Chapter 3

When we left the Chancellor’s office, we could hardly stop giggling. There we were, two students who were about to start a year with the University, and all we were asked for was our signatures on her collection of books!

We utilised the campus map we had been given and went around to look at the various buildings where we would have been studying, then found the canteen for a drink and talk.

“It looks as if the President has spoken to the Chancellor and sealed our fate.”

“Looks like it, Mad. I suppose that it’s an honour to be able to study with our own office at the Commission. I wonder what assignments we’ll be given.”

We spent the rest of the day exploring Antwerp. We looked around the countryside until the first day of the new term and went into Brussels with Juliette to see what lay in store for us. On the office desk were some papers, one of which was a car pass so we could take the Citroen to work and park in a spot that had been saved for us. That, alone, seemed more permanent than I expected.

There was another speech to be written. This time it was to be given at a gathering of journalists. It had a number of topics that would have to be included, and the references to those were added, so that we could research them. The reason that we had been given this task was that it was expected that there would be a question about climate change. The President wanted to foreshadow the new direction, without laying down any detail. There was a handwritten note that said that she wanted to announce the change in direction when asked about an extreme weather event and was waiting for that event to provide the right time.

In the period up until Christmas, we wrote five more speeches and two more reports, all based on our original work. It looked as if we were going to be the ones held responsible should things go wrong. We also wrote several chapters of the new book, which we called ‘The Last Wave’. On top of that, we had an assignment to write a play, in Belgian Dutch, to be produced by the university drama group in Spring. While all this was going on, we kept getting a monthly salary and was now paying Juliette for our lodgings.

The extreme weather event occurred in early December. Europe experienced its lowest temperatures on record. Everyone was snowed in and had to wait for snowploughs to clear the roads. Even then, it was too dangerous to drive anywhere. We stayed at home and did our work by email, with our on-line links to both the University and the Commission.

The President called for a press conference, using Zoom, which attracted journalists from all over the world. We were emailed to join it, so sat, with Juliette and Jules, with our laptop connected to the TV. She used our speech, word for word, and created a whirlwind of questions. She then read from our report, as well as the more detailed one that had been produced later. Elaine and I couldn’t help ourselves and coaxed her as she spoke, even though she couldn’t hear us. When it was over, we were both exhausted.

“So, that’s what you two have been up to! You realise that this will reshape the future, don’t you?”

“Yes, Juliette, we do realise that. What we didn’t realise was how addictive being part of policymaking was. We’re not sure about going back to Essex now this has happened. I’m sure that we will be expected to follow this through. We’ll just have to wait and see what the President and Madame Duval have in store for us.”

I agreed with Ellie but was wondering if we would ever finish our degrees, or even if it would be worth anything. We had seen a lot of the data that was a closely kept secret, and, maybe, we should have studied survival techniques instead.

A few minutes later, the laptop pinged with an incoming email from the Commission. I called it up and we all looked at it on the big screen, with Juliette gasping as she read it. Ellie and I had been recalled to the Commission, and to pack for an extended stay. There would be a double room available to us in the building, and there would be a helicopter arriving in two hours to pick us up. We didn’t hang around, and quickly packed all of our things in the suitcases that we had brought from England. Jules and Juliette were helpful, as both realised that we were now an important part of the Commission.

We heard the helicopter arrive as it came in and landed in the street, which had two snowploughs go down it while we were packing. We hugged our hosts and Jules helped us lug our cases to the helicopter, wading over the snowdrift which was hiding the front fence. We strapped in and put the headphones on as Jules trudged back to the house and the pilot increased the rotor revs. Ellie was able to wave at her uncle and aunt as we lifted off from the street. On the other side, I could see the neighbours looking on. Jules was going to have a lot of questions to answer in the next few days.

We didn’t take long to get to Brussels, and landed on the roof of the Berlaymont, where a couple of the security detail were waiting for us, carrying our bags to the rooftop entrance as the helicopter took off again. We followed them to a lift, and then along a passage on a lower floor, until we arrived at a corridor that looked as if it could be in a hotel. Nothing had been said until one of the men opened a door with a pass card and then gave it to me.

