The businessmen, the bankers and, even, most of the politicians were sitting about a huge table in a meeting.

The table was quite ornate, with intricate carvings where the legs met the rim of the table top. Its surface was inlaid with mother of pearl depicting scenes of mythology, with Princesses elaborately dressed and heroes on tremendous horses. Every figure was exaggerated in the way of the culture, to be extraordinarily beautiful or brave or dashing. There was a bevelled sheet of thick glass covering the table top with its intensely detailed pictures.

The men ignored the wonders of the table on which they had their cups of green tea and small sweet and savoury items to eat, which they picked at with their chop sticks.

They were meeting to discuss a possible change in a major financial, political and humanitarian policy. They were meeting to talk about the possibility of paying people fair wages. It was not a simple discussion, for it was not a simple idea. It involved many millions of people of varying ages, from quite young children to old men.

The workers had in common that they all worked in the thousands of factories in cities all over the country for very low wages. With their tiny pay, they supported families in the country, paid for extremely small accommodation and barely adequate food. Their wages were as low as they were for many reasons, first among which was the profit level of the goods they were producing, for this was a country which had taken over the world by doing business in its own way.

If workers were paid very little money and the conditions in which they were kept were minimal, thereby also costing very little, then everything they made could be sold for very little but still provide excellent profits, always the point of selling.

So, bit by bit, everything that was manufactured in the world could be manufactured in this country with the gorgeous table. That the thousands of items were not at all manufactured to the same high standard as the table was beside the point.

A version of everything required was made and sold very cheaply – more cheaply than anywhere else and more cheaply than they could be made by any other workers. And when money matters but quality does not, this was the equation for world domination.

All well and good, but there was a problem: the rest of the world had made the condition of these workers’ lives their business. The rest of the world had begun to protest the low wages and poor living conditions of the workers.

The men gathered around the beautiful table knew that the world did not really care about the poor living conditions of their workers, as long as they continued to produce recognizable versions of the stuff they now manufactured.

The men knew the protests were lip service only to the so-called humanitarians. So long as goods could be purchased so cheaply, the world did not care, in a serious way, who suffered in the process.

It was not, really then, for the sake of the world that this meeting was being held but for the sake of their own country. Keeping the huge population of the country poor and oppressed had been policy for centuries. Where people are constantly concerned about survival, when every day is completely preoccupied with securing the bare basics for life, and when any attempt to rise above such conditions is hampered with new rules and increased living costs, then the people are temperate and easy to manipulate. They are not inclined to get above themselves, not about to worry about ridiculous ideals and unnecessary illusions of personal freedom.

These policies Constance had worked Scrafield- fairly well Danby for those centuries and the country of the amazing table’s domination of the world was a fact. Without a single hint of political aggression, let alone the slightest notion of military action on any stage, this country had placed itself squarely in the centre of the commercial world and, therefore, the centre of all important aspects of the world.

Now that was the case, why should its people not benefit from the huge wealth and importance their country had achieved?

The meeting had lasted for hours. Endless pots of tea, never-ending dishes of food, mountains of ideas and proposals – all had come to no real solutions to the enormous problems incurred by increasing the wealth of the workers.

When exhaustion lay on the assemblage like a cloud, when every shred of thinking prowess had failed them and a sense of helplessness enveloped them, the large, carved oak doors swung open and a fabulous chair, a wheel chair like no other, was guided into the room.

Sitting in it, dressed in shimmering silk robes of colours so subtle as to be beyond definition or names, was a slender, ancient man, with a long silky beard and unbelievably long, thin fingers.

It was Wong Kai, whom some of the men thought was mere legend, so deep and profound was the reputation of his wisdom. As a single person, they stood up and bowed in deep respect. The chair was slowly guided by servants to the head of the table. It was turned so that he faced them.

“Sit down,” he told them.

“The problem with which you have been struggling is solved and I congratulate you on the fine humanity of your intentions.”

The reaction in the room was that of awe, relief and wild curiosity to finally learn the solution from this mighty intellect.

“You manufacture goods or imitations of goods which were manufactured in countries all over the world, acquiring the rights and copyrights to nearly everything. You have done this, very skillfully I might add, by discounting quality and thereby controlling price. You have made fortunes, which money you have used to control the world. Best of all, you have done it with patience typical of our great culture and there was none to understand your design before it was complete.”

He laughed a squeaky little laugh and clapped his hands at them. They glowed with his praise.

“From tomorrow, you will pay your longsuffering workers a fair wage and they, too, will enjoy the benefits of your successful planning. And now, I will tell you how.”

With surprising grace and ease, he stood up from his chair to address them on his feet. He was remarkably tall, astonishingly imposing.

“Tomorrow,” he said, “you will simply double the price of everything.”