Oceania - 2. Oce Chapter 2

Once inside the police station, we all sat down in the small conference room, and we were given cups of tea, “Now, maybe you can give us some more information on what is about to happen to our little island, as the Governor in New Zealand has not exactly been very forthcoming with information, about this Lloyd Corporation project, and I have been hearing a lot of concern from the members of the council on this issue,” Sergeant Langston said to us.

“Sir, I believe that you have a council meeting due this week?” I asked, “Yes, it is today actually, in about 2 hours’ time at 9 am, in the community hall,” Sergeant Langston responded. “Good, we would like to invite ourselves to the meeting to speak to the council, and sometime this week, to the whole community,” Jonah said.

“I guess that will be fine, considering that you have the British Governments approval to be doing this project,” the Sergeant replied, just as the front door swung open, “Sarge, there is an unknown dingy down at the ramp, do you know …” a voice called out, as she approached, and stopped when she saw us in the room.

“Janice, this is Captain Jonah Burke, Commander Trenton Blackthorn, and I am not sure who the other two are. Gentlemen, this is our Mayor, Janice Young,” the police sergeant said making the introductions. “Ah you are from that Corporation, that is meant to be doing some special project on the island,” the Mayor said.

“That is correct Ma’am, and the other two men with us, are our security officers from our vessels,” I responded, “What vessel, I didn’t see anything out there?” the Mayor queried. “That would be because they are submersible research vessels” Jonah answered.

“Vessels, as in two?” Sergeant Langston asked, “That is right, you only saw the larger vessel, known as Aquaria, which is the one that has been in the media a fair bit, and I am in command of, the second vessel is a lot smaller and faster, and is known as the Oceania, which Commander Blackthorn is in command of,” Uncle Jonah said.

“I see, well I have indeed heard of the Aquaria, I have been following the story with some keen interest, and now we have it here in our own home territory, this will be exciting news for everyone,” the Mayor said excitedly.

“Just hang off with broadcasting that we are here just yet, we need to discuss a few things of importance first, and that would be best done in the council meeting this morning” Jonah responded, and the Mayor nodded her head in understanding.

Two hours later, the Sergeant leads us to the community hall, to attend the meeting, arriving just as the Administrator was calling order and the start of the meeting. “Mr Administrator, I would like to request a slight deviation from the agenda for today, as we have two very important visitors, who arrived this morning” Mayor Young announced, and that is when we walked into the room.

“Mr Administrator and Councillors, may I introduce Captain Jonah Burke and Commander Trenton Blackthorn, from Lloyd Corporation, who have come here as part of a project that has been arranged with the British Government” Sergeant Langston announced, as he led us inside and indicated two spare chairs at the main table.

I looked around the room, and I was surprised at how informal the gathering is, and Sergeant Langston noticed this, “Yes, we are not into all of that formal stuff, we are very casual about our meetings,” he said.

“Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Lloyd Family Corporation, I thank you for your time today, and I ask for your patience, as Jonah and I go through what the Chairman of the corporation has offered to the people of Pitcairn Island,” I began, and I saw that I had everyone’s attention.

“Our aim, is to improve living conditions, facilities and services to the people of Pitcairn, so that it will again thrive, as it once did. To do that, we have already taken some steps to make that happen, with a large supply ship due to arrive in approximately five days’ time, and it is carrying a crane chopper, to assist with the unloading of all of the supplies.

One of the aims of this project, is to make your community a little more financially viable, and to start that off, as one of many gifts from our corporation, firstly is the installation of two wind power turbines, that will provide all of the power that you need and a lot more for the future, virtually removing the need for diesel generators.

Secondly the installation of a water desalination and treatment plant and fresh water storage tanks, to ensure that you have a plentiful supply of water for the future, thirdly a waste treatment and storage facility, for better disposal of all human waste on the island, with 95% of all treated waste going to providing safe water for your flower and vegetable gardens and orchards.

The remaining 5% of waste which is solids will be packed up and sent to New Zealand, where it will be used for making fertiliser. We will also be providing you with two heavy-duty, multi-purpose use community buildings, each one made from three large shipping containers joined together.

We also want to improve your communications facilities, so that you can have satellite television services from New Zealand, for all radio and television channels, as well as reliable broadband internet and telephone service, so you are not so isolated from the rest of the world.

Lastly, we want to improve transport services between Pitcairn and New Zealand, and we have already come up with a viable plan for this to take place,” I announced to those in the room. “Mr, I mean Commander Blackthorn, what you have spoken of just now will cost your corporation hundreds of thousands of dollars, what I want to know is why?’ the Mayor asked me, and most of the councillors nodded their heads in agreement to the question.