“This will be your home for a while. We have been instructed to look after the two of you. The President issued the orders herself. There is a map that will guide you up to your office when you need to get there. Make yourselves at home and be ready to meet with the Commissioners this afternoon. You will get a phone call and one of us will be outside the door to show you where to go when you are ready.”

We went in and the door closed. We hugged and kissed, releasing some of the tension that had built up since the beginning of the Zoom meeting. It took a little while to sort the jumble of clothes from the cases and put them away. Only then did we look around what could be classed a suite if it was a hotel. We had the bedroom, an ensuite, and an open plan lounge dining room, with a kitchen. The fridge held ready to microwave meals, cold meats, spreads, as well as milk and ice cream. The cupboard had bread and breakfast foods. The only thing that the suite didn’t have was windows, so we wondered if there were other corridors where the rooms had outside views. One thing was certain, we were very secure and warm.

We made ourselves a sandwich and brewed a pot of tea, plugging the laptop in and quietly working on ‘The Last Wave’ until the phone rang. When we opened the door, one of the security men led us to a lift, inserting a key when the doors were closed. As the lift descended without any floor numbers showing, he gave us new IDs to put around our necks. When the doors opened, we walked out into a corridor which looked as if it was part of a military base. He led us to a door which had two armed guards, who checked our credentials before letting us in.

The room was like any master control room of the best thriller movies. There was a huge semi-circular table with chairs, plus more chairs behind them. In front, there were big screens and a dais, with a desk and chair, stood to one side. Many of the seats were already occupied and there was a general hubbub of conversations as an army officer of one of the NATO countries gave us a welcoming smile and led us to some seats behind Madame Duval. She stood and hugged us both as we arrived.

“Welcome, my friends, to the real seat of power. This is where you will see, and hear, some things that can never be repeated outside this room. The President will be addressing us, as soon as we can get all the Commissioners seated. With her speech, this morning, a lot has been said that will not be unsaid, even if a lot of EU and NATO members don’t like it. This is a planning session for next year. Don’t even think of writing anything as notes. You will be given the summary by your access to the data base. There will be a lot of speeches given over the next few months. You may have to accompany the President on her trips. Are you up for it?”

“Madame Duval, we are ready to serve the President in any way we can. I realised that our degrees were not as important as the survival of the human race. We can always finish the courses once we have helped. We both consider it an honour to be part of such a momentous occasion.”

“You may not consider an honour when other leaders heap criticism on the plans. It will undermine their very hold on power if they have to look out for their citizens. Some may even disregard the EU edicts altogether and look for a place where they can take their money and shelter from the storm. The next year is critical, and today we begin a long journey. Now, sit down, make yourselves comfortable and soak it in. There are toilets over on that side wall. The sound is piped to them, so you won’t miss anything.”

We sat and looked around the room in wonder. As it filled, there were also heads of state joining us by a secure link, their faces showing on one of the big screens. It took around twenty minutes before everyone was present and the President went to the dais and the room went quiet. She welcomed everyone to the meeting, then went through the long list of heads of state, and then the representatives of those NATO countries that were not part of the EU.

As they were acknowledged, an amber light showed on a board. If being part of the policymaking was addictive, being here was intoxicating. We sat, our hands gripped, while the situation was worked through, while the suggestions that she had put forward were discussed. The meeting ran for over six hours, and we were served drinks and nibbles by attendants in military uniforms.

As each head of state was asked how they felt about the proposals, you could see a lot of them were happy to be freed of the unrealistic concepts of the Paris Accord and beyond. It was easier to sell to their citizens that the money was going to be spent protecting them from the weather, rather than trying to hold the changes back. As they agreed to follow, a green light showed beside their names.

There were only a few red lights, mainly from the countries that were full-blown dictatorships that would never follow the others, if only by historical stubbornness. After the full list of EU members were completed, the NATO countries were asked if they were happy. I had the sudden realisation that we, in this room, were on the screens of those leaders. This meant that I was sitting here, looking at Kings and Presidents, while they could see me if they looked closely. I was sure that their security people were already studying the feed to identify all those in this room.

