicity of being recognised here at all. I don’t have that kind of
nature. I would feel like a turncoat if I did something like that. I genuinely do like the normal
capitalist/socialist system that has evolved over the past hundred years in the world. The
extreme form of communism they were practising on the Isle of Wight was stupid.
‘Now it is my turn to have my supreme pleasure and to point out all your errors.’ Ellen
continued on. ‘The most obvious error was that you claimed that no society could double its
size in less than 25 years. This is because of all the work involved in building the necessary
new infrastructure. Well, if you study our society, you will see that a new copy of our very
simple infrastructure could be built in less than a couple of years. So we really can welcome
as many people as we like. And we can give these people the same nice friendly lifestyle that
we have ourselves.’
‘OK. I admit I did not conceive that people would accept the lifestyle you have here. I
think this mistake was understandable.’
‘We do understand this mistake. You also said that our community meetings wouldn’t
work in practice.’
‘Yes. I admit I did not conceive that any normal community would actually enforce
the strict timing rules you have here. Your meetings are horrible. But in a way I accept they
do work.’
‘You might remember that in our proclamation we never claimed our meetings would
be pleasant. But we claim that our meeting system gives us a far more democratic system than
any state has ever achieved before. But this is a very complex subject. You will need to study
our system for a long time before you can appreciate this fact.
‘In your course, you also claimed in our society people wouldn’t have any incentive to
work hard. So we would stagnate. This is very wrong because our people enjoy the
recognition they receive through our badge system. This provides everyone with a very good
incentive. But it will again take several months for you to understand that this incentive
system of ours really does work well. However you will understand this fact before you return
to the Isle of Man. So you will have to admit you are wrong here.’
It was my turn to smile. ‘I am fairly sure that monetary gain is a far better incentive
than any set of badges will ever be. But I am happy to wait for three months and find out for
myself.’
‘ Yes you must wait to decide on this point. But the main thrust of your course was
that all communist/egalitarian systems have failed before - and they will always continue to
fail in the future. Again it is still too early for you to know the facts about our community on
this difficult subject. However, before you leave our island, you will see the enormous strides
76

we are already making in building new aircraft that will reach other islands quickly. We will
soon be proving to all your capitalistic islands that we are developing and progressing much
more quickly than they are. The young people on your island simply won’t believe we are
failing, when they can physically see that we are regaining our previous capabilities much
more quickly than they are. On our island, all our people have the time and the incentive to do
this communal work. We are progressing much more quickly than you are on the Isle of Man.
You just wait and see.’
‘I have to admit I might have been slightly wrong about some of what I said in my
course. But I am sure that my family and I will still be returning to the Isle of Man in three
months time.’ During my time in industry I had learnt the technique of showing supreme
confidence about situations that are always open to doubt. I had to do this here.
‘That is your choice and we certainly won’t stop you. But it is still too early for you to
know about this.
‘But, before you return to the Isle of Man, as a mathematician there is a task that you
must do for us here. You think our system of agriculture is ridiculously inefficient. Mac is a
friend of mine and he told me this. We claim our system is not inefficient because the people,
who are doing the physical agricultural work, are only doing the physical exercise that all
normal people need to do daily to keep themselves healthy. So you, as a mathematician, must
do the sums to find out if our agricultural manual work is too much and exceeds what healthy
people need to do each day. If it does, then we must change our ways. And we are prepared to
do this. But if it doesn’t, then you cannot claim, back in the Isle of Man, that we here are
wasting our time and are forcing our people to do an excessive amount of physical work. You
as a mathematician must do this work.’
And I agreed. I assumed that their experts of the Isle of Wight had already done these
sums and they already knew that the human physical work involved in their agriculture was
not excessive. This was just a way of forcing me to do the sums myself – and so I would see I
was wrong. But the request was reasonable and I did need to know these facts. So I had to do
this work.
‘And now, my dear Stan, the time has come for me to tell you the essential reason why I have
come to see you today.’ And Ellen then took my hand. ‘Our daughter Namira is now dead. I
am not blaming you for this. We all make mistakes. But I want a replacement for Namira. So,
when my current child has been born, I want another child with you. And, if she is a girl, I
will call her Namira again. So we both need to repeat that rather glorious little episode we had
together nearly 20 years ago.’
I was aghast. I withdrew my hand from Ellen. ‘I am sorry but we definitely can’t. As
you know I am now happily married and both Michelle and I both firmly believe that “we
should be beholden only unto each other”. And besides this we are all returning to the Isle of
Man in three months time. This would be quite impossible.’
‘There is no problem at all. I will naturally go and talk to Michelle first to check she is
entirely happy with what I want. I will explain to her that I will in no way interfere with your
marriage - but it is your duty to give me another child. You have agreed that you were
partially to blame for Namira’s death. And, if you all return to the Isle of Man, I will still
come and see you there. Hopefully we will have our new planes running by then. So I can
also advertise to the young people of the Isle of Man just how much we are advancing down
here on the Isle of Wight. It will be fun.
‘But I will say nothing more about the problem now. I will wait till your family is
fully settled about where you all wish to live in the future. Then I will attend one of
77

Porchfield’s Saturday night dances and there I will start talking to Michelle about what I
would like with you. So I will see you all then.’ Ellen then rose and gave me a quick peck on
the cheek and ruffled my hair. Then she disappeared behind me as quietly as she had come.
For a while I was just dumbfounded by the whole situation. I straightened my hair and wiped
Ellen’s kiss away from my face just to try to erase any association with Ellen from me. But
unfortunately I did need to think about this whole problem ahead of me.
The main point that Ellen was making was that the “Isle of Wight” was advancing
much more quickly than any capitalist island could. And I, as a mathematician, could see that
she was almost certainly correct on this matter. Any capitalist state spends a large amount of
its people’s time building the luxury items that all its rich people want. So, if a state can
persuade its population not to demand these items, then the state instead can build all the
facilities that make such a state very advanced and strong indeed. This is what Russia
partially did after the Second World War and what China has been doing more recently. So
Ellen was probably right in saying that the Isle of Wight was advancing very quickly in the
manufacture of aircraft and status items like this. And this sort of progress does give its
population a lot of “community pride”. And I had a horrible feeling that Fiona and Gavin
would soon be affected by this same communal feeling. That was why the children had
wanted to come to this island in the first place. This was a real worry for me.
And Michelle has always liked a good social life. And the Isle of Wight offered a
better social life than the Isle of Man did. And, previous to our time on the Isle of Man,
Michelle wasn’t all that closely bonded to me. She did have some minor affairs. So Michelle
could use Ellen’s request as an excuse to loosen our bonds, if she felt like it sometime,
without it being assumed to be her fault. This was also very worrying.
So, in the worst case, I could see I might have to stay on this damned, blasted island
and even then I might lose the closeness of my family. Also I might have to suffer the
indignity of Ellen playing games with me and making fun of me for a couple of months. This
would be absolutely awful.
But, I had to stay positive - this might not happen. I could explain to all my family
that, in the long run, they would be far better off back on the Isle of Man. We could become
very rich and important there. I can be fairly persuasive when I have to be. I had to put on a
good act of being confident and hope for the best.
However I also believe in safety. I decided I wouldn’t be quite so critical of this
blasted communal life here - just in case we were all forced to stay on.
On the way home I thought it wise to put this new resolution into practice. So I walked home
with Mac and did my best to ingratiate myself with him as best I could. So I asked why
Calbourne was the capital of the island although it was only a village - and it wasn’t even
very central to the island. I thought I already knew the answer to this question because of
what Ellen had told me. But this was an easy question for me to ask.
‘We find it much easier,’ Mac replied, ‘to keep our living area compact and only use
as little land as we can. This means all people can enjoy a good social life without the need
for much transport. And we can do this because we use our land extremely well. With the use
of our Bimodes, we only use one tenth of a hectare of land per person and yet our lifestyle is
fully sustainable and we cause no pollution at all. In fact we now have probably the lowest
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footprint that any society has ever yet achieved on this Earth. We are naturally proud of what
we have done.
‘Now our population here is only 40,000 people. It used to be 125,000 – but all the
others died in the Bimode uprising. So, at the moment, we only need the land around
Calbourne. So, at the moment, we just have about 20 villages, similar to our own, with
Calbourne at our centre.
‘But we are now preparing for a huge expansion. With our way of living, the Isle of
Wight can easily support a population of 200,000 and still we would have plenty of land for
parks supporting an abundant amount of wildlife. We really are a perfect “green” community.
We will start to fill up the areas of the island to the south and east of us, as soon as we have
enough people to do so. But, for the moment, the vast majority of this island is simply empty
of people.
‘We just want more people.’
This certainly wasn’t the answer I was expecting. The new society they were forming
on this island was certainly very peculiar indeed. I then tried to be sociable for the rest of the
walk by enquiring about the nature of all the various villages we passed by.
When we got back to our village, I was in for a further surprise. The children wanted to go to
church. I personally have always liked to go to a normal Anglican church at Christmas and
Easter. But I could never persuade the children to go as well. But here it was the social thing
to do – everyone went. I suppose also there was nothing much else for people to do – there
was no TV or Video.
So we all went to church. It was quite good. We all sat on the floor together in the
main village hall. There were lots of traditional hymns, which we could all join in, with great
gusto and much hand clapping. The sermon wasn’t too long which we all appreciated. It was
about that community living attempt that is described in Acts. It was a failure. The preacher
emphasised just how hard it is to work out a communal system that is practical and just to all
people. We had to be very careful about what we did. So everything that was said was
relevant to how we lived here. The keen church-goers went to their own special services in
the morning. So that element was catered for elsewhere. And afterwards there was a good
communal feed. So naturally many people went and enjoyed themselves. Fiona and Gavin sat
with their new friends rather than us. So they were forming friends.
That night I was wondering whether I should talk to Michelle about Ellen. But I
decided against it. My first objective was to make sure we all returned to the Isle of Man in
three months time. I didn’t want to confuse this issue with Ellen’s designs on me, before it
was necessary.
Over the next few months, one subject dominated our thoughts above all others – this was
about obtaining the various memberships of the society. In all normal sensible societies, a
person usually worries about two main things – getting a job and money. In this society these
two problems don’t arise. Here there is no money and, for work, a person simply helps in
some way with all the jobs the various levels of society require to be done. Instead of this,
here, a person mainly worries about membership. And this is quite complicated because there
are several levels of membership. At present we were just “learner members” of our manor.
We first needed to become “full members” of our manor. Then we could become “learner
members of our village”. And then, when we became “full members of our village”, we could
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ecome “learner members of the state”. Then finally, we could become “full members of the
state”. Each of these stages was clearly indicated on our head-bands. These various levels
gave a person a greater range of where they could go and what they could do. So they were all
very important
So this is what these coming pages of my story are going to be all about. So you, my
reader, can see this next section of my story is bound to be a little complex and a bit boring.
But I have to describe these details. This is how this society works and you and I have to learn
this. And it is a sensible thing to do because neither I, nor you, have ever encountered a
modern society that does not use money. So it is a good thing to realise how such a society
can work. We all know we must have some very good incentives to make us work well and
help society progress. This is what these memberships did. After this interlude, my story will
become more exciting again.
The first thing we had to do was to gain full membership of our manor. This had to take us at
least 4 weeks and most people attained membership in this time. We didn’t want to be put to
shame by taking longer. So we really did try to learn everything we had to. The major part of
this learning was about our agricultural system and I have already given you a rough idea
about this task. So we certainly needed to remember the three physical reasons and the four
community reasons why a community should be self-sufficient in food – even if we didn’t
believe them. I will say no more on this subject – I still felt it was stupid.
The other jobs we needed to learn about were the “chores” about the manor. These
included all the home jobs around the manor like: child-minding, cooking, cleaning, washing,
painting, fixing and repairing. Everyone had to learn the jobs and we had to spend at least a
week learning to do everything. These jobs didn’t take us too long because the manor was so
small and so simple. Admittedly the whole manor needed to be swept after every meal. But
this job didn’t take long at all because there was nothing in the way – remember, everyone
had to hang their very limited possessions out of the way on the walls unless they were
actually using them.
Often the women preferred to do this job because they could then be close to their
children. Denise, who was in charge, had two young children herself. I couldn’t refrain from
asking her the obvious question – ‘How did you manage with your young children during the
Bimode revolt?’
‘I was lucky.’ Denise replied. ‘When the buses delivering the sighted society members
around the island started to get empty, then they offered to take the mums with young
children back to Calbourne. And I was one of the fortunate ones who was around near the end
of a run.’
‘So you managed to miss out on all the suffering everyone else had to endure?’
‘No, not entirely. When returning, about 5 kilometers before Calbourne, we found the
Bimodes had already blocked the road. So we had to get out and hide like everyone else - till
our sight returned. But, over a couple of days, we managed to carry our children through the
fields back to Calbourne. But it wasn’t easy.’
And then I couldn’t refrain from describing just a little of our family’s adventures as
well. Our similar sufferings brought us all a little closer together in this new community.
After 4 weeks, we were all duly examined by Mac and Denise to see if we knew and
could do all the many little jobs. They then reported to Sally. We were then excluded from the
next manor meeting where our membership was discussed. We four waited in trepidation in
the manor barn. But everything was OK. With great rejoicing we were accepted. A fine
rooster was slaughtered for us and we had a little feast that night. We were very relieved
80

ecause everyone took these matters very seriously here. And we were very keen to go on to
our next stage of membership.
Tom, our manor village representative, then told the village membership secretary of our new
status in the manor. So, on Friday night, we all four were voted in as new “learner members”
of the village. So on Saturday our head-bands were adjusted to show this new status. These
new headbands now identified us completely on the island. In this village, each manor has the
name of a bird for its name. We were actually called the Rook’s manor. But all the manors
also had a number (in fact we were numbered clockwise around from North). We were
number 41. And also the first two letters of the village name were normally used to identify
the village. So the identifier on my head-band was “Stan41PO”. So here everyone knew
immediately who everyone was and their precise address. There were no anonymous people
on this island at all.
Now was the time we could go to Yarmouth and pick up our personal possessions. But
we still didn’t have a sufficiently high membership for us to go round the island just as we
liked. So we had to go to the village membership secretary and she gave us each an individual
slip to put on our head-bands saying that we could go to Yarmouth for the day. Because each
village had a reasonable population, and no one had cars, there was a reasonably frequent free
bus service that went to wherever people needed to go. So, on Sunday, off we all went for our
family’s first day’s outing on the island by ourselves.
We enjoyed the day. Now we understood the situation of how the whole island was
gradually being resettled, we took an interest in how each new village was starting to function
in the new areas. It is fun to see progress. On Sunday in particular, all the special places like
Yarmouth expect visitors. So we could accept the island’s basic free food where we liked. We
even went on a short boat trip to see the coast. {You may be wondering that some people, or
even manors, might rort this system and have too many free items. Well, people could try -
but it would be dangerous. The places, where we went, kept records of the people and what
they had used. And these records were sent and kept in the central filing system where
everyone could inspect them. So, if someone did rort the system, then this excessive use could
be found out. So we certainly had no intention of trying to cheat the system.}
We then went to our luggage and inspected it. But we decided to leave it exactly
where it was. In the manor, we each had just one large hook from which we hung all our gear.
