Smartystan

Screens illuminated with the number of potential inhabitants. Dr. Covey Strong peered at the data with an intent that bordered on obsession. His skin looked like acorns and his sartorial essence showed with his blue pinstriped suit with a gray paisley tie and cowboy boots. His sixty years on this Earth proved to suit him well as he looked like he had just crossed the forty-year-old mark. As an economist, he wielded power with numbers.

“What we can do is show the different people they’re welcome here. The president gave us this––”

‘The president gave us this land to have as many intelligent people in one place as possible,” Dr. Kaija Frampton interrupted. Her face looked like cut ebony. She wore a leopard shawl with black tights with red pumps. She boasted a master’s degree in chemistry.

“Yes. The entire state of Delaware is dedicated to brains,” Vestin Go, 30, observed. His yellow skin contrasted with the slate gray seats they sat in at the boardroom. He wore a white T-shirt, black jeans and white sneakers.

Go excelled as an expert music instructor who had become a maestro without more than an associates degree from First State Community College. The various people that constituted the construction of an Intellectual State had not been like Drs Strong and Frampton. Most of them had dropped out of college, even high school. In time, they proved to be autodidacts, fastening a world around them and devising an entire place reserved only for the smartest people in the world. This remained a contentious idea, obviously. How many tests would they have to pass? What would become of the people left to the rest of the country? Would they forge their empires of thought?

Strong, Frampton, and Go didn’t have time. They had been selected amongst the other men and women spewing with ideas.

“I say we’re ready to negotiate the terms of the state and present them to the President of the United States of America. He already knows we’re serious about this. Let’s put this machine in motion,” Go quipped.

“Yes, but––” Frampton started.

“But what?” Go asked, rolling his eyes.

“I don’t want to be a wet blanket here, but we’ve got to consider the fact that just a few million people will occupy this state. Will we have walls put into place? Will we have armed guards?”

“No!” Strong and Go announced together. Go looked at Frampton. “We’re going to allow anyone to visit this place. Anyone will be allowed into the entrances. There will be no walls or barriers. Whoever wants to see family members who reside there, can do so, and do it freely. But residents will remain unless they choose to move. That's unlikely, though.”

Dr. Strong added to Go’s words. “Yes, we’ll work out a pattern, a schedule that will determine how people will navigate through the cities and towns of Smartystan.”

“So, we’re keeping that name?” Dr. Frampton asked.

“I love it!” Go exclaimed.

“It fits. It’s right to the point and everyone will know what we’re talking about.”

“With everything we have heard, everything we know, this should be a triumph of social science and the ability to craft an entire society based on intellect. This isn’t a game or an amusement park ride….” Dr. Frampton pointed out.

“You’ve got it. That’s exactly what it’s not. It is a possibility. It is something to strive for, to hope for our future. An experiment of sorts, it will bring all colors, creeds, and other societal differences together. As we know, the great Reckoning in the state of Delaware was the deciding factor in all of this.”

On a hot day in the middle of July, the citizens of the state of Pennsylvania attempted to reclaim portions of the First State. They failed. The president at the time looked at the clock on the wall. He declared at the hour of eight o’clock in the morning for the people of Delaware to open its doors to the brightest minds in the world and revel in their triumph. Go looked at the doctors. All three shot their glances at thirty-two-year-old Belinda Gummer as she entered. She wore a houndstooth suit with black patent leather flats. Her blonde hair and blue eyes and petite frame belied the brain encased in her head. She dropped out of college and started her own learned machines company and made billions. She smiled.

“So, are we almost there? Has everything been finalized?” she asked.

Dr. Frampton replied, “We’re almost there, Bel’. Your input would be great.”

“Let me see…. I think there should be a lottery in place. Whoever wins gets a placement in the entire population of Thinkeralia.”

“No, it’s Smartystan again,” Go corrected.

“Okay, I kinda like that one, actually. What is the best way to show that we’re going to be the brainparents behind this revolutionary new place?”

Dr. Frampton sighed. “We’ve got your advertising firm still in place, right?”

“Of course,” Belinda said.

“We can incorporate the lottery into the commercials and permit those who get selected to be part of this beautiful, overwhelming newness.”

The four of them raised from their seats and shook hands. The others had been in conferences like this all around the state of Delaware. They walked with purpose and briskness, all of them. Some got into multi-hundred-thousand-dollar Goulding sedans. Others found their way on skateboards and still others walked. Their gaits seemed sure and they rattled off poetry to one another with every step. These men and women made up the entirety of transforming a state into a small country. Go remained one of those on a skateboard. He weaved and glided in and out of traffic with the care and confidence of a gemcutter. Belinda laid back in that Goulding and checked all of her messages and emails and even had time to shoot some footage and tell to the world the progress the UltraMinds had dreamed up in the past few days. She stopped making mini-movies for her social networks and dialed her lawyers.

“Hey, Lex.”

“I just saw you on the Internet.”

“Yes, that was just to blow off some steam. Now, it is imperative that we continue to remain focused on the business aspects of all of this. I know that the various machines will be a staple in Think-- I mean Smartystan.”

“They’re still going with that?” Lex asked.

“Yeah, I like it. Anyway, we’re going to need the signatures from the board members. They’re going to be the ones who will be backing the increase in orders that I’m sure will take place once we deliver them.”

“Roger.”

Belinda smirked and looked out of the window.