Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Chapter 16

   The hard thing for most to understand was that things were not going to
improve a lot in most countries.  Those changes were going to be a very
slow process.  The vast majority did not trust central governments and they
simply would not accept any national one.  This divided many countries and
caused them to regress by centuries.

   Joji had flown to Okinawa to see how Kei was coming with their new
center.  They were producing a catalog that would allow online ordering. 
It was required for the Arab world because none of Joji's people were
allowed into more than Kuwait.  So a young Arab currier would take a laptop
and set it up for each buyer.

   Under the new system they would simply buy a laptop and have it set up
one time.  It then allowed them to order over many days.  If they reduced a
number then it was often lost to them.  People bought out a shipment or two
ahead on the goods that were limited.

   Most foods were freeze dried as here it allowed them to be sold to
desert tribes.  It did allow them vegetables for cooking with meats.  That
for most of these tribes was not the normal food.  It was healthier and did
improve their life spans.  But it was something that required being taught
to the women of the tribes.

   The trade of pineapple and sugar from the Hawaiian Islands, helped
business as well.  Both of these were a known item.  Many in Asia and the
Arab world liked pineapple for cooking and toppings.

   Kei had done very well in how goods were packaged, the way they were
offered and displaying them for the best results.  Of course much of this
food and cloth for clothing was ordered by John's mines for the ores the
ships picked up.  The ores were sold for finished goods, which was sold to
Japan and many smaller countries for goods they made or grew.  There just
was never enough metals to meet the needs of the world any more.  It would
drive pricing if there was a larger market for any product.  Today you did
not make anything without an order from a known customer being in hand.

   This was true even of cars, trucks and farm equipment Joji bought and
shipped to the Islands.  His credit on any order was good, as they knew it
could be paid for in things they needed.  Things no one else had any of. 
Of all the car companies in Japan only Honda and Mitsubishi were left. 
Honda survived for cars, motorcycles and farm equipment.  Mitsubishi
survived for their trucks and heavy machinery.  The rest of the
manufacturers were looking for new products or had just closed down.  There
just was not enough demand for those products any longer.  A lot of people
rode bikes today to get where they needed to be.  If it was not far then
they walked to get there.

   Kei knew the simplified life styles of the times.  So he traded for the
items that fit today's different moods.  The offices contacted him for any
large buys and he worked out how they would be paid for and how much they
would get.  China had at one time tried to play hardball and found they
could not win doing that.  For two months no ore ships came into their
ports.  It shutdown three plants and forced them to open negotiations.  The
strength they once had was just no longer able to force people to work
their way.

   Joji's airline was now flying flights to India and China five days a
week.  These were actually making some money and most seats were taken by
businessmen.  Japan was not selling much in China, but in India they were
doing very well.  But even the small amount sold in China was a lot for a
country the size of Japan.  That is in today's terms and not the pre-crash
period.

   Japan was the world's largest producer of stainless steel now.  This was
needed by China and they were not able to meet their own needs on this.  Of
course India would not sell to them the poorer quality metal they made.  So
it was Japan as a supplier or nothing.  Because the nuclear power plants
needed it it could not be allowed to wait.

   But there was still a lot of animosity between China and Japan from WW
II.  The things Japan had done never had been allowed to die in the minds
of the people of China.  Much of the atrocities were still taught in the
schools.  Of course what the communists did was never reported.  History
was always controlled by the victor.

   Kei saw the many issues and problems in front of ITI.  They could form
how this part of the world healed and thought or it could allow
fragmentation.  It was The Shangri-La Islands that really had no past
history with most of the world, which would have to be the leader.  He was
not sure John would allow it, but they were the only country with the power
to do it.

   Face was everything to many in Asia.  It was simply not doing things
that embarrassed others.  ITI had been very good at following this in its
dealings with others.  It always asked for more that it was willing to get
or offered less that it was willing to pay for any product.  In no way was
the customer hurt or any seller.  They were always willing to allow them to
bargain them down or up depending on the other side.  To allow others to
find a way to gain some face.  Most enjoyed dealing with people who knew
how to play the game fairly.

