An EM
"Farcical Fantasy of
Futuristic Fiction" (FFFF),
by Roger Wilcox, PHD
After they
finished the evening meal, Hemp
looked up and reveled at the
evening sky. The moon was
rising and the stars were
beginning to emerge. The
group was enjoying the solitude
and good conversation. As
an owl hooted in the distance,
Thor suggested that they retire
to "the lounge",
which was a circle of old bench
seats salvaged from a bus and
other assorted chairs and
recliners. Hemp asked what
they should do with the dirty
dishes, utensils, and serving
trays. Thor said,
"Just leave them on the
table. The children will
pick them up and wash
them." Psue asked,
"Aren't you worried about
the new federal regulations that
prohibit having minors
doing domestic chores?"
Rose interrupted,
"No. We are NOT! How
are the PCEA (Political
Correctness Enforcement
Authority) going to know anyway?
Our children and teenagers are
learning the importance of
personal responsibility and the
value of teamwork. Here,
everybody does their part.
Or they don't eat!"
"What a novel idea!"
Psue said with a smile on her
face.
The group
continued to converse and share
their values and experiences.
They were all very interested in
radio communications. Hemp
told about how his grandfather
had taught him the Morse code
when he was six years old.
And how that was before all
technical and skill requirements
were eliminated from ham radio.
And lamented about how the bands
had been gradually reduced in
size, and how the Morse code was
eventually banned by the high
court when it was
re-defined as an illegal
cipher and had ruled against it,
citing security reasons.
(No one in the government, or
the armed services, any longer knew how
to copy "the code".)
Now only specially-licensed
amateur radio operators were
permitted to use the code...and
there was a mandatory extensive
and very difficult technical and
operating proficiency exam. The
story-telling and reminiscing
about how things once were went
on for several hours. Thor
finally said, "This
is all very enjoyable, but it's
almost the midnight hour.
Time to make sure the night
shift lookout and radio
watch operators have had their
naps and are in place.
Tomorrow's a new day.
Let's retire."
Psue and Hemp
were enjoying themselves
immensely and could have stayed
up all night, but they were
shown to one of the Mesa-Verd
camp guest suites. It was
one of two clefts in a nearby
rock escarpment. Inside
was a clean mattress, two
pillows, blankets, two candle
lanterns set on a bookcase
crafted from old rocket boxes,
and a canteen of clean
water. They listened
to a few faint Morse signals fading
from the COMM POST which
was located only a few yards
away as they drifted off to
sleep.
AH-OOU! AH-OOU!
AH-OOU! Hemp awakened with
a start! "What the
h--- is that!" he
exclaimed. Psue, who was
already up said,
"That's Josh, blowing his
tuba." It's the camp
wake-up call! Rose told me
that he would do that just after
sun rise, so I came in just to
watch you jump!"
"Very funny. He could
raise the dead with that
thing..."
"Anyway, get
up! We have to get down
the hill to our ARCT post."
"ROGER WILCO,
CAPTAIN!" Hemp
growled.
Gelo was already
up and on her job. She
handed them each an egg burrito
and some sandwiches as
the two grabbed their personal
gear, jumped on their
one-speed off-road bicycles, and
headed down the hill to their
NEECO checkpoint.
About two months
passed. Hemp and Psue
settled into their assigned
tasks, but life was pretty
boring. Since FUVA
permitted them each one day off per
week, they rode up to the camp
on the mesa above and stayed
over one night on weekends. They
quickly had formed very
close camaraderie with the Mesa-Verd
group.
One weekend, Thor
told them not to ride up on
Saturday, but to come instead on
Sunday. They did, and as
they approached the gate that
day, they heard music in the
camp. It was about noon
and Gard was at his usual duty
station.
"What's happening?"
asked Hemp.
"It's Christmas!"
"You're
kidding! Do you still
celebrate that?" asked Hemp.
"You're durn
tootin'."
"But what
about the PCEA?" asked Psue.
