"Sure, but what does--?"
"And you paid for liability against chemical damage?"
He nodded understanding, and then shook his head in confusion. "They poisoned the water here, too?"
"The planet, Alphon. They poisoned the planet."
"Why would they do that? Strike that. How would they do that?"
"The same reason they do anything. The same reason they've pit nations against one another for centuries. Profit. There's money in it. There's money in poverty, in crime, in prisons. Once they realized that swindling people in land deals and collecting interest on unpayable national debts was small change compared to what could be made by remaking the planet wholesale, they've been encouraging industries to rape the Earth, and forcing governments to institute policies that no sane person could possibly want to subject their children to living under. For nearly a century now, they've been encouraging activities that subvert the balance of nature. Why do you think the Barrage was needed in the first place? Global warming may have been triggered by accident, before people realized that increasing the carbon dioxide levels would melt the ice caps and glaciers, but when the bankers' analysts presented their report, the biggest hoax in history was perpetrated on the planet. Alphon, they stopped the Gulf Stream. They pulled the plug on the only thing that was capable of driving the circulation of currents around the world. That's why we're floating on a toxic cesspool that will rot my raft if we don't pull it out of the water and recoat it pretty soon."
They'd reached her home, which was a spawling collection of cypress-colored sheds surrounding a large camouflaged geodesic dome, and she took the controls back.
"You're saying that the Barrage failed because the ocean was changed?"
"I'm saying the Barrage failed because it was never designed to withstand the acids and other pollutants that have been eating away at it. Didn't you wonder why the Hyperloop to New Orleans was in such bad shape?"
He blinked rapidly. "It's not because they stopped maintaining it?"
"We have hurricanes, Alphon. Those tubes get coated with the same crud we're floating on."
They'd reached her boat ramp, and she told him to attach the tow-hook on a hoist she pointed at to the eye on the front of the raft. After the raft was dragged from the water, she grabbed the hovercam and led him into the nearest shed.
Once they were inside, he skipped ahead and turned to face her. "Okay, stop. I realize we have to get some things and leave before the bankers' cleanup squad gets here, but there's something I have to know."
She calmed and looked at him.
"Social event cascades. You said they're concerned about social event cascades. Why?"
"It's their weakness."
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