   That did not mean they often did not buy things at far less cost than
what they could sell for.  You can be sure they never over paid for any
product or commodity.  But as they found what they could get for a tanker
of oil they made sure the Arab world knew exactly what they were getting
for it.  The agreement there was for ITI to get a percentage of each
tankers sale price plus the operating costs for the ship.  The sale price
was always quoted in Japanese yen.

   It gave some obscurity to the leaders if asked where the oil was going?
They were simply paid in yen, which is Japan's currency.  All contracts
were both in Arabic and Japanese languages.

   Of course one religious leader wanted to go with the oil to see for
himself where it went.  So he paid for transport and was carried to Tokyo,
as the ship unloaded.  He walked the decks and watched the men work and
talk.  If it had not been for the naval ships flying the rising sun flag,
he would have had no idea where he was.  On their way back they were joined
by a container ship heading to pay for the oil delivered.

   The hard part had been the mans meals, as pork was a normal part of a
sea diet on these ships.  The agreement was he could eat with the captain,
but he could not talk about religion.  He did try and was brought up short
when the man spoke to him in Arabic.

   "Listen you old fool, I don't need anyone who is less educated than I am
teaching me.  I know the Koran backwards and forwards and you have
misquoted it every time you have spoken.  That tells me you can't read or
at least not well.  It also says you don't know the Koran, as to know it
you must read it and think about what is really being said.  It is the most
complex book every written and often very confusing."

   The old man was angry and started to open his mouth.  "If you say one
word I will have you tossed over the side.  You have angered everyone on
this ship and all would be happy to do that." The hate showed in the mans
eyes.

   "First of all no one knows you're on this ship.  You were so slick you
have left yourself in a bad fix.  The people who saw you come aboard were
all my people and none of the governments.  You see they would have never
have allowed you to leave the country.  So how well do you swim?  It is
just a few thousand miles back to your home land."

   "You would not dare to do that."

   "I am sure Allah if you have been a real believer would save you.  If he
does not have the time then you will get to paradise may be?  But if you
have lived a bad life it will be your hell at the bottom of the sea."

   A slight worry showed now.  "Why would you do that?"

   "Because you have said my company is a lie.  That the oil is not sold to
a company from Japan and is going to enemies of Allah.  Those are your
direct words said to a mosque full of people.  I was there with the Kings
brother, so don't try to lie now.  He said you have been attacking ITI
since the contract."

   "I did not know it was really going to Japan."

   "You did not know that it was going anyplace else either did you? 
Frankly we don't need any of this oil.  We have a supply of more oil that
the Kingdom has.  We have decided to share the market with you, so people
can eat and have clothing.  But people like you make our willingness to
share hard.  So I will do my friend a favor and end one of his biggest
problems.  I do know you want to throne and have discussed killing the King
and his family to get it.  You see your young men have talked about your
meetings."

   The man now was really scared.  He had been sure no one outside his
group knew of his plan.  "You don't know anything."

   "Oh I forgot your group of young men were arrested and have been singing
like good little birds.  They are looking for you all over the Kingdom and
so far can't find you.  So you can swim now or get your head cut off
later?"

   "There is no way you could know what is happening in the Kingdom."

   "I talk with my agent there each day and sometimes three or more times a
day.  So I well know what is going on.  We have been gone three weeks and
your people were picked up a week ago.  You were so dumb you did not tell
any of them where you were going."

   This the man knew was right.  So may be the captain did have some way to
communicate?  "I have never seen you talking to any one on a phone."

   The captain spun a laptop around and let him see the news from his
country.  "I can talk with them, e-mail them or chat real time."

   Now the man read the story and knew his life was at its end.  But he
wanted others to go with him.  So he reach into his robe and pulled a
knife. That was a very stupid move.  The captain broke his wrist and one
leg.  Then called his head of security in.

