Page 111 of The Explorer
Of course, Freya and Thor disagreed on the method, but I had high hopes that our offer was too good to resist for the French.
Doreen started out by saying, “We want to acknowledge what a significant step it would be if every person on this planet had accessibility and freedom to be part of a social network. A platform allowing for friendships to flourish across the planet is what we’re hoping to achieve with the help of our fellow delegations from the Northlands and Old Europe. We truly believe it would be a great accomplishment that we could all be proud of. Here is our contribution to make it possible.” Doreen handed Victor a piece of paper.
He read it through and handed it to Simon, who shared it with the other French while Victor nodded his head to Doreen and turned to us.
“And what are you willing to pitch in?”
Thor rose and leaning back on his heels, he stuffed his hands in his pockets like it wasn’t a big deal. “We talked about it, and we are willing to help you more than double your cleaning efforts.”
Victor’s left eyebrow arched. “And how do you plan to do that?”
“How many Explorers do you have now?”
“We have eight teams of five Explorers. Currently I believe our number is thirty-five.” Victor looked to Isaac and Celeste for confirmation.
“Thirty-three,” Celeste answered. “We’re hoping to get it up within the next few months.”
Thor pulled his hands from his pockets and rolled his thumbs. “In that case, I’m confident that we can more than triple the speed.”
“Care to explain how?” Victor said with slight impatience.
“By increasing the total number of Explorers from thirty-three to one hundred.”
Simon snorted. “That’s impossible.”
“We’re not talking about reluctant, unqualified French people who see the job as a last resort. We would recruit and train sixty-seven Northlanders who are as strong and qualified as Aubri and Indiana.”
With a quick side glance to Victor and Isaac, Celeste exclaimed. “As the head of the environmental department, I can confirm that Aubri’s and Indiana’s special skill set has been helpful.”
Victor crossed his arms. “Even so, we couldn’t accommodate sixty-seven foreigners when we barely have enough housing for our own citizens.”
Thor was quick to retort. “It wouldn’t be a problem if you let your people travel and move to other places.”
The French looked uncomfortable as they moved in their seats. I had a pretty good idea that they all wished they had the power to set their people free, but it wasn’t up to them.
“Your government is so afraid of losing people, but what if you opened up and accepted outsiders? That’s what we did in the Northlands and our country grew by more than fifteen percent.”
“Yes, and it changed your culture,” Victor pointed out. “How many times have we heard you mention that the old Nmen aren’t happy with the changes?”
“Change is inevitable,” Freya said and took the floor. “If you’re blocking change, you’re blocking progress.”
She and Victor locked eyes for a long moment before she continued. “Indiana and Aubri have proven that outsiders have a lot to offer your people. You wanted to double the speed of the environmental work that you’re doing and we’re offering you the manpower to cover wider areas and work faster. You would be a fool to decline our gift.”
Ka-dong, ka-dong, ka-dong. I could hear my own heartbeat and held my breath as Freya stood facing Victor.
“I would argue that it’s foolish to take a gift that could blow up in our faces,” he said with his lip curled up.
“The Northlanders that we could send you would be excited about doing Exploration work. They would have the right attitude and skill set,” Freya emphasized.
“That would be amazing,” Celeste exclaimed as her gaze went to Aubri and me. “With a hundred Explorers we could have twenty teams going full speed.”
Freya smiled. “Exactly! So far, your teams have focused on France, but our people could focus on the neighboring countries and help speed up the process of cleaning Europe.”
Isaac and Victor were muttering low and then Isaac asked, “You’re willing to give us sixty-seven Explorers in exchange for our accepting social media?”
“And free travel for your people,” Freya added.
Victor arched a brow again. “Is that your attempt at being funny?”
