Chapter 11
San Francisco
The next day Mary was fully recharged and eager to see San Francisco, while Ed was at first groggy from over-sleep and his frightening confusing dreams. They quickly packed what they would be able to carry in their motorcycle caravan. Beyond that Mary and Ed had room for within Mack they ended up with a big extra suitcase of new clothes that Mara arranged to have shipped back to Giants' Rest. Doll and Snake ended up with two big suitcases of new clothes that Ken arranged to be sent to China Lake. The guys were happy to be back in their every-day clothes; the women were already missing their shipped away fancy outfits.
Breakfast in the hotel restaurant was pure extravagance, and included chicken eggs, multi-grain waffles and pancakes, blueberry muffins, and a variety of fresh fruit that the Rumsfelds hadn't seen since their last Brooklyn visit and Doll had never seen. The more worldly Snake pointed out to her the names of some of the more exotic fruits, including bananas.
"Heat stress and blight killed off most banana trees over thirty years ago," Ken noted, "but through genetic engineering a blight-free species was finally produced. Bananas have been slowly making a comeback, as part of the slowly recovering global trade."
"Technically through some arcane twist of natural selection and perhaps arbitrary classification, science doesn't classify the plants that grow bananas as trees," Doll noted, reminding the others that she was a scientist in addition to being the biker Warrior Princess.
"It's also a bit annoying that technically peanuts aren't nuts, tomatoes aren't vegetables and Pluto isn't a full-fledged planet," noted Ed. "Those nutty scientists! Can't live with them but we can't live without them!"
"I've seen bananas growing near the coast on what look like trees to me," Snake said, "and they are a damned good fruit. What amazes me is that in the North you eat shipped-in bananas while in the South we only get to eat what we grow for ourselves." He gave Mara a stern glance. "On the other hand there are some new banana groves near LA that we hope to soon get control of, and when we control the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach we'll be shipping goods in and out of the Confederacy without State involvement. When I retire from being a dictator I was thinking of becoming a banana farmer. I could sell some of them to the North and elsewhere and make out like crazy."
"I can't quite picture you as a banana farmer," said Ed.
"I can," said Doll. "We need to settle down somewhere and make ourselves domestic. Besides, babies love bananas."
"Sounds like a plan," said Ed.
"And a really good one," said Mary. "Kids and grandkids and bananas."
"And no more wars," added Doll. "Don't forget that part."
"Maybe," said Snake. "I always expected to die on a Harley with my boots on and a knife in my back, but maybe it will be on a recliner with a pair of comfy bedroom slippers on and too many bananas in my gut instead, if Hacker and me can work things out right with the North and the Mexicans."
"Not to mention working things out with the jants and Stone-Coats," Ed mentioned.
"Hope you work it out," said Mary. "Death by banana sounds nice and peaceful."
Mara reached over the table with her glass of orange juice and clunked it against Snake's glass and Doll's. "I'll drink to that!" she said. "To a united California, lasting peace, bananas, and kids."
"Deal," said Snake. "Together let's make it all happen."
"Works for me," said Ed.
"Deal," said Doll.
Ken sat quietly and looked perplexed. "Well Ken old friend, what do you say?" asked Snake.
"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it," Ken answered, "but I guess I'll get used to it."
"What a nifty day!" Ed exclaimed. "All is peace, love, and banana-fed happiness and we haven't even finished breakfast yet!"
The Crew finished packing their things and soon struck off North towards San Francisco along the Bay on the old Bayshore Freeway, following behind Mara and Ken in the limo and surrounded by half a dozen CHiPs on motorcycles. Ed, Mary, and Wheels were happy to be reunited with and comfortably riding in Mack again, and Snake and Doll seemed happy to be reunited with their well-armed, heavily chromed Harleys.
Traffic was relatively light despite over nine million people living in the San Jose/San Francisco area, and most vehicles were nearly as tiny and under-powered as Mack, and were computer controlled. The visiting Crew thought it odd to see none of the people in the vehicles driving, but automated motor vehicles had long become the norm in most of the more affluent parts of the world. Young Sam would have been greatly impressed, but disappointed at how dull driving had become.
