human
Gentlemen, let me present El Hassan--Homer Crawford to you--formerly of the Reunited Nations African Development Project, formerly of the United States of the Americas. His face twisted in his sour grimace of a grin.
gpt
Now running for the office of tyrant of North Africa.
human
And these are two of his original and most trusted adherents, Isobel Cunningham and Cliff Jackson. Donaldson turned to the newcomers.
gpt
John and James Peters--that's Jack and Jimmy, of course--recently colleagues of mine with the African Department of the Commonwealth, working largely in the Nigeria area.
human
You're a long way from home.
gpt
Farther than that, the one labeled Jack said without a smile changing the seriousness of his face.
human
We're originally from Trinidad.
gpt
And this is David Moroka, late of South Africa.
human
Not so very late. In fact, I haven't seen Jo-burg since I was a boy.
gpt
Jo-burg?
human
Johannesburg, he translated.
gpt
I got out by the skin of my teeth during the troubles in the 1950s.
human
You sound like an American,
gpt
Educated in the States, Moroka said.
human
Best thing that ever happened to me was to be kicked out of the land of my birth.
gpt
I'm surprised you're up here instead of in your own neck of the woods,
human
I was considering heading south when I ran into Jimmy and Jack, here. They'd already got the word on the El Hassan movement from Rex. Their arguments made sense to me.
gpt
North Africa is the starting point, the beginning. Given El Hassan's success in uniting North Africa, the central areas and later even the south will fall into line. Perhaps one day there will be a union of _all_ Africa.
human
Or at least a strong confederation,
gpt
Perhaps. But we can't look that far forward now. He looked from one of the newcomers to the other.
human
I don't know to what extent you fellows understand what the rest of us have set out to accomplish but I suppose if you've been with Rex for the past week, you have a fairly clear idea.
gpt
I believe so,
human
I don't want to give you the wrong idea. If you join up, you'll find it's no parade. Our chances were slim to begin, and we've had some setbacks. As you've probably heard, the Arab Union has stolen a march on us. And from what we can get on the radio, we have thus far to pick up a single adherent among the world powers.
gpt
Cliff snorted.
human
We haven't got a nation the size of Monaco on our side.
gpt
Cliff's a perpetual sourpuss, she said.
human
However, he's been in since the first.
gpt
We were hardly prepared to find a beautiful American girl in the Great Erg,
human
We've all caught Homer's dream,