Chapter 44 Turtle with one wooden leg - 6

Setiniaz had thought that the spot where Sikorsky had landed was overgrown with weeds.Even from a low altitude of only twenty meters above the ground, it is still no different from an ordinary glade.But this is only a relic of a time when the people here made great efforts to camouflage all the installations in the jungle, and they did it successfully.All this has passed, and now it is 1974, and Setiniaz has come to the kingdom for the fifth time.Judging by all the buildings in sight, they were clearly at work now. There was even an asphalted road this time, which hadn't been there since his last visit.There were also many cars, and people got out of the cars and came to Leiber to say hello to him.Setiniaz knew most of the people inside.Among them he saw Escalante, Sobieski, Trajano da Silva, and of course Marny Oakes, always with a notepad.

Two people, a man and a woman, approached Setiniaz. "I think you probably remember us," said the woman. "Of course I remember you two as Ethel Weizman and Elias Weizman." Setiniaz met them five years ago, when he first witnessed Leiber's grand vision in person.The couple were neither tall nor young, about fifty-five to sixty years old.The two of them could converse in at least twenty languages.Beginning in 1946, the Weizmanns worked for years for International Children's Fund and Unicef, and later at the United Nations Center for International Affairs in New York.

"It's a good thing you haven't forgotten us yet," said Ethel. "You know we're big people now, the Reber's Population Secretary, so to speak." She smiled, her expression was like a shy little bird.However, this impression is dubious.This woman, who weighs only over 40 kilograms, is actually full of energy and drive, with unusual stamina both physically and mentally.She was imprisoned in the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp and three other concentration camps successively, but she still survived tenaciously. Elias was an American and met her after the war.Ethel died in 1980.Elias had never seen her downcast while she was alive, and working twenty hours straight, or running all the way to the foot of Mount Pacaraima, was not a problem to her at any time.

Ethel said, "Reber put us in charge of receiving you. 'Minister,' the word surprised you?" "A little bit," said Setiniaz. "I didn't expect things to get to this point. What do you mean by population?" "The Indians, of course, and the copper-skinned Caboclos. Caboclos are half-breeds who work in the jungle, usually farming. But that's not the only population of the kingdom. We also deal with immigration. " She let out a laugh that was shrill but still charming. "You seem taken aback, David. Yes, we'll call you David from now on, and you'll call us Elias and Ethel. Elias doesn't talk much. Seriously, I I don't get a lot of opportunities to speak to him. He does speak, often when I'm not around. You know what? He speaks thirteen languages. Right now, he's learning Vietnamese. Yanomami of course He speaks Yanomami better than I do, quite fluently..."

She drives like an ocean liner.Reber and the others had already driven toward the city.The kingdom's unofficial capital, Dorada, has seen phenomenal growth over the past five years.Setiniaz had been here three years ago and was almost completely unrecognizable.Hundreds of new houses had been built, the tallest of which had no more than four floors, but he knew that each house had at least two or three more floors underground. "How many people are here now?" "Island Dorada alone? About seven thousand eight hundred, including men, women and children. Would you like an exact figure?"

"No, thank you. Where else?" "Six thousand and nine hundred in Vedinho, five thousand and six hundred and fifty in San João in Beirasar; eighteen hundred in Diamantina. There are also people living in frontier villages and developing areas. Of course The people in the jungle villages must be added. Each village has an average population of 2,000 people and 20,000 hectares of forest. We plan to build 60 villages. Twenty-four have been built so far, and nineteen are about to be built. Have you ever visited such a village?" "I've been there once." That was in 1971.The helicopter that Setiniaz took landed on a football field, and what he saw were two rows of housing and three public buildings clustered together.All the houses are reinforced concrete structures, not to mention how beautiful they are, but tidy and functional, but depressing.Ethel Weissman said with a smile, "That's one of the things that made us take Reber's advice, David. Engineers and architects sometimes look at things too mechanically. They just want to be fast and save money." Thirty Elias and I have traveled the world over the past year trying to stem this unfortunate tide. At least here, our efforts quickly paid off and we saw the results firsthand, so the situation is not so hopeless .If Rayber wants to get you to do something, he's almost irresistible. Of course I don't mean money..."

Setiniaz is doing mental arithmetic. Elias must have sensed this, so he added: "Don't worry about it, David. There are sixty-nine thousand, six hundred and twenty-four people here now. Plus Jean Colchester The exploration team, Trajano da Silva's and Uwe Sobieski's men and other staff, a total of 74,300 people." "Don't listen to him," Ethel said. "His arithmetic has always been a mess. To be precise, as of this moment, there are 75,118 people. With the development of San Joao, especially the development of Diamantina, within a year, The population will soon exceed 100,000. According to the master plan, the population will reach 275,000 in five years. I personally think that the actual population can easily exceed this number."'

