Philip goes to Tommy Land

By Angus Ramsey

In the year 2124
a young American man is chosen by the rotary to go on the first student exchange to Eurasia in 80 years. His secret mission is to bring democracy back to the leaderless people of Eurasia.
To his surprise he finds an amazing harmony in a population that has transcended far beyond the life he knows in America.
The rotary rules are clear, no serious dating, but in a world where love is supported and openly encouraged he falls hopelessly in love. Towards the end of his exchange he realizes his home nation needs Eurasia's forward thinking and he needs the love of his girlfriend.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Angus Ramsey
• Release date: Mar 16, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463366851

Angus Ramsey

Born in Penticton, British Columbia in 1950, raised in the fertile Similkameen Valley and then transplanted to Vancouver Island. As a young man I was influenced by many diverse cultures from the Potlatch of our first nations, the greed and snobbery of our English overseers, the stoic Chinese community, a large hard working Sikh and Hindu community and waves of diverse European emigrants. Having friends in all the communities I soon realized much of the unhappiness and prejudices, between these beautiful people, was, and always has been caused by a lack of political understanding. Ended public school at grade ten, worked through the sixties in a world in transition where kids like me struggled to find a way to change the world into a place of peace and love. It didn’t work. Back to school in the seventies, learned about the magic of the human body, married my wife Rolande, had two children, worked in a medical lab for thirty five years, dreamed of the ideals of the sixties, read history and political theory, built three sailboats, renovated or built six houses, ran as an independent candidate for our provincial legislature, wrote four novels, sailed across the Pacific ocean twice and in the winters I sailed my boat in Mexico and in the summers lived on Vancouver Island. Today a happy grandparent enjoying the challenge of trying to build stability into our future world. I hope you will join me.

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Philip goes to Tommy Land

Copyright 2019 by Angus Ramsey

Smashwords 9780463366851

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, can be done with the consent of the publisher.

All the information in this book is from the observations and experiences of the author. Any resemblance to actual facts is purely coincidental. Using any of the material as reference can be done with the authors blessing.

A story of love set in the year 2124. The world has been torn apart by two political ideologies separating Philip and Jennie. Against all odds they find each other, are torn apart, and the adventure begins. Little do they know their love will change the history of the world forever.

www.politicalhappiness.com

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Ramsey Angus Malcolm, 1950-

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Cover photo credit Jonatan Pie, Iceland

Philip 2124 AD Chapter 1

I won because I'm the best, he tells himself. He can smell his sweat and feel drops running down under his arms. There are so many people and they want him to speak. He's at an awards dinner in the Rotary dining hall. The lights are so bright and even though it is cool his overburdened mind is pushing his body into a panic attack.

He'd be one of the first students allowed to travel to Europe for almost 80 years. He'd fulfilled all the requirements. He won an award for his essay on democracy, was an excellent student and he came from a good hard working family. His fathers family had always been politically conservative and he had an uncle who died in Taiwan 20 years earlier in the last battle to protect America from TOM or (Tyranny of the masses). TOM had taken hold in Europe 100 years ago to the detriment of Corporate America. TOM had spread across Asia and 20 years ago the US government sent troops to Japan and Taiwan to support their democratically elected governments and stop the spread of TOM. It'd worked, but both sides suffered heavy casualties as the American troops pushed back the massive TOM army. Over the last 20 years a de-tente had been established with the leaderless people of Europe and now Philip was to be one of the first student exchange students.

Aren't you afraid Phil, - I mean I'd like to have won but, I'm kinda glad I didn't, said Berry his best school friend.

Yeah, I'm a little. The only person I've spoken to from there is that guy Helmut. He seemed OK but dad said he was full of it. Like as if they don't use oil over there.

Berry grinned and whispered, I hear you can have sex with any chick yah meet if you can stand ugly chicks with hairy bodies. You gotta keep me posted man.

Phil managed to stumble through the award ceremony. After he was done he thought, All those jerks standing in front of hollowcams must be nuts. A week later he was ready to throw in the towel, but his mom told him he couldn't back out now. What would her friends say?

It's like I'm being set up. Why didn't anyone tell me it would be like this? I'll probably be killed, he thought.

LAX was a mess, Police and even the army with flack jackets all over the place. Philip wondered if he'd miss his plane. He arrived at the airport 6 hours before he was to leave for London. Berry and his mom had to leave him at the first checkpoint. There was a big drug bust going on and 2 days earlier they had to ground all the planes leaving because some TOMs had threatened to bomb the runway. The news media reported the police arresting 30 TOM protesters on the tarmac.

Dad had always said, if only we could get rid of those TOMs, things would be a hell of a lot better.

When I get to London, Philip thought, I hope I can somehow start a movement to return those people to democracy.

