The Happiness Equation

Chapter 10 - Reflections on the Conference

Jim had been very busy this last week:

Straight after the Network interview with Samantha at the conference in Ludon, and the confrontation with Mark Brunt in the early hours of the morning, Bobby had advised him to go to his room to rest. He had agreed, but back in his room sleep would not come. There was too much playing through his head. Images flickered through his mind; trains of thought; trains of logic and argument, in a seemingly endless succession.

Had he presented his equation in the correct light; had he taken proper account of the protesters and their concerns; was there a growing unrest in society; were scientists somehow being insulated from this; would he have to give them more consideration; had technological conservatism been taken too far?

How would the government respond to his proposal?

They would consider their options; keep their cards close to their chest. If he was short-listed, they would meet with him again to cross-examine his proposal and try to disect it from every angle. He would be ready for this. No stone would be left unturned;

How would the public respond to his appearance on the Network?

Difficult to say, unknown territory; he would monitor the effect on his public appearance closely; keep an eye on Bobby, he may have been shielding him from certain uncomfortable facts; get closer to Samantha; try to resist her sexual allure; find out her agenda.

These thoughts played through Jim’s mind as he lied on the floor in his suite. He loved the feeling of being grounded in this way. The solid floor took over. His muscles relaxed and he fell deeper into the recesses of his own mind. To an outside observer he may have appeared near to sleep, but he couldn’t be further from it. The thoughts continued to race. He let them take their course. He became an observer of his own thoughts rather than a participator. Gradually solace came upon him. The ideas frittered away and what was left was a steady, centered determination. The details had been sorted. The general outline was now clear to him. His path of action was settling down.

Watch out for the little things Bobby tries to insulate him from; get closer to Samantha without succumbing to her charms; prepare for all angles for the cross-examination from the government; be careful of his public image; research the social implications of dangerous technologies exhaustively.

The next few days he had acted on his mentally projected strategy. Things had gone pretty much as expected initially: He was short-listed by the government. He prepared for the government meeting and handled it very well. He continued to meet up with Samantha: It seemed they were in a close relationship now. He was learning a lot from her about himself, about his image, and about some of the harsh realities of the surplus population. Meanwhile, the angst and unrest from the protest appeared to have dissipated like a fleeting early morning mist from a false dawn. Though who knew when it might return.

However, reflecting now on the events of that night, Jim had mixed feelings. He was not usually one to get carried away with the moment and indulge in such impulsive acts. But the whole occasion had got the better of him. The nervousness before-hand; the excitement of the respect and applause he was given, and then the exhilaration of discovering a like-minded soul. Samantha Swanson, she really had impressed him. An intelligence with a beauty to match, yet an innocence and humaneness that inspired trust in those around her. Jim still pondered whether he had picked out Samantha, or she had picked out him. One thing he felt sure of was that he was happy with the outcome.

At this time point Jim was looking out the window from his room. He and Samantha had gone to spend a few days in a quaint bed and breakfast, nestled in amongst the south Shropshire hills. The birds chirped outside. The hills and valleys of the echoing green surrounded them on all sides. The sun was shining bright in the sky. You could almost imagine there was no world crisis whilst in this amibient setting, provided you tuned out from the Network.