So, from this, we hung our light mattress and bedding at the back, two clothes-hangers for our
clothes, a bag for our dirty clothes, and a bag for our personal possessions. This was all we
needed there. And, if we put this extra stuff in our personal bag, then it would tend to get in
the way of the items we really needed. So we left our gear there – we could get it all later
when it might be useful. It was quite safe where it was.
In the village, there was a system by which everyone could, in practice, have extra
possessions. This was to join a club or society. All active clubs and societies were given as
many rooms as they needed to use or store their gear. So I belonged to a soccer club and I had
my own boots and gear that I kept there. Similarly Michelle and Fiona had joined a dance
club and they had a large room, where they made costumes, and smaller rooms where they
stored them. And they used these costumes at the Saturday night dance.
This very peculiar society was very keen that all people should join and partake in
social activities. So the society allowed its people extra possessions, if they joined in these
communal activities. People couldn’t take these possessions away from this island. But, if
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they went to a different village, then they would take their personal items with them and use
them in a similar club. This was the system here.
We then returned for the normal evening service in the village. So this was our first
day out. It wasn’t very exciting – but it was a change.
On Monday, after finishing our manor jobs at about 10 o’clock, we could start working on the
village activities. But in the village, to some extent, a person could choose the area in which
to work. Michelle and Gavin chose to work in the village itself because then it was easier for
Gavin to go to school in the afternoon. But Fiona and I chose to work on construction, which
would be out of this village. As I mentioned before, here it is optional as to whether a person
works or goes to school. And Fiona thought it would be more fun to work on construction
than to go to school for a time.
The major construction job, of course, was to create sets of new village buildings.
When a complete village was ready, then a whole set of new people would move into new
complete villages over just one weekend in one go. This meant no people had to suffer the
unpleasantness of living in a partially complete village. And our construction job was then to
help create these new village buildings and also prepare their associated agricultural lands.
The new village under construction then was called Whitecroft and it lay just to the
south of Newport. This was part of the general new plan to develop lands to the south and east
of Newport so that Newport could eventually become a central capital of the whole state. A
bus, run by our village, took our village contingent there. When we got there, our whole
village contingent worked on just one manor. And we worked on everything: the manor
building itself, the water pipes and services, the barn, the paved paths (which the community
would use to push their produce along in their hand-pushed carts) and ploughing their land.
There was a lot to do – but there were also plenty of village people to do all the work. And,
because there were so many people, each day we could see significant progress in all we did.
When we worked in the manor, we didn’t fill in time-sheets because it wasn’t
necessary. Everyone there could see whether everyone else was pulling their weight. But, for
work in the village and state, we now did. The official requirement was that everyone did, on
average, 20 hours work per week on village and state activities. But this requirement was very
flexible. Women with young children weren’t required to do this amount of work at all. And
many people were happy to do more than this. We were never forced to work too hard, and,
on the whole, the work was pleasant and it filled in the day. Sometimes it is pleasant, at the
end of the day, to feel that one has done a good day’s work. So I, like many people, usually
averaged much more than 20 hours of work per week.
There was other construction work we could do as well. Mostly in England it is not
necessary to irrigate because we get a reasonably regular rainfall. And, if there is a drought,
we don’t need to worry too much because we can buy our food from other lands. But now, on
the Isle of Wight, we were in a different position. If we had a drought here now, then we
might have to starve. So the society was considering this problem. So what the authorities
were doing was to dam the river Medina at Cowes. Then the whole long estuary that led from
Cowes to Newport would become fresh water dam. So, if the island had a drought, then this
water could be used till the drought was over.
So, for a week, Fiona and I also helped to build this dam. Our particular job was to
join the team that was dredging the estuary to make it deeper so it would hold more water. We
helped spread the dredged material over the banks to make them higher to make the dam hold
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more water still. Naturally we did have powered mechanical machines to do all the major
lifting. It was nice for us to feel we were helping to make our food supply more secure.
During this time, the festivals of Christmas and New Year occurred. Naturally we couldn’t
give any presents because there weren’t any available and we had no money. But we still
celebrated the season with feasts, carol singing, mid-night services and dances. In our manor
we slaughtered one of our pigs and duly sang the “Boar’s Head” carol while eating it. We
found we didn’t have to give presents to celebrate special occasions.
Although we weren’t required to know all the jobs the village was involved in, we
were at least required to know what all the offices of the village were and what their
departments did. So I will at least tell you what these offices are. The village also had the
same four offices as our manor and they did similar tasks with respect to the village. So, for
example, the village representative now represented our village’s interests in our state
government. But besides these offices, the village had officers in charge of construction,
water, energy, health (medical), schooling, transport, critical analysis and work-time balance.
So we had a reasonable amount of learning to do understanding what each of these
departments did. But this wasn’t too bad because we were personally dealing with all these
departments every day.
Finally, after 4 weeks, we were ready to be examined. We four were all individually
examined by the membership officer on all the departments in general. Clearly the officer
didn’t expect as much of the children. Then Fiona and I were examined by the construction
and water officers. And Michelle and Gavin were examined by the schooling, transport and
time-balance officers with whom they had been involved. Then, on the following Friday, our
membership applications were considered by the village meeting of manor representatives.
And then happily we were all accepted as full village members.
The village meeting was on Friday - so on the following Sunday we went to Calbourne to be
received as learner members in this island state. This time the weather was too cold to sit
outside so the meeting was held in a large marquee. There were about 150 people receiving
learner state membership as well as us - so we didn’t feel quite so special as previously. Our
head-bands were then all adjusted to indicate our new level of membership.
Fiona and Gavin would just continue with their schooling because it would still be
several years before they would be old enough to become full members of the state. Their
advance to learner state membership only meant they could now travel around the island as
they liked. But we, adult learner state members, could then move on and attain full
membership of the state in about four months time. And, to attain this highest membership,
we principally needed to show that we could be usefully employed in the state’s
manufacturing industries. So this was our new aim in life. This certainly wasn’t my aim in life
– but it was safer for me to pretend to the rest of the island that it was.
We would start this four-month period by attending a week’s course that would
introduce us all to the state’s activities. But there were too many new people here for us to go
on just one course. However there were conveniently five areas of state activity that we
needed to see and participate in a little. So the whole group could be divided into five smaller
groups of people who could each spend a day in the various activity areas. So there were
about 30 people in each group and then each group could conveniently travel in one bus. And
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this is what we did. Most of these activities were situated around Newport. I shall try to be
brief because there were a large number of activities.
The first day my group spent seeing and helping with the manufacture of the all
standard appliances the island used and needed. So this department was making or repairing
things like: methane stoves and heaters, water pumps, washing machines and solar hot-water
panels. At present, the island had plenty of methane gas because, per person, the island had a
large number of Bimodes. So this was our basic source of energy. But, if more people came
here, then there would be less methane per person. So the department was also trying to
produce heat exchangers and PV panels to help with energy needs in the future. Seeing all
these requirements made us realise just how much we had to learn, if we were to make all the
items we were used to having. So, for the time being, this island would live without
refrigerators. They were not strictly essential.
Our second day was spent with the basic materials department. At present this
department was mostly simply going around the island collecting all the essential materials so
that they could be reused. Thus they collected things like all the various metals and the
different kinds of fabrics. But they were also trying to start making cement, plastics and
polypropylene for insulation. So the department had a small furnace working and a
rudimentary chemical/refinery operation to start this essential materials manufacture process.
Wednesday for us was a very different day indeed. We went to the central state library
where all the state files were kept as well. Now this state claimed to be a completely open
society. So every document that pertained to every decision this society made was kept here
and everyone could inspect these documents. But, if a person wants to inspect something,
then they first must know where everything is and how it is ordered so they can find it. And
this is what we had to learn today (or sometime in the future). And, as opposed to the other 4
days, we would be examined in how this filing system worked, before we could gain full state
membership. So they took this filing task very seriously indeed. So for example, the details of
all the transactions of the various eating facilities were kept here for everyone to check. All
the reports of various state officers and speeches of village representatives were naturally kept
here. And all public details of the 50,000 state members were also here. And this included all
our work times, examination results and possible demeanours details. So the filing system
was very comprehensive. And, besides knowing where everything was, we had to know how
it got there. This was a worry. Everyone believes in open societies. But very few people think
about how this can be done. But this society did. That day we actually helped with the
physical work associated with the continuous updating of all the files. I suggested that it
would be far better if this data was all kept on a computer where everyone could access it. But
they replied that they now couldn’t rely on their computers working in the future.
The next day was much more exciting and fun. We went first to the facilities at
Yarmouth where boats were being repaired and new boats were being made. And after this
we went to the aerodrome facilities at Bembridge where some old aeroplanes were being
repaired and even new planes were being made. They were making great progress.
Our final day was quite relaxing. We went to the central transport facilities where all
the cars, buses and trucks the state was using were repaired. And this included some of the old
vehicles, which the Bimodes had immobilised. But more importantly the state was now
creating some very simple vehicles for itself. These various vehicles had no roofs, windows
and doors at all. And at the back they didn’t even have any seats. So they weren’t very
comfortable. But these vehicles were still quite capable of moving people and goods around
the country quickly when necessary.
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This introductory week was certainly very successful in making all us new people
realise that this society really was determined to move on into the future as soon as it possibly
could. And, in comparison to this, the Isle of Man had been doing very little. There we had
been quite successful in repairing our facilities and getting most things working again. But we
hadn’t even tried to think about the really hard problem of creating new facilities for
ourselves when we couldn’t repair the old facilities any more. We, like the rest of the world,
had got too used to importing all the complex manufactured facilities of the modern world.
And now we had spent all our time trying to fix the blasted things. We couldn’t keep on doing
this for too long. We, on the Isle of Man, would also eventually need to create simpler
manufactured goods that we make and repair ourselves. This was a worry.
On the Wednesday, when I had been working at filing, Monica had sought me out. And she
invited me and my family to spend most of the weekend with her and her extended family at
their manor. And there: we would join in their village’s sporting activities on Saturday; we
would go to their dance on Saturday night; and then we would go for a walk together on the
downs with them on Sunday. And we were all delighted to do so. We could do this because
now we could travel over the island just as we liked. And the various manors and villages
were always happy to accept visitors - when these visitors had earned the right to travel. Each
manor had quite a few extra mats with bedding and it was very easy to extend the cooking.
And this is what we did. We had a wonderful weekend with our very closest friends
doing lots of fun activities together. And it was so easy to do this. This society here believed
one of the great things in life is to be sociable. So their society was designed so that this could
happen very easily. And then, of course, we invited Monica’s extended family to come to our
village to do the same thing on the following weekend. And then this excellent procedure
became our weekend habit – so we all swapped around between our two villages every
weekend.
But for me this all came at a terrible cost. Fiona and Gavin now started to really love
this life down on the Isle of Wight. Their lack of private space, possessions and food variety
was quite forgotten. I tried to remind them of these things - but they weren’t interested in
these things anymore. And Michelle wasn’t keen to leave as well. So I was stuck here. I wrote
a long letter to Kevin on the Isle of Man describing all the reasons why I was forced to stay
here. But then I had to accept the new situation and get on with life.
Of course in my letter I had to do my duty and explain to Kevin the arithmetic
associated with manual ploughing. At that stage I had in fact worked out all the relevant
numbers. I will gives these numbers to you my reader as well.
A person here needed roughly 1,000 m 2 of land to support themselves, and this land
was normally ploughed once a year. Each furrow was 20 cm wide and so each person needed
5,000 metres of ploughing to be done each year. There were about 250 days a year when it
was convenient to do this ploughing. So a person needed to do 20 metres of ploughing per
day.
On our land here, we normally had light paved paths every 20 metres where we could
easily push our carts to take our produce out and take our fertiliser back in. {As each manor
was next to its land, absolutely all excreta and waste was easily recycled back into the land.}
And for ploughing, we would normally place the winch on one path and plough from the
adjacent path. And roughly, it took a team of five people one minute to plough these 20
metres and one minute to drag the plough back i.e. 2 minutes for this 20 metres full operation.
But, per person, this 2 minutes figure must be multiplied by 5. So this meant that each person
here needed to do 10 minutes of manual ploughing, every working day, to get their daily
85

quota of ploughing done. But every person did need to do at least this amount of exercise
every day - so this figure wasn’t too excessive.
One Sunday a few weeks later, Monica and I were on top of the downs looking down at the
variety of landscapes below us. Our two whole families had gone for this walk. But all the
others had wanted to return to the village early, so they could all join in the various social
activities there. I thought this then was a suitable time for me to ask some of the questions
about the island, which had been bugging me for a while.
‘Do you actually see anything of Dougal yourself now?’ I asked of Monica.
‘Yes - quite a lot. We try to go climbing together whenever we can. We have even
started a small club here. You can join us if you like?’
‘No – I haven’t climbed for years. But I was wondering if you know Dougal’s
opinions on how this community works here.’
‘Unfortunately I do. Dougal doesn’t trust other people’s opinions because he thinks
most people just suck up to him and so they will always agree with him. So he doesn’t trust
them. But he does trust me to give an honest opinion. So he likes to talk to me a lot. So I have
to listen and pay attention to a lot of policy decisions that I don’t really want to hear about.’
So this gave me just the opportunity that I needed. ‘Why doesn’t your community
provide radio or TV at all?’ I asked. ‘Surely this community is capable of providing some
modern media again now.’
‘All the people in this original society were very strongly opposed to all the world
mass media. Without actually giving any wrong facts, it is possible for the mass media to give
a very biased impression. So, for example, the three essential graphs showing - the world
temperature changes, the CO2 humans put into the atmosphere and CO2 measured in the
atmosphere, and how these three graphs are correlated, was never shown on TV. The mass
media never supplied the essential evidence that everyone had to see. All the media would do
was to harp upon the possible job losses people might suffer - and then they never showed
how other jobs would be created. Also the media never showed how the rich could be taxed
more so that the poor people would not be over-burdened. All we needed to do to stop climate
change was for everyone to forego a few of our entirely unnecessary luxuries. And finally the
media never showed that people could change their lifestyles, like we are here. And then we
would use far less of the world’s resources and also cause no pollution at all.
‘So this society here doesn’t like the mass media. And I myself agree with them
entirely.’
‘I admit the whole mass media was biased then by the rich who owned the media.’ I
replied. ‘But surely your society could do better than that now. After all, you now have no
rich people who could bias the media.’
‘We believe all people are biased in favour of what ever happens to be best for them
themselves. And we, in our society, are no different. And we rejoice in this fact – we don’t
want everyone to be the same. But we don’t want a few people to bias all the news the media
give us in their favour.’
‘I agree this is a problem. But, as you have no media now at all, you could allow all
people to put their views on the media.’
‘In case you haven’t noticed the fact, providing interesting media requires a large
amount of time and effort. And then it can be very effective. But we are an egalitarian society.
We don’t want some people to influence other people. All people can make their own minds
up as to what is best for them. But we do have mass media here of a form. We do have
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schools and libraries here, where people can read, see or hear anything they wish. And people
can contribute to these libraries as well if they wish. Also, at all our many meetings, the
people whom we have duly elected to office, are granted much longer speaking times. This
itself is a democratic form of mass media. We think this is enough. We don’t wish to give
unnecessary powers to some people just for the purpose of influencing other people.