"We don't
worry about them. They have
bigger problems to police."
"OK"
As the two pedaled
on in to the center of the camp,
it was obvious that a huge dinner
was being prepared. They
visited awhile and at about 1600
hours, Josh cut lose on his
tuba. Only this time he
played a old Christmas carol.
It was, O come all ye
faithful.
The dinner was
served, buffet style. It
consisted of roast (wild) duck,
B-B-Q goat, roast wild onions,
corn bread, greens, yams, fried
catfish, and wild celery.
Dessert consisted
of pecan pie, whipped cream (made
from goat's milk), and real
coffee* (that had been
"procured" via Free
Cuba) by the Mesa Verd logistics
officer, "Logo."
After dinner, as
they all sat around the campfire,
Thor said, "Does anyone know
what happened on this date 150
years ago?"
Psue and Hemp chimed
together: "Not a clue!"
"Would you
like me to tell you the
story?"
"Sure!"
(Again in unison.)
All of those at
the campfire circle listened
intently as Thor continued:
"It was 150 years ago this
very night. A Canadian by
the name of Reginald
Fessenden and his Swedish
immigrant assistant Ernst
Alexanderson, had been hard at
work in Fessenden’s
laboratory, which was in what
used to be Massachusetts."
"They were working on a
mechanical device to alternate a
continuous radio wave. The
device consisted of a huge disc
that revolved at 20,000 rpm.
They had connected it to a
transmitter and a microphone,
and they discovered that they
could “modulate” a radio
signal. As wireless
operators at land stations and
on ships off the coast
diligently maintained their
radio watch, by listening
to the familiar Morse code
signals, they were startled when
they suddenly heard voices in
their headsets! They
listened, spellbound."
"Suddenly, they heard a
woman singing. Then they
heard someone playing a violin!
It was Fessenden...playing the
sacred carol: “O Holy
Night”. From that time
on, radio signals would no
longer be limited to
the dits and dahs of the Morse
code. Anyway, that's what
happened on Christmas
Eve...Nineteen Hundred and
Six."
* Coffee, tea, chocolate, soft
drinks, and all other substances
containing caffeine had long
since been declared
"controlled
substances" and were now
heavily taxed. Beans,
peanuts, and other legumes had
been declared to be hazardous
commodities since the PEPA
(People's Environmental
Protection Authority) had
determined that those foods
could cause a potential increase in
"greenhouse gases."
The ruling was currently under
review, since these foods
contain significant amounts of
high-quality vegetable protein.
To be continued...(in
the future)
2056
ACRONYMS:
ARCT - Amateur Radio
Communications Team
COMM POST - Communications
Station (pronounced: compost)
CUBA - Free
Territory of America
DECA - Domestic Energy
Consumption Authority
HAMS - Highway Aviation and Maritime
Service
FACADE - Federal Approved
Communications Authority for
Disaster Emcomm
FASA - Federal Armed Services
Authority
FUFA - Federal United Fuel
Authority
FUVA - Federal United Volunteer
Authority
MESA - Motorcycle Emergency
Service Association
MOPS - Minister of Peace and
Safety
NEECO - National Emergency and
Environmental Communication
Operations
NPO - Nearly pooped
out
OHIO - Underground term
for an old fashioned wood
kitchen match (contraband item)
PCEA - Political Correctness
Enforcement Authority
PEPA - People's Environmental
Protection Authority
SPPC - Southern Pecan Pie and
Coffee
TPPA - Three Party
Presidential Authority
TPSS - Micro-chips
implanted in all live birth
products To Promote Safety
and Security
TUBA - Long range
bugling device
TVNU - Tubular vegetarian nutrition
unit (soy or other non-meat
product weiner.
UB - Urine battery
UNFUCA - United Nations Firearms
Universal Confiscation Act of
2015.
U.S.S.A. -
United Socialist States of
Amerika
VERD - Vintage Emergency
Radio Devotees
WHCPS - World High Court for
Peace and Safety
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