Paris, European Federation, February 2035

  Chlo? Bublot is the head of the UN refugee agency mission in Paris. Do it is nothing compared to what it used to be back during the height of the war. She’s far away from her start as a local volunteer.

  "Thirty million Germans in France alone." She exhaled, shaking her head. "People were already down to one meal a day—on a good day. You couldn’t find an army ration or even a wild deer. It got so bad they had to lock up the swans in the parks because they were being hunted for food. Soldiers who weren’t on the front lines or on their way there were patrolling the streets, trying to keep some semblance of order. Before the Labor Act came into effect, forcing millions into weapons and ammunition factories, there was no hope for work. Entire districts were nothing but idle, desperate people. The economy was wiped out overnight. There was no need for new fridges, televisions. We need food, ammunition, blankets and winter jackets. We worked fourteen-hour days just trying to reunite families. Every gym, every warehouse, every parking lot, every public park was packed with endless rows of tents—Germans, Dutch, Belgians, Poles. We thought it couldn’t get worse, and then they froze migration to the south. Spain, Portugal, even Morocco—overwhelmed. The decision was made for people to stay put. We couldn’t kick the ball down south. The Moroccans and Spaniards were threatening to limit food exports and we hung the refugees over their head. It was mutually assured destruction. This entire part of the world was at a breaking point without even having one crab out here."

  I shifted in my chair. “And how was the Labor Act welcomed?” I asked.

  She let out a bitter laugh. "How do you think? People either worked or starved. It wasn’t a choice—they didn’t have a say in it. If you were German or Polish, you were either in an ammunition factory or out in the fields, picking tomatoes, repairing irrigation systems, or working with machinery. Automation was at a minimum because of the energy shortages. No matter what people say, nuclear was overstretched, and we couldn’t afford to waste a single watt. But the biggest problem wasn’t the work—it was getting people there. German officers were still trying to draft anyone with two legs and arms for their doomed counteroffensives. The farms were fighting for every able-bodied worker just to keep food production going. And then there was the fuel crisis—not a single gallon of gasoline to transport people where they were needed. It was chaos. Absolute chaos. I rememver that one time I had to find a Michelin map for five Germans. They had 60km’s to do on bike to the farm they were supposed to work in. It was straight out of ‘La grande vadrouille, just with the roles reversed.”

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Were there any risk of ethnic violence?” I ask.

  “On paper, yes. But in practice no one cared. They recognized the threat up north and we were all surprised there wasn’t any violence towards refugees. As time went by and a “routine” started forming. People learned German or Pole. And they learned French. They made their lives here. Got something resembling a living situation. People became friends, lovers. Might be too ‘peace and love’ but it could have gone really wrong if there really was such violence. Had people turned on each other then the country would have collapsed. We had millions living in the street. Riots regarding draft and food shortages. Armed gangs with Kalashnikovs raiding food warehouses. Adding ethnic tension to the mix would have been the straw that broke the camel’s back.”

  “What was the EU doing?” I ask.

  “Well before the Militaries were put under one singular command and soon enough the entire governing structure, centralizing food distribution and labor allocation got us through. The magic they pulled behind the curtains with the gold and uranium reserves just to keep the ammunition, weapon factories, farms and the infrastructure running was what got people to realize federalizing what was left might not be a bad idea. We had a disproportionate influence thanks to our agriculture and nuclear energy and weapons. Norwegians joined us midway through once we forwent any ecological and fishing regulations. So they had allot of power thanks to their oil and gas reserves. Took the brits a while to get back into the frey. But we were all down to the wire. Be it militarily, economically. Whatever you want everything was bad by all metrics. It wasn’t just unemployment or inflation like everyone was used to by now. It was people starving, thousands of casualties everyday on the front lines. People without heating, kids and parents losing track of each other. Loved ones not knowing where their partners are. There’s no bureaucratic way of conveying this. No economical, bureaucratic talk for the president to try and convince people things weren’t that bad.”