‘Here we try to leave people alone so they have time to think about our local problems
and decide for themselves what is best to do here. All the mass media does is to get people
thinking about problems in other countries over which they have no control. Also the media
tends to make people think only in terms of global success rather than just of local success.
This is what happens in sport. The media is usually just a means of deflecting people’s
thinking away from what it ought to be thinking about. The rest of the capitalist world can
have its media for itself. We want to be different here.’
So I gave up arguing about the media. If people are absolutely fanatic about everyone
being equal, then there are limits as to what can be done about the general media. But, there
was also another subject, which I wanted to query. ‘In your government system, you don’t
have an opposition party. How do you justify this?’
‘In a capitalist system it is natural to have two opposing parties.’ Monica replied. ‘So
there is usually a conservative party. And this party is usually supported by the rich, who wish
to conserve their wealth. And, opposed to this party, there is usually a form of socialist party
who wish to use some of this wealth for the common social good and also give more money
to the people who are doing all the work. But we here can’t have these two parties because
everyone is already the same.
‘But there is another reason. Here we do not subscribe to the concept of “leaders”. So
here, none of our many communities has one leader - but rather we have a multitude of
different officers all requiring differing expertise. We think our system is fairer for our
officers because each officer can independently tell all their members what they have done
themselves. So every member of the community is capable of judging how well each officer
does their particular job. Also a person can only hold one officer position at a time and then
only hold that position for a year. So all our officer jobs are circulated and so - certainly a
representative for a manor can’t be an officer in the village. So we have a very fair and just
system.
‘But, in a capitalist system, there is a leader for each party and the electorate instead
chooses between these two leaders. Then the officers of the communities are chosen by the
leaders of the parties, and not by the people (or their representatives) as in our system. So, in
this sense, our system is much more democratic. So the two systems are quite different.
‘I avoid this whole subject. But Dougal says the two systems are incompatible. He
says the two party system is best for the capitalist system and it also provides better
entertainment for the mass media. But our system is more egalitarian and it is the best way of
choosing all the various officers. However we do elect a “critical analyst” officer and their job
is to analyse and criticise all the other officers over a long period of time. This officer does a
very essential function for us.
‘But you are the mathematician. So you can now study the two systems and you can
tell us all how an egalitarian society ought to be organised. And, while you are doing this, you
can tell us how to create an egalitarian media system as well. And we will consider your
systems. You know yourself that people shouldn’t just be critical. So it is your job to be
constructive and show us some better systems, which will do everything correctly for us.’
But of course I didn’t try. I do know my mathematics and there is only one political
problem that has a rigorous mathematical solution. This is the division of the cake problem
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etween “n” people. This problem sounds insignificant. But, if one considers the cake could
be the resources of the world, and this is to be fairly divided between the nations of the world,
then the problem does become more important. This rigorous solution is a generalisation of
the 2 person solution, where one person cuts and the other person chooses. But very few
people can understood even the solution to this “n” person problem. In general, it seems too
hard to devise clean mathematic solutions to political problems. So all mathematicians give
up. And so do I.
So Monica and I made our way home.
During this time, I started working in the state myself. The society was starting to develop
helicopters because such aircraft would be terribly useful in bringing to us the primitive
peoples surrounded by Bimodes on the large continents. I was employed on this project and I
became very useful because I could help with many calculations that are necessary when a
group are starting a new project. This was the first time in my life that I felt my knowledge of
mathematics was actually helping the world to develop. So I was very pleased with the job.
As spring came on, many new babies started to be born everywhere because it was
then nine months since the world disaster. This society had no contraceptive pills at all. But
everyone was keen to have babies here as well, because the manor system meant it was very
easy to look after the babies. Monica and Ellen had their babies first and then Michelle a
month or so later. There was a lot of baby crying at night. But there were a lot of people
around to help and give advice to all the new mums. So it wasn’t too bad. Many church
services now were devoted to new young couples getting married in a hurry, and then babies
being christened. This was, in fact, a time of great rejoicing. But, unfortunately, this new
circumstance meant my family could see Monica’s family less often. It was harder to take
new young babies to different manors. Sometimes the children just went to visit their friends
by themselves.
Soon after this Ellen started coming to our village dances and she became a good
friend of Michelle’s. She danced with me a lot. When the time was right, I had to agree to
have another child with her. Everyone thought this was the correct thing for me to do – so I
had to do it.
In our due time, Michelle and I both gained our full citizenship of the whole state. This gave
us more status, but, this time, the physical advantages were less obvious. Sally immediately
approached me with a wicked gleam in her eye.
‘I have been waiting for this moment for a long time.’ Sally said with a smile. ‘My
year’s term as the membership secretary of the manor, finishes in a few weeks time. You are
the obvious candidate for this position after me. I shall then be suggesting you for the position
to the meeting.’
And, of course, I had to accept. I have always accepted my leadership obligations and
I had no wish to change this situation now. But this wasn’t the easiest of offices and Sally
would always be around to check I was doing it correctly.
So I took on the job in a few weeks time. The really nasty bit of the job was the
disciplinary actions. If a person did something wrong, then this person could lose their
membership rights for a period of time. This penalty was decided by the full manor meeting.
But the membership secretary usually suggested the appropriate penalty to this meeting. If
this person had full membership of either village or the state, then this penalty could not
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interfere too much with this person’s activities there outside. But, in a serious case, the manor
could rescind a person’s membership and then this person would have to find a new manor to
join. And, if no other manor would accept the person, then eventually the person would have
to lose their state and village memberships. The nature of this society was such that a person
had to find some manor that would accept them. And, if a person lost their state and village
memberships, then such a person was completely at the mercy of what their original manor
decided to do with them. And the manor then could send the person to the Bimode area and
give the Bimodes the job of causing this person’s life to cease and to recycle this person’s
body into fertiliser. This circumstance had never occurred, as far as I knew, in the whole state.
But it could happen – and if it did happen only the people in the manor concerned need know
about it. This was all highly unlikely. But all people did tend to bear this circumstance very
much in mind. And so all people tried quite hard not to lose any level of citizenship.
But a penalty, which was inflicted sometimes to my knowledge, was that a person was
sent to the Bimode area with food and a tent for the night. After a night like this, most people
decided it was distinctly better for them to change their ways.
As opposed to all other societies I have known, here appropriate penalties for antisocial
behaviour were easily and quickly enforced and they were remarkably effective. And
all these actions were carried out without any prisons, lawyers, policemen or judges. So this
society here was quite weird.
This method of people gaining and losing the various levels of membership was a very
effective method of giving people an incentive to act in a socially beneficial manner. This was
more effective than what happens in normal life. But I felt the capitalistic system of paying
people money for the work they did, gave people a better incentive to work harder rather than
the system here of just giving people recognition in terms of badges for their work.
But then I am a mathematician. I know that, with money, people can buy some of the
recourses of the world in terms of land. And these people expect to hold these resources
forever. But this monetary incentive then is too strong. If some individuals obtain too much of
the world’s resources, then other people will no longer be able to support themselves. And
this is wrong. This is the fundamental problem with capitalism that some people can become
too rich. And no one has yet solved this problem. So the monetary incentive also has a flaw. I,
like all other people in the world, try to forget this problem. But I, on the other hand as a
mathematician, cannot entirely forget this unfortunate situation.
In this society, holding an office of any kind was regarded to be a full time job. So I
didn’t need to do any other work. But I, like most other office holders, found I wanted to. So I
continued my job in helping the manufacture of helicopters. But now I only went to work
when it was convenient for me.
In this society, there were strict rules that a person could only hold one office position
at a time and also a person couldn’t hold any particular office for more than a year. So the
various officers positions were circulated between all the full state citizens quite frequently.
Thus, soon after I became a manor officer, Michelle became the village’s social officer.
The main advantage of being a full member of the state was that this meant that such a person
could now join the state’s army. But I am sure you thinking – why in the hell should anyone
want to join the army, particularly when you know that such activities are unpaid and don’t
even add to a person’s work hours. Well – this society’s army was different. This army was
more like a great big social club, which happened to have a certain amount of status as well.
In this army, a person could join in whatever army activities they liked. It was the
army of course that patrolled our island and so a person could help with this patrolling
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operation whenever it was convenient for them. But the fun activities were things like – mock
battles between different companies and armies to see how well they performed (the army had
the same structure as Ellen described in the initial battles with the Bimodes), and - using the
facilities that we were manufacturing - like our jeep-like cars and our aeroplanes. Also the
army had social facilities in all the various towns where a person could eat, drink, sleep the
night, and meet one’s friends whenever one wished. And of course these activities were all
free.
Monica had already reached the rank of being a captain in the army, and so she ran her
own company. So I naturally joined her company and joined in its associated activities. The
army was just a great big social club where a person could go to when they felt they needed a
break from our now mundane life in our life in the manor and village. There are times when it
is nice to have a break from screaming babies and fighting children. So I was as keen to join
the army as much as everyone else is here. The army here simply provided a good break and a
lot of fun for all its members. And, for me, the army also provided the facilities and the
incentive to keep myself slightly fitter.
Three or four years now passed in this general manner for me. But during this time, the whole
situation of the island changed enormously.
Over these years, our island’s population quadrupled to 200,000 people. The way the
society expanded was to let a manor grow until it was completely full with about 60 people.
Then half the manor’s people would be taken away to start a new manor in a new village.
This method had a very important advantage. Thus new people from overseas could always
join a manor, where the majority of its members knew what to do, and most people knew each
other well already. So this meant that twice the manor I lived in was split and I moved to the
new manor. (The people who moved always received a special badge saying they were a
founder member of this new manor and village. I, like most people, started to be proud of all
the badges I wore. So this is why I was happy to move.) In fact all people got used to these
changes and we were pleased to accept new people and consequently move when necessary.
Ellen and I duly had our child. She was fortunately female, so we could call her
Namira again. Ellen enjoyed our period together because then she could continue to play
games with me by making fun of me - as of many years ago. I did not enjoy these games – so
I won’t say anything more about this period.
As I thought might happen, because of my child with Ellen, Michelle eventually found
a younger person to be her partner for her following child. So our marriage came to an end.
Then, in one of our manor splits, we went to different manors - but we always stayed in the
same village. But I couldn’t really complain about my situation. I had four children and I kept
in good contact with all of them. And also, if ever I needed a female partner for some activity,
then either Michelle, Ellen or Monica were always happy to be this partner. And a person
cannot be lonely in this highly communal society. So life was OK for me.
I think I am a natural leader so I found I always liked being an officer. And all the
manors and villages I lived in were keen to have me as officer in some capacity. So, over this
time, I was an officer of one sort or another for most of the time. My headband started to get
full up with badges of various kinds. I liked my status.
And our manufacturing efforts started to show results. Our aircraft went into service so now
people from the nearby islands started to arrive by plane. Our helicopters were working as
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well. Each manor now had a heat exchanger so now we needed less methane to warm our
manors. The state had started building an aircraft-carrier because this would help us to use our
aeroplanes and helicopters to receive people from more distant lands. But one item was still a
problem. We still couldn’t manufacture PV panels yet.
You are probably wondering about what I now thought of this new radical living style and
society. Well I had to admit I was now very comfortable here and I enjoyed their more social
life. And I appreciated the fact that we were now so capable of expanding and taking back our
lands from the Bimodes. So I accepted that this new society was very useful in our current
difficult circumstances.
But, in general, I still didn’t approve of the society. In a large number of ways, this
society was terribly extreme. It was extreme in using so little land and having such a small
footprint. The society took its egalitarian principles to extreme lengths. Having no media at
all was another form of extremism. And I still thought that having no money at all was just
ridiculous. And, of course, people having almost no personal possessions at all was another
form of extremism.
Then there was one small aspect of this society that I disliked intensely. Later in the
night at the village Saturday dances, there were often unpleasant scenes. Some of the young
people had too much to drink and then there were fights about the women - i.e. about who
might take them home. Dougal himself could be involved in this. He would occasionally
appear at any of our village dances and then he would flirt with any woman who was
interested in him. And this sort of behaviour will result in these kinds of problems.
Of course I always avoided this situation by leaving early – particularly when Dougal
appeared. But Michelle didn’t and she could be involved with these scenes. I have always
regarded these goings-on as being low-class and beneath my contempt. But I also recognised
that these problems were caused by allowing women to have complete freedom about whom
their next partner might be. This situation was wrong. But there was nothing I could do about
it.
But the worst feature of this society was their treatment of the other normal island
societies. No one was allowed to come here at all, unless they stayed for the full three months.
And during this time, everyone was forced to become fully integrated into the society. From
what I could gather from my letters from Kevin, the normal islands of the world detested all
this extremism. And this society made no effort at all to make friends with the other islands.
This was a difficult time for all human life and all our islands should have been working
together. But the Isle of Wight was making any co-operation with other islands impossible.
This situation worried me enormously. But there was nothing I could do about it. I didn’t
even dare to talk to people about these things. People here might take me for a traitor. So I
tried to forget about all these horrible doubts.
Towards the end of this period, a man from one of those groups living in the North of
Scotland visited our island and he spoke to all our army personnel in various groups. I, like
most other people, went to one of those talks. The talk was quite long because he went into
great detail about his community and their interactions with their surrounding Bimodes. But
here, I will just give the final summary that he gave us all.
‘The current situation for the communities in Scotland is that we humans are now
becoming far too dependent on the Bimodes. So, if a woman with a baby is short of food, then
she can go to our encircling Bimode line and they will give her plenty of milk for her baby.
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This is generous of the Bimodes - but it is bad for us because we are tending to become too
dependent on them. The peace we are currently enjoying with the Bimodes is becoming very
dangerous. I, and many of our community’s leaders, want you now to break this peace by an
attack by you on the Bimodes. This means that the Bimodes will stop helping us, and so force
us to become fully independent of the Bimodes again. And, if they attack us and we find then
that we can’t defend ourselves, then at least we now know that your community has the
capacity to rescue us.
‘So we want your society to prepare for war against the Bimodes just as soon as it is
possible. We have no time to lose.’
I, myself, was a bit cynical about what this guy said. I felt he could be biased –
perhaps he had had a row with his wife and she had gone off to the Bimodes for just a little
help. I am a very firm believer in peace - and I certainly didn’t want the current peace we
enjoyed with the Bimodes to be broken, unless this was essential. But this was not how the
rest of this audience felt. They all felt we should help these people as soon as possible. And
we all knew that this island was now nearing the stage where we really could do something in
this respect. So now, a further war with the Bimodes was in the air. The older children of our
various families all heard about it and they were jumping for joy. They played their games of
breaking the Bimode line with renewed enthusiasm. I didn’t like this new dangerous situation
at all.
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5. THE CHANNEL ISLANDS
As opposed to what I thought might happen, our first move into conflict with the Bimodes
was really quite sensible. The closest islands to us here are the Channel Islands. And Jersey
and Guernsey are very much the largest of these. Jersey, the largest, had fallen to the Bimodes
completely. But, on the smaller island Guernsey, the humans had prevailed. Its situation was
now similar to the Isle of Man. In the battle to survive, Guernsey’s population had been
reduced from 60,000 to 40,000 people. So Guernsey was smaller than the Isle of Man. Now
Guernsey was in a healthy state and they also were prepared to help us, the Isle of Wight, to
retake Jersey from the Bimodes.
