The on-line presentation of John Schettler's near future novel 9 Days Falling continues as the opening scenes of Day II are now on-line.
Scene 6- Porto Grande begins another major plot line that will weave its way into that begun in Scene 4. Meet the principles of Fairchild & Company, an independent sea faring oil conveyor navigating the ever more turbulent seas of the energy business. This plot line will play out in tandem with that of Ben Flak and the scenes depicting the insurrection underway in Nigeria, and this line continues this morning in scene 7 "Bunker Bust."
The term "bunkering" refers to the Nigerian locals illegally tapping in to Western oil company pipelines to siphon off oil and sell it on the black market. Few U.S. readers will know much about our presence in the Niger delta, where companies like Chevron and many others are drilling away the wealth of the Nigerian nation, while little of the revenue ever goes to help the impoverished people of that nation. Understandably, this has led to more and more dissent, which has taken violent forms in recent years. All of the incidents depicted in these scenes have a doppelganger of reality darkening their path. I have included numerous "supporting links" to news items and articles that underpin the story and anchor it in the very real news of the region playing out today. These story lines serve as one of many possible flash points in the ever more stressed energy producing regions of the world.
