Free Ocean: War of Independence by Brian Herbert, Jan Herbert Page A

ignoring the fact that years ago the U.S. outlawed the dumping of plastics in the ocean, a practice that other countries continued anyway, ignoring the environmental damage it caused.
    President Vanness felt victimized, didn’t see why his country was under attack like this, or why he was being smeared personally. He certainly didn’t visualize himself as Satan, and yet, his foes were successfully portraying him in that light. He needed to find a way out of this mess.
    He looked at his watch, an expensive gold timepiece, inset with diamonds. It made no sound as the second hand circled the dial. Even so, he heard a ticking noise in his head, growing louder and louder.
    He summoned Jimmy Waimea, and gave him an answer, the new position of the American government….

    Kimo had changed locations. He was on the same island where he’d made the earlier call, Kauai, but miles away in another town. A friend, Greg Layne, had driven him to the second location in a boxy old off-road vehicle, and now Kimo had another calling card. He used a public phone, on the side porch of a general store.
    He half-expected the President to answer instead of Jimmy, or to see federal agents roaring down the road to capture him, or flying overhead. He could see the ocean from here, only a hundred yards or so away, and he had a contingency plan to run for it if he had to.
    Jimmy answered. “I have the President’s response, Kimo. He’s offering a cease fire, but only if all the whales and other marine animals leave the blockades, if they go home and allow ships to get through again. He also wants you to recall the blue whales that are preventing container ships from crossing the Pacific.”
    “I sent out three pods of blue whales,” Kimo said, nodding to himself.
    “There are a lot more pods than that in the Pacific shipping lanes—more than twenty, from what I hear.”
    “Twenty pods! Blue whales communicate across long distances in the ocean, so they must have transmitted information on what I want to other pods.”
    “Anyway, if you do what the President wants, he promises to have the U.S. Congress deal with the valid points you’ve brought up about harm that’s been done to the ocean, harm that he admits is ongoing. It’s progress, Kimo.”
    “Maybe, but not enough. I don’t know why there are more than three pods of blue whales disrupting the shipping lanes, but I do know that none of us can break up the Hawaiian or San Francisco barricades. After putting them in place, we can’t get the whales and other animals to cooperate. They’re there, and won’t move until they want to move. The animals have even developed their own ‘work shift’ system, in which the ones in the cordons are regularly replaced by other animals, so that all of them can go about their feeding and other operations.”
    “I don’t think the President believes anything you say.”
    “Well, he needs to believe it, because it’s the truth. The U.S. doesn’t want another bloodbath of marine animals; public opinion won’t stand for it. If President Vanness keeps killing the species in the blockades and they keep replenishing themselves, they’ll eventually go extinct. Is that the legacy he wants for his presidency?”
    Jimmy did not answer.
    “All the U.S. can do,” Kimo said, “all any of us can do, is to wait for the whales and other animals to leave on their own. Tell the President we have the leverage against him, and tell him he needs to back off unilaterally, calling all warships back to available ports, taking no aggressive actions against the cordons at all. Either that, or we intend to take additional measures against American interests—both commercial and military.”
    “You should concede something , Kimo. Can’t you offer anything for me to take back to the President?”
    “Twenty-four more hours. That’s all I’m going to give him. Exactly one day from now, I’ll find a way to send you an e-mail from an untraceable account.”
    He