Author’s note about Africa during the alternate time-line of my fiction – A couple of readers have asked about the international setting of my novel, so I am going to start the chapter with a summary here. Keep in mind this is an alternate time-line in a fictional universe. None of it is real.
Starting around the turn of the 21st Century in my alternate time-line, northern Africa consolidated into two rival empires: the West African Confederation and the Nile Caliphate. The WAC comprised all the countries along the Niger River, while the Caliphate occupied the entire Nile River region. At the time of the events in “Evaline’s Strangest Journey” the WAC and the Caliphate were fighting over control of the northeastern Sahara Desert and were positioning their forces to seize territory along the Congo River.
To say the WAC and the Caliphate were bitter enemies would be an understatement. Comandante Foxtrot and the Emir had completely incompatible visions about the future of African culture, and over which religion should dominate the continent in particular. Both leaders were complete megalomaniacs who led totalitarian regimes with unrealistically grandiose visions of the future.
Comandante Foxtrot and his supporters wanted to rid Africa of all religions that originated outside the continent and were brought in by colonial forces. That meant not only European Christianity, but also Arabic Islam. The plan of the WAC was to ban any monotheistic religion coming out of the Middle East and based on holy books. The new official religion would be an ancient sun-worshiping cult that was native to the region where Comandante Foxtrot and his closest confidants were born.
The Emir of the Nile Caliphate wanted an Islamist future for the entire African continent, which would include the area currently under the control of the WAC. The Emir was a problem for the US, the European Union, and international corporations because he was openly hostile to the West. He had announced that as soon as Africa was taken over, there would be a massive holy war against Europe and the expanded Caliphate would extend from Helsinki to Pretoria. Europe and Africa would be united under one ruler and one religion.
Comandante Foxtrot was interested in taking over all of Africa, but had no desire to engage in conflict with Europe or the US, at least as long as Western leaders did not take any action to impede the unification of the continent. Instead, he envisioned an alliance of convenience between the West and the WAC against the Caliphate. The Comandante already had a good relationship with some of the executives in Mega-Town Associates, the business conglomerate that dominated the US, and was working on getting support from individual elected officials. There will be more on how he is getting political support later in the novel.
Both Comandante Foxtrot and the Emir wanted to seize any famous antiquity to use as props to legitimize their power. In that, the Comandante was much more successful than the Emir, because he had a superior intelligence service and better access to western politicians and museum curators. The Emir’s obsessive hostility to anything western cut off most of his access to anything outside of the Caliphate or the Middle East.
Now, back to Eveline…
———-
Eveline’s career as an auction presenter continued to advance as her senior year in high school progressed. She traveled to places like New York and Los Angeles, in a private jet with her supervisor and company documentation. Flying via private jet prevented her from having to get dressed to take a commercial flight and also saved her a lot of time.
As Eveline became known throughout the auction industry, Nancy decided to entrust her with presentations that required her to pick up and actually handle expensive sale items. The change was important, because it meant that Eveline was holding museum-quality merchandise that often sold for tens of millions of dollars. She had to wear soft cloth gloves to prevent getting fingerprints on the merchandise, but otherwise her presenter’s outfit remained the same, which was no outfit at all.
Some of the items were so famous that she already knew about them. For example, at an auction in Hollywood she presented a gold short-sword that she had seen in a museum while on a field trip when she was in middle school. She specifically remembered that sword, precisely because it was solid gold and 4,000 years old. It was a centerpiece of the collection and was protected by bullet-proof glass and an advanced alarm system. And now she was actually holding it.
She wondered why it left the museum and was being sold at auction, but she also knew better than to ask such questions. The sword sold for $ 30 million dollars.
Eveline got her answer about the short-sword as soon as the auction was over. It turned out that the buyer was none other than Comandante Foxtrot. The Supreme Leader had dropped $ 30 million for a single item like it was nothing, like he was buying something from a souvenir shop. Well, at least this time he paid fair market value for the sword, unlike the Niger Heart-Pot, which he had acquired by totally scamming Tri-State University.
