Arctic Fire by Paul Byers

world go round.
I’m certainly not going to argue the fact that oil and love are
important things but let me put it to you this way. Man has
survived centuries without oil but how long can he survive without
water? Days, not centuries. Water is used not only for us to drink
and bathe in but it grows the very food we eat, and it too, along
with oil helps turns the wheels of industry.
    “The United States uses more water than any
other nation in the world. The average American uses about 100
gallons of water a day, compared to the average in India which is
just fourteen gallons—and the numbers go up from there. You’re
probably saying to yourself that you don’t drink that much water…
especially if there’s a cold beer around.” Just then someone in the
back of the room yelled “Hear, Hear!” Everyone in the room laughed
and Cain smiled as he continued. “That’s right my friend, but did
you know that it takes 1500 gallons of water to produce just one
barrel of beer? And that Big Mac or Whopper some of you will have
for lunch today? One gallon of water to process it. But these
numbers are only the beginning.”
    Cain now came around from the back of the podium
and stood beside it, leaning on it with his left elbow, gesturing
with his right hand. “Remember earlier, I said that water, not oil,
is what makes the world go round? Well, it takes 1851 gallons of
water to refine that one barrel of oil. It takes over 39,000
gallons of water to make just one car and a staggering 62,000
gallons to make one ton of steel.” Cain paused and picked up a
glass of water and swirled the ice cubes around. The clinking
sounds of the cubes filtered to the back of the room and the light
refracted off the ice and the crystal glass, sending shards of
light out, glittering like light bouncing off a disco ball. He took
a big drink and let out a satisfying, “Ahhhh.”
    “Again, pardon me for my earlier theatrics as I
don’t mean to cause alarm,” he paused as he set the glass back
down, “…but the alarms have already sounded with the banners
warning us of global warming.” He stopped again and held up his
hands in mock surrender. “Don’t worry, this is not another speech
about global warming, but the threat here is very real.”
    Cain stepped away from the podium and walked
slowly back and forth as he continued to speak, like a preacher
giving his Sunday morning sermon. “What you see before you is not the solution but just one of many. It will realize the dream
that was begun five years ago with the first iceberg, to give
developing and drought stricken countries a chance not only to help
their people to survive but to overcome. And it will allow
countries like ours to safeguard our own citizens and maintain our
position of world leadership.
    Even as we speak,” Cain continued as he stepped
down from the podium and moved toward the covered table. “The
prototype is being constructed and in fact, is nearly complete.
Cain grabbed the cloth and yanked it off with the flair of a
magician revealing that he had just made his lovely assistant
disappear. At the same moment, spotlights shown down, illuminating
the case as if it were a great revelation from God Himself.
    Cain quietly slipped back up to the podium while
the crowd slowly gathered around the case. Cain enjoyed studying
their faces as they gasped at the display. Most were duly impressed
although they didn’t fully realize or understand what they were
looking at. A few faces were filled with wonder and he could see
their minds racing. They too didn’t fully comprehend but they had
the idea, they got the concept. And a few, to his disappointment,
actually looked bored. They were the same dull people who lived out
their same dull lives day after day. He actually felt sorry for
them; they were the people cursed with no imagination. Black and
white is all they would ever understand.
    The case contained a highly detailed ocean
diorama, built by the finest model makers that