The Unity Project

[Rayyu]

To: The Monarchs of Royal Seleucid and Kodima

I have been approached by a young team of engineers with an intriguing project that I believe will help take steps to promote regional co-operation and break new ground in construction of human settlements. I have drawn up an idea where we would form the Unity Project with 25% of the project being owned by each of us and the final quarter by the young engineers. If this project has peeked your interest please join me for discussions.

Emir Emir Sulaiman Samar El-Amin

[DaveIronside]

To:- Emir Sulaiman Samar El-Amin

I am intriguted by your offer. As we have pushed regional co-operative ideas in the past we are always happy to explore new projects. I look forward to hearing your proposal.

His Majesty King Heydar.

[Kodima]

To:- Emir Sulaiman Samar El-Amin

We are always happy and open to co-operative ideas with our neighbours. We will naturally be interested in what you have to present and will attend any meeting that you put together.

Best Wishes

Emperor Malachi of Kodima

[Rayyu]

At Tuwal's 300 or so residents were amazed that Emir Sulaiman Samar El-Amin even knew where their little village was so the fact that he had told them he would arrive in two days for an "important set of talks" made them a combination of nervous and proud. The past 48 hours had seen the village spruce itself up and people had been busy finding their best clothing. Amin Nejem, the eldest man in the village, had once proudly served in the Emirs army some forty years earlier and today he had found his old green beret and had pinned his two long service medals to his thawb. He had served twenty years in the infantry and then used his pay off to come home to At Tuwal and build himself a nice home from which his extended family now had a small business making dairy products, while the business was not known across the nation it kept his family comfortable.

The helicopter of the Emir touched down about 1km away from the village and a waiting SUV ferried him into the village itself. The whole of At Tuwal were out to greet him. The local Imam greeted him first and the Emir thanked him for his greeting. Several of the women in the village had trays of foods for him and one younger girl offered him a glass of sweet tea. He was about to accept when he spotted Amin and the Emir walked over. He offered two hands towards the man and they exchanged warm handshakes, the Emir glancing at the man's cap badge. "Ah a rifleman" he said recognising the badge. "Some very steady men there, we shared many a tent with them on exercise" The Emir tapped the Royal Reconnaissance Corps badge that was one of several on the tail of his keffiyeh. "I hope you've had a long and happy retirement out here. Can we share a tea while you tell me of this village." He waved the girl over who had offered him tea, she had a beautiful silver teapot on a tray and the Emir handed Amin the first glass, hurriedly a second glass appeared and the Emir poured himself a glass before taking a seat on a nearby low wall. Surrounded by the village he let Amin tell him about the village and several of the locals joined in the story telling. It was only when the aides of the Emir informed him the helicopters of the next arrival were soon to be here that he thanked the village for their hospitality and made his way to the large tent which was ready for their meeting.

[Kodima]

Emperor Malachi V had not expecting the meeting to take place in the middle of nowhere. Tuwal was a place that had taken Kodima's Air Force several moments to locate before even planning the Emperor's trip. Thankfully it wasn't that far of a journey for Malachi and his Minister of Finance, Devorah Yacin. Once they had landed in a helicopter they made their way over to where they were shown the Emir was waiting. The younger monarch had just finished talking with a group and entered the tent as the Emperor arrived. "Good morning Emir." Malachi greeted Sulaiman. "I'm intrigued as to what has dragged us all out into the desert. Its a rather unconventional place to gather." The Emperor was not annoyed, just intrigued.

[DaveIronside]

It had been some time since Heydar had ventured outside Royal Seleucid but he was looking forward to catching up with the Emir and Emperor. Their other brief meeting had gone well and he was hopeful that the two men were people that he could do business with moving forward. The King had chosen to bring with him 16 year old Prince Golzar. For the Prince it was his first real taste of diplomacy, his father had been determined that the boy begin learning the role of King and a nice simple meeting on some kind of joint project was ideal.

Golzar was nervous though. He knew his father wouldn't let him make any serious mistakes but it was a chance for him to impress his father and make him proud. The duo had  travelled by helicopter and now Golzar was feeling a little uneasy. In his mind he had a vision of some kind of palace and uniformed guards saluting their arrival, this though seemed a lot less formal and that threw him. Heydar allowed the Prince to greet the others first and the boy nervously gave the Emir, then the Emperor a short bow and extended a hand. "My father is hoping that you will allow me to represent our nation at these talks, he however is here to....supervise my involvement." he asked hoping they wouldn't be offended to have a teenager talk with them.

[Rayyu]

With everyone in attendance it was time to get things underway. "Prince Golzar I look forward to our discussions and I hope that we can impress your father with the outcome." He turned to speak to King Heydar, "Each of the three of us had to learn the art of leadership and diplomacy from somewhere. I'm happy that we can be part of your education." He hoped Malachi shared the same sentiments. "Now if I may explain what we have in mind. Or rather have my much more knowledgeable friend Murtada Kader here explain. Murtada is one of the team from construction company from Rayyu known as Brightlights, they have made a name for themselves with some rather intriguing projects in our homeland and now they are thinking much bigger. I'll hand over to him."

"Your Majesties" he bowed to Heydar and Malachi. A screen had been prepared and with the flick of a remote it sprang into life. "What we would like to build is a tripartite city. A metropolis that would be the epitimie of the 21st Century. We want to build a city on the part of the Gulf of Auraxis where our three borders meet. It would though be a unique city. Our aim is to build a linear city based on giving everyone the best possible quality of life. It would be only a few hundred meters across but stretch potentially for hundreds of kilometers." Several concept images sprang up on the screen. Its a project that will take decades but at the end we could have the most advanced city on Mundus with examples of new technology making it 100% fuelled by green energy, zero cars, a city focused on allowing people to thrive in life and focus on pushing the boundaries of science, technology and other enterprises. Think the world in which Star Trek exists but in the middle of a desert. What we would need from you is three things. First an agreement to allow us to utilise land in your nation. The second is to join our organisation as an equal partner and help us make this idea a reality. Finally an agreement that you would recognise citizens as wishing to live here as having some kind of status allowing them to move freely between the three nations."

[DaveIronside]

Golzar felt a little bit more relaxed after the Emir had been rather kind to him. The Prince dutifully made notes as first the Emir and then the representative from Brightlights spoke. His father who was sat back rather relaxing under the knowledge that he had little to do here today other than ensure his son didn't put his foot in it. When Kader finished talking the Prince looked first to his father expecting him to be speaking but his father purposely seemed to be carefully examining something outside the tent while enjoying a cup of tea. The Prince took a deep breath, tapped a pen against his note pad and then opened his mouth. Nothing much came out and he gave a brief cough trying to clear the nerves from his throat. "The thing you have shown us is like something from a sci-fi film. I like the way it looks but I am also a little concerned." Heydar suddenly shifted in his seat. "This is a project that looks like it would include technology that I am unfamilar with. I don't wish to offend anyone but as the youngest person in the room I am the only person likely to be living in this type of construction. What steps do we need to take to ensure that this actually becomes a valuable project and not just a giant hole in the ground that only fulfils half its potential." He glanced round at his father who seemed rather impressed at his son's point.

"Speak for yourself son but I intend to be an old grey man living in this glass tube." Heydar smiled.

"Well that makes me even more quizzical as if my father is to be based there when he is wrinkled I need to appreciate the standard of life that he will get." Golzar teased his father. "I also would like to know when you talk about freedom of movement would this be different to matters discussed in the Gulf of Auraxis Agreement?"