I was very pleased about this situation. Our island was finally co-operating with a
normal “capitalist” society. And Jersey was a smaller island than we were here so, with our
increased numbers, we should be able to defeat the Bimodes there reasonably easily.
Absolutely everyone was just dead keen to join the invasion force. Our life on the Isle of
Wight was healthy, safe and all people here were well looked after. But life here wasn’t
exactly wildly exciting. But an invasion of what was then an unknown land would be very
exciting indeed. And with all our recent technical advances, the Bimodes should be no match
for us. So the physical danger to us invaders should be minimal. Thus there was very high
competition to join the invasion force.
But many people were excluded from joining this force. As I told you, a person had to
have full state citizenship before they could join the army, and then they were also required to
have a full year’s experience in the army. So that ruled out many of the new people on our
Island. And all the parents of young children were excluded as well. They were needed back
at home to do their parenting duties. So this ruled out many of the young people. But these
conditions didn’t rule me out. So I was one of those lucky ones chosen to join the invasion
force. And I was also keen to go like everyone else.
Our invasion force numbered 50,000 people. This number of people was clearly more
than was needed to defeat the Bimodes on the island of Jersey. But the task of this invasion
force was also to partially resettle the island. And this would require a large amount of work
because our planes flying overhead could see that the Bimodes had now completely destroyed
all of the previous buildings and infrastructure. So this was why our invasion force was so
large. Besides defeating the Bimodes, we would have to build roads, water supplies,
electricity, buildings, and get some agriculture working as well.
In my subsequent years in the army, I had risen to the rank of captain. So I was now in charge
of my own company. And Monica had risen to the level of general so she ruled her own army.
You might remember that a company was equivalent to a manor in size so it contained about
40 people. And an army was equivalent to a village in size so it contained about 2,000 people.
Naturally my company was part of Monica’s army and we remained close friends. Our army
had all the usual rankings like - corporal, sergeant, lieutenant, major and colonel as well. But
these ranking just showed seniority - so they defined who had to obey whom. But the
important facet was whether an officer ruled a company or an army. And I ruled a company
and Monica ruled an army. And we both liked these positions of command.
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An invasion of course is a very complex affair - so I won’t try to give too many details. I will
only give an outline of the relevant facts.
The whole coastline of Jersey was guarded by a solid line of Bimodes three or four
Bimodes thick. And this coastline was also very rugged. And naturally Bimodes had carefully
positioned themselves to take full advantage of all the precipitous regions. So a direct attack
wouldn’t be too easy for us.
But we now had a substantial number of planes and helicopters of many sorts. And
inland from the coast, there were plenty of large open fields. So our plan was to land about a
thousand of our troops in one of these fields and attack this thick Bimode line from behind
from land. And at the same time, there would be a frontal attack from the sea. So, in this way,
our losses would be minimal. Also we wanted to kill as few Bimodes as we could. We find
Bimodes very useful to our communities and so we wanted as many Bimodes to survive as
possible. Then we could use them afterwards for recycling our waste and producing methane.
To give us an element of surprise, we chose to follow the example of the Normandy
landings in World War Two. So we would send the airborne force in by gliders so there
would be no noise (and a Bimode’s vision is bad). So they would not know we were coming.
We would also have quite a few helicopters on our ships with our corresponding sea force.
These helicopters could rescue this landing party if something went wrong. We thought we
weren’t taking any risks at all.
This plan appeared to be going perfectly well. The gliders duly landed in a large field, which
we had chosen because there happened to be no Bimodes around. The landing party got out
and assembled without any trouble. This force then fanned out and gradually made their way
back though the broken grass and bush lands that separated them from the large Bimode line
guarding the coast. We on the ships were getting ready to strike from the sea. The Bimodes
appeared to be completely unaware of their coming doom.
But, before this land party reached the major Bimode line above the coast line, many
hidden Bimodes appeared from nowhere and simultaneously struck our now dispersed troops.
This is how the Bimodes managed this incredible feat. During these years of peace,
the Bimodes had also not been idle. They cleverly learnt how to hide themselves in the local
flora. So in the grassy areas, there were actually Bimodes who had dug small pits for
themselves to wait in. (Bimodes aren’t like us humans. They spend their lives patiently
waiting, recycling and absorbing sunlight.) And they had let grass grow on top of them. Also
their tentacles had grown longer and stronger. These Bimodes grabbed our troops legs with
their long thin bottom tentacles and, as the soldier fell, the main tentacle went quickly around
the soldier’s neck and then gassed them. And there were further Bimodes hidden in the
bushes. And besides this, we were later to find out that many of the Bimodes had learnt to
improve their vision and hearing significantly. Also all Bimodes always remain in complete
communication using their long bottom tentacle. So that was how the Bimodes could all act
together when the time was ripe.
These Bimodes took most of our troops by complete surprise and many fell
immediately. Some troops radioed to us on the ships and we immediately sent out our
helicopters in to save those troops who were left. But when they arrived, some large Bimodes
even managed to grab some of these helicopters while the troops were clambering in. Our
helicopters couldn’t take off with the weight of a large Bimode hanging on. So several of our
helicopters were lost as well. Of our thousand or so troops a few dozen returned to tell their
tale. This first plan of ours was a total disaster.
The Bimodes were certainly very clever. We had underestimated their abilities.
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But we certainly weren’t going to give up. There was some talk that we should return to
Guernsey and prepare ourselves further there. But we couldn’t bare the shame of admitting to
such a terrible loss.
Back on the Isle of Wight we had manufactured quite a few machine guns, and we had
these guns with us. We had hoped not to use these guns because they reminded us of the
dreadful carnage of the First World War. Also we had wanted to avoid destroying too many
Bimodes. But now we took these guns out and prepared ourselves for a different kind of war.
So on the following day, we went into action again. And this time we simply pumped
a huge amount of metal into all the visible Bimodes using the machine guns. Even then the
Bimodes did not die immediately. But, after about half-an-hour, they slowly slumped down
and then they gradually expired. And, when the Bimodes realised what was happening, all the
living Bimodes gradually retreated and then disappeared out of our sight.
So our troops could now advance onto the land.
But, when we got onto the land, our advance was still painfully slow. There were many
Bimodes hidden away who could take any person - if any of our troops were not very careful.
And during the night, the Bimodes would reform and attack any of our outposts, if they
weren’t well guarded. We eventually advanced over a wide front - but we could never
advance by more than 100 meters a day. And of course we had to rebuild all the new
infrastructure, at the same time.
This rebuilding process wasn’t so difficult for us because this is precisely what we had
been doing on the Isle of Wight for nearly five years. So we simply built the same manors and
villages as we had on the Isle of Wight. And we prepared the ground in the same way. And in
doing this work, our companies and armies operated in the same way as our manors and
villages normally did on the Isle of Wight. And we did the work in the same way and this
work was supervised by the same set of officers. So, my company also had a membership
secretary, a representative, a chores officer and an agricultural officer – the same as we had on
the Isle of Wight. And these officers were democratically chosen. So I also worked as a
normal member of our company/manor. My duties as a captain only occurred when my manor
was out fighting the Bimodes as a company. And this wasn’t all that often.
Of course, the Isle of Wight was supplying all our food, military needs and
construction goods in terms of pipes, concrete, tiles, windows etc at a very heavy, steady rate.
So we had a lot of support. We gradually made steady progress.
Initially we just camped in tents. But after a month, some of us could start to move
into the manors we had constructed ourselves. Over time, even I began to appreciate the very
simple manner of living that Dougal had persuaded the Isle of Wight communities to accept.
We could build these buildings so easily and, now I was used to the form, I appreciated how
warm, friendly and comfortable the manors were. Living in manors was so much better than
living in tents.
The island of Guernsey was used as a place where our troops could go for a bit of “Rest and
Recuperation”. We really didn’t need any rest because we knew this operation would take a
long time - so we only worked in a relaxed, healthy manner. Also our army contained almost
as many women as men. And we always had our own army’s dance on Saturday night. So we
continued to have a good social life among ourselves. But everyone in the army was dead
keen to see just how the other half of the world was living. This was a major reason for many
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people to join the invasion in the first place (myself included). So everyone was very excited
when it was our army’s turn to go to a very different island. For our army, this event occurred
about six weeks into our campaign.
Our boat dropped us at Guernsey early one Saturday morning and we had nine days to
spend there. So we had the two weekends there and the week between. Because our standard
living form used so little space, each company was billeted in one large house in our usual
compact manner. But part of this whole exercise was for everyone to fraternise with the
locals. So we could also stay with any local people if they would accept us. Also we were
given a reasonable amount of local money so we could pay for such hospitality. And we could
give them our food rations as well. So we were encouraged to be friendly.
The young people in my company were then in high hopes of “getting off with the
locals”. But I had never been like that – I never want to be like that - and now I was far too
old. I just wanted to see how the normal islands were now coping with our new
circumstances. And then get to know these people a little.
But I am afraid – the people on Guernsey weren’t coping very well at all. All their
goods like cars, radios, heaters, refrigerators and washing machines were now all having
problems. All these sophisticated items, previously made overseas, were very hard to mend.
And there were no spare parts available at all. I wanted to help them – but there was simply
nothing I could do. This was why there were almost no local people helping us fight the
Bimodes. They needed all their people at home to try to keep everything working there.
These problems seemed to be reflected in the way everyone dressed. The local people
wore the old clothes made before the disaster, as well as they could. But they tended to look a
bit depressed. However we, in our new army uniforms of navy blue, looked sharp and
confident. I had the feeling that the local people didn’t actually like us very much –
particularly the older people. But they were envious of us at the same time. I decided it would
be much too hard to try to live with them in their homes.
As always with us, the big event of the week is the Saturday night dance. Our army hired a
large hall and invited all the local people to join us in our dance. We naturally have our own
musicians and we carried our own sound system. But local musicians could join us as well.
As always we provided free food and booze to all people who would join us.
So the young local people joined us in droves. Our dance floor was packed.
The dance floor was so crowded that I thought I would just leave the dancing to the
young people and only watch myself from the side. But, in my watching, I couldn’t help but
be fascinated by a group of four local girls – all about age 20. They were all laughing and
carrying on so much that I imagined that they were all already drunk. One girl in particular
was worse than any of them. She wasn’t much to look at, being short and a bit fat – but only, I
had to admit, in a very healthy sort of fashion. But her exuberance was incredible – shouting,
laughing and cavorting about, all over the place. I regard all such behaviour as very low class.
But it was certainly very amusing to watch her carry-on.
Unfortunately this girl noticed me watching her. She then left her group and made her
way directly to me.
‘Ya rather fancy me, - don’t cha.’ She bluntly stated to me.
I most certainly did not fancy her. But I couldn’t be too impolite to her on an
important social occasion like this. ‘I am much too old to fancy any young girl now.’ I replied
tactfully. ‘I was just admiring your healthy exuberance. That is all.’
‘Garbage.’ She answered. ‘I can already see pure lust coming out of both ya wicked
lecherous eyes.’
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‘ No.’ I replied in a quiet but controlled tone. ‘You most certainly cannot. I was just
being mildly amused by your antics.’ But I gave her a friendly smile just to show I wasn’t too
offended by her very silly behaviour.
‘OK then. Come and dance with me. We will see what happens to ya then.’
‘You ought to be dancing with some one who is young – not with an old man like me.’
‘I have chosen to dance with you. And you have to dance with me because those are
ya army orders, as you know bloody well. Yuse soldiers has orders to fraternize with us
locals. So quit farting around and get your arse into gear. It’s time for yuse to hit the floor
now with a bit of the local talent.’
So I had to dance with her. And then she was an absolutely hopeless dancer. Her only
idea about dancing was that, when she cavorted energetically with her partner around the
floor, she should try to make as much physical contact with that partner’s body. Any idea that
she should move in time with the music, or keep a certain amount of poise or meaning to her
body movement, was quite beyond her comprehension. Also the knowledge that one dance
might be different from another, with different timing, was quite beyond her imagination. She
was hopeless. But I had to move along with her as best I could.
But, as we moved together with her large, young, breasts pressed strongly against me,
I couldn’t help my body parts acting the way they are designed to act under those
circumstances. And because her body was pressed close to mine, she could feel the movement
of this member of mine coming up. She then even had the infernal cheek to feel me, down
below, with her hands. She was utterly impossible.
‘See – ya do really fancy me. Ya just can’t deny it.’
‘I most certainly do deny it. All humans are designed with certain animal
physiological reactions. And that is what you have just observed. But a human fancies another
human primarily with their brains. And my brain does not fancy you at all, in spite of your
youth and exuberance.’
‘I don’t give a stuff about ya bloody, stupid, snooty brain. Your brain will follow your
body when the time comes for ya to do ya job. So shut up and get on with ya dancing.’
It wasn’t worth talking to her. But I did have to obey the orders to fraternise with the
locals when required. And so we continued dancing with each other – should you call these
antics dancing!
After the dance, the girl then demanded we go for a short walk together. And, as I could think
of no reasonable excuse to avoid this, we did so. It wasn’t real warm outside so we had to
collect our coats before we left. She took me by the hand and led me upwards to a small park
with a good view of the ocean. There we sat down together on a park bench.
‘Me name’s Dinah – what’s your’s?’ She asked me rather abruptly - as a simple means
of introduction.
‘Stan.’
‘Hi Stan.’
‘Hi Dinah.’
She gave me a peck on the lips and then took my nearest hand and firmly placed it
with hers on her lap. ‘Ya take me for a dick-head - don’t ya Stan!’
‘I certainly would not use that word. But I don’t think you are very sensible. However
you are very young. You will get older and wiser in time.’ I always try to be as polite as
possible myself.
‘There is somethin ya ought to know. It wasn’t by chance that I sought you out
tonight. It will probably come as a surprise to you - but many guys do actually fancy me very
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strongly indeed. But I don’t seek these guys out. But you are a guy that I definitely wanted to
check out. You are of the right age and you have a good poshy accent. And I see you have the
rank of a captain and you are currently commanding a full company. This is also significant.
Now - do you know what we girls on the Guernsey dream about all the time?’
‘I am happy to confess to complete blissful ignorance about what you girls on the
island of Guernsey think or dream about - in any way or shape at all.’
‘Don’t worry - I already know you are a nerd. Ya don’t need to emphasise the fact.
But getting back to the subject, we girls all dream about the Mad Red - to the exclusion of all
else.’
‘Could you be referring to a man called Dougal Rabidowitz?’
‘We never, ever call ’im that. But yes - that’s ’im. Do you see that little promontory
over there.’ And Dinah pointed to a small ridge, which went down into the ocean and ended
with few large blocks. This ridge formed the edge of the large bay that lay in front of us.
‘Yes.’
‘Well - every Friday night, us four girls always gather there on top of the largest of
those various blocks. We light a good fire on it. This fire will be hidden from our mainland -
but most ocean vessels could see us there. And over the night we slowly drink endless coffee.
While doing this, we duly terrify ourselves by relating to each other about what will happen to
us, if the Mad Red’s henchmen catch us there. We tell each other how we will scream and beg
for our lives. But these merciless henchmen will drag us away to be sex slaves for their
infinitely evil master. Back on the Isle of Wight, then the Mad Red will - take us, use us, rape
us and then finally torture us. Then, when he can’t extract any more life from us for his sadist
pleasure, he will turn us over to the Bimodes - to watch them all slowly eat us and digest our
beautiful bodies. This will be our terrible - but this will be our most glorious end. The Mad
Red is our evil God. He is like one of the wicked Greek gods. We dream and think about him
all the time. And there are lots of other girls here who do similar things here. He really is our
God. We adore him.’