He couldn't believe the huge aircraft waiting on the tarmac. While waiting in line he was given a pamphlet, it was an Airbus 2203. Someone told him it was the latest thing out of Boeing in Seattle. Why's it called an Airbus, he wondered? It carried 2100 passengers and ran on a new bread of hydrogen engines fueled by heating palladium, a metal that naturally compressed hydrogen. After standing in line for the third time while inspectors took his entire luggage apart, even inspecting his underwear, he finally arrived with 10 minutes to spare at the boarding gate.

At first he thought the plane was empty, but he soon realized every seat was filled, it was just so darn big. He had a window seat next to a well-dressed older man and women who greeted him with a foreign accent. Could these people be a TOMs he wondered as he sat down. There was only one flight a month direct to London from LAX. As the plane ascended, through the smog, Phillip was happy to see clear skies because he'd be able to see all of America from his comfortable window seat. There was a map of their flight on the seat in front of him. After a while he noticed they were heading almost directly north over Canada.

Excuse me sir, is this right? Why are we going so far north? Why aren't we going over New York?

Yes, it's correct, his seat neighbor said, You see it's quicker this way, let me explain, if you take a string and stretch it from LA to London on a globe the distance is much shorter over northern Canada and Greenland.

It didn't make any sense to Philip; he thought maybe it was just the heavy accent. With a puzzled look he said, Oh thanks. Then suspiciously looked out the window at the millions of small lakes below them.

The flight took less time than waiting in the airport in LA. They arrived at 11 PM. Philip wondered where all the lights were. You could see a kind of glow but no shiny lights except for the Airport landing lights. After they had come to a stop the older man beside him stood up and said, I hope you enjoy your stay in England.

The plane very quickly disembarked through 4 boarding doors. Quiet vehicles were moving efficiently all over the airport through the warm clean smelling air. Philip was so surprised to see a full sized sailing ship decorating the enormous reception hall. His bags were waiting for him at the luggage check. He found a sign saying this way and followed it into another hall. There in front of him among a throng of strangely dressed people was a sign, Philip Wangler held by a teen-aged girl with obviously mom, dad and younger brother.

He fumbled in his pocket for the piece of paper with their names. They were the Grant family, so Mr. and Mrs. Grant, the daughter would be Cynthia and her brother was Bill.

Hi I'm Phil

Well you are a site, all the way from America. Welcome, Welcome Philip, said Mrs. Grant with an accent Phil had trouble understanding.

They introduced each other and headed for the car. Hey I haven't been through customs! exclaimed Philip.

Gosh I hope you don't have any bombs do you Philip, joked Mr Grant. To be serious we don't feel we need customs, I'm responsible for you, Nancy your new mom and even Bill and Cynthia wouldn't let anything happen to our country. If you wanted to do harm to England, believe me you would be stopped.

Philip noticed the cars in the parking lot were all the same colour, an iridescent blue like the airplane, they were much smaller than back home and obviously electric, because they were very quiet and there was no smell of fumes.

While loading, Phil without thinking yelled out, Shotgun.

The whole family stopped and looked at him quizzically. Uh - I meant- can I ride in the front seat, said Philip. Nobody seemed to be in a rush so Philip explained that the person riding next to the driver would carry a shotgun to protect the family. The whole family burst out laughing. Mr Grant gave Philip a sideways hug and said with a smile, We're going to love you Phil."

Some how they managed to get Phil the family and all his bags in the Grants squished van and off they went. The lights on the roads came from curb height. You could see clearly the smallest thing on the road and yet your night vision wasn't compromised. It was easy to see the trees silhouetted in the moonlight. Philip noticed the few cars passing by didn't seem to have headlights.

So, how's the heat in LA these days? asked Mr. Grant after he'd engaged the pilot.

I don't go outside much, the temps usually 120 in the day, gets down to 100 at night.

What about those wild fires we used to hear about?

Oh well we don't have them anymore, nothing much grows, and the houses are made of concralite that stuff that's incredible insulation and doesn't burn. Last summer I was visiting dad in British Columbia; man did they ever have some fires. It seems the whole of the North West was on fire all the way to Alaska. Even though Dad gets SAD really bad, he thinks he's going to move up to Alaska. It's cooler up there and they still get rain.

How's your mom going Philip? asked Mrs Grant.

Good, good, she complains all the time about the amount of hours she puts in at the firm. She's on retainer for Gemco. They're in the middle of a lawsuit suing Multisanto over some genetic patented high yield corn. I haven't seen much of her for the last year, but she did manage to come to my graduation and gave me a ride to the airport. She said she might be out of a job because she'd be missing an important meeting driving me. I think she's ready to quit anyway.

