Doctor Who: Virgin New Adventures - Bernice Summerfield [076] - Another Girl, Another Planet by Martin Day & Len Beech

Author:Martin Day & Len Beech
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science-Fiction - Doctor Who
Publisher: Virgin
Published: 1998-08-27T22:00:00+00:00

TRACK 7

SONG TO THE SIREN

Extract from Dimetan Infobase (Level Four), as requested by Professor Bernice S. Summerfield

The Bantu Cooperative has enjoyed – some would say suffered – a long and chequered history. The first reference comes in 2011 CE, with a political movement that championed the rights of the oppressed in southern Africa, Earth. Resentful of perceived governmental failure, the Bantu Independence Group (BIG) was able to buy land and build its own model communities under the watchful eye of sceptical national authorities. This, at least, has always been true of the Bantu Cooperative: a suspicion of any system of authority, other than its own.

Despite this partial embrace of capitalism (which, it has been argued, sowed many of the seeds for future decisions that would so radically impact upon the Cooperative), by 2044 the BIG existed in (abbreviated) name only as a small holding company, lacking any political or social motivation.

Olle Ahlin became chief executive in 2067, and immediately set about expanding the group. He had the money to achieve his aims. In the 2040s, Ahlin had invested in solid fuel systems when most had turned to alternative technologies; his reward was to become one of the world’s richest men by the 2060s. He ensured that the BIG ruling council consisted almost entirely of nationalists and fundamentalists from regions such as Scandinavia and central Africa; once more, the BIG had a political emphasis, although until the 2070s and 80s it was not clear what that agenda might be.

The BIG sent out many of the first sub-light-speed vessels and, freed from the constraints of operating on Earth, it began to colonize. Ahlin’s final address to the ruling council, a year before his death in 2099, stated the new credo most clearly: ‘Our metal glove of military and economic strength contains within a hand of compassion and hope. As we create our own laws and systems, so we become accountable to the people who live under them.’

Commentators on Earth were less elegant in their summation. ‘The BIG are imperialist terrorists, acting inappropriately beyond any natural jurisdiction. If we could stop them, we would.’

As far as Earth was concerned, the BIG vanished from the scene in the early 2200s. In fact, they were colonizing and subverting whole swathes of the galaxy, much as the newly named [information deleted] were doing elsewhere. With each passing generation, the Bantu Cooperative, as it was now known, became more militaristic in structure. In time the Cooperative became a loose alliance of dominated worlds, maintained, supported and governed by countless alien races. It established a complete economic and trading system where everything worked to the benefit of the Cooperative.

Wisely, the Cooperative had concentrated on a region of the galaxy that Earth was unlikely to become interested in. As Emah-ji-ji-Ke-gege, the first non-human leader of the Bantu Cooperative put it in 2397, ‘Earth has the richest pickings. However, we make better use of our more meagre resources.’

Covert links were established with various Earth organizations, most notably [information deleted] and the [information deleted].

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