I laughed. ‘I actually know your “Mad Red” very well. Many years ago we belonged
to the same small club and did a lot of things together for three years. So I know him very
well. He is a wicked flirt and will get off with any girl he possibly can. But, other than that, he
is perfectly harmless.’ I normally never mention this old association of mine with Dougal -
even to Michelle. But Dinah’s story was just so ridiculous that I couldn’t resist saying
something then.
‘So I was right - I was right - I was right.’ Dinah shouted out with glee. “ I thought
you might know him because you two are of the same age and you have a similar poshy background.
This is wonderful.
‘But now I have to be very careful indeed. Any knowledge of the Mad Red is really
special to me – and to all us girls here. So we mustn’t talk about the Mad Red here in public.
Our God can only be talked about in complete privacy. So now I have to take a real risk with
you – tonight your lust for me could well be my complete undoing. But I have to accept this.
This is all part of the thrill of the Mad Red being my God. So we now must move to a
secluded spot where we can talk about the Mad Red in absolute secrecy. Cor – this is really
big – you really know our God well. Shivers almighty. What will happen to me now. And you
are so much older and more experienced than me. Coo – coo coo.’ And she wrapped herself
around me and gave me a full tongue-twisting kiss.
Perhaps I should have refused to go with her. But I was actually starting to like this
little silly Dinah - she was so gloriously ridiculous. And I was starting to realise that she
wasn’t such a fool. She knew my rank and the full significance of the active sign on my
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uniform. Of course I would never take advantage of her - so she was quite safe with me. I am
not that way inclined at all. I never have and never will suffer from the sin of lust at all. So I
allowed Dinah to drag me down to just above the bay. There we found a secluded spot just
above the beach where there was some of that long, tall grass with deep roots that holds the
loose sand together and stops it blowing away. We knew no one would come this way – we
were very secluded.
It was a bit cold so we made ourselves comfortable. I put my raincoat on the ground for us to
lie upon. Then Dinah took off her thick woolly coat and we lay down together. Dinah
snuggled into me so that her coat would go round both of us. Then Dinah demanded to hear
absolutely everything about what Dougal and I had done together.
And I had to tell her everything – every trip we went on, all the climbs we did and all
the many girls he flirted with. I talked for a long time. But the important time of course was
that day, when we climbed on Snowdon and the conversation we then had in the evening.
There was one item that Dinah wanted to hear again many times. This was when Dougal
resolved to take community living seriously and so avoid drugs completely. Dougal was
worried about my gloating over his possible future downfall.
‘I am sorry Stan,’ Dinah said after considering this detail for a while, ‘but you are now
a condemned man. You are too precious. I have to have you. You played an important part
the Mad Red in becoming our God. Because of you, he went on to create the all-powerful
community state. If I don’t get you, one of the other girls here soon will. So it must be me. I
can’t miss out on you.’
I just laughed. ‘Dinah – my dear little pest. We live in a modern society where no one
owns anyone. I cannot belong to you - as you know perfectly well.’
‘Rubbish. I know I will have to marry you and give you some children. That will be
very tedious. I find your snooty ways just as painful as you consider my low class. But that
will be a minor inconvenience, when compared with the glory of owning the guy who helped
the formation of our God. And, when we are married, you will be mine.’
‘Don’t you think I might have a say in this little matter of marriage between us?’
‘No. In this secluded spot your lust will gradually get the better of you. But this will
take time. For the time being there is still an enormous amount of detail I want to hear about
you and our God. So for the moment we will not worry about our coming union.’
And then, in her very determined fashion, Dinah gradually learnt everything about Dougal,
myself and my family. And at the same time she told me everything about herself as well.
As we talked and gradually got to know each other, Dinah started to remove her
clothing. I had assumed that Dinah was quite promiscuous because of the way she was acting
with me. So initially I had resolved that I would avoid close contact with her. But, when she
removed her bra, I thought it my duty to at least fondle her breasts. And then Dinah told me I
was the first person to do this to her. So I realised she wasn’t promiscuous at all and, what she
was doing with me was very special for her indeed. And then I actually started to find her
quite sexy.
So, after a while, I started to realise I might as well enjoy this time with Dinah. She
might not be much to look at and I certainly did not appreciate the large breasts of which she
was so proud. But she told me all her exam results just to prove she wasn’t a “dick-head” as
she said. And these results were quite good. Also I checked some of her maths to make sure
she was not lying. And she wasn’t. And she was giving herself to me in a very complete
manner.
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Then I fibbed a little and I told Dinah she had a wonderful body and her breasts were
superb. Dinah finally thought I was then lusting after her, and she started to get excited. I
started to kiss her strongly and now she fought me off as best she could. This battle raged for
some time. I started to really enjoy being a wicked male. I started to use all my size, strength
and experience against her. Dinah fought harder to escape - but I was too good for her. In the
end I was pleased to take her in a very complete manner indeed. Then, when it was all over,
Dinah curled up in my arms and cried for quite a long time. I assumed that his was Dinah’s
way of telling me that she was now my conquest. So she was now mine. And I thought that
this is what Dinah wanted. So now I would have to marry her. But one of the nice things
about our community living on the Isle of Wight is that a person’s family life only occurs
within the person’s manor. And what goes on in a manor is very largely hidden from the rest
of the world. So I could hide Dinah in our small manor and then the rest of the world didn’t
need to know how cheap, small and common she really was. So marriage to Dinah wouldn’t
be too bad for me.
But on the whole I was very pleased with myself – Dinah most definitely had been a
virgin. So this was a big night for me as well. Dinah was only the third woman I had slept
with and she was my only woman who was a virgin. With this comfortable knowledge we
both slept soundly with Dinah firmly in my arms.
When we woke in the morning, Dinah went about the task of making sure that I belonged to
her - in the same way that she now belonged to me. And here she had just one simple idea.
She considered that, if she knew absolutely everything about my life, and if I knew absolutely
everything about her life, then we would naturally belong to each other. Whether we liked
each other or whether we shared similar interests didn’t seem to bother her at all.
Dinah had already mostly learnt a lot about my life. But now she had to check that I
knew everything about her life.
So first I had to learn about her family. So I learnt that her Dad was called Joe and her
Mum called Rosie - short for Rosalie. He was a boat-builder and she was a teacher. And
Dinah was the youngest of their three children. Her eldest brother had been killed in the battle
with the Bimodes. Her elder sister Bronwyn was married with two children. So she came
from a normal healthy simple family.
Then I had to learn about Dinah’s friends – particularly the girls that spent Friday
night with her on the rock. The biggest and strongest of these was a girl called Isabelle. She
made sure that the girls could defend themselves - mainly in case they were attacked by any
of the local youths. So she made sure that they all had good wooden staves, which they could
use effectively against such males. Isabelle was officially their leader.
Then there was a girl called Mary. She would always get very weepy and emotional
when they all discussed their possible dreadful fates – when they were caught and dragged to
the Isle of Wight. So Mary was very good fun and very popular with the other girls.
Finally there was a girl called Alicia. She was the younger sister of a guy called Harry,
who had been Dinah’s boyfriend some time ago. Alicia and Dinah were also of the same age
and had been in the same class at school as well. So they both knew each other very well
indeed. But they didn’t really like each other very much. Dinah explained that Alicia was a bit
of a dill and suffered from the delusion that she was beautiful - when she most certainly
wasn’t. Alicia, on the other hand, considered Dinah to be very pushy and common.
Nevertheless they saw a lot of each other and so they had to suffer each other’s faults.
And there were many other facets of her life I had to learn as well. Dinah was very
determined that I would know everything about her life.
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While this conversation had been going on, the sun had been gradually rising. After a while
the sunshine fell directly on us - which was wonderful. We could finally warm up again and
think about others things – like eating and what we should do for the day. We couldn’t talk
forever.
So I suggested. ‘We could eat together anywhere. But some time you will have to
introduce me to your family. We could simply go to your parent’s home now and start to get
that task over as soon as possible.’
‘Things will not be as simple as that.’ Dinah replied. ‘I now have to introduce you to
the politics on this island. This will take a while to explain.’
I had to agree to listen – at least we were warm now.
‘Officially the Isle of Wight and Guernsey have an alliance to retake Jersey from the
Bimodes. But this alliance is entirely phoney. All the older people on our island hate the Isle
of Wight state, because a significant number of us young people have been induced to leave
here and go and join the Isle of Wight. And if this happens too much, this island here will
have no future at all.
‘Our older people therefore want to forbid us young people from leaving our island.
And, as the older people are very much in the majority, this is also what our government
wants to do. But our government cannot enforce such a rule too blatantly, because the Isle of
Wight forces could simply come here in powerful numbers and then let all us young people
could go to their island just as we wish. And the Isle of Wight is now so much more powerful
than we are.
‘Our situation wasn’t too bad before the alliance because visits from the Isle of Wight
were rare. So the government could keep its rules secret and restrict young people from
leaving. But they were then forced into this alliance because, if the didn’t, all Jersey would
also become entirely egalitarian state as well. And then us young people could defect to there
in any small boat. So our government thought it would safer to suffer this phoney alliance and
accept you people here for your R&R.
‘There is now no strict rule that says young people can’t leave to go to the Isle of
Wight. But all parents explain this situation to their children carefully. And us younger people
always entirely agree with our parents. If we didn’t, we would be regarded as traitors to our
families and the community, which has brought us up. Besides, in a way we agree with our
parents. If we were in their place we would do the same thing. The Isle of Wight state does
seem to be weirdly extreme. And even as regards our God the Mad Red – we alternately love,
hate, fear and admire him. We don’t really know if we want to go to an extreme egalitarian
community at all.’
‘So what is to be done? Do you want to leave this island now?’
‘As regards myself, I have to leave this island with you. The Mad Red is my God and
I will accept any fate that will bring me closer to this God of mine. Fate has placed you in my
hands and I must now use my chance. If I play a game, then I must stick to the rules. I am
now bound to you and you belong to the egalitarian state. So I will go with you.
‘But I also must be very careful about my parents. I don’t want to appear to be a traitor
to them. So this is my plan. They knew I was going to your dance and they also knew I
intended to seriously flirt with some of your men. They didn’t like this but they accepted this.
They believe that all young people have the right to be wild occasionally.
‘My parents are OK. So I want to ring my parents now and tell them that I have
successfully had my little fling. But I also want to continue having fun with this guy for the
coming week. However it is best for everyone concerned, if this liaison is kept completely
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secret. No one on this island wants to admit that one of their girls is flirting with the enemy.
And I will tell my parents that this liaison will come to an end at the end of this week.
‘My parents will again accept this. It is the sort of thing that they would have liked to
do themselves when they were young. They will naturally assume that this guy is roughly the
same age as myself - and so it is not serious. Of course, I will then leave with you on Sunday.
But I will then leave a tearful letter to my parents saying I accidently got pregnant – all this
guy’s fault of course. But I will happily see my parents again, when my baby is born and
everything is settled down. In this way I will not have appeared to be a traitor. My parents
will always assume that you are of the same age as myself and so you are not responsible for
your actions. But it is absolutely essential that my parents don’t see you here. You are the
very last person who looks like a hot-headed young man. My parents must not suspect my
true wicked plans. So for the coming week it is essential that my parents do not see you with
me.’
I was very impressed by what Dinah had told me. She clearly had her head screwed
on. And I was beginning to suspect that this was the situation in this alliance between the two
islands. But there was nothing I could do about it.
So we made our plans for the following week. We would go up to a café just above
this beach and have breakfast there. Dinah would ring her parents there as well. We would
then spend the day walking around the various coves. Then we would both go to our
respective homes for the night. On Monday morning Dinah would go in for her work as a
shop assistant. But she was confident she could take the rest of the week off, because she had
plenty of holidays to spare. So we would have a large amount of time during the week to get
to know each other very well. On Saturday we would only see each other at the dance on
Saturday night. Dinah still had to join her friends on the rock on Friday night and help them
terrify themselves. Then on Saturday during the day, she liked to sleep, rest and prepare for
the dance. After the dance we would spend the night together and then both leave to join the
invasion force. All Guernsey people were officially allowed to join invasion force.
And this is what we did. Over this week Dinah and I got to know each other as I have never
known anyone else before. And Dinah was largely right. We seemed to become a bonded
item – in spite of the fact that we had such very different natures. Also over the week, under
my careful guidance, Dinah finally seemed to become a reasonably sensible girl. So I was
feeling happy to accept her as my wife.
On Friday afternoon, Dinah and I had a swim together in one of the distant coves we visited.
Autumn would soon be coming on - but the sun was still strong enough to dry us and warm us
as we sunbathed afterwards. I started to think about our future. ‘Our egalitarian state on the
Isle of Wight provides everyone with a healthy lifestyle and we are all well looked after.’ I
told Dinah. ‘But it is not very exciting. Aren’t you worried about being bored when you are
married to an oldish man like me for the years to come.’
‘No – not at all.’
‘But what will you do with yourself?’
‘I will be married to you. But the Mad Red is my God. I shall still be seeking the thrill
of making contact with him.’
‘I am sorry but I have to tell you that you won’t even be able to this. I know Dougal is
an atrocious flirt. But there are a good set of sensible people around him who protect him
from himself. They prevent Dougal causing too much embarrassment to our state. They won’t
let you to get near him.’
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‘We girls all know the exact situation of life on the Isle of Wight. Several girls have
gone there and they write back to us here. And these letters are circulated among us girls here.
We know that the Mad Red is well guarded. There will be problems. But I shall still be trying
to seek to make contact with my God.’
‘But your Mad Red is not even a person of great consequence. He has no great power
and he is not even very good looking. If you do make contact with him, you would be terribly
disappointed with him.’
‘Rubbish. I am not like you. My God has done something on this earth that no
wonderful, charismatic, powerful, handsome man has ever done before. He has created a true
egalitarian state. No person has done this before, because people are always thinking only of
themselves. So, when they have created their state, they put themselves in charge. But the
Mad Red is different. After creating his state, he has assumed no authority at all himself. This
is incredible. This is why he is and will remain to be my God. I have no desire for my God to
be handsome, clever or powerful or any thing like that. But, from what I have heard, he is
real, genuine and he is still interested in normal people like me. This is all I want. My aim in
life is still to meet the Mad Red and touch him.’
‘But if you managed to this this, what would you afterwards. Soon you would be
bored again.’
‘We girls never talk about this - but I am sure all the girls are the same as me. We
want to have the possibility of baring the Mad Red’s child.’
‘But you will soon be married to me.’
‘That is a slight problem. But we girls all know about your Saturday night and how
everyone gets a little merry on the free booze that night. Marriage bonds could be temporarily
broken under these circumstances. All people have to accept life as it comes.’
‘Saturday nights can be very dangerous. Fights break out. I always avoid them
completely.’
‘All real life must have a slight element of danger. In fact, one of the girls, we heard
from, said she was actually raped by a guy who said he would introduce her to the Mad Red. I
similarly must accept some danger. But I intend to continue the search for my God. So then I
will have no worries about boredom.’