I hope you won't miss her, and you must tell me if there's anything I can do for you like your mom does.

Thanks, that's nice, said Philip as he thought of something his mom did for him that Mrs. Grant could fill in. His mom screamed at her boyfriend to be nice to him when the boyfriend tried to kick him out of the house.

Chapter 2 Canterbury

Philip woke the next morning feeling refreshed. He found Mr Grant in the kitchen paging through the news on his digiscreen. It was 9 AM. Phil had slept for 10 hours. Their home was semidetached on 2 floors with windows looking out on an open meadow. There was a fountain making wind sounds in the middle of the courtyard.

How'd you sleep? asked Mr. Grant

Great, hey this is a real sweet pad you have man.

Mr grant raised his eyebrows and looked at Phil over the digiscreen. The breakfast menu is on the display on the fridge, do you know how to use it? Cynthia programmed it, I like the bangers and hash with eggs and coffee.

I can figure it out, said Phil but ended up with a bagel and jelly.

Better watch out Philip, that fridge now knows you like bagels and jelly. That might be all you can get out of it for the next six months. Here let me help you.

While Phil ate Mr. Grant said, I was hoping we could get over to the plant sometime today. It's one of the CICs I'm involved in. We manufacture solar equipment. Are you interested?

Yah sure, whats a CIC? asked Phil.

A CIC is an acronym. You can say it as citizen-initiated corporation, or community involved co-op. It was the instrument that replaced American Corporations after the political reforms in early 21st century in Europe. You didn't know that's why America has distanced itself from Europe and Asia?

Uh, well yah, sort of, you guys murder children and old people, and we just don't want our country to be so unorganized, you've no control over anything, that's why we don't want to have TOM in America. The only thing holding the world together is democracy in America, spouted Phil.

OK, that's OK Phil, I have no argument with that. After you finish your breakfast we'll go see the plant? I think you'll be fascinated.

Where's the rest of the family? asked Phil.

Nancy and the children are at our other CIC, maybe we can go there tomorrow. It's a green house project. We grow fruit all through the year. I think you'll like it.

The solar plant was close enough for Phil and Mr. Grant to walk. On the way Mr. Grant pointed out a large building that looked like a football stadium and told Phil that was the green house. The building itself can control the temp very closely by opening or closing louvers and shading. There is also multiple fountains on the inside walls to control temp and humidity.

Phil noticed on the horizon a building with spires gracefully reaching for the sky.

Do you like that? asked Mr. Grant. That's Canterbury Cathedral, I helped refurbish her. She's our communities pride and joy, been there since 600 AD built on an old Roman road. All the old buildings around here were removed but the church was rebuilt. If you'd like we can attend religious services there.

The solar plant was a smaller building beside a railway. So weird being so far out in the country thought Phil, It must be some little company making lawn ornaments.

As they walked into the plant Mr. Grant said, I want you to have all the details of our process here to take back to America Phil.

Inside the plant there were hundreds of people busily assembling large machines. Were assembling the powder coating machines here in three stages. I'll show you how they work when we get into the testing area in the back lot, but first come into Harold's office and he'll explain the process."

Harold looked up from his digiscreen. Unlike in Phil's school back home the three-dimensional hologram didn't suddenly disappear when you entered the principals office.

Harold arose, stretched, Oh I mustn't sit so long, Good morning George, I suppose this is the young American you wanted me to meet.

Phil couldn't believe how much Harold looked like the uncle he visited in Oregon. He was tall with a few wisps of gray hair on a kind full face framed with bushy eyebrows.

He loved visiting his uncle so felt so comfortable when his hand was extended but his accent threw Phil as he said, Welcome to Canterbury Philip. George tells me you might be interested in our process here. He wants you to take it to America, you know very sinister. He said with a wink. He's hoping to slow down your consumption of carbon fuels if you can produce affordable solar power, so pay attention lad.

With a gnawing suspicion Phil asked, You know I wouldn't know what to do with this information. Isn't this stealing trade secrets or something?

Raising his eyebrows Harold said seemingly talking to himself, You know I wouldn't know what to do with this is America either. If you could get it into the right hands I'd think you could gain a lot of status there. Harold leaning his head over, But of course you don't have status there, it's all about money isn't it? - Well then, you could make a lot of money. It's available if you want it, but no pressure, let me go through the process with you.

With the digiscreen demonstrating Harold's narration Phil got his first lesson on solar technology. "The first thing we do is condition the surface by pulling the atmosphere away. We use the lasers to ionize the oxygen and nitrogen, and then we charge the car with a high positive voltage, which uses a natural repulsive force to create a virtual vacuum around the surface. Next we powder coat on a layer of indium, this is a semiconductor when struck by a photon releases an electron. That's