   "Toss this piece of crap over the side and see if he can swim home.  He
pulled a knife and was going to try to kill me.  Be sure his crap is tossed
over as well.  Then clean and sanitize the room.  Only God knows what
illnesses he may carry?  For sure his brain what little there is must be a
mess."

   The security man took the man out and pushed him over the side of the
ship.  The odds of his getting past the blades of the propellers were slim.
These ships sucked anything at this speed into the props.  But the man
should not have tried to kill the captain.

   They did go through everything in the mans room.  Several items were
found and given to the captain.  The rest were tossed over the side.

   One was a written paper on how to accuse ITI for the coming revolt.  It
had been written by someone in the royal household.  Who you just could not
tell without writing being examined by an expert.  Another item was
pictures of the harbor of Tokyo and two showed him with the city in the
background.  They were taken with an old Polaroid camera.  But this had
never been reported to security.

   There were several letters from different people that seemed they were
involved in the plot?  But each was very vague in what was really said. 
None were signed with a real name, but a fill in was used to hide the real
name.  The captain scanned the papers, pictures and sent them to Joji.  He
would know how to handle this mess.  It was for sure he would screw it up
if he tried to.

   Joji read the captain's report and smiled at the worry the man showed
for the King in the Kingdom.  He knew he did not know him and that he did
know the brother.  It was common knowledge that the captain was Muslim. 
But he was of a very moderate sect.  So he was sure the religious leader
had really pissed him off.  This man was as radical as they came.

   He sent all but the pictures to his agent in Kuwait.  With instructions
to get them to the police in the Kingdom, without them knowing where they
came from.  Tell them he purchased them from a thief in Kuwait that
approached him.  But there were never to know they came from Joji.  The
originals he would have in just one week's time.  They would be found in
his office on the counter.  So don't screw it up by trying to see where
they came from or you lose your job.

   It was simple and very much to the point.  The man knew Joji did not kid
anyone.  So he would act surprised at the package he got.  He did have a
beautiful very young girl in his office that he was in love with.  There he
did not need people looking into his life.  He had a small harem in his
home and enjoyed them all.  But it was just wise not to be broadcasting his
life style.  He had no idea what Joji would say or how he would look at it?
This was within the laws here, but others might not approve.

   Joji sent the captain a message of what to do with the papers and to
destroy the pictures.  He was sure this was to cause problems for ITI.  He
should not have been able to leave the Kingdom under normal circumstances.
But ITI had to load its own ships and there was just one guard post for the
loading area.  Two men each shift sat inside and watched the loading when a
ship was in.  But sometimes they slept and anyone could walk out on the
docks.

   A hard and fast rule for allowing people to travel on a ship was never
made between other countries.  Ships from the Islands to Japan or from
there often had people traveling.  But the rest of the captains just had to
make their own calls.  Tat did cover some trips taken by security people
into countries.  They would leave the ships on small boats and would be
picked up by ships that could pick up their beacon.  A sat phone call would
tell them when a ship was to be coming by that location.

   Joji sent many security teams ashore and then picked them back up.  It
was a smooth way to gain knowledge inside a country.  The large countries
were no problem as he had offices.  They had buyers traveling the country
to find needed goods.  So the knowledge of what a counties people thought
was something they knew in large countries.

   But places like Indonesia that shattered with the crash and many islands
did not even trade with each other.  The pirates were heavier in these
areas than ever before.  But the flags of the ITI ships said stay away from
them.  Many a pirate had been killed by machine guns off the decks of these
ships.  They never attacked tankers, as there was no place they could sell
the oil.  But ships with containers were most desirable.

   His milk run stops for the airline did give him good feeds of
information.  Due to the increased travel by business he now had three
person ticket offices with one ground crewman at the airport on flight
days. The data they gathered was often more than you would ever expect. 
But one was always out looking for goods to buy and add to flights back to
Japan.  They saw a lot of the countryside and talked with many people.