As the pressure in the room was released, I knew that we had been vindicated. If the lights had all been red, instead of mostly green, we two may have been fed to the wolves as dreamers, rather than as oracles. Madeline turned to us with a smile.

“It is exciting, yes? This is the first big meeting where we had so many agree. I think that we will move forward quickly, now. You could see the relief on a lot of those faces when they were told that they don’t have to pretend to be King Canute anymore. The Americans and British on our side is very good. All we have to do now is bring in the other first-world countries and we can set up making goods to work with the weather. It will mean a lot of jobs in manufacturing, building, and heavy engineering, not to mention earthworks and civil engineering in the low-lying areas.”

Madame Duval was just sitting back in her chair, eyes closed, when the President strode towards us.

“Madeline, can you escort our two heroes to my private dining room in about thirty minutes. Francoise, you can join us. I believe that we deserve a quiet dinner after all that excitement.”

She then left the room with a small cloud of aides hovering around her. She had been magnificent, holding the meeting together, answering questions from the heads of state, and generally steering a big portion of the world along the path she had chosen. The path, I thought with a sense of pride, that Ellie and I had laid out in front of her.

We took time out to visit the toilets and then followed Madeline and Madame Duval to the Thirteenth floor, where we went into a dining room with a view out over the snow-covered city. We had a lovely dinner, with the President toasting the rest of us for an idea that could save civilisation. Towards the end, my eyes were getting heavy, and we were excused. When we left the room, our security detail was there to escort us back to our room. I was so tired from such a long day, I doubt that I could have found it, unaided.

He didn’t say anything until we reached our door.

“Here we are. Have a good sleep, you both deserve it. I doubt that I’ll ever know what you did to be sitting in a full conference for over six hours, and then get a private dinner with the President, but whatever it is, you have earned my respect and also that of my colleagues.”

We hardly had time to undress before we were in bed and asleep, only needing to get up to use the ensuite. I was awake and had the kettle on when there was a knock on the door. I had a towelling robe on so opened it to find an attendant with a tray with two full breakfasts. He set it on the dining table, and I thanked him as he left. The smell of bacon and eggs must have woken Ellie, as she joined my at the table. I poured the tea, and we tucked in. I had read about heavy brainwork making you hungry but had never fully understood how many calories you burn when you are just sitting and concentrating.

We finished breakfast, showered and dressed, mainly in silence. I think that we both needed to process yesterday at our own time. When we left the room, we followed a new security man up to our office. When we had turned everything on, Madeline came to tell us to start writing discussion papers for the President. There was to be one for every head of state that we had seen on the screens. She gave us a password that allowed us access to the private files on each leader, so that we could include any carrot or stick that they would react to.

With what we learned about the private foibles of the leaders, I realised that we must have been thoroughly vetted before we had been given our first task. There was no way a couple of kids would be given this kind of information just because they were good writers. With what was in the files, we could graft an argument that would weld the subject to the plan. Even the dictators had things that they would rather not be made public. There is a saying about knowing where the bodies are buried. In a couple of cases, there were more than a few bodies, literally.

A few days later, there was an emergency meeting of the EU Parliament, mainly to legislate the new path. With the previous meeting getting most of the countries on side, it didn’t take long to come to a decision and form new committees to start working on the future plans. We were in the public gallery to see it, and the holdouts from the previous meeting didn’t vote against any of the motions, but merely abstained. Just before Christmas, the weather thawed enough for Juliette to come to work. When she saw the ID tags we now took as normal, she looked serious.

“In all my time here, I’ve only seen a handful of those tags. Normally on diplomats and world leaders going to see Madame Duval. I won’t ask what you’re up to, but I will say that we are proud of you both. Can you find out if you can come home for Christmas? If so, I’ll plan a big day for us. If you’ve been here since you flew off, there wouldn’t have been time for you to get any presents, so just get a few bottles of wine from the restaurant. I’m sure that, with those tags, they won’t mind giving you a few.”

We went and spoke to Madeline, and she got back to us later in the day.

“You can go home with Juliette today, if you want. Madame President will want you back on the first full week after New Year. She is planning a trip to talk to other countries that were not at that meeting. If you leave your passports with me, I’ll get them duplicated with EU diplomatic ones. Have a good holiday, you deserve it.”

