Dr Pepper, head of Australia's Department of Population and Immigration, is alerted to a Code Red scenario where the daily census shows 25 fewer people than expected. Through investigation using surveillance drones and scanners, the missing people are located in the remote town of Bidgibri. Dr Pepper visits the town and discovers that the 25 residents had removed their mandatory microchips to live freely off the government's radar. While the residents technically broke the law, Dr Pepper decides to have a few drinks with them before deciding on how to proceed, reflecting on his motto that all people count.

1. SEND IN THE DRONES
A short story by Neil Dufty
1

2. 1
‘We have a problem, Sir?’
‘What’s up, Smythe? Bad news, so early in the morning.’
‘Yes Sir. We’re down twenty-five people on yesterday’s count.’
‘Down twenty-five people! Are you sure that all Nationwide Population Surveillance
Scanners™ are working?’
‘Confirming that all Nationwide Population Surveillance Scanners™ are operative, Sir. It
is a true negative anomaly. A Code Red scenario.’
‘Code Red? Smythe, do you know what that means?’
‘Yes, Sir. It’s a major violation of the Australian Demographic Act, 2051.’
‘Have we checked all immigration exit points? All airports, ship terminals?’
‘I believe so.’
2

3. 1
‘Are all deaths accounted for? All dead de-activated?’
‘Yes, Sir.’
‘We normally have a positive anomaly from untagged illegals identified trying to
enter the country via the Electro Interceptor Barriers ™.That is, we expect
unaccounted surplus population, not unaccounted less population.’
‘I know, Sir. This is a first.’
‘Then, Smythe, pull the team together, locate the problem pronto, brief me, and
then I’ll inform the Prime Minister. Time is of the essence. This is an emergency of
national significance.’
‘I’m on to it, Sir.’
3

4. 2
A Code Red. His first.
Dr Reinhard Pepper pondered the emergency, sitting in the Department’s tea room.
Dr Pepper was a precise man – you had to be when dealing with population. People
were numbers, and numbers you could count, graph, analyse, and report on.
Small in stature and in his mid-forties, Dr Pepper was immaculately groomed. His
greying hair was lacquered back; his steel-rimmed glasses gave the impression of him
being an intellectual (which he was, as demonstrated by his University Medal in
Demography, his numerous lofty academic postings, and now his leadership of the
Department of Population and Immigration).
Based on his looks, he was referred to as the ‘Silver Fox’ by his underlings. However, with
his prim appearance, German first name, purposeful walk and tight-fitting suit he could
have been likened to a Gestapo general. This association would have been totally
inappropriate as, in fact, Dr Pepper was a descendant of Jews that had fled Germany
during the war some hundred years ago now. His ancestors had gone as far away from
Germany as they could: Australia. From these migrant origins, the Pepper family had
nurtured generations of Australian intellectuals and leaders across a range of fields
including commerce, the law, medicine, and, of course, demography.
4

5. 2
At times, Dr Pepper reflected on his lot and place in the population of Australia. It must
not have been easy for his ancestors settling in Australia, he mused. Australia back in
the last century had not been welcoming to non-British. At least they were white;
Australia had had a White Australia Policy, dark days indeed. And the indigenous
people had not been counted as Australians for almost two hundred years after they
were invaded by the British.
Gladly, Dr Pepper thought, Australia was now a multi-cultural country with relative
racial harmony. It was now viewed with envy due to this, its riches, and lifestyle. For
over half a century, boat loads of people had been trying to illegally land on the wide,
brown land, looking for a better life. Successive governments had grappled with the
boats; one government had even tried in vain to ‘turn back the boats’.
Come in Dr Pepper. The government of Denise Hatcher - Australia’s second female
Prime Minister - had swept to power with the mantra of ‘Eliminate the Boats’. The
Hatcher Government decreed that there would be barriers placed in the way of all
illegal boats, and that all boats in the vicinity would immediately be destroyed and
their inhabitants returned to their origin. Not only that, the Australian population would
be counted daily to ensure that no illegals got into the island continent by any means.
The last thing that Australia wanted was to be like California, with millions of its
population uncounted illegals. The only way to get into Australia permanently was
through a long process of assessment. ‘Fortress Oz’ it was dubbed by journalists at the
time.
5

6. 2
Dr Pepper was appointed to activate this platform. As the new Chief of the
Australian Department of Population and Immigration, he masterminded the
appropriate legislation and infrastructure. The Australian Demographic Act, 2051
was passed, and his department was well-resourced.
He reflected it was the technology to implement the Act that really was exciting,
providing a daily census and surveillance of potential illegals.
All Australians were humanely microchipped. Microchipping had been used
extensively and successfully with dogs and cats for at least the past fifty years. The
microchips provided extensive details of a person’s profile – a demographer’s
delight – and were inserted via a pin-prick of pain in the back of the neck. New-
born babies rarely cried during this procedure. A touching part of the ceremony
for new Australians was when they bowed their heads in front of the flag and had
their chips inserted. On pronouncement of death, the microchips were
immediately de-activated.
Certified visitors to Australia were issued Special Entry Bracelets™ that they must
wear at all times. The Bracelets provided a profile of the visitor that used to be on
the antiquated immigration and customs form. On exit from the country, they
handed in their Bracelets.
6