I had to give up. I realised that Dinah really was still just the common slut I took her
to be when I first met her. But she was also going to be my wife and bear me some more
children. So I had to accept her for what she was. I also have to accept life as it is served up.
On Saturday night, Dinah and I met again at the dance and there we naturally danced together
again. But after two dances, Dinah was happy to leave me and then dance with some other
people from our invasion force. She felt that two dances with me was sufficient to proclaim to
the world that we were an item. Dinah was then keen to meet some of the people who she was
soon going to join up with soon.
So then I just stood at the side of the hall, contented just to watch on - as I had done
the week before. But I hadn’t been standing there for very long, before rather beautiful girl
approached me quietly from the side.
‘You don’t know me but I have heard a little about you.’ She said in a demure but
cultivated tone. ‘My name is Alicia. I am a good friend of your now very close friend Dinah. I
would simply love to dance with you now - if you would be so good as to favour me in this
manner.’
Of course I was pleased to do so. As opposed to Dinah, Alicia was a superb dancer.
She held a sensible poise and paid careful attention to the music. And then, when she didn’t
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know the dance, she would sensibly ask me to help her. And besides this Alicia was a
remarkably stunning girl. Dinah was completely wrong – Alicia was right to think herself
beautiful - because she was beautiful. She reminded me a little of Namira with her slim
figure, good height and colouring. But, as opposed to my old Namira, Alicia always paid
attention to what I told her. We both enjoyed each other’s company, so we danced together
till Dinah returned at the supper break. Dinah was pleased to see Alicia. Alicia then went off
to fetch her brother Harry so we could form a foursome. We all sat and ate together.
After the supper break, Dinah was keen to do another dance with me to again proclaim
to the world that we were an item. But after this she shot off to join her new friends. So Alicia
could dance with me again.
‘I notice that when you dance with Dinah,’ Alicia said, ‘you dance very closely with
each other. I haven’t danced like this with you because I thought this would be presumptuous
of your friendliness. But if you would prefer to dance in this way with me, then I would love
to oblige you.’
So we then danced together more closely. But this closeness was much more subtle
than with Dinah. Dinah had just crudely pushed her breasts against me. But with Alicia, we
just softly brushed our bodies against each other as we moved. We were more or less of the
same height so we were always looking at each other. And we would smile at each other
often. Alicia didn’t have big breast but they were perfectly formed. And Alicia’s dress
allowed these breasts to be seen just enough to be intriguing. When Alicia caught me looking
at them, she would give me a smile in return. Alicia was clearly attracted to me and I started
to get attracted to her. And Dinah continued to dance with her new friends - so Alicia and I
continued to dance with each other.
Towards the end of the night, during a break, Alicia and I went outside into a side
alcove. We looked at each other – we were both wondering what we could do with each other
next.
‘I know what you would like for us to do Stan.’ Alicia said. ‘You would like us to
walk over to that little tree there, where we could have a little more privacy together. There
we could talk and perhaps occasionally hold hands.’
‘Yes. That would be very nice.’
‘That is what I would desperately love to do myself. But I have to think about your
position. Very soon you will be marrying Dinah. And I love Dinah just as well as you do.’
‘I don’t think Dinah would mind. We would both be still in the public view.’
‘It would all right for you. You are a strong, older experienced male. But I am not – I
am just a young, weak, easily led female. And am terribly attracted to you. If we went over to
that tree there, I would soon be wanting to go further with you. If we were to hold hands, I
wouldn’t be able to let you go. I would invite you to kiss me. I am sorry my dear, but I would
be too weak. I am afraid we really have to stay just where we are.’
And so we did. We just talked and looked at each other in a rather longing manner.
We had been doing this when two men approached us. One was Alicia’s elder brother Harry.
The other guy I didn’t know. He wasn’t very tall - but he was thickset with a very heavy thick
neck. He looked dangerous and he was in a very ugly mood.
‘My name is Jock. I hear you are called Stan Warner.’ He said gruffly.
I agreed.
‘Take your sister Alicia over to that bench Harry. I need to talk to Stan alone.’ Jock
ordered to Harry. And then Harry duly took a very worried Alicia over to the bench and there
they sat down together.
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‘If you think I have made any inappropriate advances to you friends you are
completely wrong.’ I stated very firmly to Jock. ‘You can ask them yourself if you like.’
‘I do not accuse you of anything like that.’
‘So what do you want with me?’
‘Two young of our island’s best young women seem to have taken a fancy to you. I
want to check that you can give them what they need.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I need to check that your balls are big enough for these two healthy island girls.’ He
said with an ugly leer. ‘So - undo ya trousers and I will check ya out.’
I was then forced to act strongly and immediately. Fortunately I was taller than Jock. I
clenched my fists and I hit the centre of his face with all the force that I could summon. My
quick action took him by surprise and he fell backwards to the ground - his nose gushing
blood.
But Jock didn’t stay on the ground long. He rose again – his eyes flashing with anger.
A crowd started to gather around us. I was in reasonable condition and I moved swiftly. So I
managed to fend Jock off for a short while. But then Jock dealt a terrible blow square in my
stomach. I doubled up. Then there were two thunderous blows to my head. I dropped to the
ground and blacked out for a short while.
When I came to, a small tornado had arrived on the scene. It was Dinah yelling and
screaming with fury. She attacked Jock with absolutely everything she had – teeth included.
Jock stood her attack for a while but eventually he gave her such a walloping she fell in a
heap on top of me. And to make matters worse I was promptly sick all over myself, and
Dinah as well. The terrible blow to my stomach had been too much for me. We were a mess.
But Monica arrived on the scene almost immediately afterwards - in the full regalia of the
general in charge of the current army here on Guernsey. She quickly studied the scene and
apparently soon guessed the nature of this whole situation.
‘Explain!’ She asked of Jock in a thunderous voice.
‘He started it. He hit me first. You can ask anyone here. Go ahead.’ Jock defiantly
replied.
‘I will learn those details later. But let me tell you what I see now clearly in front of
me. I see I man in the prime of his life - looking every bit like a semi-professional boxer. And
beneath this man I see his two victims - an oldish man and a young girl, both clearly knocked
out by you. You look, in every way, as if you have used your over whelming strength to
express a personal grievance against these two people.
‘But now let me explain a little about your position amongst us here. Around you
there is a body of men all very happy to take their revenge on you for the destruction you
have caused to our people. We now surround you in over whelming strength. And your whole
island is also surrounded by the over whelming might of this army stationed here.
‘But every person here is also in an alliance to fight the Bimodes - not to fight each
other. And you are clearly an excellent fighter. However tonight we are supposed to be
dancing with each other. So come and dance with me. And during this dance, I hope I shall
persuade you that it is very much in your own best interests to fight with us on Jersey - rather
than fight against us here on Guernsey. In this way you can repay us for the damage you have
caused to our people.’
Then Monica swiftly gave instructions to her men to take Dinah and myself by
stretchers to the army’s hospital for the night. She said she would talk to me in the morning.
Monica then saw Alicia weeping, with Harry next to her - looking terribly worried about the
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whole situation. She seemed to guess their position. So she also gave further instructions to
more men to take care of these two people for the night in our army’s quarters. Monica finally
then became Jock’s dancing partner. Jock was now looking quite worried himself about his
position here as well. His defiant look had completely left him.
In our army’s small hospital, Dinah and I were first stripped and washed by several hands.
Our clothes were taken away to be washed and we were both given clean pyjamas for the
night. Then the doctors patched up our injuries and checked that there were no internal
injuries. When we were ready for sleep, Dinah told the staff that we were a couple and we
would prefer to sleep together. So they allowed us to sleep together in our own room.
I told Dinah absolutely everything. I thought she might be angry about me and Alicia.
But Dinah wasn’t at all.
‘I should have guessed that something like that might have happened.’ Dinah replied.
‘As I told you, Alicia is an absolute dill and most men fall for her silly ways - when she wants
them to. All men are stupid - yourself included. And I had forgotten that Harry is friendly
with Jock. If I hadn’t been so busy having fun myself, I should have warned you of this
possible danger. But you have lived through it and you have now had a new experience of life
to tell the world about. So everything is OK.’ And then she promptly went off to sleep in my
arms.
But I certainly didn’t accept my situation in those philosophical terms. I wondered if I
could have acted in a different way. I duly thought through every incident in detail. And I
decided that I couldn’t. And Dinah was completely wrong about Alicia being a dill. Alicia
was just a lovely girl and I had to do what I did with her. She was still very like my dear old
daughter Namira. The trouble was that Jock was just an ugly wicked character. I supposed
that during this recent world catastrophe, Jock’s education had been ignored. And this terrible
incident was the result of this poor education. So catastrophes can clearly result in some nasty
after effects. I clearly had to remember these possibilities in the future.
In the morning both Dinah and myself were reasonably well, apart from the fact that we both
had black-eyes. Dinah’s was worse than mine. Our clothes had been washed and dried so we
could have breakfast as normal in the army cafeteria, which was close by. Monica joined us
as we were finishing our coffee.
‘I think I have mostly pieced together what happened last night.’ Monica said. ‘So you
don’t need to give me any further details. I think you both acted in the way you were forced to
act. Sometimes people have to accept that circumstances can be very difficult. But I have
some good news for you Dinah. You will have some old friends with you on Jersey. Harry,
Alicia and Jock have all volunteered to join us there as well.’
‘You must have put some strong pressure on Jock and Harry to come with us.’ Dinah
replied with surprise.
‘I have my little ways.’ Monica answered with a smile. ‘But now on a different matter
- I have heard about your plan, Dinah, as regards your parents. I could make the situation
much easier for you by visiting your parents myself. And then I could tell them how useful
you will be to us in Jersey. And your parents can join us themselves as well - for as long as
they like. They might enjoy such an invitation from the general of the current visiting army.’
‘Yes. I think they would like that. But I don’t feel like having my parents around me
to observe all the activities I might like to get up to. I am no angel and I have no intention of
becoming an angel. Just leave it to me. I can deal with my parents. But thanks for the offer.’
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Then we talked for a while about other matters. During this conversation, Monica and
Dinah clearly took a great liking to each other. They had a lot in common. Then Monica
showed Dinah where to formally enrol and so join our army. Monica then excused us two, on
the basis that we now had official army business to discuss between us.
But of course Monica had no army business that needed discussing with me. She simply
wanted to know the full details as to why two really nice young girls should be showing an
interest in an oldish staid man like myself. So I had to tell Monica all about the details of the
four girls meeting every Friday on the ocean rock - and their various fantasies about the “Mad
Red”. Monica thought this was glorious. And then she wanted to hear all the intimate
conversations I had had with both Dinah and Alicia. And I had to tell Monica everything
because Monica had done so much for me. This conversation went on for a very long time. I
have never seen Monica enjoy herself so much in her life before.
But at last it was my turn to ask a question of Monica. ‘How did you persuade Jock
and Harry to join our armies in Jersey.’
‘Very easily. I simply told them that, if they didn’t come with us of their own volition,
then we would take them with us to Jersey in chains.’
‘But our army doesn’t have any right to take people away from this island against their
will. We have to obey the authorities on this island. This is their island. Doing what you have
done could have caused a terrible incident. And this incident could cause a bad rift in our
alliance. This would have been awful.’
‘You are such a peace loving man – aren’t you Stan. Well I am not. For most of the
past fifty years the global capitalistic system has swanked over us - exalting in its materialistic
wealth. Any simple form of community living, which caused no pollution, was ignored
completely. But now it is our turn to swank. And we can swank in our survival capability and
the very powerful society we have created here. And I enjoy swanking. And part of my
swanking is to tell those two young thugs that they are now under my control. So they have to
come with us whether they want to or not.’
‘But what will happen if the authorities hear about your high-handed action.’
‘They can do nothing. We, the egalitarians, now have all the power.’
‘But we actually need this island’s friendship. For us to expand we need some of their
people to join us. Our own birth rates cannot achieve the numbers we need to overcome the
Bimodes - unless we wait for centuries. We must try to act in friendly manner with all the
normal islands. Only then can we receive from them the numbers we need fulfil our own
ambitions.’
‘Rubbish. But perhaps it is time I told you about our state’s long-term plan. We
estimate that there are about 50 million people living in the wilder, inner areas of the
continents. However these people are surrounded by Bimodes. Then there are about 10
million people living on islands like here. So the best place for us to get large numbers of
people is from the inner areas of the continents. So this is our real goal. We already have the
aircraft to do this. But we have to wait till some of our air-craft carriers are working before we
can start carrying out this plan. Till then we can get enough people from islands like here and
places like the north of Scotland.
‘So we don’t need to worry if the authorities on some islands get their noses out of
joint, when we pinch a few of their young people. So we can enjoy our swanking. And I have
every intention of continuing to do so.’
Of course I was absolutely horrified by Monica’s attitude on this whole subject. All us
humans should working together now, in this difficult time when we were all suffering. But
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there was no point in my telling Monica about our human obligations to each other. She is not
that way inclined. Eventually I was sure that this state would appreciate the benefits from us
all working together. But for the time being – out state were just being blind about the future
of humanity.
Then we all returned to Jersey to continue the war against the Bimodes. As I have said, this
would take months because we had build many of the facilities for settlement as we
progressed.
Dinah naturally joined my company. Although Monica was the general in charge of
our army, she also belonged to normal company for her living arrangements. Jock joined this
company so that Monica could keep an eye on him. They seemed to become good friends.
Alicia and Harry joined the company that was stationed next to mine. So Dinah and I
continued to see a lot of them.
At our army’s dance on Saturday night, Alicia always reserved two dances for me –
one before the supper break and one after the supper break. Alicia always told me these two
dances were special to her. And these dances became special to me – Alicia was such a nice
beautiful girl. Gradually over the following weeks, I had to admit my personality started to go
through a radical change. I now suffered from the sin of lust. I just couldn’t help myself from
thinking about Alicia’s beautiful body and what it would be like to be sleeping with her. She
even appeared in my dreams. It was awful. I couldn’t stop myself. I told Dinah all about it.
But Dinah just laughed. It is terrible to suffer from the sin of lust.
One day our two companies were working together at the front - checking that the no-man’s
area was free from any hidden Bimodes. Alicia wandered over to our company to chat to
some of her friends here. But she carelessly walked on some ground that we hadn’t checked
out yet. A long powerful tentacle suddenly appeared out of the grass and it quickly wrapped
around her legs. In just moments, Alicia was being dragged along the ground away from us to
an area where more Bimodes might be hidden. Alicia was naturally screaming piteously. I
immediately went to her aid with my sword drawn. We couldn’t use our guns because the
bullets might hit Alicia. And a large number of bullets need to be pumped into a Bimode
before they will die.
But, before I reached Alicia, one of my legs was also taken by another Bimode. Then
Dinah led my whole company out to save both of us. Soon there was full-time battle because
more Bimodes were soon moving in to help the ones already there. It was very much touch
and go as to which side would win. But my whole company fought ferociously. And Dinah
went right in among the Bimodes using her smallness and agility to cut off many tentacles at
lightning speed. She was fantastic. So eventually we won. But several people had already
been partially gassed and needed medical help to be revived. Alicia was one of these.