“Madam Mayor and councillors of Pitcairn, I am saying this on behalf of the Chairman of Lloyd Family Corporation, because he is my brother-in-law and Trenton’s father.

We have been concerned about the situation on your small nation for some time, and since the Government of the United Kingdom or Her Majesty are no interest in finding solutions, putting your community a greater risk of dying out, we are prepared to put the money and manpower into making sure that it never happens,” Jonah said.

“We do not mind that it is costing the corporation tens of millions of dollars to do this, we just want to do what is right,” I added as there were gasps of surprise when I mentioned the real cost of the project. “You did say tens of millions of dollars?” the Administrator asked us.

“That is right sir, and as well as the gifts of the wind power, water desalination and sewerage treatment facilities, we mentioned earlier better transport services. We propose installing a low impact transport terminal on Oeno Island, that involves the installation of a modular runway, that will look like it is floating, and in a way, it will be.

The runway is a new system that has been tried successfully in a number of countries already, and what we are proposing, is to build this runway, either on the western inside of the reef that surrounds Oeno Island, and it will be 2,400 metres long and 200 metres wide, with the main runway and a taxiway, and parking apron, that will be 250 metres from the island at its closest point.

Or, it can be on the eastern inside of the reef, which has a lot more room, where the runway can be up to 3,200 metres long and 300 metres wide, with the closest point to the island being 600 metres away from the island” I said.

I retrieved the poster container from my backpack and pulled out the A2 sized plans of the proposal, which I lay out on the table, for all to see, while Jonah continued. “As you can see the environmental impact on the island is our main concern, and so we have decided to design it so there is no contact with the island itself.

On to the airport parking apron, will be a large open undercover area, part of it for parking and securing the aircraft, and the second is providing an airport terminal. The ground level will consist of an airport staff and flight crew lounge centre, with bathroom and shower facilities, lounge room, kitchen and dining area, and recreation room.

On the north side of this area, will be a fuel storage and refuelling facility, able to carry 20,000 kg of Aviation fuel, which is enough for 8 refuelling sessions, of 2,600 kg of fuel for each aircraft, this facility will include all safety measures including reducing the risk of fuel contamination into the ocean.

On the southern side of the staff and flight crew area, will be a small foyer, with stairs leading to the upper level, which will contain a Customs, Quarantine and Security Facility, where all passengers have their passports validated, and their luggage checked, before they can enter the Passenger lounge centre, which will have comfortable lounge facilities, including bathrooms, a number of shops and a tourist information centre.

Through some security doors, there is another small foyer area, with more stairs, that lead to the roof level, where there will be a helipad, to transfer passengers to Pitcairn Island. We will establish a new Airline company, that will provide the business jets and the helicopters, plus the flight crews to run this service, at our cost.

For those who have been reading about our corporation in the news, we have a very large research vessel, known as Aquaria, that has been cruising the oceans of the world, doing ocean research for the better of all. The RV Aquaria is how we arrived on your island today, along with her newer and smaller sister ship, the RV Oceania.

Apart from the regular crew members, we also have a total of 72 men and women from New Zealand and Australia, who have agreed to be employed by us, for periods between three and twelve months, to assist with these projects.

Amongst these new employees, are qualified men and women, who will train anyone from the island, who wishes to be employed at the airport, as CQS – Customs, Quarantine and Security staff, and 6 of them will be the executive of CQS, to ensure that your new airport runs smoothly, once tourists start to arrive.

We would like to establish a masterplan for the future of the island, so well as establishing an airport, with flights from Tahiti to Oeno, which is a 2180-kilometre journey, and the 120 kilometre helicopter flight to Pitcairn Island, we will be assisting with making the island more accessible to its people and its visitors.

This can be done with building-wide environmentally friendly, all-weather raised walkways, around the island, as well as more sealed roads, to provide easier access to all of the key areas, of the island.

We also want to give all permanent residents, heavy duty homes, in a number of village type settlements, with no more than 6 villages. The reason for this suggestion is to provide small communities, that can help one another, and to have more efficient services to each household, in the way of water, power, waste removal.

Each village will have approximately eight 1 and 2-level bungalows, with a wide central street between them, as well as having up to four guest cottages, which each village will share in work to maintain like a co-operative. The profits of the income from guest accommodation will be shared by all permanent residents after expenses had been paid.