Most vehicles were of course also solar-electric powered, or powered by a combination of solar-electric and hydrogen fuel created by solar power when the vehicles were idle. Worry about running out of gasoline was a thing of the past for most drivers; cloudy days were more of a concern.
Mara again provided a running commentary and answered questions about what they were seeing. "A mile or two to our left you'll notice we have a view of the elevated rail system built thirty years ago that parallels this Freeway. Pretty old-fashioned technology but most people take the Bay High Rail system instead of driving to and from San Francisco or San Jose. Most professional people usually work from home using holographic conferencing, of course. For those that physically need to get to their work sites most use the High Rails. It's free for passengers and mini-vehicles and saves on auto maintenance. The system also extends from the Bay area east to Sacramento. Solar and nuclear fusion plants produce most electricity nowadays, of course, but the train-cars are coated in the same solar absorbing electricity producing materials used on the exterior of the electric cars. Each train car can carry either a hundred-fifty passengers or fifty mini-vehicles and their passengers."
"Why does the Bay shore look so historically normal?" Mary asked. "Due to faster than expected break-up of Antarctic ice Sea level has risen more than an average of six feet world-wide in the last fifty years. Remember that berg the size of Ohio that slid into the ocean a few years ago, decades ahead of science predictions?"
"Our tribe lead scientist said 'oops' but that seamed inadequate as an apology," said Ed.
"So why aren't we seeing old flooded-over shoreline docks, roads, and buildings?" Mary asked.
"Also part of the Great Valley including the fresh-water Delta area would be starting to flood by now with salt water," said Mara. "The Golden Gate Levy and lock system was built decades ago to prevent that. The water level in the Bay is being kept at the same level as it was fifty years ago."
"Sure, that was big news back when they built it," said Ken. "Some of the environmentalists went ape-shit. As they predicted, there has been an ecological nightmare in the Bay."
"The tidal water exchange with the Pacific though Golden Gate used to be enormous," explained Mara. "Hundreds of billions of gallons of water used to pass in and out of the Bay through the Strait twice daily. With most of that exchange cut off most indigenous life in the Bay has died off."
"That's terrible!" said Mary.
"People had to pick between a bad choice and a bad choice," said Mara. "At the time maintaining the fresh water supply system based at the Delta had top priority. Not flooding tens of thousands of homes and businesses around the Bay was also a plus. Over the next two centuries half the Great Valley would have been flooded. By the way, the Stone-Coats are helping to maintain the Golden Gate Bridge and Levy now."
"Yes, I've seen their reports back at Giants' Rest Mountain," said Ed. "Only a few major coastal cities across the world are building levies. Most flat coastal areas aren't good candidates for levies, even with Stone-Coat help. Over two hundred million people world-wide have been forced to move inland so far, and that's only the beginning. The Golden Gate topography made the creation of a huge levy an unusually viable option for this particular situation."
"Retreating inland is generally the least costly and most energy efficient and effective strategy," added Mack. "But humans a
ppear to enjoy making exceptions to rules. It is such illogical quirks in behavior that have made our emulation of human thought patterns highly challenging."
Ed was encouraged to see several large aircraft arriving and taking off at the San Francisco International Airport when they passed nearby it. "If we ever come back here we're using this airport instead of China Lake," said Ed, with 20-20 hindsight. "No offense, Snake."
"Next time use a tour guide from the current century, old man," countered Snake, confusing Mara and Ken as to why the obviously older man Snake was referring to Ed in such a way.
At last the Freeway wound its way into downtown San Francisco. The skyline was noticeably smaller and older than that of San Jose. It used to look much newer, when Ed had last seen it fifty years earlier.
"Though San Jose as the cornerstone of Silicon Valley has greatly surpassed San Francisco in population and wealth for over half a century, San Francisco remains the cultural center of the State," said Mara. "As you requested we'll visit some of the traditional tourist spots."
After refueling at one of the now rare gasoline stations, the entourage drove up and down steep twisting Lombardy Street. Snake laughed when a pair of oldsters walking along the sidewalk shook their canes at the noisy motorcycle-led entourage.
"They are as angry at us for using gas-guzzling air-fouling vehicles as they are with our noise pollution," said Mara. "Environmental protection has long been a huge part of the Californian psyche."