   Good intelligence is always simple information unless you're in a war.
Knowing how people feel about government, food prices and availability. 
This is critical to knowing how things will move forward.  If people are
eating and surviving above complete poverty, they will most often not fight
back at the government.  But if children and old people are dying due to
lack of food people are ready to fight.  In Asia real wealth was not wide
spread.  You pretty much had just two classes of people.  Those are the
ones that have and the ones that don't.

   Joji was one considered to be very wealthy and someone you must show
respect to always.  Even people who had some wealth respected him.  It was
his lack of superiority and respect he showed for others that made his so
well liked.  He treated the poorest people with the same respect he show
the very rich.  So he started to bring home children and place them in an
ITI school he had built.  They had all come from poor families and yet had
tested out to be very smart.

   He knew he would need many people of different cultures to build his
ability to infiltrate countries.  They would one day go back and work for
ITI inside their country.  Because they were being trained by a company and
not a government it was very acceptable.  The school was on the base at
Okinawa.  It did keep any from knowing of the Islands connections.

   This training was of two kinds.  One was the schoolroom training, as a
teacher from their country had been hired to handle this.  It was very
rigorous and pushed them to their limits.  It was important to see how many
if any dropped out.  The second area was training them as machinist,
technology assemblers, skilled welders, hear treating specialist and close
tolerance inspectors.

   One day these young people would operate the shops that built both jet
and spacecraft engines.  No country would make all the parts as each would
make some of them.  Then each would be a back up on others.  They would be
paid in their countries very well for this work.  Most should make the
equivalent of ten or more credits a week and that was a lot of money.  It
would allow them to help their family and still buy land or a house.  Most
Asian families lived on less than a quarter of that money now.

   Of course they would never know what they were making.  They were just
ordered parts from a customer.  This would take 4 to 5 years to get the
training completed for the early workers.  He had enough machinist, heat
treating people and people to cast the parts in his foundry.  At least for
now he did.  That would be far different in five years time.  So today he
had five hundred children in school and learning to do high tech jobs.  He
would start building the small plants in two to three years.  The training
and new plant construction was all approved by each government.  A wind
turbine would be set at each plant to supply the energy needed.  The excess
power would be sold cheaply to the city.  But each plant had to be just
outside the city and close to the ocean for winds.

   This required Joji to negotiate with each city where he intended to
build a plant.  Some were casting plants, machinist facilities, heat
treating facilities and very high tech welding facilities for production of
these parts.  The parts would be moved back and forth between plants to
accomplish the needed work.  Each city was told the parts were for nuclear
plants, replacement parts for jet engines, oil drilling sensors and very
high technology parts for future equipment.  So they knew nothing of what
was really to be produced or who it was for.

   The idea was to keep people from talking and second to assure some did
not try to take over the plants.  If they had no idea of the customers or
where the goods came from, then they could not possible run it.  All
transport was either by Joji's ships or by the airline on very small parts.
This would one day truly upset governments looking for ways to bring in
money.  Government lived on others money.  Only on the Islands did
government make its own money to operate.  There were no taxes and people
lived very well.

   Joji knew just how well by the people who worked for him.  People were
relaxed and none were worried about bills or education costs.  Schools were
free and there was little costs for power, communications or Internet
service.  The homes were sold with the land for a very low cost and the
bank financed them at low interest rates.  If what the person bought was a
farm the bank stepped in to help finance the added land and equipment as
well.  They were given a three year crop loan to assure they make it.  So
seed, fertilizers and where needed watering systems were on each farm.

   When you looked at the Shangri-La Islands and the rest of the world it
was like night and day.  You would believe you were walking in most small
American towns much of the time.  But it was a little more like skipping
forward a few years.  The electric cars, just cell phones and underground
electrical and cooling feeds.  The sewer system fed a plant that was very
modern.  Here zero contaminates were released into the atmosphere or water.
The clean water produced was used to water parks and for cooling at the
refinery.