Setiniaz stared at her dumbfounded.She took David's arm. "Here, I'll make you a cup of coffee. Looks like you need some." The master plan was carried out in full swing, but Ethel Weizmann's predictions proved right; in 1980 the kingdom's population was 316,000, not counting what to say. Indians who don't want to live together and two or three thousand Caboclo mestizos.The total investment for the master plan is estimated at US$4.4 billion. The actual local cost greatly exceeds this figure. The following is an overview of life in the kingdom in May 1980. Towns are built on virgin lands that have not been inhabited since the prehistoric times.To avoid impersonal over-urbanization, all six municipalities have a population of no more than 12,000 each.The island of Dorada on the Rio Negro was the first to be built and thus became the capital of the kingdom.The other five are San João, Vedinho, Diamantina, Montegrasso and Forty Mile in Beirasar (it takes its name from the roadworks team led by Trajano da Silva milestones every ten kilometers).

Each town has a thermal power plant that supplies power to areas ranging from 700 to 1,100 kilometers, drinking water pipes and sewage pipes extend in all directions, and a set of environmental protection facilities.Each town has at least one hospital with 150 to 200 beds, which can perform various surgical operations, has 160 doctors including dentists, and 800 nurses.Every forest village has established a medical station consisting of two doctors and five or six assistants.By 1980, there were seventy-two such medical stations.Medical posts were also established in all important mining, agricultural and industrial development areas.In order to cope with emergency in remote areas, a special emergency team was set up. The team has two planes and four helicopters, ready to send patients to the most well-equipped hospitals in Dorada and Vedinho. There is an emergency department there that specializes in trauma.This emergency team can also send patients to Belém and Rio de Janeiro, and even direct flights to the United States if necessary.Education is free.In April 1980, the total number of students enrolled was 39,000.The language of instruction is Portuguese, but students learn English from the first grade.The entire digital education system consists of fifty-two kindergartens, sixty-six primary schools and twelve middle schools.There are also twenty-six tuition centers for adults.In Dorada and Diamantina, there are international schools with English as the only language of instruction. The course progress is exactly the same as in the United States, and the highest grade is equivalent to the last year of high school in the United States.Teacher salaries are three times the average teacher salary in Brazil.

Every town or more important center is supplied with food by a supermarket.The entire land belongs to one hundred and eleven companies in name, and all employees of these companies are entitled to a general card, which allows them to go to these supermarkets to buy things.Food in supermarkets is sold at cost plus ten percent.In 1980, this distribution system was further expanded to jungle villages, and smaller-scale commercial outlets appeared. Every village has a post office, a bank, a Christian church, a library, at least two movie theaters, a police station, and a hotel after 1975.The hotel is not very big, because few or no visitors from the outside world are allowed in.Before 1970, telephone contact was limited to the kingdom, and it was very difficult to reach the outside world.Phone lines to Belém, Manaus and Rio de Janeiro are few and far between.The situation was greatly improved when a communication line was laid directly to Georgetown, the former capital of British Guiana, and then a second cable was installed to go directly to Paramaribo in Suriname.In 1976, a contract was signed with the Brazilian company Sbratel, which allowed the complete construction of this communication system.

Here, everyone's means of transportation are the same.Except in rare cases - then deal with the formidable Marnie Oakes and ask her to make arrangements.A unique color signal system is created here, where someone wants to go, hang a flag outside the house or where he is.The green flag means that he is going to the supermarket, the yellow flag is to go to the city center where public buildings are concentrated; the blue flag represents the sports field, the checkered flag is to ask the maintenance department to send someone, and the black is derived from the color of clothing when people go to churches or cemeteries. , the purpose expressed is the same.Small buses that often cruise around will stop at the sight of the flag.The bus is free. Although there are very few private cars in the kingdom, there are quite a few buses. The total length of the road is 5,400 kilometers, which can be used in all seasons; there are also 9,000 kilometers of trails in the jungle.There are 1,750 large and small bridges and tunnels. Employees' wages are calculated based on the Brazilian average plus 40%.In 1980 an engineer earned about $3,000 a month.The rent ranges from one to fifty dollars depending on the grade of the house.Anyone who has a shopping card, regardless of their position, the door of the restaurant is open to them, but the charges are different; three meals a day, workers pay six dollars a month, and managers have to pay sixty dollars . The entertainment facilities here are rich and colorful.In April 1980, ninety-one of the planned one hundred and twenty-five swimming pools were open.In each entertainment center, tennis courts, rubber tennis courts, gymnastics equipment, and plastic track and field are all available.Volleyball, basketball and soccer fields are everywhere.Every bush village and town has at least one team represented in the three major balls.A football championship was held in 1969 at the initiative of Trajano da Silva (who himself played for the famous Rio de Janeiro club in his youth).A team personally selected by Da Silva played a game with the famous Santos Football Club and finally drew with Pele's team with a 2-2 draw.It was a day of great honor for da Silva.The only thing that made him regret was that Wang Hun watched the game in the crowd, but he was unwilling to give a trophy to the champion team, but pushed the good job to a Brazilian chairman from one of the 111 companies. Residents of the Kingdom come from thirty-nine countries, with Brazilians being the most followed by Americans.After Brazil, the United States is the country with the largest number of immigrants.Setiniaz estimated that 9,600 of his compatriots lived there. There are two TV channels broadcasting programs in English and Portuguese 24 hours a day.Four radio stations also broadcast around the clock.In June 1968, the first newspaper was launched.From then until April 30, 1980, there were two daily dailies and a weekly in two languages. As of May 5, 1980, the governments of Brazil, Venezuela, and Colombia had not responded.