"Yeah, and we might be costing the Governor some tree-hugger votes," remarked Snake.
They drove through the wonderful trees and flowers of Golden Gate Park before stopping for lunch in China Town. Ed was grateful when Mara again covered the bill. Expecting California to be expensive, he and Mary had brought what he thought would be plenty of cash and credit cards, but he had clearly greatly underestimated the cost of things in California.
"How can normal people afford to live here?" Ed asked Mara.
"Through State handouts, mostly," she admitted. "The Federal dollars due to the Space Program have helped in recent years by providing tens of thousands more high-paying jobs. When most trade with Asia died out because of civil wars there and much commercial manufacturing moved back to the States; that kept us going for the last few decades. There are new manufacturing plants all around the Bay, including those that manufacture electronics and electric mini-autos. Oakland and San Jose are booming."
"We've even seen some of those little cars that are made here back in Brooklyn," Ed noted.
"Hacker says that Stone-Coats will cause yet another reshuffling of capitalism and political power," said Snake. "On the down side it will mean even more automation and less need for human labor. Your utopian Northern California is already down to a standard 20 hour work week to boost employment."
"That's why places like our Silicon Valley and Ed's Giants' Rest Mountain are so important," said Mara. "The whole human/Stone-Coat/jant future needs to be worked out and I don't know if the UN itself is up to that. They're always too distracted by the latest flood, famine, plague, or war somewhere in the world to work on the bigger picture. Think-tanks like Stanford and Ames are vital."
"The jants in their ant mounds and the Stone-Coats in their mountains might also be working out our future," said Snake. "That's what Hacker says."
"Your brother always was too damn smart," said Ed. "I blame his schooling. What do you want to do this afternoon, Mary?"
"Those old time cable cars and that Fisherman's Wharf place that you've been telling me about for years sounds good," she replied.
"I've set up hotel rooms for you near the Warf," said Mara.
"I stayed out of town at Half Moon Bay when I was in this area years ago," said Ed. "It was very nice but it was quite a ride from there to downtown San Francisco. I suppose that a hotel near the Wharf makes more sense."
"The whole Half Moon Bay area was washed away by storms over three decades ago!" said Mara. Her jaw dropped as she stared at Ed. "Oh my God you're like him!" She stared at Mary and then again at Ed. "You aren't mother and son, are you!"
"My bad," said Ed. "I talk too much."
"We try to keep a low profile for Ed's sake," said Mary.
Mara glanced around the table at Snake, Doll, and Ken. "OF COURSE YOU WOULD! I'M SORRY, ED."
"Hacker, Doll and I know certain unusual information about Ed and his friend in Washington DC that we don't talk about," said Snake. "For everyone's safely it's not something to go public with."
"I for one don't know what you guys are talking about," said Ken, "though it looks like everyone else here does."
"Trust me, you don't have a need to know," said Snake. "It might even be something that's very dangerous for third parties such as ourselves to know."
"YOU KNOW HE'S RIGHT, MARA," Ed added silently. "I AM SURE THAT YOU KNOW THAT JERRY CAN BE VERY DANGEROUS."
"You're very right," said Mara. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT I WAS THINKING! I WAS JUST SO SHOCKED WHEN THE REALIZATION HIT ME!"
"I'm thinking trolley ride," said Ed. He stood and led the group out to resume their San Francisco tour.
They rode old-time cable cars from near China Town all the way to Fisherman's Warf. Pier 39 was almost the same as Ed remembered it from fifty years ago. There were wonderful little gift and wine shops, and restaurants on each side of the wide pier, facing inwards towards the center where hundreds of tourists strolled along the open-air center of the pier. It was essentially an open-air shopping mall. A small ancient wooden carrousel that cranked out cheerful old-time pipe-organ music dominated one stretch of the mall. It wasn't as crowded as Ed remembered; nowadays most tourists had to of course be from Northern California - probably most of them locals from the Bay area itself.
At the end of the Pier the shops ended. Peering over the old wooden rail there was still a nice view of Alcatraz Island. About four miles away to the west the north-most part of the Golden Gate Bridge and Levy were visible. Two huge ocean-going container ships moved steadily across the bay from the direction of the Bridge, possibly headed for highly industrialized Oakland. The Levy must have a really huge lock system, Ed realized.