Eveline had been extremely careful to handle the antiquity with the greatest caution throughout the bidding. However, when the new owner came up to her, he casually grabbed it and brandished it in front of several photographers. He put his arm around the naked presenter, held up the sword, and posed for some trophy-shots.
Eveline forced a smile, but inwardly she was scared out of her wits. An ordinary person doesn’t just grab a 4000-year-old solid gold antiquity that had been on display in a museum for decades and casually wave it around, but Comandante Foxtrot was no ordinary person. He owned a quarter of the African continent. It was obvious his ego was as grandiose as his wealth and power. Then there was the question about why Comandante Foxtrot would want that particular sword and pay $ 30 million dollars for it, along with whatever bribes he needed to persuade museum administrators to move it out of their collection and put it up for auction. Eveline knew, through her pre-auction research, that the sword had a nefarious history, just like the Niger Heart-Pot.
After the auction, Eveline wondered if Comandante Foxtrot’s newest purchase would make the news, and sure enough, it did. The scandal was not quite as big as the sale that cost Tri-State University its most valuable asset, but it did involve the administrators of a U.S. museum parting with a famous antiquity. The curators tried to justify their sale by claiming they were going to use the profit to purchase several famous works of modern art. No one was buying that. A 4000-year-old golden sword in exchange for some over-priced crappy modern art? Seriously? And then… the curators vanished, along with the $ 30 million dollars. Meanwhile, the Supreme Leader returned to the Confederation and added his new prize to his collection of expensive goodies.
The new scandal had to have a public face and, once again, pictures of Eveline with the Comandante appeared all over the news. She became a subject of interest when several reporters wanted to interview her. She was very nervous from suddenly being the focus of so much attention. However, she maintained outward calm as she responded:
“Look. I am just an auction presenter. I don’t work in the public relations department. I am not authorized to speak about Emerald Empire’s policies or any particular sales transaction. We have specialists to handle stuff like what you want to ask. Please talk to them.”
Eveline knew that she could not avoid any controversy involving Comandante Foxtrot and stolen antiquities. She was destined to cross paths with him again in the near future. She figured the next time that he wanted some important Old World antiquity, Nancy would lead the bidding and she would be the presenter. And… she would be the subject of yet another trophy shot and the face of yet another art scandal.
———-
Since there would be no avoiding the next high-society art intrigue, Eveline decided that she needed to inform herself as much as she could about the West African Confederation’s Supreme Leader and what items were likely to draw his interest. She drafted Lance to do much of her research. She demanded reports, summaries of news articles, academic research, and talking points. She mercilessly manipulated him by flirting with him and guilt-tripping him until he dedicated all of his free time to helping her. As his time at the computer increased, he dropped his other interests and unwittingly became his girlfriend’s servant.
A strange thing happened shortly after Lance started doing research for his girlfriend. One afternoon after making love to her, she told him to sit at the computer without giving him the chance to get dressed. From that day forward, he always sat naked at Eveline’s workdesk, even if Coach Strickland was in the house.
———-
Meanwhile, Eveline talked to Nancy about antiquities that were likely to be offered for sale in the near future. Upon getting the lists from her supervisor, she did her own research to find out what historical significance they had. She figured out that Comandante Foxtrot had a pattern with his purchases. He was not interested in modern art or anything connected to European or Islamic culture. He only wanted African and Egyptian items that held political or religious significance in ancient times. He wanted objects that had been the property of ancient royalty and that would allow him to claim a spiritual connection to the past. But… why?
Lance’s research provided a likely answer. Ever since he started taking over the smaller countries of West Africa, Comandante Foxtrot had invoked ancient religious traditions from the region in his speeches and political rhetoric. His goal, which he openly admitted, was to unite his young empire under a new religion that drew upon pre-Christian and pre-Islamic traditions and beliefs. The antiquities he was purchasing were the props he would need to lend legitimacy to the new religion project.
Eveline impressed Nancy by predicting three items that would interest the Comandante: a sacrificial stone altar, a set of ancient ceramic cremation jars, and a jade cat statue that had been used as an idol. Sure enough, when each item came up for sale, the Supreme Leader placed the winning bid. The two women took advantage of their hunches to pay special attention to Comandante Foxtrot and feed his ego with subtle flirting. It was a dangerous game, they both knew. If he took too much of a liking to either of them, it would be very easy for his henchmen to grab them, put them on a plane, and deliver them to one of his palaces.