There had to be an enquiry over the incident because the army rules state quite clearly
that soldiers are not allowed to help other soldiers who step out of bounds. This is a sensible
rule because what happened to me was quite common. When soldiers help others then often
the Bimodes successfully kill them all. So there was a full enquiry. But the whole of my
company lied magnificently to the enquiry. They said the Bimodes made a sudden
unprovoked attack on us all and we were all forced to fight for our lives. No one told the truth
at all. So I was not relieved of my command.
But, after this incident I knew I couldn’t discipline any one in my company again. So I
then became a sham commander. But everyone in my company was very good. The whole
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company continued to function well without any direct commands from me. I thought the
company might have taken their commands from Dinah. But I didn’t know.
In general our forces now made slow but steady progress against the Bimodes. We had to be
careful - but in general they were no problems. But the Bimodes still had another surprise
waiting for us. Suddenly and simultaneous along all our fronts, the Bimodes used their long
tentacles to blow poisoned darts at all our front line troops. And these darts were fast,
accurately aimed and mostly fatal to our men. We lost almost as many men on that day as we
had lost on that terrible first day. We immediately withdrew our troops and used our machine
guns to prevent any Bimodes advancing upon us. So we lost very little ground. But our
advance was completely halted for two whole weeks.
In these two weeks, we manufactured some light metal armour for our front line
troops to wear. And this armour protected our men, as they searched for any hidden Bimodes.
Using this we could advance again, but at a slower speed. However this action of the Bimodes
reminded us again precisely how clever these adversaries of ours were. They were capable of
improving their weaponry - in the same way we, humans, can ourselves.
A several weeks later at our Saturday night dance, Alicia and I had our first dance together as
normal. At the end of the dance she said very quietly, ‘You know that you are very special to
me - don’t you Stan!’
I was very happy to agree to this very sensible feeling on Alicia’s part.
‘Now, in this world of yours, a girl is expected to have children as soon as she can.
And as I want to fit in well with your society, I must agree to this. I would naturally have
loved you to be the father of my child. But you are married to Dinah - and I know you have
very high principles on marital fidelity. So I have had to look elsewhere for the father of my
child. So now I am pregnant. Please - I most definitely want your complete approval.’ She
pressed my hand and looked into my eyes as she said this.
So I had to immediately give her my approval in the warmest of terms. But I cursed to
myself that I did have such high principles. My desire for Alicia was now so great that I was
now quite prepared to ditch my principles. But I couldn’t tell this to Alicia. I just had to give
my approval to her as best I could. ‘So who is the lucky father I added?’
‘Can’t you guess?’
‘The only possible person I can think of is Jock.’
‘ No. Of course it is not Jock. He is terrible. I wanted the father of my child to be a
person who you would approve of strongly. So I chose a really old important friend of yours.
I chose Dougal. Aren’t you pleased about this choice of mine.’
I was actually horrified. He was the last person I would want. But I couldn’t tell Alicia
this. I had to pretend I was very pleased. ‘But how did you meet Dougal in the first place?’
‘It was very difficult for me as I know so few people here. But, because he is your
special friend, I just persevered. And eventually I was successful. But now I want your very
special thanks. You know we have never kissed each other yet. So, instead of our next dance,
can we go outside and then you can give me just one very special thank-you kiss. This must
be OK with Dinah because it is only a thank-you kiss. And thank-you kisses are always
allowed. So - please – will you give me this kiss won’t you?’
So I had to agree. When the time came we duly went outside to a slightly secluded
spot. And there we had our just one special kiss. It was only a kiss - but during this kiss my
heart rate was exceptionally high. Alicia then thanked me for my kindness. But I wasn’t
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thinking about kindness. I was just lusting after Alicia. My lust for Alicia was worse than
ever. And I think Alicia knew of this lust of mine as well. And she was rejoicing in it – she
knew her power over me.
When I momentarily overcame my lust for Alicia, I was capable of asking her a
question that had been bugging me since she first mentioned her acquaintance with Dougal.
‘Does Dougal know that I am here now?’
Alicia smiled. ‘Dougal, and most of the senior people in this state, have known you
were here since the day you arrived. But they have respected your desire for privacy on the
subject. They assumed you came here against your will. They thought you would appear in a
bad light, if the people on the Isle of Man knew you were here. So they have not said anything
to anyone. One of the advantages of our society not having any mass media is that the details
of people’s lives can be more easily respected here. And I am happy about this situation
because it applies to us here as well now.’
So I didn’t need to worry about this problem. We returned to the dance and my lust for
Alicia continued as strongly as ever.
Six months after our campaign had started, when winter was coming on, the Bimodes finally
surrendered. Their surrender was very complete, and so all the Bimodes came out into full
view and there they lay their tentacles in front of them. And then they would do anything we
instructed them to do. So they returned to the nature for which they were made. They are
sensible creatures – they know when they are beaten.
This surrender occurred at midday. But an hour later, our troops made a horrible
discovery. I was among the first officers to view the terrible scene.
Beside the largest of the small rivers, which lead from the hills in the north to the
ocean in the south, we found a very well looked-after glade. And in this glade there were a
large number of Bimodes - obviously placed there for a special purpose. These Bimodes were
there to act as beds for humans. And the humans that used these beds were all still there.
These humans actually looked as if they were peacefully sleeping. But they were in fact all
dead. Fairly clearly the Bimodes, who formed their beds, had quietly gassed their human
occupants an hour ago - when the Bimode surrender had been declared.
An investigation of some of the buildings, which surrounded the glade, quickly
revealed the purpose of this human colony. In a large building next to the river, there were a
few wooden boats that were under construction and some were nearing completion. But we
could see by the dust that these boats had not been worked on for the past six months.
However, there was another building and this had some metal working facilities – things like
lathes and small furnaces. And clearly the humans had been working here more recently - and
they had been clearly been trying to make guns. They had not progressed very far in this
venture – but this was clearly their final aim.
So the Bimodes had been training this human colony to make and use for them some
of the technical facilities, which we humans have been using for centuries. This was a very
worrying development.
There were about 30 humans in this colony and they were all under the age 25 years. At least
half of these were less than 5 years old - so they had been born in the colony. They were all in
perfect health and well fed. The only garment they wore was a cloak, which they wrapped
around themselves when they wanted extra warmth. These humans clearly had been trained to
forget any concept of personal privacy. And we could see that the Bimodes had looked after
110

these humans in every personal matter. Thus they had been feeding these young people a
balanced diet, washing them, keeping them warm when they slept on them and even checking
they had enough exercise. We assumed the Bimodes had learnt to communicate with these
young people completely.
So we felt no doubt that this colony of humans would serve and help the Bimodes who
had brought them up - rather than to the species to whom they belonged. We also understood
why the Bimodes had probably killed them all. This was a mercy killing. For these young
people to try and adjust to living normal life with us civilized humans would be a terribly
confusing.
We all then had to consider how a colony like this might have grown in 10 or 20 years
time - and what it was capable of doing then. This was all extremely worrying.
I didn’t stay in the glade for too long because many more senior people wanted to study the
situation here as well. And, during the afternoon, many planes arrived on Jersey. Clearly all
the senior people on the Isle of Wight wanted to study the situation as well. And probably
people from other islands were coming here also.
In the evening a great meeting was called to discuss the matter. This meeting was held
in the large marquee, which our forces used for all such important gatherings. I was
fortunately just senior enough to be given entry to this meeting. Clearly there were many
speeches on the subject. But at the end, Louise, who for that year happened to be our state
representative, spoke at length. (In this state, the state representative is like the foreign
minister - and hence they are in charge of all foreign policy.)
‘We have now all seen this situation in the glade and we have recognised how serious
this situation is. We have to recognise that Bimodes are and will be very dangerous opponents
for us. We must remember this as regards our future actions.
‘I have now spoken to all our generals and most of the senior members of our
community on this subject. And I think this is the general new consensus now of what our
future expansion policy should be.
‘Our previous expansion plan had been based on the fact that we would collect new
recruits for our society from the inner, lowly-populated areas of the continents. And then,
when we had enough people, we would invade England. But such an action would now be far
too dangerous.
‘The Bimodes are too clever to accept such of an action without making plans
themselves. They could well befriend some of the encircled humans and persuade them to
fight on their side. And if they did this, then the Bimodes on the continents could develop
weapons with their human allies. Then this alliance could be stronger than us - because the
Bimodes could call on more people and resources than we could. At all costs, we must avoid
causing a weapons race with the Bimodes, which we might loose.
‘This then now is our future plan. The only places we can now obtain new people,
without disturbing the Bimodes, are the other islands. So we are now forced to be as friendly
as possible to all our fellow islands. We must now allow visitors to come to the Isle of Wight
for as long as they like. And while there, these visitors can do just as they like – the same as
all normal visitors do. We ourselves must go to other islands and explain to them precisely
how all the materialistic stuff, they use and love, is not really essential. Then we can sell or
give them the items that are essential. We can teach them how to look after themselves simply
and easily. We can do all these things quite easily. And we have to do it because we simply
do not have enough people ourselves to deal with all the Bimodes with their possible human
allies.
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‘When we are ready to expand, our first goal should now probably be Ireland. There
are far fewer Bimodes there, than on the rest of the British Isles. And this island is separated
by a larger section of ocean from the main continents than other convenient large islands are.
But we should not try to invade here until we can mount an invasion force of about 500,000
people. This would mean we could conquer the whole island in only a few months during
which there would not be enough time for the Bimodes to develop an effective human
alliance. It should take us several years before we would be ready to do this. And we would
expect this invasion force would now be equally represented - half us and half the other
islands. So then this new Ireland would be half community based like us and half
capitalist/socialist based like the other islands. We have to accept that now we must be patient
and friendly with all other islands.
‘Please don’t think that these are just my ideas. All the current generals support this
plan as well.’ And Louise turned around to all the generals who were sitting behind her. And
the generals all nodded their agreement with her. And Monica and Dougal were among these
generals who nodded their assent. And fairly clearly the whole of the audience agreed with
this new plan.
Of course I was absolutely delighted with this result. This is what I had thought should
have happened right from the beginning. At least everyone in this state was finally now
coming to their senses. Community based societies and capitalist/socialist societies would
now work together for the common good of everyone. Everyone could then rest in peace for a
change. But I couldn’t say that the rest of the audience shared my enthusiasm for this result.
They only accepted it as an unfortunate necessity.
As we were all walking out, Dougal suddenly appeared next to me. He must have sort me out
particularly.
‘I have a very special request to ask of you.’ Dougal said. ‘By chance, all six of our
old little climbing group are here on this island at the moment. I would like to ask you all to
eat with me tonight. But this is a special night for everyone - so everyone is too busy. But
could we all meet tomorrow night instead? This meeting is very important to me now.’
I naturally agreed. He told me Monica would lead me to where we would meet.
When Dougal appears at a dance on a Saturday night, he plays up to his image as the
“Mad Red”. So then his hair is all brushed up and he has it dyed a more definite red. And then
he usually wears outlandish clothes with a red cravat. But in normal life, he can look quite
innocuous and he can be hardly noticed by anyone. He disappeared from my presence in this
very innocuous fashion now.
When Monica showed me the way on the following night to our eating-spot, she did not lead
me to one of the village centres, where our eating-places are mostly situated. Instead she led
me out into the country. And there she guided me to a large field – not the sort of place to eat
on a cold dark night like tonight. But, as we progressed, I saw that, at the bottom of this field
on flat area, there stood a small tent. And this is where we now went.
And as I got closer, I could see that this tent was the same tent that we had all eaten in
more than twenty years ago. And this tent was even pitched next to a large boulder in the
same way as our tents had been pitched those many years ago. Dougal apparently had gone to
a huge amount of effort to obtain this tent from the university and to keep it over the
subsequent years. And when we got inside, we could see that the same cooking utensils had
112

also been preserved. I could see that the last meeting of ours had been very important to
Dougal indeed. That meal in fact had formed the basis of all his future actions.
Inside the tent, Alan, Louise, Ellen and Dougal were all waiting for us. And there we
all prepared a meal, which was as similar as possible to the last meal we had had together so
many years ago. And strangely it tasted just as good. As we ate, we naturally reminisced
about all the details of that last meal of ours. And afterwards we tried to remember as much of
the subsequent conversation as we could remember. It was all quite fun. Dougal in some ways
was quite romantic about all his past life.
But then finally Dougal spoke out. ‘I expect you are all wondering as to why I should have
called us all together - directly after the terrible news of yesterday. After all, we could all have
met anytime while we were all on the Isle of Wight. And clearly I have wanted us all to
remember the conversation after that very important meal of many years ago. Can any of you
guess why? That is - everyone except Monica. Monica now always knows everything about
the motives for my actions in this world.’
‘It is not my fault that I know Dougal’s motives on this subject.’ Monica spoke out.
‘Dougal explains everything to me. I don’t want to hear about these things. But I have do my
duty for the guy who created the state I appreciate so much. But I do try to forget everything
as soon as I can.’
But the other four of us tried to think of any connection between these events. But we
couldn’t.
After a while Dougal spoke again. ‘I expect that question is too hard for you. I have
been thinking about the problems of egalitarian community living for many years. So let me
ask a different question. If you had been to Stan’s lectures on communism-like-states, then
you will know that all egalitarian endeavours such as ours have failed the world over. And I
have to agree with Stan. This is one of the unfortunate facts of life. So my question is this –
why do you think this happens?’
‘I have come to appreciate your form of community living very much Dougal.’ I
replied. ‘So I am not knocking it too much. But the fact of life is that most people in this
world will move to a society where that can enjoy more materialist benefits than your society
gives them - if they have half the chance.’
‘Yes – that is the obvious reason.’ Dougal replied. ‘In fact, such material benefits do
not actually help its people to live a safer, healthier or more productive life. If they did we
would have introduced them into our own society. But these material goods do give people
status. And it is not just humans that like status items. For example, the male Bower birds
produce fancy nests to induce females to come to them. The status of material goods is very
important. So this is the first most important reason for people deserting community living for
capitalism.
‘But I think there are two other important reasons besides this. Any suggestions?’
‘I am very aware of another reason.’ Ellen replied. ‘After a year or two, community
living becomes simply too boring. Capitalistic living can provide more variety and a greater
challenge for most individuals.’
‘Yes, that is also another very good reason.’ Dougal continued on. ‘We give all our
people a safe, egalitarian, healthy life. But a safe, egalitarian, healthy life cannot be very
exciting. This is sad – but this is also a fact of life we have to accept.
‘But there is still a third reason.’
We all thought carefully about the matter. But we couldn’t think of another reason.
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‘The final reason is less obvious.’ Dougal finally continued on. ‘I call it “the insidious
gradual creep problem”. All people very sensibly usually want to do the easiest thing for
themselves. And the easiest thing for most people is to continue to do the same things that
they have done in the past. This is a very reasonable attitude for most people to take. And, of
course, it is easiest for people not to think about any possible distant future problems - and
they certainly don’t.
‘Now, after a person has been in a job for period of time, they become good at this
job. And other people appreciate the way this person does this job. So all people will be fairly
happy to unanimously repeal the law that says a person can only stay in the same job for a
limited amount of time. And similarly, when an officer or a leader does a good job in their
leadership role, then people are happy for that person to continue leading them. So the
community then repeals the law that limits the period of leadership for one person.