Along the western side of the pier there were no sea lions. Ed opened and extended his mind to detect wildlife and sensed a few fish and seabirds but not the huge profusion of wildlife that large bodies of water usually supported.
"I miss the sea lions too," said Mara.
"I hear you," agreed Snake. "All California is fucked up in one way or another. At least in the South we didn't have the resources to do any massive screw ups such as levies. We've had to let nature take its course for the most part, and adapted ourselves to get along with it. That might be the better philosophy. Here a bit of the old California has been preserved for now, but if you look closer it's not quite the same anyway. I've snuck into the North a few times since they built the Levy but I avoid coming here because without the sea lions and pelicans and other wildlife I saw here as a kid it just ain't the same."
As first-timers, Mary and Doll weren't as upset by what they didn't even realize was missing. The old shops and restaurants were still charming, as was the small ancient carrousel that still gave laughing little kids a ride. By mid-afternoon however, Mary was done-in and the group retreated to a small nearby hotel. The simple rooms had no holographic entertainment system, only old-fashioned flat- screen televisions/computer monitors a couple of meters across. The phones were sound-only, non-holographic units. Having lived for decades without such technology on the Reservation, Ed and Mary didn't need even old-time television or internet. The rooms were clean and quiet and suited them perfectly.
Later that night after a nice sea-food dinner with the Crew, Ed and Mary went back to their room and watched a news network for a short while, largely because the news networks often carried stories about the UN that frequently featured their friend Ann Richards.
Yes, there she was, talking about how the UN-managed Stone-Coat desalination efforts in India and P
akistan were already helping to ease tensions between those two famine-stressed nuclear-armed nations. Always an optimist, she projected that within another two years it might be possible to withdraw all UN peacekeeping forces from the region.
"She's become quite an important person on the world stage," Ed noted, as he and Mary lay together in the big hotel bed after turning off the TV and the lights.
"And she's quite an attractive woman," said Mary.
"Very true," admitted Ed. "She's a knock-out. She should work harder on her own life though. She should think of finding a husband and raising kids. She's far too career-driven for her own good. Frankly I'm worried about her. She never even talks about boyfriends, though she is clearly attracted to men and not women."
"She's become very close with people in the Tribe," said Mary. "I think she'd like to marry within the Tribe. Maybe she already has a crush on someone."
Ed laughed. "That's a totally crazy notion. I doubt that she'll find anyone of her stature in the Tribe. Only Mark Dawn Owl comes to mind, and he's much too young and already smitten with that cute little Bear Clan girl, Raven what's-her-name. Besides, he thinks of Ann as an older sister. No, Ann will have to find somebody outside the Tribe. Someone very special. She's all-around an amazing person, you know."
"Very true," said Mary. "She'd make someone an amazing wife, don't you think? She's very special. Any man would be a fool to turn her away."
"That's for damn sure!" Ed agreed whole heartedly.
"I think that she's holding out for someone very special."
"Well he'll be a very lucky guy, whoever he is," said Ed. "No doubt she has her pick of hundreds of guys world-wide now that she's famous. But she better not wait very long. Being alone is a terrible way to live; she must have worked that fact out, even if she doesn't want kids."
"She does want kids."
"Good," said Ed. "Kids are the best. That was the best part of our lives, raising Mira and Craig."
"Glad you feel that way," said Mary. "Maybe we should have had more; but our two kids have been wonderful. And the grandkids are wonderful too."
"Grandkids are great, but kids are the best," said Ed. "Yes, more kids would have been good for us, but just two was also very good."
"Kids would be good for Ann," said Mary. "I told her so. I want her happiness, Ed. She's a good person and a good friend. You like her too, right?"
"Of course I do. What's not to like? But we should get some sleep now."
"She'll make a wonderful mother, don't you think?" Mary asked, just as Ed was starting to doze off.
"Who?"
"Ann!" said Mary. "She'll make a wonderful mother as well as a wonderful wife."
"Well of course she will!" said Ed.
"And she shouldn't be denied love and parenthood," said Mary. "She's a very good person and deserves a good life. And as her friends we should both help see that she finds happiness."
"Certainly. Now go to sleep."
****