We told Juliette that we would be joining her on the trip home, but she would have to wait while we packed our bags. When we did join her at her car, she watched, in amazement, as our security detail loaded our cases in the back. We shook their hands and told them that we would see them in the New Year and to have a good break. On the way out of the car park, Juliette was just shaking her head. On the main road north, she had to say something.

“First, I see you with high level security tags, and then you have a couple of the security guys carry the cases for you. Don’t tell Jules, he’ll be jealous.”

“We won’t tell him anything, auntie. We picked those guys up when we landed with the helicopter, and they’ve been with us ever since. It was a good job too, as I couldn’t even find the room we were staying in again, unless they led us there. They’ve been really friendly.”

We made sure our tags were out of sight when we got home. It was a relief to be in the outside world again. We had been able to get a few good bottles of wine when we asked, so these went into the chiller for Christmas. We had a few days break and used a lot of it talking to our families on the phone. Perhaps some of the tricks of being a diplomat had rubbed off on us, as I found it easy to tell mine that we were doing well, and that the University was wonderful. Ellie told hers that we had been very busy, as Juliette had already told them that we had been whisked off by helicopter. Her father was able to deduce that there were things we weren’t allowed to talk about, so she wasn’t grilled.

Between Christmas and New Year, we worked hard on the play that we were supposed to write, emailing it to the lecturer who was going to direct it. We also finished ‘The Last Wave’ and emailed it to Madame Duval with the query to vet it for anything we should take out.

We had been back in the office a week before we had an invitation to see Madame Duval. Madeline ushered us in, and we were, once again, sitting in easy chairs with tea and cake.

“Elaine and Clarence. The story that you sent me was really beautiful. It also fitted in with what we need to overcome this year. The President has read it and has written a foreword for you. She has also written a rider for you to send to your editor when you submit it. We both think that it’s the best thing you’ve written, and that’s saying something.”

“No changes?”

“No, it’s perfect as it is. We would like to see it in print as soon as possible; that’s what the note to your publisher asks. It addresses some of the problems we will be trying to overcome.”

That afternoon, we emailed the story to our publisher, as an Elaine Terrey and Patricia Shelley story. We scanned the foreword and the letter and attached them as well. He replied two days later, saying that it would be in print once it had been proofread. A week later, we were told to be ready for travel. We didn’t need to pack heavy items as we would be going to visit Pacific Islands and it was quite hot on the other side of the world.

We didn’t know what to expect, perhaps first class on one of the EU airlines. What did happen was that we had two light cases when we went to the office, which were whisked away by our security detail. The next time we saw them was when they were being loaded onto one of the French President’s planes, at a military base, after we had been taken there in larger helicopters.

We were allocated a pair of recliner seats, with our two, ever-present, security guys at the back of the plane, along with some others. We had our diplomatic passports, now stamped by a smiling Airforce Captain. The itinerary for the flight was to go to Mayotte and Reunion in the Indian Ocean. After that there were several stops in the Pacific Islands. Then we were heading for Canberra and Auckland for discussions with those leaders.

Then it was back north to see New Caledonia and then diplomatic visits to Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan. We would be spending some time visiting French Guiana. After that, it was just island hopping in the Caribbean before our last stop at St-Pierre, in the Atlantic, off the coast of Canada. The trips to the French Territories were mainly to let them know that there would be support should they need to be evacuated, with a visit from the Commission President, travelling in one of the French President’s planes, showing how much authority she had.

We were six weeks flying around. There were times that we could go swimming in the warm seas, but a lot of our flight times was writing a cheat sheet for the President so she could ask about the various family members of the leaders we were visiting. We could whip these up in English or French, depending on where we landed. It was a hectic time, and we saw a lot of the world and met a lot of people.

One of the highlights of the trip happened in Canberra. We were walking through the terminal, heading for a meeting, when we saw ‘The Last Wave’ in a booksellers window, marked as ‘Read the latest Best Seller!’ Madeline made the assistant’s day when she bought twenty copies to go with us for others to read, and us to sign.

Marianne Gregory © 2024