1a: The Fifth Dimension Project

Chuck Romeo

March 24, 2025

Version 11b: 82,800 words

And while the future’s there for anyone to change, still you know it seems, it would be easier sometimes to change the past—Jackson Browne

1: Politics

One Month Before Super Tuesday

1      Sarah

“Hi Sis, thanks for coming,” Sarah says as Hope sits herself on the barstool next to her.

                Hope finishes closing her umbrella, leans it against the bar.  “It is wet out there.”  She grabs a napkin off the bar to dry her hands and looks at the drink on the bar in front of Sarah.  “A martini?  Since when do you drink anything stronger than wine.”

“Wine wasn’t going to cut it tonight.”

 “What’s going on?”  Hope asks as she waves to get the bartender’s attention.

Sarah looks over at Hope.  “I’m leaving Sam.”  Sadness blinking on her face like a neon sign.

“What? I thought you guys were so in love.  What happened to marriage and family?”

“Nichols happened.  I can’t forgive Sam for working to get him elected.  He’s turning Nichols from someone who barely registered in the polls into the clear leader.”

“Maybe Nichols’ has changed,” Hope responds and immediately wishes she hadn’t, given the glare Sarah is now giving her.

“He hasn’t changed; he can’t change who he is like that.  One day he’s a radical Red state governor, the next he’s a compassionate conservative.  It doesn’t work like that.  He’s just using Sam to get elected.  God, he even has you convinced.  Those are Sam’s ideas that you hear, not Nichols’; once he’s elected, Sam and his ideas will be shunted aside.”

“Okay, okay, I get it.  What does Sam say?”  Sarah looks over at Hope with a pained look on her face, “Wait, you haven’t told him?”

“Not yet.  I just put a deposit on an apartment.  I don’t want to spend the next few years having a relationship with a guy who I’m constantly fighting with and telling I told you so.”  Sarah looks directly at Hope.  I’ll tell him this weekend.”

“Before the moving truck shows up?”

Sarah shakes her head and shoulders back and forth slowly.  “At about the same time.  Look, it’s not easy to talk with him these days.  He’s on the campaign trail all the time.  Our relationship has devolved into a series of fights in the few moments that we see each other.”

Hope takes a sip of her drink, looks over at Sarah.  “I support you, I’ll always be here for you, but you really love Sam.  Are you going to be okay; is he going to be okay?”

“This is going to hurt both of us a lot.  But it’s going to be worse for Sam.  When Nichols pushes him aside.  I just don’t know.  Politics is Sam’s life; it could destroy him.”

“He’s smart, and persuasive.  He’ll land on his feet,” Hope offers.

Sarah nods. “He is persuasive, to a fault maybe, but he’s more fragile than you know, than anyone knows, except maybe me.”

Hope reaches her hand forward and gently holds Sarah’s forearm.  Sarah starts to cry.  “I know.  I really thought he was the one.”  Recovering Sarah angrily exclaims, “But then he created this mess, this horrific mess that is going to get so much worse before it gets better; it’ll take the whole country down.  I can’t accept what he’s doing.”

“At least tell him before the moving truck arrives.”

Sarah nods, gives Hope a hug.

Days before Super Tuesday

2      The Beginning and the End

It’s a breezy March evening in DC.  The sun is going down, the last rays of light are filtering between the rows of buildings.  Sam is in a hurry.  He steps out of a building’s shadow and sees Sarah on the sidewalk, the sun behind her backlighting her shape, she is walking toward him.  Upon noticing him, Sarah stops for a moment, debates changing direction; it’s too late.  She walks toward him.  They stop.

Sarah looks at Sam and forces a smile, “Hi Sam, how are you?”

He smiles, and takes Sarah in; she is tall and thin with straight brown hair and is irresistible in his eyes.  “Sarah, good to see you.  I miss you.”  She just stands there, a mix of emotions bubbling up inside her.  “Can we just talk?”  Sam continues.

“No.”  Her tone becomes unyielding.  “What’s that you’re carrying?” she asks, while pointing to the papers in his hand.

Sam holds the papers in front of him, “This is going to change the world.”

“Not for the better.  Your words, the words you put in Nichols’ mouth will trick people into believing that he’s a decent human being, when he is nothing of the sort.”

“I’m just building a roadmap to a strong executive.”

“In the wrong hands, and Nichols’ are the wrong hands, you’re building a roadmap to fascism.”

“That’s not true.  Please Sarah.  I miss you.”

Sarah responds in a pleading tone.  “I know you Sam, you are a good man, and I know that deep inside you harbor your own doubts.”

Sam stands silently for a moment, unsure of what to say in response.  Then tersely and quietly, “He will stick with the program I am laying out.  He will have to.”

“No, he won’t.  You know this.  If you want to talk, throw that speech away, and walk away from his campaign.”  Sarah gestures toward a nearby garbage can.  “Sam, you have to let go of your lust for power.” 