7. 2
A network of Nationwide Population Surveillance Scanners™ had been located
at regional centres across the country and at entry points (international airports,
shipping terminals) to scan microchips and Bracelets at any one time. Up-to-date
and accurate census data and data on visitors (including the whereabouts of
their vacations) were obtainable at any time and reported on a daily basis.
Around the nation’s coastline, a network of Electro Interceptor Barriers ™ had
been installed that detected the presence of tagged and untagged people,
either in planes or boats. Boarder Security was immediately alerted to the
problem and carried out operations as per the Australian Demographic Act,
2051.
But now alone, Dr Pepper queried how this intricate population surveillance
system might be violated. Twenty-five lost souls. Had there been a natural
disaster? A flood? A fire? Nothing in the news.
Dr Pepper acknowledged that he and his team must find the find the answer. The
Prime Minister needed a briefing and a solution found urgently, before the media
latched on to the matter.
7

8. 3
Smythe was a lady – Jane Smythe – in fact. All the Population Assessment Team was
addressed by their surname. Although a tad impersonal, it was an efficient use of
words, and precise. The only issue was with the Chinese-descent member of the team:
whether to call her Qu or Lim (she answered to both).
The Team sat around the workshop room mulling over the statistics. A negative twenty-
five. How could it be? All Deaths and Exits were analysed. No explanation.
Smythe dejectedly dropped her head. The rest of the team followed, as Dr Pepper
entered the room.
‘Have we found the reason for the anomaly?’
Collectively, ‘No, Dr Pepper.’
‘I will therefore have to inform the PM of the Code Red. It is like we have lost twenty-
five overboard.’
At that moment, the missing Gunawayasake burst into the room. ‘I’ve tracked the
problem to Division 351, the central west of New South Wales.’
8

9. 3
‘Twenty-five less from somewhere in that Division?’
‘It appears so from my detailed analysis of data from the Nationwide Population
Surveillance Scanners™.’
‘Well done, Gunawayasake. Do you know what that means? Yes Smythe?’
‘Call in micro-surveillance, Sir.’
‘Yes, send in the Population Location Drones™, Smythe. The Drones will fly over
the area and with their sensors detect humans, and whether they have chips or
not. No stone will go unturned until those Drones find the twenty-five. The PM will
be delighted that a Code Red has been averted and we once again know
Australia’s precise population. I’ll go in person to question the miscreants
wherever they might be.’
9

10. 4
The Drones, like a pack of hounds on the trail of a fox, quickly found the Population of
Concern – a township called Bidgibri.
As promised, Dr Pepper, accompanied by several police, flew then drove from the city
in a convoy to the offending place. There was no field attire for Dr Pepper, no dressing
down. He wore his best grey suit, business shirt, tie and shiny black shoes to the bull-dust
of western New South Wales.
The convoy drove up from the fertile floodplain of the Bogan to a gravelly series of low
ridges covered by scraggy scrub. No cattle or sheep. Even kangaroos were not to be
seen. Why would people live in this god-forsaken place? Dr Pepper thought.
And then a dilapidated sign ‘Bidgibri’ and a few run down houses announced that
they were driving into the location of the National Population Security Breach.
Nobody in sight. A mangy cattle dog eyed them suspiciously then slunk away. A few
emaciated chickens pecked on the side of the main (only) road.
To find people, the convoy pulled up at a run-down building bearing the sign ‘The
Bidgibri’ - possibly the local drinking place.
10

11. 4
The first thing that Dr Pepper noticed as he alighted from his vehicle was the heat, the searing
heat. He immediately dabbed his perspiring brow with his suit kerchief.
Inside ‘The Bidgibri’ were people raucously enjoying themselves, and their drinks. As he stood
at the door, Dr Pepper observed a rag-tag bunch of mainly men. A quick count numbered
twenty-five.
‘Come and have a drink. The first on us,’ called a voice from the mob. ‘We thought you
might turn up soon.’
Best to do this calmly, Dr Pepper thought. ‘OK, just the one. We have to get to the bottom of
this.’
As the locals handed the first shout around, Dr Pepper announced, ‘We are here to find out
why you are not counted as people, as Australians.’
The local ‘leader’ - an overweight, bearded man in grubby overalls - explained that all the
people of Bidgibri wished to be free. They had all come to this place to go under the radar;
they were fleeing from something, in many cases themselves. At an all-nighter (no cop in
town to police closing time), they had all extricated each other’s microchips using a small
screwdriver. They had the marks on the back of their necks to prove it. They now wished to be
left alone, he added.
11

12. 5
Dr Pepper scanned the group. He could see they meant no harm. However,
according to the Australian Demographic Act, 2051 Section 24(a), all
recalcitrants would have to be taken into custody, re-inserted, fined and possibly
re-settled to ensure no repeat offence. To keep the peace and not be lynched,
he decided to shout the next round before instigating rectification actions under
the Act.
Later that evening with the drinks flowing and the atmosphere convivial, a slightly
dishevelled Dr Pepper reflected on his life-long demographic mantra: ‘All People
Count’. He might shout another round before taking these people in.
12

13. For more of Neil Dufty’s
writing
http://neilduftyfiction.com/
http://www.amazon.com/Neil-Dufty/e/B00580K8VI
13