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On the plane returning from Caracas Fred had handed me a napkin that he had kept from the meal. The 'meal' had consisted of a bag of peanuts and a glass of water. Fred had made notes on the napkin while eating the peanuts. Then, just as we were about to disembark he handed the napkin to me. "Your mission plan for after Mexico," he said with grin as he pulled the napkin out of his shirt pocket. He watched my reaction and then laughed.
"The Caracas Conference has been both a success and a disappointment," he commented while he motioned me to tuck the napkin away. "Every renaissance in history has failed," he said, "because the paradigm shifts to the Platonic and Socratic method of thinking didn't reach down to the grass roots level of society's social existence. We have made an attempt at the conference to correct that. We have opened Pandora's box on that issue, but to judge by the comments that were made during the victory gathering, no one understands the significance of what was achieved, much less is prepared to move with it. We are still at the stage where the concept of universal love and universal sovereignty had been accepted as an essential foundation for civilization, but not on the kitchen floor. This deep-reaching shift wasn't accomplished during the Renaissance or during the historic Peace of Westphalia in 1648. I observed the same failure again in Caracas, in principle. We have achieved more, but not enough. This tells me that our efforts have been too superficial. I think we have tried to create a grassroots renaissance without actually employing the Platonic method on which every renaissance to date has been founded, even though none of them did go far enough. We need to address this failure, Pete, and you'll be the one to do it," he said. "I'll give you a one month commission to come up with a solution. You have Plato and you have Mary's pedagogical structures. You will leave for Sydney from Mexico as soon as your Mexico project is done, which is equally vital. Sylvia will join you in Sydney if she agrees to come, and so will a few others. I know a lodge operator at the northern end of Queensland who will look after you."
I was going to ask why. Why Queensland? Why so far away? But I didn't ask. I remembered what Fred had said earlier, when he said that they fondi were aware of what Mary had accomplished single-handed for humanity by stopping the Empires' train of wars for 35 years. Fred suggested that they wouldn't let this happen again. Consequently they must never know about our project to do precisely what they feared the most. I tucked Fred's napkin away into my inner pocket. It seemed important to trust him on that.
More of the reason for our meeting so far away from the beaten track became evident in Sydney when we met Indira and Tatsuhiko in the hotel lobby were we stayed. I met them the very next morning after Sylvia and I had arrived. What a wonderful surprise Fred had arranged for us.
"I greet you and I kiss you," were Indira's first words to both of us. It was wonderful to see both of them again, and to be able to introduce them both to Sylvia.
"I am glad to meet you," Sylvia replied politely, "although I feel I already know you," she said with a smile. "Peter is very proud of his family in India."
She turned to Tatsuhiko. "You are the Japanese, I take it, the spiritually minded genius of Pete's family there. You are also a beautiful man," she said and smiled. "Your beauty evidently matches your beautiful mind." Sylvia embraced Indira, and Tatsuhiko.
"Indira Gandhi would be proud by you adopting her name," Sylvia said to Indira. "You have raised yourself high above the caste system. Indira Gandhi had dreamed of her entire nation accomplishing that. I can see why Fred wanted Pete to join hands with you. I understand you started a significant movement in India in the way people perceive themselves, and their relationship towards one-another."
Indira blushed and smiled. She said something to the effect that this was a very small change. She didn't say anything else in reply.
I was overjoyed to see them both. Nevertheless, the real reason for us meeting in Australia didn't become apparent until someone else popped into view that day, who is equally dear to me. This happened in the city of Cairns, at the dock of a charter flight operator that we had been directed to in Fred's instructions drawn on the napkin. We met Olive there. She was coming down the ramp towards the sales shack while we waited for someone to open the door. Suddenly, at this moment, a whole lot of things became clear. With Olive having been the driving force behind convening the Caracas conference, which didn't go at all the way the fondi had expected, which the fondi must have regarded as a complete disaster, we had evidently placed Olive onto the 'endangered species' list, together with myself and Steve, in line with the warning that Steve and I had been given by the fondi years ago in Venice. None of us knew whether those threats that had been made in Venice were still valid. Maybe Fred knew that they were still valid, and didn't want to alarm me, or he was merely being cautious, because of the great expectations he had from our mission based on Mary's achievement. This perception also seemed to explain Olive's cold and superficial greeting. "We mustn't be seen together," she whispered in passing as she walked by us to the edge of the ramp.
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