   No place on earth was like this set of islands.  So John had set for
Joji's people to wipe out the location of the islands from any known maps.
The company ITI supplied new maps to any school, shipping company and
replaced many on computer systems over the Asian area.  The old maps turned
in were burned to assure they did not get used again.  Only one in fifteen
had any information on the islands.  Most of that information was wrong.

   Japans data on the Islands was greater than most other Asian countries.
Yet its errors were also far greater.  The older the map the more accurate
it was.  New ones either had no islands there or had them placed in the
wrong location.  But John had set the ships coming from Japan to use GPS to
find the Islands.  That way a simple change of the GPS signals and they
could not find them.  It simply was a part of the trade agreement and was
followed to the letter.  There was no shipping company that could replace
the trade the Islands stimulated.  Without those contracts they would be a
dead business and Japan in bad shape for years to come.  They did supply a
good amount of jobs and what they brought back allowed many countrymen to
work and live also.

   But Okinawa was the best place to live for being able to work in all of
Japan.  It had become a key vacation spot for many Japanese and people
could either fly or take a cruise ship to it.  Joji had picked up a cruise
liner and it made a round trip to Okinawa each week.  It was just a 2 or 3
day trip from several islands by ship to the warmer Okinawa area.  That
boat brought in many to enjoy the warmer weather and spend some of their
limited hard earned cash.  With the over ten thousand people ITI had
working for them the island and their ships crew people here did very well.


   Okinawa had cell phone communications, electric power and fuels that
were needed for government and business.  Food was sold to stores from the
large warehouse complex ITI had.  Fish were purchased from the market at
the fishing docks at different points on the island.  Pork, beef and other
meats were sold by ITI to stores as well as delivered to them.  The
electric trucks allowed for this very cheaply.

   Joji had set up for the government to handle power, water, sewage and
communications for the island.  The revenue they got from this cut the tax
rates down to just national taxes.  To pay these they had a sale tax and
all that money went to the Emperor's national treasury.

   As other areas saw how well this worked on Okinawa they started to
change how they taxed.  It would over time revolutionize Japan's tax
structure.  This would also help with the recovery of many of it citizens.
Most had been badly over taxed.  With large business calling the shots, the
people had been required to pay for much of the government.  That no longer
was the case.

   But ITI was not a taxpayer here, as its business was on its own land
that was protected like an embassy grounds.  It was simply the cost of
having the jobs and help the company gave local government.  Of course the
excess power from the base was sold to them at half of what the government
could sell it for.  So it was a very profitable arrangement.  Because it
was wind generated it cost ITI little to generate and almost eighty percent
was used inside the base.  The trick was there was also one area of
submerged generators that when wind power dropped off supplied the balance
of what was needed.  It used an old current in the harbor many had known
about for years.  It had been a risky test and turned into a good
investment.  Those units out produced the wind turbines.  The current was
constant and the winds varied much more.

   As Joji walked into the meeting room of the Tokyo bank, he saw a group
of men sitting and waiting for him.  There were three of his guards around
the walls of the room.  Each was at a service bar providing different
beverages.  All were very classy ladies and would never be taken for
security people.

   One older man looked at the women and shook his head.  "You need to let
the ladies go from the room.  I don't talk with them here."

   "In that case gentlemen we can all leave.  I did not ask for this
meeting you did.  It is my choice of where we would meet.  I made it and
you do not dictate terms of the meeting to me.  So good day to each of
you." Joji got up and started for the door.

   Two men stood and went after Joji.  He just kept walking towards the
door.  When they reached for him each found they were on the floor with a
foot on their windpipes.  At that time ten men walked into the room.

   "Get hand scans, eye scans and take DNA samples.  Then be sure they are
seen leaving the bank as they came.  Be sure they are on the cruise ship to
Okinawa today.  We will question them while out at sea and where a body can
be dropped over the side without it being seen."