———-
Nancy came under increasing pressure from the upper management of Emerald Empire to make arrangements for her favorite presenter to be interviewed. One of the national news networks was filming a series about recent changes in the international art market and would include a segment on the company. It was an opportunity for publicity that would be foolish to pass up.
Nancy did not think having Eveline speaking on television would be a good idea, but her supervisors overruled her. Fortunately Nancy’s employee had moved away from being the nervous, shy high school student that had entered her office just a few months before. Eveline agreed to do the interview.
“I’m gonna need talking points from the public relations department, and a specific list of things you wouldn’t want me to say in public. Don’t assume I’m gonna just know what to say and what not to say. You’re gonna have to tell me so I don’t mess up. I also want the public relations department to get me talking points from the West African Confederation’s embassy. Same thing with them as with the company. I want to know, in writing, what the WAC doesn’t want me to say.”
———-
Eveline drafted Lance to help her get ready for the interview. She ordered him to research how the news outlet interviewed models, especially ones that had been connected to political or business scandals. She also instructed him to find previous interviews with officials from the West African Confederation. When she told Lance about the likelihood Comandante Foxtrot was getting ready to set up a state religion, he responded:
“This is your chance. You can nail that crazy bastard dictator to the wall! You can…”
“Nail ‘that crazy bastard dictator to the wall’? What are you talking about?”
“If he’s buying all that stuff so he can set up his fake religion, you can get the information out there; warn people what he’s up to…”
“Uh, no… I’m not gonna warn anybody about anything.”
“But I thought that was why they were interviewing you.”
“No, they’re interviewing me because they want a fluff piece on the antique market and they want to put a naked blond girl in front of their cameras.”
“Then make it something more than that! Don’t you want to let everyone know what’s really going on over there?”
“No, I don’t. Let the diplomats handle that. And if you think I’d do anything, anything at all, that’d risk pissing-off Comandante Foxtrot, you’d better think again!”
“Yeah! ‘Let the diplomats handle that!’ Like that’s gonna happen! That’s the problem! No one wants to piss-off Comandante Foxtrot! So, he keeps doing all that shit! That’s…”
“Lance! Lance! You listen to me! I’ve been right next to him a couple of times! He’s had his arm around me! He’s talked to me and I’ve looked him in the eyes! That dude is fucking scary! There is something about him, I can’t explain it, but there’s something about him… and that’s how he got to where he is today! Maybe somebody can stop him, I wouldn’t know! But it’s not gonna be me!”
“But…”
“Stop! Stop! Let’s have a reality check! I’m an 18-year-old nude model who’s living with my teacher! My mom’s in jail and I’ve got a meth-head brother who blew up our house! That’s my fucking reality! Your reality is, if you love me, you’re gonna do what you can to help me! I don’t need you pushing a bunch of ‘save the world’ bullshit and trying to convince me I need to risk my life, and the lives of everyone at Emerald Empire, ‘for the good of humanity’! I don’t need that shit! I don’t fucking need it! What I need is for you to support me! Do you get it? Do you understand?”
Lance was shocked and terrified by how quickly and how harshly his girlfriend came down on him. She was showing the dark side of herself: angry, cold, and hardened by the realities of life. He had not realized that dark side was part of her.
“Yeah. I… I… understand.”
Eveline was continuing to tighten her grip on Lance. She was learning how to better manipulate and control him. She could also see how much she had just scared him. She felt kinda bad about that, because she liked him and admired a lot of things about his character. But Eveline had to survive in a world that was increasingly sinister and hostile. Given that truth, his choice was simple. Either he would assist her in her desire to survive, or he wouldn’t. And if Lance could not make himself useful to Eveline, she’d have no choice but to leave him. She didn’t want to do that. She wanted him in her life, but under her conditions, not anyone else’s.
———-
Nancy had doubts about bothering to contact the embassy of the West African Confederation. They were going to take time to advise an auction presenter doing a fluff interview on a late-night talk show? Yeah right. However, she decided to humor her employee and give her the benefit of the doubt.
