—We can’t let fear stop us from doing what we must do. We also can’t let fear dictate our actions. We must exercise patience. What we’ve got here—
—What are you trying to say?
—That everyone should wait before doing something really stupid.
—Such as?
—You know that there are those in England who want a show of force. I also know that NATO is considering military action of its own. I want everyone in that room to use their influence. I want them to use every means at their disposal to make sure that doesn’t happen.
—Why?
—You know why! This second robot is probably even more powerful than Themis. It’s doubtful that British ground forces could put a scratch on it. And this is London. In an urban environment, there is simply no way to concentrate enough firepower with a ground assault. An all-out air strike has more potential, but we’d need a joint operation between our biggest air forces. We’d also level the city of London. If that doesn’t bring the robot down, a high-yield nuclear bomb would be our best, and last, option, though it would mean relocating most of England’s population after the fact. Is that clear enough for you?
—If that is what you want people to leave with, then you should say it like that, in those words. Make them understand there is no “best-case scenario” if they attack, that they cannot “bluff” their way out of this.
—You don’t think it’s a little rough? You asked for profound and inspiring.
—You open with profound and inspiring so that, twenty years from now, people can feel clever quoting you around the dinner table. If there is something you want people to understand today, say it like you are addressing your grandchildren. Half the people in that room will hear you through an interpreter, and most have the attention span of a five-year-old. When they leave the room, these people will call home. They will probably talk to their defense ministers, their top generals, their chiefs of staff, people with an army at their disposal who are itching to use it. You are asking them to trust a group of scientists before their own military advisors. Make sure the reason for that is not lost in translation.
—I had another paragraph that made me sound reasonably intelligent.
—Let me hear it.
—What we’ve got here is not a London problem. It is not a British or a European problem. It’s certainly not a NATO problem. What we’ve got here is an Earth problem. It’s a problem for all of us, for every nation represented in this room, and we must find a solution to it, together. This institution was founded in the wake of the most devastating war in human history, to promote peace by allowing nations to resolve their disputes here, in this room, and not on the battlefield. It was also created so that we could pool our knowledge and resources and achieve great things none of us could dream of achieving on our own. Today we have a chance to do both: prevent war of a level we’ve never imagined and bring humanity to a whole new frontier. If there has ever been a time for the United Nations, it is now. If there has ever been a reason for the EDC, this is it.
—Put that at the end for when they have stopped paying attention. For now, you should talk about your military career so they can relate.
—I say a few words somewhere … Here … I also know many of you have doubts. The decision to create the EDC was not a unanimous one. Why should you trust the EDC and not your own military? That is probably the only question I can answer today. I’m a military man, have been for over forty years. I can tell you this: Military people need intelligence …
—You need to say more than that. Tell them about how many wars you have been in, how many people you killed. Make them see the blood. Make them think of you as a warmonger who would drop a bomb on London at the first excuse. Only then will they believe you when you tell them they should not.
—What can I say? I am a Brigadier General in the South African Army and Commander of a UN military force. In South Africa, I was in charge of the Army Armour Formation, that’s a hard-to-pronounce way of saying lots of tanks. I fought in a segregated unit during the Border Wars, I have been part of peacekeeping operations in Sudan, I have led forces for the UN Intervention Brigade in the Democratic Republic of Congo. I have been in one army or the other for all of my adult life—
—Perfect.