   The men were stunned.  "What are you going to do?"

   "Each of you would be criminals have made your move.  Now I am making
mine.  I know you were warned by METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and
Industry) people or your old MITI (Ministry of International Trade and
Industry) not to mess with me.  You chose not to follow that good advice.
So now you will pay for your foolishness."

   "But we did nothing here."

   "Strip the jackets and shirts off the two on the floor."

   That was done quickly and the tattoos were all underworld Japanese.  "I
see you people like to deal with the underworld.  When you sent them after
me, you make a bad mistake.  It is called attempted murder.  We will find
out who these men work for and their entire group will be wiped out of
existence.  Each of you will also tell us what other industrialist were
involved with your group.  They will get the free trip to hell as well. 
But between drugs and pain you will talk."

   That started an argument at the table.  Three younger men were fighting
with a group of older men.  It was getting close to using fists.

   "Pull them apart and talk with the young men is the room off this one."

   Two men showed the men where to go.  "Boss what do we do now?"

   "Get these men out of here and to the ship.  If I decide the other three
will follow them later."

   Each man was given a shot that helped them follow the orders they were
given.  Yet they looked mostly normal.  It was just their minds free
thought that became crippled with this shot.  Once the room was empty Joji
sat at the large table and waited for his security men to come out.  He was
brought coffee and a copy of his papers news for the day.  So he drank
coffee and read the newspaper.

   In a short time one of the security men came out and sat at the table.
"Well it seems they were sucked into coming to the meeting.  The crash and
change in government did hurt them financially.  But they did survive it
and have prospered over time due to the changes.  They were told you asked
for the meeting by the older man.  To get them here he offered them more
metals for production.  I saw the written offer.  So I think they were
telling the truth."

   "Do they know who I am?"

   "They know your related to the Emperor and that scared the hell out of
them.  They also know your Chairman of ITI.  That one word and they will
never get more materials for their businesses to operate.  But they saw the
man order his thugs to go after you.  Doing that for anyone against the
Emperor's family is a death sentence."

   "But I have never met the Emperor let alone know he has any idea of me?"

   "True, but Hideki is your brother and he was Minister of Education.  One
of the men here knew him and used to drink with him when he first came
here. He said he remembered Hideki telling them of his mother and one
brother who was still in America.  So my guess is they will follow
instructions and keep their mouths shut.  They don't want anyone from any
underground group trying to move into their businesses.  This has happened
before to large corporations and no one would stop them.  They ended up
controlling many of the people working for the company and caused much harm
if demands were not met."

   "Advise them if told of that happening we will move in on those groups.
But it all depends on their keeping their mouths shut.  One man will visit
them each month to listen to problems, concerns and will make
recommendations to them.  They are free to accept those or not to based on
their own opinions.  If they feel safe and tell us not to come back we will
follow that instruction.  That is unless we hear a rumor of their talking
about things they agreed not to discuss.  Be sure to inject an RFID seed
into each and code the number into our base of numbers to watch.  In the
first few weeks I want to know how often they take a piss.  Bug their homes
and offices until we know we can trust them."

   "We will get it done quickly.  I have their cell phones bugged now. 
They are coded for one switch in every tower and we record any conversation
there.  No one could ever see any problem with the phone or software.  It
covers just that number and you can change phones and we still get the
data."

   "I want no one seeing them leaving here.  Clear any video of them coming
wherever it might be.  Once they are well away send them home by public
transportation.  So use a van to move them from here to the train or bus
stop."

   "They all will take the train home and all live some what close
together. I will set up a post close by to monitor them for a time.  But I
don't see them doing anything to cause a problem."

   "I would hate to see you running a weather station in the Aleutian
Islands.  It can be very lonely and hostile there."

   "The message is clear boss.  I will personally follow this one.  If any
problem comes out you will know and fast."

   Joji just got up and left the room.  He was sure this was going to try
to bite his butt.