To Nancy’s surprise, the WAC embassy press secretary responded almost immediately. Nancy didn’t know that when Eveline gave her high school presentation about the history of the West African Confederation, the embassy had sent an official map and a large portrait of the Supreme Leader. Now that same girl was going to be on national television? Of course the WAC was going to respond. The embassy sent an interview guide and the talking points Eveline had requested. They included a quick-reference statistics flip-booklet and several maps. They also sent an ominously-worded memo:
“Attention, Presenter Eveline Rogers:
The information we have provided will guide you through most journalistic inquiries that are usually made about Supreme President Comandante Foxtrot and current conditions within the West African Confederation. To avoid controversy and possible misunderstandings, we strongly advise you to adhere to the guidance we have given you. Our team of international analysts in the Foreign Operations Division of our Information Ministry will be most interested in observing and evaluating your performance. We wish you success in your public endeavor.”
Eveline showed the paperwork to her boss. “They made it really simple, if you think about it. Looks like they want me to do two things: keep everything vague and positive, and do it while not sounding like a cheerleader or total idiot.”
“I gotta admit; they did a good job with this script. A lot better than what Jackie in PR wrote up for the company. I’m gonna go upstairs, show this to her, give her a good kick in the butt, and tell her to write up some real talking points.”
“Nancy, I wouldn’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want anyone to know that the WAC embassy gave me these talking points. This is between us, you and me. We’re in deep enough as it is. Both of us.”
Nancy handed the paperwork back to Eveline. She was more than impressed by the girl’s sudden show of caution, maturity, and astuteness. She no longer doubted Eveline would do just fine during the interview.
———-
Eveline was ready when she entered the studio for her appearance on “City-Chat with Giselle”. All that preparation turned out to be very fortunate, because the interview was not the “fluff” interview that everyone was expecting.
It turned out that Giselle had connections with one of the museums that had lost an artifact to Comandante Foxtrot’s collection. The talk show host had an ax to grind against Emerald Empire and their dealings with corrupt foreign leaders. Giselle attempted to throw Eveline off-balance with some hard questions, but the guest responded that her company was nothing more than an intermediary that connected buyers and sellers of expensive art. She managed to stay on script, even though she had no notes and had to recite everything from memory:
“Our role is to get the best sale price for each item we present at auction. That’s our commitment to each customer who entrusts a valuable item to our care. Each of us, myself and every one of my companions at Emerald Empire, has an important part in fulfilling that commitment, which is, as I stated, to get the best price… the best fair price. We are nothing more than honest facilitators of the free market.”
“The purchases made by Comandante Foxtrot were all fair and honest purchases, no different from any other transaction we facilitate. The seller was providing the artifact and wanted the best price. Making the purchase was, in Comandante Foxtrot’s judgment, a decision that would serve the people of the West African Confederation, and it was our role to facilitate the sale.”
Eveline threw Giselle off by using the professional vocabulary that she had picked up from studying her briefing materials. When specifically asked about Comandante Foxtrot, she kept her personal opinions about him to herself. Instead she cited various accomplishments and used the WAC official talking points to deflect questions about the Supreme Leader’s aggressive foreign policy and massive human rights violations. She went slightly off-script only once, when she shared an observation that he was a savvy customer who was well-versed in the antiquities market and had a real appreciation for Africa’s history. That was the closest she ever came to voicing a personal opinion of the Comandante.
At that point Giselle realized that Eveline was very astute and knew how to avoid saying anything that would get her in trouble. She also realized that her guest was very likeable and she would not be able to press her much more without making herself look bad, which would hurt the program’s ratings. The talk-show hostess decided to back down and spent the rest of the interview chatting about more neutral topics such as Eveline’s school, her basketball team, how she felt about her naked lifestyle, and her plans for what happened after she graduated. Oddly enough, the inquiry about Eveline’s future was the one question she had difficulty answering. Finally she blushed, laughed a moment, and concluded:
“I guess I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing now. I’m really having a lot of fun with it.” She stood up and turned around for the cameras. “And you can’t beat my work outfit, low-cost, low maintenance.”