‘Then most people find it easier to be entertained by a mass media system rather than
to entertain themselves. So a mass media system is introduced to the society. And good
entertainers of this mass media are well appreciated. So they become a permanent feature of
the mass media. Then these good mass media people and the leaders of the society find it
beneficial to support each other. So they become a ruling clique.
‘Then this ruling clique will tell everyone a limited amount of personal possessions is
fine and then everyone’s lifestyle would then be nicely enhanced. And the population will
usually agree to this. Then the rest follows – thus money is introduced to the society and wills
and inheritance are allowed once again. Then gradually the wealthy become wealthier, the
poor become poorer. Then the wealthy people buy up the media. Also the ruling elite kindly
allows the poor people to go into debt. It is always easier to support debt - rather make radical
changes to the way we live to avoid the situation. Finally the young people of the society find
it hard to get good genuine jobs – because the older people retain their jobs for a long time.
And these young people then can’t afford to buy a house and have a family. So our society
would then have all the dubious blessings of a great capitalist society.
‘And this is precisely what I have observed over my life. George Orwell’s book
“Animal Farm” was horribly right on this subject. Do you think that this is true?’
Even I, still a determined supporter of the good old capitalist/socialist system, had to
admit that there was a certain amount of truth in what Dougal was saying. We all remained
silent. This kind of subject is not discussed in polite societies. This, I think, is what we all felt.
‘I have been aware of these nasty facts for many years.’ Dougal continued on. ‘So I
have worked out a solution. And my solution is very simple. It is simply best to keep the
different types of societies completely separate from each other. I believe in a variety in
everything. So I support many kinds of completely different types of society. So I support
socialist societies, capitalist societies and the more normal socialist/capitalist societies -
besides my own egalitarian community society. But I also support dictatorships, oldfashioned
monarchies, fundamental Islamic societies and extremist societies like Afghanistan.
If there are many different societies then all people can more easily recognise the strengths
and weaknesses of the various types of society. And all kinds of society do have their
different strengths and weaknesses.
‘The strength of our society is that it gives its people all a very safe and healthy
lifestyle. But at the same time, our society still has the highest productive capacity of any
society known on Earth. By this I mean that each individual person has the highest percentage
of spare time to produce extra goods - if they want to. Also our society uses much less land.
These facts are often forgotten when people see and compare us against the seductive lures of
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capitalism. This is our supreme strength and I have always wanted for all people to be able to
see and appreciate this fact.’
‘People have been put onto this Earth to be happy, enjoy life and express their
individuality as they like.’ I spoke up myself. I couldn’t leave this statement unchallenged.
‘We were not born to produce things.’
‘We humans usually don’t know why we were born. But all wild animals certainly
appear to know why. Their purpose in life is always to produce more offspring. Then their
progeny, with the same genes, will expand and flourish. This is the very basis of evolution
and this is why we exist ourselves now. And our society, if it wished, has the capacity to
expand an flourish like no other society on Earth has done before us.’
‘That would be terrible.’ I replied. ‘We civilised humans have recognised that, if we
try to expand, then this will lead to a terrible amount of unnecessary death and suffering. So
we must avoid expansion. We all know that our planet was previously trying to support more
humans than it could support. We mustn’t try to do this again.’
‘But - I agree with you entirely. Don’t worry. I have always had a different purpose
for my community than this. And this is why I have gathered us six people now. I have stuck
to my word. I have never mentioned my idea of going out into space and forming colonies
there, to anyone else. Ellen - you were right in saying that people would take me for a nutcase,
if I mentioned it. But I have always continued to cherish this idea.
‘People have given up any idea of really forming colonies in space because it is just
too hard. Maybe it is too hard. But this doesn’t worry me at all. At least we can try to expand
into space. And in space we can’t be accused of interfering with any other form of life. And a
society’s success of how far it can expand into space is a very good measure of a society’s
productive capacity. This feat gives a society a status that rightly ranks above all the big
houses and cars in the world a society could wish for. So my final goal has always continued
to be to go out into space. Then all people will realise that our society was more than just a
bunch of boring, simple-minded rustics. And our society, as you have seen here, has started to
move in this direction.’
‘But we can’t do that now.’ I replied in glee. ‘We now have to help the rest the islands
recover so that we can all fight the Bimodes.’
‘Yes – this is true. This is why I have gathered you here today. We do have to unite
against the Bimodes. They could become dangerously strong. But now you should understand
why before I was insisting that we remained quite separate from the other islands. If we were
quite separate, then our differences would remain quite clear. The fact that our society would
be healthy with a higher productive capacity could always be seen. And eventually we would
use this ability to go out into space. The situation would be similar to the cold war period.
Each political system was forced to keep on its toes. I know everyone hated this cold war. But
the facts are that we only went to the moon in this period. And our excesses of wealth and
consumerism only started when that cold war came to an end.
‘But we are now forced to join with the other islands. I must accept my fate.’
‘Our societies could still remain quite separate.’ Ellen spoke out. ‘You could still try
persuade people to go off into space when the Bimodes have been conquered.’
‘I think it will take us at least a century before we will be fully safe from the
Bimodes.’ Dougal replied. ‘I will be dead by then. I had my stroke of luck when the Bimodes
revolted. That was wonderful. But unfortunately they are now stronger than I expected. I must
accept this as well and this means that all the various islands must be united for a long period
of time.’
‘We have created a very good society.’ Ellen continued on. ‘I am sure it will last.’
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‘I think it will last as well. But I don’t think it will remain egalitarian or community
based. The remorseless tendency of all people to seek an easy life through unity and peace
will always be with us. No one ever likes real competition at all. Over time, we will become
indistinguishable from all the normal societies of the world.’
‘Do you really think then that all our good work has been in vain?’ Ellen asked
Dougal.
‘No – obviously not. For a start, we are alive - which we wouldn’t have been if we
hadn’t formed our community. Also we can now teach the other islands how we all can
survive against the Bimodes.
‘But for the distant future, my hope now is that my example of creating a simple,
egalitarian, community-based society will not be forgotten. And I created the original society
on the Isle of Wight without too much difficulty. All that people need to remember, in
forming a society, is that all the junk, which the media is always trying to get us to buy, is
entirely unnecessary. In fact all this junk often makes life simply harder for us. Also the
remorseless degeneration of societies, during times of peace, applies to all types of society -
besides our own. So the rich always get richer and the young people continually find it harder
to get good simple practical jobs. So the incentive to form a simple community, which is selfsufficient
in food, will continue to increase. So some future people will hopefully follow my
example.
‘But, if people do form such a society, their society must still retain a challenge in life,
when their community has been formed. And the best challenge is to try to go out into space.
No one can then complain about how this goal will interfere with other forms of live on Earth.
This is a glorious goal and this challenge will add the excitement and pride which simple,
egalitarian, community-based societies really need. All human people need to continue to
have clear purpose for their lives. Too much easy living is pointless and boring for everyone.’
I had been silent during this last exchange of thoughts. I didn’t agree with Dougal on any of
these ideas. And I didn’t think Ellen, Alan or Louise agreed with Dougal on these subjects as
well. All sane people want a peaceful, stable, non-competitive world. And there always has
been a belligerent aspect to people going out into space as well. I had agreed with Dougal that
there was a slight tendency for societies to degenerate. But we could avoid this situation by
being more careful and, when necessary, possibly taxing our rich people more. So I was
tempted to delete this last exchange views from this book altogether.
But then I remembered I was married to Dinah. So she would see this book. And she
was a fanatical supporter of Dougal. I couldn’t risk her seeing such an omission. Dinah had
the same belligerent ideas that Monica and Dougal have. So this last exchange has had to
remain in this book. When the future mass media gets hold of this book, then they will clearly
delete this section. It is very important that our future generations are not contaminated by
terrible ideas like these. But fortunately a good effective mass media system will always
support a good, stable, peaceful world. They will never mention any dubious, opposing view
on an important subject like this. So the whole world should remain safe from such evil ideas.
116

117

THE AUTHOR WRITES
I think the general concept of this story is very good – namely that a “Wonder Plant” should
revolt against its human creator’s - and then it mostly destroys human civilisation. And this
situation leads to the problems associated with survival for the remaining isolated human
societies of the world.
But, alas, my own writing skills are rather limited. So I cannot do justice to this great
concept. So the first thing I need to say is that anyone can take any of the ideas from this
novel and they can use them to create their own stories. Such people do not need to
acknowledge anything they have taken from here. These writers can even use the same title of
“Wonder Plant”. It doesn’t worry me at all. The world needs as many books about this topic
as it can get. We all need to think about different ways of living and survival. We don’t need
to all slavishly assume that our current capitalistic way of life is the only way of living.
But, if you have read Thomas More’s Utopia, then you will know that stories about Utopian
civilisations are not easy to read. For example - we all know that every person needs a good
incentive to persuade them to help their community prosper - rather than just look after their
own personal interests. And such details are not easy to describe. And, when such details are
described, then such novels are immediately derisively accused of being wickedly “preachy”.
So this is an awkward subject.
So this story has not been written just for your entertainment. It is a terribly important
topic. Now I do know a little about Utopias. I was brought up in North London soon after the
Second World War. And this was a Utopian world because - everyone was treated relatively
equally; everyone could travel around using just push-bikes and public transport without
difficulty; no one worked too hard and yet all people could obtain good simple practical jobs
easily; all people had an adequate life-style in terms of material goods; and, all people could
have good social life in terms of local groups like church, scouts and many other active clubs
and societies. But, as we all know, this quite recent Utopian world has now been completely
destroyed. So this story does deal with the reasons why such Utopian Worlds are always
destroyed. But it is hard to make a novel supremely entertaining when the author wants to
deal with such difficult topics as these.
So, as you read through this story, please bear these facts in mind. And, when you
can’t stand my writing any more, please, at least try to think about the survival story that you
would try to write yourself. This would be a great bit of mental exercise for all people. Some
people might then even work out what their own “purpose of life” should be.
In this story, some of the incidents I refer to come from my own real life experience. So the
incident describing the upset meths stove in the tent was an incident in my own life. (And the
tent floor was similarly patched up with black tape.) The incident about the primus blowing
up in a hut was similarly an accident where I was present. The route that starts from the Innes
Ettis hut in Llanberis Pass to Cloggie (with no down-climbing) was also a route that I
personally found.
A climbing accident has now confined me to a wheelchair - so I haven’t been able to
check on any other further details myself. But of course I have bought the relevant ordinance
survey maps. So all the details in North Wales and the Isle of Wight come from such maps. I
have tried to be as accurate as possible about all these details.
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I have actually made the floor bed described on pages 59 and 60. It is an amazingly
comfortable bed to sleep in. I then extended the idea so that the system could be applied to
normal single and double beds as well. And I have obtained a provisional patent for the whole
system. Below then is the patent’s starting short “Summary of the Invention”.
“The fundamental element of this invention is a set of connected tapes that go around
a user’s mattress. There are 4 tapes that go around the mattress sideways and 2 tapes that go
around the mattress longways, near the sides of the bed. (But for double beds there is an extra
longways tape that goes around in the centre of the bed.) The sideways tapes are firmly
connected to the longways tapes where they cross at the top of the mattress. Thus the position
of these tapes is firmly secured.
The sheets and blankets, which this bed uses, are then attached to these tapes by a
series of Velcro patches. So, via the patches and tapes, the bed’s sheets and blankets are now
always kept in the correct place for a sleeper’s comfort.
A purchaser will buy this complete bedding package with these tapes, sheets and
blankets already connected by the Velcro patches to each other. The purchaser then takes this
package home and they put it all onto their mattress. The tapes are then passed under the
mattress and their ends are connected (the tapes have Velcro at their ends so that they can be
easily connected). The bed is then immediately ready for sleeping in.
To make the bed on a normal day, the sheets and blankets are simply pulled into
place. So making a bed now only takes a few seconds.
To change a sheet (or sheets) on a washing day, the user undoes the sheet’s Velcro
patches and removes it for washing. This is a very simple operation indeed. While doing this,
the blankets can remain in place. The blankets can easily be removed in the same way - but
this would occur much less frequently. And, of course, the sheets and blankets can be
returned to the bed by the simply operation of pushing the Velcro patches back together.”
But now I can’t get anyone to make these floor beds or bedding packages – people
don’t like to have to think about different ways of doing things. So if you are interested in this
idea, then give me a ring. I can’t do the work myself because I am now in a wheelchair. But I
do have lots of money, which I am very happy to invest in the project. Given enough time,
this idea could make all beds much easier to sleep in.
I have been studying how a community can be self-sufficient in food, water and energy for 33
years now. So I know the subject reasonably well. In this story I have described an extreme
form of such egalitarian, self-sufficient, community living. The extreme form of this story is
the form that I would personally love to live in myself. But I realise that probably no one else
in the current world would. So my major contribution to this world is a book called “Green
Living”. The contents of this book, a diagram of the living form and the front cover are now
given on the following pages. So part of the purpose of this story is to get people to read and
become interested in this work.
Thus this work describes a non-extreme form of community living. But there are still
many similarities between these two societies. Please contact me if you are interested
obtaining this book.
Bryden Allen 15/10/2011
7/5 Knox St, Ashfield, 2131.
Tel. (02) 9797 7249
Email – brydentallen@gmail.com
119

“GREEN LIVING” - CONTENTS
1. WHO CHANGES – WE OR THE CLIMATE? 3
2. INTRODUCTION 8
3. HOW THIS WORK CAME TO BE DONE 14
4. POSSIBLE FORMS 17
4.1 Governmental Forms 4.2 Degrees of Self-Sufficiency (Self-employment?)
4.3 Fundamental Forms – Simple, Basic, Village and Independent
4.4 Land Required 4.5 World Resources and “Footprints”
4.6 MOST IMPORTANT – Getting started - Forming Communities Initially
5. A BASIC COMMUNITY IN GENERAL (A hamlet of 100 people) 32
5.1 Physical Form (with a Detailed Map) 5.2 Membership and Finance
5.3 Officers and Courses 5.4 Meetings and Voting
120
Page
6. A BASIC COMMUNITY IN TERMS OF ITS ACTIVITIES 48
A) MAJOR ACTIVITIES
6.1 Agriculture (Food, Crops, Animals, Land Calculation and ‘It will be Fun’)
6.2 Building (Accommodation, Sustainability, Construction and Final Total Costs)
6.3 Transport 6.4 Social Activities 6.5 Care and Education
B) SERVICES 89
6.6 Energy (Facilities, Units, Insulation, Hot water and Electricity)
6.7 Water (General form, Storage and Collection) 6.8 Recycling
6.9 Communication 6.10 Work-Shop
C) THE EXECUTIVE 112
6.11 President (external) 6.12 Treasurer (finance and banking) 6.13 Membership
6.14 Secretary (internal - employment) 6.15 Analyst (equivalent to opposition)
7. A VILLAGE COMMUNITY 117
7.1 Basic Form 7.2 A Two Tier Governmental Form
7.3 Distribution of Activities 7.4 Variety
8. AN INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY (A Town-State) 124
8.1 Basic Form 8.2 Equality of Equity ? 8.3 The Support Problem
8.4 Six Other Features 8.5 Into the Future
9. SUMMARY - A Comparison of “Green Living” to “Current Living” 136
EXTRAS
A) My Past and Future Writing Work 143
B) A Badge to Stop Climate Change 150
C) The Four Fundamental Problems – that Civilization Must Face 157