“Why do you keep accusing me of having a lust for power,” he says as he raises his voice slightly.

“I’m not doing this,” she growls, then storms past him and keeps going.

Sam stands there, wanting to call out to her, looking at the trash can.  He loves Sarah, it pains him to see her walk away.  He looks at his watch, he’s late, he turns, and hurries along.

3      The Speech

There is cheering in the background.  Someone is speaking indistinctly.  The crowd is being warmed up before candidate Nichols takes the stage.

Back behind the stage, Sam hands Governor Nichols the speech he wrote for him to present.  Nichols glances down at it for a second, then looks to Sam.  “You know Sam, your words are what are winning converts to our side.  You are bringing suburban women to our campaign.”

“Thank you, sir.  I am glad our policy ideas are so in sync.”

Mike Williams, the governor’s senior advisor steps forward and in an angry huff barks, “Sam, you know you are supposed get speeches to me in time for me to review them!”

“Sorry Mike,” Sam starts, a tinge of stress in his voice, “I struggled with the wording in of parts of this speech.” 

The governor steps between Mike and Sam, puts his hand on Mike’s back, and calmly says, “It’s okay Mike, once we sweep Super Tuesday, we’ll have the resources for Sam to build a staff to help him put speeches together.”  Then he turns to Sam with a congenial smile, “If, I mean when, we win this thing, I am going to want you as my Head Speechwriter, and Press Secretary.  I’ll need you to keep generating ideas, to keep our coalition together.”

“Thank you, sir.  If you don’t mind, I am going to head out into the audience to listen to the speech, to see how it’s received.”  Sam steps away, I hope I’m doing the right thing.

Nichols turns to Mike.  “Sam’s ideas are serving their purpose.”  The adviser smiles, nods, turns to watch Sam retreating. 

Sam’s speech is one of compassionate conservatism.  “… We need to cut through the red tape of democracy to improve citizens lives more quickly.  With the new powers this election will grant me, hope and change won’t just be a slogan, it will be that you hope for something, and you will quickly see the change …”

The crowd is fired up, waving Nichols flags, yelling “Nichols, Nichols, …   The speech is a success.  Governor Nichols sweeps Super Tuesday.

4      Post-Election

“This had to be the weather Axl Rose had in mind when he wrote that song.”  Hope says as she gives her coat a light shake and hooks her umbrella over an empty chair at their table.

“What song?”  Sarah asks.

“A cold November rain.”  They order drinks and food.  Hope looks over at Sarah, she leans forward, sighs, “They won.”

Sarah nods, “Sam’s ideas carried the day.  I’m happy for him.”

“Are you?  This is something you two could have been celebrating together.”

“Sam’s ideas carrying the day is something to celebrate, but Nichols winning the election, and by a big margin, taking the House and having a filibuster proof majority in the Senate is nothing to celebrate.”

“So what do you think is going to happen?”

“It’s already starting.  It’s only been two weeks since the election and Nichols is already backtracking on positions Sam laid out for him during the campaign.  The campaign is over and Sam’s usefulness will quickly wane.”

“Do you think Nichols will fire him?”

“No, he’ll hold onto Sam as long as he can, possibly moderating positions he’d like to take to keep Sam on board a little longer.  You see, Nichols’ legitimacy is tied in with Sam.  If he strays too far too quickly from his campaign promises and Sam bolts, he risks a strong negative public reaction.  Voters trust Nichols, because they trust Sam.  But once he has been in office awhile and feels like he has consolidated power, then he’ll completely flip the policies he campaigned on we’ll see how long Sam stays.”

“That’s not very optimistic Sis.  It’s not like it’s the first time that we’ve had a president from Nichols party.  We’ve stressed about some of the policies, but it’s not like the country came crashing down.”

“Nichols is different.  Look, politics is my life, it’s what I teach, what I write about.  I’ve seen Nichols types before in the history books.  We’re not getting away with a few bad policies that we can quickly change this time.  Sam should have been able to see this.”  Sarah says looking over at Hope with glassy eyes.

“You still love him don’t you?”

Sarah nods. “Of course I do, and in a way I am proud of him.”  Tears begin to stream down her face, “Getting Nichols elected was no easy feat, but he shouldn’t have done it.  He should have walked away.”

“So what do you think is going to happen?  I mean, tax cuts for the rich, sure, but what else?”

“Let’s see, as a governor, he flattened his state’s tax rates, wouldn’t expand health benefits to the poor, railed against climate change as fake news, wanted to open parks in his state to development, and the list goes on.  And it was always more than that.  There was something hateful and vindictive in him that doesn’t bode well for any of us.”  Sarah looks over at Hope.  “Ugh, that’s enough, we’re going to be discussing this for the next four years.  What’s going on in your life?”