With the International Animalia Convention starting the day after tomorrow, a lot of things had to be done before the start. Fortunately Lyre and Animalia had already been preparing since the spring thaw began that year.
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There were many new hotels built to encompass the visitors for the IAC. As it turned out, experienced construction workers, combined with beaver Animalians, could assemble large hotels in under a week, complete with an indoor swimming pool. The general average for quality and luxury was four and a half stars, with the lowest being three stars.
Also there was four or five new cabin campgrounds built, so that Lover's Woods wouldn't be packed to bursting with tourists. Also, there were several places in each campground, or added to in the case of Lover's Woods, where a camper/RV could be parked so the cabins wouldn't be filled up.
There were also many new apartment complexes built for new members of Animalia, many of them Project Pheonix Volunteers. Two or three of them were for the larger members of Animalian society, especially the Megafauna. One special penthouse suite was added on to the top of the Reptile House for Iphis and Ianthe, as well as their potential lovers/mates.
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There were now several security checkpoints added to help make things safer/easier for the security details. Not only did it make it easier to check baggage for dangerous objects/weapons, but it allowed the Israeli commandos, SWAT operators, Navy SEALs, Department of Homeland Security, and German GSG-9 compare notes and share ideas for improving security. One of the most surprising, to the police and military forces anyway, were the inclusion of Irish Republican Army operatives in the security forces, but when their ability to "think like a terrorist" enabled them to predict where and when possible attacks would happen so that the security forces would get to and neutralize the threat before lives were lost made the former IRA operatives accepted, if not liked, by the combined security forces. By collaborating with Animalia Skye-Eye units also were a big help.
One surprise was the number of homeless people helping out. The reason for this was the example that one homeless man set after a bomb blast in Great Britain. While their help wasn't turned away, there was some limitations to what they could do. Many of them were a kind of "neighborhood watch", keeping an eye out for strange behaviors, because, as it turned out, very few people, including terrorists, noticed homeless people, which made them ideal "tipsters".
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Richard and Clara had just got back from Brazil when they saw something very surprising. Dean and Nzynga had set up their own booth, but next to them on their table was a large 5-gallon bucket with a sign taped to it: "Help us build a colony in Africa. Every little donation counts."
"What are you actually doing?" Asked Clara, having never seen anything like this.
"It's actually a fundraiser project the school is doing." Answered Dean.
"'Fundraiser'?" Asked Clara, not familiar with the term. After Richard explained what a fundraiser was about, Dean continued.
"While money from the IAC can help somewhat with paying for future Animalia Colonies, we decided to help offset the cost somewhat. Not only are we doing free will donations, we'll also be doing carnival games to help with the costs. People pay two dollars for three chances, and get sequentially larger prizes for each success."
"I did some of those games when I was a kid." Said Richard, reminiscing, "I got a giant puma plushie at the state fair when I was ten."
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There were a number of booths with Project Phoenix volunteers in them, with the chance for tourists to talk with them. Many of them included before-and-after pictures, as well as the reason behind them joining. One thing that was included was a sign that said "Please be respectful of the members of our society."
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The plan to display the effects of the virus on only a few animals during the IAC had to be completely updated and overhauled because of how many animals were being donated to Animalia, as well as the success of Animalia Aquatica. Because of this, new conversions/upliftings were made open to the public for a $.75 entrance fee, especially of the aquatic Animalian upliftings. Of particular interest were the uplifting of the wolf fish, the lancetfish, the stargazer, the Barreleye fish, and a giant Snakehead Fish from Africa.
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The IAC Opening Ceremony was set to start on July 1st, and continue for the entire month of July, similar to the Olympic Games. It did promise to be a great thing, and many Animalians had high hopes for it.