Industrialized Canada
10-06-2006, 14:09
Quebec City, PQ
Dominion of Canada
October 12, 1784
Etienne Dupuis gazed proudly up at the mighty edifice of brick and mortar before him. It was a monstrosity, a slab-sided abomination that stood out from the architechture of the city like the proverbiable sore thumb. Even he had to admit that the building before him was an atrocity committed against the aesthetic sense of the neighborhood. There was no art to this building, no love in its design. It was pure function, nothing more, nothing less, without the slightest pretensions towards being anything else.
To Etienne, the Consolidated Farm Implements building represented so much more. It represented twenty years of his life, and the better part of his inheritance. It represented one giant step away from the pseudo-feudal system that had crippled his province's economy for so long. It represented the nation he loved taking that first great leap into this great 'Industrial Revolution', and doing so with both feet. Etienne smiled... it was beautiful.
Juno Beach
Normandy, France
June 6, 1944
Private Bill Miller tightened his grip around the stock of his Lee-Enfield rifle, checking the condom wrapped around the muzzle one more time as he struggled to hold steady against the buffeting of the sea. Somewhere behind him, one of his squadmates lost his lunch, vomiting on the spray-slicked deck of the landing craft. Fighters buzzed overhead, near misses from the naval batteries located on the shoreline sent up great plumes of white water with each slug that struck the sea, and through it all, death was not the foremost fear in his mind.
It could come in so many ways... a well-aimed bomb, a lucky cannon round, or even a German bullet addressed 'to whom it may concern'. Focusing on all the ways he could die on this mission would only get him killed faster. No, it was another fear that dominated his thoughts. What if his friends and comrades learned his secret? Would they understand? Would they turn against him? What would his squadmates do if they learned that Private William Miller from Thessalon, Ontario, was named Wilhelm Mueller on his birth in that small community?
Ottawa, ON
Dominion of Canada
February 19, 1959
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker dropped the parlimentary brief on his desk with an expression of disbelief. Rising from his chair, he strode to the window, his back to the room. "Didn't we already go over this in September, and before that, in August?" he asked rhetorically. Everyone in this room knew the history of Defense Minister Pearkes' attempts to put an end to the Avro Arrow project. Everyone knew of the American attempt - through NORAD - to have them replaced with Boeing's BOMARC Surface-to-Air Missile system. Everyone knew the Prime Minister's reaction to it.
"Mister Prime Minister..." began the Defense Minister. "John... sir... between the cost overruns, and the..."
"I don't want to hear it, George," the Prime Minister cut in suddenly. "When the Russkie bombers come over the pole, a balanced budget won't keep our cities safe. The Arrow will. I want your resignation on my desk by this time tommorow morning. You're dismissed." Glancing back over his shoulder, he speared his former Defense Minister with a baleful glare. "And on your way out, you can tell the American Defense Attaché exactly where he can deploy those damn BOMARCs of his - and you tell him that comes straight from me. The Avro Arrow stays.
Ottawa, ON
Dominion of Canada
June 10, 2006
Prime Minister Friedrich "Fred" Mueller glanced at the picture of his father in his army uniform sitting on his desk for what had to be the thousandth time since taking office at the head of a Conservative minority government. It wasn't as good as the better than a decade of majority rule the Liberals had so recently enjoyed, but it wasn't too bad for a third generation Canadian, and the son of an infantryman. Now, as Prime Minister, he found himself responsible for the CANTER fusion reactor project at Chalk River, the development of the Stingray close air support fighter, as well as a replacement for the venerable Arrow, not to mention the day-to-day affairs of national policy. Picking up his father's picture, he smiled, wondering what his father would say if he could see him now.
Here I am, Dad, he thought silently. I made it...
OOC Note: Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Defense Minister George Pearkes are both real people. Everyone else comes from my twisted imagination... just to avoid confusion, eh?
Dominion of Canada
October 12, 1784
Etienne Dupuis gazed proudly up at the mighty edifice of brick and mortar before him. It was a monstrosity, a slab-sided abomination that stood out from the architechture of the city like the proverbiable sore thumb. Even he had to admit that the building before him was an atrocity committed against the aesthetic sense of the neighborhood. There was no art to this building, no love in its design. It was pure function, nothing more, nothing less, without the slightest pretensions towards being anything else.
To Etienne, the Consolidated Farm Implements building represented so much more. It represented twenty years of his life, and the better part of his inheritance. It represented one giant step away from the pseudo-feudal system that had crippled his province's economy for so long. It represented the nation he loved taking that first great leap into this great 'Industrial Revolution', and doing so with both feet. Etienne smiled... it was beautiful.
Juno Beach
Normandy, France
June 6, 1944
Private Bill Miller tightened his grip around the stock of his Lee-Enfield rifle, checking the condom wrapped around the muzzle one more time as he struggled to hold steady against the buffeting of the sea. Somewhere behind him, one of his squadmates lost his lunch, vomiting on the spray-slicked deck of the landing craft. Fighters buzzed overhead, near misses from the naval batteries located on the shoreline sent up great plumes of white water with each slug that struck the sea, and through it all, death was not the foremost fear in his mind.
It could come in so many ways... a well-aimed bomb, a lucky cannon round, or even a German bullet addressed 'to whom it may concern'. Focusing on all the ways he could die on this mission would only get him killed faster. No, it was another fear that dominated his thoughts. What if his friends and comrades learned his secret? Would they understand? Would they turn against him? What would his squadmates do if they learned that Private William Miller from Thessalon, Ontario, was named Wilhelm Mueller on his birth in that small community?
Ottawa, ON
Dominion of Canada
February 19, 1959
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker dropped the parlimentary brief on his desk with an expression of disbelief. Rising from his chair, he strode to the window, his back to the room. "Didn't we already go over this in September, and before that, in August?" he asked rhetorically. Everyone in this room knew the history of Defense Minister Pearkes' attempts to put an end to the Avro Arrow project. Everyone knew of the American attempt - through NORAD - to have them replaced with Boeing's BOMARC Surface-to-Air Missile system. Everyone knew the Prime Minister's reaction to it.
"Mister Prime Minister..." began the Defense Minister. "John... sir... between the cost overruns, and the..."
"I don't want to hear it, George," the Prime Minister cut in suddenly. "When the Russkie bombers come over the pole, a balanced budget won't keep our cities safe. The Arrow will. I want your resignation on my desk by this time tommorow morning. You're dismissed." Glancing back over his shoulder, he speared his former Defense Minister with a baleful glare. "And on your way out, you can tell the American Defense Attaché exactly where he can deploy those damn BOMARCs of his - and you tell him that comes straight from me. The Avro Arrow stays.
Ottawa, ON
Dominion of Canada
June 10, 2006
Prime Minister Friedrich "Fred" Mueller glanced at the picture of his father in his army uniform sitting on his desk for what had to be the thousandth time since taking office at the head of a Conservative minority government. It wasn't as good as the better than a decade of majority rule the Liberals had so recently enjoyed, but it wasn't too bad for a third generation Canadian, and the son of an infantryman. Now, as Prime Minister, he found himself responsible for the CANTER fusion reactor project at Chalk River, the development of the Stingray close air support fighter, as well as a replacement for the venerable Arrow, not to mention the day-to-day affairs of national policy. Picking up his father's picture, he smiled, wondering what his father would say if he could see him now.
Here I am, Dad, he thought silently. I made it...
OOC Note: Prime Minister John Diefenbaker and Defense Minister George Pearkes are both real people. Everyone else comes from my twisted imagination... just to avoid confusion, eh?